Commander Deck Reviews

So with the commander decks being released this Friday, I thought I would have a look at each deck, starting with 'Eternal Bargain' which is in Esper colours of Blue, White and Black!

Commander - Oloro, Ageless Ascetic

Main Deck

99 cards Commander
1 Arcane Sanctum
1 Azorius Chancery
1 Azorius Guildgate
1 Barren Moor
1 Command Tower
1 Dimir Guildgate
1 Esper Panorama
1 Evolving Wilds
6 Island
1 Jwar Isle Refuge
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Opal Palace
1 Orzhov Basilica
1 Orzhov Guildgate
9 Plains
1 Rupture Spire
1 Springjack Pasture
9 Swamp
1 Temple of the False God
1 Transguild Promenade
41 lands

1 Ajani's Pridemate
1 Augury Adept
1 Azorius Herald
1 Disciple of Griselbrand
1 Diviner Spirit
1 Divinity of Pride
1 Filigree Angel
1 Hooded Horror
1 Kongming, Sleeping Dragon
1 Marrow Bats
1 Myr Battlesphere
1 Phyrexian Delver
1 Phyrexian Gargantua
1 Raven Familiar
1 Razor Hippogriff
1 Serene Master
1 Serra Avatar
1 Sharding Sphinx
1 Sharuum the Hegemon
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Stormscape Battlemage
1 Sydri, Galvanic Genius
1 Tidal Force
1 Tidehollow Strix
1 Tower Gargoyle
1 Vizkopa Guildmage
1 Wall of Reverence
27 creatures

1 Act of Authority
1 Brilliant Plan
1 Cradle of Vitality
1 Crawlspace
1 Curse of Inertia
1 Curse of Shallow Graves
1 Curse of the Forsaken
1 Darksteel Mutation
1 Death Grasp
1 Deep Analysis
1 Dromar's Charm
1 Famine
1 Greed
1 Lim-Dûl's Vault
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Obelisk of Esper
1 Order of Succession
1 Phyrexian Reclamation
1 Pristine Talisman
1 Reckless Spite
1 Sanguine Bond
1 Sol Ring
1 Spinal Embrace
1 Sun Droplet
1 Survival Cache
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Tempt with Immortality
1 Thopter Foundry
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Well of Lost Dreams

This deck is all about life gain. Gaining life from your commander will trigger abilities on cards like Ajani's Pridemate, Cradle of Vitality, and Well of Lost Dreams. Not only does extra life help prolong the time you'll stay in the game, it'll make cards like Serra's Avatar and Divinity of Pride into massive threats.

Serene Master is a powerful creature that'll help keep your opponents from dealing to much combat damage to you early on and Darksteel Mutation can render one of your rival's commanders completely useless. Curse of Inertia, Curse of Shallow Graves, and Curse of the Forsaken all give your adversaries a reason to attack a different enemy instead of you.

Sydri, Galvanic Genius can transform any of the deck's creatures or artifacts into a deadly deathtouch creature with lifeflink. Tempt with Immortality can reanimate your best dead creatures after an opponent's Wrath of God or other board sweeper. Later on, Tidal Force can allow you to lock down a troublesome opponent. Act of Authority will bounce around the table blowing up your foe's permanents. Toxic Deluge is another potent new exclusive to this deck that can strategically wipe out a portion of the battlefield and leaving your forces intact to take out another player.

There's some choice reprints featured in the "Eternal Bargain" deck. Lim-Dûl's Vault returns for the first time, and in the modern card frame. We also get Nevinyrral's Disk, a reset button for when board states get out of control. Kongming, Sleeping Dragon was previously a hard to find card and Crawlspace can slow down Commander games drastically, giving "Eternal Bargain" an advantage over more aggressive strategies.

Pokemon XY

With XY due for release early next year here are some of the details of what is coming ...

Features of the Pokémon TCG: XYexpansion include:
2 all-new Mega Evolution Pokémon
6 new Pokémon-EX
Pokémon TCG Online code cards
Over 140 cards in all!

The Pokémon TCG: XY—Kalos Starter Decks will give you the choice of three 60-card decks, each one featuring a brand-new Pokémon: Chespin, Fennekin, or Froakie. You’ll discover other new Pokémon from the Kalos region.

The XY—Kalos Starter Decks introduce Fairy-type Pokémon and basic Fairy Energy! Fairy, the eleventh Pokémon type in the Pokémon TCG, is the first new type since the Dragon type was added in 2012. There are still many mysteries about the new Fairy type, such as which Pokémon will be Fairy types and how matchups will be affected by Fairy-type Pokémon. In order to attack with Fairy-type Pokémon, players will need to use basic Fairy Energy, the ninth Energy type in the Pokémon TCG.

The revolutionary Mega Evolution game mechanic is coming to the brand-new Pokémon TCG: XY expansion! Mega Evolution Pokémon evolve from Pokémon-EX, extremely powerful cards in their own right, creating a force that will change the way Pokémon TCG players build decks and create strategies for battle.

Before playing a Mega Evolution Pokémon to evolve a Pokémon-EX, players must consider the situation carefully—doing so ends their turn immediately, which means they can’t attack that turn! The risky move is worth the reward, however, because Mega Evolution Pokémon exhibit a strength that surpasses that of Pokémon-EX. Hard-hitting attacks and high HP totals make Mega Evolution Pokémon dominant during Pokémon TCG matches.

Some of the cards ...

Venusaur-EX

Your average Venusaur is a Stage 2 Pokémon, but Venusaur-EX is a Basic Pokémon, meaning you can put it into battle right away! Both Venusaur-EX’s Poison Powder and Jungle Hammer attacks are versatile and effective. But Venusaur-EXholds even more potential—it can become a Mega Evolution Pokémon to gain unsurpassed power!

Blastoise-EX

Joining Venusaur-EX is the awesome Blastoise-EX, a powerful Basic Pokémon that can quickly turn the tide of battle. With 180 HP and two strategic attacks, Blastoise-EX can be both powerful and disruptive. But that’s only part of the story—as your opponent will discover when Blastoise-EX becomes an even more powerful Mega Evolution Pokémon!

Yveltal-EX

The sturdy Yveltal-EX has 170 HP and two potent attacks, proving without a doubt that this Darkness-type Pokémon is a great new attacker for Darkness-type decks! Its Evil Ball is extremely powerful—the more Energy is attached to both Active Pokémon, the greater the damage. And Yveltal-EX’s Y Cyclone attack does 90 damage and moves Energy to a Benched Pokémon. Set up your Benched Pokémon while you attack!

Xerneas-EX

The Fairy-type Xerneas-EX is sure to be useful in Fairy-type decks. Use its Break Through attack to hit the Defending Pokémon for 60 damage and a Benched Pokémon for another 30! Then go for the Knock Out with X Blast, which does an imposing 140 damage. You can’t use X Blast two turns in a row, so choose your timing carefully!

Seal Dragons Unleashed

Bonus: With every booster box purchase of BT11: Seal Dragons Unleashed, you’ll receive a random Deck Box from below!

Eradicator, Sweep Command Dragon	Armor Break Dragon
Blue Flight Dragon, Trans-core Dragon	Solidify Celestial, Zerachiel

Event Decks

Venture to Theros, a plane where gods, heroes and monsters are an everyday fact of life.

Hydras, gorgons, satyrs and other creatures of myth inhabit this wild, mystical place. In

Theros, heroes challenge themselves in the untamed lands beyond the city walls, set sail on

the raging seas and learn their destiny from divine oracles.

The Theros Event Deck is called “Inspiring Heroics.” With this deck, you’ll command an

organized assault, using military prowess and powerful enchantments to win.

The Theros Event Deck contains

- 60-card deck (10 rares)

- 15-card sideboard

- 1 spindown life counter.

Main Deck 60 cards
4  Azorius Guildgate 1  Hallowed Fountain 5  Island 14  Plains 24 lands 2  Ascended Lawmage 2  Banisher Priest 3  Battlewise Hoplite 3  Dryad Militant 1  Fabled Hero 1  Frontline Medic 3  Hopeful Eidolon 2  Imposing Sovereign 1  Lavinia of the Tenth 3  Lyev Skyknight 1  New Prahv Guildmage 1  Precinct Captain 1  Skymark Roc 1  Soldier of the Pantheon 25 creatures	2  Dauntless Onslaught 2  Detention Sphere 2  Gods Willing 1  Ordeal of Heliod 2  Ordeal of Thassa 2  Pacifism 11 other spells Sideboard 2  Arrest 2  Gainsay 2  Gift of Orzhova 2  Glare of Heresy 2  Negate 3  Solemn Offering 2  Triton Tactics 15 sideboard cards

Hydra Challenge Deck

This weekend players will get the chance to face the Hydra deck either as a team or individually its your choice! The deck is self running and can be started at varying levels of difficulty. This is the video that Wizards have released previewing how it plays...

Here is an example of what you will see when you sit down across from the hydra:

And here is a close-up of what a couple of the Face the Hydra Challenge Deck cards look like:

   

You can play any deck you have against the Face the Hydra Challenge Deck, including the Standard deck you bring to play in the Game Day tournament! (But no, you don't have to join the tournament to perform the third Hero's Path quest.) Regardless of the deck you bring, you may also play with up to two Hero Cards you've collected from previous Hero's Path quests.

Pandemic

In Pandemic, several virulent diseases have broken out simultaneously all over the world! The players are disease-fighting specialists whose mission is to treat disease hotspots while researching cures for each of four plagues before they get out of hand.

The game board depicts several major population centers on Earth. On each turn, a player can use up to four actions to travel between cities, treat infected populaces, discover a cure, or build a research station. A deck of cards provides the players with these abilities, but sprinkled throughout this deck are Epidemic! cards that accelerate and intensify the diseases' activity. A second, separate deck of cards controls the "normal" spread of the infections.

Taking a unique role within the team, players must plan their strategy to mesh with their specialists' strengths in order to conquer the diseases. For example, the Operations Expert can build research stations which are needed to find cures for the diseases and which allow for greater mobility between cities; the Scientist needs only four cards of a particular disease to cure it instead of the normal five—but the diseases are spreading quickly and time is running out. If one or more diseases spreads beyond recovery or if too much time elapses, the players all lose. If they cure the four diseases, they all win!

Pandemic: On the Brink includes new event cards, new role cards, rules for five players, and optional game challenges to increase the difficulty of the Pandemic base game. These new challenges, which can be used individually or combined for even more difficult play, are as follows:
The Virulent Strain challenge makes one disease become particularly deadly in unpredictable ways.
The Mutation challenge adds a fifth (purple) disease that behaves differently than the original four.
The Bio-Terrorist challenge pits one player against the others!

Pandemic: In the Lab, the second expansion for Pandemic, you will use a new game board that allows you to move the pawns in a laboratory. The goal of this activity is the same as in the base game – finding cures for diseases – but this time in a new way. Behind sealed bio-hazard doors, scientists race against time to sequence diseases, take samples, and test cures.

Pandemic: In the Lab includes four new roles, new Virulent Strain events, and a Worldwide Panic Mutation scenario. Players can compete individually or on rival teams (when playing with four or six players). Can your team work together in the lab to save humanity?

Pokemon Prerelease

What are Pokémon TCG: Black & White—Legendary Treasures Prerelease tournaments?

Pokémon TCG: Black & White—Legendary Treasures Prerelease tournaments allow players to receive and play with cards from the upcoming Black & White—Legendary Treasures expansion up to two weeks before the set’s official release date!

Participation prizes are awarded to all finishers in each of three age divisions. Black & White—Legendary Treasures Prereleases will use the 2013–2014 tournament season age divisions, which are:

• Junior Division: born in 2003 or later
• Senior Division: born in 1999, 2000, 2001, or 2002
• Masters Division: born in 1998 or earlier

When are the Pokémon TCG: Black & White—Legendary Treasures Prerelease tournaments?

How much does the event cost?

£20

What are the prizes?

All players who complete the event will receive 2 additional booster packs of the Pokémon TCG: Black & White—Legendary Treasuresexpansion.

All participants will receive a Pokémon TCG: Black & White—Legendary Treasures Prerelease promo card and a Black & White—Legendary Treasures deck box, while supplies last.

What do I need to know?

• Bring your Player ID card, if you have one. If you don’t have a Player ID, one will be given to you at the event.
• See the Pokémon Tournament Rules for more information about what to bring to an event.
• Make sure you arrive on time. If you are late for registration, you may not be able to play in the event!
• To participate in the event, you must be a player in good standing and abide by the Tournament Rules.

What is the tournament structure?

The tournament is run using the Limited Format and Age-Modified Swiss pairings. See the Pokémon Tournament Rules for information about the Limited Format and Swiss. The number of Swiss rounds to be run will depend on total attendance at the event.

DATE TO BE CONFIRMED!