So come visit us at any of those Pittsburgh shows.

Innistrad Design Team    – Mark Rosewater (lead)
Richard Garfield
Jenna Helland
Graeme Hopkins
Tom LaPille

Yeah, you read that right. Mr Richard Garfield himself is making a triumphant return to Magic the gathering. Here are the few of the spoilers that have come about already.
The second set will already be called Dark Ascension.

INNISTRAD:

• Innistrad consists of 264 cards, while the latest large sets (Shards of Alara, Zendikar and Scars of Mirrodin all had 249.
• This set has the most top-down design that has ever been.
• Classic horror is the theme, with a tribal component. There are many different horror tropes to be found.
• Innistrad features and Vampires, and Zombies, and Werewolves, and Humans, and Ghosts (Spirits).
• Werewolves are a key part of this set, and get their own subtype
• Black zombies are the normal kind that we usually see, blue zombies are Frankenstein-type creations of science.
• Humans will show up in all five colors but will be centered primarily in white, secondarily in green. Humans may be victims or slayers.
• Spirits will show up in all five colors but will be centered primarily in blue. Blue made a lot of sense as it played into many ghosts tropes: flying, unblockable, invisible (hexproof), etc.
• Other creature types include demons and birds, knights and shamans
• The set features graveyard and tribal mechanics
• Returning mechanic: Flashback
• There are two planeswalker cards in the set, one of which is a new Liliana, the other likely the new Garruk.

Skirsdag Cultist 2RR
Creature – Human Shaman (U)
, Sacrifice a creature: Skirsdag Cultist deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
2/2 “Within blood is life. Within life is fire. Within fire is the path to our master’s glory!”
Artist: Slawomir Maniak

Murder of Crows

3UUCreature – Bird (U)
Flying
Whenever another creature dies, you may draw a card. If you do, discard a card.
4/4
Even more than carrion, they crave the last words of the dying.
Artist: Drew Baker

Spectral Rider WW
Creature – Spirit Knight (U)
Intimidate
2/2
Never a word. Never a warning. Only the sound of hoofbeats along the crossways, and the screams of the avenged.
Artist: Igor Kieryluk

Wreath of Geists G
Enchantment – Aura (U)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +X/+X, where X is the number of creature cards in your graveyard.
Before you travel the woods of Kessig, get permission from those who died trying.
Artist: Jason A. Engle

Moan of the Unhallowed 2BB
Sorcery (U)
Put two 2/2 black Zombie creature tokens onto the battlefield.
Flashback 5bb
For a ghoul, every village is a buffet and every disaster is a reunion.
Artist: Nils Hamm

Bloodgift Demon 2BB
Creature – Demon
Flying. At the beginning of your upkeep, target player draws a card and loses 1 life.
He relishes the devotion of his Skirsdag puppets and their belief that it will earn them immortality.Illus. Peter Mohrbacher   4/4

Innistrad.  As all of us D&D fans know, in Ravenloft, and considered to be one of the greatest bad guys of all time is – Strahd. Coindence?  Probably not. A tidied-up Liliana Vess and the threat that  ”Horror Lurks Within” will definitely very a mixture of gothic horror and evil incarnate. Either way, we are sure to be submerged in some serious evil.

The card was spoiled on G4TV’s Attack of the Show during their June 23rd broadcast.  More to come!

The new video for Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 looks pretty awesome. Read more to watch.

So many questions so few answers. Check back as we get closer to July for the next core set.

What a perfect summarization of the latest Magic the Gathering set.

Phyrexians serve a similar function to the extraterrestrials in alien invasion movies: mysterious outsiders we can’t talk to who have completely alien moral systems and don’t care about our well-being one iota. Now that they have won, they’re free to do whatever they want to Mirrodin. The things they do, for contrast’s sake, should be things that we wouldn’t have seen happening beforehand. Seeing as the Phyrexians are an amoral and viral swarm of mechanical monsters seemingly controlled by a hive mind intent on taking over the Multiverse, they’re bound to stumble across some actions that strike normal humans like us as violating and transgressive.

Phyrexia doesn’t care about you. It cares so little about you, in fact, that it doesn’t even get a buzz out of making you sad. It just wants to win, and hiding your card in my deck doesn’t really help me win. It just makes you sad.

One can’t say this wasn’t coming. Our lives are gonna be consumed by this writing, expanding and completing bastion of evil. Through the myriad of MTG sets, New Phyrexia has finally burst forth and took Mirrodin by storm. Players, get ready to use to the Phyrexian mana symbol for at least the next few months, if not for the foreseeable future. Putting Porcelain Legionnaire into green decks, or Cathedral Membrane into black decks surely will be interesting. Mental Misstep will be the rage for a while. Its gonan be a bumpy road of removal, infect, and various strategies mixing up the colors as well. It may turn Magic on its head, and one might as well throw your color pie out the window until the revelation of M12.

Just remember to save two life for whatever comes down the road.

So without further ado, let my New Phyrexia top 5 begin.

Arm with Aether is the quintessential blue card. Not that there are a ton of blue beats, but plenty of unblockable ones. Slap this one out and suddenly your wiping the board clean. Combo this with the myriad of shroud guys out there, and suddenly your blue army is wreaking havoc through enemy lines.

Hex Parasite. Finally a card that is anti-counter. An artifact that will eat up planeswalkers, charge counters, mana lands, you name it. I’m personally glad Hex Parasite isn’t a color AND it has phyrexian mana to boot. So welcome to every multiplayer game to eat up those pesky counters.

Glistener Elf. What every infect deck sorely needed. You can blast your opponent comboed with Groundswell and Mirran Mettle. A first turn irritant, it really improved all infect decks to become a viable option. For legacy, how about Bounty of the Hunt, or Invigorate? Glistening Oil really looks like a good play. Slap it on your opponent’s crud to victimize any 1/1′s. Put it on something late game to prevent you taking those final few points of damage. If you want your guy to hit the graveyard, use it to combo into something. A versatile card, this guy could be important in the next set as well if INNISTRAD has any infect (which I doubt, but one never knows).

Bludgeon Brawl. The prototypical red card. Turn your Zuran Orb into a zero power hammer, or your Ivory Tower into something that deals damage. Ah, red..you never seem to think of  someway to hurt someone.

So please follow us on facebook and check back for next week’s article – my five least favorite cards from New Phyrexia (NPH). Thanks!

One of the cards I’m most interested in picking up is Sword of War and Peace. Not only is this one of the best equipment cards ever printed it is just so cool. The name kind of reminds me of the Sword of Truth from the Terry Goodkind series.

But lets not digress, this power in this card is the major life swings you are obtaining with your opponents. You are rewarded for having a full hand and drawing cards while your opponents are encouraged to empty their hands quickly. I’m imagining some excellent blue builds working with this sword and Aeon Chronicler or Kami of the Crescent Moon or even Howling Mine. There are lots of awesome options for casual decks.

Standard constructed players are already buzzing about the card and I know Stoneforge Mystics are teeming with excitement to get this most excellent sword.

All in all I could do with out the slapstick humor but always enjoy the primer videos.

(New Phyrexia, the Third set of the Scars of Mirrodin Block)

Chancellor of the Furnace

Rare

4rrr

5/5

Creature – (Giant)

At the beginning of the game, if Chancellor of the Furnace is in your hand, you may reveal it. If you do, at the beginning of your first turn’s upkeep, you may put a 1/1 red goblin creature with Haste on the battlefield.

When this enters the battlefield, put X 1/1 red goblin creatures with Haste onto the battlefield, where X is the number of creatures you control.

Chancellor of the Dross

Rare

4bbb

6/6

Creature – (Vampire)

Flying, Lifelink

At the beginning of the game, if Chancellor of the Dross is in your hand, you may reveal it. If you do, at the beginning of your first upkeep, you may have each opponent lose 3 life. Gain life equal to the life lost this way.

Praetor’s Grip

Rare

1bb

Sorcery

Search your opponent’s deck for a card and exile it facedown. While it’s exiled this way, you may look at it and play it as though it were in your hand.

Urabrask, the Hidden

Mythic

Legendary Creature – Praetor

3rr

4/4

Creatures you control have Haste.

Creatures your opponents control enter the battlefield tapped.

(UNKNOWN NAME)

Rare

Enchantment – Aura

Enchant creature

Enchanted creature has Infect.

At the beginning of your upkeep, put a -1/-1 counter on enchanted creature.

When enchanted creature goes to the graveyard from the battlefield, return ~ to its owner’s hand.

Species Transplantation

Rare

4u

Enchantment

When ~ enters the battlefield, choose a creature type.

Creatures you control are the chosen type in addition to their other creature types.

“There is no word more worthless than “evolution” from the mouth of Vorinclex. The only one who knows true Progress is me.” -Jin-Gitaxis, Core Augur.

Phyrexian Canceller

Mythic

bbbb

Creature – Horror

5/5

Trample

Whenever a source deals damage to ~, that source’s controller sacrifices that many permanents.

“It is blessed compleatness.” –Sheoldred, Whispering One

Karn the Released

Mythic

(mana cost) 7

Planeswalker – Karn

+4: Target player exiles a card from his or her hand.

-3: Exile target permanent.

-14: Set aside all non-aura permanents exiled by Karn, then restart the game. After that, put into the battlefield under your control all cards set aside this way.

(loyalty) 6

Caged Sun

Rare

6

When Caged Sun enters the battlefield, choose a color.

Creatures you control of the chosen color have +1/+1.

Whenever you tap a land for mana, add one mana of the chosen color to your mana pool.

Puresteel Paladin

Rare

ww

2/2

Creature – Human Knight

Whenever an Equipment enters the battlefield under your control, you may draw a card.

Metalcraft – As long as you control 3 or more artifacts, equip costs of equipment you control is 0.

Norn’s Annex

Rare (grrrrr)

3PP

Artifact

(P may be paid for with either w or 2 life.)

Creatures can’t attack you or Planeswalkers you control unless their controller pays P for each attacking creature.

Phyrexian Unlife

Rare

2w

Enchantment

You do not lose the game for having 0 or less life.

While you are at 0 or less life, all sources of damage to you gains Infect.

Psychological Surgery

Rare

1u

Enchantment

Whenever an opponent shuffles his library, you may look at the top 2 cards of your library. You may exile one of them, then put them back on top of your library in any order.

Spellsplitter

Rare

2

0/4

Artifact Creature

P: Target spell that targets a single creature targets ~ instead.

(P may be paid for with either u or 2 life.)

“I’ll show Vorinclex that for progress you require more than just teeth and nails.” – Malcator, Unifier

Screamwhip

Rare

4

Artifact – Equipment

Living Weapon

Equip PP (P may be paid for with either b or 2 life.)

Equipped creature has +1/+1 for each Swamp you control.

Hex Parasite

Rare

1

Artifact Creature – Insect(?)

1/1

xP: Target a permanent. Remove up to X counters from that permanent. ~ gains +1/+0 until end of turn for each counter removed this way.

(P may be paid for with either b or 2 life.)

Fresh Meat

Rare

3g

Instant

Put a 3/3 green Beast creature token onto the battlefield for each creature that went to your graveyard from the battlefield this turn.

“Death is a scavenger’s favorite appetizer.”

Spawning Shell

Rare

3P

Artifact

(P may be paid for with either g or 2 life.)

1P, T, sacrifice a creature: Search your library for a creature with CMC equal to or less than the sacrificed creature’s. Put that creature into play, then shuffle your library. Play this ability only when you can play a Sorcery.

Invasion Parasite

Rare

3rr

3/2

Creature – Insect

Imprint – When ~ enters the battlefield, exile target a land.

Whenever an opponent plays a land with the same name as the exiled card, ~ deals 2 damage to him or her.

Scrapmetal Fiend

Rare

r

*/*

Creature – Construct

Scrapmetal Fiend’s power and toughness are each equal to the number of artifact cards in all graveyards.