I wrote this up as an article for another site, and I know lots of members here play the game too, so I figure I might as well post it.
I assume this would go best in General. 

Okay, before I start this, let me say that this is about Magic: The Gathering (for basic information, it's on Wikipedia), which is the original TCG, and is still the best. Because of the genius of the color wheel, it is probably the most balanced game ever made, in any medium or genre. On top of the color wheel, the game really is amazing in that there is pretty much infinite room for it to expand and grow, in terms of mechanics and otherwise.

The newest set Shadowmoor, takes that concept and really goes with it. There's a lot of really cool ingenuity in the set, and I want to take a little bit of time to take a look at this.


That out of the way, onto the cards. For those of you who follow the official (or unofficial) previews, these won't be anything new. But if you're not, prepare yourself. Your mind is about to be blown.

I'm going to start off with this badass. It doesn't need an introduction, its awesomeness speaks for itself.


More like the Godhead of Awesome. For the most part, this card could be in a lot of other sets. It's pretty straightforward. But wait- what's that? Indeed, the Ravnica dual-colors make a return. This is a little sooner than I expected, actually, but I'm glad to see it. It's a really amazing design mechanic and it's one of the reasons I loved Ravnica so much. The team really did a great job taking Magic to a whole new level without changing the game at all. And it works so well, and smoothly, it doesn't feel out of place.

That out of the way, the "Other creatures are 1/1." is an awesome ability on its own. But beyond that, it ties into another one of the block's themes: -1/-1 counters. Take a look at this bad boy:


Cool, he works well with blue and black creatures. A 2/2 with flying and persist for 3 isn't bad. ...persist? Take some time to read the reminder text on the card and let that sink in. It doesn't take very long, does it? This new keyword ability is probably one of the best one I have seen in a long time, in terms of pure grokkability (understandability). It's totally fluid, and has a lot of design potential. On top of that, it fits into a sub-theme of -1/-1 counters, which is a counter type that we really haven't seen much of.

Of course, -1/-1 counters can be more than a way of shrinking your own creatures.


This guy comes into play with -1/-1 counters and allows you to throw them onto your opponent's guys, and he certainly won't be the only card of this kind in the set. I really like the potential of -1/-1 counters, since they can he used as a resource of sorts as well as a tactic to eliminate threats. And combined with the Godhead of Awesome, they work as some really useful removal.

There's another thing puzzling about this card, though... That symbol. The reminder text on the card tells us that it's an untap symbol.


This card actually isn't as complex or fancy as the one before it, but I saw this one first, and it was really my holy shit card of the set, and the card that made me decide that I like Shadowmoor. As soon as I read those words "untap symbol", I pretty much creamed my pants.  For the most part, I'll leave it to you to ponder upon the possibilities of untapping as an activation cost, but I just have to remark that, as a control player, and as a Johnny, I'm really excited to play with this.

I know that the idea of untapping has been used before, but seeing it as its own symbol is game-changing, like those dual-color symbols. Speaking of which, I have one last card to take a look at. It brings us back to where we started, but again expands on a mechanic in a way that seems both totally original and entirely natural.


Oh yeah, single-colored dual-mana icons. Mhmhmhmh, so tasty. So many possibilities...

So far, Shadowmoor is looking to be a great set. I'm actually really excited for it, and I might even go to a draft or two. There's a lot of room for creativity, it seems, and it's that sort of thing that really appeals to me in a set. There are clear themes and mechanics, but it looks like they're not being forced on us this time around, and we're being given a lot of room to just explore and have fun with them.

I lost a little faith after Lorwyn. But Shadowmoor is proof that no matter how hard Magic falls, it always manages to bring itself back.

So let's talk about Shadowmoor, what it means for magic, what do you think about it, etc.

I can immediately see infinite combos with the untap symbol, so unless there's a caveat on how many times it can be used per turn, this is going to be game-breaking.

Oona, Queen of the Fae is awesome.

Mirrorweave is awesome.

Tattermunge Maniac is awesome.

Burn Trail is awesome.

Din of the Fireherd is awesome.

There are some awesome cards in Shadowmoor.

Also, Paragon, that's why there is ALWAYS an additional cost attached to the untap symbol. Otherwise it would be broken.

I play mostly a Black/Red deck, so most of those blue ones aren't gonna do much for me. But the Scarecrow and Beseech cards would fit well in my deck.

Cards are fun.

Fulminator Mage is good.

Poison the Well is good.

This whole set is good.

Not really as there are very few ways to tap a creature outside of abilities/attacking (the latter you can only do once per turn anyway), and there won't be any creatures with both abilities, so the only way would be through another creature's cost such as Voice of the Woods and none of those are legal in type 2 as soon as Shadowmoor hits and there are very few actually viable enchantments that give a tap ability in type 2 or even extended (actually I think there isn't any?).

Also Godhead of Awe is so making my maindeck. Monoblue control has been dying since Morningtide but goddamn she's gonna make it awesome again.

Except for you are wrong! There are quite a few creatures that make use of tapping OTHER creatures you control in the Lorwyn block, which will remain Type 2 for some time.

This isn't INFINITE, as the activated untap ability also costs mana. However, consider the following combo:

Drowner of Secrets 2U
Lorwyn Uncommon
Tap an untapped Merfolk you control: Target player puts the top card of his or her library into his or her graveyard.

Leech Bonder

Tap the Leech Bonder, sack the top card of your opponent's deck. Pay U, untap Leech Bonder, move a counter around. Repeat until out of U.

So unless ALL untap abilities cost mana, there is a potential for infinite combos.

Except for you are wrong! There are quite a few creatures that make use of tapping OTHER creatures you control in the Lorwyn block, which will remain Type 2 for some time.

This isn't INFINITE, as the activated untap ability also costs mana. However, consider the following combo:

Drowner of Secrets 2U
Lorwyn Uncommon
Tap an untapped Merfolk you control: Target player puts the top card of his or her library into his or her graveyard.

Leech Bonder

Tap the Leech Bonder, sack the top card of your opponent's deck. Pay U, untap Leech Bonder, move a counter around. Repeat until out of U.

So unless ALL untap abilities cost mana, there is a potential for infinite combos.

orf course they're all going to cost mana are you serious

I started with Kamigawa block several years ago, since during that time I recently shook off Yu-Gi-Oh and was a huge samurai-fag. I spent 40 each on Champions and the Betrayer's block. But I really had no one to play with or anything. I still play whenever I can, which is rarely. I don't care enough to buy more cards or anything.

At the moment I believe I've played maybe 5-6 games over the past few years.

orf course they're all going to cost mana are you serious

There's always the possibility of OTHER things, such as a creature having VIGILANCE and an untap ability. Rather, he wouldn't tap on his own so he'd never be able to untap on his own. There are always cards with unique combinations.

And yes, I'm serious!

But I do see a point here, in that sure, they'd probably notice this problem right away and not allow it to come up.

I'll still be looking for loopholes though.

I really doubt that there will be many. Wizards isn't stupid.

Yeah.... and it's not like these types of decks ever make it to tier 1.

 (Unless Yosei lock made it. I wasn't really playing magic when it was around so I don't know. ).

I have not played Magic since Mirage..

Man, what happened? Why are there SO MANY FUCKING SETS?????

I have not played Magic since Mirage..

Man, what happened? Why are there SO MANY FUCKING SETS?????

They release about three or so per year. Even if you stop, they still have a market and want to keep it going.

I love this game. Every time they start previewing a set my mind gets blown, but this one looks to take the cake. (I've loved the direction they took with/since Ravinica, and I'm glad they hardly waited before coming back to the dual mechanic) My favorite part about this block is how they used flavor to take just about every "off-the-wall" thing they could do with card abilities and cram them all in the same place!

To me, MtG represents the paradigm of game design (the color wheel is a metaphor for marrying the two most important aspects of a game, and the principles behind it can be applied to any kind of game design). Anyone interested in any kind of game development can learn their most important lessons from this single game.

Also, they just released a new client for Magic Online (it might be a few days before it's actually up and running though) so if you are the type that buys cards and wants to play with them AT ANY TIME, it'd be a great time to check it out. I know only one guy from here that's on it and it pisses me off.

I play on MTGO pretty often.

Just need to re-download MTGO3 once it's up and running because my bandwith is near its limit right now.

MTGO3 is horrible I really hope they fix it before it comes out of beta the interface is WORSE than MTGO2 which is pretty surprising!

Beseech the Queen won't see any real play, except maybe as a budget replacement for Grim Tutor in Legacy.

Also, Shadowmoor is a really cool set, but it looks like the untap symbol isn't going to get used much, at least competitively.  Which is sad, because it's pretty neato.

Also, the combo is Drowner of Secrets, Leech Bonder, and Utopia Vow.  You queers.

You mean that the combo is Drowner of Secrets and Leech Bonder, or Leech Bonder and Utopia vow. Depending on which ability you want to copy indefinitley. Both are limited though, and there's no way to get all three to play together (both Utopia vow and Drowner of Secrets require a tap, and neither give a chance for the other to respond before the creature is tapped since tapping is a cost in either case, and happens before the ability hits the stack. If you aren't stuck to standard, paradise mantle can sub for Utopia vow if you don't want to dip into green. *and lets your newly empowered leech bonder still attack*)

Right now I'm thinking Experiment Kraj, Elvish Abberation, Oorochi Sunstrainer, and Knacksaw Clique. The setup is horrid, but as a bonus you can play the opponent's spells (paying for them using the bonus mana each time you do it) before you finish them off.

And yeah, I played the beta for MTGOIII and the interface seriously pissed me off. You would think that with such a large creative/art team with them they would have at least one person that knows how to design an interface that isn't worse than it previously was. I think it's because of the color choice, and they were far too concerned with making everything look "updated" and "cool". Maybe it's just one of those things that you have to get used to for it to work better (at least here's hoping).

Oooh its pretty!

Wow the Reaper King is pretty insanely awesome.