BORN OF THE GODS SPOILERS!
Spoilers, Rumors, and Speculation forum
Posted on Jan. 13, 2014, 12:17 a.m. by cschiller
Alright everybody, BNG spoilers have officially dropped! Here's the new stuff we got:
Ephara, God of the Polis
2WU
Legendary Enchantment Creature - God
Indestructible
As long as your devotion to white and blue is less than seven, Ephara isn't a creature.
At the beginning of each upkeep, if you had a creature enter the battlefield under your control last turn, draw a card.
6/5
Pharagax Giant
4R
Creature - Giant
Tribute 2
When Pharagax Giant enters the battlefield, if tribute wasn't paid, it deals 5 damage to each opponent.
3/3
Pain Seer
1B
Creature - Human Wizard
1B
Inspiration - Whenever it becomes untapped, reveal the top card of your library and put it into your hand. You lose life equal to its converted mana cost.
2/2
Oreskos Sun Guide
1W
Creature - Cat Monk
Inspired - Whenever it becomes untapped, you gain two life.
2/2
Nyxborn Shieldmate
Enchantment Creature - Human Soldier
W
Bestow 2W
1/2
Everflame Eidolon
Enchantment Creature - Spirit
Bestow 2R
R: +1/+0 until end of turn.
1/1
Skyreaping
Sorcery
1G
Deals damage to each creature with flying equal to your devotion to green.
Ashiok's Adept
Creature - Human Wizard
2B
Heroic - Each opponent discards a card.
1/3
Archetype of Imagination
Enchantment Creature - Human Wizard
4UU
Creatures you control have flying.
Creatures your opponents control lose flying and can't gain flying.
3/2
I honestly think Kiora's follower has good potential to see some sort of play. It's a good ability in decent colors.
January 13, 2014 4:25 p.m.
lord_of_the_snakes says... #5
i'm really excited about phenax, and the archetypes look really fun
January 13, 2014 5:06 p.m.
But how often do you really want your seer to untap? Even Bob is good in decks with avg cmc below 3... so if you draw a ton, you lose a ton, I see him more in a BR aggro build wherein you win quickly and attack with him every time. now remember, its only when you UNTAP him that it triggers. That implies he needs to be tapped for this to be a bob, and there is no reliable way to tap him except for Springleaf Drum
January 13, 2014 7:43 p.m.
Dalektable says... #8
marok Hidden Strings ciphered onto insert creature you want to be attacking with here
January 13, 2014 8:12 p.m.
between Kiora, the Crashing Wave Springleaf Drum , Prophet of Kruphix , and kiora's follower there appears to be an interesting deck here, the amount of ramp is insane, add Prime Speaker Zegana to essentially be a simic Sphinx's Revelation (flashed in with prophet) as well as some "inspired" 2 drops to get mana out of with springleaf drum, and well, this could be interesting.
also 2 kiora's followers gives an infinitely big Wake Thrasher
January 13, 2014 8:26 p.m.
BigBearinIt says... #11
Kiora's Follower is going to be nasty, especially while Pyxis of Pandemonium , Zhur-Taa Druid and Illusionist's Bracers are all standard legal...and green has some SSSSSSSSERIOUS mana ramp right now. O_O
January 13, 2014 9:32 p.m.
beakedbard says... #16
Mogis is just winning. I like the idea of Hero of Iroas he could possibly make aura decks playable. The Phoenix is cool but i don't think it should be a mythic still it could prove to go well in some red decks.
January 14, 2014 1:04 a.m.
The Phoenix is gg in limited so I'm sure mythic is appropriate.
January 14, 2014 1:07 a.m.
I'll play him all day in my esper against opposing control. Free extra draws, and I'm not worried about them hurting me too much, and if anything else, he will be fun.
January 14, 2014 1:15 a.m.
well, Hero of Iroas is instantly going in my enchantment EDH, and is a card i already love, i love these medallion bears.
phoenix doesn't seem like mythic quality, i think it should at least be tribute 4, or have haste naturally. but we shall see how it plays, i dont know better than R&D
January 14, 2014 7:49 a.m.
I find Mogis to be fairly lack-luster... 2 damage each turn....? that's it...?
It's okay, but would you Rakdos colors spend 4 mana on a 10 turn clock? It's the same as a 2/2 creature that can't be blocked or pumped... not something Red or Black would normally want.
As an example, Obzedat does that, and gives you life, and doesn't need Devotion to be a 5/5 body.
At least Ephara gives card advantage when it doesn't have Devotion... and that card advantage will help get to 7 Devotion. Mogis relies on it's Devotion to be at all useable, but has nothing to help achieve it, and only a slow, non-interactive effect.
January 14, 2014 8:03 a.m.
Hero of Iroas = T4 Assemble the Legion . WIN!
I can't wait to play a - T1: Elvish Mystic - T2: 'Fanatic of Xenagos', - T3: 'Flame-Wreathed Pheonix', - T4: Stormbreath Dragon
January 14, 2014 8:08 a.m.
Hero of Iroas and Ephara, God of the Polis just made my U/W heroic deck playable! It's going to be great!
January 14, 2014 8:15 a.m.
Rayenous its auras only unfortunately. Otherwise it would be pretty overpowered in a world of detention sphere haha.
January 14, 2014 9:27 a.m.
beakedbard says... #24
Looking at Fanatic of Xenagos i really want Centaurs to get some more good stuff now. I love making tribal decks its just a shame Humans are the only thing remotely viable atm. Minotaurs sorta work but not enough.
January 14, 2014 9:36 a.m.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #25
Mogis is disappointing, he was the card I was looking forward to most. Ability should of been attacking creatures you control get +2/0 or whenever a creature you control dies it deals damage equal to its power to target player. They completely missed with this one.
Hero of Iroas will be a beast in aura decks. Flame-wreathed Phoenix looks great in a G/R Monsters deck. Fanatic of Xenagos is awesome. Turn 2 4/4? please and thank you.
I wonder if Fated Retribution will see play.
January 14, 2014 9:53 a.m.
I'm finding Tribute Aggro interesting. - Hard to decide if one should pay or not.
Assuming - T1: Elvish Mystic - T2: 'Fanatic of Xenagos', - T3: 'Flame-Wreathed Pheonix', - T4: Stormbreath Dragon
Xenagos and Phoenix both Tributes paid
T1: Elvish Mystic - 0 Damage total
T2: Xenagos Tribute paid - No attack - 0 Damage total
T3: Phoenix Tribute paid - Attack for 4 - 4 Damage total
T4: Stormbreath - Attack for 13 - 17 Damage total
Xenagos Tribute paid, Phoenix Tribute not paid
T1: Elvish Mystic - 0 Damage total
T2: Xenagox Tribute paid - No attack - 0 Damage total
T3: Phoenix No Tribute paid - Attack for 7 - 7 Damage total
T4: Stormbreath - Attack for 11 - 18 Damage total
Xenagos Tribute not paid, Phoenix Tribute paid
T1: Elvish Mystic - 0 Damage total
T2: Xenagos No Tribute - Attack for 4 - 4 Damage total
T3: Phoenix Tribute - Attack for 3 - 7 Damage total
T4: Stormbreath - Attack for 12 - 19 Damage total
Xenagos and Phoenix neither Tribute paid
T1: 0 Elvish Mystic - 0 Damage total
T2: 4 Xenagos - Attack for 4 - 4 Damage total
T3: 10 Phoenix - No Tribute - Attack for 6 - 10 Damage total
T4: 20 Stormbreath - Attack for 10 - 20 Damage total
This shows that against aggro, it may be best to pay the Tribute as the initial boost to the attacks are worse than the +1/+1 counters on subsequent attacks.
On the draw with a Supreme Verdict in hand, a control player needs to be aware that a T4 Verdict may be too late if they pay the Tribute... whereas on the play, you can keep the damage to 4 if you pay the Tribute both times.
A huge difference when considering whether or not to pay.
January 14, 2014 10:43 a.m.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #27
@Rayenous Thanks for doing that math. Was going to do it myself, you saved me 5 mins and helped me make up my mind on whether to pre-order the Phoenix. $8 on SCG now and they're going fast, this is probably the lowest we will see it at. Ebay sellers are already at $12-20. A turn 3 evasive and hasty 3/3 that returns to your hand or a flying Polukranos, World Eater . G/R Monsters is getting nasty. Can't wait to see Xenagos in god form.
January 14, 2014 11:24 a.m.
Does anyone see Hero of Iroas going into modern boggle or auras decks? I think he'd be a great fit
January 14, 2014 12:23 p.m.
@Brett05 its pretty pointless, they need as many auras as possible, and the typical ones used are
of all these only Unflinching Courage gives them any benefit for using hero of iroas, he wont make a splash in boggle decks, but he might find a home somewhere, definitely will see play with Uril, the Miststalker and Bruna, Light of Alabaster edh decks.
January 14, 2014 12:29 p.m.
I actually doubt it'll be used in Bubbles. It's pretty redundant when all your auras are free. It'd serve better as a more efficient card for it's slot.
January 14, 2014 12:41 p.m.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #31
Legendary Creature Kraken Rare
Tromokratis has hexproof unless it's attacking or blocking.
Tromokratis can't be blocked unless all creatures defending player controls block it. (If any creature that player controls doesn't block this creature, it can't be blocked.)
Illus. Matt Stewart #55/165 8/8
January 14, 2014 12:54 p.m.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #34
His mana const is UU5, sorry forgot it. P/T is at the bottom.
January 14, 2014 12:57 p.m.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #36
He looks better now that I re-read his rules text. All creatures must block. Not all creatures able to block. Very significant.
January 14, 2014 1:02 p.m.
ooh, so if i Pacifism a creature, i have an unblockable 8/8?, thats neat
January 14, 2014 1:10 p.m.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #38
Fated Intervention GGG2
Instant Rare
Put two 3/3 green Centaur enchantment creature tokens onto the battlefield. If it's your turn, scry 2.
Illus. Svetlin Velinov #121/165
January 14, 2014 1:16 p.m.
I like the idea of Ciphering Hands of Binding on it... opponent will have a tapped creature every turn, so he'll never block.
The fact that he has Hexproof unless he's attacking or blocking makes him as hard to deal with as Obzedat.
January 14, 2014 1:19 p.m.
Except he gets hit by Wraths, which is really the biggest boon of Ghost Dad's ability
January 14, 2014 1:21 p.m.
BigBearinIt says... #41
Loving all the love to monster decks. Green devo died out pretty fast, having to switch over to more Gruul-style. Now the Gruul-style will pay off in bigger dividends IMO. Love that Phoenix.
This is what we needed: options.
January 14, 2014 11:45 p.m.
Uggggggggg, i want that phenax spoiler so bad. I reallllly hope it's something better than mill 3 during each opponens upkeep but I feel strongly that is what it's gonna be. Any predictions?
January 14, 2014 11:46 p.m.
BigBearinIt says... #43
Well, given that the trailer was talking about how Phenax likes to "play with them," I'm assuming it's going to be a bit more control-based than just mill. I just really can't think of what it would be.
My top three guesses:
Something along the lines of Duskmantle Guildmage 's first activate ability (damage for cards that go into the graveyard)
Something along the lines of Shipwreck Singer 's second activate ability (P/T reduction for attacking/blocking/all creatures)
Mill cards at beginning of upkeep.
There's also a possibility that it could be some kind of (and this is really hopeful) top-deck opponent exile thing. That would be something interesting to see, solely because it would screw over something like Scavenging Ooze . I just don't think that'll happen, though, as Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver is already cheap enough to offer that capability.
I'll be honest: I'm hoping for something more along the lines of the first one. Moreover, I can only hope that it'll be cheap in the same vein as Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver . I'm really getting a bit sick of seeing Dimir cards that are overcosted for what they provide.
January 14, 2014 11:57 p.m.
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I thought this was an enchantment block, not a token block? heh
January 15, 2014 12:18 a.m.
BigBearinIt says... #46
Drown in Sorrow is tasty sideboard. Ephara's Enlightenment is pretty nice as well. Champion of Stray Souls? I'm just not seeing it, especially in a Mythic slot. Yeah, you can use it to get Gray Merchants back into your battlefield to slam for some big damage, but that's a little too hopeful IMO.
January 15, 2014 12:36 a.m.
That's because Champion isn't made for standard play. It's much better in Commander or at the kitchen table.
January 15, 2014 12:39 a.m.
BigBearinIt says... #48
Is it bad that I'm thinking of how sad someone will be when their Burning-Tree Emissary and Voyaging Satyr buffs for Nykthos are going to crumble to Drown in Sorrow?
January 15, 2014 12:39 a.m.
I would bone that skeleton. All puns aside asdfuckingl; I love him
January 15, 2014 12:40 a.m.
BigBearinIt says... #50
Sorry, @JWiley129. I only play in Standard, so I always only think of Standard. Now that I see the capabilities for Commander, I TOTALLY get it.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #1
Went to pre-order Pain Seer on Ebay and the card is at $15 a pop now, I missed out big time.
Ephara is going for $25... One seller has 10 at $10 a piece.
January 13, 2014 3:44 p.m.