Full 2010 Spoiler

[Matty the Squid]

I'm surprised this hasn't been posted yet, but the full Core Set 2010 spoiler is up on mtgsalvation. Enjoy.

[Matty the Squid]

So, some thoughts:

(spoiler warning, obv)

Captain of the Watch 4WW
Creature - Human Soldier
Vigilance
Other Soldier creatures you control get +1/+1 and have vigilance.
When Captain of the Watch enters the battlefield, put three 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens onto the battlefield.

This is a card I'm really happy to see. It's about time that White, the color of little guys, got a one card army that brings a lord along to boot. Eat your heart out, Deranged Hermit. Also, awesome art.

Fun side story: my favorite card in Planer Chaos was probably Damnation, because I've been saying for YEARS that it was silly that Black, the best color at killing stuff, did not have the best creature-killing card in the game. However, when Damnation was legal, some people felt it was a mistake, since its existence meant there was no reason to play White. My contention was that White not getting played wasn't Damnation's fault, but rather it indicated that White's core mechanics weren't getting pushed hard enough for constructed. If the only reason to play White is one card that only barely fits into White's chunk of the pie, then there's a problem with White.

Over the last year, we've seen a lot of White decks featuring little guys, so I'd say that's definitely a step in the right direction. This card expands in another way, providing a card that fits into White's "little guy" philosophy but doesn't necessarily go into a rush deck. It would be perfectly at home in a slower mid-range deck, just like the Hermits before it.

Harm's Way W
Instant
The next 2 damage that a source of your choice would deal to you or a permanent you control this turn is dealt to target creature or player instead.

This is another White mechanic that I've been dying to see expanded. White is the master of defensive magic, but it's hard to make life gain and damage prevention competitive. Damage redirection, though, can be brutal enough to make the cut, but we haven't seen much of it since, like, Shining Shoal. I hope this is an indication that we'll see it more frequently now.

Palace Guard 2W
Creature - Human Soldier
Palace Guard can block any number of creatures.
1/4

I actually think it might have been a mistake to put this card in as a common in the same set that changed the combat rules. Look for this to cause rules headaches all pre-release.

Stormfront Pegasus 1W
Creature - Pegasus
Flying
2/1

Woo! Pegasus in Core Set!

Djinn of Wishes
Creature - Djinn 3UU
Flying
Djinn of Wishes enters the battlefield with three wish counters on it.
2UU, Remove a wish counter from Djinn of Wishes: Reveal the top card of your library. You may play that card without paying its mana cost. If you don't, exile it.
4/4

Ever since seeing Charlie Tortellini smash face with actual Air Elementals all those years ago, I love pointing out guys in each set that are just way better than Air Elemental.

Also, MAGIC WORDS. Alarm bells and all that.

Ice Cage 1U
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can't attack or block, and its activated abilities can't be activated.
When enchanted creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, destroy Ice Cage.

I fully expect at least one person at the pre-release to lose a game because they misread this card and just thought it was a really good Crystallization.

Illusionary Servant 1UU
Creature - Illusion
Flying
When Illusionary Servant becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it.
3/4

Wow, best Tar-Pit Warrior ever. Well, except maybe Horobi. But still, awesome.

Sphinx Ambassador 5UU
Creature - Sphinx
Flying
Whenever Sphinx Ambassador deals combat damage to a player, search that player's library for a card, then that player names a card. If you searched for a creature card that isn't the named card, you may put it onto the battlefield under your control. Then that player shuffles his or her library.
5/5

This might be the coolest mini-game ever, especially in limited.

Child of Night 1B
Creature - Vampire
Lifelink (Damage dealt by this creature also causes you to gain that much life.)
2/1

FINALLY. Do you realize that even after the great Orzhov revelation that "hey, Lifelink actually makes a lot of sense in Black," the only mono-black creature with Lifelink was the original El-Hajjaj himself? Coincidentally, this Vampire puts him to shame.

I'm also glad that whoever was in charge of the style guide finally decided that not every Magic Vampire has to come from the Nosferatu clan.

Kelinore Bat 2B
Creature - Bat
Flying
2/1

YEEEEESSSSS!!! I have been a long-time Imp hater, for the simple reason that Imps took up the same design space as one of my favorite creature types, Bats. Bats are usually used to represent small Black fliers (Vampire Bats, Dakmor Bat), but for several sets Imps took over that roll (Pit Imp, Bog Imp). I was very happy to see Vampire Bats in 10th, and now we see even Dusk Imp replaced with a much cooler alternative. It's about time.

Vampire Aristocrat 2B
Creature - Vampire Rogue
Sacrifice a creature: Vampire Aristocrat gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
2/2

Even Nantuko Husk/Phyrexian Ghoul got updated with a much cooler creature type. Unfortunately, it's also now MUCH worse than it used to be. Le sigh.

Fog G
Instant
Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn.

This may seem like a minor one, but it's really interesting to me that Fog is back in Green now. It just felt right when it moved into White. Seeing Fog in the Core Set feels almost as weird as seeing Darkness.

Prized Unicorn 3G
Creature - Unicorn
All creatures able to block Prized Unicorn do so.
2/2

WOOOO!!! UNICORN IN CORE SET!

Protean Hydra XG
Creature - Hydra
Protean Hydra enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters on it.
If damage would be dealt to Protean Hydra, prevent that damage and remove that many +1/+1 counters from it.
Whenever a +1/+1 counter is removed from Protean Hydra, put two +1/+1 counters on it at the beginning of the end step.
0/0

This is such a cool design for a hydra. Captures it soooo well, and it's remarkably simple.

[Travis Ganiko]

Wrath......No......

[Keoni]

I'm always excited about a new set, and M10 is no exception. There are a lot of excellent cards here; however, they are overshadowed by a few cards that are on "another level" which disappoints me.

For example, cards like Black Knight, White Knight, Hypnotic Spectre, Goblin Chieftain, and Elvish Archdruid (all rares and uncommons) are overshadowed by Lightning Bolt, a common...

I trust R&D knows what they're doing, with the exception of the change to "Damage on the Stack".

[Keoni]

Emerald Oryx 3g
Creature - Antelope Common
Forestwalk (This creature is unblockable as long as defending player controls a Forest.)

Illus. Daren Bader 2/3

This card is dumb. Seriously. Much worse than rushwood dryad. =/

[Matty the Squid]

Keoni said:

Emerald Oryx 3g
Creature - Antelope Common
Forestwalk (This creature is unblockable as long as defending player controls a Forest.)

Illus. Daren Bader 2/3

This card is dumb. Seriously. Much worse than rushwood dryad. =/

I think it's pretty clear that the Oryx was designed as a "skill-tester." It's just so out of whack with what Green usually pays for its creatures. The most embarassing comparison is to Bog Wraith. You know things are bad when Black is getting a better deal than Green.

To be fair, it's a fine limited sideboard card. And of course, I will probably lose an embarassing game to this guy at some point, just like that one game I went from 20 to 0 from Shore Snapper hits.

What really suprises me about this card is the creature type. I personally think Dryads are much more of a fantasy staple than. um, Antelopes.

On a different note, here's a fun discussion starter: lets imagine that, just like in several sets in the past, two incredible removal spells come in the same common print run. Which do you grab first: Lightning Bolt or Doom Blade?

[Keoni]

Matty the Squid said:

Keoni said:

Emerald Oryx 3g
Creature - Antelope Common
Forestwalk (This creature is unblockable as long as defending player controls a Forest.)

Illus. Daren Bader 2/3

This card is dumb. Seriously. Much worse than rushwood dryad. =/

I think it's pretty clear that the Oryx was designed as a "skill-tester." It's just so out of whack with what Green usually pays for its creatures. The most embarassing comparison is to Bog Wraith. You know things are bad when Black is getting a better deal than Green.

To be fair, it's a fine limited sideboard card. And of course, I will probably lose an embarassing game to this guy at some point, just like that one game I went from 20 to 0 from Shore Snapper hits.

What really suprises me about this card is the creature type. I personally think Dryads are much more of a fantasy staple than. um, Antelopes.

On a different note, here's a fun discussion starter: lets imagine that, just like in several sets in the past, two incredible removal spells come in the same common print run. Which do you grab first: Lightning Bolt or Doom Blade?

Doom blade hands down. It fits in more "decks" and kills more things... No amount of pump or damage prevention will stop it from killing the target (unless it's black, of course). But that means you're putting the guy to your left in red. Yes, burning to the face is good sometimes, but definitely not as good as killing any creature. Also, for lightning bolt to be better than doom blade, it needs to be in an extremely aggressive deck (and i don't like forcing archetypes). Both are splashable, but if you had a choice between splashing lightning bolt and splashing doom blade, which would you splash? I believe you see where i'm going with this. However, it also depends on what's in the pack as well... that's always a factor. In a vacuum though, definitely blade (all your bomb are belong to me!)

A note on the antelope... I'm really disappointed in the card, it would be infinitely better at 3/2 or 3/1... If you take a look at 10th... Rock Badger is a 3/3 with mountainwalk for 4R.. Couldn't they tailored a green creature along the lines of that? I guess antelopes aren't very violent or something....

[Matty the Squid]

Keoni said:

Doom blade hands down. It fits in more "decks" and kills more things... No amount of pump or damage prevention will stop it from killing the target (unless it's black, of course). But that means you're putting the guy to your left in red. Yes, burning to the face is good sometimes, but definitely not as good as killing any creature. Also, for lightning bolt to be better than doom blade, it needs to be in an extremely aggressive deck (and i don't like forcing archetypes). Both are splashable, but if you had a choice between splashing lightning bolt and splashing doom blade, which would you splash? I believe you see where i'm going with this. However, it also depends on what's in the pack as well... that's always a factor. In a vacuum though, definitely blade (all your bomb are belong to me!)

Shucks, I was really hoping someone would champion Lightning Bolt. It's no fun when everyone agrees on a debate. While Lightning Bolt may be the big exciting poster child, I agree that Doom Blade would be the better pick. While Keoni made solid points, another big factor for me is that Black commons just looks like a much stronger in limited than Red commons. The next best Red common is Seismic Strike, which is also hot, and then, what, Berserkers of Blood Ridge maybe? Canyon Minotaur? Basically just big dumb bodies, not exactly guys to get excited about. There are also a bunch of real stinkers like Yawning Fissure.

Meanwhile, after Doomblade, Black has another two or three other common removal spells, a couple of solid evasion guys, and one of my old favorite card advantage monsters, Gravedigger. So, not only is Doom Blade probably a better card, it also sets you up into a deeper color.

No one favors the bolt though? Any other candidates for best common?

[Keoni]

Matty the Squid said:

Shucks, I was really hoping someone would champion Lightning Bolt. It's no fun when everyone agrees on a debate. While Lightning Bolt may be the big exciting poster child, I agree that Doom Blade would be the better pick. While Keoni made solid points, another big factor for me is that Black commons just looks like a much stronger in limited than Red commons. The next best Red common is Seismic Strike, which is also hot, and then, what, Berserkers of Blood Ridge maybe? Canyon Minotaur? Basically just big dumb bodies, not exactly guys to get excited about. There are also a bunch of real stinkers like Yawning Fissure.
Meanwhile, after Doomblade, Black has another two or three other common removal spells, a couple of solid evasion guys, and one of my old favorite card advantage monsters, Gravedigger. So, not only is Doom Blade probably a better card, it also sets you up into a deeper color.

No one favors the bolt though? Any other candidates for best common?

The deeper color argument is a good one... I didn't look at it much before, but last night I skimmed over the spoiler and I saw that red had (imo) the best cards for limited hands down. The only problem is that they were all pretty much at uncommon or rare level. The majority of red's cards were just dumb creatures or spells that don't do anything (woot panic attack). It kinda sucks to have red as a secondary color too too, because the new spitting earth is awful if you barely have any mountains.