Tuesday Review: Alara Reborn Spoiler List

Here are some cards that caught my eye:

Wall of Denial - 1WU (Creature – Illusion Wall, 0/8) UNCOMMON
Defender, Flying, Shroud

You gotta be kidding me! I hope to get a couple of these whenever I draft. Seriously! You can’t Terror it, Path, or Banefire it! IT HAS SHROUD! SHROUD! You have to do 8 damage to it, how in the world do you do 8 damage to a wall!!! I’m expecting to see this card in Standard play. In my next 5CC build, I will be playing 4 Plumeveils, 4 Walls of Reverence, AND 4 WALLS OF DENIAL!!! Dang Shroud ability…

Mayael’s Aria - WRG (Enchantment) RARE
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control if you control a creature with power 5 or greater. Then you gain 10 life if you control a creature with power 10 or greater. Then you win the game if you control a creature with power 20 or greater.

I love alternate win condition cards, but with this card, you don't need the alternate win condition. This card's other abilities should allow you to win the game. I don't really see this card getting much action in Standard play but that's what I said when I saw Cruel Ultimatum. I hope I'm proved wrong. The chance of giving all of your guys +1/+1 and potentially gaining 10 life per turn is way too much tempo. That's why Cruel Ultimatum & Broodmate Dragon are so powerful, playing those cards give you so much tempo, your opponent now has to try to keep up with you. It's really hard trying to keep up with someone who's guys are growing +1/+1 everyturn as well gaining 10 life per turn.

Maelstrom Nexus WUBRG (Enchantment) MYTHIC RARE
The first spell you play each turn has Cascade.

Storm is one of my favorite abilities of all time (I even have a Pauper Storm deck) and Cascade reminds me of it. Not too sure if Cascade will make an impact on Standard play because Storm never really did, but I do expect someone to break the Cascade ability in Extended.

Dauntless Escort 1WG (Creature – Rhox Soldier, 3/3) RARE
Sacrifice Dauntless Escort: Creatures you control are indestructible this turn.

A GREAT SIDEBOARD CARD!

I don’t see Alara Reborn making a huge change to Standard, usually the biggest changes happen when a set is phased out not when a new set is added. But I am still planning on going to the large regional Alara Reborn Pre-Release this weekend. Patrick Chapin’s going to be there gunslinging, as well a guest artist will be there, and there will be a couple of vendors buying and selling cards as well. Last time I went I got 2 promo Ajani Vengeants for $7 total!!! James from "Games by James" was there selling cards for 30% off! There were a bunch of other great deals but I already spent too much money that day. So far it’s going to be Chong and me. After the individual sealed deck, maybe we’ll join the 2HG sealed deck tournament, then we'll come home to catch up on the NFL draft and with our winnings, we'll booster draft Alara Reborn!!! Who wants to join us!