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Oath of the Gatewatch information
Battle for Zendikar OT
Next block: Shadows over Innistrad
Welcome to the Multiverse! Multiple worlds exist side by side in different dimensions, known as planes, and each plane is as different as night is from the day. All of them, however, have a form of magical energy known as mana, generated from bonds to the land, that can be channeled into powerful spells. Residents of these planes are usually unaware of other worlds, but there are some special beings with the ability to safely travel between them, known as Planeswalkers.
Magic: the Gathering is a Trading Card Game, the first of its kind, developed by Richard Garfield and his playtesters for the gaming company Wizards of the Coast in 1993. The game quickly became a big hit, and it is currently bigger than it has ever been. In the standard game, you and your opponent play the role of dueling Planeswalkers, using customized 60-card decks made up of your spells, the creatures you can summon, your mana bonds with lands, and even other Planeswalkers you can call in to help out. Whoever can get his or her opponent down to 0 life, from a start of 20, wins.
Oath of the Gatewatch is the second set of the Battle for Zendikar block, continuing many of the themes and adding some new ones, and concluding the story. This topic will cover the two weeks before all cards in the Oath of the Gatewatch set are fully revealed, known as the spoiler weeks, where cards are slowly unveiled every weekday, up through the set release itself. Some cards have already been revealed during events like World Magic Cup (or leaks), but this is when they are rolled out at a consistent pace. The main website updates at 8 AM PST / 11 AM EST, but Wizards also provides card previews to other sites that will unveil them throughout the day, including non-English sites.
GETTING STARTED
If you're a beginner, feel free to come in--that's why this is in OT, after all. Spoiler season is one of the most exciting times for a Magic player, and it would be great for more to join in. Us regulars can get a bit technical with card evaluations and use a lot of jargon, and many of us will loudly proclaim that a cool-looking card is junk, or say that a lame-looking card is really powerful, but feel free to ask us if you want an explanation.
To see what a game is like, check out Geek and Sundry's Spellslinger series, where Day[9] battles various geek celebrities, often losing, using simple and easy to follow decks.
To get started, check out the official page. Basically:
* It's recommended that new players play Magic Duels (thread). It's a great way to learn the game on your own, and it's free!
* For your first deck, you can buy an Intro Pack, a simple prebuilt deck that comes with a few booster packs. For each new set, five Intro Packs are released. There are also Clash Packs and Duel Decks that provide two decks for a game right out of the box, but are a bit more complicated, the latter more so.
* To get your physical collection started, buy a Deck Builder's Toolkit, which includes not just a starting collection of cards (including a lot of lands), but also has some booster packs and is a good place to store cards. You could also buy a Holiday Gift Box to get an even larger starting collection and better storage. You can watch this PAX panel about deckbuilding to learn how to make your own decks.
* To learn about the theories behind deckbuilding and gameplay, check out Level One.
* Once your skill advances, another popular way to play Magic casually is Commander. Each player chooses a legendary creature to act as commander and then chooses 99 additional cards, one of each card that isn't a basic land (of which you can have any number) and only of the colors of the commander, to make up the deck. In games, each player starts at 40 life and there are typically four or more players. Wizards provides prebuilt decks for this format too.
* While game stores will often hold Magic events at other times, every store that has Magic events will have Friday Night Magic. There, you will be able to find other players in your area to both have matches with and trade with. Find game stores here. And to get started participating in your local game store (LGS) scene, attend a prerelease!
PRERELEASE
Prerelease primer
Introduction to Two-Headed Giant
While the set won't officially be sold until the release date, that isn't the first time you can get your hands on the new cards. Game stores hold prerelease events for every set, and in this set's event, every player is given a box with six booster packs (4 of this set, 2 of Battle for Zendikar) and a random additional rare card. From this pool of cards, all of which you keep, each player builds a deck of 40 cards and participates in a Swiss-system tournament. This is a fun and casual event, where everyone is still trying to figure out the set, so don't worry about messing up. In addition to normal duels, there are also Two-Headed Giant events, where you pair up with another player and face off against another team.
Two-Headed Giant plays a larger role than usual in this set, with mechanics even designed to work better with a teammate, so even if you've never played it before, it's recommended that you try it out this time.
Prerelease events will be held on January 16–17, 2016. Call your local game store a few days ahead of time to register, or they might just run out of room. Find local game stores here.
CHANGES
Battle for Zendikar marked the start of a major change to how Magic sets are handled, with an in-depth explanation for why here. In short, the two-set block model means:
* No more core sets.
* Blocks will have two sets instead of three. Yes, that means Battle for Zendikar block will only have two sets.
* Without any core sets, there will now be two blocks a year.
* Standard (a rotating format that only includes the latest sets) rotates with each block, so it will now rotate twice a year. Three blocks will be in Standard at a time. Sets will be in Standard for a max of 18 months.
Concerning changes this set in particular brings, meet the thread title's namesake:
For a long time, Magic has been using the same symbol for colorless mana and generic costs, but no more! Colorless mana is now represented by the <> symbol (also written as C) and generic costs are still represented as (1) and such, which can be seen in the below reprint.
As for why this change wasn't introduced in Battle for Zendikar, it's a contentious issue within Wizards of the Coast itself, but we'll get to the winning reason in a bit.
STORY
Lore introduction
Guide to Zendikar
Long ago, before mana even developed distinct colors, the Eldrazi were born in the gaps between planes. Like Planeswalkers, they are able to travel between worlds, but they devour every one that they come across. There appear to be swarms of Eldrazi, but in fact, there are only three--Ulamog, Kozilek, and the leader, Emrakul--whose projections into the third dimension appear as distinct beings. Over 6000 years ago, they were sealed inside Zendikar, a wild plane overflowing with mana. However, they were released, and that's where we started Battle for Zendikar.
Summary of the Battle for Zendikar story
At the end of the Battle for Zendikar story, Gideon, Jace, and Nissa succeeded in trapping the Eldrazi titan Ulamog in a hedron cage, but the demon Ob Nixilis took advantage of the situation by using the cage's power to reignite his Planeswalker spark. This released Ulamog, and as a last bit of spite, Nixilis called upon the other titan still on Zendikar, Kozilek. The armies gathered at the Sea Gate had a hard enough time fighting one titan, but now they must deal with two.
Oath of the Gatewatch story
Story archive - Scroll to the bottom for chronological order; the layout of this archive is trash.
SET THEMES
Cards (alternate, includes leaks)
Battle for Zendikar mechanics
Oath of the Gatewatch mechanics
Oath of the Gatewatch carries over some mechanics from Battle for Zendikar, and has several new additions. The returning mechanics are:
Devoid - These cards require colored mana to cast, but they still count as colorless cards, as shown by a neat frame effect.
Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you get some effect specified by the card with this ability.
Colorless mana matters
Wastes is a new basic land that provides colorless mana, but it does not have a basic land type and colorless is not a color. So you can use any number of Wastes in your deck, including in Commander, but it does not affect mechanics like domain or Battle for Zendikar's converge. Wastes are only going to appear in this set, and you must open them in your card pool. Limited games usually allow you to get basic lands from a land station that the store provides, but that won't be the case with Wastes. As for why this change wasn't introduced in Battle for Zendikar, here is the winning reason--
--to coincide with this new mechanic. The colorless mana symbol in costs can only be paid for by colorless mana. Note that these costs will only appear in this set, but the new colorless mana symbol will be permanent.
Having lots of creatures matters
Allies have to work together, and that is represented by the new cohort mechanic. You tap the ally with the ability and another ally to create an effect, no mana needed. Note that while the first ally can't have summoning sickness, the second can. As everyone gathers to fight, the support mechanic works to boost the team. The number designated by the ability shows how many creatures you can put +1/+1 counters on. Support effects can't put multiple counters on the same creature. If a creature has a support ability, then it can't put counters on itself. Now, you're probably wondering how often you'll have six other creatures (seven total) out, but that's when the next aspect comes in.
Teammates matter
Since the Eldrazi titans are teaming up, that means the Planeswalkers will have to team up too. I mentioned before that Two-Headed Giant plays a larger role in this set than usual, and this is shown by the surge mechanic. If you or your teammate already cast a spell this turn, then you can pay the alternate cost of this spell, which is cheaper and often adds a bonus effect. This mechanic still works perfectly fine without a teammate, in case your jimmies are being rustled.
Wallet Sculpting continued
Zendikar Expeditions is a special set within this set, made up of 20 full-art foil versions of lands: the Shadowmoor hybrid lands and 10 other classic nonbasic lands. However, these lands appear at about the same rate as a foil mythic rare card. Meaning to get any one of these lands, not a particular one, each booster pack has a 1:216 chance (getting a mythic rare is a 1:8 chance). So yeah, these will be expensive as hell. Note that these cards are only Standard legal if they appear in a Standard set normally, so none of these cards are Standard legal. These cards have their own set symbol to emphasize that they are not really part of the Oath of the Gatewatch set. If you open a card that is not Standard-legal during the prerelease or other Limited formats, you can use it in your deck, but not otherwise.
RESOURCES
Official articles - Nicknamed the Mothership, these articles are the primary source of news. Recommended columns are Making Magic, written by the head designer, Mark Rosewater (aka MaRo); Uncharted Realms, which tells the story, written by various authors; and Latest Developments, written by various Magic developers. The other articles generally discuss deck building. For older articles before the site changed, go here.
OGW official card list - Best way to see all of the spoiled cards together, but only updates once a day.
Blogatog - Tumblr ran by Mark Rosewater where he answers questions, updates very frequently.
Drive to Work - Mark Rosewater's weekly podcast about Magic that he literally records as he drives to work. Two episodes are released every Friday.
MTG Salvation's Rumor Mill - The best place to get new card information. The community sucks, though.
Mythic Spoiler - A good way to see what cards have been spoiled, updates throughout the day.
Gatherer - The official method of searching through released cards. Has an autocomplete.
magiccards.info - The better search engine for cards, with bigger pictures and more details. But it doesn't have an autocomplete.
Game store locator
Prerelease primer
Introduction to Two-Headed Giant
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Battle for Zendikar OT
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