This review is divided into two parts: The review of the set as a whole, and the top and bottom 10 cards in Alara Reborn. This post is shorter, but the second part will not talk about Alara Reborn, only specific cards in it. (Well, I guess it will compare 20 cards to the rest.)

As a whole, Alara Reborn is a great set. It is all multicolor, which means everything can be much more powerful. The entire Shards of Alara block was designed around this one set. Alara Reborn has only one five colored card, Maelstrom Nexus, but that only makes it better. There are powerhouses like Maelstrom Pulse, great reprints like Meddling Mage, uncommons like Behemoth Sledge that will win limited games, and commons like Quasali Pridemage, which destroys Esper and anyone using that shard. These combined with comboing cards like Glory of Warfare and Knotvine Palidin make this set the best in a long time. The borderposts are great mana fixing cards, and they are easy to get out (although they die to cards like Qusali Pridemage, which can’t kill lands). Even the worst cards in this set are good cards, which would not be true for most sets in the same way. There are some cards that will kill you if they aren’t countered or dealt with in some other way, like Sen Triplets and Slave of Bolas. So, on a scale of one to ten, Alara Reborn rates a 9. Don’t be disappointed that it’s not a 10, it does have its own flaws, but it is still a great set. Come back in the next few days to see the best and worst cards in the set.

The Alara reborn prerelease was a fun prerelease one of the best since Shadowmoor. Sure we didnt get pitty packs but the cards were amazing!

Prerelease card:

First lets start with the scores. I got 2-2-1 and calvin got 1-3-1. Calvin and I went agenst each other and he couldve at the start of the 5 turn rule played battle grace angel but he didn’t he overlooked it. He had 5 mana and he couldve untaped a land and retapped it for the 6th mana to play battle grace angel. Insted I had 8 life for the last 5 turns. So alas after 1 hour and 10 minuts of constant battling we both tied each other. Pritty sad isnt it.

Calvin had a bant deck with the new paladin (forgot name) In it and I had a removal deck with alot ALOT of big creatures after like 6 turns or so.

Also thankfully I had someone customize my deck for me the person was verry nice and I figuerd out a few great limited tricks to tell you. (during my game with calvin I didnt know how to use the deck so it was crazy.)

Ok first benomoth sledge I didnt spell it right but o well. I is a great card that gives you a reacurring +2/+2 lifelink and trample. It is one of the best cards it won me evry game I won. It was fun to add to my 4/4 creature and have a 6/6 trample lifelinker.

Next is

What calvin put as double cast is really cascade…

IT IS THE MOST BROKEN ABILITY IN THE SET.

Next alot of poeple loved to use the sign posts the one im posting down here is the only one I ever saw played

Now for the cards evryone wants.

This guy…

and a few other cards but I dont have the pictures on this computor.

Now for a few good tips,

Limited is a slow so well dont try to make a deck that gets out alot of creatures on like turn 10 throw in some huge creatures like 3 or 5.

Use destroy cards you need some type of remove in the deck you have to have some way of killing that 4/6 they somehow get out on turn 3…

Make it 40-45 cards any bigger decks and well your just screwed.

Dont try to make a deck around most of all your rares, it will never work. Make a deck around 1 or 2 rares or if you get a few bomb rares make it around them.

Learn the SET! Learn about all the cards you can before the tortement so you know what your up agenst.

If you want to you can make a good deck that has alot of haste cards in it (black and red for this set) and you can surprise your oppoenent with them.

Alot of the cards in this set are just plain cheap, use alot of the commons and uncommons!

I’ll post about the release!

After this post, every card will be known. I have 4 uncommons and one common. Here is the full visual ARB spoiler. Missing most card arts, unfortunatly, but it’s fine other than that. If you’ve downloaded older versions, you’re definately going to want to download this one. It fixes some major problems with the earlier versions (including mana cost problems, name problems, and even a few creatures that didn’t have a P/T!, not to mention all the cards that you will have missed on the older versions.). Finally, remember to comment on the set as a whole and individual cards. Negative feedback is not a problem, say what you really think.

Let’s get the common over with first, Ethersworn Shieldmage:

This is a good card in an Esper deck. For 3 mana, you can make all of your creatures inveunerable. It can also block a ceature out of nowhere, that your oponent thought you couldn’t block.

Next is an uncomon, Vengeful Rebirth:

This is another very good uncommon. It can kill a creature or your opponent if they don’t have enough life, and if your opponent isn’t dead, you get back your Cruel Ultimatum that you can then use to kill them again.

Next is another uncommon, Dragon Appeasement:

This is a skip your draw step card, which is one type of card that I don’t like. Even though this is a good card in the right deck, I don’t like it because it forces you to skip your draw step.

Next, another uncommon, Etherwrought Page:

At first glance, I thought this was an instant. Nope! It’s an artifact that says “At the beginning of your upkeep, choose one” This lets you reject your draw if you don’t like it, and take another card from your deck. It can also give you that last point of damage that you need to kill your opponent. It can put unearth creatures right into the graveyard, where you will unearth it and it will attack that turn. It can also get you out of a tight situation where you need the extra life.

The last card of the day, and the last unspoiled card of Alara Reborn, is this card, Sangrite Backlash:

This card is best on a big, indestructible creature. If you put it on a creature that’s too small, the creature might die. If you put it on a creature that isn’t indestructible, it could be dealt lethal damage more easily. If you don’t have an indestructible creature, on a big creature, especially one with trample, it can give you the few extra points you need to win the game.

That’s it for Alara Reborn! Remember to come back Monday for my set review, and to check back a few times a week for a while after Alara Reborn comes out for my normal non spoiler posts. (And Zach will start posting again.) (And of course I will be spoiling cards again for M10 in June-July, if you like my spoilers.) Also remember to comment about the set as a whole or individual cards. (I know if you’ve been reading the post, you know this already, it’s just a reminder.) Finally, good luck at the prerelease and the release parties.

I have 11 more cards today, all common. I don’t have time to review them, so I’m just going to post all 11. Tomorrow, expecet the last 5 cards, 4 uncommons and 1 common. (Tomorrow will be a better preview day than today, because even though there will only be half as many cards, they will be mostly uncommons.)

Also, please comment, even if you leave negative comments. I will be writing a set review either tomorrow or after the prerelease, so that might also be in tomorrow’s post. Feel free to comment on your opinions or other comments.

One more note: The reminder text for Cascade is wrong. After you look for the spell, you put the cards on the bottom in a random order, not in any order.

My favorite of these is Stormcaller’s Boon, but none of them are great cards. They are actually some of the worst in the set, but they are still good. That says something about Alara Reborn. It’s a realy good set.

What to do with alara reborn, its zach agian and sorry i havent been posting but thier is really nothing for me to post about so I was waiting for the realase/ prerealease. Well now I just wanted to comment on AR.

They are making extremely strong cards now, most noobs will say that this set is horrible with no strong creatures (6/6 and up) but it is way to overpowerd. This set has so many strong cards all you need to do is make a 2-4 colored deck and you can easily make a strong deck compared to SoA and Conflux decks.

And lastly you will see that some cards from this set dont go with thier respected abilities and are starting to go off on thier own…
Have a good prerealse – and I’ll write about the prerelease

There are a lot of spoilers, again. After this post, every rare will have been spoiled, and 4 uncommons and 11 commons will be left. Commons will not get reviews, because there isn’t enough time to review all of them. I also will not review all uncommons. (At first I was going to review all of them, but as the day went on, there were more and more uncommons. An uncommon without a rewview isn’t nesicarily bad, it just was revealed late in the day. I wasn’t going to delete reviews I already wrote, so some don’t have reviews.) I have the visual spoiler again today. (5.7 MB file.)

First card is a rare, Cloven Casting:
 

This is a good card, if you can get it out. It has a high mana cost, 7, but a great effect. Cruel Ultimatiumx2? Terminatex2? Double Cancelx2? (I know, you will barely ever need to counter 2 spells, let alone 4, at the same time.)

Next is another rare, Fight to the Death:
 

This card could be good if you have an army of 1/1 tokens. It pretty much gives all creatures deathtouch for the turn, which can be good if there is a big attack against you by some trample creatures.

Another, rare, Predatory Advantage:
 

This is a good card, for 5 mana. It forces your opponent to play a creature, because otherwise you get a 2/2, which can attack on your turn.Later in the game, it might give you a 2/2 each turn. While it migt not sound like a lot, it adds up over the turns.

Next is the fourth rare for today, Deathbringer Thoctar:

This set is full of cards that will destroy Zach’s decks. This would destroy his soldier deck, the next card will destroy his zombie deck. If you kill a creature with this, and your opponent’s field is full of 1/1s, you can easily say “remove a counter, one damage to a token, it dies, another counter from that dying, next token dies…” (tokens go to the graveyard when they die then are removed from the game before anyone can do anything, if you didn’t know that.)

Next is the final rare from Alara Reborn, Identity Crisis:

For 6 mana, you can decimate someone’s hand and graveyard. That’s also not too bad, if you have the mana. Play this when your opponent has 7 cards in their hand. It can also destroy decks that rely on returning cards from the graveyard to the hand/play. If there is no graveyard or hand, not only is there nothing to return, there’s no way to return it!

Next is an uncommon, Skyclaw Thrash:

Here’s a coin flip card. It gets +1/+1 and flying if you win the flip, but even if you don’t it’s still a 4/4. It’s a good card and high pick in a booster draft.

Next is another uncommon, Unwinding Scale:

With two of these out, you can have an ifninate untap combo, which will power up cards like Wake Thrasher to infinity. It can also untap your land, giving you one extra mana every turn.It can also untap a creature that attacked so that the creature can then block.

The next card is another uncommon, Tainted Sigil:

The best use for this card is to deal a lot of damage through Corrupt or some card like that, then gain even more life with this. 

The next card, another uncommon, Flurry of Wings:

I honestly don’t see how this fits with Bant. The whole point of Bant is exalted, and this card, while it’s a great card, does not go well with exalted.

The next card is another uncommon, Shield of the Righteous:

This card is obviously a good card. It lets your creature attack and still block, lets your creature survive 2 extra points of damage, and gives it a great ability when it blocks.

Here comes another uncommon, Nulltread Gargantuan:

This is a good card. If you have extra tokens that you don’t care about, this card will be a 5/6 for 3, which is way above most curves. Even if you return the Noble Hirearch you used to play it turn 2, the Hirearch can be easily replayed next turn, and you can attack for 6 turn 3.

Another uncommon, Morbid Bloom:

This would be good, if it costed one or two less. As it is, it costs too much to be useful.

Last uncommon, (finally) Stun Sniper:

This card is a good card for bringing down a big, scary creature for one mana. The creature will be tapped as long as you want it to be, and if your opponent plays an x/1, it will die quickly.

More Uncommons:

Commons:

I have way more than I’ll ever be able to preview in the time I have, so I’m only going to talk about the rares and the 2 mythics. Scroll down to the bottom to see the commons and uncommons. After this post, there will only be 5 rares left. There will be 22 commons and 25 uncommons left. I probably should have been posting it all along, but my source is MTG Salvation. Next, the visual spoiler with mockups of every card spoiled so far is up. It is current as of 4/20/09. Remember to comment on the new cards, even commons and uncommons. They are very important in limited.

The first card is the best card I will be previewing today. It it a mythic rare, but it is the best card spoiled so far. You can tell it’s going to be awesome by the name alone: Maelstrom Nexus:

If this card isn’t awesome, than I don’t know what your definition of awesome is. The first spell you play on any turn, even your opponent’s turn, gets you another free card. If you play a burn spell and find another bern spell with it, lucky you. If you have an X card in your deck, the mana cost is equal to whatever you pay for X. If you find it with cascade, you’re out of luck. But, if you play it and it gets cascade, the spell you get to search for must have converted mana cost < the X spell’s converted mana cost + whatever you paid for X. (Remember, X is part of the cost, not the converted mana cost.) If I could only have one card from Alara Reborn, this would be the card I would take. (There are still 5 rares yet to be spoiled after this post, but it’s hard to see anything topping this.)

The next card is another mythic rare, which isn’t as good, but is still a fun card, Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund:

This is another card that will quickly give you a big advantage, but only against the right type of deck. If you’re facing off against a dragons deck, it could win you the game. Even if you aren’t, it’s still a 7/7 with haste for 7, which is very good.

The next card is a rare, Wargate:

This card can put planeswalkers, creatures, or even a land, into play straight from your deck. That’s not bad. If you get a land, it will come into play untapped (unless it says it comes into play tapped), and you can get an extra land from it for 2 mana. If you need an certain card to win, find it and put it into play with this.

The next card is another rare, Necromancer’s Covenant:

This card is instant 2/2 with lifelink for every creatur that you’ve killed. Late in the game, that could mean 10 or more 2/2s with lifelink, which is not easy to overcome.

The next card is a rare, Dauntless Escort:

If you are facing a Wrath of God style effect, and you want to survive it, this is the card for you. Your creatures survive to attack another day, and your opponent’s creatures die, leaving him/her open to attack. (Or smart enough not to play a wrath style effect when you have this out.)

The next card is another rare, Lord of Forgotten Alara:

I see a combo here with Uril, the Miststalker. (Previewed April 18) Attack with only it, and it will get +1/+1 for exalted, +2/+2 for the aura you put on it, and whatever bonus the enchantment gives. (If it’s a disabling aura, you won’t put it on it, obviously.)

The next card is the last rare, Knotvine Palidin:

As you’d expect, this is meant to recieve many exalted bonuses, and also gain bonuses from your creatures being untapped. It’s very powerful for a 2-CMC card, and could easily attack for 4, 6, 8, 10, maybe even more than that. If you do play the Rafiq of te Many + Finest Hour combo, with one other exalted creature out, it attacks for 7 with double strike, then untaps and attacks for 12 with double strike! I wouldn’t mind attacking for 19 with double strike, in 2 attacks so that if one is blocked the other might still go through.

Actually, Knotvine Palidin was not the last rare. Vedalken Heretic is also rare:

If you can get through for the damage, this could be a great card. An extra card every turn can’t hurt. (It can, but usually not.) To use this best, find a way to give it flying, trample and p/t bonuses, or shadow.

The rest of the cards should be uncommon or common. There might accidentally be a rare in there that I didn’t notice. If there is, just leave a comment saying so.

Uncommons:

Commons:

I have even more Alara Reborn previews today. Unfortunatly, most of the images I have are MSE mockups, but that’s better than nothing. If you look at the card numbers, you’ll see that they are X/58. That is because there are 58 cards in the MSE file right now, and they’re numbered automatically. If you are looking at my spoilers, and the number is out of a number other than 145, you can know it’s a MSE mockup because the actual image isn’t availible. If you see X/145, it’s an actual card image.

Remember, comments are always welcome, even negative comments. Say something about an individual card or the set as a whole.

The first card is a rare encantment, Mayael’s Aria:

This is the first autowin card with other effects. While it is unlikely that a game lasts 15 turns after getting this out, it is possible to give your creatures +1/+1 counters in other ways. For example, devour. There is soul’s might, which gives your creatures +1/+1 counters equal to their power. A few of those will win you the game. There is exalted, which will give you free +1/+1 if you attack alone, but it won’t last to the upkeep. There are plenty of power increasing enchantments. There is Mossbridge Troll, which gets +20/+20 if you tap creatures with combined power 10 or greater. (Which you can stack in a way that it resolves before the upkeep trigger on this card.)

Next is Slave of Bolas, which is an uncommon sorcery:

How would you like to gain control of your opponent’s best creature, attack with it, and then get rid of it? That’s what this card will do for you. You atack with your opponent’s creature, and weather it dies in the attack or not, it doesn’t matter.

The next card is a common instant, Soul Manipulation:

For 3 mana, you get to return a creature from your graveyard to your hand and counter a creature. That’s not too bad. It’s not a game winner, but it’s a common, so it’s good for a common.

Next card. Here’s a common enchantment, Crystilization:

Here’s a pacifism variant with an extra ability. The creature that can’t attack or block also can easily be removed from the game. It will sit in the corner doing nothing, until it gets targeted, wehn it will disappear.

The next card, sanity gnawers, is a little rat:

It is a 1/1 for 3. The discard ability is good, but this isn’t a great card in general.

The next card is an uncommon leech, Putrid Leech:

For 2 mana, this card avoids all sorts of removal that would normally kill a 2/2. It then attacks for 4, and trades with a 4/4. That’s not a bad card, if you don’t mind losing life.

The next card is a common aura. It does not affect creatures. Here’s Passed Prosperity:

This is a good card, also. Alara Reborn is shaping up to be a good set in general. For 2 mana, your now untargetable land can produce one extra mana for you every time it taps. It also doesn’t have to if you don’t want it to, so you won’t have to take mana burn for any reason.

The next card is a common instant, Colossal Might.

For 2 mana, +4/+2 and trample. Play it on a creature that’s already very big for best results.

The next card is Cerodon Yearling, a common little beast:

This is a card that can be used to beat down your opponent, especially if you are going first and your opponent doesn’t yet have out a 2-drop. It should a quick 2 damage to your opponent first turn it’s out, and it can also block for you.

The next card is an uncommon instant, Bolt of Intimidation:

How many good low cost cards will there be??? It has a good chance of killing one of your opponent’s creatures, and even if it doesn’t none of the other creatures will attack. You probably won’t play this on your turn, obviously. It is good against quick aggro decks that want to attack with everything they possibly can and win quickly. They won’t be attacking with much if you play this on them.

The next card is, in fact, an actual card image. Here’s the uncommon equiptment, Behemoth Sledge:

This set keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it? Trample, lifelink, and +2/+2, as an equiptment. It’s been on an aura before, but those go to the graveyard as soon as the creature dies. This would have to be destroyed directly to avoid having it put onto another creature.

Finally, there’s a common artifact cycler:

Whenever an artifact comes into play under your control, it gets +1/+1 and is unblockable.  I see a lot of combos with this and master transmuter. (Remember, the artifact doesn’t have to be played.) Also, 0 cost artifacts will be in some decks with this card.

Hello. While I don’t have any new cards today, I have the information for the Alara Reborn prereleases and launch party. Check back tomorrow for new spoiled cards. (If it is tomorrow already, and you’re viewing this post on its own page, just click “Blog” in the top left corner to return to the home page and see previews)

Prerelease:
The prerelease card is Dragon Broodmother. While the foil prerelease version has not been spoiled, we have the normal version:

For location, you’ll want to look at the worldwide fact sheet. From there, you can chose your region and find where it is. If you’re in the US, you get a map. Chose your state, and you’ll get a map showing where all the stores holding prereleases are. The prereleases are held Saturday, April 25 and Sunday, April 26. Some locations might have midnight prereleases on Friday, April 24, but you’ll have to check with the location. I’m going on Sunday, April 26 to a local prerelease.

Release Party:
 The release party card is Knight of New Alara. The foil release card has been spoiled:

For location, you’ll want to look at the worldwide fact sheet. From there, you can chose your region and find where it is. If you’re in the US, you get a map. Chose your state, and you’ll get a map showing where all the stores holding prereleases are. (Same as for the prerelease, but different dates) The release parties are held Thursday, April 30, Friday, May 1 Saturday, May 2 and Sunday, May 3. Product will go on sale on Thursday, April 30.

If you’re wondering about the title, it’s because I have no less than 14 preview cards for you today, and the image of Meddling Mage. (At the bottom)

The first three are going to be MSE mockups, the rest are actual images.

The first card is Ardent Plea. We’ve seen everything except the actual ability. Well, here it is:

This is going to be a fun card. If you manage to cascade into something with exalted, your creatures will suddenly have +2/+2 if they attack alone. If you have out Arsakan Squire and another exalted 2/2, you can be attacking for 6 on turn 3.

Second is Sen Triplets, a mythic rare.

This is a good creature against certain types of decks. If your opponent is playing a burn deck or control deck, you’d like to see what’s coming so you can prepare for it. If you don’t want a control player to be able to counter your spells, use this.

The third card is another mythic rare, Lord of Extinction

This is a great card for long games. Every time an instant or sorcery is played, it gets +1/+1. Every time a spell is countered, it gets +2/+2. Every time a creature dies, it gets +1/+1. It will quickly inflate, until sombody uses path to exile or something like that on it. 

This card is a nonmythic rare, but it is just as good. Finest Hour:

Now try this: Play Rafiq of the Many on your fourth turn. (Sooner if you accelerate.) Play this next turn. Attack for 3, except that there are two exalted cards and it has double strike, so you’re attacking for 10. Now, untap and attack again. This time, you’ll be attacking for 5, because the exalted bonus lasts until end of turn, plus the bonuses will be applied again! Now, you’re attacking for 14. That’s an attack of 24, with a 3/3. (Quadruple strike?!?!?) Add 4 for every other exalted. Instead, you can attack for 10 with rafiq, untep, and attack with everything, including your still 5/5, still double strike-able rafiq.  Repeat next turn. (You know, in case there were any innocent blockers that got shoved in its path.) Win. (Or have Rafiq die to a removal spell)  This is a great card, and if you manage to open this and rafiq in the prerelease, you’re in very good shape.

This card is an uncommon, Giant Ambush Beetle:

This card is not a bad card. It isn’t great like some of the other cards, but it is still a good card. It can be used as either four damage to your opponent or a four damage burn spell to a creature, that survives to attack again next turn.

Here’s another rare, Retaliator Griffin: (sorry about the quality of the image, but it is readable.)

This card would be better if you didn’t have to be dealt damage to get it up. It isn’t bad, but it isn’t as good as it could have been.

The next card is another rare, Glory of Warfare

This card would be fun in a token deck. All your tokens deal 3 extra damage, and if they don’t attack, they’re more likely to survive your opponent’s turn. It’s also good to give you that extra push you need to get in the last damage.

Here’s another rare, Mycoid Shepheard: (Sorry about the huge image, but it’s that or something too small to read.)

This is another card that goes with the power 5 or greater theme. It isn’t a theme that’s used much, but this is good if you have a deck with it. Five life might not be important if you have creatures with power 5 or greater to protect you, but it can still be valuable to gain 5 life. And if you have two of them, you’ll gain 10 life whenever a creature with power 5 or greater dies. 

Nextr comes a mythic rare, Uril, the Miststalker:

This is a great card. It doesn’t die to removal, and every time you attach a Shadowmoor aura to it, it gets +4/+4 if the aura is the right colors, and if you attach it with more than one, well, someone’s going to be quickly destroyed.

The next card, Lightning Reaver, is a rare creature:

This will obliviate any deck that can’t deal with it. Even if it gets through once, that’s one damage every turn. And if you are playing a 5 color deck with rafiq of the many and finest hour, it will get 4 charge counters if your opponent doesn’t have an artifact or black creature, after dealing 24 damage to that player. (Someone might gain 8 life, you never know…)

The next card is Filigree Angel, a rare artifact angel:

This costs 8, so by the time it’s out, you’ll have plenty of artifacts to gain life with. And that’s really the only point of this card. If you just want a 4/4, there are better choices. If you want to gain some life and have a 4/4, play this. Especially in a deck filled with artifacts. Especially if you also have Boon Reflection to double it. Especially if you also have Myconsynth Lattice to make the 8 lands and your nonartifact permanents artifacts. I can see a fun combo deck with these cards, where I gain absurd amounts of life with this.

Sorry about another giant card image. (It’s good quality, so there shouldn’t be a problem) This is an uncommon cascade card, Bloodbraid Elf:

Play this, and cascade into something else. If you want to make a cascade deck, this can be a part of your chain. It’s a 3/2, which is not too bad, because it also has haste. (You might cascade into a nasty surprise for your opponent.)

Look at this! another rare creature, this time a zombie, Lich Lord of Unx:

If Zach’s zombie deck had blue, this would be in it the second it came out. (Maybe the second the prerelease was over.) It’s a zombie generator, and even better, after it generates zombies, it deals damage and cards off the top of the library to a player. (You can target yourself if you really want to)

This is the final card for today, Madrush Cyclops, a rare:

This card is another good card. It gives all of your creatures haste. That can be very powerful in some situations. If your creatures have haste, you could attack before your opponent has a chance to Wrath of God or something like that. 

That’s the end of the preview cards for today, but I do have the actuall image for a card that was already knnown, Meddling Mage. This card has gone through 2 stages so far:
1. Be found as a possibility in the Orb.

2. Be confirmed as real.

And today it will go through the third step:

3. Be shown as a card.

Here it is, in giant oversized form. For all of the other cards, that was a bad thing, because it interfered with the post, but here it’s good because I’ve already reviewed it. So, here’s Meddling Mage: