[ALA] O-Ring, Infest, Cancel, Naturalize, tidbits (confirmed)

[ArKaiN]

Sweet sweet infest, where have you been?
I'm so happy with the reprints.

[Agiussword]

while i love oblivion ring, personally i feel its too soon for a reprint. not calling fake, but i am calling lame. i love NEW cards wizards, NEW!

and cancel too? cmon now, that cards been reprinted in tenth, and wasnt made too long ago, give us something NEW!

even if its cancel with a different name and a slightly different wording, like this

"counter target spell if that spell is on the stack."

nah, thats more of a future sight wording taht would be used to confuse and elude people lol

[nickolai]

Originally Posted by Forgotten_Hope

Cruel Ultimatum is -broken-.

Also, people, it's ELSPETH. E-L-S-P-E-T-H. There is no R in her name.
I love her. I've always loved White Weenie, and I hope it's gonna make a comeback with Shards.

What do you mean, 'make a comeback'?

[jokalhaups]

So maybe Wizards is getting rid of Core sets and just reprinting cards within blocks? LOL

I mean, why can't they make some new cards. I was impressed with the past two half blocks (Lor/Mor and Sha/Eve), but not it seems they're coping out. Give us some new cards Wizards! This isn't a core set!

[Beakid]

Originally Posted by trust7

Cancel = no

and the card that is the title the 4mana artifact cant search is 3U, fyi

What do you mean? Isn't Cancel in the set?

And do you mean that the Mindlock Orb costs instead of ? That makes it a lot worse :/

[RickCorgan]

I'm really happy with the Knight of the White Orchid. Not only it showcases a VERY underused white mechanic that holds a lot of promise (balancing), he's also a weenie that helps push white a bit into aggro/control territory. Great, great design.

Elspeth is... oh my. Looks very powerful. i wish she costed 1WW with loyalty 3 though.

The Grixis ultimatum is the most unfair card ever printed if it resolves. And I must say, both the Band and Esper ultimatums also make me very happy. Very interesting cards. The other two are lame, though.

[wcsae]

The only problem that I see with Knight of the White Orchard is that in most cases you'll play him on turn 3 instead of turn 2 so you can get the full effect. It's going to lead to some interesting play decisons.

Also, for a set about 3 colors they sure are pushing monowhite a little.

[ElricJC]

Cruel Ultimatum.... god's balls, that is powerful. The triple vindicate one oddly enough seems like the red-headed stepchild of the lot, even though that is normally a cool ability. It just seems... less so next to the others.

Knight of Eos: I like fog, I like soldier, but I do not like 5cc 2/2s. Couldn't he just have a 3/3? Put him out of Tarfire, Shock, or normal Murderous Redcap range at least. He doesn't suck, but he is a little underpowered. 2/2 + two 1/1 weenies does not equal a 4/4, especially if you are likely paying to sac those weenies to fog.

Elspeth, Knight Errant: Pretty cool for the first two abilites, and I love the final, but I doubt it will ever go off, unless she is in a Turbofog style deck or something and has a means to ward off direct spells. This may be a good place for Hindering Light, a little hot action. Too bad Rebuff the Wicked rotates out when this pops in for T2. I still like her, and even if you never use her ultimate ability she is still cool.

Oh yeah, Knight of the White Orchid. If nothing else he's a 2/2 First Striker, cool, now the land ability might be useful if you are struggling for that 3rd land drop, or you could pull a replacement effect if you sac a land for some reason, then play this guy and get the land back. Can't think off the top of my head for an ability like this in T2 right now, but it can be useful. And like I said, 2/2 First Strike is still good.

[MadCow21]

Maralen + Mindlock Orb is intriguing. Get board advantage and then apply. They have to deal with it immediately or never see another new card. I like it.

[voicej]

Originally Posted by jokalhaups

So maybe Wizards is getting rid of Core sets and just reprinting cards within blocks? LOL

I mean, why can't they make some new cards. I was impressed with the past two half blocks (Lor/Mor and Sha/Eve), but not it seems they're coping out. Give us some new cards Wizards! This isn't a core set!

Maro implied that 11th would be the same size as shards, so maybe oblivion ring didn't make the cut for 11th, and they wanted it in standard for a while longer. As far as cancel is concerned I think they are trying to print it enough times that players forget about counterspell. Though it would be sweet if they printed rune snag in 11th over it.

[JestersBoots]

Originally Posted by ElricJC

Knight of Eos: I like fog, I like soldier, but I do not like 5cc 2/2s...

Elspeth, Knight Errant: Pretty cool for the first two abilites, and I love the final, but I doubt it will ever go off, unless she is in a Turbofog style deck...

Nobody seems to have yet commented on how Elspeth is expected to make two soldier tokens. Elspeth and Eos seem to be a match made in heaven, as A: Your soldiers won't need to be used to block, and B: Elspeth will undoubtedly get to making her and her companion indestructable. I personally see the two as a combo that are both very playable alone. To mention that the one costs 1 more than the other is begging for MWC to come back...

Indestructable O-rings. Yummy.

[steve032]

If elspeth leaves play then they lose the indestructible. I also think attacking elspeth down to 0 loyalty causes him to die regardless of indestructible. Seems really powerful nonetheless.

[Orange Mage]

Originally Posted by JestersBoots

Nobody seems to have yet commented on how Elspeth is expected to make two soldier tokens.

We don't know that for certain yet. It would be quite good compared with the other mono-coloured planeswalkers' +1 abilities.

[RickCorgan]

Originally Posted by steve032

If elspeth leaves play then they lose the indestructible.

Not true. They would if the ability specificaly stated "until Elspeth leaves play".

But yeah, having zero loyalty will kill an indestructible Elspeth.

[St@rWizard]

Elspeth's ability should work just like Stigma Lasher's, so your stuff is still invulnerable if/when she leaves play.