Editor’s Note: Obviously the internet is quick. No sooner had both Evan Erwin and I put up our stuff than people figured it out. Yes, this is an April Fool’s Day joke. If you spell out the new cards in a anagram you get APRIL FOOLS. It was a harmless joke. I do not know the actual list of cards, but I’ll leave this up for your pleasure. I also feel ashamed that I forgot that Ring of Gix was on the Reserved List, my fault. By why is there an echoing Icy Manipulator on the Reserved… you know what, doesn’t matter.
Click here to go to Evan’s video.
If you’ve been following me on Twitter (listen, this is getting old. I know some of you aren’t doing it and I hate using that line as an intro, so just do it already), you know that I received something and had some big news. Since I know you can read, and most likely saw the title, there’s really no more surprise. Somebody, somewhere, decided to be nice and send me a list of card titles for the From the Vault: Relics set. How do I know it’s the real thing? Let’s just say that it was pretty convincing.
No more messing around, let’s get to the list and what we know. FtV:R has 15 cards, and we already knew 4 of them which were spoiled by that whole Reserved List mess.
This left us with 11 unknown cards, 1 of them from the new block that we now know as Scars of Mirrodin. Until today. While I’ll tell you the name of the Scars card, I wasn’t given privy to know what it actually does. To make it on this list however, must mean it’s pretty awesome. With the four cards already known, those are chase cards in any set, especially in a FtV collection, so expecting to have the rest of the cards be like those is pretty fool-hearty. Yes, there are some good cards in (infact, they’re all good cards), but the ones above are most likely going to be your gold mine.
Save for one.
Let’s get to the list:
Alright, not the most Cracker Jack one right out of the box. You Spikes have your four cards above, let some Timmys have some fun. If you’ve never dropped this card in a token deck, then you’ve never played EDH. Play this in Elves, in Goblins, and suddenly, you can’t be stopped. Plus, it’s Akroma. Well, not the Akroma, but an Akroma. It’s because of that name it’s basically a $10 card. I know, insane, right?
When I first started playing Magic, this card was so good. All the long games and the destroying of your permanents, Feldon’s Cane saved you. There was a quest in Zendikar based off this card, so you know there was something intriguing about this card. Last seen in Time Spiral as a Timeshifted card, I actually excited to get this in foil.
- Ivory Tower
FAAAALLLLCCCOOORRRRR!!
Ah, now here’s a gem. For those of you who haven’t played with this card, you’re in for a treat. This guy can be fetched with Trinket Mage, and maybe with more of these in circulation, you might see this in Legacy. The opposite of Black Vise, it allows control players to stay in a game against those aggro decks. Because it was printed in 4th Edition (the last printing), it’s not on the Reserved List and allowed in this set. The art always reminded me of The Neverending Story, so I kinda hope the art stays the same (but who knows).
The first “Shuffle this into your library” card that obviously lead to cards like Darksteel Colossus, the Elemental Incarnation cycle from Lorwyn, Progenitus, and, of course, the new Eldrazi. The new text (according to gatherer) now reads: “Exile target permanent” which is pretty cool. Admit, you’re impressed.
An EDHer’s best friend. Protects your General the turn he/she comes into play. Oh, and it gives them haste? Yeah, that works. Because we are returning to Mirrodin, I wouldn’t be surprised if something like this was included in the set. Players have always loved this card and with so few printings (except for the past year), this is a staple that people always want.
While it wasn’t the Disk we were hoping for, this did see quite a bit of play in Standard before Affinity came along and took that away. Would Razormane Maticore and Nevinyrral’s Disk be an interesting trade for Masticore and Stone (ala that whole Selecting 8th Edition promo with Birds of Paradise and Vine Trellis vs Llanowar Elves and Utopian Tree choice)? Anyway, I’m happy this is in because you get to have the choice of what you don’t want killed. Plus, with Urzatron online, it’s pretty easy to nuke everything.
Ah, the Kird Ape of this set. For people who don’t know their history, this little 0/2 free flyer was a cute edition to Mirrodin when it came out. Then Affinity hit. Oh yeah, this cute little guy was used as a MOD (Merchant of Death) as it was equipped, sacrificed for tokens, and put tokens on. Out of all the cards Affinity had, this is it’s only showing in this set. That tells you how much damage it did to Wizards psyche.
The Angel of choice for lockdown before Iona, if you protect her, you can make sure that nothing can beat you. She has beautiful art, but after three printings might like to see something different in the art box. Still sees play in Vintage, and might be an alternate save in other formats (if something gets brewing in Legacy).
I’ve been playing this game long enough to remember the hype that this card caused. It was in the first set that had foils and this was the chase card. Honestly. I remember foil versions of this card sold for more than $100. Yes, for an echoing Icy Manipulator, the foil was over $100. This was the hottest card around. I had a friend who bought one, can kept it for a year, then sold it for $70, taking a loss on it. Today’s price (according to Star City Games) of a foil Ring of Gix: $5. Yeah.
Yes, you read that right. Read it again: Foil FtV Sol Ring. The Judge’s Promo is going for $50, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it reach near there (but I’m no good that price speculation game, ask @kellyreid). The art that you saw in the announcement has to be Sol Ring because it doesn’t fit anywhere else. Pretty sweet, right?
So there’s your 10 cards that we knew. It’s an interesting collection of cards, with an obvious nod towards Mirrodin. Since we’re heading back there this fall, that really shouldn’t be a surprise. FtV: Dragons foreshadowed Nicol Bolas coming back as well as a dragon theme.
Oh, and the new card from Scars of Mirrodin: Oil of Psarl. While I wasn’t told what it does, I’m excited about it. It’s a mythic, so you know it’s going to be worth it. I think that this is a pretty solid list that compares with the other two FtV sets.
Ladies and Gentlemen, your From the Vault: Relics list:
- Akroma’s Memorial
- Feldon’s Cane
- Ivory Tower
- Karn, Silver Golem
- Legacy Weapon
- Lightning Greaves
- Masticore
- Memory Jar
- Mox Diamond
- Oblivion Stone
- Oil of Psarl
- Ornithopter
- Platinum Angel
- Ring of Gix
- Sol Ring
I hope you’ve pre-ordered now. I have.
MTG Color Pie 