Izzet, Gruul, Orzhov, or The Guilds of Guildpact

Hey,

My holday hangover lasted 16 days, so now you can expect the semi-frequent updates you expect from the #343 Procrastinator in the nation!!

Anyway, Guildpact previews just started their second week over at magicthegathering.com, so I've decided to create this article rating the three new guilds coming out based on what we know so far. I'm psyched for this set, as I believe that this is one of the best blocks to come out of WOTC (Wizards Of The Coast) so far, and I plan to have decks based on each guild by the end of the year. I also believe that a lot of the cards can work with older cards seemlessly, a fact that was sorely lacking in the past two blocks (Mirrodin and Kamigawa). Anyway, on to the guilds!

Izzet-This sure is an interesting idea, a modern attempt at basically creatureless decks. From what I can tell, apart from the 2 Guild Legends and the Guildmage, an Izzet deck needs no other creatures. It is based entirely in Sorceries and Instants, and the Izzet Keyword works well to that effect. Replicate is an ability which allows you to pay for as many copies of the spell as you want, sometimes at less cost then the original mana cost. This will bring up interesting decks that will only need 1-2 copies of a vital spell in a small deck, and I will guess that Izzet will need a higher mana base that most guilds as well, because of the focus on instants and the costly keyword. I am interested, as this could be a hit or miss guild like Dimir (which turned out ok in the end, but Transmute seemed like it did nothing to help the guild deck your opponent, and I think I've used it maybe once in my life!).

Gruul-Now this is more my line of thinking. Red/Green BIG creature beatdown. This is probably one of my fave concepts yet, as I already run a R/G Beast Tribal Deck, so if their is enough support, I might just be able to fuse this deck with my other one. The concept is pretty straightforward, so not much has been revealed from this guild yet, but what has been looks great. Their keyword is Bloodthirst which is a creature ability that give X +1/+1 Counters to the creature as it comes into play, where X is the amount of damage delt to opposing players durring that turn. Finally, a use for Main Phase 2!! Serriously though, this is an interesting way to think of the turn, saving your heavy hitters for Main Phase 2, when Izzet and Orzhov have already played their creature destruction and/or counters for the turn and by the time it comes into play, it's too much of a beatstick to destroy without a lot of effort. Sounds like fun, I'll be playing this guild a lot, I can tell.

Orzhov-This guild is a weird concept, just like Boros from the last set. It's hard to see the concept without all the cards, and they have been focusing on it a lot durring the previews. The keyword for this guild is Haunt which is an ability that triggers when the Haunt card goes into the graveyard. The Haunt card is then removed from the game and then "haunts" a creature in play, and when the hauntee goes to the grave, you get the effect (or come-into-play ability for creatures)from the Haunt card again. This, combined with the awesome guild leader known as the Ghost Council makes this something to look for in the future. For now, I'll say that I look forward to playing the deck to see how it works, but I have high hopes.

That's it for now, and by the time you read this, the rest of the set will be revealed at www.magicthegathering.com, and if your like me, you'll be reading every card 5 times over. Too bad most of you aren't...

-May your next rare be awesome
Pudge