Welcome back this week. Wizards, after doing next to nothing for the past week, has deigned to allow us another peak into the spoilers for M11. I have three cards this week to release for you guys, so it’s going to be short and sweet. So here we go.

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I’ve looked at this card a couple of times now, and I still don’t really know what I think about it. While it’s a solid guy that can be played in any color, is that enough to negate its drawback? The closest I can think to this is Phyrexian Ironfoot, which was not only fine to play in Limited, but saw a lot of play in various control decks in the Coldsnap – Time Spiral – Lorwyn Standard, such as the UB Mennequin list that made the top 8 at Worlds in 2007:



In that deck, the is perfect, with just an efficient body that can sit around and keep you alive while you prepare for the long game. Obviously, the Sentinel isn’t as good, but it will certainly be playable in Limited, and may even make it onto the Constructed scene depending on what the metagame looks like when we settle down on some archetypes.

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Next up on the list is going to be short and sweet:



I’m going to be honest here. I just flat don’t care about this card. I’ve been told when I write these articles that it’s not good form to just straight out say this and leave it at that, but I’m going to be honest with you guys that I’m seriously considering it. There have been numerous cards that perform this function to some degree. Spring Cleaning, Tempest of Light, andTranquaility have all been printed, and I have yet to see a single one do anything even remotely interesting. Sure, this one is a little bit better than its counterparts, but I’m still not really seeing the push. Sadly, the only place I ever see this making it into any lists is either as Limited late picks as random sideboard cards, or possibly as a singleton in a board to be hit by Cunning Wish in Legacy. If you have any more than one copy in your binder, than it is too many copies.

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But now that I spent all of that time going on and on about how awful I think Back to Nature is, I get to turn that straight around and bring back arguably one of my favorite cards in Magic:



Before I even begin to start singing the praises of Mana Leak, I’m going just take a second to have you look at the physical card. The art in this is amazing. I’ve always been a fan of this color scheme (Counterbalance anyone?), and this just amazingly well at filling it out. You guys know I don’t say this often, but I want to see if I can pick up a foil playset of this card at the pre-release. Hell, even the flavortext on this card is well done. The whole thing is just put together beautifully.

Now that I’ve gotten that little bit out of the way, let me begin on my singing the praises of the card itself. When the dreaded Counterspell lost its place in Eight Edition, Blue mages everywhere begin to call out, looking for where they were going to go for their countermagic. Then their eyes rested on Mana Leak. For a simple two mana, only one of it being Blue, you can keep your opponent from playing their spells until possibly turn 5 or later. One would almost argue that a format with Mana Leak is BETTER for the control players, as it means that their opponent are going to try and wait them out, just giving the control player more time to set up and get for the late game. Combine that with the fact that this could be played in so many decks due to its flexible mana cost, and you begin to see what I really enjoy about the card. You’re playing a UB Teachings deck? Sure, toss it in. UG Madness aggro deck? Why not? Mono Blue Sonic Boom? Sure, throw in a playset! It’s sleek, it’s sexy, and now it’s back in Standard!

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Well, amazingly, that’s it for this week. Wizards has still been suspiciously quiet, and with only two more weeks to go, we can only image the flurry that is going to descent upon us in that amount of time. Stick around for next week when I’ll be back with hopefully a double fistful of cards to review! Until then!

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Talk about the spoiler season at the forums! We want to hear from you!

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