With Ixalan, planeswalkers have now become legendary. The decision to eliminate the planeswalker rule and replace it with the legend rule was an interesting one with a number of consequences.

Ixalan spoilers have been coming out for a while. And when the article about the errata for planeswalkers came out, people started buying up certain cards. Aside from running this blog, I also do some investing and trading, so I find price fluctuation in trading cards fascinating. As cards move out of rotation or new synnergies are created, the price of a single card may fluctuate considerably. This is happening with Mirror Gallery, a card that allows the player to ignore the legend rule. Outside of Kamigawa block, a block full of legendary cards, Mirror Gallery was a fairly niche card. But now that planeswalkers are legendary permanents, Mirror Gallery affects them, allowing a player to have more than one of the exact same planeswalker out on the field at once. This has caused the price of the card to double on tcgplayer.com. Given the newfound utility of the card, I would not be too surprised to see a reprint at some point, especially with Iconic Masters on its way and more so the return of core sets, a change for which I am ecstatic.

The change has also helped some other planeswalker decks. As anyone who has read my article Hour of Devastation God Synergy knows, I like to find neat combinations. I am more interested in constructing decks than I am playing them. When Gideon of the Trials came out, I immediately started working on a Gideon “tribal” deck, “Giddy Gideons.” The rule change has given this deck a huge boost. Making sure that a Gideon remained on the field was a bit difficult until this rule change. Now it is fairly straight forward, and there has been a change in price for Gideon of the Trials because of this boost.

While the change in the planeswalker rule may be the most prominent addition by Ixalan, there are a number of useful cards as well, this is especially true if you are a fan of tribal decks. There are two tribes in this set: dinosaurs and pirates. And as we all know, “everything’s better with pirates” (Line from The Gamers: Dorkness Rising). There is also a watered down version of Cavern of Souls. While it does not protect creature spells you cast, it is an uncommon. Arcane Adaptation is going to be useful in any tribal deck that splashes blue. One of the biggest issues that I have with constructing tribal decks is the inclusion of helper creatures which are from a different tribe. With Arcane Adaption, those cards become part of the tribe. What is really nice is that the creature type is added to all creatures you own, not just creatures on the battlefield. The tribal heavy tone of Ixalan also lends itself well to Commander 2017, which is highly tribal.

Overall, I am interested to see how the rule changes affect gameplay and prices. Since I am a fan of tribal decks, the additional cards in Ixalan should be quite fun, although sometimes the synergy just does not work out as well as I think it should.

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There are so many people writing about MTG that I generally avoid even mentioning the topic. But I do like MTG. My favourite part of the game is deck building. And when I see a group of cards that seem to be fairly synergistic, I get excited. That is the case with two of the new gods that are being released in Hour of Devastation.

I am a casual player that likes deck building. I am not going to suggest that this combination is a powerhouse or that there are no better options, but I was curious to see what combinations I could make with the old and new gods. The final god has not been spoiled, as of writing this article. But The Scorpion God and The Locust God pair quite well together. I am sure that this was intentional, and it should not be too surprising because they come from the same block. However, these two gods also have a fair amount of synergy with at least two gods from the Theros block. Specifically, I think they pair well with Purphoros, God of the Forge and Ephara, God of the Polis.

The general sequence works as follows. First, The Scorpion God, or another card puts a -1/-1 counter on a creature. When that creature dies, The Scorpion God’s ability causes you to draw a card. When you do, The Locust God’s ability causes a 1/1 creature token to be created. This triggers Purphoros’ ability which deals two damage to each opponent. Not but, however I wanted to one up that.

The Ephara synergy is quite fun, and does not require The Scorpion God. If you have the other three on the battlefield, then when you draw a card at the start of your turn, you get the 1/1 token and every opponent takes 2 damage from Purphoros. At the beginning of your next turn, during the upkeep, because the create token was created, Ephara allows you to draw a card. This again causes yet another token and 2 damage to all opponents. On the draw step, another creature token enters the battlefield and 2 more damage goes out to all opponents. This draw-token-damage-draw-token-damage pattern then repeats on every future turn. If The Scorpion God is in the mix, it can boost things even further.

It will be interesting to see what the final Hour of Devastation god is, and whether or not it also finds synergy with Amonkhet gods and the Theros gods.

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There was a time when I was a huge fan of Toonami, and I was quite sad to see it go. When it returned, I was excited, but I quickly saw a new death on the horizon. Without new content, there was little point to watch Toonami. Things aren’t like they used to be. We have access to a swath of anime series through Crunchyroll and Funimation. Not only that, but we have access to simulcasts! How could Toonami compete?

Samura Jack Returns

That’s why I am so excited to see the return of Samurai Jack. Not only is it new content, but it’s also a show that I happen to miss. Unfortunately, as of now, little is known about the new season, except that it is set to air in 2016, as part of Adult Swim’s Toonami block.

If you’re not familiar with the series, the show’s premise takes place in a Dystopian reality where a demon named Aku has enslaved the world. The only one who can stop his reign is a Samurai from the past. Or as Aku would put it…

Long ago in a distant land, I, Aku, the shape-shifting Master of Darkness, unleashed an unspeakable evil! But a foolish Samurai warrior wielding a magic sword stepped forth to oppose me. Before the final blow was struck, I tore open a portal in time and flung him into the future, where my evil is law! Now the fool seeks to return to the past, and undo the future that is Aku!

The show ran for four seasons, had 52 episodes, and ran from 2001 until 2004. The story was never resolved when the show was cancelled.

Just the Beginning?

Hopefully this is just the beginning of new, and even exclusive content for Toonami. If nothing else, this one show could result in a fair boost to the ratings, and let’s face it, Toonami needs a ratings boost. How much of a boost depends on a few things, including when the show will be on and the quality of the new season itself.

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