Tater's Take: M11 Roadtrip to Richmond

In the new set M11, the five original planeswalkers, Jace Berlin, Ajani Goldmane, Garruk Wildspeaker, Chandra Nalaar, and Liliana Vess all have been reprinted along with two new cards that go with each planeswalker. If you can get all three cards in play, things will get crazy. Lets see an example: Turn 2. Play Ajani's Pridemate. Turn 3. Play Ajani's Mantra. Turn 4. Gain 1 life because of The Mantra, the Pridemate gets +1/+1 (3/3) . Play Ajani Goldmane. Use his +1 ability to gain 2 more life, Pridemate gets +1/+1 (4/4) . Turn 5. DO IT AGAIN! Like I said, things get crazy.

There is one card in this set that looks very impressive. Oh, what the heck THIS LITTLE SUCKER IS AWESOME!!! Meet the Miotic Slime (4/4) . When it dies, It splits down the middle and makes two little 2/2's! And then when they die, yes, they split down the middle and make itty-bitty little 1/1 slime's!I also love the Vengeful Achron. A 7/7 flier for 4 WWW? Plus a kick butt ability that redirects damage? WHAT?

Some cards like the Phylactery Lich, the Steel Overseer, and the Voltaic Key will become awesome in the new set, Scars of Miridin. (But that is still to come.)

Luckily, I was able to go to the M11 prerelease in Richmond, VA. I didn't try one of those shnazy flights. I tried something I'm familiar with: open dueling. For you newbies out there, you get a pre-made 60 card deck and a pack. My deck was a GR Stampeding Beasts deck with some cool creatures.My favorite card was Overwhelming Stampede (hence the name). It makes all your creatures SUPER CREATURES by giving them +X/+X. X is the Power of your biggest fatty. Oh yeah. And it was shiny. But the Act of Treason could come in handy. And it did(later to come).

While there, I met Mr. Benny Smith (I'm in there) and the one and only, Patrick Chapin. I also met the creator of The Magic Show, Evan Erwin. Evan and Patrick happened to be there gun-slinging. Again, for you newbies out there, you face one of them in a match and if you win, you get a free pack! Well, I went right over there and sat down across from Evan.Well actually there was a line but I waited.

It took me 5 tries. He kept stealing my creatures with his signature Mind Control and his signature "I like him so much, I'll take 'em!" But in the 5th game I beat him. Me: 8 life. Evan: 6 life. I could only bash for 3 in the air each turn. He could bash for 7 on the ground and 3 in the air. If I attacked, I would be open for the kill. I drew. My eyes lit up. I new that that would come in handy. Evan said "Are you gonna' kill it?" ("It" being the flier) I said " Naw, But I like him so much, I'll take 'em!" I slammed down that Act of Treason, stole his only flier, and attacked for the win. It took my pack and walked off like I ruled the country.

Next up was Patrick Chapin. "The Innovator" Patrick Chapin. The author of "Next Level Magic" Patrick Chapin. He beat my face into the cold dirt the 1st time. But the 2nd time was it. Me: 20 life. Patrick: 5 life. I was running Slivers.I could do the final five damage BUT he had played a Avenger of Zendakar and had 9 2/3 green plants blocking my path so that wasn't gonna' happen. But all that changed when I drew a Pulmonic Sliver. (It gives all your slivers Flying and some other unimportant thing.) So all my slivers grew wings and attacked. He had a Jace the Mind Sculptor in play and tryed to Jedi Mind Trick me into attacking Jace. He said "So... Which ones are attacking Jace?". Everyone sucked in hoping I wouldn't fall for it. "None, they are all coming at you." Everyone took a sigh of relief as they realised that the 3rd person to beat Patrick Chapin, was a kid.