It doesn't seem quite like a specter, in some ways...yeah, it's a guy riding a dragony thing, but as someone noted, usually the emphasis is on the rider. And this guy looks like a leader, on that rock, with the big cloud of destruction next to him...
The axe bit kinda reminds of Hypnotic Specter, or in particular the original Abyssal Specter. If the card made it onto the box, they may have changed their minds on the random discard, and stuck in Hypnotic as a rare.
To put out a stretch guess, I almost want to say, especially with the axe and leader pose, and with Kamigawa being around for the release of this core set and the rules changes...perhaps it's Ascendant Evincar. The dragony thing would explain the flying, he doesn't have much text in first place making it easy to stick reminder text about the 'legend rule' on there("Legendary (Whenever another Ascendant Evincar comes into play, all Ascendant Evincars are destroyed.) ", perhaps. Aesthetically almost like the wording on old Legends regarding creature type, e.g. Mirri, Cat Warrior). Not being necessarily a character, per se, makes him more eligible, and this art really does remind me of that flavor, with the inconsistencies with past specters...
that's not what happened at all. kamahl stabbed phage, akroma, and some old lady and they became korona. then korona got stabbed by her "prophets" and kamahl got drunk with a mutant centaur
I think it's worth noting that last we heard about 9th Edition, they essentially said they were going to be more adventurous. For example, bringing back trample, and playing around with legends and multicolor cards. It isn't really wishful thinking anymore; legends would logically only show up in the rare slot, and multicolor logically only uncommon and rare.
Knowing Wizards attitude as of late, I think in all honesty that box art could be for rare Hypnotic Specter. Hypnotic Specter hasn't been the best creature ever printed for a while now and is MUCH less degenerate without Dark Ritual, although still very solid. They generally like to advertise splashy cards - I think it's likely Hypnotic Specter. Possibly Hollow Specter, but Hollow Specter already has great art and it's from a recent set, so there's no logical reason to change it.
The middle pack in the fan is definitely either Lord of the Undead or Yawgmoth Demon. Wishful thinking says Yawgmoth Demon, realistic thinking says Lord of the Undead.
The packs in the box are: Rathi Dragon, Elvish Champion (kicking it old school with the awesome Invasion art), and Mahamoti Djinn.
So, to summarize:
BOX: Likely Hypnotic or Hollow Specter. Abyssal is simply not flash enough to be considered.
Hypnotic specter is bad ass. They wont ever reprint it becasue of power level issues, and Im to lazy to check, but Im pretty sure its on the restricted list anyways..
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hypnotic specter is not on the reprint list, but i do not think that they want to have suhc a powerful card. if they thought that they would reprint hyppi, they would have done it already instead of printing abysal specter in the last three core sets.
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I'm pretty sure that flying black creature with a rider is a spectre. Likely abyssal, but hypnotic isn't out of the question. That'd be a sales-booster, which they love doing.
The middle creature isn't a flying 7/7 trample creature. It's a little skeletal guy sitting in a chair. Not a demon at all.
And yeah, the middle pack inside the booster box is definitely Elvish Champion (Invasion artwork). No doubt about that. So the only arts we don't know are the middle pic in the "fan" of packs and the spectre.
I'm just happy that Rathi Dragon didn't get a facelift. I really enjoy the original artwork on the card. As for Hypnotic Specter being reprinted, why not? Most of its power came from having the perfect casting cost to Ritual out on the first turn. Black has since been neutered of that ability. The Specter now will normally only it play on turn 3 and dies easily to any flyer or burn spell. Besides, foil Specters should prove to be very interesting to see.
At least the products display looks better. Somehow I get the feeling that 9th is going to incredibly suck... Even worse than 8th edition. I don't know about you, but nothing excites me more than busting open a pack at a pre-release and getting a.... Yawgmoth's Demon? What is Wizards thinking?
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i hope its not just another new art for abyssal. i mean how many different arts do they have for that card, like 8? (well ok i guess 4)...hippy would be very cool especially since we dont get to see random discard around.
I'm not sure on this one, but didn't players get to vote on Yawgmoth's Demon being in 9th? If so its not Wizards fault if you open one, but the fault falls on the democratic process.
We were asked to vote between Yawgmoth's Demon and Havoc Demon. Which one would you pick?
That's what I thought.
I'd be liable to bet cash that Hypnotic Specter is seeing reprinting. He's simply not as busted as he used to be. Awesome? Absolutely. But you can't Ritual him out anymore, so now he's just a 2/2 flyer with a wicked ability. Given how they've been pushing monoblack control as of late, I think he's a VERY strong candidate.
Think about him in the existing environment. Is he really that broke in the face of all the other stuff floating around?
Well Yawgmoth Demon isn't that much better than Havoc Demon, especially if your concerned about drafting 9th edition. Yawgmoth Demon is a bad creature without MD5 around. Not saying Havoc Demon is a bomb of a card either especially with Kokusho in Kamigawa being a superior card when compared to both of those. So as for voting, Havoc Demon seems like a better pick than Yawgmoth's, as the only viable format for them to see play in is Limited.
Then there's Extended, where Yawgmoth's Demon is by far better. I don't know if it's good enough to see play there, but it's better than Havoc Demon by far. Besides, Havoc Demon's already legal in Extended. Might as well let Yawgmoth's join in.
Doesn't matter, cuz the vote ended what, a year ago?
Yeah, that's Abyssal Specter on the box. You can even make out the lance too. Really nice new art, but not worthy of being box art. Here's hoping that 9th will be a pleasant suprise.
Speaking of lance, doesn't Hypnotic Specter have one as well? Why yes indeed, he sure does. I'm just hopeful that he does make an appearance as Abyssal Specter is really too slow and I don't think he diserves to be on the box. Hyppie though is definatle box worthy and the idea of his reprinting is not an outrageous one.
Its NOT Silent specter. They dont reprint block mechanincs like morph in base sets. Remember that
I also think that it might be llanowar elves.. But It does look a lot like Elvish Champion and it would make more sense to have rare then a common on the booster.
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From "The Creative Side of Kamigawa" by Aaron Forsythe
All the 'packaging images' for any particular set (that means the card art that also appears on the booster display box, the theme deck display box, and the tournament pack display box) are done by the same artist.
I wonder if this apply to the core set too...
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I'm pretty sure that flying black creature with a rider is a spectre. Likely abyssal, but hypnotic isn't out of the question. That'd be a sales-booster, which they love doing.
I'm skeptical that they would print Hypnotic Specter in a core set, they don't do random discard anymore. Hollow specter is a strong candidate though, it's flashy enough for a booster box, especially with that art.
Sorry R_E I'm not sure it's the Invasion artwork for Elvish Champ, it doesn't quite match : I'm more inclined to think it's a new artwork for Llanovar Elves.
Actually it matches exactly. Zoom in on the middle pack in the fan, and compare it to an invasion Elvish Champion. Every detail is there, the red banners, the thigh, the hair, the body position. It's identical. I'm confident that if you look, you'll agree. Maybe you didn't look.
Elvish Champion has been added to the partial 9th spoiler already. If you honestly look and still can't see that the cards are identical, I'll post my cropped image comparison when I get home (I don't have the files here at work).
Yes you do, actually...it's just under the picture of the box...
Yeah, duh....
But not on the box, and that's what we are talking about
I seem to remember they said that would be to confusing for new players, who might think they have to play 1 - 7th edition, before playing 8th edition
Actually it matches exactly. Zoom in on the middle pack in the fan, and compare it to an invasion Elvish Champion. Every detail is there, the red banners, the thigh, the hair, the body position. It's identical. I'm confident that if you look, you'll agree. Maybe you didn't look.
Elvish Champion has been added to the partial 9th spoiler already. If you honestly look and still can't see that the cards are identical, I'll post my cropped image comparison when I get home (I don't have the files here at work).
gona have to agree with the fellow canadian... it's teh exact same picture. Took me a minute to figure it out, but you have to spot the long red hair 1st, and then you can see the other pieces stick together in your mind, almost like a jigsaw puzzle, real fun
hypnotic specter is not on the reprint list, but i do not think that they want to have suhc a powerful card. if they thought that they would reprint hyppi, they would have done it already instead of printing abysal specter in the last three core sets.
The original Hyppie was uncommon... it wouldn't be on the reserved list.
Between Shock and Volcanic Hammer in the core set, Rend Flesh in CoK, and a host of other Standard small-critter kill cards, and Dark Ritual not legal in any format that this reprint would make Hyppie legal in, it's possible, though not exactly likely.
I'd put the odds on this at 4:1 against.
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It doesn't seem quite like a specter, in some ways...yeah, it's a guy riding a dragony thing, but as someone noted, usually the emphasis is on the rider. And this guy looks like a leader, on that rock, with the big cloud of destruction next to him...
The axe bit kinda reminds of Hypnotic Specter, or in particular the original Abyssal Specter. If the card made it onto the box, they may have changed their minds on the random discard, and stuck in Hypnotic as a rare.
To put out a stretch guess, I almost want to say, especially with the axe and leader pose, and with Kamigawa being around for the release of this core set and the rules changes...perhaps it's Ascendant Evincar. The dragony thing would explain the flying, he doesn't have much text in first place making it easy to stick reminder text about the 'legend rule' on there("Legendary (Whenever another Ascendant Evincar comes into play, all Ascendant Evincars are destroyed.) ", perhaps. Aesthetically almost like the wording on old Legends regarding creature type, e.g. Mirri, Cat Warrior). Not being necessarily a character, per se, makes him more eligible, and this art really does remind me of that flavor, with the inconsistencies with past specters...
Knowing Wizards attitude as of late, I think in all honesty that box art could be for rare Hypnotic Specter. Hypnotic Specter hasn't been the best creature ever printed for a while now and is MUCH less degenerate without Dark Ritual, although still very solid. They generally like to advertise splashy cards - I think it's likely Hypnotic Specter. Possibly Hollow Specter, but Hollow Specter already has great art and it's from a recent set, so there's no logical reason to change it.
The middle pack in the fan is definitely either Lord of the Undead or Yawgmoth Demon. Wishful thinking says Yawgmoth Demon, realistic thinking says Lord of the Undead.
The packs in the box are: Rathi Dragon, Elvish Champion (kicking it old school with the awesome Invasion art), and Mahamoti Djinn.
So, to summarize:
BOX: Likely Hypnotic or Hollow Specter. Abyssal is simply not flash enough to be considered.
BOX PACKS: Rathi Dragon, Elvish Champion, Mahamoti Djinn.
BOOSTER FAN: Rathi Dragon, Lord of the Undead (or Yawgmoth Demon), Mahamoti Djinn.
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The middle creature isn't a flying 7/7 trample creature. It's a little skeletal guy sitting in a chair. Not a demon at all.
And yeah, the middle pack inside the booster box is definitely Elvish Champion (Invasion artwork). No doubt about that. So the only arts we don't know are the middle pic in the "fan" of packs and the spectre.
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That's what I thought.
I'd be liable to bet cash that Hypnotic Specter is seeing reprinting. He's simply not as busted as he used to be. Awesome? Absolutely. But you can't Ritual him out anymore, so now he's just a 2/2 flyer with a wicked ability. Given how they've been pushing monoblack control as of late, I think he's a VERY strong candidate.
Think about him in the existing environment. Is he really that broke in the face of all the other stuff floating around?
Nuisance Engine in 9th would improve the viability of Yawgmoth Demon alot for example.
Re: People misusing the term Vanilla to describe a flying, unleash (sometimes trample) critter.
Doesn't matter, cuz the vote ended what, a year ago?
.
Its NOT Silent specter. They dont reprint block mechanincs like morph in base sets. Remember that
I also think that it might be llanowar elves.. But It does look a lot like Elvish Champion and it would make more sense to have rare then a common on the booster.
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I wonder if this apply to the core set too...
(excluding 1996 World Champion )
EDH Decks (Total count: 90 and counting...)
I'm skeptical that they would print Hypnotic Specter in a core set, they don't do random discard anymore. Hollow specter is a strong candidate though, it's flashy enough for a booster box, especially with that art.
I don't think so. If you look here:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=magic/expansion/8e
You don't see the 8th symbol either
Actually it matches exactly. Zoom in on the middle pack in the fan, and compare it to an invasion Elvish Champion. Every detail is there, the red banners, the thigh, the hair, the body position. It's identical. I'm confident that if you look, you'll agree. Maybe you didn't look.
Elvish Champion has been added to the partial 9th spoiler already. If you honestly look and still can't see that the cards are identical, I'll post my cropped image comparison when I get home (I don't have the files here at work).
.
Yes you do, actually...it's just under the picture of the box...
Yeah, duh....
But not on the box, and that's what we are talking about
I seem to remember they said that would be to confusing for new players, who might think they have to play 1 - 7th edition, before playing 8th edition
[edit]Found the link:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/arcana/317
gona have to agree with the fellow canadian... it's teh exact same picture. Took me a minute to figure it out, but you have to spot the long red hair 1st, and then you can see the other pieces stick together in your mind, almost like a jigsaw puzzle, real fun
The original Hyppie was uncommon... it wouldn't be on the reserved list.
Between Shock and Volcanic Hammer in the core set, Rend Flesh in CoK, and a host of other Standard small-critter kill cards, and Dark Ritual not legal in any format that this reprint would make Hyppie legal in, it's possible, though not exactly likely.
I'd put the odds on this at 4:1 against.
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