[M15] XATHRID SLYBLADE

This is a wonderful card, because it's not bad and it's not overpowered either. Yes, it's a 2/1 for three mana, but it's hexproof and has an ability that's fitting for an uncommon card. A deathtouch alone would have sufficed but a first strike too? Pretty sweet card to have in draft right there. Thanks to the guys over at Game Informer for the official preview!

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M15 Announced: Product and Pro Tour Details, New Garruk Art Unveiled, and Clash Packs Introduced

"Hunt Bigger Game" is the official tag line of M15. What could this mean? Will they exceed the 15/15 Emrakul, Aeons Torn of the Zendikar block? Will baloths, dragons, mammoths, and giants make a beating in M15? Will activated and triggered abilities have pump-esque effects? We'll have to see. It is very fitting though, since Garruk is the face of M15. Though the Garruk being shown does not seem to be the Garruk Wildspeaker of Lorwyn nor the Garruk Relentless of Innistrad. It seems the veil's curse hasn't been lifted off him.

Moreover, here are the details regarding the prerelease, the launch dates, and product information, including the new "Clash Packs" according to the mothership:

Set Name	Magic 2015—Core Set
Number of Cards	269
Prerelease Events	July 12-13, 2014
Release Date	July 18, 2014
Launch Weekend	July 18-20, 2014
Game Day	August 9-10, 2014
Magic Online Prerelease Events	July 25-27, 2014
Magic Online Release Date	July 28, 2014
Pro Tour Magic 2015	August 1-3, 2014
Pro Tour Magic 2015Location	Portland, Oregon, USA
Pro Tour Magic 2015Formats	Swiss: Standard Magic 2015 Draft Top 8: Standard

Official Three-Letter Code: M15
Twitter Hashtag: #MTGM15Initial Concept and Game Design:Aaron Forsythe (lead)
Max McCall
Shawn Main
Mike Gills
Jenna Helland
Final Game Design and Development:Billy Moreno (lead)
Shawn Main
Adam Lee
Tom LaPille
Sam Stoddard
Languages:English, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish
Available in:Booster Packs, Intro Packs*, Clash Pack*, Fat Pack*
(* - Not available in all languages)
We will be announcing more about the new Clash Pack soon!
(Magic Online only available in English.)

What are those Clash Packs going to be like? Rumors have already started floating around. They are seen as going to be similar to the old Tournament Packs (which I saw first in Onslaught yay) or perhaps some kind of Event Deck or Duel Deck. Others speculate them as smaller fat packs or booster packs designed for the sealed format. Then again, they could actually just be the Booster-Battle-Packs. We'll have to wait for now.

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M15: "Wall of Fire" and "Waste Not" Confirmed; NEW Card Frame announced

The mothership has recently announced the upcoming products this year, and one of the things that cannot be missed is regarding M15. Not only is the core set back (obviously), it will sport a new card frame. This is big, the I will now witness three card frame changes since I've played back in Onslaught. Moreover, remember the the "You Make the Card" gig that WOTC had? Well, the readers have picked the options, and they have finally made it into a card. Waste Not will appear in M15, having the new card frame.

As you can see from the card, there are five new changes that will be introduced to M15. Four of them will stick from M15 to every set onwards, while while one feature will especially be for M15. These changes are just the start of something supposedly big, since the design team are going to implement the changes little by little. Here are the features as stated by Aaron Forsythe:

1) The fontSince its inception, Magic has used off-the-shelf fonts on its cards. As a brand, we feel that we'll be better served by having our own unique proprietary font—something with a little edge and character that is still very readable.In general, we liked the heaviness and shape of the "Matrix Bold" font we'd been using previously, so there are a lot of similarities between the old font and the new, named "Beleren," which should alleviate any jarring feeling when you mix the two together in decks. 

2) The holofoil stampYou'll notice a little silver oval in the bottom center of Waste Not. That's a new unique holofoil stamp that we're applying to all rares and mythic rares going forward. This stamp makes those cards feel more special, as well as guarantees authenticity.Commons, uncommons, and basic lands will not feature this stamp. 

3) The collector infoIn the lower left of the card is a series of letters and numbers that indicate the card's collector number (122/269), rarity (R), set (M15), and language (EN). The little dot between the set and the language will be a star on premium cards, so just about everything you'd ever need to know about a card's edition is in one easy-to-read place.Making the bottom of each card black to accommodate this information was not an easy decision, and may be the most disconcerting part of this frame update, but it was done with the best of intentions. This information is machine-readable by recognition software at our production plants. It will help eliminate the rare packaging error, like cards sneaking into the wrong expansion's boosters. 

4) Decreased border sizeIn order to fit all this cool new stuff on the cards, we've reduced the width of the black border by almost a millimeter all the way around. This reclaimed real estate allows us to have slightly bigger art and text boxes as well. 

5) The designer creditYou'll notice that we gave you all credit for making this card in the place normally occupied by flavor text—"Designed by the Magic community." This is the first time we've ever given credit for a specific card design on the card itself, and it's you! You should be very proud! While every card going forward won't feature a designer credit (kinda sad, really), there are a handful of others inMagic 2015, specifically, that will. (You'll have to wait on those details! It's cool, I promise!)Those are the main components of the card frame update. Here's another M15 card for comparison. This one isn't rare, so it has no stamp; is a creature, so it has a P/T box; and isn't black, so you can see the frame design more clearly. All in all, it is an impressive modernization of the card frame, one I'll be excited to get my hands on this summer with M15.

Moreover, the guys have also unveiled Wall of Fire for comparison regarding the changes. Aaron has stated that this is an exciting development as it gives a modern look to the cards.

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