Gatecrash Spoils: Signal the Clans

Anytime we get a cheap creature retrieval spell I am happy. I loved playing with Garruk Relentless in Innistrad because he allowed me to bring specific creatures out of my deck repeatedly. Signal the Clans is a nice two cost card that lets us have a creature, but also kind of tips our hand to the opponent. We essentially pick three different creatures from our deck and reveal them. Then you get to pick one at random and put it into your hand. This makes for a nice, early game setup. You can grab 3 different creatures from your deck that you know you can use in turns 3-5, but of course you have to way the risk of letting your opponent know what at least one card in your hand is. 

If you are playing against blue, then cast Signal the Clans at the end of your opponents turn if they have tapped out. That way you can have your creature and guarantee it will hit the board on your next turn. If you are going against black though, be careful as tipping your hand/deck may cause something nasty like Slaughter Games to come out later.

I think this guy will at least end up in sideboard play for standard.

Gatecrash Spoils: Crypt Ghast

Crypt Ghast is a mono block from Orzhov. Let's take a quick look.

So this guy is what I like to call a utility card. He makes a nice chump blocker, but his main function is to generate double the swamp mana. You can expect for him to be present in any deck that wants to deck advantage of mana ramping or special abilities like Extort.

Gatecrash Spoils: Mystic Genesis

So... we are going to counter that and... oh yeah, summon a mean creature as well.

This is a cute spell. I don't know if you will see heavy play on it, but I could see myself rolling with one of these as an experiment. It really is only valuable as a late game option, when you want to not only stop your opponent from casting that big phattie, but also to bring out your own monster in the process on their turn.

Gatecrash Spoils: High Priest of Penance

High Priest of Penance is yet another fun Orzhov card that has been spoiled recently. I think this guy might see a significant amount of play, especially if his toughness can be buffed and you can trigger some friendly fire damage. Expect to see this guy being toyed around with in the new Standard Metagame.

Gatecrash Spoils: Alms Beast

Alms... Alms for the poor!

What a fascinating creature. A friend of mine once called Orzhov the Church of the Necromafia. With wealth a plenty, they can through around some coinage and still be on top. A 6/6 for only four mana actually makes this a very viable card to play. Worried about giving your opponent's creatures lifelink? No problem, just throw a rancor on this guy and you can still trample through some damage against those chump blockers your opponent will use. But what if he puts up a heavy blocker? Considering through Call to Serve on Alms Beast and watch this guy fly over your opponent? Your opponent has flyers? Well you are playing White and Black at this point... so... O Ring? Murder? Point being, with how cheap this guy is and his potential damage output in the earlier part of the game, I think you will find him being considered for some standard play, definitely a nice pre-release fun card to play with. 

Gatecrash Spoils: Angelic Skirmisher

Because... we need more angels!

Wizards of the Coast really likes it's big angels, and Angelic Skirmisher does not disappoint. The ability grant first strike, vigilance, or lifelink at the beginning of every combat phase to all of your creatures is actually kind of sick. Especially since it is every combat phase. So when your opponent decides to swing at you, you can simply declare all of your blockers to have first strike. Or if you know there is no way to sufficiently block, then declare lifelink to offset the damage you will take. This is an all around great angel to have on the battlefield. I don't know if you will see her much in standard, but I can think of an EDH deck I'd like to put her in.

Gatecrash Spoils: Biovisionary

Looks like the spoils keep coming. Today we got ourselves a new Simic rare to look at.

Fair warning folks. This is what we call a gimmick card. Anytime Wizards of the Coast give you a card that has the words "You win the game" on it, the truth is that you don't. Most of the time, these gimmicky card require such a heavy investment in doing nothing but playing said card, that by the time you mana to trigger the card(s) ability, you will already be dead twice over.

That being said, I do like the possibilities of this card. I am trying to think how this card might work in a mana ramping/deck cycling type situation. I'm also thinking of combining this with Seance and Populate mechanics. If you can get do a token explosion of this card somehow, then you might be able to win the game. But again, at what cost to defense and offensive strategies? Who out there wants to take a stab at making this card viable for standard?