Zendikar Prerelease: A Gamer's Tale.

After finishing yesterday's blog post at 3 am, I then proceeded to fall asleep until 8 am. I got more sleep than half the players at the Prerelease. (We're GAMERS. It happens) I headed in, and the atmosphere was absolutely, positively...dull. This continued on in that vein, until...

WAIT A MINUTE. This isn't "How My Day Went", this is the Zendikar Prerelease report! So let's just skip right to the cards, shall we? Any objections?

...

...

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*crickets chirp*

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I thought not.

We got passed our cards and deck registration sheets, and I started sorting. It took a bit of time, since I had to open a kid's boosters for him (he broke his arm a few weeks ago and still hasn't missed a week. That's just awesome.) but I immediately realised, while I didn't have any bombs, I had a very solid pool. Here's what I opened.

Basic Land:

2 Island
2 Mountain
2 Swamp

Non-Basic Land:

1 Kazandu Refuge
1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
1 Piranha Marsh
1 Soaring Seacliff
1 Teetering Peaks
1 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

Artifact:

1 Adventuring Gear
1 Carnage Altar
2 Expedition Map
1 Stonework Puma
1 Trusty Machete

White:

1 Brave the Elements
2 Caravan Hurda
1 Journey to Nowhere
1 Kazandu Blademaster
1 Kor Skyfisher
1 Nimbus Wings
1 Noble Vestige
1 Ondu Cleric
1 Shieldmate's Blessing
1 Steppe Lynx
1 Sunspring Expedition

Blue:

1 Archive Trap
1 Caller of Gales
1 Gomazoa
1 Into the Roil
1 Ior Ruin Expedition
1 Kraken Hatchling
1 Quest for Ancient Secrets
1 Reckless Scholar
1 Sea Gate Loremaster
1 Sky Ruin Drake
1 Summoner's Bane
2 Tempest Owl
1 Trapfinder's Trick
2 Welkin Tern
1 Whiplash Trap

Black:

4 Crypt Ripper
1 Desecrated Earth
1 Feast of Blood
1 Giant Scorpion
2 Hideous End
2 Mindless Null
1 Ravenous Trap
2 Sadistic Sacrament
2 Soul Stair Expedition
1 Vampire Hexmage

Red:

1 Geyser Glider
1 Goblin War Paint
1 Murasa Pyromancer
1 Plated Geopede
1 Quest for Pure Flame
1 Ruinous Minotaur
1 Seismic Shudder
1 Shatterskull Giant
1 Spire Barrage
1 Torch Slinger
1 Zektar Shrine Expedition

Green:

2 Grazing Gladehart
1 Joraga Bard
1 Khalni Heart Expedition
1 Nissa's Chosen
2 Oran-Rief Survivalist
1 Savage Silhouette
2 Tajuru Archer
1 Turntimber Basilisk
1 Vastwood Gorger

Now, since you may not know all the cards in Zendikar yet (shame on you for not memorising the entire Visual Spoiler already!) here are some of the more interesting ones.

Crypt Ripper

2BB

Haste

2/2

B: +1/+1 til EOT.

I opened FOUR of these. Yeah. FOUR. As I mentioned in my own post, this card is actually pretty damn good. Combined with the two Hideous End, I knew instantly I would play black. We didn't end up deck swapping (we have a fairly lenient prerelease) so we got to brewin'!

The biggest problem I had was in deciding a second color. I could have made arguments for all of them. Red had some solid creatures and Zektar Shrine. Green had some great creatures. White had a Piece of removal and some combat tricks, and blue has a lot of decent playables, including two (Reckless Scholar and Sea Gate Loremaster) that can just win the game if left unchecked.

After much agonizing, I went with a blue-black build. I chose to add the Seacliff, but not the Piranha Marsh. Here's the build I ended up with:

Lands (17)

7 Island
1 Soaring Seacluff
9 Swamp

Creatures (13)

1 Caller of Gales
4 Crypt Ripper
1 Giant Scorpion
1 Gomozoa
1 Reckless Scholar
1 Sea Gate Loremaster
1 Sky Ruin Drake
1 Vampire Hexmage
2 Welkin Tern

Spells (10)

1 Carnage Altar
2 Hideous End
1 Into the Roil
1 Ior Ruin Expedition
2 Soul Stair Expedition
1 Summoner's Bane
1 Trusty Machete
1 Whiplash Trap

I added Carnage Altar as an experiment. Cards like this can occasionally turn out uber-powerful, and if I was right, I'd look awesome and have a great edge.

It wasn't. It was terrible, and I should have taken it out after Round 1. Somehow I forgot about the 'Change your deck between rounds' rule at the Prerelease.

Trusty Machete, however, was bloody awesome.

Crypt Ripper, however, was my MVP. So good to have 4 of them. Let's move on to the games though, lest I wax about every card in my deck.

Round 1 vs. Heath

I lose the die roll. Both of us elect to keep. He leads with a Sunspring Expedition. I match it with a Soul Stair Expedition. He plays Kor Skyfisher, bouncing his Plains, and I pass. He plays Turntimber Grove and bashes me for 3. (17,20)

I pass. He swings again, and I give his Skyfisher a rather Hideous End. (17,18) He plays a Shieldmate. A 1/4 defender. Scary. I play Crypt Ripper, he plays Greenweaver Druid. I drop an Ior Ruin, then a land (I almost, out of habit, do it the other way round) and swing. He lets it through, and I triple-pump. (17, 13). He activates his Expedition. (17, 21). He plays Harrow and swings. I take 1. (16, 21). I attack with Crypt Ripper. His 1/4 blocks, and I pump the Ripper to kill it. At the end of my turn, he plays Baloth Cage Trap.

Next turn, he plays Celestial Mantle and swings with a 7/7 that will double his life total if it hits. Yeah, I chump block. Next turn I kick Into The Roil to bounce his token, then swing, and pump +4. (16, 11). He plays Kor Hookmaster and Explorer's Scope. He swings for 1. (15, 11). I play Sky Ruin Drake and another Soul Stair Expedition, then pass.

He plays Stonework Puma, then Brave the Elements naming blue. He swings. (13, 11). I swing. He blocks with the Puma. I pump to kill it, and hit for 2 with my Drake. (13, 9). I then play Sea Gate Loremaster and Giant Scorpion. He untaps and plays Landbind Ritual. (13, 21). He swings. Giant Scorpion blocks. The Hookmaster dies. I swing. (13, 18). He blocks my Crypt Ripper with Greenweaver Druid. He passes.

I play Gomazoa and Trusty Machete. I equip it, and swing. (13, 8) He plays Kor Sanctifiers. I Summoner's Bane it. Next turn, I play Soaring Seacliff, pump my Ripper, and beat him to death in the air.

Game 2 he chooses to play. He keeps, and I mull to 6. His first play is Kor Outfitters. I draw Soul Stair Expedition, play it, then lay a land. He plays Greenweaver Druid, and swings. (20, 18). I play Giant Scorpion, and he kicks Kor Aeronaut. He swings. (20, 16). I play Crypt Ripper and swing. (18, 16). He plays Turntimber Larva. He swings again. (18, 14). I respond in kind, with a 5/5 Crypt Ripper. (13, 14). He swings (13, 10) and I block Turntimber Larva with Giant Scorpion. I get it back with the Expedition at EOT.

I play it, then swing, pumping twice. (9, 10). He plays another Kor Outfitters and swings. (9, 5). I play Gomozoa and pass. He plays Stonework Puma and knocks me to two. I play Carnage Alter and sacrifice Gomozoa. I fail to draw an answer, and concede.

On to Game 3!

I play, and we both keep. I play a Trusty Machete, he plays Sunspring Expedition. I play Vampire Hexmage, he plays Expedition Map. I swing, then play Welkin Tern. He plays Kor Hookmaster, targeting the Hexmage. I equip Trusty Machete to Welkin Tern. (This happens several times throughout the day. It becomes a running gag of mine about the homocidal bird carrying a machete in it's mouth.)

I swing. (14, 20). He uses Expedition Map to find Turntimber Grove, plays it, and hits me for 3. (14, 17). I play Sky Ruin Drake (or as I start calling it, Race Ruin Drake) and swing. (8, 17). He sacs the Expedition. (16, 17). He plays Territorial Baloth. I play Crypt Ripper. He swings. (10, 11). We have a race on our hands! I oblige. He then plays Kor Outfitters, attaching the Expedition Scope to the Basilisk. I play Crypt Ripper. I swing. He Pitfall Traps my 4/4 Ripper and blocks the other. (2, 11). He then plays Puma, and Harrow (making the Baloth an 8/8.) He swings. I go to 3. I win next turn.

1-0


Round 2 vs. Luke


I play first. I play a Swamp, he plays the R/G Refuge. (20, 21)
I play a land, he plays Zektar Shrine Expedition.
I play Reckless Scholar, he passes. I play Crypt Ripper, he uses Punishing Fire. He passes. I play a Sky Ruin Drake. He passes again. I play Ior Ruin Expedition and attack. He Harrows and Hideous Ends my Drake. (18, 19). He plays Tuktuk Grunts and swings. I block. I play Gomazoa, then Welkin Tern. I swing. (18, 17).

He plays Marsh Casualties. I play Trusty Machete and Crypt Ripper. I swing. (18, 15). He swings with the Zektar and a 4/4. I block the 7/1 and Gomazoa-shuffle it into oblivion, and take 4. (14, 15). I equip Crypt Ripper with my Machete, and attack. (14, 9). He plays Mark of Mutiny on it, and attacks. (6, 9). I swing, he blocks. I play Sea Gate Loremaster.

He plays Giant Scorpion. He passes. I swing and he blocks and uses Slaughter Cry to kill my guy. He plays a Shrine, and a land. He swings. (5, 9). I equip the Machete to the Loremaster. I pass. He swings. (4, 9). I Hideous End his blocker next turn, and swing. (4, 4). He kicks Mold Shambler. I use Summoner's Bane. I play a Crypt Ripper next turn and swing for the win.


Game 2 he chooses to draw. I play a Turn 2 Ior Ruin, and he passes. I play Reckless Scholar. He plays Vampire Nighthawk. (The sheer IMPOSSIBILITY of this card to be dealt with profitably says that I want this as my Jund 3-drop.) I play a Crypt Ripper and pass. He swings. (18, 22). I play a land and sac the Expedition. I pass. He swings. (16, 24). He then plays Spidersilk Net and attaches it to the Nighthawk. He kicks Gatekeeper of Malakir, and I sacrifice my Reckless Scholar.

I play my combo: Caller of Gales plus Giant Scorpion. He swings. (12, 28). I play a Crypt Ripper. He plays Malakir Bloodwitch. (9, 31). He swings. I use my combo and block. (9, 33). I swing, and +3. He goes to 28. He Spidersilk Nets onto the Bloodwitch. I Whiplash Trap it at end of turn, since the only card I have to kill it is Summoner's Bane (in hand, too!)

I then swing. (9, 22). He plays Malakir Bloodwitch, I Summoner's Bane it. I swing. (9, 11). He plays Hagra Diabolist. (8, 11). I kick Into the Roil and swing for the win.

2-0.


Round 3 vs. Brian.


I mulligan, and he keeps. He plays the G/W refuge. (20, 21). I lay a land and pass. We both play lands, then I play Giant Scorpion. He passes. I play Crypt Ripper, and swing. (20, 18). He passes. I swing, pump the Ripper to a 4/4. He Burst Lightnings it (with Kicker). (20, 17). He passes. I play a Crypt Ripper and swing. (20, 12). Next turn I play Trusty Machete and Welkin Tarn and swing. (20, 3). He concedes.

Game 2 he plays Kor Duelist. I play Soul Stair Expedition. He plays Turntimber Grove and swings. (20, 18). I play Welkin Tern. He swings. (20, 17). He plays Nissa's Chosen. I play Trusty Machete, and equip it to the Tern. I swing. (16, 17). We both swing for a few turns. Here's how it goes:

16, 14.
12, 14.
12, 11.
8, 11.

He then plays an end of turn Baloth Cage Trap. He swings, and I Whiplash Trap his token and Chosen. (8. 9) He plays Oracle of Mul Daya. I swing. (4, 9). He plays Kor Hookmaster. I Summoner's Bane it. He Magma Rifts. I get it back with Soul Stair at EOT.

I equip the machete to my token and swing. He blocks. I play Sky Ruin Drake. He kicks Kor Sanctifiers and kills my Machete. I swing. (9, 2). I play Welkin Tern and Sea Gate Loremaster. He draws and concedes.

3-0.


Round 4 vs. Jarred


I've been hearing tales of Jarred's amazing deck all day. Let's see if it lives up to the hype.

He keeps, I mulligan. I play a land, he plays Piranha Marsh. (20, 19). Turn 3 he plays Quest for the Gemblades. I play Crypt Ripper and swing. (18, 19). He kicks Gatekeeper of Malakir. I play Sky Ruin Drake. He plays Territorial Baloth. I pass. He swings. I block the Gatekeeper. (18, 13). He plays some guys, and I Whiplash Trap them for U.

Aside: I totally punted this. For some reason I thought Whiplash Trap's U cost was only meant to bounce the creatures that were played. I should have gone for the Baloth instead. It probably wouldn't have helped though. See below.

He swings. (18, 7).

Next turn he plays Sorin Markov. He drains my life and beats me to death shortly after.

Game 2 I play Caller of Gales. He plays Piranha Marsh. (20, 19). I swing, and play Welkin Tarn. He plays Quest of the Gemblades. I swing. (16, 19). He plays Vampire Nighthawk. So much for out-aggroing him.

I play a Soul Stair and pass. He swings. (18, 17). I swing. (16, 17). He plays Crypt Ripper and swings. (18, 12)

I play Sea Gate Loremaster and swing. (16, 12).

He swings. (18, 4).

I draw, and concede.

3-1.


Ow...the pain...

Round 5 vs. Nicholas


He wins the roll. I mulligan. Turn 1, he plays Guul Draz Vampire. I play Caller of Gales. He swings, and I block. He plays a second Guul Draz Vampire. I play Welkin Tern. He plays Kor Hookmaster and swings. (20, 19). I pass. He swings (20, 18) then plays Kor Cartographer.

I swing. (18, 18). He swings. (18, 15). He plays Kazandu Blademaster and Adventuring Geat. I swing. (16, 15) I play Carnage Altar, again cursing it's very existence.

He swings. (16, 10). I pass. He swings (16, 4). I kick Into The Roil, fail to find something next turn, and concede.

Game 2 I choose to play. I play Soul Stair, he plays Vampire Lacerator and Spidersilk Net. I pass. He swings (19, 18) and plays Bloodghast. I play Gomazoa. He swings. I block Bloodghast. (18, 16)

I play Reckless Scholar. He swings. I block Bloodghast and shuffle them away. (17,14). he swings next turn. (16, 12). I play Crypt Ripper, and swing. (14, 12).

He swings, I block, and he casts Disfigure. (13, 12). I swing, and he casts Hideous End. (13, 10). I remark that now I'm at 10, I'm basically screwed. He agrees. I play Hexmage. He swings. After double-checking for a combat trick, I blow him out with my guys. He forgot Hexmage had first strike. a Hideous End was also involved. (He played a Hookmaster at one point. My notes suck.) (11, 10).

I swing. (6, 10). I win quite quickly, and we're on to Game 3.

Game 3 I keep, and my heart turns to ice. How could I forget that his deck was so fast, and I have so little early action!?

He plays Vampire Lacerator. I play Carnage Altar. He swings. (19, 18). I pass. He swings. (18, 16). He plays Kor Sanctifiers.

I play Gomazoa, acting as if I had it all along. Don't know if I fooled him. He swings. (17, 14) then plays Heartstabber Mosquito. I play Ior Ruin Expedition, lay a land, and pass. he swings. (16, 10). Once again, past the 10 mark. I play Sky Ruin Drake. He swings, I block Lacerator. (16, 6) He plays another couple of guys next turn and swings. (16, 2). I have nothing off the top, and that's the tournament.

3-2.


Well, in the end thanks to high resistances, I come 8th out of 33, so I'm happy. I get some Zendikar packs for my troubles, and had a cool day of Magic. I'll need to play at the Launch Party and participate in some Zendikar draft before I make a formal conclusion as to the format, but here's my view:

As spoken by someone who's name I don't know at the Prerelease: Games in Zendikar go really fast or really long. There's not really a middle ground. I totally agree. Zendikar's early drops and bombs are so good that midrange decks get flanked on either side. Either play aggro or play late-game: but make a choice. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. Thank you, nameless guy.

Quests are very useful. They're also a big part of Limited.

Black is the best color in Zendikar. Most of the top 8 played with it. I advise trying to play it in Sealed. I don't know about Draft yet.

Thanks for reading!

Catching Up On Magic - Part 1

I've heard a lot of stories over the Internet about this issue, and most of them tend to pan out the same. If I mention Magic: The Gathering, a large number of people will say they used to play, and some will say they'd like to get back in the game, but there's too much to learn.

I say there isn't too much to learn: it just hasn't been written down in one comprehensive primer focused on the exclusive task of getting Magic veterans back on track. That's where I come in. This series isn't short, and it isn't simple, but it should give you all the foundation you need to build a netdeck and show up at FNM and start learning in earnest. I will cover the new Magic rules (don't worry, the core is still the same!) the sets and mechanics in Standard, the types of cards that are powerful now, the state of the metagame, staple cards that you should get a playset of, and how to draft both the current set and the core set. (Why draft the core set? You'll find out later in the series)

So grab a drink, settle in for a nice read over the next week or two, and prepare to get back up to speed on the greatest game on earth.

New rules

Firstly, a lot of old mechanics have been keyworded. Oldies like Flying, First Strike and Trample are now matched with:

Lifelink. Whenever this creature deals damage, you gain that much life.

Reach. This creature can block creatures without flying as though they had flying.

Deathtouch. Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a creature, destroy it.

Flash. You may play this creature at any time you could play an instant.

These are all existing mechanics: they've just received easy-to-use keywords.

Changes made with M10:

Mana burn is no longer existent. Mana empties after each step (so for the savvy among you, you can no longer float mana during your upkeep to your draw step) and does not cause you any damage when it does so. This almost never actually becomes relevant, but it's worth knowing anyhow.

Blockers are now ordered. If you attack with a 5/5, and your opponent blocked with a 3/3, a 1/1 and a 1/1, you stacked 3 damage on the 3/3, and 1 on each 1/1. If your opponent had a Giant Growth he saved his 3/3 and your 5/5 still died. Now things have changed slightly.

After your opponent declares blockers, you now order these blockers in whichever way you like. Essentially, it's like you're putting them in a line. Once you've done so, your opponent can play combat tricks. How is this relevant? This actually provides more depth to the game. Imagine the following scenario:

Old rules. You attack with a 5/5. He blocks with a 3/3 and two 1/1's. You assign damage, he uses Giant Growth to save his guy.

Old rules. You attack with a 5/5. You know he has a Giant Growth in his hand. He blocks with a 3/3 and two 1/1's. You assign damage, he uses Giant Growth to save his guy. It's exactly the same.

New rules. You attack with a 5/5. He blocks with a 3/3 and two 1/1's. You order them: 3/3, 1/1, 1/1. He uses Giant Growth on his 3/3. You now have a 6/6 blocking you first. You must assign lethal damage (similar to Trample, but the extra damage spills over to the next blocking creature). You assign 5. None of his creatures die, but yours does.

New rules. You attack with a 5/5. You know he has a Giant Growth in his hand. He blocks with a 3/3 and two 1/1's. You order them: 1/1, 1/1, 3/3. He uses Giant Growth, but however he uses it, his 2 1/1's will die.

On the other hand, if he has a card to give a creature +1/+1 or +2/+2, you've made the wrong choice, since his 3/3 is still alive. So it's up to you to determine what tricks he may have, and to order blockers accordingly.

Feel free to read over that section a couple more times until it sinks in. It's fairly complex.

Deathtouch does not follow this rule. A creature with Deathtouch can split it's damage however it wants. This rarely comes into play though, because how many people are stupid enough to double-block a creature with Deathtouch?

Lifelink is now a static ability, not a triggered one. What that means is, under the old rules, if your opponent attacked you with 3 2/2's, and you blocked with a 3/3 with Lifelink when on 3 life, you would take 4 damage, and die. Under the new rules, you gain 3 life and lose 4 at the same time, and you go to 2 life. You don't lose the game.

Some cosmetic changes:

In play zone = Battlefield

Removed-from-game zone = Exile

Spells are CAST, not played.

Activated abilities are ACTIVATED, not played.

Lastly, the biggest one: Damage no longer uses the stack. Once damage is dealt, there's no responding. Thus, all sacrificial effects must be completed BEFORE damage is dealt. All bounce effects: same deal. There's no more automatic 'block your 1/1, damage on the stack, sacrifice Sakura-Tribe Elder to get a land' play. Now you need to decide what's more important: his 1/1, or your land? You can only take care of one.

New sets

The current sets in Standard are: Lorwyn, Morningtide, Shadowmoor, Eventide, Shards of Alara, Conflux, Alara Reborn and Magic 2010. Lorwyn, Morningtide, Shadowmoor and Eventide will all rotate out at the end of September.

Lorwyn is a tribal set, featuring the following tribes:

Faeries. Blue-black controllish creatures with Flash.

Giants. Red-white big creatures that start their costs at 4.

Goblins. Red-black sacrificial creatures. Aggressive and self-sacrificing to gain a benefit.

Kithkin. White with a tiny amount of green. The white weenie tribe. Small, efficient creatures that use tribal synergies to become more powerful.

Treefolk. Green with some white and some black. Mainly defensive, low-power high-toughness creatures.

Elementals. Red, with some cards in all the colors. Many have spell-like effects when they come into play.

Merfolk. White and blue controllish creatures with evasion and some milling capacity.

Elves. Black and green creatures: elves with actual removal! Also some discard.

Lorwyn has the following mechanics:

Tribal. Evoke. Clash. Champion. Hideaway. Changeling.

Tribal: Some non-land cards now have creature types. Confused? I would think so. Here's how it works:

Take Eyeblight's Ending.

------------------------------------------

Eyeblight's Ending

2B

Tribal Instant - Elf

Destroy target non-Elf creature.

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Now let's take the card Lys Alana Huntmaster.

------------------------------------------------

Lys Alana Huntmaster.

2GG

Creature - Elf Warrior

3/3

Whenever you play an Elf spell, you may put a 1/1 Elf creature token into play.

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Lys Alana Huntmaster will trigger off every Elf spell you play: including enchantments, sorceries or instants with the Elf subtype. An Elf enchantment will count towards any card that counts the number of Elves in play, and can be championed.

Champion: Some cards in Lorwyn have the Champion mechanic, where you remove a card of the chosen creature type from the game in order to play a particularly powerful card. When the card leaves play, the creature that was Championed returns. A couple of fiddly rules about Champion:

Champion does not target. By the time you select which card to remove from the game, it's too late for it to be killed or bounced or anything: the ability is already resolving. The only way to stop Champion is to kill every eligible target before the ability resolves. This also means you can Champion a card with shroud.

You can kill the creature in response to the Champion trigger. This will prevent the champion from occurring.

Evoke: Some elementals have a comes-into-play effect, and also have an Evoke cost. An evoked Elemental is sacrificed once it comes into play. So why would you evoke it? The evoke cost is cheaper than the regular creature. Example:

Mulldrifter

4U

Creature - Elemental

When Mulldrifter comes into play, draw two cards.

Evoke 2U.

So if you don't have or don't want to spend 5 mana but still need two cards, you can evoke it. It will come into play, it's ability will resolve, you draw two cards, then it dies. Nothing fancy. Note: Evoking is a cost replacement. Therefore an evoked card can be countered.

Hideaway: This mechanic only appears on five lands, one of each color. When the land comes into play, it comes into play tapped. You look at the top four cards of your library, pick one, and put it beneath the land. When the condition is met, you may pay 1 mana of the appropriate color and tap the hideaway land to play the spell for free. This is used a fair amount in competitive decks, too.

Changeling: A creature with changeling is all creature types at all times. That means it is affected by all Tribal abilities, and is every creature type in Magic. There are many ways to use this ability, but the ability itself is simple.

Morningtide is also a tribal set, but based on class rather than race. The main races are:

White = Soldiers

Blue = Wizards

Black = Rogues

Red = Shamans

Green = Warriors

Morningtide has the following mechanics:

Reinforce, Prowl, Kinship

Reinforce X is an ability that appears on several cards. You pay the cost (which varies) and discard the card from your hand, and can put X +1/+1 counters on a creature at instant speed, with X being the Reinforce number, e.g Reinforce 2.

Prowl only appears on Rogue cards. When you deal damage with a Rogue (which is easy, as they are cheap, aggressive, and evasive) you can pay a lesser cost to play the card, often with an extra effect as well. This makes playing Rogues very cheap if you can keep hitting the opponent.

Kinship appears on several uncommons and rares. During your upkeep, you look at the top card of your library. If it shares a type with the creature with Kinship, you can reveal it, and an effect will occur, the effect varying on the card, anything from milling the opponent to playing the card for free!

Shadowmoor is a hybrid set. Hybrid mana can be paid using one mana of either color: e.g R/G can be paid for with one R, or one G. The tribes also shift colors:

Goblins: Red-Black -> Red-Green

Giants: Red-White-> Red-Green

Kithkin: Green-White-> White-Blue

Merfolk: White-Blue-> Blue-Black

Elves: Green-Black-> Green-White

Treefolk: Green-Black-White-> Green-White

Elementals: Five-Color-> Red-Black

Faeries: Blue-Black-> Blue-Black

Faeries are the only color that don't change. Shadowmoor has no tribal effects, but it does possess the creature types, so your Lorwyn / Morningtide decks can have more Kithkin / Elves / Goblins etc. in them.

The Shadowmoor mechanics are: Wither, Persist, Hybrid, Conspire and Untap.

Wither is a simple ability: it deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters. If the damage is prevented or redirected, so will the -1/-1 counters follow suit. However it does have interactions, such as stopping Persist.

Persist: If a creature with Persist dies without a -1/-1 counter on it, it comes back with a -1/-1 counter on it. So barring things like exiling it, or killing it with Wither, it's going to come back twice. This is a powerful Constructed mechanic, since it's automatic card advantage (usually).

Hybrid: Hybrid's already been explained. About half of all Shadowmoor cards are hybrid.

Conspire: When you tap two creatures that share a color with a spell with Conspire (fairly easy, considering the hybrid spells and creatures out there) you get to copy the spell. Note: this only works once. You can't copy the copy.

Untap: When you activate an Untap ability, you pay a certain amount of mana and untap your creature. The effect then happens. Note: the untap ability is a cost. If your creature is untapped, you cannot pay the cost, and therefore cannot activate the ability. So your creature has to be tapped in order to use the effect. Luckily there are lots of ways to tap things in Magic!

Eventide is the enemy-color hybrid set. It basically continues with many of the cycles in Shadowmoor.

The Eventide mechanics are:

Retrace: After this spell is put in the graveyard, usually by being played, you can essentially turn any land in your hand into that spell. Unlike some mechanics, this one can be done again and again as long as you have lands in hand and mana to pay the spell with.

Chroma: Chroma is a group of cards related only by the fact that they care about mana symbols. Other than that, they have nothing alike. They're a group, rather than a keyword.

To be continued...