Aether Revolt Spoilers: Masterpieces!

Along side the one hundred and eighty four cards in Aether Revolt, there are fifty four special cards. Today I'm looking at twenty two of those cards that fall under the new "Masterpiece" feature started in Kaladesh, also known as the Inventions. The Masterpieces are going to be a group of special cards that aren't specifically part of the released set but will appear in boosters of that set. Masterpieces will tie into a theme of the set as well, for example the Masterpieces printed along side Kaladesh and Aether Revolt are called Inventions, as both sets revolve around artificial creations. In limited formats (Sealed and Draft), if you open one of these in one of your boosters you can play it in your deck. This can be back-breaking for your opponent as these cards are very powerful and very difficult to deal with.The Inventions are a mix of new cards from the current set and reprints of cards that first appeared in older sets, with new art and frame and a new set symbol. Did I forget to mention they are usually worth quite a bit of money? Well..., they're worth quite a bit of money. We'll start with the three cards that appear both in Aether Revolt the set and the Inventions group.

Firstly, two brand new cards...

Paradox Engine

This card will be a bomb in limited, allowing you to commit more to an attack for example, providing you have a post main phase spell to untap your attackers or even an instant, effectively making that spell a combat trick and enabling a surprise block. I love this card as it gets my combo brain going. I would love to see this in constructed, maybe being using in combination with mana producing elves or mana rocks (low cost artifacts that produce mana). If you can net mana while creating some sort of draw engine (way to draw cards reliably), you're golden. This cards looks great at first glance but as pushed as the mana cost is for this effect, its still slightly to high for standard. Practically, it doesn't do what you really want it to, and that's untap your lands  and the reason for that is obvious, it would be way to easy to abuse and make infinite mana. I can see this finding a home in modern and probably in a really fun deck, so keep an eye on this one.


Planar Bridge



I think its fairly obvious as to where Planar Bridge's play-ability lies. This is a great commander card; It's colourless, allowing access to all decks and it has such a splashy effect, being able to cherry pick from your array of one of permanents, at instant speed no less and put straight into play is just bonkers. If you have the time and the mana, and in commander you do, Planar Bridge will do great things for you. I'm sure this wont see play even at the prerelease, as Planar Bridge is a purely casual, fun, awesome card.

...and finally, an old favorite.

Ornithopter



I love Ornithopter. A free flying, artifact creature is always fine by me, especially when playing Affinity or Tempered Steel. Ornithopter isn't anything special, but its service to Magic since Revised edition is being acknowledged here with beautiful art and presented in a lovely frame.

The rest of the Inventions are a range of powerful and interesting artifacts stretching all the way back to Alpha; Black Vise and Meekstone. The eagle eyed of you will also notice that a lot of them are straight out of Mirrodin block. It makes sense as that was the last artifact centered block and there were so many incredible atifacts to choose from. An Invention version of a card like Arcbound Ravager or Chalice of the Void are going to be very highly sought after, so congratulations if you open one in a booster as you have just made £100.

Just to make sure people know; if you open one of these in your sealed pool at the prerelease, you can play it in your sealed deck. Imagine having a Sword of War and Peace or Body and Mind to smash your opponents face with, or Vedalken Shackles to steal there bomb creature to use against them. As I said earlier, the Inventions are worth a lot of money,  so if you are going to play with them make sure they are in sleeve. 

I hope everyone has fun discovering the Inventions when cracking some packs, but remember to keep checking back for more news and updates.