New Scars of Mirrodin speculation

Hey guys. The Mind Flayer is back from his long absence, this time with some SoM previews/speculation.

First of, new mechanic:

In yesterday's arcana at WotC, they release this information, without refering if it will be present in SoM or not, but most think that it will be. Let's take a look:

Infect (This creature deals damage in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)

Yeap, that's wither AND poison in the same ability, although this is actualy better than poisonous. If you remember, poisonous was something like this:

Poisonous X (Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, that player gets X poison counters. A player with ten or more poison counters loses the game.) remember also that X was usualy 1.

Now, it gives poison counters equal to the damage it deals wich, i think, it's an inprovement and might even see constructed play.


On to the next one.

"Just to add more fuel to the split set idea, I received some WPN info on the Scars Game Day from wizards. The day will have an optional constructed feature called "affiliated decks". This is important enough to have specific prizes for - the prizes are preview cards for Mirrodin Besieged.

From the email:
"The ultimate constructed deck event – with a twist!

Scars of Mirrodin Game Day gives your customers a shot at glory in the coming conflict. Available for the first time to Core level WPN locations around the world, Scars of Mirrodin Game Day is a great way for your local players to interact and see how the new cards shape the Constructed metagame.

Scars of Mirrodin Game Day features a standard format, showcasing the new cards in the most popular format world-wide. Players will also have the option to “affiliate” their deck to earn special prizes.

Event Prizes
A foil card for the top 8 winners!
Preview cards from Mirrodin Besieged™ for the top 4 “affiliated” winners."

Also one of the key selling points given is "Scars of Mirrodin will have an integrated consumer experience unlike any previous Magic™ set."

I won't rant much about this one, so read the thread if you want for speculation. Anyway, I think it's a great idea what they're discussing there.

The main point however is: Will the top qualified affiliated decks decide wich will be the third set in the SoM block? If the decks affiliated with New Phyrexia get higher standing than the ones from Mirrodin Pure, will it mean that the third set will be story based on the destruciton of Mirrodin by the Phyrexians?

Stay tuned for more developments, here at the Dumb Mind Flayer!