First potential Gatecrash spoilers

I know this is old news by now unfortunately I haven't been able to post recently due to time restrictions. Just over a week ago some potential Gatecrash cards were leaked on a sale thread on Craigslist. The thread itself has now been removed, however it does raise some interesting questions. Mainly concerning whether these cards are fake or not.

The cards themselves were foil mythic rares, the seller even posted pictures of the cards as people were initially skeptical about how genuine the cards were. I've never tried printing a magic card so have no idea how easy or hard it is to create fake foil cards.

The cards all look fairly balanced and well designed, if they are fakes they're probably the best fakes that have ever been created. If, however, they are real cards it makes you wonder how the seller got hold of them. Unfortunately, as far as I'm aware, the seller hasn't said how they obtained the cards.

A theory that I have heard quite a bit online is that Wizards have created fake spoilers to throw people off the scent. I can't see why Wizards would do this it would take money and resources to design the cards, get the artwork and actually create the cards. All of which could be better invested in actually making and printing real cards.

The Cards

Aurelia, The Warleader

Aurelia definitely feels like a leader of the Boros guild. Her abilities are all combat related which the flavour of the guild.

I really like her ability to grant an extra combat phase (this ability has mainly been seen in red but also slightly in white). What really makes this ability shine is the fact that Aurelia just has to attack to grant an extra combat phase, her attack doesn't have to hit an opponent nor do you have to pay an extra cost for the ability.

As a friend mentioned to me over the weekend if you flicker (via cards like Cloudshift) Aurelia after the first combat phase when she attacks in the second combat phase you'll then get another combat phase after that. This is because when Aurelia re-enters the battlefield after being flickered she is a new entity than the previous Aurelia, therefore meaning she hasn't attacked before. This makes me wonder if there's a way to constantly flicker her for infinite attacks.

I can see cards that like combat being automatically included in Aurelia decks, for example Hellrider and Odric. Especially if you can flicker Aurelia for more combat phases.

Borborygmos Enraged

Borborygmos (nickname Bobo) was the original leader of the Gruul. Borborygmos Enraged's abilities does fit into Gruul's primitive philosophy of smashing things, however I'm not a fan of the abilities. I think this is primarily because I don't like the idea of not having a guarantee of getting any lands on the top of the deck, meaning potentially having to dump 3 cards into the graveyard.

Unless Gruul's new ability has something to do with lands Borborygmos decks would have to run quite a few lands or have a way to return cards from the graveyard to make them effective.

Domri Rade

Domri Rade is the new planeswalker in Gatecrash (the other one being a Gideon variant). I really like Domri Rade, as he seems to fit his colours well.

Domri Rade's first ability potentially gives you some card advantage and a way to block creatures that attack him whilst you build up Domri's loyalty. The ability is conditional but isn't a downside, the worst that can happen is there's not a creature on the top of your deck but you still get to know what's on the top of your deck.

His second ability is effectively Green's version of removal. Admittedly the Red part of Domri could've just dealt direct damage to a creature, however fight feels more flavourful.

I love Domri's ultimate ability, it's insanely powerful and if you have enough creatures on the battlefield you should have no trouble winning after activating the ability. Currently there isn't a way to get rid of emblems, making this ability even more powerful.

One point that keeps being raised is Domri's artwork doesn't 'pop out' of the artwork box as other planeswalkers do. This, however, has been done before with Nissa Revane. I think whether the artwork pops out of the box depends on the artwork itself, Domri's artwork appears zoomed out a bit so you can see the background art.

Enter the Infinite

I must admit I'm not a huge fan of Enter the Infinite, you have to pay 12 mana to get all the cards in your library and then put a card back. After paying that much mana how likely are you to be able to pay for anything that you draw? The only way I can see this card working is being used with Omniscience, if Omniscience is in play first and you cast Enter the Infinite you will be able to cast any card in your deck.

Enter the Infinite also leaves you open to losing due to having to draw cards.

To me this card seems to belong in casual combo decks rather than competitive decks due to its high casting cost and its potential to force you to lose due to no cards in your library.

Hellkite Tyrant

Recently every set seems to have one mythic dragon, not that I'm complaining as I really like dragons. Despite artifacts notbeing a huge part of Ravnica Hellkite Tyrant feels very flavourful as, according to ficiton/lore dragons love to hoard treasure.

I can't see this card making huge waves in Standard as the format isn't very artifact heavy. However I love the fact it gives you an alternate win con and can see it being used in casual and commander decks.

Wrap Up

Overall I'm still skeptical about how genuine the cards are, however they do feel like they could be real so I'm keeping an open mind at the moment.

We shouldn't have too long to wait for confirmation as the official Gatecrash previews start the first week of Jamuary.