Gatecrash Spoilers Part 3

They're coming so fast, I'm just going to have to do a new post each day!

Check out the new art for the shocklands in Gatecrash! New cards on the left, old cards on the right.

                

        

        

          

       

First of the Guildgates:

First of the Keyrunes:

So this one gets to be a blue/black unblockable creature? I know what goes in my unblockable deck then...

Two new guild leaders:

Lazav, Dimir Mastermind is intriguing. It stays the same, but he can become a copy of another card while still having the original name and hexproof. 4 mana for a 3/3 with that ability. Looks interesting enough. We'll just see what happens with it...

Obzedat, Ghost Council is the fourth guild leader revealed so far (just waiting on Simic guild leader to be revealed). When it enters, an opponent loses 2 life and you gain two life. Pretty much a blinking legendary creature that returns at the beginning of the next upkeep, so you can continue to gain life and make your opponent lose it, on top of Obzedat having haste on the second entry, and being a 5/5 for 5 mana. This will see play, I'm pretty sure, and at least be one of the favorites. Probably a sweet blinking life gain, loss of life deck could be made with this for Commander/EDH. White/Black exalted with Obzedat as the general, and then some lose/gain life spells and other creatures. Looking good...

All the rest:

Basilica Guards looks to be a pretty good card. 3 mana for a 1/4 defender that also has Extort. Looks to be a pretty good card...
	Battalion looks like a pretty good mechanic. Whenever a creature with Battalion and two other creatures attack during your turn, the creatures with Battalion have an added bonus, like Boros Elite which gets +2/+2 until end of turn. One mana for a 1/1 that has a late-game appeal in that when it attacks, you essentially have a 3/3 creature you only payed 1 mana for. This is a great card.
Murder Investigation: So, for two mana, you enchant a creature, and when it dies, you get 1/1 tokens equal to it's power? I guess that's a bit like Worldspire Wurm that splits into three 5/5 Wurm tokens. Essentially when a creature dies, it gets split into 1/1 tokens. Not to bad for a token deck, for sure.
	Cloudfin Raptor: Triggering Evolve on this creature shouldn't be too difficult. One mana for a 0/1 that on turn two could be a 1/2 is decent. I think playing Simic will be fun. Good opening hand, but wouldn't want this much further into the game. Depending on what other cards are out there or what the deck purpose is, you might just want to pass this one up. Even just using Evolve once and just using it as a cheap flyer would be good. Or blink a 5/3 creature a couple times to boost this creature. I mean, it only has to have a greater power OR toughness... (If you did it enough, you'd have a 5/6 on your hands. With flying).
Gridlock: Great control spell once an opponent declares that they will enter the attack phase. Sort of like Downpour, except this does non-land (not just creatures) and can do more than three. Definitely going to use these...
	Gateway Shade: I'm feeling this card coming up short. 3 mana for a 1/1, and even then, you have to pump it with 1 black mana for +1/+1 until end of turn, or tap a gate for +2/+2. I think I see this being better for Commander/EDH. I don't see a practical use in Standard yet...
Tin Street Market: Yay, more land enchanting! So, essentially five mana for a single land to let you tap it to discard a card and draw a card. I don't see how much this will be used unless there is some really nasty graveyard thing going on when you want to be doing a lot of discarding...
	Viashino Shanktail: Four mana for a 3/1 with first strike. Not bad, but the Bloodrush mechanic just makes it better... Instead you pay just 3 mana for essentially a pump spell that gives a creature +3/+1 and first strike. Decent card. Bloodrush giving you the option of the creature or the pump spell screams Commander/EDH to me...
Experiment One looks like an interesting card. One mana for a 1/1 with Evolve. Of course it also lets you remove two +1/+1 counters to regenerate it. Not sure how worth it that will be, but okay then...
	I like Call of the Nightwing paired with the Cipher mechanic. You get a 1/1 blue and black horror creature token with flying, and then Call of the Nightwing gets encoded on a creature, then when it deals damage to a player, it lets you put another 1/1 blue and black horror creature token with flying for free. For 4 mana, seems pretty worth it...
Deathpact Angel looks interesting... a 5/5 angel with flying for 6 mana. And... when it dies, you get a token that lets you tap, pay 6 mana, and sacrifice it for Deathpact Angel to be returned to the battlefield from a graveyard...
	Drakewing Krasis is a 3/1 creature for three mana that has flying and trample. Pretty good for using Evolve, and just being an overall good creature. I like it, but it can easily be removed from the battlefield...
Zhur-Taa Swine: 5 mana for a 5/4, that also can be a pump spell for three mana to give an attacking creature +5/+4. Could be pretty good, I think.
	Burning-Tree Emissary is pretty much a creature that is played for 0 mana, as long as you control two lands that produce red or green mana. What I mean by that is you pay two red, two green, or one of each, and you get one red and one green back. So a free 2/2 on turn 2. Yeah, that's an awesome card. I think it will see a lot of play and have a price set higher like Vampire Nighthawk currently has.
Last, but not least, we have Illusionist's Bracers. Non-mana abilities of creatures can be copied with new targets chosen for the copy... 2 mana for the artifact, and 3 to equip. So, pretty much a keyword doubler, I think. With Evolve, you would get two +1/+1 counters instead of just one, looks like it will work great with Battalion on Firemane Avenger. Definitely could see some applications, but probably won't be used very much in Standard, and it probably won't see much play in Limited. In fact, it'll probably just be considered a junk rare in drafts, despite how cool the artwork looks and the purpose (which essentially costs 5 mana for).