Magic 2011 Release Info

Announcing....


http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/358


Product release date and Release Events are on July 16, 2010

Prerelease Events are July 10-11, 2010.


Some things worth noting:

Standard now rotates only once each year, with the release of the October large set. So Magic 2011 will enter Standard on its release without knocking anything out, then Magic 2010 and Shards of Alara block will leave Standard with the release of "Lights." The Standard format between Magic 2011 and "Lights" (speculated to be New Phyrexia) will consist of Shards of Alara block, Zendikar block, Magic 2010, and Magic 2011. After the release of "Lights," it will consist of Zendikar Block, Magic 2011, and "Lights."

So when M11 is released on July 16, we will have 2 core sets in Standard until the fall. Then when the new block (New Phyrexia) is released, M10 and the Shards of Alara block will rotate out.


Also, Extended rotates at the same time, but there's no core set that will rotate out this year.

I wonder what mythics we'll see in M11?

Do you think Baneslayer will be back?


What about the original planeswalkers? They now have a second cycle of mono colored walkers:
Nissa
Elspeth
Tezzeret & Mind Sculptor (blue actully has 3.....imagine that unfair treatment)
Sorin Markov
Chandra Ablaze

I know the originals have more of a core appeal to them, and are easier to play with for newer players. I think they're more likely, but IMO it would be nice to see the others for a little while.
Plus I would like to see Tezzeret be standard legal when Fall's artifact block comes.


And let's not forget the M10 lands (Sunpetal Grove and Co.). I think that they will make a return (my wallet hopes!). I mean, they're brand new lands - less than 1 year old - and have proven good enough for the player base. The 2 colored lands found in core sets have had at least 1 return to the game after their original release.
...
But remember all those alternate 2 color lands we got in Future Sight?
We got Graven Cairns during the Shadowmoor set, and it's only a matter of time before we see the Grove of the Burnwillows, Horizon Canopy, Nimbus Maze and the River of Tears cycles. I don't think we'll see the life loss one (Horizon Canopy) anytime soon, as Wizards expressed their shift away from pain lands, but whose to say of the other 3???


And let's not forget the new cards. - Not counting the functional reprints.



Thoughts?