With Gatecrash around the corner and the excitement of what new decks await us, I will do my best to guess which cards will see more use in the coming months. Battalion, Evolve, Cipher, Bloodrush and Extort – which mechanic will define the Meta and rise to the top?

This month’s FORTUITOUS FIVE:

5. Hellrider:  I can see Hellrider becoming even more popular with the Battalion ability. Frontline Medic hand in hand with Hellrider is devastating. Have four creatures turn sideways on turn four with four triggers of Hellrider could easily be 12 damage. Add indestructibility to the table and it’s game over.  Boros aggro will seem like an easy transition for those playing Red deck wins.

4. Jace, Memory Adept:  With Dimir’s ability to cause havoc on a player’s library – including a guildmage who can take life for each card send to the graveyard – I can see Jace, Memory Adept being a solid pick. At the time the guildmage was announced the inventories of Jace disappeared immediately. All you need is 2 activations of a Duskmantle Guildmage while Jace is in charge to force an early win for control. I was going to pick Psychic Spiral, as they are both 5 CMC, but Jace’s utility makes him better. And you don’t have to self mill to get a decent amount of damage in!

3. Elixir of Immortality:  The best time to play magic is right as a set comes out: the archetypes of decks that will see play will be vast.  That makes Elixir a strong sideboard pick against anyone playing any pesky mill decks as you try to carve out the final bits of their life totals. This pick is reaching pretty far out there and I could be completely wrong, but until they release something that better fixes your “library life total” this is all we have to work with.

2. Invisible Stalker:  Every time a Cipher card is released the words “put that on an Invisible Stalker” is said, and for good reason. I imagine the price of this sneaky little guy will climb even high after Gatecrash is released, with everyone clamoring to build some sort of permission deck with Cipher triggers going off left and right. It’s nice that they have announced a few more Unblockable creatures, but none yet with the added Hexproof to prevent spot removal.

1. Cloudshift:  Cloudshift will have a plethora of targets at its disposal with the increased amount of Enter The Battlefield abilities in Gatecrash. From the obvious Aurelia, the Warleader and Obzedat, Ghost Council to the more interesting Foundry Champion or Vizkopa Confessor, creating additional attack steps and damage, disrupting their hand, and all new tricks will see play.  With a CMC of 1 it works perfectly with Extort flickering for extra ETB effects and using us any additional mana at the end of an opponent’s turn.

Again these are just my predictions for what we could see in the early starts of Gatecrash as we carve our way into what will become the Meta of the future. If you disagree or think there is a better replacement for of my picks let us know. We are always listening.