It may seem a bit premature to throw up a list of predictions for an upcoming set in the midst of Scars of Mirrodin’s launch.  But we here at Gathering Magic enjoy getting our predictions out well in advance of any possible information.  Anyone can extrapolate what a set is going to be like with 75% of the information available.  It’s another thing entirely to try and do this with only mild rumblings.  In the past, my record has teetered around 50% accuracy.  This means, half of what you’re about to read is likely to be true!   Okay, so I’m no mathematician, but the fact of the matter is, we get a lot of things right given the earliness of our predictions.  So hold on to your Mirrodin hats because Mirrodin Besieged is going to be here sooner than you think!

1.  Urza Karn Returns

It would be difficult to argue against Karn's eventual appearance in this block due to the fact that the block novel is aptly titled "The Quest for Karn".   And if you know anything about Magic the Gathering flavor you'd also have to agree that Karn is indeed the very first artificial planeswalker.  So why then is it so hard to imagine him returning in the form of a colorless planeswalker card!?  I think the thing that bothers a lot of people about this possibility is the fact that a colorless planeswalker could fit into any deck of any color.  I solve this problem by making him 1) expensive 2) artifact centered and 3) not overly powerful.  Don't get me wrong, I love my ungodly MSE creation like one of my own children but I doubt this card, if printed would truly ruin anyone's day.  I'd also like to introduce you to the first ever static planeswalker ability!  Pretty niffty, eh?   Bottom line: Karn is coming back in some form and I think a lot of people would be disappointed if he were simply a 6 CMC legendary artifact creature ala Karn, Silver Golem.   Here's hoping we see him glorified on the card type he deserves to be glorified on!

2. Factions - But Just for Fun - Scars of Mirrodin gave us our first look at the Mirran and Phyrexian factions.  Mirrodin besieged is said to take this battle to the next level by incororating two different pack types for release events (details remain fuzzy at this time!)  What remains to be seen, though is how much these factions are going to affect the game itself.  Will they simply be a secondary aspect to the set or will there actually be cards printed that read "destroy target permanent of the phyrexian faction".  My prediction is that these factions will be more for the casual draft than anything else.  I'm sure we'll see mechanics and colors restricted to each of the factions (which should helpe for sealed quite a bit!) but you won't see "All Mirran Creatures get +5/+5" any time soon.  Factions will mostly be , if not entirely an amusing afterthought and an interesting flavor component.

3. More Artifacts! - My boldest prediction yet!  Of course we're going to see a ton of artifacts throughout this block but there has been speculation of an all artifact set, a half artifact set and I've even heard people speculate about an entire set devoid of artifacts in either of the next two expansions.  My prediction is that we'll simply get more of the same.  Whatever percentage of artifacts we saw in Scars of Mirrodin is what we'll see in Mirrodin Besieged.  No more, no less.

4. Fortify - If Future Sight wasn't foreshadowing Fortify for this set then it wasn't foreshadowing it for any set.  The idea of "equipment for land" is ingenious!  Who reading this hasn't had a ton of equipment on the battlefield and no creatures to attach them to!  With fortify you're able to use and reuse these artifacts over and over again.  They also work particularly well with man lands if the effects placed on cards with fortify are beneficial to both lands and creatures.  I'd like to see this ability back on the table and I think Mirridon is just the place for such a debut.

5. No Tezzzeret - I know, I know, he's the star of the latest Planeswalker novel.  But that doesn't mean he's hanging out on Mirrodin with what, six other planeswalkers we know of at this point?  Perhaps we'll see him in the set following Besieged but he's not going to show up this time around.  Sorry Nicol, you've got to wait at least one more block to be used as the main villain in another Magic the Gathering expansion again.

6. Tons of Artifact Destruction - It wouldn't be much of a "besieging" if there weren't some artifacts being destroyed.  I predict that we'll see at least three new artifact destruction cards.  Assuming my Karn prediction comes to pass you're going to need to be able to exile an artifact or two as well.  "Tons" isn't a verifiable amount so let's just call it "at least three" in a 180 card set and I'll give myself a pat on the back.  There have already been some great anti-artifact cards printed before that would work perfect such as Aura of Silence, Crumble and even Chandler! (what's that guy's deal anyway?)  Scars of Mirrodin set them up and the next two sets will knock them down!

7. More Poison! - I asked our twitter followers if they had any clever predictions for Mirrodin Besieged, one of whom happened the one, the only; Mark Rosewater.  Here is his reply:

With this tweet in hand I am willing to make another bold and spicy prediction about Mirrodin Besieged:  Cool Stuff!  ...I mean... more Poison! Not a huge revelation, I know but hey, it's not even spoiler season and Mark is dropping hints about the next set!  I'll take what I can get!

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Check out all of our Mirrodin Besieged Spoilers as they reveal themselves here!