We're starting to get spoilers from the new set. None of them really look super impressive yet, certainly not for Vintage, but the mechanics seem very promising.

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/so-much-amonkhet-news-2017-03-27

First, we have Cycling making a triumphant return. I think it's only by accident we don't really use many (any) Cycling cards in Vintage. Practically the only one I can think of is the 2U Hurkyl's, (Rebuild?) and that has not been seen for an age. Still, it's a good mechanic and adds flexibility to cards. I am not holding my breath that this mechanic gets pushed too much, but I'm hopeful.

Next, we Embalm and Exert. Both are explicitly creature-oriented, which is usually a bad sign. Exert is really boring; the creature has to attack, and then in return for not untapping next turn, it does A Thing. Certainly they could print a powerful enough Exert effect to see play, but as a mechanic, this seems dull as rocks. We do not typically enjoy creature mechanics which require attacking (apologies to Scab-Clan Berserker).

Embalm seems more interesting in a vaccuum . Basically it's an activated ability that is used from the graveyard. When you Embalm, you exile the creature from your yard and put a token copy of it into play except that it's a white Zombie instead of its old color and in addition to its old type. Seems... awfully complicated for an iconic ability in the set. Yuck.

Again, I'd be shocked if they put the power level of Emblam cards high enough to make a splash in Dredge, but you never know. One thing in particular makes it very important to keep an eye on utility creatures with Embalm - the creature itself does not come out of the graveyard. Hence, Containment Priest and Grafdiggers' Cage don't do squat against Embalm. If we can just get an Embalm creature that pings for 2 when it enters, or kills an artifact or something, then I think we'll have to see people reaching into the back of the box for Yxilid Jailer again. About time the Mistress of S&M showed up again!

@MaximumCDawg said in Amonkhet Mechanics:

Again, I'd be shocked if they put the power level of Emblam cards high enough to make a splash in Dredge, but you never know. One thing in particular makes it very important to keep an eye on utility creatures with Embalm - the creature itself does not come out of the graveyard. Hence, Containment Priest and Grafdiggers' Cage don't do squat against Embalm. If we can just get an Embalm creature that pings for 2 when it enters, or kills an artifact or something, then I think we'll have to see people reaching into the back of the box for Yxilid Jailer again. About time the Mistress of S&M showed up again!

God that's hot.

Oh hello Ms. Cambell, I didn't know you Vintage'd.

Exert feels like a fixed Inspired to me. Both of them usually require that you attack to get the effect, but getting the effect as a trigger for the attack is LIGHT YEARS easier than (1) attacking (2) surviving combat (3) waiting for your opponents turn; and (4) surviving to untap the creature. Similar effects, vastly different playability. Could they be fixing Theros block, I wonder...?

@MaximumCDawg

There hasn't been too much interesting in this set yet, but mostly only commons have been shown. I kind of like "Aftermath". It's a wierd flashback. I'm not sure what this will do in vintage, but in Modern, for example, a card like Dusk/Dawn looks to be format defining. If other aftermath effects are as powerful, things could be nutty. One can dream but "2U - draw 2: aftermath 2U draw 3" could be great.

Embalm could interact well with other filtering mechanics like Dack. After all, Dragon used to be a thing...

I'm not holding my breath but there could be some insane embalm creature for this purpose, seeing as how it conveniently avoids counters.

Given the way Design and Development have gone recently, there's one thing I'm sure of, and its that whatever the mythic Entomb card is, it will be very pushed. Is it going to be standard-pushed or eternal-pushed? Who knows. But if they go for a utility creature rather than a midrange value beater, we could have a sweet vintage card on our hands. Again, recent design trends tells us it will a midrange value beater, but they've made statements recently that suggest they have learned from recent mistakes and might swap things up. If we get something like a 1-2drop that exiles all graveyards when it ETBs (and when token ETBs), or has a tax effect, or stops non-drawstep draws, then we're in business, and that doesn't seem completely out of the realm of possibility to me.

edit: welp mobile definitely caused me some trouble there, sorry for the deleted duplicate below

So Embalm gets around pretty much all non-exile dredge hate? I'm sure there will be at least a couple of fringe playable ones then.

I won't hold my breath for an actual good one though.

Does the Exert trigger remain on the stack through the next untap step if the creature is removed?

@p3temangus Does it matter if it does? So far, the Extert mechanic means that the creature does something relevant now, then the delayed trigger (if that is what it is) just stops that creature from untapping. If the creature is no longer around, one assumes it fizzles, yes?

@vaughnbros said in Amonkhet Mechanics:

So Embalm gets around pretty much all non-exile dredge hate? I'm sure there will be at least a couple of fringe playable ones then.

Sort of? Embalm can't be stopped by stuff like Tormod's Crypt once you have the mana ready, I don't think, because the ability is not countered by exiling the source. The only hate I can think of that truly shuts it down is Ylixid Jailer.

Would an exert creature that kills artifacts even be good enough? As an anti-shops card it could get through Thorn (and Thalia for White Eldrazi), but it would really need haste to be truly useful.

@MaximumCDawg That, and Leyline of the void since the creature won't be in the graveyard in the first place.

@MaximumCDawg If these use it before hand it works though. Leyline and Rest in Peace definitely stop it. Jailer stops it, but Jailer has his own problems (maybe darkblast can finally stop collecting dust!).

So they reprinted Force of Will and some other nice cards as Invocations (Masterpieces for Amonkeht) and they are ugly as HELL.

Are these available on MTGO? I cannot imagine trying to watch someone play with these unreadable chicken scratchings.

I also really want to see the design file here: what other designs were considered not good enough when they chose this thing?

Hate those cards. Straight out of hearthstone.

I'm disappointed we won't get an eyesore Flusterstorm this round to go along with all the other eyesore counterspells. These are a great alternative for those of us who like to run as many white-bordered cards as possible but don't want to alter cards to be white-bordered. People don't like losing to ugly decks.

@The-Gremlin-Lord These don't even have borders...

@bop Nah, I can read the names of every card in my Hearthstone collection, these are like a yugioh card and post 2010 pokemon card had a baby

@fsecco That's what makes them perfect for those of us who eschew black borders.

Never forget

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=sideboard%2Fptchi03%2Funveiling

The fact that Wizards won't allow IE/CE and/or Gold Pro Tour deck cards (or alters at this point) despite printing these abominations, foil only commander cards, the puzzle piece backs from eldritch moon, and going back to innistrad double face is a complete joke. These are unreadable trash. Yet we can't get a reprieve from the reserved list with already printed (on carta mundi presses) cards for eternal formats.