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Magic: the GAFering |OT2|

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Personally, I'd rather have a Duel Deck that is fun to play over one that is good value since those are fun to play with my more casual friends. It was certainly appreciated that Izzet vs Golgari was both. From looking at the deck lists HvM doesn't seem that interesting since it seems like it'll just be "aura'ed guys vs big creature slugfest".

Yea but good cards are fun to play with.
 
I want to blow some money on full art lands but wow they can be expensive for "basic land" cards.

Then I'd shoot myself if Wizards ever prints them again and they become "easy" to find.
 
I wish every set had full art lands, even if they chose to make them only available in fat packs or something. ZEN's are so nice.

But then they wouldn't be special.

Honestly, I wish they would do full-art cards more often. How sweet would it be if instead of those hideous foils, you got a full-art card for the premium version...
 
But then they wouldn't be special.

Honestly, I wish they would do full-art cards more often. How sweet would it be if instead of those hideous foils, you got a full-art card for the premium version...

Vanilla creatures being full-art cards like that cycle in Future Sight was a brilliant idea they should repeat more often.
 

bigkrev

Member
But then they wouldn't be special.

Honestly, I wish they would do full-art cards more often. How sweet would it be if instead of those hideous foils, you got a full-art card for the premium version...

I disagree. It confuses new players, and you probably aren't making a vanilla card at anything other than common (which is not the place you put anything confusing)
 
I disagree. It confuses new players, and you probably aren't making a vanilla card at anything other than common (which is not the place you put anything confusing)

I don't mean like this:

JoadvvG.jpg


I mean like this:

DEpUq2g.jpg
 

Lucario

Member
I don't mean like this:

I mean like this:

bolt looks way better, new players don't have access to promos like this anyway

They really need to bring back textless. I'm still pissed that they discontinued MPR in favor of some new "player reward system" that never happened.

I'm pretty sure they've done nothing but cut player rewards since that point. Dem prerelease promos.
 

kirblar

Member
bolt looks way better, new players don't have access to promos like this anyway

They really need to bring back textless. I'm still pissed that they discontinued MPR in favor of some new "player reward system" that never happened.

I'm pretty sure they've done nothing but cut player rewards since that point. Dem prerelease promos.
Textless Cryptic Command was a troll idea taken way, way too far.
 
bolt looks way better, new players don't have access to promos like this anyway

They really need to bring back textless. I'm still pissed that they discontinued MPR in favor of some new "player reward system" that never happened.

I'm pretty sure they've done nothing but cut player rewards since that point. Dem prerelease promos.

Textless promos just don't work with new players. They simply don't believe they're real cards, and for good reason. They just don't look like real cards.

My original point was that I'd rather see full-art cards than foil cards. But that's mostly because I just dislike foil in general.
 

dommynick

Member
Opened some Magic 2014 boosters with a friend for the first time since like...Mirage. Got a foil Jace, Memory Adept and a Kalonian Hydra in the same pack. Time to quit while I'm ahead.
 

bigkrev

Member
The "returning, fixed" mechanic is Licids

arc1307_uiojkl_archon.jpg


also, Devotion appears to be a new mechanic.

arc1307_uiojkl_overlord.jpg

arc1307_uiojkl_swallower.jpg

arc1307_uiojkl_kraken.jpg

arc1307_uiojkl_hero.jpg



Card images are from the mothership, i'm surprised at how fake they look.
 

ultron87

Member
Ooh, that's cool. A Bestow thing in aura mode can still get countered and graveyarded on the stack by killing the creature in response... I think?
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Ooh, that's cool. A Bestow thing in aura mode can still get countered and graveyarded on the stack by killing the creature in response... I think?

I think it'd fizzle and go to the yard... maybe?

I dunno, weird mechanic. I guess it turn's their enchantment creatures into pseudo batterskulls.
 
Bestow looks like a rules headache. I think the intent is that if you kill the creature underneath the "aura," the "aura" becomes a creature again (so it's like a better Griffin Guide). But what happens if you kill the creature in response? I assume since the card is cast for Bestow, it targets, so it will still get countered and will go to the graveyard. I assume if you cast it for Bestow, it loses Creature and gains Aura?

That being said, Bestow looks like the most interesting mechanic in terms of design space.

The Monstrous mechanic looks like it will stay a Timmy mechanic, nothing more.

Heroic is a clever way to get some extra value out of Auras.

Devotion is clearly their attempt to reward mono-colored decks. It's another mechanic that's "meh" on its own, and will come down entirely to how it's implemented.

EDIT: Kudos to them, by the way, for figuring out how to make a creature meaningfully an enchantment and a creature at the same time.
 

ultron87

Member
Bestow looks like a rules headache. I think the intent is that if you kill the creature underneath the "aura," the "aura" becomes a creature again (so it's like a better Griffin Guide). But what happens if you kill the creature in response? I assume since the card is cast for Bestow, it targets, so it will still get countered and will go to the graveyard. I assume if you cast it for Bestow, it loses Creature and gains Aura?
Yeah, from the text it is just an aura as long as it is attached to something. So you can't Doom Blade the aura off something or anything like that. And it'll pop off and survive a Wrath. Poor Supreme Verdict, just when we were getting rid of Thragtusk and Undying.

EDIT: Kudos to them, by the way, for figuring out how to make a creature meaningfully an enchantment and a creature at the same time.

Yeah that's very nice. I wonder if they Gods will all have this mechanic (since they have that frame, which seems to just mean "enchantment _____") or if they'll be more Devotion related.

Thank god it isn't the Licid switch back and forth thing. Those are infuriating to play against in casual. Well really just Dominating Licid.
 
Yeah that's very nice. I wonder if they Gods will all have this mechanic (since they have that frame, which seems to just mean "enchantment _____") or if they'll be more Devotion related.

I've seen a theory that I think makes a lot of sense: the gods are going to have strict mono-colored mana costs (like WWWWW) to cast. Once again, pushing the mono-colored route, and making the "Devotion" mechanic a bit more flavorful
 

Crocodile

Member
So Devotion is the "reworked" mechanic (a riff of Chroma)

Interesting though the only card shown here is a bit expensive for my tastes.

What I do want to know is if a creature is enchanted by another creature with Bestow and the enchanted creature leaves the battlefield, does the Bestow aura then become a creature itself? That's pretty good, better than Totem Armor or the "Rancor" ability to prevent card disadvantage.
 

Yeef

Member
What I do want to know is if a creature is enchanted by another creature with Bestow and the enchanted creature leaves the battlefield, does the Bestow aura then become a creature itself? That's pretty good, better than Totem Armor or the "Rancor" ability to prevent card disadvantage.
Yes.

Bestow basically says "you can play this as an aura; if it's an aura and becomes unattached, it goes back to being a creature."
 
Yeah, it does. It's like a better version of Elephant Guide or Griffin Guide. Which is actually pretty sweet.

Here's my Troll Bestow creature:

Troll Baby (G)
Enchantment Creature - Troll
Bestow G
Hexproof
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has Hexproof.
1/1
 
So Devotion is the "reworked" mechanic (a riff of Chroma)

Interesting though the only card shown here is a bit expensive for my tastes.

What I do want to know is if a creature is enchanted by another creature with Bestow and the enchanted creature leaves the battlefield, does the Bestow aura then become a creature itself? That's pretty good, better than Totem Armor or the "Rancor" ability to prevent card disadvantage.

That's how it's supposed to work, yes.
 

ultron87

Member
I wonder if they'll be cheap bestow costs where you "cheat" something better into play by playing it as an aura that isn't as good as the creature itself would be. But then they'd have to break the symmetry of the power and toughness and abilities matching the enchantment buff. Maybe save that for later in the block.

Or a negative one you put on an opponent's creature and then if it dies you get a dude.
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
A lot of complexity in these mechanics. I like. Enchantment creature still dies to disenchant effecs, right? Naturalize about to be main deck material...heh
 

Yeef

Member
I wonder if they'll be cheap bestow costs where you "cheat" something better into play by playing it as an aura that isn't as good as the creature itself would be. But then they'd have to break the symmetry of the power and toughness and abilities matching the enchantment buff. Maybe save that for later in the block.
I'm guessing, like bloodrush, the bestow creatures will always just give bonuses based on their power, toughness and abilities.
 

bigkrev

Member
I wonder if they'll be cheap bestow costs where you "cheat" something better into play by playing it as an aura that isn't as good as the creature itself would be. But then they'd have to break the symmetry of the power and toughness and abilities matching the enchantment buff. Maybe save that for later in the block.

Or a negative one you put on an opponent's creature and then if it dies you get a dude.

Dude
5BBBBB
Bestow 2BB-When enchanted creature dies, you loose 10 life
When Dude dies, you loose 10 life
14/14
 

ultron87

Member
I'm guessing, like bloodrush, the bestow creatures will always just give bonuses based on their power, toughness and abilities.
They didn't have much room to experiment with Bloodrush since it was only Gatecrash and a tiny corner of Dragons Maze. With this they have two additional sets to riff on it so I'd expect some deviations on higher rarities.
 

Yeef

Member
They didn't have much room to experiment with Bloodrush since it was only Gatecrash and a tiny corner of Dragons Maze. With this they have two additional sets to riff on it so I'd expect some deviations on higher rarities.
I could definitely see that later in the block, but in Theros I'm convinced that they'll stick to the simpler form since it'll help a lot with board-state muddling.
 

Yeef

Member
It looks like Tabak confirmed on Twitter that bestow creatures still hit the field if their target becomes illegal. That's not at all what I would have expected from the reminder text wording, but pretty damn awesome all the same.
 

Crocodile

Member
I got confirmation from Forsythe that indeed, if the enchanted creature leaves play, the Bestow aura just becomes a dude. IN ADDITION, Tabak says that if you try to kill a dude targeted with a Bestow card in response while the Bestow card is still on the stack, it just resolves in its creature form.

The mechanic actually has no downsides O_O
 

Yeef

Member
The downside is that it's TOO awesome!

(also, the enchantment creatures are susceptible to more types of removal.)
 

y2dvd

Member
Honestly, that's how I read Bestow too. It says it becomes a creature as long as it's not attached to one. That card is still confusing to me though and I'm sure will give plenty of people headaches for awhile. So when casted unBestowed, is it just a 4/4 creature or an enchantment that gives +4/+4 or can you choose? Then when Bestowed, is it now an aura enchantment but still considered a creature, thus being a valid target for kill creature cards? Can you Bestow the 4/4 aura onto the 4/4 creature itself?

Anthousa's Heroic trigger isn't a may ability. Wonder if Quicken will become a thing to counter such triggers. Maybe sideboard able.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
It's pretty good... but only if it's competitively costed.

I foresee a Cipher like scenario where all Bestow cards are overcosted to hell and back where you'd just rather drop a 5-7CMC fatty over the enchantment version.
 
Matt Tabak (MTG rules manager) confirmed over Twitter what I thought. Bestow cards will be the first spells in the history of Magic to resolve if their targets become illegal. I guarantee you there will be a lot of confusion at the pre-release over this.
 

Wichu

Member
BTW, here's a rumoured card that was apparently leaked a few days ago that today's reveal of the devotion mechanic gives credence to:

Thassa [insert cool title here] - 2U
Legendary Enchantment Creature — God
Indestructible
At the beginning of your upkeep, scry 1.
1U: Target creature you control can't be blocked this turn.
As long as your devotion to blue is less than 5, Thassa is a noncreature enchantment and loses indestructible.
5/5


Thassa, God of the Sea - 2U
Legendary Enchantment Creature — God
Indestructible
As long as your devotion to blue is less than five, Thassa isn’t a creature. (Each U in the mana costs of permanents you control adds to your devotion to blue.)
At the beginning of your upkeep, scry 1.
1U: Target creature you control can't be blocked this turn.
5/5

Assuming this is true, the 5th (and returning) mechanic is scry. Makes sense flavour-wise. Expect the other gods to function similarly.
 

rCIZZLE

Member
Nah. Posting a summary of HvM's value on reddit got me downvoted to hell, with repies telling me to "be appreciative" and "stop buying products to resell" (wtf? that wasn't even profitable with Elspeth v Tezz until years after its release).

I'm pretty sure the reddit Magic community is completely delusional.

The magic subreddit is only for stealthbrags and memes.
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
So Devotion is the "reworked" mechanic (a riff of Chroma)

Interesting though the only card shown here is a bit expensive for my tastes.

What I do want to know is if a creature is enchanted by another creature with Bestow and the enchanted creature leaves the battlefield, does the Bestow aura then become a creature itself? That's pretty good, better than Totem Armor or the "Rancor" ability to prevent card disadvantage.

Devotion may be reworked Chroma somehow, but it seems like the big "reworked" mechanic is definitely Licids
 

noquarter

Member
But what was wrong with Licids? I think Licids are some of the coolest creatures they tried to make, Bestow looks like they will think its too powerful and be too expensive to see use. Right now they have a 7 CMC card that, IMO, is worse than Angellic Destiny and makes all cheap Enchantment hate awesome, especially since Enchantment is a type on the card.

Really hope they didn't think Licids were broken. Ws hoping they would come back...
 

gerg

Member
But what was wrong with Licids? I think Licids are some of the coolest creatures they tried to make, Bestow looks like they will think its too powerful and be too expensive to see use. Right now they have a 7 CMC card that, IMO, is worse than Angellic Destiny and makes all cheap Enchantment hate awesome, especially since Enchantment is a type on the card.

Really hope they didn't think Licids were broken. Ws hoping they would come back...

I think it may be less that Licids were broken, but about fixing the wording to meet current standards, and broadening the design. There may also be benefits to having the decision (to use the card as an Enchantment) be made when you cast the card, rather than after it is on the battlefield.
 

Maledict

Member
Also licids were, from memory, one of the single most confusing cards they ever released and the source of vast amounts of confusion from players and judges alike.

Mind you, the new solution is going to be quite head scratching as well!
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
That's a major issue, right? Naturalize is now instant, no clause, splash able removal for some of the most powerful creatures.

I mean, my mono-green deck rejoices, but that's an issue. I'll be super happy to trade my 2cmc for your 5-7cmc on your turn, thanks
 

f0rk

Member
That's a major issue, right? Naturalize is now instant, no clause, splash able removal for some of the most powerful creatures.

I mean, my mono-green deck rejoices, but that's an issue. I'll be super happy to trade my 2cmc for your 5-7cmc on your turn, thanks

They will probably be overcosted and not very good in constructed.
Most keywords only seem to have 1 or 2 examples where they are pushed to be playable and the rest are just for limited.
 
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