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[joelseph]

Yup. Thoughtseize is around $17-18, and it was like $20 like three days ago. I shoulda put that foil Shrine to Nyx on eBay on launch day.

Hold onto Mr. Stormbreath!

 

[Haly]

I think it's something that'd only bother you if you took your worldbuilding job very very seriously.

 

[Angry Grimace]

I think it's something that'd only bother you if you took your worldbuilding job very very seriously.

Its even dumber since there's plenty of references to things that can't exist outside Dominaria anyways, e.g. Shivan Dragons. I sincerely doubt people who buy DoTP don't even know what "Llanowar" even is.

 

[kirblar]

It means this is a card they want access to when they're not in the core set.

 

[Haly]

DotP is supposed to be a gateway game and honestly they haven't really mentioned Dominaria in years.

 

[blindrocket]

I shoulda put that foil Shrine to Nyx on eBay on launch day.

Yeah, probably. I read on a Magic site a couple of weeks ago that said to dump all Theros cards on the pre-release day and try to sell off unopened packs for higher prices because the cards would not be worth more than they are at pre-release prices. Of course, there are exceptions.

 

["God's Beard!"]

Speaking of barely mentioned, the hell is Marit Lage anyway?

 

[Angry Grimace]

It means this is a card they want access to when they're not in the core set.

I suppose that makes sense - you can't have Llanowar Elves in the Core set and Elvish Mystic in the block sets since people could then functionally have eight of the same card in a Standard legal deck.

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";84409617]Speaking of barely mentioned, the hell is Marit Lage anyway?[/QUOTE]

Without delving too deep into Magic lore (lol), its some kind of eldritch abomination that they mentioned a lot in Ice Age as being frozen under a glacier. It never actually appeared in Ice Age or Alliances since you know, everything in Ice Age sucked other than Necropotence. I really hated Ice Age when it came out and me and my friends were way too dumb to understand the implications of how Necropotence even worked. We were too busy cheating to put Land Tax, Library of Leng and Ivory Tower out at the same time. (cumulative upkeep was the absolute worst)

 

[bigkrev]

Hmmmm...

 

[kirblar]

You can't put Llanowar Elves in Reign of the Eldrazi.

Hmmmm...

Please be LSV on coverage full time.

 

[Haly]

I suppose that makes sense - you can't have Llanowar Elves in the Core set and Elvish Mystic in the block sets since people could then functionally have eight of the same card in a Standard legal deck.

More like having 8 G 1/1 mana dorks and no viable Elfball shell is banned by the Geneva Conventions.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

Random question: Why did they get rid of Llanowar Elves and replace it with a functionally identical card? So you can run full decks of Llanowar Elves in modern or something?

The real answer is that they want to give more redundancy on common staples to Commander players.

 

[Haly]

The EDH conspiracy rears its ugly head again.

 

[Angry Grimace]

DotP is supposed to be a gateway game and honestly they haven't really mentioned Dominaria in years.

When are we headed back to whatever plane Arabian Nights was on? (Hint: Its just Iraq)

 

[Haly]

When are we headed back to whatever plane Arabian Nights was on? (Hint: Its just Iraq)

Return to Arabian Nights would be megatonz.

 

[The Technomancer]

When are we headed back to whatever plane Arabian Nights was on? (Hint: Its just Iraq)

I don't think we ever technically will because that plane had real world references to the Arabian Nights tales

But they definitely have to have pencilled in somewhere "revisit Arabian mythology"

 

[blindrocket]

I picked up on some hints that they were going to do a pirate themed expansion but I don't know if that was serious or not.

 

["God's Beard!"]

Bought a Fat Pack of Theros, my first packs from the set!

Got some good ones:

Magma Jet
Burger King
Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Heliod, God of the Sun
Bident of Thassa
Swan Song

Also, what's the point of Firedrinker Satyr?

 

[kirblar]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";84414541]Bought a Fat Pack of Theros, my first packs from the set!

Got some good ones:

Magma Jet
Burger King
Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Heliod, God of the Sun
Bident of Thassa
Swan Song

Also, what's the point of Firedrinker Satyr?[/QUOTE]
He's an improved version of Jackal Pup. Very good card in red beatdown decks.

 

[Angry Grimace]

I don't think we ever technically will because that plane had real world references to the Arabian Nights tales

But they definitely have to have pencilled in somewhere "revisit Arabian mythology"

I think by now the most expensive card in the set is Bazaar of Baghdad, which is, obviously a real place. Not to mention the second most expensive card is Library of Alexandria.

The reserved list kind of sucks.

 

[f0rk]

When do they say more about this years commander stuff?

 

[divisionbyzorro]

The fact that a card like Bazaar of Baghdad that appears to be terrible is one of the most powerful cards in Vintage is what makes me love this game.

 

[blindrocket]

The fact that a card like Bazaar of Baghdad that appears to be terrible is one of the most powerful cards in Vintage is what makes me love this game.

Hah, I just looked the card up on gatherer... The long and confusing card text:

Tap to take two cards from your library, after which you must immediately discard three from your hand to your graveyard. If you don't have three or more cards in your hand, discard your whole hand. No spells may be cast between drawing and discarding cards.

got shortened to this:

Draw two cards, then discard three cards.

 

[blindrocket]

Day 9's Spell slingers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-rOGGiJTQY&feature=youtu.be

 

[rCIZZLE]

I really like Modern, I just wish Wizards would let it breathe a little. Unban the chaff from the banned list, dont be so strict on the Turn 4 rule, and let the format balance itself out like Legacy does; cull something if it's needed or format warping, not because it doesn't fit their ideal magical format. Having so few actual events hurts though, since each seems so major and dont provide a consistent data to gauge the format's health.

Ya there's no way I'm jumping in this format if pieces of my deck choice could be banned for simply having a good showing at a GP. Doesn't help that the players scream "BAN" at something after every GP.

Regarding events, WOTC should really take some notes from SCG about how to do things right. Last month I was pretty excited to watch GP Detroit and it didn't even cross my mind that it may not be streamed until the day-of when I jumped on twitch. That's a huge opportunity wasted.

 

[blindrocket]

Ya there's no way I'm jumping in this format if pieces of my deck choice could be banned for simply having a good showing at a GP. Doesn't help that the players scream "BAN" at something after every GP.

Regarding events, WOTC should really take some notes from SCG about how to do things right. Last month I was pretty excited to watch GP Detroit and it didn't even cross my mind that it may not be streamed until the day-of when I jumped on twitch. That's a huge opportunity wasted.

TBH, it has kept me hesitant on a play set of DRS. I still need three since I scored a single one for an incredible deal on eBay.

 

[Fragamemnon]

Hah, I just looked the card up on gatherer... The long and confusing card text:

got shortened to this:

but really means this:

"between your upkeep and draw steps, dump a third of your library into your graveyard".

One of the really nutty things about bazaar is how well it lets you sift for hate postboard.

 

[kirblar]

I got my DRSes for 3.50 each.

 

[Yeef]

Bought 9 packs today just to try the wizard's tower format. It was pretty awful, as expected, but on the plus side, from those packs I got a foil Thoughtseize, Xenagos, Temple of Abandon, Temple of Silence, Swan Song and Chained to the Rocks.

 

[Karakand]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";84414541]Also, what's the point of Firedrinker Satyr?[/QUOTE]

Exploiting the nostalgia of players for whom the word "Sligh" has a certain meaning.

 

[blindrocket]

Bought 9 packs today just to try the wizard's tower format. It was pretty awful, as expected, but on the plus side, from those packs I got a foil Thoughtseize, Xenagos, Temple of Abandon, Temple of Silence, Swan Song and Chained to the Rocks.

Sweet. You actually made your money back and then some.

 

[Yeef]

Sweet. You actually made your money back and then some.

I typically get products close to cost and get events for free, so that's usually not an issue

 

[blindrocket]

I typically get products close to cost and get events for free, so that's usually not an issue

That is good. Nothing like pulling a Mythic rare that's only worth fifty cents from a pack you paid four bucks for.

 

[aidan]

That is good. Nothing like pulling a Mythic rare that's only worth fifty cents from a pack you paid four bucks for.

Even better is when you pull a 50 cent Mythic Rare and a two dollar Uncommon.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Even better is when you pull a 50 cent Mythic Rare and a two dollar Uncommon.

I once got a 50 cent Mythic and a 3.00 foil Mythic in the same pack.

 

[The Technomancer]

That is good. Nothing like pulling a Mythic rare that's only worth fifty cents from a pack you paid four bucks for.

I bought the Simic intro pack and my two bonus boosters contained Aurelia and Obzedat

I was happy

 

[Angry Grimace]

Opening packs is usually a bad deal, but its kind of fun.

But of course, I've gotten packs that were literally not cluttering up my house with so I just tossed 'em before I even got home.

 

[blindrocket]

Even better is when you pull a 50 cent Mythic Rare and a two dollar Uncommon.

Hah,yeah. Young Pyromancer says HELLO.

I bought the Simic intro pack and my two bonus boosters contained Aurelia and Obzedat

I was happy

Score. I've had pretty good pulls from Intro decks. I don't know if they sweeten those packs or not...

 

[rCIZZLE]

Opening packs is only fun for me if I commit to a cheap box. Usually I'll make my money back in fake retail dollars so it's not a total waste. Nowadays I draft so much that getting playsets of commons and uncommons is only useful for maybe the first 2 weeks after release.

 

[bigkrev]

Top 25 rankings for pros done by Wizards, updated each week http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/267b

First number 1 is Josh Utter Leyton

Great idea- something they have needed for coverage for ages. Makes feature matches much more exciting.

 

["God's Beard!"]

I've never gone to a draft at a store before and I'm thinking about going tomorrow, anything I should know?

edit:
...wait, I could put Doomed Necromancer and the whip in my deck. Whip the necromancer then sack it to pull the creature permanently for 5 when the combo's available. I'd probably need two extra slots somewhere, though. 3 Necromancers and 3 Whips. Overall lets me cast It that Betrays permanently on turn 4.

Turn 1: Guul Draz Assassin
Turn 2: Thoughtsieze + Funeral Charm(discard It that Betrays)
Turn 3: Doomed Necromancer
Turn 4: Liliana of the Veil + return It That Betrays to the battlefield


Looks like with the whip or the necromancer I won't be able to swing with It That Betrays until turn 5 at least. It's a hard decision. One swing with lifelink at a higher mana cost, or a cheaper and permanent It That Betrays with a more vulnerable trigger.

double edit: It's causing me a lot of pain, but I'm replacing Guul-Draz Assassins with Mortician Beetles for now. Between the necromancers, liliana and the swarmyards, there's just more synergy going on and the assassins take extra mana I'll probably need for other things.

 

[Zocano]

I love cracking packs. It's terrible but I really love it. I can control myself from buying boxes (since I usually would prefer to draft them out but my group of friends that play isn't large enough to do so), but I usually buy a fat pack for each set. But I've been feeling pretty burned on the past few fat packs (M14 yieled 0 mythics and I got the Gorgon mythic from my Theros fat pack). So I'm sticking to just buying singles to make the decks I want.

Speaking of which, I'm probably going to opt for some sort of monoblack deck for friday. Finally get to play a monoblack deck in standard and I'm somewhat anxious. I will probably make a more aggro oriented list (Kirblar I'm gonna steal that list you posted a few pages back, probably).

 

[Azn_Boy]

Ya there's no way I'm jumping in this format if pieces of my deck choice could be banned for simply having a good showing at a GP. Doesn't help that the players scream "BAN" at something after every GP.

Incredibly false. Wizards doesn't make their banning decisions based on how well a deck performs at a GP. They have their own philosophy of what Modern should look like and it's shaping up to be pretty solid.

 

[rCIZZLE]

Incredibly false. Wizards doesn't make their banning decisions based on how well a deck performs at a GP. They have their own philosophy of what Modern should look like and it's shaping up to be pretty solid.

If the ban list wasn't being influenced by tournament results then why aren't cards banned immediately? Also people definitely do scream for bans on anything that performs well. Just look here, reddit, salvation, etc.

 

[Azn_Boy]

If the ban list wasn't being influenced by tournament results then why aren't cards banned immediately? Also people definitely do scream for bans on anything that performs well. Just look here, reddit, salvation, etc.

UR Storm was not a well-performing tournament deck, Seething Song got the axe because Storm was an non-interactive combo deck that could kill on turn 3. Second Sunrise because of how much time Eggs would take during a tournament ala Sensei's Divining Top.

If a deck like BBE Jund would become omnipresent in a metagame of like the World Championships or a Pro Tour again, yeah something will need to be done but having one deck doing well at a GP or two is not enough.

As for people screaming for bans, well..they are idiots.

The only ban I wanted was Deathrite Shaman instead of Bloodbraid Elf back in January.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

If the ban list wasn't being influenced by tournament results then why aren't cards banned immediately? Also people definitely do scream for bans on anything that performs well. Just look here, reddit, salvation, etc.

I've always said that the banned list threat on Salvation is full of very passionate and well-meaning idiots. And the voices out there in the wild clearly haven't had much of any impact on WotC's decision-making with regards to the Modern banned list.

The Modern banned list has actually settled down a lot. It wasn't until the Jund decks got so oppressive that they started metagaming against each other that they banned something from that deck, and even then it was clear that they were hesitant to ban anything in the deck's core. I don't want to underestimate the power of Bloodbraid Elf, but it was by no means the linchpin of the deck - the strategy continued to be viable, but it stopped appearing in top 8's.

The reason that you hear so many passionate voices after GP Detroit is because it's bringing back bad memories. There were a lot of people (myself included) who believed that banning BBE wasn't the correct move, and the concern right now is that we're being proven right. What if the only reason the Rock decks fell out of top 8s was because people just decided to stop innovating? What if Scavenging Ooze was enough to push them out? What if we're in for another season of "Jund" dominance in Modern?

Or it could all be a fluke! As I said the last time this topic came up in this thread, the thing Modern needs more than anything else is the support of something like SCG. It needs regular high-profile tournaments (a la SCG). Modern needs more than just MTGO daily events to define its metagame. If we had that kind of data, we'd know whether GP Detroit was an aberration, or a harbinger of things to come. And we'd get a lot more innovation and creativity in deckbuilding and metagaming than we see now.

 

[An-Det]

Not trying to crap on you or be mean- but this line of thought is so amazingly prevalent and ignorant and it's amazing how many people don't understand that the format doesn't have ways of policing those things you want unbanned. Modern can't be Legacy because it can't make a deck like RUG Delver work.

There are very few cards on the ban list that are potentially safe. Of the cards not on the initial list, only BBE will probably get another shot, in an era where DRS is gone. Ancestral Vision, Bitterblossom, Golgari-Grave troll all might work. But nothing else really would, because they're all banned for a very good reason (and Goyf really should have been on the Day 1 list, as it's hugely oppressive.)

That's fair, in some respects I want Modern to be what it cant, despite enjoying the format some days I just wish it was old crazy Extended again with all the shenanigans. Your changes are exactly what I would do to the list though, there's no reason for any of those to be on there anymore.

Regarding events, WOTC should really take some notes from SCG about how to do things right. Last month I was pretty excited to watch GP Detroit and it didn't even cross my mind that it may not be streamed until the day-of when I jumped on twitch. That's a huge opportunity wasted.

Fortunately they got slammed by the public for this, so going forward hopefully it wont happen again.

Or it could all be a fluke! As I said the last time this topic came up in this thread, the thing Modern needs more than anything else is the support of something like SCG. It needs regular high-profile tournaments (a la SCG). Modern needs more than just MTGO daily events to define its metagame. If we had that kind of data, we'd know whether GP Detroit was an aberration, or a harbinger of things to come. And we'd get a lot more innovation and creativity in deckbuilding and metagaming than we see now.

Yeah, aside from the PTQ season in a year there really isn't anything but a handful of gp's to go by. SCG is raking it in with other formats for the moment, so I would love for TCG Player or CFB or some other to fill in the gap and do a similar circuit including Modern.

 

[y2dvd]

Ever tried ripping those foil promos in half? Those suckers are durable! The 4 of us tried and only 2 of us succeeded. The strongest looking one failed which was the funny part. Of course I was able to because I lift, bros.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Is MGTO any good, or is it a huge money-sucking cesspool? I want to actually get out and play a little more often and my friends I play with are mostly working late these days (including my wife). How much money does it take to get on there and have fun?

 

[aidan]

Is MGTO any good, or is it a huge money-sucking cesspool? I want to actually get out and play a little more often and my friends I play with are mostly working late these days (including my wife). How much money does it take to get on there and have fun?

Does your LGS host events? That might be a better fit than making a financial commitment to MGTO.