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[kirblar]

The problem is that the cards are used for different strategies. Undermine is primarily meant for Delver-style decks, while Absorb is for control. Undermine, though, is (relatively) expensive for a U-based tempo deck while Absorb is right on curve for a control deck.

Everything's relative.

 

[ultron87]

I don't think there's a set formula. It depends on the matchup. Gaining 3 life can mean pretty much nothing or it can be huge (if you're against a burn deck or something).

 

[Haly]

What about a simpler example like:

Healing Salve vs Bump in the Night (sans Flashback)

I feel like life loss or player damage always has the edge because life gain doesn't present direct pressure, whereas life loss always adds to the clock in any situation. The only time life gain is valued is when it's tacked onto other cards like Thragtusk, Sphinx's Revelation, Kitchen Finks, Centaur Healer, etc. People play Grove of Burning Willows without reservation because 1 life per mana is a pittance compared to the flexibility it gives in the format where it is legal.

Imagine how strong White Bob would be:

1W
Creature - Human Wizard
At the beginning of your upkeep, reveal the top card of your library and put that card into your hand. Target opponent gains life equal to its converted mana cost.
1/2

 

[ajf009]

I like that the Silence part of it even works if you use it on a uncounterable spell.

I don't think you would be able to cast it in that situation though. Doesn't the card need a legal target to even be played? An uncounterable spell means you can't even cast the counter, despite whatever other effects it has

 

[ultron87]

I don't think you would be able to cast it in that situation though. Doesn't the card need a legal target to even be played? An uncounterable spell means you can't even cast the counter, despite whatever other effects it has

A counter spell just needs a spell to target. It doesn't need a spell that can be countered. It'll do everything it can when it resolves, but just not counter the spell.

See the Gatherer ruling for Absorb: http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=23155

10/4/2004 If cast targeting a spell that can't be countered, the life gain still happens, but that spell is not countered.

 

[Hero]

Damage/life-loss will always be weighted more heavily on a card's effective value than life gain since the former will help you win the game when the latter does not in a vacuum. You can see that in recent years they've been tacking on larger amounts of health gain at cheaper costs than it used be though perhaps the pendulum has swung a bit too far in that direction.

 

[narcosis219]

I don't think you would be able to cast it in that situation though. Doesn't the card need a legal target to even be played? An uncounterable spell means you can't even cast the counter, despite whatever other effects it has

A counter spell just needs a spell to target. It doesn't need a spell that can be countered. It'll do everything it can when it resolves, but just not counter the spell.

"can't be countered" is different than the way hexproof or protection works. Those prevent your object from being targetted. "can't be countered" just simply means that if an effect would counter this object, it does nothing instead.

Thus, it is legal to target a Supreme Verdict with Psychic Spiral or Render Silent. They do not "fizzle" due to having an invalid target since Supreme Verdict is a valid target. When the counterspell resolves, the counter portion does nothing and the rest of the card will also resolve i.e. Mill/Can't cast anything.

 

[ChubbyHuggs]

Was just in a battle were my opponent had three 6/6 angels, a 1/1 human and all I had was a Howlgeist. He had 4 life left and I was 10. Was hoping for Collective Blessing or something, but pulled out Bower Passage.

 

[WanderingWind]

I won an FNM! Thanks ghost dad foil!

 

[sgjackson]

Hey Magic gaf, I haven't drafted since M13 (quit since I was 2 hours from an FNM and I got tired of people online), but now I'm 30 minutes from a dozen FNMs and want to draft again. Who does the best draft videos now? I used to like LSV's stuff but Channelfireball's video player is even more busted now and Kibler doesn't look like he streams anymore. I'm watching Marshall from Limited Resources do his thing but I need more drafts to consume before next Friday.

 

[rCIZZLE]

Hey Magic gaf, I haven't drafted since M13 (quit since I was 2 hours from an FNM and I got tired of people online), but now I'm 30 minutes from a dozen FNMs and want to draft again. Who does the best draft videos now? I used to like LSV's stuff but Channelfireball's video player is even more busted now and Kibler doesn't look like he streams anymore. I'm watching Marshall from Limited Resources do his thing but I need more drafts to consume before next Friday.

Honestly I think twitch is the best place to go if you want to dive into the mentality of some great players. Most of the good streamers (the ones with viewers) are also the most active when it comes to answering questions or general draft commentary. Even if I don't watch the games, I'll usually check out the drafts when a new pod fires.

http://www.twitch.tv/solebush1

Is a late night drafter and

http://www.twitch.tv/darkest_mage

is a more day/evening one. (EST)

Check out related streams for other ones.

 

[Lucario]

yomiji is my favorite commander now

I think I'm getting worse at this game the more I play it

 

[Little Old Man]

Question about DGM boosters, specifically the inclusion of non basic over basic land cards. Firstly do we know the probability of pulling a shockland over a guildgate yet? Secondly will the mythic land be a possible replacement for the basic land, or in the rare slot of the whole pack? Or both?

 

[Wichu]

Question about DGM boosters, specifically the inclusion of non basic over basic land cards. Firstly do we know the probability of pulling a shockland over a guildgate yet? Secondly will the mythic land be a possible replacement for the basic land, or in the rare slot of the whole pack? Or both?

Mythic land is in the land slot - if you get Maze's End you'll still get a normal rare/mythic.
Probabilities of shocklands have been stated to be the same as in RTR/GTC. Assuming this means the odds of pulling, say, a Temple Garden in a DGM pack is the same as pulling one out of a RTR pack (~1/60), that means roughly 1/6 packs will contain a shockland instead of a gate.

 

[Yeef]

Sheets are 121 cards. I'd guess the land sheet has:

• 1 Maze's End
• 10 Shocklands (1 of each)
• 110 Guildgates (11 of each)

Normally the rare sheet has 2 of each rare and 1 of each mythic, which means 10 shocklands on each RTR and GTC rare sheet (2 of each). I vaguely recall reading an article on dailymtg that said your just as likely to pull a shockland in DGM, but half as likely to pull a specific one. With the above ratio, that makes Shocklands 2 in 121, just like in GTC and RTR. It also means you'd have the same chance of getting Maze's End as you would getting any specific mythic.

 

[castlegar]

So I'm heading to my first-ever PTQ on Sunday and I'm looking forward to it/have no idea what to expect. They're anticipating around 150-200 people and that would definitely be the largest tournament environment I've played in.

I'm going to run Jund Aggro. Any suggestions on my decklist?

Experiment One x4
Deathrite Shaman x3
Strangleroot Geist x4
Flinthoof Boar x3
Dreg Mangler x4
Falkenrath Aristocrat x3
Hellrider x4
Ghor-Clan Rampager x4
Thundermaw Hellkite x1

Searing Spear x2
Dreadbore x3
Abrubt Decay x2

Stomping Ground x4
Blood Crypt x4
Overgrown Tomb x4
Rootbound Craig x4
Dragonskull Summit x2
Woodland Cemetary x2
Forest x3

I'm thinking about maybe getting Domri Rade in there, taking out the Thundermaw and a Hellrider. But I don't know. Sideboard is the deck standard.

 

[The Technomancer]

Wrong thread

 

[kirblar]

Sheets are 121 cards. I'd guess the land sheet has:

• 1 Maze's End
• 10 Shocklands (1 of each)
• 110 Guildgates (11 of each)

Normally the rare sheet has 2 of each rare and 1 of each mythic, which means 10 shocklands on each RTR and GTC rare sheet (2 of each). I vaguely recall reading an article on dailymtg that said your just as likely to pull a shockland in DGM, but half as likely to pull a specific one. With the above ratio, that makes Shocklands 2 in 121, just like in GTC and RTR. It also means you'd have the same chance of getting Maze's End as you would getting any specific mythic.

Correct.

 

[ajf009]

Just picked up revised versions of Savannah, Taiga, Badlands, and Scrubland. 4 down 6 to go!!

 

[WanderingWind]

Just picked up revised versions of Savannah, Taiga, Badlands, and Scrubland. 4 down 6 to go!!

Congrats! My LCS has a playset of them all. It's so hard to look at something you want, you have the money for but know that you just can't do it. So sad.

 

[An-Det]

Just picked up revised versions of Savannah, Taiga, Badlands, and Scrubland. 4 down 6 to go!!

Nice! I know the excitement, building up my set of duals took a while but it's so awesome to have them all available. What do you plan on playing?

 

[ajf009]

Congrats! My LCS has a playset of them all. It's so hard to look at something you want, you have the money for but know that you just can't do it. So sad.

My local shop just bought a huge collection, they had a Lotus too, the temptation was there but I'm glad I didn't bite. I also limited myself to the 4 cheapest duals of them all haha, I so wanted to get one of each..

Nice! I know the excitement, building up my set of duals took a while but it's so awesome to have them all available. What do you plan on playing?

I'm putting them in my commander deck with Scion right now, I don't think I'll ever get playsets of them all. I think one of each will suffice eventually

 

[CorruptShadow]

So this is only sort of related to Magic, but, I feel the need to post it.

I went to my local game store today and, standing by the front of the game store was a man(early to mid 20's) and his girlfriend. I had seen them before, they are recently semi-regular's but I don't know either of there names. Typically I see them go outside the shop to smoke and they are usually arguing about this or that. I can't really say what they've argued about in the past. I tend to steer clear,(really bad/strange vibe) but it seems to get quite heated.

Anyway, I was approaching the store and they were standing out in front, then the guy flips out and starts screaming. He then pulls out a really large knife(Bowie?) and stabs himself in the stomach, and falls to the ground. Blood starts running everywhere and the girl starts freaking out. I run up and yell for help, the shop owner comes out and calls 911. Anyway the paramedics and police showed up put him on a gurney and took him to the hospital. The police stayed and took a report. The guy was still conscious when I last saw him, so I guess he missed anything really important? That said, there was a ton of blood and it looked bad.

I don't know, I'm freaked by the whole thing and felt the need to post. So sorry if this isn't the place but it was at my local magic shop.

 

[WanderingWind]

So this is only sort of related to Magic, but, I feel the need to post it.

I went to my local game store today and, standing by the front of the game store was a man(early to mid 20's) and his girlfriend. I had seen them before, they are recently semi-regular's but I don't know either of there names. Typically I see them go outside the shop to smoke and they are usually arguing about this or that. I can't really say what they've argued about in the past. I tend to steer clear,(really bad/strange vibe) but it seems to get quite heated.

Anyway, I was approaching the store and they were standing out in front, then the guy flips out and starts screaming. He then pulls out a really large knife(Bowie?) and stabs himself in the stomach, and falls to the ground. Blood starts running everywhere and the girl starts freaking out. I run up and yell for help, the shop owner comes out and calls 911. Anyway the paramedics and police showed up put him on a gurney and took him to the hospital. The police stayed and took a report. The guy was still conscious when I last saw him, so I guess he missed anything really important? That said, there was a ton of blood and it looked bad.

I don't know, I'm freaked by the whole thing and felt the need to post. So sorry if this isn't the place but it was at my local magic shop.

You should've played smelt on the blade.

 

[thetechkid]

So I recently got into MTG and I built a deck from cards my friend had left over and a toolkit, I'm debating on wither to wait for Dragon's Maze or to just get more cards now for the deck but I'd appreciate some advice: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/first-deck-03-04-13-1/

 

[ultron87]

I wouldn't play 3 colors unless you can find more mana fixing.

 

[Sinatar]

Yea you need more dual lands if you want to pull that off.

 

[WanderingWind]

Melek, Izzet Paragon (1)(U)(R)
Legendary Creature - Weird
Melek, Izzet Paragon is unblockable.
Whenever Melek, Izzet Paragon deals combat damage to a player, chose one - Melek deals 2 damage divided as you choose among one or two target creatures and/or players, or draw a card.
2/2

 

[thetechkid]

So would it be easier/better to get dual lands or to go for two colors instead?

 

[WanderingWind]

So would it be easier/better to get dual lands or to go for two colors instead?

Either way, it's better to get dual lands - if you can afford them. They make an enormous difference on being able to play the spells you have. Especially when you have a lot of costly spells, like in your deck. My recommendation is to start with just 2 colors for your first real deck. And then goldfish it to death.

 

[Zocano]

Here's a picture to go with that, Wind:

 

[WanderingWind]

I wonder if it's fake. Would be the best limited card in like, the world, if not.

 

[Zocano]

Could be. My friend posted it on his facebook (I assume he got it from reddit somewhere).

Or it's real. I mean at least it's legendary right? That's a huge drawback.

Edit: Doesn't stop you from throwing in more in your deck but still.

 

[WanderingWind]

Could be. My friend posted it on his facebook (I assume he got it from reddit somewhere).

Or it's real. I mean at least it's legendary right? That's a huge drawback.

Well, not in limited. That probably means that you're safe from your opponent laying one when yours is out.

Okay, so they're totally making an Ultimate Price for gold cards this set. They've got to.

 

[narcosis219]

Could be. My friend posted it on his facebook (I assume he got it from reddit somewhere).

Or it's real. I mean at least it's legendary right? That's a huge drawback.

Edit: Doesn't stop you from throwing in more in your deck but still.

At least in DGM drafts, this is really a non-issue since the drafts are RTR/GTC/DGM.

Has potential for constructed play I'd say, but that depends on the rest of the set. American Control could use this.

 

[Zocano]

Oh, sorry, I misread your post and read "standard" instead of "limited". Yah, definitely a huge card in limited.

 

[Gatekeeper]

You should've played smelt on the blade.

10/10

 

[f0rk]

Melek, Izzet Paragon (1)(U)(R)
Legendary Creature - Weird
Melek, Izzet Paragon is unblockable.
Whenever Melek, Izzet Paragon deals combat damage to a player, chose one - Melek deals 2 damage divided as you choose among one or two target creatures and/or players, or draw a card.
2/2

Nice will try and play.
Does a pretty good (a bit worse) Dark Confidant impression.

 

[Little Old Man]

Mythic land is in the land slot - if you get Maze's End you'll still get a normal rare/mythic.
Probabilities of shocklands have been stated to be the same as in RTR/GTC. Assuming this means the odds of pulling, say, a Temple Garden in a DGM pack is the same as pulling one out of a RTR pack (~1/60), that means roughly 1/6 packs will contain a shockland instead of a gate.

Sheets are 121 cards. I'd guess the land sheet has:

• 1 Maze's End
• 10 Shocklands (1 of each)
• 110 Guildgates (11 of each)

Normally the rare sheet has 2 of each rare and 1 of each mythic, which means 10 shocklands on each RTR and GTC rare sheet (2 of each). I vaguely recall reading an article on dailymtg that said your just as likely to pull a shockland in DGM, but half as likely to pull a specific one. With the above ratio, that makes Shocklands 2 in 121, just like in GTC and RTR. It also means you'd have the same chance of getting Maze's End as you would getting any specific mythic.

Thanks guys. So basically the same odds of pulling a Shockland in a given booster pack, though now it's a one in ten chance of being the one you want, as opposed to one in five.

Either way another wave of shocklands into circulation should pull the prices down a little. Overgrown Tomb is around £7 right now, hopefully it will fall to £5/6 after DGM. Here's hoping the M10 and Innistrad taplands get a reprint in M14 too, I'd hate them to disappear anytime soon.

 

[Lucario]

it's super fake. the font is the wrong width, the card is blurry but the table isn't, it's photoshopped on the table at the wrong angle.....

http://fotoforensics.com/analysis.p...4e028d5bc701f83e13c8c.106129&fmt=ela&size=600

 

[ThLunarian]

Wow I just had an epiphany. I need to make a Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker commander deck that features 40+ Shadowborn Apostle and some tasty demons to search out, turn after turn. Should be pretty cheap to build!

 

[kirblar]

The design of the card abilities should tell you it's fake long before anything else does.

Why would an Izzet paragon be unblockable? That's Dimir's shtick. (And yes, Teleportal, but that's a spell.)

 

[ajf009]

The design of the card abilities should tell you it's fake long before anything else does.

Why would an Izzet paragon be unblockable? That's Dimir's shtick. (And yes, Teleportal, but that's a spell.)

This all the way.

 

[OnPoint]

The design of the card abilities should tell you it's fake long before anything else does.

Why would an Izzet paragon be unblockable? That's Dimir's shtick. (And yes, Teleportal, but that's a spell.)

The unblockable aspect is what probably gives it away, but the ability when it hits is pretty much Sword of Fire and Ice. Even if it's fake, at least it's interesting.

 

[kirblar]

The unblockable aspect is what probably gives it away, but the ability when it hits is pretty much Sword of Fire and Ice. Even if it's fake, at least it's interesting.

It's actually the two halves of Electrolyze

 

[Haly]

I like the synergy between the abilities, if nothing else.

 

[number47]

Whats the deal with Domir Rade? I got a foil one. Popele are telling me not to pick my teeth with it.

 

[kirblar]

Whats the deal with Domir Rade? I got a foil one. Popele are telling me not to pick my teeth with it.

One of the best cards in the set. Already top 8'd a Modern GP. Good chance it'll blow up in price post-rotation.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

Dragon's Maze spoilers start today, right?

I'm really hoping DGR ends up a good draft format. I loved RTR, but Gatecrash was just so meh...

 

[kirblar]

Dragon's Maze spoilers start today, right?

I'm really hoping DGR ends up a good draft format. I loved RTR, but Gatecrash was just so meh...

Yup.

GTC is actually a good format if you're looking for a skill-testing format. The most recent GP T64 was stacked.