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[rCIZZLE]

Teysa is pretty disappointing. Can't really see much reason to even use her in EDH. The cycle isn't that bad except for the green one. Red is kind of meh but the others are good enough.

edit: I actually like Exava for some reason. Would be cooler if it was haste AND first strike considering few unleash creatures are constructed playable right now.

 

[The Technomancer]

From Reddit. Human... Cleric? (Edit: I guess that type matches the Dissension Blood Witch card!)

The body is good with the First Strike and the Haste, but I guess I'm not familiar enough with the environment to know how relevant the haste enabling will be.

 

[kirblar]

The body is good with the First Strike and the Haste, but I guess I'm not familiar enough with the environment to know how relevant the haste enabling will be.

4/4 first strike haste for 4 is pretty ridiculous. It's not very relevant, but it helps.

 

[ultron87]

I'd assume one would still rather play Aristocrat or Hellrider in that slot at least until rotation.

 

[Yeef]

I like Exava a lot. Works great with all the unleash stuff. Splatter Thug was already one of my favorite cards from this block. With her, it's just ridiculous.

 

[Crocodile]

Oh new Teysa got spoiled, sweet.

*Sees that it costs 7 mana*
*Vomits*

Exava is pretty sweet though. The Champions need to be more like her and Ruric Thar and less like 12 mana Melek and Teysa

 

[kirblar]

Teysa feels like she got bumped up late in the process from 6cc.

 

[zoukka]

Man that art demanded a cheap mana cost and some devious ability.

 

[Haly]

Needed to be 4CMC for a 2/4.

And even that's too expensive.

3CMC for 2/4.

 

[kirblar]

Man that art demanded a cheap mana cost and some devious ability.

Agreed- the art doesn't match the card.

 

[zoukka]

Agreed- the art doesn't match the card.

She can arm wrestle a hill giant for sure.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

The gatekeeper cycle looks sweet for limited play.

DGR is going to be a sweet set to draft. Every DGM pack has a gate, and 50% of GTC and RTR packs have gates? And the format is slower? Count me in - I love slow multicolor draft formats.

 

[ultron87]

Needed to be 4CMC for a 2/4.

And even that's too expensive.

3CMC for 2/4.

Those abilities for 3 mana? Cmon now.

 

[OnPoint]

Those abilities for 3 mana? Cmon now.

Why not make her split cost 1CC between B/W? Oh and Haste!

Sarcasm aside, she really is way too expensive.

 

[WanderingWind]

They didn't even try with Ms Envoy. Why is a normal human a 4/4? Why is she so expensive? Meh. Why are the champs not repping the guild mechanics?

 

[Negator]

Exava is going to be an aggro staple once the more obvious choices rotate.

The Rakdos intro pack might actually be worth buying!

 

[JulianImp]

Exava looks fun for a crazy aggro Rakdos deck, and her ability has some synergy with persist, evolve and the new Ajani as well.

I like the Gatekeeper cycle, even if they're mostly for limited. Clogging the board with a 2/4 while getting some extra effect seems great at common (we could've gotten vanilla Pillarfield Oxen instead), and it seems gates will come up more often due to DGM's land slot.

It looks like I'll be setting Teysa aside along with Malek, since they're way too overcosted for constructed and don't have enough of an impact. Teysa will be coming down when aggro already has you on the ropes and just wants to do an alpha strike for your remaining life, just like Malek shows up after you've already cast most of your spells. (NOTE: There's no commander community over here, so I won't even be using them for that)

I wonder how the prerelease will go, since my LGS and its players don't care much about achievement cards and cutesy side-events such as the implicit maze and the helvault. Most people around here take Magic as Serious Buisness (TM), so there's no way they're going to do "silly stuff" such as giving a fellow guild member a high-five, attending a guild meeting or speaking in pseudoscientifical terms for a turn (I loved that one).

 

[divisionbyzorro]

They didn't even try with Ms Envoy. Why is a normal human a 4/4? Why is she so expensive? Meh. Why are the champs not repping the guild mechanics?

 

[OnPoint]

Lavinia is like the ultimate reward if you survive to turn 5 against aggro. Holy crap.

From Reddit. Human... Cleric? (Edit: I guess that type matches the Dissension Blood Witch card!)

What a shame she can't combine super easily with

 

[Lucario]

Lavina seems like she used to cost 4cmc, then wizards realized restoration angel was in standard.

Still pretty good, but I'm not sure if she's as relevant against gruul aggro as thragtusk.

 

[Hydranockz]

Took part in my first physical game of MTG on Monday night. The Games Society in college were having a draft and I figured I'd jump in because I've been playing the XBLA game for far too long at this stage. I have a friend who is pretty into the game who was showing me the ropes. He advised me, when drafting, to just take the first rare card you see. Well, imagine my surprise when I see this at the back;

Pretty much guaranteed I was going Red/Green after that. I only have the 2012 XBLA game so using planeswalker cards were new to me. Managed to use the -7 ability in the first round. Shame it was the only round I had won. Came close a few other times but got completely screwed with mana (or an abundance of it) but I had a lot of fun. The guy who ran the draft gave me some spare cards he had as a thank you for coming along which was awesome too.

Game is great. I'm hooked. Goodye money.

 

[ultron87]

Nice first pull! That's a good way to get you hooked.

I wouldn't always take the first rare in draft since there are some clunkers out there, but that is obviously a great pick.

 

[Takuan]

Took part in my first physical game of MTG on Monday night. The Games Society in college were having a draft and I figured I'd jump in because I've been playing the XBLA game for far too long at this stage. I have a friend who is pretty into the game who was showing me the ropes. He advised me, when drafting, to just take the first rare card you see. Well, imagine my surprise when I see this at the back;

Pretty much guaranteed I was going Red/Green after that. I only have the 2012 XBLA game so using planeswalker cards were new to me. Managed to use the -7 ability in the first round. Shame it was the only round I had won. Came close a few other times but got completely screwed with mana (or an abundance of it) but I had a lot of fun. The guy who ran the draft gave me some spare cards he had as a thank you for coming along which was awesome too.

Game is great. I'm hooked. Goodye money.

Nice pull, great encouragement to keep one hooked. I'm always a little envious of beginner's luck, since I've never had the greatest luck opening packs. One of the guys new to my playgroup bought three boosters of GTC after having fun playing with event decks and pulled an Obzedat, a Boros Reckoner, and a foil Boros Reckoner. Redonkulous!

Your friend's advice is bad, btw. I suppose for a beginner it makes sense because you don't want to pass a money card, but rare drafting doesn't typically make for a good deck.

 

[WanderingWind]

Well then.

 

[Lucario]

Well then.

+
Detains non-creature permanents too
Protection from red
Three more power

-
One more mana
Two colors
Doesn't detain creatures with a converted mana cost of 5 or more
Can't create 'turbofrog' locks with venser, restoration angels, etc

 

[Keru_Shiri]

The Esper-Gatekeepers all seem pretty strong in limited, if you have the gates for them at least. Not a big fan of R/G, and none of them are meant for constructed play.

And I love Teysa. 7 CMC keeps her out of Constructed viability, and I honestly don't see her much for EDH (best I could think of is some kind of Voltron type deck, but there are better generals for that), but she'll be perfect for the casual Orzhov deck I've been brewing.

EDIT: And a hearty BLEGH to Lavinia of the Tenth. As if Red needed hosing right now.

 

[JulianImp]

Nice pull, great encouragement to keep one hooked. I'm always a little envious of beginner's luck, since I've never had the greatest luck opening packs. One of the guys new to my playgroup bought three boosters of GTC after having fun playing with event decks and pulled an Obzedat, a Boros Reckoner, and a foil Boros Reckoner. Redonkulous!

Your friend's advice is bad, btw. I suppose for a beginner it makes sense because you don't want to pass a money card, but rare drafting doesn't typically make for a good deck.

I guess it all depends on the prize payout. At my local FNM we get two or three bosters for first place, so picking a relatively expensive card is often better than picking the better draft cards and hoping that your few prize packs make up for it.

So far, I've only opened an Enter the Infinite and a Lazav as mythics out of my packs. I'd really dig an Obzedat for some crazy random deck.

I've also been trying to build a deck around Mirror-Mad Phantasm since it was released, but I still can't find a way to make it work. Burning Vengeance tends to be too slow (my Gwub deck utterly crushes it most of the time), but I also want to try out a BUG mill-myself deck with Gnaw to the Bone, Splinterfright, Kessig Cagebreakers and other underused, cheap goodies, but I haven't settled on a list yet.

 

[ultron87]

I guess it all depends on the prize payout. At my local FNM we get two or three bosters for first place, so picking a relatively expensive card is often better than picking the better draft cards and hoping that your few prize packs make up for it.

Yeah, certainly. I'll still take Shocklands or other money cards I don't already have copies of over most other stuff except for a total bomb in my colors. Making a sweet deck is fun, but making up the entry cost of the draft before you've even played a game is better.

Unless the store you're at does that redraft rares nonsense. But I'd be very reticent to even play a draft at a store that does that.

 

[kirblar]

The green gatekeeper is very good. Marshall is wrong- 8 life is the amount of life people are willing to pay for on a card (the landfall 1W instant for 4/8 life.) Pelakka Wurm and the 2/8 life gainer from Zendikar were both ridiculous as well.

 

[Keru_Shiri]

Regarding Exava: Falkenrath Aristocrat was good because it dodged a lot of removal and could fly, which is what Exava is missing. That's not to say she isn't good, but it'll require a different type of deck, perhaps something more mid-rangey. I'd have to take another look at the various Unleash and Scavenge creatures to come up with a final verdict.

Of course, she's bananas in Limited.

 

[y2dvd]

I actually don't like Exava that much in the current meta. It would've been better if it gave first strike, or attacking creatures +1/+0, or Unleashed creatures the ability to block. As is, there are better aggro creatures w/o the need to Unleash. Any same or higher cmc as Exava usually already has haste built into it.

I like Lavania though. Should be great against aggro if you can stabilize. Maybe detain will be a real deck?

 

[ultron87]

Trostani's Summoner

5GW

Creature - Elf Shaman

When <this> enters the battlefield, put a 2/2 white knight creature token with vigilance, a 3/3 green centaur creature token, and a 4/4 green rhino creature token with trample onto the battlefield.

1/1

Uncommon. And Restoration Angel and Evolve's best friend evah.

 

[The Technomancer]

Trostani's Summoner

5GW

Creature - Elf Shaman

When <this> enters the battlefield, put a 2/2 white knight creature token with vigilance, a 3/3 green centaur creature token, and a 4/4 green rhino creature token with trample onto the battlefield.

1/1

Uncommon. And Restoration Angel and Evolve's best friend evah.

Oh jesus christ.

 

[Keru_Shiri]

Trostani's Summoner

5GW

Creature - Elf Shaman

When <this> enters the battlefield, put a 2/2 white knight creature token with vigilance, a 3/3 green centaur creature token, and a 4/4 green rhino creature token with trample onto the battlefield.

1/1

Uncommon. And Restoration Angel and Evolve's best friend evah.

Imagine a Bant token deck that ran Intangible Virture, Gyre Sage, and Beck//Call. 7 cmc might still be too much, but who knows?

 

[Lucario]

Reveillark says hi

 

[Wynnebeck]

Ok guys, haven't really been keeping up with Dragon's Maze (studying for Finals and projects etc.) so what should a B/W Orzhov player be looking forward to? I'm running an Extort deck based around Obzedat.

 

[f0rk]

Reveillark says hi

ahhhhh that's scary

 

[The Technomancer]

Reveillark says hi

Ahahahaha I am going to build this deck

 

[Lucario]

Brews of the day, all in modern:

Eggs with artificer's intuition and open the vaults.

Chain through all of your copies of lotus bloom with intuition. Ramp a bit, if possible - turn 1 bloom is pretty nutty. Open the vaults on turn 4, returning all four of your blooms to play. Chain a bit more, giving yourself all of your draw artifacts. Normal eggs route from here.


Enduring renewal affinity.

Cut master of etherium for enduring renewal, change the manabase around a bit, and put in some disciples of the vault. Leave the cut cards in the sideboard. You just gave your affinity deck an extremely potent infinite combo with arcbound ravager and 0-cost creatures.

Enduring Renewal toolbox.

Run control cards at 1cmc -- deathrite shaman, icatian javelineers, etc. Ranger of Eos can now toolbox to grab all of your answers, but can also grab a two card combo in Viscera Seer + Wild Cantor to bubble sort through your entire deck and get infinite storm count. You can also turbofog with Kami.

 

[ultron87]

I wonder if this is finally the time for the Bant ETB Effect deck with lots of flicker that I've always wanted to build.

 

[sammich]

Trostani's Summoner

5GW

Creature - Elf Shaman

When <this> enters the battlefield, put a 2/2 white knight creature token with vigilance, a 3/3 green centaur creature token, and a 4/4 green rhino creature token with trample onto the battlefield.

1/1

Uncommon. And Restoration Angel and Evolve's best friend evah.

What about the 1/1 bird? How could they forget the bird?

 

[JulianImp]

What about the 1/1 bird? How could they forget the bird?

Because it'd probably be even more overkill then, and the elf itself covers the 1/1 spot. It's fun how the Knight and Rhino aren't vanilla, unlike the latest cone of tokens (was it snake, wolf and elephant?).

I like it. It's ridiculously expensive for constructed (other than in Reveillark-related shenanigans), but will be a great limited bomb that might be showing up more often than usual due to being an uncommon in a small set.

EDIT: By the way, did you guys post Armed & Dangerous yet?

Armed 1R
Sorcery
Target creature gains +1/+1 and double strike until end of turn.
///////////
Dangerous 3G
Sorcery
All creatures able to block target creature do so this turn.

I really like this split card. even without fusing it, it could lead to some crazy situations in both limited and constructed, and fusing it will most often be a game-winner (target your smallest creature with the Lure part, and pump your largest one, then swing for the win). The name, like most split cards, is great as well.

 

[f0rk]

hmm yes very good

Spoiler

Translation according to others on the internet:
Armed {1}{R} Sorcery Target creature gain +1/+1 and double strike until end of turn.
/ <Fuse>
Dangerous {3}{G} Sorcery All creatures able to block target creature do so this turn.

 

[Keru_Shiri]

Actually, what is Esper Control's goto finisher? Teysa may not be that bad as a finisher in slower control decks, given how much removal she can dodge, and how difficult a Gruul or even Naya deck would have in dealing with her while being an unblockable "clock."

 

[sammich]

Because it'd probably be even more overkill then, and the elf itself covers the 1/1 spot. It's fun how the Knight and Rhino aren't vanilla, unlike the latest cone of tokens (was it snake, wolf and elephant?).

I like it. It's ridiculously expensive for constructed (other than in Reveillark-related shenanigans), but will be a great limited bomb that might be showing up more often than usual due to being an uncommon in a small set.

Eh.. i figured it would work more with the token generation and creating every G/W token so far. They could have just made it an instant, but then no schenanigans.

In regards to DGM.. is it possible for me to play the following?

RBG
or
WGR?

 

[ultron87]

In regards to DGM.. is it possible for me to play the following?

RBG
or
WGR?

Since any 3 color combo will give you two guilds in RTR and one in Gatecrash or vice versa I'd think that pretty much any combo should be doable in Limited. Though surely some will be more ideal than others.

 

[Keru_Shiri]

Eh.. i figured it would work more with the token generation and creating every G/W token so far. They could have just made it an instant, but then no schenanigans.

In regards to DGM.. is it possible for me to play the following?

RBG
or
WGR?

Most likely. WGR a.k.a. Naya Humans is one of the best decks in the format right now, and it really looks like Dragon's Maze is set to reward three color strategies in both limited and constructed.

 

[Fragamemnon]

Actually, what is Esper Control's goto finisher?

Draw a billion cards, gain a billion life, kill everything they own, murder then with crappy creatures and they scoop.

If they are playing control, draw more cards and drownyard them to death.

 

[WanderingWind]

My Bant deck is going to destroy faces across the nation when DGM hits. That summoner is so awesome with Beck/Trostani/Resto.

I luv it.

 

[f0rk]

My Bant deck is going to destroy faces across the nation when DGM hits. That summoner is so awesome with Beck/Trostani/Resto.

I luv it.

Sounds slow