I guess this is true, but the flavor of it still sucks the fun out of the concept. Hell, everything about it does. Should have just made a new tribe that does this and been done with it. It's half-assed retro-pandering for an anniversary that could be better served through something like a wide printing of Modern Masters instead of the already-inflated and likely scarcely available run we're getting. I guess my point is they're failing to respect the history of a beloved tribe, and they're over-respecting the scarcity on the secondary market to the detriment of people who may want to get into modern. They seem like unrelated issues, but I feel like the combination serves to highlight how out of touch they seem at times.
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Magic: the GAFering |OT2|
- Thread starter The Technomancer
- Start date
I guess this is true, but the flavor of it still sucks the fun out of the concept. Hell, everything about it does. Should have just made a new tribe that does this and been done with it. It's half-assed retro-pandering for an anniversary that could be better served through something like a wide printing of Modern Masters instead of the already-inflated and likely scarcely available run we're getting. I guess my point is they're failing to respect the history of a beloved tribe, and they're over-respecting the scarcity on the secondary market to the detriment of people who may want to get into modern. They seem like unrelated issues, but I feel like the combination serves to highlight how out of touch they seem at times.
Their origins are actually Phyrexian, (Rath/Tempest) so it's not a crazy way to go. It just looks bizarre when on non-Scars.
Ah right, I always forget that about slivers.
I can't wait until there's an Elesh Norn sliver that gives every sliver "Creatures your opponents control get -1/-1".
Exactly what I'm talking about.
Like, flavorwise it could make sense. Short version, slivers are from Rath, which was the plane used by the Phyrexians to invade Dominaria. The slivers ended up there as a consequence and have stuck there. Phyrexia, while destroyed, was reborn on Mirrodin where the Praetors were born and now rule. Their resemblance to slivers would only be natural I'd think. Like, it wouldn't be hard to connect them. But they really could let people know.
Edit: Damn it Kirblar haha
Like, flavorwise it could make sense. Short version, slivers are from Rath, which was the plane used by the Phyrexians to invade Dominaria. The slivers ended up there as a consequence and have stuck there. Phyrexia, while destroyed, was reborn on Mirrodin where the Praetors were born and now rule. Their resemblance to slivers would only be natural I'd think. Like, it wouldn't be hard to connect them. But they really could let people know.
Edit: Damn it Kirblar haha
Well, if IIRC, Bolas didn't want the phyrexians to succeed in Mirrodin, did he? Perhaps slivers/praetors will play deeper roles in the incredibly nebulous and slow-moving plot he has hatched.
I know next to nothing about Magic, but my co-worker brought some high level competitive decks in and we've been playing at lunch and on breaks. I had a $70 gift card to Walmart, so I dropped in and grabbed a bunch of boosters to be able to play with my own stuff (his decks will murder me, but whatever). I also got one of those intro pack thingies with a bunch of crappy cards and land.
Anyway, the first pack we opened had Ral Zarek and he was pretty excited. I guess that's good. He was pretty happy with my draw overall, having several rares and legendaries.
So yeah, I'm going to try to get a deck going and start playing a bit. Kind of excited. The last time I played was in '97, and I have a bunch of cards from pre-Ice Age and about 50 Ice Age cards.
Anyway, the first pack we opened had Ral Zarek and he was pretty excited. I guess that's good. He was pretty happy with my draw overall, having several rares and legendaries.
So yeah, I'm going to try to get a deck going and start playing a bit. Kind of excited. The last time I played was in '97, and I have a bunch of cards from pre-Ice Age and about 50 Ice Age cards.
Welcome to the slippery slope, enjoy the fall.
Yeah, I just wanted to get a fist full of cards that I could buy with a gift card. I'm going to dump a bunch of them and buy some singles that I want/need.
Keru_Shiri
Member
While I still miss the old design of Slivers, if their intention was that Slivers were subconsciously shifting to reflect the appearance of the new Phyrexians, then that would be kinda cool.
I feel like they pay too much attention to their art and style guide stuff for it to not be this. I can't imagine they'd just accidentally do the same designs twice.
I feel they went a bit *too* overboard with the humanoid figures. I am okay with having slivers that sprout limbs and whatnot, but I feel their most defining feature was their head, the long slender xenomorph-like head and that seems to be absent in, well, every 'new' sliver we've seen.
A) Doug Beyer has already gone on record saying the change was in part to help slivers be more "relateable" and "appealing" to a larger audience so any other flavor justification is just going to come off as hackneyed and something they kind of backed into.
B) The ONLY people who would know/remember the connection between the Slivers and the Phyrexians would be those who've been playing for YEARS or are really into MTG Lore. However, those same people would be most opposed to these changes. Who is WOTC trying to please?
C) Phyrexians of Old and the Phyrexians from New Phyrexia share common themes but they are still visually distinct due in part because Rath/Dominaria/Phyrexia Classic are super different from Mirrodin. Why would we expect "convergent evolution" when Shandalaar and Mirrodin are as different as two planes can be? Hell they don't even look like Phyrexian Slivers, they just look like Phyrexians. There's a difference.
D) Steelform Sliver and Megantic Sliver look more different from each other than any other pair of slivers every printed. There is little way you'd know they were both slivers without the type line. Seems like a failure for the art direction of a hive-based creature type IMO.
B) The ONLY people who would know/remember the connection between the Slivers and the Phyrexians would be those who've been playing for YEARS or are really into MTG Lore. However, those same people would be most opposed to these changes. Who is WOTC trying to please?
C) Phyrexians of Old and the Phyrexians from New Phyrexia share common themes but they are still visually distinct due in part because Rath/Dominaria/Phyrexia Classic are super different from Mirrodin. Why would we expect "convergent evolution" when Shandalaar and Mirrodin are as different as two planes can be? Hell they don't even look like Phyrexian Slivers, they just look like Phyrexians. There's a difference.
D) Steelform Sliver and Megantic Sliver look more different from each other than any other pair of slivers every printed. There is little way you'd know they were both slivers without the type line. Seems like a failure for the art direction of a hive-based creature type IMO.
Shandalaar? I thought they were on Dominaria
Any trading? Looking for:
1x Windswept Heath
1x Verdant Catacombs
3x Arid Mesa
4x Temple Garden
4x Stomping Ground
3x Snapcaster Mage
4x Cavern of Souls
Have for trade:
2x Huntsmaster of the Fells
1x Restoration Angel
1x Sire of Insanity
1x Bonfire of the Damned
1x Boros Reckoner
1x Windswept Heath
1x Verdant Catacombs
3x Arid Mesa
4x Temple Garden
4x Stomping Ground
3x Snapcaster Mage
4x Cavern of Souls
Have for trade:
2x Huntsmaster of the Fells
1x Restoration Angel
1x Sire of Insanity
1x Bonfire of the Damned
1x Boros Reckoner
While I do think that the new slivers are both slightly incongruous amongst themselves and too different from the previous slivers, I did agree with the reasoning (be it Rosewater's or Beyer's) that the original sliver design was too narrow. To bring them back they had to change them, and I guess this is the manner that gives them the most versatility in terms of actual card design.
divisionbyzorro
Member
Okay guys - what do you think the "right" way to build this sealed pool is?
The rares (so you don't have to hunt for them): Detention Sphere, Firemind's Foresight, Dragonshift, Gaze of Granite, Legion Loyalist, Ooze Flux.
The rares (so you don't have to hunt for them): Detention Sphere, Firemind's Foresight, Dragonshift, Gaze of Granite, Legion Loyalist, Ooze Flux.
Okay guys - what do you think the "right" way to build this sealed pool is?
The rares (so you don't have to hunt for them): Detention Sphere, Firemind's Foresight, Dragonshift, Gaze of Granite, Legion Loyalist, Ooze Flux.
R/W/U seems pretty strong.
Hey folks, I actually just played my first games in about 15 years!
I work at a video game company and it turns out there is a pretty big MTG community, they had just finished a big tourney/league thing and started a new one this week. It was setup that you would get 9 booster packs, 3 from 3 different sets, I remember gold, red, and blue packs, and you build your deck from those.
As I said I hadnt played in a while and hardly knew what I was doing, but I separated them all by type and color and I made a red and white deck. We can only use 40 cards so I thought 2 colors would be best.
we have 10 groups of 4 people, best of 3 and I played my first tonight matches tonight......lost them both haha.
The guy I played was cool though, it took a long time because he took the time to explain any questions I had.....there were a lot so that was cool. He said I wouldve beat him the first game but he got super lucky when he was down to 2 health, he got some cards, blue i think, that when he attacked sent my creatures back to my hand if they were 2/2 or less. The second game was about the same. He commended me for doing as well as I did without know much about the game as it is now.
Funniest part was I had a card that replicates a token I had, I had thought a token was just any word and meant any creature that I had, I didnt know token was an actual thing, so I had about 5 cards about tokens......SMH.
All in all it was pretty fun, took me back to long ago. I now get to redo my deck!
/story time
I work at a video game company and it turns out there is a pretty big MTG community, they had just finished a big tourney/league thing and started a new one this week. It was setup that you would get 9 booster packs, 3 from 3 different sets, I remember gold, red, and blue packs, and you build your deck from those.
As I said I hadnt played in a while and hardly knew what I was doing, but I separated them all by type and color and I made a red and white deck. We can only use 40 cards so I thought 2 colors would be best.
we have 10 groups of 4 people, best of 3 and I played my first tonight matches tonight......lost them both haha.
The guy I played was cool though, it took a long time because he took the time to explain any questions I had.....there were a lot so that was cool. He said I wouldve beat him the first game but he got super lucky when he was down to 2 health, he got some cards, blue i think, that when he attacked sent my creatures back to my hand if they were 2/2 or less. The second game was about the same. He commended me for doing as well as I did without know much about the game as it is now.
Funniest part was I had a card that replicates a token I had, I had thought a token was just any word and meant any creature that I had, I didnt know token was an actual thing, so I had about 5 cards about tokens......SMH.
All in all it was pretty fun, took me back to long ago. I now get to redo my deck!
/story time
Sounds like you're playing the newest sets, so two or three colors is required. The sets all have quite a few different ways to get two types of mana, so don't be afraid to try a three color deck, and if you opened up 9 packs you should be fine.
Populate is the mechanic you were talking about with tokens, and in a R/W deck I could see those not being to useful, it is a G/W mechanic. Good luck.
divisionbyzorro
Member
Something like this?
I didn't seriously consider RWU when building, but it looks better than I gave it credit for. Any other thoughts from this pool?
The reason I'm posting it up in the first place is because it seems like a really interesting pool. It doesn't go particularly deep in playables in any one color, has no "I win the game" bombs, but it does have a lot of above average stuff in it. I'm really curious to see how you guys approach it and get some additional perspective.
If you're curious what I built, here's a sneak preview (I'm still playing the tournament out and will post the results when it's done).
I built Esper, almost entirely because I could get the maximum amount of fliers that way.
I believe it was newer sets, yes.
Populate! Yeah thats it, I had it completely wrong apparently haha.
I picked red and white because thats what I had the most of overall. I barely got any blue cards at all and I think only 3 or 4 creatures.
I dont know if 40 cards are the norm but I thought it would be better to have lower costs alla round, I dont know if that was smart or not.
Ok I'm going to my first FNM soon with my populate deck. I'm going to do one more round of single card buys before hand however.
Does anyone have a good link or source of what would be a good STANDARD 60 card deck for W/G populate?
I can find them online but with my lack of expertise, I'm not sure which ones would be considered good. Any help would be appreciated!
Does anyone have a good link or source of what would be a good STANDARD 60 card deck for W/G populate?
I can find them online but with my lack of expertise, I'm not sure which ones would be considered good. Any help would be appreciated!
This deck just won a TCGplayer open! http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=1123989
divisionbyzorro
Member
So you would move into UWR solely because of Dragonshift? I haven't been valuing it that highly (as in, as a card that would push me into a particular set of colors), but I'll be on the lookout for it in the future.
This is what I ended up submitting:
The plan was to clog the ground and fight in the skies, using random Extort triggers to get some extra reach. I ended up going 2-2 in the tournament, and to be honest, it looked like a 2-2 pool when I opened it. I don't know how much of the result was me living out a self-fulfilling prophecy, but that's what happened. The mana was fantastic the entire time; I never felt like my deck was screwing me out of victory.
Match 1 was interesting. Game one was a grindy affair against a mediocre 4-color monstrosity. He had nothing notable other than Skylasher, which he did manage to "get" me with in game one, but was easily played around from there. The only damage I did to him was through extort triggers and the Hired Torturer. Game two was a flat-out race that I easy won.
Match 2 my opponent is on Jund. He attacks into my Skymark Roc with his Daggerdrome Imp; it seems obviously correct to not block, at which point he slams a Swamp followed by a Rakdos, Lord of Riots. Fantastic. By the time I draw the Detention Sphere, it's too late. Game 2 he drops a Gruul War Chant and I simply can't block or race profitably anymore. He ends up being the winner of the pod.
Match 3 I faced the Auras guy, with multiple Unflinching Courage and Madcap Skills, plus the oh-so-clever Treasury Thrull to get them back. Fortunately, I had enough removal to make him regret going so all-in. Game 2 was particularly memorable, with me winning even after he gained 20+ life over the course of the game (mostly through temporary pump effects on Daggerdrome Imp).
Match 4 was miserable. My opponent was on Grixis, with hardly any creatures. Game one he just sat back and rode a Stab Wound to victory; I couldn't stop it or race it. Game two saw him do literally nothing but rip burn spell after burn spell. His deck had so many burn spells that the Izzet maze runner actually did serious work for him.
Final result: 2-2.
Looking back, it's entirely possible that Dragonshift could have turned the tide in games that were otherwise unwinnable with my deck, just from the surprise factor alone. I just felt that black was deeper, with more evasive threats and better removal. The Cancel came in for the Leyline Phantom in almost every game, so they probably should have been switched.
FieryBalrog
Member
Keru_Shiri
Member
Interesting, might be too slow for RDW, but a midrange R/G list packing Arbor Elf could power out a 7/7 by turn 4.
EsotericManiac
Banned
That would be so sweet to unsummon that mountain
Keru_Shiri
Member
This is why everyone hates blue.
Interesting, might be too slow for RDW, but a midrange R/G list packing Arbor Elf could power out a 7/7 by turn 4.
Potentially earlier than that.
T1 - Stomping Ground, Arbor Elf.
T2 - Stomping Ground, Arbor Elf.
T3 - No land or elf needed. Drop at will.
Land needed for an attack though, of course.
or
T1 - Stomping Ground, Arbor Elf.
T2 - Mountain, whatever.
T3 - Mountain, drop at will.
It's actually pretty darn cool, so long as they don't have creature kill at the ready. Imagining this in a Naya build that uses Advent of the Wurm too. Or you could Cackling Counterpart it and have a 7/7 haste creature/land token in play.
Keru_Shiri
Member
At 4 mana, it should have had Rancor's bounce-back clause, IMO.
Speaking of, I can't wait for Rancor to rotate.
That would be crazy broken and impossible to get rid of except with a counter. You'd need instant speed land destruction to get it while it is on the stack.
Keru_Shiri
Member
It wouldn't be crazy broken, given the mountain is susceptible to so many creature kill spells, each one of them setting you back a land. It would be good, but not insurmountably so. As it stands, it's just an easier to deal with 7/7 that sets you up for a 2-for-1.
But you can Progenitor Mimic it and get a 7/7 haste-Mountain creature every turn.
It has Haste.
Keru_Shiri
Member
Across 3 colors, 2 cards, and 10 mana you better be getting something.
If it was played on a Mountain that was around before the turn you cast this, it wouldn't have had summoning sickness to begin with. Haste just means you get to be a little sloppier with your target.
Keru_Shiri
Member
Haha, I'm being a buzzkillington. I really want to like this card, but the cynical Spike in me is rearing his head.
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