I wish I had been playing during that set. I'd have collected tons of those if it had been an option. Now I only have the few I bought off Ebay.
If I could have any lands it'd be the Guru Lands. So pretty. So expensive.
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Magic: the GAFering |OT2|
- Thread starter The Technomancer
- Start date
I wish I had been playing during that set. I'd have collected tons of those if it had been an option. Now I only have the few I bought off Ebay.
If I could have any lands it'd be the Guru Lands. So pretty. So expensive.
Just read about this. Great decision, imo. I'll move all of my shocks now and trade for them when they're <$5.
Yeah, it's a bit backwards this time though. Bloodbraid was a cheap card but the most logical replacement in that slot is Huntsmaster...and a playset is $100. Not too thrilled about having to chase them down now.
How viable is a mill deck in standard right now? My friend is dead set on making one and i've pretty much told him that it wont work with out little Jace because everything else is going to outpace it. He wont listen and thinks that mill is like the best thing ever but with all the grave yard stuff still going around idk. Im going over to his house tomorrow to try and build it, but I really want him to play UWG enchantments because its such a fast and east deck.
You're a bad person.
Keru_Shiri
Member
I kinda wish they would play around a bit with the design of basic lands. It seems to me like Innistrad could have had some sweet Horror-themed frames, or Scars block lands could have had their frames increasingly Phyrexianized.
Oh wow, I never seen those before. Those look awesome!
Not a bad move, since Zendikar lands are already up to about a buck a piece, and will only go up from there. It was awesome how Zendikar and Worldwake fat packs gave bundles of full-art lands.
Oh wow, I never seen those before. Those look awesome!
Probably. Buts its cheap and easy to play. Hes not that great(neither am I) but I want to give him something viable for FNM.
I've been trying to brew a mill deck for a bit now and it's not working too well. Maybe it'll be easier with Gatecrash.
EsotericManiac
Banned
mill nowadays is just a basic blue/white shell with drownyard (land that mills). It doesn't mill or win fast, but it's the win condition in the deck that is most reliable.
WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Man, who has the 600 zend lands, and who wants to trade me 24 of each color?
At the very least, New Phyrexia had phyrexian-ized versions of the original Mirrodin's artifact lands, and Avacyn Restored had day shots of lands which were previously depicted during the night. They might be minor nods, but they're somewhat fun anyway.
As far as I know, Zendikar fat packs came with regular frame basic lands (that is, the full-art was cropped to fit into a regular card's illustration frame). The only way to get full-art lands was by getting them from packs (I'm not sure if theme decks had full-art basics).
It should be somewhat easier thanks to the Dimir. They don't have anything like the previous Ravnica's Glimpse the Unthinkable (sorcery for UB that milled ten cards), but you can always combine cypher cards with Innistrad's Invisible Stalker (especially the ones that tap a creature and mill three cards). The dimir guildmage is weird, since he turns milling into damage (it would've been more fun if it had worked the other way around), and there're a few more milling cards you could use, such as the guild's prerelease promo.
EsotericManiac
Banned
If you had legacy staples i would consider it...
I got a JTMS, Umezawas Jitte, and a few other cards from my U/W legacy stoneforge deck. That was definitely a sad day
I got a JTMS, Umezawas Jitte, and a few other cards from my U/W legacy stoneforge deck. That was definitely a sad day
Fuck design elements, just give me some new basic lands that actually say (tap) add R to your mana pool, like they did pre-MM/6th. I only use those in my decks- Mirage or Tempest Forests, Urza's Saga Mountains, Mirage Planes, Urza's Saga Swamps, and Tempest Islands.
Keru_Shiri
Member
The art for the lands is always gorgeous, and appropriate, I just find using the same frames and palettes to be a little clunky, IMO.
I think you're right. I didn't actually pick up a Zendikar fat-pack, but I do remember getting a pack of full-arts so that may have been something exclusive to Worldwake fat packs.
Looks like you got the full-art a little backwards, the fat packs (at least of Worldwake) came with 48 lands (a forty pack and one in each pack). The theme decks had the cropped ones, so the only way to get those was buying theme decks.
And I did like the Avacyn and Innistras lands having a day and night thing going on. Never noticed the NPH having the original artifact lands in them, but didn't really like any of the lands in that set.
Keru_Shiri
Member
They probably won't, since they've made the distinction between a mana-ability, and producing the mana as an inherit quality (for anyone who doesn't get this, note that the shocklands list the mana abilities in the reminder text). Otherwise, I get were you're coming from. I miss the Summon [creature] line on old creature spells, myself.
They updated the Arcana today to clarify how the prerelease actually works
I don't know if I like this- someone who picks Boros and gets a Rakdos as his second is going to have a much better go than someone who picks Azorius and gets a Gruul pack as his second. They should have made it so that the second pack matched one of your guilds colors.
I don't know if I like this- someone who picks Boros and gets a Rakdos as his second is going to have a much better go than someone who picks Azorius and gets a Gruul pack as his second. They should have made it so that the second pack matched one of your guilds colors.
JetBlackPanda
Member
Bingo!
Thanks for the info. I will have to look into preordering some of these event decks. I'm going to have to decide how I want to play.
Thanks a lot. I'll PM you.
Here again, probably something I have to put some thought into. I'd like to get competitive eventually.
EsotericManiac
Banned
I'd say start with something like Black/Red or Black/Green zombies. No extremely expensive mythic. Black/Green would probably be your best bet as they have more, newer cards that are going to stay in standard for quite some time.
Keru_Shiri
Member
I wonder if each guild has a set in stone "secret friend" or if this second guild is pulled from a list of candidates, or if its completely random.
Yeah, I had never bought either one, so I wasn't too sure about that.
Also, I remember the Rise of the Eldrazi basic lands of each type formed a mural when put together. Still, it was nowhere near as cool as getting full-art lands in each booster pack. I think I have about 15-20 of each kind, so I can build multicolor decks with 100% full-art basics, but not monocolored ones.
Sadly, my LGS has cut saturday tournaments, so I'm stuck with just 20:30 FNMs for now... I really miss the old Launch Parties, since the store's reorganized schedule probably means we won't be getting a draft for quite a while.
As far as guild mechanics go, I think Evolve, Detain, Scavenge, Unleash, Populate and Extort were good mechanics, but I didn't like the other ones that much. Mostly, Cypher stuck out like a sore thumb because it basically casts spells for free, which is something they've never managed to do right (we'd mostly get bad cards, a slew of decent ones and some rediculously broken, nearly format-warping ones), so they ended up being too conservative with the effects and mana costs; also, Overload failed to capture the Izzet guild's essence, which was a big let down since it's my favorite guild alongside the Simic.
It would've been interesting if you were able to encode stuff onto your opponent's creatures as well as your own, since it'd have fit thematically and would've made even the currently unplayable cards somewhat better (like a punisher version of "can't attack" auras, I guess).
If he likes blue decks, then I guess he should stick to that for a while. Zombies are (or at least used to be) somewhat expensive to build, mostly due to requiring playsets of Gravecrawler, Geralf's Messenger, whichever multicolored lands you needed and other expensive rares such as Deathrite Shaman, the M13 mythic Hellkite, Falkenrath Aristocrat and/or Lotleth Troll.
That won't happen - you get one of the four guilds from the other set that matches your colours.
Here are how the guild packs will work out:
Azorius : Orzhov/Dimir/Boros/Simic
Orzhov : Azorius/Rakdos/Golgari/Selesnya
Dimir : Azorius/Izzet/Rakdos/Golgari
Izzet : Dimir/Gruul/Boros/Simic
Rakdos : Orzhov/Dimir/Gruul/Boros
Golgari : Orzhov/Dimir/Gruul/Simic
Gruul : Izzet/Rakdos/Golgari/Selesnya
Boros : Azorius/Izzet/Rakdos/Selesnya
Selesnya : Orzhov/Gruul/Boros/Simic
Simic : Azorius/Izzet/Golgari/Selesnya
I think I might go Simic again.
EDIT:
Wizards said:
It sounds like it is random from the guilds in the other set that your guild share's a color with.
Entirely off these two sets, I'll totally pick Azorius again.
Keru_Shiri
Member
Ah I see, I guess my question would have been answered if I just went to the site.
Thanks for the clarification!
I guess the best route is to choose the guild you like the least, and base your decision around what choice excludes it.
Thanks for the clarification!
I guess the best route is to choose the guild you like the least, and base your decision around what choice excludes it.
JetBlackPanda
Member
based off that I think Azorius would suit me the best.
Keru_Shiri
Member
Man, this is tough. Got it narrowed down to Izzet or Rakdos.
That's some interesting information! I like how they'll be giving you two guild packs which will be your only source of non-Dragon's Maze cards. It means each guild will have an eight-rare pool to pull from, with a 1/8 chance to get each guild leader).
I'll probably go Simic for the first event and Golgari, Dimir or Orzhov for the second one. I don't want to choose Izzet since I don't like the other red-based guilds.
It seems they planned the block quite well, since all guilds except the Izzet have creature-centric abilities that would mingle reasonably well with each other.
However, is Wichu's list the real thing? Azorius, for example, could be paired with Izzet or Selesnya as well if the only requirement is sharing a color with your main guild.
If the list is right, I like the potential partners for Golgari a lot more than Dimir or Orzhov's.
I'll probably go Simic for the first event and Golgari, Dimir or Orzhov for the second one. I don't want to choose Izzet since I don't like the other red-based guilds.
It seems they planned the block quite well, since all guilds except the Izzet have creature-centric abilities that would mingle reasonably well with each other.
However, is Wichu's list the real thing? Azorius, for example, could be paired with Izzet or Selesnya as well if the only requirement is sharing a color with your main guild.
If the list is right, I like the potential partners for Golgari a lot more than Dimir or Orzhov's.
The other requirement is being from the other set.
Oh, I missed that! However, that means Selesnya would have Boros as a possible partner rather than Azorius.
After looking at each guild and how well it works with its possible partners, I think the best main guilds would be Azorius, Simic, Golgari and Gruul. I tried to explain the reasons why I think these guilds are the best in a vacuum, but in the end I scrapped it since it was a bit too long for my taste, and it probably won't matter much since you'll be getting four booster packs full of cards we don't know anything about for now.
After looking at each guild and how well it works with its possible partners, I think the best main guilds would be Azorius, Simic, Golgari and Gruul. I tried to explain the reasons why I think these guilds are the best in a vacuum, but in the end I scrapped it since it was a bit too long for my taste, and it probably won't matter much since you'll be getting four booster packs full of cards we don't know anything about for now.
FieryBalrog
Member
Storm is one of the worst mechanics in Magic and it really should be killed entirely. I disagree with their decision to ban Song though, just ban the Storm cards and get it over with.
The real problem was their foolish decision to try and bring back "fixed Storm" in Time Spiral. They already knew it was one of the worst mechanics and had publicly said as much and admitted that it was a broken mechanic.
Them WOTC designers & developers love themselves a challenge though, and so we got "fixed Storm" aka Grapshot/Empty the Warrens aka "yeah, this mechanic really is broken trash, hope you like stuffing your sideboard full of Storm hate if you're a fair deck".
EsotericManiac
Banned
they did make flusterstorm and a few other cards that stopped storm, but really it's played in like 2 formats and it's not the "best" in either one
According to their stats Storm has the second highest win rate in their magic online tournies behind Jund.
EsotericManiac
Banned
Are you talking about modern? I'm talking about paper magic and large venues. Not sure MTGO would be the best comparison in that regard because storm is an extremely cheap deck and can be played in pauper (which isn't really a real format)
I'm mainly talking about legacy and modern and top 8 finishes
also keep in mind that flusterstorm is legacy only
Keru_Shiri
Member
Yeah, I kinda wish they killed a different card, but I guess they don't want all-in Red to be a deck either.
Also, figures that the card they ban out of Jund is the one affordable card, lol. (I understand why it was BBE, I just find it funny how it broke down.)
Also, figures that the card they ban out of Jund is the one affordable card, lol. (I understand why it was BBE, I just find it funny how it broke down.)
EsotericManiac
Banned
I believe that is how the deck won, as it's mainly an attrition deck that 1 for 1s you and doesn't have other ways of actually pulling ahead.
FieryBalrog
Member
When you say "it's played in like 2 formats" do you mean Storm or Flusterstorm?
Regardless, Flusterstorm is blue, which doesn't solve the problem
Blue tempo decks already have enough ways to deal with Storm by countering the enablers while applying strong pressure, though of course good Storm decks put up a fight (ANT, TES) and bad Storm decks roll over (Belcher, SI). Cards that "stop" Storm already exist (Mindbreak Trap, Rule of Law, Ethersworn Canonist, etc.); they don't actually solve the underlying problem though, which is why they don't work. The issue is that "fair decks", including slower blue control decks and things like Loam or Junk, tend to be very soft to Storm because they like playing longer, durdlier games and lack either the means to interact with the Storm player or the clock to make that interaction relevant. "Fair aggro" decks like Zoo are also in this position; they are fast but not nearly as fast as Storm combo, so they can't race, yet racing is really their only option. Often you have to put so much work into your sideboard to get it prepared for Storm decks that you lose a lot of flexibility on anything else (or gimp your own clock), and you still having a bad game one win%.
Storm is an inherently non-interactive deck because it likes to operate entirely on chaining instants and sorceries on the stack. And the way the color pie is designed, this inherently limits most colors' options in dealing with it. Hate bears and hate enchantments have never worked well at dealing with Storm, even after years of printing different and varied hate bears. They are way too easy to just sculpt around and go off, they are a little slow, and they are often super narrow and don't do much else. The only really strong ones are ones like Thalia which throttle the entire stack.
JetBlackPanda
Member
R2R boosters were 3/$6.49 or something along those lines; 3/$10 is going price at my LGS, so there's no incentive for me to bother with massdrop. Maybe they'll have a similar sale after Gatecrash has been out a few months.
I'm just curious to see the results for people who did buy in, whether there's an observable trend of repeated jank rares and such.
Keru_Shiri
Member
I really hope in Dragon's Maze there's a cycle of 4-color creatures, similar to the Nephilims, only Legendary so they can be used for EDH.
In Dragon's Maze I hope there is a cycle of constructed quality cards.
lol so true.
Hmmm, those sound pretty interesting. Anywhere you suggest to read up on them?
Metroidvania
People called Romanes they go the house?
De-lurking to say that mine come in on Saturday, and I'm drafting next week, so I'll have an update sometime thereafter.
I bought enough for a box, and think I'm getting sent an unopened box (at least, that's what a rep told someone on the massdrop reddit), but will report back with details.
Keru_Shiri
Member
Maro did say something about RtR being more Spike focused, whereas Gatecrash was a set for Johnnys, so maybe Dragon's Maze is the set for Timmys?
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