• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Magic: the Gathering - Battle for Zendikar |OT| Lands matter (but nothing else does)

Status
Not open for further replies.
I'd like Tezzeret to become the Magneto of MtG.

He has the metal affinity, he's not an evil for the sake of evil guy, he's foiled bigger baddies for personal gain, he has a past of scorn due to his upcoming, his conviction was born of betrayal, he's neither fond of Bolas nor the Phyrexians which sets him up perfectly as an antagonist,...

It fits, he just doesn't fit very well ability wise in none artifact sets and that's a hurdle they'd have to fix.
 
Reddit's apparently of the train of thought that Kaladesh is the next Block, as the colourless Matters theme in BFZ(And Relic Seeker, the Buy a Box Promo being a turbo dud right now)and the idea that we're getting Enemy Fetches in Fall 2016 makes them come to this.
Their rational in point form:
  • WotC has mentioned they don't want Landfall in for the whole time BFZ is in Standard but they know there needs to be a reprint, so 6 Months with Allied, 6 months off, 6 months with Enemy would work
  • Herald of Kolizek has that odd "Colourless cost 1 less, which seems incredibly wierd by itself unless there's another colourless theme coming after it.
  • WotC usually has the buy a Box promo be something they think can be big in Standard and We've seen basically jack support for Relic Seeker so far


I'm not entirely convinced, but I think it has some sense in it.

Besides Relic Seeker, none of these require that Kaladesh be the next block. There's a good chance that "Lock" will be Kaladesh, but I'm pretty sure "Tears" will focus on Liliana, and she doesn't seem appropriate for Chandra's home plane. The Origins planeswalkers are meant to be the main characters, yet Liliana isn't appearing in this block, and one of the pre-Battle stories made a point of checking in on what she's up to now. Plus, Kaladesh doesn't appear to be particularly equipment focused, and I would imagine that's one area they could use to distinguish it from Mirrodin in terms of gameplay.
 

OnPoint

Member
I would like to believe Bolas' plan is the true big event they're working toward. They've done a lot of setup for his plans and evil schemes, and I'd like them to finally pull the trigger and reveal what he's been building. He's had his claws in many major events in the last bunch of blocks, whether it's the Phyrexians, the release of the Eldrazi, battling (originally killing) Ugin. It all has to be adding up to something, right?

The problem with the Eldrazi and Phyrexians as enemies is that, while they certainly represent conflict, they don't provide any real character to the story. Without personality, you have no hook.

Of the actual characters out there:

  • Tezzeret could be a cool villain but I feel like he'll always be the Starscream to Bolas' Megatron.
  • Garruk is cruising around still, and while part of me wants them to heal him, I sort of hope he just goes full tilt and does something unforgivable.
  • Ob Nixilis will probably always be a B-tier bad guy.
  • Ashiok is likely C-tier at this point and probably won't be back until we return to Theros.
  • Raven Man will almost certainly be the antagonist in the Liliana/Fairy Tale block, and while they could go deeper with him, I think he'll probably be a C-tier-at-best Lili-only problem.
  • That sphinx from Origins is probably a planeswalker, and unaccounted for, so Jace has another bad guy to think about.
 
Felidar Cub, coming to Jeskai Sideboards near you.

I moved away from erase to the cub last week myself, but honestly a split might be better. You really want to exile mastery of the unseen post board against GW. Otherwise the Cub is probably better because ojutai's command recursion is more reliable than soulfire recursion but either way the effect is too narrow to play more than 2.

Btw, my updated decklist with some cleaner numbers:

draft22rs97.png


I like trading, but it takes a while for cards to arrive. I hope I don't miss another PPTQ -_-
 

Haines

Banned
Woo, got an email from WOTC this morning asking for pickup info for my expedition Flooded Strand to start the replacement process

Nice to see a company that stands behind its product.

Probably beating a dead horse here, but i startred playing duels origins a lil more seriously on my ipad. Built a nice fast deck and layed some beat downs on the ai.

It makes me realize how imcredible a well made magic game would be but i stand by my arguement they never will bc they only want them to be a means to introducing people to magic. They dont want people playing it for cheap when people are willing to spend so much money on paper.

It will work as a good tool to get myself experience in the game though when i just play limited anyways.
 

traveler

Not Wario
So I hop on StarCity this morning, hoping to maybe see some insight on where to take GW megamorph from here, how to beat it in the mirror, how other decks can hope to beat it, etc. given the weekend and what do I see?

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/31712_The-New-Green.html

An article that blames the field for playing the deck while embracing mardu dragons because the format shouldn't be solved so quickly even though mardu dragons didn't put up any kind of result and there's nothing to suggest it's favorable against the meta. Danny then goes on a massive rant against WotC and a perceived abuse of the color pie BECAUSE of the deck. Great.

None of the other coverage touches it, which is fair, lead times and all, but I keep getting the feeling people really resent the deck and its success, leading to less interest in discussing it, from either side of the table.
 
Ok this paragraph seems a bit BS

Green gets mana creatures, ramp, flexible permanent removal, Regrowths with bodies attached, auto-reanimations, card draw, discard revenge (Obstinate Baloth), hexproof stuff, lifegain, can't be countered stuff…

Can't be countered has long been green, recursion has long been green like he said, haste might not have had many incarnations but is pretty old on green as well, auto reanimation I can agree on, green had madness, lifegain I assume he means the warden which is activated with W/B which fits (unless he means ETB effects), and what flexible permanent removal do they have fighting?

That really just leaves auto reanimation. Also aren't mana creatures ramp?
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
What good card draw does green have currently? "Flexible permanent removal" literally just means artifacts and enchantments, outside of like, Acidic Slime green does jack shit against lands or planeswalkers
 

El Topo

Member
What good card draw does green have currently? "Flexible permanent removal" literally just means artifacts and enchantments, outside of like, Acidic Slime green does jack shit against lands or planeswalkers

Nissa's Revelation is broken I tell you. Broken. It's a disgrace that they are ruining the color pie like that.
 

El Topo

Member
Eh, color hate isn't exactly unreasonable. The dragon feels a bit weird, but so does Beast Within. Don't really think a few cards are too indicative of a design shift though, nor am I under the impression that Green is dominating formats, although I don't follow Commander/EDH/2HG. I assume they're just trying to make the game a bit more symmetrical, which is fine.
 

pelicansurf

Needs a Holiday on Gallifrey
[QUOTE="God's Beard!";181380400]I moved away from erase to the cub last week myself, but honestly a split might be better. You really want to exile mastery of the unseen post board against GW. Otherwise the Cub is probably better because ojutai's command recursion is more reliable than soulfire recursion but either way the effect is too narrow to play more than 2.

Btw, my updated decklist with some cleaner numbers:

draft22rs97.png


I like trading, but it takes a while for cards to arrive. I hope I don't miss another PPTQ -_-[/QUOTE]
This is what I'm at right now. I feel like I need to make room for silk wrap and another ojutai's command in the main. I switched 1 fiery impulse for a wild slash, for planeswalkers and such, but needs more testing.

Jeskai Midrange.dec, Built with Decked Builder
http://decks.deckedbuilder.com/d/118053
 
Not particularly a fan of either of those cards. Those do feel like they give green too many answers

You'll be happy to know that MaRo doesn't like Lignify and Song of the Dryads, then.

Speaking of which, I find myself decently amused by the current arc in MaRo's Sparks comic, where everyone bands together to fight gophers in Nissa's garden, paralleling the fight against the Eldrazi. For an extra bit of absurdity, Elspeth is down in the basement fighting actual Phyrexians and no one is helping her.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
I've been thinking about this for a bit. MaRo and I believe Aaron dropped X-Men references with regards to their soft reboot of the Planeswalkers with Origins. MaRo, before hand, has talked about how marketing wanted the Lorwyn five to be the "Mickey Mouse" of MtG. I think they've definitely hit that goal, but there is definitely something missing.

Where is their Magneto? Their Joker? Their Pete? Their Rita Repulsa?

It seemed that for a while they were going to do something with Bolas, but they sort of went nowhere with that. He's still the best candidate for a archenemy, but until they ramp him up from being basically an evil durdle turtle, the two major baddies in the muliverse are the Eldrazi and the Phyrexians. Both of them are sort of faceless, endless evils. Great as an army, not so much as a foil for five teenagers with attitudes and magic powers.
Bobby Nixon, the World's Happiest Evil Demon! Seriously, I think they gave him his powers back so they could have a more standard evil black Planeswalker. Liliana is already pretty ambiguous.
 

Firemind

Member
Seriously though, Deathmist and Den Protector are retarded together. It doesn't even matter how you play it out. You just get whatever value and grind them out. And there's no way to profitably beat it because of Deathtouch. Then there's Hangarback Walker which also nets you free value. It's all valuetown folks. There's no stopping this train!

It's dumb that there isn't an Incinerate variant that exiles, given the importance of exiling in BFZ limited.
 

traveler

Not Wario
I'm not sure enchantment removal is that narrow right now. Getting a silkwrap off your mantis rider midcombat with an erase would be a pretty big blowout in some matchups, and silkwraps are getting more and more common. When sideboards come in, you go from blanking wraps on your Jaces/riders to hitting key targets like evolutionary leap and mastery. Hardened scales is still a deck too. I couldn't see running 4, but 3 with the cub being the dominant pick so you at least have a beatstick if nothing else seems like it could be acceptable to me.

Seriously though, Deathmist and Den Protector are retarded together. It doesn't even matter how you play it out. You just get whatever value and grind them out. And there's no way to profitably beat it because of Deathtouch. Then there's Hangarback Walker which also nets you free value. It's all valuetown folks. There's no stopping this train!

It's dumb that there isn't an Incinerate variant that exiles, given the importance of exiling in BFZ limited.

Touch%2Bof%2Bthe%2BVoid%2B%255BBFZ%255D.jpg
?

Maybe I'm missing the sarcasm?
 
Seriously though, Deathmist and Den Protector are retarded together. It doesn't even matter how you play it out. You just get whatever value and grind them out. And there's no way to profitably beat it because of Deathtouch. Then there's Hangarback Walker which also nets you free value. It's all valuetown folks. There's no stopping this train!

It's dumb that there isn't an Incinerate variant that exiles, given the importance of exiling in BFZ limited.

I mean BfZ gave every colour an answer to at least consider sideboarding them given red is only sorcery speed and stasis snare just being bad in the matchup with Dromoka's command.

 

traveler

Not Wario
I think you can maindeck disregard. The only deck it's terrible against is Esper Dragon, and that's fallen off a bit. Against Jeskai, you stop a Jace/Soulfire/Dragonmaster for good and can blank a mantis rider before the first hit connects. Against megamorph, you hit all the targets you want to exile- hb, den protector, raptor. Also kills most Atarka red minions so long as you play in response to pump and not before.

If you snare a walker, you get value regardless of whether they pop it. You also defend further snares from Dromoka's by forcing them to make you sac two enchantments before getting anything back.
 

traveler

Not Wario
I meant if you've previously snared a walker in a match, they need two Dromoka's. Casting in response will just make you sac the snare on the walker, which does nothing.

Granted, this is a super corner case situation.
 
I meant if you've previously snared a walker in a match, they need two Dromoka's. Casting in response will just make you sac the snare on the walker, which does nothing.

Granted, this is a super corner case situation.

Against walker it's great but against pretty much anything else in the deck it's easily gotten rid of.

I meant Dromoka's Command protects G/W threats from Complete Disregard by making them 4 strength.
 

Firemind

Member
Touch of the Void, but lol 3 mana sorcery because red's not allowed to have burn spells.
I mean, they even printed Dromoka's Command, which is secretly a red hate card. None of the other commands explicitly tell one of the colors to fuck off.

I especially like how you can put a +1/+1 counter on Gideon and have him fight something.
 
still gives you access to horribly awry and complete disregard

Also there's Brutal Expulsion, clunky but versatile.
Yeah, but going back to what we discussed earlier, it's no match for how strong Tarkir decks are.

It's proof in the pudding that every "BFZ" deck is just a Tarkir deck with a couple new cards from the set tossed in.
 
No one is discussing how weak BfZ is that's written in stone but WoTC provided plenty of answers to G/W megamorph in the new set.

Not siding them in instead of in general stronger cards from tarkir is just refusing to adopt to the meta.
 

aidan

Hugo Award Winning Author and Editor
It should be mandatory that any Gaffer who opens an Expedition land posts pics. So pretty.

Adhering to this, I pulled a Wooded Foothills from a fat pack yesterday! Nearly crapped my pants.

Meignaud's art is so gorgeous.

Out of the same Fat Pack I also pulled:

Kiora, Master of the Depths
Undergrowth Champion
Lumbering Falls
Smoldering Marsh
Prairie Stream
2 x Cinder Glade

And a fucking Prism Array.

All in all, it was by far the best Fat Pack I've opened (even without the Expedition land).
 

Socat

Member
Adhering to this, I pulled a Wooded Foothills from a fat pack yesterday! Nearly crapped my pants.


Meignaud's art is so gorgeous.

Out of the same Fat Pack I also pulled:

Kiora, Master of the Depths
Undergrowth Champion
Lumbering Falls
Smoldering Marsh
Prairie Stream
2 x Cinder Glade

And a fucking Prism Array.

All in all, it was by far the best Fat Pack I've opened (even without the Expedition land).
Shame that you got one with the damaged side, but still very pretty indeed.
 

traveler

Not Wario
This is probably way too pricey but...

Image.ashx


Handles a creature- pending Valorous Stance shenanigans- then just wipes the entire graveyard out. Also kills anything in Jeskai including a tapped Ojutai and prevents recursion/hurts Digs and Cruises.

Edit: just realized this also gets blanked by dromoka's. Nvm
 

y2dvd

Member
Against walker it's great but against pretty much anything else in the deck it's easily gotten rid of.

I meant Dromoka's Command protects G/W threats from Complete Disregard by making them 4 strength.

While Dromoka's Command can do that against Complete Disregard, they need 2 mana up, so you should be able to catch a creature in the earlier turns. CR can catch so many other creatures also, including Mantis Rider, Soulfires, Jace, etc, while taking away some targets for Otujai Command. Esper needs to mainboard more of it over Foul- tongue imo and at least have some more sideboarded.
 
I'd like Tezzeret to become the Magneto of MtG.

He has the metal affinity, he's not an evil for the sake of evil guy, he's foiled bigger baddies for personal gain, he has a past of scorn due to his upcoming, his conviction was born of betrayal, he's neither fond of Bolas nor the Phyrexians which sets him up perfectly as an antagonist,...

It fits, he just doesn't fit very well ability wise in none artifact sets and that's a hurdle they'd have to fix.


Yeah, I really miss my tezzeret deck. Really loved playing that.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom