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

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El Topo

Member
B) Rare redrafting is great, everybody just has to agree on it beforehand. It's the most pure form of drafting because everybody plays to win rather than draft for money. At my store, we rare redraft AND have prize packs. It's great. It's how I'm able to get most of the cards I need for my Cube while keeping costs down if I don't/can't jump on singles near release for cards I think/know are undervalued.

It means unlucky or less skilled players have a much harder time at leaving with value cards. Given that the players seated next to you, or in general those at your table, can have an enormous effect on your draft, this means that in worst case you might leave with nothing. No thanks.
 
Going back to my earlier suggestion of moving damage redirection to red, do you guys feel like these cards are red?

Protective Instinct - 1R
Instant
All damage that would be dealt to target creature this turn is dealt to its controller instead.
Draw a card.

Beloved Hellbeast - 3R
Creature - Beast Elemental
Haste
R: The next 1 damage that would be dealt to Beloved Hellbeast this turn is dealt to another target creature you control instead.
4/1

Werewolf the Bandit King - 3RR
Legendary Creature - Elk Warrior
First strike
When Werewolf the Bandit King enters the battlefield, put three 1/1 red Warrior creatures on the battlefield.
1R: All damage that would be dealt to Werewolf this turn is dealt to another target Warrior creature you control instead.
4/3
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Feels very white to me...

I think the flavor of goblins being cannon fodder would convey the point well.
 
A) Elementals should never have a 2nd type, this goes for WoTC just as much

B) Elk Warrior??? and 7 power for 5 and first strike and no downside?

The 2nd one is too much like the rebel redirect but otherwise they're fine.
 

kirblar

Member
Rare redrafting should only be done if you're drafting outside an organized environment where the winner gets first pick. Otherwise it's just being shitty.
 

Crocodile

Member
It means unlucky or less skilled players have a much harder time at leaving with value cards. Given that the players seated next to you, or in general those at your table, can have an enormous effect on your draft, this means that in worst case you might leave with nothing. No thanks.

Git gud scrub!

No but speaking seriously, if you are a good limited player or committed to improving your game (the important part) than redrafting works out in the long run. I've lost out to $40 mythics due to mana screw or opened two $30 cards in my three packs but in the long run it has benefited me and others at my store who are good or trying to better themselves. If you don't have prize payout, then nobody has any incentive to improve. This leads to worse decks and worse games and if I'm paying money for every draft I'm playing, that sucks. If you've got an issue of one or more players at a table being far below the skill level of others, you should help them. I make an effort to help newer players with their drafting and deckbuiliding - it makes for a better store environment and "a rising tide raises all ships". The first few times it might "feel bad" for them but when they earn those high value cards - which they 100% will if they keep on improving - they tend to be very happy and appreciative.

Again, this isn't something that is going to work everywhere. I just think "Raredrafting is the DEVIL" is not a line of thought I can jam with.

Rare redrafting should only be done if you're drafting outside an organized environment where the winner gets first pick. Otherwise it's just being shitty.

It would never work at say a GP or Starcity event due both to time constraints and the complete lack of community. It works well at stores with consistent audiences or in playgroups.
 

El Topo

Member

I find that a bit naive. It's not just other players at your table, as bad draws can easily ruin your game and chances of good cards. Sure, theoretically it may benefit good players in the long run, but personally I don't think that's worth it. Getting packs should be enough of an incentive.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
This is the first I've heard of rare redrafting. Seems like a real shitty thing.

It's a scam. If you want to be better don't rare-draft. Setting it up so you can win and get the cards at the same time at some noobs expense is garbage.
 
Well, there goes that dream.

image3lkj2.jpg
 

ultron87

Member
It just seems like a bad idea at a store. Saying "you have to stay here till the draft is over to get anything" is just awkward.
 
You guys seeing mono white Felidar or abzan felidar being played at all?

Also is it worth running jeskai black without jace? If so what replaces him?
 
I hate watching this Jacob Wilson draft. He's passing every combo in the cube. I hope he loses in the first round after passing Dark Depth + Thespian's Stage :mad:
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
I like how they managed to make every single part of control boring as fuck even though the deck isn't even good anymore. Getting paired with guy trying to make Clash of Wills.dec happen is just an eyerolling waste of time.

But yeah, some dude will take UW Counterspells to the top 8 at the PT since pros fucking love forcing draw go and it will start being annoying again I'm sure.
 

duxstar

Member
I like how they managed to make every single part of control boring as fuck even though the deck isn't even good anymore. Getting paired with guy trying to make Clash of Wills.dec happen is just an eyerolling waste of time.

But yeah, some dude will take UW Counterspells to the top 8 at the PT since pros fucking love forcing draw go and it will start being annoying again I'm sure.

The pro's do really love their control decks, I don't know what it is, but it's like really guys ? I think it's the whole they think they are smarter than everybody else and so they'll just win with the "smart" deck. Also most pro's are dicks from what I hear so they maybe just gravitate towards the assholiest deck
 

aidan

Hugo Award Winning Author and Editor
It's a scam. If you want to be better don't rare-draft. Setting it up so you can win and get the cards at the same time at some noobs expense is garbage.

Rare-drafting seems like the spikiest thing every. As a player who returned to MTG after a 10-12 year absence, the only thing that made me feel comfortable going to draft at my LGS was that I knew I'd at least get to keep some sweet rares. (I'm terrible at draft.)
 

kirblar

Member
Rare-drafting seems like the spikiest thing every. As a player who returned to MTG after a 10-12 year absence, the only thing that made me feel comfortable going to draft at my LGS was that I knew I'd at least get to keep some sweet rares. (I'm terrible at draft.)
It's what you do when you have packs and don't want to put other collateral on the line.
 
The pro's do really love their control decks, I don't know what it is, but it's like really guys ? I think it's the whole they think they are smarter than everybody else and so they'll just win with the "smart" deck. Also most pro's are dicks from what I hear so they maybe just gravitate towards the assholiest deck

Take the "asshole" away and you've almost hit the nail on the head. If you truly believe you're the smartest person in the room, you want to play the deck that makes the game go long. To put it in terms of numbers, if you are going to make 95% of your decisions correctly, and you believe your opponent is only going to make 80% of his decisions correctly, you want to play a game with the maximum number of decisions possible. This is one of the reasons why a lot of "pro" players want to play control.

There's another, far less valid reason. When you win with a control deck, you actually won the game multiple turns before the conclusion. You got to spend most of the game "winning," which feels super good. When you lose, you generally lose quickly. But when you play aggro, you generally win super quickly and don't get to relish in the feeling. And when you lose playing aggro, you spend a lot of time staring at the board, hoping to topdeck something relevant, then getting it countered - you spend a lot of time losing and it feels bad. So there are some players who gravitate towards control not because it's good, but because it "feels" good.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Today's Jeskai Black alterations:

-2 Mystic Monastery
-2 Dragonmaster Outcast
-2 Ojutai's Command
+1 Battlefield Forge
+1 Shivan Reef
+2 Utter End
+2 Soulfire Grand Master

Getting W/B by turn 4 isn't hard and having a reactive way to kill Planeswalkers is nice. The Command/Dragonmaster combo was basically never firing for me and Outcast doesn't do anything at all until you turn his ability on. Soulfire contributes more in my opinion because players don't instantly kill it and you get value from her lifelink and the third ability is very good flood insurance in and of itself.

It's not quite Silumgar's Command's time to shine, but I'll test it out, I'm sure.
 
having never played much magic but getting interested in it now, if someone told me i had to give up the rares i drafted and pick like 8th because i did shitty in my first draft i would probably just walk out and never go back to the store. that seems crazy to me unless you're playing with people you know outside of the store and don't have any other prizes to offer. i had never heard of rare redraft before and the idea made me feel gross, if you want to rare draft i assumed that was always just a part of magic, if you want to get good you can get good but if you're garbage at least you can get a card you really like out of it
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
having never played much magic but getting interested in it now, if someone told me i had to give up the rares i drafted and pick like 8th because i did shitty in my first draft i would probably just walk out and never go back to the store. that seems crazy to me unless you're playing with people you know outside of the store and don't have any other prizes to offer. i had never heard of rare redraft before and the idea made me feel gross, if you want to rare draft i assumed that was always just a part of magic, if you want to get good you can get good but if you're garbage at least you can get a card you really like out of it

Literally never been to a store that did it. I think its mostly a rumor to piss people off on the internet, heh.
 
Literally never been to a store that did it. I think its mostly a rumor to piss people off on the internet, heh.

Back when I lived in Australia, one of the stores near me ran those style of drafts a couple times each week. It was the minority of the pods they fired, but they definitely did it, and there were some (crazy) people who liked it.
 
Back when I lived in Australia, one of the stores near me ran those style of drafts a couple times each week. It was the minority of the pods they fired, but they definitely did it, and there were some (crazy) people who liked it.

I think it's common-ish here in Australia because packs are so expensive. Paying additional for prizes makes a draft very expensive.
 

Violet_0

Banned
I really don't know if I want to invest some money into a new commander deck, it looks like there's a lot of people out there with $$$ tutor netdecks that effortlessly combo you by turn 3. Like, my old MTG:O commander deck that fetched and copied Magister Sphinx a few times to set up a next-turn win looks really tame in comparison
 

duxstar

Member
I really don't know if I want to invest some money into a new commander deck, it looks like there's a lot of people out there with $$$ tutor netdecks that effortlessly combo you by turn 3. Like, my old MTG:O commander deck that fetched and copied Magister Sphinx a few times to set up a next-turn win looks really tame in comparison

Wait a bit and see if any of the new commander decks intrigue you. EDH is all about your playgroup and how much crap your willing to tolerate.
 

Haines

Banned
Theres a rare redraft shop here. Ill never go to it.

I could see a group of really hardcore drafters doing it or something, but not in a public setting.
 

Ashodin

Member
Got some more stuff I've been wanting to test out in my Abzally deck.

4x Abzan Ascendancy
4x Abzan Charm

Basis of the deck. Combined with Hardened Scales, of course.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
I was playing a dude on GW Megamorph and I can't help but wonder the fuck is up with the flavor and design of Deathmist Raptor. Why is there a random dinosaur on Tarkir? Why is the dinosaur poisonous? Why does a random dinosaur have a recursion from graveyard ability? Why does it have deathtouch and recursion but unlike most other creatures that can be recurred repeatedly, it doesn't have any kind of blocking restriction? I mean, I get that Vengevine can block too, but Vengevine seems like it was designed to be more aggressive - it can't block but it has haste so its encouraging you to try and trade it up. Hell, I might even ask why the fuck it has Morph or cares about Morph - pretty much all of the other critters on Alternate Tarkir were members of the clans since, you know, morph is supposed to be secret Dragon magic. Except for this one fucking Dinosaur who is the morph lord.
 
I was playing a dude on GW Megamorph and I can't help but wonder the fuck is up with the flavor and design of Deathmist Raptor. Why is there a random dinosaur on Tarkir? Why is the dinosaur poisonous? Why does a random dinosaur have a recursion from graveyard ability? Why does it have deathtouch and recursion but unlike most other creatures that can be recurred repeatedly, it doesn't have any kind of blocking restriction? I mean, I get that Vengevine can block too, but Vengevine seems like it was designed to be more aggressive - it can't block but it has haste so its encouraging you to try and trade it up. Hell, I might even ask why the fuck it has Morph or cares about Morph - pretty much all of the other critters on Alternate Tarkir were members of the clans since, you know, morph is supposed to be secret Dragon magic. Except for this one fucking Dinosaur who is the morph lord.

draft2vksuu.png



  • Similar Head crest
  • Beady eyes
  • similar scale pattern on neck
  • dinosaurs have rudimentary feathers, ugin is a dragon with feathers
  • ugin's beard oddly reminiscent of Deathmist's tongue
  • both have names related to the afterlife

Clearly Deathmist Raptor and Ugin share a common ancestor.

Once this is established, then logic follows that the raptor is drawn to colorless magic, such as morphs. The flavor is that Deathmist Raptor is stalking morphs from a veil of mist(graveyard) and pounces once its prey is revealed. Deathtouch is less about poison than to illustrate its feral, merciless attack in contrast to the more self-aware dragons.
 

OnPoint

Member
[QUOTE="God's Beard!";181861094]
draft2vksuu.png



  • Similar Head crest
  • Beady eyes
  • similar scale pattern on neck
  • dinosaurs have rudimentary feathers, ugin is a dragon with feathers
  • ugin's beard oddly reminiscent of Deathmist's tongue
  • both have names related to the afterlife

Clearly Deathmist Raptor and Ugin share a common ancestor.

Once this is established, then logic follows that the raptor is drawn to colorless magic, such as morphs. The flavor is that Deathmist Raptor is stalking morphs from a veil of mist(graveyard) and pounces once its prey is revealed. Deathtouch is less about poison than to illustrate its feral, merciless attack in contrast to the more self-aware dragons.[/QUOTE]

Is this Magic equivalent of "all _______ people look alike"?
 
Holy shit Ugin has a beard

Anyway, I think the flavor behind Deathmist Raptor's morph trigger is that unmorphing in general carries the flavor of an ambush, so all of these raptors join in on the ambush because "clever girl" and all that. Though they come from the graveyard, they aren't actually coming back to life, but rather it just represents other raptors showing up. Deathtouch is just from the big claws.
 
I love Tarkir, but I was mentioning Kamigawa, should have made that more clear. Khans was fantastic, but from what I've heard Kamigawa was not.

Oh! Yeah, Kamigawa was not a hit.

I think simultaneously that WotC is underestimating how much of what was "unpopular" about Lorwyn translates to a dark-Bros.-Grimm-style faerie-tale world, and that they should do more of that sort of thing anyway, so I'm not gonna complain particularly.

Speaking of returning to previous planes, which one does everyone think WOTC will revisit next? Part of me hopes Innistrad in a year or two, since that was one of my starting sets! Or perhaps one of the more tribal planes?

Innistrad and New Phyrexia are essentially confirmed, and the next return is one of these two. Dominaria (at least eventually) is just shy of confirmed. Tarkir is almost guaranteed (again, eventually.) Lorwyn and Kamigawa are never happening. Alara and Theros are somewhere in the middle.

I really like the new EXP counters thing in Commander.

It's like the effect-based-on-mana-cost mechanic from Commander 2013, except cool instead of shitty!

No but speaking seriously, if you are a good limited player or committed to improving your game (the important part) than redrafting works out in the long run.

In the sense that it works out great for the shitty people who roll endless parades of newbs out of money cards, I guess.
 

Yeef

Member
Alara and Theros are somewhere in the middle.
Theros is a lock for a return. They spent a considerable amount of effort with the Theros prologue, setting up that Elspeth is in the underworld and Ajani is going around telling everyone that Heliod is a jerk. I don't think we'll see either of them until we return to Theros or New Phyrexia.

Alara is a little trickier. Alara was basically defined by its separation into shards. Now that it's a single plane again, it doesn't really have much of an identity. It's actually a similar problem that Dominaria has. Since it was the primary setting for all of early magic, it's got a good deal of diversity, but it makes it a little harder to define on a return.
 
I just realized that with Sarkhan Unbroken we finally have a planeswalker color shift for every color.

White - Sorin
Blue - Sarkhan
Black - Garruk, Sarkhan, Tezzeret
Red - Ajani
Green - Ajani

It seems like going to the dark side is the easiest thing to do. Sarkhan and Ajani have fragile psyches.

Nahiri and Elspeth are up next, I suppose. Hopefully Jace as well after fucking up Zendikar by freeing the Eldrazi twice ruins his mind.
 
If that leak is true about the RW Commander, It's hilarious he doesn't proc when Iroas is played.

If he's part of a cycle of Minor god Champions then I'm most excited for Kruphix's one, because Kruphix is Amazing.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
You know, the BFZ duals seem like they'll be pretty fucking terrible once fetchlands rotate.
 

Toxi

Banned
I was playing a dude on GW Megamorph and I can't help but wonder the fuck is up with the flavor and design of Deathmist Raptor. Why is there a random dinosaur on Tarkir? Why is the dinosaur poisonous? Why does a random dinosaur have a recursion from graveyard ability? Why does it have deathtouch and recursion but unlike most other creatures that can be recurred repeatedly, it doesn't have any kind of blocking restriction? I mean, I get that Vengevine can block too, but Vengevine seems like it was designed to be more aggressive - it can't block but it has haste so its encouraging you to try and trade it up. Hell, I might even ask why the fuck it has Morph or cares about Morph - pretty much all of the other critters on Alternate Tarkir were members of the clans since, you know, morph is supposed to be secret Dragon magic. Except for this one fucking Dinosaur who is the morph lord.
Because dinosaurs are cool, because it's a cobra dinosaur and cobras are venomous, because pushed card, because it's mythic and won't show up in limited often, because morph generally isn't an ability connected to flavor.
 

traveler

Not Wario
I really don't understand why the success of a setting has such a huge impact on whether it returns or not. At the end of the day, the cards dictate the success of a block. Sure, flavor is great and all, but it's not like Return to Ravnica had any leg up on quality or that a return to Kamigawa would have a harder starting point to work from. They've got to come up with interesting, playable, and new feeling cards regardless of the setting they use; I'm not going to be optimistic or pessimistic based on how many of those they happened to create for the last block in the setting.
 

Yeef

Member
You know, the BFZ duals seem like they'll be pretty fucking terrible once fetchlands rotate.
Hard to say that. At worst, they're on about the same level as the checklands. It's also possible the following block has domain (or something like it) that cares about land types. With Khans rotating out there won't be nearly as much need for fixing since there won't be any 3-color cards and likely few 2-color cards. Between Dragons, Origins and Battle for Zendikar, there's only 55 gold cards; Khans alone has 56.
I really don't understand why the success of a setting has such a huge impact on whether it returns or not. At the end of the day, the cards dictate the success of a block. Sure, flavor is great and all, but it's not like Return to Ravnica had any leg up on quality or that a return to Kamigawa would have a harder starting point to work from. They've got to come up with interesting, playable, and new feeling cards regardless of the setting they use; I'm not going to be optimistic or pessimistic based on how many of those they happened to create for the last block in the setting.
If you hated set X and they announce they're revisiting set X, you're more likely to sit that season out, plain and simple. It's not uncommon at all for Magic players to take a break from the game; it makes sense for them to try to minimize the number of exit points.

On the other side of the coin, people that are on hiatus find out that set X, which they really loved, is getting another go 'round, they're more likely to get back into the game.
 
Hey now, Return to Ravnica may not be beloved, but I'll always love it for what it did for U/G and changing Simic from a lame mutant experiment guild to a badass "let's make just a little tweak to improve its competitiveness" Merfolk evo guild.
 
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