When a block is successful, people tend to remember it fondly and that is a natural boost for inital sales of the return set. It's as simple as that.
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Magic: the Gathering - Battle for Zendikar |OT| Lands matter (but nothing else does)
- Thread starter SigmasonicX
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When a block is successful, people tend to remember it fondly and that is a natural boost for inital sales of the return set. It's as simple as that.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
I remember going to the original Ravnica prerelease making a Boros deck my best friend making a dimir deck and we ended up playing against each other he had
and I could do nothing against it. I had Agrus Kos
and already lost game 1 so decided to just fuck it and attack with everything and won. First time either of us went to extra turns and drew.
Ah good times. I wish I could redo all my prereleases to see what I'd do different. I did not like RtR nearly as much as the original, but I didn't like guildpact and dissension at all, same with Gatecrash and Dragon's Maze
and I could do nothing against it. I had Agrus Kos
and already lost game 1 so decided to just fuck it and attack with everything and won. First time either of us went to extra turns and drew.
Ah good times. I wish I could redo all my prereleases to see what I'd do different. I did not like RtR nearly as much as the original, but I didn't like guildpact and dissension at all, same with Gatecrash and Dragon's Maze
Little Old Man
Member
Only being the second block following my involvement with Magic I thought that RTR was fairly well regarded? Not breaking expectations nor especially amazing, but a decent enough block? Apart from DM.
I know that for me a tribal based block can't come soon enough.
Also in regards to full art lands, they've been confirmed for Oathkeepers, so I'm just going to get one of those fatpacks instead!
Guildpact and Dissension have some of my favourite commons in limited of all time.
Much better than that turd of a Dragon's Maze.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
I'd probably like it more nowadays but I generally disliked small sets compared to big sets back then.
I disliked them mainly because Gruul wasn't what I hoped for with RG which was my favourite colour combination at the time. And Izzet, Rakdos, Orzhov, Azorius and Simic were all colour combinations I wasn't interested in at the time
I disliked them mainly because Gruul wasn't what I hoped for with RG which was my favourite colour combination at the time. And Izzet, Rakdos, Orzhov, Azorius and Simic were all colour combinations I wasn't interested in at the time
Gruul combo'd well with Izzet and Simic. Play a bunch of creatures, tempo, sometimes both (Ogre Savant, Steamcore Weird) and beat some face in. Gruul had Streetbreaker Wurm, Ghor-Clan Savage and Savage Twister, which were massive beatings.
My favourite combo though was Grixis. Dimir was alright in 3xRAV, Transmute was a bit slow with a lot of filler, but the two later sets catapulted it into one of the best value chains imaginable. You generally only needed a couple of creatures to win. Never did open a Niv-Mizzet though.
My favourite combo though was Grixis. Dimir was alright in 3xRAV, Transmute was a bit slow with a lot of filler, but the two later sets catapulted it into one of the best value chains imaginable. You generally only needed a couple of creatures to win. Never did open a Niv-Mizzet though.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Only have this one
I like that flavour text more than the fake math one. Too bad about the shitty foiling.
[QUOTE="God's Beard!";181842215]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
[/QUOTE]
First five picks: four lands and Ral Zarek ayy lmao
[QUOTE="God's Beard!";181842215]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
[/QUOTE]First five picks: four lands and Ral Zarek ayy lmao
divisionbyzorro
Member
It's been said before, but some people just really don't know how to draft cube.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
It's okay the cards been used in my Izzet deck for a while, for flavour.
Watching the draft, I was like "no shit you're open drafting 4 different coloured lands."
He did great though considering what a mess he drafted.
Pro-Tour this weekend
Probably won't be able to watch much if any of it though
Can't wait for cards I know I wanted but wasn't able to get in time to spike, hurray
When I first ever started drafting it was with rare redrafting. It's often cheaper, it encourages everybody to play out their games, it rewards skill more than other draft types and sometimes you just don't have fucking prize packs to give out. It isn't ideal when you have significant time constraints or a running like 3+ pods at a time and it less ideal in environments without stable communities. But that's why there are different ways to do things - choose the one that works best in your circumstance. Considering that nobody is dumping this on people as a surprise or a "gotcha" I'm not sure I get this "scamming the newbs". Feels like its defending/arguing some strawmen.
Probably won't be able to watch much if any of it though
Can't wait for cards I know I wanted but wasn't able to get in time to spike, hurray
When I first ever started drafting it was with rare redrafting. It's often cheaper, it encourages everybody to play out their games, it rewards skill more than other draft types and sometimes you just don't have fucking prize packs to give out. It isn't ideal when you have significant time constraints or a running like 3+ pods at a time and it less ideal in environments without stable communities. But that's why there are different ways to do things - choose the one that works best in your circumstance. Considering that nobody is dumping this on people as a surprise or a "gotcha" I'm not sure I get this "scamming the newbs". Feels like its defending/arguing some strawmen.
Wulfric
Member
They sell exclusive merch at the Pro Tour, right? I was thinking of grabbing a PT Milwaukee playmat and snapping a few pics before heading to class today.
Hopefully the result from this weekend's tournament trickles down to FNM. Standard has dwindled to 8-11 people locally ever since rotation. Nearly everyone at the LGS has switched to drafting. I think Jace has got everyone spooked.
Hopefully the result from this weekend's tournament trickles down to FNM. Standard has dwindled to 8-11 people locally ever since rotation. Nearly everyone at the LGS has switched to drafting. I think Jace has got everyone spooked.
divisionbyzorro
Member
Holy crap WotC. You don't have to KAPOW every 5 seconds on screen.
Also, theybanned me timed me out from their Twitch chat for mocking it. Kappa
Also, they
divisionbyzorro
Member
My favorite part about Twitch chat is how quickly and consistently they accuse Maro of doing coke. :lol
"God's Beard!"
Member
Tuning Travis Woo's Mono Green Ramp deck:
28 Creatures:
4 Spells:
5 Artifacts/Enchantments:
23 Land:
Sideboard:
Surrak into See the Unwritten -> Ulamog + Greenwarden is just dumb. It's a basic 2-4-6 ramp deck with some explosive draws and good juice in the long game.
Turn 2 whisperer
Turn 3 Surrak
Turn 4 See the Unwritten + Haste Ulamog
LET'S GO
28 Creatures:
- 4 Rattleclaw Mystic
- 4 Leaf Gilder
- 4 Whisperer of the Wilds
- 4 Surrak Huntcaller
- 4 Oblivion Sower
- 4 Greenwarden of Murasa
- 4 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
4 Spells:
- 4 See the Unwritten
5 Artifacts/Enchantments:
- 1 From Beyond
- 4 Hedron Archive
23 Land:
- 4 Spawning Bed
- 2 Mortuary Mire
- 17 Forest
Sideboard:
- 2 Plummet
- 4 Hangarback Walker
- 1 Evolutionary Leap
- 4 Jaddi Offshoot
- 1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
- 1 Nissa's Revelation
- 1 Conclave Naturalists
- 1 Whisperwood Elemental
Surrak into See the Unwritten -> Ulamog + Greenwarden is just dumb. It's a basic 2-4-6 ramp deck with some explosive draws and good juice in the long game.
Turn 2 whisperer
Turn 3 Surrak
Turn 4 See the Unwritten + Haste Ulamog
LET'S GO
divisionbyzorro
Member
Twitch chat mods have really itchy trigger fingers. I guess that's better than the alternative?
SigmasonicX
Member
That's something that's been known for a while, and "Sliver Home Plane" has often been on lists of planes people want. I don't believe they actually planned out what that plane is, but it is something they're aware that people are interested in.
I think the violent reaction to Slivers in M14/15 has shelved any idea of new Slivers for at least a few more years.
SigmasonicX
Member
Besides the design, what I disliked about the slivers was how boring their abilities were; though M15 did have some interesting ones.
I feel like slivers are at their best when they're inexplicably copying abilities of older cards. That is to say, Time Spiral block slivers.
Outpost Sliver - 5R
Creature - Sliver
As Outpost Sliver enters the battlefield, choose Khans or Dragons.
Khans Sliver creatures you control have, "At the beginning of your upkeep, exile the top card of your library. Until end of turn, you may play that card."
Dragons Sliver creatures you control have, "Whenever a creature you control leaves the battlefield, this creature deals 1 damage to target creature or player."
2/2
The issue was the atrocious visual design bot the card gameplay.
Sliver abilities should be symmetrical. That creates interesting gameplay.
fight me
acheron_xl
Member
I agree for the most part. I think having them get one-sided as they go up in rarity would be a good way to have their cake and eat it too. Commons slivers share, rare slivers are just for you.
I know it was known for a while. I just want a follow up from him.
I agree.
SigmasonicX
Member
Uh, wouldn't it be the exact opposite if they want to help new players and prevent this situation from coming up in Limited?
And then if you do that, you get the situation that the rare slivers are inexplicably weaker than the common slivers, so you may as well makes all slivers just affect your own stuff.
acheron_xl
Member
Pssh. Who cares about them. I'm thinking more top-down and for my own satisfaction.
Uhm
There's a reason why Time Spiral is an awesome limited format. There's still unexplored design space for slivers.
A Serious Man
Member
That Zada play...
Maybe Jace, the living Guildpact is using his Guild magic to breed an army of Hybrid mana Slivers to take down the Eldrazi.
But something goes wrong and the Slivers adopt Eldrazi characteristics and becomes Eldrazi Slivers???
Vangu Vegro
Member
For some, including yours truly, there are actually three problems with the new 'Slivers': The visual design, the card gameplay, and the flavor disconnect.
As for the art issue, had they spread the change over a longer period of time and shown intermediate stages in the evolution from Sliver to 'Sliver', I for one could have been on board with the change. Plus, there'd always be the option to simply reprint them with different art and more traditional designs.
On the other hand, the gameplay and flavor issues (one-sided 'Slivers' simply aren't as interesting as symmetrical Slivers and the supposed lack of confusion during mirror matches is in no way enough to make up for that, plus they fly in the face of all the established lore) can't be fixed without errata or retcons, so in my view at least, they're the big issues.
Slivers should be symmetrical, or they should not be at all.
As for the art issue, had they spread the change over a longer period of time and shown intermediate stages in the evolution from Sliver to 'Sliver', I for one could have been on board with the change. Plus, there'd always be the option to simply reprint them with different art and more traditional designs.
On the other hand, the gameplay and flavor issues (one-sided 'Slivers' simply aren't as interesting as symmetrical Slivers and the supposed lack of confusion during mirror matches is in no way enough to make up for that, plus they fly in the face of all the established lore) can't be fixed without errata or retcons, so in my view at least, they're the big issues.
Slivers should be symmetrical, or they should not be at all.
SigmasonicX
Member
I can't say I agree with you guys about wanting slivers to affect all guys. Going from my reaction when I first encountered protection, where I was incredulous when his creature not only couldn't be blocked but could block my stuff all day, I probably would have been playing slivers as though they only affected my stuff and then when my opponent pulled out his own slivers and got my benefits, I would think he was cheating. I didn't actually encounter slivers until way later, so that wasn't an issue for me.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Martell's draft strategy there seemed aggressively poor. He basically just avoided green at all costs until he drafted a horrible deck.
Yes, detrimental slivers as a counter are interesting. I said that. That doesn't really answer my point.
divisionbyzorro
Member
The same thing happened to Shahar at champs. He avoided the best deck that came through his chair because it was an archetype he considered "bad" and 0-3d the draft.
You see this from time to time from players on teams that do a lot of prep work. They get these ideas in their head about forcing and/or anti-forcing, and sometimes they get punished for it.
A Serious Man
Member
This Chapin/Ken Yukuhiro match has been pretty entertaining.
Why doesn't it answer your point? If you're that far behind, you were losing anyway. If you're about equal, it opens a lot of interesting decision trees.
I never really encountered actual sliver mirrors anyway; most of them have good stats because they're symmetrical. You didn't need slivers to make Psionic Sliver and Opposition Sliver good.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
The inbred testing problem.
Or as I call it, "the LSV problem" where LSV mentions some archetype is not that good and nobody ever drafts it so you can win draft pods with RW Equipment constantly.
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