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[blindrocket]

"We've forgotten that Magic is the game that breaks its own rules."

It sounds like this is a clue to them ditching the Reserved List.

Just kidding.

But how about DFC that are Lands. Fetchable Flip Lands.

 

[SigmasonicX]

I wonder if Wizards is at all disappointed with the fact that they decided to ditch Core Sets right before the best selling one of all time came out. I don't have the highest hopes that Fears, the small set that's due to come out Summer 2016, will compare in terms of sales.

I'm pretty sure it sold well precisely because it wasn't a normal core set. For experienced players, it had significance as the final one and it actually offered new mechanics. For new players, it was branded as an origin set and thus a great place to start out.

 

[Haines]

I dont think wizards is sweating cutting a core set. Whatever you want to call the sets they are still going to print cards and sell em.

 

[Yeef]

it's because nobody likes to draft bfz

I like drafting BFZ quite a bit. It's also been a lot more popular for us than Khans (more than twice the number of draft entries).

other than potential value proposition (? maybe not true) i like drafting origins more because bfz feels kind of lame. even if origins mechanics can be pretty boring zendikar doesnt inspire me during the draft like origins does. not a great set to get back into magic during but i have hope for the future. i did have fun with a converge deck that wasnt very good i guess

i really wish i got to play during theros, thassa is so cool and i want to play blue devotion

but these are just my noob feelings

Origins was decent for a core set; definitely one of the better ones, but ultimately it was fairly shallow. As some one who drafts every week, I was tired of it well before it rotated out. M13 is the gold standard in terms of core sets as far as draft is concerned. BFZ it's a notch or two below Khans for me, but still fairly deep.

 

[Royal_Flush]

I wonder if you could make a reasonable rules text that made a card stay on the battlefield no matter what. No exile, staying as an 0/0, no being bounced, superbounced, shuffled away, no getting controlled away or being sacrificed,...

I don't think there is a way without explicitly addressing every possible option. The toughness part actually is very difficult. I also am not sure if this monster of ruletext qualifies as "reasonable"

Mosquito - 5

Indestructible.
~ can't be sacrificed.
Whenever a spell or ability would cause ~ to leave the battlefield, ~ doesn't leave the battlefield instead.
Whenever a spell or ability would change ~'s toughness to zero or less, it changes ~'s toughness to one instead.
Whenever one or more -1/-1 counter would be placed on ~, if ~'s toughness is equal to or lower than the number of -1/-1 counters that would be placed on ~, place that many -1/-0 counters on ~ instead.

0/1

 

[Angry Grimace]

My guess is that my win percentage would be dramatically higher if I had any tolerance at all for flood/screw.

 

[pigeon]

I don't think there is a way without explicitly addressing every possible option. The toughness part actually is very difficult. I also am not sure if this monster of ruletext qualifies as "reasonable"

Mosquito - 5

Indestructible.
~ can't be sacrificed.
Whenever a spell or ability would cause ~ to leave the battlefield, ~ doesn't leave the battlefield instead.
Whenever a spell or ability would change ~'s toughness to zero or less, it changes ~'s toughness to one instead.
Whenever one or more -1/-1 counter would be placed on ~, if ~'s toughness is equal to or lower than the number of -1/-1 counters that would be placed on ~, place that many -1/-0 counter on ~ instead.

0/1

Making it a creature makes your life really hard. Any other card type is easier.

Darksteel Piercing -- 1

~ can't be sacrificed. If ~ would leave the battlefield, instead exile it, then return it to the battlefield from exile.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

I don't think there is a way without explicitly addressing every possible option. The toughness part actually is very difficult. I also am not sure if this monster of ruletext qualifies as "reasonable"

Mosquito - 5

Indestructible.
~ can't be sacrificed.
Whenever a spell or ability would cause ~ to leave the battlefield, ~ doesn't leave the battlefield instead.
Whenever a spell or ability would change ~'s toughness to zero or less, it changes ~'s toughness to one instead.
Whenever one or more -1/-1 counter would be placed on ~, if ~'s toughness is equal to or lower than the number of -1/-1 counters that would be placed on ~, place that many -1/-0 counters on ~ instead.

0/1

That's what I was thinking of but articulated correctly. Just missing can't change controller.

Making it a creature makes your life really hard. Any other card type is easier.

Darksteel Piercing -- 1

~ can't be sacrificed. If ~ would leave the battlefield, instead exile it, then return it to the battlefield from exile.

then it'd trigger etb effects again, it should be entirely unmoveable once it is in play.

 

[Giant Panda]

That's what I was thinking of but articulated correctly. Just missing can't change controller.



then it'd trigger etb effects again, it should be entirely unmoveable once it is in play.

Make it an emblem.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Make it an emblem.

an emblem isn't in play

 

[Jhriad]

kind of hate myself for buying into this online nonsense but game stores around me have bad schedules with my worktime and it just feels more important than something like cockatrice, must be some sick money spending gambling brain chemistry

Digital Magic is better than no Magic.

 

[Haines]

Digital magic is better than no magic, but its a card game that needs two people to play and lots of shops around.

Not to knock anyone for playing mtgo, good on ya and im probably jealous you get to play lots. But when i found out a draft on there would cost me the same as playing at a store, never will happen. Ill just play hearthstone, for free if i really need a fix and im alone.

Now, time to go bug the wifey to play hehehe

 

[divisionbyzorro]

Vogel, Bane of Tabak WUBRG
Legendary Creature - Illusion (Mythic Rare)

If Vogel, Bane of Tabak would leave the battlefield, it stays on the battlefield instead. (This permanent cannot leave the battlefield for any reason. If an effect would cause this permanent to leave the battlefield, nothing happens to it. This permanent cannot be sacrificed or otherwise removed from the battlefield to pay for the costs of any spells or abilities.)
0/1

 

[SigmasonicX]

Today's Making Magic article was based on a pitch by MaRo for Star Trek: The Next Generation

One of the realities of being a novice TV writer is that you spend a lot of time pitching. The ultimate goal is to get a full-time position on a writing staff, but selling individual episode scripts is what you do the rest of the time. And to sell a script, you have to go into a TV show’s office and pitch to one or more of the writers.

This story takes places after my time on “Roseanne” but before I left LA to move to Seattle to start working at Wizards of the Coast. I am a longtime fan of science fiction, so one of my goals was to get a pitch to “Star Trek: The Next Generation”. I don’t remember how it happened the first time, but I somehow got an invite to pitch.

The way it worked on the show was you pitched to just one writer and then that writer would advance any ideas he (or she, although all my pitches were to men) thought the rest of the writing staff might be interested in.

If they liked what you pitched, even if they didn’t buy any of your ideas, they would invite you back, usually six months or so later, to pitch again. This story took place during my third pitch. (I pitched three times to “Next Generation” and once to “Deep Spave Nine”.)

Normally when I pitched, I would bring ideas for ten fleshed out shows. I would start talking about the first one and the writer I was pitching to would stop me when he’d heard enough. Every once in a while, he would ask me a question or two but most often it was a sign they were passing on that idea and I would move to the next pitch.

Sometimes before I came in, they would give me a note about something they were looking for. For this meeting, I was told they were looking for a Wesley story. Wil Wheaton played a character named Wesley, the son of the ship’s doctor. He was a regular during the early seasons but during the later seasons, he was usually on one episode a season. They were interested in a story for him.

As that was the one thing they asked for, I decided to spend extra time on it. I had recently read a story about Albert Einstein and it introduced the concept of a Themata and that gave me the idea of a story where Wesley wakes up surrounded by members of the Enterprise crew plucked from different points in time. I always named my stories and I called this one simply “Themata”

It was my favorite of my pitches so it was the first story I pitched. I was only a little into the pitch when I was stopped by the writer I was pitching to. “Is this a time travel story?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“We don’t accept time travel stories through pitches.”

“But you guys do time travel stories.”

“They’re very difficult so we only do them internally.”

I moved onto the next pitch, but I was sad because I really liked the story.

Flash forward twenty years. I hadn’t done an offbeat column in a while and for some reason I thought of “Themata” and thought to myself that it was time I told this story.

I swapped out Wesley for myself and the rest of the Enterprise crew for more of myself and the thing in jeopardy being Magic rather than a larger intergalactic threat.

And that is how “Themata” came to be.

For those that haven’t read it yet, here’s the link:

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/themata-2015-10-26

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Vogel, Bane of Tabak WUBRG
Legendary Creature - Illusion (Mythic Rare)

If Vogel, Bane of Tabak would leave the battlefield, it stays on the battlefield instead. (This permanent cannot leave the battlefield for any reason. If an effect would cause this permanent to leave the battlefield, nothing happens to it. This permanent cannot be sacrificed or otherwise removed from the battlefield to pay for the costs of any spells or abilities.)
0/1

Perfect I'd like this, but needs some serious downsides.

Today's Making Magic article was based on a pitch by MaRo for Star Trek: The Next Generation

Deep Spave Nine

When I read that I was instantly reminded of Mirror-Mad Phantasm, which I think WotC said was designed by Richard Garfield. Those kinds of oddball cards are really cool.

And that reminded me that oh so many creatures got badly hosed by the changes to combat damage, including the Phantasm itself.

but the card is from Innistrad and the damage change was during M10 after Alara, a good couple years before Innistrad. Which were great changes in my books, even though I miss killing myself with manaburn

 

[JulianImp]

It sounds like this is a clue to them ditching the Reserved List.

Just kidding.

But how about DFC that are Lands. Fetchable Flip Lands.

When I read that I was instantly reminded of Mirror-Mad Phantasm, which I think WotC said was designed by Richard Garfield. Those kinds of oddball cards are really cool.

And that reminded me that oh so many creatures got badly hosed by the changes to combat damage, including the Phantasm itself.

 

[SigmasonicX]

When I read that I was instantly reminded of Mirror-Mad Phantasm, which I think WotC said was designed by Richard Garfield. Those kinds of oddball cards are really cool.

And that reminded me that oh so many creatures got badly hosed by the changes to combat damage, including the Phantasm itself.

Combat damage not being on the stack was implemented well before Innistrad, in Magic 2010.

 

[shrapnelmagnet]

Interesting note: No Magic card contains the word "Lagoon".

Just a little surprised, for some reason.

 

[Crocodile]

Came back from a draft. A Gideon was in one of my prize packs. Feels Good <3

I wonder if Wizards is at all disappointed with the fact that they decided to ditch Core Sets right before the best selling one of all time came out. I don't have the highest hopes that Fears, the small set that's due to come out Summer 2016, will compare in terms of sales.

As Sigma said, the fact that it was billed as the last one allowed WOTC to do and market the set in a way they couldn't do for previous core sets. Let's see how future block sets sell in the summer before we or WOTC says anything. I imagine they won't end up regretting their decisions in the near term however unless the upcoming sets are all Dragon's Maze tier.

Interesting note: No Magic card contains the word "Lagoon".

Just a little surprised, for some reason.

Prime for the taking for some upcoming dual land cycle

 

[kirblar]

"Best Selling Summer Set Ever" = "Its still selling way worse than all the other sets"

 

[El Topo]

Today's Making Magic article was based on a pitch by MaRo for Star Trek: The Next Generation

MaRo is great. Interesting backstory for the article.

Interesting note: No Magic card contains the word "Lagoon".

Just a little surprised, for some reason.

I checked and for some reason the first entry I got from Google was a search in the Gatherer for "+Fish-filled +Lagoon".

 

[Hero]

Two block structure is better for most people. This will also allow us to return to Innistrad in 2017.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Two block structure is better for most people. This will also allow us to return to Innistrad in 2017.

Where in an effort to reference Snapcaster Mage but still have a "weaker" version, they give blue a strictly better Abbot of Keral Keep.

Avacyn's Abbot - 1U
Creature - Human Monk
Prowess
When Avacyn's Abbot enters the battlefield, look at the top three cards of your library. Put one in your hand and the rest in your graveyard.
2/1

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

No flash to be a better anticipate even?

 

[Haines]

I wish this thread was still in off topic. Its so slow now.

Anyways, enjoyed some games with the wifey. Got mana screwed for the first two, and thats something i need to figure out how to stop from happening more bc it really puts a bad tatse in my mouth.

 

[Yeef]

I wish this thread was still in off topic. Its so slow now.

Anyways, enjoyed some games with the wifey. Got mana screwed for the first two, and thats something i need to figure out how to stop from happening more bc it really puts a bad tatse in my mouth.

Screw is unavoidable sometimes, but there are definitely ways to lessen the odds of it. Make sure you have plenty of cards that cost 3 or less in your deck. It helps to ensure that you can still play Magic even if you get screwed. Scry and other card selection effects also help. Cards like Anticipate, Read the Bones, Seek the Wilds and Tormenting Voice help make sure you hit your land drops in the early game while also letting you get filter past excess lands and find gas later in the game.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Where in an effort to reference Snapcaster Mage but still have a "weaker" version, they give blue a strictly better Abbot of Keral Keep.

Avacyn's Abbot - 1U
Creature - Human Monk
Prowess
When Avacyn's Abbot enters the battlefield, look at the top three cards of your library. Put one in your hand and the rest in your graveyard.
2/1

Busted

 

[SigmasonicX]

No flash to be a better anticipate even?

Knew I was forgetting something.

 

[WanderingWind]

According to Hasbro's Q3 earnings report, Origins was the best-selling summer set ever.

Well, there you have it.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Knew I was forgetting something.

The ETB should just be Brainstorm straight up.

 

[y2dvd]

Where in an effort to reference Snapcaster Mage but still have a "weaker" version, they give blue a strictly better Abbot of Keral Keep.

Avacyn's Abbot - 1U
Creature - Human Monk
Prowess
When Avacyn's Abbot enters the battlefield, look at the top three cards of your library. Put one in your hand and the rest in your graveyard.
2/1

Insta $70 preorder.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Insta $70 preorder.

Oh don't worry, it will be an uncommon, because "temporary draw" on a creature is a rare-worthy ability in red, but Anticipate on a creature is business as usual in blue.

 

[ElyrionX]

Oh don't worry, it will be an uncommon, because "temporary draw" on a creature is a rare-worthy ability in red, but Anticipate on a creature is business as usual in blue.

Lmao so much salt

 

[JulianImp]

Combat damage not being on the stack was implemented well before Innistrad, in Magic 2010.

I know, but it was one of the things that made me look at the Phantasm and sigh, since I think it would've been somewhat decent with damage on the stack and the self-milling clause would've been enough of a downside to prevent it from breaking limited. Still, I was originally using the card as an example of some interesting design space that Garfield managed to come up with, even if the effect isn't something they could do a lot of.

While flipping power and toughness just isn't what it used to be be back when damage went onto the stack, at least there're some creatures that do work well even in spite of those changes, such as Calcite Snapper (but then it had shroud an was uninteractive as hell). Finally, that reminds me that I've always wanted to try building a commander deck with Mannichi, the Fevered Dream, but it being a mono-red legend limits deckbuilding options quite a bit.

 

[Yeef]

Damage on the stack is silly. To this day, i'm surprised that it was ever even a thing.

 

[JulianImp]

Damage on the stack is silly. To this day, i'm surprised that it was ever even a thing.

Yeah, it certainly was one of the more unintuitive things I remember having to learn back when I begun playing Magic. Creatures that sacrificed themselves for an effect were especially unintuitive, since you could use damage on the stack to have your cake and eat it too.

 

[Vangu Vegro]

Yeah, it certainly was one of the more unintuitive things [...]

Magic players say the darndest things...

But seriously, combat damage working the exact same way every other kind of damage in the game does is the exact opposite of unintuitive! This change was indefensible IMO (but not as indefensible as the removal of mana burn or the new Legend rule)

 

[SigmasonicX]

But seriously, combat damage working the exact same way every other kind of damage in the game does is the exact opposite of unintuitive!

Huh? Noncombat damage doesn't go on the stack. When you hit someone with Lightning Bolt, you don't have Lightning Bolt on the stack, have it resolve, then also have 3 damage on the stack.

 

[pigeon]

Magic players say the darndest things...

But seriously, combat damage working the exact same way every other kind of damage in the game does is the exact opposite of unintuitive! This change was indefensible IMO (but not as indefensible as the removal of mana burn or the new Legend rule)

You hate every change that made the game less aggravating. This is the Magic equivalent of defending last hitting.

 

[Yeef]

Magic players say the darndest things...

But seriously, combat damage working the exact same way every other kind of damage in the game does is the exact opposite of unintuitive! This change was indefensible IMO (but not as indefensible as the removal of mana burn or the new Legend rule)

As someone who played before combat damage on the stack was a thing and came back after it stopped being a thing, I can say that there's nothing intuitive about it at all. It falls into a similar camp as blocked creatures not dealing damage to the player even if the blocker is removed. The difference is, the blocking rule is unintuitive, but leads to better gameplay via a more interesting decision trees. Damage on the stack just leads to less real decision making.

 

[kirblar]

X

Damage on the stack was absolute trash that made the game worse.

 

["God's Beard!"]

EDH? Psh. I thought we were talking real Magic.

You don't like those moments where you're playing until 1AM and then one guy casts the third board sweeper of the match when everyone's hellbent so everyone scoops rather than play out for another hour?

...>:-(

 

[charlequin]

But seriously, combat damage working the exact same way every other kind of damage in the game does is the exact opposite of unintuitive! This change was indefensible IMO (but not as indefensible as the removal of mana burn or the new Legend rule)

Damage on the stack managed to make combat harder for players to execute while simultaneously making it less strategic, which is a pretty impressive combination. WotC ditched mana burn after a month-long playtest effort where it literally never came up in a game once. The new legend rule gets rid of a flavor-based rule that plays horribly in favor of something that makes Legendary a legitimate and usable drawback on things like lands and which reduces random mirror match lucksack scenarios. Every one of these changes is actively good for the game.

 

[A Serious Man]

I didn't mind damage on the stack but I learned how to play when it was a thing and it was ingrained in me for a long time. The current rules play just fine.

(but not as indefensible as the removal of mana burn or the new Legend rule)

People actually think mana burn should still be a thing? And the old legend rule was dumb, I think Lin Sivvi made that pretty clear. I can only imagine how much "fun" that rule would be in the era of planeswalkers.

 

[WanderingWind]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";183082391]You don't like those moments where you're playing until 1AM and then one guy casts the third board sweeper of the match when everyone's hellbent so everyone scoops rather than play out for another hour?

...>:-([/QUOTE]

I like my Magic like I like my dates, one-on-one, quick and full of denial.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

I didn't mind damage on the stack but I learned how to play when it was a thing and it was ingrained in me for a long time. The current rules play just fine.

People actually think mana burn should still be a thing? And the old legend rule was dumb, I think Lin Sivvi made that pretty clear. I can only imagine how much "fun" that rule would be in the era of planeswalkers.

Mana Burn was awesome you wouldn't just scoop you'd just tap all your mana and pass the turn and die. Going out with style, back then mana burn barely ever came up anyway.

This card is dumb now though

Magic players say the darndest things...

But seriously, combat damage working the exact same way every other kind of damage in the game does is the exact opposite of unintuitive! This change was indefensible IMO (but not as indefensible as the removal of mana burn or the new Legend rule)

It was really dumb, block and sac your creature wasn't something clever ti was just mandatory, after the changes it turned into a choice either get the sac benefit or have it trade.

The legend rule is perfect right now I didn't like either iteration before M14

 

[Firemind]

I love braid of fire in my dragon tribal edh.

 

[ElyrionX]

I love braid of fire in my dragon tribal edh.

Why? You can't play your dragons during upkeep without an additional effect. What are you running for dragon tribal btw?

I am using Kaarthus and the deck is sooooo slow.

 

[Firemind]

Firebreathing yo

And fetching with Zirilan of the Claw

PS. Karrthus is a poopyhead

 

[Bandini]

Mulliganed to 4 game 1 on a Cockatrice draft, keeping 3 lands and Ulamog. Grinded it out and eventually ramped up, then casted Mire's Malice with Awaken to make my opponent discard his last two cards before swinging. Feels good man.

Game 2 I just went wide with Blisterpod, Catacomb Sifter, a couple Eyeless Watchers and 2 Spawning Beds. I know the green ramp decks aren't the best in limited but they are fun as hell when you have some big Eldrazi