• 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.

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
MTGS seems to think they're fake, but I can't read moonrunes and MTGS very quickly jumps to the conclusion everything is fake (I got an image of Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh and Crocodile posted it there and they "confirmed it fake" and then it turned out to be real a month after the fact), so its very hard to say.

en_CrUglvnPJ0.png
 

jph139

Member
I was hoping Ob Nixilis was going to be one of those ridiculous 7+ CMC Planeswalkers, but I guess that's alright.
 

duxstar

Member
She does if you have a creature out. Which, in UG, if you don't have a creature out by the time you're dropping her you have bigger problems

I know she's good as hell ..... I'm just imagining the combo's she has with some of the cards in standard right now.

Her + Jace ?? Jace Has looted twice, play kiora, look at top 4, any instants or sorcerys that are in the top 4 go to the graveyard for jace to get back and you've picked up a creature and a land ?

or later in the game, it allows things like dragonlord ojutai, or even archangel of tithes to attack, then untap AND leave mana open ?

Or attack with Deathmist raptor, untap him and a land to keep up den protector mana.

The sad part is these are the things that come to my head naturally and I'm sure im missing out on all sorts of crazy interactions. Hell she even has color fixing with her + 1 (need double green and only have one land that taps for green, just tap it, then + 1 her and untap it).

Still not sure what Ob does, but if its what was predicted it didn't impress me that much.
 

Crocodile

Member
jp_cWrCnmEiuP.png


1GG
Creature - Elemental
If damage would be dealt to ~ when ~ has a +1/+1 counter on it, remove a +1/+1 counter from it instead.
Landfall - If a land would enter the battlefield under your control, put a +1/+1 counter on ~.
2/2

MTGS seems to think they're fake, but I can't read moonrunes and MTGS very quickly jumps to the conclusion everything is fake (I got an image of Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh and Crocodile posted it there and they "confirmed it fake" and then it turned out to be real a month after the fact), so its very hard to say.

The artist credits on these PW cards don't match the artsit credits on their art from the advertising material site I posted a while back. HOWEVER, all these card images are hosted on WOTC servers.

Which means either
A) WOTC uploaded fakes to try to fool us
B) WOTC got the artist credits wrong on the card (either IRL or just on their website) or the advertising site.

One seem more likely than the other
B
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
jp_cWrCnmEiuP.png


1GG
Creature - Elemental
If damage would be dealt to ~ when ~ has a +1/+1 counter on it, remove a +1/+1 counter from it instead.
Landfall - If a land would enter the battlefield under your control, put a +1/+1 counter on ~.
2/2



The artist credits on these PW cards don't match the artsit credits on their art from the advertising material site I posted a while back. HOWEVER, all these card images are hosted on WOTC servers.

Which means either
A) WOTC uploaded fakes to try to fool us
B) WOTC got the artist credits wrong on the card (either IRL or just on their website) or the advertising site.

One seem more likely than the other
B

I think its just MTGS being MTGS - the verified WOTC materials credit Karla Ortiz for Ob and its pretty clearly not Karla Ortiz.
 

duxstar

Member
jp_cWrCnmEiuP.png


1GG
Creature - Elemental
If damage would be dealt to ~ when ~ has a +1/+1 counter on it, remove a +1/+1 counter from it instead.
Landfall - If a land would enter the battlefield under your control, put a +1/+1 counter on ~.
2/2



The artist credits on these PW cards don't match the artsit credits on their art from the advertising material site I posted a while back. HOWEVER, all these card images are hosted on WOTC servers.

Which means either
A) WOTC uploaded fakes to try to fool us
B) WOTC got the artist credits wrong on the card (either IRL or just on their website) or the advertising site.

One seem more likely than the other
B

Not going to lie i feel a LITTLE underwhelmed; but that's how I felt about Deathmist raptor and Whisperwood Elemental too, so I'm giving wotc the benefit of the doubt and saying that this guy is probably at least standard playable, and deserves the mythic spot.
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
The elemental feels like its one mana too many. At 2 mana I could see it being pretty nuts with fetchlands, but landing on turn 3 (or 4 with that GG) you're not going to be doing as much
 

Jhriad

Member
Really interesting idea for a tutor card. As mentioned before, you could use this to cast cards without mana costs, notably Living End, though I'm not sure it's better than the current cascade solution.

Bant Control with Restore Balance here I come!

"Players" is obviously referring to the kitchen table players who just want to swing fatties at each other.

According to WotC those casuals outnumber the competitive or "enfranchised" players by a pretty wide margin.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Per Blogatog:
kingmagni asked: Is BFZ going to have all 5 enemy-colors manlands or are they going to be divided between BFZ and OGW?

Divided.
 

traveler

Not Wario
I guess WotC completely put aside any notion of the original definition of mythic? Looking at this new guy and back through previous sets I've missed at things like Wingmate Roc, it seems like mythic is blatantly cards they think will be constructed staples.

Kiora seems good and Ob seems solid, if completely boring, but I think Gideon remains my favorite PW of the deck. Really would like to see a 5 color ally legend in one of these sets for commander so I can stop using Karona.
 

Maledict

Member
I still feel like they have completely messed up the Eldrazi in this set, and every reveal reinforces that concern. Two 10/10s for ten mana is great, but it feels utterly generic - that could easily have been a Simic spell in Ravnica. Maybe it will all come together, but Maros article today doesn't exactly sound like they understand the issues at all.

(Like others I completely reject the idea that it's bad to have a limited environment where a 2/2 for 2 isn't great. They are casting aside one of magics greatest strength (it's variety) when they go down that road.)
 

ironmang

Member
Ob Nixilis seems pretty great. Straight up +1 to always draw a card is nice as is -3 to always destroy a creature. None of the half measures bullshit. Not excited to see his pricetag though.
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
I still feel like they have completely messed up the Eldrazi in this set, and every reveal reinforces that concern. Two 10/10s for ten mana is great, but it feels utterly generic - that could easily have been a Simic spell in Ravnica. Maybe it will all come together, but Maros article today doesn't exactly sound like they understand the issues at all.

(Like others I completely reject the idea that it's bad to have a limited environment where a 2/2 for 2 isn't great. They are casting aside one of magics greatest strength (it's variety) when they go down that road.)

Ingest just isn't on enough stuff. There's a lot to be revealed still, but if that's their sinister mechanic for the Eldrazi the frequency so far is underwhelming.
 

duxstar

Member
I guess WotC completely put aside any notion of the original definition of mythic? Looking at this new guy and back through previous sets I've missed at things like Wingmate Roc, it seems like mythic is blatantly cards they think will be constructed staples.

Kiora seems good and Ob seems solid, if completely boring, but I think Gideon remains my favorite PW of the deck. Really would like to see a 5 color ally legend in one of these sets for commander so I can stop using Karona.

There seem to be "playable mythics" and then there are just batshit insane "this card does something crazy so we'll put it at mythic even though it has 0% chance at standard play"

Hedonist Trove, The great Aurora, Starfield of Nyx, Days Undoing, Demonic Pact are cards off of the top of my head that just "do something crazy" that I don't think were ever really meant to be constructed staples.
 

Firemind

Member
Ob Nixilis seems pretty great. Straight up +1 to always draw a card is nice as is -3 to always destroy a creature. None of the half measures bullshit. Not excited to see his pricetag though.
Definitely agree with this. Imagine Languish followed by Ob or Siege Rhino followed by Ob. Harsh.

Kiora seems more like Narset. She can protect herself with a creature out, but she doesn't actually generate value with her +1, since a removal spell is still going to be a one for one.
 

traveler

Not Wario
Reading Maro's article, I realize I'm just not a fan of top down design. The game should always come first. Creating interesting mechanics, working on both block and interblock synergies, and fun designs first and then shoehorning the flavor just seems better to me than starting with the flavor and figuring out how they can represent it mechanically in an interesting way.

Not that they don't shape flavor around the gamey demands of Magic from time to time- in his article he points out RoE completely departing from the rest of ZEN mechanically was one such example- but I do wonder how many of their lead designers are mechanics first, bottom up focused rather than top down.

There seem to be "playable mythics" and then there are just batshit insane "this card does something crazy so we'll put it at mythic even though it has 0% chance at standard play"

Hedonist Trove, The great Aurora, Starfield of Nyx, Days Undoing, Demonic Pact are cards off of the top of my head that just "do something crazy" that I don't think were ever really meant to be constructed staples.

Yup, and I think that's fair. That and PWs were what I originally thought all mythics would be, but it seems like the efficient/utility mythic has carved out its own spot in each set as well, which I'm less of a fan of.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Oh fuck you WOTC. Why split this cycle and not any other? Why split it at all. What a fucking tease :(

Somewhat ironically, new players HATE opening rare lands.

BTW Voyaging Satyr + Nykthos + New Kiora would have been fucking DUMB.
KuGsj.gif
 

Jhriad

Member
Didn't see anyone mention, Kiora's +1 allows you to untap two creatures if one is a land. Seems pretty good with an Awaken deck.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
The elemental feels like its one mana too many. At 2 mana I could see it being pretty nuts with fetchlands, but landing on turn 3 (or 4 with that GG) you're not going to be doing as much

It costs exactly the same as Deathmist Raptor, which is just better and basically every green deck is playing Den Protector as a combo.
 

Jhriad

Member
http://mythicspoiler.com/bfz/cards/guidetodestruction.html

guidetodestruction.jpg


Yep, suddenly Eldrazi get a little more exciting

Guide to Destruction
6
Creature - Eldrazi
When you cast Guide to Destruction, you may search your library for a colorless creature card with converted mana cost 7 or higher. If you do, shuffle your library, then put that card on top.

That seems pretty good, I guess.

The first creature spell you cast each turn costs 2 less.

Sold.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
That hyper ramp +1...

If you have Shaman of the Forgotten Ways + Kiora, Master of the Depths out, you can hardcast Ulamog
KuGsj.gif


Also, you can T3 Shaman of the Forgotten Ways, T4 Kiora + Whisperwood Elemental
 

Looking around, it seems like Wizards Japan accidentally posted these cards early, so that's why we got them now. This means that they will likely be re-spoiled later this week, as a heads up.

Kiora is really good. If you use the +1 to untap a land and a mana dork, then you basically cast her for UG. Maybe Sarkhan Unbroken can find a place in a deck with her.

Ob's ultimate is better now that it's clear that he makes players lose life whenever any player draws a card. His card seems pretty great, especially since he still has loyalty left over if you use his creature destruction ability right away.

Undergrowth Champion is comparable to Phantom Nantuko, a card that I found extremely annoying, but I'm not sure if it's worth being mythic rare, especially since it isn't basically indestructible if you have an anthem ("creatures you control get +1/+1") effect.

EDIT:
http://mythicspoiler.com/bfz/cards/guidetodestruction.html

guidetodestruction.jpg


Yep, suddenly Eldrazi get a little more exciting

Guide to Destruction
6
Creature - Eldrazi
When you cast Guide to Destruction, you may search your library for a colorless creature card with converted mana cost 7 or higher. If you do, shuffle your library, then put that card on top.

The first creature spell you cast each turn costs 2 less.

First part of the card: Eh, I guess that works for a rare.
Second part: OK, now this is good.
 

Firemind

Member
Like, if you search an eldrazi with 8+ mana cost, they're just going to kill it. Congratulations, you are now stuck drawing a card you can't cast.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
It's time for Wild Slash's Ferocious Trigger to shine!

Like, if you search an eldrazi with 8+ mana cost, they're just going to kill it. Congratulations, you are now stuck drawing a card you can't cast.

Its not a good card, I agree. You can't even abuse it to put Ulamog on top with See the Unwritten ready unless you have 12 mana.
 

duxstar

Member
Will be interesting to see where the Eldrazi fit into standard as a whole. With nykthos rotating out I'm interested to see how ramp decks evolve , if at all.

I've only seen a standard world with nykthos and sylvan caryatid being legal
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Will be interesting to see where the Eldrazi fit into standard as a whole. With nykthos rotating out I'm interested to see how ramp decks evolve , if at all.

I've only seen a standard world with nykthos and sylvan caryatid being legal

Seems like they'd be Temur with this Kiora spoiled. UG is a possibility but it has basically no real removal.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
I'm very disappointed most of the eldrazi are humanoid with extra tentacles.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Oh I see. Fuck ulamog then. The Power Ranger monster-of-the-week of elderitch horrors.
 
Source
roytang asked: Are there any futureshifted cards in Battle for Zendikar or Oath of the Gatewatch?

Ghostfire isn’t in either set. The issue is it represents Ugin’s colorless magic and all the Devoid spells in the block are Eldrazi. I did try but it just didn’t fit.

I figured that Ghostfire wouldn't be present for exactly that reason. It would be odd for most of the devoid spells to be tied to the Eldrazi, except this one spell that actually belongs to the guy fighting the Eldrazi but it's still devoid for reasons.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Makes me wonder if the Ingest mechanic will be tied to Ulamog and his spawn as well, and if the other Eldrazi and their spawn will have their own abilities to draw design from.

We only have seen one, Kozilek's Channeler and it doesn't seem like they have an ability other than Devoid.
 
Sultai is for nerds like GB

Basically I'm not seeing any reason to be straight-up Sultai midrange yet. I'd rather have Radiant Flames than Sultai Charm with the cards I'm seeing, and making full use of Rattleclaw is really nice. If Sultai is around, it's looking more Eldrazi-based than midrangey.

If I was gonna play black with the known cards, I'd definitely pair it with white. Sorin, Wingmate, White Orchid, Gideons, Stasis Snare, Utter End. There's a really good midrange shell in there somewhere.

It's hard for me to wrap my brain around the color combos right now because there's so many options for the mana. Even with BW there's the potential Abzan, Mardu, Esper, 4c without losing much consistency.

Scythe Leopard scares me, though.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom