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[kirblar]

That seems backwards to me. I would be more terrified of giant Cthulhu looking monsters that devour everything in their path while Phyrexians seem to evoke more of the weird/alien stuff going on, eg the Praetor cycle.

The problem is taht Annhilator is "Inexorable Demise"-feeling, but so is Poison. Rosewater has a massive obsession with Poison, so he pushes to keep the terror away from the Eldrazi because he's protecting his golden child (which then gets cut from the next set anyway by development!)

It isn't actually an issue having them close together (Scars/RoE bookended each other, and they're tonally very different) but there are other motivations at play here.

Phyrexia has been about grotesque horror since day one, and that has continued for all of their subsequent appearances. Elesh Norn has her skin flayed off for crying out loud.

It's a radially different style of horror (very personal/"Alien"/borg, world altering, not ending), which is why this is so bad.

 

[Crocodile]

This episode is really reminding my why I have a hard time getting into American Superhero Comics even though I really liked the Justice League, Young Justice, etc. TV shows - the CONSTANT retconning. When someone new gets behind the wheel, even when they have a decent track record, you have no idea how things will turn out until its too late

 

[kirblar]

On a positive note, I really like the PWs this set, they knocked those out of the park.

 

[Hero]

One card making two creatures is a form of evasion, for the same reason Menace is a form of evasion.


Urgh, I hope not.

Phyrexia has been about grotesque horror since day one, and that has continued for all of their subsequent appearances. Elesh Norn has her skin flayed off for crying out loud.

I dunno, maybe it's because I've played since the beginning but I've never got the feeling of horror from the Phyrexians myself. Personal preference here but again seeing something turned into the collective or corrupted is not as terrifying to me as seeing gigantic Titans that tower over the landscape as they destroy armies.

The problem is taht Annhilator is "Inexorable Demise"-feeling, but so is Poison. Rosewater has a massive obsession with Poison, so he pushes to keep the terror away from the Eldrazi because he's protecting his golden child (which then gets cut from the next set anyway by development!)

It isn't actually an issue having them close together (Scars/RoE bookended each other, and they're tonally very different) but there are other motivations at play here.

It's a radially different style of horror (very personal/"Alien"/borg, world altering, not ending), which is why this is so bad.

Yeah I can see what you're saying. I really dislike poison and after seeing the finals of the SCG open being an infect mirror I hope they never bring back the mechanic again. It's not fun and pump spells are stupidly powerful, become monstrous is insane. The fact that only one card in the entire game can remove poison counters means there's no effective measures against it and there are situations where the game state gets away from you because you're too close to 10 counters. Aside from Emrakrul the original Eldrazi were powerful but accordingly so because of their mana cost. At least there are answers to them and you can recover from a hit or two.

 

[Gherid__lacksGPS]

Just pre ordered two boxes. They only had 60 left for pre and 0 fat packs lol, land whores.

 

[kirblar]

"The set that needs it gets it, even if it'll mess with a later set" wasn't followed here. (I'm gonna end up complining all my rants on this into a big critique once spoilers are done, because this is "you don't think you have a prolbem? That's a problem." territory.)

 

[divisionbyzorro]

Eldrazi need to be legit terrifying. These aren't.

 

[Gotchaye]

I played a bunch of Duels: Origins last month and I'm looking forward to new cards for it. A set built around a bunch of huge things strikes me as really weird given how fast the digital game tends to be. I guess black has cards that can pull things from your graveyard and green can ramp, but are other colors just not supposed to use Eldrazi? I have a hard time seeing how you fit the cards you need to stop aggro and also a bunch of these big creatures, and obviously you're supposed to be using several different Eldrazi and not just throwing Ulamog into an otherwise normal deck as a win condition the way that Gaea's Revenge gets used.

 

[Taramoor]

Eldrazi need to be legit terrifying. These aren't.

Well there are more of them and we've seen them before. They're inherently less terrifying.

 

[charlequin]

On a positive note, I really like the PWs this set, they knocked those out of the park.

Yes, agreed. Gideon is very elegant at fitting the character while being synergistic with the local set, Ob is cool and on-theme and very different from our other mono-black walkers, and Kiora... well she beats you to death with Octopus tokens so basically I'm in love. <3

 

[BigWeather]

What precipitated this major change from core + 1 3 set block a year to 2 2 set blocks a year?

Also, does this do anything to reduce the value of the Collector's Edition as proxies? Because I still haven't sold them. I really, really should.

 

[kirblar]

Well there are more of them and we've seen them before. They're inherently less terrifying.

It's a gameplay thing- they didn't replace Annhilator with anything equivalent,and that's a huuuuuuge problem, because the flavor/emotion it provoked was critical to making the Eldrazi more than "just some big colorless dorks."

edit: So I don't forget it- anecdote from the Punisher Affixes design survey in HOTS: "Wait, don't you guys dislike these things?" "Yeah, but that's the point and why they're so memorable!"

 

[Hero]

Yes, agreed. Gideon is very elegant at fitting the character while being synergistic with the local set, Ob is cool and on-theme and very different from our other mono-black walkers, and Kiora... well she beats you to death with Octopus tokens so basically I'm in love. <3

Yeah, I think all the planeswalkers are awesome in this set. Glad to see Gideon being a complete bad ass again after his disappointing Ravinca incarnation.

Speaking of which, Gideon planeswalked to Ravinca to recruit help for the Eldrazi didn't he? And then he got involved with Boros shenanigans? I think the Boros helping to fight the Eldrazi would be incredibly awesome but because it would be I know we won't get it.

 

[charlequin]

I dunno, maybe it's because I've played since the beginning but I've never got the feeling of horror from the Phyrexians myself. Personal preference here but again seeing something turned into the collective or corrupted is not as terrifying to me as seeing gigantic Titans that tower over the landscape as they destroy armies.

So I will say: the Eldrazi aren't exactly horror, they're a hybrid -- more like the stuff you get in something like Conan or Hellboy, where these twisted and incredibly dangerous beings beyond mortal understanding exist, but there are still guys whose job it is to club them to death with a stick. It's not supposed to feel inconceivable to defeat them, just impossible, because they're beings that you can fight but so far beyond your scale that there's no way to do it. Actual Lovecraftian horror is a lot more psychological and implicit and I'm not sure how well it could translate to something like MTG.

I don't get how someone could not find Phyrexia terrifying, though. Eldrazi'll kill ya, but tons of stuff in the Magic multiverse'll kill ya. The Phyrexians want to take away your consent and autonomy, flay away your flesh and skin, and rebuild you into something horrible and evil, leaving you conscious of the entire process. That's a pretty visceral thing to target, to my mind.

"The set that needs it gets it, even if it'll mess with a later set" wasn't followed here. (I'm gonna end up complining all my rants on this into a big critique once spoilers are done, because this is "you don't think you have a prolbem? That's a problem." territory.)

Still not as bad as Avacyn Restored tho!

I played a bunch of Duels: Origins last month and I'm looking forward to new cards for it. A set built around a bunch of huge things strikes me as really weird given how fast the digital game tends to be. I guess black has cards that can pull things from your graveyard and green can ramp, but are other colors just not supposed to use Eldrazi? I have a hard time seeing how you fit the cards you need to stop aggro and also a bunch of these big creatures, and obviously you're supposed to be using several different Eldrazi and not just throwing Ulamog into an otherwise normal deck as a win condition the way that Gaea's Revenge gets used.

Well, the first time they showed up they built an environment with tons of defensive stuff and strong ramp for every color that made it work. This time around... good question?

What precipitated this major change from core + 1 3 set block a year to 2 2 set blocks a year?

Except for original Ravnica and Time Spiral, every one of the 20+ three-set blocks has been (approximately) two reasonable sets that were on theme and made sense, plus one totally pointless one that everyone hates.

 

[FreedomFrisbee]

Yeah, I think all the planeswalkers are awesome in this set. Glad to see Gideon being a complete bad ass again after his disappointing Ravinca incarnation.

Speaking of which, Gideon planeswalked to Ravinca to recruit help for the Eldrazi didn't he? And then he got involved with Boros shenanigans? I think the Boros helping to fight the Eldrazi would be incredibly awesome but because it would be I know we won't get it.

Utilizing the PLANESWALKING SHIP PARHELION? Now that's just nonsense.

 

[Hero]

So I will say: the Eldrazi aren't exactly horror, they're a hybrid -- more like the stuff you get in something like Conan or Hellboy, where these twisted and incredibly dangerous beings beyond mortal understanding exist, but there are still guys whose job it is to club them to death with a stick. It's not supposed to feel inconceivable to defeat them, just impossible, because they're beings that you can fight but so far beyond your scale that there's no way to do it. Actual Lovecraftian horror is a lot more psychological and implicit and I'm not sure how well it could translate to something like MTG.

I don't get how someone could not find Phyrexia terrifying, though. Eldrazi'll kill ya, but tons of stuff in the Magic multiverse'll kill ya. The Phyrexians want to take away your consent and autonomy, flay away your flesh and skin, and rebuild you into something horrible and evil, leaving you conscious of the entire process. That's a pretty visceral thing to target, to my mind.



Still not as bad as Avacyn Restored tho!



Well, the first time they showed up they built an environment with tons of defensive stuff and strong ramp for every color that made it work. This time around... good question?



Except for original Ravnica and Time Spiral, every one of the 20+ three-set blocks has been (approximately) two reasonable sets that were on theme and made sense, plus one totally pointless one that everyone hates.

Yeah, I hear you on the Eldrazi thing. Like I said before I think Attack on Titan would've been a great way to handle it. These things are so large in both size and numbers it seems hopeless but you still have people that are skillful and powerful enough to take them on.

With her Phyrexians it's probably because it's only their Scars block design that actually seems terrifying. The old art makes them look really silly and cartoony.

 

[SigmasonicX]

What precipitated this major change from core + 1 3 set block a year to 2 2 set blocks a year?

Also, does this do anything to reduce the value of the Collector's Edition as proxies? Because I still haven't sold them. I really, really should.

Here is an in-depth explanation from Wizards as to why they changed the block structure. Basically:
1. Having three sets in a block has been causing problems since the start. Players naturally get bored of a block by the third, so there has to be something exciting about the third set. This usually means holding back stuff from the other two sets to have more interesting things for the third set, or making the third set so different that it might as well be on a different world.
2. Core sets are meant for new players, but they don't succeed at that goal very well, particularly due to them only coming out during one point in the year. They are also unpopular with enfranchised players. They have also since come up with better ways to get new players into Magic, such as Magic Duels.
3. Players wanted to see new worlds and old worlds revisited at a faster pace than one-per-year would allow.
4. Having more blocks allows the story to develop more quickly, since blocks naturally only want to focus on one plot point at a time.

 

[Toxi]

I dunno, maybe it's because I've played since the beginning but I've never got the feeling of horror from the Phyrexians myself. Personal preference here but again seeing something turned into the collective or corrupted is not as terrifying to me as seeing gigantic Titans that tower over the landscape as they destroy armies.

Whether you got the feeling or not, Phyrexia's been Magic's horror faction for a long time.

They even did the whole "Titans that tower over the landscape as they destroy armies" thing before the Eldrazi.

With her Phyrexians it's probably because it's only their Scars block design that actually seems terrifying. The old art makes them look really silly and cartoony.

I disagree; some of the old Phyrexian art is really creepy.

Scars block Phyrexia definitely was them at their best though.

 

[GoutPatrol]

On a positive note, I really like the PWs this set, they knocked those out of the park.

And hopefully they'll be dirt cheap due to people only wanting lands.

 

[SigmasonicX]

My view on the Eldrazi thing is that I like how they're now treating them as one organism, with the ingest->process->spawn->titan system, but I do feel they should have kept the old feeling of "crap, I can't let this guy attack even once" for the rare Eldrazi at least. That said, I don't care strongly enough about this loss to talk about it for dozens of posts.

 

[Hero]

Whether you got the feeling or not, Phyrexia's been Magic's horror faction for a long time.

They even did the whole "Titans that tower over the landscape as they destroy armies" thing before the Eldrazi.

I disagree; some of the old Phyrexian art is really creepy.

Scars block Phyrexia definitely was them at their best though.

I'm on mobile so it's hard for me to link to images but I'm not saying there wasn't any good art but overall I never got that feeling of dread from the old Phyrexia stuff.

 

[cory64]

They're going to have to play with the dates next year a little because one block is always going to be significantly longer than the other with the current schedule. It would make more sense to have it be Winter-Spring and Summer-Fall instead of Fall-Winter and Spring-Summer.

Assuming nothing changes it's looking like:

BFZ: 17 weeks
OGW: ~13 weeks

Tears: ~12 weeks
Fears: ~10 weeks

 

[Crocodile]

Except for original Ravnica and Time Spiral, every one of the 20+ three-set blocks has been (approximately) two reasonable sets that were on theme and made sense, plus one totally pointless one that everyone hates.

I'll only rate full blocks that were new whilst I was playing (I started with Dissension):

Time Spiral (second set I after I'd started playing): "Welcome to MTG, he's a crash course of the last 10+ years you missed" - Awesome, researching the references was fun
Planar Chaos: Kind of confusing but a lot of really cool individual cards (I still remember that Damnation preview)
Future Sight: Top 5 Set of all time. Just fucking......WOW

Lorwyn: Top 5 Set of all Time - excellent draft format, Merfolk da best
Morningtide: Thanks for making the limited format worse? Class tribal, Bitterblossom and Mutavualt were cool though

Shadowmoor: Only format where sealed is more fun that draft. Meh
Eventide: Figure of Destiny is sweet. Otherwise shrug

Shards of Alara: OMG why is everything terrible and vanilla? (NWO didn't have a name yet but it got introduced here)
Conflux: Oh hey limited is actually playable now <3
Alara Reborn: Lots of powerful cards, cool gimmick though it was clear it was stretched thin

Zendikar: So many powerful cards, too bad limited is shit :/
Worldwake: Limited is still kind of shit but less so? Powerful cards are cool though
Rise of the Eldrazi: Top 5 Set of all time, best retail draft format ever. My only regret is that I didn't get to draft it even more

Scars of Mirrodin: Kind of neat. Much better even at a glance than old Mirrodin. Not a fan of what Poison did to limited.
Mirrodin Besieged: A fine set. No strong feelings.
New Phyrexia: Top 5 Set of all time, AMAZING cards, poison is ok in limited now

Innistrad: Top 5 Set of all time. Excellent limited format
Dark Ascension: Like Innistrad but much worse in every way. Thanks for making limited worse?
Avacyn Restored: A few cool/powerful cards but limited was TRASH. Garbage set overall

Return to Ravnica: Amazing cards all over the place, decently fun limited format. Great set just outside Top 5.
Gatecrash: Talk about a Crash and Burn
Dragon's Maze: What was even the point? Trash cards everywhere. Fuck off with the Cluestones too.

Theros: Great cards, decent limited format
Born of the Gods: Irredeemable trash
Journey into Nyx: Why are we just NOW getting Constellation?

Khans of Tarkir: Great cards, great limited format
Fate Reforged: Thanks for making limited worse? Some sweet cards though
Dragons of Tarkir: Good cards, mediocre limited format

I have gone back and researched/played with older formats but again the perspective will be different looking at them historically rather than in the moment.

 

[Hero]

Invasion block is the greatest of all time.

 

[BigWeather]

Except for original Ravnica and Time Spiral, every one of the 20+ three-set blocks has been (approximately) two reasonable sets that were on theme and made sense, plus one totally pointless one that everyone hates.

Here is an in-depth explanation from Wizards as to why they changed the block structure. Basically:
1. Having three sets in a block has been causing problems since the start. Players naturally get bored of a block by the third, so there has to be something exciting about the third set. This usually means holding back stuff from the other two sets to have more interesting things for the third set, or making the third set so different that it might as well be on a different world.
2. Core sets are meant for new players, but they don't succeed at that goal very well, particularly due to them only coming out during one point in the year. They are also unpopular with enfranchised players. They have also since come up with better ways to get new players into Magic, such as Magic Duels.
3. Players wanted to see new worlds and old worlds revisited at a faster pace than one-per-year would allow.
4. Having more blocks allows the story to develop more quickly, since blocks naturally only want to focus on one plot point at a time.

Ah, makes sense -- thanks. Yeah, now that I think of it I'm always excited for the first and often the second of each block and then by the third it goes downhill. Zendikar in particular started soooo strong and I was disappointed (particularly lore-wise) the third set. Innistrad similarly, but the third set wasn't as disappointing. Though I figured that was just me since I feel the same about RPGs -- the first levels are always more fun to me than the higher levels. Also makes sense about core sets' being decidedly ehhhh to veteran players.

 

[SigmasonicX]

By the way, with the end of the first spoiler day,

New guys, lurkers, how are you guys liking the thread so far? Anything that needs explaining? Was creating the topic during previews a good idea, or would you have preferred to have the entire set revealed before this topic came to OT?

 

[Artanisix]

late to the party
where the fuck is the annihilation effect
THATS THe HWOLE POINT OF ELDRAZI!!!!!!!

 

[SigmasonicX]

late to the party
where the fuck is the annihilation effect
THATS THe HWOLE POINT OF ELDRAZI!!!!!!!

The Wizards explanation is:
1. It was unpopular with many players, in the sense that players disliked facing against Eldrazi cards.
2. Annihilator made all Eldrazi play pretty similarly.

It's a point of contention in this thread, as you can see from today's posts.

 

[Reishiki]

As I mentioned in a previous MTG OT ages ago, the OTs usually just remind me of how amazingly casual I am.

I've never really been much of a drafter, though, I really suck at it and got tired of spending money to draft terrible decks. I don't think there's been a set that I actively disliked, though. Theros just happened to hit around the time interest in my casual group died out.

 

[SigmasonicX]

As I mentioned in a previous MTG OT ages ago, the OTs usually just remind me of how amazingly casual I am.

Don't worry about it, all sorts are allowed in this thread. I myself mainly just play casually and at prereleases, and don't play any constructed formats.

 

[Boogalogist]

Since I only play EDH, my view may be skewed. But what's so good about Ob Nixilis? It's 5cc for phyrexian arena or non-instant murder.

 

[Toxi]

The Wizards explanation is:
1. It was unpopular with many players, in the sense that players disliked facing against Eldrazi cards.
2. Annihilator made all Eldrazi play pretty similarly.

It's a point of contention in this thread, as you can see from today's posts.

I sorta agree with this, but I think Hand of Emrakul, Artisan of Kozilek, and It That Betrays were some pretty sweet unique Eldrazi.

Since I only play EDH, my view may be skewed. But what's so good about Ob Nixilis? It's 5cc for phyrexian arena or non-instant murder.

If you only play EDH (Especially if it's not 1 vs 1 EDH), your view will definitely be skewed on any Planeswalker. It's a format where Sorin Markov is one of the most vicious Planeswalkers because of his -3 and Planeswalkers in general are way more fragile.

 

[The Technomancer]

Man Kiora is two for two with that fucking awesome artwork

 

[Yeef]

Since I only play EDH, my view may be skewed. But what's so good about Ob Nixilis? It's 5cc for phyrexian arena or non-instant murder.

The best walkers tend to confer a lot of card advantage. Both of his abilities give card advantage and/or tempo advantage. If you draw a card, and they kill him, you've gone 0 for 1. If you kill a creature, then they kill him, you've gone 2 for 1 and swung the tempo back toward your favor. If you do either and they don't kill him for a few turns you've gotten a ridiculous amount of advantage.

 

[blindrocket]

Hmm... I want to run Tasigur and Kiora together just for some reason.

 

[Cosmo Clock 21]

Man Kiora is two for two with that fucking awesome artwork

Kiora has been female in both her incarnations

 

[traveler]

I think he's still very strong in terms of vision/block planning and I'd worry about somebody else stepping into that role at the moment, but it will be interesting to see what it's like when half the blocks are designed and developed by people other than Rosewater/Lauer.

I do wish Forsythe could get his hands dirty a little more, he always seems to have some perspective on how rule tweaks don't have to hurt.



I was hoping for something along the lines of "we didn't prioritize the eldrazi being terrifying."

EDIT: kirblar managed to get exactly this out of Maro on twitter. I'm now displeased but satisfied!

It is? Reading that making magic article, it seemed like the primary factors behind mechanics- both new and returning- was flavor.

 

[siddx]

Whether you got the feeling or not, Phyrexia's been Magic's horror faction for a long time.

They even did the whole "Titans that tower over the landscape as they destroy armies" thing before the Eldrazi.

I disagree; some of the old Phyrexian art is really creepy.

Scars block Phyrexia definitely was them at their best though.

Phyrexia becomes creepier if you read through the storylines as well. Yawgmoth dissecting a planewalker while she was still alive and conscious to try and steal her spark was pretty fucked up.

 

[OnPoint]

Phyrexia becomes creepier if you read through the storylines as well. Yawgmoth dissecting a planewalker while she was still alive and conscious to try and steal her spark was pretty fucked up.

The truth is, modern Magic is a lot better at conveying the intended flavor, story and style through the cards these days, as much as we like to bitch. The new Phyrexians are absolutely more horrifying than the old ones in terms of both mechanics and on-card story, so I can totally see how newer players would dismiss the older cards and stories. Some of those old designs were goofy, and the art direction was no where near as unified or controlled.

Truth is there's more to it than just the sets themselves showcased, and most of the truly nefarious and evil stuff that happened between Alpha to Apocalypse was due to the original Phyrexians. Some of it was pretty screwed up, but it's definitely easy to miss if you don't take the time to look into it.

 

[cory64]

I probably would have gotten into Magic earlier if the sets were more flavor-controlled than they were when I first checked it out (around 2000-2002). And if the starter sets hadn't zapped all the life out of the mechanics.

 

[charlequin]

Since I only play EDH, my view may be skewed. But what's so good about Ob Nixilis? It's 5cc for phyrexian arena or non-instant murder.

The best planeswalker abilities provide card advantage, by virtue of (usually) not costing a card to use, and making someone discard/letting you draw/putting something into play/destroying something. The best PWs tend to cover two of those so every turn you're getting a guaranteed +1 CA and you have some flexibility about how.

The new Phyrexians are absolutely more horrifying than the old ones in terms of both mechanics and on-card story

This is one of the places where I feel like the advancement of style guides has really been hugely beneficial. For every card like Phyrexian Splicer up there that was creepy as heck, there was something like

or

that's just kind of goofy.

One thing I will say for their approach at that point, though: it's almost entirely by accident, but the way they slowly build up Phyrexia as this horrible enemy on one or two cards every set through the first three or four years of the game, only to reveal that they're behind Volrath in like Urza's Saga, was pretty boss.

I probably would have gotten into Magic earlier if the sets were more flavor-controlled than they were when I first checked it out (around 2000-2002).

2001 to 2004 is what I refer to as the Nadir Of Magic Creative&#8482; because it's full of nonsensical storytelling, incomprehensibly terrible artistic decisions designed to pander to 12-year-old boys, and lazy "people from under the GREEN sun are like THIS" worldbuilding. Invasion (in 2000) avoids getting lumped in mostly because the gold theme makes it a little harder to only just have awful terrible homogeneous designs for everything.

 

[Joe Molotov]

Phyrexia becomes creepier if you read through the storylines as well. Yawgmoth dissecting a planewalker while she was still alive and conscious to try and steal her spark was pretty fucked up.

And now his corpse is a wound in the universe.

 

[siddx]

Talking about this made me go browse all the various phyrexia cards. Was always surprised phyrexian crusader didn't get more use. Burn protected plus first strike plus infect always seemed super nasty to me.

But yeah, the art is definitely an issue, not the concepts within the art but the style itself, while good, isn't really suited for horror. For instance Phyrexian Bloodstock done in the modern "realistic" style would be creepy as hell.

 

[Jhriad]

As I mentioned in a previous MTG OT ages ago, the OTs usually just remind me of how amazingly casual I am.

You're not the only one. I draft maybe once a month, typically with a small group of friends, and do all the prereleases but that's the extent of most of my play. I'd like to play more often and I'm slowly trying to get into constructed but life has a habit of getting in the way.

 

[lupin23rd]

Had an interesting question come up while playing commander this evening.

I had an Anafenza, the Foremost in play, and one of my opponents has Marchesa, the Black Rose in play. An effect goes off that would destroy everything in play.

Do all creatures end up exiled because of Anafenza, or do the ones with +1/+1 counters come back into play at end of turn because of Marchesa?

 

[duxstar]

Had an interesting question come up while playing commander this evening.

I had an Anafenza, the Foremost in play, and one of my opponents has Marchesa, the Black Rose in play. An effect goes off that would destroy everything in play.

Do all creatures end up exiled because of Anafenza, or do the ones with +1/+1 counters come back into play at end of turn because of Marchesa?

99% Sure they all get exiled

 

[Yeef]

You're not the only one. I draft maybe once a month, typically with a small group of friends, and do all the prereleases but that's the extent of most of my play. I'd like to play more often and I'm slowly trying to get into constructed but life has a habit of getting in the way.

The enfranchised players just tend to be the vocal minority; according to Wizards' own market research, 94% of Magic is played is casual play at home.

Had an interesting question come up while playing commander this evening.

I had an Anafenza, the Foremost in play, and one of my opponents has Marchesa, the Black Rose in play. An effect goes off that would destroy everything in play.

Do all creatures end up exiled because of Anafenza, or do the ones with +1/+1 counters come back into play at end of turn because of Marchesa?

They'd all be exiled. Replacement effects like Anafenza's look at the game state as it is before permanents change zones and then apply to any zone changes. For the same reason, if you ever destroy a Rest in Peace it gets exiled from its own effect.

 

[Firemind]

Rise of the Eldrazi: Top 5 Set of all time, best retail draft format ever. My only regret is that I didn't get to draft it even more.

You can still draft it for one whole day online. Drafted it yesterday since I still had packs lying around and... meh. Got murdered by Pelakka Wurm and Ulamog Crusher on turn 4 or 5. Didn't see one Narcolepsy.

Invasion block is the greatest of all time.

I did a few flashback drafts in the past and while it had some amazing cards and flavour, I realized you're always scrounging for playables and the mana bases are terrible unless you're green. I guess nostalgia kind of clouds us in a way, since I remember opening one of the legendary dragons in drafts has always been something people like to brag about. And Flametongue Kavu is sensational. Magma Burst as well.

I still regard Ravnica block as the best multicolour block of all time. Probably followed by Invasion. Ironically, Return to Ravnica is one of the worst multicolour blocks of all time.

 

[Vyktal]

Hey guys, on+off Magic player here, last dipped in during Theros, looking to get back into Magic again. Got some questions I'd appreciate advice on!

1) With the change to set rotations in standard, I'm trying to get my head around there being no core set anymore. In the past, every year had some core basic cards (i.e. Arrest/Counterspell) that you had to buy all over again to keep the card legal for Standard (always annoyed me, seems like a waste).If they're no longer doing core sets, does that mean that the "Magic Core Set" from earlier this year will be used from now on to get these core cards and stay standard legal? Or will these core cards only ever be obtained from the new sets being rotated each year? Or (heaven forbid) are these core cards going to largely be gone for good, but replaced with other cards every year with similar effects?

2) The very good OT details that getting into Magic, they recommend starting with an Intro Pack / Deck Bulders Toolkit. With the cards from these packs, when do they rotate out of Standard (or rather, what set on the rotation do they count as being drawn from)?

3) If it's even possible, what's the cheapest way to build a mildly competitive collection for Standard?

4) QUESTION TO PARENTS
The wife and I have our first baby on the way. I remember the excitement of card games from my childhood and would like to share the hobby, BUT I also fear that MTG is a game where it's easy to burn money to get cards you want. I'd like the kid to enjoy the game without then becoming obsessed with spending huge amounts, or becoming overly materialistic (if they even enjoy the hobby and decide to take it up).
Do you have any advice on introducing your child to the game? At what age were they introduced? What ground rules did you set up?

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TLDR
Will core cards (i.e. Counterspell) remain in rotation, if so from what set?
What rotation do intro packs come from?
Cheapest+funnest way to get into the hobby?
Any tips from parents getting kids into the hobby?


Thanks a bunch everyone!

 

[Maledict]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you never had to rebuy cards. If a card was legal in a format, such as standard, then every version of it was legal no matter when it was printed.

A lot of people go out of their way to use very old copies of cards for bragging rights in their standard decks.