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[Crocodile]

Spoiler

........I like boob armor

Spoiler

Though I'm also a fan of design variety. I certainly think Magic would probably be better off with more Malach of the Dawns. Also no female demons is pretty stupid too.

With regards to the new Coastal Tower cycle, I don't mind their existence in theory but the fact that they take up uncommon slots in draft and presumably edge out more interesting/fun designs (since there will be a limit to how much fixing WOTC wants in a format) bums me out a bit.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Were the plain etbt lands ever playable on constructed? Last format I remember seeing them played was Invasion Block.

They've made a very concerted effort to continually print rare-level lands to sell packs and those can't really be rare, so its not surprising that you don't see them much anymore.

 

[kirblar]

They're coming back into prominence explicitly because of faster rotation- they need something there so that decks have a baseline option in case something funny happens w/ color availability.

 

[G.ZZZ]

Were the plain etbt lands ever playable on constructed? Last format I remember seeing them played was Invasion Block.

Not since invasion block iirc. Refuges were somewhat playable, but promote grindy games.

Non-taplands in general are harder to understand and less elegant. The only thing comparable are the original dual lands. Legendary duals could be close too, in term of simplicity, and their power level wouldn't be obnoxius in standard, especially without fetches or land types. They however have the problem of self-sacrifice in multiples which apparently new players don't like because legendary rule's dumb kappo.
An alternative super simple cycle could be:

Dual land- whatever
You can't play this land on your first turn.

With land types this would be an amazing budget alternative for eternal formats too. Unprintable though with fetches in standard, since it's essentially a dual then (the "can't play if it's your first turn" don't matter with fetches).

 

[charlequin]

Odric, Defender of the Parish 2WW

Again, please don't do this. We're in real spoiler season, random fakes are confusing unless you put them in like an orange border with a giant THIS IS FAKE MOFOS on it.

Colourshifted though

Yeah, specifically alternate universe.

What?

Backdated to be an angel in the Great Creature Type Update, heh.

It doesn't seem that awkward to me. To my knowledge there's no real story relevance for all angels being female and all demons being male.

It's awkward because they've made such a big deal of it for so long that if they break it without saying anything then it's just endless questions from everyone who's ever followed the worldbuilding side of the game asking why there are male angels all of a sudden. Like basically how disruptive it is to retcon anything in Magic is proportional to how many people know what the original truth was and this is one that a ton of people know.

The style guide problem has been around for a while. Like in original Ravnica you had every Izzet mage looking the same because everyone was following the style guide. Odyssey block had a bunch of samey-looking barbarians and minion pit fighters.

They've gotten a lot better about this particular issue overall, I think. Odyssey/Onslaught/Mirrodin were like the nadir of this -- I call it the "people under the blue sun" problem.

Were the plain etbt lands ever playable on constructed? Last format I remember seeing them played was Invasion Block.

Randy Buehler has a story about how on literally his first day he convinced the dev team to print the original tap lands, because they were worried that they were too good, lulz.

The best thing that Wizards coverage has done to attempt to make limited watchable has been to feature a player on coverage starting with deck construction and follow their deck through the day. It creates the best narrative for the audience that they can. The only problem with that is that you have your coverage live and die with the chances of a single team, here.

Yeah, unfortunately I think the solution here is to film little intro sequences for a bunch of teams at the time of deck building and then pick one to feature at the start of each match, which would be pretty compelling but also require a ton of manpower for filming and editing.

 

[shrapnelmagnet]

It's not boob armor - it's drawn to basically be boobs without nipples.

I suppose you're correct - naked metal 'angels'. I wish she was like 2 mana cheaper, though... Said almost every Magic card ever.

The best thing that Wizards coverage has done to attempt to make limited watchable has been to feature a player on coverage starting with deck construction and follow their deck through the day.

My least favourite coverage is when it's Team Sealed. I appreciate the format and it looks like a lot of fun, but I just can't be bothered to care when it comes to watching it. And when it's coupled with the usual trappings of non-SCG Magic Coverage, it is doubly difficult.

But I 100% agree that when they follow the draft of a player and then that player's games, I am into it. Sorta why I like draft videos.

Also no female demons is pretty stupid too.

Maybe female demons ARE angels and vice versa. Like Satyrs and Nymphs. (99% kidding)

 

[Angry Grimace]

Again, please don't do this. We're in real spoiler season, random fakes are confusing unless you put them in like an orange border with a giant THIS IS FAKE MOFOS on it.



Yeah, specifically alternate universe.



Backdated to be an angel in the Great Creature Type Update, heh.



It's awkward because they've made such a big deal of it for so long that if they break it without saying anything then it's just endless questions from everyone who's ever followed the worldbuilding side of the game asking why there are male angels all of a sudden. Like basically how disruptive it is to retcon anything in Magic is proportional to how many people know what the original truth was and this is one that a ton of people know.



They've gotten a lot better about this particular issue overall, I think. Odyssey/Onslaught/Mirrodin were like the nadir of this -- I call it the "people under the blue sun" problem.



Randy Buehler has a story about how on literally his first day he convinced the dev team to print the original tap lands, because they were worried that they were too good, lulz.



Yeah, unfortunately I think the solution here is to film little intro sequences for a bunch of teams at the time of deck building and then pick one to feature at the start of each match, which would be pretty compelling but also require a ton of manpower for filming and editing.

I mean, he was always pretty obviously supposed to be an Angel though. It's literally in his name!

It's also (lol) Legends.

 

[Ashodin]

Hopefully my current fakes are acceptable with my clauses around them, charlequin.

Spoiler

still think it's funny your name is the same as one who used to post a lot on mtg news forums

 

[kirblar]

Hopefully my current fakes are acceptable with my clauses around them, charlequin.

Spoiler

still think it's funny your name is the same as one who used to post a lot on mtg news forums

lol @ that being your takeaway.

 

[Infinite Stars]

If a card had been leaked/revealed and I saw it hadn't been pushed, I'd have posted it, not just a text summary. Won't do that in the future though, even though I think speculation with no picture isn't that bad, especially since Spoiler season still hasn't begun. (See the 3-4 Sorin ideas in the last 10 pages)

 

[Angry Grimace]

It's not boob armor - it's drawn to basically be boobs without nipples.

Aside:

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/ur/lunarchs-journal-2014-08-13

Relevant (two years ago!) story.

Apparently the fourth sister was Marcyz. I mean it doesn't explicitly say that's the fourth angel but there are damning things:

• She had dealings with demons (could have betrayed her)
• It was ages ago, when Marcyz would be still alive with the other sisters

Actually, thinking about it, the story says they exsanguinated her.... soo that means she should have died there. Maybe not then.

Marcyz was the angel who Edgar Markov captured and killed to create Vampirism as part of a demonic pact which resulting in the spread of Vampirism on Innistrad. Marcyz was killed well before Sorin created Avacyn, who allegedly killed the Chekov's Sister.

It doesn't make much sense for it to be Marcyz.

 

[Ashodin]

That angel sister made a pact with a demon to ensure both survive no matter what, she's coming baaaaaaaaack!

 

[Angry Grimace]

I would be surprised if Angels can be permanently killed anyways, even by Sorin.

 

[Ashodin]

I would be surprised if Angels can be permanently killed anyways, even by Sorin.

Well obvs he can only kill his own duhhhhhhhhhhh

 

[Haines]

Going to do first limited testing with my proxies tmrw.

Excited to toy around with the new cards and get the mechanics sorted out a bit.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Not gonna be drafting this month in preparation of rotation gotta stock up on fetches.

 

[OnPoint]

If a card had been leaked/revealed and I saw it hadn't been pushed, I'd have posted it, not just a text summary. Won't do that in the future though, even though I think speculation with no picture isn't that bad, especially since Spoiler season still hasn't begun. (See the 3-4 Sorin ideas in the last 10 pages)

Yeah I shouldn't have been posting those though. I know now for next season.

 

[bigkrev]

So, uh, GP Toronto, a Constructed GP, is $70
What the hell

 

["God's Beard!"]

So, uh, GP Toronto, a Constructed GP, is $70
What the hell

Competitive Magic is getting less interesting all the time.

 

[kirblar]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";198014221]Competitive Magic is getting less interesting all the time.[/QUOTE]
Yup. Entries keep skyrocketing while prizes stagnate.

 

[pigeon]

Hopefully my current fakes are acceptable with my clauses around them, charlequin.

Spoiler

still think it's funny your name is the same as one who used to post a lot on mtg news forums

And now he posts in the mtg thread on this forum. Amazing coincidence, question mark.

 

["God's Beard!"]

Yup. Entries keep skyrocketing while prizes stagnate.

I actually hate that selling all my magic decks was the right choice, but this is complete nonsense. Standard decks cost what Modern decks used to, Legacy is all but dead, and Modern was always hot garbage.

There is so little incentive to compete in constructed with any regularity. What am I going to do, build a 600 dollar Standard deck and go to FNM to win 5 packs? Even PPTQs are charging 30 dollar entries for constructed. 25 for a goddamn GPT. A GODDAMN GPT.

 

[Angry Grimace]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";198015123]I actually hate that selling all my magic decks was the right choice, but this is complete nonsense. Standard decks cost what Modern decks used to, Legacy is all but dead, and Modern was always hot garbage.

There is so little incentive to compete in constructed with any regularity. What am I going to do, build a 600 dollar Standard deck and go to FNM to win 5 packs? Even PPTQs are charging 30 dollar entries for constructed. 25 for a goddamn GPT. A GODDAMN GPT.[/QUOTE]Theyre not gonna cost 600 dollars in like a month dude. Even if Jace is still 75 bucks in 2 months I doubt the rest of a random deck is gonna cost that much unless the only competitive deck is a Jace deck.

 

["God's Beard!"]

theyre not gonna cost 600 dollars in like a month dude

No, but GPs will still be 70 bucks. What I'm saying is the cost of staying competitive is way too high and the rewards just aren't there. And I don't get any enjoyment out of playing Magic when I'm not trying to win. The constant investment with no return just feels pointless. Even if I win a bunch of win a boxes and top 8 multiple PPTQs, it doesn't even earn back the money I put into the deck.

So it's basically limited PPTQs for me. It's basically the only thing left keeping my interest.

 

[Angry Grimace]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";198015779]No, but GPs will still be 70 bucks. What I'm saying is the cost of staying competitive is way too high and the rewards just aren't there. And I don't get any enjoyment out of playing Magic when I'm not trying to win.

So it's basically limited PPTQs for me. It's basically the only thing left keeping my interest.[/QUOTE]
Oh well okay. I don't care about competitive Magic. It's too hard and the rewards were never good. It's supposed to be fun, not work.

 

[Yeef]

There's no real reason for a store to charge more for a GPT vs. a regular event, assuming the same payout. GPT's need a level 1 judge, but I'd expect most stores to have one on staff. Other than that, there's no associated extra cost.

 

["God's Beard!"]

Oh well okay. I don't care about competitive Magic. It's too hard and the rewards were never good. It's supposed to be fun, not work.

I just want to play on the pro tour once to see what it's like. At least you get to travel.

I'm so tired of getting 2nd place, top 4s, getting 9th on tiebreakers at 80-man pptqs that go from noon until 1am.

It used to be fun playing those long-ass tournaments, but the closer I get more consistently the more disappointed I am every time.

 

[charlequin]

So, uh, GP Toronto, a Constructed GP, is $70
What the hell

What's a typical percentage of entry fees dedicated to the purse? It takes ~714 players to pay for the guaranteed prize money on the site, so at their attendance from last year (1600-ish) that's 44% of the entry fees going to the purse. (It goes down if their attendance goes up, since it's a flat structure.) I think the bigger problem there is that the payoff curve is too steep -- top 64 of a 1600 player event is only 4% in the money.

 

[bigkrev]

Guys, I'm stupid. It's $70 CANADIAN, which is $50 USD. I probably should have realized that, and the actual registration page uses CAD, but the main webpage uses $70. That's more in line with what GPs cost these days sadly.

They are also giving six packs with the entry for some reason?

 

[keeblerdrow]

Wasn't GP Detroit $65? It's one of the reasons I changed my plans to go to that. Oh, and it was Professional Event Services again. Fuck their GPs.

 

["God's Beard!"]

What's a typical percentage of entry fees dedicated to the purse? .

My understanding is that the prize pool was provided entirely by WotC. Is that not correct?

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

It bothers me never got a PW with +1: Proliferate

 

[Yeef]

It bothers me never got a PW with +1: Proliferate

Ajani Steadfast basically does that, but as a -2.

 

[charlequin]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";198018151]My understanding is that the prize pool was provided entirely by WotC. Is that not correct?[/QUOTE]

I don't know the details of how the organizing and funding works, I just figure that's a decent proxy for value to the people paying the entry fees.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Ajani Steadfast basically does that, but as a -2.

not really

 

[Yeef]

not really

In most standard formats in recent memory it's effectively the same thing. A walker that could proliferate as a + ability would have to be expensive enough to be unplayable in most nonstandard formats. Wizards is already cautious of giving infect too many tools in Modern.

 

[Ashodin]

And now he posts in the mtg thread on this forum. Amazing coincidence, question mark.

I never knew it was the same person, it could not have been.

charlequin and I have been good friends for longer than I thought then

 

[kirblar]

I'm a really big fan of that guy on twitter who top7'd the GDS2 test.

 

[Lazy vs Crazy]

So, uh, GP Toronto, a Constructed GP, is $70
What the hell

The Canadian dollar is way down. That's like $50 us.

 

[OnPoint]

I should consider going to the Toronto event but it's probably standard huh?

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

In most standard formats in recent memory it's effectively the same thing. A walker that could proliferate as a + ability would have to be expensive enough to be unplayable in most nonstandard formats. Wizards is already cautious of giving infect too many tools in Modern.

Ajani steadfast doesn't prerequisite counters he places them irregardless and only on yours.
Also there's always artifact and/or enchantments, lands with their own form of counters.
Heck it'd be secret tech against thing in the ice just now if they'd make proliferate in the fall set.

If it cost 4CMC which is already the most common cost for PWs he'd be too costly for infect already.
Also there's contagion clasp that costs 2 to play and 4 to activate proliferate respectively.

 

["God's Beard!"]

I'm a really big fan of that guy on twitter who top7'd the GDS2 test.

?

 

[kirblar]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";198029937]?[/QUOTE]

Spoiler

I'm referring to myself

 

["God's Beard!"]

Spoiler

I'm referring to myself

Pretty random statement.

 

[kirblar]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";198030629]Pretty random statement.[/QUOTE]
It's a joke because of Ashodin's last few posts.

 

[SigmasonicX]

For the SOI OT header image, I was tempted to go with this:

But I think I'll go with this instead, which required some hue shifting for the logo.

 

[kirblar]

Top one looks better.

 

["God's Beard!"]

Top one has the logo right over jace's face.

 

[kirblar]

The red looks really off.

 

[charlequin]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";198031759]Top one has the logo right over jace's face.[/QUOTE]

we all agree that's a plus, right