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Magic: the Gathering - Oath o/t Gatewatch |OT| Look again, the mana is now diamonds!
- Thread starter SigmasonicX
- Start date
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Wouldn't be surprised if he isn't getting one until MiniJace goes away.
"God's Beard!"
Member
Everything that isn't INN, KTK, ROE or Cube is a letdown as far as I'm concerned.
Maro's spoiler:
This is the card that is going to push that Eldrazi modern deck over the top. A Turn 2-3 real threat that also Thoughtsiezes?
I'm guessing Eye of Ugin gets banned at some point.
divisionbyzorro
Member
A deck has been a deck for a month and we're already talking about bans? SMH
Until this card I don't think the subject even came up, the deck's clearly beatable and has bad matchups. This card is just kind of silly with how it interacts w/ the rest of the shell.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Eye of Ugin is basically Mishra's Workshop in the Eldrazi deck.
I'm not really concerned about bans quite yet but I could see Eldrazi Temple getting the axe over Eye of Ugin if it ever came to that - Eye of Ugin has an actual use in other reasonable decks.
I'm not really concerned about bans quite yet but I could see Eldrazi Temple getting the axe over Eye of Ugin if it ever came to that - Eye of Ugin has an actual use in other reasonable decks.
Those were just the first examples that I could think of. Not every piece of art in a set need be up to RKF's level but the sets need to be more open to different styles that are outside the style guide for each set/block or at least be more flexible with the direction. The near absolute uniformity of the non-reprint cards in each set is mind numbing. I'm not arguing that the art quality is worse now, it's obviously waaaay better across the board. It's just damn repetitive. I loved the fact that back in the day I could crack open a pack of Mirage and open a breadth of things like Robert Bliss' more darkly playful Goblin Soothsayer, Drew Tucker's Agility, Ian Miller's Horrible Hordes, and Adam Rex's Igneous Golem. For fuck's sake WOTC, be more flexible and bring back a bit of playfulness to some of the cards. That's all I'm asking.
That's true. Also, Eye + Urborg doesn't let you T2 this guy.
charlequin
Banned
Yup, this was the other clue for me that this wasn't permanent-permanent.
I mean, sort of, except converge is stupid and barely there?
If you did this on Ravnica you could actually do it as a small number of purely colorless eldrazi without any of the devoid stuff, and then have the color side still be guild-themed instead of 5-color.
Yes, it's pretty much always better to have set value distributed fairly evenly.
I'm certainly not going to fight you on that.
Unfortunately there's a lot of trouble with finding ways to vary the art with the specific sets they do. It worked out really well in, say, New Phyrexia where they could get some more expressionistic pieces and give people the room to go crazy with their nightmare-fuel ideas, but the last block before that with a style really conducive to this sort of thing was Lorwyn, which we know was a big flop.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Every single person on MTGO should be sent a slow play warning just for good measure and have their upkeep stops removed.
divisionbyzorro
Member
"God's Beard!"
Member
Imagine shot clocks in paper magic!
*Opponent is dead on board
*takes a nap on the table for 20 minutes without conceding
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
As much as the idea of this Eldrazi deck is out there, its really bad if and when you don't draw both Eye of Ugin and Claws/Relic. I have yet to win a match, which is pretty bad. I'm not great shakes at it yet, but its very hard to do anything if you don't get one of your unfair cards in Eye or Temple.
Beating up fair decks seems less exciting when you get owned by every non-Living End combo deck.
Beating up fair decks seems less exciting when you get owned by every non-Living End combo deck.
Infinite Stars
Member
I'm thinking based on that hook that we're not going to see Emrakul for a while, at least not until BFZ rotates. The Eldrazi are the foundation of the Gate League, so it's only fair to have them linger in the back for a bit.
I'm actually beginning to think that we might see the New Phyrexians in SoI. It's not a well founded idea, but with the UR hinting that Avacyn's true purpose is becoming known I could see a lot of dissatisfied Followers looking for a new diety. And Elesh Norn's beliefs would fit right into the fear/zealotry that the church was beginning to practice post AVR.
It would give Wizards a reason to move from Emrakul for now, give them an out for Elspeth to pop back up into the plot, etc. Plus, it would mean we could return to New Phyrexian at some point and get a new Koth.
I'm actually beginning to think that we might see the New Phyrexians in SoI. It's not a well founded idea, but with the UR hinting that Avacyn's true purpose is becoming known I could see a lot of dissatisfied Followers looking for a new diety. And Elesh Norn's beliefs would fit right into the fear/zealotry that the church was beginning to practice post AVR.
It would give Wizards a reason to move from Emrakul for now, give them an out for Elspeth to pop back up into the plot, etc. Plus, it would mean we could return to New Phyrexian at some point and get a new Koth.
Ummm what about Chandra, Nissa and Gideon?
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
none of them
You don't remember Lorthos's tragic death?
Also Oran-Rief and Sea-Gate, but mostly Lorthos. Rest in peace you amazing octopus.
Definitely an improvement.
"God's Beard!"
Member
Only 3 days left until the GP! My roommate and I are testing every day this week, and here's where my Yore-Tiller deck is at:
Lots of adjustments in my sideboard. Fewer high-impact spells and more efficiency. Definitely trying to work out sideboarding plans for play/draw against major decks and the cheap spells help a lot for that. I also took out the Dark Petition. It's so slow, even if the way it opens up my sideboard slots is great.
In terms of the main, I'm not sure on running all 4 Ojutai's Commands and 3 Digs. I'm a little worried about my opening hands being too slow. Fathom Feeder is great against Abzan but terrible against tokens, so I don't know if I should just play 3 Soulfires and Dragonmasters to stay as consistent as possible. The fact that I can use Ojutai's Command as a removal spell in some matchups is great and a huge reason why I play 4.
If I were to make a change based on this, I could see cutting the 4th Command and the feeders, and adding the third Dragonmaster, Soulfire and Painful Truths.
Any insight into these ideas or general advice would be awesome. I'm sure I'm missing something.
Right now our gauntlet is the following decks:
Lots of adjustments in my sideboard. Fewer high-impact spells and more efficiency. Definitely trying to work out sideboarding plans for play/draw against major decks and the cheap spells help a lot for that. I also took out the Dark Petition. It's so slow, even if the way it opens up my sideboard slots is great.
In terms of the main, I'm not sure on running all 4 Ojutai's Commands and 3 Digs. I'm a little worried about my opening hands being too slow. Fathom Feeder is great against Abzan but terrible against tokens, so I don't know if I should just play 3 Soulfires and Dragonmasters to stay as consistent as possible. The fact that I can use Ojutai's Command as a removal spell in some matchups is great and a huge reason why I play 4.
If I were to make a change based on this, I could see cutting the 4th Command and the feeders, and adding the third Dragonmaster, Soulfire and Painful Truths.
Any insight into these ideas or general advice would be awesome. I'm sure I'm missing something.
Right now our gauntlet is the following decks:
- 4C Control
- Abzan
- Eldrazi Ramp
- Atarka Red
- 4C Rally
- Esper Dragons
I feel like you're going to see the aftermath of Emrakul moving "past" the plane. She'll leave madness and horror in her wake.
That's an interesting take on the Phyrexians and Norn fitting into the "new deity" status, I don't think they're going to do that. The Phyrexians leaving New Phyrexia will be a HUGE deal, and they just did a HUGE DEAL block with BFZ. I think SoI will be a bit more understated. Also, I don't think Elspeth is coming back until we return to Theros. I'd be shocked if she did. They'd be making a huge mistake not chronicling her journey through and victory over being dead.
SigmasonicX
Member
Not rare-exciting, but it seems quite good in Limited.
Not rare-exciting, but it seems quite good in Limited.
Really solid card.
Giant Panda
Member
The Zendikari art has been all over the place, but I've found the Eldrazi art to be nearly all top-notch throughout the block.
ThLunarian
Member
Damn. It's too bad Eldrazi Temple and Eye of Ugin can't really help with the kicker cost.
Infinite Stars
Member
Oh, sorry, should have clarified a bit better.
I still believe SoI is going to be the aftermath of Emrakul, I'm just having fun with possiblities. It's kind of irritating to me that New Phyrexia has been mostly ignored since we left it, though I guess that's partially to do with how it ended. I know Elspeth's staying on Theros for a while, but I can totally see New Phyrexia popping back up and Elspeth's the neowalker tied to Phyrexia the most. Return to Theros I could see as a rescue by Gideon or something.
"God's Beard!"
Member
Not rare-exciting, but it seems quite good in Limited.
card is nuts
Not rare-exciting, but it seems quite good in Limited.
Oath seems to be giving my Cube a lot of sweet cards. Very thankful.
I mean 1 drop creatures. I feel this set could really use, as an example, a non-snow version of Boreal Druid. But alas WOTC hates
What happened? Why was Bfz so shitty, and this set so amazing?
"God's Beard!"
Member
Well, PT OGW is Modern so we'll find out pretty soon how good it really is.
I mean 1 drop creatures. I feel this set could really use, as an example, a non-snow version of Boreal Druid. But alas WOTC hatesfunone drop elves now or something
I was being a smart ass haha I knew what you meant. I don't think WOTC is down with that, which is too bad. I miss 1-CMC mana dorks.
"God's Beard!"
Member
It kind of blows my mind that SCG fired BBD. He won the last Standard Open, top 3'd the last Modern Open, made the finals of the last Modern GP and won the biggest Legacy event ever last year. On top of that he's one of their better writers.
[QUOTE="God's Beard!";191375306]It kind of blows my mind that SCG fired BBD. He won the last Standard Open, top 3'd the last Modern Open, made the finals of the last Modern GP and won the biggest Legacy event ever last year. On top of that he's one of their better writers.[/QUOTE]
I kinda assume they offered him a writing-only gig and he turned them down on it. He was getting paid for the on-Camera vs video stuff, and they lost their production person for that (Evan.) BBD's probably got a gig lined up for articles already. (GM or TCG.)
The "stuck in Roanoke for a year" thing is REAL shitty tho.
I kinda assume they offered him a writing-only gig and he turned them down on it. He was getting paid for the on-Camera vs video stuff, and they lost their production person for that (Evan.) BBD's probably got a gig lined up for articles already. (GM or TCG.)
The "stuck in Roanoke for a year" thing is REAL shitty tho.
"God's Beard!"
Member
Something like this, maybe?
Creatures (21)
4 Bearer of Silence
4 Wasteland Strangler
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
4 Oblivion Sower
1 Ulamog, The Ceaseless Hunger
Spells (14)
2 Expedition Map
4 Relic of Progenitus
2 Slaughter Pact
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
Land (25)
4 Swamp
1 Bojuka Bog
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Eye of Ugin
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Stuck in Roanoke?
Creatures (21)
4 Bearer of Silence
4 Wasteland Strangler
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
4 Oblivion Sower
1 Ulamog, The Ceaseless Hunger
Spells (14)
2 Expedition Map
4 Relic of Progenitus
2 Slaughter Pact
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
Land (25)
4 Swamp
1 Bojuka Bog
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Eye of Ugin
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Stuck in Roanoke?
charlequin
Banned
Yeah, the Eldrazi have a great visual style and much better art overall than the Zendikar side. There's a lot of really spectacular pieces like Drowner of Hope, Eldrazi Skyspawner, and Oracle of Dust that really sell the stoic creepiness off the Eldrazi the way it ought to be sold.
Yeah, I really want them to go back to this plotline too (the Phyrexians are far and away the best villain Magic's ever had) but it makes sense to let it rest a bit first -- it needs to continue at a point where the Phyrexians are spreading out from their new home and threatening the rest of the multiverse.
Do Elspeth and Gideon even know each other? They haven't overlapped in any blocks or anything.
BFZ is two different problems exacerbating each other. One is a bad authorial choice -- as kirblar says, Rosewater approached Eldrazi design from the wrong place and pushed them conceptually into a spot that was hard to make work. The other one is the impact of the two-block changeover -- they whipped back and forth on power level, allowable complexity, and how mechanics would evolve over the block. (I also very, very strongly suspect that there was a storyline change involved with SoI moving up in the schedule too.)
When all that adds up, they ran into the same problem a lot of bad sets have -- they threw out design work, they had to do the whole initial design in a very short period of time, and then Development had to salvage it -- which generally results in a lot of rough edges and a lower power level since they don't want to push anything too hard.
"God's Beard!"
Member
Wow.
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