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Magic: The Gathering |OT|

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Chojin said:
Curse of Death's Hold - Rare

Enchantment - Aura Curse 3BB
Enchant Player
Creatures enchanted player controls gets -1/-1.
May you and all your kin waste and wither until your clan is no more.
Illus. Clint Cearley #94/264

Kind of meh. It's a powerful effect, but at 5 mana I'd rather be playing 2 turns later or podding up Elesh Norn.

I feel its way overcosted. But what would you cost it at? 4, but 2BB? 3B? 1BBB?
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Think you're really selling this card short. It couldn't be costed at any less mana. Night of Souls' Betrayal has seen a lot of play and this is a nice take on it. Not an amazing card but definitely constructed playable given a certain type of metagame (obviously one loaded with small creatures)
 
darkside31337 said:
I really love Endless Ranks.

I'm so glad they reprinted Zombie Infestation in M12. That card has some awesome levels of synergy with Endless Ranks. Hoping there's a decent Zombie deck to be had.
Click to expand...

Thats the card that came to mind as soon as I saw Endless Ranks. Since blue seems to be the other "Zombie" color I don't think its going to be hard to fill your hand up to pitch to the Infestation. Granted I'd rather just be casting more zombies, but I can see situations where there's going to be some duds to throw out. Besides, Pharaohs like to be entombed, true story.


darkside31337 said:
Think you're really selling this card short. It couldn't be costed at any less mana. Night of Souls' Betrayal has seen a lot of play and this is a nice take on it. Not an amazing card but definitely constructed playable given a certain type of metagame (obviously one loaded with small creatures)
Click to expand...

Legendary or not, there's a massive Grand Canyon between CMC 4 and CMC 5. If you're going to -1/-1 a bunch of dorks as "removal" you're going to want to get it done turn 4, not turn 5. For 5 mana I'd rather be playing a card that's going to win me the game, not stall or slow down my opponent.


Orayn said:
Wow, there's a lot of really cool top-down, flavor based design going on in just about every card we've had spoiled so far, and the mechanical side of things is looking pretty good, too. The "new Homelands" label will be more than welcome if we can get a nice healthy power level with less of the weird unevenness we've been seeing since Shards of Alara.
Click to expand...


Its the same feeling I got. Flavorwise, its reminding me of Kamigawa in that aspect too. Of course the mechanics are completely different but hey, so is the setting. In terms of the flavor, the backstory, the top downness of how everything interacts. Its Kamigawa 2.0. Not that I hate that, its still a set I look on fondly.

I guess they just need to get us geared up for the return to Ravnica anyway ;)
 
I like Mindshrieker a lot, it's pretty sick in limited at least.

Can't think of much to abuse it with in constructed other than Vengeful Pharaoh which seems to have a lot of synergy with a lot of spoiled cards thus far.
 
One more card!
HLZNE.jpg
 
That Garruk will fit quite nicely in my Ghave deck. Free token or a creature tutor every turn will be insane. I one that zombie token card too.toothed
 
Guys, what do you think about Mirrodin as of now?
I returned to Magic with this set, and I have to say that I loved the design and the set also, even if T2 was really....how to put it...dumb? But I did not see that dumbness because of Scars block, but because of the previous block. Jace, brr.

Now that it rotates out, I think overlooked cards might be able to shine, or is that naive to think? :D
 
V_Arnold said:
Guys, what do you think about Mirrodin as of now?
I returned to Magic with this set, and I have to say that I loved the design and the set also, even if T2 was really....how to put it...dumb? But I did not see that dumbness because of Scars block, but because of the previous block. Jace, brr.

Now that it rotates out, I think overlooked cards might be able to shine, or is that naive to think? :D
Click to expand...
No, I definitely agree. Zendikar and Alara were on the high end of the power curve, so they warped Standard while they were in. Scars-Inn is probably going to let a lot of Scars cards start to shine.
 
V_Arnold said:
Guys, what do you think about Mirrodin as of now?
I returned to Magic with this set, and I have to say that I loved the design and the set also, even if T2 was really....how to put it...dumb? But I did not see that dumbness because of Scars block, but because of the previous block. Jace, brr.

Now that it rotates out, I think overlooked cards might be able to shine, or is that naive to think? :D
Click to expand...


I totally think Scars was overshadowed by the bonkers that was Zendikar and Worldwake. Phyrexian Mana Color Pie fuckery aside, the power level just wasn't the same. Not that Scars has horrible cards. Its just some of the mechanics are a bit underwhelming. With Zendikar gone we'll see Scars really get its spotlight.

The thing is though, I'm not seeing interblock synergy like I did with previous sets. Kamigawa transitioned so smoothly into Ravnica, and then Ravnica into Time Spiral. Lorwyn and Alara mixed fairly well too. Zendikar and Scars barely worked together in decks and I don't really see the synergy with Scars and Innistrad as of yet. Scars block has what... three shitty vampires and only one decent zombie that doesn't work well with others cause its got Infect? Humans may be the ticket though. At least there's a few humans in both sets.

I don't see the mechanics working with each other either. Metalcraft? Proliferate and maybe battle cry would play nice in Innistrad, but Poison and Metalcraft are useless with Innistrad itself.
 
Blocks aren't working together- or even within- (outside of the proliferate shenanigans, which no one really plays anyhow) because of R&D's new focus on flavor first. If the mechanics are developed out of the flavor they want to build, then obviously previous mechanics aren't playing a defining role in how the new mechanics are built.

Wonder if Blazing Shoal is the real deal or if it's just stealing some easy wins and making a big scene as a result. Got my finger on the buy trigger right now lol.

The_Technomancer said:
No, I definitely agree. Zendikar and Alara were on the high end of the power curve, so they warped Standard while they were in. Scars-Inn is probably going to let a lot of Scars cards start to shine.
Click to expand...

We've been on a power decline since Lorwyn, really. Alara's Standard rep, Jund, didn't really start to dominate until after tons of tools had been thrown its way in Volcanic Fallout, GSS, etc. and even then Faeries/5CC dominated due to the fixing and power of Cryptic Command. (Bitterblossom didn't hurt either) Similarly, Zendikar's archetype's didn't take off until after Alara left. There have been really powerful cards in all of these sets, to be sure, and the titan cycle was pure power creep, but I think we're still declining in power from Lorwyn and INN is the weakest set since, at least from what has been revealed thus far.
 
[Rant on]
**This has nothing to do with anything on here **

I have come to the conclusion after my time on MtG forums that I fucking hate a huge number of Magic players.

Though I guess it is no different than on the gaming side of this forum, everyone is so fucking full of themselves and everything always sucks.
Oh that is that it sucks until someone hits top 8 with a card or a combo and then all of the sudden that card is all of the sudden good.

Every time there is a new set I wade through post after post about this sucks, that sucks I am leet power gamer and I know it sucks blah blah blah.

Really glad that most players at my local shops and at tourneys that I go to are not generally like that.

I swear the internet just makes people inherently fucktarded at times. [/Rant off]

Anyway, now that it is out of my system...

There are so many new possibilities opening up with this set, I am hugely in cardboard man love with the new Garruk.
 
Keru_Shiri said:
Any other gaffers at Dragon Con? In line right now to see Richard Garfield! :)
Click to expand...

Get me a signed Elf :)

I miss Dragon Con, been years since I have been able to get there.
 
Man I hate that the Titans were reprinted. Hate those things...

Also, how did Kamigawa transition into Ravnica? Kamigawa's main mechanics were all spirit-based (and legend based), and they kind of made that work by giving Ravnica a spirit subtheme, but its not like they fit together like LEGOs
 
OnPoint said:
So how does this work? Because if I do the math it only creates an 11/1 creature (still great for turn 2, no doubt). I feel stupid lol
Click to expand...

It is an infect creature though
 
It's a bit powerful. I'm not happy with infect as a mechanic because it's so heavily exploitable (though it's not as bad as affinity)

Stupid question time.

If you use something that's "indestructable" as a sacrifice cost, what happens to the permanent?
 
OnPoint said:
It's a bit powerful. I'm not happy with infect as a mechanic because it's so heavily exploitable (though it's not as bad as affinity)

Stupid question time.

If you use something that's "indestructable" as a sacrifice cost, what happens to the permanent?
Click to expand...

It gets sacrificed like normal. Indestructable prevents it from being destroyed via damage or other means, but sacrificing it or lowering it's toughness to 0 (such as with -1/-1's) will cause it to die.
 
OnPoint said:
It's a bit powerful. I'm not happy with infect as a mechanic because it's so heavily exploitable (though it's not as bad as affinity)

Stupid question time.

If you use something that's "indestructible" as a sacrifice cost, what happens to the permanent?
Click to expand...

Sacrifice and -1 -1 counters are the main way to kill indestructible creatures because it gets around the indestructible status.

Edit: Beaten!
 
Alright, one more for the road.

I have a Primeval Titan in play. It gets Oblivion Ring'd (or something else removes it from play, whatever may be the case). The Ring gets destroyed, returning the Titan to play on my turn. Does his ability trigger?
 
OnPoint said:
Alright, one more for the road.

I have a Primeval Titan in play. It gets Oblivion Ring'd (or something else removes it from play, whatever may be the case). The Ring gets destroyed, returning the Titan to play on my turn. Does his ability trigger?
Click to expand...

Yes. It enters the battlefield under your control when the Ring is destroyed per the card text.


Early PT results have Cloudpost decks at 20% of the metagame, with Zoo at 15% and Splinter Twin at 17%. Seems about right (if a bit miserable, as the Cloudpost deck's existence is highly oppressive to the rest of the format).
 
Hm. So I could in theory: Oblivion Ring my own Titan, play All is Dust, destroy the Ring, get my Titan back AND get two lands?

Ridiculous.
 
Hex said:
[Rant on]
**This has nothing to do with anything on here **

I have come to the conclusion after my time on MtG forums that I fucking hate a huge number of Magic players.

Though I guess it is no different than on the gaming side of this forum, everyone is so fucking full of themselves and everything always sucks.
Oh that is that it sucks until someone hits top 8 with a card or a combo and then all of the sudden that card is all of the sudden good.

Every time there is a new set I wade through post after post about this sucks, that sucks I am leet power gamer and I know it sucks blah blah blah.

Really glad that most players at my local shops and at tourneys that I go to are not generally like that.

I swear the internet just makes people inherently fucktarded at times. [/Rant off]

Anyway, now that it is out of my system...

There are so many new possibilities opening up with this set, I am hugely in cardboard man love with the new Garruk.
Click to expand...

I agree completely, I find a good 80% of magic players to be intolerable. They are worse online where they dont risk getting punched in the face for running their mouths. There are a handful of guys and girls I play with that I genuinely like, but even some of the guys I play with on a regular basis and consider friends irritate the shit out of me when we play.

Also, I'm surprised we never got a mtg animated series. Something focused on the slightly older crowd, no card playing dipshits with idiotic hair or mutant children poaching animals. Just take the magic lore and turn it into a show. It just sounds like a no brainer and a wasted potential revenue stream/chance for more exposure.
 
Combo seems like it's running rampant in the new format, both in terms of what's doing well and in general- combo decks make up about 66% of the field! That leaves a third for aggro, control and midrange. Was really hoping to see at least one control archetype do well. Should have a better chance after the format settles down and there are less decks to worry about, I suppose. Wonder how willing Wizards will be to ban/unban in Modern.
 
siddx said:
I agree completely, I find a good 80% of magic players to be intolerable. They are worse online where they dont risk getting punched in the face for running their mouths. There are a handful of guys and girls I play with that I genuinely like, but even some of the guys I play with on a regular basis and consider friends irritate the shit out of me when we play.
Click to expand...
Sad to say I feel this way too. I play with close friends, the hobby store seen is just....ehhhhhhh
 
I really wish there were closer places to draft for me. It's an hour drive to the nearest barely acceptable draft, 2 to the only decent one.
I'm actually a fairly decent limited player, usually ending up with a winning record and sneaking into the top 8 with a 4-1 or 5-2 record quite often. Even on my "only ok" days I usually go 3-2. The only reason my dci ranking is still above 1600 after all this time is due to drafts, otherwise my shitty play in constructed would have destroyed me.
 
Village Cannibals 2b
Creature - Human (U)
Whenever another Human dies, put a +1/+1 counter on Village Cannibals.
2/2
They have endured the horrors of Innistrad by becoming the worst monsters of all."
Illus. Bud Cook

Snapcaster Mage 1u
Creature - Human Wizard (R)
Flash
When Snapcaster Mage enters the battlefield, target instant or sorcery card in your graveyard gains flashback until end of turn. The flashback cost is equal to its mana cost.
2/1
Illus. Volkan Baga

Slayer of the Wicked 3w
Creature - Human Soldier (U)
When Slayer of the Wicked enters the battlefield, you may destroy target Vampire, Werewolf, or Zombie.

Instigator Gang 3r
Creature - Human Werewolf (R)
Attacking creatures you control get +1/+0.
At the beginning of each upkeep, if no spells were cast last turn, transform Instigator Gang.
2/3
//////////
Wildblood Pack
Creature - Werewolf
Trample
Attacking creatures you control get +3/+0.
At the beginning of each upkeep, if a player cast two or more spells last turn, transform Wildblood Pack.
5/5
Illus. Greg Staples



Snapcaster Mage is sooooo sooo good
3/2
You don't want to see his trophy room.
Illus. Anthony Palumbo
 
I was about to say, goddamn at snapcaster mage, some very interesting possibilities with him. The fact it has flash especially makes him nasty.
 
Snapcaster Mage is, hands down, my favorite card of the set thus far. Such a cool design. (and I don't think it's a coincidence that my favorite card also happens to have probably the least top down design of all the cards :P) I dunno if he's standard competitive, but he enables fun, instant speed tricks, which is what I'm all about.
 
He's going to be a top deck card at T4 thats for sure. I'm going to urza's rage you with the kicker...and at the beginning of your turn i'm going to flash him in a do it again, thanks for playing see you at the second game in 3 hours.
 
traveler said:
Snapcaster Mage is, hands down, my favorite card of the set thus far. Such a cool design. (and I don't think it's a coincidence that my favorite card also happens to have probably the least top down design of all the cards :P) I dunno if he's standard competitive, but he enables fun, instant speed tricks, which is what I'm all about.
Click to expand...

He is strong in EVERY format, it is unreal.
I knew it would be strong, every Invitational card ends up being fantastic.

He can get you anything you need any time that you need.
Counters, removals, tutors.
Anything that you have used.
In older formats he gets even more amazing.
 
I mean reading Snapcaster Mage my initial reaction is "This card is nuts! And it has flash!!" It's like Yawgmoth's Will for 1 less mana and at instant speed.
 
Can Snapcaster Mage enable Ancestral Visions for 0 out of the yard? I know the actual rulings on the Ancestral Visions say that if it had flashback, it couldn't be cast since it has no cost, but since the mage gives the card flashback with a cost equal to its cmc, shouldn't you be able to cast it?
 
traveler said:
Can Snapcaster Mage enable Ancestral Visions for 0 out of the yard? I know the actual rulings on the Ancestral Visions say that if it had flashback, it couldn't be cast since it has no cost, but since the mage gives the card flashback with a cost equal to its cmc, shouldn't you be able to cast it?
Click to expand...
Not positive on this, but I believe that no casting cost =/= 0CMC.
 
That seems like a strong enough interaction to justify running it on its own.

Edit: Oops, misread the whole cmc part. Says mana cost, as someone on Salv just pointed out to me. No free Visions, then.
 
Cyrillus said:
Not positive on this, but I believe that no casting cost =/= 0CMC.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately you can not flashback suspend cards, they get a flashback cost of "null" which essentially can not be paid.
 
The_Technomancer said:
Wait so....no casting cost =/= for purposes of Flashback, but does equal 0 for purposes of Ratchet Bombing werewolves?
Click to expand...

Yes, because the way flashback works is you're casting is as if it was in your hand. Is the same reason why you can't pay "0" to cast Ancestral Recall or Evermind from your hand. They're still CMC = 0, but its still not castable through "regular" means.

All cards have a CMC. Lands have a CMC. You still don't "cast" lands.

Ancestral Recall [edit: I mean Visions] and Hypergenesis have CMC. It's 0. This is why it works with cascade and bloodbraid elf. Notice the reminder text in cascade: "When you play this spell, remove cards from the top of your library from the game until you remove a nonland card that costs less. You may play it without paying its mana cost. Put the removed cards on the bottom in a random order" It specifically says Non-land due to even it having a CMC.
 
Unfortunately you can not flashback suspend cards, they get a flashback cost of "null" which essentially can not be paid.
Click to expand...

You can flashback most cards with suspend just fine, just not those Time Spiral ones that have no mana cost (Restore Balance, Ancestral Vision, Living End, Wheel of Fate, and Hypergenesis).
 
My shop's tournaments are really picking up. We had a good turnout for FNM last night and it went to midnight.

Draft is today, FNM every Friday, Mini-Masters next Saturday, and then both Innistrad Pre-release and release. Looking forward to this month.
 
Top 8 from Pro Tour Philly is now up here. Not a huge surprise that is a dominated by combo, but I do wish we had access to at least the top 16 to see more of the top stuff and more variety.

Video coverage of the top 8 will start tomorrow morning.
 
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