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[The Technomancer]

That was like Fading right?

I want Fading to come back so I can play Blastoderm again. Then reprint Fleetfoot Panther while you're at it.

Vanishing was fixed fading: they changed the timing so that the way it worked was actually intuitive. A creature with Fading 3 actually lasts four turns, while a creature with Vanishing 3 only lasts three.

i.e

 

[Keru_Shiri]

I think Flashback will be the returning mechanic, though I suppose its possible to have two returning mechanics.

@Technomancer: I had a blast playing Jund. Then again, Jund was a boogeyman deck, so perhaps I was part of the problem.

 

[OnPoint]

I'm happy they did Coldsnap, but I wish we could get a real sequel to the Ice Age time period. That was my favorite block for the longest time (storywise), and I feel like modern card design could do something better with the base ideas it had.

 

[Enordash]

That was like Fading right?

I want Fading to come back so I can play Blastoderm again. Then reprint Fleetfoot Panther while you're at it.

They are incredibly similar. I was honestly thinking of Fading originally (I had Blastoderm in mind). Calciderm has Vanishing. They seem functionally the same, but I'm sure someone can explain a situation where they wouldn't be.

Actually... if you use something like Vampire Hexmage to remove all counters from a creature with Fading, it wouldn't immediately die, whereas if you did the same to a creature with Vanishing, it would. Correct?

Edit: This is what I get for not refreshing, lol.

I think Flashback will be the returning mechanic, though I suppose its possible to have two returning mechanics.

@Technomancer: I had a blast playing Jund. Then again, Jund was a boogeyman deck, so perhaps I was part of the problem.

Flashback would be pretty awesome. I'd also like to see Madness again eventually. Perhaps leave out Wild Mongrel this time, though.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

They should bring back banding!

 

[marrec]

Really they should bring back instant draw spells for Blue.

I mean, it's not like Blue isn't still dominating Standard Formats. Might as well let em have Fact or Fiction back.

 

[Enordash]

They should bring back banding!

Don't even joke about that, lol.

 

[WanderingWind]

Don't even joke about that, lol.

What was wrong with banding? I liked banding!

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

What was wrong with banding? I liked banding!

:lol Banding was the biggest load of bullshit ever. So many people were pissed when they learned about it when we did an ice age draft.

 

[Gvaz]

What was wrong with banding? I liked banding!

 

[WanderingWind]

:lol Banding was the biggest load of bullshit ever. So many people were pissed when they learned about it when we did an ice age draft.

Why though? Maybe I misunderstood, but it basically created one big creature out of many smaller one. Easy to creature remove, and block with little numpties.

 

[Macattk15]

Just wondering if anyone would like to buy like $70 worth of Event Tickets on MTGO through Paypal from me for say ... $60?

I won't be able to do it until tomorrow most likely ... but if anyone is interested PM me ... first come first serve.

EDIT : HAVE SOMEONE INTERESTED IN THE EVENT TICKETS.

 

[Enordash]

Why though? Maybe I misunderstood, but it basically created one big creature out of many smaller one. Easy to creature remove, and block with little numpties.

I don't think that they actually form a big creature that can be killed via a Doomblade, etc. I can see where Banding is actually pretty useful when blocking. The problem is this: Banding is hard for people to understand. I still encounter people using Trample and Deathtouch incorrectly. I can't even imagine the Hell bringing Banding back would create. I've actually read that they stopped reprinting cards with Banding in core sets because it was too difficult for new players.

If anyone is interested, I could post the long official rules for Banding.

EDIT: Here's the short version:

Banding (Any creatures with banding, and up to one without, can attack in a band. Bands are blocked as a group. If any creatures with banding you control are blocking or being blocked by a creature, you divide that creature's combat damage, not its controller, among any of the creatures it's being blocked by or is blocking.)

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

I don't think that they actually form a big creature that can be killed via a Doomblade, etc. I can see where Banding is actually pretty useful when blocking. The problem is this: Banding is hard for people to understand. I still encounter people using Trample and Deathtouch incorrectly. I can't even imagine the Hell bringing Banding back would create. I've actually read that they stopped reprinting cards with Banding in core sets because it was too difficult for new players.

If anyone is interested, I could post the long official rules for Banding.

EDIT: Here's the short version:

Banding (Any creatures with banding, and up to one without, can attack in a band. Bands are blocked as a group. If any creatures with banding you control are blocking or being blocked by a creature, you divide that creature's combat damage, not its controller, among any of the creatures it's being blocked by or is blocking.)

Ya, the assigning of damage is what broke it. It gave too much control IMO.

 

[Enordash]

I would be really excited if reanimation became a legit strategy again. Something about it has always interested me. Honestly, Innistrad seems pretty interesting regardless. Here's to hoping that Richard adds some old school feel to it. Now the previews just need to start so I can stop speculating, lol.

 

[Rokam]

Another n00b question, can you Mutagenic Growth an opponents creature, mainly thinking about the Illusion creatures...

 

[red13th]

Yeah, you can target any targetable creature unless it says "target creature you control".
I used to kill Jace's illusions with my Giant Growths on DOTP all the time!

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Another n00b question, can you Mutagenic Growth an opponents creature, mainly thinking about the Illusion creatures...

Yup! I have fun killing them with my goblin tunneler during the prerelease.

 

[Enordash]

I'm doing a Scars block draft tomorrow. I'm pretty excited but I don't really know the cards from these sets. What colors have been dominant in draft? Has it been spread pretty evenly across them? I don't know how much use it would even be to go in with an initial plan since drafts are mainly dictated by the bombs you open early. If anyone has some helpful draft advice, feel free to throw it at me. I've drafted a couple times before but a refresher wouldn't hurt since I haven't played since Alara block.

 

[V_Arnold]

I'm doing a Scars block draft tomorrow. I'm pretty excited but I don't really know the cards from these sets. What colors have been dominant in draft? Has it been spread pretty evenly across them? I don't know how much use it would even be to go in with an initial plan since drafts are mainly dictated by the bombs you open early. If anyone has some helpful draft advice, feel free to throw it at me. I've drafted a couple times before but a refresher wouldn't hurt since I haven't played since Alara block.

Alright. My main advice is to choose wisely whether you go to "infect" deck or not. Only go infect if you open with something like a Phyrexian Crusader, or a Putrefax to a certain extent (latter is a lot weaker than the Crusader). Also, the best infect creatures are in the NP booster, with a few exceptions.

Other than that, be flexible with your initial picks. There are tons of NP cards that can turn the tide easily with a Phyrexian mana cost (card like dismemberment, mental misstep or birthing pod), do not be afraid to pick them first as they will fit into any color of your choice of deck "later" on.

 

[Enordash]

Alright. My main advice is to choose wisely whether you go to "infect" deck or not. Only go infect if you open with something like a Phyrexian Crusader, or a Putrefax to a certain extent (latter is a lot weaker than the Crusader). Also, the best infect creatures are in the NP booster, with a few exceptions.

Other than that, be flexible with your initial picks. There are tons of NP cards that can turn the tide easily with a Phyrexian mana cost (card like dismemberment, mental misstep or birthing pod), do not be afraid to pick them first as they will fit into any color of your choice of deck "later" on.

Wow, the Crusader is pretty awesome. I definitely want to avoid splitting my creatures between infect and non-infect. My first instinct is to avoid infect honestly. I'm going to try and follow the BREAD approach and see how that goes (not that I was really doing much different in previous drafts). Fingers crossed that my first pack contains Wurmcoil Engine and I can just ride that baby to victory.

 

[The Technomancer]

Infect is great if you can go strongly in it, since it essentially starts your opponent at ten life. I've had much better luck with it in THG Sealed though, since my partner and I can work together to combine infect and proliferate.

 

[Leunam]

Daily Magic has an article with the new art for the over sized Timewalk and Force of Will.

 

[The Technomancer]

Daily Magic has an article with the new art for the over sized Timewalk and Force of Will.

Oh wow that Time Walk art is incredible.

 

[Kinitari]

My Golem deck is pretty awesome right now (This girl who has, up till now, consistently beat me is now my bitch) - but I have a double edged sword that I don't know for sure how to deal with. My roommate still beats me 2/5 times, and that's because he exploits my precursor golem. So much that I don't even use it when I play against him.

Is there ANYTHING I can do to work around the problem? I have 4 cards I really don't want in my deck anymore (golem foundries) - so I can replace them with anything that can help.

I don't want to buff all my shit, only to have him decimate me. I have a white green deck btw.

 

[Enordash]

Oh wow that Time Walk art is incredible.

I wish I was able to get to wizards from here, but the work computers seem to restrict a lot of sites (how neogaf isn't restricted is incredible). I won't have to worry about it too much longer as I'm currently suffering through my last day here, but the day would go so much faster if I could just read dailyMTG all day.

 

[ultron87]

My Golem deck is pretty awesome right now (This girl who has, up till now, consistently beat me is now my bitch) - but I have a double edged sword that I don't know for sure how to deal with. My roommate still beats me 2/5 times, and that's because he exploits my precursor golem. So much that I don't even use it when I play against him.

Is there ANYTHING I can do to work around the problem? I have 4 cards I really don't want in my deck anymore (golem foundries) - so I can replace them with anything that can help.

I don't want to buff all my shit, only to have him decimate me. I have a white green deck btw.

Presumably you could find some "Give protection from color of your choice until end of turn" instants you could cast to nullify whatever he is killing them with.

 

[An-Det]

Daily Magic has an article with the new art for the over sized Timewalk and Force of Will.

Those look great, damn.

 

[marrec]

Presumably you could find some "Give protection from color of your choice until end of turn" instants you could cast to nullify whatever he is killing them with.

I don't think he's killing them, Act of Treason is serious Tech against Precursor Golem. *trollface*

 

[Enordash]

Presumably you could find some "Give protection from color of your choice until end of turn" instants you could cast to nullify whatever he is killing them with.

Stave Off would work in that case, yea?

Those look great, damn.

Any hope we can get them posted in the thread for losers like me?

 

[ThLunarian]

My Golem deck is pretty awesome right now (This girl who has, up till now, consistently beat me is now my bitch) - but I have a double edged sword that I don't know for sure how to deal with. My roommate still beats me 2/5 times, and that's because he exploits my precursor golem. So much that I don't even use it when I play against him.

Is there ANYTHING I can do to work around the problem? I have 4 cards I really don't want in my deck anymore (golem foundries) - so I can replace them with anything that can help.

I don't want to buff all my shit, only to have him decimate me. I have a white green deck btw.

You're looking for the card Asceticism. It makes all your guys untargetable by opponents' stuff.

For a more temporary fix, something like Apostle's Blessing or Stave Off would do the trick.

 

[ultron87]

I don't think he's killing them, Act of Treason is serious Tech against Precursor Golem. *trollface*

Well wouldn't Protection from Red make Act of Treason not work since you can't be targetted by cards of that color (and Act of Treason's text says "target creature")? Or has the targetting part already happened if it is on the stack and you give it protection in response to that?

 

[Leunam]

Time Walk

Force of Will

 

[Enordash]

Thank you, Leunam. You are awesome and that art is awesome.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Or just don't use precursor golem... I don't like that card unless you're comboing it with shape anew. Blue/white venser golem deck is the only golem deck worth playing.

And what exactly is he using to decimate your golems? That's kind of really important.

 

[rexor0717]

Force of Will

Not metal enough. C'mon, look at this guy.

 

[marrec]

Well wouldn't Protection from Red make Act of Treason not work since you can't be targetted by cards of that color (and Act of Treason's text says "target creature")? Or has the targetting part already happened if it is on the stack and you give it protection in response to that?

Oh ya, Pro from Red would totally work to protect the golems. I was just pointing out that Act of Treason would be serious hate against them, especially if he pumped them up.

 

[Leunam]

What about Asceticism? Or is that too slow?

 

[Cyrillus]

Or just don't use precursor golem... I don't like that card unless you're comboing it with shape anew. Blue/white venser golem deck is the only golem deck worth playing.

And what exactly is he using to decimate your golems? That's kind of really important.

I honestly prefer using Precursor Golem in non-Golem decks. At least then he's an efficient 3 3/3's for 5 mana, and that way playing them doesn't feel like you're screwing your entire deck. But yeah, if you want to play them in a Golem deck, use Ascetism or something like Mimic Vat to power them out every turn while they get buffed by your non-Golems.

 

[Kinitari]

My roommate has a phyrexian mana deck, with a lot of target spells (red white is his deck colour) cant remember all of them now, but the one in particular that eats me up is... I can't remember the name now ugh, I know how it works though - whenever he casts a spell that costs phyerexian mana, he can use the converted mana cost as a targeting damage. He will usually have 2 of these down.

Also, Asceticism seems like the PERFECT card to protect with precursors.


---

Also, I've grown really accustomed to my green white golem deck, what advantages are there to moving to a white blue?

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

I honestly prefer using Precursor Golem in non-Golem decks. At least then he's an efficient 3 3/3's for 5 mana, and that way playing them doesn't feel like you're screwing your entire deck. But yeah, if you want to play them in a Golem deck, use Ascetism or something like Mimic Vat to power them out every turn while they get buffed by your non-Golems.

Ya, you need something though because if you're running a golem deck and it's make all your golem vulnerable with it.

My roommate has a phyrexian mana deck, with a lot of target spells (red white is his deck colour) cant remember all of them now, but the one in particular that eats me up is... I can't remember the name now ugh, I know how it works though - whenever he casts a spell that costs phyerexian mana, he can use the converted mana cost as a targeting damage. He will usually have 2 of these down.

Also, Asceticism seems like the PERFECT card to protect with precursors.


---

Also, I've grown really accustomed to my green white golem deck, what advantages are there to moving to a white blue?

Well white blue is just better for venser. Bouncing blade splicers for more golems/other good bounce creatures is amazing. And what's wrong with pump spells? It will save all of them if he's only doing 4 damage. Or add some more remove enchantments for his red card dealing damage? There's a ton of possibilities. I think asceticism is too slow for what you need especially when you can use apostle's blessing for 1 mana effectively to save all or no mana for mutagenic growth to save all. And I can't for the life of me figure out what card you're referring to for some reason.

 

[Enordash]

Not metal enough. C'mon, look at this guy.

It does kinda look like he could be way up on the neck of his fire guitar. His shredding is so brutal that the spell starts crying, runs away and thus is countered.

Also: Mimic Vat + Precursor Golem is pretty nice. I think I prefer it with Wurmcoil Engine though (obviously).

 

[TheSeks]

Not metal enough. C'mon, look at this guy.
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/ai/42.jpg

Man, old art is awesome. But that one is really jank. :/

 

[rexor0717]

It does kinda look like he could be way up on the neck of his fire guitar. His shredding is so brutal that the spell starts crying, runs away and thus is countered.

Exactly.

 

[Kinitari]

Ya, you need something though because if you're running a golem deck and it's make all your golem vulnerable with it.

Well white blue is just better for venser. Bouncing blade splicers for more golems/other good bounce creatures is amazing. And what's wrong with pump spells? It will save all of them if he's only doing 4 damage. Or add some more remove enchantments for his red card dealing damage? There's a ton of possibilities. I think asceticism is too slow for what you need especially when you can use apostle's blessing for 1 mana effectively to save all or no mana for mutagenic growth to save all. And I can't for the life of me figure out what card you're referring to for some reason.

Okay, I've been looking through my current deck, and the more I play, the more I see cards I don't really need in here - So I went through and took out the 'fat' and decided to focus on cards that feel like they're of any use so far. My current deck so far is good, but it could be better. And it's almost entirely comprised of cards I've been given, or have found in booster packs.

What I have left over is this -

2x Adaptive Automaton
1x Blade Splicer
10x Forest
4x Golem Artisan
4x Master Splicer
4x Maul Splicer
10x Plains
4x Precursor Golem
2x Sensor Splicer
4x Titanic Growth
4x Vital Splicer
4x War Report

I want to, first and foremost, put in 3 more blade splicers (I was actually willing to buy some, but they are sold out everywhere I've checked, I should probably just order some online) And if possible, 2 more adaptive automatons - they are cheap mana wise, but expensive in real money.

What else could someone recommend for this deck, if I INSISTED on keeping in green white? My first guess is

4x Asceticism.

I would go through Apostle's blessing quickly against my roommate, he has a really target creature heavy deck.

Also - this is my roommates card.

I recently got a Sun Titan and a spirit mantle in a booster, and that's sort of inspired me to make my second ever deck, I am also trying to rack my brain to decide what to do there.

If it isn't obvious, I am still VERY new to magic.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

I don't see any reason to use asceticism then. Use apostle's blessing or something and then just put in naturalize or one of the other many many artifact/enchantment removal that green has. Even beast within would be ok against that in a pinch.

And sun titans can be sexy.

 

[Enordash]

Man, old art is awesome. But that one is really jank. :/

Some of the old art is pretty bad. A few examples: Animate Wall, Ironroot Treefolk, Burrowing, and Celestial Prism. I'm greatly amused by the wall's face and short arm on Animate Wall though. For some reason I was fond of the art for Stasis. It makes no sense whatsoever, but I built a deck around it once. I actually still have four laying around somewhere. The art, in my opinion, has steadily improved. I'm a fan of Justin Sweet, Chippy and Puddnhead. Those are the ones that quickly come to mind anyway. I'm sure there's way more.

 

[rexor0717]

Could spellskite solve some of your problems?

 

[The Technomancer]

Some of the old art is pretty bad. A few examples: Animate Wall, Ironroot Treefolk, Burrowing, and Celestial Prism. I'm greatly amused by the wall's face and short arm on Animate Wall though. For some reason I was fond of the art for Stasis. It makes no sense whatsoever, but I built a deck around it once. I actually still have four laying around somewhere. The art, in my opinion, has steadily improved. I'm a fan of Justin Sweet, Chippy and Puddnhead. Those are the ones that quickly come to mind anyway. I'm sure there's way more.

Dude, the art on Animate Wall is awesome, whatchu talking about? There's something hilariously incredible about a stone wall with a face.

 

[Enordash]

Dude, the art on Animate Wall is awesome, whatchu talking about? There's something hilariously incredible about a stone wall with a face.

Oh it is hilarious and I'd hang it up in my house for the sheer ridiculousness of it, but I can in no way call it good. I'm sure everyone will have a different opinion in the art category.