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Magic: the Gathering |OT10| Aether Revolt - That shit that make your Soul Burn slow

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Santiako

Member
All this tribe talk makes me realise that I really want a new fully tribal block a la Onslaught or Lorwyn. I really love tribal decks.
 

Santiako

Member
you'll never get tribal again and like it

Lorwyn and Kamigawa were a mistake according to WotC

Yeah, I don't mean going back to those places (even though I'd love a revisit to Lorwyn or Kamigawa), any new plane would be fine as long as it focuses on tribes. I know the Innistrad sets have a tribal subtheme, but it's crappy endemic tribes (spirits, werewolves and humans are just bleh).
 
D&D dwarves are thoroughly white. Tradition and honor, live for hundreds of years doing what your father did and his father before him, mine ore to make weapons.
D&D Dwarves are R/W, you talked about Vikings as red but Dwarves have basically a variation of valhalla as their afterlife. They tend to go into a frenzy in combat and are short tempered and stubborn.
Humans have nothing at all tying them to white philosophically the way all the characteristic races do and are supposed to. Humans don't fit one mold, certainly the "living in an uptight society" one, as the huge range of cards concepted as human in all five colors should attest. Humans are also, y'know, the species making the game so making them specific to only one of the colors goes against the whole concept of the color pie as five colors with their own unique and legitimate place.
Humans by themselves are universal but humans as a tribe are solidly in white and once again humans are already not equally distributed. White is favoured considerably. So whatever they are not supposed to do they already did.
 
Vikings? People who go around raiding everyone and stealing their stuff?

It's not 1975 anymore, people's mental image of vikings even on a pop culture level is a little more sophisticated than this now. Heck, even Magic's first take at fantasy vikings had a major white civilization to complement the savage red one.

Humans by themselves are universal but humans as a tribe are solidly in white and once again humans are already not equally distributed. White is favoured considerably. So whatever they are not supposed to do they already did.

Yes, which they've specifically said was (as a general thing, not a specific conscious choice like in Innistrad) a bad and problematic idea that they want to avoid in the future, thus the whole discussion.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Humans don't seem even vaguely centered in white. Sure, whatever the equivalent of "the Empire" is will usually be white, but not as a general proposition - there's lots of humans of all colors.
 
Yes, which they've specifically said was (as a general thing, not a specific conscious choice like in Innistrad) a bad and problematic idea that they want to avoid in the future, thus the whole discussion.
Then you gotta remind them again since it's the same distribution even just looking at standard. Or maybe it's just intended for Humans to be predominately while also being in all colours.
Humans don't seem even vaguely centered in white. Sure, whatever the equivalent of "the Empire" is will usually be white, but not as a general proposition - there's lots of humans of all colors.
But there's a lot more in white than otherwise. "The Empire" comes into play where Human tribal would be.
 

aidan

Hugo Award Winning Author and Editor
I feel like one of the strengths of Magic's storytelling/plane-jumping is that races and tribal types don't have to be shoehorned into one identity. Dwarves on Kaladesh can be different in philosophy, design, culture, etc. than Dwarves on Dominaria, etc. Same with humans, elves, etc. It's one of the major reasons why I don't like tribes being strongly tied to certain colours. I'd love to see a plane with Black Dwarves or Red Elves, etc.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
I almost feel bad when I see people running playsets of Yahenni's Expertise and Fatal Push.

These have to be the most overrated cards in Standard in a while.

You can't reliably cash Revolt and to the extent you're paying mana to do it, you could just run a better removal spell because you aren't likely hitting very many of the valuable targets in the format with a 2 CMC restriction.

Yahenni's Expertise doesn't reliably wipe boards of threats unless your opponent is on an all-aggro plan. When I explained this to a guy at my shop, he argued that you could then cast Murder with your remaining card. Spending 2 removal spells on a board wipe. Sounds great.

Then you gotta remind them again since it's the same distribution even just looking at standard. Or maybe it's just intended for Humans to be predominately while also being in all colours.

But there's a lot more in white than otherwise. "The Empire" comes into play where Human tribal would be.

I mean, the bigger problem in trying to argue that humans are the characteristic white race is that it makes no sense whatsoever. They're not predominately white; every "characteristic" color-pie race is already a demi-human.
 

Ashodin

Member
I almost feel bad when I see people running playsets of Yahenni's Expertise and Fatal Push.

These have to be the most overrated cards in Standard in a while.

You can't reliably cash Revolt and to the extent you're paying mana to do it, you could just run a better removal spell because you aren't likely hitting very many of the valuable targets in the format with a 2 CMC restriction.

Yahenni's Expertise doesn't reliably wipe boards of threats unless your opponent is on an all-aggro plan. When I explained this to a guy at my shop, he argued that you could then cast Murder with your remaining card. Spending 2 removal spells on a board wipe. Sounds great.

One of the things I need to get better at is not overcommitting to the board. I often tend to drop my biggest threats and then try to push for the game win without thinking about board wipe (a rookie mistake).

I've been getting better at it though, just not enough. I need to play my threats, then push with those until I get wiped and drop more threats after they run out of removal.
 

Violet_0

Banned
One of the things I need to get better at is not overcommitting to the board. I often tend to drop my biggest threats and then try to push for the game win without thinking about board wipe (a rookie mistake).

I've been getting better at it though, just not enough. I need to play my threats, then push with those until I get wiped and drop more threats after they run out of removal.

I always consider the possibility of a board wipe, but not playing cards because the opponent might be holding one can be just as much of a mistake as playing into their radiant flames or whatever. I die a little inside whenever I'm up against red or black control with some weenie or token deck, just gotta hope for the best
 

Ashodin

Member
I always consider the possibility of a board wipe, but not playing cards because the opponent might be holding one can be just as much of a mistake as playing into their radiant flames or whatever. I die a little inside whenever I'm up against red or black control with some weenie or token deck, just gotta hope for the best

Right, there's more of a "feel" you have to get for when board wipes may be played and play around them. Right now in AER standard, Yahenni's Expertise will be dropped on Turn 4 at the earliest, Turn 6 at the latest (since they likely will be dead by then). White boardwipes hit at Turn 5+, so I just need to watch mana.

Talking about this also heightens your awareness as well.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
One of the things I need to get better at is not overcommitting to the board. I often tend to drop my biggest threats and then try to push for the game win without thinking about board wipe (a rookie mistake).

I've been getting better at it though, just not enough. I need to play my threats, then push with those until I get wiped and drop more threats after they run out of removal.

I just feel like -3/-3 is not the spot where you want your sweeper to be. The most common aggro deck features a recurrent artifact threat and vehicles that don't get hit by sweepers to begin with. The more midrangey decks almost literally don't care if you play a -3/-3 because it doesn't kill anything because they often have threats bigger than that.
 

Ashodin

Member
I just feel like -3/-3 is not the spot where you want your sweeper to be. The most common aggro deck features a recurrent artifact threat and vehicles that don't get hit by sweepers to begin with. The more midrangey decks almost literally don't care if you play a -3/-3 because it doesn't kill anything because they often have threats bigger than that.

Or in the instance of my deck, my threats usually pop into existence without much effort, so it's harder to keep them down, or I get benefit from you killing them (card draw). So I can see people not being so up on the card.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
The bigger problem I'm seeing is that the extra value generated off the rider isn't actually that high and casting a removal spell with it should probably feel very bad.
 

Ashodin

Member
The bigger problem I'm seeing is that the extra value generated off the rider isn't actually that high and casting a removal spell with it should probably feel very bad.

I just can't see the value of dropping two cards from your hand after Turn 4 (when very likely on T5+ a much bigger threat will come out) on a board wipe.
 
The bigger problem I'm seeing is that the extra value generated off the rider isn't actually that high and casting a removal spell with it should probably feel very bad.


Wiping the board at the cost of 2 cards is usually at least card parity and often better. If there's only one big threat that the -3/-3 doesn't kill then just use the cheaper removal spell instead.

If there were a 4 mana Wrath with additional cost "Discard a card," that would be playable. This is slightly worse at that function, but makes up some ground by being more versatile. It's a good card.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Wiping the board at the cost of 2 cards is usually at least card parity and often better. If there's only one big threat that the -3/-3 doesn't kill then just use the cheaper removal spell instead.

If there were a 4 mana Wrath with additional cost "Discard a card," that would be playable. This is slightly worse at that function, but makes up some ground by being more versatile. It's a good card.
It's not a 4 mana wrath which is why it's just okay.
 

Rafy

Member
Hey guys, so I am going to my first FNM Friday after what was a very fun pre-release. Now at my LGS they only do draft and though I have been reading about it and know the basics, I was wondering if there are any "must watch" videos I should watch to become a bit more familiar with the format before I actually go there and play.

I already know about the mana curve, number of creatures and BREAD guidelines, I am just looking for something that goes more in-depth and demonstrates signaling, first/second/third picks etc... I have studied the Aether Revolt cards (watched every video and listened to every podcast I could find), I am just looking for the format specific stuff mentioned above.

Last but not least, I am a lore guy. I've read the books of almost every game I played and I am looking to do the same here. I'd like to start from the very beginning in the MTG time-line and go through all the events that took place in chronological order to eventually get to where the story is now. Any advice on where should I start?
 

MoxManiac

Member
Hey guys, so I am going to my first FNM Friday after what was a very fun pre-release. Now at my LGS they only do draft and though I have been reading about it and know the basics, I was wondering if there are any "must watch" videos I should watch to become a bit more familiar with the format before I actually go there and play.

I already know about the mana curve, number of creatures and BREAD guidelines, I am just looking for something that goes more in-depth and demonstrates signaling, first/second/third picks etc... I have studied the Aether Revolt cards (watched every video and listened to every podcast I could find), I am just looking for the format specific stuff mentioned above.

Last but not least, I am a lore guy. I've read the books of almost every game I played and I am looking to do the same here. I'd like to start from the very beginning in the MTG time-line and go through all the events that took place in chronological order to eventually get to where the story is now. Any advice on where should I start?

Listen to the Limited Resources podcast.
 
Last but not least, I am a lore guy. I've read the books of almost every game I played and I am looking to do the same here. I'd like to start from the very beginning in the MTG time-line and go through all the events that took place in chronological order to eventually get to where the story is now. Any advice on where should I start?
A problem with earlier Magic lore is that it isn't very cohesive, and contradicts itself a lot. Plus, over the years, there's been a lot of it. There's a very good site I can link that goes over everything in order, but that will have to be after work.

For most of Magic's history, lore was spread through novels, random articles, and assumptions from cards, but now you can see all of it through online articles, like the one just linked. There's a story archive link in the OP.
 
Is there a specific name for "occupational" sub-type tribals? Druids (Green), Rebels (Red), etc.?

Knights and Clerics have gone through the entire color wheel, but they lean a bit White, especially in recent years. You could maybe just make the White "tribal" a secondary identifier instead of a "race"? (Technically, I suppose this is already the case for Vampires, since you can have Dwarf Vampires or Cat Vampires.)
 
Is there a specific name for "occupational" sub-type tribals? Druids (Green), Rebels (Red), etc.?

Knights and Clerics have gone through the entire color wheel, but they lean a bit White, especially in recent years. You could maybe just make the White "tribal" a secondary identifier instead of a "race"? (Technically, I suppose this is already the case for Vampires, since you can have Dwarf Vampires or Cat Vampires.)
Those are known as classes. They did try to push soldiers as white's characteristic type for a long time (see Onslaught), but people just didn't get it.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
I like both UB and UR Zombies quite a bit. It would be a lot nicer if Grixis was an actual thing you could do. As is, I don't think three color is very good if you can't reliably play both Aether Hub and Spire of Invention.

I rather like Sinister Concoction as a thing you put down Turn 1 to stop the Cat for a while while you can continue to build up a board through shenanigans.
 

Santiako

Member
I like both UB and UR Zombies quite a bit. It would be a lot nicer if Grixis was an actual thing you could do. As is, I don't think three color is very good if you can't reliably play both Aether Hub and Spire of Invention.

I rather like Sinister Concoction as a thing you put down Turn 1 to stop the Cat for a while while you can continue to build up a board through shenanigans.

Yeah, I really really like the look of this right now (not updated with AER yet) :

ANDREW WOLBERS'S U/R ZOMBIE-EMERGE – GP DENVER TOP 8

Creature (17)
4 Prized Amalgam
4 Stitchwing Skaab
4 Advanced Stitchwing
4 Elder Deep-Fiend
1 Wretched Gryff

Sorcery (6)
4 Cathartic Reunion
2 Tormenting Voice

Instant (10)
3 Lightning Axe
3 Fiery Temper
4 Kozilek's Return

Enchantment (4)
4 Fevered Visions

Land (23)
4 Wandering Fumarole
4 Spirebluff Canal
1 Highland Lake
2 Sanctum of Ugin
6 Island
6 Mountain

Sideboard (15)
3 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Dispel
3 Negate
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
2 Weaver of Lightning
4 Galvanic Bombardment
1 Nahiri's Wrath
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
I'm trying to do a UB version and I'm getting somewhere, but not quite over the hump.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
I feel UB really needed the copter to be a thing. With red you have more consistency in dropping things to the yard and to bring them back.
The reason I was trying was the sheer number of counterspells people are playing.

UR has Fevered Visions though which is so much better against the durdliest of decks.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
New Magic Story: "BREAKING POINTS"

Abzan Company can be a thing on MODO now, New update allows easier use of infinite sac loops (among other things) - a loop is still five clicks, but that's much much quicker and should allow the deck to exist-.

Nobody summarized this week, but basically, its them doing a really bad job of making sure Gideon is the most flat character ever.

Liliana's like "imma go kill Tezzeret" and Gideon is suddenly fucking Batman and refuses to let anyone kill him. Because Gideon is mono-white and therefore a moral absolutist.
 

Ashodin

Member
I'm working on a UW Dovin Baan Arrest deck. It's basically a very annoying control deck that utilizes Deadlock Trap (and copies it over and over and over with Mechanized Production) to lock down everything on the board.

This is what I got so far:

KQMNWXO.gif


Also Gids is playing the long game of having Tezz lead to Bolas.
 

Firemind

Member
I played like a half dozen legacy cube drafts where nobody knew what he or she was doing. And I still lost because I got screwed on mana. FeelsBadMan
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Dovin Baan is my challenge card. I want to make a deck that's good with him in it. And he wants a deck that really slows down and/or stops the opponent cold, so he can ult.

He's the comically bad version of Jace, Architect of Thought. He's also the comical example of WOTC's design team having no fucking clue what the character was supposed to be when they designed the card. Because nothing screams "perfectionist artificer" like "guy who gives people -3/-0 and draws you cards." Hell, Dovin is one of the rare examples of a Planeswalker that is just okay even if you open it in limited in your colors. I'm not sure I'd actively want Dovin over a random Cloudblazer.
 

Ashodin

Member
He's the comically bad version of Jace, Architect of Thought. He's also the comical example of WOTC's design team having no fucking clue what the character was supposed to be when they designed the card. Because nothing screams "perfectionist artificer" like "guy who gives people -3/-0 and draws you cards." Hell, Dovin is one of the rare examples of a Planeswalker that is just okay even if you open it in limited in your colors. I'm not sure I'd actively want Dovin over a random Cloudblazer.

I agree, but the purpose of brewing is to come up with a reasonable and decent version of a deck built around a concept, synergies, incorporates a card you want to use, etc.
 
He's the comically bad version of Jace, Architect of Thought. He's also the comical example of WOTC's design team having no fucking clue what the character was supposed to be when they designed the card. Because nothing screams "perfectionist artificer" like "guy who gives people -3/-0 and draws you cards." Hell, Dovin is one of the rare examples of a Planeswalker that is just okay even if you open it in limited in your colors. I'm not sure I'd actively want Dovin over a random Cloudblazer.

Honestly, Dovan needed to be something like this to fit how he's been portrayed in the story:

Dovan Baan, Arbiter of Order 2UW

+1: Look at target player's hand. You may draw a card.

-2: Name a non-land card. Until your next turn, cards with this name can not be cast and their activated abilities can not be used.

-8: You get an emblem with " Activated abilities of permanents your opponents control can't be activated unless they are Mana abilities"

5

This fits his character so much better. He learns information, works to disable individual pieces, and then shuts down all abilities of your opponents.
 

Ashodin

Member
This fits his character so much better. He learns information, works to disable individual pieces, and then shuts down all abilities of your opponents.

Yeah his characterization doesn't fit his card much.

Which sucks because he's such a badass in the story. Like straight up Mr. Spock style "your logic sucks" character.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Honestly, Dovan needed to be something like this to fit how he's been portrayed in the story:

Dovan Baan, Arbiter of Order 2UW

+1: Look at target player's hand. You may draw a card.

-2: Name a non-land card. Until your next turn, cards with this name can not be cast and their activated abilities can not be used.

-8: You get an emblem with " Activated abilities of permanents your opponents control can't be activated unless they are Mana abilities"

5

This fits his character so much better. He learns information, works to disable individual pieces, and then shuts down all abilities of your opponents.

I don't think there are any 4 mana walkers that straight up draw cards. The plus and the minus should be switched because the minus isn't actually strong at all, whereas the plus being Gitaxian Probe is really powerful in reality.
 
I don't think there are any 4 mana walkers that straight up draw cards. The plus and the minus should be switched because the minus isn't actually strong at all, whereas the plus being Gitaxian Probe is really powerful in reality.
Narset has a +2 that draws conditionally. Maybe I'd change it to "Chose Target opponent. They may reveal their hand to you. If they don't, you may draw a card" or something less strong.

I do think Baan having a peek ability gives him a thematic identity that works well as a UW Walker.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Narset has a +2 that draws conditionally. Maybe I'd change it to "Chose Target opponent. They may reveal their hand to you. If they don't, you may draw a card" or something less strong.

I do think Baan having a peek ability gives him a thematic identity that works well as a UW Walker.
I mean, the minus isn't terribly powerful at all. Pithing Needle is a persistent 1-mana spell and the Meddling Mage text hardly makes it worth downticking a Planeswalker.

Lots of them conditionally draw cards, but you usually don't see "Draw a card" without a negative on 4 mana Planeswalkers.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
picture gallery of the Duels Aether Revolt story screens, first pic is out of order but w/e

do you think Gideon and Chandra will become lovers and why do you even care?

http://imgur.com/a/CgpNC

Gideon would insist on waiting for marriage to even touch her. He probably would also want to turn the lights off.
 
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