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Magic: the Gathering |OT11| Amonkhet - Have you ever had decks with a Pharaoh?

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I

Imperfected

Member
Personally I don't even care for viewing the game through the lens of "planeswalkers" anymore. I like to view it as a narrative construction game, where you and the other player are cooperatively adding elements to a story. No one's "summoning" monsters, those monsters are just characters in a developing narrative.

That's probably why I enjoy dumb Tribal decks more than most people. They have an internally consistent narrative.
 
Y

Yeef

Member
The Technomancer said:
His point is more that in the stories they don't seem to be "playing Magic", i.e summoning creatures and attacking with them. Well except Liliana at least
Click to expand...
Nissa is all about summoning elementals.

Besides, in early Magic, no one summoned creatures and attacked with them.
 
R

Repgnar

Member
I'm looking forward to all the announcements made today. Pretty firmly in the excited camp for Unstable. Will be in Tokyo around the time Ixalan comes out so thinking about pooling some money from friends and buying a booster box over there to draft when we get back.
 
A

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
New core sets does seem like a crappy development though. Dominaria could be putrid shit and I'd be more excited about it than a Core.
 
O

OnPoint

Member
Yeef said:
Nissa is all about summoning elementals.

Besides, in early Magic, no one summoned creatures and attacked with them.
Click to expand...

That was literally the flavor of the game in the early days. Players were planeswalkers slinging spells and summoning creatures.

Unless you mean it in the cheeky "creatures used to be terrible" way, then, hats off to you. Because there was a time when spells were so good that next-to-no creatures was also true haha
 
Joe Molotov

Joe Molotov

Member
Magic: The Gathering |OT12| Hour of Devastation - You have been banned for the following reason: T4 Ulamog. Date the ban will be lifted: Never
 
Y

Yeef

Member
OnPoint said:
That was literally the flavor of the game in the early days. Players were planeswalkers slinging spells and summoning creatures.

Unless you mean it in the cheeky "creatures used to be terrible" way, then, hats off to you. Because there was a time when spells were so good that next-to-no creatures was also true haha
Click to expand...
The latter.

I still remember my first consistent constructed deck. It was mono blue aggro. It ran spindrift drake, manta rider, unstable mutation, cunning and hesitation. I thought I was hot shit because I'd beat all my friends with it. Then I went to the local shop and got smashed by some guy with a Tradewind Rider deck.
 
O

OnPoint

Member
Magic: The Gathering |OT12| Hour of Devastation - 5 down, 1856 to go
Magic: The Gathering |OT12| Hour of Devastation - Imagine Dragon
Magic: The Gathering |OT12| Hour of Devastation - Ban-tu's last reckoning?
Magic: The Gathering |OT12| Hour of Devastation - Yet another apocalypse
 
R

Remembrance

Member
Hour of Devastation - The fifth ban of standard is Marvel

It might be funnier if the Wind cycle from Prophecy (clearly referencing the plagues of Egypt) were actually iconic.

Image.ashx
 
N

noquarter

Member
Is Dominaria the first set since Innistrad that Garfield has been a part of? I think he helped on another set, but last i remember him being on the team was Innistrad. Just adding more hype to Dominaria for me
please unevolve slivers


Magic: The Gathering |OT12| Hour of Devastation- Bolas answered our Marvel-less prayers

Ashodin said:
Nobody liked any of mine? I thought Extinction Level Event was cute.
Click to expand...
Should have put E.L.E. in there to get the rap reference (Busta Rhymes album)
 
A

Ashodin

Member
Magic: The Gathering |OT12| Hour of Devastation - What a marvel-less time to be alive
Magic: The Gathering |OT12| Hour of Devastation - It was as if all Marvel players cries were heard at once, then were silent.
Magic: The Gathering |OT12| Hour of Devastation - Minutes to Midnight
Magic: The Gathering |OT12| Hour of Devastation - Knees weak, palms sweaty, Bolas is here, I'm not ready
Magic: The Gathering |OT12| Hour of Devastation - My God-Pharaoh could beat up your God!


Bonus preview for Ixalan
|OT13| Ixalan - Where the Wild Things Arr
 
S

Santiako

Member
Magic: The Gathering |OT12| Hour of Devastation - This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but with a ban.

Magic: The Gathering |OT12| Hour of Devastation - Egyptian Window Dressing
 
F

Familienoberhauptvogel

Banned
OnPoint said:
That was literally the flavor of the game in the early days. Players were planeswalkers slinging spells and summoning creatures.

Unless you mean it in the cheeky "creatures used to be terrible" way, then, hats off to you. Because there was a time when spells were so good that next-to-no creatures was also true haha
Click to expand...
that's still the flavour. We're literally collecting planeswalker points when playing.
 
I

Imperfected

Member
Familienoberhauptvogel said:
that's still the flavour. We're literally collecting planeswalker points when playing.
Click to expand...

Eh, the push for "story cards" has kind of drifted away from that.

You aren't really "casting" Approach of the Second Sun, for example, it's not a "spell" in a narrative sense, it's an "event" that's happening in the setting. This is becoming the case with more and more cards, where they heavily imply an event divorced from any distinct source or will, just a sort of narrative progression happening in the context of the game.
 
I

Infinite Stars

Member
Magic: The Gathering |OT12| Hour of Devastation - Second Sun's Zenith


Magic: The Gathering |OT12| Hour of Devastation - Just one God now


Or if we want spicy, there's this, inspired by Slave of Bolas:


Magic: The Gathering |OT12| Hour of Devastation - Champions, Slaves, Gods, All Bow Before Bolas
 
F

Familienoberhauptvogel

Banned
Imperfected said:
Eh, the push for "story cards" has kind of drifted away from that.

You aren't really "casting" Approach of the Second Sun, for example, it's not a "spell" in a narrative sense, it's an "event" that's happening in the setting. This is becoming the case with more and more cards, where they heavily imply an event divorced from any distinct source or will, just a sort of narrative progression happening in the context of the game.
Click to expand...
That's only a handful of spells per set and has happened in the past just the same.

Blood Moon for instance should be an event not a spell actively moving the plane between sun and moon.
 
I

Imperfected

Member
Familienoberhauptvogel said:
That's only a handful of spells per set and has happened in the past just the same.

Blood Moon for instance should be an event not a spell actively moving the plane between sun and moon.
Click to expand...

Like I said, it's movement away from it, not a hard cut. There have always been cards that could be interpreted as events, but there wasn't always an active meta-narrative in which they actually were, explicitly, story events. Blood Moon, so far as I'm aware, doesn't refer to the time when the red moon rose over Dominaria and turned everything to mountains in the middle of Koth's showdown with Domri Rade or some-such.

The number of cards that are explicitly part of the larger narrative outside of the game is much, much larger than it was in the past, and you've probably noticed that narrative does not include a "cipher" for the player to self-insert their planewalker "self" into.
 
R

Remembrance

Member
Imperfected said:
Like I said, it's movement away from it, not a hard cut. There have always been cards that could be interpreted as events, but there wasn't always an active meta-narrative in which they actually were, explicitly, story events. Blood Moon, so far as I'm aware, doesn't refer to the time when the red moon rose over Dominaria and turned everything to mountains in the middle of Koth's showdown with Domri Rade or some-such.

The number of cards that are explicitly part of the larger narrative outside of the game is much, much larger than it was in the past, and you've probably noticed that narrative does not include a "cipher" for the player to self-insert their planewalker "self" into.
Click to expand...

It's really still much smaller than you had during the worst of it.

Remember when Tempest's cards contained the entire story of Tempest? http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/arcana/tempest-storyboard-2015-04-30
 
I

Imperfected

Member
Remembrance said:
It's really still much smaller than you had during the worst of it.

Remember when Tempest's cards contained the entire story of Tempest? http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/arcana/tempest-storyboard-2015-04-30
Click to expand...

That's more of an internal underlying narrative for the artists, which is interesting, but almost all of those Tempest cards are honestly just very generic Magic cards that can be completely divorced from that narrative and not particularly lose anything ("I don't understand what Stun refers to without the Tempest art! What does Stun mean?!"); the more modern take on narrative cards aren't of the same ilk, as "Approach of the Second Sun" is basically gibberish outside of its narrative context.

They still do the story-telling art on otherwise generic cards thing (see cards like Heroic Intervention), as well, of course.
 
F

Familienoberhauptvogel

Banned
Approach of the second sun works perfectly in a self insert.
Casting it is basically pretending to summon Bolas and that is the endgame for Amonkhet so when casting approach you're prepping the world for the end which is winning the game in the context of playing.

It's just plane specific. Story cards at large still have generic names. Heck one of the story cards in Amonkhet is a reprint.

Even gatewatch PWs still come into play with loyalty.
 
S

SigmasonicX

Member
Latest draft of the Hour of Devastation OT.

EHj7qHx.png


Official page
Hour of Devastation set information
Previous topic: Amonkhet (OT11)
Next set: Ixalan
Trailer

INTRO
Welcome to the Multiverse! Multiple worlds exist side by side in different dimensions, known as planes, and they are as different as night and day. All of them, however, have a form of magical energy known as mana. Most residents of these planes are unaware of other worlds, but there are some special beings with the ability to safely travel between them, known as Planeswalkers.

Magic: the Gathering is a Trading Card Game, the first of its kind, developed by Richard Garfield and his playtesters for the gaming company Wizards of the Coast in 1993. The game quickly became a hit, and it is currently bigger than it has ever been. You and your opponent play the role of dueling Planeswalkers, using customized decks made up of your spells, the creatures you can summon, your mana bonds with lands, and even other Planeswalkers you can call in to help out. Whoever can get every opponent down to 0 life wins.

This thread is coming a bit earlier because there is a big reveal bash on Friday, which will be livestreamed from Grand Prix Las Vegas at this Twitch channel.

Last set, we arrived at an Egyptian mythology world, Amonkhet, but now Nicol Bolas has returned and the end times are here!

5004047-9007540205-30495.gif


Banned and Restricted List - For the first time in years, cards have been banned in Standard:
* Emrakul, the Promised End
* Smuggler's Copter
* Reflector Mage
* Felidar Guardian
* Aetherworks Marvel

STANDARD CHANGES
As announced in this article, Standard will use the new "three-and-one model" starting from the spring 2018 set, Dominaria. What does this mean? Well:
* No more small sets. Starting from Dominaria, every Standard set will be large and drafted by itself.
* That also means no more blocks. Or rather, the block structure is allowed to be very fluid now. One world might get only one set, while another might get two or even three. Sets that take place on the same world might not be mechanically connected, even if they are right after each other.
* Core sets are back, in their old summer slot, starting 2018. Compared to before, where they tried to appeal to both beginners and experts and thus muddled the message, they will err on the side of appealing to beginners. Still, there is appeal to experienced players in that they will act as places to print relevant Standard cards without too much concern for fitting them into a world or set theme.
* The Masterpiece rarity has been downgraded from evergreen to only a sometimes thing. Masterpiece cards are exciting reprints printed at a higher rarity than mythic rare, and they did very well at first, but they had diminishing returns, and caused all kinds of problems with card prices. The fall 2017 set Ixalan will not have Masterpieces.

Standard rotation will remain the same as it is now, with the oldest four sets leaving every fall release.
WoQ7zZCDjD_2018_Releases.gif


GETTING STARTED
If you're a beginner, feel free to come in. Us regulars can get a bit technical with card evaluations and use a lot of jargon, and many of us will loudly proclaim that a cool-looking card is junk, or say that a lame-looking card is really powerful, so ask us if you want an explanation.

To see what a game is like, check out Geek and Sundry's Spellslinger series (now discontinued), where Day[9] battled various geek celebrities, often losing, using simple and easy to follow decks.

To get started, check out the official page. Basically:
* It's recommended that new players play Magic Duels (thread). It's a great way to learn the game on your own, and it's free! That said, there will no longer be new updates, but a new digital product is expected to be announced in time.
* After that point, the act of deck building can be intimidating, so it's recommended that you try out a preconstructed deck and customize it with other cards you get, before you start making your own from scratch. Planeswalker Decks are preconstructed decks that come with four unique new cards, including a new Planeswalker card. If you have a friend to play with, there are also Duel Decks that provide two decks for a game right out of the box, but are a bit more complicated.
* To get your physical collection started, buy a Deck Builder's Toolkit, which includes not just a starting collection of cards (including a lot of lands), but also some booster packs and a good box to store cards in. The Holiday Gift Box provides an even larger starting collection and better storage.
* The different play formats can be found here. The most popular formats where you bring a 60-card deck ahead of time (Constructed) are Standard, Modern, and Legacy. The most popular formats where you start out with no deck and have to make them from scratch (Limited) are Draft and Sealed. Casual play has no restrictions other than what your friends decide. Once your skill advances, another popular way to play Magic casually is Commander.
* While game stores will often hold Magic events at other times, every store that has Magic events will have Friday Night Magic. There, you will be able to find other players in your area to both have matches with and trade with. Find game stores here. And to get started participating in your local game store (LGS) scene, attend an open house or prerelease event!

PRERELEASE
While the set won't officially be sold until the release date, that isn't the first time you can get your hands on the new cards. Game stores hold prerelease events for every set. You play in the Sealed format, where every player is given a box with six booster packs and a random additional rare card. From this pool of cards, all of which you keep, each player builds a deck of 40 cards and participates in a Swiss-system tournament. This is a fun and casual event, where everyone is still trying to figure out the set, so don't worry about messing up. In addition to normal duels, there are also Two-Headed Giant events, where you pair up with another player and face off against another team.

Prerelease events will be held on July 8-9, 2017. Call your local game store a few days ahead of time to register for the prerelease, or they might just run out of room. Find local game stores here.

rQ4WibA.png


STORY
Lore introduction
Amonkhet story
Trailer

Amonkhet is a harsh desert world where everything that dies is cursed to rise again. People gather in oases, magically protected from the sand and horrors, raising warriors to go through the Trials of the Five Gods and thus gain their favor.

God-Pharaoh Nicol Bolas has returned to his kingdom, and he brings destruction. Can the Gatewatch stand up to him and the horrors of the desert he unleashed onto the city?

5004047-9007540205-30495.gif


Story archive
Planeswalker biographies

CARD THEMES
Card image gallery
Mechanics

Returning mechanics

Invocations
Battle for Zendikar, Kaladesh, and Amonkhet all have a special set of reprints known as masterpiece cards. They are printed at a rarity higher than mythic rare, but have no unique cards and don't affect what's in Standard. Each set's masterpiece collection is foiled with a special themed frame. Amonkhet Invocations continue from the previous set, showcasing cards that thematically tie into the world.
(CARDS)

You know what they remind me of?
5004047-9007540205-30495.gif


RESOURCES
Official articles - Nicknamed the Mothership, these articles are the primary source of news. Recommended columns are Making Magic, written by the head designer, Mark Rosewater (aka MaRo); Magic Story, which tells the story, written by various authors; and Latest Developments, written by various Magic developers. The other articles generally discuss deck building. For older articles before the site changed, go here.
Card image gallery - Best way to see all of the spoiled cards together, but only updates once a day.
Blogatog - Tumblr ran by Mark Rosewater where he answers questions, updates very frequently.
Drive to Work - Mark Rosewater's weekly podcast about Magic that he literally records as he drives to work. Two episodes are released every Friday.
MTG Reddit - The best place to get new card information. The community sucks, though.
Mythic Spoiler - A good way to see what cards have been spoiled, updates throughout the day.
Gatherer - The official method of searching through released cards. Has autocomplete.
Scryfall - The better search method, with bigger cards, but it doesn't have autocomplete.
Game store locator

PREVIOUS THREADS
Amonkhet (OT11)
Aether Revolt (OT10)
Kaladesh (OT9)
Eldritch Moon (OT8)
Shadows over Innistrad (OT7)
Oath of the Gatewatch OT (OT6)
Battle for Zendikar OT (OT5)
OT4
OT3
OT2
OT1

(SECOND POST)
SCHEDULE
Hour of Devastation
Announcement Week spoilers - June 16, 2017
Start of spoilers - June 19, 2017
Full reveal - June 30, 2017
Prerelease - July 8-9, 2017
Magic Online Launch - July 10, 2017
On Sale in Magic Online - July 14, 2017
Release Date - July 14, 2017
Draft Weekend - July 15-16, 2017
Game Day - August 5-6, 2017

Grand Prix Cleveland (Team Limited) - June 23-25, 2017
Grand Prix Sydney (Team Limited) - June 23-25, 2017
SCG Tour Season One Invitational Weekend - June 30 - July 2, 2017
Grand Prix Toronto (Limited) - July 21-23, 2017
Grand Prix Kyoto (Limited) - July 21-23, 2017
Pro Tour Hour of Devastation - July 28-30, 2017
Grand Prix Minneapolis (Standard) - August 4-6, 2017

Commander 2017
Estimated start of spoilers - August 7, 2017
Full reveal - August 11, 2017
Release - August 25, 2017

Grand Prix Birmingham (Modern) - August 11-13, 2017
Grand Prix Sao Paulo (Modern) - August 11-13, 2017
Grand Prix Denver (Standard) - August 18-20, 2017
Grand Prix Indianapolis (Limited) - August 25-27, 2017
Grand Prix Metz (Limited) - August 25-27, 2017
Grand Prix Washington, D.C. (Standard) - September 1-3, 2017
Grand Prix Turin (Standard) - September 1-3, 2017

Ixalan
Estimated start of spoilers - September 4, 2017
Full reveal - September 15, 2017
Magic Open House - September 16–17, 2017
Prerelease Weekend - September 23–24, 2017
Magic Online Launch - September 25, 2017
Magic Online On Sale Date - September 29, 2017
Release Date - September 29, 2017
Draft Weekend - September 30–October 1, 2017
Game Day Weekend - November 11–12, 2017

HIGHLIGHTS
Previous thread
Bontu's Last Reckoning; Samut, the Tested; Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
Ramunap Excavator, Wildfire Eternal, Abrade, Adorned Pouncer
Planeswalker Deck - Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver
Ixalan leaks - Foil rare sheet images
Full art lands
Jace's Defeat, Nissa's Defeat
Ixalan leaks - Full rare sheet

c4rd4r7_ENNqZGTUlD.jpg



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.
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tumblr_inline_mt1uliQAJD1qz4rgp.gif
 
A

A Serious Man

Member
Magic: The Gathering |OT12| Hour of Devastation - Testing the Big Ban Theory
Magic: The Gathering |OT12| Hour of Devastation - Good Old Bolas Network
Magic: The Gathering |OT12| Twin Suns Season 2 - Who Killed Aetherworks Marvel?
 
V

Violet_0

Banned
El Topo said:
We had a Yu-Gi-Oh joke, why not another one?
Magic: the Gathering |OT12| No time for Duels.
Click to expand...

yeah, that's the best one so far

I wonder if the big locust guy could be one of the gods. Maybe Bolas' gods in reserve are corrupted in some way and don't wear masks
with the human body (look at the hands) and the stylized head, it doesn't seem too far-fetched. Got the right size as well. Actually, the head could be mask. It looks like he's wearing a chitin armor
 
P

Poodlestrike

Banned
Didn't we get a vague description of the missing three gods in one of the stories? I remember them having 3 heads,or something.

Locust guy definitely gives me Amonkhet God vibes with the hands, yeah.
 
V

Violet_0

Banned
Poodlestrike said:
Didn't we get a vague description of the missing three gods in one of the stories? I remember them having 3 heads,or something.

Locust guy definitely gives me Amonkhet God vibes with the hands, yeah.
Click to expand...

if that's the case, we'd be getting enemy colors gods. This guy just screams Golgari
 
A

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
It makes me laugh that Nicol Bolas's abilities are all specifically templated to not work with Emrakul.
 
A

A_Dang

Member
I've been looking though the previous un-sets to see what kind of comedy "gold" the "comedic geniuses" at WoTC came up with previously so I can get a better idea of what to expect.

It's not good. I am not hopeful at all.

you have cards like:

Censorship
Enchantment, U

When Censorship comes into play, choose a CENSORED word.

Whenever any CENSORED player says the chosen CENSORED word, Censorship deals 2 CENSORED damage to him or her.

Editor's note: There were no suitable flavor text submissions for this card.
Click to expand...

and

Carnivorous Death-Parrot
Creature — Bird 2/2, 1U
Flying

At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice Carnivorous Death-Parrot unless you say its flavor text.

Save a kill spell to deal with this guy.
Click to expand...

I'm dying here! TOOOOOOO FUNNY!!!!!!!! It's funny because it's a death-parrot, and Parrots are so fun and tropical and not scary at all, so funny! I just LOVE that flavor text and can't wait to say it like a pirate, my play-group will think I'm soooooo funny!!!!

Or what about:
Ambiguity
Enchantment, 2UU

Whenever a player plays a spell that counters a spell that has been played or a player plays a spell that comes into play with counters, that player may counter the next spell played or put an additional counter on a permanent that has already been played, but not countered.
Click to expand...

So good! I mean, MTG is a confusing game, with confusing/complex rules, so it's funny to point that out! I bet they will make a card called Layer Cake that makes fun of tricky rules interactions involving layers. Maybe it could be a "layer" land too! Get it? to play on the word Lair?

What about the series of cards about CLAMS!!!! ROTFLAO /s

Can anyone that does enjoy the Un-sets clue me in on some of the comedy gold that exists here? I know not everyone shares the same sense of humor, and that it may not be for me. I get it. But I do really want to know what people that enjoy this kind of thing see as the highlights. Fun is allowed, people are certainly free to enjoy whatever they want, and Maro has earned it. I just don't get it, please help!

I don't want to come off as making fun of people that enjoy the un-sets in a hateful or spiteful way. I'm sorry, please forgive me for my mini rant!
 
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
I'm not sure if they're "funny" in a way that makes me laugh, but for a game that's so frequently so self serious, even back when Unhinged came out, there's something I love about how toy-like they feel
Image.ashx
Image.ashx
Image.ashx
 
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