If you cast Censor from the graveyard with Abandoned Sarcophagus, it'll get exiled right?
man the pros are having a shitfit over MaRo. jesus.
To his great credit, Tom Martell posted again saying he was really unfair and uncharitable in his initial reaction and apologizing.
Still not clear on why Bolas went about things the way he did. Like, all of this was just to get a zombie army? Surely, there are less convoluted ways to go about getting a skilled army? And, furthermore, if Amonkhet was to be a harvesting ground, why trash it totally? Why not make the coming of the God Pharaoh a periodic ritual, where he can harvest crops and take them onto the "promised afterlife", making an appearance to bolster the faith of his followers on the plane, and promising to return to harvest more later? Seems like a total waste to just destroy everything. I kind of expected.... better our of Magic's supposed mastermind. Bolas' strength, rather than being represented through a truly cunning plan to achieve incredible power, has thus far been shown in the most boring and, well, unfair manner possible- the guy just trashes gods and planeswalkers like it's nothing, both pre and post mending. It's the same escalation of power I find boring and frustrating when I hear about stuff like cosmic marvel's villains.
And the final question I have- and this, to be fair, will be addressed in time I'm sure- is what is the army for? What threat is Bolas planning to take on that he with his already incredible power can't deal with but an army of purple metal zombies can?
That's... not a great hit rate.
Sure, everything is in green's colour pie anyway.
It's pretty bullshit if the Gatewatch are all unscathed, yes. Do they have plot armour against Bolas' corruption or something? RIP TezzeretBolas' strength, rather than being represented through a truly cunning plan to achieve incredible power, has thus far been shown in the most boring and, well, unfair manner possible- the guy just trashes gods and planeswalkers like it's nothing, both pre and post mending. It's the same escalation of power I find boring and frustrating when I hear about stuff like cosmic marvel's villains.
Yeah, Guildpact was conceptually a much better set than Dissension which had Forecast, Hellbent and Graft. Bloodthirst became a returning mechanic and it had fairly playable cards like Electrolyze, Angel of Despair, Giant Solifuge and Leyline of the Void. (Screw graveyard based strategies forever)GUILDPACT - holy shit how can Ravnica get even better?! Add the missing guilds you idiot! In came Orzhov, Izzet, and Gruul to crash the party and tax your ass to kingdom come. Added a lot of mechanics that some people hated, but were cool (haunt).
This is what I got so far brewing. LMK if you have any thoughts or additions.
http://i.imgur.com/bAYuMHr.gif
BTW, since there's a pretty negative impression of this set forming and it's very close to being the last small set ever, I figured that (much like three-set blocks before) it might be worth scanning through the list of what there has been to figure out when this set size has ever actually worked.
Looking it over, this is what I can propose as a list of good small sets ever:
- Alliances - this is the first expansion to a large set, and the home of a ton of major cards that went on to be significant to competitive Magic for years to come. (Major hits: Thawing Glaciers, Force of Will, Kjeldoran Outpost)
- Visions - a lot of the best stuff from Mirage all got cut to include here, and at the time it was seen as absolutely jam-packed full of playable stuff. (Uktabi Orangutan, Nekrataal, Man-o-War)
- Exodus - a powerful set that was home to a ton of significant cards, many of which are still huge in eternal formats (Sphere of Resistance, City of Traitors, Recurring Nightmare, Oath of Druids, Coat of Arms, Seismic Assault, Hatred, Mind Over Matter....)
- Apocalypse - the first set to pay off a theme and for a long time basically the only source of enemy-pair cards. (enemy painlands, Fire//Ice, Lightning Angel, Mystic Snake, Pernicious Deed, Phyrexian Arena, Vindicate)
- Future Sight - the craziest set of all time and as a result hugely played in every conceivable format (Aven Mindcensor, Bridge From Below, Grove of the Burnwillows, Horizon Canopy, Magus of the Moon, Narcomoeba, Pact of Negation, Street Wraith, and who could forget Tarmogoyf)
- Worldwake - made a ghastly draft format a little better and had a bunch of multi-format all-stars (Bokuja Bog, Amulet of Vigor, allied manlands, Death's Shadow, Eye of Ugin, JTMS, Lodestone Golem, Nature's Claim, Stoneforge Mystic)
- New Phyrexia - wanted to be a large set and was mostly designed like one, this is another one that broke so many rules it's had tons of relevant cards everywhere (Batterrskull, Birthing Pod, Dismember, Elesh Norn, Gitaxian Probe, Karn Liberated, Mental Misstep)
That's... not a great hit rate.
Still not clear on why Bolas went about things the way he did. Like, all of this was just to get a zombie army? Surely, there are less convoluted ways to go about getting a skilled army? And, furthermore, if Amonkhet was to be a harvesting ground, why trash it totally? Why not make the coming of the God Pharaoh a periodic ritual, where he can harvest crops and take them onto the "promised afterlife", making an appearance to bolster the faith of his followers on the plane, and promising to return to harvest more later? Seems like a total waste to just destroy everything. I kind of expected.... better our of Magic's supposed mastermind. Bolas' strength, rather than being represented through a truly cunning plan to achieve incredible power, has thus far been shown in the most boring and, well, unfair manner possible- the guy just trashes gods and planeswalkers like it's nothing, both pre and post mending. It's the same escalation of power I find boring and frustrating when I hear about stuff like cosmic marvel's villains.
And the final question I have- and this, to be fair, will be addressed in time I'm sure- is what is the army for? What threat is Bolas planning to take on that he with his already incredible power can't deal with but an army of purple metal zombies can?
The Gatewatch as a collective have a horrible winrate of ruining planes rather than saving them. It'd be hilarious if Bolas ends up with a better recordI think someone suggested that these zombies are immune to Emrakul's corruption (which is consistent with Liliana's normal zombies being immune to it) and also to Phyrexian compleation (not sure where the evidence of this comes from, but sure why not). If this turns out to be true, then it could be that he is aware of the substantial threats that the Eldrazi and the Phyrexians pose, and wants to be prepared for them.
Who knows - maybe he'll end up saving the multiverse from the Phyrexians thanks to these guys.
I don't really get what the criteria is here. Draft? Constructed? Non rotating?
A big part of it is just internet hyperbole. Anytime you're discussing anything with the fandom on the internet, everything is either the best ever or utter trash. There's no middle ground.I'm relatively new to MTG, went back to collecting after 12-15 years. And I noticed a pattern on every single MTG-dedicated board. People bitch about every single card, a lot. Is that a common occurence after 25 years of anything or is it just the state of current MTG community? I'm legitimately curious because I tend to look at the card and go from 'holy shit' to 'uh-oh people think this is trash (?)' fairly quickly.
Is it my lack of knowledge of specific similar cards from other sets or just the overall toxicity after so many years, similar to, say WoW post-Cataclysm?
I went back to MTG to enjoy collecting, catch up on the lore, enjoy the amazing art pieces and, ultimately even play some games with bros, or online. I also discovered Commander recently. In my opinion it's pretty amazing how WotC is capable of producing this much content per year and STAY RELEVANT, isn't that commendable at least? These sets are bound to clash from time to time and they ough to have a recovery 'conservative' period from time to time, that's to be expected.
And yes, IXALAN is life.
Except there's commander players too.A big part of it is just internet hyperbole. Anytime you're discussing anything with the fandom on the internet, everything is either the best ever or utter trash. There's no middle ground.
Part of it is also that competitive players tend to be the most outspoken online. If a card isn't going to make waves in the tournament scene, then it's not good, from their perspective.
Commander players tend to be less outspoken in my experience. If a card looks good in EDH they'll say so, but if a card doesn't they'll just ignore it.Except there's commander players too.
This is what I got so far brewing. LMK if you have any thoughts or additions.
(Regal Caracal is Horse)
boom, get murdered Gideon
Looks good in standard. It obviously slots into the grixis control deck that wotc is pushing for. It will probably get there with the host of good cards that they gave them.
boom, get murdered Gideon
boom, get murdered Gideon
It doesn't help against a flashed in Avacyn blocker, but pretty nice. It even kills non-Bolas gods.
As for the story, remember that the art books have always gotten story details wrong. I imagine the Gatewatch defeat will go differently when actually written out.
No one cares about that because every halfway interesting card will have people going "looks good in edh!"Except there's commander players too.
I've soured on oath. While they did bring the eldrazi to older formats, I'm not sure that is such a good thIngPlaneshift, Mirrodin Beseiged, OGW, and Eldritch Moon are all good sets.
It doesn't help against a flashed in Avacyn blocker, but pretty nice. It even kills non-Bolas gods. EDIT: Actually, I suppose something killed by Avacyn would have died to this spell on second main phase anyway.
As for the story, remember that the art books have always gotten story details wrong. I imagine the Gatewatch defeat will go differently when actually written out.
I was thinking of the case where Avacyn blocks your attacking creature, but a creature stopped by that probably would have died to Hour of Devastation on the second main phase anyway.Why not? Avacyn's ETB effect would resolve before Hour, making all creatures lose indestructible upon resolution of the sweeper itself. Same thing goes for Selfless Spirit.
Grixis mana is terrible.Looks good in standard. It obviously slots into the grixis control deck that wotc is pushing for. It will probably get there with the host of good cards that they gave them.
So that's a Dromedary not a camel. Just looked it up and this has to be the first time since the original where wotc made this kind of misnomer.
Perish at his whim. Nobody dies smh
boom, get murdered Gideon
I'm still PISSED Bolas didn't nuke the plane from orbit.
edit: lol @ size