They could also make more sense in some +1/+1 counters matters constructed decks. There should still be around 10-12 merfolk and 10-12 vampire creatures we haven't seen so there is a chance there is still some cool explore stuff we haven't seen yet.
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Magic: the Gathering |OT13| Ixalan - Port to Sideboard
- Thread starter SigmasonicX
- Start date
They could also make more sense in some +1/+1 counters matters constructed decks. There should still be around 10-12 merfolk and 10-12 vampire creatures we haven't seen so there is a chance there is still some cool explore stuff we haven't seen yet.
A Serious Man
Member
Ooh! Angrath is a Minotaur Planeswalker that uses red-hot chains.
I really hope we get him in Rivals, he could be the RB planeswalker.
What a boss.
shrapnelmagnet
Member
From listening to that Limited Podcast with Ryan Spain, it sounds like Arena is the logical evolution of Duels. My bet is that the currency pricing is similar: 150 for a Booster, Quests give you anywhere from 60-120 Gold and you can stack up to 3 per day, gaining one per day.
With that assumption, a Draft would be maybe 400-500 Gold.
I don't know if I have seen all the MTG Arena details, so please let me know, but is there the idea of "Dust"; AKA, recycling cards?
A Serious Man
Member
They haven't said yet but I would be surprised if their isn't.
I'm game for this, and he looks awesome, but hopefully we get a new RB Tibalt at SOME point.
shrapnelmagnet
Member
Definitely curious, since Duels had a pretty reasonable system where you could not gain more copies of a card than you needed. Because of this, packs were smaller (6 cards; 3 common, 2 uncommon, 1 rare) to throttle the rate at which you were gaining cards.
Angrath is most certainly from Ravnica
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
then he can't be rakdos as all of those are boros. I'd guess theros first.
FreedomFrisbee
Member
Angrath is most certainly from Theros
SigmasonicX
Member
Ulgothra, tho
Simply Sarah
Member
It's entirely possible they've not finalized how they plan to handle this.The Duels method works quite well for more casual play but I could see it being a real issue for more serious players that want to build Standard decks immediately after a new set releases. Needing to buy 300ish or so packs to make sure you get a playset of that one mythic the deck needs would be a huge turnoff and would be hugely expensive. Heck, needing to buy a bunch of packs just to get a playset of a common would feel awful. There 100% needs to be a reasonable way to just get the specific cards you want beyond simply cracking enough packs.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Fighting with a chain is a Rakdos guild thing, see Rakdos Cackler.
Joe Molotov
Member
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Orduum Veteran suggests there are minotaurs in all the red guilds
Angrath is most certainly from Ravnica.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Huatli is kinda naya. I expect him to be mono red actually, still fits into Boros but I wanna say Theros. Xenagos is kinda dead/nyxed after all.
That's 2 sets and PWs in a row that should have been naya but Wizard didn't wanna commit to it.
I don't care where he's from, I just hope he's good.
The fact that the only RB walker outside of supplemental stuff has been Sarkhan the fucking Mad pisses me off (and I'm not a huge fan of RB Daretti either).
Seriously, I can't imagine it's that hard to come up with stuff for a RB walker to do.
The fact that the only RB walker outside of supplemental stuff has been Sarkhan the fucking Mad pisses me off (and I'm not a huge fan of RB Daretti either).
Seriously, I can't imagine it's that hard to come up with stuff for a RB walker to do.
SigmasonicX
Member
Well they are making punisher effects in both red and black...
Well, if that want to have another go at a 2 mana planeswalker, that's a place to start.
shrapnelmagnet
Member
Yeah, that's a fair point, for sure. I hadn't considered how grindy it actually is to complete a set on Duels. In that case, I would lean towards a method of recycling cards.
Assuredly. It's way too much reminder text for a keyword action -- four and a half lines is as much or more as Clash, for Pete's sake.
It also kinda sorta
I get why they did it that way -- it connects the creature to the action so that they can say to put the +1/+1 counter on "this creature" and have it function rule-wise -- but it just reads so poorly, especially when compared to other keyword actions like scry or investigate. Any player who isn't a rules lawyer will almost certainly not see why the distinction is made in the first place.
See also: Fabricate, which was very similar in effect, but ended up not being a keyword action at all because they tied it exclusively to ETBs. How many players will readily grok why these two mechanics use different wording? I have my doubts.
Worst of all, it makes me worry about how assemble will end up being handled. For ages, fan-designers have proposed possible meanings, and the critical point was always that the creature is the one doing the assembling, not the player. If they handle it like explore, and just tie it to the creature in a nit-picky, boring way, I'll be quite disappointed.
SigmasonicX
Member
Magic Story - A Question of Confidence
* Huatli is both a skilled knight and an orator. She wishes to achieve the title of warrior-poet, which comes once a generation.
* After a battle with the Legion of Dusk, she gawks at captured equipment with her cousin, Inti. They remark how flimsy and gaudy their swords are. They also joke about the resemblance of one of vampire hierophants to their grandmother.
* Huatli prefers to avoid casualties; the battle ended with no one dying and the Legion fleeing to their ships.
* Huatli is greeted by her fans. She's annoyed that they already address her as Warrior-Poet. A young teenager isn't confident in her poetry, so Huatli gives her the advice that it's better for poetry to be honest than clever.
* The Emperor is about to give a speech marking the end of their campaign against the Legion of Dusk's encampments on the Sun Coast, and Huatli expects to be made a warrior-poet at the end.
* Huatli is able to use magic to calm and spur her dinosaurs, and uses magic to give her mount the "scent-memory" of food to calm it. Then, when it's her turn to speak, she gallops it out and orates a poem celebrating their victory.
* The merfolk River Heralds once controlled the continent, but under the Sun Empire's current emperor, Apatzec, they've aggressively expanded their territory. The previous emperor, his mother, was more concerned about protecting their current cities and finding the lost one.
* Emperor Apatzec announces a campaign to reclaim their southern coast from the invaders, but no title for Huatli.
* In private conversation, Apatzec tells Huatli that he isn't sending her to the south; he heard rumors that the invaders will come on their eastern shores, and she'll guard them.
* A month later, she follows up on intel about a Brazen Coalition landing party. She uses magic to draw several dinosaurs to her, and has them hide in the jungle before the beach.
* There aren't any pirates out, so she uses oil and flint to set fire to the supplies they have out, and has dinosaurs flush pirates out of the jungle onto the beach. The pirates run back to their ships, and Huatli thinks they're done here, and starts to leave.
* Angrath appears and kills her dinosaur mount with his chains. He announces his name and that he seeks the Immortal Sun (in the City of Gold). Huatli doesn't recognize his species or his accent, but does recognize bulls as animals that the Legion of Dusk bring over.
* They fight. She notes that pirates don't fight with callous rage like this.
* Inti appears, and Huatli yells for him to get her a mount.
* Huatli loses some of her leg armor in the fight, and Angrath's burning chain grabs her exposed skin. She realizes she'll die here, and this causes her to spark.
* Her body falls apart and she has a vision of Kaladesh--a city of glimmering metal pulsing with magic in the sky. But then she's forcibly pulled back and her body reforms, no longer held by the chain.
* Angrath is surprised, but happy he finally found another planeswalker. He offers to team up to figure out a way off the plane, which confuses her. She turns him down, and she and Inti run away.
* She tells Inti that she thinks she saw Orazca, the City of Gold.
* They head back to talk to Emperor Apatzec about this. While he isn't interested in sending an army to search for the city, he believes it to be wise to send her on her own. If she finds it, then she'll be named warrior-poet.
* Inti uses medicine and magic to heal Huatli's burns as they talk. He tells her that they can capture a River Herald and force them to lead them.
* He asks her if she actually wants to do this, or if she just wants the title of warrior-poet. She says that she wants to find the city.
* Huatli is both a skilled knight and an orator. She wishes to achieve the title of warrior-poet, which comes once a generation.
* After a battle with the Legion of Dusk, she gawks at captured equipment with her cousin, Inti. They remark how flimsy and gaudy their swords are. They also joke about the resemblance of one of vampire hierophants to their grandmother.
* Huatli prefers to avoid casualties; the battle ended with no one dying and the Legion fleeing to their ships.
* Huatli is greeted by her fans. She's annoyed that they already address her as Warrior-Poet. A young teenager isn't confident in her poetry, so Huatli gives her the advice that it's better for poetry to be honest than clever.
* The Emperor is about to give a speech marking the end of their campaign against the Legion of Dusk's encampments on the Sun Coast, and Huatli expects to be made a warrior-poet at the end.
* Huatli is able to use magic to calm and spur her dinosaurs, and uses magic to give her mount the "scent-memory" of food to calm it. Then, when it's her turn to speak, she gallops it out and orates a poem celebrating their victory.
* The merfolk River Heralds once controlled the continent, but under the Sun Empire's current emperor, Apatzec, they've aggressively expanded their territory. The previous emperor, his mother, was more concerned about protecting their current cities and finding the lost one.
* Emperor Apatzec announces a campaign to reclaim their southern coast from the invaders, but no title for Huatli.
* In private conversation, Apatzec tells Huatli that he isn't sending her to the south; he heard rumors that the invaders will come on their eastern shores, and she'll guard them.
* A month later, she follows up on intel about a Brazen Coalition landing party. She uses magic to draw several dinosaurs to her, and has them hide in the jungle before the beach.
* There aren't any pirates out, so she uses oil and flint to set fire to the supplies they have out, and has dinosaurs flush pirates out of the jungle onto the beach. The pirates run back to their ships, and Huatli thinks they're done here, and starts to leave.
* Angrath appears and kills her dinosaur mount with his chains. He announces his name and that he seeks the Immortal Sun (in the City of Gold). Huatli doesn't recognize his species or his accent, but does recognize bulls as animals that the Legion of Dusk bring over.
* They fight. She notes that pirates don't fight with callous rage like this.
* Inti appears, and Huatli yells for him to get her a mount.
* Huatli loses some of her leg armor in the fight, and Angrath's burning chain grabs her exposed skin. She realizes she'll die here, and this causes her to spark.
* Her body falls apart and she has a vision of Kaladesh--a city of glimmering metal pulsing with magic in the sky. But then she's forcibly pulled back and her body reforms, no longer held by the chain.
* Angrath is surprised, but happy he finally found another planeswalker. He offers to team up to figure out a way off the plane, which confuses her. She turns him down, and she and Inti run away.
* She tells Inti that she thinks she saw Orazca, the City of Gold.
* They head back to talk to Emperor Apatzec about this. While he isn't interested in sending an army to search for the city, he believes it to be wise to send her on her own. If she finds it, then she'll be named warrior-poet.
* Inti uses medicine and magic to heal Huatli's burns as they talk. He tells her that they can capture a River Herald and force them to lead them.
* He asks her if she actually wants to do this, or if she just wants the title of warrior-poet. She says that she wants to find the city.
divisionbyzorro
Member
I'd guess what we have is like the 12th iteration of what "Explore" means because previous iterations had either power level issues or were just too boring.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Is there actually a cultural equivalent in Aztec history to warrior poet? Because that is a corny af job title.
And yes Explore has always read like clash 2.0
And yes Explore has always read like clash 2.0
StrategyFan
Member
explore will stop being complicated after you do it a couple times
there's only 1 actual decision in the whole process, and it happens after you've already resolved the card and have finished going through the steps
there's only 1 actual decision in the whole process, and it happens after you've already resolved the card and have finished going through the steps
Keru_Shiri
Member
Yeah, my hope is that it plays a lot more smoothly than it reads.
Unless it loops
Paying life in white is weird
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
as are monowhite vampires
Wizards REALLY wants people to buy aven mindcenor between this and all the other search for a land drawbacks.
Still expected a lot more hype for sealed product with the current preorder prices of some of these rares. Growing Rites at 20 is ridiculous.
No masterpieces or chase mythics probably isn't helping though.
Yeah all the power is in uncommons in this set for some reason. Nice for me
No masterpieces or chase mythics are helping for the value of just one box however. Cheaper boxes could only be a good thing if the set is fun to draft, no?
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
I kind of enjoyed that the story this week actually worked really well with the art. You wouldn't realize the city Huatli saw was Ghirapur without looking at it because she basically described a generic gold city which could be Orazca if you didn't know better.
StrategyFan
Member
part of this might be because the rare land cycle is a reprint
Imperfected
Member
There's going to be a ton of people at prerelease trying to do things with it they can't, I imagine. God only knows how many of them will be poor readers and how many will just be trying to cheat.
Edit: With respect to the Punisher Draw card, this is a rare case where I think the options would actually be more interesting if there were fewer of them. If the card was an all-or-nothing deal for say, 7 life instead of 3 per, that might be an interesting choice; as it stands it may as well just read "Draw 1-2 lands, target opponent loses 3-6 life."
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
There's no chase cards and the land cycle is a reprint from 4 different core sets.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
The judge at my LGS once had to DQ several players from a Dragon's Maze prerelease before the event even started because the player's pool had a foil Desecration Demon in it, which was impossible to obtain in a DGM prerelease because the only way to obtain cards from RTR or Gatecrash was through seeded guild packs.
I mean, not only is that dumb but if you're putting black cards from RTR in your pool you're insanely dumb if you're not putting Pack Rat in.
What's wrong with the perceived difficulty of Explore? I feel like I must be missing something...?
Pre-pre-release happening this Saturday in case anyone forgot. Had no plans up until today but now I'll probably only watch half of it on Saturday and finish it on Sunday. Going to try out a different LGS for the midnight release this time that does 4 rounds regardless of the amount of people that show up. 4-0 gets a box of Ixalan and 3-1 gets something like 12(maybe 8) packs. The other store i've played at always did it by the amount of people that showed up and weren't always the quickest to start on time so 5 rounds felt like forevvvvvvvvver.
Pre-pre-release happening this Saturday in case anyone forgot. Had no plans up until today but now I'll probably only watch half of it on Saturday and finish it on Sunday. Going to try out a different LGS for the midnight release this time that does 4 rounds regardless of the amount of people that show up. 4-0 gets a box of Ixalan and 3-1 gets something like 12(maybe 8) packs. The other store i've played at always did it by the amount of people that showed up and weren't always the quickest to start on time so 5 rounds felt like forevvvvvvvvver.
Imperfected
Member
Things you're probably going to see:
Flip the top card, it's a land, draw the card; put a +1/+1 counter on the creature anyway because I've gotten into the rhythm of doing it when revealing non-lands or just didn't read well or I just don't think you're paying enough attention and want to get one over on you.
Flip the top card; it's a non-land, scry it to the bottom instead of the graveyard, because scry is a mechanic with similar initial function and I'm confused.
Flip the top card; it's a non-land, put it in my hand anyway, either mistakenly believing that the land check is just to see whether I get a +1/+1 counter, or again trying to cheat.
For extra fun, do a double-billing of prereleases and see how likely these errors/"errors" become as your second prerelease grinds toward midnight.
Do any of the revealed explore cards so far not have the rules on it as well? You bring up a valid point though that there's a lot of moving parts and does set itself up to be abused knowingly or unknowingly. If I remember i'll try and take a count of how many times it's played wrong during pre-release weekend. I would like to think with it being new the first game or two when it's dropped both people are going to re-read it but that doesn't stop people from getting into the groove/making mistakes like you said.
SigmasonicX
Member
It's a well known issue that if a player thinks they understand an effect, they won't bother to read the text, especially reminder text.