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Magic: the Gathering |OT4| Izzet Me; Izzet You? A Love Story

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Yeef

Member
So far the archtypes are U/R Thropters and B/G Elves. What are they doing with white?
The draft archetypes were already listed in Monday's article from Rosewater.

Theros: Red-White — "Go wide"
Bant: Green-White — Renown mechanic with pump spells
Vryn: White-Blue — Control with flyers (and spell mastery)
Ravnica: Green-Blue — Tempo
Dominaria: White-Black — Auras
Innistrad: Blue-Black — Graveyard
Kaladesh: Blue-Red — Tempo aggro/Artifacts
Regatha: Black-Red — Sacrifice
Zendikar: Red-Green — Midrange beatdown/creature ramp
Lorwyn: Black-Green — Midrange attrition/Elves
 

kirblar

Member
I think the "10 distinct archetype" thing really isn't working out like they want it to- not everything can or should be Innistrad.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
I think the "10 distinct archetype" thing really isn't working out like they want it to- not everything can or should be Innistrad.
It's okay in MM but it seems way too ambitious for a core set.
 

Crocodile

Member
I think the "10 distinct archetype" thing really isn't working out like they want it to- not everything can or should be Innistrad.

I think it has reduced the longevity of many retail limited formats because there really aren't that many viable decks outside the ten archetypes per set and after a while, each draft is just an exercise in "how good a version of archetype X will I get?". They throw in some offbeat build around cards from time to time (Goblin Slide et al.) but they are almost always so awkward to use that your win percentage in the long run will be higher if you avoid those cards like the plague.
 

Firemind

Member
Hey, Burning Veneance and Lightning Rift were playable. Astral Slide too with damage on the stack. The problem is they always overcost them now.
 

kirblar

Member
Hey, Burning Veneance and Lightning Rift were playable. Astral Slide too with damage on the stack. The problem is they always overcost them now.
I'm perfectly ok with Rift/Slide being disembowled with a rusty hatchet as far as constructed-playable cards go.
 

Toxi

Banned
I think it has reduced the longevity of many retail limited formats because there really aren't that many viable decks outside the ten archetypes per set and after a while, each draft is just an exercise in "how good a version of archetype X will I get?". They throw in some offbeat build around cards from time to time (Goblin Slide et al.) but they are almost always so awkward to use that your win percentage in the long run will be higher if you avoid those cards like the plague.
10 archetypes is ridiculous potential variety. Compare to something like Scars of Mirrodin limited, which had maybe four archetypes (with two really pushed) but still ended up with little freedom to build decks outside those archetypes.

Having more archetypes not only means more paths already thought up by the designers, it means there aren't as many cards solely dedicated to one archetype because there are less cards per archetype and they need to be flexible.
 

kirblar

Member
Scars is a bad format that exposes MaRo's gigantic blind spots as a designer and really not the best comparison. "Wait, people will min/max and only draft damage or poison?"
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Infect is a horrible mechanic because its dumb and parasitic. Not to mention its interaction with other, nominally fair cards is either non-existent or manages to break shit. I also don't think poison counters are actually interesting at all, particularly not when they just replace damage with counters, i.e. you can get 10 counters at once if the creature has 10 power.

Its better than Cascade, at least. I don't know who in the fuck thought that was a good idea.
 

kirblar

Member
[QUOTE="God's Beard!";170611955]You hate all the fun cards.[/QUOTE]
I saw one of the most diverse, insane MTG block formats get utterly shit on by Scourge and all the cycling/goblins garbage. Fun? What universe was this?
 

Firemind

Member
Man, some guy just ended my winning streak with turn two Bitterblossom every game. In game two I had the Celestial Purge, but then he followed it up with Karn. Some people just have all the luck.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Man, some guy just ended my winning streak with turn two Bitterblossom every game. In game two I had the Celestial Purge, but then he followed it up with Karn. Some people just have all the luck.

I forgot MM2015 was still going on MODO. I might have like one left in me.
 

Crocodile

Member
10 archetypes is ridiculous potential variety. Compare to something like Scars of Mirrodin limited, which had maybe four archetypes (with two really pushed) but still ended up with little freedom to build decks outside those archetypes.

Having more archetypes not only means more paths already thought up by the designers, it means there aren't as many cards solely dedicated to one archetype because there are less cards per archetype and they need to be flexible.

The issue is less the number of archetypes but rather how the reward cards are empathized and distributed (plus the multicolor rewards). In Innistrad and Rise of the Eldrazi, the archetypes are there if you see them but in later sets the cards SCREAM the archetypes to you which encourages more drafting on rails. That plus the "sideways" cards being almost always marginal to bad means I feel formats get solved quicker. It might be a gameplay thing though. Lorwyn is still one of my favorite draft formats and it was very linear. I think the quality of the gameplay really helped it in my eyes though.
 

Yeef

Member
We know the planeswalkers are on their own sheet, so I wonder what effect that has on the actual rarity of the cards on the rare sheet.
 
First: I really like the Thopter tribal theme in this set. It really appeals to me, and I'm actually starting to get a little interested in drafting this set. But come on Wizards. I don't expect you to make every rare a constructed powerhouse, but these are Chandra's parents - important characters in the story, I'm sure. They do something kinda cool, but not super powered. Then you print a random blue uncommon that is shockingly similar...

en_agXuQWdNoH.png
en_l3aaSBIlJu.png


I'm not fussed about the "red rare" being similar to the "blue uncommon;" I'm fussed about the "red Legend" being so similar to the "blue uncommon." It seems like a mistake.
 
I mean, the Splicers in Scars were like that; different rarities, all making 3/3s, but with different CMCs and granting different abilities. It's totally okay to have some level of design symmetry across rarities, but when your Legendary Creature is realistically comparable to an uncommon the same set, that's a mistake.

Just make them 3RR and make 3 thopters. Then you've got a Siege-Gang Commander throwback and it's cool again.

That being said, I want Whirler Rogue in my C/Ube so bad...
 
A red effect that's in blue, but should be red is Snapcaster Mage, really.

Yep. Like, I don't think blue should be locked out of it completely (like, Dralnu, Lich Lord is a totally reasonable card, and there's room for stuff like Spelltwine) but I like it being a thing where red has the better version and blue the worse one, like the reverse of looting or stealing.

When CARDNAME enters the battlefield you may cast target red instant or sorcery spell from your graveyard without paying its mana cost

lol playing instants and sorceries for free

That's an interesting design. I guess it ties into the Lorwyn elves hating ugliness.

I can't decide if it's a flavor fail that it could target itself without the non-Elf clause, or if it's a flavor win that the fascist elves are hypocritical about their beauty standards.

A "target creature must attack or block this turn is able" is a way to do a "fight" effect for extremely cheap, like just one red mana. It doesn't work against mana producers and shit though cause they just tap in resp.

I mean, the fact that Provoke doesn't work against creatures with tap abilities is the whole reason they invented fight in the first place.

If you wanted to put the creature in a "blind rage," you could print a card that says "Target creature can't activate abilities this turn. Untap it. It attacks this turn if able."

Would need to be red/white, can't well have red locking out non-tap abilities as a random side effect of a card like this.

So it's landfall without calling it landfall?

We've seen this a few times. Odric, Master Tactician has (essentially) unmarked Battalion, Ajani's Chosen has (basically) unmarked constellation, etc.

On Landfall specifically, Courser of Kruphix, Primeval Bounty, Sporemound, Stone-Seeder Hierophant, and Vinelasher Kudzu already all have unmarked Landfall.

I think the "10 distinct archetype" thing really isn't working out like they want it to- not everything can or should be Innistrad.

It actually works really well in Theros too, and they didn't do it in Tarkir block due to the gold wackiness. It has two things that make it harder to pull off in a set like Origins: it works less well when the set doesn't have enough going on (which will be true in any core set) and it works less well when the archetypes have nothing whatsoever to do with each other (which is kind of a unique problem for Origins because of its scattershot ten-planes concept.)

I saw one of the most diverse, insane MTG block formats get utterly shit on by Scourge and all the cycling/goblins garbage. Fun? What universe was this?

R.I.P. Onslaught/Legions block constructed. ::pours out forty::
 
Would need to be red/white, can't well have red locking out non-tap abilities as a random side effect of a card like this.

How about this then:

Blind Rage (2R)
Instant
Untap target creature. Until end of turn, only you may activate abilities of that creature, and you decide how it attacks.

Same effect, but plays more as a riff on Threaten.
 

tch

Member
I mean, the Splicers in Scars were like that; different rarities, all making 3/3s, but with different CMCs and granting different abilities. It's totally okay to have some level of design symmetry across rarities, but when your Legendary Creature is realistically comparable to an uncommon the same set, that's a mistake.

Just make them 3RR and make 3 thopters. Then you've got a Siege-Gang Commander throwback and it's cool again.

That being said, I want Whirler Rogue in my C/Ube so bad...

Totally. I was thinking the same thing about making it more SGC, though I'm not complaining, I really like the Nalaars at 2RR for my Cube (still running SGC). Whirler Rogue is a very really possibility for me as well at 450.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Sigil of the Empty Throne is a reprint. That is dumb as fuck with Pharika.

Also there's a dumb 7/7 robot that does 7 damage to a creature when it attacks.
 
Sigil of the Empty Throne is a reprint. That is dumb as fuck with Pharika.

Also there's a dumb 7/7 robot that does 7 damage to a creature when it attacks.

Mage-Ring Responder (7)
Artifact Creature - Golem R
Mage-Ring Responder doesn't untap during your untap step
(7): Untap Mage-Ring Responder
Whenever Mage-Ring Responder attacks, it deals 7 damage to target creature defending player controls
7/7
 
T

Transhuman

Unconfirmed Member
[QUOTE="God's Beard!";170648756]Man, I just can't get Liliana, HH to do anything :-(

  1. Nissa
  2. Gideon
  3. Chandra
  4. Liliana
  5. Jace
[/QUOTE]


Worst to best?
 
Apparently Wizards fired Peter Mohrbacher and now I'm sad. He's the first magic artist I ever met back before I got back into the game. I got to chat with him at an art show a while back and he was super awesome and helpful. The dude puts out a ton of content for the art community. I still use one of his artist proof Islands as a good luck charm in all my blue decks despite it not being tournament legal.

Also, Horizon Canopy is 70 bucks.

Worst to best?
the trolls
 

Toxi

Banned
First: I really like the Thopter tribal theme in this set. It really appeals to me, and I'm actually starting to get a little interested in drafting this set. But come on Wizards. I don't expect you to make every rare a constructed powerhouse, but these are Chandra's parents - important characters in the story, I'm sure. They do something kinda cool, but not super powered. Then you print a random blue uncommon that is shockingly similar...

en_agXuQWdNoH.png
en_l3aaSBIlJu.png


I'm not fussed about the "red rare" being similar to the "blue uncommon;" I'm fussed about the "red Legend" being so similar to the "blue uncommon." It seems like a mistake.
That Whirler Rogue looks rather frightening in limited. You get four power and toughness and the ability to make any creature unblockable for four mana. Never mind the flying tokens or synergy with other cards in the set.

It reminds me of Talrand's Invocation, and that's not a good thing.
 
It's definitely a "Mythic Uncommon." There will be a lot of packs where that's the best card in the pack by a mile. Like I said - I'm really excited to put it in my C/Ube.
 
[QUOTE="God's Beard!";170652770]Apparently Wizards fired Peter Mohrbacher and now I'm sad. He's the first magic artist I ever met back before I got back into the game. I got to chat with him at an art show a while back and he was super awesome and helpful. The dude puts out a ton of content for the art community. I still use one of his artist proof Islands as a good luck charm in all my blue decks despite it not being tournament legal.

Also, Horizon Canopy is 70 bucks.


the trolls[/QUOTE]

Wow, any idea why? He seemed really involved.
 

kirblar

Member
He's not kidding - he did 3 of the gods in Theros block + Brimaz, then has jack shit in Khans. Wasn't one of the ADs fired 2 years ago?
 

OnPoint

Member
It's funny, after seeing that, to look back on the last month or so and see how much complaining there is about the art in this thread. Something is amiss.
 

duxstar

Member
I know that Richard Kane Ferguson (Jasmine Boreal) refuses to work with magic anymore and says they treat their artists like crap, his son plays at our LGS.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Board states are going to look silly although probably not as silly as GW Whisperwood.
 
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