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[SigmasonicX]

I know my workplace blocks twitter images (so I ironically won't be able to see the images I posted at work). Could there be something similar going on?

 

[charlequin]

Also, confirmation of Allies returning. Reiteration.

This makes every other Zendikar block mechanic less likely now. Historically they do one returning mechanic; occasionally they go all the way up to two. With 2-set blocks, there's less room per block for mechanics, so I doubt they're gonna want to go higher than that. With allies slotted in, that leaves room for maybe one other returning mechanic. If you go as far as landfall for the second one it doesn't leave a ton of space for the new stuff (or, for that matter, for a returning mechanic from RoE.)

And also, no more Tibalt

Not like missing out on a random-ass card like Tibalt is a huge loss, but I'm not pumped if this means moving away from new PW characters except when they're immediately closely involved with the "main cast."

 

[The Technomancer]

This makes every other Zendikar block mechanic less likely now. Historically they do one returning mechanic; occasionally they go all the way up to two. With 2-set blocks, there's less room per block for mechanics, so I doubt they're gonna want to go higher than that. With allies slotted in, that leaves room for maybe one other returning mechanic. If you go as far as landfall for the second one it doesn't leave a ton of space for the new stuff (or, for that matter, for a returning mechanic from RoE.)

Nah on reflection I almost guarantee Landfall isn't coming back, it feels just like the kind of mechanic that they would "reinvent" into something else land based, while Allies feels like the type of mechanic they would bring back to evolve.

What mechanic would return from RoE? Eldrazi Spawn I guess. We just got Rebound in Dragons

 

["God's Beard!"]

Nissa not being Borderland Ranger is actually a pretty big deal. If I could tutor any basic then Sunblade Elf would be playable. It's the difference between 5 and 9 sources of basic plains, which is pretty huge.

Whether or not having a basic plains in a 20-land deck is worth the 1-2 copies of Sunblade Elf is debatable, but it certainly would have given the archetype an extra angle to push from, and I am looking for another 1-drop. Stupid Honored Hierarch not being an Elf.

 

[kirblar]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";171726773]Nissa not being Borderland Ranger is actually a pretty big deal. If I could tutor any basic then Sunblade Elf would be playable. It's the difference between 5 and 9 sources of basic plains, which is pretty huge.

Whether or not having a basic plains in a 20-land deck is worth the 1-2 copies of Sunblade Elf is debatable, but it certainly would have given the archetype an extra push.[/QUOTE]
I think we're getting another set of dual-type lands in the block following Zendikar. MaRo's specifically mentioned them a few times recently, and Nissa's clause seems really odd given that the bonus would make her a lot more playable in eternal-style formats.

 

["God's Beard!"]

I think we're getting another set of dual-type lands in the block following Zendikar. MaRo's specifically mentioned them a few times recently, and Nissa's clause seems really odd given that the bonus would make her a lot more playable in eternal-style formats.

Legenduals would probably sell any crap they push out.

 

[Wulfric]

Oh, those new Nielsen pieces are gorgeous. Both Akroma are going right in my Narset EDH deck.

I'm disappointed in the lack of solid news from SDCC. I understand the focus on Origins, but a Commander face card teaser wouldn't hurt. The next likely venue for news is what, PAX Prime in August?

 

[Crocodile]

Nah on reflection I almost guarantee Landfall isn't coming back, it feels just like the kind of mechanic that they would "reinvent" into something else land based, while Allies feels like the type of mechanic they would bring back to evolve.

What mechanic would return from RoE? Eldrazi Spawn I guess. We just got Rebound in Dragons

What is there to reinvent? Landfal is "When a land comes into play under your control, do whatever the fuck you want!". It's a very open ended mechanic that worked well and was well received the last time. Aside from the "creatures with landfall tied to P/T bonuses are shitty blockers and this has a big impact on limited" issue, what needs to be adressed.

I think we're getting another set of dual-type lands in the block following Zendikar. MaRo's specifically mentioned them a few times recently, and Nissa's clause seems really odd given that the bonus would make her a lot more playable in eternal-style formats.

After going out of their way to not do that in the last Zendikar block it seems weird that would renig on the next Zendikar block. That would likely be another nail in the coffin against fetches in Battle for Zendikar block.

 

[EYEL1NER]

My pre-release didn't go so hot for me. There were four people there, people whom I believe had gone to the other two events (at least one of the guys had played all three events at the store). I ended up selecting black and got Liliana as my promo card, which was cool.
I was torn between red and green. I like green typically but with so many people online saying white and red were the standouts for this set, I felt like I needed to pair red with black over green. I sorted out what black cards I wanted and had burnt through half of my time. I had a hefty stack of red cards but panicked and choose green. So I threw in some greens, added a good ratio of lands, was counting my total cards with less than five minutes left, and realized that i had misremembered some tips I read online as to the ratio of land to spells and had a 30 card deck. Oops. So I ended up throwing random black and green cards in and some more lands. I had never played a PW but I needed cards so I added Liliana. I got within a two minutes left and started frantically sleeving, only to hear the following announcement at ETA-0: "Okay, time's up. If you sleeve your cards, now is the time to do it and I'll announce matchups in a moment." So I killed a couple minutes I could have used to make better card decisions. I used a lot of elves and liked that I had black and then a bunch of elves, I dubbed it my Drow Deck. Having a cool theme is useless if you have no confidence that you can put it all together and pull anything off with it though.

First deck I played against was a tri-color deck that was filled with red. I explained that I had never played a formal event and only played pre-constructed decks in a really casual setting with no care to the stack or anything. He helped me through it though, with regards to official stack order and terminology and stuff. He took me out pretty easily though in two games. He used the remaining time to look at my pulls and told me I made a mistake with green because I apparently had some really good red cards. I told him I was torn between the two and ended up making an impulse decision.
Next deck was an all-green deck. The guy took me down quick in game one, I demolished him on game two, and then lost to him again horribly in game three.
Final game was against a deck with white and red or green (can't remember). He took me out in two though.
So 7 games played with only one win for me. My deck was just horrible. And to top that off, I bought an Origins Red/Blue Intro Deck and someone offered to play it really quick before I left. I lost that one too.

Quite a bummer. I wanted to attend an official event for a while though, I finally got to build a deck, and I played my first PW. I wanted Liliana because I am a sucker for cool-looking cards, so it was nice to get that (though I wish I was lucky enough to pull multiple different foil PW out of the random packs like the other guys were doing). I got some good red cards, so I might try to build an actual deck with them, see if I can out something better together before I leave the country again.

 

["God's Beard!"]

My opponent is stabilizing but he's about to die to his own Demonic Pact and can't remove it, so he concedes.

I show him the last card in my hand: Reclamation Sage.

 

[charlequin]

For whoever was worried about too many "PWs doin' shit" cards in each set:

Each set will have the five pivotal events. They will be story points shown on cards and are being picked to be dynamic illustrations. We’ll still do all the world building and establishment.

So I guess it'll be a specific set of events that get identified and showcased, rather than a bunch of random crap.

What mechanic would return from RoE? Eldrazi Spawn I guess. We just got Rebound in Dragons

Yeah, probably Spawn; they work really well, would be interesting to see overlap the Zendikar mechanics, and aren't too complex. Totem Armor is at least vaguely plausible as well.

What is there to reinvent? Landfal is "When a land comes into play under your control, do whatever the fuck you want!". It's a very open ended mechanic that worked well and was well received the last time.

It takes up a ton of space and it plays exactly the same no matter what abilities you attach to it. It would make BFZ play very similarly to ZEN and probably screw up the limited format again, plus as an innately aggressive mechanic it's a pretty bad fit in a set with big eldrazi.

 

["God's Beard!"]

I wanna see fetches in BFZ and manlands in Wo2ldwake. Do it, Wizards, go nuts.

Do it.

 

[y2dvd]

Went 3-1 again tonight, this time with R/U. Totally punted the last round. Lesson for the night, read every card. I didn't know that rhino trampler had Renown and that cost me big time.

This is the first time I've came out ahead in value for each event. Not by much but better than what I normally get. Add another Hellion to my collection. -_-

 

[The Technomancer]

Yeah, probably Spawn; they work really well, would be interesting to see overlap the Zendikar mechanics, and aren't too complex. Totem Armor is at least vaguely plausible as well.

I can't see Totem Armor for two reasons:
It plays sort of similar to Bestow, and would be a bit odd coming with only Tarkir between us and Theros
And I had completely forgotten that Totem Armor even existed until you mentioned it again

I wouldn't mind seeing levelers again, but word is that they had a tepid reception first time around, so probably not. If they were to re-use them its probably not going to be in a Zendikar block

 

[WanderingWind]

Levelers are the ultimate from of "dies to removal" creature cards. When I first came back I thought they were cool as hell. But the first time you spend mana leveling up a guy, only to have it doom bladed in response, well, you start looking at other creatures pretty much right away.

Student of Warfare seems like the only legitimately good one because its cost is so cheap. I hear tell that they were good in limited because removal mostly sucked then, but I missed out on playing OG Zendikar limited.

 

["God's Beard!"]

Enclave Cryptologist is my personal lord and savior.

 

[Yeef]

I feel like there's too many cards in the current standard hinting at Landfall for it to not come back:

• Animist's Awakening
• Atarka's Command
• Knight of the White Orchard
• Sword of the Animist
• Trail of Mystery
• Nissa, Vastwood Seer
• Explosive Vegetation
• Seek the Horizon
• Zendikar's Roil
• Pearl Lake Ancient

If not landfall, we'll get something in a very similar space.

 

[SigmasonicX]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";171738833]Enclave Cryptologist is my personal lord and savior.[/QUOTE]

A funny thing about that card is that even just this card would probably be considered too powerful (for Limited) now:

Enclave Cryptozoologist - U
Creature - Merfolk Wizard
1U, Tap: Draw a card, then discard a card.
0/1

 

[Crocodile]

It takes up a ton of space and it plays exactly the same no matter what abilities you attach to it. It would make BFZ play very similarly to ZEN and probably screw up the limited format again, plus as an innately aggressive mechanic it's a pretty bad fit in a set with big eldrazi.

It is such low hanging fruit and was a popular mechanic that I see it coming back. Not a guarantee but a very high chance. Allies are only slightly more taxing to a block's mechanic than any other tribal support - I don't think it precludes much and can't be THE mechanic that carries a block

Levelers are the ultimate from of "dies to removal" creature cards. When I first came back I thought they were cool as hell. But the first time you spend mana leveling up a guy, only to have it doom bladed in response, well, you start looking at other creatures pretty much right away.

Student of Warfare seems like the only legitimately good one because its cost is so cheap. I hear tell that they were good in limited because removal mostly sucked then, but I missed out on playing OG Zendikar limited.

Student of Warfare, Joraga Treespeaker, Enclave Cryptologist and Kargan Dragonlord (a bit weaker than the others) are all Cube power level. There's never a need to level into open opponent mana if it would blow you out unless you misplay or have no choice (in which case you's be screwed no matter what). It's a shame you never got to play Rise of the Eldrazi limited, I think your opinion on the mechanic would improve if you had gotten the chance to. Granted the removal was crafted in a way that was more lenient on the mechanic but there were still very high power cards with the mechanic printed.

 

[Sequence Six]

So I guess it'll be a specific set of events that get identified and showcased, rather than a bunch of random crap.

Hopefully this means the plot elements depicted in cards will make more sense. A lot of big stuff from the last several years simply aren't shown on cards at all so it can lead to a very different impression of what goes on if you don't follow the side materials.

 

[charlequin]

It is such low hanging fruit and was a popular mechanic that I see it coming back.

I mean, that's kind of exactly it. It's what any rando on the street would do to make "Zendikar 2," because it takes very little design work and no real effort to just reuse. There's lots of design space in the individual card sense, since there are tons of effects you can do with it, but basically none in the set design sense, since the things you have to do to fill out a set with it force it to play the same boring way.

If they don't bring back landfall, on the other hand, there's space to do a new land-related mechanic that could play differently (and might fit better with the other stuff it needs to interact with, like the eldrazi); if they do, there isn't room for anything else on the Zendikar side, which means the whole faction doesn't even get something new.

I don't think it precludes much and can't be THE mechanic that carries a block

Generally returning mechanics don't carry a block specifically because they're returning and so it's boring to make them the primary focus.

Hopefully this means the plot elements depicted in cards will make more sense. A lot of big stuff from the last several years simply aren't shown on cards at all so it can lead to a very different impression of what goes on if you don't follow the side materials.

I thought Deicide was rad (and the worst part of the storytelling in Journey to Nyx was that Elspeth's followup death wasn't reflected anywhere) so I'm down if there's something like a rare cycle of pivotal story moments in each set.

 

[GoutPatrol]

Nah on reflection I almost guarantee Landfall isn't coming back, it feels just like the kind of mechanic that they would "reinvent" into something else land based, while Allies feels like the type of mechanic they would bring back to evolve.

What mechanic would return from RoE? Eldrazi Spawn I guess. We just got Rebound in Dragons

Considering how many cards have been printed involving putting land into play not on your turn or instant speed, it seems very likely to be around in some aspect.

 

[acheron_xl]

I haven't won a game in 4 consecutive cube drafts. I should stop forever. Seeing the last guy go 'land, Mox, Mox, Mox, Xenagos' on T1 hurt.

 

["God's Beard!"]

lol I somehow managed to win an elves mirror with a mull to 3 against my opponent's 7. I wonder what his opening hand was.

Forest Forest Chord gets there

 

[Crocodile]

Generally returning mechanics don't carry a block specifically because they're returning and so it's boring to make them the primary focus.

Kicker (Zendikar), Flashback (Innistrad), Scry (Theros) and MORPH (Khans and Dragons) had a bigger impact on their respective limited and constructed formats than Allies could ever hope to have on the upcoming Zendikar format. Morph in particular defined that format. If Allies are all that comeback, they would be the most inconsequential returning mechanic relative to other returning block mechanics aside from Imprint. I can't definitively rule out that you're right of course. I just feel there will be more than just Allies. Allies + Spawn tokens might be enough though.

 

[Yeef]

Every block has a draft tribe sub-theme these days. Allies will just be the one for BFZ. I don't think it'll be a 'major' mechanic.

 

[charlequin]

Kicker (Zendikar), Flashback (Innistrad), Scry (Theros) and MORPH (Khans and Dragons) had a bigger impact on their respective limited and constructed formats than Allies could ever hope to have on the upcoming Zendikar format.

I mean, I'm not gonna disagree, but the returning mechanic in Scars was the exceedingly slight Imprint and if RTR block even had one I guess it'd be split cards. If anything history points towards return blocks giving less prominence to the returning mechanics since so many other elements of the set will already be nostalgic.

 

[Horatorobor]

Touch of Moongloove and Dark Dabbling were surprisingly very good common cards.

 

[Angry Grimace]

The next likely venue for news is what, PAX Prime in August?

That's the blowout on information I think. It helps that PAX lets them livestream the panel and SDCC doesn't.

I mean, I'm not gonna disagree, but the returning mechanic in Scars was the exceedingly slight Imprint and if RTR block even had one I guess it'd be split cards. If anything history points towards return blocks giving less prominence to the returning mechanics since so many other elements of the set will already be nostalgic.

I think the returning mechnic in RTR was Hybrid. I mean, Hybrid is now "deciduous" in that they can use it when they need it the way they did in Fate Reforged (which was incredibly slight, it appeared on some rares and mythics), but RTR had it as a full-on theme and it hadn't been used since Alara.

 

[Angry Grimace]

This morning's monstrosity:

I wish I had Dark Ritual. I'd also like to know how Mox Emerald got to pick 4. Who cares if its in on-color, its a fucken mox.

Whatever "synergy" is, I don't know.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Turns out that Phyrexian Metamorph targeting your own Mana Crypt is flying too close to the sun. I regret nothing.

 

[red13th]

They have Phyrexian Obliterator on Holiday Cube? wow

 

[Angry Grimace]

They have Phyrexian Obliterator on Holiday Cube? wow

You're pretty much committing to mono-black by taking it, but hey, you're almost assured to get passed Massacre Wurm too.

Edit: Kirblar will be surprised to learn they did not ban Summer Bloom. Or anything.

 

[bigkrev]

No changes in any formats

 

[kirblar]

This whole "we're never going to ban anything unless its right before a Modern PT" thing is super unhealthy.

 

[bigkrev]

The saga is over: The Tarmogoyf has finally been sold, for a more realistic $2,007.

The Vegas Goyf sold for 2007$ USD, 1505,15$ is donated to @GHG_Magic, thanks everyone who helped spreading the word you are awesome!!!

 

[WanderingWind]

No changes in any formats

Good. Modern is super healthy atm

 

["God's Beard!"]

Pretty healthy Elves discussion going on in r/spikes if anyone's interested in people's thoughts on the archetype. I'm Apoplexy over there in the conversation.


WW, let's play!

 

[Angry Grimace]

I already basically have the entire deck other than Nissa from prerelease. Elves here we go!

I think Evolutionary Leap is being underrated too. Control decks can't really remove it and its pretty much constant value when they remove your dudes.

 

[kirblar]

Big penalty change- if you draw extra cards, it's no longer an auto-loss. Instead, your opponent gets to thoughtseize you back down to size. http://blogs.magicjudges.org/telliott/2015/07/13/magic-origins-policy-changes/

 

[Haly]

Uh...

 

[aidan]

Big penalty change- if you draw extra cards, it's no longer an auto-loss. Instead, your opponent gets to thoughtseize you back down to size. http://blogs.magicjudges.org/telliott/2015/07/13/magic-origins-policy-changes/

Uh...

I'm gonna draw extra cards like a motherfucker while playing GY-based decks.

 

[SigmasonicX]

I'm gonna draw extra cards like a motherfucker while playing GY-based decks.

The article clarifies that the cards are shuffled back into your library. And there is no life loss. So calling it "Thoughtseize" is really misleading.

 

[Haly]

Courser strategic overdraw hype!

 

["God's Beard!"]

This whole "we're never going to ban anything unless its right before a Modern PT" thing is super unhealthy.

The only ban-worthy card is Blood Moon though. I am sad they didn't unban stuff.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

You still get a warning, folks. And if the judge thinks you did it deliberately because you got a strategic benefit from shuffling or something to that effect, I'm sure he can and will upgrade the penalty.

 

[ultron87]

Philosophically I don't like that the fix is very likely to put the game onto a trajectory that it could never have reached naturally.

 

[Angry Grimace]

You still get a warning, folks. And if the judge thinks you did it deliberately because you got a strategic benefit from shuffling or something to that effect, I'm sure he can and will upgrade the penalty.

I'm pretty sure that is called "cheating" and the penalty is a DQ and possible ban.

 

[bigkrev]

I'd be far more OK with it if it just put it at the bottom of your deck instead of shuffling the library. Now, if you don't have a fetchland and want to Brainstorm, drawing 4 is basically a free shuffle effect for the cards you put back.

One more rule that I noticed that now means something if the new Mulligan rule sticks

Going down a card for Improper Drawing at Start of Game counts as a mulligan.

 

[Angry Grimace]

I'd be far more OK with it if it just put it at the bottom of your deck instead of shuffling the library. Now, if you don't have a fetchland and want to Brainstorm, drawing 4 is basically a free shuffle effect for the cards you put back.

One more rule that I noticed that now means something if the new Mulligan rule sticks

I know there's lots of ways to abuse the rules to cheat, but Perish the Thought.