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[Angry Grimace]

Something I brewed up to goof off with. It's definitely fun to play, at least! Too bad Sorin, Solemn Visitor isn't still legal.

The mainboard was 27 tickets or something (almost all of which was Shambling Vent and Concealed Courtyard), so the price was right. The Avacyn in board costs half of the entire mainboard.

Deck: WB Fabricate

//Lands
4 Concealed Courtyard
2 Forsaken Sanctuary
5 Plains
4 Shambling Vent
5 Swamp
4 Westvale Abbey

//Spells
1 Eliminate the Competition
3 Grasp of Darkness
4 Servo Exhibition
2 Stasis Snare

//Creatures
4 Angel of Invention
4 Chief of the Foundry
2 Marionette Master
4 Master Trinketeer
4 Syndicate Trafficker
4 Visionary Augmenter
4 Weaponcraft Enthusiast

//Sideboard
3 Fragmentize
1 Stasis Snare
1 Archangel Avacyn
2 Lost Legacy
3 Anguished Unmaking
2 Transgress the Mind
3 Vampiric Rites

Display deck statistics

 

[OnPoint]

How furious do you think Wizards is that Blizzard revealed that Tracer was a lesbian before they could triumphantly announce that one of the Planeswalkers was gay

Maybe if it happened in Hearthstone they might be upset? But even then that would be a stupid thing to be mad about. I think they'll do it in good time.

 

[Yeef]

How furious do you think Wizards is that Blizzard revealed that Tracer was a lesbian before they could triumphantly announce that one of the Planeswalkers was gay

I doubt it's that big a deal. Wizards has been doing a pretty big push for inclusion for several years now; there's already been a few gay characters in the lore, even if they're not planeswalkers. One of the current commander decks even has a gay couple as the face card.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Oh, so it's like:

Design = Cards/Mechanics
Development = Sets/Formats

I'm honestly not sure where the division of responsibility lies between the two jobs.

Basically. Design mostly comes up with a vision about how a set will play and the mechanics. Development is the part that has to balance the cards and the limited format.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Dovin is actually really good at stabilizing against aggro decks. That said, he's not really a turn-4 play. He usually comes down when you have 6+ mana so that you can leave up tricks, but even as a Draw 3, gain 6, he's solid against aggro. He's usually pretty useless against non-aggro decks though.

Depending on which aggro deck you mean they have very little direct burn currently. Having a low life is less of a concern than keeping control of the board. The latter being what divin baan is very poor at.

 

[Wichu]

How furious do you think Wizards is that Blizzard revealed that Tracer was a lesbian before they could triumphantly announce that one of the Planeswalkers was gay

The story articles are very unsubtly hinting at Chandra x Nissa. Just kiss already.

 

[red13th]

How furious do you think Wizards is that Blizzard revealed that Tracer was a lesbian before they could triumphantly announce that one of the Planeswalkers was gay

??
They had literally every chance for years and didn't take it. Nobody else to blame but themselves.

 

[Joe Molotov]

The story articles are very unsubtly hinting at Chandra x Nissa. Just kiss already.

I only ship Liliandra.

 

[Hero]

MaRo made himself the face and voice of the company, with that come expectations.

If people are that dumb when it comes to their expectations then they deserve to be let down.

 

[charlequin]

Oh, so it's like:

Design = Cards/Mechanics
Development = Sets/Formats

I'm honestly not sure where the division of responsibility lies between the two jobs.

At other companies, and in WotC's official product credits now, they call them "Initial Design" and "Final Design" because that conveys the difference a little better, the Magic community is just so used to the other terminology that they keep using it informally.

The idea is that the design half create the vision of the set, including the theme, the initial slate of mechanics, the major themes, the cards for important story characters and events, etc. Development then focus on refinement into a final product, which covers a bunch of stuff: card costing, balance of different elements within the set, limited format, constructed balance, appealing to the different psychographics, and anything necessary to make marketing happy about the set. Probably about 1/3 of mechanics and a ton of significant cards are created entirely in the development part of the process.

 

[zeemumu]

I wish the horror theme had continued for just a little longer.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

I thought Shadows was an awful block.

 

[Wulfric]

I doubt it's that big a deal. Wizards has been doing a pretty big push for inclusion for several years now; there's already been a few gay characters in the lore, even if they're not planeswalkers. One of the current commander decks even has a gay couple as the face card.

I was gonna say, didn't we just get a gay couple? I don't think they feel mad at all. And if Chandra or Nissa was lesbian, we would have been told that in the past 9 years. If we're getting a gay planeswalker, it's going to have to be a new character.

At other companies, and in WotC's official product credits now, they call them "Initial Design" and "Final Design" because that conveys the difference a little better, the Magic community is just so used to the other terminology that they keep using it informally.

The idea is that the design half create the vision of the set, including the theme, the initial slate of mechanics, the major themes, the cards for important story characters and events, etc. Development then focus on refinement into a final product, which covers a bunch of stuff: card costing, balance of different elements within the set, limited format, constructed balance, appealing to the different psychographics, and anything necessary to make marketing happy about the set. Probably about 1/3 of mechanics and a ton of significant cards are created entirely in the development part of the process.

Interesting. So design sets up the main theme/philosophy essentially, and development tweaks the cards or makes new ones to create the set?

 

[Angry Grimace]

The story articles are very unsubtly hinting at Chandra x Nissa. Just kiss already.

Last I saw they had Gideon getting all dokidoki around Chandra

 

[aidan]

Inclusivity shouldn't be a marketing gimmick. If WotC is upset about Blizzard's reveal about Tracer's sexual orientation, they need to rethink their priorities.

 

[Ashodin]

Shadows Over Innistrad was great, Eldritch Moon sucked

 

[Angry Grimace]

Shadows Over Innistrad was great, Eldritch Moon sucked

You might be surprised to learn that many pro players were extremely high on EMS-EMS-SOI.

 

[Joe Molotov]

Hey guys, remember that time WotC created a new basic land type and stuffed it into the second set of a garbage-fire block that was already packed with unpopular new mechanics? Is it 2017 yet?

 

[Angry Grimace]

Technically, they didn't create a new basic land type.

 

[Santiako]

Shadows Over Innistrad was great, Eldritch Moon sucked

What the hell? Eldritch Moon was fantastic. Emerge was very overpowered, but other than that it was great, both for limited and constructed.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

You might be surprised to learn that many pro players were extremely high on EMS-EMS-SOI.

It's not even the limited format, which I just mostly skipped it's that they printed such dumbfuck cards in the set.
Grim Flayer, Spell Queller, Ishkanah and Emrakul are all from it and they are pushed af.

Boy was I wrong on Emrakul, embarrassingly wrong. I was like so what she makes you discards eats a creature and then you kill her in the extra turn.

 

[Ashodin]

You might be surprised to learn that many pro players were extremely high on EMS-EMS-SOI.

pro players are a subset of the whole

Eldritch Moon gave us the worst card in standard. Emrakul

member when Spell Queller was in CoCo? I member. CoCo sucked so hard

and we're still not out of the woods. fucking spell queller in UW flash sucks hard

no graveyard removal

Bring on Aether Revolt spoilers PLZ

 

[Angry Grimace]

There's a lot of very un-fun cards in Standard in every set these days, unfortunately.

Spell Queller; Archangel Avacyn; Gideon, Ally of Zendikar; Aetherworks Marvel; Emrakul, the Promised End, etc. are all pretty fucking lame cards.

Even the goofball decks like Panharmonicon or Aetherflux Reservoir tend to revolve around un-fun lines of play.

 

[Angry Grimace]

I'm trying my hardest to make Decimator of the Provinces work. It's worked a couple of times, but its not exactly consistent.

 

[HK-47]

There's a lot of very un-fun cards in Standard in every set these days, unfortunately.

Spell Queller; Archangel Avacyn; Gideon, Ally of Zendikar; Aetherworks Marvel; Emrakul, the Promised End, etc. are all pretty fucking lame cards.

Even the goofball decks like Panharmonicon or Aetherflux Reservoir tend to revolve around un-fun lines of play.

I have fun every time I play Spell Queller.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

I've been considering putting spell queller and selfless spirit into my fish deck and I'm definitely going to play selfless spirit in affinity

 

[Firemind]

I have fun every time I play Spell Queller.

Wouldn't be so fun if the format had Lightning Strike.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Wouldn't be so fun if the format had Lightning Strike.

Of course the problem is that I don't want Vehicles decks to have Lightning Strike.

 

[Firemind]

But Lightning Strike kills vehicles. :3

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

I need lightning strike in my life

 

[Ashodin]

Of course the problem is that I don't want Vehicles decks to have Lightning Strike.

tier 1 here we come

 

[Angry Grimace]

But Lightning Strike kills vehicles. :3

So does harnessed lightning

 

[Firemind]

So does harnessed lightning

Harnessed Lightning doesn't kill Gideon. Checkmate.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Harnessed Lightning doesn't kill Gideon. Checkmate.

Neither does Lightning Strike

 

[Firemind]

Neither does Lightning Strike

Ah but it does with Mommy and Daddy Nalaar!

 

[charlequin]

what would constitute a fun line of play for a hypothetical standard deck

 

[Angry Grimace]

what would constitute a fun line of play for a hypothetical standard deck

Not instantly losing to Emrakul and other creatures that provide so much value that removing them doesn't matter because it's too late.

Even stuff like Reflector Mage provides too much immediate value to be much fun to deal with being around. Cards like Gideon could be dealt with by printing answers to them but there isn't much in the way of realistic answers for Emrakul or Ishkanah. Aetherworks Marvel really shouldn't have been printed, either.

 

[charlequin]

I mean I asked because you listed Panharmonicon in the unfun lines category and to me that's exactly the kind of thing I'd rather see than endless Emrakuls.

 

[Angry Grimace]

I mean I asked because you listed Panharmonicon in the unfun lines category and to me that's exactly the kind of thing I'd rather see than endless Emrakuls.

Right but doubling a bunch of BS etb stuff ends up on the unfun side because of how hard to deal with the underlying creatures are.

 

[Santiako]

Aw man, I just read Sheldon Menery's last article on SCG and he was just diagnosed with throat cancer. That sucks very hard

 

[OnPoint]

Aw man, I just read Sheldon Menery's last article on SCG and he was just diagnosed with throat cancer. That sucks very hard

Let's hope for the best for him. That's awful

 

[GoutPatrol]

Shadows Over Innistrad was great, Eldritch Moon sucked

EDM limited was fun. Grab as many Thermos, Drag Unders, and Knowledges as you can, have fun.

 

[bigkrev]

I sleeved'd up Infect for the first time tonight (I used Owen's most recent list), and ended up going 3-1 as I learned the deck at FNM tonight. I beat Jund, WB Tokens and the Mirror, and lost to Bant Eldrazi.

Maybe it's my unfamiliarity with the deck, but I had more mulligans than games played (I had 13 mulligans across the 11 games). I won both games that I was forced to mulligan to 5 to, and won both of them on Turn 3. This deck just seems absurd, and this was with me making likely sub-optiaml SB decisions because I didn't have a guide or anything.

 

[HK-47]

Right but doubling a bunch of BS etb stuff ends up on the unfun side because of how hard to deal with the underlying creatures are.

If the ETB arent BS, it wouldnt see standard play so...yeah, dont understand that line of thought. The fact that its seeing play at all is kinda remarkable. It seemed like one of the fun casual cards that would never see play.

 

[HK-47]

EDM limited was fun. Grab as many Thermos, Drag Unders, and Knowledges as you can, have fun.

The problem with EDM limited was R/B Madness split between payoffs and enablers in the block and the bigger problem of dropping investigate and thus killing UG clues.

 

[Santiako]

http://magic.wizards.com/en/AERMasterpieces

Aether Revolt masterpieces. Really nice set of cards. Special shout to ornithopter.

Merry Christmas mtg GAF

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

No real surprises there.

Happy Holidays

 

[Ashodin]

Fuck a duck those are amazing

I need sword of war and peace. It looks like a greatsword and is in Boros colors

 

[Yeef]

On the one hand, Ornithopter feels like a feel-bad masterpiece to open. On the other hand, it's so pretty!

 

[Hero]

Ornithopter, War and Peace, and Platinum Angel are gorgeous.