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[Royal_Flush]

That Pummeler seems to be really bad (for a rare). 3 Energy plus a chump blocker for 3 may not be abysmal but I'd say most common and uncommon energy creatures are better. Am I misevaluating the activated ability? It seems way too costly to be any good.

 

[Matriox]

That Pummeler seems to be really bad (for a rare). 3 Energy plus a chump blocker for 3 may not be abysmal but I'd say most common and uncommon energy creatures are better. Am I misevaluating the activated ability? It seems way too costly to be any good.

I don't think it's gonna be a powerhouse, but keep in mind with additional energy creators you could see this become a 8/8 from 3 activations in the same turn at 0 mana. Throw in a giant growth and go to town...

I'd possibly play it in UG Ezuri edh. It has the etb p/t for experience, and benefits from proliferate and the ezuri counters.

 

[Ozigizo]

Looks like he's holding a staple gun.

 

[archnemesis]

Pummeler is interesting in a deck with Larger than Life (+4/+4 and trample) and cards generating energy. With two activations it becomes a 20/20 creature with trample. The combo is probably to vulnerable to see competitive play, but it could be a fun casual deck.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

That Pummeler seems to be really bad (for a rare). 3 Energy plus a chump blocker for 3 may not be abysmal but I'd say most common and uncommon energy creatures are better. Am I misevaluating the activated ability? It seems way too costly to be any good.

I dunno. It looks like you can rack up obscene amounts of energy pretty quickly if you try hard enough.

For 3 energy, you attack for 2.
For 6 energy, you attack for 4.
For 9 energy, you attack for 8.
For 12 energy, you attack for 16.
For 15 energy, you attack for 32.

For 3 energy and a Larger Than Life, you attack for 10 (trample)
For 6 energy and a Larger Than Life, you attack for 20 (trample)

 

[duxstar]

If the pummeler had trample it would be OP but as it is its a bulk rare. Imagine that thing in G/W tokens with trample. It could easily be an 8/8 or higher for a turn but it still gets chump blocked now, and dies to Liliana's + ability.

That dwarf on the other hand, thats a real magic card. Mono white decks are already playing thraben inspectors mainboard. Its actually a great counter to Sylvan advocate assuming you get the artifact. I can easily see a world where you drop dwarf for 1, untap play thraben inspector + 2nd dwarf and on turn 3 , without any other buffs you're swinging for 10 damage.

Throw things like always watching, Collective effort, nissa, or gideon emblem and your guys get out of hand real quick.

The only downside is that its not a human

 

[Royal_Flush]

Yeah, I guess with external pump spells it could be good. On it's own I don't think spending 6 or 9 energy to get a decent body for one turn is going to cut it.

 

[Giant Panda]

I don't think the card is that good if it requires other pump spells and other energy generators to be good.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

They didn't print that card for Brian Braun-Duin.

They printed that card for Seth-better-known-as-SaffronOlive.

 

[Matriox]

I don't think the card is that good if it requires other pump spells and other energy generators to be good.

Infect must suck then

 

[Ozigizo]

Infect must suck then

Lol, I had the same response.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Infect must suck then

infect is a base x2 multiplier and static compared to a continuing energy investment.

 

[Matriox]

infect is a base x2 multiplier and static compared to a continuing energy investment.

The "" was a sign that I was mostly kidding.

 

[El Topo]

The dwarf is fun, but outside of your combat phase it's very fragile.

 

[siddx]

The dwarf is fun, but outside of your combat phase it's very fragile.

I've always liked creatures like that though. Because during my opponents turn they have to stare at a one drop 1/1 and wonder whether to waste precious removal on it while I keep dropping bigger creatures after it.

 

[Santiako]

That's pretty nasty. 6 mana 6/6 first strike on red with some potential big damage to the face tacked on. Worst one of the bunch though.

 

[El Topo]

I've always liked creatures like that though. Because during my opponents turn they have to stare at a one drop 1/1 and wonder whether to waste precious removal on it while I keep dropping bigger creatures after it.

Sucks if they have a Liliana though. I like the card. It has potential, but it requires at least some work, unlike e.g. Sylvan Advocate.

 

[Matriox]

That's pretty nasty. 6 mana 6/6 first strike on red with some potential big damage to the face tacked on. Worst one of the bunch though.

With Emrakul running around I'd be afraid of taking the damage..

 

[Simply Sarah]

That's pretty nasty. 6 mana 6/6 first strike on red with some potential big damage to the face tacked on. Worst one of the bunch though.

At least it does this effect better than Sin Prodder in that the target opponent can't see the card(s) first.

 

[ultron87]

They couldn't just give it the Bedlam Reveller effect. It just had to be a punisher. Lol.

 

[Joe Molotov]

That's pretty nasty. 6 mana 6/6 first strike on red with some potential big damage to the face tacked on. Worst one of the bunch though.

Could just instantly win you the game, spicy. I'm sure most people will just choose card draw.

 

[Santiako]

Kaladesh has artifact expeditions WHAAAAAAAAATTTTTT. All of them will be posted today!

So when we stood back and analyzed what Zendikar Expeditions had done, we realized that it made Standard more accessible, it got players access to older cards, and it provided alternatives for deck building. It wasn't a total solution for every challenge, but it helped address all of them. This, of course, led us to ask, "Is this something we should be doing more often?"

We had a lot of meetings where we discussed all of the ramifications of turning Zendikar Expeditions into an ongoing promotion. We talked pros and cons and benefits and detriments and everything we could think of. In the end, we decided that it made sense, and the Masterpiece Series was born.

From now on, every set will have the "Masterpieces" (Expeditions) This is cool.

 

[Joe Molotov]

Ooooh, purdy.

 

[Llyrwenne]

This will be a thing for all sets from now on 'for the foreseeable future'' : http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/masterpiece-series-2016-09-12

 

[OnPoint]

Expedition artifacts?

Fuck this.

 

[Simply Sarah]

Kaladesh has artifact expeditions WHAAAAAAAAATTTTTT

My god, not just that but this is apparently a thing from now on.

 

[The Technomancer]

Kaladesh has artifact expeditions WHAAAAAAAAATTTTTT. All of them will be posted today!

Well now

 

[RuinerPrime]

Oh snap. Guess Kaledesh will stay valuable.

 

[Giant Panda]

On one hand nice, on the other hand, Wizards probably considers this fine as their entire reprint strategy.

 

[Lucario]

They look like those ugly laminated alters people sell on ebay. Not a fan.

 

[ultron87]

It makes sense. Give packs that lottery feeling and make Standard cards cheaper by soaking up the pack price elsewhere.

 

[Matriox]

Well I'm not super happy about the Expeditions, but hopefully it means standard will be more affordable. Hope that means Chandra won't be $250+ a playset.

They look like those ugly laminated alters people sell on ebay. Not a fan.

Lol QFT

 

[The Technomancer]

It makes sense. Give packs that lottery feeling and make Standard cards cheaper by soaking up the pack price elsewhere.

And making Wizards a boadload of money, of course

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

don't like the mana crypt art at all. It's kinda weird for them to be reprinted right after EMA.

Really like them being added to all sets though.

 

[Santiako]

Can't wait to lose to someone playing t1 mana crypt in limited. lol

 

[The Technomancer]

The number of Masterpiece Series cards may fluctuate, but roughly speaking we expect each Masterpiece Series to be around 50 cards for the whole block. Kaladesh Inventions, for example, will have 30 cards in Kaladesh and 24 cards in Aether Revolt. The large set and small set in a block will have different Masterpiece cards.

jeebus

I...actually don't know how I feel about this, if the numbers are that high.

 

[GoutPatrol]

It makes sense. Give packs that lottery feeling and make Standard cards cheaper by soaking up the pack price elsewhere.

I don't think anything will ever do that as well as shocks+fetches from Zendikar. Looking at the things they posted already, we're getting more Tec Edge-level expeditions.

 

[Santiako]

jeebus

I...actually don't know how I feel about this, if the numbers are that high.

I'm assuming they'll be less rare than expeditions, given the large number of them.

 

[red13th]

I HATE FOILS. Why wotc why

 

[jph139]

Expeditions being a permanent thing sounds good to me. Bring down other cards' prices a bit, reprint cards a bit, increase sales a bit... and they're something I can safely ignore outside of, like, maybe pulling one once a year to sell for quick cash (or keep if it's actually cool looking).

 

[El Topo]

Expeditions? What? Totally missed that announcement. Man, it must suck to play against someone with T1 Crypt.

 

[Toxi]

Collectors gonna go broke.

 

[ultron87]

And making Wizards a boadload of money, of course

Also that. But in terms of effects that players see it should be generally positive. Unless the player is someone who is like "ooh expeditions. Time to mortgage my house and live in a hut made of booster cases that will also be my retirement fund."

 

[Simply Sarah]

I'm assuming they'll be less rare than expeditions, given the large number of them.

Given what MaRo says in his article it sounds like it's probably roughly the same frequency as the expeditions were. And since there are 5 more cards for Kaladesh than in the set of expeditions in BFZ it would mean that for an equal amount of Kaladesh product there will be fewer of any one of the cards while Aether Revolt will be the same ratio. But that's just a guess and it also seems to imply that the odds can vary from set to set so who knows. I don't think they've ever announced what the odds were for getting an expedition, have they?

 

[The Technomancer]

Also that. But in terms of effects that players see it should be generally positive. Unless the player is someone who is like "ooh expeditions. Time to mortgage my house and live in a hut made of booster cases that will also be my retirement fund."

If I'm sketchy about this its because of its similarity to video game loot crates. I mean, Magic has always been about gambling, but realistically in whatever the current standard is the value of what you pull is going to top out around what, like $40-50 (barring JTMS fuckery), and that's usually one card? Now as policy going forward they're going to include a boatload of cards worth much more.

To be fair, the Expeditions were a bit unique in that everyone wants pieces for their mana base, anything else is necessarily going to be more narrow, but I mean, Mana Crypt currently sells for like $85, no way this Mana Crypt is worth less than $150 right?

 

[ultron87]

I like that this means we'll get plane specific art for staple cards for various format for the foreseeable future.

 

[bigkrev]

A lot of thoughts-

1. I think Expeditions worked because it was new- doing it every set is going to burn people out like crazy
2. If people continue to eat them up, it's going to lead to Standard being super cheap because of price depression. This is good for standard players, but bad in a sense that the cards will have no value, and thus selling out or trading into modern/EDH will be impossible
3. This seems like way too much- 20 is probably the right number per set. 30 in large sets and 25 in small sets makes it too hard for even hardcore collectors
4. This reeks of 90s Sports Cards gimmicks, which, even if Magic is fine (as they keep saying), makes me more worried about the future of the game than anything they have done since the invention of Mythic Rares
5. It was fine to do with lands, but playing around extra cards in limited will not be fun, especially when we get a cycle of spells like Bonfire down the line.

Overall- This is a bad thing. Combined with all the shit they have been announcing recently, I'm worried about the future of the game.

 

[MoxManiac]

I'll take 10 cases of Kaladesh, please.

 

[Xis]

I'm OK with this. Will drive down the price of standard a bit, plus I like the chance of winning the booster lottery. Do not like how MaRo said this helps with reprints; quantities are way too small.

 

[The Technomancer]

5. It was fine to do with lands, but playing around extra cards in limited will not be fun, especially when we get a cycle of spells like Bonfire down the line.

This I'm not worried about. 1 in 144 packs means they're going to show up what, once in every four/five drafts on average? And if the Invention for your cycle is a Gearhulk or a Hangerback Walker that's not even that bad. I'd bet that something like 1/10 drafts or less even see a guy who gets a Mana Crypt equivalent.