Magic: The Gathering

[Joe Molotov]

I'm gonna be real- as gross as the new masterpieces are (both in selection of what to print and presentation) the concept of flashback creatures is far more disgusting. So glad I don't play this game anymore.

With Wizards, there's the possibility that they're so worried about this breaking the game that they make them all completely unplayable (Madness in SoI) and then miss some other broken interaction.

[Human Snorenado]

I have come to the conclusion that MaRo wields too much power. There's a pronounced and unfortunate imbalance between design and development in design's favor, and it makes the game shittier as a result. It should be development's job to catch shit like the Saheeli Rai-Felidar Guardian combo, but more importantly to be in a position to tell design "no" when it tries to have all the candy in the world with shiny new keywords and interactions. (specifically thinking of Stoneforge Mystic in a world of powerful equipment, but especially Batterskull.)

[Joe Molotov]

From Maro's blog today:

stoketheflavor asked: Before Kaladesh released, you said (I believe) that it was your best set since original Innistrad. How do you feel about Kaladesh now?

I’m still very proud of it, but it wasn’t received quite as well as I hoped.

 

[Kara]

I have come to the conclusion that MaRo wields too much power. There's a pronounced and unfortunate imbalance between design and development in design's favor, and it makes the game shittier as a result. It should be development's job to catch shit like the Saheeli Rai-Felidar Guardian combo, but more importantly to be in a position to tell design "no" when it tries to have all the candy in the world with shiny new keywords and interactions. (specifically thinking of Stoneforge Mystic in a world of powerful equipment, but especially Batterskull.)

I wonder how much of that is due to the staff (coincidentally I'm sure) seeing the game in the same warped way he does.

e.g. Commanderin' has designers and developers on it all the time. On a recentish episode they straight up asked their guest why they printed a stupid card in this block that didn't have any limitations on it besides its casting cost and the guest's response was something along the lines of, "Well, we could have put in a limitation on it like X, but Kaladesh is a plane of wonder and invention so those kind of limitations didn't seem like a good fit." Straight up MaRo bullshit.

[Kara]

I'm gonna be real- as gross as the new masterpieces are (both in selection of what to print and presentation) the concept of flashback creatures is far more disgusting. So glad I don't play this game anymore.

With Wizards, there's the possibility that they're so worried about this breaking the game that they make them all completely unplayable (Madness in SoI) and then miss some other broken interaction.

This is a common. Going out on a limb here and saying Embalm is pushed as heck.



Fuck off and retire, Mark.

[naff]

It's strange coz Bolas likes control strategies, but embalm, if properly constructed playable en masse, will make swift work of any kind of traditional control. Guess you can use disallow to counter half a card lol.

I'm guessing there's going to be some kind o gy hate. Reprint RIP. BRING BACK THE BOG.

[naff]

Also, I don't think a 6/4 for 8 at common is particularly pushed per se, but this is a real solid common. Some ppl would still pick the 3/2 menace zombie over this.

[Joe Molotov]

I'm gonna be real- as gross as the new masterpieces are (both in selection of what to print and presentation) the concept of flashback creatures is far more disgusting. So glad I don't play this game anymore.

With Wizards, there's the possibility that they're so worried about this breaking the game that they make them all completely unplayable (Madness in SoI) and then miss some other broken interaction.

This is a common. Going out on a limb here and saying Embalm is pushed as heck.

(Image removed from quote.)

Fuck off and retire, Mark.

Welp, after seeing two cards, I'm guessing W/x Embalm is gonna be the limited archetype of choice.

[Joe Molotov]

Modern-playable uncommons being reprinted at Rare.

Creature spells

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Aven Mindcensor

[close]

[Kara]

It's strange coz Bolas likes control strategies, but embalm, if properly constructed playable en masse, will make swift work of any kind of traditional control. Guess you can use disallow to counter half a card lol.

No Vorthos, but iirc while it's his plane he hasn't been encountered by anyone on it in a long enough time that there's all this creepy religious stuff that's sprung up to fill the vacuum. I presume that the second set will be his return.

[Kara]

Renewed Faith is being reprinted... dare we dream about an Astral Slide one too? That would sure deal with all these flashback creature tokens.

Also from its flavor text Gideon is going to go native lol.

[naff]

seems like this set will have a focus on hate cards. i like it.

[naff]

Renewed Faith is being reprinted... dare we dream about an Astral Slide one too? That would sure deal with all these flashback creature tokens.

Also from its flavor text Gideon is going to go native lol.

i reckon he gonna get laid with the golden god 5 times larger than your average human. he wants to be dominated.

[Human Snorenado]

(Image removed from quote.)

seems like this set will have a focus on hate cards. i like it.

Disgusting on so many different levels- uncounterable furry bait, basically.

[Kara]

Costing that just 1 green more than Gaea's Herald sounds about right for creatures these days. Why not hexproof and mythic rarity while we're at it? You think people are going to crack packs for revolting Dark Rituals?

Anyway, RIP Horribly Awry, out of tier 1 before it even had its time in the sun as MVP. And so we go back to waiting for Godot Temur Tower.

[Kara]

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/latest-developments/cycling-duels-2017-03-31

Allied dual land lands that come into play tapped and have Cycling: 2. 

(Of course they're rare.)

Also, confirmation that there's no Astral Slide in the block because of its templating. I'm glad they worry about the important stuff, really.

[Human Snorenado]

At first I was all "meh" then I noticed they were fetchable, then I remembered that I don't play this game anymore and it went back to "meh."

[Kara]

Nah, shit is meh. (Not bad.) If it didn't have the basic land types the rarity level would be even more lol.

[naff]

Aven mindcensor and fetchable lands? So we're going to be getting a bunch of land cycling cards.

[Kara]

Aven mindcensor and fetchable lands? So we're going to be getting a bunch of land cycling cards.

I was wondering about that... why reprint* it now, especially with a masterpiece too? Are we going to get something like slivercycling again?

It'd be a bummer if this was another Spirit of the Labyrinth situation.

*I suppose it's more accurate to say originally print.

[Joe Molotov]

Best April Fools Day joke I saw online yesterday:

https://twitter.com/RoboRosewater/status/848234009775812610/

oof, this is pretty sick burn

[thisismyusername]

http://imgur.com/a/2QMQ4

The GP ones.

[Joe Molotov]

I went to GP San Antonio this weekend. It was a Team Unified Modern event, which means that you have three-man teams and no one can have duplicated cards in their decklists (other than basics). My friend wanted to do but I didn't really want to, so he joined another team of some other local guys but he still offered to let me carpool with him and crash his hotel room if I still wanted to offer moral support, so I took him up on it. My friend was on Suicide Jund and the rest of his team was Merfolk and Scapeshift, and they ended up going a respectable 4-4 and missed Day 2.

I hit up the vendors and sold most of my Standard and EDH filth away and bought Skred, and then played it at Modern side event. This was my decklist:

4x Skred
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Anger of the Gods
4x Blood Moon
4x Koth of the Hammer
3x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4x Mind Stone
4x Relic of Progenitus
3x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
2x Eternal Scourge
2x Stormbreath Dragon
1x Batterskull
20x Snow-Covered Mountain
2x Scrying Sheets

SB:
3x Dragon Claws
3x Pithing Needle
2x Shatterstorm
2x Ensnaring Bridge
3x Roast
1x Anger of the Gods
1x Platinum Angel

I went 2-2, beating Mill and Elves, losing a close game to Bant Eldrazi and getting btfo by Bogles. this_is_fine.jpg

I also did a Modern Masters 2017 draft that went about as badly as it possibly could have gone. No value pulls but I built what I thought was a good Rakdos Aggro deck until I just got my brains blown out by a guy playing Esper in the first round.
RIP Spike Jester  :'(

[naff]

oh nice! what a great deck. i just finished watching day 2 of that. i love the team unified events. really happy to see huey, owen and reid lose lol, and patrick chapin was a great commentator! i generally enjoy wizards official mtg coverage a lot more, now that randy buehler is gone 

i just played a modern gpt for Las Vegas, came 3/4th with a Bant Retreat deck. went 3-1-1 in the swiss drawing well all day, should've been 5-0, but I'm a scrub that made critical misplays a few times, and fffuuuuc executing that combo is powerful but a drag, esp. when everyone's crowding around watching you (Bant, not Eldrazi, value beats/sometimes combo deck?!) and your opponent won't accept you easily have lethal when you have protection or they're tapped out. though there are a lot of opportunities to miss triggers and fucc up the execution so it's understandable angle shooting. luckily i was able to demonstrate and kinda shortcut execution. combo'd more than ever that day, pretty happy to get 2 turn 3 kills. Better than Twin! then ended up losing to an 11 year old on eldrazi tron in the semis whos dad (this family all play mtg) is taking him to Vegas now.

also playing a BUG Leovold, True Name Nemesis deck in a proxy legacy league atm, seems really powerful. mostly just an updated netdeck of a list Reid Duke played a while ago. definitely going to start testing a Modern BUG deck soon, something akin to the jund/junk deaths shadow lists: heavy on delirium, with more interaction on the stack while making use of traverse, grim flayer and snap together. possibly just eschewing deaths shadow/1 drop creatures altogether and playing a more classic midrange control deck with those two, goyf, and a split on the delve threats. hopefully i can get 3 more goyf, verdant catacombs and mishra's baubles selling off my old shit like you Joe.

[Kara]

The problem with that BUG is that it was supposed to have a good shot against Miracles but Miracles just adapted (like it always does). Solid runner-up deck, and one that can navigate a field of unknowns (e.g. a Grand Prix).

[Joe Molotov]

They say "crop" in the flavor text, so this checks out.

[Kara]

Bro, it's cool, undead lifegain. Totally in color wheel.



e:



This set is our Mass Effect: Andromeda.

[Kara]

A NEW ENCHANTMENT SUBTYPE. THE SET THEROS SHOULD HAVE BEEN



That does nothing except be referenced by other cards.



At least there's gods or some shit.

[Joe Molotov]

Cartouche is a good word, probably Top 10 if I'm being honest.

[Joe Molotov]

Hazoret the Pervert

[Kara]

Cartouche is a good word, probably Top 10 if I'm being honest.

Up there with licid, easily. If there's one thing enchantments have going for them it's their naming.

It's wishful thinking (especially with a new subtype to push), but it would be such a flavor miss to not have new curses in a set that apes Egyptian mythology.

[naff]

The problem with that BUG is that it was supposed to have a good shot against Miracles but Miracles just adapted (like it always does). Solid runner-up deck, and one that can navigate a field of unknowns (e.g. a Grand Prix).

Ppl in my meta don't play miracles, there are so many random jank decks I decided Id try play format police with this deck. also considered playing miracles, but before this the only deck I had any real experience with in legacy was death and taxes which was too much of a meta deck for a random proxy league. So far bug has proven to punish the jank. Got a match up against eldrazi stompy today. Not so confident there..... 2 fatal push, 2 abrupt decay as my maindeck removal :/

[Kara]

Hmmm, imo Sneak and Show is a better copper. Anyway, welcome to pet deck hell.

Unrelated: Cartouche of Solidarity will be really nice in Pauper Bogles now that I think about it. The deck's 2 biggest meta weaknesses are the prevalece of 1 damage wraths and edicts... the card deals with both of those things at once and it's in color.

[Kara]

We ruled out blue Zombies because we felt Innistrad had set the flavor that blue Zombies were created through science/magic, and mummies didn't feel at all like Frankenstein-style creatures. Red Zombies didn't feel right as mummies don't really have a red mindset. Green Zombies seemed odd, as mummification seemed a very unnatural process. That brought us to white. Mummification had a ritualistic and orderly aspect to it. Was there a way to make white Zombies work?

So, we went to the creative team and asked what they thought of white and black Zombies. It turns out they had created a society within the city where Zombies served as servants and outside the city where they became abominations. White and black were perfect fits. To differentiate between the two, we made the black Zombies destructive and the white Zombies constructive. The black Zombies were vicious in combat and had effects that often would injure or kill other creatures. In exploratory design, we had played around with wither, so I added it to a bunch of the black mummies. (The set had -1/-1 counters. I'll be getting to this in future weeks. I'll also be getting to how wither got added and then removed.) The white Zombies, in contrast, were made to be mechanically helpful to portray their servant status.

MaRo: Zombies can be white because of orderly rituals used to make them or something.

[Joe Molotov]

 Toilet paper is white, QED.

[naff]

Hmmm, imo Sneak and Show is a better copper. Anyway, welcome to pet deck hell.

sneak and show is the villain! the ultimate big bad with a big ol' target on its forehead that everyone packs hate for. not the police! I do quite like omnitell though. too much karakas in our meta for regular ol' sneaky emrakul beats.

[Kara]

They printed a 1/1 with lifelink for W that flashes back for W at common. Good grief.

[Kara]

sneak and show is the villain! the ultimate big bad with a big ol' target on its forehead that everyone packs hate for. not the police! I do quite like omnitell though. too much karakas in our meta for regular ol' sneaky emrakul beats.

Hmmmm I'm not sure what you really mean by police deck then. When I hear police deck I either think (1) hard control* or (2) a deck so brutally efficient it keeps Jank.dec it check by virtue of its ruthless construction.

*Virtually nonexistent these days.

e: I love my draft deck (aside from the oddball Boros Reckoner).



I also got a Goblin Guide (which is worthless on MODO), an Inquisition of Kozilek, and a Gifts Ungiven .

[Joe Molotov]

They printed a 1/1 with lifelink for W that flashes back for W at common. Good grief.

It should be able to flashback 8 times, cuz it's a cat. #FlavorFail

[Kara]

Enchanting

[Joe Molotov]

colorshifted Unstable Mutation

[Kara]

colorshifted Unstable Mutation

Red: Blue's fallback school.

[Kara]

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/amonkhet-split-card-rules-changes-2017-04-04

So split cards are the new legends (a card players like with some wonky rules from the game's past that will be tweaked multiple times until it's unrecognizable). Glad they're on the case. Again.

e: Finished that league 1-2. First loss was to the other deck I drafted (Grixis discard... you get a specter and you get a specter and you get a specter) and the second loss happened because I was stuck on 2 Islands the entirety of the rubber match and gambled on my opponent not having an "I win" card that the Mystic Genesis in my hand could have stopped, which, of course, they did. To add insult to injury they alpha striked me for 31 when I had 30 life. My deck would have been much, much better if I had had just a solitary Splicer but the only Splicer I saw in my packs was the same pack with Urbis Protector and that was the MVP of virtually every match, so.

e2: Now to stop myself from buying into a Modern Blue/Red Gifts Storm deck on MODO after drafting a Gifts Ungiven and some Goblin Electromancers.

[Joe Molotov]

Tormod's Crypt is back, but in creature form! (and not as good)

[Kara]

New Gideon, lol.

[Joe Molotov]

I expect the next Gideon Ult to actually give you loyalty.

[Kara]

The most damning thing about that card is that I can't just look at it and see yet another poorly costed planeswalker, but branding insisting that the game push the brand which isn't actually the game. (Sure seems like this is a Gideon story.) See also: Nahiri, Chandra in the current block.

"Whoops, did I print that?" Saheeli and latest Tamiyo were starting to make my icy heart melt just a little too. Sad!

[WanderingWind]

Betcha Gideon dies this block. Sam and MaRo both have complained about lack of design space. Two back to back pushed cards ahead of a plane that allows him to come back if they need? I think they're going to off him.

[Joe Molotov]

Kill the entire Jacetice League, see if I give two fucks.

[Kara]

Betcha Gideon dies this block. Sam and MaRo both have complained about lack of design space. Two back to back pushed cards ahead of a plane that allows him to come back if they need? I think they're going to off him.

The winner of the titular Trials is murdered by a god (talk about a Pyrrhic victory), so that seems like a safe bet.

Elspeth can't stay trapped in that cave The Underworld forever.

[naff]

Tormod's Crypt is back, but in creature form! (and not as good)

Sooo much worse. Scarab Feast though. i was pretty interested in playing a more controlling abzan delirium build going into this (Cast Out), will have to see what other hate they print and how hard scarab feast and the cat wreck grim flayer and traverse. for now im considering it dead until further notice.

Came 2nd at modern night again with Bant Retreat. Mulling to 5 against Jund twice in a row. My penance for getting the nut and turn 3 killing my previous opponent twice in a row. Deck is getting better and better. Ruined my first opponent in final turns of time, turning a hierarch into effectively a 3 colour lotus cobra (kotr activation, sac plains or forest get fetch, untap kotr, fetch,untap hierarch, float mana. Rinse and repeat), then activating a township, sinking some into kessig wolf run leaving negate up. overkill

[naff]

gideon of the trials

this is definitely the planeswalker i want alongside my gw hatebears. 3cmc ajani was such a turd. just got another horizon canopy too, gonna build in prep for this. i really dislike blade splicer, and while mirran crusader is great, this guy provides some of the versatility i need, affects the board providing pesudo removal the turn you play him. what a champ. especially good with so few bolts being played atm.

[naff]

also, i find it really hard to care about mtg lore, i find the whole jacetice league schtick to be quite funny tbh. BEEFSLAB. there are what, 3 playable iterations of Gideon in Standard at the moment? 1 is played to some extent in EVERY format, this new one looks like it will be played in two i'd guess. It is ridiculous, but i think they're all fucked now because Sunk Cost Theory: Wizards have invested too much time and effort into these characters. We're stuck with 'em now.

[Kara]

The Throwback Standard Gauntlet is finally back up on MODO and I made the bad decision to sign up. RNGesus randomly assigned me the deck I actually played during that season IRL!

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

e: omg it even has the Mountain from Tempest I used. <3

[naff]

4x fireblast 

[Kara]

NOSTALGIA SHITPOST, READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL

(Games are against Oath of Druids.)

1. Gotta remember Wasteland is in this format, folks.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Match 1, Game 1]

Turn 1: Karakand.
Karakand plays Mountain.
Turn 2: Opponent.
Opponent plays Brushland.
Turn 3: Karakand
Karakand plays Wasteland.
Karakand activates an ability of Wasteland targeting Brushland (Destroy target nonbasic land.).

[close]

2. Never tap your Quicksand for mana.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Opponent (10 life) has Quicksand, Quicksand, Grasslands (untapped), Forest, Forest, Forest in play.]
[Karakand (20 life) has Mountain, Mountain, Mountain, Mountain, Mogg Fanatic in play.]
Turn 7: Opponent
[Opponent taps Quicksand, Forest, Forest, Forest.]
Opponent casts Creeping Mold targeting Mountain.
[Karakand taps Mountain.]
Karakand casts Shock targeting Opponent.
Turn 8: Karakand
Karakand plays Wasteland.
Karakand activates an ability of Wasteland targeting Quicksand (Destroy target nonbasic land.).
Karakand plays Ball Lightning.
Opponent has conceded from the game.

 

[close]

3. Don't play creatures against Oath of Druids, especially Jackal Pup.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Turn 2: Karakand
Karakand plays Jackal Pup.
Turn 3: Opponent
Opponent plays Quicksand.
Opponent casts Oath of Druids.

 

[close]

4. Don't tap your pain lands for colored mana when you have 3 life and there's a Cursed Scroll on the board.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Turn 7: Opponent (3 life)
[Opponent taps Brushland for G.]
Opponent casts Mulch.
Opponent reveals 4 cards with Mulch: Abeyance, Archangel, Plains, and Forest.
Turn 8: Karakand (Jackal Pup, Jackal Pup in hand.)
Karakand casts Shock targeting Opponent.
Opponent activates an ability of Circle of Protection: Red (1: The next time a red source of your choice would deal damage to you this turn, prevent that damage . . .).
Karakand activates an ability of Cursed Scroll targeting Opponent (Name a card. Reveal a card at random from your hand. If it's the named card, Cursed Scroll deals . . .).
Karakand names Jackal Pup for Cursed Scroll.
Karakand reveals Jackal Pup at random.

 

[close]

5. If I play my Wasteland on turn 2 and tap it for mana when you have a Wasteland in play, I probably don't have another Mountain in hand and you should Wasteland my Wasteland. (This happened in the rubber match and I can't believe I got away with it.)



I could write sonnets way too much about this era of Red, but in brief: the timeless thing about it is that it wasn't just 3 damage burn spells and some tiny creatures whose accumulated value far exceeds their power and toughness (which is the not-combo half of what substantially played Red is today--I don't count its existence as a toolbox color in formats where it's obscenely easy to splash). It could grind, it could skate across the in play zone with weird creatures that are not quite burn spells but not quite creatures either, and it could be a creature deck, a spell deck, or both.

Being permanently reassigned the "wild and crazy" elements of Black and Blue during the Modern era along with the frankly bizarre belief by R&D that printing a card like Lightning Bolt means that creatures must inflate in power to offset its existence has lead to a profound stagnation of the color in aggregate. And if you are going to insist on that, stop being cowards and color shift Dark Ritual in a set like Conspiracy or Commander that isn't Type 2 legal.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

[Human Snorenado]

The staying power of Hammer of Bogardan and Cursed Scroll

 

The out of nowhere ability of Ball Lightning and Fireblast to deal half your life total in 1 turn

 

The tears of butthurt nerdlingers when they lost complaining that the deck was so simple a moron could run it despite it having more decisions/math than literally any other deck in the era

 

[Kara]

The tears of butthurt nerdlingers when they lost complaining that the deck was so simple a moron could run it despite it having more decisions/math than literally any other deck in the era

I'm sure someone has written about this somewhere on the internet already, but I don't think it's coincidental that many of the early professional players ended up in finance and professional poker* after Magic. Aside from the unfortunate White Weenie stomping** I happened to receive, during these games I was counting damage and running odds in ways that I don't now when I play. (And I spend a lot of time playing a deck that wins--fine, sometimes wins--with Rally the Peasants or reaching with 8-10 damage of burn when it's not expected.) In this era the game was unabashedly and unapologetically a card game. When that happens today (e.g. Copy-Cat) there is a marked antipathy by both Wizards and the players.

All in all, a lot of fun. Though if you're considering doing this throwback or another in the future (I'm sure everyone is so excited to go back to Mercadian Masques-Invasion ), a word of caution: it's very irritating to play decks whose manabases weren't optimized by the testing we have today. 17 Mountains and 4 Wastelands that you need to use as Wastelands because Quicksand is everywhere in a deck that has Hammer of Bogardan, Cursed Scroll, Ball Lightning and Fireblast is abysmally bad deck design. For reference, (and depending on how you like to think of fetch lands) Burn runs 20 mana producing lands in Type 1.5 right now and the most mana intensive spell you'll play is Exquisite Firecraft which is not optimal and only played because of Miracles.

OPEN THE SPOILER IF YOU MISS MY "I CAN'T BELIEVE THE THINGS FOLKS COUNTER" MEME

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Turn 12: Karakand
Karakand casts Mogg Fanatic.
Opponent casts Whispers of the Muse with buyback.
Opponent draws a card with Whispers of the Muse.
Opponent casts Hydroblast targeting Mogg Fanatic (Counter target spell if it's red.).
Karakand casts Fireblast using an alternate cost targeting Stalking Stones.
Opponent casts Force Spike targeting Fireblast.

[close]

*The association of gambling and Wall Street is intentional.

**en-Kor + Soltari Priest :'( :'( :'(

[Kara]

On a final note, Shock has always been an awful card. It will always be an awful card. And the fact that it's still being reprinted today in Type 2 legal sets is ridiculous.

[Joe Molotov]

Mogg Fanatic too stronk