I don't even care what names you guys call me, I really like the way that new Misty Rainforest looks.
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I don't even care what names you guys call me, I really like the way that new Misty Rainforest looks.
Unless I missed the discussion, Allies got a weird uber-Ringleader.
http://media-dominaria.cursecdn.com/...2175563139.png
It's... not necessarily the most potent tribe in Magic, but the Ringleader effect is pretty real regardless of which tribe it's in. It will be interesting to see if Allies can capitalize on this in a way even remotely similar to Goblin/Elvish Ringleader.
The thing about it is, Allies tend to favor ETB triggers over the same-but-different Slivers that tend towards static effects. So while in theory you could chain a couple of Allies and get some interesting interactions, it's not like ripping a haste-granter and going face out of nowhere.
It was posted, but there was no discussion.Quote:
Originally Posted by TsumiBand
Anyway, the first time I saw it, I hated it. Top of library vs. hand for Goblin Ringleader. But again, it triggers when ANY Ally enters the battlefield. So basically it lets you chain Allies infinitely. Something that lets you cantrip off of casting a creature spell (Glimpse of Nature) makes this a little bonkers. I actually think this makes him bear more similarity to Goblin Recruiter than Ringleader.
New Misty looks awesome BTW. I think when we see these cards IRL, there will be a better consensus about it.
Oh lord, RTFC RTFC RTFC RTFC RTFC RTFC RTFC RTFC RTFC RTFC RTFC RTFC RTFC RTFC RTFC
It stacks your deck? Poop on that, I dunno about that guy
I watched the PAX presentation at least three times, they said nothing about land slot or Expedition land + foil mythic in one pack.Quote:
Originally Posted by Megadeus
Why would the Expedition cards be slightly more frequent than foil mythics when they were in the separate land slot?
I see no mist in that artwork of Misty Rainforest! :PQuote:
Originally Posted by Lemnear
?
Photoshop and photoshop with wider border who cares.
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/zen/220.jpghttp://mythicspoiler.com/bfz/cards/mistyrainforest.jpg
@Jelly - You getting interested in Modern? The Vampire Cleric seems fine in that format, I don't see it breaking into Legacy though... It dies to Punishing Fire before you get any value.
RE: New Misty Rainforest art
There's still a stupid hedron in there... Original art is better, but this is the least worst art we've seen as far as depicting the actual name of the card. :rolleyes:
I find it funny that these full art lands barely show any extra artwork over the traditional border.
Exactly, there's barely any more .psd showing. Even if it was who gives a wooden nickel about the next shading, pixelation layer thrown over the same stuff? If you wanted and could afford nice fetches you'd already have them. You're late to the pimp party by like 5 years, more for Onslaught. These might appeal to casual beards and children but if you've played the game for any amount of time these barely rate above FNM. They'll look sick next to your Grand Prix foil and Duels of the Planeswalkers promos.
Guys, remember that they had to come up with a very large number of landscapes for this block. Around 60 if I'm counting correctly. Some of them are bound to have ended up on different cards than originally intended, or are otherwise mismatched with the names. WotC does things like that when they can get away with it. For what it's worth, I do like Godless Shrine and Flooded Strand, but then I generally like many of the works of Noah Bradley and Veronique Meignaud.
I personally am more disappointed by the fact that so far, a lot of the set is shaping up along the lines of Allies vs Eldrazi, with some very insular mechanics on both sides. I hope they still have some more interesting things up their sleeve.
I also have this bad feeling that they are saving up Emrakul and Kozilek for future blocks, like Alara Besieged or Eldrazi Reborn. Bad because I already don't want to see any more dragons or Cthulhu in Magic anytime soon.
They're building to Eldrazi of TarkirQuote:
Originally Posted by DLifshitz
Technically, it's Illustrator. But yeah, it's pretty much misrepresentation to call these "full art" when the text box is pretty much the same size and barely translucent. Some apes will get a kick out of opening and collecting them, though, which drives down the price of any playable singles, so whatever. To each their own.
This post is not dripping with caustic elitism at all.Quote:
Originally Posted by nedleeds
Just add him to your ignore list and enjoy the new-found serenity. It's not like he's ever posted anything worth reading outside of the pimp thread.Quote:
Originally Posted by MGB
Unfortunately his attitude seems on point when you are talking about the actual cards themselves. Allies and unplayable fatties with weird exile interactions are pretty underwhelming and they seem to be the focuses of the set.
Then I'm not sure what people were expecting from a return to Zendikar, exactly. Zendikar and Worldwake were both simplistic, straightforward sets with low amounts of mechanical complexity and variety; if not for ZEN's enemy fetches and WWK's power level mistakes, they'd both be completely forgettable, on par with Born of the Gods. Rise was great in Limited but Wizards has long said the set polled poorly and exceeded its thresholds for mechanical complexity. It also didn't really have that much going for it in terms of mechanical innovation: five years on, most of what it's remembered for is the mythic Eldrazi, huge fatties whose only distinguishing features are being colorless but not artifacts and being miserable to play against.Quote:
Originally Posted by supremePINEAPPLE
From a creative standpoint, the first two sets of the block were also letdowns. They wanted to go for a D&D adventure world vibe, but apparently it didn't occur to anyone that "D&D Adventure World" is about as no-frills, vanilla fantasy as you can possibly get without just making Magic: the Lord of the Ringsering. If you took out the floating islands and giant polyhedral rocks, you'll have gotten rid of 90% of what made the original ZEN setting distinct from a Generic Core Set World. It wasn't until the mostly aesthetically unique Eldrazi hit that Zendikar really differentiated itself.
I'm pretty sure that the block has only retained popularity because of full art basics, fetches, and a couple of rares and mythics. Wizards is going to hit those high notes on this return. Past that, what you're seeing now is what Zendikar block initially brought to the table: forgettable Voltron creature synergies, giant monsters, and a whole lot of mechanics that weren't really mechanics, mostly just ability words on linear card design.
From that perspective, this set is exactly living up to my expectations of it.
You forgot the traps!
Well, I mean, they wouldn't exactly be traps if he did remember them.Quote:
Originally Posted by HdH_Cthulhu
Maro did make a recent post that traps aren't in because they didn't have enough space for them in this block.Quote:
Originally Posted by iamajellydonut
Traps are one of the things I'd consider "new mechanics that weren't really new mechanics." It's an ability word that just so happens to show up on the type like and denotes the spell having an alternate cost. They didn't need the trap type, that's just there so you know that all of these things with alternate costs on them are related to each other. As for alternate costs as a major block theme, well...Masques came out in, what, 1999? Hell, ZEN and WWK even had kicker, which came out in Invasion.Quote:
Originally Posted by HdH_Cthulhu
What about New Eldrazia? Emrakul and/or Kozilek fight the Praetors, Alien Vs. Predator style.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cire
Who doesn't want to see a giant flying sky vagina fight Lady Gaga?
They did have Trapfinder's Trick and Trapmaker's Snare that used the trap type. As for alternative costs, Force of Will is the iconic card, and that came out in Alliances in 1996.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aggro_zombies
Regarding the spoilers, there are a couple of cheezy combos with March from the Tomb - Akoum Battlesinger or Halimar Excavator. Of course, you can do the same thing for less at instant speed with a card like Rally the Ancestors.
4u|sorcery|Converge — Gain control of target creature if its power is less than or equal to the number of colors of mana spent to cast Exert Influence.
LOL Exert Influence. Probably the worst control magic ever. This is even awkward in limited.
Three new spoilers:
1) a 2UR instant that has Devoid and "Choose one or both" of Return target spell or creature to its owner's hand; or Magma Spray for creatures and 'walkers;
2) a 3G enchantment which has Devoid, makes spawns on upkeep and has "1G, sac: find an Eldrazi"; and
3) a 2RR f3/3 flying haster that attacks each turn and has a Landfall trigger of 4RR: return to the battlefield from the graveyard.
...not much to see here.
Also, I don't think Force of Will and the other pitch cards are really fair comparisons to the Trap cards, as only some of the Trap cards are actually free to cast under the applicable circumstances.Quote:
Originally Posted by rufus
New spell for 4cc can bounce Emmy... Nothing better going on.
Gosh... when you see that "art" up close it's just painful.
Not sure what the factor(s) is: Wizards is hiring new, cheap, shitty artists
- or -
There's a new wave of fake looking computer art which I think is shitty, BUT a whole slew of other people like
- or -
... I can't think of a third factor, I just can't stand looking at these cards.
I'm usually the one to bash people for bashing new sets just because I hate complainers, but man... there just something about the 100ish cards we've seen already that sucks. I'm primarily a cube player and I still can't find much.
The bar for entry into cube is fairly high, and into legacy much higher, but even if the cards themselves aren't that great I could still enjoy the artwork. I'm sick of this soft kitty shit on cards. What ever happen to artists like Brom, Kev Walker, rk Post, Terese Nielsen, Rebecca Guay, Heather Hudson. Real artists with styles so unique you could see a new card and say, "Ah, that's a Guay if I've ever seen one...".
Every card so far looks like it's been done by the same piece of shit who took 15 minutes on some shitty program.
Oh well, Magic is a privilege and we already have a vast pool of fantastic art on playable cards.
I just like new stuff...
Actually, I just looked through the spoiled set so far and they're not ALL bad... Some are actually pretty good.
But still, I want old school Magic art back
http://media-dominaria.cursecdn.com/...6059707952.png
Well at least I know what my new euphamism for a post-round shit is going to be.
Wow, the art even depicts something that looks long, ropy, and brown.Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Cheese
I don't know what "BRUTAL EXPULSION" means to you, but there are far more sinister logs afloat.Quote:
Originally Posted by MGB
Counting only cards playable in Legacy and Vintage, and excluding enemy fetches, Zendikar had: Bloodghast, Expedition Map, Goblin Guide, Iona, Shield of Emeria, Mindbreak Trap, Punishing Fire, Ravenous Trap, Spell Pierce, and Vines of Vastwood. If you add fetches, it's 14 cards, which is an awful lot as far as eternal formats go.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aggro_zombies
To further strengthen your argument, I'll point out that you've missed a few lesser played cards.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crysthorn
Vampire Hexmage - previously part of a combo, now less played
Lotus Cobra - 4 of in a particular vintage deck
Gatekeep of Malakir - if we assume that The Gate is a deck.
Cosi's Trickster - sees on and off play in merfolk
Warren Instigator - sees on and off play in Goblins
Disfigure - frequently a 1-2, especially in sideboards.
Luminarch Ascension - sometimes used as a kill in Enchantress
Steppe Lynx - previously played in some lower-curve zoo decks
Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle - saw more play in Modern but I definitely saw this deck in legacy
Coming back to this site and seeing the art topics made me restart my Ron Spencer collection. I collected all the cards he drew back in high school and I miss it. I'm bummed he doesn't do MTG art anymore.Quote:
Originally Posted by GenghisTom
And that's not even including Worldwake!Quote:
Originally Posted by thecrav
Abyssal Persecutor - let's continue assuming The Gate is a deck
Amulet of Vigor - someone probably tried to do something with this and failed, but it's powerful in Modern
Arbor Elf
Basilisk Collar - played with SFM in the very beginning
Bojuka Bog - obligatory land toolbox target
Celestial Colonnade - before Landstill died
Creeping Tar Pit - still good
Death's Shadow - Spanish Inquisition tried this to mediocre effect
Dispel - sideboard option
Eye of Ugin - Turbo Eldrazi, I think?
Hada Freeblade - someone played a fucking Legacy Allies deck shortly after this set was released and did alright with it
Jace, the Mind Sculptor - this fucking guy
Kor Firewalker - fuck Burn
Lodestone Golem - my memory's a little MUDdy on this one
Nature's Claim - so cheap
Stoneforge Mystic - duh
Terastodon - Reanimator bomb
Thada Adel, Acquisitor - I think people played this in Vintage?
Wind Zendikon - Jeskai Ascendency combo option (let's pretend this is a deck too)
Has anyone seen further developments in the enemy manlands? I've seen the ug hexproof 3/3 (ok I guess) and the bw lifelink 2/3 (seems marginally better due to 3 to activate instead of 4+. Modern bw pox?)
I suppose a bg treetop village with deathtouch is probably expecting too much.
Well, that was X years ago, a different time and a better time of Legacy IMO.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crysthorn
Power creep messed it all up.
Zendikar 2.0 can't do what Zendikar and the other sets till now did, because that stuff already exists.
It is an inherent problem of eternal formats that the good cards that got better and better of the years blank out more and more possible new card designs.
But I have to say that is no excuse for Battle for Zendikar, IMO it sucks across the board so far. I don't even see many interesting cards for Standard. There are a lot of recycled designs (Gideon, Ulamog, Twin, From Beyond, Firebird, ...) and crap rares.
Considering the 'back to Zendikar' design direction, repetition is basically inevitable. I wonder whether they're going to spoil more cards with low casting costs - the only one CC spoiler so far is Scythe Leopard, right?Quote:
Originally Posted by joven
One of the issues that's behind all this is we have the marrying of a blazingly fast Limited set and a drudgingly slow set. There's no way it will be able to match the speed of original Zendikar without alienating what made Rise of the Eldrazi so unique.Quote:
Originally Posted by rufus
What I like about the set is how it catches the flavor how alien the Eldrazi are. Too bad they're all so overcosted that they suck ass.Quote:
Originally Posted by joven
And whoever is responsible for the art direction should be fired. Yes, Zendikar has lots of Hedrons. But they don't need to be shown in perceived 120% of all artworks.
It's early in the spoiler season and I've already had my fill of bad digital art and hedron spam. KILL MEQuote:
Originally Posted by Barook