Then you've never played a good deck in Extended, Legacy, Vintage, or even some formats of Standard.
Academy Ruins, Urza's Legacy manlands, Tolarian Academy, Bazaar of Baghdad, Worldwake Manlands, Cabal Coffers, Urborg, Dark Depths, and many others. Taking that land away from your opponent and giving one to yourself is pretty boss, as is the ability to look through your opponent's deck and generally tell what is in their hand. Extract was decent for the wealth of information it could give you but was never as free as a (potentially) colorless land drop. You can't play it early game or you might wiff but this seems to be a really bossy sideboard card and would be played in Thopter/Depths mirrors instantaneously. The only problem with it is that some cards are one-ofs so if you aren't careful you'll miss completely if they're slow-rolling one of those lands.
Overall it's subtle in its power, definitely not too overpowered, but in balance could even drop the life loss count a bit (maybe to 2) to make it a bit better...
If the life loss was kept at 3, but you gave it a T: colorless option it would make it extremely strong, but I can hardly argue with such a simple and elegant design. For a while the YMTC entries have been fairly blah, but this one really takes the cake. Good show all around.
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Love the card, a bit disappointed that the 3 life was neither changed nor put up to a vote, as well as tapping for 1. In an effort to streamline the process, it seems like we're cutting a few corners. IMO, finishing the card a little late would be worth ironing out the small issues.
Flavor text is a bit awkward, but other than that I love this card.
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"In the beginning, MTG Salvation switched to a new forum format.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
It was at that moment that I realized: I'm kinda just making these things up. We can just write the rules the way we want them to work. People will have fun, and people will get it.
would that also let you call out Basic Lands aswell since it doesnt state other wise.
Id run it. The 3 life may be steep but right now in STD againt Conscription just call out Sejiri Steep. UW - Celestial Colonade, Plains, Island, Glacial Fortress, Sejiri Refure, Tectonic Edge...
Honestly I think the only format it would be played in for the "3 life cost" is EDH, in which every deck would have it. Honestly in EDH I would name this card just so I could grab theirs learn more about their deck while looking for it and pick a different land with the second one.
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Standard: Esper Spirits-WUB
Modern: Bant Geist-WUG
Legacy: Reanimator-UB-WRG
EDH:
Ramirez DePietro: Pirate Themed-UB
Riku of Two Reflections: "Oops I Win"-URG
If it's going to have a 3 life cost associated with it, you really shouldn't have to name a land. Having the chance to whiff on this and still lose 3 life and a land drop makes this way too steep. It should just let you pay 3 life, crack it, and search their deck for a land and put it into play, without the name a card clause.
It was at that moment that I realized: I'm kinda just making these things up. We can just write the rules the way we want them to work. People will have fun, and people will get it.
The life cost still seems debatable and the flavor text is pretty weird ("of theirs?"), but the basic mechanic was cool, and both the art and name are good. Cutting the flavor text for colorless mana production would have been great.
I'm not sure if "of theirs" is proper grammar or not, given that it sounds like it was meant to imply one person here. I hear "their" used in spoken language to refer to a person of an unspecified gender, but in written language it's usually written as "his or hers" (or "his/hers/its" if you're like me). But then again, it just seems weird to have the flavor text written like that, as it just doesn't roll off the tongue like that.
As for the card... I didn't really participate in this one, as lands are my major weak spot. I have trouble judging this, though I like the flavor combined with the name. I'm still not sure what the artwork specifically represents though...
Its not bad, its a sleeper though. If you are unsure of what your opponent is running, then you need to wait for them to drop something useful. pulling a basic land is only so much unless they've splashed one top deck fro the picking.
its okay, but not amazing.
I like it, amazing for Vintage/Legacy. Standard? Not so sure, but still powerful nonetheless. 3 life is pretty painful, and against a lot of aggro decks that might be too much of a price to pay, but still neat overall.
this card is amazing! for anyone who says different ur insane!! 3 life yes steep but a race to a dark depths and game over. or no one has mentioned 43 land deck and its 1 copy of tabernacle? there are so many uses for this it is unreal. any aggro deck u play this is uncalled for because what land do they really need. turn four or five ur supposed to be dead!
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02-02-2010, 02:05 PM #503
raleldor
Common Mage
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Salt Lake City, UT
Posts: 39
I would like to congratulate Jace, The Mind Sculptor on being the most overhyped card ever!
this card would be retarded in legacy's 38-43 land deck. it can gain the life back with nomad stadium and just keep recurring it. and the deck is already broken!
Honestly I think the only format it would be played in for the "3 life cost" is EDH, in which every deck would have it. Honestly in EDH I would name this card just so I could grab theirs learn more about their deck while looking for it and pick a different land with the second one.
In Standard, this card would never see play. There are no universal utility lands. (And Valakut Ramp is no longer a deck - talk about narrow hate!) In Extended, this might see play in sideboards, depending on how dominant Dark Depths and Scapeshift are next season. In Legacy, I think that this would see play. It's good v. Lands and Goblin Belcher, and possibly playable v. Death and Taxes (Karakas) and Merfolk/Zoo/Eva Green (Wasteland). In Vintage this thing is amazing, too good even. Strip Mine, Tolarian Academy, Library of Alexandria, Bazaar of Baghdad - every deck plays at least one of these. If you see an Island, snatch their Academy. If you see a Forest, snatch their Strip Mine. And so on.
The flavor text is awkward. The community should've had a chance to revise it.
The name doesn't make sense. People voted for Geomantic Bluff because they didn't know what "geomantic" means, and therefore thought that it was sophisticated. "Geomantic" means "divining." These bluffs aren't divining. They're plundering.
I'm not too sure about this, I think it would definitely see play in this current format. Because deck archetypes are so similar, it would be easy to choose a land. Stealing man-lands and tectonic edges seem like a decent thing to do in standard.
The name doesn't make sense. People voted for Geomantic Bluff because they didn't know what "geomantic" means, and therefore thought that it was sophisticated. "Geomantic" means "divining." These bluffs aren't divining. They're plundering.
1) Geomancy can also be the art of arranging buildings or land. Although this doesn't hold true mechanically, flavorfully the land is arranging itself in the shape of another land.
2) Geomancy is a specific type of divination which involves the earth. One thing that's kind of been overlooked about this card is that it lets you search another player's library. This tells you what you're up against if you don't know the deck, and what's in your opponent's hand if you do. In that way, the land does provide you with information.
Now, I agree that not everyone did their research on "geomancy" like I did before voting, but imo the alliteration of Plundering Peaks was just a little too "cute".
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"In the beginning, MTG Salvation switched to a new forum format.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
It was at that moment that I realized: I'm kinda just making these things up. We can just write the rules the way we want them to work. People will have fun, and people will get it.
I'm not too sure about this, I think it would definitely see play in this current format. Because deck archetypes are so similar, it would be easy to choose a land. Stealing man-lands and tectonic edges seem like a decent thing to do in standard.
At a time when 50%+ of Standard was the same deck, this might have been true. But only half the decks in GP:DC's top 8 played Tectonic Edge. Because there isn't a universal utility land, Geomantic Bluff is too narrow. If you just fetch a mana-producing land, might as well put the land in your own deck. This avoids losing 3 life, thinning the opponent's library, and possibly missing.
Imagine playing Geomantic Bluff in UW Control and facing Jund. You have no lands in common. You can't activate their man-lands, and you can't use their mana. Ouch.
About the definition of "geomancy": Merriam Webster says that it means divining by way of geological features. I suppose that I see your point about Geomantic Bluffs being a sort of deck Telepathy. But I think that the card's flavor is much more about stealing than spying - a matter of opinion, so I won't argue the point. Maybe "Plundering Spires" would've been a good compromise: no cute alliteration, but, in my opinion, better flavor. Also, don't undervalue consonance!
At a time when 50%+ of Standard was the same deck, this might have been true. But only half the decks in GP:DC's top 8 played Tectonic Edge. Because there isn't a universal utility land, Geomantic Bluff is too narrow. If you just fetch a mana-producing land, might as well put the land in your own deck. This avoids losing 3 life, thinning the opponent's library, and possibly missing.
Imagine playing Geomantic Bluff in UW Control and facing Jund. You have no lands in common. You can't activate their man-lands, and you can't use their mana. Ouch.
Well its a great sideboard card in a mirror match, but for now I think it would actually be quite good. I think having a wide variety of decks actually makes this card a bit better for 2 reasons. The first is that when the field is polarized, this is strictly a sideboard card. Half the games you can use it, half you can't. But now, this card can be used much more often. If i'm playing mythic, I can steal from UW control, Super Pals, Naya, Esper control etc. The fact that there are a winder variety of decks means that the chances you'll share at least one or two colors with an opponent are much higher.
The second reason is again, the deck-telepathy. Even if I'm fetching a Forest out of my opponent's deck, I can still look through it. I don't think there are any restrictions on searching, so you could very easily sort out a deck and find what's missing. This becomes even more important in this type of environment where decks are so varied; you may not be able to determine their hand, but you can see what's in their deck.
I think this land has a lot of applications, at least in this environment. Though I still feel like a lower life cost and a tap for 1 would have been nice.
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"In the beginning, MTG Salvation switched to a new forum format.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
It was at that moment that I realized: I'm kinda just making these things up. We can just write the rules the way we want them to work. People will have fun, and people will get it.
This could have some interesting plays in standard. It can fetch a fetch land and if they have one you can chain it for the win. Maybe if the life loss was a little less....
I could see this being used in the older formats. It combos pretty well with Death's Shadow. Turn one Geomantic Bluff, sac for the second, sac for the third, sac for the forth copy, search for Polluted Delta then sac that to search for Watery Grave. Play a turn one 8/8 Death's Shadow with Daze or Force of Will back up. Seems good to me.
I could see this being used in the older formats. It combos pretty well with Death's Shadow. Turn one Geomantic Bluff, sac for the second, sac for the third, sac for the forth copy, search for Polluted Delta then sac that to search for Watery Grave. Play a turn one 8/8 Death's Shadow with Daze or Force of Will back up. Seems good to me.
Unfortunately the card says you must search an opponent's library, not your own. So you must rely on your opponent running this card as well if you want to do that.
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The Commandments of EDH
Then you've never played a good deck in Extended, Legacy, Vintage, or even some formats of Standard.
Academy Ruins, Urza's Legacy manlands, Tolarian Academy, Bazaar of Baghdad, Worldwake Manlands, Cabal Coffers, Urborg, Dark Depths, and many others. Taking that land away from your opponent and giving one to yourself is pretty boss, as is the ability to look through your opponent's deck and generally tell what is in their hand. Extract was decent for the wealth of information it could give you but was never as free as a (potentially) colorless land drop. You can't play it early game or you might wiff but this seems to be a really bossy sideboard card and would be played in Thopter/Depths mirrors instantaneously. The only problem with it is that some cards are one-ofs so if you aren't careful you'll miss completely if they're slow-rolling one of those lands.
Overall it's subtle in its power, definitely not too overpowered, but in balance could even drop the life loss count a bit (maybe to 2) to make it a bit better...
If the life loss was kept at 3, but you gave it a T: colorless option it would make it extremely strong, but I can hardly argue with such a simple and elegant design. For a while the YMTC entries have been fairly blah, but this one really takes the cake. Good show all around.
"A severed foot is the ultimate stocking stuffer."
"I love you guys, thanks for comin' to my special."
- Mitch Hedburg (1968-2005)
We love you too Mitch, we love you too.
"Girls are like Voltron: the more you stick together, the better it gets." SE
Flavor text is a bit awkward, but other than that I love this card.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
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would that also let you call out Basic Lands aswell since it doesnt state other wise.
Id run it. The 3 life may be steep but right now in STD againt Conscription just call out Sejiri Steep. UW - Celestial Colonade, Plains, Island, Glacial Fortress, Sejiri Refure, Tectonic Edge...
yea this land kicks booty.
Modern: Bant Geist-WUG
Legacy: Reanimator-UB-WRG
EDH:
Ramirez DePietro: Pirate Themed-UB
Riku of Two Reflections: "Oops I Win"-URG
It's everywhere you've never been.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
Comic Book Set
Archester: Frontier of Steam (A steampunk set!)
A Good Place to Start Designing
As for the card... I didn't really participate in this one, as lands are my major weak spot. I have trouble judging this, though I like the flavor combined with the name. I'm still not sure what the artwork specifically represents though...
I like this one.
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its okay, but not amazing.
Also like this one.
You wouldn't have a second one in EDH. -_-
The flavor text is awkward. The community should've had a chance to revise it.
The name doesn't make sense. People voted for Geomantic Bluff because they didn't know what "geomantic" means, and therefore thought that it was sophisticated. "Geomantic" means "divining." These bluffs aren't divining. They're plundering.
I'm not too sure about this, I think it would definitely see play in this current format. Because deck archetypes are so similar, it would be easy to choose a land. Stealing man-lands and tectonic edges seem like a decent thing to do in standard.
1) Geomancy can also be the art of arranging buildings or land. Although this doesn't hold true mechanically, flavorfully the land is arranging itself in the shape of another land.
2) Geomancy is a specific type of divination which involves the earth. One thing that's kind of been overlooked about this card is that it lets you search another player's library. This tells you what you're up against if you don't know the deck, and what's in your opponent's hand if you do. In that way, the land does provide you with information.
Now, I agree that not everyone did their research on "geomancy" like I did before voting, but imo the alliteration of Plundering Peaks was just a little too "cute".
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
Comic Book Set
Archester: Frontier of Steam (A steampunk set!)
A Good Place to Start Designing
At a time when 50%+ of Standard was the same deck, this might have been true. But only half the decks in GP:DC's top 8 played Tectonic Edge. Because there isn't a universal utility land, Geomantic Bluff is too narrow. If you just fetch a mana-producing land, might as well put the land in your own deck. This avoids losing 3 life, thinning the opponent's library, and possibly missing.
Imagine playing Geomantic Bluff in UW Control and facing Jund. You have no lands in common. You can't activate their man-lands, and you can't use their mana. Ouch.
About the definition of "geomancy": Merriam Webster says that it means divining by way of geological features. I suppose that I see your point about Geomantic Bluffs being a sort of deck Telepathy. But I think that the card's flavor is much more about stealing than spying - a matter of opinion, so I won't argue the point. Maybe "Plundering Spires" would've been a good compromise: no cute alliteration, but, in my opinion, better flavor. Also, don't undervalue consonance!
Well its a great sideboard card in a mirror match, but for now I think it would actually be quite good. I think having a wide variety of decks actually makes this card a bit better for 2 reasons. The first is that when the field is polarized, this is strictly a sideboard card. Half the games you can use it, half you can't. But now, this card can be used much more often. If i'm playing mythic, I can steal from UW control, Super Pals, Naya, Esper control etc. The fact that there are a winder variety of decks means that the chances you'll share at least one or two colors with an opponent are much higher.
The second reason is again, the deck-telepathy. Even if I'm fetching a Forest out of my opponent's deck, I can still look through it. I don't think there are any restrictions on searching, so you could very easily sort out a deck and find what's missing. This becomes even more important in this type of environment where decks are so varied; you may not be able to determine their hand, but you can see what's in their deck.
I think this land has a lot of applications, at least in this environment. Though I still feel like a lower life cost and a tap for 1 would have been nice.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
Comic Book Set
Archester: Frontier of Steam (A steampunk set!)
A Good Place to Start Designing
Unfortunately the card says you must search an opponent's library, not your own. So you must rely on your opponent running this card as well if you want to do that.
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