BFZ is going really bad. And not just the power level, the part that bothers me is why eldrazi scions in BFZ produce 1, when now they should produce <>, why wait half into the block to change a mana symbol that has worked for 15 years. And why not have it throughout the whole block, now we got a block with eldrazi mana, and eldrazi's producing old magic mana, could they not get it together enough to have all the eldrazis in a block produce eldrazi mana
BFZ is going really bad. And not just the power level, the part that bothers me is why eldrazi scions in BFZ produce 1, when now they should produce <>, why wait half into the block to change a mana symbol that has worked for 15 years. And why not have it throughout the whole block, now we got a block with eldrazi mana, and eldrazi's producing old magic mana, could they not get it together enough to have all the eldrazis in a block produce eldrazi mana
Given how sales-gimmicky BFZ was already, I'd say that was the right choice. Player reaction would've been really "wtf?" because with no diamonds in mana costs it would've been seen as a fairly pointless change. At the outset for OGW, players had the new Kozilek to fall back on as a working example of "diamond mana matters." Without something like that, it would've just been off-putting, not to mention confusing for newer players.
Given how sales-gimmicky BFZ was already, I'd say that was the right choice. Player reaction would've been really "wtf?" because with no diamonds in mana costs it would've been seen as a fairly pointless change. At the outset for OGW, players had the new Kozilek to fall back on as a working example of "diamond mana matters." Without something like that, it would've just been off-putting, not to mention confusing for newer players.
That still doesn't make up for BFZ being a bad set. It makes sense to keep it out because players were digesting colorless cards with colored mana costs, the digest mechanic, awaken, and exile-zone matters.
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Not only did they not have the time, the symbol has absolutely no gameplay ramifications outside of Oath of the Gatewatch, until, of course, we get another set with Eldrazi/colorless shenanigans.
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What annoys me the most about BFZ is that even though set set is >95% limited-only cards they still managed to create a spectacularly unbalanced limited-environment in which a whole color is so bad that it's almost unplayable.
Not only did they not have the time, the symbol has absolutely no gameplay ramifications outside of Oath of the Gatewatch, until, of course, we get another set with Eldrazi/colorless shenanigans.
Well, doesn't look like Emraukul is showing up yet, so...
BFZ is going really bad. And not just the power level, the part that bothers me is why eldrazi scions in BFZ produce 1, when now they should produce <>, why wait half into the block to change a mana symbol that has worked for 15 years. And why not have it throughout the whole block, now we got a block with eldrazi mana, and eldrazi's producing old magic mana, could they not get it together enough to have all the eldrazis in a block produce eldrazi mana
The fact that you can't handle some cards using the old symbol and some cards using the new symbol for a few months is evidence that the old symbol has not, in fact, worked for 15 (but isn't it 21?) years. If you think that "old magic mana" and "eldrazi mana" are things in the game, the information is out there for you to correct your own misconceptions. It's not Wizards' fault. All they can do is change the templating so fewer people are confused in the future. Other than draft being aesthetically awkward for a few months, I don't see why people keep claim that this should have been in BfZ, when you could just as easily make the case that it should have been in Commander 2015, or Magic Origins, or M15, or hey, why not Scars of Mirrodin? You can go back and back until you end up claiming they shouldn't have started using 1 to mean colorless, but they did, and they can't change that, so now they're fixing it. No big.
By the same logic, they should have never changed "Summon Goblin" to "Creature - Goblin." Things change; it'll be okay. Just ask a judge if you're confused.
What annoys me the most about BFZ is that even though set set is >95% limited-only cards they still managed to create a spectacularly unbalanced limited-environment in which a whole color is so bad that it's almost unplayable.
I agree that the balance for green is way off, but I find the limited environment still tons of fun, so they did succeed with that.
Not only did they not have the time, the symbol has absolutely no gameplay ramifications outside of Oath of the Gatewatch, until, of course, we get another set with Eldrazi/colorless shenanigans.
Well, doesn't look like Emraukul is showing up yet, so...
Not only did they not have the time, the symbol has absolutely no gameplay ramifications outside of Oath of the Gatewatch, until, of course, we get another set with Eldrazi/colorless shenanigans.
Actually, I can't remember where, but I heard talk about using said new symbol to make it harder to cast artifacts/spells. They did say that the symbol would appear in costs outside of Oath.
I'm going to need a source on that, because 'the talk' I've heard, specifically from MaRo, supports my original statement. It'll appear outside of Oath, but not in any kind of game-shaking frequency.
From Blogatog:
coj64 asked: Hi Mark, you've said that the colorless mana symbol was introduce to help newer players differentiate between colorless mana and generic mana. You've also said that why it's not evergreen, it will show up in future sets. Since Magic is already a fairly complicated game to explain to newer players, why add an extra layer of complexity to the learning curve for such a minimal addition that mattered for one small set? Seems counter productive.
Two things are happening:
1. We’ve changed what the colorless mana symbol looks like. That is a permanent change that will be seen in just about every set.
2. We have a “colorless mana matters” theme. That is for Oath of the Gatewatch. If it’s successful, perhaps we’ll bring it back in another world it makes sense in, but it’s not going to be an evergreen thing.
The big change we made is #1. The existence of #2 made us finally get around to it.
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Woah, the BFZ Block is bad? Granted the BFZ set was sub par but have you seen the spoilers for OGW? OGW is killing it so far. Two good planeswalkers that will see play in multaple formats. A sweet Eldrazzi, awesome new colourless symbol and more importantly colourless mana cost requirements. OGW is looking sweet so far. I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on a couple Sea Gate Ruins for modern 8Rack.
Edit: Oh, and Sphinx of the Final Word is just cool. It may not see competitive play but its almost as hard to deal with as Thrun, the Last Troll plus it has a larger body, flying and a sweet ability. If nothing else its a really cool EDH card.
I think the problem with BFZ as a set is that a lot of it is just overshadowed by stuff from Khans block, combined with the fact that one colour (green) is way worse than the others in limited
BFZ is going really bad. And not just the power level, the part that bothers me is why eldrazi scions in BFZ produce 1, when now they should produce <>, why wait half into the block to change a mana symbol that has worked for 15 years. And why not have it throughout the whole block, now we got a block with eldrazi mana, and eldrazi's producing old magic mana, could they not get it together enough to have all the eldrazis in a block produce eldrazi mana
BFZ is going really bad. And not just the power level, the part that bothers me is why eldrazi scions in BFZ produce 1, when now they should produce <>, why wait half into the block to change a mana symbol that has worked for 15 years. And why not have it throughout the whole block, now we got a block with eldrazi mana, and eldrazi's producing old magic mana, could they not get it together enough to have all the eldrazis in a block produce eldrazi mana
What annoys me the most about BFZ is that even though set set is >95% limited-only cards they still managed to create a spectacularly unbalanced limited-environment in which a whole color is so bad that it's almost unplayable.
I agree that the balance for green is way off, but I find the limited environment still tons of fun, so they did succeed with that.
Green is a lot better in sealed, where its lack of good synergies is less of an issue.
"I will complain about something I don't even understand." Eldrazi mana LOL.
BFZ was dissapointing for me, more because of boring mechanics than balance issues, but OGW looks insteresting so far. So I will, you know, wait until the whole block is spoiled before judging it.
OGW looks awesome so far - we have 4 definite modern playables already in Kalitas, Kozilek, Kozilek's Return, and Seagate Ruins - and that's with most of the set not even spoiled. There are also already standouts for EDH - Mirrorpool, Wastes, Ayli, Mina and Denn. So overall, I think the block is looking up.
I think it can't be overstated how much changing the block structure *probably* screwed the development of BFZ up. They went from designing for a 3 block structure to having to jam everything between 2 - I'm sure things were cut, I'm sure there were weird loose ends that they're less than satisfied with. Overall though - things are looking up and seem to be pretty sweet. I also think the magic audience in general has completely unrealistic expectations for what a magic set should be at this point because we look at older sets with a strong sense of nostalgia. Look at what's happening with standard - it's taking a LONG time for people to see the competitive value of some of the new BFZ cards because the mechanics themselves don't look like things we've had in the past (Awaken, Converge), but these cards are now proving to be invaluable in the decks they are being run in and some are build-around-me cards that are good because of changing ideas of design (Painful Truths, Part the Waterveil).
OGW looks awesome so far - we have 4 definite modern playables already in Kalitas, Kozilek, Kozilek's Return, and Seagate Ruins - and that's with most of the set not even spoiled. There are also already standouts for EDH - Mirrorpool, Wastes, Ayli, Mina and Denn. So overall, I think the block is looking up.
I think it can't be overstated how much changing the block structure *probably* screwed the development of BFZ up. They went from designing for a 3 block structure to having to jam everything between 2 - I'm sure things were cut, I'm sure there were weird loose ends that they're less than satisfied with. Overall though - things are looking up and seem to be pretty sweet. I also think the magic audience in general has completely unrealistic expectations for what a magic set should be at this point because we look at older sets with a strong sense of nostalgia. Look at what's happening with standard - it's taking a LONG time for people to see the competitive value of some of the new BFZ cards because the mechanics themselves don't look like things we've had in the past (Awaken, Converge), but these cards are now proving to be invaluable in the decks they are being run in and some are build-around-me cards that are good because of changing ideas of design (Painful Truths, Part the Waterveil).
What makes you think Kalitas will see modern play? Otherwise I agree with you.
OGW looks awesome so far - we have 4 definite modern playables already in Kalitas, Kozilek, Kozilek's Return, and Seagate Ruins - and that's with most of the set not even spoiled. There are also already standouts for EDH - Mirrorpool, Wastes, Ayli, Mina and Denn. So overall, I think the block is looking up.
I think it can't be overstated how much changing the block structure *probably* screwed the development of BFZ up. They went from designing for a 3 block structure to having to jam everything between 2 - I'm sure things were cut, I'm sure there were weird loose ends that they're less than satisfied with. Overall though - things are looking up and seem to be pretty sweet. I also think the magic audience in general has completely unrealistic expectations for what a magic set should be at this point because we look at older sets with a strong sense of nostalgia. Look at what's happening with standard - it's taking a LONG time for people to see the competitive value of some of the new BFZ cards because the mechanics themselves don't look like things we've had in the past (Awaken, Converge), but these cards are now proving to be invaluable in the decks they are being run in and some are build-around-me cards that are good because of changing ideas of design (Painful Truths, Part the Waterveil).
What makes you think Kalitas will see modern play? Otherwise I agree with you.
Grixis Control players in modern are interested in Kalitas because he has lifelink and can survive a bolt
OGW looks awesome so far - we have 4 definite modern playables already in Kalitas, Kozilek, Kozilek's Return, and Seagate Ruins - and that's with most of the set not even spoiled. There are also already standouts for EDH - Mirrorpool, Wastes, Ayli, Mina and Denn. So overall, I think the block is looking up.
I think it can't be overstated how much changing the block structure *probably* screwed the development of BFZ up. They went from designing for a 3 block structure to having to jam everything between 2 - I'm sure things were cut, I'm sure there were weird loose ends that they're less than satisfied with. Overall though - things are looking up and seem to be pretty sweet. I also think the magic audience in general has completely unrealistic expectations for what a magic set should be at this point because we look at older sets with a strong sense of nostalgia. Look at what's happening with standard - it's taking a LONG time for people to see the competitive value of some of the new BFZ cards because the mechanics themselves don't look like things we've had in the past (Awaken, Converge), but these cards are now proving to be invaluable in the decks they are being run in and some are build-around-me cards that are good because of changing ideas of design (Painful Truths, Part the Waterveil).
What makes you think Kalitas will see modern play? Otherwise I agree with you.
Grixis Control players in modern are interested in Kalitas because he has lifelink and can survive a bolt
Bingo. He sits in a currently relatively unoccupied four drop slot, is bolt proof, has life link, is on color, and has synergy with all of the removal in the deck. Grixis' BIGGEST problem is that it had no relevant access to lifegain - other than Kalitas being Legendary, I'm not really sure that you can draw up something that Grixis would want more.
Bingo. He sits in a currently relatively unoccupied four drop slot, is bolt proof, has life link, is on color, and has synergy with all of the removal in the deck. Grixis' BIGGEST problem is that it had no relevant access to lifegain - other than Kalitas being Legendary, I'm not really sure that you can draw up something that Grixis would want more.
Interesting, I've never really valued lifelink that highly. I look forward to seeing if he does indeed see modern play. Rather then lifelink what I like about him is how he deals with on death triggers like persist, undying and many many others. I was thinking he was a side board card at best but perhaps I underestimated him. I definately agree that black could use some better 4 drops. Hopefully you guys are right about him.
Bingo. He sits in a currently relatively unoccupied four drop slot, is bolt proof, has life link, is on color, and has synergy with all of the removal in the deck. Grixis' BIGGEST problem is that it had no relevant access to lifegain - other than Kalitas being Legendary, I'm not really sure that you can draw up something that Grixis would want more.
Interesting, I've never really valued lifelink that highly. I look forward to seeing if he does indeed see modern play. Rather then lifelink what I like about him is how he deals with on death triggers like persist, undying and many many others. I was thinking he was a side board card at best but perhaps I underestimated him. I definately agree that black could use some better 4 drops. Hopefully you guys are right about him.
It certainly remains to be seen how he will perform and he will be used - the potential of the card is definitely there though!
Interesting, I've never really valued lifelink that highly. I look forward to seeing if he does indeed see modern play. Rather then lifelink what I like about him is how he deals with on death triggers like persist, undying and many many others. I was thinking he was a side board card at best but perhaps I underestimated him. I definately agree that black could use some better 4 drops. Hopefully you guys are right about him.
Lifelink seems pretty like a pretty big deal in some matchups to me. I play Burn, and if an opponent started out by bolting or blocking my early creatures and dropped a 3/4 lifelinker before I had him/her in burn range, I'd be a little bit worried about the game quickly becoming unwinnable. There's still a chance to just kill them before Kalitas swings, but if the Grixis/Jund player can get over that hump it's basically game over for me.
Bingo. He sits in a currently relatively unoccupied four drop slot, is bolt proof, has life link, is on color, and has synergy with all of the removal in the deck. Grixis' BIGGEST problem is that it had no relevant access to lifegain - other than Kalitas being Legendary, I'm not really sure that you can draw up something that Grixis would want more.
Interesting, I've never really valued lifelink that highly. I look forward to seeing if he does indeed see modern play. Rather then lifelink what I like about him is how he deals with on death triggers like persist, undying and many many others. I was thinking he was a side board card at best but perhaps I underestimated him. I definately agree that black could use some better 4 drops. Hopefully you guys are right about him.
Grixis control has a hard time with burn because of how fast it is. Kalitas gives lifegain, has a body they'd have to spend 2 bolts on, which is 2 less bolts they'd have to bolt you in the face with. So he either runs away with the game or makes them waste gas
Not only did they not have the time, the symbol has absolutely no gameplay ramifications outside of Oath of the Gatewatch, until, of course, we get another set with Eldrazi/colorless shenanigans.
Actually, I can't remember where, but I heard talk about using said new symbol to make it harder to cast artifacts/spells. They did say that the symbol would appear in costs outside of Oath.
BFZ is so bad because it was what Theros was supposed to be. Where all good non-creature spells are costly, where wraths are higher than 4cmc and where creatures are on the low power curve. Many people complained that Theros was Battlecruiser magic. So in response they nerfed creatures but didn't strengthen spells.
Food for thought;
1. The last time we got a spell that grants extra turns, without drawbacks, that didn't exile itself was in Xth edition. Most all new extra turn spells exile themselves so you cannot flash them back even though we all know that is not a thing that happens.
2. Power & toughness of creatures are becoming more squared. Their reasoning being that players don't know the difference between power & toughness even though every other card game, pokemon/yugioh has two stats as well! When was the last time we saw a creature with negative stats or has zero toughness?
3.Keywords. They removed intimidate, landwalk and are trying to remove protection and regenerate. They claim they all lead to bad gameplay and yes landwalk can do. However if properly developed they were fine. I personally have no problem with Trailblazer's boots or Baneslayer Angel.
4. We are supposed to be impressed with cards like Enthralling Victor even though Zealous Conscripts could steal planeswalkers. Victor isn't a amazing new idea but just a worse version of conscripts.
5. Counterspells and good instants are either being overcosted or put at higher rarities.
6. Death triggers are now found mostly in rare/uncommon creatures. Almost rarely in common, only two commons have it in bfz and they aren't even useful.
There is an april fool's article written by MaRo in 2013 about New New World Order. The funny thing is that a lot of what he jokes about actually did come to happen. If you read it now it is almost like it was half serious which is just sad considering everyone had hope during Gatecrash that such a future would never happen. Boy were we wrong.
1. With Halimar Tidecaller and Jace, Vryn's Prodigy in the same format, looping extra turns with Part the Waterveil could have gotten out of hand without the exile clause. That's not something that R&D can take lightly. Also consider that BFZ has to be balanced around three different standard environments, meaning there are a lot of pieces that they'd have to keep track of, so the easiest solution is just preventing extra turn loops in the first place.
2. BFZ is probably the worst set you want to set up as an example for using square P/T. I've already counted 30 creatures with non-square stats, and over half of them are common. Besides, square P/T is the go-to for designers because it's easier for players to calculate math with them. Non-square stat creatures can still exist, they just have to be made with some intent.
3. Intimidate, Landwalk, and Protection are swingy, especially in multicolor blocks. That's reason enough not to be printed often. Also Intimidate and Landwalk don't fit well on Instants and sorceries, so their design space is small. Regenerate is still around and has merely been placed onto spells more than on creatures.
4. Why is this even a point? Different cards serve different needs. Enthralling Victor was never meant to be the successor to Zealous Conscripts for Standard, it was just made for a limited strategy.
5. Here I mostly agree. Efficient removal like Doom Blade being moved out of common isn't that big a problem. Overcosted removal at common and uncommon aren't a big deal either. Moving efficient removal from uncommon to rare is a problem, though.
6. I doubt the lack of death triggers is an indication of what's to come for later sets. BFZ already has tons of triggers to keep track of like ETB abilities from Allies and Processors, so it's likely the downtime on death triggers is just to make boardstates easier.
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<> IS 1, your criticism here is simply incorrect. Also, this is why the symbol wasn't changed in BFZ - http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/134995536608/why-was-the-colorless-mana-symbol-added-in-ogw-and.
That still doesn't make up for BFZ being a bad set. It makes sense to keep it out because players were digesting colorless cards with colored mana costs, the digest mechanic, awaken, and exile-zone matters.
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
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Well, doesn't look like Emraukul is showing up yet, so...
The fact that you can't handle some cards using the old symbol and some cards using the new symbol for a few months is evidence that the old symbol has not, in fact, worked for 15 (but isn't it 21?) years. If you think that "old magic mana" and "eldrazi mana" are things in the game, the information is out there for you to correct your own misconceptions. It's not Wizards' fault. All they can do is change the templating so fewer people are confused in the future. Other than draft being aesthetically awkward for a few months, I don't see why people keep claim that this should have been in BfZ, when you could just as easily make the case that it should have been in Commander 2015, or Magic Origins, or M15, or hey, why not Scars of Mirrodin? You can go back and back until you end up claiming they shouldn't have started using 1 to mean colorless, but they did, and they can't change that, so now they're fixing it. No big.
By the same logic, they should have never changed "Summon Goblin" to "Creature - Goblin." Things change; it'll be okay. Just ask a judge if you're confused.
I agree that the balance for green is way off, but I find the limited environment still tons of fun, so they did succeed with that.
Soooooooo....what?
I'm going to need a source on that, because 'the talk' I've heard, specifically from MaRo, supports my original statement. It'll appear outside of Oath, but not in any kind of game-shaking frequency.
From Blogatog:
coj64 asked: Hi Mark, you've said that the colorless mana symbol was introduce to help newer players differentiate between colorless mana and generic mana. You've also said that why it's not evergreen, it will show up in future sets. Since Magic is already a fairly complicated game to explain to newer players, why add an extra layer of complexity to the learning curve for such a minimal addition that mattered for one small set? Seems counter productive.
Two things are happening:
1. We’ve changed what the colorless mana symbol looks like. That is a permanent change that will be seen in just about every set.
2. We have a “colorless mana matters” theme. That is for Oath of the Gatewatch. If it’s successful, perhaps we’ll bring it back in another world it makes sense in, but it’s not going to be an evergreen thing.
The big change we made is #1. The existence of #2 made us finally get around to it.
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Edit: Oh, and Sphinx of the Final Word is just cool. It may not see competitive play but its almost as hard to deal with as Thrun, the Last Troll plus it has a larger body, flying and a sweet ability. If nothing else its a really cool EDH card.
BChainer, Dementia Master(Big Mana/Reanimator)
BRRakdos, The Showstopper (Mass Life Loss/Ramp)
BUThe Scarab God (Zombie Tribal/Control)
BWKarlov of the Ghost Council (Life Gain)
BGJarad, Golgari Lich Lord (Stompy/Dredge)
BRGProssh, Skyraider of Kher (Tokens/Non-infinite Combo)
It would probably have worked cleaner if they started that tempting at the beginning of the block rather than the middle of it.
BChainer, Dementia Master(Big Mana/Reanimator)
BRRakdos, The Showstopper (Mass Life Loss/Ramp)
BUThe Scarab God (Zombie Tribal/Control)
BWKarlov of the Ghost Council (Life Gain)
BGJarad, Golgari Lich Lord (Stompy/Dredge)
BRGProssh, Skyraider of Kher (Tokens/Non-infinite Combo)
Green is a lot better in sealed, where its lack of good synergies is less of an issue.
BFZ was dissapointing for me, more because of boring mechanics than balance issues, but OGW looks insteresting so far. So I will, you know, wait until the whole block is spoiled before judging it.
I think it can't be overstated how much changing the block structure *probably* screwed the development of BFZ up. They went from designing for a 3 block structure to having to jam everything between 2 - I'm sure things were cut, I'm sure there were weird loose ends that they're less than satisfied with. Overall though - things are looking up and seem to be pretty sweet. I also think the magic audience in general has completely unrealistic expectations for what a magic set should be at this point because we look at older sets with a strong sense of nostalgia. Look at what's happening with standard - it's taking a LONG time for people to see the competitive value of some of the new BFZ cards because the mechanics themselves don't look like things we've had in the past (Awaken, Converge), but these cards are now proving to be invaluable in the decks they are being run in and some are build-around-me cards that are good because of changing ideas of design (Painful Truths, Part the Waterveil).
BChainer, Dementia Master(Big Mana/Reanimator)
BRRakdos, The Showstopper (Mass Life Loss/Ramp)
BUThe Scarab God (Zombie Tribal/Control)
BWKarlov of the Ghost Council (Life Gain)
BGJarad, Golgari Lich Lord (Stompy/Dredge)
BRGProssh, Skyraider of Kher (Tokens/Non-infinite Combo)
Grixis Control players in modern are interested in Kalitas because he has lifelink and can survive a bolt
Bingo. He sits in a currently relatively unoccupied four drop slot, is bolt proof, has life link, is on color, and has synergy with all of the removal in the deck. Grixis' BIGGEST problem is that it had no relevant access to lifegain - other than Kalitas being Legendary, I'm not really sure that you can draw up something that Grixis would want more.
BChainer, Dementia Master(Big Mana/Reanimator)
BRRakdos, The Showstopper (Mass Life Loss/Ramp)
BUThe Scarab God (Zombie Tribal/Control)
BWKarlov of the Ghost Council (Life Gain)
BGJarad, Golgari Lich Lord (Stompy/Dredge)
BRGProssh, Skyraider of Kher (Tokens/Non-infinite Combo)
It certainly remains to be seen how he will perform and he will be used - the potential of the card is definitely there though!
Lifelink seems pretty like a pretty big deal in some matchups to me. I play Burn, and if an opponent started out by bolting or blocking my early creatures and dropped a 3/4 lifelinker before I had him/her in burn range, I'd be a little bit worried about the game quickly becoming unwinnable. There's still a chance to just kill them before Kalitas swings, but if the Grixis/Jund player can get over that hump it's basically game over for me.
Grixis control has a hard time with burn because of how fast it is. Kalitas gives lifegain, has a body they'd have to spend 2 bolts on, which is 2 less bolts they'd have to bolt you in the face with. So he either runs away with the game or makes them waste gas
1. With Halimar Tidecaller and Jace, Vryn's Prodigy in the same format, looping extra turns with Part the Waterveil could have gotten out of hand without the exile clause. That's not something that R&D can take lightly. Also consider that BFZ has to be balanced around three different standard environments, meaning there are a lot of pieces that they'd have to keep track of, so the easiest solution is just preventing extra turn loops in the first place.
2. BFZ is probably the worst set you want to set up as an example for using square P/T. I've already counted 30 creatures with non-square stats, and over half of them are common. Besides, square P/T is the go-to for designers because it's easier for players to calculate math with them. Non-square stat creatures can still exist, they just have to be made with some intent.
3. Intimidate, Landwalk, and Protection are swingy, especially in multicolor blocks. That's reason enough not to be printed often. Also Intimidate and Landwalk don't fit well on Instants and sorceries, so their design space is small. Regenerate is still around and has merely been placed onto spells more than on creatures.
4. Why is this even a point? Different cards serve different needs. Enthralling Victor was never meant to be the successor to Zealous Conscripts for Standard, it was just made for a limited strategy.
5. Here I mostly agree. Efficient removal like Doom Blade being moved out of common isn't that big a problem. Overcosted removal at common and uncommon aren't a big deal either. Moving efficient removal from uncommon to rare is a problem, though.
6. I doubt the lack of death triggers is an indication of what's to come for later sets. BFZ already has tons of triggers to keep track of like ETB abilities from Allies and Processors, so it's likely the downtime on death triggers is just to make boardstates easier.