If you look at the collector's number, the a/b has me worried.
They did a/b with Brothers Yamazaki. Two cards (in that case, same card with different art).
I don't think it could possibly be a double-sided card. That literally makes it unplayable in any Magic format. They have to be 2 cards, or a split card. At least, I sure hope so.
do the Mayor and Wolfpack have the same rules text aside from the transformation requirement? grokking nightmare if they don't unless you require people to have the wolfpack card somewhere in their collection, which would be stupid.
Take your monoblack deck, then set aside 14 swamps. Add 4 Creeping Tar Pits, 4 Darkslick Shores, 4 Drowned Catacombs, and 2 Jwar isle Refuge and add 4 Jace, the Mindsculptors. Your monoblack deck is instantly better. Better yet, drop those refuges, throw in some islands and some mana leaks, and lo and behold, you're now playing a real deck. Congratulations. Welcome to the world of competitive M:TG.
Almost all the suggestions still do not settle the limited argument. If they are double-sided, you can see what other people pick. If they are evolution type cards (like pokemon) you would NEED one to play the other, which wouldn't make since in draft/sealed.
And like others have mentioned, the card(s) shown are DIRECTLY related. You can't use the "can turn to any 3/3 werewolf" argument when they share the same collector number. These cards GO together. So we it has to be something different.
I still can't make out the collector's numbers well, but it probably is as Smokestack mentioned, the cards are directly connected in some way.
EDIT: Just saw the high-res version Smokestack is correct with regards to the collector's numbers.
But then we're back to the same problem with limited, aren't we? Having the Mayor being explicitly and exclusively linked to Howlpack Alpha would imply that werewolves most powerful assets are virtually undraftable.
I'm still in favor of my theory as it applies to werewolves across the set, I need more evidence before I can rule out the possibility I suggested. There has to be some way in which night-time form cards can substitute for each other or I can't see how the mechanic can work outside of constructed Magic, because it ends up being just like flip-cards, except less practical.
And the flip mechanism?
No clue yet. However, I find it peculiar that everybody seems to be locked into it being a conditional situation based on the game state. Perhaps there is a mechanism that lets you pay a certain amount of mana to switch cards permanently.
Seeing as it's a flavor-themed set, a conditional trigger seems to be more flavorful than an activated one. If it's a regularly flipping thing, even better.
Also, don't forget that a lot of people who do use sleeves use those sleeves that are semi-transparent, so double-sided cards would just cause even more problems there. Also imagine all of the judging nightmares and potential warnings/game losses/inadvertent giving of information when half of the people forget to flip their card back around in their sleeve at a tournament.
I admit I was kind of hoping that you would be able to play werewolf cards without having to play their human counterparts, but I guess this is more flavorful.
I think this is the most baffling thing I've seen during spoiler season since purple-stamped Timeshifted cards during Timespiral spoiler season. It's great.
the picture we have here suggests that the Mayor of Avabruck and Wolfpack Alpha are physically separate from each other, so it's not a split or flip card.
Except that it's been revealed that they're not physically separate but different sides of an oversized, double-sided promo card. The pic you linked is just the two scanned sides stuck next to each other.
Anyway, my critical observation:
I am absolutely certain that the Mayor of Avabruck can take the form of any Innistrad block werewolf printed as a 3/3 (thus the little 3/3 on the Mayor's card).
Why then would the Mayor and the Alpha have the same card number if this were true????
A strict one-to-one correspondence between the Mayor and Howlpack Alpha would be senselessly restrictive in terms of deck design, both in constructed and limited, because it would mean that every day-time werewolf card would have to be accompanied by its dual.
A problem which wouldn't exist if these cards are double-sided, because they'd be accompanied by their counterparts by default.
People think that the werewolves will be double sided? Seriously?
Absolutely. It's like Sherlock Holmes said "Whenever you eliminate the impossible, whatever is left however unlikely, must be the truth." And while there certainly are problems with double-sided cards, I believe the problems with doing this mechanic any of the other ways suggested so far are many times greater.
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Thou shalt not have others of the same Legendary before me Thou shalt not frame images with the modern card face Thou shalt not change rules in vain Remember the Reserved List to keep it holy Honor thy Slivers and the symmetry of their abilities Thou shalt not kill mana burn Thou shalt not sacrifice depth for accessibility Thou shalt not steal combat damage from the stack Thou shalt tell a story through thy cards All must be one
Im guessing the Mayor refrences his size at 3/3, Im assuming thats how big he becomes as a werewolf, so you use the 3/3 werewolf token that came in the booster.
You dont take the token when you draft, its just like any other token producer.
You dont even need the token.
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Except that it's been revealed that they're not physically separate but different sides of an oversized, double-sided promo card. The pic you linked is just the two scanned sides stuck next to each other.
It's likely that this promo is double sided and oversized, much like they do in other blocks by sending shops oversized versions of things.
Also, two seperate cards would explain why the set size is larger than normal.
Aren't oversized cards usually mirrors of regular ones? I've never seen a dual sided oversized promo. Are there any others? I think this is controversial "mechanic x".
Because conservative bias is a far, far worse thing. Liberal bias doesn't, statistically speaking, make people stupid. Conservative bias (or at least Fox's version of it) does.
The only ruling they would have to do, if the land takes the tokens place, vise versa whatever, is that you get both the land/token card and the card it goes with in draft. Otherwise you couldnt play effectively, and drafting is the best way to get a feel of the set's story....
It is possible that if you get a werewolf in a pack, the werewolf part substitutes that extra land / token, while the normal card appears normally. So if you get them in limited, you take both cards.
The problem of course being that a competitive event, you see your opponent take two cards and you A) wrongly accuse him of cheating or B) know he has Mayor of Avabruck.
Aren't oversized cards usually mirrors of regular ones? I've never seen a dual sided oversized promo. Are there any others? I think this is controversial "mechanic x".
Usually, but it's a good way to show the card's interaction early without actually having it BE that way in real life.
Yeah, but you said it replaces the token/rules card.
My opinion is that it replaces the land, because that's the only other non-draftable card with a standard back (instead of an ad) and Alpha is a standard card, with standard numbering, standard rarity etc. It just can't be directly cast; rather, it uses a triggered replacement effect.
Howlpack Alpha is clearly written on the Mayor of Avabruck card in the last line, which cannot be translated completely. So it is extremely unlikely that it can turn into any werewolf.
I think the correct version as others suggested is that the werewolf transformation is just to get a bit of P/T and only keep the Werewolf creature type. So the mayor can be played without the overlay Howlpack Alpha card, as the information that it becomes a 3/3 at nigh is already printed on the card.
The more I think of flipping a card face up/face down, the more I think of the main argument against purple mana from WotC: changing the card back. I'm not sure they would do that, but maybe.
Because conservative bias is a far, far worse thing. Liberal bias doesn't, statistically speaking, make people stupid. Conservative bias (or at least Fox's version of it) does.
From a rules and logistics perspective, I believe the werewolf/night-day cards will just be a card with complex implied rules text, similar to split cards and levelers. The Howlpack Alpha will only be a token card which you can use if you want during "night", and the Mayor side will be the actual tournament card.
The mayor will have enough rules text on him to identify exactly what abilities he has at night and during the day.
The functional Oracle text would be:
Mayor of Avabruck - 1G
Human Advisor Werewolf
<human abilities>
1/1
If it is night, Mayor of Avabruck is a 3/3 green werewolf creature named Howlpack Alpha. It has <werewolf abilities>.
The definition of when it is night and when it is not would be part of the rules, and be explained on a tip card. The howlpack card is just a cool token-type card you can use during the night if you wanted to.
The two-sided promo card is no more an indication of two-sided tournament cards than the oversize promo cards indicate 6-inch tournament cards.
They did a/b with Brothers Yamazaki. Two cards (in that case, same card with different art).
I don't think it could possibly be a double-sided card. That literally makes it unplayable in any Magic format. They have to be 2 cards, or a split card. At least, I sure hope so.
G Pumped Elvish Warriors G
GW Infectious Slivers WG
WU Milling Allies UW
Legacy:
UB Hex-Depths BU (combo-control)
G NO/Aggro Elves G
Commander:
WUBRG Sliver Army GRBUW (multiplayer)
WUG Rafiq the Exalted GUW (1-on-1 voltron)
GU Edric's Circus UG (multiplayer tokens)
B Relentless Rats B (multiplayer combo)
UB Sygg, the Punisher (in progress)BU
UBR Nicol Bolas, Elder Dragon Highlander RBU (in progress)
I still can't make out the collector's numbers well, but it probably is as Smokestack mentioned, the cards are directly connected in some way.
EDIT: Just saw the high-res version Smokestack is correct with regards to the collector's numbers.
But then we're back to the same problem with limited, aren't we? Having the Mayor being explicitly and exclusively linked to Howlpack Alpha would imply that werewolves most powerful assets are virtually undraftable.
I'm still in favor of my theory as it applies to werewolves across the set, I need more evidence before I can rule out the possibility I suggested. There has to be some way in which night-time form cards can substitute for each other or I can't see how the mechanic can work outside of constructed Magic, because it ends up being just like flip-cards, except less practical.
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I admit I was kind of hoping that you would be able to play werewolf cards without having to play their human counterparts, but I guess this is more flavorful.
I think this is the most baffling thing I've seen during spoiler season since purple-stamped Timeshifted cards during Timespiral spoiler season. It's great.
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Except that it's been revealed that they're not physically separate but different sides of an oversized, double-sided promo card. The pic you linked is just the two scanned sides stuck next to each other.
Why then would the Mayor and the Alpha have the same card number if this were true????
A problem which wouldn't exist if these cards are double-sided, because they'd be accompanied by their counterparts by default.
Absolutely. It's like Sherlock Holmes said "Whenever you eliminate the impossible, whatever is left however unlikely, must be the truth." And while there certainly are problems with double-sided cards, I believe the problems with doing this mechanic any of the other ways suggested so far are many times greater.
Thou shalt not frame images with the modern card face
Thou shalt not change rules in vain
Remember the Reserved List to keep it holy
Honor thy Slivers and the symmetry of their abilities
Thou shalt not kill mana burn
Thou shalt not sacrifice depth for accessibility
Thou shalt not steal combat damage from the stack
Thou shalt tell a story through thy cards
All must be one
You dont take the token when you draft, its just like any other token producer.
You dont even need the token.
It's likely that this promo is double sided and oversized, much like they do in other blocks by sending shops oversized versions of things.
Also, two seperate cards would explain why the set size is larger than normal.
The problem of course being that a competitive event, you see your opponent take two cards and you A) wrongly accuse him of cheating or B) know he has Mayor of Avabruck.
BGStandard Green AggroGB
UWRGModern Saheeli CobraGRWU
UBRGLegacy StormGRBU
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Usually, but it's a good way to show the card's interaction early without actually having it BE that way in real life.
you guys dont draft lands?
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The mayor will have enough rules text on him to identify exactly what abilities he has at night and during the day.
The functional Oracle text would be:
Mayor of Avabruck - 1G
Human Advisor Werewolf
<human abilities>
1/1
If it is night, Mayor of Avabruck is a 3/3 green werewolf creature named Howlpack Alpha. It has <werewolf abilities>.
The definition of when it is night and when it is not would be part of the rules, and be explained on a tip card. The howlpack card is just a cool token-type card you can use during the night if you wanted to.
The two-sided promo card is no more an indication of two-sided tournament cards than the oversize promo cards indicate 6-inch tournament cards.
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No use getting freaked out about it now... until we know how it would work... but yeah I'm hoping for the 2-card situation.
You mean this french card that isn't the mayor and doesn't reference the mayor in any of the text?
http://media-dominaria.cursecdn.com/attachments/91/173/635032495522995344.jpg
I concur. Otherwise it's impossible to play without sleeves, and there are many who do.
My LinkedIn profile... thing (I have one of those now!).
My research team's webpage.
The mtg-rnn repo and the mtg-encode repo.
try looking at http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showpost.php?p=7187017&postcount=15 that
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