My friend had the most amazing UB control deck back in the day. He used Royal Assassin and Icy Manipulator along with at least 12 counterspells. After he slows the game down to ridiculousness he either uses Clone on one of your guys or uses Control Magic to take your guy and kill you with your own creature.
I've always been a fan of blue/black even though I am not a control player and this ability is way better than I thought it would be. I was expecting a mill effect, but this keyword ability is really awesome and is sure to throw a big-time monkey into the current standard metagame.
I actually don't think these will be prerelease cards. Of the RTR cards, neither Izzet, Selesnya nor Golgari had keywords on them. All of the sudden for GTC all 5 have them?
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She wants a ride on the pony, dude.
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What's with the artwork? Is this Zachary Quinto's invitational card?
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Wizards could put $100 bills in packs and people would complain about how they were folded. http://www.twitter.com/Dr_Jeebus - Follow me on Twitter!
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Cipher (the mechanic, not the name) as is, does not feel Dimir, they have to use words like "encode" to make it feel Dimir. "Look we casted a spell, now we give it to an agent of ours and will cast it the next time they attack you." Yeah right. You can name it WarMark (you can think of a better name) and change encode to mark and give it to Boros/Gruul whatever. Same thing.
OTOH it has synergy with how the guild should play. Good thing they are not focusing on mill, but on unblockability/shroud stuff.
The mechanic is also a bit better (no, way better) than other guilds limited "fit straight to the guild" mechanic, it is like they compensate for Dimir's lame treatment in RAV.
I bet you right now, all the commons with cipher are going to look terrible/super over costed and everyone is going to complain. Then everyone at the pre-release will play them and everyone will get excited all over again.
I mean seriously, 2U Draw a card, Cipher is probably too good for common.
2BB Sorcery Destroy target creature, Cipher is probably too good for uncommon.
Free spells make me nervous... Even a Divination with Cipher has the potential to break the game. Lets hope Wizard's is treading very carefully with this one...
It's U. Normal rules don't apply.
They really, really don't know how to design properly for the wheel. This mechanic, from an inherent power level, is like Cascade or the idiotic free-spell mechanic from Urza's. It's barely held in check by needing to deal combat damage for the bonus, especially in slower multiplayer formats where it's very easy to trigger this repeatedly, and with Invisible Stalker and friends in the format, it's barely a problem. It doesn't even cost you a card if they remove the creature, since you already got the use out of it.
This current card is already pretty stupid with any discard outlet. Imagine a removal spell, or a simple divination, or a goddamned Opt variant. Curiosity that doesn't cost a card and doesn't wait a turn and doesn't need a creature?
It's so far above the other mechanics in inherent power, it's laughable. If I had to balance this mechanic, I would have made it modal. Either you cast it, or you encode it on a creature.
Truly, the best has been saved for last. I've been devoted to Dimir ever since Ravnica, and I finally feel like the guild's going to get what it deserves.
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'Nuff said.
WUControlWU
Commander (EDH)
WBRKaalia of the VastWBR
WRGMayael the AnimaWRG
- Online -
X Cube Drafts X
GW Pauper Boggle GW
- Paper -
Standard:
RWB Mythic Midrange RWB
UBBreya's Toybox (Competitive, Combo)WR
RGodzilla, King of the MonstersG
-Retired Decks-
UBLazav, Dimir Mastermind (Competitive, UB Voltron/Control)UB
"Knowledge is such a burden. Release it. Release all your fears to me."
—Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
I think he means because you get to cast free spells which trigger extort and leaves all of your mana open to pay multiple extort costs.
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
How dare you insult my favorite mechanic of all time.
Wow, how did I miss that extort triggered whenever you cast a spell? I thought it was just when you cast the spell with extort.
Oh he's not gonna shoot up to ridiculous prices because of this. You have any idea how many of him have been opened?
UBBreya's Toybox (Competitive, Combo)WR
RGodzilla, King of the MonstersG
-Retired Decks-
UBLazav, Dimir Mastermind (Competitive, UB Voltron/Control)UB
"Knowledge is such a burden. Release it. Release all your fears to me."
—Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
I've always been a fan of blue/black even though I am not a control player and this ability is way better than I thought it would be. I was expecting a mill effect, but this keyword ability is really awesome and is sure to throw a big-time monkey into the current standard metagame.
The funny thing is, I've been running a Standard deck around unblockable creatures for a little bit now.
A U/B deck.
This is... exactly what I was hoping for.
(Said deck includes Artful Dodge, Lone Revenant, all sorts of nastiness)
WotC, please hire me already.
Mafia Stats
Kill shot: BB
Issue with my shooting? Please visit my helpdesk and help me learn to aim!
Wizards could put $100 bills in packs and people would complain about how they were folded.
http://www.twitter.com/Dr_Jeebus - Follow me on Twitter!
Check out www.mtgbrodeals.com for daily content from the brothers of Mu Tau Gamma!
Cipher (the mechanic, not the name) as is, does not feel Dimir, they have to use words like "encode" to make it feel Dimir. "Look we casted a spell, now we give it to an agent of ours and will cast it the next time they attack you." Yeah right. You can name it WarMark (you can think of a better name) and change encode to mark and give it to Boros/Gruul whatever. Same thing.
OTOH it has synergy with how the guild should play. Good thing they are not focusing on mill, but on unblockability/shroud stuff.
The mechanic is also a bit better (no, way better) than other guilds limited "fit straight to the guild" mechanic, it is like they compensate for Dimir's lame treatment in RAV.
I mean seriously, 2U Draw a card, Cipher is probably too good for common.
2BB Sorcery Destroy target creature, Cipher is probably too good for uncommon.
FULL TIME FAERIES
Selvala
It's U. Normal rules don't apply.
They really, really don't know how to design properly for the wheel. This mechanic, from an inherent power level, is like Cascade or the idiotic free-spell mechanic from Urza's. It's barely held in check by needing to deal combat damage for the bonus, especially in slower multiplayer formats where it's very easy to trigger this repeatedly, and with Invisible Stalker and friends in the format, it's barely a problem. It doesn't even cost you a card if they remove the creature, since you already got the use out of it.
This current card is already pretty stupid with any discard outlet. Imagine a removal spell, or a simple divination, or a goddamned Opt variant. Curiosity that doesn't cost a card and doesn't wait a turn and doesn't need a creature?
It's so far above the other mechanics in inherent power, it's laughable. If I had to balance this mechanic, I would have made it modal. Either you cast it, or you encode it on a creature.
0 Karn
W Darien
U Arcanis
B Geth
R Norin
G Yeva
UW Hanna
RB Olivia
WB Obzedat
UR Melek
BG Glissa
WR Aurelia
GU Kraj
BRU Nicol Bolas
RGB Prossh
BGW Ghave
GUB Mimeoplasm
WUBRG Sliver Overlord
GWU Treva, the Renewer
EDH Spike:
U Azami, Lady of Scrolls
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