I saw a price of $11.99 somewhere, but I forget where, so take that part with a grain of salt.
I'm going to buy as many as I need to have (at least) 100 cards, so that we can play EDHydra; in which all players play against one EDH-sized Hydra deck!
Wait, so we need to have a Standard deck to play against the Hydra? I'm sorry, that's just stupid.
You must have missed it from before, but it was confirmed on an earlier page that you can use any kind of deck to fight the Hydra. The Hydra's deck and strategies are balanced around Standard, so a weaker deck might have more trouble, and a broken Vintage deck might have it too easy, but you can play against the Hydra with any deck that you have. In addition, in case you missed it, the Hydra event is separate from the Theros Game Day, so even though the Hydra battle will take place in stores on the Theros Game Day, you don't have to register for Standard play if you just want to fight the Hydra. As someone who doesn't like Standard much, this is exactly what I shall do. I'm already trying to determine whether I'll use one of my existing Commander decks to fight it, or design a new one using Theros cards for maximum flavor.
Each event you take part in, you get a Hero card that functions a whole lot like a vanguard card.
At Game Day they have a special event deck that plays a lot like a Horde Magic deck.
If you win you get some kind of upgraded hero that you'll want to use when they start the whole cycle of again with possibly more heroes and obviously another challenge deck when the next set in the block rolls around.
They're using and repurposing existing assets in trying to make the events feel more unique and special. It takes minimal effort, minimal cost and while it probably looks like absolutely hideous idiotic garbage to Spikes, it probably seems pretty awesome to Vorthoses and some Timmies.
You guys need to remember that Magic is still just a game that happens to be really popular, haha! You don't always have to play No Items, Fox Only, Final Destination to have fun
Seems ridiculously complicated. Most of the people at the Dragon's Maze prerelease I went had no idea what the guilds were and just asked for colors. I can't imagine that there will be a lot of people who will go to all nine events and keep track of all the materials that you will apparently need to hold onto for six months.
So how the heck is this going to work? I got really confused reading it. So we get more hero cards for doing certain things at the prerelease?
So how the heck is this going to work? I got really confused reading it. So we get more hero cards for doing certain things at the prerelease?
Nope. You get one in your prerelease box. You get one at release weekend for "solving the puzzle." So that's two that you use to play the Game Day event. Obviously, you get more by playing more events or trading for them with people.
In the same way you can tell someone is from the XVIII century because he is arroused by ankles, you can tell someone is from USA because he feels nipples disturbing.
After reading a good bit of this thread, either people like this idea or state (paraphrased) "Wizards is taking nothing away and adding in free stuff? They must hate (me/Spikes/seasoned players/happiness)!!!" This seems fun for those of us who enjoy the weird variants (Planechase, Archenemy, Booster Battle) and won't interfere with people who want none of it. As stated in the article "There's plenty of Magic play going on during a launch weekend, so be sure to stop in and get some drafts and/or games in with the new set!" So, why would you complain that they are including toys other people enjoy when they aren't taking away your toys?
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Petition to stop WotC from making M:tG cards that do not fit my specific likes! Join the revolution! If not you, then who?
Ah, women. They make the highs higher and the lows more frequent.-Friedrich Nietzsche
Sometimes I feel like the word "interactivity" around here is akin to the word "electrolytes" in sports drinks. The public doesn't really know what it means, but they figure it's a good thing to have.
That is right. Instead of promos (Remember MPR anyone? They were replace with what?) We get achievements that do nothing. Look at the achievements for M14. They were impossible to do and when you pass the codes to Planeswalker points you didn't earn much
Clearly you jumped on the "I hate gimmicks" bandwagon and didn't read. THERE WILL BE A REWARD AT THE END OF THIS.
So, why would you complain that they are including toys other people enjoy when they aren't taking away your toys?
Part of it was it was assumed that they were sort of "telling people how to play" the pre-releases etc with this gimmick and forcing Hero cards at us. However, it took a few days for the actual information to come through so people could base opinions on something besides Twitter quotes and sparse info that they heard from some internet person who was half paying attention at the event. At first I was pissed too, but now that we know how this is actually going to play, I'm fine with it.
1st Reaction: OMG! NEW MTG CARDS! No cost? Still got awesome benefits and how do they work?
2nd Reaction: I guess I will try to collect my fair share.
3rd Reaction: Bummer I was hoping for new cards that could be playable elsewhere.
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Failed Opression Stories:
Legend of Korra
Return to Ravnica
(Not that the stories or character are inhernetly bad, but that they failed to further delve into the topic. Like Gateless/Non-Benders feeling opressed by the Guilds/Benders that sought a revolution but it became less of importance according to the story.)
I hope each store gets more than one Hydra deck, I want one for casual play. My friends have been trying to make a format that's like Sentinels of the Multiverse for MTG, and Wizards just went and did it for them. 10/10, would buy.
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L1 judge since 1/30/12 (lapsed as of 1/30/13)
My Friend Code is: 0146-9645-8893
I hope each store gets more than one Hydra deck, I want one for casual play. My friends have been trying to make a format that's like Sentinels of the Multiverse for MTG, and Wizards just went and did it for them. 10/10, would buy.
They've said that the decks will be availible for purchase for $12. not sure if that means the store will have them at Game Day, or afterwards though.
You must have missed it from before, but it was confirmed on an earlier page that you can use any kind of deck to fight the Hydra. The Hydra's deck and strategies are balanced around Standard, so a weaker deck might have more trouble, and a broken Vintage deck might have it too easy, but you can play against the Hydra with any deck that you have. In addition, in case you missed it, the Hydra event is separate from the Theros Game Day, so even though the Hydra battle will take place in stores on the Theros Game Day, you don't have to register for Standard play if you just want to fight the Hydra. As someone who doesn't like Standard much, this is exactly what I shall do. I'm already trying to determine whether I'll use one of my existing Commander decks to fight it, or design a new one using Theros cards for maximum flavor.
"Noobs" aside, I bet this is WOTC trying hard to alienate a lot of people from the prereleases in a kind of eugenicistic meddling with the metagame. They have a vision of what they want the prerelease to be, and it could well be that Spike is not welcome in them.
I'm pretty sure the word is "eugenic", but isn't Spike all about the metagame?
One wierd gripe I have is that the Hero's Journey generally applies to anything and everything whether you want it to or not. The way JosephCampbell writes about it, it isnt just a trope of greek mythology, but all mythologies, our dreams, our lifetimes, psychology, any and all narrative media since the very first stories, potentially most games of magic... certainly each magic block has a story and they all follow the heros journey.
Any way that said it seems wierd to say: "THIS TIME we're doing the Hero's Journey!" But the gimmick is something new so im interested.
That depends. I'd say that Jungian psychoanalysis, like all psychoanalysis, is invalid. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, after all. But mostly the Hero's Journey was shoehorned into a lot of myths, then became the formula for fiction. People don't even play with it!
While I don't think "rules Nazi" is a valid thing, I would agree that pre-release events aren't meant to be hyper-competitive events, and never were.
Like:
Him: Everyone attacks Gideon next turn, pass turn.
Me: *untaps and draws* Cast Vampire Hexmage.
Him: Let it resolve.
Me: Sacrifice the Hexmage targeting Gideon. Respond?
Him: No.
Me: Play Bojuka Bog, targeting you. Respond?
Him: No.
Me: Swing with all my vampires at you.
Him: You can't do that. They have to attack Gideon.
Then I spend the rest of the hour explaining (stonewalled the whole time) that they can't attack Gideon and therefore his ability is invalidated.
Yes, I've encountered that type of stupidity. Curiously, that stupidity is always in favor of the speaker.
Spike=/=******** and you sound a bit pretentious yourself.
Spike is the new sociopath. People use sociopath when they mean sadist, though being a sociopath (i.e., having no empathy to speak of) is exclusive of being a sadist (i.e., having empathy, but in the opposite direction of how it normally works).
Griefers don't care who wins (and thus can't be a Spike), as long as you feel a desire to burn your cards afterward.
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
Spike is the new sociopath. People use sociopath when they mean sadist, though being a sociopath (i.e., having no empathy to speak of) is exclusive of being a sadist (i.e., having empathy, but in the opposite direction of how it normally works).
And "sociopath" is the new "psychopath". Sociopaths don't fit into society. It's not that they lack empathy, it's that they don't recognize the same societal rules as other people. Many sociopaths are very good at empathizing with others: reading and understanding their emotions, but not adopting those emotions as their own (sympathy). This makes them much better at manipulation and avoidance of "impractiacal" or "irrelevant" emotions.
Griefers don't care who wins (and thus can't be a Spike), as long as you feel a desire to burn your cards afterward.
Griefers can too be Spikes and definitely care who wins. (Speaking as a former/current griefer... ) Griefers just create their own sets of rules for how they achieve "winning." They adopt a new goal (making the other player[s] feel horrible about some aspect) and give that goal more priority than the stated goal (winning the game). That is not to say that they don't care at all.
For example:
There was at one point during the Shards of Alara block where one of the dominant decks was the "Cascade" deck. The basic premise of the deck was that every card played had the mechanic cascade, which (for those who don't know) would allow you to reveal cards from the top of your deck until you revealed a spell with a lower CMC than the played card. Every card had Cascade except for all lands and Blightning. The way the deck won was by removing the opponents hand, killing their creatures, and bouncing their creatures only to kill them in their hand. It was a very nasty deck that ran by a different set of rules than most others were playing by.
This was a very popular deck among those players who liked to also play head games (a favorite tactic of "The Griefer") because it only amplified both their chances of winning (it was a very powerful deck) and their ability to physically and mentally wear down their opponent. Greifer, just like Spike, is not the sole trait a player can have. Everyone has some Greifer, Spike, and every other type of play style, just in different measures.
On the Original Topic (before I get in trouble ):
While I was a fan of the whole "align yourself with a guild" mechanic/"gimmick", I don't particularly like this concept for a pre-release. I do think that the new Hero cards are a fun addition to the game since I can already see myself and friends adding these to our already ridiculous Planechase/EDH/Multiplayer-game-types games, though. I am just dissapointed that the new pre-release mechanic isn't an endorsed part of the event. It's its own, separate event that is only vestigially tied to the pre-release. It would have been cool to see how people used these (even if it was just for that event) during the pre-release.
That, and you know what they say. If Wizards started shipping $100 bills in boosters tomorrow, people would scream and cry and whine that they were folded the wrong way.
The fact that the reward is after 9 events over the period of like 8 months is nuts. There should be a tangible reward at the end of each 3 at worst. Basically beat hydra deck on gameday = get interesting promo or whatever.
I think most people can agree that the gimmicks are to hook new players into multiple events. The pre-release/release/game day being the three events. That's nice and all but after that the reward for going through the gimmicks is essentially "lol achievement points". That to me just stinks even more so that the gimmick hero cards aren't usable outside of the gimmick. Shouldn't the point be to get the new players playing in formats people play?
Along with the hydra deck event requiring players to come with own deck for it. Which I mean it is game day so normally people would but assuming these are brand new players they have done 2 limited events, quite the small pool of cards. Wizards could have set up the hydra battle event better in making it say 2v1, giving the player a free theros booster in a "here take this to aid you in your battle". The booster has value unlikes the hero cards given away in that the cards in the booster are actually playable cards.
I agree. I'm a diehard Vorthos and even I realize this is a WAY to complex way to make the tournaments more flavorful. And I'm only at part 2.
choose a colour: get a card
solve the puzzle: get a card
use the cards won to play against the Hydra deck
yeah....WAY too complex...
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Huey, Dewey and Louie are always dressed in RUG. it is CLEARLY going to be the wedges block Pioneer: WURFaerie fires BRGDragons ModernBGElves WRBurn UR Fires Turns URGift Storm UG Twiddle Storm
The fact that the reward is after 9 events over the period of like 8 months is nuts. There should be a tangible reward at the end of each 3 at worst. Basically beat hydra deck on gameday = get interesting promo or whatever.
There is. Pretty much what you said. 3 promos, probably all hero cards. 3 events, prerelease, release, game day. Hydra battle is on game day, but you get a prize for beating it.
Presumably, the same thing for the other two sets (3 prizes (3 heroes?))
There is. Pretty much what you said. 3 promos, probably all hero cards. 3 events, prerelease, release, game day. Hydra battle is on game day, but you get a prize for beating it.
Presumably, the same thing for the other two sets (3 prizes (3 heroes?))
Pretty sure normal promo cards are at least playable in a constructed deck. So the hero cards only have use with this gimmick once the gimmick goes away the cards have no point that is unless Wizards plans to make them usable outside of the gimmick. Which is entirely possible and could be awesome if new game format is made and consistently updated for.
From mothership explanation:
"Once triumphant against the Hydra, you receive another Hero Card illustrating and commemorating your victory"
When the reward for a gimmick is that you have to show up for another gimmick it's kind of lame. Which leads back to the actual reward being after 9 events not before. A gimmick leading to a gimmick to a gimmick is fine but when it is 3x that before a playable reward it just seems odd. Like the idea is cool, but so far the execution of the explanation makes it sound like Wizards just wants to hamstring players through 9 events rather then lead players into community play styles. At least that is my take on it.
I'm going to buy as many as I need to have (at least) 100 cards, so that we can play EDHydra; in which all players play against one EDH-sized Hydra deck!
Heroes and Villains Comics and Games
Watch "The Giant Sharkgate Chronicles"
Watch "Eating Made Easy"
You must have missed it from before, but it was confirmed on an earlier page that you can use any kind of deck to fight the Hydra. The Hydra's deck and strategies are balanced around Standard, so a weaker deck might have more trouble, and a broken Vintage deck might have it too easy, but you can play against the Hydra with any deck that you have. In addition, in case you missed it, the Hydra event is separate from the Theros Game Day, so even though the Hydra battle will take place in stores on the Theros Game Day, you don't have to register for Standard play if you just want to fight the Hydra. As someone who doesn't like Standard much, this is exactly what I shall do. I'm already trying to determine whether I'll use one of my existing Commander decks to fight it, or design a new one using Theros cards for maximum flavor.
Do you own or know someone else who is willing to lend you 4 Ratchet Bombs? Congrats, you beat the Hydra.
Each event you take part in, you get a Hero card that functions a whole lot like a vanguard card.
At Game Day they have a special event deck that plays a lot like a Horde Magic deck.
If you win you get some kind of upgraded hero that you'll want to use when they start the whole cycle of again with possibly more heroes and obviously another challenge deck when the next set in the block rolls around.
They're using and repurposing existing assets in trying to make the events feel more unique and special. It takes minimal effort, minimal cost and while it probably looks like absolutely hideous idiotic garbage to Spikes, it probably seems pretty awesome to Vorthoses and some Timmies.
You guys need to remember that Magic is still just a game that happens to be really popular, haha! You don't always have to play No Items, Fox Only, Final Destination to have fun
So how the heck is this going to work? I got really confused reading it. So we get more hero cards for doing certain things at the prerelease?
Nope. You get one in your prerelease box. You get one at release weekend for "solving the puzzle." So that's two that you use to play the Game Day event. Obviously, you get more by playing more events or trading for them with people.
Banner ala Lymons
Clearly you jumped on the "I hate gimmicks" bandwagon and didn't read. THERE WILL BE A REWARD AT THE END OF THIS.
Part of it was it was assumed that they were sort of "telling people how to play" the pre-releases etc with this gimmick and forcing Hero cards at us. However, it took a few days for the actual information to come through so people could base opinions on something besides Twitter quotes and sparse info that they heard from some internet person who was half paying attention at the event. At first I was pissed too, but now that we know how this is actually going to play, I'm fine with it.
2nd Reaction: I guess I will try to collect my fair share.
3rd Reaction: Bummer I was hoping for new cards that could be playable elsewhere.
Legend of Korra
Return to Ravnica
(Not that the stories or character are inhernetly bad, but that they failed to further delve into the topic. Like Gateless/Non-Benders feeling opressed by the Guilds/Benders that sought a revolution but it became less of importance according to the story.)
My Friend Code is: 0146-9645-8893
They've said that the decks will be availible for purchase for $12. not sure if that means the store will have them at Game Day, or afterwards though.
Ahh, okay, thank you. I'm relieved.
I'm pretty sure the word is "eugenic", but isn't Spike all about the metagame?
My first thought was Five Dragon God.
That depends. I'd say that Jungian psychoanalysis, like all psychoanalysis, is invalid. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, after all. But mostly the Hero's Journey was shoehorned into a lot of myths, then became the formula for fiction. People don't even play with it!
Like:
Him: Everyone attacks Gideon next turn, pass turn.
Me: *untaps and draws* Cast Vampire Hexmage.
Him: Let it resolve.
Me: Sacrifice the Hexmage targeting Gideon. Respond?
Him: No.
Me: Play Bojuka Bog, targeting you. Respond?
Him: No.
Me: Swing with all my vampires at you.
Him: You can't do that. They have to attack Gideon.
Then I spend the rest of the hour explaining (stonewalled the whole time) that they can't attack Gideon and therefore his ability is invalidated.
Yes, I've encountered that type of stupidity. Curiously, that stupidity is always in favor of the speaker.
Spike is the new sociopath. People use sociopath when they mean sadist, though being a sociopath (i.e., having no empathy to speak of) is exclusive of being a sadist (i.e., having empathy, but in the opposite direction of how it normally works).
Griefers don't care who wins (and thus can't be a Spike), as long as you feel a desire to burn your cards afterward.
On phasing:
And "sociopath" is the new "psychopath". Sociopaths don't fit into society. It's not that they lack empathy, it's that they don't recognize the same societal rules as other people. Many sociopaths are very good at empathizing with others: reading and understanding their emotions, but not adopting those emotions as their own (sympathy). This makes them much better at manipulation and avoidance of "impractiacal" or "irrelevant" emotions.
Griefers can too be Spikes and definitely care who wins. (Speaking as a former/current griefer... ) Griefers just create their own sets of rules for how they achieve "winning." They adopt a new goal (making the other player[s] feel horrible about some aspect) and give that goal more priority than the stated goal (winning the game). That is not to say that they don't care at all.
For example:
There was at one point during the Shards of Alara block where one of the dominant decks was the "Cascade" deck. The basic premise of the deck was that every card played had the mechanic cascade, which (for those who don't know) would allow you to reveal cards from the top of your deck until you revealed a spell with a lower CMC than the played card. Every card had Cascade except for all lands and Blightning. The way the deck won was by removing the opponents hand, killing their creatures, and bouncing their creatures only to kill them in their hand. It was a very nasty deck that ran by a different set of rules than most others were playing by.
This was a very popular deck among those players who liked to also play head games (a favorite tactic of "The Griefer") because it only amplified both their chances of winning (it was a very powerful deck) and their ability to physically and mentally wear down their opponent. Greifer, just like Spike, is not the sole trait a player can have. Everyone has some Greifer, Spike, and every other type of play style, just in different measures.
On the Original Topic (before I get in trouble ):
While I was a fan of the whole "align yourself with a guild" mechanic/"gimmick", I don't particularly like this concept for a pre-release. I do think that the new Hero cards are a fun addition to the game since I can already see myself and friends adding these to our already ridiculous Planechase/EDH/Multiplayer-game-types games, though. I am just dissapointed that the new pre-release mechanic isn't an endorsed part of the event. It's its own, separate event that is only vestigially tied to the pre-release. It would have been cool to see how people used these (even if it was just for that event) during the pre-release.
//stat.rumandmonkey.com/tests/1/6/5261/20801.jpg">stat.rumandmonkey.com
On Modern Masters 2:
Will be kept until 12/31/2013 to prove if Right or Wrong.Proven right 1/27/2013I think most people can agree that the gimmicks are to hook new players into multiple events. The pre-release/release/game day being the three events. That's nice and all but after that the reward for going through the gimmicks is essentially "lol achievement points". That to me just stinks even more so that the gimmick hero cards aren't usable outside of the gimmick. Shouldn't the point be to get the new players playing in formats people play?
Along with the hydra deck event requiring players to come with own deck for it. Which I mean it is game day so normally people would but assuming these are brand new players they have done 2 limited events, quite the small pool of cards. Wizards could have set up the hydra battle event better in making it say 2v1, giving the player a free theros booster in a "here take this to aid you in your battle". The booster has value unlikes the hero cards given away in that the cards in the booster are actually playable cards.
Mono has never been interesting to me.
Standard:
UR Ral Combo
Modern:
U Merfolk
R Goblins
Commander
RB Grenzo, Dungeon Warden
R Feldon of the Third Path
choose a colour: get a card
solve the puzzle: get a card
use the cards won to play against the Hydra deck
yeah....WAY too complex...
Pioneer: WURFaerie fires BRGDragons
ModernBGElves WRBurn UR Fires Turns URGift Storm UG Twiddle Storm
There is. Pretty much what you said. 3 promos, probably all hero cards. 3 events, prerelease, release, game day. Hydra battle is on game day, but you get a prize for beating it.
Presumably, the same thing for the other two sets (3 prizes (3 heroes?))
Pretty sure normal promo cards are at least playable in a constructed deck. So the hero cards only have use with this gimmick once the gimmick goes away the cards have no point that is unless Wizards plans to make them usable outside of the gimmick. Which is entirely possible and could be awesome if new game format is made and consistently updated for.
From mothership explanation:
"Once triumphant against the Hydra, you receive another Hero Card illustrating and commemorating your victory"
When the reward for a gimmick is that you have to show up for another gimmick it's kind of lame. Which leads back to the actual reward being after 9 events not before. A gimmick leading to a gimmick to a gimmick is fine but when it is 3x that before a playable reward it just seems odd. Like the idea is cool, but so far the execution of the explanation makes it sound like Wizards just wants to hamstring players through 9 events rather then lead players into community play styles. At least that is my take on it.
just like in the RTR sealed packs where you were forced at gunpoint to play your guild colors, yes?