Ordeal of Purphoros looks like part of a cycle of ordeals to me. Something to capture flavor, like the quests from Zendikar. We'll get like the Ordeal of Somehero, and Ordeal of Someoneelse, ect...
Possible, but unlikely.
To me this looks like a direct take on the trials that Herakles (Hercules) constantly faced at the hands of Zeus. They've just given it one generic cover here with the card. That's my take any way.
But nothing says they follow the actual mythology strictly, and they certainly could put multiple heroes through trials/ordeals!
Cavalry Pegasus is gonna do a lot for Pauper methinks - white weenie is gonna love her.
Not sure how Satyr Hedonist will fit, in pauper, but I love the name. Gruul doesn't see much play in Pauper, except in Eldrazi ramp, but that's what spawn tokens are for.
Does this mean each major 'city' (ya know, the ones they revealed at ComicCon) has a legendary of its colors with a heroic ability? C'MON AMAZONESS LEGENDARY.
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.
I'm pretty disappointed with these duel decks, but whatever, not a big deal.
To me, a duel deck should have value, and have interesting cards. I honestly think these decks fail on both accounts. The value certainly isn't there, but worse, in my mind, is that these decks are littered with bad creatures from recent standard sets. Several times I looked up a card I hadn't heard of only to find a, say, Gatecrash vanilla creature. That's about the definition of boring card choice.
But whatever. I hope newer players are able to enjoy playing these decks. I can recognize that this set isn't for me and move on.
I like Anax and Cyamide in a Boro Weeny shell with Legions Initiative. 4/3 First Strike / Vigilance...ain't much attacking into you, and you have removal protection in Legions Initiative.
I'm definitely giving this one a pass. Also getting pretty tired of wizards constantly making mechanics that just add counters to creatures...
you realise that the returning keyword in the monstrousity abbility is "can only used once". which means that other creatures with this abbility could have a completly different effect.
so its just this hydra who gets counters and fights then.
and i think the hero abbility is pretty nice to be honest. its fits the flavour, because the "hero" is spreading his power and blessing to the rest of his troups. i like it.
and the monstrosity abbility, we will see what other creatures do. so really noone can say if the abbility is good or bad, since we dont know much about it.
The decks don't have crazy value, but they shouldn't or else people would get then for collection (which is not the porpuse of a DD). Its not like the value is not horrible either.
The gameplay, i think, is better then Sorin vs. Tibalt. Monsters have a cute ramp/ritual theme that I enjoy and Heroes have some crazy silver bullets that requires timing. I like the vanilla guys as I enjoy playing with powered down cards (the variance is so much lower because there isn't swingy effects running around).
What do people speculate singles of the new regrowth will go for? If it's new art, there might be demand for it, like new Demonic Tutor being more than a revised demonic tutor. I dunno how these things work.
getting pretty tired of wizards constantly making mechanics that just add counters to creatures...
I've been noticing that too. Scavenge, Unleash, Evolve, Monstrosity, the hydras... plus individual cards like Scavenging Ooze and Archangel of Thune. Ooze I like the design for, but the others seem pretty uninspired mechanically. I think Monstrosity will play better than it looks on paper, but that by itself is indicative of the problem: adding counters to creatures just isn't that exciting, even if it plays well. It certainly isn't exciting enough to take up multiple mechanics in a set like the guild abilities did. It also doesn't help that among all the guild abilities that use +1/+1 counters, there are only a few playable playable cards, and they only see fringe play at best.
you realise that the returning keyword in the monstrousity abbility is "can only used once". which means that other creatures with this abbility could have a completly different effect.
so its just this hydra who gets counters and fights then.
and i think the hero abbility is pretty nice to be honest. its fits the flavour, because the "hero" is spreading his power and blessing to the rest of his troups. i like it.
and the monstrosity abbility, we will see what other creatures do. so really noone can say if the abbility is good or bad, since we dont know much about it.
There is no "returning keyword" in Monstrosity; it's a new mechanic that is a one-shot ability that creates a condition of a card. Trick says not to assume that the new abilities are all simple, and that there's surprises to be seen.
That means that some of the other cards with the respective mechanics will do some things we might deem 'awesome'.
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.
you realise that the returning keyword in the monstrousity abbility is "can only used once". which means that other creatures with this abbility could have a completly different effect.
so its just this hydra who gets counters and fights then.
and i think the hero abbility is pretty nice to be honest. its fits the flavour, because the "hero" is spreading his power and blessing to the rest of his troups. i like it.
and the monstrosity abbility, we will see what other creatures do. so really noone can say if the abbility is good or bad, since we dont know much about it.
Every Monstrosity ability adds counters. You can tell because the "add X counters" clause isn't in Polukranos' rules text, it's in the reminder text for Monstrosity.
Other creatures may have a variety of different abilities that trigger when they become monstrous, some may have no triggered ability at all, but adding some number of +1/+1 counters is part of the Monstrosity keyword.
What do people speculate singles of the new regrowth will go for? If it's new art, there might be demand for it, like new Demonic Tutor being more than a revised demonic tutor. I dunno how these things work.
Unlimited Regrowths are about $5 where Revised ones are only about $2 each. Despite the large amount of DDs that will be sold, never underestimate the power of the black border! You might as well ignore its rarity here since there's as many per DD as Polukranoses [say that five times fast]. The art is the same but all the black border Regrowths are over $50 each soooo... yeah, I have no idea, lol.
Oh no, multiple abilities with +1/+1 counters. I don't care how differently they play, I'm just going to dismiss them all because they use +1/+1 counters.
I've been noticing that too. Scavenge, Unleash, Evolve, Monstrosity, the hydras... plus individual cards like Scavenging Ooze and Archangel of Thune. Ooze I like the design for, but the others seem pretty uninspired mechanically. I think Monstrosity will play better than it looks on paper, but that by itself is indicative of the problem: adding counters to creatures just isn't that exciting, even if it plays well. It certainly isn't exciting enough to take up multiple mechanics in a set like the guild abilities did. It also doesn't help that among all the guild abilities that use +1/+1 counters, there are only like three playable cards—Varolz, Dreg Mangler, Exava—and none of them have seen very much, if any, competitive play.
EDIT: Forgot about Experiment One, which is playable. Not exactly the most mind-blowingly exciting card, though.
*Facepalm* Ever think that back to back sets have similar themes because they need to have some cohesiveness. Hydras, with the exception of a few, have always been +1/+1 or -1/-1 based creatures.
Varolz has seen a lot of Standard play and is starting to creep into Merlia Pod deck in modern. You also forgot Rakdos Cackler, Experiment One, Lotleth Troll, and Prime Speaker Zegana have all seen a decent chunk of high level Standard play. Gyre Sage has popped up a couple times too.
There is no "returning keyword" in Monstrosity; it's a new mechanic that is a one-shot ability that creates a condition of a card. Trick says not to assume that the new abilities are all simple, and that there's surprises to be seen.
That means that some of the other cards with the respective mechanics will do some things we might deem 'awesome'.
more awesome than which is found on a mythic? which are supposed to do awesome stuff.
Sigh. Set looks boring so far. Only 3 mechanics and the first 2 are already lackluster. Not that I blame them, it's probably difficult to come up with the 200th unique mechanic, but it still doesn't help matters. A set with few mechanics (like Core sets) are often very boring to draft.
I know I'm basing my judgment on a tiny number of cards, so hopefully things will get better.
Honestly, the individual cards matter far more than the mechanics themselves.
Innistrad had really boring mechanics, in terms of the execution, but the cards were awesome, so it worked out.
The last really interesting mechanics were in new phyrexia. And they were awesome as hell, but it's been a while now since we've had such interesting mechanics.
+1/+1 is the game's way of putting a reminder on a card modal creature.
when a creature behaves in two ways (unleashed, not unleashed; monstruos, not monstrous) they need a counter to keep track and avoid memory issues.
After DFC cards i would agree the very 'two cards in one' thing is getting old. I'm all for spell based mechanics again such as Arcane and Storm.
I'm all for spell-based mechanics that aren't Arcane and Storm, both of which are hideously bad mechanics.
Storm is so awful that it's the eponymous example from Maro's Storm scale of when a mechanic is (never) returning. I suspect this might just have something to do with the way Storm broke every older format it's playable in, from Vintage to Modern.
Extort was a great spell-based mechanic, one of my favorite mechanics in years. Overload was pretty bad because it was one-sided and rather brainless, and Cipher turned out to be rather underwhelming, though the design was easily broken so they were sensibly cautious with it.
The last really interesting mechanics were in new phyrexia. And they were awesome as hell, but it's been a while now since we've had such interesting mechanics.
Double faced cards are a mechanic and I think it's a pretty awesome one.
Also Phyrexian mana is a terrible mechanic... yet another free spell mechanic that broke a format (Mental Misstep in Legacy) while creating other stupidity- Gitaxian Probe is another dull Storm enabler; any deck can play Metamorph and clone anything; any deck can play Pod and tutor; no color requirements at all.
Also Phyrexian mana is a terrible mechanic... yet another free spell mechanic that broke a format (Mental Misstep in Legacy) while creating other stupidity- Gitaxian Probe is another dull Storm enabler; any deck can play Metamorph and clone anything; any deck can play Pod and tutor; no color requirements at all.
Phyrexian mana has the potential to not be so boneheaded. A mix of phyrexian and regular colored mana would work similar to monocolored hybrid mana, in allowing people to cast things cheaper if they can pay the price.
Also, multicolored cards where one of the colors was phyrexian mana could allow access to spells not strictly in your color, while preventing free-spell shenanigans.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My decks
Standard - RIP Cat
Modern - Death & Taxes
Commander - Mazirek, Trostani, Angry Omnath
Possible, but unlikely.
To me this looks like a direct take on the trials that Herakles (Hercules) constantly faced at the hands of Zeus. They've just given it one generic cover here with the card. That's my take any way.
But nothing says they follow the actual mythology strictly, and they certainly could put multiple heroes through trials/ordeals!
Not sure how Satyr Hedonist will fit, in pauper, but I love the name. Gruul doesn't see much play in Pauper, except in Eldrazi ramp, but that's what spawn tokens are for.
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
To me, a duel deck should have value, and have interesting cards. I honestly think these decks fail on both accounts. The value certainly isn't there, but worse, in my mind, is that these decks are littered with bad creatures from recent standard sets. Several times I looked up a card I hadn't heard of only to find a, say, Gatecrash vanilla creature. That's about the definition of boring card choice.
But whatever. I hope newer players are able to enjoy playing these decks. I can recognize that this set isn't for me and move on.
That Saytr seems like a thing. As does the new enchantment/artifact removal spell.
The boros Legend tho, I love it.
"There are no two words in the English language more harmful than 'good job'." -Terrance Fletcher, Whiplash (2014)
you realise that the returning keyword in the monstrousity abbility is "can only used once". which means that other creatures with this abbility could have a completly different effect.
so its just this hydra who gets counters and fights then.
and i think the hero abbility is pretty nice to be honest. its fits the flavour, because the "hero" is spreading his power and blessing to the rest of his troups. i like it.
and the monstrosity abbility, we will see what other creatures do. so really noone can say if the abbility is good or bad, since we dont know much about it.
The gameplay, i think, is better then Sorin vs. Tibalt. Monsters have a cute ramp/ritual theme that I enjoy and Heroes have some crazy silver bullets that requires timing. I like the vanilla guys as I enjoy playing with powered down cards (the variance is so much lower because there isn't swingy effects running around).
BGU Control
R Aggro
Standard - For Fun
BG Auras
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
There is no "returning keyword" in Monstrosity; it's a new mechanic that is a one-shot ability that creates a condition of a card. Trick says not to assume that the new abilities are all simple, and that there's surprises to be seen.
That means that some of the other cards with the respective mechanics will do some things we might deem 'awesome'.
Every Monstrosity ability adds counters. You can tell because the "add X counters" clause isn't in Polukranos' rules text, it's in the reminder text for Monstrosity.
Other creatures may have a variety of different abilities that trigger when they become monstrous, some may have no triggered ability at all, but adding some number of +1/+1 counters is part of the Monstrosity keyword.
Unlimited Regrowths are about $5 where Revised ones are only about $2 each. Despite the large amount of DDs that will be sold, never underestimate the power of the black border! You might as well ignore its rarity here since there's as many per DD as Polukranoses [say that five times fast]. The art is the same but all the black border Regrowths are over $50 each soooo... yeah, I have no idea, lol.
Commander:
R Daretti, Scrap Savant
BR Olivia Voldaren
BRG Shattergang Brothers
GUR Riku of Two Reflections
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain
*Facepalm* Ever think that back to back sets have similar themes because they need to have some cohesiveness. Hydras, with the exception of a few, have always been +1/+1 or -1/-1 based creatures.
Varolz has seen a lot of Standard play and is starting to creep into Merlia Pod deck in modern. You also forgot Rakdos Cackler, Experiment One, Lotleth Troll, and Prime Speaker Zegana have all seen a decent chunk of high level Standard play. Gyre Sage has popped up a couple times too.
Standard
W.I.P.
EDH
WNorn Tokens
when a creature behaves in two ways (unleashed, not unleashed; monstruos, not monstrous) they need a counter to keep track and avoid memory issues.
After DFC cards i would agree the very 'two cards in one' thing is getting old. I'm all for spell based mechanics again such as Arcane and Storm.
BGU Control
R Aggro
Standard - For Fun
BG Auras
more awesome than which is found on a mythic? which are supposed to do awesome stuff.
........................
I know I'm basing my judgment on a tiny number of cards, so hopefully things will get better.
Innistrad had really boring mechanics, in terms of the execution, but the cards were awesome, so it worked out.
The last really interesting mechanics were in new phyrexia. And they were awesome as hell, but it's been a while now since we've had such interesting mechanics.
I'm all for spell-based mechanics that aren't Arcane and Storm, both of which are hideously bad mechanics.
Storm is so awful that it's the eponymous example from Maro's Storm scale of when a mechanic is (never) returning. I suspect this might just have something to do with the way Storm broke every older format it's playable in, from Vintage to Modern.
Extort was a great spell-based mechanic, one of my favorite mechanics in years. Overload was pretty bad because it was one-sided and rather brainless, and Cipher turned out to be rather underwhelming, though the design was easily broken so they were sensibly cautious with it.
Double faced cards are a mechanic and I think it's a pretty awesome one.
Also Phyrexian mana is a terrible mechanic... yet another free spell mechanic that broke a format (Mental Misstep in Legacy) while creating other stupidity- Gitaxian Probe is another dull Storm enabler; any deck can play Metamorph and clone anything; any deck can play Pod and tutor; no color requirements at all.
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
Trades
Phyrexian mana has the potential to not be so boneheaded. A mix of phyrexian and regular colored mana would work similar to monocolored hybrid mana, in allowing people to cast things cheaper if they can pay the price.
Also, multicolored cards where one of the colors was phyrexian mana could allow access to spells not strictly in your color, while preventing free-spell shenanigans.
Standard - RIP Cat
Modern - Death & Taxes
Commander - Mazirek, Trostani, Angry Omnath
Boros dude seems insane in blitz, everything else is junk
Gotta say, I've never been a fan of the DD series, but this set and Sorin v Tibalt are starting to change my mind. Good stuff.
How To Keep Your FOIL Cards From Curling: http://youtu.be/QTmubrS8VnI
The Best Deck Boxes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEwgLph_Pjk
The Best Binders: http://youtu.be/H5IauASYWjk