Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
I'd say this is the best set of the block, but that's not saying much. This block hasn't really had much that's seen play outside of Standard as of yet(not including EDH/tabletop)., and I don't see this set really changing that. Mana Confluence is the only thing I can see that will definitely be played outside of Standard I recently went through the top 300 cards in Modern and counted up how many times a card from each block appears. I realize Modern does not represent all of Magic (or even much for that matter), but I think the results are a good indication of the power level of the block, not to mention interesting for their own sake (at least I think so ). FYI...Cards that have been reprinted multiple times within the Modern timeframe are credited to their block of origin only (ie. Shocklands count towards Ravnica but not RTR block), older cards that were reprinted during the Modern timeframe count towards the 1st Modern block they appeared in (ie. Terminate counts towards Shards). The results are from MTG Top8.com. Here's the top 300 with top 100 appearances in parentheses:
Top 300 (Top 100)
Core Set: 31 (10)
Mirrodin: 23 (9)
Kamigawa: 8 (3)
Ravnica: 27 (17)
Time Spiral: 26 (5)
Lorwyn: 28 (10)
Shards: 17 (6)
Zendikar: 29 (11)
Scars: 28 (16)
Innistrad: 19 (8)
RTR: 15 (3)
Theros: 8 (2)
I realize the last set of the block isn't even out yet, and cards from Theros may become more powerful years from now when the meta has changed, but so far it has numbers comparable to Kamigawa as far as Modern is concerned, and that's not even taking into consideration the fact that the most powerful cards in Kamigawa are all banned in Modern. I'm not trying to complain here, the block was fun and all, I'm just trying to look at it from a competitive power level perspective.
What I'm getting from this data is that clearly core sets are awesome and WotC should print more core sets.
As usual, I find myself really liking a set at first when Wizards is spoiling all of the good stuff up-front, but then when they dump the other half of the set on us and it's all limited fodder and overcosted junk and see that most of the value is concentrated in a hand full of mythics, I start feeling iffy about the set again.
This set (and block in general) bothers me a lot because it seems like there are so many redundant cards. How many "make *a number of, probably 2* X/X token" cards do we need in one block? In one SET? Why do we have so many cards getting completely outclassed by a better version of the same card in the same block? I really wish we could have gotten some interesting, good enchantments instead of a thousand "when ~ or another enchantment ETB, do something generic for limited or something involving +1/+1 counters".
I think I genuinely hate the Heroic mechanic at this point. So much of it is just combat tricks. Inspired feels really combat based, too. A majority of these cards are still tuned towards dumping heavy amounts of resources into a single creature, that makes you cry if it gets a doom blade. And with the low set power level, at that.
Theros is a nice block, and it'll be fun to standard play for another year. I sincerely hope it isn't another year of 70% Aggro meta.
70% aggro meta? Did I miss something? Haven't the last several tournament winning decks been Monoblack Devotion (which plays like either a control or aggro deck depending on how you pilot) and Esper control? Six of the last top 8 decks weren't aggro at all. Are you just speaking about your area or the metagame at large?
Either way, I'm personally looking forward to this set. But I don't get to play magic as often as some people on this board so I'm always excited when a new set comes out. Especially as a casual Johnny, that Thassa's Ire has my combo senses tingling.
The problem with defining this format by what is "fun" is that everyone seems to define fun as what they don't lose to. If you keep losing to easily answered cards, that means you should improve your deck. If you don't want to improve your deck, then you should come to peace with the idea that you are going to lose because you chose to not interact with better strategies.
Man, this set is underwhelming. But now we can look forward to Conspiracy spoilers.
Yeah, worst set since Kamigawa, etc., etc., etc.
Some of you guys are real jokers
As for the whole set...gamewise it feels better than BNG. On the other hand, I find that from the three sets of Theros block, this one has the lowest amount of illustrations I really like.
Only two cards substantially address the story of the block itself. Revel for the Fallen God and Deicide. Hoped for more.
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100% Vorthos Spike and Storyline Expert
Former Fact Prospector of the Greek Alliance.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Some amazing flavor text:
"When mortals claim there are places Thassa cannot reach, the sea god laughs. "
" The sailor had never seen a god before. Now she had gazed upon Thassa. Shortly she would see Athreos, and then she would meet Erebos. "
Also no legendary minotaur makes me incredibly sad.
Seriously... Triton Shorestalker.
Am I missing something, or is this not the perfect one-drop for Merfolk (and MUD)?
It's one of the most pushed Commons I've seen in a while- Flying Men are spinning in their grave.
In a deck full of Islandwalk lords, Spreading Seas, and Merrow Reejury, unblockability seems unnecessary.
Look at that... decency still exists!
Thanks for actually explaining the lack of interest.
It still seems like a great 1-drop, for Standard if nothing else
(especially if Deicide makes Thassa a liability).
In other news, I totally agree with you re: LSV.
If there's any "splashy" reprint in this set, it's Reprisal.
Well, the triton does literally nothing (except hit for 1, for which you already have Judge's Familiar... at least that guy can slow down opponents) and Merfolk already has all of their creatures unblockable due to Lords and Spreading Seas.
Modern: UUUBlue Man Group
Legacy: UWBMiracles
Edh: UUUThassa Control WWWHokori Stax GGGJolrael, Empress of Land Stompy BBBGriselbrand French List RBGShattergang(Super Villians) RWGHazezon Flicker UBRMarchesa Aggro URGMaelstom Wanderer (Maelstorm)
Wizards did it again: playable Modern cards: aproximately 0.
Pstttt. You can't say anything not good about Magic on these forums. They'll use their imaginary downvotes to silence you because that's all the internet works these days. Someone's gonna hit you on the head saying Gray Merchant is modern playable.
T1 Grave Crawler
T2 Nether Traiter, swing for 3 (your opponent doesn't attack, counter, combo out or remove permanents this turn)
T3 Geralf's Messenger. lose 2, swing for 3 (your opponent doesn't attack, counter, combo out or remove permanents this turn)
T4 Phyrexian Obliterator, swing for 6 (your opponent kills geralf's messenger, they lose two life)
T5 Gray Merchant, 10 life drain, swing for lethal (your opponent doesn't attack, counter, combo out or remove permanents this turn)
like why does that cockatrice have deathtouch and monsterous? If you make it a 6/6, the deathtouch is irrelevant. If you are just flashing in a blocker for something, then the monsterous is even more irrelevant. Do they put any thought into these creatures at all?
It's not about using both at the same time. It's about the flexibility of having both. Look at Razor Swine. People thought "oooh infect and first strike is so awesome together!". They're horribly incorrect in regards to a 2/1 with both, as the infect+first strike are only ever actually used together on a creature with 1 or 2 power and 3 or more toughness (a handful of relevant creatures) or against large first strikers (not much of a thing). Anything with less than 3 toughness just treats it as a first striker. Anything with 3+ toughness and 3+ power just treats it as an infect creature. The creature was still good even though the abilities didn't actually do much of anything together on its body, entirely because it's good against everything first strike is good against AND good against everything a small infect creature is good against.
The Cockatrice can be used to surprise kill a big threat or it can become a big threat. Deathtouch on a 6/6 does matter sometimes, too. There are bigger creatures than that in this format.
It seems to be really sweet in certain situations. It will be a limited killer that's for sure.
It seems pretty bad to me. On turn 3 or 4, you're likely sacrificing a creature to make them discard 2 or 3 cards, which is generally just the same net effect as a Mind Rot. By the time you have big enough creatures to do more damage, they probably don't have more than 2-3 cards anyway. A card that's almost always going to be a Mind Rot at best and regularly worse (you have no creatures you're willing to sacrifice - or any at all - when they have 2-3 cards left) isn't something I want to play.
I think the only card I like is the 5 color land and the hatebears are not bad either. They already exist in one way or another in Modern but they could see some play in the SB's, the best being the red walking pillar since that ability didn't exist in Modern.
Cards are sacrificed to the Limited Gods every set. I should be used to this by now but damn, it still disappoints me, a person who doesn't care for Limited.
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"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."
- H. L. Mencken
Wizards did it again: playable Modern cards: aproximately 0.
Pstttt. You can't say anything not good about Magic on these forums. They'll use their imaginary downvotes to silence you because that's all the internet works these days. Someone's gonna hit you on the head saying Gray Merchant is modern playable.
T1 Grave Crawler
T2 Nether Traiter, swing for 3 (your opponent doesn't attack, counter, combo out or remove permanents this turn)
T3 Geralf's Messenger. lose 2, swing for 3 (your opponent doesn't attack, counter, combo out or remove permanents this turn)
T4 Phyrexian Obliterator, swing for 6 (your opponent kills geralf's messenger, they lose two life)
T5 Gray Merchant, 10 life drain, swing for lethal (your opponent doesn't attack, counter, combo out or remove permanents this turn)
Overall, an interesting set although I feel they went a little overboard with all the enchantment matters/hate.
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Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.
Hopefully the Fall set is more interesting, kinda bored to play with flavorful cards that are so weak. Also, no good counterspell and, like as been said, almost nothing for other formats than Limited and Standard.
Oh, and does every set have to contain new additions to the Modern format?
Every set has expensive, splashy cards that were clearly designed with EDH in mind, would it be so terrible to throw Modern a few bones? I understand there are power level concerns, but spoiler time can be pretty boring for those of us who don't play standard.
There's a ton of potentially interesting Modern cards in this set. Most of them won't slot directly into a currently existing deck, but if they did that would be incredibly boring. Maybe none of them will pan out, but I know there will definitely be some interesting brewing going on for the next few months.
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*Insert giant block of annoying garbage that no one cares about but you have to scroll past anyway here*
Look at that... decency still exists!
Thanks for actually explaining the lack of interest.
It still seems like a great 1-drop, for Standard if nothing else
(especially if Deicide makes Thassa a liability).
In other news, I totally agree with you re: LSV.
If there's any "splashy" reprint in this set, it's Reprisal.
Reprint Stasis!
Control needs more love.
EDH:
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm
WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW
WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
What I'm getting from this data is that clearly core sets are awesome and WotC should print more core sets.
Another problem is they already have two amazing 1-drops (Aether Vial and Cursecatcher).
As usual, I find myself really liking a set at first when Wizards is spoiling all of the good stuff up-front, but then when they dump the other half of the set on us and it's all limited fodder and overcosted junk and see that most of the value is concentrated in a hand full of mythics, I start feeling iffy about the set again.
This set (and block in general) bothers me a lot because it seems like there are so many redundant cards. How many "make *a number of, probably 2* X/X token" cards do we need in one block? In one SET? Why do we have so many cards getting completely outclassed by a better version of the same card in the same block? I really wish we could have gotten some interesting, good enchantments instead of a thousand "when ~ or another enchantment ETB, do something generic for limited or something involving +1/+1 counters".
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(Signature courtesy of Argetlam of Hakai Studios
Theros is a nice block, and it'll be fun to standard play for another year. I sincerely hope it isn't another year of 70% Aggro meta.
Either way, I'm personally looking forward to this set. But I don't get to play magic as often as some people on this board so I'm always excited when a new set comes out. Especially as a casual Johnny, that Thassa's Ire has my combo senses tingling.
You can check out my artwork here and here
Yeah, worst set since Kamigawa, etc., etc., etc.
Some of you guys are real jokers
As for the whole set...gamewise it feels better than BNG. On the other hand, I find that from the three sets of Theros block, this one has the lowest amount of illustrations I really like.
Only two cards substantially address the story of the block itself. Revel for the Fallen God and Deicide. Hoped for more.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
"When mortals claim there are places Thassa cannot reach, the sea god laughs. "
" The sailor had never seen a god before. Now she had gazed upon Thassa. Shortly she would see Athreos, and then she would meet Erebos. "
Also no legendary minotaur makes me incredibly sad.
Well, the triton does literally nothing (except hit for 1, for which you already have Judge's Familiar... at least that guy can slow down opponents) and Merfolk already has all of their creatures unblockable due to Lords and Spreading Seas.
Draft it Here!
UUUBlue Man Group
Legacy:
UWBMiracles
Edh:
UUUThassa Control
WWWHokori Stax
GGGJolrael, Empress of Land Stompy
BBBGriselbrand French List
RBGShattergang(Super Villians)
RWGHazezon Flicker
UBRMarchesa Aggro
URGMaelstom Wanderer (Maelstorm)
One power one drops that can't be blocked with no other abilities aren't good, regardless of creature type.
Pstttt. You can't say anything not good about Magic on these forums. They'll use their imaginary downvotes to silence you because that's all the internet works these days. Someone's gonna hit you on the head saying Gray Merchant is modern playable.
T1 Grave Crawler
T2 Nether Traiter, swing for 3 (your opponent doesn't attack, counter, combo out or remove permanents this turn)
T3 Geralf's Messenger. lose 2, swing for 3 (your opponent doesn't attack, counter, combo out or remove permanents this turn)
T4 Phyrexian Obliterator, swing for 6 (your opponent kills geralf's messenger, they lose two life)
T5 Gray Merchant, 10 life drain, swing for lethal (your opponent doesn't attack, counter, combo out or remove permanents this turn)
It's not about using both at the same time. It's about the flexibility of having both. Look at Razor Swine. People thought "oooh infect and first strike is so awesome together!". They're horribly incorrect in regards to a 2/1 with both, as the infect+first strike are only ever actually used together on a creature with 1 or 2 power and 3 or more toughness (a handful of relevant creatures) or against large first strikers (not much of a thing). Anything with less than 3 toughness just treats it as a first striker. Anything with 3+ toughness and 3+ power just treats it as an infect creature. The creature was still good even though the abilities didn't actually do much of anything together on its body, entirely because it's good against everything first strike is good against AND good against everything a small infect creature is good against.
The Cockatrice can be used to surprise kill a big threat or it can become a big threat. Deathtouch on a 6/6 does matter sometimes, too. There are bigger creatures than that in this format.
It seems pretty bad to me. On turn 3 or 4, you're likely sacrificing a creature to make them discard 2 or 3 cards, which is generally just the same net effect as a Mind Rot. By the time you have big enough creatures to do more damage, they probably don't have more than 2-3 cards anyway. A card that's almost always going to be a Mind Rot at best and regularly worse (you have no creatures you're willing to sacrifice - or any at all - when they have 2-3 cards left) isn't something I want to play.
- H. L. Mencken
French Duel Commander
WBR Kaalia of the Vast WBR
RUG Maelstrom Wanderer RUG
lol´d hard
thank you good sir.
I love Pharika's Chosen. With Sedge Scorpion, Typhoid Rats and even Toxic Iguanar, I can now have 16 creatures that are 1/1 for 1 but can kill anything.
Overall, an interesting set although I feel they went a little overboard with all the enchantment matters/hate.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.
Hopefully the Fall set is more interesting, kinda bored to play with flavorful cards that are so weak. Also, no good counterspell and, like as been said, almost nothing for other formats than Limited and Standard.
Every set has expensive, splashy cards that were clearly designed with EDH in mind, would it be so terrible to throw Modern a few bones? I understand there are power level concerns, but spoiler time can be pretty boring for those of us who don't play standard.
It also took me a while to see anything other than an ass (with a thong, not naked).
'Twas a mighty fart!