I really do hope I'll be able to play spellheart chimera this standard. Its one of my favorite theros cards.
Also, I imagine we will end up with several cards with Prowess 2 and so on. Plus, depending on whether or not the other prowess cards have extra abilities, this is essentially the reworked ninjustu everyone has wanted. Instead of people questioning the block because of a potential ninja they are questioning because of a potential combat trick.
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EDH Decks
RFeldon of the Third PathR UBWrexial, the Risen DeepUB BGWDoran, the Siege TowerBGW (2/W)(2/U)(2/B)(2/R)(2/G)Reaper King(2/W)(2/U)(2/B)(2/R)(2/G)
Shoulda have +1/+1 equal to cmc of card cast. THAT coulda been interesting. Also I sincerely hate limited mechanics. If were saving complexity points by having this, they better make morph real good.
tri-lands Yay! My Slivers deck rejoices, as does my Ghave deck!
I do feel underwhelmed by prowess though. I mean Nivix Cyclops gets a full +3/+0 when you cast an instant or sorcery. It just seems underpowered but a +2/+2 would be overpowered...
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"If we don't know what we are doing, the enemy certainly can't anticipate our future actions!"
-Anonymous
While prowess does certainly reward you for casting multiple non-creature spells, I think the better way to take advantage of the mechanic is to control multiple creatures with prowess and then mass-pump them by casting one or two instants / non-creature spells. It's better to have two or three prowess creatures and cast a single Dictate of Heliod during combat than to have a singe prowess creature and casts two or three non-creature spells.
*Edit: grammar
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Modern: | C Affinity | RWG Burn |
EDH: | UBG Tasigur / Damia V-Wealth | WU Brago, Flicker and Value | WB Teysa's Orzhov Aristocrats | RG Omnath, Landfall of Rage | RC Daretti |
Pretty disappointed in this mechanic. Just seems like they weren't even trying to make something interesting. Definitely limited fodder. In before the BUG mechanic is mill!
I don't really understand Prowess from a flavor perspective. So I play an enchantment or some random equipment, and my monk goes crazy?
I do however, like the art. Reminds me of good old Kamigawa.
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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.
If we get a 1cmc creature with prowess modern will be very happy. The new mechanics so far have potential to actually be useful. CAn't wait to see if they will make either prowess or raid decent or not.
If we get a 1cmc creature with prowess modern will be very happy. The new mechanics so far have potential to actually be useful. CAn't wait to see if they will make either prowess or raid decent or not.
Raid has the potential to be better than prowess since they can pretty much put any ETB effect with raid. Prowess is just gonna be +1/1 counters no matter what it does. Maybe they will make a low cost 0/1 flyer with prowess 2 or something and print a million cantrips...
Would have liked prowess much better if it could trigger different abilities on each card, like Bataillon did. This way, Izzet already has cards that do this much better and it doesn't look a mechanic with high impact outside of limited. It's also extremely obvious and trivial, but that by itself doesn't mean it can't play well of course. There's certainly some combat trick fun to be had here, but it doesn't feel very exciting.
Prowess plays very nicely with Heroic, which I think is the goal. One instant speed combat trick can be two blowouts. Combined with Morph, this is going to lead to a lot of very interesting board states with lots of hidden information, potential for bluffing, and calculations to make. That is a very high skill cap type of magic.
If we get a 1cmc creature with prowess modern will be very happy. The new mechanics so far have potential to actually be useful. CAn't wait to see if they will make either prowess or raid decent or not.
Raid has the potential to be better than prowess since they can pretty much put any ETB effect with raid. Prowess is just gonna be +1/1 counters no matter what it does. Maybe they will make a low cost 0/1 flyer with prowess 2 or something and print a million cantrips...
It's possible that we'll get creatures with additional effects alongside +1/+1. For example:
2R
Prowess
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, you may have this creature fight target creature.
Very underwhelmed by this new keyword, it would have been much better as an ability word that could have different effects for different cards. A flat +1/+1 until end of turn is incredibly boring and not very inspirational at all. Just looks like heroic's younger brother.
I'm also very disappointed to see another creature mechanic. Prowess will only ever be printed on creatures. Granted it does care about non creature spells, but the last non creature mechanic was extort if I remember correctly, and the last non permanent ability was flashback. I really hope we see a non permanent ability in this set, especially for the Abzan Houses.
I like raid much better as it adds spell effects to your creatures for attacking with other creatures. It has much more design space than prowess, and actually gets me excited to play with the mechanic.
The only way I can see them making Prowess somewhat interesting is to add on additional effects to prowess creatures, like what they did for many of the monstrous creatures in Theros and Journey Into Nyx, where the cards would care when their ability was activated. Jeskai Elder would be more interesting if it drew you cards equal to its power when it dealt combat damage to a player, and you had to discard the same amount.
Anybody who is knocking prowess has never played limited before. Having a creature that says "every instant becomes a combat trick" is serious business. Just looking at the elder, with one trigger of prowess you can eat your opponents 2 Mana creatures, and with two triggers (unlikely but possible), you can trade or kill your opponents 3 or 4 cost creatures. Block mechanics aren't meant to shake up constructed, they're meant to convey a feel of the world and encourage interesting play, of which prowess does both. It's deceptively simple, there's power if you're willing to look.
Also for those knocking on Prowess you need to consider what makes this more flexible than Heroic. Heroic requires you to target your own creature to give it a benefit. While Prowess on the other hand just wants to know if you had casted a non-creature spell like Lightning Bolt.
Yet another mechanic on creatures that reawrds creatures for non creature spells. A built in lack of synergy. Someday creatureless will have its day, but not today i guess.
If we get a 1cmc creature with prowess modern will be very happy. The new mechanics so far have potential to actually be useful. CAn't wait to see if they will make either prowess or raid decent or not.
Raid has the potential to be better than prowess since they can pretty much put any ETB effect with raid. Prowess is just gonna be +1/1 counters no matter what it does. Maybe they will make a low cost 0/1 flyer with prowess 2 or something and print a million cantrips...
It's possible that we'll get creatures with additional effects alongside +1/+1. For example:
2R
Prowess
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, you may have this creature fight target creature.
2/2
No, actually, we can't. The reason is that Prowess, unlike Raid and Battalion, is a keyword, not an ability word. As such, everything after the Prowess keyword is just reminder text.
So no, Prowess is, exactly, +1/+1 until EOT whenever you play a noncreature spell. No ifs, ands, or buts.
So, really, the only thing you can do with Prowess creatures (besides the obvious) is give them power- or toughness-dependent abilities. As an example of the former:
Jeskai Pyro 1R
0/3
Prowess
T: Jeskai Pyro deals its power in damage to target creature or player.
That's about it. They can also give you cheap/free spells (and it would be awesome to have a mana producer with prowess--in those colors, not very likely).
Yet another mechanic on creatures that reawrds creatures for non creature spells. A built in lack of synergy. Someday creatureless will have its day, but not today i guess.
It will never have its day because the mechanics are primarily made for limited play, and you cannot go creature less in limited unless you want to lose.
Better learn to live with it, the game is better this way.
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“A man's at odds to know his mind cause his mind is aught he has to know it with. He can know his heart, but he dont want to. Rightly so. Best not to look in there. It aint the heart of a creature that is bound in the way that God has set for it. You can find meanness in the least of creatures, but when God made man the devil was at his elbow. A creature that can do anything. Make a machine. And a machine to make the machine. And evil that can run itself a thousand years, no need to tend it.”
― Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West
No, actually, we can't. The reason is that Prowess, unlike Raid and Battalion, is a keyword, not an ability word. As such, everything after the Prowess keyword is just reminder text.
So no, Prowess is, exactly, +1/+1 until EOT whenever you play a noncreature spell. No ifs, ands, or buts.
You certainly can do more with it. After all, Exalted was also a keyword and we still got Rafiq of the Many. Though I think Exalted was much more interesting even with only the keyword because it encouraged a new and different playstyle. Putting both creatures and noncreatures into your deck really isn't anything new.
Actually creatureless already had its day, and it was not the best of days either. They're not going to bebreprinting Necropotence or Storm cards anytime soon so it looks like we're going to have to use creatures untill then. Oh wait, we don't, because you can still play do nothing control and win a pro tour. What I'm trying to say here is that printing creatures with interactive mechanics is not a bad thing, and that a creature less metagame is not something that should be sought after.
This is not an exciting mechanic and it does not portray trickery. We were told at the comicon that Jeskai was about trickery. I feel lied to.
A mechanic that turns any noncreature card in your hand into a combat trick, in the colors that most commonly have flash, doesn't feel tricky to you? And you feel lied to based on your individual expectations? Really?
Also, I imagine we will end up with several cards with Prowess 2 and so on. Plus, depending on whether or not the other prowess cards have extra abilities, this is essentially the reworked ninjustu everyone has wanted. Instead of people questioning the block because of a potential ninja they are questioning because of a potential combat trick.
RFeldon of the Third PathR
UBWrexial, the Risen DeepUB
BGWDoran, the Siege TowerBGW
(2/W)(2/U)(2/B)(2/R)(2/G)Reaper King(2/W)(2/U)(2/B)(2/R)(2/G)
I do feel underwhelmed by prowess though. I mean Nivix Cyclops gets a full +3/+0 when you cast an instant or sorcery. It just seems underpowered but a +2/+2 would be overpowered...
-Anonymous
*Edit: grammar
| C Affinity | RWG Burn |
EDH:
| UBG Tasigur / Damia V-Wealth | WU Brago, Flicker and Value | WB Teysa's Orzhov Aristocrats | RG Omnath, Landfall of Rage | RC Daretti |
I do however, like the art. Reminds me of good old Kamigawa.
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.
Repeal was printed in Guildpact. The new art is nice, though.
| C Affinity | RWG Burn |
EDH:
| UBG Tasigur / Damia V-Wealth | WU Brago, Flicker and Value | WB Teysa's Orzhov Aristocrats | RG Omnath, Landfall of Rage | RC Daretti |
Cheeri0sXWU
Reid Duke's Level One
Who's the Beatdown
Alt+0198=Æ
Raid has the potential to be better than prowess since they can pretty much put any ETB effect with raid. Prowess is just gonna be +1/1 counters no matter what it does. Maybe they will make a low cost 0/1 flyer with prowess 2 or something and print a million cantrips...
It's possible that we'll get creatures with additional effects alongside +1/+1. For example:
2R
Prowess
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, you may have this creature fight target creature.
2/2
I'm also very disappointed to see another creature mechanic. Prowess will only ever be printed on creatures. Granted it does care about non creature spells, but the last non creature mechanic was extort if I remember correctly, and the last non permanent ability was flashback. I really hope we see a non permanent ability in this set, especially for the Abzan Houses.
I like raid much better as it adds spell effects to your creatures for attacking with other creatures. It has much more design space than prowess, and actually gets me excited to play with the mechanic.
The only way I can see them making Prowess somewhat interesting is to add on additional effects to prowess creatures, like what they did for many of the monstrous creatures in Theros and Journey Into Nyx, where the cards would care when their ability was activated. Jeskai Elder would be more interesting if it drew you cards equal to its power when it dealt combat damage to a player, and you had to discard the same amount.
EDH:
Niv-Mizzet
Legacy:
The Rack
Modern
Venser, the Sojourner Control
No, actually, we can't. The reason is that Prowess, unlike Raid and Battalion, is a keyword, not an ability word. As such, everything after the Prowess keyword is just reminder text.
So no, Prowess is, exactly, +1/+1 until EOT whenever you play a noncreature spell. No ifs, ands, or buts.
So, really, the only thing you can do with Prowess creatures (besides the obvious) is give them power- or toughness-dependent abilities. As an example of the former:
Jeskai Pyro
1R
0/3
Prowess
T: Jeskai Pyro deals its power in damage to target creature or player.
That's about it. They can also give you cheap/free spells (and it would be awesome to have a mana producer with prowess--in those colors, not very likely).
I dunno. I fail to see 'tricky' from this.
It will never have its day because the mechanics are primarily made for limited play, and you cannot go creature less in limited unless you want to lose.
Better learn to live with it, the game is better this way.
― Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West
You certainly can do more with it. After all, Exalted was also a keyword and we still got Rafiq of the Many. Though I think Exalted was much more interesting even with only the keyword because it encouraged a new and different playstyle. Putting both creatures and noncreatures into your deck really isn't anything new.
EDH:
Niv-Mizzet
Legacy:
The Rack
Modern
Venser, the Sojourner Control
A mechanic that turns any noncreature card in your hand into a combat trick, in the colors that most commonly have flash, doesn't feel tricky to you? And you feel lied to based on your individual expectations? Really?
Yes, another list of decks sig.
R Daretti, Scrap Savant
WBR Zurgo Helmsmasher Equipment
BBB Erebos, God of the Dead Goodstuff
UBG The Mimeoplasm
URG All Creatures Animar, Soul of Elements
WB Teysa, Orzhov Scion sac and combo
WUB Sydri, Galvanic Genius
WUG Rafiq of the Many Aggro-Control
UBR Nekusar, The Mindrazer
WRG Mayael, the Anima
Casual:
BB Ad Nauseam Combo
BB Burn