Black: Foul-Tongue Invocation - I don't think we have instant speed sacing in this format? This card will be fine and moreso in dragonish control decks. Foul Renewal - Def. has potential in some dredge deck especially with Gurmag Angler killing near everything. Foul-Tongue Shriek - A huge finisher for Bx Aggro swarm, etc. Corpseweft - Card could be fair but I worry about having to play enough creatures and it costing 3 mana initially. Vulturous Aven - Another decent Exploit and probably one of the best. Sibsig Icebreakers - Maybe reanimator is a thing? lol Minister of Pain - Potentially fringe as a 1/1 wipe and (bigger) body seems fine. Blood-Chin Rager - Obviously strong card for Warriors but not getting its effect the turn it comes it hurts its strength so potentially not as strong as is hoped. Rakshasa Gravecaller - Definitely holds potential from sacing useless creatures to making 2 that can attack somewhat successfully while still being able to block.
Blue: Contradict - 5 mana is a lot but is only 1 more then Dismiss. On the other hand you need to be on the play to counter Seige Rhino. Might be a decent 1 or 2 of. Silumgar Sorcerer - Card seems fairly strong. Can't be countered by Negate and potentially provides a body. (dunno how Exploit decks go go yet) Sidisi's Faithful - Faithful could be a huge tempo card but Exploit is still a problem that can only be addressed by Wayfinder atm. (until I find something else) Gurmag Drowner - I put this card here because it sends the cards to the grave which seems potentially decent. Overall I think this card is fairly bad. Skywise Teachings - 2/2 fliers for free are nothing to scoff at but this does cost 4 so it is probably unplayable. Profaner of the Dead - 1 sided board wipe could be potentially HUGE but another card I am kind of doubting. (sacing a Faithful can bounce courser) On the other hand I am perfectly fine with sacing this card itself here.
Red: Berserker's Onslaught - Might be a fair topend card but I don't think it will be played. Volcanic Vision - Might be a cool 1-of in a Rxx control deck as a lategame board wipe that gets back Dig. Twin Bolt - Another first for modern since Fire is not legal there. (and I mean at6 2 mana mono color instant) Not sure if this will see play in either format but is definitely a strong card. Impact Tremors - Purphoros + this + Tokens = ?
Green: Inspiring Call - If a 1/1 creature deck is a thing this card would be pretty cool. Circle of Elders - Potential is strong but 8 P is a lot to get this off. Probably not worth. Obscuring Aether - Card would definitely help a morph-based deck but is also pretty decent card by itself. Servant of the Scale - If 1/1 counter deck were ever a thing it would probably start with this card. Sheltered Aerie - 2 mana for 3 could be decent in a control deck or even a ramp deck with Voyaging Satyr. Explosive Vegetation - Might be another cool ramp card for control. Obviously the stronger card but Aerie can be played on turn 4 while holding up Dissolve.
White: Great Teacher's Decree - Seems feasible as a curve topped for some white aggro deck as a 1 or 2 of. Dragon Hunter - Another 2 P 1 cmc warrior for WB warriors. Secure the Wastes - One of the last strongest cards in the set. I am not sure how to play this yet but I'm going to try. lol Center Soul - Besides the 2/2 Rebound this one has the most potential to see any play. Protect a guy then give them unblockable the next turn. Graceblade Artisan - Probably too high cmc but could be possibly feasible after rotation.
The power level of rebound seems abysmal compared to last time.
I feel like revisiting a mechanic should further explore its design space and power, but in this case, we just got gimped versions of decent cards that we've seen before. I feel like they have never handled a returning mechanic so poorly...
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My favorite flavor text: Time of Heroes
Feel free to tell me yours!
Yea, poor value overall this set. 3rd set syndrome? Looks like it.
Which is pretty tough to excuse when the block is built around this unique structure; this set should have been the payoff. I don't want to be too down on the set until I get a chance to play with the cards, but it was certainly an underwhelming spoiler season.
Going through the spoiler, here are my initial brief thoughts on some of the cards we haven't seen yet:
Dragon's Eye Sentry is an interesting blocker. There are times when white control decks need cards like this to survive the early turns against mono red- Yoked Ox has seen board play, and this one at least has a point of power to punish all the x/1s the super aggro decks are likely to have right now.
Secure the WastesShould find a home right away in all sorts of token strategies.
Profaner of the Dead looks interesting. Unless things like Pacifism and Encase in Ice are very common, sacrificing your big creatures to evacuate your opponent's side of the board won't be worth it very often. Prolly worth exploring in small numbers though, against some decks the tempo loss will be insurmountable.
Silumgar Sorcerer- I like this set's Cancel variant, or would if it wasn't Remove Soul instead~ Still, might be a useful tempo card, especially if mono blue devotion running 1/1s for 1 becomes a thing.
String of also ran black removal spells is diasppointing- Defeatis close to playable, no reason it couldn't have been an instant. Foul Renewal could have been a hella awesome wrath or zombify variant, but instead is a 4 mana situational removal spell with a Raise Dead attached (they really like that effect this set).
Tormenting Voice um, sure, why not reprint it in the same block?
Conifer Strider- Big Badda Tree wants an Aqueous Form soooo bad. Don't actually see it as a card in standard, just that's what jumped out at me about this.
Naturalize- again with the same block reprint: / I suppose they are ramping up for the 2 set block paradigm.
Obscuring Aether People have been looking for this. Time to go back and reevaluate some morph cards. I feel like it needed to reduce the flip up costs as well to be a competitive card, but expect this card at your local FNM at the very least. I do like that you can attack with it if the need arises.
Both exploit and rebound seem totally superfluous in the set as is.
It would appear that everything went into the Dragons and everything else is practically filler.
"Hey, dragons are formidable! They can be bolstered! Some can dash! Exploit? Nah, who wants to sacrifice their dragon? And they can't rebound - that sucks."
You know, you may be onto something...
Servant of the Scale AKA Jon SNow look really solid for a 1 drop
It's a slightly improved Spike Drone, and the outlast lords are gone from draft which reduces the value of a Spike Drone effect.
I love some of those spoilers, a 2/1 flash flying that can counter a creature
It's eye-catching as one of the best cards we hadn't seen, but with exploit in blue and flash an obvious synergy, it's more than a little underwhelming that the only flash/exploit card we get has an effect that you can't use in response to removal in any meaningful way.
I don't even know where to begin with Blessed Reincarnation. I kept reading it to see if there is some other clause that would benefit you but there isn't. At least with Polymorph you can kill your own stuff to find something better. Reality Shift craps all over this card because you have a better chance of them whiffing into a noncreature or at least denying them an ETB from a creature.
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To the people that say that a card needs to be a higher rarity because of Limited... I hate you guys so much. I present to you with this.
Don't get me wrong, I think this set could be good to draft. But there're excellent sets that gave great value as well. That's why I said overall value. I think this is a swing and mis-hit.
The good thing is that this draft format might make Avacyn Restored cry so hard. I believe it's very very difficult to go wrong with morph.
On a second note, I think we may have found our precursor to BfZ... Beasts. I see tons of them in this set. And Zen has tons of Baloths. I expect some beast-matter shenanigans. The difficult part is accepting a sudden influx of strange-looking/naming beasts that weren't rampant in KtK and FrF. And I hate Wizards for that.
I think this will be a good limited format. (This set has better average quality than FR for sure, pretty close to Khans) and since I only play limited that should be alright. I have to say I am disappointed by the lack of constructed playables though.
And I really want to hear MaRo explain why they broke their rule "Ten duals in a block".
You can grab each basic twice... 5 fetches times 2 basics each = 10.
I don't see Fetchlands as duals though since they don't produce mana. And they did give us sets of 10 for stuff that taps for 2.
Where's the people who said fetches were dead set in DtK?
Where's Taigam?!!?!
Actually, Doug Beyer informed us yesterday or on Wednesday that there is no Taigam legendary card.
And I really want to hear MaRo explain why they broke their rule "Ten duals in a block".
But as with the Elder Dragons, one word is the answer. Marketing. Nothing more. We have to deal with that in the future.
I can't find MaRo's original statement, but the catch to his phrase is probably: Fetchlands aren't duals! That is exactly what I mean by saying he twists his word as much as possible so that they are barely true and extremely misleading.
Seriously disappointing. I mean they're so happy doing cycles and cycles of cards like the commands, elders, multicolor dragons, megamorphers, but they had to forget the humanoid leaders.
One could argue that we got Narset but Narset isn't monoblue, isn't a legendary creature. It's akin to werewolf fans not having their legendary werewolf in INN block. If there's any justification, it's an excuse at best.
Where's the people who said fetches were dead set in DtK?
Where's Taigam?!!?!
Actually, Doug Beyer informed us yesterday or on Wednesday that there is no Taigam legendary card.
And I really want to hear MaRo explain why they broke their rule "Ten duals in a block".
It's simple. Fetches aren't duals, and as is, there are a good number of mana bases that aren't running 4 copies of the relevant fetch. I am actually rather surprised at all the people who expected them to print the full cycle. Fetches are low hanging fruit for them to sell packs down the line, blowing their fetch wad in one block was never likely. Once they announced BFZ was the first time I was convinced that we would see them this year as Aaron Forsythe alluded to. I kinda hope they don't print them though, just so I can hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth that would accompany a Zendikar w/o fetches. Would be pretty simple to explain too- the Eldrazi have so sapped the magic of the land that fetches and man lands just aren't feasible there... I mean the roil was what was storymechanic responsible for the fetches, and the roil was caused by the fight between the Eldrazi and their prison, so now that they are out, fetches don't even make sense right? No, they didn't make any more sense on Tarkir either, but getting the ally color versions into modern did.
Seriously disappointing. I mean they're so happy doing cycles and cycles of cards like the commands, elders, multicolor dragons, megamorphers, but they had to forget the humanoid leaders.
One could argue that we got Narset but Narset isn't monoblue, isn't a legendary creature. It's akin to werewolf fans not having their legendary werewolf in INN block. If there's any justification, it's an excuse at best.
Taigam felt like he deserves a card.
For real! He has two card's with his name on it and what appears to be what he looks like in different timelines. At least Urza got a bootleg version of himself in Blind Seer. Granted they did the same thing to Geral and Gisa from INN but eventually they got their own cards. However I don't think Taigam is interesting enough outside of this block to have his own card as a separate product. Geralf/Gisa had quite a fan following for them wanting to be cards. Given the the rather weak finish in the lore for Dragons, seeing Taigam as a card seems like it won't happen.
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To the people that say that a card needs to be a higher rarity because of Limited... I hate you guys so much. I present to you with this.
Also, I think Pacifism is an incredibly stupid reprint (in limited) with Exploit being a key word. I know it's keeping with the enchantment sub theme, but it seems so awkard when playing against blue or black decks.
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Yea, poor value overall this set. 3rd set syndrome? Looks like it.
UR Melek, Izzet ParagonUR, B Shirei, Shizo's CaretakerB, R Jaya Ballard, Task MageR,RW Tajic, Blade of the LegionRW, UB Lazav, Dimir MastermindUB, UB Circu, Dimir LobotomistUB, RWU Zedruu the GreatheartedRWU, GUBThe MimeoplasmGUB, UGExperiment Kraj UG, WDarien, King of KjeldorW, BMarrow-GnawerB, WBGKarador, Ghost ChieftainWBG, UTeferi, Temporal ArchmageU, GWUDerevi, Empyrial TacticianGWU, RDaretti, Scrap SavantR, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GEzuri, Renegade LeaderG, WUBRGReaper KingWUBRG, RGXenagos, God of RevelsRG, CKozilek, Butcher of TruthC, WUBRGGeneral TazriWUBRG, GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
Black:
Foul-Tongue Invocation - I don't think we have instant speed sacing in this format? This card will be fine and moreso in dragonish control decks.
Foul Renewal - Def. has potential in some dredge deck especially with Gurmag Angler killing near everything.
Foul-Tongue Shriek - A huge finisher for Bx Aggro swarm, etc.
Corpseweft - Card could be fair but I worry about having to play enough creatures and it costing 3 mana initially.
Vulturous Aven - Another decent Exploit and probably one of the best.
Sibsig Icebreakers - Maybe reanimator is a thing? lol
Minister of Pain - Potentially fringe as a 1/1 wipe and (bigger) body seems fine.
Blood-Chin Rager - Obviously strong card for Warriors but not getting its effect the turn it comes it hurts its strength so potentially not as strong as is hoped.
Rakshasa Gravecaller - Definitely holds potential from sacing useless creatures to making 2 that can attack somewhat successfully while still being able to block.
Blue:
Contradict - 5 mana is a lot but is only 1 more then Dismiss. On the other hand you need to be on the play to counter Seige Rhino. Might be a decent 1 or 2 of.
Silumgar Sorcerer - Card seems fairly strong. Can't be countered by Negate and potentially provides a body. (dunno how Exploit decks go go yet)
Sidisi's Faithful - Faithful could be a huge tempo card but Exploit is still a problem that can only be addressed by Wayfinder atm. (until I find something else)
Gurmag Drowner - I put this card here because it sends the cards to the grave which seems potentially decent. Overall I think this card is fairly bad.
Skywise Teachings - 2/2 fliers for free are nothing to scoff at but this does cost 4 so it is probably unplayable.
Profaner of the Dead - 1 sided board wipe could be potentially HUGE but another card I am kind of doubting. (sacing a Faithful can bounce courser) On the other hand I am perfectly fine with sacing this card itself here.
Red:
Berserker's Onslaught - Might be a fair topend card but I don't think it will be played.
Volcanic Vision - Might be a cool 1-of in a Rxx control deck as a lategame board wipe that gets back Dig.
Twin Bolt - Another first for modern since Fire is not legal there. (and I mean at6 2 mana mono color instant) Not sure if this will see play in either format but is definitely a strong card.
Impact Tremors - Purphoros + this + Tokens = ?
Green:
Inspiring Call - If a 1/1 creature deck is a thing this card would be pretty cool.
Circle of Elders - Potential is strong but 8 P is a lot to get this off. Probably not worth.
Obscuring Aether - Card would definitely help a morph-based deck but is also pretty decent card by itself.
Servant of the Scale - If 1/1 counter deck were ever a thing it would probably start with this card.
Sheltered Aerie - 2 mana for 3 could be decent in a control deck or even a ramp deck with Voyaging Satyr.
Explosive Vegetation - Might be another cool ramp card for control. Obviously the stronger card but Aerie can be played on turn 4 while holding up Dissolve.
White:
Great Teacher's Decree - Seems feasible as a curve topped for some white aggro deck as a 1 or 2 of.
Dragon Hunter - Another 2 P 1 cmc warrior for WB warriors.
Secure the Wastes - One of the last strongest cards in the set. I am not sure how to play this yet but I'm going to try. lol
Center Soul - Besides the 2/2 Rebound this one has the most potential to see any play. Protect a guy then give them unblockable the next turn.
Graceblade Artisan - Probably too high cmc but could be possibly feasible after rotation.
I feel like revisiting a mechanic should further explore its design space and power, but in this case, we just got gimped versions of decent cards that we've seen before. I feel like they have never handled a returning mechanic so poorly...
Feel free to tell me yours!
Well, it's the last third set. I think the Limited Format would be a bit like Avacyn Restored but slower, (not RoE-Slow though).
I liked RoE's Battlecruiser Limited a lot, but I highly doubt Dragons will play out like RoE.
Which is pretty tough to excuse when the block is built around this unique structure; this set should have been the payoff. I don't want to be too down on the set until I get a chance to play with the cards, but it was certainly an underwhelming spoiler season.
UR Blue-Red Control
Modern:
UBR Grixis Control
UWR Jeskai Control
I enjoy the mechanic but for a large set it´s dissapointing to see so few cards with the mechanic
And was so annoyed with his failure that he went on strike. His great art is on a truly lacklustre card, to boot.
Dragon's Eye Sentry is an interesting blocker. There are times when white control decks need cards like this to survive the early turns against mono red- Yoked Ox has seen board play, and this one at least has a point of power to punish all the x/1s the super aggro decks are likely to have right now.
Secure the WastesShould find a home right away in all sorts of token strategies.
Profaner of the Dead looks interesting. Unless things like Pacifism and Encase in Ice are very common, sacrificing your big creatures to evacuate your opponent's side of the board won't be worth it very often. Prolly worth exploring in small numbers though, against some decks the tempo loss will be insurmountable.
Sidisi's Faithful is an interesting take on Raise Dead. Can return itself over and over again for storm count or abusing Dictate of Erebos.
Silumgar Sorcerer- I like this set's Cancel variant, or would if it wasn't Remove Soul instead~ Still, might be a useful tempo card, especially if mono blue devotion running 1/1s for 1 becomes a thing.
Herald of Dromoka(love that the art calls back to Herald of Anafenza) and Blood-Chin Rageradd to the pile of playable 2 drops for the warriors deck.
String of also ran black removal spells is diasppointing- Defeatis close to playable, no reason it couldn't have been an instant. Foul Renewal could have been a hella awesome wrath or zombify variant, but instead is a 4 mana situational removal spell with a Raise Dead attached (they really like that effect this set).
Foul-Tongue Shriek looks like a fun times follow up to a big Launch the Fleet or Secure the Wastes.
Gravepurge in the same set as Collected Company seems convenient. Any instant win creature combos to get with this in standard?
Ukud Cobra- move over Pillarfield Ox!
Virulent Plague is stronk. Expect this in some boards soon.
Berserker's Onslaught- Stricly better Rage Reflection. Might not be playable in standard, but it is very close. Dictate of Heliod has seen some play and this is comprable.
Impact Tremors- Is this aggressive enough? Does less damage than but comes down at a better point of the curve for some decks than Purphoros, God of the Forge. My gut says no, but this into Goblin Rabblemaster, or Hordeling Outburst seems reasonable.
Kolaghan Stormsinger- Better Raging Goblin number 2 for the block.
Lose Calm- the extra colorless on this Threaten variant seems worth it for the psuedo evasion.
Seismic Rupture won't see much play while Anger of the Gods is around but seems like it could be a huge beating in limited.
Tormenting Voice um, sure, why not reprint it in the same block?
Conifer Strider- Big Badda Tree wants an Aqueous Form soooo bad. Don't actually see it as a card in standard, just that's what jumped out at me about this.
Explosive Vegetation- well, DRAGONS!!!! I suppose~
Naturalize- again with the same block reprint: / I suppose they are ramping up for the 2 set block paradigm.
Obscuring Aether People have been looking for this. Time to go back and reevaluate some morph cards. I feel like it needed to reduce the flip up costs as well to be a competitive card, but expect this card at your local FNM at the very least. I do like that you can attack with it if the need arises.
"Hey, dragons are formidable! They can be bolstered! Some can dash! Exploit? Nah, who wants to sacrifice their dragon? And they can't rebound - that sucks."
You know, you may be onto something...
It's a slightly improved Spike Drone, and the outlast lords are gone from draft which reduces the value of a Spike Drone effect.
It's eye-catching as one of the best cards we hadn't seen, but with exploit in blue and flash an obvious synergy, it's more than a little underwhelming that the only flash/exploit card we get has an effect that you can't use in response to removal in any meaningful way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY8h2vp5Xis
The good thing is that this draft format might make Avacyn Restored cry so hard. I believe it's very very difficult to go wrong with morph.
On a second note, I think we may have found our precursor to BfZ... Beasts. I see tons of them in this set. And Zen has tons of Baloths. I expect some beast-matter shenanigans. The difficult part is accepting a sudden influx of strange-looking/naming beasts that weren't rampant in KtK and FrF. And I hate Wizards for that.
*Shoves beasts down our throats* UGH.
UR Melek, Izzet ParagonUR, B Shirei, Shizo's CaretakerB, R Jaya Ballard, Task MageR,RW Tajic, Blade of the LegionRW, UB Lazav, Dimir MastermindUB, UB Circu, Dimir LobotomistUB, RWU Zedruu the GreatheartedRWU, GUBThe MimeoplasmGUB, UGExperiment Kraj UG, WDarien, King of KjeldorW, BMarrow-GnawerB, WBGKarador, Ghost ChieftainWBG, UTeferi, Temporal ArchmageU, GWUDerevi, Empyrial TacticianGWU, RDaretti, Scrap SavantR, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GEzuri, Renegade LeaderG, WUBRGReaper KingWUBRG, RGXenagos, God of RevelsRG, CKozilek, Butcher of TruthC, WUBRGGeneral TazriWUBRG, GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
Actually, Doug Beyer informed us yesterday or on Wednesday that there is no Taigam legendary card.
And I really want to hear MaRo explain why they broke their rule "Ten duals in a block".
But as with the Elder Dragons, one word is the answer. Marketing. Nothing more. We have to deal with that in the future.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
I don't see Fetchlands as duals though since they don't produce mana. And they did give us sets of 10 for stuff that taps for 2.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
Many thanks to DNC at Heroes of the Plane Studios
One could argue that we got Narset but Narset isn't monoblue, isn't a legendary creature. It's akin to werewolf fans not having their legendary werewolf in INN block. If there's any justification, it's an excuse at best.
Taigam felt like he deserves a card.
UR Melek, Izzet ParagonUR, B Shirei, Shizo's CaretakerB, R Jaya Ballard, Task MageR,RW Tajic, Blade of the LegionRW, UB Lazav, Dimir MastermindUB, UB Circu, Dimir LobotomistUB, RWU Zedruu the GreatheartedRWU, GUBThe MimeoplasmGUB, UGExperiment Kraj UG, WDarien, King of KjeldorW, BMarrow-GnawerB, WBGKarador, Ghost ChieftainWBG, UTeferi, Temporal ArchmageU, GWUDerevi, Empyrial TacticianGWU, RDaretti, Scrap SavantR, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GEzuri, Renegade LeaderG, WUBRGReaper KingWUBRG, RGXenagos, God of RevelsRG, CKozilek, Butcher of TruthC, WUBRGGeneral TazriWUBRG, GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
It's simple. Fetches aren't duals, and as is, there are a good number of mana bases that aren't running 4 copies of the relevant fetch. I am actually rather surprised at all the people who expected them to print the full cycle. Fetches are low hanging fruit for them to sell packs down the line, blowing their fetch wad in one block was never likely. Once they announced BFZ was the first time I was convinced that we would see them this year as Aaron Forsythe alluded to. I kinda hope they don't print them though, just so I can hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth that would accompany a Zendikar w/o fetches. Would be pretty simple to explain too- the Eldrazi have so sapped the magic of the land that fetches and man lands just aren't feasible there... I mean the roil was what was storymechanic responsible for the fetches, and the roil was caused by the fight between the Eldrazi and their prison, so now that they are out, fetches don't even make sense right? No, they didn't make any more sense on Tarkir either, but getting the ally color versions into modern did.
ALSO, SO MANY ZOMBIES IN THIS SET HOLY CRAP STILL NO ZOMBIE DRAGONS! WTF WIZARDS.
Selling some cards I don't want.
Generally less than tcg mid.
For real! He has two card's with his name on it and what appears to be what he looks like in different timelines. At least Urza got a bootleg version of himself in Blind Seer. Granted they did the same thing to Geral and Gisa from INN but eventually they got their own cards. However I don't think Taigam is interesting enough outside of this block to have his own card as a separate product. Geralf/Gisa had quite a fan following for them wanting to be cards. Given the the rather weak finish in the lore for Dragons, seeing Taigam as a card seems like it won't happen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY8h2vp5Xis