Awww man... now I wanna see Phyrexia invade Kaladesh. That would be fatal. Does the name "Aether Revolt" imply, that the machines will rebel?
Nah, Phyrexia invades in return to Kaladesh after Dovin Baan and/or Tezzeret steal Rashmi's device and deliver it to Elesh + Jin, who then use it to send their armies.
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Vorthos-y Johnny. All will be One
Modern - Cheeri0s (building), Belcher (building), Lantern (building), UW Control (building)
RIP Magic Duels. Wizards will regret what they did to you.
There will be conflict, but I doubt they're going to have Phyrexia invade. They said in the world-building panel they purposely wanted to avoid making it too much like Mirrodin, or Phyrexia. Having it invaded by Mirrodin Phyrexia seems like the worst way to accomplish that. I'm not sure what the Aether Conflict will be about, but it's probably a bit more intraplanar threat.
I think it's going to be Chandra, Saheeli, and Nissa joining forces with the rebels to take down the Consul.
I would like to see that too. However we've seen absolutely nothing about the politics in the set yet. It's all focused on the fair. I'm super disappointed. We've only seen maybe 1/6th of the set though - so here's hoping they didn't drop the ball here.
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Rose tint my world, keep me safe from my trouble and pain.
I think it's going to be Chandra, Saheeli, and Nissa joining forces with the rebels to take down the Consul.
I would like to see that too. However we've seen absolutely nothing about the politics in the set yet. It's all focused on the fair. I'm super disappointed. We've only seen maybe 1/6th of the set though - so here's hoping they didn't drop the ball here.
Well, we know that Saheeli is at least sympathetic to the Renegades cause, as was shown by her inner thoughts in last Wednesday's story. Well, that and her participating in semi-illegal construct battling. >.<
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It's about time for the reserved list to die, for the sake of Vintage and Legacy (And Commander).
Honestly, I'm sick of vampires. They are strong enough now, enough of them being on all planes. I feel like they have been on 10 sets in a row, at least they aren't on Kaladesh.
I want Lorwyn back. I know there is no conflict on that plane, but still, I loved the tribes there.
Well Zendikar and Innistrad have vampires, its places for Sorin aswell, so that should not be a surprise (and if they go for a tribal thing, they better print a bunch of them).
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But theres plenty of planes that dont have any major number of vampires.
We just came off of Tarkir and Theros which had no vampires with the exception of that weird one in Khans. And vampires have only been big on Zendikar and Innistrad as far as I know. Everywhere else they are in small amounts, which makes sense since they are one of black's characteristic races.
"Since Chandra and Nissa were the two planeswalkers in Oath, printing new versions of the same two just three sets later was probably too soon. If we're going to have a cast of recurring characters, we should make a more conscious effort to put different configurations in each set."
"We thought players would be excited for a sort of 'super-team' of planeswalker heroes. We didn't realize it would result in exhaustion so quickly if they kept seeing the same ones predictably set after set."
"Printing the extra, deliberately bad versions of Chandra and Nissa for the intro 'Planeswalker Decks' product may have watered down the planeswalker brand a little."
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On MTGO as Protoman.
On 7/14/10, broke 1900 mark! <3 ROE.
"Since Chandra and Nissa were the two planeswalkers in Oath, printing new versions of the same two just three sets later was probably too soon. If we're going to have a cast of recurring characters, we should make a more conscious effort to put different configurations in each set."
"We thought players would be excited for a sort of 'super-team' of planeswalker heroes. We didn't realize it would result in exhaustion so quickly if they kept seeing the same ones predictably set after set."
"Printing the extra, deliberately bad versions of Chandra and Nissa for the intro 'Planeswalker Decks' product may have watered down the planeswalker brand a little."
I love this right here because I foresee the exact opposite, each of these decisions will be hailed as a run away success because the MAJORITY of players will like what is gong on, while a vocal minority on the internet is still spending money despite constantly saying they will quit forever after this latest atrocity. Or who knows maybe people will actually be upset seeing their favorite characters all the time.
I mean, I'm not upset, but the Gatewatch currently has none of my favorites. Even if I look at just monocolored Planeswalkers Gideon and Jace still aren't mine, possibly more. Though that's a bit unfair considering there are almost no Green ones and I don't really like Black. Chandra is the only one that manages to win her category in a remotely fair way.
Chandra is ok to quite good. The problem is that R&D dislike Red perhaps second only to Green, and at least Green gets huge beef to amke up for some stuff. MaRo and company need to get over their aversion to tuck being in red and offer some "tuck-y" removal in the vein of Chaos Warp, perhaps tied to a more exepsnive permanent, or creative burn, like the one that ignores indestructible and so on. Red just being damage, occasional card draw, damage, occasional permanent destruction, is holding it down.
But yes, aggree with Beren Camlost overall!
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The "Crazy One", playing casual magic and occasionally dipping his toes into regular play since 1994.
Currently focusing on Pre-Modern (Mono-Black Discard Control) and Modern (Azorious Control, Temur Rhinos).
Find me at the Wizard's Tower in Ottawa every second Saturday afternoons.
They're working on branching out Red more, and I think they're doing a decent job of it. But it's likely going to be a bit, adjusting the color pie is a slow thing.
Return trips are a lot less exciting when done so frequently. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm freakin' tired of Zendikar and Innistrad already. Both felt like they were too soon, especially Innistrad. This whole year left me anticipating Kaladesh with a particular fervor. I just need something new, something interesting. For me, WotC going back to the well so frequently has resulted in a case of diminishing returns.
Too soon? Zen was 2009 and BFZ was 2016 thats seven years.
Return trips are a lot less exciting when done so frequently. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm freakin' tired of Zendikar and Innistrad already. Both felt like they were too soon, especially Innistrad. This whole year left me anticipating Kaladesh with a particular fervor. I just need something new, something interesting. For me, WotC going back to the well so frequently has resulted in a case of diminishing returns.
Too soon? Zen was 2009 and BFZ was 2016 thats seven years.
Inn to soi was five years.
How is half a decade plus "too soon?"
I think he means new Innistrad being so soon after new Zendikar. I know I felt the same. Just feels like "we're running out of ideas here's a set everyone loved again please buy our products".
(I have loudly heard the note, by the way, that you're eager to see full-art lands of worlds other than Zendikar
Oh, yeah!!!
Players enjoyed the "colorless matters" theme, but they didn't like devoid, the thing that made the theme possible. I spent a lot of time digging into it, and the problem boiled down to one issue—devoid didn't do anything. It was what we call a "marker" mechanic, in that its role was mostly to mark a subset of cards so the set could mechanically care about them. The problem was it didn't match the expectation of what a mechanic is.
Seriously, the design team already solved this problem years ago. Just look at Modern Masters' version of the pacts. They have a color indicator right before their supertype. Just stick a colorless circle before "Creature - Eldrazi" and be done with it.
This is something that I have been noticing with WotC for some years now. Instead of looking back and making design decisions consistent with past sets (that have done them properly), they release functional equivalents that are less intuitive or more cumbersome than the original ones.
I know there is pressure to innovate, but I prefer consistency (unless there is a good reason to change things, of corse). And I bet a lot of people feel the same way.
(I have loudly heard the note, by the way, that you're eager to see full-art lands of worlds other than Zendikar
Oh, yeah!!!
Players enjoyed the "colorless matters" theme, but they didn't like devoid, the thing that made the theme possible. I spent a lot of time digging into it, and the problem boiled down to one issue—devoid didn't do anything. It was what we call a "marker" mechanic, in that its role was mostly to mark a subset of cards so the set could mechanically care about them. The problem was it didn't match the expectation of what a mechanic is.
Seriously, the design team already solved this problem years ago. Just look at Modern Masters' version of the pacts. They have a color indicator right before their supertype. Just stick a colorless circle before "Creature - Eldrazi" and be done with it.
Maybe they should literally make the cards see-through, like some countries do with their money.
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Evil is boring. The universe is friendly. Life is on your side. Joy is your birthright. Cynicism is idiotic. Fear is a bad habit. Despair is lazy. In fact, all of creation wants you to succeed. Act as if the universe is a prodigious miracle created for your amusement and illumination. Assume that secret helpers are working behind the scenes to assist you in turning into the gorgeous masterpiece you were born to be. . . Life always gives you exactly what you need, exactly when you need it.
I didn't have an issue with Devoid, it may not have been active "thing" but it was still signifying something significant.
They said they tried to use a colorless color indicator on the type line and nothing worked, but I wonder if using the <> might have made it clearer? They would have had to introduce that earlier, but they already admitted they should have done that.
Devoid would have been less useless if Protection from ___ was still a thing. Ghostfire could hit Silver Knight and was thus useful.
I rated devoid badly because the term itself didn't matter gameplay wise the colorless mattered. I might have rated it higher if they asked their survey differently or if there were more things like protection that devoid got around.
I think there are some abilities that will be rated low, but if they make the game work more smoothly and are helpful for flavor wizards shouldn't be afraid to use them again.
Devoid isn't flashy and doesn't do anything on its own, but it's the most elegant solution available. If they are unwilling to do tribal then they should keep this for future eldrazi sets to keep a consistent way to have eldrazi spells. . Maybe the random ghostfire style card can include this spell is colorless text.
Gods, Ma-Ro didn't not give me good feelings reading that article. The primary issue I have is that he mentions that certain mechanics and features were well received. That's great, but who gave these things a good reception? People may like to complain, but being an avid media sponge and watching tons of media on MtG from pod casts to reading posts on the net from fans of the game, most of the mechanics he claims were well received were more like lukewarm at best. I'm also glad that they found out people didn't like the focus on eldrazi... most likely after they forced them down everyones throats and caused one of the worst upsets in modern for years thanks to not paying attention to their own history. Speaking of which, he also confirms that they didn't pay attention to their own history as they admit people liked the indiana jones aspects more of the original zendikar, but decided to go with eldrazi anyway.
The article really feels more like a PR stunt and less a design critique, but at the same time I'm sure Ma Ro can't really say exactly how he feels due to job security reasons. The last few years of standard have been very bad even as far as transition periods go for games swapping formats.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I think I would have liked devoid better if they had cards that cared specifically about it at common and uncommon rarities, rather than just caring about something being colorless like Herald of Kozilek. As it is the only card I can think of that specifically cared about devoid was Corrupted Crossroads and it wasn't enough to make me think keywording the mechanic was nessisary. They should have just put the reminder text "This card has no color" on all the devoid cards and axed the keyword.
Gods, Ma-Ro didn't not give me good feelings reading that article. The primary issue I have is that he mentions that certain mechanics and features were well received. That's great, but who gave these things a good reception? People may like to complain, but being an avid media sponge and watching tons of media on MtG from pod casts to reading posts on the net from fans of the game, most of the mechanics he claims were well received were more like lukewarm at best.
You are talking the reception you have seen which is from enfranchised players, WotC does proper market research though including more types of players. My guess then is that less enfranchised players may have been more positive for these things.
Gods, Ma-Ro didn't not give me good feelings reading that article. The primary issue I have is that he mentions that certain mechanics and features were well received. That's great, but who gave these things a good reception? People may like to complain, but being an avid media sponge and watching tons of media on MtG from pod casts to reading posts on the net from fans of the game, most of the mechanics he claims were well received were more like lukewarm at best.
You are talking the reception you have seen which is from enfranchised players, WotC does proper market research though including more types of players. My guess then is that less enfranchised players may have been more positive for these things.
That does make me worried, though. Traditionally, those who are more casual spend a lot less money of a given product and tend to show less concern than those who are more deep into the game. In this example that would be constructed players who play at tournaments and the eternal community who are embroiled in a war with MTG Finance on the secondary market. WoTC in many ways built a house on top of a hill of sand, and unless they really focus their efforts to keep eternal and constructed players in the game that house will fall apart sooner or later.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
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Nah, Phyrexia invades in return to Kaladesh after Dovin Baan and/or Tezzeret steal Rashmi's device and deliver it to Elesh + Jin, who then use it to send their armies.
Modern - Cheeri0s (building), Belcher (building), Lantern (building), UW Control (building)
RIP Magic Duels. Wizards will regret what they did to you.
I would like to see that too. However we've seen absolutely nothing about the politics in the set yet. It's all focused on the fair. I'm super disappointed. We've only seen maybe 1/6th of the set though - so here's hoping they didn't drop the ball here.
Well, we know that Saheeli is at least sympathetic to the Renegades cause, as was shown by her inner thoughts in last Wednesday's story. Well, that and her participating in semi-illegal construct battling. >.<
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Numquam evolutioni obstes. Solum conculceris.
Pascite draconem, evolvite aut morimini.
Well Zendikar and Innistrad have vampires, its places for Sorin aswell, so that should not be a surprise (and if they go for a tribal thing, they better print a bunch of them).
----
But theres plenty of planes that dont have any major number of vampires.
WUBRG#BlackLotusMatterWUBRG
👮👮👮 #BlueLivesMatter 👮👮👮
"Since Chandra and Nissa were the two planeswalkers in Oath, printing new versions of the same two just three sets later was probably too soon. If we're going to have a cast of recurring characters, we should make a more conscious effort to put different configurations in each set."
"We thought players would be excited for a sort of 'super-team' of planeswalker heroes. We didn't realize it would result in exhaustion so quickly if they kept seeing the same ones predictably set after set."
"Printing the extra, deliberately bad versions of Chandra and Nissa for the intro 'Planeswalker Decks' product may have watered down the planeswalker brand a little."
On 7/14/10, broke 1900 mark! <3 ROE.
But yes, aggree with Beren Camlost overall!
Currently focusing on Pre-Modern (Mono-Black Discard Control) and Modern (Azorious Control, Temur Rhinos).
Find me at the Wizard's Tower in Ottawa every second Saturday afternoons.
Too soon? Zen was 2009 and BFZ was 2016 thats seven years.
Inn to soi was five years.
How is half a decade plus "too soon?"
I think he means new Innistrad being so soon after new Zendikar. I know I felt the same. Just feels like "we're running out of ideas here's a set everyone loved again please buy our products".
Oh, yeah!!!
Seriously, the design team already solved this problem years ago. Just look at Modern Masters' version of the pacts. They have a color indicator right before their supertype. Just stick a colorless circle before "Creature - Eldrazi" and be done with it.
This is something that I have been noticing with WotC for some years now. Instead of looking back and making design decisions consistent with past sets (that have done them properly), they release functional equivalents that are less intuitive or more cumbersome than the original ones.
I know there is pressure to innovate, but I prefer consistency (unless there is a good reason to change things, of corse). And I bet a lot of people feel the same way.
I like that you assume they didn't try that, when they not only did, but tried multiple versions. It didn't work out.
Helps to do some research.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
They said they tried to use a colorless color indicator on the type line and nothing worked, but I wonder if using the <> might have made it clearer? They would have had to introduce that earlier, but they already admitted they should have done that.
I rated devoid badly because the term itself didn't matter gameplay wise the colorless mattered. I might have rated it higher if they asked their survey differently or if there were more things like protection that devoid got around.
I think there are some abilities that will be rated low, but if they make the game work more smoothly and are helpful for flavor wizards shouldn't be afraid to use them again.
Devoid isn't flashy and doesn't do anything on its own, but it's the most elegant solution available. If they are unwilling to do tribal then they should keep this for future eldrazi sets to keep a consistent way to have eldrazi spells. . Maybe the random ghostfire style card can include this spell is colorless text.
The article really feels more like a PR stunt and less a design critique, but at the same time I'm sure Ma Ro can't really say exactly how he feels due to job security reasons. The last few years of standard have been very bad even as far as transition periods go for games swapping formats.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
You are talking the reception you have seen which is from enfranchised players, WotC does proper market research though including more types of players. My guess then is that less enfranchised players may have been more positive for these things.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
That does make me worried, though. Traditionally, those who are more casual spend a lot less money of a given product and tend to show less concern than those who are more deep into the game. In this example that would be constructed players who play at tournaments and the eternal community who are embroiled in a war with MTG Finance on the secondary market. WoTC in many ways built a house on top of a hill of sand, and unless they really focus their efforts to keep eternal and constructed players in the game that house will fall apart sooner or later.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!