We have our first hit of 2017, and it's a base single if I've ever seen one.
I agree with pretty much everything the article says, obvious gems are being routinely passed over in favor of janky garbage and there's no logical reason why. Passing over Shaman of the Pack and Draconic Roar stand out as head scratchers because any generic elf/dragon art could fill those roles, while the art on the cards they did use appears to have been specially commissioned. I'm starting to think they pick these cards by playing a few booster drafts, since there are so many limited all stars like Call the Bloodline and Noose Constrictor (yes this was an obvious whiff because R/B are the madness colors this time around, not U/G like in Wild Mongrel's time), but that still doesn't explain Nissa's Pilgrimage or Clash of Wills, which are still trash in limited.
They can't spend any amount of money to print "good" promos -- people's expectations are just too high. If you want them to just copy-paste the most popular uncommons each Standard and then hop in their time machine and start working on that card well in advance, I can see why, but that's not going to happen because physics.
They don't know what cards are going to see the most Standard play -- they test decks that never get found and people find decks they never test. The pros are innovative and spend a lot of time in a very short period bashing Standard decks together, and the metagame usually stems from that work. So every time somebody complains "this doesn't get played!" I shrug my shoulders and think "it very well could have been."
^This
FNM promos are based off cards that saw play in Wizards' internal testing, the Future Future League. They do their best to predict what will see the most play, but it's hampered by limited testing time and the fact that they're playing with playtest cards - the cards they're using are constantly being tweaked and sometimes replaced entirely during the testing period. It may have been that Noose Constrictor was a totally bonkers card at one point when paired with another green Delirium card that later got powered down or cut entirely. There's no way for us to know, unfortunately, short of badgering WotC employees until they decide it's enough of an issue to warrant the topic of their next article.
If wotc wants a snowballs chance in **** of getting a good promo printed I don't see how they can print anything less than rare.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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!
The Professor had some good commentary on the state of FNM promos in his recent Q&A video.
If WotC wants people to show up for FNM, how about simple things like promo Delver of Secrets? Lightning Bolt? Want something more recent? How about Shaman of the Pack or the Standard cards already mentioned in this thread?
Failing upwards comes to an end eventually.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Let the EDH meme die.
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I agree with pretty much everything the article says, obvious gems are being routinely passed over in favor of janky garbage and there's no logical reason why. Passing over Shaman of the Pack and Draconic Roar stand out as head scratchers because any generic elf/dragon art could fill those roles, while the art on the cards they did use appears to have been specially commissioned. I'm starting to think they pick these cards by playing a few booster drafts, since there are so many limited all stars like Call the Bloodline and Noose Constrictor (yes this was an obvious whiff because R/B are the madness colors this time around, not U/G like in Wild Mongrel's time), but that still doesn't explain Nissa's Pilgrimage or Clash of Wills, which are still trash in limited.
Pauper: Burn
Modern: Burn
Legacy: Burn
EDH: Marath, Will of the Wild - Ramp/Combo | Anafenza the Foremost - French | Uril, the Miststalker - Voltron | Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury - Goodstuff
Ghost Council of Orzhov - Tokens | Lazav, Dimir Mastermind - Control | Isamaru, Hound of Konda - Tiny Leaders
There was a green eldrazi ramp deck using nissa's pilgrimage.
It is because they try to predict future standard and they are almost always wrong.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
^This
FNM promos are based off cards that saw play in Wizards' internal testing, the Future Future League. They do their best to predict what will see the most play, but it's hampered by limited testing time and the fact that they're playing with playtest cards - the cards they're using are constantly being tweaked and sometimes replaced entirely during the testing period. It may have been that Noose Constrictor was a totally bonkers card at one point when paired with another green Delirium card that later got powered down or cut entirely. There's no way for us to know, unfortunately, short of badgering WotC employees until they decide it's enough of an issue to warrant the topic of their next article.
Club Flamingo Wins: 1!
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!
If WotC wants people to show up for FNM, how about simple things like promo Delver of Secrets? Lightning Bolt? Want something more recent? How about Shaman of the Pack or the Standard cards already mentioned in this thread?
Failing upwards comes to an end eventually.