Wow, this is one of the absolute best cards you could hope to open in a prerelease, a complete bomb that can come down really early thanks to Servos and whatnot, and then start flinging the trinkets used to improvise him out at your creatures. Want more? Fine, it also includes a constant discard freebie.
I wonder if it will see play in Standard, if artifact-based control decks become a thing, this looks like an excellent finisher, especially when considering that one of its abilities rocks vs aggro while the other is very damaging to control decks. A cool card all around.
After a few hours and looking at this card again I have gone from "meh" to "this is pretty good". The potential for this to come down turn 3, or what will most likely happen to be turn 4 or 5, makes this an enormous threat. Between being able to snipe down small targets, or bigger targets if you have enough artifacts, and whittling down your opponents hand is just back breaking.
Of course saying that there is a decent chance that this mythic demon is like many others and immediately forgotten about or isn't that good. In limited this thing is bonkers and I could see this showing up in Standard during its lifetime in the format. In EDH this can work with Glissa, the Traitor rather well. Highly doubt it will make its way into Modern, but I've been wrong there, and zero chance of it showing up anywhere else.
Is the art a joke? Herald of Anguish, a demon with what looks like an American flag near his hand?
I didn't even notice this until someone pointed this out, but now that someone has I have to say that you should really stop reading into this. Colorful striped awnings is not something to get upset about and it is definitely not the American flag. Don't make a problem where there isn't any.
There's something vaguely Final Fantasy-esque about the art. I wonder if he'll work well with Demon of Dark Schemes?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
In EDH this can work with Glissa, the Traitor rather well. Highly doubt it will make its way into Modern, but I've been wrong there, and zero chance of it showing up anywhere else.
Haha that sounds incredibly annoying, especially if the artifact in question cantrips, or just pair it with Perilous Myr for maximum griefing =)
I didn't even notice this until someone pointed this out, but now that someone has I have to say that you should really stop reading into this. Colorful striped awnings is not something to get upset about and it is definitely not the American flag. Don't make a problem where there isn't any.
Believe what you will. This is as close to the flag it could be while still passing checks and be deniable. Here's a few thing for you to consider:
There are no other colorful awning in the art. It's the only one standing out.
Of all the color combos and stripe positions, it had to be red/white with a dark blue "corner" fille with small white.
The awning is right by his hand and there is a convenient black line on top as if he were holding it.
Art Description: Start here but try to work in a lens flare effect. It's SUNNY. Now, throw in a being made of pure black mana, an iconic representation of evil itself and make it really look the part. CHALLENGE: The crowd aren't allowed to react in ANY way. Business as usual nothing to see here.
That said, definitely have to try this guy out in a new black/artifact deck I'm spitballing.. Seems fun.
After a few hours and looking at this card again I have gone from "meh" to "this is pretty good". The potential for this to come down turn 3, or what will most likely happen to be turn 4 or 5, makes this an enormous threat. Between being able to snipe down small targets, or bigger targets if you have enough artifacts, and whittling down your opponents hand is just back breaking.
Couple this with Whispers of Emrakul and good old-fashioned Mind Rot to keep cards out of hand then Yahenni's Expertise, Fatal Push, and Murder to keep creatures off the field and mono-black control is just about there. Substitute that Thraben Inspector I mentioned earlier for some other 1-drop artifact and the demon may still be summoned on turn 3 (the key being to drop 2 artifacts each turn).
That's going to dominate Limited games,
and with so many upsides,
it might even see Standard play.
It's a mythic, so it'll dominate limited games where it sees play (which won't be that many). Because, hmm, evasive 5/5 and removal and it goes in the same deck that makes it cost far less than seven mana? Yeah, this will see play.
The discard probably won't matter much in limited or constructed. I can see how it could, since it's consistent discard, so, once in topdeck mode, stuck in topdeck mode. But at the same time, you're probably not going to have that many cards at this point.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
This guy is deceptively good. Been brewing with equipment and just realized that the synergy between equipment and Improvise is the real deal. Albeit, currently equipment isn't super good, but the synergy with improvise greatly improves that kind of deck, and it finally has some good top ends to gear up in case of a field wipe.
Private Mod Note
():
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!
Art Description: Start here but try to work in a lens flare effect. It's SUNNY. Now, throw in a being made of pure black mana, an iconic representation of evil itself and make it really look the part. CHALLENGE: The crowd aren't allowed to react in ANY way. Business as usual nothing to see here.
Yep. I can live with that summary. I also wonder who requested that the demon looks like a formless mess rather than build upon the precedent of Demon of Dark Schemes - I at least can dig the knives and mask going on there.
I also noticed another card's flavor text making reference to the fact that demons exist on Kaladesh, but no real explanation on what exactly a Demon's role on the plane is. That could have gone many different interesting ways e. g. inventors making Faustian deals for inspiration, aetherborn bargaining for the pleasures of life, maybe just some indication on whether demons prefer the oppressive status quo or would revel in the chaos brought about by the revolt. I wouldn't mind the iconic creature product placement as much with some lore filling me in.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
Dear god this card is insane. Clue tokens... omg clue tokens. Tireless Tracker + this guy with Thraben Inspector is nuts given how easy it is to get landfall going, and it doesn't take a lot of supplementary artifacts to get him down to a turn 3 play. a 5/5 flying death machine that turns clues into spot removal and forces your opponent to discard every... on your end step?!
So we can play this on main phase 2 when the opponent is tapped out, force them to discard a card at worse and potentially use clue tokens to clear early plays that can crew vehicles. This guy sounds a bit like the next Kalitas of standard.
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 it a waste not to revisit Rakshasas on Kaladesh, seeing as they're Indian in origin. Yes, I know Kaladesh is not India world, but seeing how strong an influence India was on the aesthetics and culture of the plane, it feels like a wasted opportunity. Then again, they shied away from giving us Loxodon and multi-limbed Vedalken because they were afraid of offending Indian sensibilities (most likely because of their resemblance to deities), so maybe they were afraid that Indians would apply religious significance to Cat Demons as well?
At any rate, maybe the folks aren't panicking about the big demon because they know an even bigger Gearhulk can just punch his face in if he starts causing trouble. Or...
Speedway Fanatic: "Jeri, you will NOT believe the night I had last night! I was cruising along all peaceful-like in my Daredevil Dragster when suddenly, BAM! A big-arse demon gets caught in the brights! I didn't even have time to hit the brakes, and, well, now there's a big black stain on the road, and I can tell you it ain't because of a passing elephant. The fuzz almost impounded my vehicle, but when they learned that the demon I ran down was the one stealing their junk and smashing it over their heads, they decided to let me off with a warning."
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
Demons on Kaladesh and Theros made no sense. This is why I loathe this concept of each color having an "iconic" creature. Just make creatures within the flavor of that plane in those colors. Archons on Theros in place of angels were great for example. It's annoying having iconics forced. all these hydras everywhere is awkward. Especially on Innistrad for example.
Demons on Kaladesh and Theros made no sense. This is why I loathe this concept of each color having an "iconic" creature. Just make creatures within the flavor of that plane in those colors. Archons on Theros in place of angels were great for example. It's annoying having iconics forced. all these hydras everywhere is awkward. Especially on Innistrad for example.
I have to agree. Some planes just shouldn't have some creatures. Dragons, angels, and demons were just not needed. Now sure, someone could have made something that looked like those creatures, but for these creatures to be natural do make them stand out in an odd way.
In the case of angels I guess I could see them as they could be similar to Aetherborn, being born of natural occurrences of the plane from aether and mana. We know angels are made from many so if they had a blue look to them, like aether, we could at least see that they are akin to aetherborn in this regard. At the very least they have 4 arms, I suppose that's something.
For dragons they just don't really look any different from any other dragon, sure Skyship Stalker and the new Freejam Regent is striped, but only being striped isn't enough to separate them from only being on Kaladesh over any other plane. Innistrad dragons, which were also out of place, at least had a clear identity and look with their sleek design and the stained glass wings. Stained glass was on plenty of cards, which at least helped them not feel as out of place as the dragons on Kaladesh.
Demons on Kaladesh, at least so far, also look like they could be from anywhere and in the case of Demon of Dark Schemes almost looks like it should be from Theros, as odd as that is as Demons were strange there as well.
Demons on Kaladesh and Theros made no sense. This is why I loathe this concept of each color having an "iconic" creature. Just make creatures within the flavor of that plane in those colors. Archons on Theros in place of angels were great for example. It's annoying having iconics forced. all these hydras everywhere is awkward. Especially on Innistrad for example.
You can't do that very well with the creature type system magic has. Creature types are too important not to have some kind of baseline creatures. Iconics don't need to be in every set anyway, as you noted, so I don't see why you object unless you think there are quite narrow.
Note also that what feels forced or natural to you is just that. It doesn't mean there's necessarily a real problem.
Demons on Kaladesh and Theros made no sense. This is why I loathe this concept of each color having an "iconic" creature. Just make creatures within the flavor of that plane in those colors. Archons on Theros in place of angels were great for example. It's annoying having iconics forced. all these hydras everywhere is awkward. Especially on Innistrad for example.
Agreed. This might have mattered back in the days of Alpha and CORE sets but, really MaRo, no one would bat an eye if iconics didn't appear on every single plane.
I feel like Magic went through a bit of an "OCD" phase back when they did the great Creature Type update and the implementation of NWO. They cleaned up quite a few things and, on balance, I think it was a good and vitally necessary exercise for design to reach its current (incredible) state.
However, it also led to really pointless box-checking (and overly-obsessive) stuff like "We must have an 'iconic' in every color and they have to show up on every plane or else, somehow, 'Magic suffers' as a result".
The flavor of Magic hinges on the color pie, not five arbitrary tribes that happen to work well as finishers. I mean, you can just replace them with plane-specific finishers of the same tribe...like the Gearhulks. And free up Mythic slots for more interesting designs at Mythic level.
Demons on Kaladesh and Theros made no sense. This is why I loathe this concept of each color having an "iconic" creature. Just make creatures within the flavor of that plane in those colors. Archons on Theros in place of angels were great for example. It's annoying having iconics forced. all these hydras everywhere is awkward. Especially on Innistrad for example.
Agreed. This might have mattered back in the days of Alpha and CORE sets but, really MaRo, no one would bat an eye if iconics didn't appear on every single plane.
I feel like Magic went through a bit of an "OCD" phase back when they did the great Creature Type update and the implementation of NWO. They cleaned up quite a few things and, on balance, I think it was a good and vitally necessary exercise for design to reach its current (incredible) state.
However, it also led to really pointless box-checking (and overly-obsessive) stuff like "We must have an 'iconic' in every color and they have to show up on every plane or else, somehow, 'Magic suffers' as a result".
The flavor of Magic hinges on the color pie, not five arbitrary tribes that happen to work well as finishers. I mean, you can just replace them with plane-specific finishers of the same tribe...like the Gearhulks. And free up Mythic slots for more interesting designs at Mythic level.
And how do you represent the color pie? Because symbols do not make for very compelling characters in stories. Giving each color an iconic creature gives it an exciting face that sums up the essence of that color. Demons are selfish, have bat wings, and represent the dark forces of the underworld. They're the perfect iconics for black.
And Demons actually fit on a wide variety of planes as the concept predates the Abrahamic religions by a considerable margin. Kaladesh was a bottom-up world, and at least 3/5 of the cultures adapted for it (Persia for Abzan, Chinese/Japanese for Jeskai, and India/Thai Empire for Sultai) feature Demons in their mythology, so saying Demons didn't belong there is quite presumptuous.
Theros is a harder argument to make, but my guess is that they needed large black fliers for design reasons and Demons were easier to adapt for Theros than Specters (not to mention Specters still tend to be small compared to Demons).
And Demons do exist in India's culture (the best known being the Asura), so they aren't out of place on Kaladesh. I do think it a pity we didn't get Rakshasa instead as they would have been a little more on-culture, but then again this is Aetherpunk world, not India world.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
Well, to put this in perspective we've got a planar bridge on Kaladesh right now in the story along with Tezzeret, who defies most of the planes very rules of spell casting. The Kaladeshian inventors exist because mages and magic on kaladesh are somewhat shunned and believed to need to be kept under control, so most of the spells and effects that happen on kaladesh are from the effects of their aether technology. My own guess is Herald of Anguish is not a native of Kaladesh: It's something pulled from the world of Amonket via the Planar Bridge, or summoned by Tezzeret himself as his own ability to make etherium stones also works with the Herald of Anguishs own ability to -2/-2 a target.
Also, given the deck he fits into I'm seriously going to nickname it Robocop. It's probably the fact the artwork is sweet, there is an america reference in the artwork, and his appearance reminds me of the blackened cyborg armor used in the remake.
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!
Demons on Kaladesh and Theros made no sense. This is why I loathe this concept of each color having an "iconic" creature. Just make creatures within the flavor of that plane in those colors. Archons on Theros in place of angels were great for example. It's annoying having iconics forced. all these hydras everywhere is awkward. Especially on Innistrad for example.
Agreed. This might have mattered back in the days of Alpha and CORE sets but, really MaRo, no one would bat an eye if iconics didn't appear on every single plane.
I feel like Magic went through a bit of an "OCD" phase back when they did the great Creature Type update and the implementation of NWO. They cleaned up quite a few things and, on balance, I think it was a good and vitally necessary exercise for design to reach its current (incredible) state.
However, it also led to really pointless box-checking (and overly-obsessive) stuff like "We must have an 'iconic' in every color and they have to show up on every plane or else, somehow, 'Magic suffers' as a result".
Iconics don't remotely show up on every plane.
Kaladesh- no sphinxes
Innistrad- no sphinxes
Zendikar- all
Tarkir- no angels, no sphinxes
Theros- no angels
Ravnica- all
Mirrodin- no hydras (exlcuding non-native phyrexian hydra)
Alara- all
That's the minority of recent planes that have all iconics.
The flavor of Magic hinges on the color pie, not five arbitrary tribes that happen to work well as finishers
They aren't arbitrary- they are tribes that represent their particular colour well, are well liked, and are versatile enough to be adapted to fit in a variety of worlds.
WotC puts these big rare iconic creatures into so many sets because players like it. Dragons in particular are very popular.
I mean, you can just replace them with plane-specific finishers of the same tribe...like the Gearhulks. And free up Mythic slots for more interesting designs at Mythic level.
There are plenty of non iconic creatures at rare/mythic in sets already.
Iconic types also do not significantly affect design space at higher rarities, their mechanical themes are things that color does anyway.
Iconic types are also adapted to fit different planes, so are often plane specific creatures. Just because they share the same creature type doesn't mean they are the same. Kaladesh's angels, for example, are quite unique.
It's actually a pretty flexible card as well. The card works in mid-range artifact heavy decks as a topper and also works in Tezzeret control where there are more non-creature artifacts at the low cmc. In fact, tezzeret control requires the demon as he helps Tezzeret the Schemer defend himself via his +1, so he's effectively Heart of Kiran 5-8.
Private Mod Note
():
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!
Yeah... I'm still tinkering with this when I have the time. I'm trying to figure out whether a deck could have enough improvise cards to justify using some zero drop artifacts in place of some lands as "mana rocks". The balancing trick is finding enough lands so that non-Improvise cards can still be readily cast while also having enough artifacts to really improvise out Herald, Reverse Engineer, etc at rates that are more than just " okay".
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Pop in, find a dragon, roast a dragon."
-Chandra Nalaar
Inspiring Statuary grants Improvise to any nonartifact spells you cast, so finding some spells for an Improvise deck shouldn't be hard.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I wonder if it will see play in Standard, if artifact-based control decks become a thing, this looks like an excellent finisher, especially when considering that one of its abilities rocks vs aggro while the other is very damaging to control decks. A cool card all around.
Of course saying that there is a decent chance that this mythic demon is like many others and immediately forgotten about or isn't that good. In limited this thing is bonkers and I could see this showing up in Standard during its lifetime in the format. In EDH this can work with Glissa, the Traitor rather well. Highly doubt it will make its way into Modern, but I've been wrong there, and zero chance of it showing up anywhere else.
I didn't even notice this until someone pointed this out, but now that someone has I have to say that you should really stop reading into this. Colorful striped awnings is not something to get upset about and it is definitely not the American flag. Don't make a problem where there isn't any.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
Haha that sounds incredibly annoying, especially if the artifact in question cantrips, or just pair it with Perilous Myr for maximum griefing =)
Believe what you will. This is as close to the flag it could be while still passing checks and be deniable. Here's a few thing for you to consider:
IMO, it was a clear plant on the artist side.
That is comical art.
Art Description: Start here but try to work in a lens flare effect. It's SUNNY. Now, throw in a being made of pure black mana, an iconic representation of evil itself and make it really look the part. CHALLENGE: The crowd aren't allowed to react in ANY way. Business as usual nothing to see here.
That said, definitely have to try this guy out in a new black/artifact deck I'm spitballing.. Seems fun.
Fully-powered 600-Card "Dream Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/dreamcube
450-Card "Artificer's Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/artificer
Cubing in Indianapolis...send me a PM!!
Couple this with Whispers of Emrakul and good old-fashioned Mind Rot to keep cards out of hand then Yahenni's Expertise, Fatal Push, and Murder to keep creatures off the field and mono-black control is just about there. Substitute that Thraben Inspector I mentioned earlier for some other 1-drop artifact and the demon may still be summoned on turn 3 (the key being to drop 2 artifacts each turn).
Meanwhile, the Herald of Anguish is at the Inventors' Fair handing out licorice-flavored cotton candy, hence the anguish.
It's a mythic, so it'll dominate limited games where it sees play (which won't be that many). Because, hmm, evasive 5/5 and removal and it goes in the same deck that makes it cost far less than seven mana? Yeah, this will see play.
The discard probably won't matter much in limited or constructed. I can see how it could, since it's consistent discard, so, once in topdeck mode, stuck in topdeck mode. But at the same time, you're probably not going to have that many cards at this point.
On phasing:
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!
Yep. I can live with that summary. I also wonder who requested that the demon looks like a formless mess rather than build upon the precedent of Demon of Dark Schemes - I at least can dig the knives and mask going on there.
I also noticed another card's flavor text making reference to the fact that demons exist on Kaladesh, but no real explanation on what exactly a Demon's role on the plane is. That could have gone many different interesting ways e. g. inventors making Faustian deals for inspiration, aetherborn bargaining for the pleasures of life, maybe just some indication on whether demons prefer the oppressive status quo or would revel in the chaos brought about by the revolt. I wouldn't mind the iconic creature product placement as much with some lore filling me in.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
So we can play this on main phase 2 when the opponent is tapped out, force them to discard a card at worse and potentially use clue tokens to clear early plays that can crew vehicles. This guy sounds a bit like the next Kalitas of standard.
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!
At any rate, maybe the folks aren't panicking about the big demon because they know an even bigger Gearhulk can just punch his face in if he starts causing trouble. Or...
Speedway Fanatic: "Jeri, you will NOT believe the night I had last night! I was cruising along all peaceful-like in my Daredevil Dragster when suddenly, BAM! A big-arse demon gets caught in the brights! I didn't even have time to hit the brakes, and, well, now there's a big black stain on the road, and I can tell you it ain't because of a passing elephant. The fuzz almost impounded my vehicle, but when they learned that the demon I ran down was the one stealing their junk and smashing it over their heads, they decided to let me off with a warning."
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
I have to agree. Some planes just shouldn't have some creatures. Dragons, angels, and demons were just not needed. Now sure, someone could have made something that looked like those creatures, but for these creatures to be natural do make them stand out in an odd way.
In the case of angels I guess I could see them as they could be similar to Aetherborn, being born of natural occurrences of the plane from aether and mana. We know angels are made from many so if they had a blue look to them, like aether, we could at least see that they are akin to aetherborn in this regard. At the very least they have 4 arms, I suppose that's something.
For dragons they just don't really look any different from any other dragon, sure Skyship Stalker and the new Freejam Regent is striped, but only being striped isn't enough to separate them from only being on Kaladesh over any other plane. Innistrad dragons, which were also out of place, at least had a clear identity and look with their sleek design and the stained glass wings. Stained glass was on plenty of cards, which at least helped them not feel as out of place as the dragons on Kaladesh.
Demons on Kaladesh, at least so far, also look like they could be from anywhere and in the case of Demon of Dark Schemes almost looks like it should be from Theros, as odd as that is as Demons were strange there as well.
You can't do that very well with the creature type system magic has. Creature types are too important not to have some kind of baseline creatures. Iconics don't need to be in every set anyway, as you noted, so I don't see why you object unless you think there are quite narrow.
Note also that what feels forced or natural to you is just that. It doesn't mean there's necessarily a real problem.
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
Agreed. This might have mattered back in the days of Alpha and CORE sets but, really MaRo, no one would bat an eye if iconics didn't appear on every single plane.
I feel like Magic went through a bit of an "OCD" phase back when they did the great Creature Type update and the implementation of NWO. They cleaned up quite a few things and, on balance, I think it was a good and vitally necessary exercise for design to reach its current (incredible) state.
However, it also led to really pointless box-checking (and overly-obsessive) stuff like "We must have an 'iconic' in every color and they have to show up on every plane or else, somehow, 'Magic suffers' as a result".
The flavor of Magic hinges on the color pie, not five arbitrary tribes that happen to work well as finishers. I mean, you can just replace them with plane-specific finishers of the same tribe...like the Gearhulks. And free up Mythic slots for more interesting designs at Mythic level.
Fully-powered 600-Card "Dream Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/dreamcube
450-Card "Artificer's Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/artificer
Cubing in Indianapolis...send me a PM!!
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
And Demons actually fit on a wide variety of planes as the concept predates the Abrahamic religions by a considerable margin. Kaladesh was a bottom-up world, and at least 3/5 of the cultures adapted for it (Persia for Abzan, Chinese/Japanese for Jeskai, and India/Thai Empire for Sultai) feature Demons in their mythology, so saying Demons didn't belong there is quite presumptuous.
Theros is a harder argument to make, but my guess is that they needed large black fliers for design reasons and Demons were easier to adapt for Theros than Specters (not to mention Specters still tend to be small compared to Demons).
And Demons do exist in India's culture (the best known being the Asura), so they aren't out of place on Kaladesh. I do think it a pity we didn't get Rakshasa instead as they would have been a little more on-culture, but then again this is Aetherpunk world, not India world.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
Also, given the deck he fits into I'm seriously going to nickname it Robocop. It's probably the fact the artwork is sweet, there is an america reference in the artwork, and his appearance reminds me of the blackened cyborg armor used in the remake.
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!
Iconics don't remotely show up on every plane.
Kaladesh- no sphinxes
Innistrad- no sphinxes
Zendikar- all
Tarkir- no angels, no sphinxes
Theros- no angels
Ravnica- all
Mirrodin- no hydras (exlcuding non-native phyrexian hydra)
Alara- all
That's the minority of recent planes that have all iconics.
They aren't arbitrary- they are tribes that represent their particular colour well, are well liked, and are versatile enough to be adapted to fit in a variety of worlds.
WotC puts these big rare iconic creatures into so many sets because players like it. Dragons in particular are very popular.
There are plenty of non iconic creatures at rare/mythic in sets already.
Iconic types also do not significantly affect design space at higher rarities, their mechanical themes are things that color does anyway.
Iconic types are also adapted to fit different planes, so are often plane specific creatures. Just because they share the same creature type doesn't mean they are the same. Kaladesh's angels, for example, are quite unique.
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
BRGKresh the BloodbraidedBRG, A box of lands and ideas.
Modern:
RG Titanshift. A deck made of cards too stupid for EDH.
Retired: Lots. More than I feel you should suffer through or I should type out.
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!
-Chandra Nalaar
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.