I just knew ornithopter would be the downfall of the masterpiece sets. They snuck in a widely played common to see if we would berate them for it, and now it's commons and uncommon's everywhere.
Next up, masterpiece grizzly bears.
I mean, I've got no issue with commons and uncommons if they're staples in non-rotating formats and/or unique cards with a powerful effect. In the Invocation series we have:
Aven Mindcensor - Uncommon; Powerful effect that sees play in Modern/EDH, fringe play in legacy.
Loyal Retainers - Uncommon; but was an uncommon in P3K which already makes it a unique oddity. Also a powerful effect that feels fine at rare.
Counterspell - Uncommon originally, common in later printings; legacy/EDH staple, currently considered to powerful for modern. Iconic magic card.
Daze - Common originally, uncommon in EMA; legacy staple from almost 20 years ago, incredibly powerful and disruptive card. Iconic card in delver decks.
Spell Pierce - Common; similar to above though of course much newer.
Dark Ritual - Common; Legacy/vintage staple. Incredibly powerful and iconic card.
Chain Lightning - Common from literally 25 years ago; just reprinted for the first time last year at uncommon (okay and PDS but whatever). Legacy staple in burn.
Of all of the above pretty much the only one I would complain about is Chain Lightning. Would have preferred just Bolt or alternatively something like Fireblast/Pyroblast.
I have a complaint about counterspell. It could have been Mana Drain a far superior card. But if they put counterspell in the set ushering it into modern I'll forgive them real quick.
It's disappointing to see Entomb as an Invocation as the flavor of that card fits so perfectly into the actual set.
They're not putting an instant-speed graveyard tutor/delirium enabler into this Standard, especially when the most vocal aspects of the player base have been *****ing about the lack of graveyard hate for three sets now. Sorry.
On topic: it's a good spread of powerful stuff, but nothing in green is admittedly a bit surprising, particularly when this might be the most perfect set ever for the biggest troll Masterpiece of all time. There's still plenty of room for interesting things in the next set (keeping fingers crossed for Bolas-themed Damnation), and I'm sure one of them will be something like Natural Order, which seems to fit the "only the strong survive" theme of the plane.
I guess no one read that there where 54 masterpieces in the set, seeing the numbering....
That means there is plenty of room still for green cards seeing as only 25 have been shown so far... ^^
Reread the numbering and noticed that probably all the last few wil be gold.. bleh.... actually hoped there would be some green, but guess there might be only 1 green card in there...
The last few (31-54) will be the invocations of hour of devastation - for Amonkhet we're just missing the gods now.
Has been the same with BfZ and Kaladesh blocks. Also the color/alphabetical sorting restarts where the masterpiece series is split between sets, so we'll hopefully get some green goodies with the hour of devastation invocations.
the numbering of the MPS series is cumulative for the two sets, so 54 masterpieces are divided 30 in AKH and last 24 in HoD just like Inventions in KLD/AER
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"The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again"
The selection of cards is very good, but do these have some kind of special surface or foil treatment to make them not look like dog vomit on a woven carpet?
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When I hit my 3000 post mark, I'm gone for good.
Stay reasonable, be mindful of your expectations and don't feed the trolls.
Did we already figure out what the theme is supposed to be? Well... someone did ask Maro:
jxcapaldi asked: What is the theme of the Amonkhet Invocations supposed to be? Maro: The Amonkhet Invocations have a creative theme rather than a mechanical theme. They represent the gods, their magic and their servants - the divine will of the Amonkhet gods, if you will. We started with a more mechanical theme, (instants and sorceries, but found it didn’t quite capture the feel we wanted. (For instance, we wanted the gods to be Invocations.)
I'd like to see some green ones, but the second set's invocations might be green heavy(?) Either way I think those title of the cards is the worst part IMO. I don't care for the boarders or the centered oracle text, but the title is almost illegible.
In other news: The art for this set is exquisite
-Chandra Nalaar
From your keyboard to Gods ears....
Spirits
They're not putting an instant-speed graveyard tutor/delirium enabler into this Standard, especially when the most vocal aspects of the player base have been *****ing about the lack of graveyard hate for three sets now. Sorry.
On topic: it's a good spread of powerful stuff, but nothing in green is admittedly a bit surprising, particularly when this might be the most perfect set ever for the biggest troll Masterpiece of all time. There's still plenty of room for interesting things in the next set (keeping fingers crossed for Bolas-themed Damnation), and I'm sure one of them will be something like Natural Order, which seems to fit the "only the strong survive" theme of the plane.
UBDragonlord Silumgar WGKarametra, God of Harvests
BRUNekusar, the Mindrazer BGMazirek, Kraul Death Priest
URMelek, Izzet Paragon UGPrime Speaker Zegana
WUHanna, Ship's Navigator BWUSydri, Galvanic Genius
WUBRGSliver Queen RBBladewing the Risen
WBKarlov of the Ghost Council RGXenagos, God of Revels
GFreyalise, Llanowar's Fury RWAurelia, the Warleader
RIb Halfheart, Goblin Tactician BDrana, Liberator of Malakir
UAzami, Lady of Scrolls WNahiri, the Lithomancer
WBGDoran, the Siege Tower CEmrakul, the Promised End
The last few (31-54) will be the invocations of hour of devastation - for Amonkhet we're just missing the gods now.
Has been the same with BfZ and Kaladesh blocks. Also the color/alphabetical sorting restarts where the masterpiece series is split between sets, so we'll hopefully get some green goodies with the hour of devastation invocations.
W(W/U)U Ephara - Flash & Taxes W(W/U)U || B(B/G)G Meren - Circle of Life B(B/G)G
RGW Marath - Ever shifting Wilds RGW || (U/R)C(W/B) Breya - Artificial Dominion (U/R)C(W/B)
UBR Becket Brass - take what you can, give nothing back UBR
Stay reasonable, be mindful of your expectations and don't feed the trolls.
Doomsdayin'
jxcapaldi asked: What is the theme of the Amonkhet Invocations supposed to be?
Maro: The Amonkhet Invocations have a creative theme rather than a mechanical theme. They represent the gods, their magic and their servants - the divine will of the Amonkhet gods, if you will. We started with a more mechanical theme, (instants and sorceries, but found it didn’t quite capture the feel we wanted. (For instance, we wanted the gods to be Invocations.)
Also:
televisionguy asked: Just curious why there are no green invocations in Amonkhet and why they are mostly blue and white. Being a fan of green I am slightly disappointed, but still appreciate the invocations nonetheless.
Maro: We made the conscious choice to maximize having our card selections match our theme and not put the restriction of color balance on it. There were so many factors to juggle and we decided to prioritize cool card selections.
(W/U)(B/R)GForm of Progenitus, Shape of a Scrubland
BRGJund Tokens with Prossh, the Magic Dragon Foil
URGAnimar, the RUG CleanerFoil
RRRFeldon of the Third Path 2.0 Foil
BG(B/G)Not Another Meren DeckFoil
UR(U/R)Mizzix, Y Control and X Burn Spells
(W/U)(B/R)GHarold Ramos - The 35 Foot Long Twinkie (In +1/+1 counters)
UB(U/B)Dragonlord Silumgar