My problem with Harsh Mentor for Modern is that you can just play it and have it do nothing. It can eat a bolt, path or push and not get any value. I'd rather have eidolon, which is always a guranteed 2 damage.
My problem with Harsh Mentor for Modern is that you can just play it and have it do nothing. It can eat a bolt, path or push and not get any value. I'd rather have eidolon, which is always a guranteed 2 damage.
When I look at decks that card is good against that are still legal it would be Lantern Control. It also punishes greedy mana bases, so there is that as well. I don't think it is as good as the market is suggesting with the current price tag, though.
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!
So where do we go from here now? The set is fully spoiled but do we see enough hate to keep vehicles and copycat in check? Any new ideas that could compete against the two very oppressive decks?
The release of Amonkhet is going to be a little awkward because it's the burst time since WOTC introduced the two-set block that we will NOT experience a rotation into a new block. My guess is that vehicles and copycat will continue to dominate Standard like they have been until WOTC decides to put in some more bans, because without a rotation this two decks can only get better and not worse.
They printed A LOT of hate for vehicles and personally it looks to me like Exert has been given a LOT of love in white (already strong and getting more so) and red/green. Look at Naya Samut (I dub thee, Smutty textbox?).
1. After doing nothing last ban they do something now. Twin Gideons were not meant to dance in Standard... and copycat is still just dirty.
2. They could easily say they want to see what happens, since it's plain they are really bad at predicting how the meta will play out with their pushed design. They might hope that things shake out with more than 2 top decks, though by their own definition of oppressive and 'not fun' they should already have banned dirtykitty and either gideon or heart.
Standard attendance at events (I really wish they'd track and show us numbers of FNMs) might be a factor in their decision too. I can't even bring myself to care to go in for FNM tonight :(, so sick of copycat and vehicles.
Yes because all that matters is the quantity of hate available, despite the fact that the amount of potential answers printed in Amonkhet against Vehicles and Copycat are about the same strength or just marginally better than what we currently have. Not to mention the fact that both Vehicles and Copycat are becoming stronger as well. More importantly, a lot of those hate cards you're probably thinking of can also be used against you by Vehicles and Copycat players.
Take for instance cards such asHarsh Mentor and Manglehorn; they are good answers to both Vehicles and Copycat but can also be used by Vehicles and Copycat players.
We already had plenty of answers to those two decks long before Amonkhet, but did that dissuade players" No. You may think you have more answers now but they also have more answers to your answers. So at the end of the day, why would you take the risk of brewing a completely new/unproven deck when you could just take an already well-established archetype and improve upon it?
They are probably going to ban copy cat out. The real question is if heart of Kiran is on the chopping block as well. Honestly, without Saheeli around I think mardu vehicles is no where near oppressive. That and the new set has a lot of interesting deck potential in it that could compete on raw power.
If Heart of Kiran is on the list, it's likely to below the copycat. Honestly I don't think Heart of Kiran warrants a ban; it's just a beatstick, has a high crew cost, and can be fatal pushed. If they want to do something to vehicles, banning Gideon, Ally of Zendikar would be a far better and more feasible choice considering that WOTC never originally intended the upcoming Standard to have two Gideons.
The biggest problem with magic is simply how expensive it is.
People will always be crying foul over X or the other, but most important they have a very short memory span, so they actually FORGET how bad things were in the past.
I remember sphinx control, faeries, caw-blade, delver, and even stalking stones mono blue control in standard. Those were not fun times i mind you!!!
Not only did those decks completely dominate the format, they are equivalently not fun to play against. There is nothing worse than playing a game of 'hey lets see if they drew the right card, in that case my cards do nothing' every turn.
Personally i have not been playing magic for some years now, but it is mostly due to the exorbitant price for a hobby.
If I would want to play this game in all its glory, and have access to all the cards, simply to PLAY the game. It will cost you about 200 euro's each month.
Now I earn more money then most on average, but I can get a whole lot of bang for that kind of money from other hobby's.
I can go every day to the movie for that price, or buy 4 new computer games every month. Hell if i wanted to go diving, and i had to get all the gear + travel costs, i would not be spending this much money.
Now because the game is so expensive you have 2 sides, one is the kitchenmagic side who sometimes goes to a limited even of sorts. And you have the ones who frequent tournaments and to properly compete. However the actual pro's already have problems making a living out of magic, and to have any chance in competing they form these teams to analyse and break down the new format. Simply because Pro Tours give them the best rewards, and PT's just happen to be with the introduction of each new set. No company can balance a game properly enough to deal with thousands of intelligent individuals which main goal is breaking the format. And if X is found to be broken, the entire world will know it instantly due to the internet.
The result?
1-3 decks being miles ahead of the rest, and the format feeling stale.
In the end it doesnt matter which type of deck is strongest, as long as it is overwhelmingly powerfull it will always suck.
RDW is called the fun police, combo like splinter twin or storm is called the 'death of magic' (or solitaire) and a dominating control deck makes people commit mass suicide.
There is never pleasing everyone.
I think this is one of of the best summaries of the game's current state that I've ever read.
All I want is a good, diverse selection of effective removal that you can use to tune your deck to answer the expected metagame instead of a handful of specific answers that you have to run or die because the rest don't line up with the questions being asked. That's really the biggest difference between the really good standards and this one.
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That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating. Take it back!
Well, right now the set looks to be a bit more like Eldrich moon in how it drafts thanks to the card selection. Kaladesh felt a lot less swingy in the draft pools and this feels like a big step back. That and the set over all feels less powerful than even BFZ, and that set was pretty underwhelming in power.
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!
Well, right now the set looks to be a bit more like Eldrich moon in how it drafts thanks to the card selection. Kaladesh felt a lot less swingy in the draft pools and this feels like a big step back. That and the set over all feels less powerful than even BFZ, and that set was pretty underwhelming in power.
I think it will be a good draft set, because most of the mechanics don't need a critical mass to do their thing.
I'm fine running a single Embalm card if it's in my color, and most cycling cards work everywhere regardless of color.
Compare that to BFZ's processors, which weren't particularly good unless you could get quite a few ingestors to go with them.
My concerns with limited in this set are...
Embalm making for long games, especially in sealed
That dang Glorybringer at rare compared to the instant-speed removal in the set
Outside of that, I'm pretty pumped for the limited environment on Amonkhet.
Those creatures wont just die out of nowhere either given the startling lack of traditional removal. Even black doesn't have much unless someone gets the rare Never. What black gained is just crazy synergy, though. I think Strictly Better MTG said it already, but you can really draft a good scarabs deck in black at the uncommon / common level.
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!
When I look at decks that card is good against that are still legal it would be Lantern Control. It also punishes greedy mana bases, so there is that as well. I don't think it is as good as the market is suggesting with the current price tag, though.
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 Heart of Kiran is on the list, it's likely to below the copycat. Honestly I don't think Heart of Kiran warrants a ban; it's just a beatstick, has a high crew cost, and can be fatal pushed. If they want to do something to vehicles, banning Gideon, Ally of Zendikar would be a far better and more feasible choice considering that WOTC never originally intended the upcoming Standard to have two Gideons.
I think this is one of of the best summaries of the game's current state that I've ever read.
Good job, my man.
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'm fine running a single Embalm card if it's in my color, and most cycling cards work everywhere regardless of color.
Compare that to BFZ's processors, which weren't particularly good unless you could get quite a few ingestors to go with them.
My concerns with limited in this set are...
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!