Or the land only enters the battlefield tapped if you don't reveal.
I know they're trying to pull back ramp, but still, it's not like Rampant Growth is OP by any standard.
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 feels like another one of those cards where they just went "it's a tribal set so lets make a tribal land drop spell!" Honestly, the big reason they probably didn't reprint rampant growth is that it is a reprint. They keep wanting to invent new cards to force people to buy the new stuff instead of delve through their backlog of cards and pull out the older copies.
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!
This feels like another one of those cards where they just went "it's a tribal set so lets make a tribal land drop spell!" Honestly, the big reason they probably didn't reprint rampant growth is that it is a reprint. They keep wanting to invent new cards to force people to buy the new stuff instead of delve through their backlog of cards and pull out the older copies.
They generally try to make new cards over reprints - it's a fundamental aspect of the system of a TCG/CCG that both sides profit from. "Inventing new cards" is the largest subsection of the game. I don't see the game surviving on the basis of "we make reprints" both for monetary reasons, but also because as cool as a Masters set every now and then is, there is only extremely limited interest in remixing the same cards over time.
In the end every time they make a card that is not a reprint it's because the "keep wanting to invent new cards".
That said, the set contains a bunch of reprints and Rampant Growth could have been one - even a card that is situationally better than Rampant Growth as has been suggested. They must make a distinction between Negate and Rampant Growth, because they only decided to not reprint one of them.
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]
This feels like another one of those cards where they just went "it's a tribal set so lets make a tribal land drop spell!" Honestly, the big reason they probably didn't reprint rampant growth is that it is a reprint. They keep wanting to invent new cards to force people to buy the new stuff instead of delve through their backlog of cards and pull out the older copies.
They generally try to make new cards over reprints - it's a fundamental aspect of the system of a TCG/CCG that both sides profit from. "Inventing new cards" is the largest subsection of the game. I don't see the game surviving on the basis of "we make reprints" both for monetary reasons, but also because as cool as a Masters set every now and then is, there is only extremely limited interest in remixing the same cards over time.
In the end every time they make a card that is not a reprint it's because the "keep wanting to invent new cards".
That said, the set contains a bunch of reprints and Rampant Growth could have been one - even a card that is situationally better than Rampant Growth as has been suggested. They must make a distinction between Negate and Rampant Growth, because they only decided to not reprint one of them.
That's basically what people have issue with when it comes to this card. That and if they printed a strictly worse version of rampant growth they probably aren't reprinting it in Dominaria. Maybe in Masters 25, but that isn't going to be standard legal.
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!
That's basically what people have issue with when it comes to this card. That and if they printed a strictly worse version of rampant growth they probably aren't reprinting it in Dominaria. Maybe in Masters 25, but that isn't going to be standard legal.
But isn't it a good thing that Standard is not always going to consist of the same cards? I mean, I get that it's problematic when too many staple effects are missing especially if answer cards like counterspells and removal are lacking, but the point of Standard legality is to have an environment that changes. And I cannot imagine that a mildly good card like Rampant Growth that has repeatedly been printed at common has supply issues in eternal formats, so as I understand it a person could be one of two things:
Playing Standard in which case the absence or presence of a single card is not as important as the overall play design. You shouldn't miss Rampant Growth unless it unmistakably makes Standard better.
Not playing Standard in which case you either play another format Rampant Growth is not legal in (I'm not aware of one, but for the sake of argument) or one where Rampant Growth is legal in whether it's in Standard or not.
I guess you could play multiple formats including Standard, but then you always wear either of those two hats at any given moment...
I'm getting that people think downgrading from Rampant Growth is "ridiculous". I just don't get why. Just because the card exists and adjusting the power level is bad? Is it a sense of entitlement? "I deserve to use this card from my collection in every upcoming Standard until the end of time"? Is it that? Because that's the explanation I would have to guess at from your earlier post. And that doesn't seem like something we should measure new Standard legal sets against.
Maybe I'm missing something.
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]
But isn't it a good thing that Standard is not always going to consist of the same cards?
Then why are you happy about this card? In a dinosaur deck it's just a carbon copy of rampant growth. You are contradicting yourself.
I don't know what you are missing about people not being happy about an uninteresting, downgraded version of a boring, weak card. Looks like all pieces are here in front of you.
What's funny is, this card is still STRICTLY worse than rampant growth even in a dino deck(talking about casual here). It's just frowns all around for this card. It needed to ping a creature you control or gain 2 life, or have farseek text or *something* to not make it so groan-inducing. I want to be rewarded for playing dinosaurs like pirates, vamps and merfolk were (that vamp card is spicy too).
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My favorite flavor text: Time of Heroes
Feel free to tell me yours!
Standard is missing a decent noncreature two-mana ramp spell. You can play creatures that will often get removed before they can tap for mana or you can pay three mana. A plain old Rampant Growth would be welcome.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Protection from reason (Decadent_Creed can't be blocked, targeted, dealt damage, or enchanted by reason.)
But isn't it a good thing that Standard is not always going to consist of the same cards?
Then why are you happy about this card? In a dinosaur deck it's just a carbon copy of rampant growth. You are contradicting yourself.
Which means I cannot use it as such in a non-Dinosaur deck. Which means in turn that the card is distinct. I'm sure though in the end it's not even a Standard card on a competitive anyway, so that might be as well purely moot. For the player that cares about Rampant Growth for Standard Constructed (for whatever reason) it's still relevant that they don't get it for free.
And since I care about Limited as well, I can appreciate that making a functional card notably worse outside of a tribe that needs to pick up similar effects.
I don't know what you are missing about people not being happy about an uninteresting, downgraded version of a boring, weak card. Looks like all pieces are here in front of you.
If you consider Rampant Growth a boring, weak card, then all you got instead is another boring, weak card. I don't understand any preference for reprinting Rampant Growth here since it is - as you say - a boring, weak card.
I assume for you the two cards are equally not something you want to pick up from your eternal perspective, so you don't lose anything with this card, and it follows that you don't gain anything if Rampant Growth is printed instead. So for you there is no stake in printing either of the two cards. For the Limited player there is a stake.
Note: People use "happy" in different ways. You seem to assume "happy" is a default state with the other option being "unhappy". I like to see these two as opposite ends of a spectrum with "indifferent" being the default neutral state. I'm within this spectrum in the general region of my default state of indifferent about this card, and I wonder why others seemingly are not.
So I can entirely understand why people are "not being happy", since I myself have not reached a state of remarkable elation from this card. But that does not mean I understand why a person -from the perspective of a format that wouldn't be changed by the printing of this card nor by the reprint of Rampant Growth- would have a strong feeling in the other direction either.
By contrast I entirely understand why an EDH player would be unhappy about Ulrich - which was a card meant for Commander and entirely failed to deliver.
It's like the difference between going in a shop and being angry that they sell liquorice because you don't like them. I don't get that. It's not like they put liquorice into every single product. There is no "five cards from each legal set" rule anymore that forces you to consider this card as option. I don't need to be happy about liquorice to walk past it and grab my prefered food product.
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]
I can't speak for anyone else, but I, personally, am much more forgiving of bad cards if they still at least have something to offer over the cards they're worse than. Natural Connection and Beneath the Sands are both worse than Rampant Growth, but they each do something that Rampant Growth doesn't. So there are some times when you'd want to play them over Rampant Growth. Not so for Thunderherd Migration. Even a casual player with a kitchen-table dinosaur deck would rather play Rampant Growth every time. Thunderherd Migration doesn't reward you for playing dinosaurs, rather it punishes you for not playing dinosaurs.
It's the same reason why people hate Cancel, but are largely fine with stuff like Negate or Dissolve. Or why people will defend One With Nothing until they're blue in the face, but nobody will come to Hand of Death's defence, despite Hand of Death being the more useful card in the vast majority of situations.
...There's also the fact that many were excited about dinosaurs being in Magic finally, but dinosaurs don't seem to have gotten as many good toys as vampires or merfolk, two already-established tribes. Some people's umbrage at Thunderherd Migration is probably due to the fact that it's another symptom of that.
To me it's like if they made me a birthday cake and inside there was liquorice. I complain because i don't like liquorice and the baker says "many people like liquorice".
Maybe that's the issue. You look at a set as if it was a single dish, while it's actually a buffet. It's weirdly dismissive of the wants of others if you go to a buffet and complain about a dish that you don't like but someone else will use as a side to another dish (Limited).
And there are plenty of "weird rule"s of aesthetics and game design that would explain why your earlier suggestions were not used for this card. So maybe there is not one singular rule but the sum of multiple prods.
If you don't care about the card why you defend it so much?
You asked "Why?" I replied. We have a back-and-forth in which I try to figure out why the reply is unsatisfying. I care less about the card than about understanding people's reactions and perspective. That's why I actually replied to another person in this very thread IIRC that the card is not immutable per se - but I left unspoken that this does not mean that the proposed alternative is overall the better option.
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]
I thought a conversation could be had, but that cursing is starting to be a strain on my mood. You apparently are working yourself up over this, so I'll move on from this discussion. Maybe another day. Sorry, if I wasted your goodwill in trying to make me come around to your point of view.
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]
Man, here I am, a kitchen table magic player who enjoys the cards a company so generously continues to print for us, despite every card ever sucking, and no players being happy ever, and I actually enjoy my strictly worse, Dino-flavored rampant growth.
But apparently I’ve already been represented in this thread and spoken for so as per the guidelines that everyone agrees to when we started playing, we must all henceforth not only quit magic but burn every booster of Rivals of Ixalan to prove to WOTC once and for all that we’re not gonna take this anymore!
May I ask why you enjoy it @Syzygylion? I get its nice to have a dino themed card but if you are playing any format but standard than you should just play something else and if you are playing standard is it good enough for the tribe? I personally don't like it, and that is nothing against you liking it, I just have to agree with others by asking why not actually give it a pay off for playing dinos? Dinos need support, they need good spells and I personally am not looking to put this into my dino edh deck because it is just worse than other cards. I am also personally upset to see more and more worse versions of cards printed. It just kills my desire to play standard. In the end you can like the card, there is nothing wrong with that, but I think the people who dislike it have raised valid reasons why that they are equally entitled to.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Commander: UBG Tasigur, the lab enabler UR Planeswalker Control UBRW Breya's personal box of combos BRW Vampire beats, by Dre 1 Karn, where all lands are command towers UBR Inalla's Venser lock UBRGW Atog Atog contraption tribal WUB Xur's second chance UGW Derivi, bird tribal R Brother's Yamazaki BRG Prosh, the scourge of multiplayer GW Capt. Sisay's Deck Dumping Service UB All Your Spells do Belong to Me UG Tapioca Pearl BG Meren's grinder
Of course, the real problem, one of the problems, with Urza's block was free spells and lands that scale. Toss in cards like Memory Jar and Academy Rector to round out the nuttiness and you can see there's no reason to dial back the meh cards, just dial back the cards that should be obvious to anyone (lands that produce more than one mana, exchanging life for another resource, cheating cards into play from the library, that sort of thing) and be very careful on the untaps; there was really no reason Great Whale and friends couldn't just have you add blue mana to your mana pool equal to their CMC à la Priest of Gix, or let you cast a spell with CMC less than or equal to their CMC for free like we saw in Kaladesh.
Hell, immediately after affinity, we got a strictly better Rampant Growth in the form of Sakura-Tribe Elder.
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!
To me it's like if they made me a birthday cake and inside there was liquorice. I complain because i don't like liquorice and the baker says "many people like liquorice".
Maybe that's the issue. You look at a set as if it was a single dish, while it's actually a buffet. It's weirdly dismissive of the wants of others if you go to a buffet and complain about a dish that you don't like but someone else will use as a side to another dish (Limited).
The problem with these food metaphors is that your enjoyment of any given food is not dependant on your enjoyment of other foods. Many people, myself included, feel that chocolate and peanut butter are awesome together, but that doesn't mean you have to enjoy peanut butter to enjoy chocolate, or vice-versa. In Magic, though, cards are only as good as the cards that support them. So if you like dinosaurs, but the support isn't there to make them viable in your format of choice, then you're out of luck.
How did I know someone would read my post and immediately read the card back to me as if I didn't have any idea what the text on Doom Blade was. I reference Doom Blade because it represents an entire category of Magic cards (black removal). Vraska's Contempt would be a fine draft uncommon at its mana cost. Judging by pure power-level though, no it is not even in the same ball park as Doom Blade. It doesn't so much as crack the top 20 as far as targeted black removal goes. Yet here we are in 2017 being asked to pony up real money for a $5 rare that will NEVER see play outside the money pit that is limited/standard and is COMPLETELY outclassed by common cards printed 5 years ago.
You made the common blunder of thinking a very good common from back in the day is a universal answer in all situations? I agree that Contempt shouldn't be a five dollar cards, but if you think that every possible deck would rather have Doomblade, you're just flat out wrong.
In faster formats, where every point of mana counts, you'd rather have Doomblade... unless you know the format swings toward walkers then you probably want Downfall instead. Because if you can't get in on their walkers with creatures, and you're in black, you probably want to just kill them. I'd take Contempt if I know I have to deal with things that recur easily or are generally indestructible. You're mistaking 'usually better' or 'often better' as 'always better this other card is garbage' which is just patently untrue.
I just checked the most recent Standard Top8, every deck has something Doomblade is just a dead draw against that Contempt actually solves.
1) Bile Blight -> narrow but good against token strats
2) Hero's Downfall -> versatile answer to walkers and creatures.
3) Grasp of Darkness -> staple of last standard that still holds up.
4) slaughter pact -> this is just nuts. Not being able to hit black creatures is rough in this format, though.
5) Dismember -> Probably the most broken of the bunch next to slaughter pact
6) Go for the Throat -> OP in a format without a lot of artifact creatures.
7) Ultimate Price -> OP due to most high impact creatures being mono-colored.
8) Tragic Slip -> minor hoop to jump through, but it's a one mana answer to even the largest creature in the format.
9) Deathmark -> Narrow, but single handedly ends dinosaur decks since their biggest threats are all green. Also hits white targets, but those tend to be underplayed.
That's not a comprehensive list, but hopefully that makes the point clear that yes, Vraska's Contempt is an over costed rare that asks for too much just to get a small benefit over something like Hero's Downfall and honestly could be replaced by a more narrow, but far more mana efficient answer in some places.
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!
The problem with these food metaphors is that your enjoyment of any given food is not dependant on your enjoyment of other foods. Many people, myself included, feel that chocolate and peanut butter are awesome together, but that doesn't mean you have to enjoy peanut butter to enjoy chocolate, or vice-versa. In Magic, though, cards are only as good as the cards that support them. So if you like dinosaurs, but the support isn't there to make them viable in your format of choice, then you're out of luck.
Well, that's why I was specifically confused about EDH which has an enormous card pool and can easily interact with the modular aspect of Dinosaurs. That's why it is important that tribes don't rely on tribal effects alone, but also have a distinct mechanical identity. There have to be plenty of options to enable e. g. enrage or combine Dinosaur cards with nontribal effects that were originally created for other cards e. g. Elemental Bond.
The buffet in an eternal format is greater than the most recent plates added to me.
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]
Kodama's Reach for 1G, but if you don't reveal, it costs 2 more.
Or Explosive Vegetation for 1GG, but if you don't reveal, it costs 2 more.
Or the land only enters the battlefield tapped if you don't reveal.
I know they're trying to pull back ramp, but still, it's not like Rampant Growth is OP by any standard.
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!
They generally try to make new cards over reprints - it's a fundamental aspect of the system of a TCG/CCG that both sides profit from. "Inventing new cards" is the largest subsection of the game. I don't see the game surviving on the basis of "we make reprints" both for monetary reasons, but also because as cool as a Masters set every now and then is, there is only extremely limited interest in remixing the same cards over time.
In the end every time they make a card that is not a reprint it's because the "keep wanting to invent new cards".
That said, the set contains a bunch of reprints and Rampant Growth could have been one - even a card that is situationally better than Rampant Growth as has been suggested. They must make a distinction between Negate and Rampant Growth, because they only decided to not reprint one of them.
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
That's basically what people have issue with when it comes to this card. That and if they printed a strictly worse version of rampant growth they probably aren't reprinting it in Dominaria. Maybe in Masters 25, but that isn't going to be standard legal.
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!
But isn't it a good thing that Standard is not always going to consist of the same cards? I mean, I get that it's problematic when too many staple effects are missing especially if answer cards like counterspells and removal are lacking, but the point of Standard legality is to have an environment that changes. And I cannot imagine that a mildly good card like Rampant Growth that has repeatedly been printed at common has supply issues in eternal formats, so as I understand it a person could be one of two things:
I'm getting that people think downgrading from Rampant Growth is "ridiculous". I just don't get why. Just because the card exists and adjusting the power level is bad? Is it a sense of entitlement? "I deserve to use this card from my collection in every upcoming Standard until the end of time"? Is it that? Because that's the explanation I would have to guess at from your earlier post. And that doesn't seem like something we should measure new Standard legal sets against.
Maybe I'm missing something.
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
What's funny is, this card is still STRICTLY worse than rampant growth even in a dino deck(talking about casual here). It's just frowns all around for this card. It needed to ping a creature you control or gain 2 life, or have farseek text or *something* to not make it so groan-inducing. I want to be rewarded for playing dinosaurs like pirates, vamps and merfolk were (that vamp card is spicy too).
Feel free to tell me yours!
Which means I cannot use it as such in a non-Dinosaur deck. Which means in turn that the card is distinct. I'm sure though in the end it's not even a Standard card on a competitive anyway, so that might be as well purely moot. For the player that cares about Rampant Growth for Standard Constructed (for whatever reason) it's still relevant that they don't get it for free.
And since I care about Limited as well, I can appreciate that making a functional card notably worse outside of a tribe that needs to pick up similar effects.
If you consider Rampant Growth a boring, weak card, then all you got instead is another boring, weak card. I don't understand any preference for reprinting Rampant Growth here since it is - as you say - a boring, weak card.
I assume for you the two cards are equally not something you want to pick up from your eternal perspective, so you don't lose anything with this card, and it follows that you don't gain anything if Rampant Growth is printed instead. So for you there is no stake in printing either of the two cards. For the Limited player there is a stake.
Note: People use "happy" in different ways. You seem to assume "happy" is a default state with the other option being "unhappy". I like to see these two as opposite ends of a spectrum with "indifferent" being the default neutral state. I'm within this spectrum in the general region of my default state of indifferent about this card, and I wonder why others seemingly are not.
So I can entirely understand why people are "not being happy", since I myself have not reached a state of remarkable elation from this card. But that does not mean I understand why a person -from the perspective of a format that wouldn't be changed by the printing of this card nor by the reprint of Rampant Growth- would have a strong feeling in the other direction either.
By contrast I entirely understand why an EDH player would be unhappy about Ulrich - which was a card meant for Commander and entirely failed to deliver.
It's like the difference between going in a shop and being angry that they sell liquorice because you don't like them. I don't get that. It's not like they put liquorice into every single product. There is no "five cards from each legal set" rule anymore that forces you to consider this card as option. I don't need to be happy about liquorice to walk past it and grab my prefered food product.
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
It's the same reason why people hate Cancel, but are largely fine with stuff like Negate or Dissolve. Or why people will defend One With Nothing until they're blue in the face, but nobody will come to Hand of Death's defence, despite Hand of Death being the more useful card in the vast majority of situations.
...There's also the fact that many were excited about dinosaurs being in Magic finally, but dinosaurs don't seem to have gotten as many good toys as vampires or merfolk, two already-established tribes. Some people's umbrage at Thunderherd Migration is probably due to the fact that it's another symptom of that.
Maybe that's the issue. You look at a set as if it was a single dish, while it's actually a buffet. It's weirdly dismissive of the wants of others if you go to a buffet and complain about a dish that you don't like but someone else will use as a side to another dish (Limited).
And there are plenty of "weird rule"s of aesthetics and game design that would explain why your earlier suggestions were not used for this card. So maybe there is not one singular rule but the sum of multiple prods.
You asked "Why?" I replied. We have a back-and-forth in which I try to figure out why the reply is unsatisfying. I care less about the card than about understanding people's reactions and perspective. That's why I actually replied to another person in this very thread IIRC that the card is not immutable per se - but I left unspoken that this does not mean that the proposed alternative is overall the better option.
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
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
But apparently I’ve already been represented in this thread and spoken for so as per the guidelines that everyone agrees to when we started playing, we must all henceforth not only quit magic but burn every booster of Rivals of Ixalan to prove to WOTC once and for all that we’re not gonna take this anymore!
UBG Tasigur, the lab enabler UR Planeswalker Control
UBRW Breya's personal box of combos BRW Vampire beats, by Dre
1 Karn, where all lands are command towers UBR Inalla's Venser lock
UBRGW Atog Atog contraption tribal WUB Xur's second chance
UGW Derivi, bird tribal R Brother's Yamazaki
BRG Prosh, the scourge of multiplayer GW Capt. Sisay's Deck Dumping Service
UB All Your Spells do Belong to Me UG Tapioca Pearl
BG Meren's grinder
They do this all the time, I'm afraid. After Urza's block, they gave us Cloud Sprite, Hazy Homunculus, and Air Bladder because Flying Men, Metathran Soldier, and Flight were apparently "too good".
Of course, the real problem, one of the problems, with Urza's block was free spells and lands that scale. Toss in cards like Memory Jar and Academy Rector to round out the nuttiness and you can see there's no reason to dial back the meh cards, just dial back the cards that should be obvious to anyone (lands that produce more than one mana, exchanging life for another resource, cheating cards into play from the library, that sort of thing) and be very careful on the untaps; there was really no reason Great Whale and friends couldn't just have you add blue mana to your mana pool equal to their CMC à la Priest of Gix, or let you cast a spell with CMC less than or equal to their CMC for free like we saw in Kaladesh.
Hell, immediately after affinity, we got a strictly better Rampant Growth in the form of Sakura-Tribe Elder.
On phasing:
Things I'd rather have in my deck besides Vraska's Contempt
1) Bile Blight -> narrow but good against token strats
2) Hero's Downfall -> versatile answer to walkers and creatures.
3) Grasp of Darkness -> staple of last standard that still holds up.
4) slaughter pact -> this is just nuts. Not being able to hit black creatures is rough in this format, though.
5) Dismember -> Probably the most broken of the bunch next to slaughter pact
6) Go for the Throat -> OP in a format without a lot of artifact creatures.
7) Ultimate Price -> OP due to most high impact creatures being mono-colored.
8) Tragic Slip -> minor hoop to jump through, but it's a one mana answer to even the largest creature in the format.
9) Deathmark -> Narrow, but single handedly ends dinosaur decks since their biggest threats are all green. Also hits white targets, but those tend to be underplayed.
That's not a comprehensive list, but hopefully that makes the point clear that yes, Vraska's Contempt is an over costed rare that asks for too much just to get a small benefit over something like Hero's Downfall and honestly could be replaced by a more narrow, but far more mana efficient answer in some places.
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, that's why I was specifically confused about EDH which has an enormous card pool and can easily interact with the modular aspect of Dinosaurs. That's why it is important that tribes don't rely on tribal effects alone, but also have a distinct mechanical identity. There have to be plenty of options to enable e. g. enrage or combine Dinosaur cards with nontribal effects that were originally created for other cards e. g. Elemental Bond.
The buffet in an eternal format is greater than the most recent plates added to me.
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