These are basically planeswalker decks with no set associated with them, so the most interesting things to note are flavor.
Heavenly Qilin uses the Chinese spelling for the name but the established Japanese spelling for the creature type. Makes sense - it's a Chinese mythology plane, but the existing type Kirin is exactly the same as a Qilin.
I guess the deck lists are all new cards? No reprints? Would have been nice to throw in an old obscure card that could have used a reprint (something that's $10 due to scarcity, not due to power).
The 2 planeswalker tutor cards feel slightly more playable than others. Which is kind of neat.
Not much else to see here (I guess the Dragon could be used in niche EDH?)-- some of this art is really sweet so its a shame that it's wasted on jank.
The art on most of these cards is so beautiful. It's a shame that almost all of them are super outclassed. Vivid Flying Fish in particular stands out — amazing art, and yet strictly worse than even Sea Eagle.
Also, there is a reprint here: Brilliant Plan. A card that was printed in Portal Three Kingdoms, no less!
I'm not going to complain about a 2-mana shock, but did they have to waste such a cool name on Breath of Fire? At least Mortal Combat got a splashy card. Why not just call it something suitably generic like Flame Breath? Hopefully when we get a creature called Street Fighter, it does the name justice.
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.
Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
I guess the deck lists are all new cards? No reprints? Would have been nice to throw in an old obscure card that could have used a reprint (something that's $10 due to scarcity, not due to power).
Welkin Tern and Giant Spider are (not the only IIRC) reprints with new art and flavor text, so your guess is wrong. I'm surprised, you wouldn't recognize the reprints considering one of them is, to repeat, Giant Spider - the reprintiest card of them all.
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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]
The set looks fairly underpowered so far, such as strictly-worse Unsummon (Drown in Shapelessness) and the aforementioned Breath of Fire. Though Mu Yanling, the blue planeswalker, has a decent ult and often has high loyalty. If only she didn't cost 4UU! Pretty costly.
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EDH/Commander
UBR Sedris RG Omnath, Locus of Rage UB The Scarab God RUG Maelstrom Wanderer WU Dragonlord Ojutai
I can't give two ***** about power level, but the art on these cards is so beautiful. I need that bamboo Forest so badly. I wish they would print it in foil.
I guess the deck lists are all new cards? No reprints? Would have been nice to throw in an old obscure card that could have used a reprint (something that's $10 due to scarcity, not due to power).
Welkin Tern and Giant Spider are (not the only IIRC) reprints with new art and flavor text, so your guess is wrong. I'm surprised, you wouldn't recognize the reprints considering one of them is, to repeat, Giant Spider - the reprintiest card of them all.
Probably should have put in "worthwhile" in front of the word reprint
1) The plane is based on Shan Hai Jing! (Classic of Mountains and Seas), that's supreme flavor in every way.
2) If the set is successful, we might visit it again, can't wait!
3) I like Ancestor Dragon and Screeching Phoenix. They're not overpowered, but I could see them included in some decks. Is Screeching Phoenix the first of its kind to have no recurring ability?
Here are some very telling quotes. If you can't decipher the corporate speak, I will summarize after each.
However, one very, very important element to us was not to fracture the competitive scene. Having Chinese Standard and European or North American Standard look very different would not be good for the game, because it creates discordant information and doesn't allow information and decklists from one place to transfer over to the other. And that's not even factoring in pieces like Magic Online!
Okay, pretty much face value on this.
So, Play Design was very careful to make sure that the cards were balanced so that none of them were cards for Constructed. We're always careful with Planeswalker Decks, but especially here we wanted to be even more careful than normal.
Translation: We nerfed these cards bigly so that no one will ever want or need to use them in Constructed. Planeswalker Decks always suck hard but we designed this one to be even worse than usual.
After all, the most important aspect of these decks is that they teach you how to play. And if it's clear that cards you get in your booster packs are often stronger than these cards, that's actually okay: it's a great pathway to upgrade your deck when you're new. In fact, we've found that when most new players put cards into their deck they actually tend to weaken their deck because they are still learning about deck building! Having some cards that you can obviously take out can be very helpful.
Translation: Again these decks suck hard. Any rube can figure out that a $3.99 MSRP booster pack has more power and playability in it than these $19.99 MSRP constructed Nerf Decks. But that is okay to take advantage of a newb's general dumbness. We put in total chaff that even the biggest idiot can figure out needs to be removed to make these remotely competitively playable.
Even though technically the Standard card pools between China and elsewhere will be different, it should be nearly unnoticeable at the competitive level. We know this is important to players, and we were very careful with how we handled the cards in this set. If, for some reason, an interaction breaks that sets Chinese Standard on a different course than the rest of the world, then we will talk about if any action needs to be taken—but we have very high confidence that should not be the case.
Even though we are purposely creating disharmony of product, this crap is so dang bad that it will never show up in a competitive deck. When we use "very careful" we really mean nerfed hard. If for some reason any of this trash makes its way into competitive Standard in China, we will bring down the ban-hammer. But we are pretty confident that this steaming offal won't make us do that.
So…..
Artwork for the most part is great. Some very beautiful cards here. I give it an A.
Playability gets an F-
Monetary Value I'd say D+
And yes, I bet I've opened up a can of worms.
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Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
I will probably end up buying both decks......for the artwork. Maybe the green planeswalker will be playable in my mono green Hydra/ramp commander deck but this is mostly a “for the card images” buy for me
Expected but still super dissapointing, I'll probably pick them up just in the hope that we see this plane and subsequently Mu yanling again.
Dissapointed in Jiang considering his entire expertise is casting gigantic growth (for extra mana...) but excited to FINALLY see a hydromancer PW. Now to hope she shows up in something worth it
Here are some very telling quotes. If you can't decipher the corporate speak, I will summarize after each.
However, one very, very important element to us was not to fracture the competitive scene. Having Chinese Standard and European or North American Standard look very different would not be good for the game, because it creates discordant information and doesn't allow information and decklists from one place to transfer over to the other. And that's not even factoring in pieces like Magic Online!
Okay, pretty much face value on this.
So, Play Design was very careful to make sure that the cards were balanced so that none of them were cards for Constructed. We're always careful with Planeswalker Decks, but especially here we wanted to be even more careful than normal.
Translation: We nerfed these cards bigly so that no one will ever want or need to use them in Constructed. Planeswalker Decks always suck hard but we designed this one to be even worse than usual.
After all, the most important aspect of these decks is that they teach you how to play. And if it's clear that cards you get in your booster packs are often stronger than these cards, that's actually okay: it's a great pathway to upgrade your deck when you're new. In fact, we've found that when most new players put cards into their deck they actually tend to weaken their deck because they are still learning about deck building! Having some cards that you can obviously take out can be very helpful.
Translation: Again these decks suck hard. Any rube can figure out that a $3.99 MSRP booster pack has more power and playability in it than these $19.99 MSRP constructed Nerf Decks. But that is okay to take advantage of a newb's general dumbness. We put in total chaff that even the biggest idiot can figure out needs to be removed to make these remotely competitively playable.
Even though technically the Standard card pools between China and elsewhere will be different, it should be nearly unnoticeable at the competitive level. We know this is important to players, and we were very careful with how we handled the cards in this set. If, for some reason, an interaction breaks that sets Chinese Standard on a different course than the rest of the world, then we will talk about if any action needs to be taken—but we have very high confidence that should not be the case.
Even though we are purposely creating disharmony of product, this crap is so dang bad that it will never show up in a competitive deck. When we use "very careful" we really mean nerfed hard. If for some reason any of this trash makes its way into competitive Standard in China, we will bring down the ban-hammer. But we are pretty confident that this steaming offal won't make us do that.
So…..
Artwork for the most part is great. Some very beautiful cards here. I give it an A.
Playability gets an F-
Monetary Value I'd say D+
And yes, I bet I've opened up a can of worms.
You get an F for comprehension of what these decks are about. They're designed to introduce the game in a market Wizards believes has a lot of growth potential. Magic is a complicated game. This is intended for absolute newbs. Of course something designed to teach the BASIC FUNDAMENTALS of the game won't appeal to enfranchised players. There's an entire article about it. "This crap is so dang bad that it will never show up in a competitive deck". IT WAS NEVER INTENDED TO, in fact it was specifically designed NOT to.
Terrible set. I was expecting either a colectible or a full set. Who is this aiming for? At 20$ i would rather buy packs. There is a store nearby that is going to be stuck with 10+ of this 20$ Carboardboxes full of nothing and they are not on good financial footing. Wizzards has betrayed themselfs again traying to please too many people. Its time they start to take risks and stop missing opportunities like this.
Terrible set. I was expecting either a colectible or a full set. Who is this aiming for? At 20$ i would rather buy packs. There is a store nearby that is going to be stuck with 10+ of this 20$ Carboardboxes full of nothing and they are not on good financial footing. Wizzards has betrayed themselfs again traying to please too many people. Its time they start to take risks and stop missing opportunities like this.
"After years of research and analysis, we've found that a key to getting people into Magic is . . . getting them to try Magic!"
"we do an incredible amount of work on introductory products."
"It's easy to glance past these if you've been playing Magic for ages, but they are a tremendous piece of what makes Magic work."
"So, what if we made a product to bring Chinese players into Magic? To give them that initial taste..."
"...we just need to get players started"
"An introductory product would be perfect."
"Now, to properly set expectations: these are essentially special Planeswalker Decks for a Chinese audience."
"After much discussion, we settled on something unusual: these cards would be legal for Standard play in mainland China events. They will also be legal in Vintage and Legacy everywhere. They will never be Modern legal, because once they rotate out of Standard, the reason they were Standard legal no longer applies. However, one very, very important element to us was not to fracture the competitive scene. Having Chinese Standard and European or North American Standard look very different would not be good for the game, because it creates discordant information and doesn't allow information and decklists from one place to transfer over to the other."
"So, Play Design was very careful to make sure that the cards were balanced so that none of them were cards for Constructed."
"After all, the most important aspect of these decks is that they teach you how to play."
Seriously people, Wizards COULD NOT HAVE MADE IT MORE CLEAR: 1. WHO these cards are for; and 2. Why the power level/complexity exists as it does.
Yeah, the cards intentionally made bad, otherwise people will complain on how hard it is to obtain.
Though as a beginner, I wonder how will I feel if soon I discover all these cards suck. I guess that is the experiment Wizards is making.
I really like the art in this set, and I imagine new players will be enfranchised just as I was a few years ago.
"This crap is so dang bad that it will never show up in a competitive deck". IT WAS NEVER INTENDED TO, in fact it was specifically designed NOT to.
No duh, I just said that.
So newbies like inferior product then? Its okay to sell trash to newbs because they are too dumb to know better.
No, this set is a fail overall regardless of the artwork and I comprehend what WotC is doing here. What is so hard to understand about cards like Unsummon or Lightning Bolt or even Doom Blade? I'd say those are easier for newbs to learn on and play. Wizards is admitting they are producing trash content and people like you are okay with that. Pretty sad.
And FYI: Wizards has been in the Chinese market for DECADES. Anyone that wants to play in China already can. This doesn't open anything new up at all.
Seriously people, Wizards COULD NOT HAVE MADE IT MORE CLEAR: 1. WHO these cards are for; and 2. Why the power level/complexity exists as it does.
Yes they have made it clear. Ignorant newbies that don't mind getting trash along with a couple of shiny near unplayable planeswalkers that don't know any better. And eventually they find out the product was nerfed to the Nth degree and they have flushed their money down the toilet because Wizards doesn't mind taking advantage of their naiveté and ignorance.
Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
You get an F for comprehension of what these decks are about. They're designed to introduce the game in a market Wizards believes has a lot of growth potential. Magic is a complicated game. This is intended for absolute newbs. Of course something designed to teach the BASIC FUNDAMENTALS of the game won't appeal to enfranchised players. There's an entire article about it. "This crap is so dang bad that it will never show up in a competitive deck". IT WAS NEVER INTENDED TO, in fact it was specifically designed NOT to.
You get an A for fanboysm
Plenty of cards that aren't competitive in standard but are casual playable and/or fun. prothean hydra comes to mind.
90% of these cards are just boring and terrible. Sad to see that they choose the lazy route instead of coming up with fun cards.
I don't understand this mentality to give newbie cards that are worth nothing. I'm sure that they will feel happy and satisfied when they will realize that their deck is pure thrash and will throw it in the garbage.
Thank you. Well said. Its probably a Wizard shill that gets paid to come on the site and spout the corporate blather.
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Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
Sure, there is a chance of spending $4 on a booster and getting the Mythic Rare $30 super card. There is also a chance of surviving putting your tongue in a light socket.
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https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/card-image-gallery/global-series-jiangg-yanggu-mu-yanling-2018-06-07
Looks like all new cards and very underpowered. Of note it seems they are not designed as a duel deck but as two separate beginner's decks.
Heavenly Qilin uses the Chinese spelling for the name but the established Japanese spelling for the creature type. Makes sense - it's a Chinese mythology plane, but the existing type Kirin is exactly the same as a Qilin.
Drown in Shapelessness is a great name used on a low-powered card.
Reckless Pangolin is... not an Anteater. But does have its own type. I guess Prowling Pangolin is officially a Pangolin now.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
The 2 planeswalker tutor cards feel slightly more playable than others. Which is kind of neat.
Not much else to see here (I guess the Dragon could be used in niche EDH?)-- some of this art is really sweet so its a shame that it's wasted on jank.
Also, there is a reprint here: Brilliant Plan. A card that was printed in Portal Three Kingdoms, no less!
3BB
Sorcery
You lose the game.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
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.
Hard Pass.
As for something positive, I love the artwork on Colorful Feiyi Sparrow.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
Welkin Tern and Giant Spider are (not the only IIRC) reprints with new art and flavor text, so your guess is wrong. I'm surprised, you wouldn't recognize the reprints considering one of them is, to repeat, Giant Spider - the reprintiest card of them all.
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
UBR Sedris
RG Omnath, Locus of Rage
UB The Scarab God
RUG Maelstrom Wanderer
WU Dragonlord Ojutai
Probably should have put in "worthwhile" in front of the word reprint
1) The plane is based on Shan Hai Jing! (Classic of Mountains and Seas), that's supreme flavor in every way.
2) If the set is successful, we might visit it again, can't wait!
3) I like Ancestor Dragon and Screeching Phoenix. They're not overpowered, but I could see them included in some decks. Is Screeching Phoenix the first of its kind to have no recurring ability?
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/creating-global-series-jiang-yanggu-mu-yanling-2018-06-07
Here are some very telling quotes. If you can't decipher the corporate speak, I will summarize after each.
Okay, pretty much face value on this.
Translation: We nerfed these cards bigly so that no one will ever want or need to use them in Constructed. Planeswalker Decks always suck hard but we designed this one to be even worse than usual.
Translation: Again these decks suck hard. Any rube can figure out that a $3.99 MSRP booster pack has more power and playability in it than these $19.99 MSRP constructed Nerf Decks. But that is okay to take advantage of a newb's general dumbness. We put in total chaff that even the biggest idiot can figure out needs to be removed to make these remotely competitively playable.
Even though we are purposely creating disharmony of product, this crap is so dang bad that it will never show up in a competitive deck. When we use "very careful" we really mean nerfed hard. If for some reason any of this trash makes its way into competitive Standard in China, we will bring down the ban-hammer. But we are pretty confident that this steaming offal won't make us do that.
So…..
Artwork for the most part is great. Some very beautiful cards here. I give it an A.
Playability gets an F-
Monetary Value I'd say D+
And yes, I bet I've opened up a can of worms.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
Dissapointed in Jiang considering his entire expertise is casting gigantic growth (for extra mana...) but excited to FINALLY see a hydromancer PW. Now to hope she shows up in something worth it
You get an F for comprehension of what these decks are about. They're designed to introduce the game in a market Wizards believes has a lot of growth potential. Magic is a complicated game. This is intended for absolute newbs. Of course something designed to teach the BASIC FUNDAMENTALS of the game won't appeal to enfranchised players. There's an entire article about it. "This crap is so dang bad that it will never show up in a competitive deck". IT WAS NEVER INTENDED TO, in fact it was specifically designed NOT to.
It's abundantly clear who this is aiming for.
From Wizards (emphasis mine): https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/creating-global-series-jiang-yanggu-mu-yanling-2018-06-07
"After years of research and analysis, we've found that a key to getting people into Magic is . . . getting them to try Magic!"
"we do an incredible amount of work on introductory products."
"It's easy to glance past these if you've been playing Magic for ages, but they are a tremendous piece of what makes Magic work."
"So, what if we made a product to bring Chinese players into Magic? To give them that initial taste..."
"...we just need to get players started"
"An introductory product would be perfect."
"Now, to properly set expectations: these are essentially special Planeswalker Decks for a Chinese audience."
"After much discussion, we settled on something unusual: these cards would be legal for Standard play in mainland China events. They will also be legal in Vintage and Legacy everywhere. They will never be Modern legal, because once they rotate out of Standard, the reason they were Standard legal no longer applies. However, one very, very important element to us was not to fracture the competitive scene. Having Chinese Standard and European or North American Standard look very different would not be good for the game, because it creates discordant information and doesn't allow information and decklists from one place to transfer over to the other."
"So, Play Design was very careful to make sure that the cards were balanced so that none of them were cards for Constructed."
"After all, the most important aspect of these decks is that they teach you how to play."
Seriously people, Wizards COULD NOT HAVE MADE IT MORE CLEAR: 1. WHO these cards are for; and 2. Why the power level/complexity exists as it does.
Though as a beginner, I wonder how will I feel if soon I discover all these cards suck. I guess that is the experiment Wizards is making.
I really like the art in this set, and I imagine new players will be enfranchised just as I was a few years ago.
No duh, I just said that.
So newbies like inferior product then? Its okay to sell trash to newbs because they are too dumb to know better.
No, this set is a fail overall regardless of the artwork and I comprehend what WotC is doing here. What is so hard to understand about cards like Unsummon or Lightning Bolt or even Doom Blade? I'd say those are easier for newbs to learn on and play. Wizards is admitting they are producing trash content and people like you are okay with that. Pretty sad.
And FYI: Wizards has been in the Chinese market for DECADES. Anyone that wants to play in China already can. This doesn't open anything new up at all.
Yes they have made it clear. Ignorant newbies that don't mind getting trash along with a couple of shiny near unplayable planeswalkers that don't know any better. And eventually they find out the product was nerfed to the Nth degree and they have flushed their money down the toilet because Wizards doesn't mind taking advantage of their naiveté and ignorance.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
Thank you. Well said. Its probably a Wizard shill that gets paid to come on the site and spout the corporate blather.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."