People have been spoiled by the Meta before rotation which was one of the best we have seen in a while. If you haven't been playing for several years you would probably look at this as an awful set. Its not the best but its not the worst.
Alara/Zendikar was probably the best meta, with the most power. Honestly, GTC, BNG, and THS are very underwhelming to say the least. Cards costing too much, poor removal, poor planeswalkers, bland permanents, overall extremely weak. If this is where they're headed, I'm not so much a fan. Why does white not have any decent removal? No condemn, oust, PTE, Oblivion Ring, Journey to Nowhere, etc. No blue manipulation/draw...(besides Jace...) that is playable. I can't imagine the state of control once RTR rotates since 90% of the cards come from that set.
Modern really doesn't need more cards. It needs more fluid banning and unbanning.
It really doesn't need any bans, just a bunch of unbans. And we could use new cards. Getting only 5-6 playable cards, with all but 3 of those being fringe playable is very disappointing compared to previous large sets. And so far Born of the Gods is giving us two at most, Brimaz and the technically strictly better infest.
It's an instant speed 5/5 trampler for 4. Wtf do you people want seriously? It has applications in populate/ above the curve beats decks, or in Bant control/ flash. I seriously think anyone mad at this card for any reason other than losing an attacker to instant speed wurm, should go home and make their own awesome card game and leave the rest of us alone.
Kamigawa and Masques weren't completely horrible in terms of power-level. Masques had Daze and Brainstorm (and probably several other cards that I'm not remembering right now) while Kamigawa had Kiki-Jiki, Umezawa's Jitte, Goryo's Vengeance, Through the Breach, Disrupting Shoal, Blazing Shoal, Pithing Needle, Gifts Ungiven, Azusa, Glimpse of Nature, Sensei's Divining Top, Ninja of the Deep Hours, Kira, Sowing Salt, Lava Spike, Boseiju, Peer Through Depths, Eiganjo Castle, and Desperate Ritual.
Champions was great, and Betrayers was mediocre, but Saviors of Kamigawa is the worst. It has nothing worthwhile in it save Pithing Needle (and that's been reprinted, so there's even less reason to care about the set).
Theros and Born of the Gods are lightyears ahead in comparison.
Champions was great, and Betrayers was mediocre, but Saviors of Kamigawa is the worst. It has nothing worthwhile in it save Pithing Needle (and that's been reprinted, so there's even less reason to care about the set).
Theros and Born of the Gods are lightyears ahead in comparison.
True, most of the playable stuff came in Champions, though Betrayers had quite a few powerful cards, including 2 that got banned in Modern.
We are just getting into devotion in Modern... it's pretty good in multiple decks/colors ;).
Give it time, peeps, geez.
Devotion is inherently bad because it forces you to over-commit on the board to get an advantage. In a format filled like modern filled with insane removal and generously costed creatures. It would only be cute in a tier 3 mono black/mono green deck because their permanents actually have some resilience.
Devotion is inherently bad because it forces you to over-commit on the board to get an advantage. In a format filled like modern filled with insane removal and generously costed creatures. It would only be cute in a tier 3 mono black/mono green deck because their permanents actually have some resilience.
Doesn't make sense. Devotion is inherently good because it lets you use Nykthos which is busted in half.
I think Theros is a really great set. The Gods were cool, decent planeswalkers (ok, Ashiok is poop) and limited has been a blast.
That said, I think Born of the Gods looks awful on all fronts. There are two cards that make me go "Oh, that could see play in X" and nothing about this set makes me look forward to cracking packs, as all of the three white and blue gods are trash bin.
In a format filled like modern filled with insane removal and generously costed creatures.
Then why are you looking for more cards and disappointed when the latest set for Standard only has a few that are "playable" in Modern? Just wait for Modern Masters 2 (which I'm sure you'll all say is terrible as well).
As for BNG, you guys just have no imagination. Saying "none of these cards will fit in my current deck or a current popular deck" is being shortsighted and unimaginative.
Champions was great, and Betrayers was mediocre, but Saviors of Kamigawa is the worst. It has nothing worthwhile in it save Pithing Needle (and that's been reprinted, so there's even less reason to care about the set).
Theros and Born of the Gods are lightyears ahead in comparison.
Theros is miles better than BotG. Way more playables overall.
Would you say that Theros has 3 times as many playables as BNG so far? Because if so, that's a great compliment to BNG, given that so far we know 72 cards from BNG, as opposed to 229 (exclusing base land) from Theros. A quick sum teaches us that we have LESS then a third of the amount of Theros cards in BNG so far, meaning that if BNG has a third of the amount of playables as Theros does, BNG is trumping Theros.
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My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
Would you say that Theros has 3 times as many playables as BNG so far? Because if so, that's a great compliment to BNG, given that so far we know 72 cards from BNG, as opposed to 229 (exclusing base land) from Theros. A quick sum teaches us that we have LESS then a third of the amount of Theros cards in BNG so far, meaning that if BNG has a third of the amount of playables as Theros does, BNG is trumping Theros.
BNG has 84 fewer cards overall. We've seen almost half of BNG, and I'd say Theros has more than 3x the playables
BNG has 84 fewer cards overall. We've seen almost half of BNG, and I'd say Theros has more than 3x the playables
Yes, but we don't know 93 cards yet. We know 72 of Born of the Gods, vs 229 of Theros. And not every Theros card that sees play was immediately hailed as a playable either. So, as per usual, I'd say there's a lot of overreacting going on.
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My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
I think Theros is a really great set. The Gods were cool, decent planeswalkers (ok, Ashiok is poop) and limited has been a blast.
That said, I think Born of the Gods looks awful on all fronts. There are two cards that make me go "Oh, that could see play in X" and nothing about this set makes me look forward to cracking packs, as all of the three white and blue gods are trash bin.
I would be careful with these kind of statements. Ashiok could be a big player in a strong control/mill deck featuring Phenax.
Also, why does everyone expect and need new sets to have a mass supply of powerful/broken cards that will attract players from all formats? Do you all have that much $$ to blow? Will the game be truly worse without such cards all the time? There are way too many knee-jerk reaction naysayers here that really need to get some perspective.
There are way too many knee-jerk reaction naysayers here that really need to get some perspective.
While there are always those types, we also are seeing plenty of established players who have been through this plenty of times saying that they don't like what we've seen. As one of those, I dislike it because it feels uninspired and like a bunch of leftovers that didn't make the cut for Theros. It's one thing to have 99% limited fodder like normal... another to see cards that feel like rehashed ideas that do less expanding of theme, and more cluttering.
Check out http://www.mtgbrodeals.com/author/john-murphy/ for my EDH articles!
Alara/Zendikar was probably the best meta, with the most power. Honestly, GTC, BNG, and THS are very underwhelming to say the least. Cards costing too much, poor removal, poor planeswalkers, bland permanents, overall extremely weak. If this is where they're headed, I'm not so much a fan. Why does white not have any decent removal? No condemn, oust, PTE, Oblivion Ring, Journey to Nowhere, etc. No blue manipulation/draw...(besides Jace...) that is playable. I can't imagine the state of control once RTR rotates since 90% of the cards come from that set.
Kamigawa had many more playable cards for Modern and Legacy than the Theros block has had so far. Same goes for Lorwyn/Shadowmoor and Avacyn Restored.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Modern really doesn't need more cards. It needs more fluid banning and unbanning.
Many thanks to DNC at Heroes of the Plane Studios
It really doesn't need any bans, just a bunch of unbans. And we could use new cards. Getting only 5-6 playable cards, with all but 3 of those being fringe playable is very disappointing compared to previous large sets. And so far Born of the Gods is giving us two at most, Brimaz and the technically strictly better infest.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
No.
We are just getting into devotion in Modern... it's pretty good in multiple decks/colors ;).
Give it time, peeps, geez.
Champions was great, and Betrayers was mediocre, but Saviors of Kamigawa is the worst. It has nothing worthwhile in it save Pithing Needle (and that's been reprinted, so there's even less reason to care about the set).
Theros and Born of the Gods are lightyears ahead in comparison.
True, most of the playable stuff came in Champions, though Betrayers had quite a few powerful cards, including 2 that got banned in Modern.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Devotion is inherently bad because it forces you to over-commit on the board to get an advantage. In a format filled like modern filled with insane removal and generously costed creatures. It would only be cute in a tier 3 mono black/mono green deck because their permanents actually have some resilience.
Doesn't make sense. Devotion is inherently good because it lets you use Nykthos which is busted in half.
Many thanks to DNC at Heroes of the Plane Studios
That said, I think Born of the Gods looks awful on all fronts. There are two cards that make me go "Oh, that could see play in X" and nothing about this set makes me look forward to cracking packs, as all of the three white and blue gods are trash bin.
Then why are you looking for more cards and disappointed when the latest set for Standard only has a few that are "playable" in Modern? Just wait for Modern Masters 2 (which I'm sure you'll all say is terrible as well).
As for BNG, you guys just have no imagination. Saying "none of these cards will fit in my current deck or a current popular deck" is being shortsighted and unimaginative.
Twincast, Erayo, Soratami Ascendant, and Kataki, War's Wage were all serviceable cards from Saviors.
Commander
U Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive
RG Zilortha, Strength Incarnate
WB Amalia Benavides Aguirre
I remember Fallen Empires packs were $0.50 apiece. Sure, there were only 8 cards in the packs, but what a deal!
Granted, that's the reason I have so many copies of Hymn to Tourach, so I probably made my money back. It only took 15 years...
Standard:
GU Prophet
Legacy:
WBU Shared Fate
Trades
Would you say that Theros has 3 times as many playables as BNG so far? Because if so, that's a great compliment to BNG, given that so far we know 72 cards from BNG, as opposed to 229 (exclusing base land) from Theros. A quick sum teaches us that we have LESS then a third of the amount of Theros cards in BNG so far, meaning that if BNG has a third of the amount of playables as Theros does, BNG is trumping Theros.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
BNG has 84 fewer cards overall. We've seen almost half of BNG, and I'd say Theros has more than 3x the playables
Standard:
GU Prophet
Legacy:
WBU Shared Fate
Trades
Yes, but we don't know 93 cards yet. We know 72 of Born of the Gods, vs 229 of Theros. And not every Theros card that sees play was immediately hailed as a playable either. So, as per usual, I'd say there's a lot of overreacting going on.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
I would be careful with these kind of statements. Ashiok could be a big player in a strong control/mill deck featuring Phenax.
Also, why does everyone expect and need new sets to have a mass supply of powerful/broken cards that will attract players from all formats? Do you all have that much $$ to blow? Will the game be truly worse without such cards all the time? There are way too many knee-jerk reaction naysayers here that really need to get some perspective.
While there are always those types, we also are seeing plenty of established players who have been through this plenty of times saying that they don't like what we've seen. As one of those, I dislike it because it feels uninspired and like a bunch of leftovers that didn't make the cut for Theros. It's one thing to have 99% limited fodder like normal... another to see cards that feel like rehashed ideas that do less expanding of theme, and more cluttering.