This block really shows that Wizards are really struggling to come up with new ideas. Most of the mechanics are rehashed and renamed old mechanics. Many of the cards are rehashed and renamed old cards. A lot of recent blocks have been 'Return to ....' blocks. This block was 'Copy Greek Mythology' and Innistrad was 'Copy 50's Horror Movies'.
I came back to Magic just before Innistrad after a very long break and I've been very unimpressed by all of the sets that have been released since I started playing again. I really dislike how every set is four or five insanely good Mythic cards and the rest is pure crap. I'm sure marketing research told them that that was the best way to sell boxes, but it sure as hell isn't working on me. I haven't bought a booster pack since Visions. Back in those days, sets would have some really good commons, some really good uncommons, and some really good rares. You could buy some packs and get playable stuff. Now, you're playing the lottery when you buy a box and hoping you get that one fifty dollar mythic everyone wants. I think they should probably drop the three-set block thing and go back to doing one-off expansions like they used to. I think the design teams are just stretching themselves too thin trying to come up with so many cards each year. I also think they should drop the 'we have to come up with brand new mechanics every set' thing because, clearly, they're having a hard time doing that. I don't think anyone would complain if they brought back good mechanics from older sets.
What a bunch of hooey, you guys. Block was weak, but very well designed. JOU is a very good set, don't let your bad taste from BNG color your opinion.
The block did what Wizards has always been doing lately - pushing power creep in some areas and pulling it back in others. The mechanics they used for most of the block - Monsterous, Devotion, Heroic, and Inspired - were all experiments in alternative casting costs.
What, you say? Well, most of the time you need to pay mana, life, cards in your hand, cards in library, or something like that to get a powerful effect. In Theros, they tried making cards work on "costs" they had not used before. Monsterous lets them make Eldrazi-sized beasts, but instead of having a high casting cost, you need to summon it and then activate an expensive activated ability to make it big. Devotion was the same way; the card is cheap as far as mana goes, but then you need to fulfill a specific condition, i.e. high monocolored mana count, in order to get the creature out there. Heroic and Inspired likewise triggered off of things that had not really been considered "costs" before. The set cared about things that prior sets had not.
The reason the block felt so underwhelming previously is that these "alternative casting costs" are actually very WELL designed. They're very hard to abuse. They've printed cards to cheat on mana cost (Tinker? Show and Tell?) but never cards that cheat on establishing Devotion, or making activated abilities free, or putting lots of colored mana symbols into the battlefield. You can imagine the difference in the power level of this block if they had. Imagine if Urza's had a card like this: "U, Instant: Activate target activated ability without paying its activation cost." Monstrous would be a bunch more interesting!
Since the costs were so hard to abuse, the first two sets designed around them felt like they had a low power level. Not like Kamigawa did - that block excluded others through how insular its mechanics were. This block excludes others from how unique its mechanics are.
Now, Journey into Nyx is, at first blush, a return to form for Wizards. Why? They're using the third set to explore more creative and interesting designs rather than filling in the standard holes for cards using the block mechanics. Consequently, Nyx is much more powerful because it reacts more strongly with all the other cards in Magic and the cards do more interesting things. Heck, we've had "Constellation" as a mechanic in Enchantress since Alpha.
This is a good set. Quite good, lots of potential eternal playables. And the block itself? Weak at the moment, but time will tell. All it needs are better enablers, and it might shine someday in the future.
The reason people don't like this block is because they have lowered the ridiculous power creep of earlier sets. I really like some of the cards in this set. There aren't many modern cards but that's a good thing. Usually a few overpowered cards completely change modern and become the staple for a while. To do that, you need overpowered cards which just adds to the power creep.
Some good flavor and a few new types of decks. There is a solid heroic deck already competing. The old MBC deck everyone wanted came back and we all hate it now. The same powerful blue aggro deck that shows up every set is here. UG devotion, RW, Esper control, Esper mid, UW control, dredge, MBA, monsters, and a few other decks have shown promise. I wish some crazy combo decks would show up but thoughtseize is smothering. No wonder people hate discard.
Why is discard pushed and land destruct isn't again? Is one really a lot more fair than the other? Is two straight stone rain worse than turn 1 and 2 thoughtseize? Did plow under or acidic slime twist the environment so bad that no one played? Will people be happy to see thoughtseize, duress, and that new creature all in one format?
I actually like journey, coulda pushed constellation a little more, it seems like it could have had more build around potential. I understand why they didn't because you could get such insane value if they did, but it woulda made for a really interesting meta IMO. JOU woulda been great if they'd made it the large set of the block. Personally I HATE theros and would have scrapped the entire set. Absolutely god awful and spawned a meta that couldn't possibly bore me more. Monstrous, devotion, and heroic are all horrible mechanics and should have been done away with. Bng is the middle of the road for me, and at least it gave me brimaz, a personal favorite of mine, and kiora who's at least interesting.
The whole block is a disappointment to me, JOU is nice sum up. The overall power level is weak, the god cards are never going to make it into cube for me and whats worse, the topdown design so incredibly lazy.
Check encyclopedia, copy paste on card, tadaaa theros. But my biggest concern is the lore and flavor. Judging by the cards on their own, you have absolutely no chance to identify the actual story. Gods are competing against each other, is xenagos actually bad, what i what? The fact that xenagos was identified as a guy that rose to power and Elspeth comes to save the day is childish in terms of story...so...soooo bad and unimpressive, like a random B movie. I did not bought a single pack of BNG, this one is similar. Also, I have to say...WOTC really loves creatures dont they? No preordain, damnation, etc. that begged to be printed.
The block did what Wizards has always been doing lately - pushing power creep in some areas and pulling it back in others. The mechanics they used for most of the block - Monsterous, Devotion, Heroic, and Inspired - were all experiments in alternative casting costs.
What, you say? Well, most of the time you need to pay mana, life, cards in your hand, cards in library, or something like that to get a powerful effect. In Theros, they tried making cards work on "costs" they had not used before. Monsterous lets them make Eldrazi-sized beasts, but instead of having a high casting cost, you need to summon it and then activate an expensive activated ability to make it big. Devotion was the same way; the card is cheap as far as mana goes, but then you need to fulfill a specific condition, i.e. high monocolored mana count, in order to get the creature out there. Heroic and Inspired likewise triggered off of things that had not really been considered "costs" before. The set cared about things that prior sets had not.
The reason the block felt so underwhelming previously is that these "alternative casting costs" are actually very WELL designed. They're very hard to abuse. They've printed cards to cheat on mana cost (Tinker? Show and Tell?) but never cards that cheat on establishing Devotion, or making activated abilities free, or putting lots of colored mana symbols into the battlefield. You can imagine the difference in the power level of this block if they had. Imagine if Urza's had a card like this: "U, Instant: Activate target activated ability without paying its activation cost." Monstrous would be a bunch more interesting!
You know that Devotion is quite literally just Chroma. It is not a new mechanic, it is a renamed, more tightly defined mechanic. It is not a cost "they had not used before."
Honestly, I had no problem with the power of the block. I had a problem with the cards development chose to push. In an enchantment block, we got a total of 1 powerful enchantment. We got a few more that were playable, but the only 'pushed' enchantment was thassa, god of the sea. Of the premier enchantment mechanic, constellation, there are only 2 enchantments that might be playable.
Theros was, at best, an OK block.(6-7/10)
BNG was crap. Horid mechanics, generally boring cards. (3/10)
JOU looks like it will be a decent block. Without having experimented in limited, I'd guess the block is around a 7/10.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
- Manite
I just feel a block based on greek mythology is extremely lazy. I mean most rpgs (especially B-list ones) draw heavily on greek mythology for their monsters and what not. I liked magic for how original and interesting the themes were. Compared to the last 3 blocks they really phoned this one in. I'm sure many people enjoy greek mythology, but it is such an over exposed genre in anything fantasy related. I love the idea of a city populated by ten very different guilds, or the world of Innistrad and the humans' fight against the monsters that lurk in the night. Or the war between Mirrodin and Phyrexia. Or the turbulent world of Zendikar. It just feels like greek mythology is such an overplayed concept.
Maybe it's just me, but it seems boring because there is no decks with synergy, just "good stuff" decks with pushed cards, or devotion decks with jank cards that enable pushed cards.
Hate to break it to you, but using jank cards to power Devotion is synergy, Devotion decks are some of the most synergistic decks we've seen in Standard for a while.
While I agree Devotion decks are synergistic decks, they are far from being the most synergistic decks in recent history. They basically revolve around having a bunch of permanents on the field with a certain characteristic (in this case, mana symbols) in order to make certain cards better. This is very similar to tribal decks that have always been present (just replace mana symbols with creature type) and those are just too obvious. Stuff like aristocrats, reanimator and Birthing Pod decks had much more interesting and unique synergies.
This block really shows that Wizards are really struggling to come up with new ideas. Most of the mechanics are rehashed and renamed old mechanics. Many of the cards are rehashed and renamed old cards. A lot of recent blocks have been 'Return to ....' blocks. This block was 'Copy Greek Mythology' and Innistrad was 'Copy 50's Horror Movies'.
I came back to Magic just before Innistrad after a very long break and I've been very unimpressed by all of the sets that have been released since I started playing again. I really dislike how every set is four or five insanely good Mythic cards and the rest is pure crap. I'm sure marketing research told them that that was the best way to sell boxes, but it sure as hell isn't working on me. I haven't bought a booster pack since Visions. Back in those days, sets would have some really good commons, some really good uncommons, and some really good rares. You could buy some packs and get playable stuff. Now, you're playing the lottery when you buy a box and hoping you get that one fifty dollar mythic everyone wants. I think they should probably drop the three-set block thing and go back to doing one-off expansions like they used to. I think the design teams are just stretching themselves too thin trying to come up with so many cards each year. I also think they should drop the 'we have to come up with brand new mechanics every set' thing because, clearly, they're having a hard time doing that. I don't think anyone would complain if they brought back good mechanics from older sets.
Innistrad was different from that. The best card in Innistrad was a common (Delver of Secrets). The best card in Dark Ascension was a rare (Thalia). The second-best card in Avacyn Restored was a rare (Restoration Angel).
I don't want to dislike THEROS as a whole, but I can give examples why the block may have felt not to peoples liking.
1) Too Safe. The block was carefully made to be very balanced but it also caused the printing of several underwhelming cards.
2) The Block "Striclty Better" itself within the same block. Yoked Ox and Lagonna-Band Trailblazer, Felhide Minotaur and Felhide Petrifier.
3) The surprising lack of Legends outside of the Gods themselves. The block is peppered with several cards that are based on mythical entities that are non-legend status like Titan of Eternal Fire = Prometheus or Renowned Weaver = Arachne. In fact Mistcutter Hydra was originally a Legend based on Hercules and his twelve tasks but R&D scrapped it and instead opted for an easier design with a Hydra. Since they wanted to try their hardest to avoid printing too many legends that would cause it to be Kamigawa 2.0.
I look forward to Warlords of Khanar because its a down-top design instead of top-down.
I think it's too early to tell since we haven't had the chance to test the new cards yet. In my opinion, a lot of the new cards have potential and I wouldn't be surprised if some rogue decks like Dredge get more serious with enablers from JOU. However, I do feel the set is underwhelming, but that has more to do with Theros as a whole. I don't mind lowering the power creep, but it seems there are not enough cards that make you say wow. Some designs are painfully unoriginal: Rule of Law on legs, Pyrostatic Pillar on legs, fixed True Believer, fixed Oblivion Ring, in some cases it's needed, but it doesn't feel fresh at all.
The whole "create a Bestow tank" strategy reeks of casual shenanigans. Instant and sorceries mostly suck, because WOTC aims their new cash cow, i.e. beginner players. For that reason, spells in general feel lackluster, especially compared to past sets where we could at least try some funny combos. Now if you do not play creatures, good luck. That might change with the new Planeswaler (Bant Superfriends?), but JOU doesn't seem to open up a lot of possibilities for non-creature decks.
I think it's too early to tell since we haven't had the chance to test the new cards yet. In my opinion, a lot of the new cards have potential and I wouldn't be surprised if some rogue decks like Dredge get more serious with enablers from JOU. However, I do feel the set is underwhelming, but that has more to do with Theros as a whole. I don't mind lowering the power creep, but it seems there are not enough cards that make you say wow. Some designs are painfully unoriginal: Rule of Law on legs, Pyrostatic Pillar on legs, fixed True Believer, fixed Oblivion Ring, in some cases it's needed, but it doesn't feel fresh at all.
The whole "create a Bestow tank" strategy reeks of casual shenanigans. Instant and sorceries mostly suck, because WOTC aims their new cash cow, i.e. beginner players. For that reason, spells in general feel lackluster, especially compared to past sets where we could at least try some funny combos. Now if you do not play creatures, good luck. That might change with the new Planeswaler (Bant Superfriends?), but JOU doesn't seem to open up a lot of possibilities for non-creature decks.
I think it's too early to tell since we haven't had the chance to test the new cards yet. In my opinion, a lot of the new cards have potential and I wouldn't be surprised if some rogue decks like Dredge get more serious with enablers from JOU. However, I do feel the set is underwhelming, but that has more to do with Theros as a whole. I don't mind lowering the power creep, but it seems there are not enough cards that make you say wow. Some designs are painfully unoriginal: Rule of Law on legs, Pyrostatic Pillar on legs, fixed True Believer, fixed Oblivion Ring, in some cases it's needed, but it doesn't feel fresh at all.
The whole "create a Bestow tank" strategy reeks of casual shenanigans. Instant and sorceries mostly suck, because WOTC aims their new cash cow, i.e. beginner players. For that reason, spells in general feel lackluster, especially compared to past sets where we could at least try some funny combos. Now if you do not play creatures, good luck. That might change with the new Planeswaler (Bant Superfriends?), but JOU doesn't seem to open up a lot of possibilities for non-creature decks.
/can you give us a little more info on this noncreature-based deck? What exactly do you plan to do with the mana generated by DoK if not casting creatures? What is your win con? Are you just making the normal UW control into UWg control to allow for larger spinxs revs and a new Pwalker? Tell us more?
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
- Manite
I think it's too early to tell since we haven't had the chance to test the new cards yet. In my opinion, a lot of the new cards have potential and I wouldn't be surprised if some rogue decks like Dredge get more serious with enablers from JOU. However, I do feel the set is underwhelming, but that has more to do with Theros as a whole. I don't mind lowering the power creep, but it seems there are not enough cards that make you say wow. Some designs are painfully unoriginal: Rule of Law on legs, Pyrostatic Pillar on legs, fixed True Believer, fixed Oblivion Ring, in some cases it's needed, but it doesn't feel fresh at all.
The whole "create a Bestow tank" strategy reeks of casual shenanigans. Instant and sorceries mostly suck, because WOTC aims their new cash cow, i.e. beginner players. For that reason, spells in general feel lackluster, especially compared to past sets where we could at least try some funny combos. Now if you do not play creatures, good luck. That might change with the new Planeswaler (Bant Superfriends?), but JOU doesn't seem to open up a lot of possibilities for non-creature decks.
I think it's too early to tell since we haven't had the chance to test the new cards yet. In my opinion, a lot of the new cards have potential and I wouldn't be surprised if some rogue decks like Dredge get more serious with enablers from JOU. However, I do feel the set is underwhelming, but that has more to do with Theros as a whole. I don't mind lowering the power creep, but it seems there are not enough cards that make you say wow. Some designs are painfully unoriginal: Rule of Law on legs, Pyrostatic Pillar on legs, fixed True Believer, fixed Oblivion Ring, in some cases it's needed, but it doesn't feel fresh at all.
The whole "create a Bestow tank" strategy reeks of casual shenanigans. Instant and sorceries mostly suck, because WOTC aims their new cash cow, i.e. beginner players. For that reason, spells in general feel lackluster, especially compared to past sets where we could at least try some funny combos. Now if you do not play creatures, good luck. That might change with the new Planeswaler (Bant Superfriends?), but JOU doesn't seem to open up a lot of possibilities for non-creature decks.
I think it's too early to tell since we haven't had the chance to test the new cards yet. In my opinion, a lot of the new cards have potential and I wouldn't be surprised if some rogue decks like Dredge get more serious with enablers from JOU. However, I do feel the set is underwhelming, but that has more to do with Theros as a whole. I don't mind lowering the power creep, but it seems there are not enough cards that make you say wow. Some designs are painfully unoriginal: Rule of Law on legs, Pyrostatic Pillar on legs, fixed True Believer, fixed Oblivion Ring, in some cases it's needed, but it doesn't feel fresh at all.
The whole "create a Bestow tank" strategy reeks of casual shenanigans. Instant and sorceries mostly suck, because WOTC aims their new cash cow, i.e. beginner players. For that reason, spells in general feel lackluster, especially compared to past sets where we could at least try some funny combos. Now if you do not play creatures, good luck. That might change with the new Planeswaler (Bant Superfriends?), but JOU doesn't seem to open up a lot of possibilities for non-creature decks.
You keep going on and on about this bulk enchantment. Don't you realize O-ring will be at 8x in standard and enchantment removal will be upped?
First, I can dream right?
Second, good luck using that O-Ring at instant speed before I kill you. Oh wait...
Lol are you still talking about epic expriment which has bad synergy in standard right now?
Woops, I forgot it would be thoughtseized, duressed, brain wormed, countered, deicided'd, etc.
Debt to the Deathless actually. And I am currently running 4 Thoughtseizes and 2 Duress maindeck, as well as 4 Drown in Sorrows that conveniently kill the maggot. Also, Deicide isn't going to be run much mainboard in Standard and post-board I can bring in my own hate.
/can you give us a little more info on this noncreature-based deck? What exactly do you plan to do with the mana generated by DoK if not casting creatures? What is your win con? Are you just making the normal UW control into UWg control to allow for larger spinxs revs and a new Pwalker? Tell us more?
Dictate of Karametra+Debt to the Deathless, some control, tutoring, and card draw all in a Junk shell. Here is the link (though the JOU cards haven't been added to MTG Vault yet)
There are a couple of cards that are what certain decks need like the battlemage t. I've really liked this block for the flavor. As an old school magic player who really only likes to play standard and sealed... This block offers a fun time for draft, and definitely some good cards for commander. I could see them revisiting theros some day and still have plenty of design room. All in all I wouldn't be surprised to see a heroic deck or two make its way into competitive play. Possibly some other devotion strategies will be viable....Ravnica style decks have all but faded from my local meta cept for mazes end and azorious control.
I think it's too early to tell since we haven't had the chance to test the new cards yet. In my opinion, a lot of the new cards have potential and I wouldn't be surprised if some rogue decks like Dredge get more serious with enablers from JOU. However, I do feel the set is underwhelming, but that has more to do with Theros as a whole. I don't mind lowering the power creep, but it seems there are not enough cards that make you say wow. Some designs are painfully unoriginal: Rule of Law on legs, Pyrostatic Pillar on legs, fixed True Believer, fixed Oblivion Ring, in some cases it's needed, but it doesn't feel fresh at all.
The whole "create a Bestow tank" strategy reeks of casual shenanigans. Instant and sorceries mostly suck, because WOTC aims their new cash cow, i.e. beginner players. For that reason, spells in general feel lackluster, especially compared to past sets where we could at least try some funny combos. Now if you do not play creatures, good luck. That might change with the new Planeswaler (Bant Superfriends?), but JOU doesn't seem to open up a lot of possibilities for non-creature decks.
You keep going on and on about this bulk enchantment. Don't you realize O-ring will be at 8x in standard and enchantment removal will be upped?
First, I can dream right?
Second, good luck using that O-Ring at instant speed before I kill you. Oh wait...
Lol are you still talking about epic expriment which has bad synergy in standard right now?
Woops, I forgot it would be thoughtseized, duressed, brain wormed, countered, deicided'd, etc.
Debt to the Deathless actually. And I am currently running 4 Thoughtseizes and 2 Duress maindeck, as well as 4 Drown in Sorrows that conveniently kill the maggot. Also, Deicide isn't going to be run much mainboard in Standard and post-board I can bring in my own hate.
I forgot to mention Sin Collector since W/B will see an immense popularity boom
Drown in Sorrow is bad. It might fight 1/1s but the majority of the metagame is either creatureless control or x/3+ creature decks
I think it's too early to tell since we haven't had the chance to test the new cards yet. In my opinion, a lot of the new cards have potential and I wouldn't be surprised if some rogue decks like Dredge get more serious with enablers from JOU. However, I do feel the set is underwhelming, but that has more to do with Theros as a whole. I don't mind lowering the power creep, but it seems there are not enough cards that make you say wow. Some designs are painfully unoriginal: Rule of Law on legs, Pyrostatic Pillar on legs, fixed True Believer, fixed Oblivion Ring, in some cases it's needed, but it doesn't feel fresh at all.
The whole "create a Bestow tank" strategy reeks of casual shenanigans. Instant and sorceries mostly suck, because WOTC aims their new cash cow, i.e. beginner players. For that reason, spells in general feel lackluster, especially compared to past sets where we could at least try some funny combos. Now if you do not play creatures, good luck. That might change with the new Planeswaler (Bant Superfriends?), but JOU doesn't seem to open up a lot of possibilities for non-creature decks.
You keep going on and on about this bulk enchantment. Don't you realize O-ring will be at 8x in standard and enchantment removal will be upped?
First, I can dream right?
Second, good luck using that O-Ring at instant speed before I kill you. Oh wait...
Lol are you still talking about epic expriment which has bad synergy in standard right now?
Woops, I forgot it would be thoughtseized, duressed, brain wormed, countered, deicided'd, etc.
Debt to the Deathless actually. And I am currently running 4 Thoughtseizes and 2 Duress maindeck, as well as 4 Drown in Sorrows that conveniently kill the maggot. Also, Deicide isn't going to be run much mainboard in Standard and post-board I can bring in my own hate.
I forgot to mention Sin Collector since W/B will see an immense popularity boom
Drown in Sorrow is bad. It might fight 1/1s but the majority of the metagame is either creatureless control or x/3+ creature decks
Drown in Sorrow will get better after JOU because of JOU's aggro support.
Drown in Sorrow is bad. It might fight 1/1s but the majority of the metagame is either creatureless control or x/3+ creature decks
Reallly, The format has lots of X/3 creatures? I wonder why?
Drown in sorrow isn't bad, it is format warping and is the primary reason the meta is dominated by big creatures.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
- Manite
The Theros block has been mehh in my opinion. Journey into Nyx decent though. I wish at least once a block we got a mechanic that while it may not be super power in standard, was able to create a whole new deck type in Legacy. People complain about Avacyn Restored a bunch, but that one set alone created a new deck in legacy called UW Miracles. I don't see that here in the Theros block. The one card that gives me hope in legacy is the WB God. I don't know if the cards exist or not, but I hope a cool legacy deck can be built around him. I almost want to see if a fun grave oriented Alluren deck could be built around him. It would have to work where both choices Athroes give you are a bad choice that results in a game win for you.
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All your base are belong to us!
RIP Batman guy. I hope somebody picks up the slack now that you are gone. Sick children need their Batman.
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I came back to Magic just before Innistrad after a very long break and I've been very unimpressed by all of the sets that have been released since I started playing again. I really dislike how every set is four or five insanely good Mythic cards and the rest is pure crap. I'm sure marketing research told them that that was the best way to sell boxes, but it sure as hell isn't working on me. I haven't bought a booster pack since Visions. Back in those days, sets would have some really good commons, some really good uncommons, and some really good rares. You could buy some packs and get playable stuff. Now, you're playing the lottery when you buy a box and hoping you get that one fifty dollar mythic everyone wants. I think they should probably drop the three-set block thing and go back to doing one-off expansions like they used to. I think the design teams are just stretching themselves too thin trying to come up with so many cards each year. I also think they should drop the 'we have to come up with brand new mechanics every set' thing because, clearly, they're having a hard time doing that. I don't think anyone would complain if they brought back good mechanics from older sets.
The block did what Wizards has always been doing lately - pushing power creep in some areas and pulling it back in others. The mechanics they used for most of the block - Monsterous, Devotion, Heroic, and Inspired - were all experiments in alternative casting costs.
What, you say? Well, most of the time you need to pay mana, life, cards in your hand, cards in library, or something like that to get a powerful effect. In Theros, they tried making cards work on "costs" they had not used before. Monsterous lets them make Eldrazi-sized beasts, but instead of having a high casting cost, you need to summon it and then activate an expensive activated ability to make it big. Devotion was the same way; the card is cheap as far as mana goes, but then you need to fulfill a specific condition, i.e. high monocolored mana count, in order to get the creature out there. Heroic and Inspired likewise triggered off of things that had not really been considered "costs" before. The set cared about things that prior sets had not.
The reason the block felt so underwhelming previously is that these "alternative casting costs" are actually very WELL designed. They're very hard to abuse. They've printed cards to cheat on mana cost (Tinker? Show and Tell?) but never cards that cheat on establishing Devotion, or making activated abilities free, or putting lots of colored mana symbols into the battlefield. You can imagine the difference in the power level of this block if they had. Imagine if Urza's had a card like this: "U, Instant: Activate target activated ability without paying its activation cost." Monstrous would be a bunch more interesting!
Since the costs were so hard to abuse, the first two sets designed around them felt like they had a low power level. Not like Kamigawa did - that block excluded others through how insular its mechanics were. This block excludes others from how unique its mechanics are.
Now, Journey into Nyx is, at first blush, a return to form for Wizards. Why? They're using the third set to explore more creative and interesting designs rather than filling in the standard holes for cards using the block mechanics. Consequently, Nyx is much more powerful because it reacts more strongly with all the other cards in Magic and the cards do more interesting things. Heck, we've had "Constellation" as a mechanic in Enchantress since Alpha.
This is a good set. Quite good, lots of potential eternal playables. And the block itself? Weak at the moment, but time will tell. All it needs are better enablers, and it might shine someday in the future.
Some good flavor and a few new types of decks. There is a solid heroic deck already competing. The old MBC deck everyone wanted came back and we all hate it now. The same powerful blue aggro deck that shows up every set is here. UG devotion, RW, Esper control, Esper mid, UW control, dredge, MBA, monsters, and a few other decks have shown promise. I wish some crazy combo decks would show up but thoughtseize is smothering. No wonder people hate discard.
Why is discard pushed and land destruct isn't again? Is one really a lot more fair than the other? Is two straight stone rain worse than turn 1 and 2 thoughtseize? Did plow under or acidic slime twist the environment so bad that no one played? Will people be happy to see thoughtseize, duress, and that new creature all in one format?
Check encyclopedia, copy paste on card, tadaaa theros. But my biggest concern is the lore and flavor. Judging by the cards on their own, you have absolutely no chance to identify the actual story. Gods are competing against each other, is xenagos actually bad, what i what? The fact that xenagos was identified as a guy that rose to power and Elspeth comes to save the day is childish in terms of story...so...soooo bad and unimpressive, like a random B movie. I did not bought a single pack of BNG, this one is similar. Also, I have to say...WOTC really loves creatures dont they? No preordain, damnation, etc. that begged to be printed.
You know that Devotion is quite literally just Chroma. It is not a new mechanic, it is a renamed, more tightly defined mechanic. It is not a cost "they had not used before."
Honestly, I had no problem with the power of the block. I had a problem with the cards development chose to push. In an enchantment block, we got a total of 1 powerful enchantment. We got a few more that were playable, but the only 'pushed' enchantment was thassa, god of the sea. Of the premier enchantment mechanic, constellation, there are only 2 enchantments that might be playable.
Theros was, at best, an OK block.(6-7/10)
BNG was crap. Horid mechanics, generally boring cards. (3/10)
JOU looks like it will be a decent block. Without having experimented in limited, I'd guess the block is around a 7/10.
- Manite
While I agree Devotion decks are synergistic decks, they are far from being the most synergistic decks in recent history. They basically revolve around having a bunch of permanents on the field with a certain characteristic (in this case, mana symbols) in order to make certain cards better. This is very similar to tribal decks that have always been present (just replace mana symbols with creature type) and those are just too obvious. Stuff like aristocrats, reanimator and Birthing Pod decks had much more interesting and unique synergies.
Innistrad was different from that. The best card in Innistrad was a common (Delver of Secrets). The best card in Dark Ascension was a rare (Thalia). The second-best card in Avacyn Restored was a rare (Restoration Angel).
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
1) Too Safe. The block was carefully made to be very balanced but it also caused the printing of several underwhelming cards.
2) The Block "Striclty Better" itself within the same block. Yoked Ox and Lagonna-Band Trailblazer, Felhide Minotaur and Felhide Petrifier.
3) The surprising lack of Legends outside of the Gods themselves. The block is peppered with several cards that are based on mythical entities that are non-legend status like Titan of Eternal Fire = Prometheus or Renowned Weaver = Arachne. In fact Mistcutter Hydra was originally a Legend based on Hercules and his twelve tasks but R&D scrapped it and instead opted for an easier design with a Hydra. Since they wanted to try their hardest to avoid printing too many legends that would cause it to be Kamigawa 2.0.
I look forward to Warlords of Khanar because its a down-top design instead of top-down.
The whole "create a Bestow tank" strategy reeks of casual shenanigans. Instant and sorceries mostly suck, because WOTC aims their new cash cow, i.e. beginner players. For that reason, spells in general feel lackluster, especially compared to past sets where we could at least try some funny combos. Now if you do not play creatures, good luck. That might change with the new Planeswaler (Bant Superfriends?), but JOU doesn't seem to open up a lot of possibilities for non-creature decks.
Dictate of Karametra is going to enable a noncreature-based deck.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
You keep going on and on about this bulk enchantment. Don't you realize O-ring will be at 8x in standard and enchantment removal will be upped?
/can you give us a little more info on this noncreature-based deck? What exactly do you plan to do with the mana generated by DoK if not casting creatures? What is your win con? Are you just making the normal UW control into UWg control to allow for larger spinxs revs and a new Pwalker? Tell us more?
- Manite
First, I can dream right?
Second, good luck using that O-Ring at instant speed before I kill you. Oh wait...
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Lol are you still talking about epic expriment which has bad synergy in standard right now?
Woops, I forgot it would be thoughtseized, duressed, brain wormed, countered, deicided'd, etc.
Debt to the Deathless actually. And I am currently running 4 Thoughtseizes and 2 Duress maindeck, as well as 4 Drown in Sorrows that conveniently kill the maggot. Also, Deicide isn't going to be run much mainboard in Standard and post-board I can bring in my own hate.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Dictate of Karametra+Debt to the Deathless, some control, tutoring, and card draw all in a Junk shell. Here is the link (though the JOU cards haven't been added to MTG Vault yet)
http://www.mtgvault.com/soulofmirrodin/decks/705195/
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
I forgot to mention Sin Collector since W/B will see an immense popularity boom
Drown in Sorrow is bad. It might fight 1/1s but the majority of the metagame is either creatureless control or x/3+ creature decks
Drown in Sorrow will get better after JOU because of JOU's aggro support.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Reallly, The format has lots of X/3 creatures? I wonder why?
Drown in sorrow isn't bad, it is format warping and is the primary reason the meta is dominated by big creatures.
- Manite
all of the best devotion creatures coincidentally have high toughness, except BTE, which is hit hard by bile blight
RIP Batman guy. I hope somebody picks up the slack now that you are gone. Sick children need their Batman.