As we all know the commons are the defining feature of limited, its useful to get an idea of how good all of the commons are. Please go through the cards and select the cards that you think will be good in limited. Images are in the spoiler below. A justification for the poll format is found beneath that.
I've made these threads before for previous sets, and someone always comes along and wants to argue about the poll itself. I have no interest in doing so, so I am attempting to head off debate with this passage. The typical argument against this poll format amounts to complaining that 'good' is poorly defined, that it isn't obviously clear what it means to be 'good in limited'. What the argument fails to realize is that the indeterminacy of the definition of 'good' is a feature, not a flaw. Ultimately, this poll asks each person who takes it to separate out the cards into two sets, with cards in the 'good' set being better in limited than the cards belonging to the not 'good' set. Because each person has a different definition of good, we end up with many unique set partitions giving us information on the relative playability of each card individually. If, on the other hand, 'good' was well defined and understood by everyone, or the poll question was rephrased as to remove the indeterminacy, we would all end up making equivalent or virtually identical set partitions giving us little to no information on how the cards within each set compare. In other words, we would all agree that Eldrazi Skyspawner and Clutch of Currents are both good, but would have no idea of whether or not clutch is better than Skyspawner.
Links to the other Limited Ratings threads will/can be found below...
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 made the mistake of not playing both Angelic Purges in my first three rounds. I then built a curve that stopped at cmc 4 and it became an all star. Not needing a fifth land plus keeping pressure on the board? Yes please. Just don't run into the black boardwipe.
I've made these threads before for previous sets, and someone always comes along and wants to argue about the poll itself. I have no interest in doing so, so I am attempting to head off debate with this passage. The typical argument against this poll format amounts to complaining that 'good' is poorly defined, that it isn't obviously clear what it means to be 'good in limited'. What the argument fails to realize is that the indeterminacy of the definition of 'good' is a feature, not a flaw. Ultimately, this poll asks each person who takes it to separate out the cards into two sets, with cards in the 'good' set being better in limited than the cards belonging to the not 'good' set. Because each person has a different definition of good, we end up with many unique set partitions giving us information on the relative playability of each card individually. If, on the other hand, 'good' was well defined and understood by everyone, or the poll question was rephrased as to remove the indeterminacy, we would all end up making equivalent or virtually identical set partitions giving us little to no information on how the cards within each set compare. In other words, we would all agree that Eldrazi Skyspawner and Clutch of Currents are both good, but would have no idea of whether or not clutch is better than Skyspawner.
Links to the other Limited Ratings threads will/can be found below...
If you have any comments about or corrections to the poll, please let me know.
- Manite