Even Squire could be called "a lot better than Spell Snip"........there go my hopes of seeing good counters to apologize for the crap they printed in SoA......I miss Magic less and less where I am now, shameful that Wizards has gone the Wii route and released a casual-based crap.....after Lorwyn rotates they'd better print some good counters:(
Yeah, it definitely beats stuff like Rebuff the Wicked. 3 mana for White to hold off some dumb jank even for a turn could be enough to play your bomb FTW, whether it's Rafiq or Armageddon or what have you. I think for a very aggressive White deck this is a good good generic answer for random stuff, at least as solid as O-Ring.
Agreed. I'm really glad what WotC has done for white with this new block, and still 100+ more cards to go! I just hope Green gets some love from WotC as well, and that BB won't dominate as much :|
Yeah WotC has nerfed control so badly. I would actually play lapse of certainty if it were 2 cmc but it's practically against their code now to print a counter that is 2 cc or less. The card is good in limited I prefer it to excommunicate but it would be good constructed if it were 2 cc
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"Yawgmoth," Freyalise whispered as she set the bomb, "now you will pay for your treachery."
Aaron Forsythe has stated that he doesn't like 2 mana counterspells; That's why Counterspell, then Mana Leak, then Rune Snag all rotated out. It is very unlikely that we will ever see a good, unconditional 2cc one again.
But it isn't that terrible - It hasn't stopped Faeries and 5-Color Control from doing well. Neutering Counter-Everything Control is what they wanted and what they got.
I like path to exile, its a great card because of being able to take out one of your own guys in responce to removal or dmg on the stack, and being able to take out theres when neccessary.
the white memory lapse is pretty weak, throwing a cantrip effect or lifegain or something onto it would have made it worth printing.
Nicol Bolas should be cool, the planeswalkers are a fairly new design space so it's hard for them to screw them up.
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Infractions so far = 2
Complaint box: Why was the mtg as an mmo(rpg) thread closed? I was having fun talking about it, hrmph-
Can't really see why white got Lapse of Certainty... Where is white in that counterspell anyway?? How does adding 1 more mana to Memory Lapse make it white?
Lapse of Certainty is white a couple reasons.
> Mechanically its like damage prevention, not getting rid of the threat, just holding it off temporarilly.
> Flavorfully its bureaucratic. Ties someone up, delaying their efforts and keeping them from getting anything new done (drawing a card) until they get it sorted out. I only wish this block setting had a bureaucracy so they could have given it a more litting name, like Filibuster or Red Tape or something
Bane's Reading Suggestions David Eddings: The Belgariad, Mallorean, Elenium and Tamuli Series. The Redemption of Althalus Jim Butcher: The Codex Alera Series
It's understandable blue control players would be shocked and in denial at the notion of this card, since their decks have been dominating multiple formats for an eternity yet they've curiously never once had to deal with any counter-hosers that weren't ineffectual, narrow CRAP.
Can't really see why white got Lapse of Certainty... Where is white in that counterspell anyway?? How does adding 1 more mana to Memory Lapse make it white?
Because it's a stall and white is the owner of stall tactics.
Does this make part of the attempt to make white powerful again?... Is this the solution to the problem? Giving white access to everything, like black and blue in the old days?
They're not giving White access to everything, what they are doing is consciously moving White more towards the Blue area of the pie, something that should have been done a long time ago, but better late than never.
Lapse of Certainty costs more than Memory Lapse because white is supposed to get more efficient aggro threats than blue. At two mana, it probably would have been a little over the top in decks like Kithkin.
However, let me just say that this is a great card not because of its power level, but because it sets a precedent of stalling counterspells like this in white. This is yet another step in making white less of a mindless beatdown color and more of the planning, aggro-controllish color it should be. Great, great job, R&D.
However, let me just say that this is a great card not because of its power level, but because it sets a precedent of stalling counterspells like this in white. This is yet another step in making white less of a mindless beatdown color and more of the planning, aggro-controllish color it should be. Great, great job, R&D.
Granted two of those cards are from Planar Chaos. However now that Lapse has made it official that White can counter spells, I believe they could show up again in a non-alternate universe setting.
It looks to me as if it is at least conceivable for White to be allowed three flavors of counters. Tempo/Stalling (put the spell on top of your deck/back in your hand), Taxing (counter unless the opponent pays X), and Protective (counter a spell that targets you/a permanent you control). Which all sounds good to me. As long 'hard" counters remain in Blue and the majority of counters still go to Blue I think it's something that should be allowed to happen.
So, I am a little confused... What does Nicol Bolas do then?
4RBBU
+3 Destroy target noncreature permanent
-2 Gain control of target creature
-9 somethinng that essentially wins the game, don't know it yet
Loyalty: don't know this yet either
"Crovax Connections" does sound like a friendly corner store run by your local Ascendant Lord
I bet we have a case of Jon Finkel sleeping with the girl, then never calling her again and she going bat #%^% crazy and writing this article case closed.
First PTQ top 8 6/13/09(1st) Second PTQ top 8 10/7/09(5th) Second at national Qualifier 5/15/10
Third PTQ top 8 2/12/11 (2nd)
Second at Alberta 2011's
Fourth PTQ top 8 3/17/12(8th)
GP Vancouver 2012 (18th)
lapse of certainty is eh. I can accept a solid counter for 3 mana and a soft for 2, but not a soft counter for 3, even if it is white. mana tithe is great because it fits into a weenie or fish strategy, but this one's too slow for aggro and too weak for control.
i agree with the first part, its too slow for aggro. i prefer aggro to control, and the first 4 or so turns really count for aggro. they won't want to waste their 1 of many good three drops (finks, and the such.[i just realized i play with too many three drops... lol:D]) to wait a turn for something that may not happen. that snowballs into a potential three points a turn for the game.
aggro puts its opponent on a clock, and speeds up that clock as turns progress, kithkin is a perfect example.
T1- stalwart (opponent has 10 turns to respond or lose.)
T2-knight of meadowgrain, swing (opponent has 4 1/2 turns)
T3- cenn or stillmoon cavelier, swing.
if you miss that T3, it throws off aggros tempo. if anything i see LoC as a late game card, if you draw it early its going to gunk up your hand till turn four or five, maybe stop a *** or CC. (if you're playing any control) if against aggro, its almost useless because depending on the deck, they won't care about waiting a turn to play their fatty, and proceed to smash into the red zone. i see this as a SB card at best for aggro.
if you're playing control, it gives you a chance to draw a hard counter or an answer, but why not run a hard counter over it anyways?
the one place i see this card shining is in a white/x(probably blue, maybe splash green) agrro/control/midrange deck. early game stalls and throws off tempo for your opponent, late game win. if i had the patience to play a control deck i might try this card out, but the closest i'll come to the control-right-wing side of the spectrum is aggro/control soo i might have better luck with this card.
Granted two of those cards are from Planar Chaos. However now that Lapse has made it official that White can counter spells, I believe they could show up again in a non-alternate universe setting.
It looks to me as if it is at least conceivable for White to be allowed three flavors of counters. Tempo/Stalling (put the spell on top of your deck/back in your hand), Taxing (counter unless the opponent pays X), and Protective (counter a spell that targets you/a permanent you control). Which all sounds good to me. As long 'hard" counters remain in Blue and the majority of counters still go to Blue I think it's something that should be allowed to happen.
i agree, i feel that, yes each color does have two allies, but IMO each has always leaned towards 1 of the two, other than green, i feel that it has an even balance of influence from white and red.( again, its just an opinion.) white does have some influence from blue, but not as much as green. red has alot of green influence, and give or take some black. black and blue influence each other heavily with little inspiration from their allies. i feel R&D took a step in the right direction, it just feels out of place with the metagame right now. view my last post...;)
Well I think to be fair the extra mana is because the spell is kinda a "harder" counter than Mana Tithe/Leak/etc. It has the isolated sentence "Counter target spell." The other effects aren't exactly advantageous to the opponent either, so they don't help to undercost the effect. Hard counters that don't give your opponent a card or a mans or something are definitely 3+ cmc these days.
its not like anyone plays with him, but guile enjoys cards that have the isolated "counter target spell" this is R&D's attempt to add to the newer players, let them get a feel for mixing colors and discovering weak combo's that open up bigger possibilities. i dont think that R&D really had the completely experienced great players to play with this card. we only have 29 cards available in the spoiler. so i think that the best is yet to come from what we haven't seen. maybe blue gets a better counter in block... just a thought
Hold on now, flying's not such a terrible idea. Not flying per-se, just something like "Creatures without flying cannot attack/deal damage to Nicol Bolas." The wording would have to be worked out mechanically, but from a flavor standpoint a planeswalker that could fly would be badass.
I think Lapse at WWwould have been toooo good for the aggro white player. It would be a Memory lapse you can't splash...and so damn good for the WW player who hits his turn four and flips this card up. Drop your 2 Drop pass the turn, and try not to smile to much.
Hell With a figure and Path in the format as well, Lapse at two would be an insane turn 3, as you play control, with the ability to pump your figure and have enough mana for critter removal as well.
I think Lapse is going to see some play in constructed White Aggro Decks. A Lapse after dropping a Figure and a Knight is a tough pill to swallow for any deck in the format. And Imagine if you have two in your hand? You Pause the game for a turn and get another attack step for three.
Seems pretty good even at three....and at two I think we would have cries of outrage from some and also cries of joy from WW players everywhere.
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Standard-WW, Artifact/W Aggro.
Extended-?
Legacy-Mono Blue Fish.
To stop the number of "so what does it do???" posts on this thread, the answer is we don't know. There may or may not be partially correct info in the thread, but the OP hasn't returned with a complete rumour for Nicol Bolas. If you'd like to discuss the rumoured Path to Exile or Lapse of Certainty, please do so in the New Cards Discussion forum. Thread closed.
Even Squire could be called "a lot better than Spell Snip"........there go my hopes of seeing good counters to apologize for the crap they printed in SoA......I miss Magic less and less where I am now, shameful that Wizards has gone the Wii route and released a casual-based crap.....after Lorwyn rotates they'd better print some good counters:(
Agreed. I'm really glad what WotC has done for white with this new block, and still 100+ more cards to go! I just hope Green gets some love from WotC as well, and that BB won't dominate as much :|
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But it isn't that terrible - It hasn't stopped Faeries and 5-Color Control from doing well. Neutering Counter-Everything Control is what they wanted and what they got.
the white memory lapse is pretty weak, throwing a cantrip effect or lifegain or something onto it would have made it worth printing.
Nicol Bolas should be cool, the planeswalkers are a fairly new design space so it's hard for them to screw them up.
Complaint box: Why was the mtg as an mmo(rpg) thread closed? I was having fun talking about it, hrmph-
Lapse of Certainty is white a couple reasons.
> Mechanically its like damage prevention, not getting rid of the threat, just holding it off temporarilly.
> Flavorfully its bureaucratic. Ties someone up, delaying their efforts and keeping them from getting anything new done (drawing a card) until they get it sorted out. I only wish this block setting had a bureaucracy so they could have given it a more litting name, like Filibuster or Red Tape or something
Under Original Management!
Bane's Reading Suggestions
David Eddings: The Belgariad, Mallorean, Elenium and Tamuli Series. The Redemption of Althalus
Jim Butcher: The Codex Alera Series
Planeswalker- Nicol Bolas
-----------------------------
Flying
LOL.
The difference between you and I is that I don't claim to be a good player.
Because it's a stall and white is the owner of stall tactics.
They're not giving White access to everything, what they are doing is consciously moving White more towards the Blue area of the pie, something that should have been done a long time ago, but better late than never.
However, let me just say that this is a great card not because of its power level, but because it sets a precedent of stalling counterspells like this in white. This is yet another step in making white less of a mindless beatdown color and more of the planning, aggro-controllish color it should be. Great, great job, R&D.
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I agree. It's official, White now gets counterspells as long as they are mechanically flavored correctly. Lapse of Certainty, Hindering Light, Rebuff the Wicked, Mana Tithe.
Granted two of those cards are from Planar Chaos. However now that Lapse has made it official that White can counter spells, I believe they could show up again in a non-alternate universe setting.
It looks to me as if it is at least conceivable for White to be allowed three flavors of counters. Tempo/Stalling (put the spell on top of your deck/back in your hand), Taxing (counter unless the opponent pays X), and Protective (counter a spell that targets you/a permanent you control). Which all sounds good to me. As long 'hard" counters remain in Blue and the majority of counters still go to Blue I think it's something that should be allowed to happen.
4RBBU
+3 Destroy target noncreature permanent
-2 Gain control of target creature
-9 somethinng that essentially wins the game, don't know it yet
Loyalty: don't know this yet either
First PTQ top 8 6/13/09(1st)
Second PTQ top 8 10/7/09(5th)
Second at national Qualifier 5/15/10
Third PTQ top 8 2/12/11 (2nd)
Second at Alberta 2011's
Fourth PTQ top 8 3/17/12(8th)
GP Vancouver 2012 (18th)
i agree with the first part, its too slow for aggro. i prefer aggro to control, and the first 4 or so turns really count for aggro. they won't want to waste their 1 of many good three drops (finks, and the such.[i just realized i play with too many three drops... lol:D]) to wait a turn for something that may not happen. that snowballs into a potential three points a turn for the game.
aggro puts its opponent on a clock, and speeds up that clock as turns progress, kithkin is a perfect example.
T1- stalwart (opponent has 10 turns to respond or lose.)
T2-knight of meadowgrain, swing (opponent has 4 1/2 turns)
T3- cenn or stillmoon cavelier, swing.
if you miss that T3, it throws off aggros tempo. if anything i see LoC as a late game card, if you draw it early its going to gunk up your hand till turn four or five, maybe stop a *** or CC. (if you're playing any control) if against aggro, its almost useless because depending on the deck, they won't care about waiting a turn to play their fatty, and proceed to smash into the red zone. i see this as a SB card at best for aggro.
if you're playing control, it gives you a chance to draw a hard counter or an answer, but why not run a hard counter over it anyways?
the one place i see this card shining is in a white/x(probably blue, maybe splash green) agrro/control/midrange deck. early game stalls and throws off tempo for your opponent, late game win. if i had the patience to play a control deck i might try this card out, but the closest i'll come to the control-right-wing side of the spectrum is aggro/control soo i might have better luck with this card.
i agree, i feel that, yes each color does have two allies, but IMO each has always leaned towards 1 of the two, other than green, i feel that it has an even balance of influence from white and red.( again, its just an opinion.) white does have some influence from blue, but not as much as green. red has alot of green influence, and give or take some black. black and blue influence each other heavily with little inspiration from their allies. i feel R&D took a step in the right direction, it just feels out of place with the metagame right now. view my last post...;)
its not like anyone plays with him, but guile enjoys cards that have the isolated "counter target spell" this is R&D's attempt to add to the newer players, let them get a feel for mixing colors and discovering weak combo's that open up bigger possibilities. i dont think that R&D really had the completely experienced great players to play with this card. we only have 29 cards available in the spoiler. so i think that the best is yet to come from what we haven't seen. maybe blue gets a better counter in block... just a thought
Complaint box: Why was the mtg as an mmo(rpg) thread closed? I was having fun talking about it, hrmph-
Hold on now, flying's not such a terrible idea. Not flying per-se, just something like "Creatures without flying cannot attack/deal damage to Nicol Bolas." The wording would have to be worked out mechanically, but from a flavor standpoint a planeswalker that could fly would be badass.
I think Lapse at WWwould have been toooo good for the aggro white player. It would be a Memory lapse you can't splash...and so damn good for the WW player who hits his turn four and flips this card up. Drop your 2 Drop pass the turn, and try not to smile to much.
Hell With a figure and Path in the format as well, Lapse at two would be an insane turn 3, as you play control, with the ability to pump your figure and have enough mana for critter removal as well.
I think Lapse is going to see some play in constructed White Aggro Decks. A Lapse after dropping a Figure and a Knight is a tough pill to swallow for any deck in the format. And Imagine if you have two in your hand? You Pause the game for a turn and get another attack step for three.
Seems pretty good even at three....and at two I think we would have cries of outrage from some and also cries of joy from WW players everywhere.
Extended-?
Legacy-Mono Blue Fish.
.