For the cost of 4UBBR there are plenty other ways to win the game. Good luck and have fun. I won't focus myself on this thing.
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hey i have managed to evolve my axolotls by feeding them thyroid glands the thyroxine contained in these gland is enough to change these water dwelling creatures into land based creatures
Posted by: Tay Collins | January 20, 2010 6:45 AM
Tay, that's not evolution. It's metamorphosis. Evolution means descent with heritable modification – individuals cannot evolve, unless they're Pokemon.
Posted by: David Marjanović | January 20, 2010 8:55 AM
LoL. So how did your friend get ahold of that tip card?
I'm not sure how he convinced the guy to give it to him, as I wasn't there that night for drafting (sadface, work sucks).
Apparently the story goes like this; one of the semi-regular drafters at our local store got a box of conflux at least 2 weeks ago and opened it. I don't know how or where they got that box. They brought a stack of a lot of cards up to the shop last tuesday to show off, and my friend was able to get one of the tip cards.
I'm sure if I press the people that were there I can get some more tidbits, I know one of them was telling me about a "new ashenmoor gouger" that is a 4/4 for 3 and costs some combination of R/B mana with a different drawback.
'Ware the curse of Psybite! Wizards may get shirty and want to know who sold that pack. Trouble could be coming to your local store.
I honestly doubt the store sold him/let him open anything. Most likely it would be the warehouse distributor. I know, as a store, when we get any product, we have to sign a legal contract agree to, well basically not touch any product until the agreed upon date. And I do not believe any store would a) get the boxes this early (Jan 13th?) & b) risk their entire stock of MTG and all future events to let someone open a box early.
I suppose it could have been the TO's prize support which had been opened, but in that case the TO is screwed. There wont be the correct number of prizes for the Pre Release, and the participants would not only notice, but most likely do something about it. Then the TO would be done with Wizards and not be doing any MTG in the future... probably not worth the risk.
So I was thinking can you: Dream Halls for Conflux, Fetching Bolas, Doubling Season and the two cards to pitch for them. Play the Season, follow with Bolas, use his ability first turn.
Leave an opponent with no cards in hand, down 7 permanents and facing the loss of 1 non-creature/turn. Sure there are better combo options, but I think that combo would be just sheer evil cruelty.
Is it just me or does the nicol bolas image in the card (in the tips and tricks card as shown in the youtube video) does not seem to jut out of the frame like how other planeswalker images are?
I was expecting the tip of the wing to jut out the frame, but realised it did not.
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Quote from Starkiller2, in response to Worldwake booster packs missing the rare/mythic card »
We got the Priceless Treasures (in Zendikar), now they give us the Deadly Perils!
Bolas goes a very long way towards keeping the game under total, unrelenting control. Your opponent has a one-turn window to kill either Bolas or you; otherwise he's staring at a fairly quick clock that doesn't even need to tick down to zero to take him down.
The obvious question here is whether this clashes with Cruel Ultimatum as the win condition of choice for 5cc. Bolas has a simpler mana cost, although the extra mana in its cost is definitely not trivial. It does, however, allow the deck to run Mind Stone as an accelerator, which Cruel builds cannot afford to. The early game acceleration is extremely tempting in a metagame that's growing more and bore biased towards quick aggro and aggro-control.
As for the board impact, the theoretical eight starting loyalty or one-shot Control Magic is comparable to the ten-point life swing, except in situations where you're in range of a burn spell. This is significant because we're looking at a metagame with an uncounterable, unpreventable burn spell that will be splashed across many archetypes. The flexibility of a noncreature Vindicate + virtual 8 life or free Control Magic is definitely superior to the Cruel Edict plus Raise Dead effect, and is more likely to be relevant when you need it to be relevant. Bolas also has the important side benefit of being able to nuke planeswalkers with no effort.
The question then comes down to overall card advantage. Cruel Ultimatum has the potential to go seven-for-one right away. Nicol Bolas has the potential to go anywhere from sixteen to 20+ for one, but only over the course of three or more turns. An unanswered Cruel Ultimatum may not win you the game right away, but goes a long way towards making sure you don't lose. An unanswered Nicol Bolas doesn't do as much for keeping you in the game short-term, but will almost undoubtedly win you the game if you manage to hit its ultimate once. His loyalty scheme and +3 ability makes it much likelier that Bolas will stick around after you use its ultimate, providing inevitability all in its own.
Both Cruel Ultimatum and Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker are extremely powerful endgames for control decks. The former ensures you establish an inequivocable control position and draws you nearer to the follow-through that will win you the game. The latter provides inevitability, but leaves you vulnerable in the short term. Which leads me to the conclusion that Bolas is the perfect complement to Cruel Ultimatum as an endgame follow-up.
Can 5cc afford to run at least four 7+ mana, color-intensive spells? To answer this we need to consider the expected metagame shifts come Conflux. So far we've seen two uncounterable red spells that significantly weaken Faeries, but at the same time splash some damage to control strategies. We still have no reliable early game mana acceleration that also provides all-important color fixing, but on the plus side we have the potential to run up to eight Negate effects. The aforementioned red spells, along with Path to Exile, make it considerably more difficult for a control deck to win on creatures alone. What all this information tells me, is that perhaps the best slots that open up for Bolas to make an appearance are those devoted to Cloudthresher. 5cc could take a much more reactive, long-term strategy than it has played so far, eschewing a creature win in favor of one big planeswalker kill.
The elements are there; it's all a matter of testing whether this is the more effective route to victory.
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People hiss and grunt at Mark Rosewater for the state of the game. Few realize, though, that it is Aaron Forsythe who is directly responsible of the current state of affairs due to negligence as head of Magic R&D and a completely skewed view of the game as a whole.
So next time you want to make an avvy with Rosewater pissing on something, take a deep breath and consider pasting Forsythe's face there instead...
Bolas looks nice, but the new gouger has me excited for Blightning aggro. Combined with the temper (In case of chameleon), the possible rise of 5cc as a popular and powerful deck and Blightning aggro could easily be a T1 deck.
Also you wouldn't happen to know if it's a goblin, would you?
I don't know anything other than that the guy claims it's a 4/4 for 3 in some combination of R/B mana, and that it has a "better" drawback than gouger.
Limited uberbomb, will probably sneak into certain 5cc builds as a 1- or 2-of.
Still, it's a fun-looking card. It'll be HUGE in casual, I would imagine... and that's what WotC goes for in most of their "iconic" cards nowadays anyway, rather than strict competitive constructed playability.
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Ummm, this guy wins games in many ways. The last ability is pretty silly, it could just as well say "you win the game." But the other two are equally spectacular.
The first play will probably be the -2 ability to remove one of their attackers and create a blocker. Then destroy noncreature permanents on the next two turns and use the ultimate on the fourth turn.
If only there were a way to cheat this guy out early.
The other question is, would you play this if you could play Cruel Ultimatum instead? The ultimatum has a more immediate effect and is almost as crushing.
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I'm a mathematics postdoc researching evolution and complex systems. Learn about these ideas here!
Is it just me or does the nicol bolas image in the card (in the tips and tricks card as shown in the youtube video) does not seem to jut out of the frame like how other planeswalker images are?
I was expecting the tip of the wing to jut out the frame, but realised it did not.
@jihadcw: can you please check this up on your tips & tricks card please? it's bugging me! dang!
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Quote from Starkiller2, in response to Worldwake booster packs missing the rare/mythic card »
We got the Priceless Treasures (in Zendikar), now they give us the Deadly Perils!
The new "Gouger" isn't a 4/4.... he's a 4/3 and has unearth..... he's fantastic..and uncommon obv....
With what drawback???
Oh and Bolas = Sexy. This is what a Mythic should be. Not tournament staple, casual goodness, the most ppl would want is 1 for their binder to look pretty. Not like the other walkers who are actually usefull
Edit: In tournaments!! usefull in tournaments Ppls may actually be able to buy him online, yay
The finally ability is just..WoW!! Kind of reminds me of Sarkhan Vol's final.
I don't think this will see constructed play. But the coolness value alone will drive the price up. People thought Sarkhan Vol would see lots of play but it didn't. Bolas on the other hand is less obviously suited for constructed.
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"Wizards could put $100 bills in packs and people would complain about how they were folded." - from Dr Jeebus's Sig
Posted by: Tay Collins | January 20, 2010 6:45 AM
Tay, that's not evolution. It's metamorphosis. Evolution means descent with heritable modification – individuals cannot evolve, unless they're Pokemon.
Posted by: David Marjanović | January 20, 2010 8:55 AM
I'm not sure how he convinced the guy to give it to him, as I wasn't there that night for drafting (sadface, work sucks).
Apparently the story goes like this; one of the semi-regular drafters at our local store got a box of conflux at least 2 weeks ago and opened it. I don't know how or where they got that box. They brought a stack of a lot of cards up to the shop last tuesday to show off, and my friend was able to get one of the tip cards.
I'm sure if I press the people that were there I can get some more tidbits, I know one of them was telling me about a "new ashenmoor gouger" that is a 4/4 for 3 and costs some combination of R/B mana with a different drawback.
I honestly doubt the store sold him/let him open anything. Most likely it would be the warehouse distributor. I know, as a store, when we get any product, we have to sign a legal contract agree to, well basically not touch any product until the agreed upon date. And I do not believe any store would a) get the boxes this early (Jan 13th?) & b) risk their entire stock of MTG and all future events to let someone open a box early.
I suppose it could have been the TO's prize support which had been opened, but in that case the TO is screwed. There wont be the correct number of prizes for the Pre Release, and the participants would not only notice, but most likely do something about it. Then the TO would be done with Wizards and not be doing any MTG in the future... probably not worth the risk.
So I was thinking can you: Dream Halls for Conflux, Fetching Bolas, Doubling Season and the two cards to pitch for them. Play the Season, follow with Bolas, use his ability first turn.
Leave an opponent with no cards in hand, down 7 permanents and facing the loss of 1 non-creature/turn. Sure there are better combo options, but I think that combo would be just sheer evil cruelty.
I was expecting the tip of the wing to jut out the frame, but realised it did not.
Bolas goes a very long way towards keeping the game under total, unrelenting control. Your opponent has a one-turn window to kill either Bolas or you; otherwise he's staring at a fairly quick clock that doesn't even need to tick down to zero to take him down.
The obvious question here is whether this clashes with Cruel Ultimatum as the win condition of choice for 5cc. Bolas has a simpler mana cost, although the extra mana in its cost is definitely not trivial. It does, however, allow the deck to run Mind Stone as an accelerator, which Cruel builds cannot afford to. The early game acceleration is extremely tempting in a metagame that's growing more and bore biased towards quick aggro and aggro-control.
As for the board impact, the theoretical eight starting loyalty or one-shot Control Magic is comparable to the ten-point life swing, except in situations where you're in range of a burn spell. This is significant because we're looking at a metagame with an uncounterable, unpreventable burn spell that will be splashed across many archetypes. The flexibility of a noncreature Vindicate + virtual 8 life or free Control Magic is definitely superior to the Cruel Edict plus Raise Dead effect, and is more likely to be relevant when you need it to be relevant. Bolas also has the important side benefit of being able to nuke planeswalkers with no effort.
The question then comes down to overall card advantage. Cruel Ultimatum has the potential to go seven-for-one right away. Nicol Bolas has the potential to go anywhere from sixteen to 20+ for one, but only over the course of three or more turns. An unanswered Cruel Ultimatum may not win you the game right away, but goes a long way towards making sure you don't lose. An unanswered Nicol Bolas doesn't do as much for keeping you in the game short-term, but will almost undoubtedly win you the game if you manage to hit its ultimate once. His loyalty scheme and +3 ability makes it much likelier that Bolas will stick around after you use its ultimate, providing inevitability all in its own.
Both Cruel Ultimatum and Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker are extremely powerful endgames for control decks. The former ensures you establish an inequivocable control position and draws you nearer to the follow-through that will win you the game. The latter provides inevitability, but leaves you vulnerable in the short term. Which leads me to the conclusion that Bolas is the perfect complement to Cruel Ultimatum as an endgame follow-up.
Can 5cc afford to run at least four 7+ mana, color-intensive spells? To answer this we need to consider the expected metagame shifts come Conflux. So far we've seen two uncounterable red spells that significantly weaken Faeries, but at the same time splash some damage to control strategies. We still have no reliable early game mana acceleration that also provides all-important color fixing, but on the plus side we have the potential to run up to eight Negate effects. The aforementioned red spells, along with Path to Exile, make it considerably more difficult for a control deck to win on creatures alone. What all this information tells me, is that perhaps the best slots that open up for Bolas to make an appearance are those devoted to Cloudthresher. 5cc could take a much more reactive, long-term strategy than it has played so far, eschewing a creature win in favor of one big planeswalker kill.
The elements are there; it's all a matter of testing whether this is the more effective route to victory.
So next time you want to make an avvy with Rosewater pissing on something, take a deep breath and consider pasting Forsythe's face there instead...
was actually resigned to seeing it spoiled by wotc... ah well....
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Oooh Dicey:
[dice=1]100[/dice]
Also you wouldn't happen to know if it's a goblin, would you?
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This has as much chance of seeing play asPhage, the Untouchable
Still, it's a fun-looking card. It'll be HUGE in casual, I would imagine... and that's what WotC goes for in most of their "iconic" cards nowadays anyway, rather than strict competitive constructed playability.
:pumpkin:
See Full English Breakfast builds in Legacy.
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The first play will probably be the -2 ability to remove one of their attackers and create a blocker. Then destroy noncreature permanents on the next two turns and use the ultimate on the fourth turn.
If only there were a way to cheat this guy out early.
The other question is, would you play this if you could play Cruel Ultimatum instead? The ultimatum has a more immediate effect and is almost as crushing.
<3 Zesty =)
@jihadcw: can you please check this up on your tips & tricks card please? it's bugging me! dang!
With what drawback???
Oh and Bolas = Sexy. This is what a Mythic should be. Not tournament staple, casual goodness, the most ppl would want is 1 for their binder to look pretty. Not like the other walkers who are actually usefull
Edit: In tournaments!! usefull in tournaments Ppls may actually be able to buy him online, yay
Go Wizards.
Not Gruul? Then Die!
I don't think this will see constructed play. But the coolness value alone will drive the price up. People thought Sarkhan Vol would see lots of play but it didn't. Bolas on the other hand is less obviously suited for constructed.
It's locked in my roommate's car atm, I can't confirm the art issue until he wakes up
Oh and the 3rd ability will never EVER happen.
Man I love Legacy
Using Drain to fight Workshops is like using Exclude to fight Dark Confidant.
VERY CHEAP LEGACY SALE (priced to move before April 09!)
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=8172551#post8172551
unless you were already in command of the game
win more!!!!
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