With the recent spoilers showing that Cycling will be a returning mechanic for Amonkhet, it got me thinking about what kind of new cycling cards we might see, as well as any reprints and perhaps any variants of cycling that might come back. Here are some ideas I thought of and predict we might see:
Basic Landcycling - Very good mana fixing for each color that doesn't need to be overpowered and improves the quality of magic games, both limited and constructed? I think it has a good chance at showing up. Probably a common cycle of creatures / spells.
"Decree" Cycle - Rare cycling cards that have an impressive effect, and a less impressive effect when you cycle them. Maybe something tied flavorfully to each God?
Special Condition Cycling - A little more unique, but they could appear. Judging SOI/EMN didn't have a lot of special conditions for Madness abilities, I wouldn't imagine Cycling getting many cards like Street Wraith in this set.
Unearth would be amazing to see reprinted. I can honestly say that it is my favorite Urza's Legacy common, and I keep hoping to see it reprinted every time Cycling appears.
Speaking of, a reprint of Blasted Landscape at common would be nice. I never understood why it was uncommon.
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It's about time for the reserved list to die, for the sake of Vintage and Legacy (And Commander).
As much as I love the card, I don't think we'll see Astral Slide reprinted, if for no other reason than it doesn't fit into modern design paradigms since it triggers off of opposing cycles as well.
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I remember wizards not liking the '2cc' cycle this card. Therefor they created a bunch of cards with cycling effects. Archfiend of Ifnir seemed to go back to the old '2cc' cycling but they seemed to infused a 'Astral Slide' like ability to the card. So I won't be too surprised that we do get an Astral Slide card (but it's going to be a creature). I'm not sure about cards. I do like Archfiend of Ifnir because if we have more of these guys with lower casting cost, it would be awesome.
Fingers crossed:
Goblin wild shooter R
Goblin 1/1
Whenever you cycle or discard another card, Goblin Wild Shooter will deal 2 damage to target creature/player.
I remember wizards not liking the '2cc' cycle this card. Therefor they created a bunch of cards with cycling effects. Archfiend of Ifnir seemed to go back to the old '2cc' cycling but they seemed to infused a 'Astral Slide' like ability to the card. So I won't be too surprised that we do get an Astral Slide card (but it's going to be a creature). I'm not sure about cards. I do like Archfiend of Ifnir because if we have more of these guys with lower casting cost, it would be awesome.
Fingers crossed:
Goblin wild shooter R
Goblin 1/1
Whenever you cycle or discard another card, Goblin Wild Shooter will deal 2 damage to target creature/player.
Cycling: 2
I like this card!!!!
That is wildly overpowered compared to its cost. >.<
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It's about time for the reserved list to die, for the sake of Vintage and Legacy (And Commander).
Unearth is obviously way too powerful to be reprinted, let's get real people.
I could see us getting a new strictly worse version:
Unearth Lite1B
Sorcery [U]
Return target creature card with converted mana cost 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. That creature is a white Zombie in addition to its other colors and types.
Cycling 2
Unearth is obviously way too powerful to be reprinted, let's get real people.
I could see us getting a new strictly worse version:
Unearth Lite1B
Sorcery [U]
Return target creature card with converted mana cost 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. That creature is a white Zombie in addition to its other colors and types.
Cycling 2
How is is Unearth to powerful to get reprinted? No-one said it had to be common. What card in standard would it break?
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It's about time for the reserved list to die, for the sake of Vintage and Legacy (And Commander).
I remember wizards not liking the '2cc' cycle this card. Therefor they created a bunch of cards with cycling effects. Archfiend of Ifnir seemed to go back to the old '2cc' cycling but they seemed to infused a 'Astral Slide' like ability to the card. So I won't be too surprised that we do get an Astral Slide card (but it's going to be a creature). I'm not sure about cards. I do like Archfiend of Ifnir because if we have more of these guys with lower casting cost, it would be awesome.
Fingers crossed:
Goblin wild shooter R
Goblin 1/1
Whenever you cycle or discard another card, Goblin Wild Shooter will deal 2 damage to target creature/player.
Cycling: 2
I like this card!!!!
That is wildly overpowered compared to its cost. >.<
lol.
Archfiend of Ifnir is 5 mana for a 5/4 flyer (which is good). cycling/discard ability that only hit opponent creatures (this is powerful).
Unearth is obviously way too powerful to be reprinted, let's get real people.
I could see us getting a new strictly worse version:
Unearth Lite1B
Sorcery [U]
Return target creature card with converted mana cost 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. That creature is a white Zombie in addition to its other colors and types.
Cycling 2
How is is Unearth to powerful to get reprinted? No-one said it had to be common. What card in standard would it break?
Unearth is just too efficient of a spell. There have probably been 40 or 50 reanimation spells printed in all of magic the gathering and Unearth is the only one that has a converted mana cost of 1 to cast aside from Reanimate.
Unearth is obviously way too powerful to be reprinted, let's get real people.
I could see us getting a new strictly worse version:
Unearth Lite1B
Sorcery [U]
Return target creature card with converted mana cost 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. That creature is a white Zombie in addition to its other colors and types.
Cycling 2
How is is Unearth to powerful to get reprinted? No-one said it had to be common. What card in standard would it break?
Unearth is just too efficient of a spell. There have probably been 40 or 50 reanimation spells printed in all of magic the gathering and Unearth is the only one that has a converted mana cost of 1 to cast aside from Reanimate.
None of those three are particularly broken with Unearth. Particularly not if it isn't a common spell (which it would be unlikely to be if reprinted in standard). Good, yes. Broken, no. Now, if it could reanimate a Gearhulk, then it would be broken, but fortunately it does not.
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It's about time for the reserved list to die, for the sake of Vintage and Legacy (And Commander).
None of those three are particularly broken with Unearth. Particularly not if it isn't a common spell (which it would be unlikely to be if reprinted in standard). Good, yes. Broken, no. Now, if it could reanimate a Gearhulk, then it would be broken, but fortunately it does not.
It's too efficient. Rogue Refiner and Whirler Virtuoso already are powerful creatures because of the value they generate when they enter the battlefield. Imagine that value again for B. It would encourage players not to remove these creatures. Plus it cycles! There's a reason reanimation spells almost never have a converted mana cost of 1. Reanimation spells have gotten significantly weaker in the past few years.
Compare Unearth to Crypt Champion. They have similar effects, but Crypt Champion doesn't cycle, allows all players to reanimate a creature and costs much more mana. Look at Driver of the Dead and Agadeem Occultist. They have similar effects to Unearth but are weaker and cost more mana.
None of those three are particularly broken with Unearth. Particularly not if it isn't a common spell (which it would be unlikely to be if reprinted in standard). Good, yes. Broken, no. Now, if it could reanimate a Gearhulk, then it would be broken, but fortunately it does not.
It's too efficient. Rogue Refiner and Whirler Virtuoso already are powerful creatures because of the value they generate when they enter the battlefield. Imagine that value again for B. It would encourage players not to remove these creatures. Plus it cycles! There's a reason reanimation spells almost never have a converted mana cost of 1. Reanimation spells have gotten significantly weaker in the past few years.
Compare Unearth to Crypt Champion. They have similar effects, but Crypt Champion doesn't cycle, allows all players to reanimate a creature and costs much more mana. Look at Driver of the Dead and Agadeem Occultist. They have similar effects to Unearth but are weaker and cost more mana.
Both would require three color decks, which isn't as easy to set up in standard as some people think. Also, Agadeem Occultist is repeatable and much, much more powerful than Unearth ever was. Also, none of those three cards are standard legal, so there is that.
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It's about time for the reserved list to die, for the sake of Vintage and Legacy (And Commander).
None of those three are particularly broken with Unearth. Particularly not if it isn't a common spell (which it would be unlikely to be if reprinted in standard). Good, yes. Broken, no. Now, if it could reanimate a Gearhulk, then it would be broken, but fortunately it does not.
It's too efficient. Rogue Refiner and Whirler Virtuoso already are powerful creatures because of the value they generate when they enter the battlefield. Imagine that value again for B. It would encourage players not to remove these creatures. Plus it cycles! There's a reason reanimation spells almost never have a converted mana cost of 1. Reanimation spells have gotten significantly weaker in the past few years.
Compare Unearth to Crypt Champion. They have similar effects, but Crypt Champion doesn't cycle, allows all players to reanimate a creature and costs much more mana. Look at Driver of the Dead and Agadeem Occultist. They have similar effects to Unearth but are weaker and cost more mana.
Not to mention you'd create a Modern BG deck that can play both Eternal Witness and Unearth.
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MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
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.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
None of those three are particularly broken with Unearth. Particularly not if it isn't a common spell (which it would be unlikely to be if reprinted in standard). Good, yes. Broken, no. Now, if it could reanimate a Gearhulk, then it would be broken, but fortunately it does not.
It's too efficient. Rogue Refiner and Whirler Virtuoso already are powerful creatures because of the value they generate when they enter the battlefield. Imagine that value again for B. It would encourage players not to remove these creatures. Plus it cycles! There's a reason reanimation spells almost never have a converted mana cost of 1. Reanimation spells have gotten significantly weaker in the past few years.
Compare Unearth to Crypt Champion. They have similar effects, but Crypt Champion doesn't cycle, allows all players to reanimate a creature and costs much more mana. Look at Driver of the Dead and Agadeem Occultist. They have similar effects to Unearth but are weaker and cost more mana.
Both would require three color decks, which isn't as easy to set up in standard as some people think. Also, Agadeem Occultist is repeatable and much, much more powerful than Unearth ever was. Also, none of those three cards are standard legal, so there is that.
I don't know what else to say, I guess we can agree to disagree. Ask Mark Rosewater on his Tumblr what he thinks.
Agadeem Occultist requires multiple cards to be "much more powerful" than Unearth, and still is a creature without haste that has a toughness of 2. I mentioned Crypt Champion and Driver of the Dead because they are cards that have a similar ability to Unearth but were designed much more recently. Ask yourself this, how many years has it been since Wizards printed a reanimation spell as mana efficient and powerful as Unearth in a Standard environment?
None of those three are particularly broken with Unearth. Particularly not if it isn't a common spell (which it would be unlikely to be if reprinted in standard). Good, yes. Broken, no. Now, if it could reanimate a Gearhulk, then it would be broken, but fortunately it does not.
It's too efficient. Rogue Refiner and Whirler Virtuoso already are powerful creatures because of the value they generate when they enter the battlefield. Imagine that value again for B. It would encourage players not to remove these creatures. Plus it cycles! There's a reason reanimation spells almost never have a converted mana cost of 1. Reanimation spells have gotten significantly weaker in the past few years.
Compare Unearth to Crypt Champion. They have similar effects, but Crypt Champion doesn't cycle, allows all players to reanimate a creature and costs much more mana. Look at Driver of the Dead and Agadeem Occultist. They have similar effects to Unearth but are weaker and cost more mana.
Not to mention you'd create a Modern BG deck that can play both Eternal Witness and Unearth.
WotC have already stated that they don't test for anything outside of standard, if something breaks they use the banlist to deal with it.
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It's about time for the reserved list to die, for the sake of Vintage and Legacy (And Commander).
OTOH, WotC also has 2-3 more years of cards to balance than we have knowledge of.
Even if Unearth isn't too good in Standard as it exists today, it would also constrain R&D from printing any cards that would make it 'too good' for the duration of its stay in Standard.
It would warp the meta just as surely as Lightning Bolt.
OTOH, WotC also has 2-3 more years of cards to balance than we have knowledge of.
Even if Unearth isn't too good in Standard as it exists today, it would also constrain R&D from printing any cards that would make it 'too good' for the duration of its stay in Standard.
It would warp the meta just as surely as Lightning Bolt.
Lightning Bolt didn't warp standard that much in my experience.
But I see your point, would still like to see it reprinted.
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It's about time for the reserved list to die, for the sake of Vintage and Legacy (And Commander).
OTOH, WotC also has 2-3 more years of cards to balance than we have knowledge of.
Even if Unearth isn't too good in Standard as it exists today, it would also constrain R&D from printing any cards that would make it 'too good' for the duration of its stay in Standard.
It would warp the meta just as surely as Lightning Bolt.
Lightning Bolt didn't warp standard that much in my experience.
But I see your point, would still like to see it reprinted.
Well, if you're going to cite what WotC says when it defends your position, you should be willing to admit statements from WotC that don't. (Which, I will make clear, I see you doing here, so no worries.)
I would also really like to see it reprinted. I think Miscalculation is much more likely, and I don't consider it that likely.
OTOH, WotC also has 2-3 more years of cards to balance than we have knowledge of.
Even if Unearth isn't too good in Standard as it exists today, it would also constrain R&D from printing any cards that would make it 'too good' for the duration of its stay in Standard.
It would warp the meta just as surely as Lightning Bolt.
Lightning Bolt didn't warp standard that much in my experience.
But I see your point, would still like to see it reprinted.
Well, if you're going to cite what WotC says when it defends your position, you should be willing to admit statements from WotC that don't. (Which, I will make clear, I see you doing here, so no worries.)
I would also really like to see it reprinted. I think Miscalculation is much more likely, and I don't consider it that likely.
There are a lot of potential reprints with cycling that would be awesome to see, but I doubt we will get more than three at most.
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It's about time for the reserved list to die, for the sake of Vintage and Legacy (And Commander).
Archfiend of Ifnir shows that they aren't shying away from "cycling matters" abilities. Fingers crossed for a "cycling matters" commander, preferably in WBG. Even Astral Slide on a legendary body would be great.
It's odd...I think Astral Slide and "cycling matters" cards in general are well-liked, but Wizards doesn't really say anything about their players asking for a "cycling matters" commander so I don't know where one would be on their priority list.
Archfiend of Ifnir shows that they aren't shying away from "cycling matters" abilities. Fingers crossed for a "cycling matters" commander, preferably in WBG. Even Astral Slide on a legendary body would be great.
It's odd...I think Astral Slide and "cycling matters" cards in general are well-liked, but Wizards doesn't really say anything about their players asking for a "cycling matters" commander so I don't know where one would be on their priority list.
Have you tried asking MaRo? He collects basic ideas for future legendary creatures (such as a legendary spider, or legendary werewolf, ect. They don't always nail it, but when they do, we get the Gitrog Monster, which is the perfect legendary frog). Just tell him that you would like to see a three color legendary creature with a "cycling matters" effect, preferably in those three colors you mentioned. And if he thinks it is doable in the next block they are doing cycling in, he'll stick one in the design file. But you have to be very generic in your request.
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It's about time for the reserved list to die, for the sake of Vintage and Legacy (And Commander).
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Basic Landcycling - Very good mana fixing for each color that doesn't need to be overpowered and improves the quality of magic games, both limited and constructed? I think it has a good chance at showing up. Probably a common cycle of creatures / spells.
"Decree" Cycle - Rare cycling cards that have an impressive effect, and a less impressive effect when you cycle them. Maybe something tied flavorfully to each God?
Special Condition Cycling - A little more unique, but they could appear. Judging SOI/EMN didn't have a lot of special conditions for Madness abilities, I wouldn't imagine Cycling getting many cards like Street Wraith in this set.
Reprints - Here is a small list of ideas:
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
Speaking of, a reprint of Blasted Landscape at common would be nice. I never understood why it was uncommon.
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Miscalculation would be nice.
Fingers crossed:
Goblin wild shooter R
Goblin 1/1
Whenever you cycle or discard another card, Goblin Wild Shooter will deal 2 damage to target creature/player.
Cycling: 2
I like this card!!!!
In his Second 100 days - Yawgmoth's Bargain is unrestricted in Vintage.
What is going to happen in the Next 100 days!!!
That is wildly overpowered compared to its cost. >.<
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I could see us getting a new strictly worse version:
Unearth Lite 1B
Sorcery [U]
Return target creature card with converted mana cost 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. That creature is a white Zombie in addition to its other colors and types.
Cycling 2
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate
How is is Unearth to powerful to get reprinted? No-one said it had to be common. What card in standard would it break?
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lol.
Archfiend of Ifnir is 5 mana for a 5/4 flyer (which is good). cycling/discard ability that only hit opponent creatures (this is powerful).
In his Second 100 days - Yawgmoth's Bargain is unrestricted in Vintage.
What is going to happen in the Next 100 days!!!
I don't play Standard but Rogue Refiner, Whirler Virtuoso and Thalia, Heretic Cathar come to mind.
Unearth is just too efficient of a spell. There have probably been 40 or 50 reanimation spells printed in all of magic the gathering and Unearth is the only one that has a converted mana cost of 1 to cast aside from Reanimate.
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate
None of those three are particularly broken with Unearth. Particularly not if it isn't a common spell (which it would be unlikely to be if reprinted in standard). Good, yes. Broken, no. Now, if it could reanimate a Gearhulk, then it would be broken, but fortunately it does not.
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It's too efficient. Rogue Refiner and Whirler Virtuoso already are powerful creatures because of the value they generate when they enter the battlefield. Imagine that value again for B. It would encourage players not to remove these creatures. Plus it cycles! There's a reason reanimation spells almost never have a converted mana cost of 1. Reanimation spells have gotten significantly weaker in the past few years.
Compare Unearth to Crypt Champion. They have similar effects, but Crypt Champion doesn't cycle, allows all players to reanimate a creature and costs much more mana. Look at Driver of the Dead and Agadeem Occultist. They have similar effects to Unearth but are weaker and cost more mana.
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate
Both would require three color decks, which isn't as easy to set up in standard as some people think. Also, Agadeem Occultist is repeatable and much, much more powerful than Unearth ever was. Also, none of those three cards are standard legal, so there is that.
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Maybe the Decree cycle? We do have a god-pharaoh who can issue plane-wide decrees!
BGGRock
Modern
BRGJund
BBGRock
Not to mention you'd create a Modern BG deck that can play both Eternal Witness and Unearth.
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.
I don't know what else to say, I guess we can agree to disagree. Ask Mark Rosewater on his Tumblr what he thinks.
Agadeem Occultist requires multiple cards to be "much more powerful" than Unearth, and still is a creature without haste that has a toughness of 2. I mentioned Crypt Champion and Driver of the Dead because they are cards that have a similar ability to Unearth but were designed much more recently. Ask yourself this, how many years has it been since Wizards printed a reanimation spell as mana efficient and powerful as Unearth in a Standard environment?
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate
WotC have already stated that they don't test for anything outside of standard, if something breaks they use the banlist to deal with it.
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Even if Unearth isn't too good in Standard as it exists today, it would also constrain R&D from printing any cards that would make it 'too good' for the duration of its stay in Standard.
It would warp the meta just as surely as Lightning Bolt.
Lightning Bolt didn't warp standard that much in my experience.
But I see your point, would still like to see it reprinted.
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Well, if you're going to cite what WotC says when it defends your position, you should be willing to admit statements from WotC that don't. (Which, I will make clear, I see you doing here, so no worries.)
I would also really like to see it reprinted. I think Miscalculation is much more likely, and I don't consider it that likely.
There are a lot of potential reprints with cycling that would be awesome to see, but I doubt we will get more than three at most.
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It's odd...I think Astral Slide and "cycling matters" cards in general are well-liked, but Wizards doesn't really say anything about their players asking for a "cycling matters" commander so I don't know where one would be on their priority list.
Have you tried asking MaRo? He collects basic ideas for future legendary creatures (such as a legendary spider, or legendary werewolf, ect. They don't always nail it, but when they do, we get the Gitrog Monster, which is the perfect legendary frog). Just tell him that you would like to see a three color legendary creature with a "cycling matters" effect, preferably in those three colors you mentioned. And if he thinks it is doable in the next block they are doing cycling in, he'll stick one in the design file. But you have to be very generic in your request.
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Numquam evolutioni obstes. Solum conculceris.
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