alexanderkrizak asked: The Shadowmoor filter lands are the only one of Future Sight's dual lands to show up so far. Did the other four have issues, or have you just not found the right future for them yet?
But the real question is why MaRo post this Right Now?
No one post this question before?
Or they will reprint the filter cycle? Possible hint for FRF?
What might those "issues" be?
I often find Mark Rosewater to be very annoying and cruel, at times; he dismissed the possibility of three-colored cards in Dragons of Tarkir, and now he says that only graven cairns is free of "issues" to have its own cycle? Why do the other employees at WotC tolerate him?
Issues:
Grove cycle would be absurd in colors that combo or control so anything with blue and red.
River cycle would actually need a cycle double the size of a regular super cycle and fitting that into one block in any way shape or form is too unwieldy to work with.
Canopy cycle is almost strictly better than a current rare cycle and could be problematic with combo decks by allowing them to reach infinite mana then sac lands to avoid fizzling.
Nimbus Maze cycle isn't different enough from the Glacial Fortress cycle to validate printing. Under certain conditions they are effectively the same card but one of these is more unwieldy and unfriendly to newer players which seems to be something Wizards is avoiding.
Probably because he is the lead designer. He has a hand in every main set and a touch into supplemental products. His vision for the game is what is driving magic forward. R&D tries to make sure that as few problematic things as possible slip through, his job is to make sure the game is FUN. Plus his personality and way of dancing around answers has to grow on you.
Sure, there is a chance of spending $4 on a booster and getting the Mythic Rare $30 super card. There is also a chance of surviving putting your tongue in a light socket.
Am i the only one that really liked murmuring bosk? It's fetchable, but slow unless specically built for. It punishes for reach colors, and would be hard to stay competitive past a certain count.
when i heard about the wedge config for this block, i thought we'd get em here.
I definitely agree. Murmuring Bosk did not fit in Tarkir, but I would really like to get more tri-lands that have basic land-types.
I just so happened to have thought of a template for such a land:
Valeron Field
Land - Plains
( : Add to your mana pool.)
~ enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add or to your mana pool.
It's worth noting that Murmuring Bosk was made a Forest to work with the Treefolk's particular brand of tribal which included Forests as well as Treefolk. See Treefolk Harbinger for example.
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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.
Issues:
Nimbus Maze cycle isn't different enough from the Glacial Fortress cycle to validate printing. Under certain conditions they are effectively the same card but one of these is more unwieldy and unfriendly to newer players which seems to be something Wizards is avoiding.
Nimbus Maze isn't different enough is not a valid reason. Sejiri Refuge and Tranquil Cove cycles are functionally identical. Furthermore, the Onslaught fetchland cycle, such as Flooded Strand, is similar to Mirage's own the cycle of fetches, such as Flood Plain. So not being different enough is not a valid reason.
Nimbus Maze isn't different enough is not a valid reason. Sejiri Refuge and Tranquil Cove cycles are functionally identical. Furthermore, the Onslaught fetchland cycle, such as Flooded Strand, is similar to Mirage's own the cycle of fetches, such as Flood Plain. So not being different enough is not a valid reason.
Sure, there is a chance of spending $4 on a booster and getting the Mythic Rare $30 super card. There is also a chance of surviving putting your tongue in a light socket.
Grove cycle would be absurd in colors that combo or control so anything with blue and red.
River cycle would actually need a cycle double the size of a regular super cycle and fitting that into one block in any way shape or form is too unwieldy to work with.
Canopy cycle is almost strictly better than a current rare cycle and could be problematic with combo decks by allowing them to reach infinite mana then sac lands to avoid fizzling.
Nimbus Maze cycle isn't different enough from the Glacial Fortress cycle to validate printing. Under certain conditions they are effectively the same card but one of these is more unwieldy and unfriendly to newer players which seems to be something Wizards is avoiding.
I agree that an entire cycle of grove of the burnwillows would be too powerful in other color combinations, and that a complete cycle of river of tears would be too large, but I see no problem with horizon canopy or nimbus maze. The canopy is very similar to painlands, so there is nothing wrong with it having a complete cycle, and the fact that nimbus maze is similar to glacial fortress or mystic gate is good, because it provides redundancy for blue/white decks. Since a deck can have only a maximum of four of any card, nimbus maze allows a player to have another set of dual lands for decks of its colors. Plus, it is far less expensive, monetarily speaking, than hallowed fountain or mystic gate, so I imagine that a complete cycle of it would be less expensive than their shockland and filter land counterparts, as well.
Probably because he is the lead designer. He has a hand in every main set and a touch into supplemental products. His vision for the game is what is driving magic forward. R&D tries to make sure that as few problematic things as possible slip through, his job is to make sure the game is FUN. Plus his personality and way of dancing around answers has to grow on you.
I still do not like how is is too negative and acts as if every idea that he has is so awesome and perfect, even when they are not; he shall not be around forever, so I am certain that when he eventually resigns from WotC, many of the restrictions that he has placed upon this game shall be lifted, which shall be great for everyone.
I agree that an entire cycle of grove of the burnwillows would be too powerful in other color combinations, and that a complete cycle of river of tears would be too large, but I see no problem with horizon canopy or nimbus maze. The canopy is very similar to painlands, so there is nothing wrong with it having a complete cycle, and the fact that nimbus maze is similar to glacial fortress or mystic gate is good, because it provides redundancy for blue/white decks. Since a deck can have only a maximum of four of any card, nimbus maze allows a player to have another set of dual lands for decks of its colors. Plus, it is far less expensive, monetarily speaking, than hallowed fountain or mystic gate, so I imagine that a complete cycle of it would be less expensive than their shockland and filter land counterparts, as well.
Sure, there is a chance of spending $4 on a booster and getting the Mythic Rare $30 super card. There is also a chance of surviving putting your tongue in a light socket.
Nimbus maze seems unnecessarily complex and pointless to make a full cycle of when we have the Glacial Fortress cycle.
Again, this is evidence of why Mark Rosewater is not a good person to be designing for this game; Richard Garfield should return to this game and design many interesting cards to replace any boring ones that may exist.
Did I not already state that nimbus maze provides an additional dual land for white/blue decks? And what makes graven cairns so special that it received an entire cycle of its own? And if a player cannot remember all abilities on their opponent's lands, that is their problem, not WotC's, in my opinion.
I still do not like how is is too negative and acts as if every idea that he has is so awesome and perfect, even when they are not; he shall not be around forever, so I am certain that when he eventually resigns from WotC, many of the restrictions that he has placed upon this game shall be lifted, which shall be great for everyone.
You DO realize most of the restrictions come from development not Maro, right? He is the most public member of the company, and he takes a lot of flack that really shouldn't be directed at him because he is the one answering questions. Power level issues? Almost always a development restriction.
You can build him up as the villain ruining Magic, but when he isn't around anymore I don't see a whole lot changing. Could it get better? Maybe, anything can improve. Or it could get a lot worse. You have no idea who would replace him, and that they would be an improvement over Maro.
These aren't simply his views, he is just the one who communicates them. Most of these decisions are made:
A:) In the cardcrafting meetings open to design and development, where they discuss issues the game is facing. Maro isn't a dictator, and has conceded points many times when the majority are against him. He obviously has a role in these meetings, but they aren't a single person's decision.
B:) By development when they identify an issue.
I still do not like how is is too negative and acts as if every idea that he has is so awesome and perfect, even when they are not; he shall not be around forever, so I am certain that when he eventually resigns from WotC, many of the restrictions that he has placed upon this game shall be lifted, which shall be great for everyone.
Okay, first of all, MaRo doesn't act like every idea of his is perfect. He himself has admitted to making many mistakes as a designer in the past, he even wrote an entire article about it back in 2002 and another in 2003. In 2009, he wrote the article "Achieving Zendikar, Part II" where he flat-out states not all his ideas are good, and that's why it's a good thing he has to defer to other people when trying to get an idea through.
So even when he is gone (how nice of you to assume that he will resign from a job he enjoys and works in order to make money for his family), the game is not necessarily going to change a whole lot because people have paid attention to the numerous articles he has written on the color pie and on good game design; you might want to give those a read sometime.
Again, this is evidence of why Mark Rosewater is not a good person to be designing for this game; Richard Garfield should return to this game and design many interesting cards to replace any boring ones that may exist.
What makes Richard so much better at the job than Mark? So he created the genre. He also created some of the games' most broken and degenerate cards, most infamously the Power Nine. He's learned since then, and so has Mark.
Did I not already state that nimbus maze provides an additional dual land for white/blue decks? And what makes graven cairns so special that it received an entire cycle of its own? And if a player cannot remember all abilities on their opponent's lands, that is their problem, not WotC's, in my opinion.
Graven Cairns received a cycle because it fit the set they printed it in flavorfully and mechanically and because it was the best designed of the Future Sight lands.
I will have to argue against your opinion here. The job of a game designer is to make sure the game is fun, otherwise it isn't a game. Nimbus Maze is not the most complex of lands, but neither is it a particularly elegant land compared to Mystic Gate or Glacial Fortress, both of which quite frankly do its job better. Actually complex lands that your opponents have to keep track of among all the other permanents on the board do little to make the game more fun for the majority of players.
I recommend you spend some time asking Magic designers and developers questions about why things are the way they are in the game, because right now your opinions sound rather uninformed and focused on a small subgroup of the player base. You can pitch questions to MaRo on Blogatog and maybe ask for an explanation of why he designs the way he does rather than make assumptions as you did in these past couple posts.
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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.
Yes, I am sorry for speaking so negatively about Mark Rosewater, but most people like to have a convenient target for their negative emotions, a person on whom they can place the blame for occurrences that they do not like. I simply am displeased that WotC is not giving me what I want from this game.
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“Those who would trade their freedoms for security will have neither.”-Benjamin Franklin
“When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”-Thomas Jefferson
“A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of its user.”-Theodore Roosevelt
“Patriotism means to stand by one's country; it does not mean to stand by one's president.”-Theodore Roosevelt
Why not tell someone like MaRo what it is you want and ask them why you're not getting it?
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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.
Grove of the Burnwillows is degenerate in large formats and thoroughly hoses Aggro. River of Tears wouldn't be balanced, and the design works best with Blue anyhow. Horizon Canopy is very powerful (as evidenced by its price tag, which clues us into just how much better than a painland it is) and likely bad for the health of standard. Nimbus Maze likely just has flavor issues (on what world would a maze in the clouds be suitable?) and is somewhat clunky.
The fact that Nimbus Maze is underwhelming only supports that it's a safe cycle to complete.
Why print an underwhelming cycle? Tons of dual lands are just as safe while being better designs. River of Tears and Nimbus Maze suffer from being unnecessarily weird. They are ugly designs and don't serve a purpose that isn't handled better by other duals. It's similar to asking for an Eager Cadet reprint; it's just not exciting.
Personally, I'd love a new cycle of Fastlands, one for each color pair. I realize that Seachrome Coast and its respective cycle make new ally fastlands less likely, so we'll probably have to settle for enemy fastlands. At any rate, DTK would be the perfect environment in which to print them, especially for the more aggressive wedges.
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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.
I think that there will be a Grove of the Burnwillows cycle, but each will do something that the color pair wouldn't like. For example:
UB Grove
T: Add U/B to your pool. Each opponent draws a card.
i like this idea a lot, but 1 damage is not 1 draw (lightning bolt vs ancestral recall XD).
it could be something like:
u/b: your opp scry 1
b/r: your opp gain hexproof until EOT
w/g: you lose 1 life (like mana confluence and city of brass)
w/u: your opp put a 1/1 token (yeah.
well, you can change the w/u for the w/g, lets not make oath more broken in vintage
If I have not already said this, the most major reason that I wish to see an entire cycle based off nimbus maze is that the maze is less expensive than many other dual lands in its colors, so I imagine that the same would be true for an entire cycle as well, and I always enjoy being able to purchase dual lands at low prices.
Although this thread is about new lands, I very much wish to see the Shadowmoor/Eventide filter lands reprinted, because their prices are becoming ridiculously high recently, similarly to what happened with the Onslaught fetchlands before they were reprinted.
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“Those who would trade their freedoms for security will have neither.”-Benjamin Franklin
“When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”-Thomas Jefferson
“A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of its user.”-Theodore Roosevelt
“Patriotism means to stand by one's country; it does not mean to stand by one's president.”-Theodore Roosevelt
I could see the enemy filterlands being reprinted in FRF. Not only would they provide good colorfixing for both KTK's wedges and DTK's apparent monocolor, the colorless would allow them to play well with Morph!
Fetid Heath - Could easily be on the border between Abzan and Mardu territories. Cascade Bluffs - The Jeskai and Temur both live in mountainous regions, so this would work. Twilight Mire - The Sultai live in a swampy region and it does share a border with Abzan. Rugged Prairie - Hello Mardu! Flooded Grove - The Sagu Jungle could provide flavor justification, and in ages past the snow of the Temur region was known to melt.
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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.
I could see the enemy filterlands being reprinted in FRF. Not only would they provide good colorfixing for both KTK's wedges and DTK's apparent monocolor, the colorless would allow them to play well with Morph!
Fetid Heath - Could easily be on the border between Abzan and Mardu territories. Cascade Bluffs - The Jeskai and Temur both live in mountainous regions, so this would work. Twilight Mire - The Sultai live in a swampy region and it does share a border with Abzan. Rugged Prairie - Hello Mardu! Flooded Grove - The Sagu Jungle could provide flavor justification, and in ages past the snow of the Temur region was known to melt.
That would be nice, but WotC is now giving equal support to all ten two-color combinations (which makes their decision to reprint only five of the ten painlands in Magic 2015 very unusual), so they would not reprint only five of those lands in this block, and they also have not yet reprinted the other five fetchlands, so I believe that is is far more likely that they shall reprint the Zendikar fetchlands in Dragons of Tarkir than five of the filter lands.
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“Those who would trade their freedoms for security will have neither.”-Benjamin Franklin
“When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”-Thomas Jefferson
“A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of its user.”-Theodore Roosevelt
“Patriotism means to stand by one's country; it does not mean to stand by one's president.”-Theodore Roosevelt
On the other hand, five enemy filters in FRF could lead to five ally filters in DTK since Wedge isn't going to be as important. The one wrench in the gears is Graven Cairns; all the other ally filters - Mystic Gate, Sunken Ruins, Fire-Lit Thicket, Wooded Bastion - can make some sense in Tarkir but "Cairns" has a distinctly British Isles feel to it which is in stark contrast to Tarkir's pan-Asiatic feel.
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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.
If anything, we'll probably see a standalone rare land that ties in to one of the set's themes, colorless being the most probable.
Ghostfire Nexus
Legendary Land
: Add to your mana pool.
, : Add to your mana pool for each colorless permanent you control. (Lands are colorless permanents unless an effect says otherwise.)
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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.
Why do you say that? What reason do you have to believe that?
Well, look at past sets. The small ones just dont get to have 5 rare lands (im sure there is some exception but with a good reason)
Also, FRF is looking to be largely mono color focused. Look at yasova, she is the mythic clan leader, yet only requires you green mana to be included in your limited deck, the steal effect is a great bonus.
FRF is a "hinge" set, connecting the other 2, so Im expecting some symmetry. KTK already has 5 rare lands and DTK, being a big set, will probably have a rare land cycle.
I could see wotc jamming 3 cycles of rare lands in land focused block like zendikar, but not tarkir.
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Issues:
Grove cycle would be absurd in colors that combo or control so anything with blue and red.
River cycle would actually need a cycle double the size of a regular super cycle and fitting that into one block in any way shape or form is too unwieldy to work with.
Canopy cycle is almost strictly better than a current rare cycle and could be problematic with combo decks by allowing them to reach infinite mana then sac lands to avoid fizzling.
Nimbus Maze cycle isn't different enough from the Glacial Fortress cycle to validate printing. Under certain conditions they are effectively the same card but one of these is more unwieldy and unfriendly to newer players which seems to be something Wizards is avoiding.
Probably because he is the lead designer. He has a hand in every main set and a touch into supplemental products. His vision for the game is what is driving magic forward. R&D tries to make sure that as few problematic things as possible slip through, his job is to make sure the game is FUN. Plus his personality and way of dancing around answers has to grow on you.
I definitely agree. Murmuring Bosk did not fit in Tarkir, but I would really like to get more tri-lands that have basic land-types.
8.RG Green Devotion Ramp/Combo 9.UR Draw Triggers 10.WUR Group stalling 11.WUR Voltron Spellslinger 12.WB Sacrificial Shenanigans
13.BR Creatureless Panharmonicon 14.BR Pingers and Eldrazi 15.URG Untapped Cascading
16.Reyhan, last of the Abzan's WUBG +1/+1 Counter Craziness 17.WUBRG Dragons aka Why did I make this?
Building: The Gitrog Monster lands, Glissa the Traitor stax, Muldrotha, the Gravetide Planeswalker Combo, Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix + Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa Clues, and Tribal Scarecrow Planeswalkers
Valeron Field
Land - Plains
( : Add to your mana pool.)
~ enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add or to your mana pool.
It's worth noting that Murmuring Bosk was made a Forest to work with the Treefolk's particular brand of tribal which included Forests as well as Treefolk. See Treefolk Harbinger for example.
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.
The Refuge cycle were functionally remade because the original names are tied to specific places on zendikar and are therefore difficult to reprint. with the new names they can be slotted into many worlds much more easily. The obvious way to look at Onslaught's dual lands is as an update to the Mirage lands -Mike Flores, 2002.
I agree that an entire cycle of grove of the burnwillows would be too powerful in other color combinations, and that a complete cycle of river of tears would be too large, but I see no problem with horizon canopy or nimbus maze. The canopy is very similar to painlands, so there is nothing wrong with it having a complete cycle, and the fact that nimbus maze is similar to glacial fortress or mystic gate is good, because it provides redundancy for blue/white decks. Since a deck can have only a maximum of four of any card, nimbus maze allows a player to have another set of dual lands for decks of its colors. Plus, it is far less expensive, monetarily speaking, than hallowed fountain or mystic gate, so I imagine that a complete cycle of it would be less expensive than their shockland and filter land counterparts, as well.
I still do not like how is is too negative and acts as if every idea that he has is so awesome and perfect, even when they are not; he shall not be around forever, so I am certain that when he eventually resigns from WotC, many of the restrictions that he has placed upon this game shall be lifted, which shall be great for everyone.
“When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”-Thomas Jefferson
“A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of its user.”-Theodore Roosevelt
“Patriotism means to stand by one's country; it does not mean to stand by one's president.”-Theodore Roosevelt
We decided long ago that lands needed to produce mana (or go get you mana) as we want to keep a clear identity between lands and mana.
Also, we tend to limit how many other abilities lands have because it’s very hard to track what your opponent’s lands can do. -Maro
Nimbus maze seems unnecessarily complex and pointless to make a full cycle of when we have the Glacial Fortress cycle.
Again, this is evidence of why Mark Rosewater is not a good person to be designing for this game; Richard Garfield should return to this game and design many interesting cards to replace any boring ones that may exist.
Did I not already state that nimbus maze provides an additional dual land for white/blue decks? And what makes graven cairns so special that it received an entire cycle of its own? And if a player cannot remember all abilities on their opponent's lands, that is their problem, not WotC's, in my opinion.
“When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”-Thomas Jefferson
“A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of its user.”-Theodore Roosevelt
“Patriotism means to stand by one's country; it does not mean to stand by one's president.”-Theodore Roosevelt
You DO realize most of the restrictions come from development not Maro, right? He is the most public member of the company, and he takes a lot of flack that really shouldn't be directed at him because he is the one answering questions. Power level issues? Almost always a development restriction.
You can build him up as the villain ruining Magic, but when he isn't around anymore I don't see a whole lot changing. Could it get better? Maybe, anything can improve. Or it could get a lot worse. You have no idea who would replace him, and that they would be an improvement over Maro.
These aren't simply his views, he is just the one who communicates them. Most of these decisions are made:
A:) In the cardcrafting meetings open to design and development, where they discuss issues the game is facing. Maro isn't a dictator, and has conceded points many times when the majority are against him. He obviously has a role in these meetings, but they aren't a single person's decision.
B:) By development when they identify an issue.
Okay, first of all, MaRo doesn't act like every idea of his is perfect. He himself has admitted to making many mistakes as a designer in the past, he even wrote an entire article about it back in 2002 and another in 2003. In 2009, he wrote the article "Achieving Zendikar, Part II" where he flat-out states not all his ideas are good, and that's why it's a good thing he has to defer to other people when trying to get an idea through.
So even when he is gone (how nice of you to assume that he will resign from a job he enjoys and works in order to make money for his family), the game is not necessarily going to change a whole lot because people have paid attention to the numerous articles he has written on the color pie and on good game design; you might want to give those a read sometime.
What makes Richard so much better at the job than Mark? So he created the genre. He also created some of the games' most broken and degenerate cards, most infamously the Power Nine. He's learned since then, and so has Mark.
"You say Richard is happy with the way the game has evolved but I feel like I have read that there are things like planeswalkers as a card type that he didn't like. Is this ever a point of contention or does he just accept that times change?
Richard being happy with the game doesn’t mean he agrees with 100% of our choices. Richard’s comments on planeswalkers is that they seem overly complex but he admits he doesn’t understand the role they play in the game to pass judgment."
Graven Cairns received a cycle because it fit the set they printed it in flavorfully and mechanically and because it was the best designed of the Future Sight lands.
I will have to argue against your opinion here. The job of a game designer is to make sure the game is fun, otherwise it isn't a game. Nimbus Maze is not the most complex of lands, but neither is it a particularly elegant land compared to Mystic Gate or Glacial Fortress, both of which quite frankly do its job better. Actually complex lands that your opponents have to keep track of among all the other permanents on the board do little to make the game more fun for the majority of players.
I recommend you spend some time asking Magic designers and developers questions about why things are the way they are in the game, because right now your opinions sound rather uninformed and focused on a small subgroup of the player base. You can pitch questions to MaRo on Blogatog and maybe ask for an explanation of why he designs the way he does rather than make assumptions as you did in these past couple posts.
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.
“When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”-Thomas Jefferson
“A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of its user.”-Theodore Roosevelt
“Patriotism means to stand by one's country; it does not mean to stand by one's president.”-Theodore Roosevelt
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.
Grove of the Burnwillows is degenerate in large formats and thoroughly hoses Aggro. River of Tears wouldn't be balanced, and the design works best with Blue anyhow. Horizon Canopy is very powerful (as evidenced by its price tag, which clues us into just how much better than a painland it is) and likely bad for the health of standard. Nimbus Maze likely just has flavor issues (on what world would a maze in the clouds be suitable?) and is somewhat clunky.
Why print an underwhelming cycle? Tons of dual lands are just as safe while being better designs. River of Tears and Nimbus Maze suffer from being unnecessarily weird. They are ugly designs and don't serve a purpose that isn't handled better by other duals. It's similar to asking for an Eager Cadet reprint; it's just not exciting.
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.
UB Grove
T: Add U/B to your pool. Each opponent draws a card.
UW Approach UW
EDH
U Azami, Lady of Scrolls U
i like this idea a lot, but 1 damage is not 1 draw (lightning bolt vs ancestral recall XD).
it could be something like:
u/b: your opp scry 1
b/r: your opp gain hexproof until EOT
w/g: you lose 1 life (like mana confluence and city of brass)
w/u: your opp put a 1/1 token (yeah.
well, you can change the w/u for the w/g, lets not make oath more broken in vintage
Although this thread is about new lands, I very much wish to see the Shadowmoor/Eventide filter lands reprinted, because their prices are becoming ridiculously high recently, similarly to what happened with the Onslaught fetchlands before they were reprinted.
“When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”-Thomas Jefferson
“A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of its user.”-Theodore Roosevelt
“Patriotism means to stand by one's country; it does not mean to stand by one's president.”-Theodore Roosevelt
Fetid Heath - Could easily be on the border between Abzan and Mardu territories.
Cascade Bluffs - The Jeskai and Temur both live in mountainous regions, so this would work.
Twilight Mire - The Sultai live in a swampy region and it does share a border with Abzan.
Rugged Prairie - Hello Mardu!
Flooded Grove - The Sagu Jungle could provide flavor justification, and in ages past the snow of the Temur region was known to melt.
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.
That would be nice, but WotC is now giving equal support to all ten two-color combinations (which makes their decision to reprint only five of the ten painlands in Magic 2015 very unusual), so they would not reprint only five of those lands in this block, and they also have not yet reprinted the other five fetchlands, so I believe that is is far more likely that they shall reprint the Zendikar fetchlands in Dragons of Tarkir than five of the filter lands.
“When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”-Thomas Jefferson
“A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of its user.”-Theodore Roosevelt
“Patriotism means to stand by one's country; it does not mean to stand by one's president.”-Theodore Roosevelt
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.
Why do you say that? What reason do you have to believe that?
“When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”-Thomas Jefferson
“A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of its user.”-Theodore Roosevelt
“Patriotism means to stand by one's country; it does not mean to stand by one's president.”-Theodore Roosevelt
Ghostfire Nexus
Legendary Land
: Add to your mana pool.
, : Add to your mana pool for each colorless permanent you control. (Lands are colorless permanents unless an effect says otherwise.)
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.
Also, FRF is looking to be largely mono color focused. Look at yasova, she is the mythic clan leader, yet only requires you green mana to be included in your limited deck, the steal effect is a great bonus.
FRF is a "hinge" set, connecting the other 2, so Im expecting some symmetry. KTK already has 5 rare lands and DTK, being a big set, will probably have a rare land cycle.
I could see wotc jamming 3 cycles of rare lands in land focused block like zendikar, but not tarkir.