The jund mechanic was Devour, and I only see Nic Fit running that, and only rarely. "Jund" is about as stupid a name as you could ask for. "Bant" is pretty ****in dumb, too, but people use them.
Its not about needing to use the set mechanic. Jund has always been a midrangey deck filled with strong creatures, lots of removal and some disruption.
I hear the word and I know what it refers to. I have some general idea of where it falls relative to other decks, what some of its matchups might be. And all without even needing any reference to specific cards in the list.
These new names? For one, we dont even really know where they fall in a competitive setting yet. If they become competitive standard decks which then evolve into Legacy strategies, then you can use the names.
I already hate the new KTK names in Legacy deck names. SCG has started adding the wedge names to replace the color names in results and it's just irritating to me. Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time seem ok, but I'm not completely sold. Just really irritated by SCG forcing the wedge names in results and articles.
The use of the names just tacking them onto already established decks does seem completely nonsensical.
The names are supposed to refer to specific deck strategies within a set of colors, not just the set of colors. You dont just randomly plug shard and guild names onto things that dont apply the relevant strategies. I've never heard Legacy UW called Azorius before. We dont call UB Tezzeret decks Dimir.
Its just silly. Im hoping that its just a phase they are going through and there's enough of a backlash that they stop.
If you have dual lands in your deck a single fetch can potentially get you access to any color you have in your deck. That pretty dramatically improves consistency for multicolor decks.
In a format without proper dual lands, the fetchlands still act as an untapped land drop that gets you either color. While thats not quite as big a deal, its still better than most other lands in terms of combined speed and color access.
Going back to discussing eternal formats again, they can provide other advantages in formats where hidden information is valuable as you dont necessarily need to use them immediately when you put them in play.
And of course, we cant forget perhaps the most valuable trait of all: the on demand shuffle effect. In formats where you have access to library manipulation, they allow you to shuffle away undesired cards to get a chance at the cards you want. The combination with Brainstorm is a particularly key use in Legacy, the threat of a virtual Ancestral Recall sometimes even causing such cantrips to be targeted with counterspells.
The only way to change a card game is to change the cards or the rules. Since needlessly banning cards or changing rules would either be impossible or annoying, the only solution is to add cards.
This is not strictly accurate depending on how you choose to define "change". When a game has a diverse and self-correcting meta, it can be cyclical and changing even without outside intervention.
From a Legacy perspective, the format isnt stagnant at all. It is very meta-based and diverse. And new cards certainly do shift the format multiple times a year. We just dont throw out everything and start from scratch.
Not going to speak to Modern since I dont personally think the format is as strategically diverse and it doesnt have the same punishing and self-correcting tools that Legacy does.
If it weren't a mistake, they wouldn't be fixing it. Why would they?
This "mistake" has been printed numerous times on numerous different cards and is clearly obvious based on how the stack works. It is not a recent discovery.
They are changing to a new template to simplify the newer cards. Thats not a fix, its a simplification for people who cant follow basic logical reasoning. Just like how they've gradually focused gameplay around sorcery speed interaction.
The stack is too complicated for their target mainstream audience of "people who breathe".
Because it is confusing for newer players, making them feel like they are getting cheated or just learning that it is that way and not knowing why.
I honestly just have to totally disagree with this.
Any player who discovers a new rules interaction that they didnt know previously and then feels "cheated" because of it is playing the wrong game, and we'd be better off without them.
Learning all the cool crazy rule interactions you've overlooked is half the fun of being a new player. Heck, learning new things is still half the fun of being an experienced player.
A lot of casual complaints can be summarized as:
"Paper is lame, everyone should just play Scissors and Rock decks. By the way have you seen my awesome Rock deck? I'll play you as long as you dont have one of those stupid Paper decks."
Some matchups are like a chess match, others are like throwing rocks at a siege tank. If you use overly specialized answers (like only being able to kill creatures) in your decks, be prepared for more like the latter.
Basically the only decks that I find annoying are people who use unprotected fast glass cannon combo decks in non-competitive environments. Its just being a dick when you know your opponents dont have any answers, and it poisons newer players' viewpoints of formats they arent familiar with when they run into those outside of the proper context where such strategies are heavily punished by other competitive decks.
If you play T1 Belcher against random people playing casual/standard decks you deserve to be smacked.
If you werent slow playing or doing anything wrong, then its the other player's fault for failing to win within the time of the round. They dont deserve the win any more than you do. Timed games legitimately go to draws. It happens.
Correct me if I'm mistaken, but it seems like an important strategic element that most "lane" style games lack is the ability to choose if you want to block and how. If something is in the lane, it fights.
And most TCG's in general seem to lack the level of instant speed interaction that Magic has on the stack. The hidden information is the cards in your hand.
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Its not about needing to use the set mechanic. Jund has always been a midrangey deck filled with strong creatures, lots of removal and some disruption.
I hear the word and I know what it refers to. I have some general idea of where it falls relative to other decks, what some of its matchups might be. And all without even needing any reference to specific cards in the list.
These new names? For one, we dont even really know where they fall in a competitive setting yet. If they become competitive standard decks which then evolve into Legacy strategies, then you can use the names.
The use of the names just tacking them onto already established decks does seem completely nonsensical.
The names are supposed to refer to specific deck strategies within a set of colors, not just the set of colors. You dont just randomly plug shard and guild names onto things that dont apply the relevant strategies. I've never heard Legacy UW called Azorius before. We dont call UB Tezzeret decks Dimir.
Its just silly. Im hoping that its just a phase they are going through and there's enough of a backlash that they stop.
In a format without proper dual lands, the fetchlands still act as an untapped land drop that gets you either color. While thats not quite as big a deal, its still better than most other lands in terms of combined speed and color access.
Going back to discussing eternal formats again, they can provide other advantages in formats where hidden information is valuable as you dont necessarily need to use them immediately when you put them in play.
And of course, we cant forget perhaps the most valuable trait of all: the on demand shuffle effect. In formats where you have access to library manipulation, they allow you to shuffle away undesired cards to get a chance at the cards you want. The combination with Brainstorm is a particularly key use in Legacy, the threat of a virtual Ancestral Recall sometimes even causing such cantrips to be targeted with counterspells.
This is not strictly accurate depending on how you choose to define "change". When a game has a diverse and self-correcting meta, it can be cyclical and changing even without outside intervention.
Not going to speak to Modern since I dont personally think the format is as strategically diverse and it doesnt have the same punishing and self-correcting tools that Legacy does.
This "mistake" has been printed numerous times on numerous different cards and is clearly obvious based on how the stack works. It is not a recent discovery.
They are changing to a new template to simplify the newer cards. Thats not a fix, its a simplification for people who cant follow basic logical reasoning. Just like how they've gradually focused gameplay around sorcery speed interaction.
The stack is too complicated for their target mainstream audience of "people who breathe".
They cant stop you from playing instant speed spells.
If you have no answer to a scepter deck, that means you are playing a pretty horribly uninteractive deck.
I honestly just have to totally disagree with this.
Any player who discovers a new rules interaction that they didnt know previously and then feels "cheated" because of it is playing the wrong game, and we'd be better off without them.
Learning all the cool crazy rule interactions you've overlooked is half the fun of being a new player. Heck, learning new things is still half the fun of being an experienced player.
"Paper is lame, everyone should just play Scissors and Rock decks. By the way have you seen my awesome Rock deck? I'll play you as long as you dont have one of those stupid Paper decks."
Some matchups are like a chess match, others are like throwing rocks at a siege tank. If you use overly specialized answers (like only being able to kill creatures) in your decks, be prepared for more like the latter.
Totally, there's only Patriot, Deathblade, Death and Taxes, Miracles, and just about any other deck that includes white.
Seems fine to ignore.
If you play T1 Belcher against random people playing casual/standard decks you deserve to be smacked.
And most TCG's in general seem to lack the level of instant speed interaction that Magic has on the stack. The hidden information is the cards in your hand.