I do miss the days of cheap removal, but it does make for a better Limited environment. Overly powerful cards at common can wreck Limited, although I don't think removal does that; creatures can. Ever play Onslaught limited, with Sparksmith and Timberwatch Elf at common? Not fun.
If I discard Bloodhall Priest to Tormenting Voice, paying the madness cost on the Priest to cast it, and I have no other cards in my hand, will I get the 2-damage hellbent trigger from the Priest, since the Priest resolves before I draw the cards from the Voice?
If I discard a Chandra's Phoenix to Chandra Ablaze's +1 ability, and I choose to hit an opponent with the 4 damage, can I return that same Phoenix to my hand, or is it not yet in the graveyard when the 4 damage resolves?
Asked the LGS owner how much cash they'd pay for the 'Goyf. $110. Spent about $50 on singles and pocketed the rest, so my $15 earned me $45 in cash plus a bunch of cool cards.
powerful 6-drop Bestows have proven themselves to be extremely playable in a way that 7-drops are not.
This is exactly right. I always was a little disappointed in the 7-mana Emissaries for that reason. I think this is even better in WU than WG; bestowing this on a flyer will end the game in short order. Unless you put it on a trampler, making Big Green Monsters even bigger doesn't get them around chump-blockers.
Will be better in an aggro deck, obviously; kills blockers like it's going out of style. (I agree that Retraction Helix is a nasty thing to do in response to this.)
I think the translation's often different in another language to catch the sense of the card. My favorite example is the French Dark Ritual: Messe Noire, literally "Black Mass".
There are cases where you don't want to give up the tempo to draw cards, but they're not common; an example would be playing Read the Bones on t3 in Theros Limited; you'll only net 1 card and the tempo loss against an aggressive deck can set you too far back.
Selling cards on eBay is more of a hassle than SCG. For me at least. Besides, with the credit I get from SCG I can buy all kinds of stuff they have in stock that is hard to find elsewhere (old textless player rewards, full-art promos, etc.) I *could* find that stuff on eBay, I suppose, but it takes more time.
I'm not a dealer or an LGS owner, but I've been doing online trades (for store credit) with SCG occasionally for years (I think I've done at least 4) and they've always been pretty fair and reasonable.
I think their buy prices are pretty good, especially since if you want credit you get an extra 25% (which is more than enough to cover shipping). For example, Mutavault gets you $20 cash, or $25 in credit, whereas one of my LGSs was only paying $14 for a Mutavault. Both were selling them for $35.
What the original Ravnica block had, that RTR block doesn't have as much, is one of the best *uncommon* runs of any block I can think of. So many basic, staple uncommons: Remand. Putrefy. Mortify. The Guildmage cycle. The Guildhall lands (although the 10-land cycle from INN block is probably a bit better than the Guildhalls overall; at least the Guildhalls were uncommon rather than rare).
I liked both blocks quite a bit, but I'd give original Ravnica an A, and RTR a B+.
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Tarmogoyf. And a foil Spell Snare as a nice bonus.
Asked the LGS owner how much cash they'd pay for the 'Goyf. $110. Spent about $50 on singles and pocketed the rest, so my $15 earned me $45 in cash plus a bunch of cool cards.
Best. Pull. Ever.
HM to Yomiji and Yuki-Onna.
This is exactly right. I always was a little disappointed in the 7-mana Emissaries for that reason. I think this is even better in WU than WG; bestowing this on a flyer will end the game in short order. Unless you put it on a trampler, making Big Green Monsters even bigger doesn't get them around chump-blockers.
This does not count the hundreds of unsorted cards currently floating around the basement cabinet where all my Magic cards live.
Favorite: Tracker, with Black Knight a close second (Black Knight gets props, however because of its fantastic flavor text).
Honorable Mention to Aspect of Wolf and Bog Wraith (another card with superb flavor text).
I think their buy prices are pretty good, especially since if you want credit you get an extra 25% (which is more than enough to cover shipping). For example, Mutavault gets you $20 cash, or $25 in credit, whereas one of my LGSs was only paying $14 for a Mutavault. Both were selling them for $35.
I liked both blocks quite a bit, but I'd give original Ravnica an A, and RTR a B+.