MTG Salvation

This card is awful in Delver. Delver has the ability to outrace aggro decks in this format, why would you ruin that by dropping (or holding back) a vanilla 1/1 flyer that is only good late game?

Quote from NGW

Difference is, toys today are produced in far greater volume than they were back then, and the demand is far from comparable for newer toys than old. There was no collector market back in the day, people didn't keep things sealed all that often. Things are different now. It's the same reason the comic market crashed, what with the huge print runs and variant covers of the super awesome mega hyper ultra limited collectors must have edition that everyone bought hoping it would pay their mortgage down the line..just to find it is worth less than the paper it is printed on so many years later.

A box of Ravnica is around $380 at this point. Zendikar is also well over $130.

This isn't an enemy colored land. Not only would that be against their philosophy of keeping enemy colored lands outside of basic sets (because they are advanced), it would also mean there would be more enemy colored lands than allied colored lands. Absolutely absurd.

I wouldn't be surprised with mono-colored utility lands.

I thought Wizards won't put legendary creatures in core sets, as they are too complex for new players?

Quote from John Doe

You seriously need to wake up from that dream.

China is probably nowadays the single most powerful county. It's not military power that ensures prosperity nowadays, and the US has lost a lot of power, while comparing to other countries.

Fragile economy, and the US can't nowadays "stop" most countries from following an agenda that might harm them or their economy.

The US has lots of "valuables" they can take. Telecommunications and Energy companies, in order to ensure an economical foothold in a country, and the US even have Oil besides the others, like some countries.

If that triggers a War, witch isn't actually too far-fetched, the US can't handle China like before. Unlike older wars, the reasons behind this one won't be accepted by the general population. Just take Iraq's example, how it was contested, how the US stepped in even without the UN's approval for such military operations. The aftermath of that conflict is still felt, in termos of diplomacy, and economically. I really doubt that the US can afford a war agains a country like China.

A war with America would ruin the Chinese economy. One of the biggest issues with our economy is that China is producing without consuming and America is consuming without producing. The two countries are tied together. Until China develops a full fledged middle class, I don't see the economy recovering to pre-crash levels (barring another tech boom or something of that sort).

The second one is definitely a scam, possibly stolen. You can see other less than desirable cards on the fringes of the pictures. The person obviously knew the money cards. The fact that this Ebay account was created to sell this collection makes me lean towards stolen.

I don't think they'll put in any pieces of dual land cycles. That would be such a waste of potential. I think they'll focus a lot on EDH usable lands, since a majority of the Legacy lands are on the reserved list. I wouldn't be surprised if they refocused the FtV products to cater more to the EDH crowd.

I wouldn't be surprised with:

Glacial Chasm*
Academy Ruins Powerful, played card. Not too pricey. EDH/Legacy nod.
Ancient Tomb* Powerful, played card. Not too pricey. Legacy nod.
Arena* New frame. Updated with fight keyword.
Archaeological Dig Very iconic of the "sac lands."
Blinkmoth Nexus Colorless "man land."
City of Brass Too iconic to miss.
Dark Depths The "go to" combo land.
Deserted Temple Very good in EDH. Very cheap already.
Dryad Arbor Cheap, tournament use. New frame.
Dust Bowl* EDH nod.
Forsaken City* Update. Formerly used land.
High Market* EDH land, in need of more foils.
Kjeldoran Outpost* Iconic, used in EDH, has new art in MTGO.
Reflecting Pool General play. Not too pricey.

Quote from LandBoySteve

While you're technically correct, here's the problem with the argument.

Blue STILL has the WEAKEST creatures collectively in the game. You can't count Snappy as a beater so what does blue have?

Delver, Stalker and GoST

If you look at ALL the other colors and what they have, creature wise, they overwhelm blue.

So if you take one of blue's only means of keeping things balanced (leak) you put blue at a terrible disadvantage.

How is Delver and GoST supposed to keep up with the likes of (eliminating all creatures that are rotating the same time as leak)

Angel of Jubilation
Avacyn, Angel of Hope
Bloodline Keeper
Champion of Lambholt
Craterhoof Behemoth
Diregraf Captain
Emancipation Angel
Fiend Hunter
Geralf's Messenger
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Gravecrawler
Griselbrand
Hellrider
Huntmaster of the Fells
Kessig Cagebreakers
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
Sigarda, Host of Herons
Silverblade Paladin
Strangleroot Geist
Stromkirk Captain
Stromkirk Noble
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Vexing Devil
Zealous Conscripts

Answer that question without having access to leak and I'll concede the argument.

By turning early-game threats in late-game finishers with blatantly undercosted equipment. Putting it into perspective, I had two Inferno Titans on board and 10+ health vs. Delver and still lost. The massive Snapcaster fueled tempo swing was only part of it, the main part was his creature picking up a SoWaP and bashing for my entire life total. Things like Lingering Souls that can pop out four tokens, each of which can become a 9/9 beatstick with Runechanter's Pike only fuel the problem.

Don't get me wrong, there is no reason Mana Leak should be an overpowered spell, but R&D's poor decisions have lead me to believe that axing Mana Leak is in the best interest of the game. The problem R&D has created is such a multi-faceted issue (most of which revolve around the non-interactivity R&D has pushed through recurrable protections and Hexproof) that I don't think there is any good solution. The best I can think of is start axing cards that fuel the beast or wait until rotation. Right now none of the cards in Delver are even close to ban worthy, the deck is just awesomely consistent just by playing good cards. I think once Mana Leak and SoWaP rotate, the format will be much more open in terms of viable decks.

Please return the deck if you actually found one...

I would return the deck, unless it was a close friend's, I'd probably mess with it first. E.g. Put a Llanowar Elves behind every card.

I think Mana Leak has been partially scapegoated by Magic R&D. The real issue is the large increase in creature power that we've seen over the past few sets. Mana Leak becomes a decidely less fair spell if you can counter my dude and then lay down a 3/2 flyer on the same turn. Or a three turn clock in the form of Geist of Saint Traft. I think if R&D wants to move towards a more creature centered format, whether or not you agree with that move, I think it is better to say goodbye to Mana Leak.

Quote from bLatch

Except the outrage here* isn't at Dan Savage being a bully/jerk (whichever you want to call it). It's at him being a giant hypocrite and decrying behavior as completely unacceptible, while engaging in the same behavior.

If he wants to say that people shouldn't be treated that way, fine. I agree with him. But its a universal treatment. It's wrong to do it to anyone, not just marginalized groups.

If he wants to say that people should grow thicker skin, fine. I don't (necessarily) agree with that, but if thats his position thats his position.

Where it becomes a problem is where his position is "Its wrong to treat my group this way, but its perfectly acceptable to treat that group over there this way, because I don't like them.

*here in this case referring to the outrage on my part.

You miss the point completely. He was being a hypocrite on purpose. He was becoming the bully to let others know how it feels to be bullied.

Quote from everydayishinesoclean

why do you think people dont have the right to "whine" about this?

its completely legit. just think about how much this effects players locally.

1 shop gets the cool stuff, the other shop gets the garbage.

lets be real, which store do you think players are more likely to go to for the next prerelease?

I'd imagine their decision would have nothing to do with the Helvaults.

Quote from SacredMesa

Yay more generalization based on a clear lack of understanding of the people on the other side.

As a Christian myself and former church-goer, I believe I understand more about them than you think.

The people who are offended by this are the ones who are missing the point and the ones who are most in need of understanding it.

Don't buy Wolf-Run, that entire deck rotates with Return to Ravnica.

Do start buying pieces of UW Delver, almost none of those cards rotate. You definately don't need the Seachrome Coasts to be competitive at the FNM level, especially when they are an $80 investment that rotates with RtR. Substitute some Runechanter's Pikes in for SoWaP and you can buy the Geists as needed, or just replace them with Dungeon Geists or Restoration Angels. Your deck won't win as consistently as somebody with a fully tuned deck, but it isn't too difficult to pilot such a deck to victory.