MTG Salvation

Quote from rcwraspy »

Quote from the n00b king »

I don't know if anyone has ever seen or posted this video, but this particular lawyer directly addresses the reasoning behind why WotC painted themselves in a corner with the reserved list

http://epicstream.com/videos/JakeVyper/Lawyer-Makes-Video-About-MTG-Reserved-List-and-Whether-or-Not-It-Would-Be-Legal-For-Wizards-to-Change-It

Basically, it just can't be done by WotC.

However, this gave me an idea. WotC made that promise. What if...Hasbro simply dissolves WotC entirely? Hasbro was not the one that made that promise. Would they still have to uphold it?

I am a corporate attorney. Thank you for posting that link, it was a fun listen. But just because the guy lists some causes of action (one of which he even said likely has no merit) doesn't mean it "just can't be done by WotC." If that was how things worked we wouldn't have an adversarial system and every law suit would automatically win.

For most civil causes of action the plaintiff must prove damages. What damages does a collector have if the value of their collection actually INCREASES through reprints the way some Modern Masters reprints proved is possible? If you can't prove your damages that law suit is getting tossed out pretty quickly.

Of course, it's a balance to get the reprint correct so that prices remain stable or go up, and that's a risk. And even if WotC has a slam-dunk case it still costs money to litigate it. That's also a corporate risk. Unless you can make a very strong business case that reprinting outweighs those risks, it's probably right to not take the risks.

I am not normally a consumer of content by The Professor, but he has recently posted a video that succinctly breaks down the point I was trying to make regarding damages/detriment. I agree with the majority of what he says, though I do believe there is a distinct possibility that some collectors may attempt to challenge the cancellation of the Reserved List in court (and I do not think such collectors would succeed). You may view the video at the following link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d004BlPRVN4.

Quote from HateKnuckle »

Why isn't Shardless BUG seeing much representation? What would it need to be popular again?

Deathrite Shaman got banned, which hurt Shardless a lot, but it was already declining before that. Grixis Delver (before Deathrite banning) was really pushing it out because it could keep up with quicker strategies but also play longer. Since then a lot of strategies have picked up that I don't think Shardless would fare well against.

Quote from the n00b king »

I don't know if anyone has ever seen or posted this video, but this particular lawyer directly addresses the reasoning behind why WotC painted themselves in a corner with the reserved list

http://epicstream.com/videos/JakeVyper/Lawyer-Makes-Video-About-MTG-Reserved-List-and-Whether-or-Not-It-Would-Be-Legal-For-Wizards-to-Change-It

Basically, it just can't be done by WotC.

However, this gave me an idea. WotC made that promise. What if...Hasbro simply dissolves WotC entirely? Hasbro was not the one that made that promise. Would they still have to uphold it?

I am a corporate attorney. Thank you for posting that link, it was a fun listen. But just because the guy lists some causes of action (one of which he even said likely has no merit) doesn't mean it "just can't be done by WotC." If that was how things worked we wouldn't have an adversarial system and every law suit would automatically win.

For most civil causes of action the plaintiff must prove damages. What damages does a collector have if the value of their collection actually INCREASES through reprints the way some Modern Masters reprints proved is possible? If you can't prove your damages that law suit is getting tossed out pretty quickly.

Of course, it's a balance to get the reprint correct so that prices remain stable or go up, and that's a risk. And even if WotC has a slam-dunk case it still costs money to litigate it. That's also a corporate risk. Unless you can make a very strong business case that reprinting outweighs those risks, it's probably right to not take the risks.

Quote from idSurge »

Quote from rcwraspy »

Quote from idSurge »

1. Accept Modern as what it is, warp your deck around it, and accept infrequent bans/unbans if something gets nuts.

In what world is this not the only option? Nobody here has any decision making authority over WotC or the format. We choose to play or not.

Because we actually do have an ability to influence things. KCI would not have been banned if not for player outcry. It did not have an overwhelming presence in the meta, did not win more Top 8's than Phoenix.

If this thread united behind something, and snowballed into SCG articles, Twitter, and Reddit, something would be done.

Good point. That said, Bridge from Below is probably the only card on your list I'd want to see banned. I'm fine with all the others. So I guess that puts me in category #1.

Quote from idSurge »

1. Accept Modern as what it is, warp your deck around it, and accept infrequent bans/unbans if something gets nuts.

In what world is this not the only option? Nobody here has any decision making authority over WotC or the format. We choose to play or not.

Quote from cfusionpm »

After sitting on piles of Flooded Strand and Polluted Delta that have done nothing for 5 years, I have long since changed my "spec" criteria. I basically never buy into anything unless I expect to play it and want to avoid having to pay the "hype tax" later on.

Remember that WOTC may see us as players, Hasbro sees us as customers. And at the end of the day Hasbro wins.

I do the same thing w/r/t my buying, but it was easy to tell from the start that the Khans fetches weren't going to balloon in price. They've followed a similar trajectory as the RTR block shocks, which is what most people thought would happen.

Quote from izzetmage »

On Horizons itself, it's a nostalgia set so a lot of cards are going to be subject to rose tinted glasses.

Looks like they missed their opportunity to reprint Sunglasses of Urza!!

Quote from The Fluff »

Quote from FoodChainGoblins »

Quote from The Fluff »

I see. thanks for that. I guess it's ok to wait now for the prices to bottom a little more.

I feel you on the alternate art Planeswalkers from War of the Spark. I've been fiending for them as well and have a seller from Japan on FB for $240 for 1 of all 36 of them. I've been so close to pulling the trigger and probably will once I sell some of the cards that have spiked recently. I wish I had patience, as I'm not even really planning on using any of them any time soon.

Narset is a sideboard of the UW control in my sig, so in active use. The only thing preventing me from getting one is the thought that I might get her today at 20, then a few weeks later she is 6-7$. My money is not unlimited, and I plan to save as much as possible.

Quote from tronix »

Quote from The Fluff »

What are people's opinions on these.. ice fang coatl and yawgmoth, would their price increase or decrease weeks after release?

you only buy from SCG right? i wouldnt pick up ice-fang coatls at SCG prices (4x more than preordering them on card kingdom, and 2x more than tcgplayer) . maybe it sees some play in a snow deck that doesnt exist yet, but even if it does its just that 1 deck. i cant see any demand for the card in other formats.

as for yawgmoth...yeah id wait on that one. im very skeptical about it being able to command a 35 dollar price tag, even at mythic. unless it turns out its craaaazy good in commander or something i dont see it going UP while its in print. less sure on whether it will go down much and when that would happen. IMO its low risk to just wait

forgot to respond to the buy only from SCG part. Yeah, these days I just buy from them almost exclusively. The habit came from seeing a few people in our facebook group get scammed with fake cards after they bought from certain online stores in ebay.

Off-topic but this is the sorta thing i'm going to miss about this site. All the vets of this thread know that you buy from SCG exclusively and tailor responses accordingly. I'll miss that community feel to it.

Quote from megatog201 »

I sure hope that list isnt accurate. Fireblast was on there. Modern turns into the modern burn format. 😓

I'm ok with this. Conversely, London Mulligan completely annihilates Burn as a competitive deck.

Quote from DEspite »

Why the hell would they be reprinting Gush to Modern when it's literally banned in Legacy and restricted in Vintage

And legal as a 4-of in Pauper. Gush is one of those cards where its power level is largely determined by the format's limitations instead of the card itself.

That said I also find it unlikely to be in Horizons.

Quote from ktkenshinx »

Quote from rcwraspy »

Quote from Lear_the_cat »

It's so easy to see on this new decklist rule who likes linear noninteractive games and who doesn't.

I'm a Jund player and I hate the new decklist rule. I don't like big sweeping changes like London mulligan or this decklist thing when the game is great already and just needs finessing here and there, depending on format.

Out of curiosity, why do you hate it?

Primarily grumpy old man reasons. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. And if it's only slightly broke, why feel the need to make such sweeping changes?

Regarding the decklist rule specifically, I've always thought that correctly assessing your opponent's game plan, deck, and possible cards in deck was a skill based on knowledge of the applicable format. I don't like changes that take skills away from the game. It makes experience and practice much less important.

Quote from Lear_the_cat »

It's so easy to see on this new decklist rule who likes linear noninteractive games and who doesn't.

I'm a Jund player and I hate the new decklist rule. I don't like big sweeping changes like London mulligan or this decklist thing when the game is great already and just needs finessing here and there, depending on format.

Quote from Lectrys »

Quote from mapccu »

I think karakas would be fine. The only deck it'll really heavily impact is grishoalbrand imo. So many other creature strats just don't care about it. I get there is minimal deck building cost to the first one really, like pendelhaven, but more than 2 seems like you'd be stretching it.

I don't think you'd need a fixed version of it and I don't think it'll be all that useful to the format. Unless they print some busted in half legendary creature that lets you abuse it.

Apparently one of the more broken interactions, Karakas + Vendilion Clique, already doesn't see that much play in Legacy.

What Karakas has done more to Legacy is make Gurmag Angler the primary Delve fatty and Tasigur, the Golden Fang see practically no play. While Modern has already been going in that direction because 5/5's are sweeter than 4/5's, a mere land that prevents Tasigur but not Gurmag from ever connecting is a pretty big pressure (a pressure I have personally experienced from trying Legacy decks, too).

Karakas tends to traditionally be a hoser of unfair decks in Legacy, though--it keeps bouncing cheated-in legends such as Emrakul, the Aeons Torn and Griselbrand. It's arguably one of the pressures that pushed Legacy onto Griselbrand instead of Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur (the other is Show and Tell decks). It's quite possible that Karakas can do a similar job in Modern, preventing Goryo's Vengeance decks from becoming too popular.

Karakas is really just for Emrakul and Griselbrand for Sneak/Show and Reanimator strategies and Marit Lage (Dark Depths) from Lands and Turbo Depths, which sees a lot of play in Legacy right now. In fact I'd say Marit Lage is probably seen more than Emrakul in Legacy right now.

Quote from idSurge »

1. Print Swords to Plowshares, Daze, Planar Void and Counterspell in Modern Horizons.
2. Print additional fair cards in Green, White, Black.
3. Print some new combo's that have a payoff card that cannot be cast before Turn 4 with regularity.
4. Unban Stoneforge Mystic, Splinter Twin, KCI
5. Ban Terminus

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe KCI was banned because it violated the T4 rule or because it had too much meta share. Wasn't it closer to the Eggs ban in some ways? If so I'd remove unban KCI from your list.

I'd also remove ban Terminus from your list. I understand that printing Swords, Daze, Counterspell could make control with Terminus very strong, but I'd rather give it time to be sure instead of preemptively banning Terminus. SFM was a preemptive format ban and people are still waiting for it to come off.

Quote from gkourou »

Quote from rcwraspy »

Quote from cfusionpm »

Quote from user-100025877 »

There is no way around a Looting ban. The card is way too powerful.

People are packing a bunch of gy hate and dredge still has a 56% winrate. That is ridicolous

Much like my view of Probe, I find it ironic that a card which has been legal in Modern for nearly the entirety of the existence of the format, is suddenly broken. But nobody seems to address that the reason why it's "broken" is specifically due to new printings that abuse free, uncounterable graveyard abilities.

I 2/3rds agree with you. I agree it's similar to Probe (which I felt shouldn't have been banned). I agree that Lootings has been fine for ever. But I disagree that it's simply because of new printings. New printings have made those decks more popular, but the real issue in my mind is that the format lacks general answers to those strategies which can be deployed by almost any deck.

Hey, rwcraspy, long time, no see. What's up? I agree, but a question. What format has answers that can be deployed in every deck? For Example, Legacy has Force of will / daze / etc, but only blue decks can play those answers, toxic deluge is black, etc, etc. So, what do you mean?

Yeah, that's a good point. I should amend to say powerful, broad answers available in each color. And of course when it comes to the graveyard there's already a lot of artifact (playable by all decks, technically) based hate.