Haven't posted here in awhile, but this card just brought a big smile to my face. For one, I've always been a fan of green, and believe the color needs a little more variety and flexibility. Secondly, the art and flavor text are some of my favorite so far in M11!
Here's a pic of a guy named Jason, who I have drafted with before with one of my best friends. At the Nashville prerelease his opponent asked to draw because he was tired of playing, even though he had Jason beaten pretty much. So they split six packs 3 to 3 instead of 4 to 2. His opponent opened the pack for him saying "let's see what I would've gotten." His jaw dropped and Jason asked him what it was but he was dumbfounded. Jason grabbed the pack and saw the Black Lotus(Unlimited). Picture below:
I used to play but stopped right when Ice Age was released. So I basically played from Revised to Ice Age.
I just picked it back up and am seeing so many crazy changes but looking forward to it all. I used to play in a small town with only a couple friends but now I live in Sacramento and am hoping to find lots of people here to play and learn with.
Hello there! Man you've missed quite a lot since Ice Age, but I'm envious of you for playing during Magic's early days. Welcome to MTGS and glad to have you aboard.
If spoilers are your thing, then head over to the Rumor Mill or check out the Zendikar (This Fall's large expansion) spoiler on the tabs above.
note, that the standard got changed WITH Shards of Alara.
Not sure what you're meaning here... my point WAS that the standard of abbreviating changed with Shards of Alara. Therefore, the spelling-out of September in Rampaging Baloths is correct by current templates.
Anyone else excited about the prospects of equipment being a focus of the Kor Armory deck? Possibly equipment playing a larger role in Zendikar than in recent sets?
Comparing the appearance of "26" in the font used to stamp pre-release cards, I actually don't see any reason the picture can't be right. The 2 character is so small that in a distorted image like this it could easily look like a 1, or like the tiny smudge it does in our image.
Thanks for pointing this out Char, looking back at some of the other prerelease cards, they have the same strange font with small 2's.
Also, the whole concept of the card, the art (even at this quality) and mechanics seemed like something that would come from Wizards.
Landfall seems like a cool ability, and I'm looking forward to seeing what else they do with it.
And? They always make cards that exist in various states of uselessness. I don't get what the big deal is about that. As long as there aren't a large number of cards that only care about traps, what's the harm?
When the set is spoiled and half the cards care about traps, then you'd have a reason to complain. Right now, you and others are complaining about a subtype because you think that they will put too many cards in that care about the subtype, and apparently are from some bizarro-world where every single Magic card is viable to everybody all the time.
You are creating a problem that doesn't yet exist and writing an entire set off because of it. How does that even make logical sense?
I don't think they are writing the set off because of it, because I certainly am not, I'm very excited about this upcoming block and love magic in general.
I think we are just worried (and this is all speculation because we only have a few cards spoiled) that trap cards could become similar to Splice onto Arcane cards, and be too narrow in their uses. But I'm sure R&D has learned from that and it will not be the case. In any event, if they make a cards similar to Hisoka's Defiance except with Traps, I will be sorely disappointed.
Although I do see how cards such as Sylvan Echoes also suffer from the same "linear-ness" , but these are few and far between. Hopefully that's how Traps will be.
This also creates some flavor options. Creatures with "trap-shroud" for instance. And "counter target trap spell." And so on.
Premonition 1U
Instant
Counter target trap spell.
Disarm Trap R
Sorcery
Target player reveals his or hand. You choose a trap card from it. That player discards that card.
Tomb Scrounger 2U
Creature - Human Rogue
~ cannot be the target of trap spells.
When ~ comes into play, you may search your library for an artifact card, reveal it, and put into your hand. If you do, shuffle your library.
Every set needs jank. I would rather see a couple slots with poor to mediocre cards that interact with a new mechanic than cards like Disorient and Bramble Creeper.
But just think if it was similar janky cards, only they were so linear that they had even less applications. MaRo admitted that he thought it was a mistake for Kamigawa to have such insular, block-specific mechanics. I'm not saying that trap cards will turn out the same, but your Premonition and Disarm Trap examples are very similar to Kamigawa cards that were much too insular.
The John Avon forest is just spectacular, and I'm really impressed with the basic land art in general. It's great to finally get a sense of the flavor of this plane!
I have the forest set as my wallpaper now, and I like how there are tiny little humanoids(elves?) to the left of the dwellings.
Traps aren't quite the same as Arcane. Arcane had the problem that it meant nothing on its own. Traps obviously have a specific effect on their own (or at least a mechanical identity), and who's to say they won't become a permanant fixture of the game in the future? It very well might be, which is why it got put as a subtype and not something else.
A good point, as the "trap" subtype does do something more specific on this card, and is also very flavorful. The arcane subtype was created and dropped after the block was over, so I hope that the trap subtype will be handled differently.
You've assumed this from one card? Also, Arcane is not a mechanic; Splice is a mechanic that references Arcane. I very much doubt we'll see "Splice onto Trap". Arcane allowsfordesignsindependentof Splice, just as Trap will be able to.
Equipment is also a subtype, and it has been used quite a lot since its introduction.
Also very good points. I meant to say splice in my previous post, although I did forget about the different uses of Arcane. I wasn't thinking "Splice onto Trap" was going to show up, just that the Splice and Arcane mechanics were very linear and worked well mostly with a certain subset of cards. I guess you could argue that Kithkin tribal cards in Lorwyn block are similarly linear, so I concede the point.
In any event, I'm still excited about Zendikar, and we've only scratched the surface of the set :).
Based off of this trap card alone, I'm hugely disappointed. Hugely. The trap subtype doesn't contribute at all to the spell. It seems to be the same thing as arcane, where there will be certain other cards that activate when a trap is cast. That also goes against what a trap feels like, and still only feels like an instant. It's like keywording things like Domain. Pointless for all intensive purposes. Domain doesn't do anything by itself, it's just on cards that care about how many basic land types are in play. Horrible decisions being made by someone in R&D.
1. It's a subtype for a reason. It's going to be interacted with via tutors, triggered abilities, etc.
2. Ability words aren't a bad idea. Domain, Chroma, etc. are helpful in grouping mechanics.
3. "For all intensive purposes" is an eggcorn. The phrase is "For all intents and purposes", which I'm sure you'll agree makes more sense.
I agree with Trancebam on the point about the Trap subtype being very similar to the Arcane mechanic. We haven't seen what this block has to offer on it yet, but it seems like it's going to end up being like Splice in the COK block. Very linear and working well with only block cards.
I couldn't find the article, but MaRo says in it that he thinks Splice should have added to instants or sorceries instead of only Arcane spells. The "trap" subtype feels similar, just depends on what they do with it.
Also, if we are getting the "OMG THIS IS YGO II" only with the Trap Subtype, how it would be if they were Morph-like?, sub type is way better than making it a Morph Ability, because the opponent won't know you have a trap or a normal card in your hand until it's too late(or he saw your hand before), and some more reasons.
The subtype doesn't affect how Whiplash Trap can be played.
These cards mostly go to strengthen my previous disbelief in this set of spoilers. What we see here are extremely common fake-card patterns:
Pick popular mechanical speculation already floating around the forum and run with it. (Delve, exile stuff, and ACC were all among the frequently cited ideas in the various Speculation threads.)
Make reference to storyline tidbits that are already confirmed. (That Azhi flavor text namedrops Sorin and the idea that Zendikar has "weird" mana, despite neither having anything to do with the card.)
Pick a few veins of design and iterate them over and over, even though the random glimpses we get of almost every set provide us with an odd assortment of different themes, mechanics, and ideas.
Design block-mechanic + generic effect cards because they let you pad out your list without actually coming up with unique designs.
Plus, as I've discussed before, a Spellshaper that doesn't shape spells (i.e. transform cards in your hand from one spell to another) isn't a Spellshaper at all. The "Spellshaper" type was essentially an action word before action words, appearing only on cards with a very specific mechanic -- they're not going to change it now to refer to a completely different mechanic (especially not an already-existing one that was already used on like ten cards in the Odyssey block.)
Asked and answered.
R&D doesn't like "grand unified" mechanics. They've been on record as considering "Kicker" to be a mistake because it's too broad -- it encompasses every conceivable additional-play-cost mechanic, and its intended flavor (to make things bigger, or add an effect from another color to an existing spell) is lost in the process.
Sway is even worse than kicker in this sense. In a few cases here, it's almost-duplicating the effects of hybrid mana, only without the "actually making cards have two colors" aspect that made Shadowmoor interesting. (What is more interesting about Dispel here than a version costed at :sym2u::symwu:?) In other cases, it just repeats the pitch-spell mechanic. The mechanic has no identity, no real purpose for existing, and it takes up an awkward amount of conceptual space (in an "alternate play cost" theme, it basically covers... 90+% of every possible spell you could create that fits the theme.)
.......
The execution in the cards here is a mess. Zendikar isn't a gold block, so why does it have pseudo-gold cards like Spiteful Sepoy that would only ever be good in decks that play both colors? Why is there a 5/5 flying dragon with a tap ability when R&D has said that they hate hate hate to make big expensive flyers who have tap abilities because people want to attack with their big beefy flyers? How do these mechanics actually tie into a block theme? Why is a short, elegant card name like Dispel -- the kind R&D says they like to use on reprintable cards -- wedded to a block-mechanic spell? Why does this set include one mechanic that's a specific alternate play cost (Delve), and then another one that's a general-purpose alternate play cost (Sway)? Why confuse things like this?
Once you've gotten past the gee-whiz factor of "look, I'm paying alternate costs for things!" these cards have no real synergy with one another, don't hint at subthemes or color-specific divisions of the block theme, don't hint at any real effort to make APCs matter in the broader environment. Given the depth and intricacy of R&D's sets since Ravnica (even the relatively bland Alara, which still managed to incorporate five distinct color-arc subthemes) I can't really understand how anyone could think these cards hint at an exciting or deep set design.
Thank you for giving such a well thought out summation of why these cards are fake. I don't think anyone reading this post with their "common sense" cap on could disagree with you.
The part about R&D's stance toward kicker and similar mechanics, as well as Maro wanting to flesh out mechanics over the course of a block, should put the nail in the coffin on this rumor.
I have a bad feeling about this based on the uncommon Spellshapers. I'm not sure in which thread HERE I saw some those EXACT cards speculated, but I'm positive I've seen them before as a definite "wish list" for Zendikar . . . I'll have to trudge through the recent speculation threads here to see for sure.
That and they're horribly costed (casting cost) for the effects they provide.
I've got to agree with Hydro here guys. We only know so much information about the set, and he's using that to his advantage. These are just well thought out fakes in my opinion. Also, as Phyrre said earlier, the mechanic is too fleshed out for the first set. Maro said that they wanted to take there time with new mechanics after the Lorwyn/Shadowmoor megablock.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I can't seem to get the perspective on this one. Is it the spectators on the right hand side that are supposed to be tiny?
Hello there! Man you've missed quite a lot since Ice Age, but I'm envious of you for playing during Magic's early days. Welcome to MTGS and glad to have you aboard.
If spoilers are your thing, then head over to the Rumor Mill or check out the Zendikar (This Fall's large expansion) spoiler on the tabs above.
Not sure what you're meaning here... my point WAS that the standard of abbreviating changed with Shards of Alara. Therefore, the spelling-out of September in Rampaging Baloths is correct by current templates.
January is abbreviated in Door of Destinies, but not in Malfegor.
Thanks for pointing this out Char, looking back at some of the other prerelease cards, they have the same strange font with small 2's.
Also, the whole concept of the card, the art (even at this quality) and mechanics seemed like something that would come from Wizards.
Landfall seems like a cool ability, and I'm looking forward to seeing what else they do with it.
I don't think they are writing the set off because of it, because I certainly am not, I'm very excited about this upcoming block and love magic in general.
I think we are just worried (and this is all speculation because we only have a few cards spoiled) that trap cards could become similar to Splice onto Arcane cards, and be too narrow in their uses. But I'm sure R&D has learned from that and it will not be the case. In any event, if they make a cards similar to Hisoka's Defiance except with Traps, I will be sorely disappointed.
Although I do see how cards such as Sylvan Echoes also suffer from the same "linear-ness" , but these are few and far between. Hopefully that's how Traps will be.
But just think if it was similar janky cards, only they were so linear that they had even less applications. MaRo admitted that he thought it was a mistake for Kamigawa to have such insular, block-specific mechanics. I'm not saying that trap cards will turn out the same, but your Premonition and Disarm Trap examples are very similar to Kamigawa cards that were much too insular.
I have the forest set as my wallpaper now, and I like how there are tiny little humanoids(elves?) to the left of the dwellings.
A good point, as the "trap" subtype does do something more specific on this card, and is also very flavorful. The arcane subtype was created and dropped after the block was over, so I hope that the trap subtype will be handled differently.
Also very good points. I meant to say splice in my previous post, although I did forget about the different uses of Arcane. I wasn't thinking "Splice onto Trap" was going to show up, just that the Splice and Arcane mechanics were very linear and worked well mostly with a certain subset of cards. I guess you could argue that Kithkin tribal cards in Lorwyn block are similarly linear, so I concede the point.
In any event, I'm still excited about Zendikar, and we've only scratched the surface of the set :).
I agree with Trancebam on the point about the Trap subtype being very similar to the Arcane mechanic. We haven't seen what this block has to offer on it yet, but it seems like it's going to end up being like Splice in the COK block. Very linear and working well with only block cards.
I couldn't find the article, but MaRo says in it that he thinks Splice should have added to instants or sorceries instead of only Arcane spells. The "trap" subtype feels similar, just depends on what they do with it.
Edit: Sarnath'd by mr. smiley
Edit 2:
The subtype doesn't affect how Whiplash Trap can be played.
Thank you for giving such a well thought out summation of why these cards are fake. I don't think anyone reading this post with their "common sense" cap on could disagree with you.
The part about R&D's stance toward kicker and similar mechanics, as well as Maro wanting to flesh out mechanics over the course of a block, should put the nail in the coffin on this rumor.
I've got to agree with Hydro here guys. We only know so much information about the set, and he's using that to his advantage. These are just well thought out fakes in my opinion. Also, as Phyrre said earlier, the mechanic is too fleshed out for the first set. Maro said that they wanted to take there time with new mechanics after the Lorwyn/Shadowmoor megablock.