Been off the deck for a while (since Eldrazi Winter), but my lackluster testing with the newly invigorated Assault Loam is making me take a second look at Loam Pox again. Based on what I'm seeing, I have a few questions:
1) Besides the always-atrocious mana, why has nobody migrated back towards playing actual Smallpox in the deck? It seems to have good application against a lot of the format right now, more so than our worse-version-of-Dredge Conflagrate plan.
2) Why has Wrenn and Six not been mentioned as a tool for the deck? I suppose this makes sense when Smallpox isn't involved, but as I'm interested in including it, I think Wrenn would solve some of my previous issues of mana inconsistencies and also provide the option to create 2 Zombies per turn when Squees are MIA.
3) Regardless of the build, where are your Hogaaks? That card seems to be the perfect "big boi" for closing games before an opponent can claw back in or play a threat that slows down the Zombie plan.
Thanks for any insight. I'm excited to dust off the token army!
I think the deck needs a finisher with CMC<4 that ends the game in 2/3 turns. The problem is that I don't want a card that dies to Rest in Peace, because I want a hope in a post-sideboard game. So no Tarmogoyf (and no Ore-Scale Guardian). I don't like Living Twister because without Seismic Assault it sucks and Assault is the most hated card after sideboard. The card doesn't have to be a creature, I just need it to finish the game quickly. Do you have any ideas? I can't figure out anything. Thanks
Only gripe I have are the blurred houses in the foreground.
It makes it look like the angel was painted into a real-lifew picture of a small model city.
That's... That's the point, friend. Segovia is a tiny world.She's supposed to look like she's flying over a model city because Segovia is a model-sized city.
Nobody freak out, but the number crunch has all but confirmed we are getting the Onslaught Cycle lands...
If we do get them, I'm somewhere between Bear Assault Pox and IceFang Coatl/FoF Bear Assault. I haven't been this excited for Magic in years!
Neat pile of effects, and I really dig the art, but this kind of feels bad at rare. Considering this is supposed to be a fairly high power set, this seems like it should have been uncommon.
Uh... how many "flash, flying, draw a card, deathtouch" cards do you want to face in one draft? Doom blade that pings and draws a card is not very fun to run into...
post toy fair, and well, I've moved from somewhat confused to rather concerned.
Well, Hasbro apparently had no presence at Toyfair (as noted above) which makes me rather uneasy. not only was everything investor only, which suggests a degree of corporate scummery, but at the same time, it's something that in the end, didn't say too much about magic.
but now we've got a few specters to face. First, i'd like to direct your attentions to two questions answered by Mark Rosewater
paladin8000 asked: Mark, I loved the trailer of "war of the Sparks" would like to know if we can see all the stained glass with the planewalker?
I assume we’ll show them off at some point (in a clear and easy way to see them). You don’t put thirty-six pieces of art from a set in a trailer and not want people to appreciate them. : )
the emphasis added is mine.
theuninvitedghost asked: Would you ever do a set with, like, 30 planeswalkers in it?
That would be crazy! : )
Now, this is a question that would be outside the realm of possibility in basically any other scenario, and unfortunately, a longstanding lack of communication from this set means that for once, rosewater's traditional non answer for the second question is less "lol look at this crazy dood" and more "oh christ what is wizards actually planning". now, i figured at first that this would end up being more of a curiosity than anything. perhaps this is pointing to the return of masterpieces, but that would be more than a little bit odd for a set to essentially choke standard with planeswalkers. besides, wouldn't doubling (tripling if you don't count intro deck walkers like me) the number of walkers in standard not only threaten to crash the format, but royally screw with the EV of the set?
And then wizards announced that they'd be removing MSRP. not just phasing it out, but ending it immediately, starting with War of the Spark
I'm going to go a bit out on a limb, but the most classic paradigm of speculation is basing it on all available information, and extrapolating possible conclusions from what (little) information we have. so, to state our known factors
1. WotC has been uncharacteristically gunshy about giving out any information from this set. if anyone here has an example of them withholding this much info 2 months out from a standard legal set, please bring it to my attention, because i haven't found anything of the like.
2. What little we have heard has described the set as doing something "incredibly crazy that hasn't been tried before." Rosewater's comments above echo his own statement.
3. This set is totally divorced from the previous two, and has no beholden mechanical requirements.
4. Wizards has stated in the past, that a planeswalker set would be unviable due to the relative unavailability of planeswalkers compared to literally any other permanent type, and their relative scarcity on any given plane.
5. we aren't scheduled to get any information about the set until pax east, a month before the release.
6. This set has thus far, been pointing towards planeswalkers being utterly central to the narrative
7. Wizards has abandoned MSRP, starting with this set.
Now, given these parameters, the conclusion isn't that hard to draw.
I firmly believe that this set is going to be dropping planeswalkers down to rare, with a slight possibility of uncommon being thrown into the mix. it's been a longstanding statement that PWs need to stay at mythic due to the complexity of the card type, but most people who play the game have enough of a grasp of the rules to understand how the cards work. given this increase in availability, the idea of cards that mechanically work alongside planeswalkers, outside of the typical "destroy" paradigm, would become viable in a draft environment.
I have no doubt this is going to be the "Planeswalker Set" the community has been begging for, but i also see this as something to be more than a bit concerned with. this set could very easily force people to reevaluate the entirety of standard and modern, not to mention that speculation could easily implode the secondary market, which could explain the tight leash on information. The idea of making a card like Tefiri or Karn any better than they already are could easily double the price of both, if not more. it could also see speculations occurring day to day over the course of spoilers, with new cards casting older 'walkers in an entirely new light. The removal of MSRP could also be a legitimate factor, as this set could have further reaching consequences than wizards understands, and thus, could inflate average value of the cards interacting with the current 140 extant planeswalkers. a drop in MSRP makes sense then, as that frees them of any liability of setting it below a "fair" point.
Honestly, if you see something different in the cards, please, let me know.
I see someone with a lot of time on their hands who is very interested in blowing things out of proportion.
Yes, this is probably the "PW at rare" set, and likely with seeded packs. No, this will not cause values to explode. Bad walkers are still bad walkers, and with high saturation of bad walkers, prices will still be low. This could be a good thing for collectors, and maybe make these boxes valuable at a later date which has not happened for Standard boxes in 7 years. Dropping MSRP is not related to WAR.
Now to your credit, I think you had 2 pretty good ideas here. First, using this set as an excuse to print cards that directly interact with Walkers, even ones strong enough for Modern/Legacy (and barely impacting most Standard decks), would be quite smart for designers to capitalize on. Second, PW Intro decks have been the norm for years and give players a quick solution if they're so new to the game that they don't understand the PWs they just opened in their Wal Mart Boosters. "Hey, that card on that preconstructed deck looks like this card, I'll buy that next so we can figure this out." Therefore this is a decent time to create a PW Matters theme set that won't feel totally alien to most players.
There's a good chance this set is a total disaster (MaRo is caught in some major design restraints if they had to create a bajillion PWs just for story tie-in), but if they pull it off, it could be a historic achievement. But nothing good comes from this tin foil hatting and assuming WotC is stalling on a terrible set or out to ruin pack values. Just chill and wait for the usual spoiler times, aka 3-4 weeks from release.
I hate these cards in those overpriced sets. This is completely useless in limited at rare, especially with the new rule legend. It's just there because it costs a bit and is used in some decks.
So where are they going to print these? You're genuinely mad that an overpriced set has valuable cards in it?? Also if you think Flagstones is worse because of legend rule, you may want to read the card again...
Sorry for the necro, but there's one option nobody mentioned: 2 dredges. So draw step replace with Dredge, Sylvan for 1 Dredge and 1 draw. I have replaced 2 draws this turn, but Sylvan wants 2 returned. Have I satisfied the Library by returning the single drawn card, or will I now lose 4 life? Thanks!
Ick, this produce is a mess. Why the distribution of packs? Why add a poster for a set that's 3 months old upon release? For this to be a good product, it should highlight the new set: give me a pretty Ixalan poster, some new cards I haven't been opening since April, and we might be talking. I love the basics but that's not enough to steer me into the arms of this thing.
Based on grainy photos and time to set release, I'd guess this was taken in a printing facility. Could have been laying out on a palate and a touring family member/potential employee got greedy. I applied at one of these places a while ago in early spring and there was an uncut commons sheet for the summer release just laying on the ground. They usually take all your electronics first though.
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Been off the deck for a while (since Eldrazi Winter), but my lackluster testing with the newly invigorated Assault Loam is making me take a second look at Loam Pox again. Based on what I'm seeing, I have a few questions:
1) Besides the always-atrocious mana, why has nobody migrated back towards playing actual Smallpox in the deck? It seems to have good application against a lot of the format right now, more so than our worse-version-of-Dredge Conflagrate plan.
2) Why has Wrenn and Six not been mentioned as a tool for the deck? I suppose this makes sense when Smallpox isn't involved, but as I'm interested in including it, I think Wrenn would solve some of my previous issues of mana inconsistencies and also provide the option to create 2 Zombies per turn when Squees are MIA.
3) Regardless of the build, where are your Hogaaks? That card seems to be the perfect "big boi" for closing games before an opponent can claw back in or play a threat that slows down the Zombie plan.
Thanks for any insight. I'm excited to dust off the token army!
Tireless Tracker is a good place to start!
That's... That's the point, friend. Segovia is a tiny world.She's supposed to look like she's flying over a model city because Segovia is a model-sized city.
What is this, an angel for ANTS?!
If we do get them, I'm somewhere between Bear Assault Pox and IceFang Coatl/FoF Bear Assault. I haven't been this excited for Magic in years!
Uh... how many "flash, flying, draw a card, deathtouch" cards do you want to face in one draft? Doom blade that pings and draws a card is not very fun to run into...
I see someone with a lot of time on their hands who is very interested in blowing things out of proportion.
Yes, this is probably the "PW at rare" set, and likely with seeded packs. No, this will not cause values to explode. Bad walkers are still bad walkers, and with high saturation of bad walkers, prices will still be low. This could be a good thing for collectors, and maybe make these boxes valuable at a later date which has not happened for Standard boxes in 7 years. Dropping MSRP is not related to WAR.
Now to your credit, I think you had 2 pretty good ideas here. First, using this set as an excuse to print cards that directly interact with Walkers, even ones strong enough for Modern/Legacy (and barely impacting most Standard decks), would be quite smart for designers to capitalize on. Second, PW Intro decks have been the norm for years and give players a quick solution if they're so new to the game that they don't understand the PWs they just opened in their Wal Mart Boosters. "Hey, that card on that preconstructed deck looks like this card, I'll buy that next so we can figure this out." Therefore this is a decent time to create a PW Matters theme set that won't feel totally alien to most players.
There's a good chance this set is a total disaster (MaRo is caught in some major design restraints if they had to create a bajillion PWs just for story tie-in), but if they pull it off, it could be a historic achievement. But nothing good comes from this tin foil hatting and assuming WotC is stalling on a terrible set or out to ruin pack values. Just chill and wait for the usual spoiler times, aka 3-4 weeks from release.
So where are they going to print these? You're genuinely mad that an overpriced set has valuable cards in it?? Also if you think Flagstones is worse because of legend rule, you may want to read the card again...
WHUPPAH!