MTG Salvation

Quote from cryogen »

Shower thought I just had for my zombie horde deck:

Shuffle X number of poison counter tokens into the deck, where X is the number of survivors (players). Whenever one is revealed, a player chosen at random becomes infected by the zombie virus. Once infected:

Turn 0: no effect
Turn 1: weakened - player skips their untap step
Turn 2: dead - player skips their turn, but their battlefield, hand, library, and graveyard continue to be affected like normal
Turn 3: turned - player switches sides and is now part of the zombie horde, making all plays as randomly as possible

There is no cure for becoming infected, and if all players become infected they lose.

This is a really cool idea!

People always get burned when they pre-order these Masters products based on what's revealed day one. Always. Right now it's Damnation and fetches but tomorrow they leave out LotV and Snappy and all the mythics are Domri Rade.

That said it was a hell of a day one reveal.

Yeah, they very predictably put out the spoilers that will generate the most hype first. Lots of disappointment coming from here on out. The only really good time to pre-order sealed products like this is before spoilers start.

Since I am only playing EDH I am debating with myself whether to buy one. I guess if I see that nearly 50% of the rares are edh playable I might pull the trigger. Still not sure though.. I love cracking packs so it's emotion vs. rational thought

Quote from Life1ess »

Yeah, they very predictably put out the spoilers that will generate the most hype first. Lots of disappointment coming from here on out.

You know, while I typically would agree with a statement like this, I think it is worth mentioning that Wizards has spoiled very few mythics so far. We knew of Griselbrand, Domri, and presumably Snapcaster from the packaging for a while, and since that time we've only just now seen Bonfire and Temporal Mastery, neither of which came from the mothership. A lot of the surrounding hype has just been from the rares and uncommons. I think there's still a very good chance the remaining mythics turn out to be exciting ones.

I will admit, there are several value uncommons that have been spoiled now. The last Modern Masters set was really weak at uncommon and it badly hurt the EV of boxes. If there's value outside mythics, the mythics are far less important.

Quote from arrogantAxolotl »

Quote from Life1ess »

Yeah, they very predictably put out the spoilers that will generate the most hype first. Lots of disappointment coming from here on out.

You know, while I typically would agree with a statement like this, I think it is worth mentioning that Wizards has spoiled very few mythics so far. We knew of Griselbrand, Domri, and presumably Snapcaster from the packaging for a while, and since that time we've only just now seen Bonfire and Temporal Mastery, neither of which came from the mothership. A lot of the surrounding hype has just been from the rares and uncommons. I think there's still a very good chance the remaining mythics turn out to be exciting ones.

Since they have made it very clear they consider it too strong to ever be reprinted in a standard set, if they're ever going to reprint Liliana of the Veil, now would be a fine time and place for it.

I'm actually surprised Wizards hasn't begun designing cards for their Masters sets yet.

Masters sets are just Core sets all over again. They're nothing but reprints. That's what made Core sets generally disliked in the first place (and why I have absolutely no interest in MM17); players lacked a compelling reason to open Core sets because they introduced no new cards to the game, and players likely already owned some of the cards. The only difference now seems to be that Masters sets, unlike Core sets, are just a compilation of some of Magic's greatest hits. Players are happy to open an all reprint set now because not as many of them own Snapcasters and Lilianas anymore, and they want to get their hands on them. Given enough time and reprints though, the market can become saturated with these cards, so then what?

Wizards seems to find it difficult to design cards for Eternal without interfering with Standard. That's why they usually slip Eternal cards into non-Standard products like Commander decks. Why not just use the Masters sets as an opportunity to directly inject whatever cards they want into their respected format? The Masters sets afford that, and it would make players that much more excited to open them. Imagine opening not only a booster pack filled with some of Magic's most powerful cards, but a booster pack filled with some of Magic's most powerful unreleased cards. I think that would really get people's interest piqued.

Quote from arrogantAxolotl »

I'm actually surprised Wizards hasn't begun designing cards for their Masters sets yet.

Masters sets are just Core sets all over again. They're nothing but reprints. That's what made Core sets generally disliked in the first place (and why I have absolutely no interest in MM17); players lacked a compelling reason to open Core sets because they introduced no new cards to the game, and players likely already owned some of the cards. The only difference now seems to be that Masters sets, unlike Core sets, are just a compilation of some of Magic's greatest hits. Players are happy to open an all reprint set now because not as many of them own Snapcasters and Lilianas anymore, and they want to get their hands on them. Given enough time and reprints though, the market can become saturated with these cards, so then what?

Wizards seems to find it difficult to design cards for Eternal without interfering with Standard. That's why they usually slip Eternal cards into non-Standard products like Commander decks. Why not just use the Masters sets as an opportunity to directly inject whatever cards they want into their respected format? The Masters sets afford that, and it would make players that much more excited to open them. Imagine opening not only a booster pack filled with some of Magic's most powerful cards, but a booster pack filled with some of Magic's most powerful unreleased cards. I think that would really get people's interest piqued.

Simply put, they don't have the manpower. They don't really do much testing (if any) for formats beyond Standard (might have done a bit for Modern since Eldrazi Winter), but it's nowhere close to what they do for Standard. Designing new cards for Modern would literally need another R&D department of its own (good luck convincing corporate/finance/HR that it'll be worth it). Sure they slip in some cards for Legacy via Commander Products, but considering there were mistakes (True-Name Nemesis), it pretty much demonstrated they didn't test for it either (but were willing to do it anyway since Legacy is technically beyond saving as long as the RL exists and it's robust enough in structure to handle it). Modern isn't is as robust in structure, but more robust in popularity, so any mistakes will be about 4 times as detrimental (and probably warrant banning).

Actually I think Core Sets were pretty okay in their early incarnations. It wasn't until the first "power downshift" that happened around 8th Edition (just using Modern as a Marker in comparison to Legacy), then it started to fill like pointless filler because the difference between Standard and nonrotating formats became obvious. Considering the entire concept still got removed after introducing new cards in, I don't think there's a necessity for Masters to introduce new cards either (unless they are willing to fork out the money for the dedicated R&D team). Masters set have one advantage - they don't have to cater to Standard at all, which means they aren't "filler" from the very start and secondly, it's currently running on once-every-two-years instead of once-a-year core sets run on.

I'm not saying it's not beneficial for the format to do so (I can see the benefits of bringing new cards directly to Modern), but without the proper team and funding, it's can easily backfire as well and considering from what I currently see of WotC (a highly strained R&D team trying to cover for everything and messing up Standard probably because of that), it's just not advisable.

Quote from JWK »

Quote from arrogantAxolotl »

Quote from Life1ess »

Yeah, they very predictably put out the spoilers that will generate the most hype first. Lots of disappointment coming from here on out.

You know, while I typically would agree with a statement like this, I think it is worth mentioning that Wizards has spoiled very few mythics so far. We knew of Griselbrand, Domri, and presumably Snapcaster from the packaging for a while, and since that time we've only just now seen Bonfire and Temporal Mastery, neither of which came from the mothership. A lot of the surrounding hype has just been from the rares and uncommons. I think there's still a very good chance the remaining mythics turn out to be exciting ones.

Since they have made it very clear they consider it too strong to ever be reprinted in a standard set, if they're ever going to reprint Liliana of the Veil, now would be a fine time and place for it.

Hm, it appears I called that one pretty good!

Is it better to sell cards that are around $40 as a playset or as singles? What are the advantages of selling cards as singles compared to selling in multiples? What about multiples vs as singles?

Thanks

Quote from xyz57 »

Is it better to sell cards that are around $40 as a playset or as singles? What are the advantages of selling cards as singles compared to selling in multiples? What about multiples vs as singles?

Thanks

Depends on which cards and to whom you are trying to sell them. If it's a card that sees a lot of play in standard or modern, you may find more buyers if you sell in playsets. If it's a card that is mostly played in Commander, many Commander players don't maintain more than one or a handful of decks, so multiple copies of most cards are irrelevant, and you're probably better selling them as singles.

If you're selling locally there's not a lot of difference IMO. Personally I expect a discount of some sort if I buy a full playset, but maybe I'm in the minority. Also, if you're mailing cards out you'll incur cost for each shipment, so you've either got to charge for shipping or raise your asking price to compensate.

Quote from Life1ess »

If you're selling locally there's not a lot of different IMO. Personally I expect a discount of some sort if I buy a full playset, but maybe I'm in the minority. Also, if you're mailing cards out you'll incur cost for each shipment, so you've either got to charge for shipping or raise your asking price to compensate.

I'd generally expect some kind of discount on a playset as well. Like you mention, that doesn't mean the seller is taking a loss on it thanks to shipping costs.

I'm honestly not sure when the last time I bought a playset from a single seller was. Aggregators like TCGPlayer have made bargain hunting a lot more painless, so even if I'm grabbing 4 of a card in an order it's rare that they're all coming from a single seller. I'm also mostly an EDH player, so it's not like I buy a lot of playsets to begin with.

I just noticed another card that experienced a huge price hike in the past year. Ancestral Vision jumped way up around April 2016, it appears. Any idea what caused that? Did it start seeing a bunch of play in some format?

I was planning to pick up a couple more copies, but holy cow, not at that price!

It got unbanned in modern.

But also I hadn't looked at that actual price jump before, and geez you're not kidding.

Quote from tstorm823 »

It got unbanned in modern.

But also I hadn't looked at that actual price jump before, and geez you're not kidding.

Yeah, I run it in a couple decks, the suspend is fine, especially if it's cast early in the game, and I put my last available copy in Rashmi, where it's good with library manipulation effects. I figured I'd pick up a couple more on ebay, but not at current prices.

so,this is sand worm 2 for my Dune inspired diorama, next week I plan to start work on the scenery.

Damnations for $23 and dropping. I love you MM17.

Quote from JDviant »

Thats a fine Sandworm.

Thank you

I finally cascaded into Avenger (with 12 lands, Crucible of Worlds and Terramorphic Expanse in the graveyard for good measure) for 5 mana. Too bad I had to wait a turn to attack with them (mainly because I had attacked that turn but that combat was what got Wanderer to the graveyard in the first place, so it was more of circumstance than bad play of any kind), but it was a quick 1v1 game we were having so the opponent didn't get any answers out and I just ran over the next turn.

It felt great, yet it reminded me why I didn't like Wanderer that much to begin with (to be fair most Wanderer decks I face tend to be the cutthroat versions than otherwise). I mean, I'm not that much better myself since my Commander effectively puts Wanderer into a Derevi situation (abeit vulnerable to graveyard hate in exchange), but like I said when I see them in opposing Command Zones, it usually means it's a rush of resources and denial incoming (I don't scramble for Wanderer usually in my own deck, Horde can manually bring back Avenger if that's all I managed to obtain in that game). Then again I've always been the "more casual" one comparatively when I sit with the more competitive group, so I acknowledge it was still my own choice in the end.

Went to Target to buy toothpaste and parchment paper. Ended up impulse buying a 55" UHD TV.

So far, this year's Modern Masters set has been pretty kind to me. I ended up drafting a Bant flicker/populate deck which included Goyf, Advent of the Wurm and Cyclonic Rift. The deck was full of value stuff - multiple copies of Rootborn Defenses, Ghostly Flicker and Centaur Healer, plus the blue soulbond guys and two copies of Gaea's Anthem - which allowed me to stay ahead on life while making a lot of tokens and wearing opponents down. Prize packs netted me Verdant Catacombs, Marsh Flats and Snapcaster Mage, plus two copies of Path to Exile. None of my foils were anything to write home about - my best ones were Momentary Blink and Kraken Hatchling, both of which I played in my draft deck - but all in all I'm pretty happy with what I've drafted and picked up. I should be able to sell or trade the Goyf for value. Meanwhile, I still have a box that my wife and I will be playing sealed with.

A friend of mine mentioned doing very well with a very similar bant blink/token deck. The splicers seem like bonkers cards for both archetypes so merging the two seems natural. Initial impressions are that it's a really good draft archetype, and once I get a chance to draft the set myself, it might be what I go for.

If I'm not on the "pick up every single signet and see what happens" plan.

I picked up a few signets early on, but ended up running only one of them. I think the "grab the signets early and see what else you can grab" strategy is okay, but you can't keep doing it far into pack 2. I switched off that plan pretty early when I saw nobody was grabbing the U/W bounce/flicker stuff. And yeah, both the Splicers and Urbis Protector are strong for that archetype, but I never saw a copy of either, because someone else was drafting Selesnya tokens. I still did well enough to win the draft, though. Flickering Attended Knight a couple times and playing Gaea's Anthem is pretty good. Wingcrafter and Tandem Lookout were both a lot better than I recall them having been in Avacyn Restored, probably because all the flickering and bouncing allowed me to move them about advantageously (turns out a flying Rhox War Monk is pretty good), but maybe they were better than I remembered the first time around. I was one of those guys who spent most of Avacyn Restored going against the grain and drafting mono-black.