i thought you couldnt deal dmg to pws. the rules said you had to redirect.
you can deal damage to a planeswalker, but the card/ability would have to say that explicitly. they chose the redirect wording so as to not have to go and errata EVERY instance of "target player" with direct damage.
i am working off of memory, though, so if i'm wrong on this and someone has a citation for it, i'd be glad to hear it!
Wish we could say that for real, sadly though you have to remember the effects of time. Wizards has most likely lost a lot of their older staff by now and with new people running things promises and ideas from the past weigh less.
can't wait for the reserved list to mean less... /grumble
didn't realize how the voting was set up until just now. i'm a bit sad that blood in the watering can and mass mummification were in the same bracket, as i think they're both pretty damned cool (blood is just a potentially really good card, and mummification is just... well, cool : o).
I would rather that they hadn't come back at all, yes. If we needed a five color, all upside, humanoid tribe, I would have absolutely loved the return of allies.
pretty much this. they brought back slivers for nostalgia reasons. the only players who would feel nostalgia are the older ones. they then remove both the "iconic sliver look" and the sliver universal buff system.
had they implemented the new sliver look better (i really honestly like their concept for it. movable chitinous plates and tentacle masses to control their placement? that's awesome!) i wouldn't feel doubly betrayed. however, the implementation just looks very unsliverly.
had they changed the look entirely (as they have) but kept the sliver universal buffs, i would be confused (hello nwo...), but you know, they're slivers. hive first, whoever's trying to control us second.
but a one two punch of "these don't look like slivers" and "these don't act like slivers" means they totally screwed the pooch on the nostalgia factor.
and if they're introducing newer players to slivers, they failed at that, as these aren't really slivers. should've just brought allies back out, as newer players would already be more familiar with that and would probably be more excited about them.
if you can make a rather dedicated evolve deck, it would probably just play out like a slivers deck, where you just start vomiting things on the table and then countering key spells/wipes, combat tricks be damned. you just want to pump your stuff up as big as possible.
Had this happen yesterday. I attacked with a 2/2 and my opponent Auger Spree'd my creature. I responded with Giant Growth and it took a couple seconds for both of us to realize I just hit him for 9. We had a good, hearty laugh.
i had a similar incident. i swung in with my dreg mangler, he spree'd it, but i had my only giant growth in hand and the mana to use it, so he helped me hit him for 10. i felt a little bad, because he looked like a newer player, and he absolutely played correctly, i just had the proper response.
There are more people that play Standard each week then any other format, hand down no contest.
the problem with this is, there isn't any other format (except maybe limited) that receives the same type of support as standard. i'm pretty sure there are far more events for standard players than there are for any other format. it makes sense for wizards to do this, as that's their real money maker, but your statement is a bit offset.
The number of people playing Standard today compared to 3 years ago, 5 years ago, 10 years ago has increased. There are more people playing the game today then ever before. So Wotc must be doing something right. There was not the tournament support like there is today in the past.
At the end of the first book the Chorus was killed and replaced with a new Chorus. The guild was sort of reorganized following the whole quietmen fiasco too. The Selesnya guild wasn't really a focus in Guildpact or Dissension, but in Agents of Artifice we learn that they were targeted pretty heavily by guildless who were pissed at all the brainwashing they did. Apparently the guild has since recovered.
what are these quietman and brainwashing fiascoes? i really know very little about all of the nuances that happened in the stories.
buy packs for fun. if you want to draft or sealed with friends and don't care about the mindless chaff left over, buy a box and knock yourself out.
if you like the rush of opening a pack and seeing what's inside, buy packs.
but don't lie to yourself about being able to even come up even. unless you open cases (like stores do) you're not going to make any sort of consistent money off packs. and if you have any sort of a budget to stick to, proxy your test decks, then buy the singles for them afterwards, once you're mostly set up. otherwise, you run too much risk of wasted money on crappy cards that will pretty much never be used otherwise.
you can deal damage to a planeswalker, but the card/ability would have to say that explicitly. they chose the redirect wording so as to not have to go and errata EVERY instance of "target player" with direct damage.
i am working off of memory, though, so if i'm wrong on this and someone has a citation for it, i'd be glad to hear it!
can't wait for the reserved list to mean less... /grumble
i voted for blood, as i'm more spike-ish at heart
pretty much this. they brought back slivers for nostalgia reasons. the only players who would feel nostalgia are the older ones. they then remove both the "iconic sliver look" and the sliver universal buff system.
had they implemented the new sliver look better (i really honestly like their concept for it. movable chitinous plates and tentacle masses to control their placement? that's awesome!) i wouldn't feel doubly betrayed. however, the implementation just looks very unsliverly.
had they changed the look entirely (as they have) but kept the sliver universal buffs, i would be confused (hello nwo...), but you know, they're slivers. hive first, whoever's trying to control us second.
but a one two punch of "these don't look like slivers" and "these don't act like slivers" means they totally screwed the pooch on the nostalgia factor.
and if they're introducing newer players to slivers, they failed at that, as these aren't really slivers. should've just brought allies back out, as newer players would already be more familiar with that and would probably be more excited about them.
if only they would make one not costed ridiculous... they'll probably make it blue, too, even though it could be justified in green just as easily...
i'm not sure about a red cancel, but 1rr for a "counter target instant/sorcery" seems very much doable, at least as a starting point.
i had a similar incident. i swung in with my dreg mangler, he spree'd it, but i had my only giant growth in hand and the mana to use it, so he helped me hit him for 10. i felt a little bad, because he looked like a newer player, and he absolutely played correctly, i just had the proper response.
the problem with this is, there isn't any other format (except maybe limited) that receives the same type of support as standard. i'm pretty sure there are far more events for standard players than there are for any other format. it makes sense for wizards to do this, as that's their real money maker, but your statement is a bit offset.
this is sound, important, and very true, however.
what are these quietman and brainwashing fiascoes? i really know very little about all of the nuances that happened in the stories.
-color
-type (instant, sorc, etc...)
-cmc
-alpha
then had lands in their own box, and multi (gold and hybrid) in another, sorted similarly.
if you like the rush of opening a pack and seeing what's inside, buy packs.
but don't lie to yourself about being able to even come up even. unless you open cases (like stores do) you're not going to make any sort of consistent money off packs. and if you have any sort of a budget to stick to, proxy your test decks, then buy the singles for them afterwards, once you're mostly set up. otherwise, you run too much risk of wasted money on crappy cards that will pretty much never be used otherwise.