Everyone is speculating what the artwork on the article page could be, but no one is talking about the image on the Daily MTG home page that is used to announce the article.
Looks like an old artwork that could have been used on the original card.
Could this possibly be a clue to anything and does anyone know what this is from?
It's true the rules work the way they do because Wizards determines how they work, but there is an easy way to determine which keywords are cumulative and the distinction does make sense.
Simply: Triggered abilities are cumulative; Static abilities do not cumulate.
Exhaustively:
112.3d. Static abilities are written as statements. They're simply true. Static abilities create continuous effects which are active while the permanent with the ability is on the battlefield and has the ability, or while the object with the ability is in the appropriate zone. See rule 604, "Handling Static Abilities."
Lifelink is a static ability. It's a characteristic ability that's always true so multiple instances of it doesn't make it more true. A more obvious example would be Flying. Flying is an evasion ability, which is a type of static ability. Having multiple Flying keywords doesn't mean the creature can has multiple flying abilities, because the first Flying ability of the creature is already true.
[NOTE: Lifelink sounds like it should be a triggered abilities (triggered when damage happens) and it was originally but was changed to a static ability with the Magic 2010 set because of timing issues.]
112.3c. Triggered abilities have a trigger condition and an effect. They are written as "[Trigger condition], [effect]," and begin with the word "when," "whenever," or "at." Whenever the trigger event occurs, the ability is put on the stack the next time a player would receive priority and stays there until it's countered, it resolves, or it otherwise leaves the stack. See rule 603, "Handling Triggered Abilities."
Exalted is a triggered ability, which only comes into effect when a specific condition triggers the ability. Having multiple instances of a triggered ability means that each instance of the ability will trigger independently.
Of the other keywords mentioned here, Lifelink, Cascade, Storm, Ripple, Gravestorm, Flanking are triggered abilities, so multiple instances of them have cumulative effects. Sure they can make some insane conditions, but that does make the game exciting.
That actually is the MSRP on booster boxes, $143.64 to be exact, so I guess you can say they are overcharging you $0.35.
Of course, like you said, almost no lgs or online store charges that prices for a current set box, not even with the super popular Return to Ravnica boxes.
But mass market stores only know to prices according to what information they are given as MSRP. Anything else would be considered a "Sale".
On the plus side, if there is a product that game stores are overcharging for, you can be assured that you can pick it up at Target or Walmart for MSRP, if they carry it, that is.
That's more than what I was able to get.
I just tried the beta this weekend and initiated a trade with a buddy.
We were connected for the trade; I was able to chat with the person, etc.
But there was no trade screen--can't see my or the other person's cards.
It remained on the screen with the Posts listings and there was no Trade menu.
Over the course of the last couple of weeks, my friend and I switched sides playing both decks. Out of 10 games played, Golgari won 8-2 over Izzet.
I like the flavor of Izzet better than playing Golgari, but it seems like it was hard getting enough land to utilize the potential of the Izzet cards. Once you were able to get enough lands out to play with, Izzet dominates. But Golgari was faster and stronger overall.
So I've bought a couple of complete set common+uncommon playsets from different sellers on ebay (great bargains for cheap cards btw).
The curious thing is they were both packaged in exactly the same way: 2 white thin cardboxes with 2x of cards in each box and extra space custioned with the same size of styrofoam blocks.
Both had the same type of label on them with bar code and same type of information on them including the Europeon "CE" symbol with the set name and listed as "Full Set" and "Regular" including the Wizards name on it even though it had only complete common+uncommon 2x copies.
At first I thought it was just a coincidence that 2 different sellers had the same type of repackaging. I thought they repacked the cards themselves. But I just saw another item on ebay listed as "Factory Sealed Complete Set" and it actually is suppose to contain a complete set of all cards in the set. But it has the exact same packaging and the label looks exactly like the ones I got with common+uncommon.
I'm not complaining about my purchases because I got exactly what I expected as was advertised, but I'm really curious who actually produces these. In both of my purchases, the label was affixed over the edge across the cardbox lid, so it can be considered "sealed". So can people just get these labels from somewhere and place them on items they repackage themselves? Or is there really some manufacturer that repackages these items and distributes them to sellers? I don't think they are factory sealed by Wizards, which I think would then affect the supply of individual cards.
You may not want to spend any more money on supplies just for this single shipment, but they have toploaders for thick cards that can probably fit 4 cards in them.
As others have said, give them some time to put up the HD scans.
I first noticed this with Avacyn Restored. And then with M13, both sets were still in low quality. By the time Return to Ravnica came out, the info on the site had low resolution images, but I was surprised to find AVR and M13 now had HD scans. So it just takes them some time to get all the HD scans.
I don't know who manages the site and who does the scans, but I highly doubt it's someone's day job. Most likely it's done by other magic players who put in the work in their spare time. Scanning takes a lot of time, especially when you need to have all the cards to do real scanning so it would take them awhile to amass the whole collection or maybe they solicit scans from others.
But it just takes time, and they're doing a great service to provide the set with all the information even if it has to be a low quality image placeholder until they can get the HD scans.
OK. I didn't understand what people were saying about Fetch lands and land subtypes until I looked it up (I'm a newish player).
It doesn't look like there are any fetch lands in Standard right now, but you can probably use a card like Farseek then, to "fetch" a land card that with a land subtype. Yes, I can see a big advantage with that.
And plus the fact that the core set duals have been printed so many times to create enough of a supply for them that they are more affordable makes sense too.
I understand why it's so much more desireable to have a single land card able to produce more than 1 type of mana.
What I'm having a hard time understanding is why would, say Blood Crypt be like like 4-5 times the cost of a Dragonskull Summit.
Both produce either red or black and both come in tapped until a certain condition is met, either paying 2 life or if you already have a basic land of that type.
The only real difference I see is that you have no choice about a core set dual land coming in tapped unless you're already further into the game with a basic land of that type out in the battlefield already, which means you can't tap it for mana on your first turn.
I understand that can be a big difference when you want to start fast, but does it really justify 5x the cost of a difference?
Looks like an old artwork that could have been used on the original card.
Could this possibly be a clue to anything and does anyone know what this is from?
Sorry, that's my ignorance of EDH since I've never played it. I though EDH decks were 100+ cards, like Standard is 60+.
So that makes Battle of Wits useless in EDH too.
Simply: Triggered abilities are cumulative; Static abilities do not cumulate.
Exhaustively:
Lifelink is a static ability. It's a characteristic ability that's always true so multiple instances of it doesn't make it more true. A more obvious example would be Flying. Flying is an evasion ability, which is a type of static ability. Having multiple Flying keywords doesn't mean the creature can has multiple flying abilities, because the first Flying ability of the creature is already true.
[NOTE: Lifelink sounds like it should be a triggered abilities (triggered when damage happens) and it was originally but was changed to a static ability with the Magic 2010 set because of timing issues.]
Exalted is a triggered ability, which only comes into effect when a specific condition triggers the ability. Having multiple instances of a triggered ability means that each instance of the ability will trigger independently.
Of the other keywords mentioned here, Lifelink, Cascade, Storm, Ripple, Gravestorm, Flanking are triggered abilities, so multiple instances of them have cumulative effects. Sure they can make some insane conditions, but that does make the game exciting.
Seriously...does anyone even want to try to win with this other than in EDH?
The Sanctioned Formats page has links to other formats.
The Products page lists all sets and the formats and blocks they fall in, and the links for each set.
Of course, like you said, almost no lgs or online store charges that prices for a current set box, not even with the super popular Return to Ravnica boxes.
But mass market stores only know to prices according to what information they are given as MSRP. Anything else would be considered a "Sale".
On the plus side, if there is a product that game stores are overcharging for, you can be assured that you can pick it up at Target or Walmart for MSRP, if they carry it, that is.
I just tried the beta this weekend and initiated a trade with a buddy.
We were connected for the trade; I was able to chat with the person, etc.
But there was no trade screen--can't see my or the other person's cards.
It remained on the screen with the Posts listings and there was no Trade menu.
I like the flavor of Izzet better than playing Golgari, but it seems like it was hard getting enough land to utilize the potential of the Izzet cards. Once you were able to get enough lands out to play with, Izzet dominates. But Golgari was faster and stronger overall.
The curious thing is they were both packaged in exactly the same way: 2 white thin cardboxes with 2x of cards in each box and extra space custioned with the same size of styrofoam blocks.
Both had the same type of label on them with bar code and same type of information on them including the Europeon "CE" symbol with the set name and listed as "Full Set" and "Regular" including the Wizards name on it even though it had only complete common+uncommon 2x copies.
At first I thought it was just a coincidence that 2 different sellers had the same type of repackaging. I thought they repacked the cards themselves. But I just saw another item on ebay listed as "Factory Sealed Complete Set" and it actually is suppose to contain a complete set of all cards in the set. But it has the exact same packaging and the label looks exactly like the ones I got with common+uncommon.
I'm not complaining about my purchases because I got exactly what I expected as was advertised, but I'm really curious who actually produces these. In both of my purchases, the label was affixed over the edge across the cardbox lid, so it can be considered "sealed". So can people just get these labels from somewhere and place them on items they repackage themselves? Or is there really some manufacturer that repackages these items and distributes them to sellers? I don't think they are factory sealed by Wizards, which I think would then affect the supply of individual cards.
I first noticed this with Avacyn Restored. And then with M13, both sets were still in low quality. By the time Return to Ravnica came out, the info on the site had low resolution images, but I was surprised to find AVR and M13 now had HD scans. So it just takes them some time to get all the HD scans.
I don't know who manages the site and who does the scans, but I highly doubt it's someone's day job. Most likely it's done by other magic players who put in the work in their spare time. Scanning takes a lot of time, especially when you need to have all the cards to do real scanning so it would take them awhile to amass the whole collection or maybe they solicit scans from others.
But it just takes time, and they're doing a great service to provide the set with all the information even if it has to be a low quality image placeholder until they can get the HD scans.
It doesn't look like there are any fetch lands in Standard right now, but you can probably use a card like Farseek then, to "fetch" a land card that with a land subtype. Yes, I can see a big advantage with that.
And plus the fact that the core set duals have been printed so many times to create enough of a supply for them that they are more affordable makes sense too.
What I'm having a hard time understanding is why would, say Blood Crypt be like like 4-5 times the cost of a Dragonskull Summit.
Both produce either red or black and both come in tapped until a certain condition is met, either paying 2 life or if you already have a basic land of that type.
The only real difference I see is that you have no choice about a core set dual land coming in tapped unless you're already further into the game with a basic land of that type out in the battlefield already, which means you can't tap it for mana on your first turn.
I understand that can be a big difference when you want to start fast, but does it really justify 5x the cost of a difference?
http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Category:Magic_expansions_and_sets