The Phyrexians have become eldritch in nature. He absorbed that omenspeaker to repair his arm? A twelve foot monster can just mesh into oil and disappear? What is happening?!
The reason why MTG sets never will see their potential is because draft is prioritized over everything else. These characters are literally the reason why Magic exists and they shafted 99% of them.
Let’s throw some powerful cards or reprints into this set, some cards that will make people brew decks and the rest be for draft purposes. It literally makes no sense. Chaos draft was invented to supplant that missing part of drafting a group of powerful sets.
the guy that gets Scroll Rack in draft wins every time. It’s unfun.
before you all jump all over my ass as often happens, allow me to explain.
its a turd for a few reasons. once we look past the high value of some of the reprints in the mythic category what does this set actually offer edh players?
what is it reprinting that players actually need and want in order to succeed in the format? there isn't much. yes, vampiric tutor, scroll rack, staff of domination, they're good powerful cards but what about at the lower rarities? what about at common and uncommon? where are the eternal witnesses, the strip mines, ancient tombs, the sylvan libraries, the enlightened, worldly, and mystical tutors? what about the less ubiquitous things that have crept up in price, the aura sards, the sterling groves, the rhystic studies? sensei's divining top? how's that $10 mystic remora feel? creative reprints that need it? how about those? we got victimize again... but what we really need is another printing of dance of the dead, necromancy, and animate dead. sure we got three visits, and at uncommon even, but did we need it? nature's lore exists and is already pushing about $4 is there that much to be gained by having a second one in the format at a lower price or could this have been another or new ramp spell? cabal coffers is worth how much now? this was an opportunity to reprint a lot of these cards without effecting other formats or see precons fly off the shelf... and they just put in the bare minimum effort. a few high value hype cards - at mythic keeping them difficult to get - and not much in the way of other utility cards we see every single game that have slowly increased in value. the cards that can't really be printed anywhere because they'll warp things.
okay lets talk about the new cards then, surely those are all great? are they though? do they really add anything to the format? they sort of fall into 2 categories. do nothing, and busted as ****. for every opposition agent, hullbreacher, and jeweled lotus there's half a dozen crap rares that don't really explore any existing strategies in new ways or even meaningful ways. we see some cards that run with an idea and end up totally busted, making them ubiquitous to any deck that support the colors, and then we see ones that are just... solidly mediocre that are barely fringe playable. there's minimal if any middle ground, and middle ground is really where edh thrives.
the new commanders maybe? some of them are... alright. there isn't much that's really inspirational to build around. a lot of them have similar commanders already, or don't quite push an idea in a direction that's interesting. look at almost any thread where one is spoiled and there's minimal discussion on how to actually use that card as a commander. then there's the throwback commanders, many of whom feel like absolute flavor fails jammed into the set to placate people who have been begging. glacian, rebbec, radiant, baron sengir, there's a few examples of the ones that just make us go... who gives a ****. there's a few really cool ones too like hans and i guess belbe but its just all over the place.
but then so too there's this smattering of legends (and other mythics) that basically resolve and win you the game. i ask, how necessary is that to add to the format? do we really need more cards that are in the 8 to 12 mana range that go: you played it. you win. next pod. people already complain about the tooth and nails and the expropriates why give even more? why push even more cards that just end the pod, that'll be a race to push out like your post thanksgiving *****. oh but wait, there's also some occupying the mythic slot and that mana cost that just... don't do anything. like sure they do something but they don't do anything worth the cost. so you just end up with this really sloppy range of effects with again, no real middle.
even within the set itself a lot of its own themes just fall flat... they pushed equipment in white and red, but then didn't include ***** for equipment. no one expected all the swords, but one or two might've been good, or a handful of just exciting new equipments, or a few reprints of the ones in the $10-30 range, commander's plate is arguable in how good it is, but it also doesn't do much that's new or exciting in that design space
the pirate theme, its cute... but it would've been better served in an actual set. there's a bunch of similar examples, just half assed under explored almost concepts all over this set. just jammed together for the sake of saying HEY ITS GOT THAT THING YOU LIKE IN IT
where are the much hyped GOOD white cards? its just the same old catchup under powered crap as always but now we have keyword soup to do nothing with! a new printing of swords to plowshares, that's cool... what else you got? card isn't exactly difficult to come by and there should be more to the color white than that... but there isn't, even when promised there would be
if this set drives hype into the edh format, if it increases interest, all its going to do is serve to inflate the secondary market value of much of whats actually the meat of any given edh deck. that's not good for the format, or for magic players, and wotc directly controls that. the disparity between a deck that has those cards and one that doesn't is just tremendously high and now it'll be even higher.
so yeah, it'll be a financial success for wotc, and you'll probably do well with any product you open... maybe, it still just a gamble. does it add anything of value to the format its supposed to be all about? **** no. it pulled punches when this is the one place it could've been okay to go totally off the rails.
oh, and don't forget its a set that only comes 24 packs to a box and is massively bloated reducing your chances of getting that lotus or mana drain. plus a legend in every pack doesn't mean dick when those legends include radiant.
Don't get me wrong, I love Seb's art ..... but it's starting to all look the same (sorry?
I’d like him to paint cards in other colors. They have him doing all these black cards all the time. Give him some more non-black lands and blue, white and green cards.
my favorite Seb piece is unknown shores from Theros for example
I would’ve loved to see him paint like Liesa or something non black focused. That art style can be used in so much more than the limited palette it’s given. Reminds me of mono white in EDH. Radiant or even the guy who gives an opponent Monarch could’ve been commissioned by him.
This card isn’t good once again because the loot for everyone ability has been classified as rare. Putting “may” makes this into that 1 drop U card from Zendikar, which was uncommon.
Selvala forces everyone to draw and rewards you for it. This is just pointless.
I’m pretty mad about this. They made the most powerful characters in MTG’s history into uncommons for the most part. Make him a rare and downgrade Liesa. His story implications were way more important than her’s.
That’s a good card that’s not broken.
Let’s throw some powerful cards or reprints into this set, some cards that will make people brew decks and the rest be for draft purposes. It literally makes no sense. Chaos draft was invented to supplant that missing part of drafting a group of powerful sets.
the guy that gets Scroll Rack in draft wins every time. It’s unfun.
He’s right.
I would’ve loved to see him paint like Liesa or something non black focused. That art style can be used in so much more than the limited palette it’s given. Reminds me of mono white in EDH. Radiant or even the guy who gives an opponent Monarch could’ve been commissioned by him.
Selvala forces everyone to draw and rewards you for it. This is just pointless.
absolutely and you know what the counterargument someone will pose is?
Limited. **** limited man. It ruins the design space for pretty much every new MTG set back to Lorwyn.