"As for the guy who says my theory is no good because the fetches were the first cards in there...that makes no sense. They were the first cards spoiled...in no way does that mean they were the first cards entered into the set..."
Sadly, you are the one who's wrong here. Fetches really were the first cards in the set. It was stated several times by MtG staff, including Mark Rosewater himself. I'm not arguing about them being out of place, but the situation is more like "let's print fetches, and a crappy set along with them - we are guaranteed huge sells anyway, so why bother printing powerful cards here, when we can save them for future releases."
MaRo also said that it would be awhile till we saw a multicolour set yet a month ago they announced that Khans was a wedge set. Don't believe everything MaRo says. Google says they aren't building terminators or skynet. But then why did they buy a bunch of robotics companies? Also no they did not put the fetches are the first cards in. Why? Because that would be a silly way to start a set unless the set focuses on lands or deck shuffling. Zendikar was about unstable lands. Khans is about khans and clans. Obviously they started out with the aspects of the clans and then the clan leaders. The just started making cards that could be identified by it's alliegence. To start a set with 5 generic lands is a bit weird. He even admits it wasn't really design asking for them but dev/creative who said throw them in. There is no story flavour for fetches, they were thrown in for players demands. Tarkir does not have unstable lands. Just like Theros has Thoughtseize, it was printed for players demands. This is nothing like how RtR had shocks. Shocks make sense in RtR because that was where they were originally from.
It seems that people would rather be correct than actually read. If you did read you would know that wizards got really excited for this time travel block and realized that there wasn't as much of a reason for players to buy the first set because it didn't really have a hook to attract buyers. So with this hook in mind they were talking with development and development said, "why not onslaught fetches," and as another hook they added the wedges in as well though later. The fetches were the first cards in the set but that does not necessitate first card in the block, which is quite likely to have come from the third set. So yes fetches don't really fit thematically they're kinda a cash-grab by wizards.
If you were to remove the fetches from this set, it is financially worse than Dragon's Maze.
Apart from the fetches, there is no way I would bust open packs for what is other than a few cards, bulk rares and bulk mythics.
This set does not have a Voice or a Blood Baron or any card at that power level which Dragon's Maze did.
WOTC isn't stupid. They knew this set would sit in their warehouse if they didn't print money cards like the fetches to sell it.
The fetchlands were the first five cards put in the set, apparently. That seems to contradict that theory.
If you actually read all of it Maro explicitly states that the real hook unlike in other blocks where it's usually the first set, would be the third set with it's time travel and that they needed a hook in the first set too, and with that in mind when he talked to the lead developer, the developer suggested onslaught fetches. Also because of this I'm not distraught for khans block as a whole, but the first set itself, and how pisspoor the mechanics feel. Outlast seems alright, although a little boring after a mechanic like monsterous, If he fine with one mechanic this bland. Then prowess, it's just boring, there's basically no design space beyond what it is, and even it's not interesting enough the way it exists. Raid is pretty similar to bloodthirst, but I wouldn't expect much more from a mechanic it's a little bland but acceptable (the only problem I have with raid is the card that says "if you didn't attack this turn do something" because it's inconsistent and feels like it ruins what key wording means, and I'm sure it's co fusing for new players as well). The Temur mechanic (the name escapes me) is just awful, Maro talked about how the Naya mechanic didn't take off because it wasn't noticeable, but it's also just not really a mechanic. I feel it's fine existing as a subtheme but it lacks a certain interaction and strategy. Mechanics like raid and morbid which require you to jump through hoops are similar but involve more meaningful strategy, calculating risks and rewards, whereas this is a simple yes/no, there's no play about it. Lastly is delve which in my opinion is a fantastic mechanic, only it was designed years ago. I just feel like the mechanics are going downhill even compared to theros, where bestow is a great mechanic along with devotion, and even monsterous has some play to it. These me mechanics do son little to spark my imagination. I feel like my favorite restaurant just reduced the quality of the ingredients they use, and it's dissapointing. I'm holding out for the next to sets to judge the block, but as a standalone set ktk is dissapointing.
I don't know the format to well, but I feel that mandrills has a legitimate chance to seriously shake up pauper. Between that and the new fixing there should be some major changes.
Wow just lost a long ranting reply, but the just of it is wizards prints at least one dumb rare/mythic hydra per set with an X ability, and it's getting hackneyed. Anyone can design a relitively flavorful hydra with an X ability for a specific plane, but just because they can doesn't mean they should. It doesn't make a world unique by having a unique hydra. If every plane has a hydra no matter how different they may be it's boring and lacks creativity. I can even do it: Earthquake hydra- art, large hydra with many heads emerging out of a volcanoe, some of the heads are half molten.
Cost- rggx
~ enters the battlefield with x +1/+1 counters, if x is more than five ~ deals damage to each creature and player without flying equal to x.
0/0
See that took me all of three minutes. It's not broken in standard, maybe a little pushed in EDH, but it's probably ballenced enough. I'm essentially done with hydras where it's doesn't make large amounts of thematic sense. This hydra is just extremely boring. If wizards knows what's good for them they'll stop printing a generic mythic hydra every block. It's not gonna magically become more creative and interesting. And it's not like these are developer cards either(otherwise if assume they'd see more standard play and relevance in limited) there's some jerk in design who is just making a million hydras for a casual hydra tribal deck at our expense. I'm just so sick of it (And seriously, underpowered generic phoenixes two blocks in a row? (Little off topic) give me a break)
Ya know what's really ironic? This wedge block is going to better support shards than wedges in modern because of these lands. With this esper has a far more playable land base as well as all the other shards, and if the shards block continues to have more powerful cards than khans, then they will most likely be more playable. It's just too bad, because most of the rares and mythics have a really low power level.
This card weather or not if it's powerful just seems lackluster. The first thing that comes to mind is fancy Eyes in the Skies and That card can be situationally better than this.
On second thought despite this being lackluster for a mythic rare I want to make a casual deck with them both. Double birdies for days.
Dragon-Style Twins is my favorite spoiled card so far. I think it shows all the Prowess doubters that it's a horrible mechanic. Dragon-Style Twins is absolutely DEADLY in limited. Every artifact, enchantment, sorcery, instant, planeswalker turns into a pump spell? It's so totally Timmy when you think about it. And the mind games! I have a grip of four cards with all my mana untapped: you HAVE to chump. I love it!
I'm surprised nobody is talking about it. I can honestly say it could be a serious Standard contender with the right tools. Double-Strike on a 3/3 body for five is sweet as it is.
I'm. Confused, you seem to be complementing prowess as a mechanic but at the same time just said, this card should prove to everyone it's horrible. Also a cards powerlevel with a particular mechanic doesn't equate to the mechanic actually being good, it just means one card is broken. Prowess IMHO is a rather I creative mechanic, and so is endure(going off on a bit of a tangent here) I mean wizards seriously just printed monstrosity and now this? "We can't think of a mechanic!", "oh no big deal just make something that puts +1/+1 counters on a creature as a mana sink" like it's just terribly boring and not changing the design space very much, and beyond that there's not very much design space in general with a mechanic like that (same thing is true of prowes). I enjoy mechanics that make me think about all the possibilities that they could do with it, not one where it's so obvious.
Comparing cards is a trap. I recommend playing with new cards as the best way to evaluate them. I replaced the copies of Jace, Architect of Thought in my U/W/r Planar Cleansing control deck with Jace, the Living Guildpact just to see what he could do (it wasn't the first idea I had for him but I gave up on a super greedy 4 color control deck that could do cute things with Jace and Obzedat's Aid (how can you find cool things if you don't try )). I found him to be less good against hyper aggressive decks, but honestly any card at 4 mana in those match ups not named Supreme Verdict isn't really what you want to be casting anyway. He is however an all-star against the more midrange and control style decks. He threatens his ultimate insanely fast and closes out games with Keranos, God of Storms very quickly too.
just putting it out there, if you're playing against Aggro Jace, Architect of Thought as 4 drop is quite relevant because he digs 3 cards for a Supreme Verdict. Additionally with Hero's Downfall as a prevalent removal spell in one of the most popular decks (and remember it rotates out with this Jace I think a Jace, the Living Guildpact "threatening ultimate" will often just have the effect of drawing a Hero's downfall. I respect that you took the time to actually test it, and It is possible that he does have a home in a Keranos deck because of the obvious synergies, although I still think that as a card this Jace is subpar in a format filled with Hero's downfall, as beyond his ultimate he doesn't do much of relevance (outside of obviously certain synergies). Wether he's playable or not will depend on the strength if these synergies, but he is certainly not a card that will see play based on individual power level.
The Phoenix is a poor design wether or not it's playable (which I highly doubt) a 3/3 haste creature that comes back is fine, and maybe rare worthy but as a mythic it's uninspired. Additionally while a 5/5 flyer for 4 mana is powerful and a good deal, it's just so boring.
Descecration demon is a good design of a punisher mechanic because it gives the opponent obviously bad options, and even when someone sacrifices a creature it's still flavorful and it feels good.
With this card it's like oh my opponent has a large creature with reach, he or she will allow it to come back and just keep blocking it, or they have a removal spell to deal with it. Even if your opponent doesn't have one of the aformentioned answers he or she is going to choose whichever form they can best deal with it, while well designed punisher cards like browbeat and descecration demon give an opponent two choices they don't want to have to make.
Also the pheonix got me excited and crushed my expectations.
Everyone is overreacting to the seer just because it was compared to dark confident, is it going to see some standard play? Yes. The ability to make it repeatable is not as usefuls as it seems because you're very quickly putting yourself in range of Gary. This and prophet of kruphinx are not a combo because there is no way to tap it on your opponents turn unless you use springleaf drum and it seems many of you have failed to realize the anergy between ramping and taking damage based off of converted mana cost. Where will this card shine? In an aggressive Bx deck with Xathrid necromancer. If the deck is good this will be up to a ten dollar card. If not despite it's infamous ability I would suspect to find it in the company of junk rares. Hopefully I get to have a lot of fun playing with this card and madcap skills in standard.
Anyone else notice the extra cards? Normally there are only 249 rather than 269. I speculate that they may be there to allow for them to print both ally and enemy duals meaning no duals in Huie.
I'm a bit surprised that no one noticed how the mechanic soulshift was highlighted in particular by Ethan Fleischer in his unpopular cube article ( http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/262b ) that went up the same day as MaRO's state of design article. MaRo has also mentioned: We have taken a mechanic that didn't succeed the first time out, given it a make-over (rules tweak, new name and flavor) and are reintroducing it. It could be a coincidence but all the other articles that day were Theros themed. From a flavor perspective it makes sense, something like when the gods return to Nyx the leave behind part of themselves as an enchantment. it would also help explain the new borders on enchantment creatures and artifacts making it so its easier to ascertain what you can get back.
Silence is fun. It isn't competitive, it doesn't accomplish much, but I actually had hoped for a reprint after Render Silent and Aurelia's Fury showed up.
.
wait really? silence is not competitive? I think I died a little on the inside. I hope that's just your opinion because when I first saw silence (about 6 months ago) I thought it was the most broken card ever and I became elated after seeing it spoiled. sigh...
It seems that people would rather be correct than actually read. If you did read you would know that wizards got really excited for this time travel block and realized that there wasn't as much of a reason for players to buy the first set because it didn't really have a hook to attract buyers. So with this hook in mind they were talking with development and development said, "why not onslaught fetches," and as another hook they added the wedges in as well though later. The fetches were the first cards in the set but that does not necessitate first card in the block, which is quite likely to have come from the third set. So yes fetches don't really fit thematically they're kinda a cash-grab by wizards.
If you actually read all of it Maro explicitly states that the real hook unlike in other blocks where it's usually the first set, would be the third set with it's time travel and that they needed a hook in the first set too, and with that in mind when he talked to the lead developer, the developer suggested onslaught fetches. Also because of this I'm not distraught for khans block as a whole, but the first set itself, and how pisspoor the mechanics feel. Outlast seems alright, although a little boring after a mechanic like monsterous, If he fine with one mechanic this bland. Then prowess, it's just boring, there's basically no design space beyond what it is, and even it's not interesting enough the way it exists. Raid is pretty similar to bloodthirst, but I wouldn't expect much more from a mechanic it's a little bland but acceptable (the only problem I have with raid is the card that says "if you didn't attack this turn do something" because it's inconsistent and feels like it ruins what key wording means, and I'm sure it's co fusing for new players as well). The Temur mechanic (the name escapes me) is just awful, Maro talked about how the Naya mechanic didn't take off because it wasn't noticeable, but it's also just not really a mechanic. I feel it's fine existing as a subtheme but it lacks a certain interaction and strategy. Mechanics like raid and morbid which require you to jump through hoops are similar but involve more meaningful strategy, calculating risks and rewards, whereas this is a simple yes/no, there's no play about it. Lastly is delve which in my opinion is a fantastic mechanic, only it was designed years ago. I just feel like the mechanics are going downhill even compared to theros, where bestow is a great mechanic along with devotion, and even monsterous has some play to it. These me mechanics do son little to spark my imagination. I feel like my favorite restaurant just reduced the quality of the ingredients they use, and it's dissapointing. I'm holding out for the next to sets to judge the block, but as a standalone set ktk is dissapointing.
Cost- rggx
~ enters the battlefield with x +1/+1 counters, if x is more than five ~ deals damage to each creature and player without flying equal to x.
0/0
See that took me all of three minutes. It's not broken in standard, maybe a little pushed in EDH, but it's probably ballenced enough. I'm essentially done with hydras where it's doesn't make large amounts of thematic sense. This hydra is just extremely boring. If wizards knows what's good for them they'll stop printing a generic mythic hydra every block. It's not gonna magically become more creative and interesting. And it's not like these are developer cards either(otherwise if assume they'd see more standard play and relevance in limited) there's some jerk in design who is just making a million hydras for a casual hydra tribal deck at our expense. I'm just so sick of it (And seriously, underpowered generic phoenixes two blocks in a row? (Little off topic) give me a break)
On second thought despite this being lackluster for a mythic rare I want to make a casual deck with them both. Double birdies for days.
This is really strange. Real bears are 2/2s everyone knows that. It should just make 2 2/2 bears
I'm. Confused, you seem to be complementing prowess as a mechanic but at the same time just said, this card should prove to everyone it's horrible. Also a cards powerlevel with a particular mechanic doesn't equate to the mechanic actually being good, it just means one card is broken. Prowess IMHO is a rather I creative mechanic, and so is endure(going off on a bit of a tangent here) I mean wizards seriously just printed monstrosity and now this? "We can't think of a mechanic!", "oh no big deal just make something that puts +1/+1 counters on a creature as a mana sink" like it's just terribly boring and not changing the design space very much, and beyond that there's not very much design space in general with a mechanic like that (same thing is true of prowes). I enjoy mechanics that make me think about all the possibilities that they could do with it, not one where it's so obvious.
Descecration demon is a good design of a punisher mechanic because it gives the opponent obviously bad options, and even when someone sacrifices a creature it's still flavorful and it feels good.
With this card it's like oh my opponent has a large creature with reach, he or she will allow it to come back and just keep blocking it, or they have a removal spell to deal with it. Even if your opponent doesn't have one of the aformentioned answers he or she is going to choose whichever form they can best deal with it, while well designed punisher cards like browbeat and descecration demon give an opponent two choices they don't want to have to make.
Also the pheonix got me excited and crushed my expectations.