One other issue to be concerned with is this..... what happens when your 3 color aggro that punishes itself goes against a mono-black aggro that's also pretty fast but doesn't cause itself near the damage, except maybe with Herald of Torment.
Since Theros is still currently in Standard, I thought there might be a few around here who might be interested in some of my gf's Greek-inspired artwork. She was pretty excited when Theros was announced since it's a topic she is so interested in, and most if not all of her artwork ties into that theme somehow. While she doesn't post here, she does play MtG (and not just because I make her), and she seems most impressed by the art on cards like Rebecca Guay's Path to Exile and Donato Giancola's Memory Jar. These are just a few of my favorites.
Hydna: Hydna was an ancient Greek swimmer and diver given credit for the destruction of the Persian navy around 480 BCE. During a critical battle with the Persians, Hydna and her father dove underneath Persian ships and dragged away the anchors and cut the moorings so that, amidst the waves, the ships crashed together.
Victims of Procrustes I: Procrustes, a son of Poseidon, was a Greek villain that would invite weary travelers to stay the night at his home. He would provide them with an oddly shaped iron bed to sleep in. During the night if the traveler was too short for the bed, he would stretch them until they fit. If they were too large, he would cut off any limbs that hung over.
Amazon Warrior: The Amazons were an all-female clan of warriors. Numerous works of art and literature depict battles between the Amazons and the Greeks, more than I can even begin to summarize here. Bonnie's interest in the Amazons stems from them being examples of strong, proud women in contrast to many other women in Greek myth who submissive to or outright victimized by male heroes or gods. A lot of other pieces of her work feature more on the victimization or exploitation of women in Greek Myth, but I have not included any of them here just to be on the safe side of the rules on content.
Theodora: Theodora was the wife of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. She was one of the most powerful of all the Byzantine Empresses, and some sources cite her husband as being merely her co-regent. During the Nika Riots in 532 AD, Justinian I considered fleeing the city rather than face a possible overthrow of his rule. Theodora dissuaded him, saying that "purple makes a fine funeral shroud." The riots were eventually put to an end.
Edit: Mods please note these images are hosted on our webspace.
Remember, Sphinx's Revelation was an absolutely terrible card. Cards with X costs that have a lot of preceding mana are always bad. After all, you had to pay four mana to even get the card to just cycle itself and for six mana, you only get a Concentration. It's pointless to talk about costs greater than 6, because any game will be over by then. And as we all know, a few points of life, up or down, are completely irrelevant. This is why Mind Rot is a much better card than Blightning, because it only requires one color to cast and those few points of damage that can't even hit a creature are irrelevant anyway.
I've read those articles before. I think most of those points could be satisfied even if the power level was a bit more even, and the Standard environment would benefit the most. Again, I'm not saying every card should or can be the same power level. I'm only saying that the difference between the cards most often seen in competitive standard decks and the rest of the cards in the set shouldn't be so extreme. All different types of players should be able to play with cards that are powerful, not just those that play Tier 1 Standard decks. Casual, Limited, Kitchen Table, or Multiplayer players, even though they don't really have much to do with a stale Standard environment at all, wouldn't be hurt by leveling the power level a bit, they would benefit. Card Evaluation skills would be tested more because you would have to really decide which cards are the right ones for the deck instead of the all-too-familiar "I'm playing green so I should use Thragtusk" from a year ago. It doesn't take much card evaluation skill to know an OP card when you see it. I'm also not saying they can't screw up or that everything should be perfect, I just think they need to be more aware of it. I also realize Standard is better now than when Caw-Blade or Delver tempo decks were the only best deck in the format.
Honestly, it just seems pretty intuitive. If they want more variety in the decks that are played, they need to make more cards that are playable.
When people complain about Power Level drop it's usually the as much of the lack of perceived power level differential in the current card pool than against everything ever printed.
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The problem with this past year was not enough enticement and too many viable decks. While Tier 1 was limited somewhat it was still so inconsistent it could lose to Tier 1.5 regularly. With so many viable decks there is no real room to wedge your way in. You can create a deck that isn't bad, and since even the best decks are so bad you might get some wins but in the general scheme of things you lose and it might not even be clear why.
First, I was not complaining about the power level of this set compared to past sets. I'm complaining about the difference in power level between cards in the same sets of somewhat similar mana cost. I don't like picking too many specific examples because I don't really wanna get into arguments of particular cards, but I think we all know of 10 cent junk rares that suck and $15-20 that should be in almost every deck of a certain color. I pick Titan of Eternal Fire and Elspeth, Sun's Champion as two totally off the top of my head that both cost a total of 6 to illustrate the point, but it's not these particular cards that I'm arguing shouldn't exist, it's the idea of such a disparity in power level.
Second, I really, really, REALLY don't think the reason RtR/Theros Standard was stale-ish by the end of it was that there were too many viable decks. The opposite is pretty much true. I'm not specifically arguing against any of these cards or decks, but I would say it was in large part due to the centerpieces of the big archetypes being so powerful (Thoughtseize/Packrat, Supreme Verdict/Spinx's Rev, Stormbreath/Polukranos/Walkers, etc etc) that it makes brewing a deck and playing something different very difficult. If nobody plays anything different, we see the same decks over and over again weekly, and that is the very essence of the format being stale.
Very not happy with this change. The Standard environment wouldn't get so stale if there weren't 8-9 obviously OP cards (out of a possible 250) that are bound to be staples of Standard decks, and a whole set full of absolute garbage to go with them. A bit more equality in power level throughout the set would allow innovative deck-builders to really make fun decks that would be competitive against Tier 1 decks.
The reason we want Sphinx's Revelation to go away isn't because it's been around 6 months longer than its welcome, it's because it's so freakin' good that within a two year period no matter what else is in print, there's really just no reason to run ANY other option but that one, and THAT is what makes things stale and also what makes those OP cards so expensive.
The card itself is a more interesting story. It's a card that's pretty awesome when you think about all the possible shenanigans that could happen in the right context. This standard season, it kind of floated around the edges seeing some play here and there but never really finding a home as a staple in any particular deck. I still saw it included sometimes in Esper Control sideboards or when a Black Devotion deck had a blue splash, and it was always an interesting deckbuilding choice when included. Whether any of the top tier decks of the next standard season have a use for it or not, it's still a pretty awesome card, and I think it's one that people will be looking to find a home for. Black Devotion is definitely going to do something to replace the rotating pieces it will be missing. Control is going to look way different. I'm not sure it fits into Blue Devotion's game plan at all, but rotation always has the possibility of shifting game plans and creating new ones. It's definitely a card worth brewing with.
"They" is certainly not the correct choice. It might flow a little better than him/her/it in regular conversation, but being plural makes it all kinds of grammatically wrong. When referring specifically to the character it might get a little less clear on what words to use, but when definitely talking about the card I don't think there'll be any confusion about calling a piece of cardboard with art an "it."
C'mon, Obzedat's a good card for sure. But how often do you really sit down across the table someone and say "omg I hope I don't have to face this card again"?
Hydna: Hydna was an ancient Greek swimmer and diver given credit for the destruction of the Persian navy around 480 BCE. During a critical battle with the Persians, Hydna and her father dove underneath Persian ships and dragged away the anchors and cut the moorings so that, amidst the waves, the ships crashed together.
Victims of Procrustes I: Procrustes, a son of Poseidon, was a Greek villain that would invite weary travelers to stay the night at his home. He would provide them with an oddly shaped iron bed to sleep in. During the night if the traveler was too short for the bed, he would stretch them until they fit. If they were too large, he would cut off any limbs that hung over.
Amazon Warrior: The Amazons were an all-female clan of warriors. Numerous works of art and literature depict battles between the Amazons and the Greeks, more than I can even begin to summarize here. Bonnie's interest in the Amazons stems from them being examples of strong, proud women in contrast to many other women in Greek myth who submissive to or outright victimized by male heroes or gods. A lot of other pieces of her work feature more on the victimization or exploitation of women in Greek Myth, but I have not included any of them here just to be on the safe side of the rules on content.
Theodora: Theodora was the wife of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. She was one of the most powerful of all the Byzantine Empresses, and some sources cite her husband as being merely her co-regent. During the Nika Riots in 532 AD, Justinian I considered fleeing the city rather than face a possible overthrow of his rule. Theodora dissuaded him, saying that "purple makes a fine funeral shroud." The riots were eventually put to an end.
Edit: Mods please note these images are hosted on our webspace.
....too far, right?
Wow. I just read this thread. Wow.
Original post edited for clarity.
[/sarcasm]
Honestly, it just seems pretty intuitive. If they want more variety in the decks that are played, they need to make more cards that are playable.
First, I was not complaining about the power level of this set compared to past sets. I'm complaining about the difference in power level between cards in the same sets of somewhat similar mana cost. I don't like picking too many specific examples because I don't really wanna get into arguments of particular cards, but I think we all know of 10 cent junk rares that suck and $15-20 that should be in almost every deck of a certain color. I pick Titan of Eternal Fire and Elspeth, Sun's Champion as two totally off the top of my head that both cost a total of 6 to illustrate the point, but it's not these particular cards that I'm arguing shouldn't exist, it's the idea of such a disparity in power level.
Second, I really, really, REALLY don't think the reason RtR/Theros Standard was stale-ish by the end of it was that there were too many viable decks. The opposite is pretty much true. I'm not specifically arguing against any of these cards or decks, but I would say it was in large part due to the centerpieces of the big archetypes being so powerful (Thoughtseize/Packrat, Supreme Verdict/Spinx's Rev, Stormbreath/Polukranos/Walkers, etc etc) that it makes brewing a deck and playing something different very difficult. If nobody plays anything different, we see the same decks over and over again weekly, and that is the very essence of the format being stale.
The reason we want Sphinx's Revelation to go away isn't because it's been around 6 months longer than its welcome, it's because it's so freakin' good that within a two year period no matter what else is in print, there's really just no reason to run ANY other option but that one, and THAT is what makes things stale and also what makes those OP cards so expensive.
But never more than one at a time. "I'm going to cast Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver and then tick them up to five"?