Pity it won't actually come with that nice longbox.
Assuming these are available in foil, the Scourge, Defense and Assault are all worth (currently) well more than their box if the price point is the usual 39.99.
Scourge was already reprinted in foil in the mystery booster retail edition.
The mindflayers implant their tadpoles in living beings to take over and warp the body while eating the brain. It can cause all sorts of weird stuff. Won’t be surprised if they print that messed up roper (living stalagmite with paralyzing tentacles) that got the tadpole treatment. Maybe even an Alhoon (a mindflayer Lich who refuses to give up their brain to the elder brain at death).
Wouldn't it be a Brainless Dragon or a Brainstolen Dragon, instead of Brainstealer then?
But yeah, beyond disliking the set's general concept and mechanics, I don't find many of these cards interesting. I've never been so disinterested in a set. They don't even have any good reprints. I bet they don't even reprint City of Brass or Birds of Paradise. I'm usually not one of the people saying "wah wah, bad set", but this just seems hollow. And the cards failing to say what they do just seems insulting.
I'm not that hard to please. Just a few neat lands or good reprints would do the trick... I was totally against the first dnd set (much as I love dnd), but it had some stuff I like in it.
Have you forgotten about the battlebond duals and reflecting pool?
The first Replicate cost I could think of for #5 was "Pay 2 life". ("Pay 1 life" is never high enough to truly punish anyone who isn't going infinite, IMO.)
Discard a card sounds more likely to me. It would basically act as a weird spellshaper.
I guess in terms of flavor, UB is more like a strong color pie bend instead of a break. White can technically do tax counter spells, yet Wizards has decided to not print them simply because a lot of people don't like counterspells. UB has the same kind of thing going for it, except that Wizards decided that they actually do want to move into that space ... because there are more people who like it than those who don't. I belong to the latter group though.
UB occupies this weird overlapping region between flavor and gameplay. For me, even in terms of gameplay the creative cohesion of Magic as its own universe has always been a big thing. I guess I really bought into the "you are a planeswalker" thing. And that illusion is simply shattered when my opponent can cast Gandalf or a Space Marine at any time. But I guess a lot of people just don't care about that? The point is that if you do, there are now only a few ways left to avoid this kind of experience, like exclusively drafting premier sets.
That's a very valid opinion and I can understand your point of view, you just ended up in the minority this time, which sucks but c'est la vie.
You can always ask the people you're playing with to use decks without UB cards if possible, it's not like they represent the majority of the game.
You say that doing 3rd party IPs and allowing color pie breaks are very different, but they're really not. They're arbitrary things that Wizards has decided on. If everything goes, why don't allow enchantment destruction in red? After all, there would be people who would like it, and buy the cards! From what I've gathered in these threads, those two things alone are enough to justify everything and anything and label people who disagree as gatekeepers.
Colour pie breaks affect gameplay while UB affects flavour. For a game, altering the gameplay trumps altering the flavour, you're not reading a book or watching a movie here. So no, 3rd party IPs and colour pie breaks are not the same. While they're both arbitrary limits, they have a vastly different impact.
under what condition does it not transform ? if it is day and not night ? (and if thats the case, how can it be in day version when it is night ? sorry, last part of the card confuses me a little)
Maybe if it gets killed in response. That's the only explanation that comes to my mind, it's there to avoid weird situations.
Also, do I understand it correctly that this one doesn't transform with the day/night cycle? It lacks the "daybound" keyword.
That last ability is a replacement effect, not a trigger. Your opponent can't respond to it.
Maybe Kamigawa Neon Dynasty will be the perfect set to reprint Skullclamp with its original artwork (probably not gonna happen since it is likely too strong for standard though)
Scourge was already reprinted in foil in the mystery booster retail edition.
Wouldn't it be a Brainless Dragon or a Brainstolen Dragon, instead of Brainstealer then?
You, sir/ma'am, are an evil genius!
I now wonder if Fang Dragon and Dread Linnorm are also part of a cycle.
Have you forgotten about the battlebond duals and reflecting pool?
Discard a card sounds more likely to me. It would basically act as a weird spellshaper.
You can always ask the people you're playing with to use decks without UB cards if possible, it's not like they represent the majority of the game.
Colour pie breaks affect gameplay while UB affects flavour. For a game, altering the gameplay trumps altering the flavour, you're not reading a book or watching a movie here. So no, 3rd party IPs and colour pie breaks are not the same. While they're both arbitrary limits, they have a vastly different impact.
That last ability is a replacement effect, not a trigger. Your opponent can't respond to it.