Could be neat in the right edh deck I guess. Effects like Propaganda and Ghostly Prison counteract the downside as this can't force your opponent to pay for them, so if you have some sort of pillow fort going on it could just be free mana every turn. Honestly still doesn't seem that good, though.
Why does this same thread pop up multiple times with every set release? They print strictly worse/better versions of cards in every set. This isn't new or surprising or even disappointing at all. I don't understand how people still get angry about the very existence of bad cards in every single set like we didn't know it was going to happen.
I was wondering, what exactly are the specific terms of the reserved list?
For example in this day and age could WOTC get around the list by reprinting the power nine with different back, square edge and gold border like the collector's edition decks they printed a long time ago and label them as not legal for use in sanctioned tournaments?
If they could get away with doing it this way, I don't see why they wouldn't try reprinting the reserved list in a non-legal set for drafting purposes. Think of it as a serious version of a Un-set, meant for causal play.
They've always been able to get away with that. They did it a few times with premium versions like with Phyrexian Negator. It upset enough people that they said they'd never use that loophole again. So I don't see them using any other loopholes to get around it either at this point.
Anyway, I don't actually PLAY standard, but the health of Standard is actually really important for the health of magic as a whole. So I'm a little concerned but other than that good list.
I do, and didn't expect any bannings because why on earth would they ban something right when a new set came out and before the pro tour? Hell, because of their last-minute change they don't even have their normal data from playtesting, since all their testing with AKH/HOU was done with BFZ/OGW rotated out. With a new set just entering the fray and no real data to pull from to consider how much of an impact it would have, waiting a little while is just the smart thing to do.
Not to mention people keep complaining about CopyCat when I'm just sitting here waiting for Gideon, Ally of Zendikar to get banned. As a control player, he's the only thing that scares me from Mardu. Yeah, they can just aggro me out sometimes but that's what's supposed to happen in that match-up. Aggro beating me in a longer game because they have an amazing, aggressive planeswalker on top of their aggro is not supposed to happen. Not to mention he's been a top card in the format ever since he was released. Copycat may have been a mistake on RnD's part, but there are a lot of answers to it in the format. Gideon is a lot harder to deal with since he's A: a planeswalker and B: spits out dudes every turn.
Although we might just see Walking Ballista get banned since it's in all 3 of the top decks right now. Who knows. I hope the pros can shake things up a bit, but I feel like at least something is going to need banned.
I think she's a very, very solid midrange card. I was already brewing a sultai list with the new lily as a one or two of as just a solid value card to buy back creatures, and I think this Nissa could be a solid inclusion as well. Honestly the only thing I don't like about this card is that it has Nissa's name and face slapped onto it for no apparent reason.
I was thinking about making some sort of grindy bug control/rock deck in standard with some of the cards spoiled so far. This seems like it could be a worthy addition. A little unfortunate that it doesn't do anything until the turn after it's played, but will be amazing in long, grindy matches.
I like this. I like this a lot. At the very least it's amazing for EDH. It may be strong enough for modern at least to set up a living end, and I'm not sure if standard can do anything with it, but god help me I'll probably try. Dying to Natural State hurts it a lot since that card is already in every green sideboard to deal with vehicles, but it still may be worth it.
Seems like a really good card. Might even want one or two in my modern sideboard, although I'm not sure I'd be willing to take out surgical extraction for it or what else I can afford to take out of my side. The effect at instant is just very solid and being able to cycle it when you don't need it is just fantastic.
How are you getting 75% for Copy Cat? One variant had a 75% conversion rate, but that was only 8 people. The popular Jeskai version performed abysmally and four color was barely better than average. 105 people showed up with Saheeli Cats (more than Mardu Vehicles) and none made top 8. Sheer volume doesn't overcome metagame... or just the deck not being very good.
Keep in mind that t8 is also reflective of draft records. GerryT's crew was happy with their Aetherworks CopyCat builds and indicated that it was a fine call for the weekend. Copy and pasting previous CopyCat builds would've resulted in a lack of preparation for the amount of Heart of Kiran running around.
I've indicated in previous threads that the best way to attack walkers is through cheap, evasive threats. A lot of people recognized this and played Heart of Kiran to attack Saheeli this weekend.
Success rates, I think, had a lot to do with the environment. Sure, Heart is individually powerful, but if it's trying to attack through larger flyers and efficient answers then maybe it isn't as successful as it was this weekend.
Basically, it was a "perfect storm" for Heart of Kiran to be the best threat in the format -- though admittedly the card helps itself alot by being extremely powerful.
I agree. I think everyone was either playing around the cat combo or just playing the cat combo and that set the stage for the Mardu deck perfectly. The question is are there any decks that can beat Mardu vehicles and not lose horribly to cat combo (or vice versa)?
It checks on resolution. Flashing in an alhammarret's archive would do the trick, but milling in response to the spell or activating something like temple bell will not have the desired effect.
As some others have said, some of it is just money. SCG can afford to buy the licensing rights for the artwork to make their mats and stuff. That's not preferential treatment, that's just economics. Preview cards simply don't make sense to give to something as small as a normal LGS. They do, however, give preview cards to smaller websites and foreign websites that have articles on mtg to try and support them, so I think Wizards is doing fine there. With SCG being Wizards' largest customer (I assume, anyway) and probably the most frequented MTG-related site, not giving them a preview card wouldn't really make sense.
If Wizards were spending money to help SCG then I would say yes, they should probably be spending that money to help LGS' instead seeing as SCG doesn't need the help. Seeing as it's the other way around and SCG is paying for the privileges they get with artwork and such, I don't see a problem with it. Similarly, if Wizards were indeed giving information about bans and such to SCG or their writers ahead of time, that would also be a huge disappointment and something that they should stop immediately. Aside from some good calls by their speculators and writers (which can mostly be explained by them being experts on the subject), I haven't really seen evidence of this, though.
They've always been able to get away with that. They did it a few times with premium versions like with Phyrexian Negator. It upset enough people that they said they'd never use that loophole again. So I don't see them using any other loopholes to get around it either at this point.
I do, and didn't expect any bannings because why on earth would they ban something right when a new set came out and before the pro tour? Hell, because of their last-minute change they don't even have their normal data from playtesting, since all their testing with AKH/HOU was done with BFZ/OGW rotated out. With a new set just entering the fray and no real data to pull from to consider how much of an impact it would have, waiting a little while is just the smart thing to do.
Not to mention people keep complaining about CopyCat when I'm just sitting here waiting for Gideon, Ally of Zendikar to get banned. As a control player, he's the only thing that scares me from Mardu. Yeah, they can just aggro me out sometimes but that's what's supposed to happen in that match-up. Aggro beating me in a longer game because they have an amazing, aggressive planeswalker on top of their aggro is not supposed to happen. Not to mention he's been a top card in the format ever since he was released. Copycat may have been a mistake on RnD's part, but there are a lot of answers to it in the format. Gideon is a lot harder to deal with since he's A: a planeswalker and B: spits out dudes every turn.
Although we might just see Walking Ballista get banned since it's in all 3 of the top decks right now. Who knows. I hope the pros can shake things up a bit, but I feel like at least something is going to need banned.
Love the new art, though from this thread at least it seems to be pretty divisive.
I agree. I think everyone was either playing around the cat combo or just playing the cat combo and that set the stage for the Mardu deck perfectly. The question is are there any decks that can beat Mardu vehicles and not lose horribly to cat combo (or vice versa)?
If Wizards were spending money to help SCG then I would say yes, they should probably be spending that money to help LGS' instead seeing as SCG doesn't need the help. Seeing as it's the other way around and SCG is paying for the privileges they get with artwork and such, I don't see a problem with it. Similarly, if Wizards were indeed giving information about bans and such to SCG or their writers ahead of time, that would also be a huge disappointment and something that they should stop immediately. Aside from some good calls by their speculators and writers (which can mostly be explained by them being experts on the subject), I haven't really seen evidence of this, though.