This sets mechanics are inherently bad so its hard to build a good set around mostly bad mechanics (if you even count devoid as a mechanic; there is little benefit to devoid and in 999/1000 this mechanic will never matter outside of this set). Landfall the one good mechanic appears to be completely gimped, I like how they compared the mythic phoenix to bloodghast in the article but they are not even close. Really the new phoenix's return ability could had been costed far more aggressively at 1R or 2R and it still wouldn't had been very strong.
Khans was fun in general because the mechanics and cards were good and diversely affected all the formats in the game. So what if a couple of cards got banned, it adds new things for vintage which is good for that format. That is just part of this game; in fact they should intentionally print cards every set that they know will end up being banned in some formats.
I saw some people reporting doubles... So thought this was worth reporting. My white commander deck was missing the Planeswalker (normal sized). I reported to Wizards customer support... Hoping to get the deck replaced. Note deck had only 99 cards in total, not counting tokens.
Also opened the other decks and didn't notice any missing cards all had 100 (didn't check for dups)... Not sure if this is limited to white deck or a general issue.
First off I play graveyard decks more than most people ever would and was really excited about Delve (more in other formats than standard)... however I think there are numerous issues with Delve and how they choose to introduce it as a mechanic.
First off they have given very little self motivation to actually want to mill yourself, the cards with Delve on them are not that great or game changing. They are mediocre at best and do not justify building a deck around. They should had dabbled in some reanimation spells or a few other cards that could have interactions while in the graveyard in this set as a secondary reason to want to mill yourself, they did not.
Can you build an entire deck around Delve successfully with the cards they gave... No and they made sure of that. I mean what is the point of casting some of there larger delve spells just to draw more large delve spells you wouldn't be able to cast in a timely manner all while dumping content to your graveyard that you have no other ability to take advantage of.
In fact they're ultra conservative casting costs on every card makes it almost impossible to play these delve cards at all when compared to the other cards given to the other tribes. They really needed to put some more 5 and less cards with delve on them to make them work and some of those cards should also have the ability to fill back up the graveyard as well to keep your spells moving. One interesting creature should had been made with Delve and been able to be played from the graveyard.
They said they were thinking of putting delve in with Innistrad back when that set was released and they didn't because they felt removing Flashback cards with delve cards wasn't a good interaction but I think it creates a good decision point and it also gives players reason to put cards in the graveyard; right now aside from the legendary mythic and the rare soldier there is no reason or advantage I see to put cards in the graveyard from this set.
Reanimate
Crucible of Worlds
Show and Tell
Ichorid
Chain Lightning
Not Reprinted:
Ponder
Thoughtseize
Council's Judgment
Ethersworn Canonist
Exploration
Khans was fun in general because the mechanics and cards were good and diversely affected all the formats in the game. So what if a couple of cards got banned, it adds new things for vintage which is good for that format. That is just part of this game; in fact they should intentionally print cards every set that they know will end up being banned in some formats.
Also opened the other decks and didn't notice any missing cards all had 100 (didn't check for dups)... Not sure if this is limited to white deck or a general issue.
First off they have given very little self motivation to actually want to mill yourself, the cards with Delve on them are not that great or game changing. They are mediocre at best and do not justify building a deck around. They should had dabbled in some reanimation spells or a few other cards that could have interactions while in the graveyard in this set as a secondary reason to want to mill yourself, they did not.
Can you build an entire deck around Delve successfully with the cards they gave... No and they made sure of that. I mean what is the point of casting some of there larger delve spells just to draw more large delve spells you wouldn't be able to cast in a timely manner all while dumping content to your graveyard that you have no other ability to take advantage of.
In fact they're ultra conservative casting costs on every card makes it almost impossible to play these delve cards at all when compared to the other cards given to the other tribes. They really needed to put some more 5 and less cards with delve on them to make them work and some of those cards should also have the ability to fill back up the graveyard as well to keep your spells moving. One interesting creature should had been made with Delve and been able to be played from the graveyard.
They said they were thinking of putting delve in with Innistrad back when that set was released and they didn't because they felt removing Flashback cards with delve cards wasn't a good interaction but I think it creates a good decision point and it also gives players reason to put cards in the graveyard; right now aside from the legendary mythic and the rare soldier there is no reason or advantage I see to put cards in the graveyard from this set.