Wizard is an English company, that's played by a majority of English players. The French language has it's own problems. Frenchmen I work with will openly admit is sexist. I don't think that's a problem Wizards need to try and solve.
I also know people who prefer to be addressed as "they", they are gender neutral and like to be identified as much. I find it a bit weird, but I'm going to respect their wishes because it's really not that impactful to my day to day life.
Quinton Hoover is the original artist in this case. He died in 2013.
IANAL. That doesn't matter. I believe his family or estate can still retain ownership over the art and renegotiate if WotC approached them. Just because someone dies doesn't mean their art is suddenly "inaccessible".
Look at any music artist that passed away, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Prince, whatever and look at the music ownership. Books, movies, etc all have the same thing, Frank L. Baum Foundation and Disney are notorious for some underhanded tactics to retain ownership.
IIRC Quinton Hoover specifically had a falling out with WotC over art rights while he was alive, his estate would continue those wishes.
Not exactly, Quinton would have loved to continue doing art for Wizards, but his style was too unique, and he couldn't make his art match the style guides (Look at Leaf Gilder as a Hoover card, that looks nothing like a Hoover card, and imo a bit awkward)
Unfortunately, Wizards wasn't on promo products band wagon yet that could have leveraged his style for collector.
The number of cards that can be #45 is surprisingly small with only 11 valid cards that fall between "Blue Sun's Zenith" and "Brain Storm" (you'd see 13 in gatherer but Blurry Beeble is silver bordered and Braingeyser is reserved and too similar to BSZ anyhow). There's no obvious inclusion either, as most of those 11 cards already have their set represented. My guess? Troll inclusion of Bonds of Quicksilver at common as a representative of Scars of Mirrodin. Bouncing Beebles as a representative of Urza's Legacy is also plausible. My hope will be Brain Freeze or Borrowing 100,000 Arrows getting their first foil new card face treatment.
If Brain Freeze is an option, I'd put my money on that.
this means that the Urza's lands are not in the set.
I guess they'll just have to reprint them the next time Standard makes a visit to that plane... now lessee, which plane is Standard headed to next... WHAT LUCK!
I cannot imagine a world where they reprint Urza lands back into standard. I am getting a little tired of the lack of Urza lands in these master sets though. It's not like they need printings, there's tons of them out there, but Foil ones are basically impossible to come by/ridiculously expensive.
This card reminded me of Voidmage Prodigy, which made me think, putting all the invitational cards in this set would be a great nod. Nothing suggests so far that they're doing that, however.
All I have to do now is patiently wait two months for people to come back to FNM
People actually stopped coming to FNMs because of the tokens, and you expect them to come back when promo cards return? Who are all these people that only come to FNMs for the chance of winning a foil alternate art Noose Constrictor? I have such a hard time accepting the narrative that FNM promos have a huge impact on attendance, except maybe the cream of the crop like Push and Path.
Some competitive players like to play fancy, competitive cards.
When you remove the "competitive" pool of players from attending FNM, you don't even have enough people to run FNM half of the time.
I don't play Standard, so typically don't go to FNMs, but when Path and Serums were up for grabs, the stores were packed, and I made sure I had a deck to attend those. Promos definitely drive attendance. Especially when they're 5$+ bills.
5) superbajt
Angrath, the Flame-Chained / Oath of Gideon / Sol Ring
I think this is 2-2. I don't play Flickerwisp until you play Angrath (because that can lock him out for the rest of the game) You play your Oath, and I exile them. Neither of us can advance our board state without losing.
6) Tatterhood
Echoing Truth / Eternal Witness / Time Walk
0-6, Locks me out
7) tomsloger
Akroma, Angel of Fury / Mana Drain / Mana Drain
0-6, This is just hilariously "Fair" good against me.
I knew going into this hand, that there was some busted combo potential, but I didn't want to waste brain power trying to figure something out, so I went with a silly list. Ramping wouldn't have given me a reasonable way to win (I guess I could have gone for a Draw approach) . But I wasn't fishing for points, so *shrug*
There's certainly seems to be a disconnect with what they think people want, what sorts of people that go to FNM, and the people who actually absorb their announcements.
vs. 5 Arboria / Gideon of the Trails / Helix Pinnacle, turn 2 Battlemage means it's going to be just Gideon no matter what – if Pinnacle is played, Gideon and Arboria are discarded, and I race Pinnacle easily. And if Gideon tries to win, I just kill it. So instead Gideon +1s forever and we draw.
I don't need to +1 for literally forever, I need to +1 long enough till I have enough Loyalty counters(15ish) to attack you to death without losing Gideon.
vs. 05 Convoy_Avenger: OTP discard hits all, OTD Gids wins. 3-3
You OTP:
T1: Land, Tar Pit, Piracy Charm (Arboria)
T2: Land, Journey
T3: Land, Piracy Charm (Pinnacle)
I play Gideon, same shenanigans as Personman, I just need to go up to higher loyalty.
Instead of "Early Pick", you could throw a Cogwork Librarian into the draftable pool. Give some players individually more options? (Or call the format Cogwork)
Wizard is an English company, that's played by a majority of English players. The French language has it's own problems. Frenchmen I work with will openly admit is sexist. I don't think that's a problem Wizards need to try and solve.
I also know people who prefer to be addressed as "they", they are gender neutral and like to be identified as much. I find it a bit weird, but I'm going to respect their wishes because it's really not that impactful to my day to day life.
Not exactly, Quinton would have loved to continue doing art for Wizards, but his style was too unique, and he couldn't make his art match the style guides (Look at Leaf Gilder as a Hoover card, that looks nothing like a Hoover card, and imo a bit awkward)
Unfortunately, Wizards wasn't on promo products band wagon yet that could have leveraged his style for collector.
If Brain Freeze is an option, I'd put my money on that.
I cannot imagine a world where they reprint Urza lands back into standard. I am getting a little tired of the lack of Urza lands in these master sets though. It's not like they need printings, there's tons of them out there, but Foil ones are basically impossible to come by/ridiculously expensive.
EDIT: That's RARE? That set symbol does not look rare.
Some competitive players like to play fancy, competitive cards.
When you remove the "competitive" pool of players from attending FNM, you don't even have enough people to run FNM half of the time.
I don't play Standard, so typically don't go to FNMs, but when Path and Serums were up for grabs, the stores were packed, and I made sure I had a deck to attend those. Promos definitely drive attendance. Especially when they're 5$+ bills.
Flickerwisp / Parallax Tide / Parallax Wave
Daze / Goblin Settler / Sol Ring
0-6, Locks me out.
3) Magus of the Aesthetic
Ashen Rider / Lion's Eye Diamond / Unburial Rites
0-6, Locks me out.
4) ManyCookies
Catch // Release / Kolaghan's Command / Nantuko Tracer
Surprisingly complex. Give me a few.
5) superbajt
Angrath, the Flame-Chained / Oath of Gideon / Sol Ring
I think this is 2-2. I don't play Flickerwisp until you play Angrath (because that can lock him out for the rest of the game) You play your Oath, and I exile them. Neither of us can advance our board state without losing.
6) Tatterhood
Echoing Truth / Eternal Witness / Time Walk
0-6, Locks me out
7) tomsloger
Akroma, Angel of Fury / Mana Drain / Mana Drain
0-6, This is just hilariously "Fair" good against me.
8) WhammeWhamme
Arcane Denial / Legion's Landing / Venser, Shaper Savant
0-6, Yup
ManyCookies is complex, but since I did so poorly, not sure it's worth figuring out!
superbajt, don't think you win those, think it's stalemate.
I point out in a bit.
Certainly doesn't mean she'll be seen any time soon.
I don't need to +1 for literally forever, I need to +1 long enough till I have enough Loyalty counters(15ish) to attack you to death without losing Gideon.
You OTP:
T1: Land, Tar Pit, Piracy Charm (Arboria)
T2: Land, Journey
T3: Land, Piracy Charm (Pinnacle)
I play Gideon, same shenanigans as Personman, I just need to go up to higher loyalty.
How do you hit all 3 things?