MTG Salvation

Quote from mika_chan

It's flavour:

Spring -> season of birth and growth -> adding counters
Summer -> season of heat and active wild life -> damage
Autumn -> season of harvest -> life gain
Winter -> season land is fallow but seeds of future life are sleeping -> graveyard to bottom of library waiting to be drawn

I think Spring is the time of planting and tilling (grave into library, preparing resources)
Summer is the time of growth (+1/+1 counter)
Totally agree on autumn: nomnomnom
Winter is the harsh winds and storms that deal damage to flyers (like winter blast)

Quote from leslak

In Personality he is manipulative.
For exemple:
He says that a Dragon told hin to lead Chandra to Zendikar ( Its probably true that it was Nicol Bolas that told hin to do that ). He fight her before telling her this. Also ... what he gets from duing soo ( saying about the scroll to chandra).

But the image doesn't convey that. Sure, you can tell me he's manipulative (and dangerous :P), but if the image doesn't show that, then it's not a very good representation. The closest anybody has come to putting up a solid defense of his color alignment is the care of his clothes, but even then, the outer edges are ragged. What would convince me would be a contrast between his wild, simian mane and an intelligent or pensive facial expression, with a clear view of his eyes. Or if his claw-like fingers were steepled in contemplation. He doesn't need to have great swathes of blue covering the art, but he needs to have more than a bluish harpoon and waterfalls in the background.

Quote from ThePitterPatter

Sorry to sound like a noob, but I've always wanted to read about the MtG lore, but I've been too lazy to try and find where to read it. I'd really be interested in it, but where do you go to read about it? Only thing I really did with the lore was read the comics on the Mtg website.

There's MtGSal's very own wiki, which you can find on the navigation bar, and then there's used book stores, where you can find the MtG novels (note that these run the gamut of quality, but when you're usually getting them for $1.50-$2 a piece, it's no big when you hit a dud or two). There's also a torrent with a collection of the older books, I think it covers the Brother's War, Weatherlight saga, and some other secondary stuff, it can be found on the most notorious torrent tracker known to man.

Quote from boxn

That's true, but there's always a chance to be optimistic and hope for good stories, right? But it's better off to be pessimistic and be pleasantly surprised if they do have good stories with great authors writing them. Still, it'd be nice to see a lot of flavor in the cards that relate to written books, instead of small blurbs and weekly articles.

Since it's Elspeth, I'm pretty sure it'll be guaranteed that her card will be very good.

Story-wise, I've managed to stay pessimistic, and thus shrug off my disappointments, I'm still working on preventing myself from getting hyped when new mechanics/unique cards are revealed. I really do miss reading and then seeing the abilities described in the books in action. I remember opening Memnarch in a pack and thinking Aah, that's what he did to the avatar of Kaldra.

idk about playability, Tirel was basically control deck filler until something better came along.

Quote from Kirblar

MaRo's stated that if Venser comes back, it'll be Zombie Venser.

(To Karn, he left his heart. To Phyrexia, he left everything else.)

Damn it, Wizards, Y U NO Xantcha?! It's the perfect opportunity ;_;

Quote from boxn

It might be cool if Elspeth is in this set, although I would like to see the novels come back along with some older planeswalkers.

Only if they bring back the old author's to go along with it. If they keep turning writing over to people like Wintermute, it's just a waste of paper in the end.

As for Elspeth, after the "revelations" of New Phyrexia, I don't really trust Wizards to convey a good story with the character, so I can only hope that her card is decent, though not overpowered, because I haven't been brewing anything with white and Sphinx's Rev doesn't need another buddy. :\

Quote from Hvirfilvindr

The uncommon hoser cycle in M10 was ICelestial Purge, Flashfreeze, Deathmark, Ignite Disorder and Mold Adder.

Great Sable Stag and Lightwielder Paladin were anomalies.

However, once again we have white and green creature based hosers at rare with no others in sight. Maybe it's not so anomalous after all.

Quote from Illinest

We are on the same side in this. The real enemy is these thragtusk style midrange decks. Derp around for 3 turns, cast farseek and follow it up with a creature that not only recovers your life but also provides card advantage, blockers and threats all in one. Can't be countered due to the presence of cavern of souls. Then that's not even the only creature that does that. Huntmaster essentially provides all of the same qualities as thragtusk but in a slightly different package. It's not even a game at that point. Just a contest to see who draws more heat. It's not interesting at all. My deck only works because midrange is so strong and control is so weak. Stop pushing midrange and start pushing control and the game will be so much more enjoyable.

Thragtusk is BS, no doubt. There's way too much text on that card for how splashable it is, and even at GGGGG I'm not sure it should be so well rounded. HOWEVER, if Havoc Festival wasn't a ****e waste of cardboard, I think we could have had a much more interesting standard. I would have preferred Leyline of Punishment, as it's more utilitarian, but having a strong lifegain hosing enchantment would have gone a looooong way to fixing the issues with the standard format.

Quote from Hvirfilvindr

We previously had Great Sable Stag, which had no counterparts in the other colors.

GSS was printed with Lightwielder Paladin, Deathmark, Flashfreeze, and Ignite Disorder.

Hmm, a green and white hoser creature at rare, with no sign of U, B, or R rare hosers? Could we be seeing the same sort of cycle? Interesting coincidence...

Quote from Uii

Flavor is flavor. You get what you can get. I'd much rather have them make some attempt rather than none. Besides, I think the flavor is interesting even if its not your cup of tea.

I totally agree. Let me know when that happens.

Anyway, as you can tell by my thanks/"thumbs up" in the this thread, I agree that the design (both art and mechanics) is lazy, it flies in the face of current sliver fans, and if they couldn't treat the legacy respectfully, they should have created something new. I mean, it's already 70% new stuff, why not go the last 30 and make up a new creature type. How about Zeranids, or Tyromorphs

Quote from gmax666

Wow reading some of you argue is quite funny. I will be making everyone announce their triggers regardless of where I am playing so it gets inbeded in their minds so they don't forget since it is a rule now to announce all triggers.

And the comments about intentionally letting your opponent forget, you sir shouldn't be playing any type of game with your cheating attitude. This new rule should help clear that up since every trigger has to be announced. Sure its on the player to make sure they announce their triggers but be the better magic player and point out the missed trigger.

If you really have to not say anything to get a better advantage then you should be playing a better deck then.

Do you go out of your way to hold doors open for women and help little old ladies across the street? As others have said, I shouldn't have to pull double duty and play both sides. Especially as someone who plays on a budget, I'll scrape and scratch for every incremental advantage I get, b/c I don't have four of all the optimal cards.

Quote from Faust2391

Ok. From now on, this creatures name is Vim. +10 Internets to the first to quote me the reason why

I feel sad that nobody responded to you, but it's obvious that this goes great with Vigor. And thank you for mentioning it, because I've been wanting to make a Vim & Vigor deck for a while, but couldn't find the right Vim, so I shelved it. I'll have to find that list again.

Quote from pickleishopeless

in what kind of deck are you making hellrider tokens?

You do realize we're going into Ravnica, right? Even if you go full RUG so you can hardcast Hellriders to copy instead of making them from the graveyard or something, it's pretty easy. The only problem is that you have to wait until Gatecrash to have your best possible mana base. But even with only Steam Vents, Sulfur Falls, Hinterland Harbor, and Rootbound Crag, you're doing fine. Also, Hellrider's damage grows exponentially, so this could be a strong strategy. Especially since your riders are disposable, you don't have to worry about running them into blockers.

Quote from DrunkWolf

New niv is a bit harder to combo with (mana flare, mind over matter?) but far stronger as a stand alone card, love his design

(also, looking at Isperia, Gideon chose the wrong guild to affiliate with.)

Don't you see, it's time for new guilds to be formed, and Gideon will be on the cusp by bringing together the Boros and Azorius. The...uh...Borius! No...Azoros? Nah. No, wait, I've got! It's genius! It's the best guild ever: America!

PS: Niv Mizzet isn't invited >__>

Quote from Wydogg5305

Niv 2.0 is fantastic, not sure what you're talking about.

So you're sad that a 2 card combo that features 2 six drop creatures doesn't work, but think a 6 mana 5/5 flier that draws 3 cards if you untap with it (at minimum) in a world where cheap unconditional removal is scarce/overcosted (the kind that will actually kill him)? That says enough about your card evaluation skills.

Do you realize that your run-on sentence doesn't lead up to a point? You didn't even give me an evaluation of the card for you to disparage. Anyway, I said the card is a waste and uninteresting. I didn't say it wasn't good, because you can't really say that for sure until the whole set is known and you can evaluate the environment.

What I can do is compare it to the original, which is superior in flavor and interactions with other cards. Draco-egomaniac only works with himself, whereas the other triggered off any source of draw (point for Firemind). Firemind is a two card combo with any Curiosity style effect (point for Firemind). Draco Malfoy is clearly harkening back to Firemind, but then fails to interact in any meaningful way (minus a point for Draco-numbskull). Firemind is one of the top five (if not the best) flavor texts ever, no exceptions (point for Firemind). Draco-nincompoop has strictly better stats for the same mana cost (point for Draco-dummkopf).

So, what are the standings? Firemind 3 - Dracodork 0

Sure, the card has powerful abilities; sure, it will probably see play. But I don't really care about standard (I mean, I play it, but I'm not invested in it). I do care about crazy interactions, and Izzet cards are stupid good for that (Djinn Illuminatus + Pact of the Titan, Tempting Wurm + Mimeofacture, Quicken + Anything you're not supposed to be able to do at instant speed, etc. etc. etc.). But what could top traveling through time to team up with your younger self to create an infinite-loop machine gun and annihilating all opponents? Very few things in Magic's vast archive of mad interactions can compare flavor-wise, and Wizards botched the whole thing.

Quote from Master Moja

All of the people who are saying old Niv was better aren't getting the big picture. Aside from getting a p/t boost, Niv's new ability allow him to attack and still use his effect. Old Niv relied on draw spells or combo, this Niv is more stand-alone.

I know, right? It's like old Niv-Mizzet was about displaying the flavor of his colors or something? That's pretty out there. This new one is more about "Chinese Menu Design" which I hear is a big focus for R&D and they really want to implement more of it.

Ugh, another waste on the part of Wizards. Would Niv really have been OP if he could draw off any damage source? Y'know, so he comboed with himself, so he'd actually be interesting? 9_9 Heaven forbid we have interesting interactions. Also, major flavor text fail after the last one hit it out of the park. All in all, a total waste. I hope Isperia is good (she deserves it after her last incarnation), she might replace Frost Titan and keep my U/W lockdown deck together post rotation.

Quote from Lectrys

Populate on Trostani makes sense, but so does Bloodthirst on Borborygmos and Haunt on Ghost Council of Orzhova. Guess what? Neither of those guys had their guild keywords. Given the original pattern and Wizards's willingness to continue it with Jarad, I do not think the real Trostani will have the word "Populate" anywhere on her.

Borborygmos is already big and gets bigger through attacking, to slap bloodthirst on him, the cost would have to go up, or you'd have to gimp his non-bloodthirsted stats. His ability is a mini bloodthirst anyway, so it's similar, without the need for gimping.
Why would you put haunt on Ghost Council? Like Jarad, the point is to enable your haunters by sacrificing them and then sacrificing those they haunt, all the while building incremental life advantage.