I've been under the impression that when a card asks you to pay multiple costs, you can pay those costs in any order. I looked at the comp rules, but wasn't able to verify or disprove that, but if it is the case:
I activate Sinister Concoction with nothing in my graveyard. Can I discard a black card, or mill the top card of my library, and then use Corrupted Tombstone to provide the black mana?
Short of scamming people, or having a card massively spike in value, you don't. Ever.
As you pointed out, you are not a store. When its time to convert your cards back to cash, you're going to have to sell them to a buylist or through Ebay, so best cast scenario you'll lose 20% of the value in doing so. That should quite easily wipe out any of your, "profits."
With so many people echoing this sentiment, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.
It's a three mana removal spell restricted to weak creatures. It's colorless for targeting purposes, but for casting cost it's black, a color which has no problem removing creatures. Are people thinking this is CMC and not power?
Languish, bile blight, drown in sorrow, crux of fate, end hostilities, tragic arrogance, anger of the gods, are all very much playable removal that efficiently get rid of the maggot (and usually other stuff as well). The problem with the maggot is that it dying means they get their card back, and there are plenty of sweepers in standard to get rid of the maggot as well as other stuff. Transgress just exiles the card, no chance at them getting it back. It's hardly a fair comparison.
If you're vulnerable to a sweeper, aren't you taking the sweeper anyway? If you're not, aren't you celebrating when your opponent plays languish to kill a 1/1?
Brain Maggot had the same cost, was less restrictive, and saw play only in decks that cared about enchantments. Of course you can argue, 'dies to removal' but given that removal is at a premium in Standard, I think the comparison is fair. Spending two mana to trade off a card isn't where any successful standard deck wants to be.
I mean, just look at the format since Origins was released. You have several different archetypes winning major events, some of which were not even players in the format prior to the event they won. And to think, it'll all change at rotation and we'll all have to figure it out again; I think that's actually really awesome.
Not having a best deck is great, but to have a very skill intensive format, you need to have a fairly stable pool of decks and appropriate hate. If you can't reasonably prepare a sideboard for the meta, you can potentially lose certain match ups, no matter how well you play. Learning the other decks in the format, how they operate, and how to play against them is generally what I would say makes a player, 'skilled.' While brewing is certainly also a skill, if you can't reasonably gauge the meta, you're just sort of rolling the dice.
I understand that Wizards wants to market Standard to new players because they make more money off of it, but would giving Modern (and perhaps Legacy, though I'd like to focus on Modern here) a larger share of high-level events really affect their sales that much?
Standard has been steadily powered down since Innistrad, and the newer cards frequently aren't good enough for Modern, let alone Legacy. Obviously a few cards pop up for Eternal formats here and there, but they really don't sell boosters. Legacy players weren't drafting Khans to get a playset of Treasure Cruise, they spent $2 and ordered them online. Having Standard events gives Standard cards value, and you're unlikely to see Wizards do anything that would take that value away, especially now that cards will be rotating out of Standard even faster.
The big difference is that for every other Gideon, its not their plus power. Giving a walker a plus power that is useless the turn they're played is unprecedented. While you could ultimate or create a token the turn he is played, it still seems incredibly unlikely.
I think the reason why there isn't any lifelink on this is because it will be going in the same standard environment as Siege Rhino (making it a gain 3 and drain 6 card) and rally the ancestors can bring both back at once. That is also probably why it costs 7 mana, it makes the creature harder for spells that care about CMC to recurr.
A nine mana spell that requires graveyard setup should absolutely win you the game.
ugh... you guys complain every set. I bet if this was 4 cmc you would say it should be 3. I don't understand you people. You are always disappointed with every set: "the cards are underpowered" "its overcosted." Just accept it and move on. Or just stick to playing with older cards. I don't see the point in being constantly dissatisfied with every new card/set spoiled.
No, at four mana we'd be talking about what reanimation targets are available in Standard. People complain because we're in a powered down Standard format, so most of the noncreature cards we get are worse than what we've had previously. Of course people are upset when we go from getting diamonds to coal.
Worse than what? as the guy said above, it does more than Zombify. For one extra mana you can pull a card from your opponents graveyard if you want and often give it 2 +1/+1 counters. seems fine to me. I just don't think you will ever be happy with what they give you. But keep being disappointed...its your choice.
If they're going to keep giving me stuff like this, you're absolutely right that I'll continue to be unhappy. If they printed Zombify I'd be optomistic. If they printed Dread Return I'd be ecstatic. As for the counters and hitting an opponents graveyard, those are incredibly marginal benefits. The point of reanimation is that you're cheating something powerful into play, so it shouldn't need +2/+2. Targeting an opponents graveyard is alright, but your opponent has to cooperate by dumping things into their yard. If they're just playing creatures, paying 5 for your enemies Siege Rhino isn't much of a deal.
ugh... you guys complain every set. I bet if this was 4 cmc you would say it should be 3. I don't understand you people. You are always disappointed with every set: "the cards are underpowered" "its overcosted." Just accept it and move on. Or just stick to playing with older cards. I don't see the point in being constantly dissatisfied with every new card/set spoiled.
No, at four mana we'd be talking about what reanimation targets are available in Standard. People complain because we're in a powered down Standard format, so most of the noncreature cards we get are worse than what we've had previously. Of course people are upset when we go from getting diamonds to coal.
Why has no one mentioned the fact that this allows you to recur manifested creatures back to your hand? Morphs have no mana cost.
Largely because using it for that purpose is incredibly unattractive. If we had a sorcery that said, "UU: Sacrifice X creatures and Draw X cards", it would probably be unplayable. This is worse than that.
I activate Sinister Concoction with nothing in my graveyard. Can I discard a black card, or mill the top card of my library, and then use Corrupted Tombstone to provide the black mana?
As you pointed out, you are not a store. When its time to convert your cards back to cash, you're going to have to sell them to a buylist or through Ebay, so best cast scenario you'll lose 20% of the value in doing so. That should quite easily wipe out any of your, "profits."
With so many people echoing this sentiment, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.
It's a three mana removal spell restricted to weak creatures. It's colorless for targeting purposes, but for casting cost it's black, a color which has no problem removing creatures. Are people thinking this is CMC and not power?
If you're vulnerable to a sweeper, aren't you taking the sweeper anyway? If you're not, aren't you celebrating when your opponent plays languish to kill a 1/1?
Not having a best deck is great, but to have a very skill intensive format, you need to have a fairly stable pool of decks and appropriate hate. If you can't reasonably prepare a sideboard for the meta, you can potentially lose certain match ups, no matter how well you play. Learning the other decks in the format, how they operate, and how to play against them is generally what I would say makes a player, 'skilled.' While brewing is certainly also a skill, if you can't reasonably gauge the meta, you're just sort of rolling the dice.
Standard has been steadily powered down since Innistrad, and the newer cards frequently aren't good enough for Modern, let alone Legacy. Obviously a few cards pop up for Eternal formats here and there, but they really don't sell boosters. Legacy players weren't drafting Khans to get a playset of Treasure Cruise, they spent $2 and ordered them online. Having Standard events gives Standard cards value, and you're unlikely to see Wizards do anything that would take that value away, especially now that cards will be rotating out of Standard even faster.
The big difference is that for every other Gideon, its not their plus power. Giving a walker a plus power that is useless the turn they're played is unprecedented. While you could ultimate or create a token the turn he is played, it still seems incredibly unlikely.
A nine mana spell that requires graveyard setup should absolutely win you the game.
Should be base power and toughness.
If they're going to keep giving me stuff like this, you're absolutely right that I'll continue to be unhappy. If they printed Zombify I'd be optomistic. If they printed Dread Return I'd be ecstatic. As for the counters and hitting an opponents graveyard, those are incredibly marginal benefits. The point of reanimation is that you're cheating something powerful into play, so it shouldn't need +2/+2. Targeting an opponents graveyard is alright, but your opponent has to cooperate by dumping things into their yard. If they're just playing creatures, paying 5 for your enemies Siege Rhino isn't much of a deal.
No, at four mana we'd be talking about what reanimation targets are available in Standard. People complain because we're in a powered down Standard format, so most of the noncreature cards we get are worse than what we've had previously. Of course people are upset when we go from getting diamonds to coal.
Largely because using it for that purpose is incredibly unattractive. If we had a sorcery that said, "UU: Sacrifice X creatures and Draw X cards", it would probably be unplayable. This is worse than that.