Wait for Mox Opal to rotate, then only legacy affinity would play it, and that is not enough demand to let it hold its current $9 price tag. I expect it to drop post-rotation.
My opinion differs from the majority here, as overall I certainly prefer the beta client to V3, however to EVERYONE that does have issues with the client, let Wizards know.
They've certainly heard from me. I've been emailing them with screenshots of every screw up MTGO3 made for me, and I intend to do the same with V4. If they want my money for MTGO, they'd better deliver something worth paying for!
Part of the problem is also in that this new version is still built on MTGO's crappy back end. They really need to go through the process of revamping the whole program and not just the UI.
A thousand times this.
Also, I don't just hate V4, I also hate V3. V3 is a giant pile of garbage, and I can't believe that V4 is a bigger pile of stinkier garbage.
I mean, did you watch LSV's Cube 6 draft? Dancing lands? Disappearing crap? So many in game bugs... have you played Aeon Chronicler, and how it just doesn't work? Remember when Elspeth was banned because her ult would freak out the game? yeah... way to go MTGO. Keep rolling out the hits.
I opened up the Beta client for the first time today, and I am still laughing at how bad this is. Seriously, how could they do worse than v3?
Well, its not all terrible. Some things I liked:
-Schedule of tournaments on first page.
-Not taking a million years to open the store
Things I hate:
-The general look and feel. The UI just seems so... basic. If this is a game I am going to spend more per month on than what Starcraft 2 or Diablo 3 costs in its entirety, I expect to get something better looking. I mean... it feels like I am playing something from 1996.
-Notifications for buddies. But maybe that's because most of my friends are bots /foreveralone
-Card zoom sound effects... well, all mtgo sound effects
-Nicol Bolas default theme - what an ugly piece of crap. Luckily it is relatively easy to navigate away from it.
So those are my first impressions. Now to see what the gameplay is actually like...
Urza Block was awesome, but far too broken. Starting with Invasion, Magic began to even out, with far less broken stuff (Alpha, Urza's), and less chaff (Alpha, Masques).
Yeah, it had ups and downs (Ravnica the pinnacle, Kawigawa... yeah...) but Magic has been on a tear since Invasion.
Sure, Mirage through Exodus was great, but Magic only really matured at Invasion.
Umezawa's Jitte is simply amazing and always makes the cut for equipment to fetch with Stoneforge, since it just cuts through so many creature matchups. If you don't have it MD, you at least SB it.
Rhox War Monk has ebbed and flowed in playability. Right now, I think you can find better cards to help your aggro MUs. KotR is usually bigger and Batterskull is a more versatile lifelinker, pushing RWM to the sb at best, imo. Being blue is really the only good part about this guy right now, and would be the only blue card in the entire deck that I would pitch to FOW without any pang of doubt or feeling of, "I really wish I could have used this card in some other way." But, if your local meta is filled to the brim with crappy, cheap RDW or aggro decks, then yeah, maybe you want some RWM. But at a Grand Prix or SCG Open? I'd leave them on the sidelines.
Rafiq of the Many falls into the "win more" category, I think. He doesn't really do much unless you are already beating the crap out of them with gigantic guys. If you have Progenitus on the board, do really need to finish in one swing instead of 2? 90% of the time, I'd say not. He may also be part of the "danger of cool things." I rarely need my KotR to swing for double - I just need to punch through the various opposing dudes, which Rafiq does not assist with (in my experience KotR is capable of eating just about anything in its way without help as it is!). Just seems like an awfully large investment for a situational effect. Sure, he triggers swords twice, but is that really worth a slot in the deck? The effect is awesome, but is it needed? I'm not convinced it is.
Speaking of KotR, I think 4 is correct. It outclasses Goyf almost always, and only Progenitus and Terravore compete with it for sheer size. The fact that he can also disrupt the opponent with various utility lands or be a mana dude just puts him above the other cards.
Mental Misstep is pretty insane. Free tempo spells tend to be. Do you sometimes wish it was something else? Sure, but I think the same thing about Force of Will and Spell Pierce on occasion. That's the nature of counterspells. Daze is still amazing, and I can understand if people make some adjustments within the free spell category (I mean, you could just cut FOWs...).
Force of Will is a card people are reluctant to cut because it has the potential to answer nearly any card from your opponent even if you tap out for your GSZ or whatever. Its the ultimate protection spell, but it also has a steep price. Exiling a blue card from your hand + 1 life is no small price, its just one players are usually willing to pay. Sometimes, though, the price is just too high. In matchups that are basically a huge resource grind (zoo, merfolk, etc), spending two cards to their one just is not practical. You'd be far better served boarding them out/cutting them in those situations. The card is amazing, but it isn't the end all, be all.
The manabase for this deck is pretty solid - the only tweaks to it are usually how many basics you run, and what utility lands you want to pack in for KotR. I'd only get cute with Academy Ruins if I was on the "win with batterskull and batterskull alone" plan. Otherwise, a good split of duals, a ton of fetches, and 3-4 wasteland is the generally accepted mana base. After that, you can either add Karakas to make Vendilion Clique amazing (or to tell Emrakul to kiss it), or add more basics to be more resilient to wasteland and blood moon effects.
I've tended to want a basic of each, but often the island and plains just are not necessary. Noble Hierarch does a lot of the wasteland resilience all by itself. "MM your Hierarch, wasteland your trop," can pretty much ruin anyone's day, and having the forest somewhere in your deck might not actually prevent that. I'm still pretty conflicted with the number of basics this deck should be running.
Also, can we go back to crushing Hive Mind, please? I am pretty tired of having to deal with that deck.
No. Your opponent sacrificed the tech edge as a cost to activate the tech edge's ability. Also, in general, destroying the source of the ability does not stop the ability from resolving.
What if a second dark imposter exiles the first? Would it gain grisrlbrand's activated abilities?
They've certainly heard from me. I've been emailing them with screenshots of every screw up MTGO3 made for me, and I intend to do the same with V4. If they want my money for MTGO, they'd better deliver something worth paying for!
A thousand times this.
Also, I don't just hate V4, I also hate V3. V3 is a giant pile of garbage, and I can't believe that V4 is a bigger pile of stinkier garbage.
I mean, did you watch LSV's Cube 6 draft? Dancing lands? Disappearing crap? So many in game bugs... have you played Aeon Chronicler, and how it just doesn't work? Remember when Elspeth was banned because her ult would freak out the game? yeah... way to go MTGO. Keep rolling out the hits.
Well, its not all terrible. Some things I liked:
-Schedule of tournaments on first page.
-Not taking a million years to open the store
Things I hate:
-The general look and feel. The UI just seems so... basic. If this is a game I am going to spend more per month on than what Starcraft 2 or Diablo 3 costs in its entirety, I expect to get something better looking. I mean... it feels like I am playing something from 1996.
-Notifications for buddies. But maybe that's because most of my friends are bots /foreveralone
-Card zoom sound effects... well, all mtgo sound effects
-Nicol Bolas default theme - what an ugly piece of crap. Luckily it is relatively easy to navigate away from it.
So those are my first impressions. Now to see what the gameplay is actually like...
Urza Block was awesome, but far too broken. Starting with Invasion, Magic began to even out, with far less broken stuff (Alpha, Urza's), and less chaff (Alpha, Masques).
Yeah, it had ups and downs (Ravnica the pinnacle, Kawigawa... yeah...) but Magic has been on a tear since Invasion.
Sure, Mirage through Exodus was great, but Magic only really matured at Invasion.
Rhox War Monk has ebbed and flowed in playability. Right now, I think you can find better cards to help your aggro MUs. KotR is usually bigger and Batterskull is a more versatile lifelinker, pushing RWM to the sb at best, imo. Being blue is really the only good part about this guy right now, and would be the only blue card in the entire deck that I would pitch to FOW without any pang of doubt or feeling of, "I really wish I could have used this card in some other way." But, if your local meta is filled to the brim with crappy, cheap RDW or aggro decks, then yeah, maybe you want some RWM. But at a Grand Prix or SCG Open? I'd leave them on the sidelines.
Rafiq of the Many falls into the "win more" category, I think. He doesn't really do much unless you are already beating the crap out of them with gigantic guys. If you have Progenitus on the board, do really need to finish in one swing instead of 2? 90% of the time, I'd say not. He may also be part of the "danger of cool things." I rarely need my KotR to swing for double - I just need to punch through the various opposing dudes, which Rafiq does not assist with (in my experience KotR is capable of eating just about anything in its way without help as it is!). Just seems like an awfully large investment for a situational effect. Sure, he triggers swords twice, but is that really worth a slot in the deck? The effect is awesome, but is it needed? I'm not convinced it is.
Speaking of KotR, I think 4 is correct. It outclasses Goyf almost always, and only Progenitus and Terravore compete with it for sheer size. The fact that he can also disrupt the opponent with various utility lands or be a mana dude just puts him above the other cards.
Mental Misstep is pretty insane. Free tempo spells tend to be. Do you sometimes wish it was something else? Sure, but I think the same thing about Force of Will and Spell Pierce on occasion. That's the nature of counterspells. Daze is still amazing, and I can understand if people make some adjustments within the free spell category (I mean, you could just cut FOWs...).
Force of Will is a card people are reluctant to cut because it has the potential to answer nearly any card from your opponent even if you tap out for your GSZ or whatever. Its the ultimate protection spell, but it also has a steep price. Exiling a blue card from your hand + 1 life is no small price, its just one players are usually willing to pay. Sometimes, though, the price is just too high. In matchups that are basically a huge resource grind (zoo, merfolk, etc), spending two cards to their one just is not practical. You'd be far better served boarding them out/cutting them in those situations. The card is amazing, but it isn't the end all, be all.
The manabase for this deck is pretty solid - the only tweaks to it are usually how many basics you run, and what utility lands you want to pack in for KotR. I'd only get cute with Academy Ruins if I was on the "win with batterskull and batterskull alone" plan. Otherwise, a good split of duals, a ton of fetches, and 3-4 wasteland is the generally accepted mana base. After that, you can either add Karakas to make Vendilion Clique amazing (or to tell Emrakul to kiss it), or add more basics to be more resilient to wasteland and blood moon effects.
I've tended to want a basic of each, but often the island and plains just are not necessary. Noble Hierarch does a lot of the wasteland resilience all by itself. "MM your Hierarch, wasteland your trop," can pretty much ruin anyone's day, and having the forest somewhere in your deck might not actually prevent that. I'm still pretty conflicted with the number of basics this deck should be running.
Also, can we go back to crushing Hive Mind, please? I am pretty tired of having to deal with that deck.
Reminds me of Exhaustion.
No. Your opponent sacrificed the tech edge as a cost to activate the tech edge's ability. Also, in general, destroying the source of the ability does not stop the ability from resolving.