A player with an Oracle of Mul Daya in play casts a Sphinx of Uthuun. They reveal the top five cards and hand them to their opponent to decide how to split the piles.
Is the top card of the player's library revealed before the decision is made?
Well, the good news is that I can just play guildgates and not worry about spending money on more duals. The bad news is that mana fixing just got a lot worse and 3 color decks just got a whole less viable
See, that's the thing. From WotC's perspective, this is a GOOD thing.
At least these lands being relatively worthless means they'll actually get around to the drafters that need them.
warplord's WB list, to within a card or two, is what I ended up registering. (Though I stared at the RB build for a while during deckbuilding.) My reasoning had to do with the specific tournament I was playing, and the specific player I am.
See, I know I'm not a very good player; I can usually 2-1 most FNM drafts at my local shop, but in this crowd, I'm at a pretty severe skill disadvantage. (That said, I don't believe I punted any games that day.) So I know I'm going to have to get a little bit lucky in order to make day two (which requires a 7-2 record, since I have no byes.)
So that's strike one. Strike two is the pool; magicmerl's comment that it's "a bit light on playables" is being kind, in my opinion. Thus, if given the choice between a build that is consistently mediocre (the RB build, in my opinion, fits this description), or a build that will either succeed or fail spectacularly (the WB build), I'm taking the latter; my average win percentage may take a hit, but my chances of making day two probably increase by a small amount. I'll take that trade.
Okay, so it's about evenly split between Turn/Burn and Unflinching Courage. I think I still stand by my pick (I'd rather be getting the 2-for-1 than giving it), but I can see the argument for picking up such a powerful effect in the Courage.
I actually happen to like Haunter more than most, particularly if Esper happens to be open. (Not so good in Grixis, decent in BUG.) As for the Druid...well, I don't know if it says more about the other drafters that it wheeled, or about me that I was surprised.
the Turn/Burn, on the theory of "when in doubt, take the removal." Ended up with a reasonable RUG control deck, but only went 1-2 because of multiple mulligans.
I'm not at all convinced my choice was right. I'm open to suggestions.
Sigismond0 - The idea is to be a direct callback to the shocklands; I agree that it's a powerful effect, but I'm not sure how to alleviate it without obscuring the flavor. Perhaps:
City of Guilds
Legendary Land (Rare)
~ enters the battlefield tapped.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may pay 2 life. If you don't, tap ~. T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
If I was going to leave it as is, I think I agree with the other posts above--3 life is probably too low, but 5 feels a little high. Upon reflection, 4 seems like the place to be. But yeah, even that might be too powerful.
City of Guilds
Legendary Land (Rare)
As ~ enters the battlefield, you may pay (???) life. If you don't, ~ enters the battlefield tapped. T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
The goal, obviously, is to make it playable but not an automatic four-of in any 3+ color deck. I think requiring 3 life is the sweet spot, but I'm really not sure. Thoughts?
I've wondered in the past why creatures with trample don't trample over when they're defending. This inspired me to come up with a means of making "trample for defenders" work in a rules sense. So:
Retribution Giant
3RR
Creature - Giant (U)
4/3
Retaliate (Whenever this creature blocks, if it would assign enough damage to the creature it is blocking to destroy it, you may have it assign the rest of its damage to attacking player or a planeswalker they control.)
As far as the color pie goes, I think it fits best flavor-wise in red, followed in some order by black, green, and white (the whole "retributive justice" thing).
Thoughts? Does this even work under the current rules?
Playing casual 1v1 yesterday, my Ghave versus his Norin. His deck is very much the "chaos red" deck; he's got Stranglehold and a bunch of other effects like that in there, and in this game Possibility Storm out. He's also got a Chandra Ablaze ready to ultimate, so I need to hit a sweeper pretty fast.
Here's the math: Thirteen zombies come in; make it twenty-six from Parallel Lives. Each of them sees itself and the other twenty-five hit the field simultaneously, giving each of them 26 +1/+1 counters from the Crusade. That's 26 28/28 Zombies (tapped), or 728 power and toughness. For one mana.
Agree with Quazaar's point about this working better if you're pretty well locked into an RTR guild. And while TheLizard is right that you would get two guilds from RTR if you picked black, at that point I'm going to really really want the Selesnya cards.
Another thought: maybe we ought to instead be evaluating which trio of mechanics synergizes best. So:
WUB: detain, cipher, extort (I can see it, but not sure how it works in practice) UBR: cipher, overload, unleash (yeah, I don't want to be here) BRG: unleash, bloodrush, scavenge (okay, that's pretty absurdly good) RGW: bloodrush, batallion, populate (if your population can play defense, this is a nice place to be) GWU: populate, detain, evolve (there are limits, but I can see this working)
WUR: detain, overload, batallion (doesn't seem to be synergistic, but I could be wrong) UBG: cipher, scavenge, evolve (if only there were a cipher spell that gave +1/+1 counters) BRW: unleash, battalion, extort (aggression and reach? sign me up!) RGU: bloodrush, evolve, overload (+1/+1 counters and tricksiness...could be interesting) GWB: populate, extort, scavenge (all powerful, but not particularly synergistic)
Clearly, you're going Selesnya, and you're snapping up every related card you can pick up in the RTR pack. But what about Gatecrash? Well, there are some green and white cards you can take, but most of the powerful stuff you can take will be multicolored, and you won't have access to them...unless you decide to splash.
But in the absence of an obvious early pickup to push you in a direction, or in the case of a close decision, what third color should you choose?
Consider this: In the example above, when you get to Gatecrash, there are four guilds that share a color with Selesnya (as those of us who played the Prerelease witnessed): Gruul, Boros, Orzhov, and Simic. Of those four, two provide red as our third color, one provides black, and one provides blue.
Thus, if you pick red as your third color, you will have twice as many multicolored cards to choose from in Gatecrash as you otherwise would. So if your third pick presents a choice between, say, Ubul Sar Gatekeeprs and Punish the Enemy, you're better off taking the red card.
Here's a handy list of each guild, along with the most supported third color you can choose for each one in the pack not containing that guild:
Azorius -> Black
Dimir -> Red
Rakdos -> White
Gruul -> Black
Selesnya -> Red
Orzhov -> Green
Izzet -> Green
Golgari -> Blue
Boros -> Blue
Simic -> White
Thoughts and refinements on this theory appreciated.
Is the top card of the player's library revealed before the decision is made?
See, that's the thing. From WotC's perspective, this is a GOOD thing.
At least these lands being relatively worthless means they'll actually get around to the drafters that need them.
warplord's WB list, to within a card or two, is what I ended up registering. (Though I stared at the RB build for a while during deckbuilding.) My reasoning had to do with the specific tournament I was playing, and the specific player I am.
See, I know I'm not a very good player; I can usually 2-1 most FNM drafts at my local shop, but in this crowd, I'm at a pretty severe skill disadvantage. (That said, I don't believe I punted any games that day.) So I know I'm going to have to get a little bit lucky in order to make day two (which requires a 7-2 record, since I have no byes.)
So that's strike one. Strike two is the pool; magicmerl's comment that it's "a bit light on playables" is being kind, in my opinion. Thus, if given the choice between a build that is consistently mediocre (the RB build, in my opinion, fits this description), or a build that will either succeed or fail spectacularly (the WB build), I'm taking the latter; my average win percentage may take a hit, but my chances of making day two probably increase by a small amount. I'll take that trade.
ARTIFACT:
WHITE:
BLUE:
BLACK:
RED:
GREEN:
Put it this way: When your first reaction upon opening your pool is "well, the blue's unplayable," you're not in a good spot.
White:
Blue:
Black:
Red:
Green:
Others:
I actually happen to like Haunter more than most, particularly if Esper happens to be open. (Not so good in Grixis, decent in BUG.) As for the Druid...well, I don't know if it says more about the other drafters that it wheeled, or about me that I was surprised.
Haunter of Nightveil
Turn / Burn
Unflinching Courage, or
Zhur-Taa Druid?
I went with
I'm not at all convinced my choice was right. I'm open to suggestions.
Have at it, folks.
White:
Angelic Edict
Arrest
Boros Elite
Boros Mastiff
Daring Skyjek
2 Eyes in the Skies
Nav Squad Commandos
Sphere of Safety
Steeple Roc
Blue:
Hands of Binding
Hover Barrier
Leyline Phantom
2 Maze Glider
Mizzium Skin
Paralyzing Grasp
Runner's Bane
Black:
Catacomb Slug
Grave Betrayal
Maze Abomination
Mental Vapors
Perilous Shadow
Rakdos Drake
Shadow Alley Denizen
Sinister Possession
Red:
Annihilating Fire
Chaos Imps
Clear a Path
Madcap Skills
Maze Rusher
Mugging
Riot Piker
Smelt-Ward Gatekeepers
Towering Thunderfist
Traitorous Instinct
Green:
Aerial Predation
Centaur's Herald
Chorus of Might
Forced Adaptation
Greenside Watcher
Ivy Lane Denizen
Phytoburst
Savage Surge
Scab-Clan Charger
Azorius:
Hussar Patrol
Lyev Skynight
Render Silent
Search Warrant
Orzhov:
Orzhov Charm
Purge the Profane
Vizkopa Confessor
Dimir:
Call of the Nightwing
Paranoid Delusions
Warped Physique
Izzet:
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Teleportal
Turn/Burn
Rakdos:
Auger Spree
Showstopper
Skull Rend
Toil/Trouble
Golgari:
Abrupt Decay (foil)
Golgari Longlegs
Grisly Salvage
Gruul:
Ground Assault
Ruination Wurm
Signal the Clans
Zhur-Taa Swine
Boros:
Gleam of Battle
Shattering Blow
Skyknight Legionnaire
Spark Trooper
Viashino Firstblade
Selesnya:
Armored Wolf-Rider
Common Bond
Coursers' Accord
Trostani's Summoner
Simic:
Drakewing Krasis
Other:
Azorius Cluestone (foil)
Boros Cluestone
Izzet Cluestone
Orzhov Guildgate
Rakdos Cluestone
Rakdos Guildgate
Selesnya Cluestone
City of Guilds
Legendary Land (Rare)
~ enters the battlefield tapped.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may pay 2 life. If you don't, tap ~.
T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
If I was going to leave it as is, I think I agree with the other posts above--3 life is probably too low, but 5 feels a little high. Upon reflection, 4 seems like the place to be. But yeah, even that might be too powerful.
Legendary Land (Rare)
As ~ enters the battlefield, you may pay (???) life. If you don't, ~ enters the battlefield tapped.
T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
The goal, obviously, is to make it playable but not an automatic four-of in any 3+ color deck. I think requiring 3 life is the sweet spot, but I'm really not sure. Thoughts?
Retribution Giant
3RR
Creature - Giant (U)
4/3
Retaliate (Whenever this creature blocks, if it would assign enough damage to the creature it is blocking to destroy it, you may have it assign the rest of its damage to attacking player or a planeswalker they control.)
As far as the color pie goes, I think it fits best flavor-wise in red, followed in some order by black, green, and white (the whole "retributive justice" thing).
Thoughts? Does this even work under the current rules?
My permanents are a Ghostly Prison, Cathar's Crusade, Parallel Lives, and something else irrelevant, plus lands.
On my turn, I cast Gelatinous Genesis for zero, trying to hit Planar Cleansing or Merciless Eviction. Instead I hit...Army of the Damned!
Here's the math: Thirteen zombies come in; make it twenty-six from Parallel Lives. Each of them sees itself and the other twenty-five hit the field simultaneously, giving each of them 26 +1/+1 counters from the Crusade. That's 26 28/28 Zombies (tapped), or 728 power and toughness. For one mana.
That's gotta be some kind of record.
Another thought: maybe we ought to instead be evaluating which trio of mechanics synergizes best. So:
WUB: detain, cipher, extort (I can see it, but not sure how it works in practice)
UBR: cipher, overload, unleash (yeah, I don't want to be here)
BRG: unleash, bloodrush, scavenge (okay, that's pretty absurdly good)
RGW: bloodrush, batallion, populate (if your population can play defense, this is a nice place to be)
GWU: populate, detain, evolve (there are limits, but I can see this working)
WUR: detain, overload, batallion (doesn't seem to be synergistic, but I could be wrong)
UBG: cipher, scavenge, evolve (if only there were a cipher spell that gave +1/+1 counters)
BRW: unleash, battalion, extort (aggression and reach? sign me up!)
RGU: bloodrush, evolve, overload (+1/+1 counters and tricksiness...could be interesting)
GWB: populate, extort, scavenge (all powerful, but not particularly synergistic)
Clearly, you're going Selesnya, and you're snapping up every related card you can pick up in the RTR pack. But what about Gatecrash? Well, there are some green and white cards you can take, but most of the powerful stuff you can take will be multicolored, and you won't have access to them...unless you decide to splash.
But in the absence of an obvious early pickup to push you in a direction, or in the case of a close decision, what third color should you choose?
Consider this: In the example above, when you get to Gatecrash, there are four guilds that share a color with Selesnya (as those of us who played the Prerelease witnessed): Gruul, Boros, Orzhov, and Simic. Of those four, two provide red as our third color, one provides black, and one provides blue.
Thus, if you pick red as your third color, you will have twice as many multicolored cards to choose from in Gatecrash as you otherwise would. So if your third pick presents a choice between, say, Ubul Sar Gatekeeprs and Punish the Enemy, you're better off taking the red card.
Here's a handy list of each guild, along with the most supported third color you can choose for each one in the pack not containing that guild:
Azorius -> Black
Dimir -> Red
Rakdos -> White
Gruul -> Black
Selesnya -> Red
Orzhov -> Green
Izzet -> Green
Golgari -> Blue
Boros -> Blue
Simic -> White
Thoughts and refinements on this theory appreciated.