For those that haven't caught onto the pattern yet, everytime Mark Rosewater is on the leading team (almost all the first sets in blocks since zendikar) the first set is always a powered down test run for the sets.
That's why bestow is such a lackluster mechanic with only 2 playable cards; if those 2 cards dominate standard for the next 4 months, they will nerf bestow beyond repair.
And, as I expressed my opinion on many times, expect this set to have ~10% staples, 85% junk and 5% fringe. Heck that's what it was back in INN and RTR.
To quote the IM bringing this thread to my attention: "Go go gadget disinformation!"
At it's simplest: The player who was involved in the incident with Todd was spoken to by the event staff and informed that further incidents would result in his removal and possible a possible ban from future events. The player has not been banned, but any future incidents will be viewed in light of his previous behavior.
In the future, if you hear something about StarCityGames from an unofficial source, feel free to ping me on Twitter @JaredSylva to clear things up.
Should've banned him.
Too many unsportsmanlike and rude players are ruining the core of the game and they should not be allowed to pollute events.
Personally, I have never tested Cosi's Trickster but I've seen it in play... It grows once or twice with the opponent's shuffling and even more while your lords show up but effectively, we already have board presence with 25/26 creatures. ...and what spells do we have to force the opponent to shuffle in the deck?
My option goes to Cursecatcher and, I'm a big fan of this little fellow here.
The guy is a counterspell with a body. You might think its easy to play around and the body seems weak and all but, actually it is not. Not in a tempo play style, and that is what :symu::symu: Merfolks is about.
Mainly, Cursecatcher supports our other spells and counterspells as well.
We don't have anything BUT fetch lands are still played often. Many times, the trickster will hit the field on turn one and become a 2/2 because they fetched a land.
I admit the cursecatcher is logically the better option but as I stated earlier I haven't seen much sorceries or instants and most of the meta i face is aggro.
I like coralhelm for the flying (eventually, or late game in a turn), and to occasionally block.
maybe just use as a 2-of
I used to play UW Merfolks but after comparing it to mono U using vapor snag, i simply cannot use white anymore.
The playstyle is different and better. It is straight up aggro and the Reejerey is simply amazing. The coralhelm commander is terrible. It dies to removal which is a serious problem for such an invested card. Sure you paid 4 mana for a 3-powered flyer and then he got killed. i would much rather cast another merfolk spell for 2 than to lose the investment.
From my playtesting against aggro, the trickster is better because most of the time it will be get at least 1 counter if not 2 early while the cursecatcher falls short against most decks. Most of the time he just stands back and doesn't do anything and the opponent plays around it.
If you've ever tried playing elves in standard you'll know that the biggest problem is that if you don't hold an archdruid down, you might as well have a bunch of 1/1 memnites.
I think it's that people are searching too hard for chase mythics. I don't think either Archangel nor Hydra will have an impact on Standard until October.
it frankly boggles my mind why mutavault (played all the way to legacy) and scavenging ooze (multi-graveyard hate relevant to modern and standard) are at 11-13$ but those two mythics which are limited and EDH bombs and MAYBE Kalonian Hydra will be a bomb in standard (MAYBE); are already triple the price.
This card is the single most terribly designed card ever. The design team should be ashamed to even think this was worth printing, let alone not banning it to hide their stupidity.
Why? This is unplayable for anything else but the +3/+3 but it is so overcosted, it beckons the question: is 2 more mana worth haste? 5 CMC to give haste?
I restarted playing magic back when M12 was coming out and so far, every set that MaRo has been the lead in (SoM, INN, DKA, GTC) has been very disappointing to me and as I stated earlier, each set consisted of 90% garbage, 5% borderlines and 5% staples meaning that his sets are not worth buying boxes and the sole value of the set lies within staple cards.
Take INN as an example: Garruk, Liliana, Snapcaster mage, Geist of Saint Traft, Avacyn's Pilgrim, Olivia, kessig wolf run and Unburial Rites (total = 8); borderlines include Champion of the Parish, Delver of Secrets, Doomed Traveler, Intangible Virtue, Invisible Stalker, Spectral Flight, Think Twice/Desperate Ravings and Stromkirk Noble (total = 9).
Out of 249 cards, 17 are worth buying into while 232 cards are just wasted paper and ink. Out of those 17, Snapcaster and Liliana made it all the way to legacy and are heavily overcosted in price.
One of the worst by far imho was AVR which leads me to believe that Erik Lauer is also at fault and when those two combine (INN) the set is mostly a waste of trees. AVR was a complete waste and the miracle mechanic was by far the worst mechanic imho ever made where topdecking luck could equal skill. Don't get me wrong, I even play with miracles such as revenge of the hunted BECAUSE it is so unfair.
Theros is being lead and designed by those two guys and seeing how disappointed I was at INN, AVR and RTR, I can bet that THS will also be a disappointment.
Unless we are blessed with library manipulation cards such as ponder, green sun's zenith or the likes, these sort of decks can only work with Garruk, the Veil-Cursed and mad luck.
I made a Simic Aggro deck that had the young wolf, experiment 1 and rapid hybridization combo and I think I play that combo once in a blue moon. It wins games but it is not consistent, just like getting RG on turn 3 and GG on turn 4 consistently is also a challenge.
I hope the new Elspeth will be as balanced as the new PWs have become: nothing absurd, no more boardwipes, etc. Probably will still be making tokens though and considering the whole lifegain theme of M14, probably also gain life.
Unrelated note: MaRo is on the team again... Well, I hope he won't be in the rest of the block because everytime he is, the set consists of 10-15 staples and a whole lot of garbage. Already I'm expecting 200/249 to be unplayables, 35 cards to be borderline and 9 cards to be staples.
No it's not. If you have ever played Pokemon Online, you'd understand what unhealthy means: double team/Legends.
If you never did here's the gist of it:
double team increases the evasion of your pokemon meaning it will have a higher chance of not getting hit by anything. Since every pokemon in the game can learn this move, it was banned by some Pokemon communities because it caused stagnation of the meta/format: anyone using DT will win against the norm; you can make a team with specific moves that counter DT but they are weaker to the norm. And thus instead of a healthy meta you have DT > Norm > counter-DT.
If you added Legendaries to the mix, they had ridiculously high stats so why bother picking anything else but legendaries whent hey can do any job better?
This is why banlists are sometimes necessary for the format to be healthy. Right now, the format is ridiculously healthy.
There are no 3 decks that dominate the format and then a 4th that dominates everything else (Delver, last year).
You have a ridiculous array of options available to play with and many fitting your play-style.
Want to play aggro? Pick your poison: R,RB,GR,GW,GBR,RW,RWG
Aggro too boring? Here's some midrange: BRG,RUG,RG,RB,BG,RWB,GWB,UWR,RWG,GWU
Can't deal with either? Control then: WUB,WRU,RUG,WGU,RWB,GWB,RBU,B,BG
You like specific colors but don't want to specifically play 1 deck? Junk has midrange, tokens and reanimation. Oros has aristocrats, reanimation and control/midrange. Jund has aggro and midrange. UWR has tempo and control. Naya has aggro, midrange, etc.
Don't like archetypes? You can mix and match so many playable cards and make a ridiculous amount of rogue decks that can win (Simic Aggro with no rares, Junk aristocrats just became an archetype heck even Oros (WBR) reanimation became a thing). And they even made playing AGAINST control fun!
No cards in this format are a problem; everything can be answered. If you are having issues, maybe it isn't the format that's the problem, maybe you're just bad at the game and need to get better.
Remember when aggro players cried about thragtusk/resto angel? They don't anymore because they learned how to get around it. That's healthy.
That's why bestow is such a lackluster mechanic with only 2 playable cards; if those 2 cards dominate standard for the next 4 months, they will nerf bestow beyond repair.
And, as I expressed my opinion on many times, expect this set to have ~10% staples, 85% junk and 5% fringe. Heck that's what it was back in INN and RTR.
Should've banned him.
Too many unsportsmanlike and rude players are ruining the core of the game and they should not be allowed to pollute events.
We don't have anything BUT fetch lands are still played often. Many times, the trickster will hit the field on turn one and become a 2/2 because they fetched a land.
I admit the cursecatcher is logically the better option but as I stated earlier I haven't seen much sorceries or instants and most of the meta i face is aggro.
I used to play UW Merfolks but after comparing it to mono U using vapor snag, i simply cannot use white anymore.
The playstyle is different and better. It is straight up aggro and the Reejerey is simply amazing. The coralhelm commander is terrible. It dies to removal which is a serious problem for such an invested card. Sure you paid 4 mana for a 3-powered flyer and then he got killed. i would much rather cast another merfolk spell for 2 than to lose the investment.
I have a question for you guys: would you rather use Aquitect's will or Spreading Seas?
Spreading seas costs 2, recycles itself and permanently turns a land into an island.
Aquitect's will costs 1, counts as a merfolk spell, recycles itself but the land is additionally an island.
Another question: Cosi's trickster or Cursecatcher?
From my playtesting against aggro, the trickster is better because most of the time it will be get at least 1 counter if not 2 early while the cursecatcher falls short against most decks. Most of the time he just stands back and doesn't do anything and the opponent plays around it.
Brb, gonna sell my hydra.
Right now the worst is Miracle: top-decking is rewarded.
Requires no skill and easily abusable, just like i run 4 of revenge of the hunted in my simic deck.
it frankly boggles my mind why mutavault (played all the way to legacy) and scavenging ooze (multi-graveyard hate relevant to modern and standard) are at 11-13$ but those two mythics which are limited and EDH bombs and MAYBE Kalonian Hydra will be a bomb in standard (MAYBE); are already triple the price.
Archangel of thune was 5$ starting, became 15 $ for god knows why reason and now shot up to 30+ over the weekend; sell them while they're hot.
Beat me to it.
This card is the single most terribly designed card ever. The design team should be ashamed to even think this was worth printing, let alone not banning it to hide their stupidity.
Why? This is unplayable for anything else but the +3/+3 but it is so overcosted, it beckons the question: is 2 more mana worth haste? 5 CMC to give haste?
Fairly rude post.
I restarted playing magic back when M12 was coming out and so far, every set that MaRo has been the lead in (SoM, INN, DKA, GTC) has been very disappointing to me and as I stated earlier, each set consisted of 90% garbage, 5% borderlines and 5% staples meaning that his sets are not worth buying boxes and the sole value of the set lies within staple cards.
Take INN as an example: Garruk, Liliana, Snapcaster mage, Geist of Saint Traft, Avacyn's Pilgrim, Olivia, kessig wolf run and Unburial Rites (total = 8); borderlines include Champion of the Parish, Delver of Secrets, Doomed Traveler, Intangible Virtue, Invisible Stalker, Spectral Flight, Think Twice/Desperate Ravings and Stromkirk Noble (total = 9).
Out of 249 cards, 17 are worth buying into while 232 cards are just wasted paper and ink. Out of those 17, Snapcaster and Liliana made it all the way to legacy and are heavily overcosted in price.
One of the worst by far imho was AVR which leads me to believe that Erik Lauer is also at fault and when those two combine (INN) the set is mostly a waste of trees. AVR was a complete waste and the miracle mechanic was by far the worst mechanic imho ever made where topdecking luck could equal skill. Don't get me wrong, I even play with miracles such as revenge of the hunted BECAUSE it is so unfair.
Theros is being lead and designed by those two guys and seeing how disappointed I was at INN, AVR and RTR, I can bet that THS will also be a disappointment.
I made a Simic Aggro deck that had the young wolf, experiment 1 and rapid hybridization combo and I think I play that combo once in a blue moon. It wins games but it is not consistent, just like getting RG on turn 3 and GG on turn 4 consistently is also a challenge.
Unrelated note: MaRo is on the team again... Well, I hope he won't be in the rest of the block because everytime he is, the set consists of 10-15 staples and a whole lot of garbage. Already I'm expecting 200/249 to be unplayables, 35 cards to be borderline and 9 cards to be staples.
No it's not. If you have ever played Pokemon Online, you'd understand what unhealthy means: double team/Legends.
If you never did here's the gist of it:
If you added Legendaries to the mix, they had ridiculously high stats so why bother picking anything else but legendaries whent hey can do any job better?
This is why banlists are sometimes necessary for the format to be healthy. Right now, the format is ridiculously healthy.
You have a ridiculous array of options available to play with and many fitting your play-style.
Want to play aggro? Pick your poison: R,RB,GR,GW,GBR,RW,RWG
Aggro too boring? Here's some midrange: BRG,RUG,RG,RB,BG,RWB,GWB,UWR,RWG,GWU
Can't deal with either? Control then: WUB,WRU,RUG,WGU,RWB,GWB,RBU,B,BG
You like specific colors but don't want to specifically play 1 deck? Junk has midrange, tokens and reanimation. Oros has aristocrats, reanimation and control/midrange. Jund has aggro and midrange. UWR has tempo and control. Naya has aggro, midrange, etc.
Don't like archetypes? You can mix and match so many playable cards and make a ridiculous amount of rogue decks that can win (Simic Aggro with no rares, Junk aristocrats just became an archetype heck even Oros (WBR) reanimation became a thing). And they even made playing AGAINST control fun!
No cards in this format are a problem; everything can be answered. If you are having issues, maybe it isn't the format that's the problem, maybe you're just bad at the game and need to get better.
Remember when aggro players cried about thragtusk/resto angel? They don't anymore because they learned how to get around it. That's healthy.