Plus, Eternal Witness is really really good. I don't think they intended Archeomancer to be quite as powerful - maybe it's intended as a card for certain limited decks, or they didn't want to push it while Snapcaster's in the format. Plus, like Mondu said, Blue isn't quite as adept with regrowth effects.
Sentinel Spider is wonderful - hits much harder than your typical spider. Probably a 4-of. I'd also recommend Blightwidow and (if you end up going G/R for Dragonlair Spider) Ember Weaver. First Strike's always nice. Gloomwidow's a decent beatstick. Jungle Weaver's nothing exceptional, but cycles. I remember Kessig Recluse doing good work in DKA limited. If you still need a big beater to round out the game, I'd recommend Goliath Spider.
They aren't bad, per se, but there's a couple of things that really pull me out. The writer can't seem to resist having Dack keep up a parallel narration to the actual real-world events. I wouldn't complain if it was in small doses, but he does it every. Frackin'. Panel. I mean, come on. It's like watching a ping-pong match. And then there's the coloring, which is frankly awful. Every issue so far has been either a solid murky black-red or a solid murky blue-red, which makes it difficult to see the otherwise gorgeous art. I'd much prefer no coloring to this - I saw a couple of absolutely beautiful non-colored pages before the first issue came out.
Don't get me wrong, I actually enjoy the comic. It doesn't have much overlap with the regular Magic story, but that's fine. I'm a comic fan. I'm used to slow builds (that is, a story starts out sorta humdrum and over a long period of time becomes progressively more awesome), and I have no doubt that's the path that this series will take, if it survives long enough. Sifa's a generic villain and Dack's a generic roguish hero. Faces get punched in. Things get blown up. Dack gets sarcastic. A little bit of planeswalking occurs. If that sounds like fun to you, you'll probably like it. Just don't expect anything outstanding.
You will not be able to sufficiently randomize a 200+ (likely 220+) card deck in the time alloted. Battle of wits, as a deck, was primarily an MTGO deck, where shuffling is a matter of a click.
I had a friend who played it competitively IRL. Back then, he had a cadre of friends (including myself) who shuffled for him in order to meet the time limit. Of course, some people argued that people shuffling for you isn't allowed in the rules, which I'm not sure of.
I decided to look through the tournament rules, and found this about the role of spectators (which, I'm assuming, is how friends helping to shuffle would be categorized):
Spectators are responsible for:
• Remaining silent and passive during matches and other official tournament sections, such as Limited deck construction, in which players are also required to be silent. If spectators believe they have observed a rules or policy violation, they are encouraged to alert a judge as soon as possible. At Regular or Competitive REL, spectators are permitted to ask the players to pause the match while they alert a judge. At Professional REL, spectators must not interfere with the match directly.
Players may request that a spectator not observe their matches. Such requests must be made through a judge. Tournament officials may also instruct a spectator not observe a match or matches.
As I interpret this, it means that you could have a team of shufflers provided that 1.) They leave if your opponent or a judge asks, and 2.) that you aren't playing at professional REL.
I didn't find anything saying specifically how long a person has to shuffle (I might just not be looking in the right place), but I did find this:
At Competitive and Professional REL tournaments, players are required to shuffle their opponents’ decks after their owners have shuffled them. The Head Judge can require this at Regular REL tournaments as well.
So, if you're just a huge jerk, it's conceivable that you could show up at a Competitive REL tournament with a Battle of Wills deck and a team of shufflers, forcing your opponent to insufficiently randomize your deck and possibly incur violations. Of course any halfway competent judge would throw you out for unprofessional conduct, but it'd be funny to watch. From a distance.
I'm planning on building a standard-legal Battle of Wits deck, and I need some help. I mean, besides telling me not to do it.
If I play it in tournaments, what's a good quick shuffling method? What's a good sideboard strategy, seeing as how it'll have a tiny effect on the overall composition of the deck? I'm planning on making it Blue/Black/Green - is it worth it, given current mana-fixing? Or should I just make it Blue/Black until Return to Ravnica? Any other advice anyone can think of, especially from people who've piloted Battle of Wills decks before, would be greatly appreciated.
It's just a gag card they wanted to throw into Futuresight. Wizards has said repeatedly that they will likely never print contraptions or riggers in a serious manner.
MaRo's said on his Tumblr that, though they originally planned for Steamflogger to be a joke, the response to it has been strong enough that he now occasionally considers, at the beginning of new designs, whether and how contraptions could be implemented. So there is a chance (however small) that it'll show up again someday.
This was revealed a couple of weeks back and a couple people have mentioned it in comments, but I thought it deserved its own thread. The cycle of rings in M13 (Ring of Thune, Evos Isle, Xathrid, Valkas, Kalonia) all refer to locations on Shandalar.
Maro's said that 1.) While Innistrad does bear notable similarities to Kamigawa, those similarities were unintentional, as was the "Mirrodin-otherblock-Ravinca" pattern; and 2.) That while he personally loves Time Spiral, they don't have plans to do anything like it again. Just too alienating for new players.
What cards do you folks think/hope will be reprinted in Planechase 2012?
I'd say that Bloodbraid Elf has a decent chance of showing up in the cascade deck. The deck's concentrated on red, green, and blue - since previous cascade cards (besides Enigma Sphinx) are allied-colored, that makes red/green cascade cards the most likely reprints. Plus Bloodbraid's iconic and doesn't take up a rare slot.
Don't get me wrong, I actually enjoy the comic. It doesn't have much overlap with the regular Magic story, but that's fine. I'm a comic fan. I'm used to slow builds (that is, a story starts out sorta humdrum and over a long period of time becomes progressively more awesome), and I have no doubt that's the path that this series will take, if it survives long enough. Sifa's a generic villain and Dack's a generic roguish hero. Faces get punched in. Things get blown up. Dack gets sarcastic. A little bit of planeswalking occurs. If that sounds like fun to you, you'll probably like it. Just don't expect anything outstanding.
Thankfully, I'm 6'4" and have some frickin' huge hands.
Thanks for the advice, everyone! Especially you judges out there.
I decided to look through the tournament rules, and found this about the role of spectators (which, I'm assuming, is how friends helping to shuffle would be categorized):
As I interpret this, it means that you could have a team of shufflers provided that 1.) They leave if your opponent or a judge asks, and 2.) that you aren't playing at professional REL.
I didn't find anything saying specifically how long a person has to shuffle (I might just not be looking in the right place), but I did find this:
So, if you're just a huge jerk, it's conceivable that you could show up at a Competitive REL tournament with a Battle of Wills deck and a team of shufflers, forcing your opponent to insufficiently randomize your deck and possibly incur violations. Of course any halfway competent judge would throw you out for unprofessional conduct, but it'd be funny to watch. From a distance.
If I play it in tournaments, what's a good quick shuffling method? What's a good sideboard strategy, seeing as how it'll have a tiny effect on the overall composition of the deck? I'm planning on making it Blue/Black/Green - is it worth it, given current mana-fixing? Or should I just make it Blue/Black until Return to Ravnica? Any other advice anyone can think of, especially from people who've piloted Battle of Wills decks before, would be greatly appreciated.
MaRo's said on his Tumblr that, though they originally planned for Steamflogger to be a joke, the response to it has been strong enough that he now occasionally considers, at the beginning of new designs, whether and how contraptions could be implemented. So there is a chance (however small) that it'll show up again someday.
Sorry, didn't see that thread. I did skim the subform, but must have missed it. Mods, feel free to close this.
This means that a bunch of core set cards actually depict Shandalar - War Priest of Thune, Acolyte of Xathrid, Xathrid Demon, Kalonian Behemoth, Assault Griffin, Griffin Rider, Sign in Blood, and Acorn Catapult, along with others that I'm surely missing.
Thoughts? I kinda like that they have a semi-generic fantasy plane used for non-main-story products.
Tunnel Ignus.
Either that or Bazaar Trader.
I'd say that Bloodbraid Elf has a decent chance of showing up in the cascade deck. The deck's concentrated on red, green, and blue - since previous cascade cards (besides Enigma Sphinx) are allied-colored, that makes red/green cascade cards the most likely reprints. Plus Bloodbraid's iconic and doesn't take up a rare slot.