Not for red, I think they pushed thundermaw too much and we all got used to it, they however learned how broken it was and pulled it back. Red always seems to have clunky fliers. CLEARLY its one of those, I play this dude and now I can squeak in my final 6 damage through, type of card (aka agro reach card).
The Sphinx seems like it is just waiting to be broken in edh. Divining top, ponder, brainstorm... Plenty of opportunities to abuse big spells. Someone will find an insane tap/untap engine and combo out their deck onto the battlefield. Better yet-- most untap effects are at instant speed. I am envisioning paradise mantle, puppet strings, pestermite and cards with the untap symbol... But there has to be something out there that uses pieces that are also playable.
I think Inspiration is "Whenever ~ untaps, reveal the top card of your library. Then [do X]".
I'm not too sure about that... I do agree that's very plausible (especially given the 'dream' thing someone else noted, and the proactive and interactive nature of it), but it could easily also be "reveal the top card of your library, then [do X] if you revealed a [Y]".
I like Tribute. It's cute, flavorful, and seems like it could be quite fun. Super interactive, too - I love punisher mechanics because they promote great tabletop dynamics and some fun decisions!
Inspiration I dislike from a design standpoint, since it feels too 'easy' with Scry in the same block... but I like it as a player, of course! Fun and flavorful.
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Black-Clunky, but still a nice beater. Not as bomb as Abhorrent Overlord, though....
Red-Limited Dragon. Next
Green-Has potential. It's very political, which I like. I get a very undercosted 12/12 or I kill a creature. Seems nice, but we all know how this forum feels about the Punisher Mechanic.
Blue-The bomb-diggity of bombs out of this little spoil session Jeez
These are rather OK. Nothing extremely overpowered with the >6 cmcs, but okay.
The most interesting is the sphinx by far. Potential free card every untap? Abusable with scry? Sign me in!
The dragon can screw up blocks quite nicely. Too bad that heroic does not trigger from abilities, else it would be a nice mid-combat heroic activator, if you don't mind pinging your own.
Archon is bland and uninspired. And expensive. Good for EDH, maybe, but for limited, I think I will pass (resp. I won't choose white)
Demon is again very expensive, and considerably less bomb-y than Abhorrent Overlord for the same price.
Tribute is an interesting take on punisher mechanic. Frankly I do not know what I shall think about it now. I just hope to have Sedge Scorpion or Baleful Eidolon on board when somebody plays this against me.
My personal ranking is Sphinx >>> Dragon>Hydra>Archon/Demon
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Inspiriration seems a bit strange since it encourages decks
that exclude enchantments in what is supposed to be an enchantment themed block.
It doesn't really though. Look at the enchantments in the Theros block so far - a huge number of them are creatures or artifacts, too. It discourages you from playing straight enchantments with no other types, sure, but not enchantments that have multiple types.
Anyway, I think the blue one is being overvalued in limited. If you've left a 4/5 flier for 6 on the table for two turns and can safely attack with it, you're probably already winning anyway. Remember, you need to cast it then they take a turn. Then you need to safely attack with it and have it not die, then they take another turn. Then you finally, maybe get value out of it. There would need to be some way to abuse it without it attacking or, possibly, on your first upkeep after it comes out for it to be as good as people seem to think (outside of it just being a big, well-costed flier).
The dragon definitely seems to be the most powerful. If you have enough enchantment creatures, the white one will be absurd, too.
It doesn't really though. Look at the enchantments in the Theros block so far - a huge number of them are creatures or artifacts, too. It discourages you from playing straight enchantments with no other types, sure, but not enchantments that have multiple types.
Anyway, I think the blue one is being overvalued in limited. If you've left a 4/5 flier for 6 on the table for two turns and can safely attack with it, you're probably already winning anyway. Remember, you need to cast it then they take a turn. Then you need to safely attack with it and have it not die, then they take another turn. Then you finally, maybe get value out of it. There would need to be some way to abuse it without it attacking or, possibly, on your first upkeep after it comes out for it to be as good as people seem to think (outside of it just being a big, well-costed flier).
The dragon definitely seems to be the most powerful. If you have enough enchantment creatures, the white one will be absurd, too.
thus the beauty of springleaf drum,play it for 6 tap it with drum whenever you need it and play triton tactic and hope to hit omething.
There's yet to be one that isn't "potentially mediocre at best" save for something like Gifts Ungiven, which again is a completely different situation.
We all know "potentially mediocre at best" rares from recent sets that only just rotated out of standard cost $5. Vexing Devil
And isn't Desecration Demon technically a punisher mechanic, too? It gives the opponent a choice of two bad things - it simply does it every turn.
I love the archon for one reason: There's finally enchantment support in the enchantment block!
However, assuming Inspiration is "Whenever ~ untaps, do stuff" then I can say I am really disappointed in both mechanics... At least Springleaf Drums is now a lot better.
They aren't the most exciting cards but the worst part is that I'm bored by the new mechanics. Inspiration is a very powerful ability but seems a bit strange, and you know it's only going on very high CMC creatures. And Tribute is a terrible, ugly mechanic... And of course both of the new mechanics we know of are (mostly) creature-based--I think that's a safe assumption.
Not for red, I think they pushed thundermaw too much and we all got used to it, they however learned how broken it was and pulled it back. Red always seems to have clunky fliers. CLEARLY its one of those, I play this dude and now I can squeak in my final 6 damage through, type of card (aka agro reach card).
My point being that there are plenty of dragons that have been 5/5 for 6 with much better abilities than this one.
Stormbreath Dragon was them learning from the mistake of Thundermaw. This dragon is just poorly designed slag. This would still be an underpowered card if it was a 5/5. I dunno. I just don't see how, after playtesting, they said "Well, this card is way too good as a 5/5, we need to make this a 5/4."
I feel like Mediator probably is misnamed here... if it's #31 in the set, it's pretty close to the beginning of blue. It's pretty unlikely that "m" is the lead letter of the fifth or less card in the color, right?
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My Decks:
:symu::symb: Modern Mill
:symr::symg: Philosophy of Fire
:symr::symu: Feel the Pulse
:symr::symg: Modern Dragons
:symw::symu::symb::symr::symg: Modern Wacky Domain
Screw counterspells and dying to removal.
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Not for red, I think they pushed thundermaw too much and we all got used to it, they however learned how broken it was and pulled it back. Red always seems to have clunky fliers. CLEARLY its one of those, I play this dude and now I can squeak in my final 6 damage through, type of card (aka agro reach card).
I'm not too sure about that... I do agree that's very plausible (especially given the 'dream' thing someone else noted, and the proactive and interactive nature of it), but it could easily also be "reveal the top card of your library, then [do X] if you revealed a [Y]".
I like Tribute. It's cute, flavorful, and seems like it could be quite fun. Super interactive, too - I love punisher mechanics because they promote great tabletop dynamics and some fun decisions!
Inspiration I dislike from a design standpoint, since it feels too 'easy' with Scry in the same block... but I like it as a player, of course! Fun and flavorful.
Lead Tesla, a community set designed by everyone and led by me, over at Goblin Artisans. Index of articles here!
Well, at least it can't be expensive, being the prerelease foil, and hence the Intro Deck Foil as well.
Rankings among the five for EDH, in my opinion. (and my EDH ranking reflects what I think of them overall, usually.)
1) Sphinx
2) Sentinel
3) Hydra
4) Demon
5) Dragon
Black-Clunky, but still a nice beater. Not as bomb as Abhorrent Overlord, though....
Red-Limited Dragon. Next
Green-Has potential. It's very political, which I like. I get a very undercosted 12/12 or I kill a creature. Seems nice, but we all know how this forum feels about the Punisher Mechanic.
Blue-The bomb-diggity of bombs out of this little spoil session Jeez
"There are no two words in the English language more harmful than 'good job'." -Terrance Fletcher, Whiplash (2014)
The most interesting is the sphinx by far. Potential free card every untap? Abusable with scry? Sign me in!
The dragon can screw up blocks quite nicely. Too bad that heroic does not trigger from abilities, else it would be a nice mid-combat heroic activator, if you don't mind pinging your own.
Archon is bland and uninspired. And expensive. Good for EDH, maybe, but for limited, I think I will pass (resp. I won't choose white)
Demon is again very expensive, and considerably less bomb-y than Abhorrent Overlord for the same price.
Tribute is an interesting take on punisher mechanic. Frankly I do not know what I shall think about it now. I just hope to have Sedge Scorpion or Baleful Eidolon on board when somebody plays this against me.
My personal ranking is Sphinx >>> Dragon>Hydra>Archon/Demon
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
It doesn't really though. Look at the enchantments in the Theros block so far - a huge number of them are creatures or artifacts, too. It discourages you from playing straight enchantments with no other types, sure, but not enchantments that have multiple types.
Anyway, I think the blue one is being overvalued in limited. If you've left a 4/5 flier for 6 on the table for two turns and can safely attack with it, you're probably already winning anyway. Remember, you need to cast it then they take a turn. Then you need to safely attack with it and have it not die, then they take another turn. Then you finally, maybe get value out of it. There would need to be some way to abuse it without it attacking or, possibly, on your first upkeep after it comes out for it to be as good as people seem to think (outside of it just being a big, well-costed flier).
The dragon definitely seems to be the most powerful. If you have enough enchantment creatures, the white one will be absurd, too.
thus the beauty of springleaf drum,play it for 6 tap it with drum whenever you need it and play triton tactic and hope to hit omething.
We all know "potentially mediocre at best" rares from recent sets that only just rotated out of standard cost $5. Vexing Devil
And isn't Desecration Demon technically a punisher mechanic, too? It gives the opponent a choice of two bad things - it simply does it every turn.
However, assuming Inspiration is "Whenever ~ untaps, do stuff" then I can say I am really disappointed in both mechanics... At least Springleaf Drums is now a lot better.
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Standard Deck:
BUPirates
Modern Deck:
B8-Rack
Sphinx + Freed From the Real + Paradise Mantle + Selective Memory = Play your whole deck.
Tribute and inspiration are actually exciting mechanics, and not just for limited. Color me interested.
I guess I'm just spoiled by Flameblast Dragon, Hellkite Charger, Hellkite Tyrant, Hoard-Smelter Dragon, the legendary dragon cycle from Kamigawa, Moonveil Dragon, Mordant Dragon, Niv-Mizzed, Dracogenius, Rorix Bladewing, Steel Hellkite, and, oh yeah, the original dragon. Shivan Dragon.
My point being that there are plenty of dragons that have been 5/5 for 6 with much better abilities than this one.
Stormbreath Dragon was them learning from the mistake of Thundermaw. This dragon is just poorly designed slag. This would still be an underpowered card if it was a 5/5. I dunno. I just don't see how, after playtesting, they said "Well, this card is way too good as a 5/5, we need to make this a 5/4."
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Also it seem like BNG will pull Limited in different direction from what it is now.
:symu::symb: Modern Mill
:symr::symg: Philosophy of Fire
:symr::symu: Feel the Pulse
:symr::symg: Modern Dragons
:symw::symu::symb::symr::symg: Modern Wacky Domain