am I too late? Awesome new art, glad it's uncommon. I figure they will look better in person, but the c/u symbols could have been a little more disparate.
It’s a weird point you’re trying to make, because this set pretty clearly isn’t focusing on cards that defined their standards. Goblin War Drums didn’t define Fallen Empires constructed play either, but there it is.
Only so far as Scroll being the "face" for Homelands. I suspect when Scroll became a force, or shortly after, a lot of people likely became associated with its reprint, 8th I think?
You have a good point about Goblin War Drums though.
I guess I'm part of the focus audience when seeing this card. I love the new art. I argue that it is even much cooler than the old art (the sacrilege).
Really, the old art is just a dude chilling there with a cilinder-shaped head squinting his eyes. This new one you can actually see the helmet from the armor. There is the characteristic smoke-like mantle that indicates it is a shade. Much, much better (also... New frame > old frame).
The only thing better in the old card is the flavor text. And I do admit that the older flavor text was much better.
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Merchant Scroll made enough of a difference that they needed to restrict it in Vintage.
Interesting people like to bring it up when talking about Homelands. That card was restricted June 2008, 12 years and 8 months after Homelands was released. There were an astronomically small number of cards anyone wanted to fetch with a crippled Demonic Tutor in '95. Remember that Alliances wasn't printed yet so no Force of Will to leverage. For everyone else, it was Ancestral Recall or bust really.
I don't think the card really became interesting until 1999 or so with High Tide in Type 1.5 (Legacy or did it turn into Modern?)
Serrated Arrows was the dominant card of choice in Type II (Standard) due to the "5 cards from each set" rule at the time.
With all due respect, there was never any '5 cards from each set' rule. That's just not how it worked. I dunno why I come across that occasionally unless its strictly because PT NY worked off a modified Type II format that was used for that tourney and that tourney alone. Serrated Arrows did see some play because pump knights were premiere white and black creatures on the tourney scene and arrows shot them in the knees and ignored their protection clause.
I am happy of the Ihsan's Shade reprint because of the call back to that very era. As others have pointed out, a black critter with pro white was about the hardest kind of creature to remove that you could find. I have fond memories of Strip Mine, Hymn to Tourach, Necropotence, and Dark Ritual held together with a dash of Ivory Tower and Zuran Orb. Wouldn't have been the same without old Lord Soth here coming out of the sideboard.
Merchant Scroll made enough of a difference that they needed to restrict it in Vintage.
Interesting people like to bring it up when talking about Homelands. That card was restricted June 2008, 12 years and 8 months after Homelands was released. There were an astronomically small number of cards anyone wanted to fetch with a crippled Demonic Tutor in '95. Remember that Alliances wasn't printed yet so no Force of Will to leverage. For everyone else, it was Ancestral Recall or bust really.
I don't think the card really became interesting until 1999 or so with High Tide in Type 1.5 (Legacy or did it turn into Modern?)
Serrated Arrows was the dominant card of choice in Type II (Standard) due to the "5 cards from each set" rule at the time.
With all due respect, there was never any '5 cards from each set' rule. That's just not how it worked. I dunno why I come across that occasionally unless its strictly because PT NY worked off a modified Type II format that was used for that tourney and that tourney alone. Serrated Arrows did see some play because pump knights were premiere white and black creatures on the tourney scene and arrows shot them in the knees and ignored their protection clause.
It's the internet, since when is there respect?
Yep, I think so, NY. February 1996 but for some reason I keep thinking it was December 1995. Before Necro Summer.
When the 5 card requirement came down, I remember a ton of people were angry because everyone thought that A) it was going to be a permanent thing and B) too few of us in my playgroup could build decent enough decks around it.
Are you saying that was never an official rule? Were organizers still making their own tourney rules back then? I thought they quit doing that by the time '96 rolled around.
Are you saying that was never an official rule? Were organizers still making their own tourney rules back then? I thought they quit doing that by the time '96 rolled around.
WoTC was still experimenting with a ton of things in the early days in regards to format rules and set promotion, as is evidenced by things like early Arena seasons, Rochester draft, Ice Age/Alliances rotating out of Type II only to be put added to it again...The list goes on and on. The experiment for PT NY was an attempt to get high profile players to showcase a broad range of cards to drive sales of each set. Ultimately it failed, because instead of showcasing cards from sets like Homelands, they hid the presence of weaker sets inside the manabase via lands or with niche sideboard cards. However, even in failure, WoTC recognized the idea of holding large-scale tourneys with deck building restrictions to promote new cards was a viable marketing plan. From that concept, Block Constructed was formed.
In direct answer to your question, no. It was never an official rule outside of that one-of PT. I will offer the caveat of saying it was a bit of a wild wild west era. WoTC had only recently began supporting Type II through a B&R list and not every location was onboard. More than once we made road trips to 1,000 dollar tourneys only to find that their 'house rules' had banned Wrath of God or Hypnotic Spectre. One particular event we showed up only to be sternly warned that Ghost Ship was banned because the card was unbeatable. True story. Even locally, one of the larger stores used the B&R lists but didn't believe in errata. So if you had an original set version of a card, it played how it read as opposed to playing by the wording of its more recent printing. Ask Craig Wescoe about that one. He was hanging out at Mick's during that time.
All this by way of saying, just because WoTC standardized the game with the B&R list, that doesn't mean the game instantly became what they intended for it to be at every location all across the world.
Only so far as Scroll being the "face" for Homelands. I suspect when Scroll became a force, or shortly after, a lot of people likely became associated with its reprint, 8th I think?
You have a good point about Goblin War Drums though.
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It was uncommon in Homelands too.
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Really, the old art is just a dude chilling there with a cilinder-shaped head squinting his eyes. This new one you can actually see the helmet from the armor. There is the characteristic smoke-like mantle that indicates it is a shade. Much, much better (also... New frame > old frame).
The only thing better in the old card is the flavor text. And I do admit that the older flavor text was much better.
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Indeed it was! But man... everything felt uncommon in Homelands...
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PucaTrade with me!
The Multiplayer Power Rankings
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The N00b Cube (Peasant cube for new players) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
With all due respect, there was never any '5 cards from each set' rule. That's just not how it worked. I dunno why I come across that occasionally unless its strictly because PT NY worked off a modified Type II format that was used for that tourney and that tourney alone. Serrated Arrows did see some play because pump knights were premiere white and black creatures on the tourney scene and arrows shot them in the knees and ignored their protection clause.
I am happy of the Ihsan's Shade reprint because of the call back to that very era. As others have pointed out, a black critter with pro white was about the hardest kind of creature to remove that you could find. I have fond memories of Strip Mine, Hymn to Tourach, Necropotence, and Dark Ritual held together with a dash of Ivory Tower and Zuran Orb. Wouldn't have been the same without old Lord Soth here coming out of the sideboard.
Maaaan...Those were the days.
It's the internet, since when is there respect?
Yep, I think so, NY. February 1996 but for some reason I keep thinking it was December 1995. Before Necro Summer.
When the 5 card requirement came down, I remember a ton of people were angry because everyone thought that A) it was going to be a permanent thing and B) too few of us in my playgroup could build decent enough decks around it.
Are you saying that was never an official rule? Were organizers still making their own tourney rules back then? I thought they quit doing that by the time '96 rolled around.
WoTC was still experimenting with a ton of things in the early days in regards to format rules and set promotion, as is evidenced by things like early Arena seasons, Rochester draft, Ice Age/Alliances rotating out of Type II only to be put added to it again...The list goes on and on. The experiment for PT NY was an attempt to get high profile players to showcase a broad range of cards to drive sales of each set. Ultimately it failed, because instead of showcasing cards from sets like Homelands, they hid the presence of weaker sets inside the manabase via lands or with niche sideboard cards. However, even in failure, WoTC recognized the idea of holding large-scale tourneys with deck building restrictions to promote new cards was a viable marketing plan. From that concept, Block Constructed was formed.
In direct answer to your question, no. It was never an official rule outside of that one-of PT. I will offer the caveat of saying it was a bit of a wild wild west era. WoTC had only recently began supporting Type II through a B&R list and not every location was onboard. More than once we made road trips to 1,000 dollar tourneys only to find that their 'house rules' had banned Wrath of God or Hypnotic Spectre. One particular event we showed up only to be sternly warned that Ghost Ship was banned because the card was unbeatable. True story. Even locally, one of the larger stores used the B&R lists but didn't believe in errata. So if you had an original set version of a card, it played how it read as opposed to playing by the wording of its more recent printing. Ask Craig Wescoe about that one. He was hanging out at Mick's during that time.
All this by way of saying, just because WoTC standardized the game with the B&R list, that doesn't mean the game instantly became what they intended for it to be at every location all across the world.
Great art and I like seeing it back.
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