It's going to be something along the lines of "the original card is very old, also it's some sort of card advantage in white and that's really rare nowadays"
Not really. Every color gets card advantage through different means, besides just combat (which is harder for white because smaller creatures, but, suffice to say, my 3/3 blocking your 2/2 is card advantage for me). For white, it's mostly boardwipes and token generators, which you could argue aren't card advantage, but are threat advantage, i.e. creating four soldier tokens is worth twice as much as creating two soldier tokens. (And of course, every color gets flashback and related mechanics as another source of card advantage.)
For Land Tax in particular, the question would be, how often does white get ramp? More importantly, how often does white need ramp? White can search for a plains, and presumably any artifact land because it's an artifact, but generally not other lands. White, like every color, has access to mana rocks as well.
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
Tidespout Tyrant looks great and is a solid reprint.
Diabolic Intent is a nice reprint as well.
Land Tax is excellent. It's only real problem is (wait for it) that it should be rare.
Stolen Strategy looks like a fun way for red to get some sort of card advantage in EDH.
Game Plan is solid. A fun political card that is only moderately over costed if nobody bites.
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EDH Decks UWB Oloro, Ageless Ascetic's spring of life RUG Animar, Soul of the Elements and friends... lots of them WBG Karador king of two worlds (value and attrition) WRKalemne's Angels BRUG Yidris's Wild Party UWBR Breya's Terrifying Tinker Toys UBRThe Pretender
Diabolic Intent about bloody time. Those are over $30 around here, it's crazy.
Land Tax with judge art = :banana:, foil version of Vet Explorer and so on also amazing.
This set is doing very well for itself, glad I'll be playing it.
I'm pretty sure the only reason they made Land Tax a mythic is due to the choice of art. It's definitely not a mythic by any stretch of the word otherwise, and this is coming from someone who played with it back in the day. On the upside at least they didn't make Diabolic Intent a mythic.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Land Tax at mythic is really just about not wanting to piss off people who own that card (particularly with that art) too much by tanking its value. Plus it's a card with little play value in Limited. It's good in Limited, but not particularly fun or interesting, and it leads to a lot of shuffling which is bad gameplay. Mythic rarity exists pretty much to stick cards that people will want for Constructed but which are irrelevant in Limited, plus a mythic Land tax in a modern unlimited-run normal-price set = way more of those in circulation than there are Legends or 4th Edition ones even if it was a regular rare in 4th Edition.
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On average, Magic players are worse at new card evaluation than almost every other skill, except perhaps sideboarding.
With these types of reprints and the bonus of getting both partners in a pack including FOILS, they are definately pushing for high sales
Actually, I'm looking at thinngrgs from the opposite direction.
When you join a two-headed giant draft with battlebond, you are getting less product than you are normally getting (4 packs between 2 players instead of 3 for yourself for draft... or 6 packs between 2 players vs 6 for yourself for sealed).
In spite of this, wizards still wants every player to feel that they are getting something out of the experience. Between bomb rares, double rares, premium uncommons, and (supposedly) less draft chaff, each player (theoretically) ends up with similar levels of value despite getting less product.
Of course, since the price of packs hasn't increased to account for this value, this would imply cracking packs may actually have a decent chance of getting you value (at least compared with recent sets).
...not that I'd really believe that until I see the statistics to prove it.
WotC appear to try to redeem themselves (I know, it's still early since Battlebond is just being spoiled)!
Not really. Every color gets card advantage through different means, besides just combat (which is harder for white because smaller creatures, but, suffice to say, my 3/3 blocking your 2/2 is card advantage for me). For white, it's mostly boardwipes and token generators, which you could argue aren't card advantage, but are threat advantage, i.e. creating four soldier tokens is worth twice as much as creating two soldier tokens. (And of course, every color gets flashback and related mechanics as another source of card advantage.)
For Land Tax in particular, the question would be, how often does white get ramp? More importantly, how often does white need ramp? White can search for a plains, and presumably any artifact land because it's an artifact, but generally not other lands. White, like every color, has access to mana rocks as well.
On phasing:
Diabolic Intent is a nice reprint as well.
Land Tax is excellent. It's only real problem is (wait for it) that it should be rare.
Stolen Strategy looks like a fun way for red to get some sort of card advantage in EDH.
Game Plan is solid. A fun political card that is only moderately over costed if nobody bites.
EDH Decks
UWB Oloro, Ageless Ascetic's spring of life
RUG Animar, Soul of the Elements and friends... lots of them
WBG Karador king of two worlds (value and attrition)
WRKalemne's Angels
BRUG Yidris's Wild Party
UWBR Breya's Terrifying Tinker Toys
UBR The Pretender
I'm pretty sure the only reason they made Land Tax a mythic is due to the choice of art. It's definitely not a mythic by any stretch of the word otherwise, and this is coming from someone who played with it back in the day. On the upside at least they didn't make Diabolic Intent a mythic.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
My 720 Peasant Cube
Actually, I'm looking at thinngrgs from the opposite direction.
When you join a two-headed giant draft with battlebond, you are getting less product than you are normally getting (4 packs between 2 players instead of 3 for yourself for draft... or 6 packs between 2 players vs 6 for yourself for sealed).
In spite of this, wizards still wants every player to feel that they are getting something out of the experience. Between bomb rares, double rares, premium uncommons, and (supposedly) less draft chaff, each player (theoretically) ends up with similar levels of value despite getting less product.
Of course, since the price of packs hasn't increased to account for this value, this would imply cracking packs may actually have a decent chance of getting you value (at least compared with recent sets).
...not that I'd really believe that until I see the statistics to prove it.