Super disappointed in the showing of Slivers and Snow.
This set felt super safe, and not in a good way at all. I hope when we make it to Kaldheim, there will be some interesting snow cards. Maybe we can get Slivers again in a Core set a year or two from now, who knows. A lot of this set felt not efficient enough for Modern, despite the powerful cards, hence the Commander Masters moniker, and it definitely holds true. Will there be cards that see play in Modern? Absolutely, and quite a few at that. At the same time, a few knobs turned on a bunch of cards and they’d see play in Modern too.
I feel a bit let down. Maybe my hopes were unrealistic. I feel like if all the archetypes got the kind of love and playability the RG lands cards did, the set would be better. As it is, I consider this set to be a bit of a letdown.
When they designed Fountain of Ichor, they had to know fans were going to assume Phyrexians had something to do with it.
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MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
Super disappointed in the showing of Slivers and Snow.
This set felt super safe, and not in a good way at all. I hope when we make it to Kaldheim, there will be some interesting snow cards. Maybe we can get Slivers again in a Core set a year or two from now, who knows. A lot of this set felt not efficient enough for Modern, despite the powerful cards, hence the Commander Masters moniker, and it definitely holds true. Will there be cards that see play in Modern? Absolutely, and quite a few at that. At the same time, a few knobs turned on a bunch of cards and they’d see play in Modern too.
I feel a bit let down. Maybe my hopes were unrealistic. I feel like if all the archetypes got the kind of love and playability the RG lands cards did, the set would be better. As it is, I consider this set to be a bit of a letdown.
The only way you could really be let down by this set is if your expectations were unrealistic. It will change every format it's legal in to some degree. There's solid cards at all rarities, creative and interesting cards to explore, and it brings back a ton of mechanics with new twists. It may not make every archetype in Modern better, but if it did we'd be back at where we started. Any set that doesn't immediately break a format will be seen as safe, right? This thing is fine.
Someone asked Mark Rosewater (either on Twitter or his Blogatog tumblr account, I can’t remember which), if the fact that we’ve just gotten Slivers in Modern Horizons makes it slim-to-0 percent we’re getting them in Standard in the foreseeable future, he said it doesn’t preclude them from Standard sets, in the foreseeable future. I found that interesting.
Super disappointed in the showing of Slivers and Snow.
This set felt super safe, and not in a good way at all. I hope when we make it to Kaldheim, there will be some interesting snow cards. Maybe we can get Slivers again in a Core set a year or two from now, who knows. A lot of this set felt not efficient enough for Modern, despite the powerful cards, hence the Commander Masters moniker, and it definitely holds true. Will there be cards that see play in Modern? Absolutely, and quite a few at that. At the same time, a few knobs turned on a bunch of cards and they’d see play in Modern too.
I feel a bit let down. Maybe my hopes were unrealistic. I feel like if all the archetypes got the kind of love and playability the RG lands cards did, the set would be better. As it is, I consider this set to be a bit of a letdown.
The only way you could really be let down by this set is if your expectations were unrealistic. It will change every format it's legal in to some degree. There's solid cards at all rarities, creative and interesting cards to explore, and it brings back a ton of mechanics with new twists. It may not make every archetype in Modern better, but if it did we'd be back at where we started. Any set that doesn't immediately break a format will be seen as safe, right? This thing is fine.
i disagree, another way you can be let down is by looking at the price tag
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Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
Someone asked Mark Rosewater (either on Twitter or his Blogatog tumblr account, I can’t remember which), if the fact that we’ve just gotten Slivers in Modern Horizons makes it slim-to-0 percent we’re getting them in Standard in the foreseeable future, he said it doesn’t preclude them from Standard sets, in the foreseeable future. I found that interesting.
Or it’s Maro being Maro.
He always gives the answer that gives the readers hope but never confirmation so they can’t come back with ‘you lied’ when the hope he allowed was unfounded.
I’m sure his answer about snow or ninjas or cycling or changeling or anything else would be the same.
This doesn't mean the dream of Mecha-T-Rexes terrorizing the Ixalan countryside is dead though, just that they won't have infect
Well this is just bad naming. Ichor is almost always used to refer to Phyrexian Oil in Magic and thst flavor text sounds ominous. Is ichor even used irl to refer to regualr oil?
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"Pop in, find a dragon, roast a dragon."
-Chandra Nalaar
This doesn't mean the dream of Mecha-T-Rexes terrorizing the Ixalan countryside is dead though, just that they won't have infect
Well this is just bad naming. Ichor is almost always used to refer to Phyrexian Oil in Magic and thst flavor text sounds ominous. Is ichor even used irl to refer to regualr oil?
It's an irregular use of the word's meaning, but not wrong?
In the 'a watery discharge from a wound' definition.
Realize there is no 'in real life' use for an ancient Greek term for Godblood. All uses are going to be fairly out of use.
I'm disappointed they didn't take the opportunity to spoil the future story arc by hinting at it in the flavor text of a common card spoiled without fanfare.
First Sliver's Chosen is, I think, the first time we've gotten a sliver with a name more complex than "[adjective] Sliver" or "[noun] Sliver".
(Or "Sliver [noun]" for the legendaries.)
Recruit the Worthy is so close to being WSprout Swarm, but convoke makes all the difference. And I'm sad that my Rhys can't run double Sprout Swarms.
Ichor = the phyrexian oil which is what corrupted karn on Morrison till vensor sacrificed himself to save him
I don’t believe the phyrexians May have finally cracked it on traveling though planes
Yes, and the point people keep repeating is that WotC has repeatedly stated that it's normal oil on Fountain of Ichor. No Phyrexians on Ixalan.
"Ichor" originally meant the blood of the gods in Greek mythology, or anything similar. It's no stretch to think that the Sun Empire dug a well, found regular oil, and thought it might be similar to the blood of the sun god they worship.
Also, there are non-Phyrexian uses of the term "ichor" in Magic: Ichor Slick and Ichorid aren't related to Phyrexia.
Creeping Tar Pit and the rest of the Zendikar man lands are different as the Roil can can the creation of elementals, which is what those lands become. Ixalan has, to my knowledge, no such environmental phenomenon like the Roil, so unless the Sun Empire found out a way to animate artifacts, the ability is out of place for the setting.
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Currently Playing:
Standard - Some kind of control
Modern - UB Mill (casual)
EDH - Meren's Grave Shenanigans
Ichor = the phyrexian oil which is what corrupted karn on Morrison till vensor sacrificed himself to save him
I don’t believe the phyrexians May have finally cracked it on traveling though planes
Yes, and the point people keep repeating is that WotC has repeatedly stated that it's normal oil on Fountain of Ichor. No Phyrexians on Ixalan.
And lots of people are predictably, and somewhat justifiably, very annoyed by this because there's no good reason to name it Fountain of Ichor if they didn't want to invoke speculation - the word doesn't even have anything to do with oil outside of MTG's use of it as an alias for Glistening Oil. If you draw your definition from English in general, it's a badly chosen nonsense name. If you draw your definition from the context of MTG, it's yet another obnoxious red-herring meant to stir speculation, which I would have thought they would learn to do better or not do at all by now.
Edit: Ichorid references the correct, actual English meaning. Ichor Slick is very likely to be The Oil, actually, as the presence of trace elements of the Phyrexian invasion was a significant thematic part of Future Sight and Time Spiral - here's an article about the constant evocation of the Mask of Yawgmoth.
This doesn't mean the dream of Mecha-T-Rexes terrorizing the Ixalan countryside is dead though, just that they won't have infect
This set felt super safe, and not in a good way at all. I hope when we make it to Kaldheim, there will be some interesting snow cards. Maybe we can get Slivers again in a Core set a year or two from now, who knows. A lot of this set felt not efficient enough for Modern, despite the powerful cards, hence the Commander Masters moniker, and it definitely holds true. Will there be cards that see play in Modern? Absolutely, and quite a few at that. At the same time, a few knobs turned on a bunch of cards and they’d see play in Modern too.
I feel a bit let down. Maybe my hopes were unrealistic. I feel like if all the archetypes got the kind of love and playability the RG lands cards did, the set would be better. As it is, I consider this set to be a bit of a letdown.
It's been confirmed to be dinosaur goo.
Soon to power Ixalan vehicles!
Eyekite looks like something out of an Unset.
Unearth would work really well as a Phyrexian mechanic. Grixis might want to watch out come our next trip to Alara...
Mob's flavor is a little confusing. The Humans are monstrous for ganging up on a werewolf and killing it with pitchforks?
Lol @ Putrid Goblin's flavor text.
Viashino Sandsprinter is a neat tweak on the Viashino Sandstalker archetype. The added Trample makes a big difference.
When they designed Fountain of Ichor, they had to know fans were going to assume Phyrexians had something to do with it.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
The only way you could really be let down by this set is if your expectations were unrealistic. It will change every format it's legal in to some degree. There's solid cards at all rarities, creative and interesting cards to explore, and it brings back a ton of mechanics with new twists. It may not make every archetype in Modern better, but if it did we'd be back at where we started. Any set that doesn't immediately break a format will be seen as safe, right? This thing is fine.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)Thanks WotC.
Or it’s Maro being Maro.
He always gives the answer that gives the readers hope but never confirmation so they can’t come back with ‘you lied’ when the hope he allowed was unfounded.
I’m sure his answer about snow or ninjas or cycling or changeling or anything else would be the same.
Not New Phyrexia, more like Beverly Hillbillies. It's plain ol' oil, as stated in Alison Luhrs' tweet linked above.
So instead of compleation, we can look forward to massive deforestation and smog-filled skies. And factories as far as the eye can see!
That's a bit unfair, really.
If they called it Fountain of Oil, people would be linking to glistening oil and making the same phyrexian predictions.
WotC wanted to have actual, real-world oil in a setting and the phyrexians are associated with their oil.
-Chandra Nalaar
In the 'a watery discharge from a wound' definition.
Realize there is no 'in real life' use for an ancient Greek term for Godblood. All uses are going to be fairly out of use.
(Or "Sliver [noun]" for the legendaries.)
Recruit the Worthy is so close to being W Sprout Swarm, but convoke makes all the difference. And I'm sad that my Rhys can't run double Sprout Swarms.
Iceberg Cancrix is just wintertime Hedron Crab.
Hmm... I run a Gravedigger in my Varina EDH. But do I want to run two?
Now every tribe has a Ghoulcaller's Chant/March of the Drowned!
Is that seriously a bad pun and reference to Turg? I thought he was the character that time forgot.
Interesting that there's only two hybrid cards.
I would not have expected a card named Fountain of Ichor to be an Ixalan-flavored card.
With foutain of ichor
Here’s why
https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Glistening_oil
Ichor = the phyrexian oil which is what corrupted karn on Morrison till vensor sacrificed himself to save him
I don’t believe the phyrexians May have finally cracked it on traveling though planes
Is it surprising considering that Creeping Tar Pit exists?
Yes, and the point people keep repeating is that WotC has repeatedly stated that it's normal oil on Fountain of Ichor. No Phyrexians on Ixalan.
"Ichor" originally meant the blood of the gods in Greek mythology, or anything similar. It's no stretch to think that the Sun Empire dug a well, found regular oil, and thought it might be similar to the blood of the sun god they worship.
Also, there are non-Phyrexian uses of the term "ichor" in Magic: Ichor Slick and Ichorid aren't related to Phyrexia.
Creeping Tar Pit and the rest of the Zendikar man lands are different as the Roil can can the creation of elementals, which is what those lands become. Ixalan has, to my knowledge, no such environmental phenomenon like the Roil, so unless the Sun Empire found out a way to animate artifacts, the ability is out of place for the setting.
Standard - Some kind of control
Modern - UB Mill (casual)
EDH - Meren's Grave Shenanigans
And lots of people are predictably, and somewhat justifiably, very annoyed by this because there's no good reason to name it Fountain of Ichor if they didn't want to invoke speculation - the word doesn't even have anything to do with oil outside of MTG's use of it as an alias for Glistening Oil. If you draw your definition from English in general, it's a badly chosen nonsense name. If you draw your definition from the context of MTG, it's yet another obnoxious red-herring meant to stir speculation, which I would have thought they would learn to do better or not do at all by now.
Edit: Ichorid references the correct, actual English meaning. Ichor Slick is very likely to be The Oil, actually, as the presence of trace elements of the Phyrexian invasion was a significant thematic part of Future Sight and Time Spiral - here's an article about the constant evocation of the Mask of Yawgmoth.
Most Used (of many dozens) EDH Decks:
Brago, King Eternal - Stax
Grenzo, Dungeon Warden - Aggro Combo
Wort, the Raidmother - Spellslinger Swarm Control
Animar, Soul of Elements - Tempo Combo
Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder - Spellslinger
Exodia the Forbidden One:
Oona, Queen of the Fae - Combowins.dec