Hall of the Storm Giant
Land (Rare)
If you control two or more other lands, Hall of the Storm Giant enters the battlefield tapped. T: Add U. 5U: Until end of turn, Hall of the Storm Giant becomes a 7/7 blue Giant creature with ward 3. It's still a land.
They're sticking the big blue control mirror finisher on lands now? Okay.
Still not loving module showcases, though for some reason that blue works a little better than the bright red/purple from the previous two.
This being a finisher is incredibly useful when only sorceries and the rare Standard land destruction can get it. With more manlands coming out I want a manland matters commander.
They should just have stuck with Hexproof and Shroud instead of introducing another dumb unnecessary mechanic.
It feels like they couldn’t come up with actual good new ideas and now we have this.
Shroud wasn't liked by players because it also had a drawback and limited interactions.
Hexproof is strong... too strong indeed and not fun to play against.
Now they are trying with ward. Let's see what happens.
Not the first time they did this. Remember fear-->intimidate-->menace?
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How i feel about competitive players and casual players in EDH: The competitive are german tourists, the casual are italian tourists, both in a italian beach. The italians asking themselves "why are the germans here?" make a legitimate question, the answer is because the beach is beautiful, no matter the country you came from. The italians wanting to ban the germans are dumb, because if the germans pay for their stay and follow the rules like everyone else, they have the right to be in the beach. Hovewer, if the germans started to ask themselves "why are the italians here?"... they would be dumb as hell.
I think ward is neat. It adapts to Magic's complexity, adds depth to gameplay, while hexproof just killed decision making altogether : hexproof = you can't kill the damn thing. I can't complain that Hexproof is nerfed now (we see hex from specific things), all good news to me.
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Pioneer - A bunch of stuff Modern - Humans Legacy - Grixis Phoenix / Death & Taxes
I guess ward also fits into taxation strategies. Hexproof felt very one and done, like it can be found on very weak creatures making them much stronger than they actually are, or on already really strong creatures making them a powerhouse. Ward is scalable and has more design space. Ward could not just be a requirement of a mana cost, but could be damage or loss of life, forced to scaifice, put treasure tokens into play, discard a card, mill, life steel (like lose 1 & gain 1), etc...
As long as design space opens up, the keyword will continuously evolve. Maybe for the better or maybe for the worst, but it will not be stagnant like shroud or hexproof.
I like Ward more than Hexproof, and yes, they said it was becoming an evergreen mechanic. Shroud is also good but it was troublesome for newer players, unfortunately. Shroud should be brought back every now and then though,it isn't out of place in Commander or Modern-specific products if you ask me. Cards like Giant Solifuge are interesting because the upside of Shroud can be balanced out by a very low toughness, unlike with Hexproof, which is honestly quite frustrating to play against.
I don't really like this land.... it's 7 freaking mana for it to be able to attack.... 6 to activate plus itself.
and without any evasion or something.
the red one spoiled before seems a lot more playable than this.
I've wanted more marine lands with art like this for so long.
They almost delivered the perfect card, truly.
Giant instead of Kraken.
Honestly WOTC, I'm so done. Seriously.
Yeah, it bothers me too that they keep dishing out Giant's to Blue instead of like Krakens and Serpents. Nobody cares about the big dumb humanoid rave. Give us more tentacles and crab claws please!
Hmmm, ward is starting to feel like it's going to be an evergreen mechanic. First Kaldheim, then Modern Horizons 2, now here. Interesting...
Well 1) not Kaldheim it was strixhaven and 2) they outright said Ward was a new evergreen mechanic to be used along with Hexproof as they played in similar but different spaces.
“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Can it be a plan B (game 1) for Amulet Titan ? I see "tapped", I see big mana cost, in a deck that ramps back and forth with Guru lands, already plays blue (Tolaria West and co), in some games it's hard to find a Titan and this can be found off Ancient Stirrings and other cards... Just throwin this on the table.
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Pioneer - A bunch of stuff Modern - Humans Legacy - Grixis Phoenix / Death & Taxes
tell me they are stil going to make hexproof? cuz i freaking hate removal
Again, in that link I provided, they currently don't have plans on making Hexproof defunct in Standard. WotC has acknowledged both can coexist in the now and future sets.
Well 1) not Kaldheim it was strixhaven and 2) they outright said Ward was a new evergreen mechanic to be used along with Hexproof as they played in similar but different spaces.
Moving forward, we are not taking hexproof out of Magic. There are a lot of cards where hexproof has more merit than ward. A common case being on combat tricks like Ranger's Guile and Snakeskin Veil, and sometimes those big creatures that are hard to interact with are positive additions to their environments (looking at you, Carnage Tyrant). At the end of the day, we've added another tool in the toolbox and will try to use it when it best suits a card.
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“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Hall of the Storm Giant
Land (Rare)
If you control two or more other lands, Hall of the Storm Giant enters the battlefield tapped.
T: Add U.
5U: Until end of turn, Hall of the Storm Giant becomes a 7/7 blue Giant creature with ward 3. It's still a land.
They're sticking the big blue control mirror finisher on lands now? Okay.
Source: InMagic
This being a finisher is incredibly useful when only sorceries and the rare Standard land destruction can get it. With more manlands coming out I want a manland matters commander.
They almost delivered the perfect card, truly.
Giant instead of Kraken.
Honestly WOTC, I'm so done. Seriously.
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
They should just have stuck with Hexproof and Shroud instead of introducing another dumb unnecessary mechanic.
It feels like they couldn’t come up with actual good new ideas and now we have this.
Shroud wasn't liked by players because it also had a drawback and limited interactions.
Hexproof is strong... too strong indeed and not fun to play against.
Now they are trying with ward. Let's see what happens.
Not the first time they did this. Remember fear-->intimidate-->menace?
As long as design space opens up, the keyword will continuously evolve. Maybe for the better or maybe for the worst, but it will not be stagnant like shroud or hexproof.
...so there might be the possibility that this is the only member of the land cycle that won't see play in Modern?
At least in comparison, Celestial Colonnade costs 1 mana less to activate and has Vigilance (so you can still cast counterspells with it later).
and without any evasion or something.
the red one spoiled before seems a lot more playable than this.
To come into play untapped as up to the 3rd land drop ?
This only comes into play untapped as your first or second land. If it's your third land, it comes into play tapped.
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Yeah, it bothers me too that they keep dishing out Giant's to Blue instead of like Krakens and Serpents. Nobody cares about the big dumb humanoid rave. Give us more tentacles and crab claws please!
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Well 1) not Kaldheim it was strixhaven and 2) they outright said Ward was a new evergreen mechanic to be used along with Hexproof as they played in similar but different spaces.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
They already publicly announced over three months ago that Ward is evergreen in its introduction in Strixhaven.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/card-preview/introducing-ward-2021-03-25
Again, in that link I provided, they currently don't have plans on making Hexproof defunct in Standard. WotC has acknowledged both can coexist in the now and future sets.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/card-preview/introducing-ward-2021-03-25
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
if they keep this scenario cragplate will be the only one after rotation in standard, on arena...which look kinda sad
p.s. i'm not counting effects that give you hexproof for one turn, i'm talking about real hexproof