I loved the original Innistrad, and it was amazingly fun for constructed. I look at these new cards, and it's just so unfun/bad for compared to the 1st Innistrad to me. Am I crazy though? I would love to hear your take on it all!
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Modern:
Affinity
Naya Burn
Merfolk
White Blue Midrange
Boggles
Grixis Delver
Esper Control(It's semi playable, believe it or not! Dont bring it to a tourny you care about winning though)
Really poorly set up poll. No semblance of balance.
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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.
- Manite
I loved the original Innistrad, and it was amazingly fun for constructed. I look at these new cards, and it's just so unfun/bad for compared to the 1st Innistrad to me. Am I crazy though? I would love to hear your take on it all!
I used to think the last set was the worst set ever printed. I mean, Wizards spent so much of Oath catering to noobs and scrubs and edh fools. Before that, Return to Zendikar was the worst set ever. They completely ruined that plane! Other than that, the worst set ever was Magic Origins. Duel-face Planeswalkers are stupid and Jace is too expensive. Past that, the worst set ever was Dragons of Tarkir. Time travel plots are crap and they're just copying Doctor Who. Other than those, the worst set ever was Fate Reforged. Whole set was just made for limited and EDH. Other than all of those, the worst set ever...
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Level 1 Judge
"I hope to have such a death... lying in triumph atop the broken bodies of those who slew me..."
You don't call "dying to removal" if the removal is more expensive in resources than the creature. If you have to spend BG (Abrupt Decay), or W + basic land (PtE) to remove a 1G, that is not "dying to removal". Strictly speaking Goyf dies to removal, but actually your removal is dying to Goyf.
Hahahaha, I laughed really hard at your poll options man. Basically:
- So, do you think the set is good?
- Or... you agree with me?
- You agree with me a lot!
- You REALLY agree with me! Thanks buddy!
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.
Would you like to read Commander stories? Check my latest stories, coming from Lorwyn and Innistrad: Ghoulcaller Gisa and Doran, The Siege Tower! If you like my writing, ask me to write something for your commander as well!
This set isn't as good as Innistrad 1.0, but it is a hell of a step in the right direction for good set design. No the power level isn't crazy, but it is better spread throughout(No Abzan hogging all the good stuff). Flavor is pretty darn good and mechanics are more interesting than the past few years(I would rather expand upon or bring back old liked mechanics than explore all the ways to put a +1/+1 counter on a creature).
Well, I like this set a lot. It has tons of cool and fun looking synergies with lots of flavor in a setting that is legitimately interesting. On top of all that, the cards themselves have a power level that is reasonably high. It feels comfortably nestled between just being a set of decent cards and the power of the original Innistrad while bringing back some of the same themes players loved. This is a fine set in my eyes. I can only hope that Eldritch Moon can follow up to be just as fine.
To quote another poster on these forums: This is a return set done right.
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"Pop in, find a dragon, roast a dragon."
-Chandra Nalaar
The set seems fun, is a flavour homerun in many ways and as an EDH-player I have gotten a bunch of new toys. The poll is meh and killed voting for me.
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Rules Advisor
Unless some obviously amazing cards have passed me by, I'm disappointed with the low power level of this set.
However, thematically, taken on its own - the set look fantastic. Limited looks great. So I'm willing to overlook the drastic weakening of the cards since the last Innistrad.
Unfortunately magic has been in a steep decline. KTK was an exception, arguably because of delve being a naturally strong mechanic and gold cards being usually very efficient.
Theros, BFZ and now SOI are of a mediocre power level. I take the ulvenwald hydra as the uttermost example of that. That card is so much worse, SO MUCH WORSE than primeval titan that I can't even comprehend how they both are placed in the same rarity. The hydra should be rare... or more powerful than it is. I do think the set looks nice, thematically, and I will play in the pre-release, but if I win any box or boosters I will probably just sell them. Better than opening bad cards.
P.S.: there are very few exceptions to this rule, Sin Prodder being a card that I'm excited to see in Modern, for instance.
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Would you like to read Commander stories? Check my latest stories, coming from Lorwyn and Innistrad: Ghoulcaller Gisa and Doran, The Siege Tower! If you like my writing, ask me to write something for your commander as well!
Unless some obviously amazing cards have passed me by, I'm disappointed with the low power level of this set.
However, thematically, taken on its own - the set look fantastic. Limited looks great. So I'm willing to overlook the drastic weakening of the cards since the last Innistrad.
Unfortunately magic has been in a steep decline. KTK was an exception, arguably because of delve being a naturally strong mechanic and gold cards being usually very efficient.
Theros, BFZ and now SOI are of a mediocre power level. I take the ulvenwald hydra as the uttermost example of that. That card is so much worse, SO MUCH WORSE than primeval titan that I can't even comprehend how they both are placed in the same rarity. The hydra should be rare... or more powerful than it is. I do think the set looks nice, thematically, and I will play in the pre-release, but if I win any box or boosters I will probably just sell them. Better than opening bad cards.
P.S.: there are very few exceptions to this rule, Sin Prodder being a card that I'm excited to see in Modern, for instance.
You are aware that Primeval Titan is banned in a constructed format right? Prime Time is a very powerful card. If you want all mythics to be at least as good as Prime Time, you are going to have a bad time. Hell, even when Prime Time was printed, most mythics weren't as good as Prime Time.
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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.
- Manite
You are aware that Primeval Titan is banned in a constructed format right? Prime Time is a very powerful card. If you want all mythics to be at least as good as Prime Time, you are going to have a bad time. Hell, even when Prime Time was printed, most mythics weren't as good as Prime Time.
This constructed format being the joke that is EDH multiplayer with a banlist that allows sol ring but bans rofellos?
Anyway, I didn't say every mythic should be like Prime Time... I said that there is a clear decline in power level and that the hydra immediately calls for the prime time comparison, which makes this decline even more evident. Just compare the fact that core sets had the titans as their mythic cycles, and they were changed for the 'souls of [name of the plane]'. And all the souls don't hold a candle to the titans, literally ALL titans are better than any ONE individual soul. We don't have one mana elves, one mana cantrips, good 2 mana rocks or ramp spells, decent burn spells, etc. etc. etc. Magic of nowadays simply can't compete with magic of 5 years ago or so.
Would you like to read Commander stories? Check my latest stories, coming from Lorwyn and Innistrad: Ghoulcaller Gisa and Doran, The Siege Tower! If you like my writing, ask me to write something for your commander as well!
Hard to explain.. the spike in me is somewhat dissapointed everything seems slow and wonky. But the johnny in me is already ticking away trying to work out how to make these cards work together in interesting new ways, everything is so weird it's not immediately obvious how to make them fit together (other than RB vampires). The Vothos in me Wow.. just wow.
I pretty much got nothing to replace the cards leaving my standard deck (esper dragons) with khans. There is straight up no good card draw to replace Dig, there is to the slaughter at least. I am going to have to go some mana base wrangling to see if I can still cast Ojutai in a timely manner.
The prospect of a new deck though, both excites me and scares my wallet, too many of these decks are based around mythics. Also nothing is immediately obvious it feels like a lot of deck ideas are just missing something, there is no reanimation on the level of unburial rites and in that format you had 1 drop mana dorks. What am I reanimating anyway? is there some kind of dredgeish deck going on in this format? how do I use the zombies properly? is there any madness cards that are really worth it? these are questions I will mull over and we will see if this format has legs or will it simply be non viable. Kind of the way Theros looked until the pro tour and mono blue devotion showed that the sets mechanics had legs.
Anyway, I didn't say every mythic should be like Prime Time... I said that there is a clear decline in power level and that the hydra immediately calls for the prime time comparison, which makes this decline even more evident. Just compare the fact that core sets had the titans as their mythic cycles, and they were changed for the 'souls of [name of the plane]'. And all the souls don't hold a candle to the titans, literally ALL titans are better than any ONE individual soul. We don't have one mana elves, one mana cantrips, good 2 mana rocks or ramp spells, decent burn spells, etc. etc. etc. Magic of nowadays simply can't compete with magic of 5 years ago or so.
The Titans were designed to be the most powerful 6-drops ever printed. That was there goal. They achieved that goal, and warped standard around them. You shouldn't be comparing things to the Titans.
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.
- Manite
is this poll awful, really bad, or just kind of not good?
yeah. this set isn't anything i'm disappointed in, but at the same time i'm not rushing out to buy cases of the ***** either. its solidly average, and thats okay.
I think it's alright. The only thing I can clearly say I'm disappointed in are most of the mythics. The two green mythics seem decent, but fit the exact same casting cost slot which bothers me, and both red mythics seem under powered for their casting cost. The hound might turn out okay with more madness enabling, but the angel has too much downside. Yet another Jace, and another blue zombie monster that hopefully is better than the mythic Skaab from Innistrad.
The black and white mythics look the best, in my opinion.
EDIT: I don't mean just for money, by the way. I mean variety and usability. There's a lot to like about this set, but I like a lot of the rares and even uncommons/commons better than some of the mythics.
Its fine. It's about on-par with Oath, which was a competent set, and miles ahead of BFZ (Which is perhaps the worst Fall set I can remember, and shares company with Born of the Gods and Dragon's Maze as far as relevance is concerned). It's not as good as original Innistrad, which to be frank is a very difficult thing to do.
The Good:
Some interesting cards to toy with. I'm a fan of Sin Prodder, Mindwrack Demon, Heir of Falkenrath, Lightning Axe, Fiery Temper, and Incorrigible Youths. The 2/1 for R is very intriguing; I never thought we would get to the point where *that* would be allowable (GIven that burn is so horrid right now, it's not small wonder; that said I'm concerned this is encroaching on White's space a bit much to be frank, and red has been losing part of its identity). There are others in other colors other people are excited about. So I can firmly say there are about 10 or so cards I'm *really* excited to play, and another 30 or so that make me want to try them at some point. Which is fair enough.
The flavor is also incredibly good, and they've done a great job creating the mystery around everything. The hints given so far will probably allow for a satisfying ending when Eldritch Moon comes along.
The bad:
I will say they played very safe with many of the designs. The new hydra is... meh, to say the least, for a Mythic. I don't think we want Prime Time back, but frankly I just don't see the point of this card at all. It so closely mimics the Titan that it's obvious who this is geared at, but does such a poor job at this imitation that it just doesn't get anyone excited. It's not so much that the card is bad (It is), it's that there is no reasonable way to design the card and make it interesting. I would never have printed it, and really should have been redesigned (Given that it's a very disappointing card due to what it is obviously going to be compared to). The transform ability is pretty much the same as it was before. A few interesing transform triggers, but that's about it. That said, they seem to have once again fairly imbalanced some of the abilities (*sigh*). Madness/Delerium (Specifically B/R) look like the all-stars that the most depth was put into, in both limited and constructed. Clues, while cute, are just glorified cantrips. I don't hate the design of the cards, and some may see play, but it's hard to do anything beyond just value. Most of the transform cards are not going to cut it in constructed formats.
The Ugly:
Removal for midrange threats is very, very bad. Incredibly bad. There is very little that can deal with, say, Gitrog Monster in constructed currently. 5 Toughness is going to be hard to deal with, 6 almost impossible. Meanwhile, aggro is going to get stomped in Standard. GIven the sheer number of 4/5s and 2/3s in the format, I just see dudes bouncing off of dudes for the next few months and it being an utter grind fest for the immediate future. Could be wrong, but it really seems like it'll be hard to break parity when you get there.
The FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WHY?
Jace is back, with one of the least interesting set of abilities I could envision for him. I just don't see the reason why this Planeswalker card *needed* to exist. It doesn't really evoke whatever the hell he doing in the set very well, it's a pretty standard fair set of abilities, and JACE HAS HAD SIX BLOODY CARDS ALREADY! Did we *really* need a seventh, one which is perhaps the most vanilla blue-flavored planeswalker that has ever been created (Which is saying * alot* given some of his previous iterations).
Overall, if I were to rate the set I'd give it a B-, or a 7/10. Nothing to write home about, but enough welcomed changes and additions. It's strange to think, but what has me most excited for Shadows has nothing to do with the set itself. I'm far more excited for rotation at this point.
This set is amazing. The flavour is oozing through the cards, we have quite a few good cards and the limited environment seems cool. Of course it had some misses, but I feel that this is truly one of the best sets printed in recent years.
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Thanks to DNC at Heroes of the plane studios for this awesome sig and SGT_Chubbz for the awesome avy. Check out the Shop Thread
This set is great, and it does a great job of invoking Innistrad's flavor, unlike say....oh I don't know...BFZ! I skipped BFZ block completely. This set I will draft the heck out of.
Removal for midrange threats is very, very bad. Incredibly bad. There is very little that can deal with, say, Gitrog Monster in constructed currently. 5 Toughness is going to be hard to deal with, 6 almost impossible. Meanwhile, aggro is going to get stomped in Standard. GIven the sheer number of 4/5s and 2/3s in the format, I just see dudes bouncing off of dudes for the next few months and it being an utter grind fest for the immediate future. Could be wrong, but it really seems like it'll be hard to break parity when you get there.
I feel like some people have no concept of power creep whatsoever. I want more titans. There isn't a vintage staple in every set waa. It looks like its going to be a fun standard and most cards are really cool designs, or at least flavorful cards, Innistrad 2 was a home run imo. BFZ not so much, and oath was kinda boring, but with eldrazi in modern and legacy, why are people still complaining about BFZ's power level?
For all the hate on the hydra, don't compare it to primeval titan, even though the text is reminiscent of the titan, compare it to other mythic hydras, most ******* suck. Hydras by and large are terrible worthless jank. (polukranos and kalonian hydra being the exceptions)
You are aware that Primeval Titan is banned in a constructed format right? Prime Time is a very powerful card. If you want all mythics to be at least as good as Prime Time, you are going to have a bad time. Hell, even when Prime Time was printed, most mythics weren't as good as Prime Time.
This constructed format being the joke that is EDH multiplayer with a banlist that allows sol ring but bans rofellos?
Anyway, I didn't say every mythic should be like Prime Time... I said that there is a clear decline in power level and that the hydra immediately calls for the prime time comparison, which makes this decline even more evident. Just compare the fact that core sets had the titans as their mythic cycles, and they were changed for the 'souls of [name of the plane]'. And all the souls don't hold a candle to the titans, literally ALL titans are better than any ONE individual soul. We don't have one mana elves, one mana cantrips, good 2 mana rocks or ramp spells, decent burn spells, etc. etc. etc. Magic of nowadays simply can't compete with magic of 5 years ago or so.
So basically, you want Magic to be a stagnant game that is the same every year with the same mana dorks, the same cantrips, the same mana rocks, the same burn spells every single year after year? Because that's what you're proposing. WOTC is tinkering with numbers and placement a bit to allow different styles of standard, and people like you keep claiming "It's not the same so it sucks". The constant flux keeps the game (especially standard) fresh, whether you play standard or not, THAT is what they cater to.
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My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
How is Standard fresh? Standard is always about creatures and planeswalkers, and normally turning creatures sideways at that. Every now and then they make a combo card like Ascendency, and even then it needs creatures. No mana denial, prison cards or spell based combo means that one standard looks the same as another to me. T Cruise and Dig were the exceptions since RTR block. The enchantment block Theros was all about.....creatures. There is diversity in Standard in only superficial ways.
The refusal to print any spells at 1 and 2cc makes the older formats, and especially Modern, stagnant full of linear strategies that they won't print cheap new hosers for. Legacy looks after itself to a large extent has answers for everything and tutoring, but their vision of Standard actually hurts Modern whilst providing a Standard that feels the same.
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People with belligerent signatures are trying to compensate for something....
Here's your MTG fact of the day: You can't have a new set without someone complaining that it's the "worst set ever," "totally suck," or "is just a terrible set." This set looks flavorful, fun, and I look forward to playing it in limited. It's not perfect -- just like every other set.
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Currently running in EDH: WUBRG: Karona - Chaos towards Divine Intervention ** WUBRG: Karona - God Tribal ** WB: Teysa - Angels, Wrath, and Return from GY ** UB: Szadek - Control and Mill ** RWU: Zedruu - Everyone Draws Cards ** BUG: Damia - Gorgon Voltron Ramp ** URG: Animar - ETB effects and Beatdown ** WUB: Sharuum - Lots of Artifacts UG: Edric - Tribal Rogues ** W: Odric - Tribal Soldiers ** B: Shirei - Shadowborn Apostle Deck ** RB: Tymaret - Kill all the things!
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I loved the original Innistrad, and it was amazingly fun for constructed. I look at these new cards, and it's just so unfun/bad for compared to the 1st Innistrad to me. Am I crazy though? I would love to hear your take on it all!
Affinity
Naya Burn
Merfolk
White Blue Midrange
Boggles
Grixis Delver
Esper Control(It's semi playable, believe it or not! Dont bring it to a tourny you care about winning though)
Legacy:
Miracles
Deathblade
- Manite
I used to think the last set was the worst set ever printed. I mean, Wizards spent so much of Oath catering to noobs and scrubs and edh fools. Before that, Return to Zendikar was the worst set ever. They completely ruined that plane! Other than that, the worst set ever was Magic Origins. Duel-face Planeswalkers are stupid and Jace is too expensive. Past that, the worst set ever was Dragons of Tarkir. Time travel plots are crap and they're just copying Doctor Who. Other than those, the worst set ever was Fate Reforged. Whole set was just made for limited and EDH. Other than all of those, the worst set ever...
"I hope to have such a death... lying in triumph atop the broken bodies of those who slew me..."
- So, do you think the set is good?
- Or... you agree with me?
- You agree with me a lot!
- You REALLY agree with me! Thanks buddy!
Read my other stories as well (some ongoing):
Reaper King (a horror story), Kaalia of the Vast (an origin story), Sequels for Innistrad (Alternative sequels for Inn), Grey Areas (Odric's fanfic), Royal Succession (goblins),The Tracker's Message (eldrazi on Innistrad) and Ugin and his Eye (the end of OGW).
I Stream MTGO on Twitch: broodwarjc
I also post recordings of those streams on Youtube: broodwarjcavidgamer
Standard Deck:
BUPirates
Modern Deck:
B8-Rack
To quote another poster on these forums: This is a return set done right.
-Chandra Nalaar
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Any new cool Daretti cards printed in the latest set? Tell me about it!
Rules Advisor
Theros, BFZ and now SOI are of a mediocre power level. I take the ulvenwald hydra as the uttermost example of that. That card is so much worse, SO MUCH WORSE than primeval titan that I can't even comprehend how they both are placed in the same rarity. The hydra should be rare... or more powerful than it is. I do think the set looks nice, thematically, and I will play in the pre-release, but if I win any box or boosters I will probably just sell them. Better than opening bad cards.
P.S.: there are very few exceptions to this rule, Sin Prodder being a card that I'm excited to see in Modern, for instance.
Read my other stories as well (some ongoing):
Reaper King (a horror story), Kaalia of the Vast (an origin story), Sequels for Innistrad (Alternative sequels for Inn), Grey Areas (Odric's fanfic), Royal Succession (goblins),The Tracker's Message (eldrazi on Innistrad) and Ugin and his Eye (the end of OGW).
You are aware that Primeval Titan is banned in a constructed format right? Prime Time is a very powerful card. If you want all mythics to be at least as good as Prime Time, you are going to have a bad time. Hell, even when Prime Time was printed, most mythics weren't as good as Prime Time.
- Manite
Anyway, I didn't say every mythic should be like Prime Time... I said that there is a clear decline in power level and that the hydra immediately calls for the prime time comparison, which makes this decline even more evident. Just compare the fact that core sets had the titans as their mythic cycles, and they were changed for the 'souls of [name of the plane]'. And all the souls don't hold a candle to the titans, literally ALL titans are better than any ONE individual soul. We don't have one mana elves, one mana cantrips, good 2 mana rocks or ramp spells, decent burn spells, etc. etc. etc. Magic of nowadays simply can't compete with magic of 5 years ago or so.
Read my other stories as well (some ongoing):
Reaper King (a horror story), Kaalia of the Vast (an origin story), Sequels for Innistrad (Alternative sequels for Inn), Grey Areas (Odric's fanfic), Royal Succession (goblins),The Tracker's Message (eldrazi on Innistrad) and Ugin and his Eye (the end of OGW).
I pretty much got nothing to replace the cards leaving my standard deck (esper dragons) with khans. There is straight up no good card draw to replace Dig, there is to the slaughter at least. I am going to have to go some mana base wrangling to see if I can still cast Ojutai in a timely manner.
The prospect of a new deck though, both excites me and scares my wallet, too many of these decks are based around mythics. Also nothing is immediately obvious it feels like a lot of deck ideas are just missing something, there is no reanimation on the level of unburial rites and in that format you had 1 drop mana dorks. What am I reanimating anyway? is there some kind of dredgeish deck going on in this format? how do I use the zombies properly? is there any madness cards that are really worth it? these are questions I will mull over and we will see if this format has legs or will it simply be non viable. Kind of the way Theros looked until the pro tour and mono blue devotion showed that the sets mechanics had legs.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
The Titans were designed to be the most powerful 6-drops ever printed. That was there goal. They achieved that goal, and warped standard around them. You shouldn't be comparing things to the Titans.
http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=10034
- Manite
yeah. this set isn't anything i'm disappointed in, but at the same time i'm not rushing out to buy cases of the ***** either. its solidly average, and thats okay.
The black and white mythics look the best, in my opinion.
EDIT: I don't mean just for money, by the way. I mean variety and usability. There's a lot to like about this set, but I like a lot of the rares and even uncommons/commons better than some of the mythics.
The Good:
Some interesting cards to toy with. I'm a fan of Sin Prodder, Mindwrack Demon, Heir of Falkenrath, Lightning Axe, Fiery Temper, and Incorrigible Youths. The 2/1 for R is very intriguing; I never thought we would get to the point where *that* would be allowable (GIven that burn is so horrid right now, it's not small wonder; that said I'm concerned this is encroaching on White's space a bit much to be frank, and red has been losing part of its identity). There are others in other colors other people are excited about. So I can firmly say there are about 10 or so cards I'm *really* excited to play, and another 30 or so that make me want to try them at some point. Which is fair enough.
The flavor is also incredibly good, and they've done a great job creating the mystery around everything. The hints given so far will probably allow for a satisfying ending when Eldritch Moon comes along.
The bad:
I will say they played very safe with many of the designs. The new hydra is... meh, to say the least, for a Mythic. I don't think we want Prime Time back, but frankly I just don't see the point of this card at all. It so closely mimics the Titan that it's obvious who this is geared at, but does such a poor job at this imitation that it just doesn't get anyone excited. It's not so much that the card is bad (It is), it's that there is no reasonable way to design the card and make it interesting. I would never have printed it, and really should have been redesigned (Given that it's a very disappointing card due to what it is obviously going to be compared to). The transform ability is pretty much the same as it was before. A few interesing transform triggers, but that's about it. That said, they seem to have once again fairly imbalanced some of the abilities (*sigh*). Madness/Delerium (Specifically B/R) look like the all-stars that the most depth was put into, in both limited and constructed. Clues, while cute, are just glorified cantrips. I don't hate the design of the cards, and some may see play, but it's hard to do anything beyond just value. Most of the transform cards are not going to cut it in constructed formats.
The Ugly:
Removal for midrange threats is very, very bad. Incredibly bad. There is very little that can deal with, say, Gitrog Monster in constructed currently. 5 Toughness is going to be hard to deal with, 6 almost impossible. Meanwhile, aggro is going to get stomped in Standard. GIven the sheer number of 4/5s and 2/3s in the format, I just see dudes bouncing off of dudes for the next few months and it being an utter grind fest for the immediate future. Could be wrong, but it really seems like it'll be hard to break parity when you get there.
The FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WHY?
Jace is back, with one of the least interesting set of abilities I could envision for him. I just don't see the reason why this Planeswalker card *needed* to exist. It doesn't really evoke whatever the hell he doing in the set very well, it's a pretty standard fair set of abilities, and JACE HAS HAD SIX BLOODY CARDS ALREADY! Did we *really* need a seventh, one which is perhaps the most vanilla blue-flavored planeswalker that has ever been created (Which is saying * alot* given some of his previous iterations).
Overall, if I were to rate the set I'd give it a B-, or a 7/10. Nothing to write home about, but enough welcomed changes and additions. It's strange to think, but what has me most excited for Shadows has nothing to do with the set itself. I'm far more excited for rotation at this point.
Thanks to DNC at Heroes of the plane studios for this awesome sig and SGT_Chubbz for the awesome avy.
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What do mean biased? Considering the typical reaction on these forums, I'm surprised there's an "I love it" option to begin with.
I don't really consider these cards to be bad at removing midrange threats Declaration in Stone To the Slaughter Compelling Deterrence Murderous Compulsion Just the Wind Anguished Unmaking
How do you feel about this set?
Great
Good
Okay
Poor
Terrible
I voted the top one only cause you didn't give any option between great and terrible.
For all the hate on the hydra, don't compare it to primeval titan, even though the text is reminiscent of the titan, compare it to other mythic hydras, most ******* suck. Hydras by and large are terrible worthless jank. (polukranos and kalonian hydra being the exceptions)
thats my cube
So basically, you want Magic to be a stagnant game that is the same every year with the same mana dorks, the same cantrips, the same mana rocks, the same burn spells every single year after year? Because that's what you're proposing. WOTC is tinkering with numbers and placement a bit to allow different styles of standard, and people like you keep claiming "It's not the same so it sucks". The constant flux keeps the game (especially standard) fresh, whether you play standard or not, THAT is what they cater to.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
The refusal to print any spells at 1 and 2cc makes the older formats, and especially Modern, stagnant full of linear strategies that they won't print cheap new hosers for. Legacy looks after itself to a large extent has answers for everything and tutoring, but their vision of Standard actually hurts Modern whilst providing a Standard that feels the same.
WUBRG: Karona - Chaos towards Divine Intervention ** WUBRG: Karona - God Tribal ** WB: Teysa - Angels, Wrath, and Return from GY ** UB: Szadek - Control and Mill ** RWU: Zedruu - Everyone Draws Cards ** BUG: Damia - Gorgon Voltron Ramp ** URG: Animar - ETB effects and Beatdown ** WUB: Sharuum - Lots of Artifacts UG: Edric - Tribal Rogues ** W: Odric - Tribal Soldiers ** B: Shirei - Shadowborn Apostle Deck ** RB: Tymaret - Kill all the things!