The souls ban was definitely in respect to hellrider. If any of you have ever played it you know why. A t2 gather>t3 Souls into hellrider or Flashback souls was just devastating. I very rarely lost games once a rider hit the table due to the bizarrely large number of creatures I could pump out at will.
I'm quite excited for this because I think it will make the G/R goodstuff deck much more viable. The only thing stopping me from pushing it before was the fact that it was too hard to make blasphemous act work more in my favor then the tokens player.
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I like to protect frightened things perhaps. I assembled them in the fortress of beefitude for safety.
RW Humans pushing Hellrider and Gather the Townsfolk is in a good spot still, but is by no means number one at this point. I think you can't count out the mono B/ B/u zombie lists now that chump blockers for days are gone. As well I mentioned earlier given its new tools a R/G list is in the wings.
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I like to protect frightened things perhaps. I assembled them in the fortress of beefitude for safety.
Although I JUST recently looked at Block, the bannings seem right. Lingering Souls is pretty OP, as I hope people can see. I even lost to that card in Legacy when I played UW Stoneblade vs. UWB Stoneblade. Intangible Virtue was probably not thought out as well and should not have given Vigilance. Lingering Souls pushed this card over the edge.
I am curious about what place Hellrider will be in. He still seems pretty good.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
RW Humans pushing Hellrider and Gather the Townsfolk is in a good spot still, but is by no means number one at this point. I think you can't count out the mono B/ B/u zombie lists now that chump blockers for days are gone. As well I mentioned earlier given its new tools a R/G list is in the wings.
Well, my record in dailies with my b/u zombies brew is 3-1, 3-1, and 4-0. Hellrider was definitely tough, but evil twin helps a lot in that regard. Even still, I'm a bit worried that Boros Humans is just going to dominate. Creature-heavy versions with Thalia were winning PEs already. Still, humans seems easier to hate out than tokens with lingering souls simply because lingering souls makes the deck so god damn resilient. You wipe the board and they just flash back more tokens. With humans, if you wipe the board, it stays wiped for the most part. There's also the fact that zombie apocalypse gets much better against the boros decks when they aren't running lingering souls and might be playable as a SB card.
Honestly the main issue with block that's affecting diversity is how bad the mana is in allied color pairs. I have to run 25 land with 4 altar's reap and 4 evolving wilds to make the mana work in my u/b zombies deck. To me, it's worth it for the speed and reach you get with the captain over mono-black but I definitely envy the decks that get to play dual lands.
The fixing IS tough in mono pairs. Personally I would have liked to see stuff like Kessig Wolf Run make G instead of colorless and come in tapped.
If fixing wasn't as good though, I think we'd see more allied decks dominating like UW Spirits because of Lords and Synergies.
Basically Block would look a lot like Standard which right now it doesn't.
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Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
Funny you mention that. Of the color-combo flashback cards printed, 15 of 20 have equal or higher flashback cost. When you then examine the 5-6 that have seen tournament play at some level, 4 of these are from the 4th with lesser costs (Grudge, Souls, Ray, and Rites). So, 4 of the 5 with lesser costs are seeing tournament play, and only 2-3 of 15 with equal or greater costs are seeing play. So 80% vs maybe 15%; 2/3s of played cards are from the former category.
I think R&D really needs to take away from this that the lesser flashback thing is one of those design rules that's playing with fire. It's in the same category as 'walkers that protect themselves, lands that tap for more then one, etc: You can make a balanced card with these things in theory, but in reality most designs with these qualities will be dead ass broken.
I think it's fine when they print a card with lower flashback cost than original cost. However the original cost should be somewhat overpriced for the ability your getting if they want to do that.
When you look at Lingering Souls, 3 mana for 2 1/1 fliers is about normal for that ability, and then 2 mana is undercosted. All for the price of 1 card... its pretty insane..
I have a hard time understanding how they decided that was even a remotely reasonable cost when you start comparing it to things like Reap the Seagraf or Moan of the Unhallowed. Two 2/2's is about equivalent to two 1/1 fliers in power level. Moan costs 1 more colored mana initially and FIVE more colorless to flashback. How was Lingering Souls never compared to that at any point? It's just silly.
I feel like it should have been 2W to cast and 2BB to flash back at LEAST.
So what cards are playable now? Surely Rolling temblor can step into the spotlight now that there aren't so many fliers? That "Destroy a land, 1 damage to each human" spell might even be playable. The RW mirror is going to come down to fliers again -- and probably hellrider's too. Is Avacyn's Priest playable? She blocks 1/1 human tokens and can tap down hellrider or spirit tokens. Forge Devils might be good enough because it trades with gather the townsfolk and kills champion of the parish or a single spirit token.
Olivia Voldaren certainly seems well positioned. If you can get olivia to 6/6 with 7 lands in play, I can't think of a way for RW to win.
If you ask me, those jund decks that disappeared will make a comeback. Geistflame, tragic slip, brimstone volley, Olivia, Garruk, huntmaster... It just seems to have all the answers. Lingering souls was what was really keeping them down.
Some facts of magic:
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
I'm going to start my testing with both a RB deck and a UW Geist deck and see where it takes me. I'm going to run them against Humans and RG Undying to start.
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Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
Don't forget Jund. Seriously. It's tier 1. Essentially it's BR removal splashing G for Huntmaster and garruk.
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Some facts of magic:
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
I'm quite excited for this because I think it will make the G/R goodstuff deck much more viable. The only thing stopping me from pushing it before was the fact that it was too hard to make blasphemous act work more in my favor then the tokens player.
I am curious about what place Hellrider will be in. He still seems pretty good.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)Well, my record in dailies with my b/u zombies brew is 3-1, 3-1, and 4-0. Hellrider was definitely tough, but evil twin helps a lot in that regard. Even still, I'm a bit worried that Boros Humans is just going to dominate. Creature-heavy versions with Thalia were winning PEs already. Still, humans seems easier to hate out than tokens with lingering souls simply because lingering souls makes the deck so god damn resilient. You wipe the board and they just flash back more tokens. With humans, if you wipe the board, it stays wiped for the most part. There's also the fact that zombie apocalypse gets much better against the boros decks when they aren't running lingering souls and might be playable as a SB card.
If fixing wasn't as good though, I think we'd see more allied decks dominating like UW Spirits because of Lords and Synergies.
Basically Block would look a lot like Standard which right now it doesn't.
RGGruul Aggro
WSoul Sisters
WBTokens
BUGRRestore Balance
BMono-Black Infect
EDH:
RGWMayael, the Anima
GWURoon of the Hidden Realm
BDrana, Kalastria Bloodchief
I think R&D really needs to take away from this that the lesser flashback thing is one of those design rules that's playing with fire. It's in the same category as 'walkers that protect themselves, lands that tap for more then one, etc: You can make a balanced card with these things in theory, but in reality most designs with these qualities will be dead ass broken.
When you look at Lingering Souls, 3 mana for 2 1/1 fliers is about normal for that ability, and then 2 mana is undercosted. All for the price of 1 card... its pretty insane..
I feel like it should have been 2W to cast and 2BB to flash back at LEAST.
Olivia Voldaren certainly seems well positioned. If you can get olivia to 6/6 with 7 lands in play, I can't think of a way for RW to win.
If you ask me, those jund decks that disappeared will make a comeback. Geistflame, tragic slip, brimstone volley, Olivia, Garruk, huntmaster... It just seems to have all the answers. Lingering souls was what was really keeping them down.
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
More facts of magic
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
More facts of magic