really, though, I'm wondering when the heck the ten scrylands are coming back. They're great; tap for two colors, scry 1, and they ETB tapped so they're not OP. Since scry is now evergreen (thank goodness), isn't it about time we get them in Standard again?
Modern Masters 2013 was packed to the gills with value (especially now, like with Engineered Explosives), and had great draft (by what I hear). OP, is that what you're requesting? Because I'll 100% second that motion. MM2 only had good mythics and MM3 was good, but didn't reach the same value MM1 did. I'd like less "draft masters with meh Modern cards" and more "Modern goodies that draft decently together".
Land
T: add W to your mana pool
~this~ enters the battlefield with a storage counter on it
Remove two storage counters from ~this~: put a 1/1 white Spirit creature token onto the battlefield
But how, aside from proliferate, can you add more storage counters?! I can't even get one Spirit token!
Creature - Snake Warrior (2/2, green)
G: add one mana of any colour to your mana pool
All creatures get +4/+4
Converted mana cost: 3
+4/+4 to all creatures? That reminds me of the planechase cards. I miss planeschase, now that I think about it.
Tribal Instant - Samurai (red)
destroy all lands. They can't be regenerated.
Converted mana cost: 4
That tribal... I can just imagine Samurai with flamethrowers denying farmland to invading armies.
The set looks fairly underpowered so far, such as strictly-worse Unsummon (Drown in Shapelessness) and the aforementioned Breath of Fire. Though Mu Yanling, the blue planeswalker, has a decent ult and often has high loyalty. If only she didn't cost 4UU! Pretty costly.
I don't think I have any particular jerkwad moments of my own, but once in a while, an opponent forgets a trigger or makes a serious blunder and I don't correct them, especially if I'm losing or really want to win that match to get prizes. I decide "heck, it's his cards, it's on him to be careful." Which ins't terribly wrong, but it's incongruous with the fact that I *do* sometimes help with stuff like that.
The last few blocks should be fine: Ixalan, Kaldesh, Aether Revolt, Amonkhet, Hour of Devastation. And Magic Origins! Plus, since these are Standard sets, lots of players are also using them and can help you out.
I'm sad to hear about the hiatus. I like Cardboard Crack! They're charming little comics about the world's best trading card game. Well, maybe sometime in the future, the creator will be able to resume. At least, I hope so! He really knew how Magic players act and what they think and want, and it was funny and almost eerily accurate.
The idea of wanting an emblem remover comes up sometimes, and I always have the same thought: there shouldn't be anything that interacts with emblems. They're not spells or permanents, just a reminder that a Planeswalker established a permanent, intangible effect. And to restate what others have said in similar threads, if you don't like your opponent's emblem, the correct route is to try and destroy that Planeswalker first, or at least make sure that it never reaches enough loyalty to create the emblem.
Yes, I agree that development should take risks and explore new space, even at the risk of making a card too powerful for Standard, Modern, or even Commander. It's better than walking a straight and narrow path so nothing ban-worthy is ever made. I fear that Wizards may run out of creative space within 10 years, and that point would be reached even sooner if they restrict their gameplay or flavor options. Better to try and make some mistakes along the way.
I won two prize packs at the Battle for Zendikar pre-release. One of them had expedition Bloodstained Mire. That was two years ago, and I'm still giddy over it And though it was more coincidence than luck, I went to a MM2 sealed pool event, and one of my packs had the Karn art on it. I joked that what if the pack had a foil Karn Liberated? And it did!!!
Whoa. That's really cool! If I ever played a Nicol Bolas Planeswalker, I could totally put this statue on the card and put a die for his loyalty counters in the hand!
I can't imagine something like this being a promotional event. I'll bet that there was a serious goof at the printing or packaging facilities, either human error or a glitch in the machines' programming or whatever. I'd call it a huge bank error in your favor!
Another explanation I heard for this, I believe from MaRo in one of his articles, was that having sorcery-speed cards forces players to be proactive and move the game along. In an all-instant game, playing a card second is better than first, so games would too often wind up as "you make the first move!" "no, you make the first move!" and nothing would happen because as stated earlier, it's better to react to things.
I'd only do this for a three-set block, like Theros or Return to Ravnica or Khans of Tarkir. Deeper card pools, and all that. Most of all, I'd want Theros block constructed to make a G/R/w beatdown deck!
really, though, I'm wondering when the heck the ten scrylands are coming back. They're great; tap for two colors, scry 1, and they ETB tapped so they're not OP. Since scry is now evergreen (thank goodness), isn't it about time we get them in Standard again?
T: add W to your mana pool
~this~ enters the battlefield with a storage counter on it
Remove two storage counters from ~this~: put a 1/1 white Spirit creature token onto the battlefield
But how, aside from proliferate, can you add more storage counters?! I can't even get one Spirit token!
Creature - Snake Warrior (2/2, green)
G: add one mana of any colour to your mana pool
All creatures get +4/+4
Converted mana cost: 3
+4/+4 to all creatures? That reminds me of the planechase cards. I miss planeschase, now that I think about it.
Tribal Instant - Samurai (red)
destroy all lands. They can't be regenerated.
Converted mana cost: 4
That tribal... I can just imagine Samurai with flamethrowers denying farmland to invading armies.