We also had a large release draft (~40 players, about twice our norm). I first picked a Dragonmaster Outcast and went 3-1 with an aggressive RB deck that had a decent amount of reach (double Nettle Drone, Turn Against, and a Rolling Thunder) and some nice devoid synergies. Lost to an aggressive WB build with lots of removal when I didn't hold a land to protect my Rolling Thunder from his discard processor (forgot about my Nettle Drone exiled under his Stasis Snare). Otherwise managed to punish a lot of durdly ramp decks, including getting seven games in a row off a friend when he wanted to test his Jund ramp deck over a larger sample size after we quickly finished the official match. The highlight was beating him even in the one game where his deck was cooking and he managed to resolve both an Eldrazi Devastator (which traded for most of my team) and a Desolation Twin (which killed itself with Turn Against) before I out-topdecked him late.
In general, I think that while ramp and control decks can be quite good in this format, people are not yet respecting the aggressive decks enough. RG landfall, RB devoid aggro, WR ally aggro and WB ally/lifegain can all put a ton of pressure on early while keeping enough reach to finish off players who let their life total slip too far. I expect 2-drops and early removal to be picked higher as people adjust to the format and learn not to get sucked in to always trying to resolve multiple 7 and 8 drops.
I have never heard anyone, ANYONE, ever say that Llanowar Elves (or anything of the like) is too good. Honored Hierarch and Birds of Paradise I might be able to see some people complain about, but never realistically. Maybe Birds of Paradise because flying is out of color now. However, Green has always had the ability to ramp mana from turn one, and usually in the form of a "Dork". If this is true, and Mark Rosewater really does want to kill off turn 1 mana accelerant for green, the only color that actually deserves it, then I am really upset. I could handle a lot of the other malarky that Rosewater tries to change, but this is downright stupid. They're killing parts of the game that many players love!
Like I said, I have never, in my 10+ years of magic, heard anyone say that Llanowar Elves was too strong.
I hate to say this, but I've heard several pros (Chris VanMeter, for one) say that they thought Elvish Mystic was the strongest card in Standard. I don't know if I agree with them (not that they'd care), but I do see where they're coming from. Being able to effectively play 2 lands on turn 1 (when most other decks are playing a tapped land at best) is kind of busted.
That being said, nobody is arguing that ramp isn't a big part of green's color identity. I would be pretty surprised if we don't see a 2-mana Rampant Growth effect in BfZ, as well as other mana ramp options in green. But again, green has proven to be somewhat overpowered in Standard lately (which is the format they care most about), and it looks like they're trying to bring it back to the same power level as the rest of the colors. I realize that this feels painful for players who love green. But please take a breath and try to realize that this is not the end of green in Magic
Minowara, is your argument that the supply of them will be so large that it will swamp the admittedly large demand? If so, do you envision demand dropping as supply starts dropping (after the new block comes out next spring)?
I hate to say this, but the best 2-color pair in Origins seems to be "the two most open colors for your seat." I've personally had the most success with RB, but the colors are balanced enough that any combination can be pretty good.
Was it ever explained why Emrakul and Kozilek left? I sense some gentrification analogy. Emrakul's all "When I came to this place it was just me, mana, and my dreams. Now it's crawling with Planeswalkers and it costs $6.5 for a single roast elf. I am out of here!"
Ulamog's ability being able to cast anything from exile would be pretty fun, though it doesn't sound likely. Day's Undoing, anyone?
I can just see Emrakul's snobbery saving Zendikar. On another note, how about an Ulamog that exiles a permanent when he is cast, has ingest (or even ingest, ingest), and can play cards from exile that an opponent owns?
A surprisingly decent card. Valley Dasher wasn't good unless you had a very aggressive deck (in a format that was pretty slow). In Origins, the Bully often can trade on the draw (or at least draw out a trick) even if your deck isn't super aggressive, and he can often get through quite a few attacks even if your opponent has blockers, because of the fear of the "Fiery Impluse one guy, eat the other with my now 3/3 Bully" 2-for-1 that could happen.
The idea is not just to ramp into a 4-drop on turn 3, but then to use the Whisperer's ferocious ability to ramp into a 6 drop on turn 4. You can use the Mystic as a morph to get to 6 mana on turn 4 as well, but it's a one shot mana bump and doesn't give you any pressure early. I like the redundancy, though. Along these lines, Oblivion Sower could be an interesting 6 drop in such a "mega ramp" deck.
Just read an article on CFB http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/a-card-level-analysis-of-2014-2015-standard/ that shows that green has pretty much been the most successful color in Standard for at least a year now. I doubt we've seen the last 1-mana dork ever, but I can seen Magic R&D deciding to tweak green's power level by taking them away for awhile.
I totally agree that ingest is not intended to be a pseudo-mill strategy (given the lack of a number beside the keyword). But I think that Oblivion Sower gives us a good clue about at least the main way ingest is "supposed" to be used. I anticipate a lot of smaller Eldrazi drones, probably costing colored mana but having devoid and ingest, and a few larger Eldrazi that make use of the opponent's exiled cards. For example:
Eldrazi Snapcaster: 6 colorless mana for a 6/4 colorless Eldrazi - When you cast Eldrazi Snapcaster, you may cast one instant or sorcery from your opponent's exile zone without paying it's mana cost.
or
Oblivion Reaper: 12 colorless mana for a 12/12 colorless Eldrazi with trample. When you cast Oblivion Reaper, destroy 2 target lands. Oblivion Reaper costs 1 colorless mana less for each exiled card your opponent owns.
There's lots of ways they could take this, these were just 2 ideas off the top of my head.
Why do you have 2 fewer slots for blue cards than the other colors? Is this confirmed or suggested by anything in particular, or should there be 2 fewer colorless or multicolored cards to get blue up to the 38 that each other color has?
Also, wasn't there a spoiled Evolving Wilds that someone found in a parking lot not too long ago? Not officially spoiled yet, but it might be useful to see where it falls in your list (I believe it was 236/274).
I tried this card out at my prerelease because I too had heard several differing opinions on it. I also found the scry triggers to pile up to the tune of at least 4-5 per game. I think this is usually going to be close in value to drawing 2 cards, and a 2-mana Divination with the upside of being a late game mana sink seems good to me. I do think that it will be significantly better in sealed than in draft, but renown does so much to encourage blocking/creature trades that I can't imagine many fewer creatures dying. I do think that hyper-aggressive decks won't want this in their maindeck. But any deck that's looking to the mid/late-game is probably going to enjoy having this card in their deck. C+ seems realistic to me.
I don't know about MVP, but I was pleasantly surprised by Shadows of the Past. I'd heard several differing opinions on it, so I wanted to try it out. So many scry triggers! In most of the games where I resolved it (usually on turn 4 with a 2-drop) I scryed at least 4-5 times, which I would consider on par with a Divination. Plus it ended up warping the game state, making my opponent less willing to offer creature trades. And all this was in a fairly aggressive deck, not one built around this card's inevitability.
4-0 with a pretty strong aggressive WB build featuring Tragic Arrogance as my sealed pack rare. That card is insane if you can build your deck/board state well.
Other cards that did work: Sword of the Animist (and a Relic Seeker to occasionally find it). This card was 1/3 of my long game plan. One game I got 15 of my 17 lands into play, pretty much ensuring that I would outdraw my opponent eventually. Topan Freeblade This card puts so much pressure on your opponent early. Basically forces a trade if they can, and puts the heat on them if they can't. Fetid Imp Totally saved me in several games where my opponent got off to a faster start then I did. Also plays really well with... Enshrouding Mist Great 1 mana trick that usually trumps other combat tricks and red removal. Shadows of the Past The second 1/3 of my long game plan. Had to be a little careful about when to play this, but oh the scry triggers! Creatures trade so much in this format. The games where I stuck it early, I never even had to activate it, as the card selection won me the game before I got the chance. War Oracle Shuts down opposing offenses and makes it almost impossible to race. Charging Griffin Usually my finisher. Mage-Ring Responder The last third of my late game plan. My only card with CMC>5, this card didn't show up until both games in the finals, where my RW aggro opponent didn't really have any answers in his deck if I could live long enough to stick it.
Observations:
This seems like a fairly fast format, as most of the decks I saw were pretty aggressive. However because of renown, these aggro decks often just had to trade off creatures a lot early, paradoxically leading to a lot of long games. I did see one guy playing a UW control deck that was trying to win with Sphinx's Tutelage. He did pretty well, but he was also a much more experienced player than most of his opponents.
In general, I think that while ramp and control decks can be quite good in this format, people are not yet respecting the aggressive decks enough. RG landfall, RB devoid aggro, WR ally aggro and WB ally/lifegain can all put a ton of pressure on early while keeping enough reach to finish off players who let their life total slip too far. I expect 2-drops and early removal to be picked higher as people adjust to the format and learn not to get sucked in to always trying to resolve multiple 7 and 8 drops.
Unfortunately, no. Maro said they would only be standard legal if they were already in standard (i.e. the new duals and the allied-color fetches).
I hate to say this, but I've heard several pros (Chris VanMeter, for one) say that they thought Elvish Mystic was the strongest card in Standard. I don't know if I agree with them (not that they'd care), but I do see where they're coming from. Being able to effectively play 2 lands on turn 1 (when most other decks are playing a tapped land at best) is kind of busted.
That being said, nobody is arguing that ramp isn't a big part of green's color identity. I would be pretty surprised if we don't see a 2-mana Rampant Growth effect in BfZ, as well as other mana ramp options in green. But again, green has proven to be somewhat overpowered in Standard lately (which is the format they care most about), and it looks like they're trying to bring it back to the same power level as the rest of the colors. I realize that this feels painful for players who love green. But please take a breath and try to realize that this is not the end of green in Magic
The idea is not just to ramp into a 4-drop on turn 3, but then to use the Whisperer's ferocious ability to ramp into a 6 drop on turn 4. You can use the Mystic as a morph to get to 6 mana on turn 4 as well, but it's a one shot mana bump and doesn't give you any pressure early. I like the redundancy, though. Along these lines, Oblivion Sower could be an interesting 6 drop in such a "mega ramp" deck.
Surrak, the Hunt-Caller (although it's probably better a turn later)
Collected Company (although it would be worse in a ramp deck than a straight beatdown deck)
Ojutai's Exemplars (if there's a Rampant Growth effect and a playable aggressive Awaken card or 2?)
Archangel of Tithes (although your 2-mana ramp spell here is probably Knight of the White Orchid, which really ramps you to 5 for Wingmate Roc on the draw)
Ashcloud Phoenix (if you need extra 4 drops in RG Ramp and/or tap-out control is a thing)
Anyone else?
Eldrazi Snapcaster: 6 colorless mana for a 6/4 colorless Eldrazi - When you cast Eldrazi Snapcaster, you may cast one instant or sorcery from your opponent's exile zone without paying it's mana cost.
or
Oblivion Reaper: 12 colorless mana for a 12/12 colorless Eldrazi with trample. When you cast Oblivion Reaper, destroy 2 target lands. Oblivion Reaper costs 1 colorless mana less for each exiled card your opponent owns.
There's lots of ways they could take this, these were just 2 ideas off the top of my head.
Also, wasn't there a spoiled Evolving Wilds that someone found in a parking lot not too long ago? Not officially spoiled yet, but it might be useful to see where it falls in your list (I believe it was 236/274).
Other cards that did work:
Sword of the Animist (and a Relic Seeker to occasionally find it). This card was 1/3 of my long game plan. One game I got 15 of my 17 lands into play, pretty much ensuring that I would outdraw my opponent eventually.
Topan Freeblade This card puts so much pressure on your opponent early. Basically forces a trade if they can, and puts the heat on them if they can't.
Fetid Imp Totally saved me in several games where my opponent got off to a faster start then I did. Also plays really well with...
Enshrouding Mist Great 1 mana trick that usually trumps other combat tricks and red removal.
Shadows of the Past The second 1/3 of my long game plan. Had to be a little careful about when to play this, but oh the scry triggers! Creatures trade so much in this format. The games where I stuck it early, I never even had to activate it, as the card selection won me the game before I got the chance.
War Oracle Shuts down opposing offenses and makes it almost impossible to race.
Charging Griffin Usually my finisher.
Mage-Ring Responder The last third of my late game plan. My only card with CMC>5, this card didn't show up until both games in the finals, where my RW aggro opponent didn't really have any answers in his deck if I could live long enough to stick it.
Observations:
This seems like a fairly fast format, as most of the decks I saw were pretty aggressive. However because of renown, these aggro decks often just had to trade off creatures a lot early, paradoxically leading to a lot of long games. I did see one guy playing a UW control deck that was trying to win with Sphinx's Tutelage. He did pretty well, but he was also a much more experienced player than most of his opponents.