Now, this may have been pitched in the past and if so I apologize, feel free to kill this thread, but something that occurred to me the other day was this.
What is the main issue with the Phyrexians as a villain in the magic universe currently? In my opinion, while they are equally devastating and terrifying as the Eldrazi, if not more for their corrupting nature, they are plane-locked into New Phyrexia because while they have vauge notions of what being phyrexians mean, without Yawg around to graft planes onto other planes or open portals to other planes they have no way to travel throughout the multi-verse. This means that in essence while they are hideously dangerous to wandering planes walkers, the rest of the mulit-verse is safe, right guys? Right?
Maaaybe not.
So who here read the comics *looks around * oh yeah, everyone in this sector of the forum. So anyway, right before Koth facenapps Venser, we get a peek at what he is working on, right here .
Phyrexian interplanar ships, capable of carrying people who aren't planes walkers in-between planes. Now while none of these ships exist on Phyrexia, there is someone there, or there WAS someone there who had memories of these ships, their inner workings and an burning passion to solve the puzzle of how to replicate them. The fallen corpse of Venser the Sojourner may become the salvation of the Phyrexians because while reanimating him and compleating him won't avail them of his spark, as we know Phyrexians CAN'T have a spark, I'm am pretty damn sure that Gin-Gitaxis and his mind games would be able to extract the memories of the inner workings of those ships, and thereby give the Phyrexians a way to send out friendly diplomatic culture ships to rest of the multi-verse. When the Phyrexians raise their ugly heads again I think we should keep our eyes out for a surprisingly familiar legendary creature raised from the dead and with the ability to bounce spells from the stack. In fact, if you removed his compassion, which is well within the power of Gin-Gitaxis and his mind corps, Venser's obsession with puzzles would make him a very good Phyrexian.... What do people think?
I think what frustrates me most is that we only get one set's worth of tri colour focus :/ while I realize that alar a reborn was unpopular, I wish they would take the hit to pump out a really unique wedge format.
I tend to agree.
Part of me is happy to finally see some real Wedge Love,
but I must admit it seems like it will inevitably fall short of the Alara-level of Tricolor support,
Which could make it feel rushed or some other form of half-assed.
I hope this doesn't completely cancel their plans for a more undeniably wedge-centric world,
as I would really like to see what a plane completely bereft of Red and White mana looks like.
I'm sure the Sultai aesthetic will address this to a point,
but given the semi-real world inspiration of the clans,
I don't expect any settings as clever and fleshed out as Esper or Grixis.
I'd love to be wrong!
I'm definitely holding out some hope for neat mechanics and maybe (hope against hope) an end to the seriously depowered state of the game. I understand what they are trying to achieve vis a vis slowing down standard and creating a more diverse environment, and the results are there, but I still would like to have a set where I feel EXTREMELY excited opening packs, not just for flavour reasons. I know I will be partaking in this set, if just for art and flavour alone but I'd like to feel that special tingle of maybe opening a power rare or a money mythic and being able to DO something with it. We need some Innistrad level cards, and since a large chunk of these will be tri coloured now is their chance to go ham and really let loose with the madness.
I think what frustrates me most is that we only get one set's worth of tri colour focus :/ while I realize that alar a reborn was unpopular, I wish they would take the hit to pump out a really unique wedge format.
At least the Slivers in the art are back to their old design... no more of that "Predator" BS.
Couldn't agree more.
This, this, a thousand times this.
They listened to us and Slivers get to be bizarre alien creatures again instead of the Predator. Hooray!
I liked the predator look.
I like the old look too, but the new one was sweet as well.
I liked the concept that the slivers had yet again evolved, this time even taking on a new form O.O i thought the move towards bipedalism was a sign they had started to adapt physical traits from their prey and thought it made sense that they were testing out new forms. I can see why people got a bit miffed because slivers are so iconic buuuut i always equate slivers with the Zerg.. the whole evolve or perish scheme.
I think that its funny how the article is all like..."6 manna better get you something amazing with elspeth and stormbreath in standard" and then the 6 drop is just aweful.
exactly how i am feeling do they not get that we can occasionally read a card and see that the activation cost is miles above what is competitive?
I think that the death of Elspeth was a senseless waste. She was a brutally treated planeswalker who had suffered the destruction of two worlds and on top of that saw her adopted world of Bant changed beyond recognition. I think that Wizards has done a severe disservice to her character by giving her such a meaningless death. I can only hope this is an elaborate fake out and she will return to kick some Phyrexian ass from here to kingdom come. I usually adore storyline but the entire plane of theros has been a disappointing, depressing mess in my opinion. Much more the story of oedipus rather than Odysseus. However this does give me hope that one day we can see Jace die.
So the game is not allowed to have any complexities at all for more advanced players? Everything in the game has to reduced down to the most basic interactions to pander to new players,while more experienced players have to suffer from the game being dumbed down. That kind of thinking is why land destruction, good counters,and combo have been mostly eliminated from standard and partially from modern.
1. The NWO only deals with the complexities of commons and some uncommons. Nyx Weaver, for example, isn't exactly a 'simple' card for new players to wrap their heads around. Rares and Mythic Rares still pack a decent amount of complexity.
2. Land destruction, and other resource denial, has proven over the years to be detrimental to the growth of the game. Wizards still prints it for utility use (Encroaching Wastes), but allowing it to exist for new players in the form of Strip Mine turns new players away from the game.
3. Modern has plenty combo. In fact, the top tier decks are nearly all combo decks. So I'm not sure I follow your line of thinking on that last point.
1. I'm sorry, but I don't see why the rareness of a card would affect it's complexity. Nyx Weaver really does not seem that complex to me after a simple explanation; I guess I just come from a time in magic where new players had to read walls of text and rely on the community to explain cards.
2. I think this is mostly a cop out, resource denial etc. should be a viable strategy. Also, playing with or against aggro or aggro-control is rather dull but that's about all we have(standard). Oh, and Encroaching Wastes is terrible.
3. Notice I said partially, not completely removed from modern and I referenced three individual things, although I can see the confusion from the wording, so i apologize for that.
Truth be told, I can kind of see why they would want to dumb the game down for the new players, and at the same time I wish the new players would stop being cry babies and learn to play around/adapt to all the other strategies that should be available. I guess I'm just a salty old school magic player that wants things to be how they used to be....minus ante lol
I think that while it is true that Magic may on the surface seem to be less complex than it has been in the past, there is still a high amount of interactivity and really interesting deck lists to be built. Walls of text can be enjoyable to some especially those with intricate understandings of the rules but not everyone has that and not everyone wants to. Many players of Magic don't just play Magic and furthermore most people don't want to have to spend hours and hours learning just to get through their first couple games. I've played MTGO games with early sets and if I weren't fairly well versed in the rules as a whole I would have been seriously lost.
I understand the wish for more ways to play the game, I personally miss the onboard game states and having lots of activated abilities to be able to set traps, but I am completely willing to have that limited in order to see the game prosper as a whole. Resource denial especially is a extremely frustrating way to lose a game... Have you been mind twisted for 5? have you been stone rained to bits and had a hand full of 2 drops be basically useless ? I have nothing against combo at all but i think standard is a poor place for it as it leads to extremely repetitive gameplay. I watch magic tournaments for fun, I love seeing skilled players expertly steer complex decks to victory. However Watching two decks race to get the same combo pieces and then have the game end in minutes means very little for the audience and heck, I doubt the players really as much fun as playing a deck that involves complex board states and looming life totals.
Finally, I agree that good counter spells are an important part of creating a healthy metagame but as has been mentioned above, there are several high tier control decks in standard and they are running a full compliment of counter spells. Yes we will probably never see another counter spell for UU, but that isn't a bad thing. Control decks that can completely negate an opponents game plan by sitting with open mana, again create pretty dull games. I know it feels good to stop a huge bomb with just a bit of mana, and it feels smart and tricky to be able to stop these combos or huge swings with a single card but creating oppressive game states KILLS THE GAME. Black Summer. The era of caw blade. Mirrodin. These times when cards of intense power were in circulation and created single deck oligarchies. I have to admit that the depowered feel of Theros is a bit of a shock to the system but its in the best interests of the Game of Magic on the whole. I realize that I probably won't sway your opinion and I know that the game is very different from what it was but please try to see that there are still many positive aspects to Magic as it exists in its current state.
What is the main issue with the Phyrexians as a villain in the magic universe currently? In my opinion, while they are equally devastating and terrifying as the Eldrazi, if not more for their corrupting nature, they are plane-locked into New Phyrexia because while they have vauge notions of what being phyrexians mean, without Yawg around to graft planes onto other planes or open portals to other planes they have no way to travel throughout the multi-verse. This means that in essence while they are hideously dangerous to wandering planes walkers, the rest of the mulit-verse is safe, right guys? Right?
Maaaybe not.
So who here read the comics *looks around * oh yeah, everyone in this sector of the forum. So anyway, right before Koth facenapps Venser, we get a peek at what he is working on, right here
Phyrexian interplanar ships, capable of carrying people who aren't planes walkers in-between planes. Now while none of these ships exist on Phyrexia, there is someone there, or there WAS someone there who had memories of these ships, their inner workings and an burning passion to solve the puzzle of how to replicate them. The fallen corpse of Venser the Sojourner may become the salvation of the Phyrexians because while reanimating him and compleating him won't avail them of his spark, as we know Phyrexians CAN'T have a spark, I'm am pretty damn sure that Gin-Gitaxis and his mind games would be able to extract the memories of the inner workings of those ships, and thereby give the Phyrexians a way to send out friendly diplomatic culture ships to rest of the multi-verse. When the Phyrexians raise their ugly heads again I think we should keep our eyes out for a surprisingly familiar legendary creature raised from the dead and with the ability to bounce spells from the stack. In fact, if you removed his compassion, which is well within the power of Gin-Gitaxis and his mind corps, Venser's obsession with puzzles would make him a very good Phyrexian.... What do people think?
I'm definitely holding out some hope for neat mechanics and maybe (hope against hope) an end to the seriously depowered state of the game. I understand what they are trying to achieve vis a vis slowing down standard and creating a more diverse environment, and the results are there, but I still would like to have a set where I feel EXTREMELY excited opening packs, not just for flavour reasons. I know I will be partaking in this set, if just for art and flavour alone but I'd like to feel that special tingle of maybe opening a power rare or a money mythic and being able to DO something with it. We need some Innistrad level cards, and since a large chunk of these will be tri coloured now is their chance to go ham and really let loose with the madness.
See I would happily pay more to get an actual reanimation effect
I think that while it is true that Magic may on the surface seem to be less complex than it has been in the past, there is still a high amount of interactivity and really interesting deck lists to be built. Walls of text can be enjoyable to some especially those with intricate understandings of the rules but not everyone has that and not everyone wants to. Many players of Magic don't just play Magic and furthermore most people don't want to have to spend hours and hours learning just to get through their first couple games. I've played MTGO games with early sets and if I weren't fairly well versed in the rules as a whole I would have been seriously lost.
I understand the wish for more ways to play the game, I personally miss the onboard game states and having lots of activated abilities to be able to set traps, but I am completely willing to have that limited in order to see the game prosper as a whole. Resource denial especially is a extremely frustrating way to lose a game... Have you been mind twisted for 5? have you been stone rained to bits and had a hand full of 2 drops be basically useless ? I have nothing against combo at all but i think standard is a poor place for it as it leads to extremely repetitive gameplay. I watch magic tournaments for fun, I love seeing skilled players expertly steer complex decks to victory. However Watching two decks race to get the same combo pieces and then have the game end in minutes means very little for the audience and heck, I doubt the players really as much fun as playing a deck that involves complex board states and looming life totals.
Finally, I agree that good counter spells are an important part of creating a healthy metagame but as has been mentioned above, there are several high tier control decks in standard and they are running a full compliment of counter spells. Yes we will probably never see another counter spell for UU, but that isn't a bad thing. Control decks that can completely negate an opponents game plan by sitting with open mana, again create pretty dull games. I know it feels good to stop a huge bomb with just a bit of mana, and it feels smart and tricky to be able to stop these combos or huge swings with a single card but creating oppressive game states KILLS THE GAME. Black Summer. The era of caw blade. Mirrodin. These times when cards of intense power were in circulation and created single deck oligarchies. I have to admit that the depowered feel of Theros is a bit of a shock to the system but its in the best interests of the Game of Magic on the whole. I realize that I probably won't sway your opinion and I know that the game is very different from what it was but please try to see that there are still many positive aspects to Magic as it exists in its current state.