I think this is due to the fact that blocks are now two sets instead of three, and that three blocks will be in standard at a time. Printing a full cycle of duals every block would likely mean 5 duals in every single set, and 30 duals in standard at a time. For instance, in recent history this would have meant buddy/check lands, shocks, and temples all in standard at once. Or Shocks, temples, and fetches/pain lands.
I expect that we'll see duals printed at roughly the same rate they are today, and similar amounts of fixing available in standard at any given time. We'll just see more partial cycles and things spread out over different blocks to reflect the new set/rotation schedule.
I probably should have posted here first instead of starting a new thread. I've noticed that the foil tags in my trade post are wrapping to the next line for Modern Masters 2015 cards. Interestingly, it seems to display correctly on my ipad, but not on my laptop in Chrome:
I've noticed a problem that I believe is related to the long set name for Modern Masters 2015 Edition and the column widths of the have/want boxes on the trading post. This is causing [Foil] tags to get bumped to the next line, causing the wrong cards to appear in foil (images attached).
I would assume this is user error on my part, but I have foils from other sets formatted the same way and they are displaying correctly.
I've been playing a fairly stock Gr Tron list for years now. I think the last new card I added to it was Slaughter Games during RTR, and I put it on the shelf for a while for an ill-fated fling with Pod. My interest in modern waned after the last round of bannings, but I'm ready to give it another shot and dust off Tron.
Looking at recent results, the main change lately appears to be 1-2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. I'm wondering what people's experiences are with that card?. I resisted picking them up at first, both to avoid shelling out standard prices for a flavor of the month card and because it seemed "win more" with Karn, Wurmcoil, etc. My games usually hinge on whether I find Tron and whether I have an o-stone or pyroclasm to survive to 7+. However, I have certainly had a few games where I get Tron online just in time to make Karn a very expensive Path to Exile, or where a Wurmcoil Engine eating a single attacker is not enough to survive an alpha strike. I can see where a repeatable All is Dust could be better for stabilizing when I'm on my back foot.
So basically, I'm wondering:
Is Ugin here to stay? An essential part of the deck?
What are people cutting for him? My first thought was Ulamog, but the lists I've seen keep Ulamog in. I've used my "flex" spots for a pair of main board Spellskite, and I'm hesitant to cut those with infect and burn being popular budget choices in my local meta.
The overall value of the set is fine. It's a little top heavy, but the EV compared to the MSRP is about what I was expecting. Junk rares are a necessary evil. It's not just about the limited environment. If people didn't have to play the pack lotto, the rares wouldn't hold any value. If every rare was a Goyf, then Goyf sinks to sub $10 and you're no longer happy with your pull. Junk rares need to exist for chase rares to exist, and chase rares need to exist for people to foolishly crack packs when they could save money buying singles. That impulse needs to exist for Wizards to continue making money printing sets.
What bothers me is that Wizards doesn't seem to place enough priority on reprinting cards they cannot easily reprint elsewhere. If their goal is to improve accessibility of cards, they should be more conscious of the impact of not reprinting staples that have major impediments to being reprinted elsewhere. Cards too powerful for standard, cards featuring mechanics unlikely to reappear in a booster set anytime soon, cards with location-specific names that can't just be thrown in any set. Some of these cards will spike hard, and suddenly instead of making modern decks more accessible you've just created a see-saw effect where the cost of the reprinted staples shifts to those other key staples that weren't reprinted.
Some obvious examples here are:
Damnation - they've missed every obvious reprint opportunity for this card. judge foils are a drop in the bucket.
Inquisition of Kozilek - a lot depends on whether Kozilek is a player in BFZ. If not, we're many years away from a reprint of this aside from in a pre-con that retails for $75 and doesn't even get you a full playset. The name really precludes a reprint anywhere else.
Anything with phyrexian mana (Gitaxian Probe)
Serum Visions - location-specific name and an effect that is probably too powerful for standard
Auriok Champion - location-specific name for a location they just recently revisted
It just feels like they're not thinking this through enough. Is anyone in the room saying "uh, guys, if we don't reprint this here we have no opportunity to reprint it for 3-5 years"? Look at what happened to Noble Hierarch after exclusion from M13, and how long it took to find an opportunity to reprint it? I'm sure they'll find a way to squeeze some of these in here and there, as overall they really have been quite aggressive the last few years in reprinting modern staples, but they definitely are not placing enough emphasis on finding room for the cards they can't fit elsewhere in the one set where they can easily reprint anything.
This gives us:
3 must come between 196 and 198
Simic is either Murkfiend Liege at 194, or Overbeing or Spitting Image in 196-198
192 or 194 must be Izzet, so 3 of 4 of Orzhov, Simic, Dimir, and Gruul must come between 196 and 198
Gruul must be at 192 or 194 unless it is Roshean Meanderer (seems unlikely)
Dimir must be Shadow of Doubt unless it is 192 or 194
Either Dimir is Shadow of Doubt, Gruul is Meanderer, or both
Orzhov cannot be 194
If Murkfiend Liege is in, Izzet is Djinn or Dominus, Dimir is Shadow of Doubt, Gruul is Roshean Meanderer, and Orzhov is Revival or Cavalier.
If Evershrike is in, Izzet is Mirror Sheen, Gruul is Meanderer, Dimir is Shadow of Doubt, and Simic is Overbeing or Spitting Image.
If this is a creature cycle, Izzet is Djinn or Dominus, Dimir is Liege, Simic is Overbeing, Gruul is Meanderer, and Orzhov is Cavalier.
Every color has the same number of mythics and landslots are pretty stacked, so, unless a card à la Memnarch is in, every color will have the same number of cards, which has to be 32.
So cuts have to be after 6-38-70-102-134-166...
Between 167 and Wilt-leaf Liege's 200 that makes 34 multicolor cards at least with Horde of notions being 5 colors (out of cycles). With already at least 10 hybrid cards I personally think that we are having 24 multicolor and 10 hybrids. With Sunforger and another card (plague boiler?) making up for color balance.
This would mean 4 additional multi-color cards before Apocalypse Hydra. If we rule out Ajani based on rarity (assume they will not downshift a Planeswalker), that leaves only 7 possible cards to fill those 4 slots from 167-170:
Æthermage's Touch
Agent of Masks
Agony Warp
Agrus Kos, Wojek Veteran
Anathemancer
Angel of Despair
Anthem of Rakdos
I could be wrong, but I'd be surprised if 4/7 of these are in. More likely there are a few more mono-color cards, or even Ulamog's Crusher as some speculated, and multi-color start later. Bitterblossom at 71 challenges this theory, as there is no room for an additional U, W, or Colorless card if there are indeed 32 of each and 6 colorless. However, I suspect that some artifacts or lands might be occupying "colored" spots, as was the case with Dakmor Salvage being the 35th "black" card for the first MM.
As a deckbuilding addict, it appeals to me by having a deep card pool, interesting/challenging deckbuilding restrictions, and by being a format that is not yet "solved", but once I've got a feel for whether my new brew actually works or not the appeal of playing dissipates completely. If I want a cut throat 1v1 competitive format, I'd rather play legacy. If I want a casual, interesting singleton format, I'll play EDH. Tiny Leaders misses the mark on both.
And sour apple skittles taste like goddamn garbage.
The most interesting thing about this is that with the Tezzeret/Bob almost confirmation it likely rules out the Titan cycle at mythic, since that would make 3 black mythics and we already have 4 confirmed colorless mythics and one almost confirmed UB.
I feel like it's probably not a coincidence that this is a month (well, 5 weeks) after the release of MM2015. Probably spells a reprint in MM2015, too?
I'm surprised to see Monastery Mentor still ticking downward after showing up as a 4-of in 2 different decks in the top 8 of the legacy GP in Kyoto this weekend.
I expect that we'll see duals printed at roughly the same rate they are today, and similar amounts of fixing available in standard at any given time. We'll just see more partial cycles and things spread out over different blocks to reflect the new set/rotation schedule.
Edit: Nath'ed by Isawa_Chuckles.
Linky
I would assume this is user error on my part, but I have foils from other sets formatted the same way and they are displaying correctly.
Looking at recent results, the main change lately appears to be 1-2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. I'm wondering what people's experiences are with that card?. I resisted picking them up at first, both to avoid shelling out standard prices for a flavor of the month card and because it seemed "win more" with Karn, Wurmcoil, etc. My games usually hinge on whether I find Tron and whether I have an o-stone or pyroclasm to survive to 7+. However, I have certainly had a few games where I get Tron online just in time to make Karn a very expensive Path to Exile, or where a Wurmcoil Engine eating a single attacker is not enough to survive an alpha strike. I can see where a repeatable All is Dust could be better for stabilizing when I'm on my back foot.
So basically, I'm wondering:
What bothers me is that Wizards doesn't seem to place enough priority on reprinting cards they cannot easily reprint elsewhere. If their goal is to improve accessibility of cards, they should be more conscious of the impact of not reprinting staples that have major impediments to being reprinted elsewhere. Cards too powerful for standard, cards featuring mechanics unlikely to reappear in a booster set anytime soon, cards with location-specific names that can't just be thrown in any set. Some of these cards will spike hard, and suddenly instead of making modern decks more accessible you've just created a see-saw effect where the cost of the reprinted staples shifts to those other key staples that weren't reprinted.
Some obvious examples here are:
It just feels like they're not thinking this through enough. Is anyone in the room saying "uh, guys, if we don't reprint this here we have no opportunity to reprint it for 3-5 years"? Look at what happened to Noble Hierarch after exclusion from M13, and how long it took to find an opportunity to reprint it? I'm sure they'll find a way to squeeze some of these in here and there, as overall they really have been quite aggressive the last few years in reprinting modern staples, but they definitely are not placing enough emphasis on finding room for the cards they can't fit elsewhere in the one set where they can easily reprint anything.
Watch Inquisition go crazy if not reprinted in BFZ. The name really limits the reprint opportunities in booster sets.
Deathbringer Liege - Orzhov
Debtors' Knell - Orzhov
Deus of Calamity - Gruul
Dimir Guildmage - Dimir
Dire Undercurrents - Dimir
Djinn Illuminatus - Izzet
Dominus of Fealty - Izzet
Dream Salvage - Dimir
Edge of the Divinity - Orzhov
Evershrike - Orzhov
Fable of Wolf and Owl - Simic
Fate Transfer - Dimir
Favor of the Overbeing - Simic
Firespout - Gruul
Fossil Find - Gruul
Fable is probably out due to lack of Bird tokens. If we assume this is a cycle of rares based on the 5 spoiled so far, we're left with:
Deathbringer Liege - Orzhov
Debtors' Knell - Orzhov
Deus of Calamity - Gruul
Dire Undercurrents - Dimir
Divinity of Pride - Orzhov
Djinn Illuminatus - Izzet
Dominus of Fealty - Izzet
Evershrike - Orzhov
Dimir hybrid rares include:
Cemetery Puca- out if there are only 10 hybridDire Undercurrents
Ghastlord of Fugue
Glen Elendra Liege
Memory Plunder
Oona, Queen of the Fae- no tokenShadow of Doubt
Sygg, River Cutthroat- outSimic hybrid rares include:
Biomantic Mastery- out if there are only 10 hybridCold-Eyed Selkie- out if there are only 10 hybridFable of Wolf and Owl- no tokenMurkfiend Liege
Overbeing of Myth
Spitting Image
Gruul hybrid rares include:
Boartusk Liege- out if there are only 10 hybridDeus of Calamity
Giant Solifuge
Impromptu Raid
Roshean Meanderer
Valleymaker- outVexing Shusher- outWort, the Raidmother- out if there are only 10 hybrid, no tokenOrzhov hybrid rares include:
Deathbringer Liege
Debtors' Knell
Divinity of Pride
Evershrike
Pyrrhic Revival
Stillmoon Cavalier
Izzet hybrid rares include:
Call of the Skybreaker- out if there are only 10 hybridCrackleburr- out if there are only 10 hybridDjinn Illuminatus
Dominus of Fealty
Mirror Sheen
This gives us:
3 must come between 196 and 198
Simic is either Murkfiend Liege at 194, or Overbeing or Spitting Image in 196-198
192 or 194 must be Izzet, so 3 of 4 of Orzhov, Simic, Dimir, and Gruul must come between 196 and 198
Gruul must be at 192 or 194 unless it is Roshean Meanderer (seems unlikely)
Dimir must be Shadow of Doubt unless it is 192 or 194
Either Dimir is Shadow of Doubt, Gruul is Meanderer, or both
Orzhov cannot be 194
If Murkfiend Liege is in, Izzet is Djinn or Dominus, Dimir is Shadow of Doubt, Gruul is Roshean Meanderer, and Orzhov is Revival or Cavalier.
If Evershrike is in, Izzet is Mirror Sheen, Gruul is Meanderer, Dimir is Shadow of Doubt, and Simic is Overbeing or Spitting Image.
If this is a creature cycle, Izzet is Djinn or Dominus, Dimir is Liege, Simic is Overbeing, Gruul is Meanderer, and Orzhov is Cavalier.
This would mean 4 additional multi-color cards before Apocalypse Hydra. If we rule out Ajani based on rarity (assume they will not downshift a Planeswalker), that leaves only 7 possible cards to fill those 4 slots from 167-170:
Æthermage's Touch
Agent of Masks
Agony Warp
Agrus Kos, Wojek Veteran
Anathemancer
Angel of Despair
Anthem of Rakdos
I could be wrong, but I'd be surprised if 4/7 of these are in. More likely there are a few more mono-color cards, or even Ulamog's Crusher as some speculated, and multi-color start later. Bitterblossom at 71 challenges this theory, as there is no room for an additional U, W, or Colorless card if there are indeed 32 of each and 6 colorless. However, I suspect that some artifacts or lands might be occupying "colored" spots, as was the case with Dakmor Salvage being the 35th "black" card for the first MM.
And sour apple skittles taste like goddamn garbage.
211 is Etched Oracle, not champion. Rarity has not changed.