Wizards do not make these quick decisions unless the bottomline is getting hurt bad.
I'm not sure I have faith in Wizards to correctly identify why their bottom line is being hurt. I suspect that attendance was hurt more by the price of standard over KTK/BFZ and during Bant Company's reign of terror during DTK/BFZ/SOI than by quicker rotation. I suspect year-on-year attendance will improve on account of cheaper decks, but with the number of $20+ standard cards, I doubt we return to where we were a couple of years ago.
Also you would need 7 lands if you want to live in the christmasland of countering a spell and then using the creature to block.
You also need your opponent to be trying to cast something before blocks in a situation where a 3/3 becomes problematic for them. It's pretty hard to engineer a situation where that's likely to happen and your opponent hasn't just catastrophically misplayed, particularly in a format where this kind of thing can happen.
If it were awaken X, where X is the CMC of the countered spell, I could see it at rare. In fact, now that I've typed that out, I'm sad it's not awaken X. Awaken 3 is suitably underwhelming. I imagine this is just going to be cancel the vast majority of the time anyway. I'm going to really resent every cent i have to shell over the $1 or so I was expecting for an uncommon counterspell. I may even just run straight Cancel in protest until preorder hype dies and expedition chasing tanks the price of rares.
There have to be at least a few on here who owe the Temples an apology. I know I wasn't expecting to like them as much as I did. I probably spent more time at the Temple of Enlightenment than any other place on Theros. Would definitely visit again.
While I agree that the Awaken on this is overcosted, Tragic Arrogance being 5 mana is fine because it has massive upside in a lot of matchups where you can cast it, keep your Siege Rhino, and leave your opponent with an Elvish Mystic, Soldier of the Pantheon, or Monastery Swiftspear.
4-Mana Tragic Arrogance versus 5-mana Tragic Arrogance doesn't make a huge difference if you're casting it after Siege Rhino. The only decks you're going to get better than two for one out of Arrogance on turn 4 are the go wide decks that white based control can't handle. It also has the significant downside of being uncastable more often than most wraths. I think it would be fine at four. Regardless, I'm happy to cede the point because my main point is a self-interested 'give us better control cards' tantrum.
This is the second set in a row with a 5CMC conditional sweeper. My understanding was that current design philosophy was to have 5CMC wraths with upside and cheaper conditional wraths. I don't see any reason Tragic Arrogance or Planar Outburst couldn't cost 2WW. It says to me they view outburst on a par with End Hostilities which, in turn, says to me they view awaken as flavour text. Only the durdliest of decks is ever going to awaken a land with this. With the state of white removal, I'm not sure anyone will ever awaken a land with this.
I was hopeful that awaken would provide some utility and inevitability for control decks at the cost of being sorcery speed. So far, it seems what we've got is nerfed versions of control cards with laughable alternate costs.
Based on Sam Stoddard's article on wraths and removal, plus comments Maro has made about the colour pie, I don't think Journey to Nowhere will happen any time soon. I think the enchanment-based nature of white removal is considered by the current incarnation of R+D to be a weakness of the colour, not the individual spell. If black gets destroy at any given cost, white will get the same thing, except in an enchantment-based temporary exile form. So as far as R+D is concerned, this is white Smother. I'm not saying I like any of this, but it's why I think we keep getting these bad Journey variants.
People who complain about 'cash grabs' seem to think they should just magically have cards appear in their collection, it seems.
I don't have any expectation of conjuration, but cards like Monastery Mentordo magically appear in my collection. It's just a corresponding amount of cash vaporises from my wallet and materialises in the possession of an online retailer. If they print a powerful card I need, it's not if I will get them but how painful that purchase will be. As I said back on page three, I like more subtle cards that preorder cheap and reward card evaluation, which is the converse of cards like this. Mentor isn't even doing anything new. It's essentially a colour shifted version of a card we already know is good with a keyword tacked on. There's nothing clever in the design. It's just an obvious chase card. I hate it.
I wonder if they're a little worried about this card now. At the time it was in development, Delver wasn't running rampant in multiple formats. I think a lot people could tell from the beginning that Young Pyromancer was a little nuts, but the true extent of it wasn't really seen until Khans and specifically Treasure Cruise. Now they're giving us access to Pyros 5 through 8. It might shift the Delver decks toward the slower Dig Through Time builds that some already favour. The Elemental tokens already take over games and the Monks are much more deadly. They're also potentially more resilient, given they're only one instant away from ducking Electrickery; two away from ducking Pyroclasm.
Speaking of the tokens, hopefully they print something else that makes them. People are going to need a lot of them. I've seen more people pull a Sorin, Solemn Visitor from a pack than his Vampire token. Even the emblem seems to pop up with more frequency. I think I saw maybe one or two Kiora, the Crashing Wave Kraken tokens in BNG. Thanks to Vanguard of Brimaz, there were plenty of Cat Soldiers. The fact that the token is keyworded is pretty important. If people use dice to represent these tokens - and they will - bad times will be had by people who forget or miss the prowess on them. I'm not sure that, flavourfully, the students needed prowess or that if they did they couldn't have been 0/1 prowesses without ruining the card competitively and creatively.
In any case, on a personal level, I hate this card. It's such an obvious cash grab. The power level of Khans was subtle enough that there were people on here who thought the only good cards in it were the fetches. You were able to preorder a lot of the cards for pretty reasonable prices. The power level in this set so far seems to be about as subtle as a prowess pumped swift kick to the jaw. I hate it when they use Mythic Rarity as a Spike tax. It seems like the fate of my wallet is to be reforged with a lot less money in it.
... only decks with [Elspeth] in it are any good ...
UB Control, Junk Reanimator and RG Monsters can all play without Elspeth. They'll all likely be a strong presence at the PT regardless. Heroic decks, red aggro and mono black don't play Elspeth anyway. I don't think it's a card so oppressive that it has to be banned, but it certainly could be. It might open up the field a bit if it's out, but a banning could equally push people toward the safety of UB, Junk and RG. Stormbreath Dragon, in particular, could become oppressive if you ban one of the ways to get rid of it. Monsters, in general, seems to gain the most from a banning.
If Elspeth stays legal (and, cynically, I would be surprised to see the face of the fall set banned for the block pro tour), they'll be everywhere. All the big teams will be armed to the teeth with them. I don't think it's necessarily horrible. It is a 6-drop. If it's at the PT, I think we'll see a lot more of the card's versatility than we do in standard Esper, where you plus into an emblem and win or die trying. I'm looking forward to this PT regardless. Full block is nice when you've had a gutful of standard.
Is it normal that they didn't mention block constructed? There was a non-zero amount of chatter about Elspeth being banned and, while I wasn't expecting it to actually happen, I was waiting for the announcement just to confirm. Does this mean the card will be legal for the Pro Tour?
Edit: It appears that Theros block isn't DCI sanctioned until May 2nd. Perhaps another announcement then?
**** Xenagos will die ( but still hoping that he have planeswalked away after being murdered by elspeth )
If he gets trapped in the godsend, it could set up the MTG movie as an awful buddy movie. Elsepth, the up-tight do-gooder who never lets her hair down. Xenagos, the fun lovin' partygoer who just doesn't stop reveling - until he's trapped in a spear! Together, they're roaming the planes, in search of truth, justice and a damned good revel.
Blue has access to Dispel, Negate and Dissolve. I'm pretty sure that most board into some combination of them. Deicide doesn't just end Thassa's time in standard.
How many Deicides will actually see play? Many Esper decks are maindecking a Revoke Existence. Does that straight swap for a Deicide or does some consideration go to playing Banishing Light instead? In the existing god matchups, Light will be extremely good. Far less narrow than Deicide or Revoke.
Even if people opt for Deicide, maindeck or sideboard, how many do you think people are going to play? 1? 2? Surely not 4. It can be a blowout, but can also do nothing. If you're staring at Master of Waves and a bunch of elemental tokens, Deicide isn't very good.
I think the general absence of gods in standard and block is due to them being deceptively weak, not because of enchant removal. Mono black doesn't even have enchant removal. The gods have a flashy P/T, but they have multiple drawbacks. At their worst, they all do nothing. That's not exactly a recipe for standard success.
Maybe the new ones change things, but I won't hold my breath. I've seen Puphoros and Xenagos hyped before Athreos for little return. My guess is Deicide plays as a 1 or 2 of in some sideboards, as much to hit Detention Sphere and Underworld Connections as gods. Thassa remains a force because it's a good card in a strong deck.
He voiced a very reasonable sentiment, "Why do the other colors get standard playable gods and I don't?"
I believe that R+D operates under the assumption that competitive players will play what's competitive rather than tie themselves to a color pairing. They can't push every mythic in each set without power creeping the game into oblivion. If you're UG first and competitive second, you're going to get cards that aren't competitive. UG already has access to the best god. It seems kind of greedy to demand another competitive one.
Very few of the gods are tournament viable right now. The Uw devotion deck that top 8'd Phoenix had no Ephara. Red devotion is fringe at best. I don't think I've seen a Nylea competitively since before PT Dublin. It depends on your definition of 'playable', but there's only two gods (Erebos, Thassa) seeing regular standard play, with a few more (Ephara, Purphoros, Xenagos) that pop up occasionally. I'd say the only God that's stone unplayable is Karametra. The rest fall between it and Thassa. Kruphix is somewhere in the middle. All gods are synergy cards and, without support, none of them are playable. Look at Thassa in block.
Personally, I'm really glad they didn't decide to push the gods too hard. A standard dominated by gods would have been a standard ruined by gods. People would be so fatigued of them by now if they had to face one every round of a GP. The mechanics line up with the flavor - you have to work for them, but when you do, they're very good. Kruphix, I imagine, would be best in some sort of ramp deck, powering out enormous Hydras or fireballs. It might not be tournament competitive, but that doesn't mean it's been designed for EDH. I don't think many cards are designed for EDH. People see a high casting cost and assume, but the card was designed before it was costed. It seems crafted for brewers to build around and costed cautiously so it doesn't break anything. I suspect there are a lot of standard deckbuilders that will pump hours into breaking this card anyway. This card is for them, not competitive UG players waiting for a handout.
I'm not sure I have faith in Wizards to correctly identify why their bottom line is being hurt. I suspect that attendance was hurt more by the price of standard over KTK/BFZ and during Bant Company's reign of terror during DTK/BFZ/SOI than by quicker rotation. I suspect year-on-year attendance will improve on account of cheaper decks, but with the number of $20+ standard cards, I doubt we return to where we were a couple of years ago.
You also need your opponent to be trying to cast something before blocks in a situation where a 3/3 becomes problematic for them. It's pretty hard to engineer a situation where that's likely to happen and your opponent hasn't just catastrophically misplayed, particularly in a format where this kind of thing can happen.
If it were awaken X, where X is the CMC of the countered spell, I could see it at rare. In fact, now that I've typed that out, I'm sad it's not awaken X. Awaken 3 is suitably underwhelming. I imagine this is just going to be cancel the vast majority of the time anyway. I'm going to really resent every cent i have to shell over the $1 or so I was expecting for an uncommon counterspell. I may even just run straight Cancel in protest until preorder hype dies and expedition chasing tanks the price of rares.
4-Mana Tragic Arrogance versus 5-mana Tragic Arrogance doesn't make a huge difference if you're casting it after Siege Rhino. The only decks you're going to get better than two for one out of Arrogance on turn 4 are the go wide decks that white based control can't handle. It also has the significant downside of being uncastable more often than most wraths. I think it would be fine at four. Regardless, I'm happy to cede the point because my main point is a self-interested 'give us better control cards' tantrum.
I was hopeful that awaken would provide some utility and inevitability for control decks at the cost of being sorcery speed. So far, it seems what we've got is nerfed versions of control cards with laughable alternate costs.
I'm sure they're fine with it. They spoiled Meandering Towershell and Renowned Weaponsmith. It makes logical sense to give them the follow-ups, underwhelming as they may be.
I don't have any expectation of conjuration, but cards like Monastery Mentor do magically appear in my collection. It's just a corresponding amount of cash vaporises from my wallet and materialises in the possession of an online retailer. If they print a powerful card I need, it's not if I will get them but how painful that purchase will be. As I said back on page three, I like more subtle cards that preorder cheap and reward card evaluation, which is the converse of cards like this. Mentor isn't even doing anything new. It's essentially a colour shifted version of a card we already know is good with a keyword tacked on. There's nothing clever in the design. It's just an obvious chase card. I hate it.
Speaking of the tokens, hopefully they print something else that makes them. People are going to need a lot of them. I've seen more people pull a Sorin, Solemn Visitor from a pack than his Vampire token. Even the emblem seems to pop up with more frequency. I think I saw maybe one or two Kiora, the Crashing Wave Kraken tokens in BNG. Thanks to Vanguard of Brimaz, there were plenty of Cat Soldiers. The fact that the token is keyworded is pretty important. If people use dice to represent these tokens - and they will - bad times will be had by people who forget or miss the prowess on them. I'm not sure that, flavourfully, the students needed prowess or that if they did they couldn't have been 0/1 prowesses without ruining the card competitively and creatively.
In any case, on a personal level, I hate this card. It's such an obvious cash grab. The power level of Khans was subtle enough that there were people on here who thought the only good cards in it were the fetches. You were able to preorder a lot of the cards for pretty reasonable prices. The power level in this set so far seems to be about as subtle as a prowess pumped swift kick to the jaw. I hate it when they use Mythic Rarity as a Spike tax. It seems like the fate of my wallet is to be reforged with a lot less money in it.
Is there anything official suggesting this? I'd be surprised if the white walker isn't Gideon after that PAX east hunt promo.
UB Control, Junk Reanimator and RG Monsters can all play without Elspeth. They'll all likely be a strong presence at the PT regardless. Heroic decks, red aggro and mono black don't play Elspeth anyway. I don't think it's a card so oppressive that it has to be banned, but it certainly could be. It might open up the field a bit if it's out, but a banning could equally push people toward the safety of UB, Junk and RG. Stormbreath Dragon, in particular, could become oppressive if you ban one of the ways to get rid of it. Monsters, in general, seems to gain the most from a banning.
If Elspeth stays legal (and, cynically, I would be surprised to see the face of the fall set banned for the block pro tour), they'll be everywhere. All the big teams will be armed to the teeth with them. I don't think it's necessarily horrible. It is a 6-drop. If it's at the PT, I think we'll see a lot more of the card's versatility than we do in standard Esper, where you plus into an emblem and win or die trying. I'm looking forward to this PT regardless. Full block is nice when you've had a gutful of standard.
Edit: It appears that Theros block isn't DCI sanctioned until May 2nd. Perhaps another announcement then?
If he gets trapped in the godsend, it could set up the MTG movie as an awful buddy movie. Elsepth, the up-tight do-gooder who never lets her hair down. Xenagos, the fun lovin' partygoer who just doesn't stop reveling - until he's trapped in a spear! Together, they're roaming the planes, in search of truth, justice and a damned good revel.
Insert generic buddy movie title here.
How many Deicides will actually see play? Many Esper decks are maindecking a Revoke Existence. Does that straight swap for a Deicide or does some consideration go to playing Banishing Light instead? In the existing god matchups, Light will be extremely good. Far less narrow than Deicide or Revoke.
Even if people opt for Deicide, maindeck or sideboard, how many do you think people are going to play? 1? 2? Surely not 4. It can be a blowout, but can also do nothing. If you're staring at Master of Waves and a bunch of elemental tokens, Deicide isn't very good.
I think the general absence of gods in standard and block is due to them being deceptively weak, not because of enchant removal. Mono black doesn't even have enchant removal. The gods have a flashy P/T, but they have multiple drawbacks. At their worst, they all do nothing. That's not exactly a recipe for standard success.
Maybe the new ones change things, but I won't hold my breath. I've seen Puphoros and Xenagos hyped before Athreos for little return. My guess is Deicide plays as a 1 or 2 of in some sideboards, as much to hit Detention Sphere and Underworld Connections as gods. Thassa remains a force because it's a good card in a strong deck.
I believe that R+D operates under the assumption that competitive players will play what's competitive rather than tie themselves to a color pairing. They can't push every mythic in each set without power creeping the game into oblivion. If you're UG first and competitive second, you're going to get cards that aren't competitive. UG already has access to the best god. It seems kind of greedy to demand another competitive one.
Very few of the gods are tournament viable right now. The Uw devotion deck that top 8'd Phoenix had no Ephara. Red devotion is fringe at best. I don't think I've seen a Nylea competitively since before PT Dublin. It depends on your definition of 'playable', but there's only two gods (Erebos, Thassa) seeing regular standard play, with a few more (Ephara, Purphoros, Xenagos) that pop up occasionally. I'd say the only God that's stone unplayable is Karametra. The rest fall between it and Thassa. Kruphix is somewhere in the middle. All gods are synergy cards and, without support, none of them are playable. Look at Thassa in block.
Personally, I'm really glad they didn't decide to push the gods too hard. A standard dominated by gods would have been a standard ruined by gods. People would be so fatigued of them by now if they had to face one every round of a GP. The mechanics line up with the flavor - you have to work for them, but when you do, they're very good. Kruphix, I imagine, would be best in some sort of ramp deck, powering out enormous Hydras or fireballs. It might not be tournament competitive, but that doesn't mean it's been designed for EDH. I don't think many cards are designed for EDH. People see a high casting cost and assume, but the card was designed before it was costed. It seems crafted for brewers to build around and costed cautiously so it doesn't break anything. I suspect there are a lot of standard deckbuilders that will pump hours into breaking this card anyway. This card is for them, not competitive UG players waiting for a handout.