You are gettin gack to 5 LP on the planeswalker, of course it needs that life lose. Additionally imagine if you have a ETB trigger when the creature you exiled returns, you may get an additional creature/life gain/or another effect just for flicking another creature jsut for 2 life.
Is it just me, or is this "Announcement Day" method a horribly dull way to introduce products? "Oh, hey, here's the next block name. Oh, and the name of its second set. Oh, and commanders are 4-color. Also some Planechase stuff and a Duel Deck." No enthusiasm, only 1 art between all the stuff, no set symbols or previews, and way too much at once to really process? I'd be more hyped by a single one of these announcements in full than by this train of "meh".
On topic: 4-color should be interesting, really exited to see how they address the color pie identity of missing only a single color.
I think this is more related to trademarking and also investors more than just a way to show off their future products. Wizards of the Coast (or Magic) need to proof their investors that they are actually working on something and that there are positive changes in their product lines. I say this because I've seen this in other companies, specially in video games and other leisure stuff but I think it's the same thing.
R&D has to be really careful and delicate in how they create these new 2-block expantions, a big risk like this new land type could have messed all standard if they had released earlier and people didn't like it. Probably they had decided to put this "mechanic" onto the next set to avoid that and also to create a more flavorful feeling for the player.
I don't think so. I pretty much believe this only fits flavor reasons because <> is almost useless in any other format.
To explain my point:
In standard you cannot use the Mystic Gate because is a modern reprint. Furthermore, if you are playing modern and you decide to put this into your deck it will produce only <> to cast void or colorless mana costs because there are no void spells in other sets beyond OGW. Additionally there is little chance somebody decides to put a void card into a modern deck just for the sake to spend that extra <>, doing so would also require the addition of waste basic lands damaging the original integrity of the deck.
Tl;dr: A modern deck with this land has no use for <> (void mana) making it useless beyond paying the original 1
Here is the scientific reason to call these Tangos: All other popular sets of cards have a 5-letter suffix like shock, check or fetch, therefore the obvious choice should totally be tango.
Is there a page where i can read about all the Rise of the Eldrazi and BFZ lore to keep up to date.
{SPOILER ALERT}
Today I was reading on FB some comments saying that there will to Emrakul or Kozilek in this set because they have either left the plane or where trapped (or something, I don't know). The thing is that I want to know where I can read the lore files to keep in touch with what happens in the storylines and how it can affect future sets and expansions.
I have always liked the Zendikar plane because that is where I started, I even still have my Eldrazi deck, it has been with me for over 7 years. However, it makes me uneasy to see that these drones are colorless and do not place spawns, I still believe there will be spells interacting with the exiled cards but I'm sure it will go far beyond the older flavor of making tons of mana.
To begging, the only thing I like about Devoid is the card design, that border is pretty awesome; hopefully this time there will be eldrazi in all colors and also ways to create colored mana out of devoid creatures. "T: add one of any color to your mana pool. Activate only if you control another colorless creature."
Digest: the mechanic looks poor since it requires the creature to hit the opponent to gain some exile cards (fuel) to use. Therefore, either there will be spells exiling cards directly or the spells that intereact with the exiled cards will be kinda overpowered. Like "add 1 to your mana pool for each exiled card your opponents have", "put target exiled creature card an opponent owns onto the battlefield under your control" or "You gain 3 life for each exile card target player has".
Awaken: really neat, I love how it contrasts with the flavor of Zendikar. The chance to make your lands into creatures sounds really fun and interesting to use in a limited game. I don't think this sees any competitive play unless somebody comes up with an Abzan Awaken deck. Too bad you won't be able to turn your darksteel citadel into a X/X indestructible elemental.
Allies: I have always hated these little guys, really annoying but that is what makes them pretty cool. Wondering if there will be allies of all colors or only allied color allies. (Since Innistrad, Wizards has really dug into creating factions for every set and I think is kinda boring in many cases, for me it would only be good guys vs bad guys).
Landfall: one of the best abilities in the entire game, when I started I thought it was cheap and stupid because I was young, cheap and stupid. But with time I figured out its potential. Just gaining 2 life per turn or adding 1 mana was the difference between lossing or winning.
Eldrazi: again, super fan of Eldrazi, the kajus of Zendikar (unless there were actual kajus from Invasion). In MM2 they reprinted the big cheeses so I don't think they return, instead we will see their legacy in play and probably new Eldrazi lords but this will depend entirely in what the flavor is going to be. Hopefully they recreate Annhilator into the big boys.
I love how they re-printed a lot of bad ass modern cards for this "core" set. Also probably one of the most beautiful and well made sets I've seen since I started playing, it has bountiful flavor, interesting archetypes and a lot of awesome spells.
I think everyone could forsaw this, but I think they are wasting an opportunity here. The mechanic is really good and fun to play so I expected at least five other cards to have this ability (besides the planeswalkers, of course) so at least a part of the players during a pre-release could experience using a transforming card.
However this is how it is, just another core set with a name stamped on it.
I have seen that. However with the blocks rotating so fast in the next "age of standard" I would assume the changes to be slower and less demanding. For example, if I had a simple selesnya bolster deck I would like to keep it in those colors at least until the end of Battle for Zendikar.
In the other hand, if the changes are too constant in the metagame that would make standard more expensive for the players and also would demand them to change their strats too often, possibly even scaring them from playing the format.
I have been playing magic for a really long time but never got interested in Standard until gatecrash where I created my dimir mill deck. However this year the standard wheel is going to change making the synergy from one block into the next something really to be toughtful about. In the past (our current standard wheel) we used to create a deck and after one or two expansions we were forced to create a totally new strategy to fit into the current metagame, I had to switch my dimir to an aggressive minotaur tribal and now in Dragons of Tarkir I feel like its time again to change into a new strategy.
You people think this is going to still happen under the new standard wheel or is it going to be less demanding about the strategy you choose?
Totally agree, he will probably be printed in a future commander set or something similar. Giving background characters this shadow os myster is also part of the history of MTG
My theory is purely based on the playability of this set. A wedge is a color surrounded by is two opposite colors (rUg), however in KTK the development team decided to go for a different path and make the clans go for one color joined by one alied and one opposite color (ruG). My speculation is that for at least these five cards Wizards will repesct the true nature of the wedges and give the Khans of DTK a more prominent inclination to enemy colors and deny the player the chance to use allied color combinations.
I've played a few drafts and participated in some sealeds and there is always a fair number of players who choosed to go for shards or allied strategies, thing I really found dissapointed because I expected this set to be opposite to Alara.
I think this is more related to trademarking and also investors more than just a way to show off their future products. Wizards of the Coast (or Magic) need to proof their investors that they are actually working on something and that there are positive changes in their product lines. I say this because I've seen this in other companies, specially in video games and other leisure stuff but I think it's the same thing.
R&D has to be really careful and delicate in how they create these new 2-block expantions, a big risk like this new land type could have messed all standard if they had released earlier and people didn't like it. Probably they had decided to put this "mechanic" onto the next set to avoid that and also to create a more flavorful feeling for the player.
To explain my point:
In standard you cannot use the Mystic Gate because is a modern reprint. Furthermore, if you are playing modern and you decide to put this into your deck it will produce only <> to cast void or colorless mana costs because there are no void spells in other sets beyond OGW. Additionally there is little chance somebody decides to put a void card into a modern deck just for the sake to spend that extra <>, doing so would also require the addition of waste basic lands damaging the original integrity of the deck.
Tl;dr: A modern deck with this land has no use for <> (void mana) making it useless beyond paying the original 1
{SPOILER ALERT}
Today I was reading on FB some comments saying that there will to Emrakul or Kozilek in this set because they have either left the plane or where trapped (or something, I don't know). The thing is that I want to know where I can read the lore files to keep in touch with what happens in the storylines and how it can affect future sets and expansions.
To begging, the only thing I like about Devoid is the card design, that border is pretty awesome; hopefully this time there will be eldrazi in all colors and also ways to create colored mana out of devoid creatures. "T: add one of any color to your mana pool. Activate only if you control another colorless creature."
Digest: the mechanic looks poor since it requires the creature to hit the opponent to gain some exile cards (fuel) to use. Therefore, either there will be spells exiling cards directly or the spells that intereact with the exiled cards will be kinda overpowered. Like "add 1 to your mana pool for each exiled card your opponents have", "put target exiled creature card an opponent owns onto the battlefield under your control" or "You gain 3 life for each exile card target player has".
Awaken: really neat, I love how it contrasts with the flavor of Zendikar. The chance to make your lands into creatures sounds really fun and interesting to use in a limited game. I don't think this sees any competitive play unless somebody comes up with an Abzan Awaken deck. Too bad you won't be able to turn your darksteel citadel into a X/X indestructible elemental.
Allies: I have always hated these little guys, really annoying but that is what makes them pretty cool. Wondering if there will be allies of all colors or only allied color allies. (Since Innistrad, Wizards has really dug into creating factions for every set and I think is kinda boring in many cases, for me it would only be good guys vs bad guys).
Landfall: one of the best abilities in the entire game, when I started I thought it was cheap and stupid because I was young, cheap and stupid. But with time I figured out its potential. Just gaining 2 life per turn or adding 1 mana was the difference between lossing or winning.
Eldrazi: again, super fan of Eldrazi, the kajus of Zendikar (unless there were actual kajus from Invasion). In MM2 they reprinted the big cheeses so I don't think they return, instead we will see their legacy in play and probably new Eldrazi lords but this will depend entirely in what the flavor is going to be. Hopefully they recreate Annhilator into the big boys.
(simic is the devil)
However this is how it is, just another core set with a name stamped on it.
In the other hand, if the changes are too constant in the metagame that would make standard more expensive for the players and also would demand them to change their strats too often, possibly even scaring them from playing the format.
You people think this is going to still happen under the new standard wheel or is it going to be less demanding about the strategy you choose?
I've played a few drafts and participated in some sealeds and there is always a fair number of players who choosed to go for shards or allied strategies, thing I really found dissapointed because I expected this set to be opposite to Alara.