Does the enchantment actually do anything at all in this set? Far as we know, the majority of dice rolling being done cares about the difference between two results, which adding 2 to each result would not change, and the one card that doesn't roll difference between d6s instead rolls a d20 and needs a 20 to activate, so adding +2 could give you 21 or 22 and not activate that ability.
I'm at 3 life with an Exquisite Archangel on the field when my opponent targets it with Unlicensed Disintegration. What happens?
The way I see it, either something similar to this ruling applies (from Gatherer):
"If Exquisite Archangel is dealt lethal damage at the same time that you’re dealt damage that brings your life total to 0 or less, its effect applies and your life total becomes equal to your starting life total. You choose whether Exquisite Archangel is moved to exile or to your graveyard."
Or there is some distinction made in the order in which the text tells you to do things in Unlicensed Disintegration, where the angel is considered destroyed before I am dealt lethal damage.
Just curious, would there be anything wrong with making a DFC for purely flavor purposes that doesn't actually flip, so no functional errata would be necessary?
For example, they print Polukranos, World Eater, who is identical on both sides of the card in terms of mana cost, rules text, etc. Only the art is different, and shows a normal Polukranos on one side, and a Monstrous version on the other? It's a long shot that doesn't actually seem like something they would take the effort (or introduce rules confusion) to do, but it might be a possibility?
Your Commander going to the command zone instead of the graveyard is a replacement effect. It never touches the graveyard, so it hasn't died.
Also, you seem to be misreading Recover. Recover says that you can return the card with Recover to your hand if you pay the cost. So if a creature of yours dies (goes from the battlefield to the graveyard), you may pay the cost and get Icefall back in your hand. If you don't pay the cost, you lose your chance and Icefall is exiled.
I enjoy playing with/against a group hug deck from time to time. It's pretty fun to see how they enable others at the table and also to see how much you can do with the boosted potential they give.
That being said, from the moment I first saw Zedruu the Greathearted, I was suspicious of that player. The two possibilities here are that they genuinely want to empower players for fun, or they're pulling the strings of the rest of the table to use them as they set up for a win somehow. The more dangerous one always being a possibility means you better be prepared for me to take you out if you're playing this kind of deck. Can't take the chance you're not as benevolent as your cards make you seem.
Yeah not looking forward to green based combo to become even stronger in my meta.
I don't really understand reactions like this. Tooth and Nail has been a thing for how long? How is Protean Hulk somehow worse? So long as instant-win combos are a thing anyway, might as well unban the Hulk so the same players who use T&N fairly can play with Hulk fairly as well.
The article says "most popular, and interesting, tribes." I would infer that to mean more than just your standard elves and goblins.
And that is why you're an "optimist".
I'm an optimist too and even I'm pretty sure one will be elves. It'd be nice if it was something else, but I'm just gonna assume elves until they make an official announcement and potentially pleasantly surprise me.
That being said, I would be very happy if they printed an elf tribal commander in Abzan colors, to support all past elf tribal themes. We've had them in G/W and G/B, but have no way of combining them without using something off-tribe like Anafenza.
Theory that Ashiok is an *aetherborn* at least made some sense. This does not.
Did that theory even make sense? Aetherborn have blank bottom halves of their faces and visible top halves with eyes. Ashiok has the literal opposite of that.
Elves on Lorwyn have hooves and antlers. Merfolk on Theros have long spined fins all down their back. Goblins on Tarkir are round and furry. I for one think Ashiok is Aetherborn since they are stylistically very similar. Ashiok would just be an aetherborn from a different plane than Kaladesh.
I participated in a Chaos Sealed event a few days ago. If anyone isn't familiar with the concept, it's the same as normal Sealed tournaments, but with six random packs from across Magic's history. It was an interesting experience, and I was curious what others might come up with from the same sealed pool I got. The six packs I was offered were Stronghold, Nemesis, Dark Ascension, Modern Masters (the first one), Magic: Origins, and Kaladesh.
And, for the purposes of my own education if anyone wants to critique my choices, here's the deck I ended up making. I went 2-1 with this deck, and I'm sure it could have been made better, but I was happy with it in the short time I had to analyze and assemble so many unfamiliar cards.
if he is, I hope he slaps some sense into the Fab Five for ignoring the threat of Phyrexia.
My theory is that the next time we see the Phyrexians will be just after a return to Theros. Elsbeth is revived/escapes from the underworld and joins the Gatewatch. The block after, we finally get the payoff confrontation from her origin story.
EDIT: Not moments after posting, I realize that Elspeth was, in fact, in the Scars of Mirrodin block and that I spelled her name incorrectly. I didn't play at that time though, and am unfamiliar with her involvement in that story.
There's also another reason Regeneration is gone that hasn't been mentioned by anyone that I've seen. It's problematic on many creatures. To the point that every piece of removal started having "that creature can't be regenerated" added to it to make sure those regenerators could be killed. But then, when all the good removal gets around it, what's the point of regeneration any more? It was a problem only solved by removing that clause from removal and reducing the number and power of creatures that had the ability. Ultimately, all these problems made it so that it just wasn't worth having the ability around anymore.
I think they're replacing it with the temporary indestructibility found on creatures like Wily Bandar.
This is terrible, like its just a terrible card. Merciless Eviction is just one mana more and better. I'd hate to get this as a rare considering it really isn't that amazing. Maybe in limmited with all the artifacts but in constructed its garbage.
What are you talking about? It's one mana less than Merciless Eviction and is a one-sided board-wipe for artifacts. Meaning you get to keep your own artifacts. You can even combo with Mycosynth Lattice to take all your opponents' permanents, including lands, and have basically free reign of the board for as long as it takes someone to draw enough land to rebuild or find enchantment removal.
Though my experience with Storm is limited, the card seems very bad. To gain exorbitant amounts of life you would need to play it before playing most of your spells, and 4 mana is a pretty large amount to spend before you start chaining rituals and actually developing a mana pool. You could always have it in play beforehand, I guess, but I would never count on that.
Keep it with the more obvious uses. Sydri, Ayli, Oloro, etc.
Well, the reservoir can enter play as the fourth spell of a turn and still gain you 5 life on the next spell, so as long as it comes in early, it can be played off a ritual pool of sufficient size and still gain you plenty of life as long as you can keep going. Anyway, the only experience I have with storm is playing against it a few times, so I'm not sure about it all myself, but I have seen Storm cast a whole bunch of spells and kind of fizzle out because they got unlucky and didn't find a payload, and I thought this artifact might alleviate the consequences of that happening.
Everybody's talking about the 50-damage part of Aetherflux Reservoir, but what about the other part? Do you think this could be a utility artifact for Storm decks? It potentially serves as both survivability and an alternate kill condition when your storm doesn't quite make it all the way to killing the table.
Unlicensed Disintegration
I'm at 3 life with an Exquisite Archangel on the field when my opponent targets it with Unlicensed Disintegration. What happens?
The way I see it, either something similar to this ruling applies (from Gatherer):
"If Exquisite Archangel is dealt lethal damage at the same time that you’re dealt damage that brings your life total to 0 or less, its effect applies and your life total becomes equal to your starting life total. You choose whether Exquisite Archangel is moved to exile or to your graveyard."
Or there is some distinction made in the order in which the text tells you to do things in Unlicensed Disintegration, where the angel is considered destroyed before I am dealt lethal damage.
For example, they print Polukranos, World Eater, who is identical on both sides of the card in terms of mana cost, rules text, etc. Only the art is different, and shows a normal Polukranos on one side, and a Monstrous version on the other? It's a long shot that doesn't actually seem like something they would take the effort (or introduce rules confusion) to do, but it might be a possibility?
Also, you seem to be misreading Recover. Recover says that you can return the card with Recover to your hand if you pay the cost. So if a creature of yours dies (goes from the battlefield to the graveyard), you may pay the cost and get Icefall back in your hand. If you don't pay the cost, you lose your chance and Icefall is exiled.
By the way, for future reference, you want the "Magic Rulings" subforum here: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-rulings
The Commander forum is for discussion only. All rules questions go to Rulings, even ones related to Commander.
That being said, from the moment I first saw Zedruu the Greathearted, I was suspicious of that player. The two possibilities here are that they genuinely want to empower players for fun, or they're pulling the strings of the rest of the table to use them as they set up for a win somehow. The more dangerous one always being a possibility means you better be prepared for me to take you out if you're playing this kind of deck. Can't take the chance you're not as benevolent as your cards make you seem.
I don't really understand reactions like this. Tooth and Nail has been a thing for how long? How is Protean Hulk somehow worse? So long as instant-win combos are a thing anyway, might as well unban the Hulk so the same players who use T&N fairly can play with Hulk fairly as well.
That being said, I would be very happy if they printed an elf tribal commander in Abzan colors, to support all past elf tribal themes. We've had them in G/W and G/B, but have no way of combining them without using something off-tribe like Anafenza.
1 Nomads en-Kor
1 Skyshroud Falcon
1 Mind Games
1 Dream Prowler
1 Gliding Licid
1 Rabid Rats
1 Death Stroke
1 Foul Imp
1 Flowstone Blade
1 Mob Justice
1 Skyshroud Archer
1 Overgrowth
1 Elven Rite
1 Acidic Sliver
1 Ensnaring Bridge
Nemesis Pack
1 Lightbringer
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Rootwater Commando
1 Accumulated Knowledge
1 Daze
1 Æther Barrier
1 Plague Witch
1 Seal of Fire
1 Mogg Toady
1 Arc Mage
1 Laccolith Whelp
1 Stampede Driver
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Seal of Strength
1 Rejuvenation Chamber
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Ray of Revelation
1 Nephalia Seakite
1 Falkenrath Torturer
1 Gravepurge
1 Harrowing Journey
1 Burning Oil
1 Torch Fiend
1 Young Wolf
1 Lambholt Elder
1 Wild Hunger
1 Immerwolf
1 Heavy Mattock
1 Evolving Wilds
Modern Masters Pack
1 Test of Faith
1 Spell Snare
1 Etherium Sculptor
1 Vedalken Dismisser
1 Rathi Trapper
1 Syphon Life
1 Absorb Vis
1 Stinkdrinker Daredevil
1 Tar Pitcher
1 Torrent of Stone
1 Sudden Shock
1 Thundercloud Shaman
1 Dragonstorm
1 Moldervine Cloak
1 Penumbra Spider
1 Healing Hands
1 Patron of the Valiant
1 Artificer's Epiphany
1 Infernal Scarring
1 Consecrated by Blood
1 Unholy Hunger
1 Dragon Fodder
1 Smash to Smithereens
1 Boggart Brute
1 Embermaw Hellion
1 Caustic Caterpillar
1 Dwynen's Elite
1 Mantle of Webs
1 Guardians of Meletis
Kaladesh Pack
1 Consulate Surveillance
1 Inspired Charge
1 Propeller Pioneer
1 Aether Tradewinds
1 Fretwork Colony
1 Fortuitous Find
1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
1 Reckless Fireweaver
1 Thriving Grubs
1 Salivating Gremlins
1 Creeping Mold
1 Wild Wanderer
1 Woodweaver's Puzzleknot
1 Workshop Assistant
And, for the purposes of my own education if anyone wants to critique my choices, here's the deck I ended up making. I went 2-1 with this deck, and I'm sure it could have been made better, but I was happy with it in the short time I had to analyze and assemble so many unfamiliar cards.
1 Laccolith Whelp
1 Young Wolf
1 Dwynen's Elite
1 Thriving Grubs
1 Torch Fiend
1 Arc Mage
1 Boggart Brute
1 Immerwolf
1 Lambholt Elder
1 Penumbra Spider
1 Wild Wanderer
1 Embermaw Hellion
1 Thundercloud Shaman
1 Burning Oil
1 Dragon Fodder
1 Sudden Shock
1 Wild Hunger
1 Torrent of Stone
Enchantments (5)
1 Flowstone Blade
1 Seal of Fire
1 Seal of Strength
1 Mantle of Webs
1 Moldervine Cloak
1 Evolving Wilds
7 Forrest
8 Mountain
1 Plains
EDIT: Not moments after posting, I realize that Elspeth was, in fact, in the Scars of Mirrodin block and that I spelled her name incorrectly. I didn't play at that time though, and am unfamiliar with her involvement in that story.
I think they're replacing it with the temporary indestructibility found on creatures like Wily Bandar.