#1: I cast Hex, a spell that requires six targets. You sacrifice one of them to a Nantuko Husk. This counters my entire spell? Fixed-target spells are already weaker than variable target spells. This would kill them entirely.
#2: I actually thought this was how Bestow worked for a couple weeks after release. And I played none of those cards. There was just too much possibility for being blown out. Also, taking away part of the rule, but leaving the "fall off and become a creature" clause would cause more confusion than it solves.
#3: I ask this, not to be a jerk, but in the humblest way possible: how would you template the text of Fight (or First Strike) to accommodate this change? I literally cannot think of a way to make it work, at least not with lines and lines of text.
I like the flavor of the Wander mechanic, but counting on your opponent to play a certain land type is just too random. Here are my thoughts:
First, have it look at your lands. This is something you can control and will influence not only play, but also deckbuilding.
Second, this mechanic is all about exploration, right? Sharing the spirit of adventure, leaving your home and seeking new lands! So have it look at your lands, but for lands of types other than its "home" land.
After all, it's pretty boring if your white creature has Plains Wander (Plainswander?), since it will be active 95% of the time. So how about:
Blanc Mastiff - W
Creature- Hound (C)
Mountain Wander (This creature gets +1/+1 as longs as you control a Mountain.)
“The hounds of Kunari are loyal, but underwhelming to say the least.” Jafar, Sands Explorer
1/1
This is not a high draft pick, but it becomes more interesting if you are already in RW. You may even move into that archetype if you see several of this type of card.
However, there isn't really a choice to be made with this card. If I have it turn 1, I play it. If at any point I draw a Mountain, I'm good to go. If we template it like this, it presents a choice to the player:
Blanc Mastiff - W
Creature- Hound (C)
Mountain Wander (This creature enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter if you control a Mountain.)
“You may underestimate the hounds of Kunar, friend, but I would rather have them at my side than at my throat.” Jafar, Sands Explorer
1/1
Now the player has to decide: Do I get a 1/1 on turn 1, or play my Mountain first and get a 1 mana 2/2 on turn 2?
One more option. By switching to an ability word, you can add more versatility to the ability:
Mournful Sea-Singer - 1U
Creature - Mermaid (U) Plains Wander - When Mournful Sea-Singer enters the battlefield, if you control a Plains, you may draw a card. If you do, discard a card. For her, the path to dry land is so close, yet forever denied.
2/1
Just a few options. Look forward to seeing what else you come up with!
Had an idea a while back for a "box set" version of Archenemy. There are 3 different Archenemies and 8-10 different decks that players can choose from.
To make it interesting to non-hardcore Magic players, each deck is heavily themed to represent a Roleplaying "class".
For example, the Paladin deck can gain life and make creatures indestructible. The Wizard uses fire (burn) and ice (tapdown) spells to control enemy creatures. And so on.
Giving each deck a strong identity will make players want to try out different combat roles and party configurations each time you play.
It feels like "the Progenitus deck" and "hydra tribal" are two different decks. I would decide on one and play more to that theme.
If you want a hydra theme, I would switch the commander to Ulasht, the Hate Seed for more consistent mana. 99% of hydras fall into these colors anyway.
If you want a "Progenitus deck", it will probably be less hydras and more like 5 color goodstuff. Or just a ton of ramp to get out Progenitus.
If I can recognize immediately that they are new, I just take our match as a learning exercise or way of teaching them, making sure they know the rules and are playing properly, while beating them along the way.
Pretty much this. A new player with an Intro Pack has pretty much a 0% chance of beating a veteran player with a tuned tournament deck.
I will tell new players about better lines of play, and let them take back a handful of plays per game.
BUT, I will enforce all rules, including mulligans, and I will never "let" anyone beat me. A new player will learn more from a loss against a difficult opponent than a win against a pushover.
If a new player is interested, I will also look through their deck afterwards, and make suggestions on card choices. However, you have to be careful when teaching or giving advice to not come across as an arrogant know-it-all.
Some of my choices are out of necessity (not likely to get 2 more Snapcasters by tomorrow, for example), but I feel like there is room for improvement, especially in the sideboard.
I will be playing in a somewhat unknown meta, but the decks I expect to see, in order of likelihood, are: Jund, Affinity, Infect, BW Tokens, Jeskai Ascendancy and Scapeshift.
Despite being a totally reasonable sealed/draft creature, I won't be playing it. I may even avoid playing white so that I won't be tempted. It's just too... wrong.
It's sad, but tournaments are prime feeding grounds for thieves. I've known more than a few people "lose" folders, decks, phones, etc.
Unfortunately, this is true. I've seen/heard about it happening once or twice at local events in my area, and those usually only average 10-20 people. So when you have larger events like GPs that attract hundreds of people, you can bet there are at least a handful of thieves in the room.
A number of people continue to say that Maynard "made a mistake". This isn't true.
He knew which card was best for the draft. A mistake would be if he had thought, "Wow, this Goyf will be really good in my RW deck!"
What happened was that he made an informed decision, BUT he based his decision on a different set of criteria than what everyone else was using. Whether or not the decision was wrong is debatable. Personally, I think he made the correct call, seeing as how the minimum amount of money for the card would have paid for a fair chunk of another event, allowing him to continue to play and further his career in the game we all love. And it isn't like he was throwing away the event he was currently in, only taking a tiny hit to the power level of his deck.
I may be arguing semantics, but saying that he "made a mistake", or "the wrong pick" makes it sound like we are questioning Maynard's skill and/or intelligence, which we shouldn't. He knew what he was doing.
Look at it this way. When you make a "mistake" in a draft, you usually notice it afterwards, and think something along the lines of, "If I could do it over again, I would do this part differently." Based on what he and we currently know, do you think Maynard would pick differently? Would you?
I am genuinely confused by all of these comments. A comment like, "That was a bad pick", or "I probably would have taken something else" is fine.
But the name calling, the insults, suggesting that Pascal isn't really a pro and has no respect for the integrity of the game (whatever that means, was he cheating?) is just waaay too extreme of a reaction. The only people I have lost respect for are Reid, Owen, Huey and the others involved in this smear campaign.
It may not have even been a bad decision, considering that auction is currently over $1,500.
I think the OP seems to only be a player of Standard-legal expansion sets and their related core sets. He is stubbornly refusing to admit that there are a myriad of ways to play Magic. He is pretty much ignoring that people like to draft, which is why Wizards made sets tailored to drafting, such as Conspiracy and Modern Masters. He refuses to admit that Modern is a very popular format that will continue to get needed reprint support from Wizards. He must hate casual fun formats, so he just believes that Commander doesn't exist. Magic is fun because it can be played in many different formats, there is more than just freaking Standard out there.
Actually I consider vintage, or whatever it's called, to be the purest form of the game. Any cards can be played with, simple as that. Draft is fun too because of the sealed aspect of it, but the game rules are the same, it's the same game. Things like Commander are indeed not actually the Magic card game, but a different game played with the same game pieces.
Vintage is one of the few formats that allows Supplement-only cards, like Commander and Conspiracy cards. It's the purest form of the game, but allows what you define as "fake" cards?
Mine aren't as good as some of these, but were... memorable, at least.
The first was from my very first Modern tournament. I was playing Jeskai Ascendancy combo vs Burn. I start my combo, eventually getting all 4 Fatestitchers on the field, and activate 2 Faerie Conclaves. They are pretty large by this point, since I want to make sure that I can still kill him in one shot if he has Lightning Helix or something. My opponent says nothing, just leaning back and looking smug the whole time. Another player walks by and this exchange happens:
Bystander: "Whoa, this guy has an army over here!" Opponent: "It's fine, he just played them. They can't attack." Bystander: "Uh, Unearth gives haste." Opponent: *dawning realization, no longer smug* "Oh. I scoop."
It wasn't really his fault though, my local game store only started doing Modern recently. Some local players aren't familiar with Modern decks, or even what gets played in Modern. That was part of why I picked a lesser known deck, so most of my opponents wouldn't know what the heck I was up to. I also had a transformational sideboard, to morph into UR Delver on game 2. It would have been a great mind-game, except...
A friend walks by right after game 1 of round 1. I am in process of boarding into Delver, but trying to make it look like I am considering each card. He says, right in front of my opponent: "Whatcha playing? Looks like UR Delver..."
-----
The other was from another tourney a few weeks later. I was playing 8 Rack in the finals vs Scapeshift. We had two really close games and ended up going to game 3. I control him all game, eventually backing him into a corner with 2 racks on him and no cards in hand. He untaps and goes to 2. I am still at 18 or 19. He draws his last card... and, with a huge smile, shows me Scapeshift for the win. I usually consider myself a gracious loser, but that was the closest I have ever been to flipping a table.
I can understand the point the OP is making. I would compare it to collecting comics, or even books in general. Someone who considers themself a "serious" or "hardcore" collector will go out of their way to get 1st printings. Later printings (god forbid, reprints that came years later) just don't hold the same value for them. But not all of us were around when, say, Moby Dick or Action Comics #1 was first printed. We also are unable or unwilling to pay the extreme prices for these items, so we fill the holes in our collections with reprints.
The actual function is the same. We are able to experience and enjoy these stories, just like someone who owns the "original". It expands the fandom, and allows our hobbies to continue to grow. For someone to look at my bookshelf and claim I am not a collector because of the many reprints is just elitism. For them to look at my bookshelf and say "these aren't books" is just silly.
-----
As Yatsufusa stated earlier, everyone had a jumping-on point into the game. Very few of us can claim that we started with Alpha. For me, the jumping-on point was Ice Age. I am proud of that fact, and prefer to use Ice Age versions of cards like Counterspell,Brainstorm, and Swords to Plowshares. Some people like to point out that these aren't the originals, or the most valuable, or the best looking versions. But that is my preference.
And for some people, their jumping on point will be MM15. They may prioritize their own experiences ("this was the first rare I ever cracked!") over having the "original" version.
Some people may also prioritize having the best-looking version of a card. MM15 Cryptic Command has the much-easier-to-read bulleted text. MM15 Vendilion Clique has (in my opinion) vastly superior art to the original. Am I wrong for preferring the newer version? I can't be wrong, because it's a personal choice.
-----
Wow, this is longer than I anticipated. One more point, and I will shut up. I can take the OP's argument even further, by comparing it to playmats. I am very proud of the several Game Day playmats that I have won. It is a badge of honor that says, "I earned this". But there were several GD mats that I was not able to win. I could have bought them from eBay, but it wouldn't have been the same. I wouldn't really have been the champion. I would just have payed someone else to get it for me, like buying a trophy and claiming I won it.
So, the only way to really collect a card is to crack it from a pack. If you just payed someone else for that card, did you really earn it?
#2: I actually thought this was how Bestow worked for a couple weeks after release. And I played none of those cards. There was just too much possibility for being blown out. Also, taking away part of the rule, but leaving the "fall off and become a creature" clause would cause more confusion than it solves.
#3: I ask this, not to be a jerk, but in the humblest way possible: how would you template the text of Fight (or First Strike) to accommodate this change? I literally cannot think of a way to make it work, at least not with lines and lines of text.
First, have it look at your lands. This is something you can control and will influence not only play, but also deckbuilding.
Second, this mechanic is all about exploration, right? Sharing the spirit of adventure, leaving your home and seeking new lands! So have it look at your lands, but for lands of types other than its "home" land.
After all, it's pretty boring if your white creature has Plains Wander (Plainswander?), since it will be active 95% of the time. So how about:
This is not a high draft pick, but it becomes more interesting if you are already in RW. You may even move into that archetype if you see several of this type of card.
However, there isn't really a choice to be made with this card. If I have it turn 1, I play it. If at any point I draw a Mountain, I'm good to go. If we template it like this, it presents a choice to the player:
Now the player has to decide: Do I get a 1/1 on turn 1, or play my Mountain first and get a 1 mana 2/2 on turn 2?
One more option. By switching to an ability word, you can add more versatility to the ability:
Just a few options. Look forward to seeing what else you come up with!
To make it interesting to non-hardcore Magic players, each deck is heavily themed to represent a Roleplaying "class".
For example, the Paladin deck can gain life and make creatures indestructible. The Wizard uses fire (burn) and ice (tapdown) spells to control enemy creatures. And so on.
Giving each deck a strong identity will make players want to try out different combat roles and party configurations each time you play.
If you want a hydra theme, I would switch the commander to Ulasht, the Hate Seed for more consistent mana. 99% of hydras fall into these colors anyway.
If you want a "Progenitus deck", it will probably be less hydras and more like 5 color goodstuff. Or just a ton of ramp to get out Progenitus.
Pretty much this. A new player with an Intro Pack has pretty much a 0% chance of beating a veteran player with a tuned tournament deck.
I will tell new players about better lines of play, and let them take back a handful of plays per game.
BUT, I will enforce all rules, including mulligans, and I will never "let" anyone beat me. A new player will learn more from a loss against a difficult opponent than a win against a pushover.
If a new player is interested, I will also look through their deck afterwards, and make suggestions on card choices. However, you have to be careful when teaching or giving advice to not come across as an arrogant know-it-all.
Combo with Unbreathing Horde!
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
3 Gurmag Angler
Spells:30
1 Dispel
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
1 Spell Snare
3 Thought Scour
2 Mana Leak
2 Remand
1 Shadow of Doubt
4 Terminate
1 Blood Moon
1 Electrolyze
2 Kolaghan's Command
4 Cryptic Command
1 Blood Crypt
1 Breeding Pool
1 Desolate Lighthouse
3 Flooded Strand
3 Island
1 Mountain
4 Polluted Delta
3 Steam Vents
2 Sulfur Falls
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Illness in the Ranks
2 Pithing Needle
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Vandalblast
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Rakdos Charm
1 Remand
1 Shadow of Doubt
1 Spellskite
1 Counterflux
1 Keranos, God of Storms
Some of my choices are out of necessity (not likely to get 2 more Snapcasters by tomorrow, for example), but I feel like there is room for improvement, especially in the sideboard.
I will be playing in a somewhat unknown meta, but the decks I expect to see, in order of likelihood, are: Jund, Affinity, Infect, BW Tokens, Jeskai Ascendancy and Scapeshift.
A) Why are they happy?!
and
B) What kind of mage (especially a W mage) sees the ghost of dead children and says, "Yeah, these look like good soldiers for my army"?
Even if it was done as a way to put someone's (real) kids into the art, would have been way less disturbing as an angel or archon.
Unfortunately, this is true. I've seen/heard about it happening once or twice at local events in my area, and those usually only average 10-20 people. So when you have larger events like GPs that attract hundreds of people, you can bet there are at least a handful of thieves in the room.
He knew which card was best for the draft. A mistake would be if he had thought, "Wow, this Goyf will be really good in my RW deck!"
What happened was that he made an informed decision, BUT he based his decision on a different set of criteria than what everyone else was using. Whether or not the decision was wrong is debatable. Personally, I think he made the correct call, seeing as how the minimum amount of money for the card would have paid for a fair chunk of another event, allowing him to continue to play and further his career in the game we all love. And it isn't like he was throwing away the event he was currently in, only taking a tiny hit to the power level of his deck.
I may be arguing semantics, but saying that he "made a mistake", or "the wrong pick" makes it sound like we are questioning Maynard's skill and/or intelligence, which we shouldn't. He knew what he was doing.
Look at it this way. When you make a "mistake" in a draft, you usually notice it afterwards, and think something along the lines of, "If I could do it over again, I would do this part differently." Based on what he and we currently know, do you think Maynard would pick differently? Would you?
But the name calling, the insults, suggesting that Pascal isn't really a pro and has no respect for the integrity of the game (whatever that means, was he cheating?) is just waaay too extreme of a reaction. The only people I have lost respect for are Reid, Owen, Huey and the others involved in this smear campaign.
It may not have even been a bad decision, considering that auction is currently over $1,500.
Vintage is one of the few formats that allows Supplement-only cards, like Commander and Conspiracy cards. It's the purest form of the game, but allows what you define as "fake" cards?
The first was from my very first Modern tournament. I was playing Jeskai Ascendancy combo vs Burn. I start my combo, eventually getting all 4 Fatestitchers on the field, and activate 2 Faerie Conclaves. They are pretty large by this point, since I want to make sure that I can still kill him in one shot if he has Lightning Helix or something. My opponent says nothing, just leaning back and looking smug the whole time. Another player walks by and this exchange happens:
Bystander: "Whoa, this guy has an army over here!"
Opponent: "It's fine, he just played them. They can't attack."
Bystander: "Uh, Unearth gives haste."
Opponent: *dawning realization, no longer smug* "Oh. I scoop."
It wasn't really his fault though, my local game store only started doing Modern recently. Some local players aren't familiar with Modern decks, or even what gets played in Modern. That was part of why I picked a lesser known deck, so most of my opponents wouldn't know what the heck I was up to. I also had a transformational sideboard, to morph into UR Delver on game 2. It would have been a great mind-game, except...
A friend walks by right after game 1 of round 1. I am in process of boarding into Delver, but trying to make it look like I am considering each card. He says, right in front of my opponent: "Whatcha playing? Looks like UR Delver..."
-----
The other was from another tourney a few weeks later. I was playing 8 Rack in the finals vs Scapeshift. We had two really close games and ended up going to game 3. I control him all game, eventually backing him into a corner with 2 racks on him and no cards in hand. He untaps and goes to 2. I am still at 18 or 19. He draws his last card... and, with a huge smile, shows me Scapeshift for the win. I usually consider myself a gracious loser, but that was the closest I have ever been to flipping a table.
The actual function is the same. We are able to experience and enjoy these stories, just like someone who owns the "original". It expands the fandom, and allows our hobbies to continue to grow. For someone to look at my bookshelf and claim I am not a collector because of the many reprints is just elitism. For them to look at my bookshelf and say "these aren't books" is just silly.
-----
As Yatsufusa stated earlier, everyone had a jumping-on point into the game. Very few of us can claim that we started with Alpha. For me, the jumping-on point was Ice Age. I am proud of that fact, and prefer to use Ice Age versions of cards like Counterspell,Brainstorm, and Swords to Plowshares. Some people like to point out that these aren't the originals, or the most valuable, or the best looking versions. But that is my preference.
And for some people, their jumping on point will be MM15. They may prioritize their own experiences ("this was the first rare I ever cracked!") over having the "original" version.
Some people may also prioritize having the best-looking version of a card. MM15 Cryptic Command has the much-easier-to-read bulleted text. MM15 Vendilion Clique has (in my opinion) vastly superior art to the original. Am I wrong for preferring the newer version? I can't be wrong, because it's a personal choice.
-----
Wow, this is longer than I anticipated. One more point, and I will shut up. I can take the OP's argument even further, by comparing it to playmats. I am very proud of the several Game Day playmats that I have won. It is a badge of honor that says, "I earned this". But there were several GD mats that I was not able to win. I could have bought them from eBay, but it wouldn't have been the same. I wouldn't really have been the champion. I would just have payed someone else to get it for me, like buying a trophy and claiming I won it.
So, the only way to really collect a card is to crack it from a pack. If you just payed someone else for that card, did you really earn it?