haha raining on the parade! dont question the print runs!...no i dont actually think a certain "run" exists, though theres a possibility they existed before -- ive not done enough research to find that out... anyway, the thread was made more to see what other people were pulling out of their boxes. I am very interested in seeing the run of repeats of cards (good and bad) "Rare run" isnt the most accurate name i could have come up with but it described what i wanted enough --> location of each card in the box and numbers of certain rares within the box. you may not be able to form perfect distribution speculation but you can form a statistical analysis for the set based on many peoples' purchases. Also, it helps me decide on how many of which product from a particular set to purchase, as i hope it helps others in the same manner.
Underrated: Flaring Flame-kin -- red has an insane beater now. yes you have to risk that 2 for one issue if he gets offed, but some risks are worth it.
Overrated: I do think the avatar is too weak for its cost, but again -- risk... I dont think its too overrated. The most overrated card is dovescape. Simple and effective...entertaining...but not near as amazing as alot of its fans have built it up to be. Its fragile against green and white decks that have creatures that blow up enchantments. and its very expensive -- it'll take too long to cast against another creature abusing deck, or worse it'll get countered by a control deck.
Here's a bit of an update as I'm considering my original post and considering some disappointment with distribution....
1st: In a draft at the prerelease a player and i were discussing pack orders. i passed him my pack after my first pick. He told me that the pack i gave him had the exact same uncommon run and he swore at least half the commons were in the same order (no i forgot to shuffle that first pass -- egh player errors from the beginning) that was ridiculous
2nd: i noticed that almost every time there was a split card in a pack, there was a second in the same pack, rare or sometimes another uncommon
3rd: i got passed 3 condemns in a row in a draft at that same PR draft(yes i nabbed every one of them)
4th: at the SAME PR draft again (this one being the same as the one from condemn comment) i drafted: 4 seal of dooms, 1 seal of fire, two wrecking balls, and 3 cackling flames -- this is more just to show how ridiculous that draft was, but still.....5 seals in a row followed by 3 condemns in a row...
5th: managed a playset of ghost quarters(for what thats worth) out of 2 drafts from the PR
6th: This is the most important thing i think. I estimated the rare amount being somewhere around 55 rares in this set. I didn't actually count them, I'm too lazy to look, but dividing 55 by 3 (3 different duals) gets you about 18, which is half the number of rares per box. That means you should get around 2 per box. When i first came up with that equation it sounded pretty solid to me, but now my mind is starting to break it down and i dont think thats atall how it works...but what i have noticed is that most people i know have been getting 2 to a box, sometimes 3, and more often than 3, they get 1....but the majority of boxes produce 2 duals per..... ugh...someone who knows math, help me out with that equation...why does it seem wrong now?
anyway thats my experience and my reflection on all of this madness
Edit: oh and i almost forgot to relate it all to my experience in limited play for Rav and GP...whenever you see one signet, you allllways see a second in the pack. rarely in draft will you crack a pack and see one signet by its lonesome, they travel together....
Well, I haven't heard any talk of the rare run patterns from anyone. Popped a box today, kept track of the order of rares/foils. I think it's interesting to see how close some good cards and foils are to one another. Most of my interest is to see the proximity of the dual lands to one another. I started opening from the top right of the box and worked from right to left going back to the right everytime i started a new row.
1. Demonfire
2. Infernal Tutor
3. Dread Slag
4. Seal of Fire(foil)/Govern the Guildless
5. Rackdos Riteknife
6. Grand Arbiter
7. Pride of the Clouds
8. Infernal Tutor
9. Haazda Shield Mate
10. Squealing Devil(foil) / Research//Developement
11. Mormir Vig(foil)
12. Carom(foil) / Aethermage's Touch
13. Unliving Psychopath
14. Hide // Seek
15. Breeding Pool (far left, 5th row down)
16. Demonfire
17. Stalking Vengeance
18. Pain Magnification(foil) / Dovescape
19. Cytoshape
20. Helium Squirter(foil) / Bound//Determined
21. Cytoplace Root-Kin
22. Muse Vessel
23. Lyzolda
24. Rain of Gore
25. Nihilistic Glee
26. Proclamation of Rebirth
27. Tidespout Tyrant
28. Cytospawn Shambler(foil) / Simic Skyswallower
29. Bronze Bombshell(i cant believe this was rated at RARE....wasteful)
30. Boimantic Mastery
31. Research // Development
32. Avatar of Discord
33. Wakestone Gargoyle
34. Patagia Viper(foil) / Blood Crypt(getting worried... bottom right corner)
35. Psychic Possession
36. Rakdos Carnarium(foil) / Rakdos Riteknife
Well as you can see, I had lots of fun panicking about a second dual land as i approached the end of the box. I have had a few before in the Rav Block that didn't have more than one dual land in it, that was depressing. Anyway, hopefully there are some others out there who can keep track of their rares as they come out. Oh and sorry about the lack of tags, but i didn't feel it was really necessary for all the tags, as its just a list for keeping track of things...
Crime may not be a great spell, but rock decks got their deed back. Powered down yes, but at instant speed with lots of surprise, Punishment can wipe little pesky fliers off the board easily. Yes Fall is awesome, but its that second turn mana coloration. You better have both colors on turn 2 or else its kind of ruined. Let's face it Hymn is at its best as early as possible. You Want to play Fall on turn 2 but the mana requirements are a little demanding.
Both cards are powered down versions of previous cards that were awesome. They were brought down in power-level because of the split card use(and obviously their abuse in the past). I voted C/P because it has a more useful overall effect that isn't matched by many other cards in standard right now. Disruption is running rampant, while the randomness of R/F may be good(and I do agree the card is great), not being able to get rid of lands in hand...sucks...
The foiling is different than regular foiling, thats the major difference for the release cards. It isn't "focussed" liked the other foiling for the more recent cards(Mirrodin and up).
I played rakdos heavily in 3 tournaments, doing sealed and draft, when i saw the predator, it was the number one target most of the time. Rakdos has several scary enchantments and sometimes depends on the signets to splash a certain color or just get one turn up on the opponent. When i saw the predator, i burned or doomed it immediately. dangerous for the simic to have that kind of power...
to Feuerdrache: are you seriously attacking the art of the card? thats a really nice piece of art, i have to say. the kamigawa block strayed alot i think and tended to have a very cartoony look while this captures the world of the mechanized. i think its a solid, focused piece, especially for the abilities.just my opinion
you know something i noticed. After falling for all of this, i went to the petition, signed my name, then went to hasbro's site. This was the last straw... I typed out this big long, calm but agressive email requesting they level with the site community and attempt to explain their actions, i stalled when it got to the point where they ask for your home address and phone number -- haha-- and checked back here to see if anyone may have done the same thing...i guess im glad to see it was really a joke... ugh.. interesting note though... if hasbro DOES care so much about their Magic the Gathering game, they dont list it as an option for email topics under Wizard's games... Its like the biggest game they own, and it isnt even listed on their emailing page...haha oh well at least i get to laugh about this....heh....heeh hmm
well i got the specter...frickin awesome!
2 putrefies (WOO!), a giant growth (hey i think the art is entirely good, card choice is a bit awkward), mana leak, oxidize, and reciprocate....no tokens...why do you get tokens again? i am thankful i got none, im not a fan of them to be honest; any opinions on the tokens?...ehhh
well i've never posted here, but ive been reading the rumor mill for like 8 months now, big fan. Thought i'd add a little of my experience from prerelease...
Leyline of Lightning...something no one has come in contact with or just didnt use when they had it, i see alot of people complaining about bloodthirst, but you know what... the leyline give you the bloodthirst boost every time. On announcing the spell, leyline triggers when you pay 1. the player is damaged, the creature hits the board, sees the damage for the turn and gets its counters, i played with 2 skarrgan pit-skulks and the scab-clan mauler and they always got their boost, i never played a game where i wasnt able to easily pull off the bloodthirst mechanic for one of these guys. now the leyline wasnt soley responsible, i had two pyromatics, which were almost crap...and a scorched rusalka to help, but easily leyline was the most efficient.
highlight of the evening for my deck was letting my opponent rack up on creatures for like 5 turns, i pull a hunted dragon out, smack for 6, savage twister the next turn for 4 and whipe the board, i swung a few more times and let pyromatics pull the last few points off my opponents life...i ran 3.0.1 for the day and dropped to play drafts...something terrible about drafting on 2 days was that they stopped having them around round 5 of the sealed tourny so theyd have some of their precious product for sunday...i knew i wasnt gunna get far enough in sealed so i pulled out and played a single draft...orzhov beat me silly with control, watch out for ostiarry thrull and that can that keeps X mana cost creatures from attacking. and as everyone has stated, Pillory...i knew it would rock, and when i lost, it was to that card....haha
quick edit: also the pit-skulk with wurmweaver Coil on it is insane...who doesnt want an 8/8 seemingly unblockable creature? it was gorgeous when it occurred but after the first match, i never saw the coils again
Overrated: I do think the avatar is too weak for its cost, but again -- risk... I dont think its too overrated. The most overrated card is dovescape. Simple and effective...entertaining...but not near as amazing as alot of its fans have built it up to be. Its fragile against green and white decks that have creatures that blow up enchantments. and its very expensive -- it'll take too long to cast against another creature abusing deck, or worse it'll get countered by a control deck.
1st: In a draft at the prerelease a player and i were discussing pack orders. i passed him my pack after my first pick. He told me that the pack i gave him had the exact same uncommon run and he swore at least half the commons were in the same order (no i forgot to shuffle that first pass -- egh player errors from the beginning) that was ridiculous
2nd: i noticed that almost every time there was a split card in a pack, there was a second in the same pack, rare or sometimes another uncommon
3rd: i got passed 3 condemns in a row in a draft at that same PR draft(yes i nabbed every one of them)
4th: at the SAME PR draft again (this one being the same as the one from condemn comment) i drafted: 4 seal of dooms, 1 seal of fire, two wrecking balls, and 3 cackling flames -- this is more just to show how ridiculous that draft was, but still.....5 seals in a row followed by 3 condemns in a row...
5th: managed a playset of ghost quarters(for what thats worth) out of 2 drafts from the PR
6th: This is the most important thing i think. I estimated the rare amount being somewhere around 55 rares in this set. I didn't actually count them, I'm too lazy to look, but dividing 55 by 3 (3 different duals) gets you about 18, which is half the number of rares per box. That means you should get around 2 per box. When i first came up with that equation it sounded pretty solid to me, but now my mind is starting to break it down and i dont think thats atall how it works...but what i have noticed is that most people i know have been getting 2 to a box, sometimes 3, and more often than 3, they get 1....but the majority of boxes produce 2 duals per..... ugh...someone who knows math, help me out with that equation...why does it seem wrong now?
anyway thats my experience and my reflection on all of this madness
Edit: oh and i almost forgot to relate it all to my experience in limited play for Rav and GP...whenever you see one signet, you allllways see a second in the pack. rarely in draft will you crack a pack and see one signet by its lonesome, they travel together....
1. Demonfire
2. Infernal Tutor
3. Dread Slag
4. Seal of Fire(foil)/Govern the Guildless
5. Rackdos Riteknife
6. Grand Arbiter
7. Pride of the Clouds
8. Infernal Tutor
9. Haazda Shield Mate
10. Squealing Devil(foil) / Research//Developement
11. Mormir Vig(foil)
12. Carom(foil) / Aethermage's Touch
13. Unliving Psychopath
14. Hide // Seek
15. Breeding Pool (far left, 5th row down)
16. Demonfire
17. Stalking Vengeance
18. Pain Magnification(foil) / Dovescape
19. Cytoshape
20. Helium Squirter(foil) / Bound//Determined
21. Cytoplace Root-Kin
22. Muse Vessel
23. Lyzolda
24. Rain of Gore
25. Nihilistic Glee
26. Proclamation of Rebirth
27. Tidespout Tyrant
28. Cytospawn Shambler(foil) / Simic Skyswallower
29. Bronze Bombshell(i cant believe this was rated at RARE....wasteful)
30. Boimantic Mastery
31. Research // Development
32. Avatar of Discord
33. Wakestone Gargoyle
34. Patagia Viper(foil) / Blood Crypt(getting worried... bottom right corner)
35. Psychic Possession
36. Rakdos Carnarium(foil) / Rakdos Riteknife
Well as you can see, I had lots of fun panicking about a second dual land as i approached the end of the box. I have had a few before in the Rav Block that didn't have more than one dual land in it, that was depressing. Anyway, hopefully there are some others out there who can keep track of their rares as they come out. Oh and sorry about the lack of tags, but i didn't feel it was really necessary for all the tags, as its just a list for keeping track of things...
Both cards are powered down versions of previous cards that were awesome. They were brought down in power-level because of the split card use(and obviously their abuse in the past). I voted C/P because it has a more useful overall effect that isn't matched by many other cards in standard right now. Disruption is running rampant, while the randomness of R/F may be good(and I do agree the card is great), not being able to get rid of lands in hand...sucks...
2 putrefies (WOO!), a giant growth (hey i think the art is entirely good, card choice is a bit awkward), mana leak, oxidize, and reciprocate....no tokens...why do you get tokens again? i am thankful i got none, im not a fan of them to be honest; any opinions on the tokens?...ehhh
Leyline of Lightning...something no one has come in contact with or just didnt use when they had it, i see alot of people complaining about bloodthirst, but you know what... the leyline give you the bloodthirst boost every time. On announcing the spell, leyline triggers when you pay 1. the player is damaged, the creature hits the board, sees the damage for the turn and gets its counters, i played with 2 skarrgan pit-skulks and the scab-clan mauler and they always got their boost, i never played a game where i wasnt able to easily pull off the bloodthirst mechanic for one of these guys. now the leyline wasnt soley responsible, i had two pyromatics, which were almost crap...and a scorched rusalka to help, but easily leyline was the most efficient.
highlight of the evening for my deck was letting my opponent rack up on creatures for like 5 turns, i pull a hunted dragon out, smack for 6, savage twister the next turn for 4 and whipe the board, i swung a few more times and let pyromatics pull the last few points off my opponents life...i ran 3.0.1 for the day and dropped to play drafts...something terrible about drafting on 2 days was that they stopped having them around round 5 of the sealed tourny so theyd have some of their precious product for sunday...i knew i wasnt gunna get far enough in sealed so i pulled out and played a single draft...orzhov beat me silly with control, watch out for ostiarry thrull and that can that keeps X mana cost creatures from attacking. and as everyone has stated, Pillory...i knew it would rock, and when i lost, it was to that card....haha
quick edit: also the pit-skulk with wurmweaver Coil on it is insane...who doesnt want an 8/8 seemingly unblockable creature? it was gorgeous when it occurred but after the first match, i never saw the coils again