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Quote from xaltair »Looks like a fixed vedalken shackles, or in some ways better since it doesn't depend on islands, so it can be played in other decks.
Quote from Lithl »Quote from boombox_smk »It's like a Benefaction of Rhonas but one less card and land instead of enchantment.It's like a Gift of the Gargantuan but the cards you don't take go to the graveyard instead of the bottom of your library. And you're forced to reveal all of the cards instead of only the ones you keep.
Quote from boombox_smk »It's like a Benefaction of Rhonas but one less card and land instead of enchantment.
Quote from Tiro of Meletis »Overall, Theros Beyond Death is my favorite set in Magic. I really love some of the cards we saw added on the last day, namely Alirios, Chained to Memory and of course Medomai's Prophecy (from the leaks). That said, it isn't without its flaws. We all know how vehemently opposed I am to the sore lack of lore and story for Return to Theros. We waited six years, and this is one of their most promising plot points, especially being self-contained and involving only Ajani from the Gatewatch. We needed a story like this after the Gatewatch fatigue, but we didn't get anything. No details, not even elaboration on Daxos and Elspeth's reunion or relationship or her motivations to depart the plane. The set itself. I agree wholeheartedly that part of the set felt Bottom-up instead of Top-Down Greek Mythology. Especially Escape. I feel strongly opposed to Escape and more Graveyard mechanics. I really wish they had just let Theros Beyond Death be Top-Down Greek Mythology World and let this be more of a survey of Theros and its Underworld. Like a journey, the way Ixalan felt. It was just unnecessary to have Escape and all this mechanical baggage. I hate mechanics driven designs, or when sets are held back for a mechanic or because of limited and draft, etc. That said, choosing to return Devotion and Constellation was absolutely the right call, as was delivering the mono-color gods, while depicting the other gods on various spells so they had a cameo. I loved the enchantment matters theme, getting Calix as an Enchantment Planeswalker, and getting a lot of Greek and Theros Myth flavor cards (such as Kiora Bests the Sea God, and Achilles, etc.). Personally, I would have skipped the Titans entirely and made Kruphix instead Uro, etc. though. Leave the Titans for a third visit. I know it was to have Escape, but again, I don't really approve of Escape and I wouldn't introduce something like the Titans only to make two cards for them. They probably should have canned Escape and saved the Titan concept for later. Honestly, Theros deserves two sets to really be able to flesh out the story and the intentions. While I think the art and theme of this set is absolutely phenomenal, and truly my favorite set in the game thus far (will likely remain so until our third Theros visit), I did feel like this set felt a lot more dark and sinister. Our last visit to Theros felt idyllic, charming and vibrant. This set feels very somber and at times unnerving. Perhaps it's the Underworld and death depictions and the fact the gods are warring without buildup to that. Last Theros was introducing the plane and had more sets to build up to the conflict, whereas we drop right into the conflict with this one? And we also had a story that fleshed Theros out more before this. We had an opportunity to explore the world itself a bit more. This time Theros had a bit of sadness to it, not the bright balmy world I remember. Heliod deserves punishment but I hope he doesn't die or fade away from lack of devotion. I really admire the Theros pantheon as it is, and while he does deserve to pay for his crimes, I'd like to see him on a third visit to Theros again. For the love of Thassa, don't bring Phyrexia to Theros. We have a very deep well of Greek Myth Legendary creatures we still need. Go wreck planes that lack a rich source material to mine from and just allow Theros to be Greece.
Quote from H3RAC71TU5 »Quote from Crispen_Smith »A couple of times during spoiler season the team variously said (and I'm paraphrasing a little) "we f***ed up, wasted a bunch of time getting it wrong and then course corrected. The new set is gonna be, well, a set". (The Stygian mechanic, overly complicated cards that were caught late in the dev cycle and needed a quick fix). They weren't wrong about that. This is 264 new cards alright. There are things to live about this set and there are some really weird things that seem to be the result of getting it wrong. Building M:TG is a hard job, I'm glad it isn't mine. The R&D team put their heart and soul into it. This is going to be a fun set to play and there are cards I love at all rarities but there's those weird gaps. Yeah, I think they deserve at least a little sympathy. Solidarity for the labor at MtG. The lack of a developed story for Theros is the most unfortunate part. One of the main benefits of a set that returns to an established plane is that it gives you an opportunity to deepen the storyline, provide character development, and build a coherent plot through larger story arcs. These were issues they had when they kept on going to a new setting every block. After the presumed end of the Bolas arc with Ravnica, Theros was the first plane where old plot threads were present to be picked up. But the most we have to show for that is a synopsis, so the narrative is pretty much in limbo. That's something that I feel is especially critical to resolve since Bolas was honestly a terrible villain and we need to move on to something better asap.
Quote from Crispen_Smith »A couple of times during spoiler season the team variously said (and I'm paraphrasing a little) "we f***ed up, wasted a bunch of time getting it wrong and then course corrected. The new set is gonna be, well, a set". (The Stygian mechanic, overly complicated cards that were caught late in the dev cycle and needed a quick fix). They weren't wrong about that. This is 264 new cards alright. There are things to live about this set and there are some really weird things that seem to be the result of getting it wrong. Building M:TG is a hard job, I'm glad it isn't mine. The R&D team put their heart and soul into it. This is going to be a fun set to play and there are cards I love at all rarities but there's those weird gaps.
Quote from WizardMN »Quote from Crispen_Smith »Well, huh, is this the first time we have had a token and a card that are functionally different from each other with the same name? Nightmare No. Splinter and Illusion (granted, on a split card of Illusion // Reality) also have tokens with those names.
Quote from Crispen_Smith »Well, huh, is this the first time we have had a token and a card that are functionally different from each other with the same name? Nightmare
Quote from buffntuff »Quote from Crispen_Smith »A couple of times during spoiler season the team variously said (and I'm paraphrasing a little) "we f***ed up, wasted a bunch of time getting it wrong and then course corrected. The new set is gonna be, well, a set". (The Stygian mechanic, overly complicated cards that were caught late in the dev cycle and needed a quick fix). They weren't wrong about that. This is 264 new cards alright. There are things to live about this set and there are some really weird things that seem to be the result of getting it wrong. Building M:TG is a hard job, I'm glad it isn't mine. The R&D team put their heart and soul into it. This is going to be a fun set to play and there are cards I love at all rarities but there's those weird gaps. With the netflix thing upcoming and integrating arena and dealing with kelly digges leaving and both novels and uncharted realms getting canned, mtg is in a lot more flux than I think they're being upfront about right now.
Quote from m_pathogen »Quote from Crispen_Smith »A couple of times during spoiler season the team variously said (and I'm paraphrasing a little) "we f***ed up, wasted a bunch of time getting it wrong and then course corrected. The new set is gonna be, well, a set". (The Stygian mechanic, overly complicated cards that were caught late in the dev cycle and needed a quick fix). They weren't wrong about that. This is 264 new cards alright. There are things to love about this set and there are some really weird things that seem to be the result of getting it wrong. Building M:TG is a hard job, I'm glad it isn't mine. The R&D team put their heart and soul into it. This is going to be a fun set to play and there are cards I love at all rarities but there's those weird gaps. While I don’t totally disagree with you, I do feel like this set is at least less of an underpowered mess than original Theros was. I remember being borderline horrified back then, and I definitely like this set at least a little more.
Quote from Crispen_Smith »A couple of times during spoiler season the team variously said (and I'm paraphrasing a little) "we f***ed up, wasted a bunch of time getting it wrong and then course corrected. The new set is gonna be, well, a set". (The Stygian mechanic, overly complicated cards that were caught late in the dev cycle and needed a quick fix). They weren't wrong about that. This is 264 new cards alright. There are things to love about this set and there are some really weird things that seem to be the result of getting it wrong. Building M:TG is a hard job, I'm glad it isn't mine. The R&D team put their heart and soul into it. This is going to be a fun set to play and there are cards I love at all rarities but there's those weird gaps.
Quote from boombox_smk »Quote from @utonacho »This is a really interesting card. What i find most curious is the final sentence wherin it removes the existing abilities of the aura target. Im wondering if there are instances of this actually being advantageous. I just can not think of anything particular. I think that line of text is actually referring to the lion itself. I think it means that the lion (now an aura) can't be given indestructible with the first ability, and the aura doesn't come back from the yard if it's destroyed.
Quote from @utonacho »This is a really interesting card. What i find most curious is the final sentence wherin it removes the existing abilities of the aura target. Im wondering if there are instances of this actually being advantageous. I just can not think of anything particular.
Quote from Skios »Question. If you have a card like Nikya of the Old Ways and this one out, a single forest taps for six mana, right?
Quote from H3RAC71TU5 »I don't think the issue I'm having is with constellation, in terms of its power level or otherwise. Constellation is fine but it doesn't have quite enough oomf to carry the enchantment theme all by itself. I guess there's only so much that can be done with a single set under these conditions, but for us enchantment lovers out here it's a bummer.
Quote from Gutterstorm »Quote from Crispen_Smith »In standard ramp it's relatively easy to get to Nissa, Who Shakes The World and from Nissa this is almost trivial. Forests that tap for 6, Incubation Druids that tap for 9... only thing is... what do you do with all that mana? Electrodominance Stonecoil Serpent and Fling? Nissa only makes Forests tap for 4 with this out. Nissa’s static is a triggered ability. So the forest makes 3 off of this guy then Nissa adds one. Not that that’s any better! There’s also Purphoros’ Intervention in terms of something to sink all this mana into.
Quote from Crispen_Smith »In standard ramp it's relatively easy to get to Nissa, Who Shakes The World and from Nissa this is almost trivial. Forests that tap for 6, Incubation Druids that tap for 9... only thing is... what do you do with all that mana? Electrodominance Stonecoil Serpent and Fling?