Paris is awesome! The tourist sites are bound to overcrowded, but I just love walking the streets and taking in the ambience. The people are warm and friendly if you make an effort (contrarty to popular belief). The food is delicious and the city is gorgeous.
However, petty theft is RIFE and could ruin your holiday. I don't know why they don't police this better, Rome has managed to resolve this problem a lot better.
Some tips:
- Familiarize yourself with the petty theft scams. The string, the ring and the paper are seriously abundant and in my stay there for a week I saw all of them. Google them for more information so that you don't get caught out. The string is the scam with intimidating men tying a string around your wrist and extorting money from you (at Mont Matre usually). The ring is a woman dropping a ring subtely and picking it up then presenting it to you and asking if you've lost it and demanding money from you because she fabricates a reason she can't keep it. The paper is a horde of teenagers asking you to sign petitions for various causes and then fiddling in your pockets while you're distracted. As silly and transparent as all of these seem they do catch you if you're unprepared and these people are skilled at picking out distracted tourists.
-They stole an apple laptop adapter from my backpack in the subway, so make sure that you carry your backpack in your hand or have your travel mates always be able to see it. LOCK your bag with a padlock but honestly the best way to do it is to just secure all your things in various pockets and avoid the tourist bullseye backpack. Do not wear a moon bag, aside from being a terrible fashion accessory they are actually counterproductive. Thieves know exactly where your money sits and they obscure vision of your pants pockets - the same goes for wearing your backpack on your front instead of back.
- Avoid the subway in general, but especially late at night. The Paris subway is filthy, probably the worst I've experienced in the world depending on some lines. It's full of urine and homeless people and the prowling grounds of thieves. Take the opportunity to exercise by walking above ground and see sights and cute shops you might not normally see. Only reserve the subway for when you are bone tired from walking or have a long journey.
- Buy all museum tickets online to skip queues. I can't stress how important this is! With the Louvre you can actually buy tickets from the FNAC store in the mall nearby in Chatelet which will save you a huge amount of time. Do all the touristy stuff because afterall that's what you're there for. Some you will love, and some will underbowl you. It's part of the experience!
Other than these points Paris is amazing and you will love it! (Rome still beats it though!)
Fiendslayer Paladin is the ****tiest ****ing paladin I have ever seen... ever
Amen! An opponent played it on me and I had to lol because I realised I could still block the thing because it had no protection from black and red, just hexproof from it.
Tidebinder mage will pick up. There seems to be a minor merfolk theme in Theros so it'll be a good fit if there's lord support.
I'm not particularly hopeful of undiscovered gems in this set. However, I do think things will improve somewhat once standard rotates and some RTR Block allstars will be making a larger splash on the scene. Doubt it will be major prince inceases, but the cards I'm expecting to rise more:
Ral Zarek - a great performer in Izzet and Grixis control. Should rightfully be more expensive than Voice (which is ridiculously overpriced) and the best mythic in this set. Aetherling - the control deck killer of choice. Being a 2-of in most lists means it won't rise much more than a dollar. Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch - one of the better haste beaters in midrange casting costs. Varolz, the Scar-striped - solid performer in Golgari lists. Render Silent - some Esper variants ran it.
Jace, Architect of Thought should make much more of an impact on the new Standard. It was heavily played in block so unless Theros has an even better blue planeswalker it will shoot up.
RDW is already impressive in block as others have mentioned so Theros will only improve this even more.
Relatively new? OMG, thank you for my laugh of the day. I've been playing since Revised and have seen it all in this game. And I distinctly remember when boxes of Fallen Empires tanked to $20. You couldn't give them away they were so bad and overproduced.
Thank you. I needed that little chuckle.
Fallem Empires was well received where I lived. People LOVED the tribal themes of Thallids, Merfolk and Goblins.
Goblin Warrens, Fungal Bloom, Elvish Farmer, Icatian Town, Storage Lands, Vodalian Knights, Seasinger, Thallid Devourer, Dwarven Catapult were all casual mainstays. It was actually quite hard to find packs here. Remember distribution wasn't as well done in the 90s.
Derelor, Order Knights, Hymn to Tourach saw a LOT of competitve play.
Ice Age directly afterwards was a big big hit.
The only time things looked shaky was Chronicles and that was for collectors who saw the value of $80+ cards tank over night. It had great tournament cards.
Homelands went down reasonably well with people scrambling for Autumn Willow, Baron Sengir, Primal Order but in general was much more of a miss than Fallen Empires.
Alliances was full of tournament cards - not just Force of Will and was when magic really started to pick up again. Kjeldoran Outpost, Balduvian Hord, Lake of the Dead, Thawing Glaciers, Dystopia, Helm of Command... all really big hitters and tons of playable commons and uncommons.
Magic had a big golden age around this era, regardless of Fallen Empires / Chronicles / Homelands being perceived as weaker sets. Type 2 around this time was tremendously good as a format with fantastic decks like Necro, Stasis, Ernhageddon, Prison, White weenie, Zoo, Counterburn. It was the peak of MTG in my area, everyone was playing it.
Pack Rat - Barring mass removal if this hits it's extremely hard to get rid of because the copies spawn more copies. Clogs up the board and gets lethal fast with 3+ copies.
Rogue's Passage - A useful card to have as a single copy. The threat potential on the board in mid-late game becomes spectacular for a finishing blow out of nowhere.
In the quest for reigning in the plethora of Esper control decks in this format I've concocted an interesting Dimir Creature based mill deck. I've found that a creature base is much more versatile when it comes to victory conditions and also definitely a lot stronger than a completely creatureless mill deck versus aggro. So far it's been doing reasonably well and it would be great to get people to playtest it.
The deck plays quite straightforwardly, mill with Breaking, Codex Shredder and Pilfered Plans. Use Codex Shredder 's ability to return Breaking to your hand near the end to coup de grace your unsuspecting opponents with a lethal mill.
Nightveil Specter is amazing disruption and card advantage in this block even stealing lands when fighting off colour opponents works like a charm. Consuming Abberation is massive and stalls a board or sneaks a win for you with Rogue's Passage. Lazav, Dimir Mastermind has fantastic mill synergy and invaluable hexproof.
Sideboarding for a red aggro meta bring in Crypt Incursion and score a boatload of life at instant speed. Wight of Precint Six is also problematic for aggro decks. Woodlot Crawler comes in versus Selesnya and Gruul. The extra Far // Away versus Esper and depending on your meta balance out the Dimir Charm and Grisly Spectacle creature removal. If Gate or planeswalkers are highly prevelant consider bringing in Pithing Needle.
That's the gyst of it. Lots of subtle synergy and fun to be had.
His best art was during the Lorwyn period and suits a slightly comedic and lighter tone.
However, petty theft is RIFE and could ruin your holiday. I don't know why they don't police this better, Rome has managed to resolve this problem a lot better.
Some tips:
- Familiarize yourself with the petty theft scams. The string, the ring and the paper are seriously abundant and in my stay there for a week I saw all of them. Google them for more information so that you don't get caught out. The string is the scam with intimidating men tying a string around your wrist and extorting money from you (at Mont Matre usually). The ring is a woman dropping a ring subtely and picking it up then presenting it to you and asking if you've lost it and demanding money from you because she fabricates a reason she can't keep it. The paper is a horde of teenagers asking you to sign petitions for various causes and then fiddling in your pockets while you're distracted. As silly and transparent as all of these seem they do catch you if you're unprepared and these people are skilled at picking out distracted tourists.
-They stole an apple laptop adapter from my backpack in the subway, so make sure that you carry your backpack in your hand or have your travel mates always be able to see it. LOCK your bag with a padlock but honestly the best way to do it is to just secure all your things in various pockets and avoid the tourist bullseye backpack. Do not wear a moon bag, aside from being a terrible fashion accessory they are actually counterproductive. Thieves know exactly where your money sits and they obscure vision of your pants pockets - the same goes for wearing your backpack on your front instead of back.
- Avoid the subway in general, but especially late at night. The Paris subway is filthy, probably the worst I've experienced in the world depending on some lines. It's full of urine and homeless people and the prowling grounds of thieves. Take the opportunity to exercise by walking above ground and see sights and cute shops you might not normally see. Only reserve the subway for when you are bone tired from walking or have a long journey.
- Buy all museum tickets online to skip queues. I can't stress how important this is! With the Louvre you can actually buy tickets from the FNAC store in the mall nearby in Chatelet which will save you a huge amount of time. Do all the touristy stuff because afterall that's what you're there for. Some you will love, and some will underbowl you. It's part of the experience!
Other than these points Paris is amazing and you will love it! (Rome still beats it though!)
Amen! An opponent played it on me and I had to lol because I realised I could still block the thing because it had no protection from black and red, just hexproof from it.
Tidebinder mage will pick up. There seems to be a minor merfolk theme in Theros so it'll be a good fit if there's lord support.
Ral Zarek - a great performer in Izzet and Grixis control. Should rightfully be more expensive than Voice (which is ridiculously overpriced) and the best mythic in this set.
Aetherling - the control deck killer of choice. Being a 2-of in most lists means it won't rise much more than a dollar.
Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch - one of the better haste beaters in midrange casting costs.
Varolz, the Scar-striped - solid performer in Golgari lists.
Render Silent - some Esper variants ran it.
Some sideboarded cards include - Gaze of Granite, Renounce the Guilds, Sire of Insanity.
Deadbrige Chant and Progenitor Mimic still has appeal to casual players.
I don't think Baron will have the impact it had on block in standard and Voice should really not be more than a $20 card... if that even.
Not much, but it should improve somewhat come the new standard...
Awesome in control Izzet decks.
HM: Pyrewild Shaman has a slight edge for me over the kitty.
Miss the most: Liliana
Eg. Oh that's a wrath effect. This is a new counter. We have a new angel / dragon. This is the new black necro. Another bolt effect.
They define the fundamentals of Magic. It's cards we see again and again reincarnated in new sets.
1. Black Lotus
2. Necropotence
3. Shivan Dragon
4. Counterspell
5. Serra Angel
6. Time Walk
7. City of Brass
8. Wrath of God
9. Grizzly Bears
10. Kjeldoran Outpost
11. Hypnotic Specter
12. Library of Alexandria
13. Swords to Plowshares
14. Lightning Bolt
15. Hymn to Tourach
16. Serendib Efreet
17. Stone Rain
18. Regrowth
19. Dark Ritual
20. Fireball
HM: Frenetic Efreet the first competitive coin flip card. My personal MTG icon of the chaos and card advantage that is UR
Click on my sig to see.
RDW is already impressive in block as others have mentioned so Theros will only improve this even more.
Fallem Empires was well received where I lived. People LOVED the tribal themes of Thallids, Merfolk and Goblins.
Goblin Warrens, Fungal Bloom, Elvish Farmer, Icatian Town, Storage Lands, Vodalian Knights, Seasinger, Thallid Devourer, Dwarven Catapult were all casual mainstays. It was actually quite hard to find packs here. Remember distribution wasn't as well done in the 90s.
Derelor, Order Knights, Hymn to Tourach saw a LOT of competitve play.
Ice Age directly afterwards was a big big hit.
The only time things looked shaky was Chronicles and that was for collectors who saw the value of $80+ cards tank over night. It had great tournament cards.
Homelands went down reasonably well with people scrambling for Autumn Willow, Baron Sengir, Primal Order but in general was much more of a miss than Fallen Empires.
Alliances was full of tournament cards - not just Force of Will and was when magic really started to pick up again. Kjeldoran Outpost, Balduvian Hord, Lake of the Dead, Thawing Glaciers, Dystopia, Helm of Command... all really big hitters and tons of playable commons and uncommons.
Magic had a big golden age around this era, regardless of Fallen Empires / Chronicles / Homelands being perceived as weaker sets. Type 2 around this time was tremendously good as a format with fantastic decks like Necro, Stasis, Ernhageddon, Prison, White weenie, Zoo, Counterburn. It was the peak of MTG in my area, everyone was playing it.
Rogue's Passage - A useful card to have as a single copy. The threat potential on the board in mid-late game becomes spectacular for a finishing blow out of nowhere.
Thanks! Glad to hear it left an impression. The deck has a lot of fun plays to it so never a dull moment.
Yep aside from the Watery Graves this deck is very very cheap to build and easy on the wallet.
Nightveil Specters will definitely go up in value soon though so that would be a good card to get while it's still low.
It's a lot of fun!
2 x Wight of Precint Six
4 x Nightveil Specter
4 x Consuming Abberation
3 x Lazav, Dimir Mastermind
1 x Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker
Artifact:
4 x Codex Shredder
Spells:
4 x Breaking // Entering
2 x Far // Away
4 x Grisly Spectacle
4 x Pilfered Plans
4 x Psychic Strike
4 x Watery Grave
4 x Dimir Guildgate
7 x Island
8 x Swamp
1 x Rogue's Passage
3 x Crypt Incursion
4 x Dimir Charm
2 x Far // Away
2 x Wight of Precint Six
4 x Woodlot Crawler
The deck plays quite straightforwardly, mill with Breaking, Codex Shredder and Pilfered Plans. Use Codex Shredder 's ability to return Breaking to your hand near the end to coup de grace your unsuspecting opponents with a lethal mill.
Nightveil Specter is amazing disruption and card advantage in this block even stealing lands when fighting off colour opponents works like a charm. Consuming Abberation is massive and stalls a board or sneaks a win for you with Rogue's Passage. Lazav, Dimir Mastermind has fantastic mill synergy and invaluable hexproof.
Sideboarding for a red aggro meta bring in Crypt Incursion and score a boatload of life at instant speed. Wight of Precint Six is also problematic for aggro decks. Woodlot Crawler comes in versus Selesnya and Gruul. The extra Far // Away versus Esper and depending on your meta balance out the Dimir Charm and Grisly Spectacle creature removal. If Gate or planeswalkers are highly prevelant consider bringing in Pithing Needle.
That's the gyst of it. Lots of subtle synergy and fun to be had.
Haakon, Stromgald Scourge
Puppeteer Clique