I feel like it could be a nice change. Including RTR seems like a good idea because it means we have access to a lot of extra cards that were not in Origins onwards that will police the format like thoughtseize, rest in peace, pithing needle, abrupt decay and supreme verdict.
Personally I'm a big fan of their starting ban list. Having no fetches to start will massively reduce the price to build a deck and also helps police cards like the delve spells, deathrite, jace and delirium. I also like that they've taken a hands off approach and haven't preemptively banned anything to allow the format to find its feet first. That being said I wouldn't get married to any deck just yet, there's likely to be bans in the coming months, I just can't believe treasure cruise and dig through time will remain unbanned. I've only played 4 matches on mtgo so far against 4 different people but they've all had treasure cruise + I'm also running a treasure cruise deck lol, who knew that ancestral recall in a arclight phoenix deck was good
I'm glad this is getting reprinted to keep it in standard. It's the kind of effect that should always be available in case a certain strategy gets too strong. That being said making is a rare again is a big letdown. it will be a trashtier card to open at prerelease and in general in your drafting and will obviously have no financial value either. Should have just been uncommon this go around.
Bit of a let down in reprints again. Now we've seen 2 of the 4 decks it pretty much guarantees we aren't getting the spicy cards that were implied with "we hear you about C18 but C19 will be better"
That being said Elsha is going straight in my spellslinger deck, getting artifacts and enchantments too is sweet upside.
You're getting more than the purchase price if you're a new player. Short of new cards there isn't anything I want in the deck. It's not for me, it's not for you. They just printed a masters set a few months ago. The core set was very lacking in reprints. It's whatever though. They haven't changed their formula. People are still going to buy these decks. If anything it seems like they included a lot more rares. Even rare dual lands.
The core set was lacking in reprints... what?
We got leyline of the void, sanctity and anticipation that were all $20+ cards and see plenty of play. Grafdiggers cage was $8 and is a staple in older formats. Steel overseer was $16 and sees play in multiple formats. Lotus field is a functional reprint of lotus vale and there were several other cards that were made even cheaper like the temples and rule of law. If you wanted a playset of leyline of the void and sanctity along with 1 anticipation for commander 4 months ago you'd pay $320, now it's 'just' $92. A $228 price cut seems more than reasonable for reprint value.
All things considered I'd say this ends up as a win for modern. I'm still shocked at some of the cards on the ban list considering what is legal but I'm glad they did what they could to not disrupt other decks and also keep the Hogaak deck as a competitive option.
I am starting to get worried about WU control though. With bridge gone and the Hogaak deck slowing down in general sweepers will become far more effective. On top of that with the 4 field of ruin 2 surgical package tron is a far less scary matchup than it used to be so if people reckon tron will be back that's pretty grim.
It's not like there's any 1 card in WU that is too strong it's just that in the last 2 years the deck has got access to field of ruin, opt, big teferi, little teferi, narset, jace, force of negation, dovin's veto and other less played options like fof and search for azcanta. That is a ton of tools that have really pushed the deck to the top.
They're adding a lot of value to this set. These are definitely nice to see even if they may not see as much play in Standard with the shocks around.
I'll admit I was hoping for an uncommon enemy version of the Miragefetches or wedges of the Shardspanoramas but these will do.
'buster
these aren't adding value, not one breaks $3 NOW, I doubt any break a dollar after this.
I am trying to think of a less exciting cycle of rare lands, there aren't many. I was hoping for the rest of the Horizon lands or Zendikar fetches, but even failing one of the home run cycles, they could have done a lot better than this
This is a ridiculous way to look at it. I'm surprised we're getting any rare land cycle at all given they're already put guaranteed value at rare with the leylines. Thinking they'd put fetches or horizon lands in a standard set... good joke lol. Doubt fetches ever see standard again.
Anyway comparing the price of a card that sees almost no play anywhere outside of commander to when it is suddenly needed for standard is unfair. If temples were already $20 then sure they'd drop but starting so low will see increases not decreases. Look at the pain lands from Magic 2015/origins. Before reprints the older 10th edition ones were half the price and when they got reprinted in standard the price doubled.
Not to mention fall rotation knocks out the checklands and we're losing things like llanowar elves, opt, shock, firebrand, lavarunner, all the white 1 drops. Basically no one is playing 1 drops so a turn 1 tapped scry land is perfectly fine.
It's a sweet card but I don't see it making the cut in modern. The reason dark depths is so good is you can cheat the cost and also make the token EoT then untap and attack for lethal. The combo can also not be broken up by any permanent removal beforehand.
On the other hand this requires you play an enchantment (and yes there's less removal for this than artifacts) but it can be countered, discarded etc. On top of that it only activates on your upkeep which means unless you have a haste enabler you pass the turn and allow karn to exile it, reflector mage to bounce it, thing in the ice to bounce it, UW control to exile/bounce it (you get the idea).
Even at the most magical christmas land you're doing something like getting 10 snow permanents by turn 4 which means you get the 20/20 on turn 5 which means attacking on turn 6. Just too slow sadly.
Tbf, Masques isn't really memorable other than Rishadan Port, the best art for Dark Ritual, and Brainstorm. Granted, that Brainstorm has possibly the best misprinting ever.
That's a bit harsh. It had gush, coastal piracy, snuff out, bribery, squee, high market and a bunch of other playables (talking edh too obviously)
Probably a good thing. Counterspell would make spells with CMC 4+ a major liability.
But if you actually look at the modern meta very few decks play 4+ mana cards fairly anyway. Sure it's good vs tron but tron needs to be taken down a peg and it's also decent in the control mirror but then dovin's veto is more important. Other than that decks like humans, dredge, GDS, burn, hardened scales, phoenix etc all don't care about counterspell. They either ignore it completely or trade 1-3 mana for 2 mana on a redundant spell.
The counters available in modern are very clunky compared to the powerful spells. Mana leak is dead late on, remand is not a lasting answer, logic knot is a liability vs graveyard hate (or your own rest in peace), negate/dovin's veto doesn't answer creatures. The power level of the spells and creatures creeps up with each set that comes out but the counters available have not risen to match. We've had stubborn denial which is very situational, disdainful stroke which is also very situational and ceremonious rejection which again is a narrow counter. Other than that there's not been a full on counterspell for modern in years
I am glad to see someone at least try out DLOjutai at least. As a 5 drop he has a lot to compete against in Gideon, Batterskull, Baneslayer Angel in UW Control but he can generate some card selection at the least and has hexproof while untapped. The deck seems more like midrange, and I like the little recursion package with SoLaS. SScorn seems like a fun card to try at least with DLOjutai and mutavaults. It seems the more midrange blend type of Control hybrids are doing a bit better overall, with the value creatures as a way to generate advantage.
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Personally I'm a big fan of their starting ban list. Having no fetches to start will massively reduce the price to build a deck and also helps police cards like the delve spells, deathrite, jace and delirium. I also like that they've taken a hands off approach and haven't preemptively banned anything to allow the format to find its feet first. That being said I wouldn't get married to any deck just yet, there's likely to be bans in the coming months, I just can't believe treasure cruise and dig through time will remain unbanned. I've only played 4 matches on mtgo so far against 4 different people but they've all had treasure cruise + I'm also running a treasure cruise deck lol, who knew that ancestral recall in a arclight phoenix deck was good
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That being said Elsha is going straight in my spellslinger deck, getting artifacts and enchantments too is sweet upside.
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The core set was lacking in reprints... what?
We got leyline of the void, sanctity and anticipation that were all $20+ cards and see plenty of play. Grafdiggers cage was $8 and is a staple in older formats. Steel overseer was $16 and sees play in multiple formats. Lotus field is a functional reprint of lotus vale and there were several other cards that were made even cheaper like the temples and rule of law. If you wanted a playset of leyline of the void and sanctity along with 1 anticipation for commander 4 months ago you'd pay $320, now it's 'just' $92. A $228 price cut seems more than reasonable for reprint value.
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I am starting to get worried about WU control though. With bridge gone and the Hogaak deck slowing down in general sweepers will become far more effective. On top of that with the 4 field of ruin 2 surgical package tron is a far less scary matchup than it used to be so if people reckon tron will be back that's pretty grim.
It's not like there's any 1 card in WU that is too strong it's just that in the last 2 years the deck has got access to field of ruin, opt, big teferi, little teferi, narset, jace, force of negation, dovin's veto and other less played options like fof and search for azcanta. That is a ton of tools that have really pushed the deck to the top.
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This is a ridiculous way to look at it. I'm surprised we're getting any rare land cycle at all given they're already put guaranteed value at rare with the leylines. Thinking they'd put fetches or horizon lands in a standard set... good joke lol. Doubt fetches ever see standard again.
Anyway comparing the price of a card that sees almost no play anywhere outside of commander to when it is suddenly needed for standard is unfair. If temples were already $20 then sure they'd drop but starting so low will see increases not decreases. Look at the pain lands from Magic 2015/origins. Before reprints the older 10th edition ones were half the price and when they got reprinted in standard the price doubled.
Not to mention fall rotation knocks out the checklands and we're losing things like llanowar elves, opt, shock, firebrand, lavarunner, all the white 1 drops. Basically no one is playing 1 drops so a turn 1 tapped scry land is perfectly fine.
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On the other hand this requires you play an enchantment (and yes there's less removal for this than artifacts) but it can be countered, discarded etc. On top of that it only activates on your upkeep which means unless you have a haste enabler you pass the turn and allow karn to exile it, reflector mage to bounce it, thing in the ice to bounce it, UW control to exile/bounce it (you get the idea).
Even at the most magical christmas land you're doing something like getting 10 snow permanents by turn 4 which means you get the 20/20 on turn 5 which means attacking on turn 6. Just too slow sadly.
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That's a bit harsh. It had gush, coastal piracy, snuff out, bribery, squee, high market and a bunch of other playables (talking edh too obviously)
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But if you actually look at the modern meta very few decks play 4+ mana cards fairly anyway. Sure it's good vs tron but tron needs to be taken down a peg and it's also decent in the control mirror but then dovin's veto is more important. Other than that decks like humans, dredge, GDS, burn, hardened scales, phoenix etc all don't care about counterspell. They either ignore it completely or trade 1-3 mana for 2 mana on a redundant spell.
The counters available in modern are very clunky compared to the powerful spells. Mana leak is dead late on, remand is not a lasting answer, logic knot is a liability vs graveyard hate (or your own rest in peace), negate/dovin's veto doesn't answer creatures. The power level of the spells and creatures creeps up with each set that comes out but the counters available have not risen to match. We've had stubborn denial which is very situational, disdainful stroke which is also very situational and ceremonious rejection which again is a narrow counter. Other than that there's not been a full on counterspell for modern in years