MTG Salvation

Quote from Avatarof »

MR confirmed that we will see a new planeswalker, just wish we see something different, humanoid planeswalkers are getting stale, I want to see something different and flavourful

sauce

Vivien is pretty much confirmed, while Teferi is confirmed for Core 2021. Meanwhile, Nissa is pretty much a lock for Zendikar Rising, with Nahiri being very likely as well. Just to put this in perspective:

Core 2020 - Three Chandras (R)
Eldraine - Garruk (GB), Oko (UG), Kenriths (UR)
Theros - Elspeth (W), Ashiok (UB), Calix (WG)
Ikoria - Vivien (G), Returning 'Walker, New 'Walker
Core 2021 - Teferi (WU/U) (Three?)
Zendikar (speculation) - Nissa? (G), Nahiri? (WR)

Usually we get a full cycle of monocolored Planeswalkers in Core Sets, but Teferi's current color identity is WU. 2020 had Chandra take the Red slot of the cycle while also being part of a three-card vertical cycle, so Teferi could follow suit, but at the same time it wouldn't be the first time a featured Planeswalker broke the rules for a Core Set.
If Teferi follows the same vertical cycle pattern as Chandra, then that leaves WU, GR, WB and BR without any post-WAR representation. Out of these four, BR is the most notable absence, considering the other three were represented in the Ravnica block with Dovin, Kaya and the stupid one. However, WU is a likely candidate to recieve a brand new 'walker, considering it's the only color duo out of these with only a single Planeswalker to represent it, that being Teferi himself.

So... Either BR Angrath or Daretti and new WU 'walker would be my guess for Ikoria, along with Vivien.

Quote from Thalassoporos »

Mutate - As [cardname] dies, target creature gets [flying symbol]. (A flying counter.)

Phrasing it like that would make it an ability word (see: Delirium, Revolt), and ability words have no actual meaning in Magic rules. Therefore, a card couldn't trigger when something "mutated" because mutate itself is meaningless with this templating.
Of course, this is silver-border, so it's still possible, but even if Mutate is the Recycla-bird mechanic, I'd still think they would want to avoid the same issue they had with Chroma by using a cleaner, more consistent trigger instead of ability words.

Quote from 5colors »

Surgeon General Commander notes mutate something we haven't heard of before and nothing else in the set notes this soooooo Ikoria hint?

Yeah, most likely. And considering that both Augment and enchantments work in a similar fashion (aka. using one card to make creatures stronger), I wouldn't be surprised if Mutate also worked similarly.

As for the rest of the new cards, they are interesting but fairly tame. Syr Cadian, Knight Owl is a White legend, which is really all I need to say, but at least he has a fantastic name and cool art. Pippa, Duchess of Dice is borderline black-bordered, even tho I love the reminder text. Stet, Draconic Proofreader seems like a really fun card, but he's just sooo weak, which is a real shame, because he's also Boros, so no way I can make him work in Commander. Alexander Clamilton, Acornelia, Fashionable Filcher and Surgeon General Commander are the more interesting Legends in here, and even though none of them are doing anything really new in silver-border land, I can totally see people brewing Squirrel Tribal or Wordy Tribal EDH decks, for example.

Flavor Judge and B.O.B. are the two cards I really like here, and I do appreciate the throwback in Infernius Spawnington III too, even down to the "Demon" being errata'd to "Beast" (like in Infernal Spawn of Evil) and the "Beast" being errata'd to "Demon" (like in Infernal Spawn of Infernal Spawn of Evil).

Quote from H3RAC71TU5 »

Can you expand your thoughts on the other things white should be able to do? After red's recent makeover it seems like it's white's turn again.

Card selection is the big one. We already have the precedent of White getting card selection, but it's nowhere near as good nor frequent as Green's and, honestly, Green doesn't needs it anymore, it already has so many ways to get raw card advantage, not only in drawing but also mass Regrowth effects, and it has both searching for lands and creatures on its color pie too. Cards like Relentless Pursuit used to be playable but are just going unnoticed nowadays simply because Green just has too many better options, and would be great tools for White. Hell, I'd even argue Once Upon a Time would be a-ok for White, at least in Standard, as it's the color that's supposed to be about strong early-game starts, instead of Green that mainly just used it to ensure the 1 mana ramp into broken 3 drop every game.

Other ones I could see WotC expanding upon is Stifle effects (This is a secondary Green ability apparently? WHY? And blue doesn't need it that much either, it usually prefers regular counter magic), Blood Moon and land taxing effects (WotC's whole sthick about White is being able to answer everything, but now that Armageddon effects never get printed anymore, it can't), expanding the "permanent matters" theme (it already cares a lot about creatures, sometimes enchantments and artifacts depending on the block, why not just go full "permanents matters" just like Green is "creatures matters" and Blue "spells matters"? Somethiing like ascend, permanently integrated into White's color pie) and cost reduction effects. More noncreature reanimation would be nice too.

Quote from Thalassoporos »

If you wanted White to be better, then wizards needs to stop ignoring its actual toolbox. Tax, stax, hatebears, land destruction, wraths, cheap removal, lifegain, anthems, weenies, plains-tutoring. Using a fraction of those just because they aren't fun to play against is exactly the reason why white is regarded as an almost non-existent color in many formats with very few decks that actually allow it to stand-up.

This is the exact point I mentioned, and apparently we're in agreement, so I have zero idea why you mentioned removal or included sarcasm in your response. When Green was the worst color in Magic, the answer wasn't to print Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary. When Red was stripped away from Stone Rain, Ruination and ritual effects, then became only playable in mono-red Aggro, the answer wasn't to reprint Lightning Bolt in Standard. Wizards learned with their mistakes, and both colors are very healthy now due to intervention on WotC's part by giving said color more tools or fixing old ones. Now it's White's turn and, once again, giving it Path to Exile 2.0 isn't the answer.

Also standard is terrible metric to base a card's power off of. No one really cares if white gave esper or azorious a new toy, because most people regard standard as a joko of a format and it continues to be one.

"Most people's opinions" is worth absolutely nothing when the creators of the game disagree with it. Standard and Limited are WotC's main focus. Most annual products are directed to Standard playability, with very few cards and reprints specifically designed for Eternal playability in them like Ox of Agonas or Leyline of the Void. If WotC really cared so much about Eternal formats, fetches wouldn't be 30+ bucks a piece in the secondary market.

Giving white "big splashy monsters" is absolutely a borked concept based on the very fundamentals of the color pie itself and would require white to heavily break and bend the color pie to do so which would also make it as you put it "Green but *****ty".

Eldrazi says 'sup. Titans say 'sup. Zetalpa says 'sup. This last one is my prime example, as they DID do big splashy White monsters before, but White's color pie is so inherently messed up that they just redid Akroma as a Dinosaur and called it a day. If we ever get a whole set based around giant splashy monsters, I really expect something a little bit better now, especially since WotC is acknowledging the popularity of EDH/Commander as of late and White's shortcomings on the format.

Quote from Thalassoporos »

I see sarcasm is lost on you also known as "/s"

Adding a sarcastic remark over a comment on White's removal like you did does not implies that White's removal isn't the problem. Maybe you're the one that doesn't quite understands sarcasm.

But either way, this is neither here nor there. If the goal of Ikoria is big monsters, I see this as an opportunity for WotC to expand White's color pie above "Green but *****ty" by giving them big monsters with splashy effects themselves, not as an opportunity to make Green better.

Quote from Thalassoporos »

Quote from Ritokure »

White has its problems but removal is not one of them. If we give White more efficient removal, all that's going to do is make Esper or Azorius Control better and White will still be crap. What White needs is more tools to do things other than play a bunch of weenies, gain life and proceed to scoop phase as soon as an opponent draws a wrath.

Man just look at all those white removal cards from GP Portland, good thing white doesn't need more.
/s

What, are you actually going to say to me with a straight face that Kaya's Wrath is a bad Magic card? Deafening Clarion? Shatter the Sky? Are you also going to say that Teferi, Time Raveler, a card which is widely agreed to be one of the best Planeswalkers ever printed by pros and casuals alike and that is seeing Modern play, is bad simply because he has less presence than Noxious Freaking Grasp? Or maybe you can use your brain, see that even Plains as a mana source are absent, and deduce that it's not the removal, but the color itself being overshadowed by other colors and the limited mana base making playing White unviable.

Quote from Xcric »

i don't doubt that at all, though i do hope white gets efficient removal to deal with those threats. efficiency being key. it'llmost likely be something stupid like 4W, exile target creature with a power greater than 5 or something that's just trash like that.

White has its problems but removal is not one of them. If we give White more efficient removal, all that's going to do is make Esper or Azorius Control better and White will still be crap. What White needs is more tools to do things other than play a bunch of weenies, gain life and proceed to scoop phase as soon as an opponent draws a wrath.

Really not impressed tbh, maybe they selected a bland art on purpose to not give away much so soon, but Photoshop a few hedrons around and this could just as easily be a pic of Zendikar. Hell, there's even a few scattered crystals that could as well be the plane's version of hedrons.
And Vivien being the apparent focus of Ikoria is... ughh. Vivien herself as a character is fine, but she got introduced in M19 and already has four cards and has been all over the place in the MtG Arena ads, nevermind the fact that we just got Eldraine that had two Green Planeswalkers being the main focus. Never thought I would ever say this, but... I kinda miss Jace.

Holy guacamole that Ink-Eyes art is amazing, easily my favorite one in the entire Secret Lair lineup so far. The other ones are also good, I especially like the Pack Rat one, but Ink-Eyes is the standout.

I just noticed that a) Karametra's Blessing is actually pretty good, potentially giving full protection to a creature at W and b) Its art would accurately represent its main use in Standard if Oko was still legal.

So, for starters, turns out there wasn't a Legendary Creature cycle after all. Bummer. Still, we did get some good cards in the last dump

Daybreak Chimera is one of my favorite cards in the whole set, easy top 5. That is going to be a Limited all-star and it has potential for both Pauper and Standard. 3/3 flier for WW ain't no joke, even if you can't play it Turn 2 - for example, compare to Serra Avenger. Also, chimeras rock.
Transcendent Envoy is a fine Common dude, probably not as relevant as Chimera especially since we already have a better way to reduce enchantment mana costs, but he aight.
Aspect of Lamprey is JESUS TAPDANCING CHRIST WHAT IS THIS
Funeral Rites seems playable, it's no Sign in Blood but self-mill 2 seems pretty relevant in a format with Escape.
Pharika's Libation is one of the most important newly spoiled cards simply because, and this is important, it's monoblack Enchantment destruction. MaRo already hinted that this was going to be a new addition to Black's color pie, and even though it's not extremely efficient, I'd still play it.
Dreamstalker Manticore is very much playable, its only problem being how it conflicts with Irencrag Pyromancer in some decks. Wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if it hit Standard.
Incendiary Oracle shows just how far we've gotten from Red not getting Common Bears. I like it.
I'll grab some Mirror Shields for EDH, it's no Whispersilk Cloak but it's almost there and I can already see it rising in price once people start noticing how good it is.

Quote from buffntuff »

Bruh, you wanted XW put twice x 1/1s into play?? 6 mana for 10 1/1s??

No, I said Secure the Wastes and that second mode, costed at XW, as a Sorcery. Secure the Wastes would be the first mode. And it's not even what I wanted, more like what I expected, and even though it would suck, it would still be 10x better than a sideboard card for a color that really doesn't needs more sideboard cards.

This is really cool and all and really wants to make me brew kill spell Aura tribal, but c'mon guys, no need to make Dawn Evangel cry in the corner like that.

White Intervention: I expected nothing and was still disappointed. The first mode isn't THAT bad, sure, on that ratio it's kinda like a slightly better Crush Contraband which is... uh, not exactly a high bar to pass, but the second mode is atrocious. I was expecting Secure the Wastes and that second mode for XW at Sorcery, which would be boring af but at least Standard playable, but 4 mana to gain 4 life? Couldn't they even add in a "draw a card" to that second effect? It would still be worse than Revitalize - a freaking Common, mind you - but at least you could "cycle" it for WW if there's nothing to blow up, making it potentially maindeck playable.

Heliod's Punishment: Really cool effect, cool art, nice flavor. Art seems like a throwback to Weight of the Underworld, even down to the yellow aura surrounding the black sphere. Not sure if it's good enough for Constructed though, the fact it removes all abilities is very nice but unless you're an aggressive deck, it's likely your opponent is getting his creature back before the game ends, but I still think it's overall better than Pacifism. Oh, and if you want to get cute with it, we do have Proliferate.

inb4 Thoughtseize ban in Pioneer