I'm definitely glad that Merfolk are back for blue. I mean, yeah they were back for blue in Time Spiral block, but putting them in the base set is an indication to me that they're back for good(hopefully). And if they're going to reprint Merfolk, they may as well go for the Looter, since he's one of the better ones. Actually it kind of makes me wonder if blue will be getting Lord of Atlantis back in the base set. Yeah, he's in TS, but he deserves to take his rightful place back in the base set. It would give every color a Lord then:
Red: Goblin King
Black: Lord of the Undead
Green: Elvish Champion
White: Field Marshal
Blue: Lord of Atlantis
My recomendation is to try some odd formats. 100 card Highlander or 5 Color are both good formats to help get away from ultra-competitive standard decks, assuming you can get other players to build these types of decks to play against.
An important thing to understand is, you can never go back to the way it was when you started. When I started, one of the most popular cards around was Leviathan. And I used to make awful decks from whatever random cards I had lieing around in the right colors. After a certain point, which usually happens fairly quickly, you become a better player and just can't go back to this sort of thing. The best thing I can recommend if you really want to try, is to either build some off the wall combo deck, or a theme deck.
I played Dragonstorm in the MD Regionals(the one that was actually in Fairfax, VA). I ended at 4-4, choosing to drop before round 9. It wasn't a bad day, but I definitely felt like I should've done better. I made a lot of stupid mistakes early on that I really shouldn't have, especially given how long I've been playing Dragonstorm. Also I lost to some really random stuff that I shouldn't have, like UR Tron with Mirari.
I didn't actually play against it, but I walked away from the event convinced that Project X was the deck to be playing that day, considering it dominated the top tables. I still don't think much of the deck(it's versatile, but playing bad combo, bad beatdown, and bad control all in one deck is still janky), but it is a lot better with Glittering Wish. I did see lots of Gruul, Zoo, and Dragonstorm there. And I don't think Dralnu showed up at all, at least I didn't see a single player with the deck.
I only played one match against Dredge combo, and it didn't impress. I lost, but that was due to poor draws on my part. He never got the combo off, and had to rely on huge Grave Trolls for both of his game wins.
My MVP for the day was definitely Martyr of Ashes, and they were sided in almost every match.
So did the reprint policy change at some point and I missed it? Or are they officially throwing it out now? The last I had heard, all rares prior to Masques block that had not been reprinted as of 6th Edition were off limits. Root Maze & Citanul Flute suggest otherwise.
This isn't a complaint though, I've wanted them to throw out the reprint policy for years and just reprint whatever would be interesting but not overpowered.
This whole thread just confuses me, because first of all, Coldsnap was not a bad set. It didn't have a lot of money rares, but that shouldn't be the requirement for a good set.
Second, Future Sight is a very good set. It definitely has more to offer constructed than Planar Chaos did, and I don't remember there being a huge thread complaining about the weakness of PC.
No, if I'm remembering correctly(I hope I am at least... I still have that issue of the Dualist that covers the first invitational lieing around here somewhere), the prize even then was designing your own card, but Rade hadn't given it much thought. Then, after seeing that other invitational winners were going through with it and getting their own cards, Olle decided he wanted one as well.
Dealers at the prerelease wanted $12 for these. Which was hilarious, since this was the same dealer than had just sold me a foil Graven Cairns for the same price. I'm going to say this one will be around $5-$6, really it'll depend on what lands 10th edition will bring us.
I think it's fairly obvious that he was cheating, especially given that I've heard many, many stories of pro players using the "language barrier" as an excuse to take back anything that they don't like. I believe it for sure given what's on the line for pro players. I've seen players attempt to bend the rules(sometimes succeeding) in their favor even at FNMs around here when they don't really count for anything. Don't get me started on this one... it's basically just one guy every week who does this, and the last FNM he showed up at the guy was being such a jerk a fight almost broke out. It's always about timing rules too, which would be fine except that this guy is always wrong, and anyone who disagrees with him he will argue loudly with and insult them.
Given the two instances that we know about(the Quicksand one and the Mystical Teachings flashback one), it's pretty clear that Mori knew what he was doing. I'm sure if the DCI could've proved it he'd be gone for a lot more than 6 months, but hopefully this will be enough to slow some of the cheating down a bit.
Well, I had a good prerelease, aside from the low attendance hurting the day badly. I got stuck in a flight of 18 instead of 32 since they didn't want us waiting all day.... I'd have rather waited since we all still had to pay the same amount, and play the same amount of rounds, but had less prize support.
Still, it was a good day. I ended up going home with 2 Glittering Wish, and 4 of the FS dual lands, including a foil of the red/black one(which I bought for $12).
Braids is apparently the commonest rare in this set, at least that's the impression I got from tonight. I opened a box worth of packs and got 2 of them, and a friend of mine opened 17 packs & got 5 of them. I think 7 Braids in less than 2 boxes is a bit strange....
On the other hand, I got 2x Extirpate, 2x Porphyry Nodes, and 3x Akroma. So I was happy overall.
It's a good answer to a lot of graveyard abuse, but it isn't an uncounterable cranial for 1/4 the mana. We'll see how much it hurts combo decks, but I'm thinking it will be like every other sideboard card: a little too reactive to have much of an impact. Tormod's Crypt, Rule of Law, Leyline of the Void, Cranial itself - everyone always heralds cards like this as teh uber combo-killer, but they turn out to just be the types of checks that prevent a deck that goldfishes turn 1 from being viable. It's not like they made another Force of Will.
No it's not exactly like cranial, and it's not like cranial is making any impact at all now that it left standard(and to be perfectly honest, I never though CE was all that anyway, even when it was popular in standard). However... this is a powerful card that hoses lots of strategies, and also lots of specific cards. Not just combo decks either. Any deck which uses Life From the Loam(or any dredge for that matter), any Firemane Angel decks, and any Martyr of Sands decks are all severely hurt by this one card.
One card cannot stop a good deck even if it's a good answer. That's the reason why Dragonstorm is still a great deck, even with Shadow of Doubt around. But this is still a very strong effect, especially on a one mana instant with split second.
What exactly is "seemingly eh" about this card? It fills the exact same role as Cranial Extraction, only this time it's uncounterable, unstoppable, only costs 1 mana instead of 4, and is an instant. It's quite obviously one of the most powerful black cards in this set, and may very well be the most powerful card in this set as it will very much affect multiple formats.
As for why it got ugly fast? This card is strong. A little too strong. It was obvious from the cards in TS that WotC had trouble correctly costing the split second cards. And this one just blows all the other(still rediculously powerful) split second spells away.
Combo decks tend to be rather difficult to run as it is. And of course it's still possible to play around this one card... but it still makes things far more difficult for any kind of combo deck basically.
Red: Goblin King
Black: Lord of the Undead
Green: Elvish Champion
White: Field Marshal
Blue: Lord of Atlantis
2. Giant Growth
4. Howling Mine
5. The Hive
6. Fairy Conclave
7. Feremf Archers
8. Herald of Gaea
15. Forbidding Watchtower
16. Firebreathing
19. Dross Crocodile
And I'm not certain, but I believe 10 is Deflection.
EDIT: Wait, #1 is Giant Growth? I think art 2 suits it a lot better, but whatever.
An important thing to understand is, you can never go back to the way it was when you started. When I started, one of the most popular cards around was Leviathan. And I used to make awful decks from whatever random cards I had lieing around in the right colors. After a certain point, which usually happens fairly quickly, you become a better player and just can't go back to this sort of thing. The best thing I can recommend if you really want to try, is to either build some off the wall combo deck, or a theme deck.
I didn't actually play against it, but I walked away from the event convinced that Project X was the deck to be playing that day, considering it dominated the top tables. I still don't think much of the deck(it's versatile, but playing bad combo, bad beatdown, and bad control all in one deck is still janky), but it is a lot better with Glittering Wish. I did see lots of Gruul, Zoo, and Dragonstorm there. And I don't think Dralnu showed up at all, at least I didn't see a single player with the deck.
I only played one match against Dredge combo, and it didn't impress. I lost, but that was due to poor draws on my part. He never got the combo off, and had to rely on huge Grave Trolls for both of his game wins.
My MVP for the day was definitely Martyr of Ashes, and they were sided in almost every match.
Also, I love the new artwork for Squee, and he's probably my all time favorite legend too. 10th just keeps looking better & better.
EDIT: Nevermind, it can't be bottle. I have no idea what card 7 is now.
This isn't a complaint though, I've wanted them to throw out the reprint policy for years and just reprint whatever would be interesting but not overpowered.
Second, Future Sight is a very good set. It definitely has more to offer constructed than Planar Chaos did, and I don't remember there being a huge thread complaining about the weakness of PC.
Given the two instances that we know about(the Quicksand one and the Mystical Teachings flashback one), it's pretty clear that Mori knew what he was doing. I'm sure if the DCI could've proved it he'd be gone for a lot more than 6 months, but hopefully this will be enough to slow some of the cheating down a bit.
Still, it was a good day. I ended up going home with 2 Glittering Wish, and 4 of the FS dual lands, including a foil of the red/black one(which I bought for $12).
1x Wrath
2x Psionic Blast
2x Condemn
1x Disenchant
1x Zombify
On the other hand, I got 2x Extirpate, 2x Porphyry Nodes, and 3x Akroma. So I was happy overall.
No it's not exactly like cranial, and it's not like cranial is making any impact at all now that it left standard(and to be perfectly honest, I never though CE was all that anyway, even when it was popular in standard). However... this is a powerful card that hoses lots of strategies, and also lots of specific cards. Not just combo decks either. Any deck which uses Life From the Loam(or any dredge for that matter), any Firemane Angel decks, and any Martyr of Sands decks are all severely hurt by this one card.
One card cannot stop a good deck even if it's a good answer. That's the reason why Dragonstorm is still a great deck, even with Shadow of Doubt around. But this is still a very strong effect, especially on a one mana instant with split second.
As for why it got ugly fast? This card is strong. A little too strong. It was obvious from the cards in TS that WotC had trouble correctly costing the split second cards. And this one just blows all the other(still rediculously powerful) split second spells away.
Combo decks tend to be rather difficult to run as it is. And of course it's still possible to play around this one card... but it still makes things far more difficult for any kind of combo deck basically.