MTG Salvation

Quote from narejED »

Victory really has no place on the ban list. It's incomparably weak to many of the combos present in the format, requiring a minimum of nine mana and five cards to pull off. Its continuing presence on the banlist along with several cards is one of the primary reasons I feel the current rules committee is inadequate.

It's shocking to see someone feel this way. I believe Coalition Victory is the posterchild for what a banned card should look like.

Coalition Victory ends the game instantly when it resolves. That's probably the least satisfying way to end a game of Commander. Why would someone want this card running around in the format? It just completely invalidates every decision made before it was cast. Plus, it's trivially easy to assemble the conditions needed to cast it. Between fetches, shocks, and a slew of Cultivate effects, all a player needs is eight mana and their Commander. Lands can hardly be considered combo pieces. Not to mention there's almost no way to interact with it. Players can counter it or try to destroy creatures/lands in response to it, but that's it. It isn't like other alternate win condition cards such as Helix Pinnacle that trigger only during the upkeep, allowing other players a chance to use sorcery speed cards in an attempt to stop it. Coalition Victory literally just ends the game.

EDIT: A word

Quote from ZCKS »

Hmm Loking at the rules you linked and they don't specificy split cards like http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=107445&part=Ends (an example.)

Split cards follow the same rules as every other card for determining color identity. A card's color identity is its colors plus the colors of mana symbols in the card's rules text. Odds // Ends is a white, blue, and red card; therefore, its color identity is WUR.

Glimmer of Genius is perhaps the best Inspiration variant around. With that said, I still don't think many Commander decks will want it. Maybe draw-go Talrand? Inspiration is just sort of in this awkward space between quality cantrips (Preordain, Ponder) and other card draw spells (Concentrate, Jace's Ingenuity). If card quantity is what you're looking for, you're probably better off casting something like Opportunity at instant speed. If card quality is what you want, something like Impulse is probably more appropriate.

I completely missed this card when it was spoiled, and wow! This thing is absolutely amazing. I'd trade flying for 1 less mana in a heartbeat. I don't know what the implications are for this card in Constructed, but I would be completely shocked if it didn't see any play. Like, what more could someone want from a two drop? Between this and Fatal Push, I now have the biggest urge to create some kind of black heavy deck in Standard/Frontier.

Quote from akroma44 »

My question is, can anyone give me a reason they do not like playing against this type of deck? I haven't had any complaints from my LGS or Grand Prix play.

I used to play a Jeleva deck centered around casting my opponents' spells, and my experience taught me that players generally dislike it when opponents cast their spells because doing so denies them the chance to cast it themselves later. To put it another way, players don't care if an opponent clones one of their creatures. That isn't taking anything away from them, even if you do get the effect of their card. Players only care when someone takes something out of their hand or deck and stops them from using it later. Cards that exile like Jeleva are especially upsetting.

So, after having looked through all of the linked decklists, I can honestly say that I would find most of these decks to be pretty miserable to play against; I would not enjoy sitting across the table from many of them. With that said, I think the Verdeloth deck is all right. It isn't innovative or interesting by any means, but it does likely create the best gameplay since it's largely based around creature combat.

How much goes on behind the scenes that your typical forum poster doesn't see?

Quote from Teysa_Karlov »

The issue is that there are a ton of cards that make the game go haywire on accident.

That's what I learned after putting a copy of Mind Over Matter into my deck. It would just accidentally win the game. Mind Over Matter didn't combo so much with specific cards as much as it did any Magic cards in general. There would be situations where I'd have Gilded Lotus on the battlefield, Blue Sun's Zenith in hand, and realize that I just drew my entire library infinite times and decked everyone. All I wanted to do was untap my Pyxis a bunch!

I'm worried that Paradox Engine will be just like Mind Over Matter but worse. It costs less to cast, doesn't require quad UUUU since it's an artifact, and the payoff is so much bigger. The condition for using it (casting a spell) is a little bit more difficult than discarding a card, but with a rock or two in play, lots of spells start to become free, so even its limiting stipulation can become less detrimental. I'm not sure where I'm going with any of this. I guess all I mean to convey is that I'm worried the card won't be able to be played fairly, despite the best intentions. I don't think that necessitates banning Paradox Engine, but I do believe the cause for concern is justified.

Quote from DirkGently »

I give it 30% odds on being banned. Seems fairly busted. Could have fun fair uses too.

As someone interested in using this card fairly, I'm worried that this card will just be accidentally broken as opposed to being deliberately so. At worst, this card seems like Mirari's Wake. Maybe playtesting will demonstrate otherwise, but with something as common as Sol Ring in play, every spell I cast is going to refund me 2 mana, and that doesn't even take into consideration anything else it might do. That worries me.

I don't think Paradox Engine will be banned, nor do I believe the Rules Committee should ban it (at least, if it doesn't prove itself to be even more dangerous than everyone believes it to be). Having said that, I'm still unsure if there's any fair way to use the card without it coincidentally being bonkers.

Quote from Marquisd »

Quote from arrogantAxolotl »

Quote from Incanur »

Does Sundial of the Infinite plus Mirror Gallery let you make an army of Ragavans?

Seems that way. Kari Vez creates a triggered ability at the end of combat. Activating Sundial of the Infinite in response will remove the triggered ability from the stack, keeping Ragavan around permanently.

Ragavan is a legendary creature token, so no you can't make an army

You missed the Mirror Gallery part.

Quote from Incanur »

Does Sundial of the Infinite plus Mirror Gallery let you make an army of Ragavans?

Seems that way. Kari Vez creates a triggered ability at the end of combat. Activating Sundial of the Infinite in response will remove the triggered ability from the stack, keeping Ragavan around permanently.

Quote from Weebo »

Easier or harder when it changes frequently? That throws me off more than having nothing.

I think it's harder for me to get to know people without avatars than people who change their avatar from time to time. It's like what Life1ess says above. It's easier to remember pictures than to remember names (though having a quirky, unique name helps). The default, avatarless avatar is so ubiquitous that I always have to read the user's name no matter what. With folks who change their avatars, I'm not going to mistake them with somebody else. I just have to relearn who they are again.

Quote from The_FPS »

I wonder why this is not red

I was wondering the same thing. This seems very much like a red card.

MTGS users without profile pictures, why did you choose to never upload one? It makes it so much harder for me to get to know you without an avatar to associate your rhetoric with. I'd genuinely like to know.

I think it's terrible.

First, a player has to invest four mana into a card that initially does nothing. Then that player must play a land and invest an additional two mana to draw a card. That first card draw only replaces the initial cost of having to play the Sundial. After that, it then takes another land and two more mana to finally net a single card. Eight mana and two lands drops just to net a single card? That's an absolutely abyssmal rate. Imagine it were an X spell that read as such:

Seer's Sundial XX4
Sorcery
If X lands entered the battlefield under your control this turn, draw X cards.

Not a perfect analogy, I know, but that's sort of what's going on with the card here. It just asks way too much. You need a big down payment, mana open whenever you play lands to draw the card off it (you may want to use your mana on other things that turn), and lands to draw cards off of it to begin with. Seer's Sundial's one saving grace is that you can continue to draw cards with it for the rest of the game provided it's never destroyed. Did I mention this card can also be destroyed? Yeah, I'd stay away from this thing at all costs.