I control Talrand, Sky Summoner and cast Familiar's Ruse to counter a spell. Since Talrand is returning to my hand as part of casting the spell, does he trigger?
I run just over 30 in both of my decks, but Sapling has tons of one- and two- drop acceleration and Talrand plays lots of cantrips to even out the draws. Having a bunch of mana rocks can also let you shave off a few land slots.
Partial Paris mulligan rules do allow you to play a lower number of lands than you ordinarily would -- you can keep all of the lands out of your first seven and throw the rest back to get a six card hand with a significantly inflated number of lands in it. In my play group we don't use them. We do one free mulligan then ordinary Paris.
From the FAQ on Whim of Volrath:
10/4/2004 It can be used to change a land's type from one basic land type to another. For example, a Forest can be changed to an Island so it produces blue mana.
I target a Volcanic Island and change all instances of Mountain to Island. Now it is a Land -- Island Island and can produce only blue mana.
Is there anything that prevents this from working?
Lands with no basic land types (like Llanowar Wastes) are immune to the whims of Volrath, correct?
If I have a Bloodthrone Vampire in play and cast Disciple of Bolas, is it possible to time the triggers so that I sacrifice both creatures to each other to draw 3 and gain 3 life?
Yes. Disciple's ability is a triggered ability so when he enters the battlefield it goes on the stack. Before it resolves, you can sacrifice him to Bloodthrone Vampire. Then when the trigger resolves you can sacrifice the vampire to gain 3 life and draw 3 cards.
Yeah. A few posters dont seem to understand what I am getting at - now red cannot interact with regenerate OR hexproof (sweepers aside). Other colours can get around regenerate with bounce, mind control, minus effects etc.
Not every color is supposed to be able to answer anything. I don't see you complaining that red also can't answer enchantments, for example. Making regeneration very strong against red is completely in line with the color wheel. Red's answer to your regenerating creature is to kill you.
Furthermore, this card is a much more appropriate core set design than Incinerate. It plays the same most of the time yet has half the rules text. It's still a fine first pick in Limited.
It is the policy of Wizards to not print lands that are strictly better (ignoring the basic supertype as a bonus, but legendary does count as a drawback) than basics. Many current nonbasics are situationally better, but none are strictly better. Old lands that are in violation of this are not in line with modern design sensibilities, and in some cases have been revisited in a more balanced way (see duals and shocklands).
This keeps basics - the flavor core of the game - relevant and damps power creep.
If you want to do design you should work from the modern design rules since they evolved from the old ones. Wizards did the research and found out what worked and what didn't. To scoff at new conventions in favor of Legacy and Vintage precedent shows a lack of understanding for how much this game has progressed and how much Wizards has learned since the early years.
If your set includes a land strictly better than a basic it broadcasts ignorance of design principles. It certainly does not put your work in a positive light.
Spreading Seas and Path to Exile in the same deck is pretty awkward. Against Jund, for example, I usually find myself cutting them off from a color with SS.
In principle monoblue allows a lot of mana disruption - Boomerang, Spreading Seas, and Shadow of Doubt all seem like they could cripple the many greedy three-color mana bases. Has anyone tried this out?
I've done a little bit of testing and found Jund to be a rough matchup. Due to all their removal Redirect could be a blowout. Has anyone tested this?
What are the best ways to sideboard against aggro to improve the matchup?
What do you guys think of playing Psionic Blast? In terms of raw power it's no Lightning Bolt, of course, but it can go to the face and 4 damage is enough to kill Deceiver Exarch.
as much as i like the idea of emrakul id try to find room for an instant win combo just in case there is a pretty high chance of someone trying to race you to tap out in an attempt to kill you before you go off and walk into infinite dmg whether it be the kiki pestermite/deceiver exarch/sky hussar or trike and mikeus but its possible it wont work like that now i know you cant fit the 10 targets i had white it was type 2 legal those were good times
also why play expedition map at all Sylvan Scrying is the same as its sac cost on color and totals one less mana spent and i think the ability to hit whatever land you want not just one on top would warrant it over ancient stirrings unless the reason for stirring is being the one slot in the curve then im still on the fence
Emrakul + haste is about as close as you can get to an instant win.
Map is better than scrying because it's pretty frequent that you won't have a green source. 3x tron land and a Map is not a mulligan, while 3x tron land and Scrying is. They essentially cost the same because there are no one drops in this deck. Map come down for free.
I like Stirrings because one is a lot cheaper than two. You have competition for your two drop while your one drop is available - plus with Wall of Roots or Explore you can play Stirrings in addition to your two drop. Plus, as I said, Stirrings lets you find your sideboarded artifacts.
This card is much better than Enclave Cryptologist, an already cubeworthy card.
Do the copies count as face down creatures?
If they have morph abilities am I allowed to turn them face up?
Partial Paris mulligan rules do allow you to play a lower number of lands than you ordinarily would -- you can keep all of the lands out of your first seven and throw the rest back to get a six card hand with a significantly inflated number of lands in it. In my play group we don't use them. We do one free mulligan then ordinary Paris.
10/4/2004 It can be used to change a land's type from one basic land type to another. For example, a Forest can be changed to an Island so it produces blue mana.
I target a Volcanic Island and change all instances of Mountain to Island. Now it is a Land -- Island Island and can produce only blue mana.
Is there anything that prevents this from working?
Lands with no basic land types (like Llanowar Wastes) are immune to the whims of Volrath, correct?
My list is here.
Yes. Disciple's ability is a triggered ability so when he enters the battlefield it goes on the stack. Before it resolves, you can sacrifice him to Bloodthrone Vampire. Then when the trigger resolves you can sacrifice the vampire to gain 3 life and draw 3 cards.
This same question was asked here not too long ago. ~parinoid
Not every color is supposed to be able to answer anything. I don't see you complaining that red also can't answer enchantments, for example. Making regeneration very strong against red is completely in line with the color wheel. Red's answer to your regenerating creature is to kill you.
Furthermore, this card is a much more appropriate core set design than Incinerate. It plays the same most of the time yet has half the rules text. It's still a fine first pick in Limited.
This keeps basics - the flavor core of the game - relevant and damps power creep.
If you want to do design you should work from the modern design rules since they evolved from the old ones. Wizards did the research and found out what worked and what didn't. To scoff at new conventions in favor of Legacy and Vintage precedent shows a lack of understanding for how much this game has progressed and how much Wizards has learned since the early years.
If your set includes a land strictly better than a basic it broadcasts ignorance of design principles. It certainly does not put your work in a positive light.
I've done a little bit of testing and found Jund to be a rough matchup. Due to all their removal Redirect could be a blowout. Has anyone tested this?
What are the best ways to sideboard against aggro to improve the matchup?
What do you guys think of playing Psionic Blast? In terms of raw power it's no Lightning Bolt, of course, but it can go to the face and 4 damage is enough to kill Deceiver Exarch.
Emrakul + haste is about as close as you can get to an instant win.
Map is better than scrying because it's pretty frequent that you won't have a green source. 3x tron land and a Map is not a mulligan, while 3x tron land and Scrying is. They essentially cost the same because there are no one drops in this deck. Map come down for free.
I like Stirrings because one is a lot cheaper than two. You have competition for your two drop while your one drop is available - plus with Wall of Roots or Explore you can play Stirrings in addition to your two drop. Plus, as I said, Stirrings lets you find your sideboarded artifacts.