I'm inclined to think it's still just Mirrodin Pure or New Phyrexia, and that both cards are in whatever the third set is going to be. One card is just being printed with the expansion symbol, etc, of the nonexistent set.
Wow, that's right. Green got both Harmonize and Hornet Sting. I guess I have to conclude that breaking the color pie is now mostly in green's slice of the pie.
hmm, yes, that's true. A single card from M11 and another card from a set released three years ago is indicative of a trend. I agree.
Seriously though - if "breaking the color pie" becomes a green thing then that is only because what Green does is so restricted that WotC has to do so to print actual interesting green cards.
I inclined strongly towards Ravnica, but voted Lorwyn in the end. The setting is a refreshing change, even if Tribal isn't that exciting. Plus, treefolk.
I find the general idea behind Conflux dull and entirely to be expected, but I will say? The art isn't bad, and I enjoyed the flavor text on many of those... like Magister Sphinx.
Alara has a bunch of dreadfully generic cardnames, though Godtoucher is certainly hilarious yet awful.
Mossodon makes me smile.
What do I find bad... uh, lessee.
Well, okay, Godtoucher is the only card I find genuinely awful - most cards are either bland (Battlegrace Angel) or mediocre (Cathertic Adept). Certainly nothing like Lorwyn (Squeaking Pie Sneaks, Footbottom Feast, Hurly-Burly), or Shadowmoor (Kitchen Finks, Fable of Wolf and Owl, Gilder Bairn).
To be fair, Alara does have its share of decent names (like Excommunicate... that one is great), and Lor/Sha has its share (none I can think of right now lol) but.. yes.
Not at all.
"Weak" sets makes for more interesting limited play and more open deck designs.
Plus, the flavuor and art of this set is the best in ages, beats Lowryn by miles.
Yeah, uh, I disagree - Lorwyn was interesting and Alara isn't.
People complain about the flavor of Lorwyn and call it childlike or babyish, which I find inane. Well, okay, maybe not the precise words used but that seems to be the general gist of the complaints. It wasn't shoehorned into the five colors like Alara is - the tribes were given a more, I suppose I should say, "organic" feel. A (mostly successful) effort was made to spread them out among the colors. As to comparisions with Onslaugt block... to be quite frank, I find Lorwyn/Morningtide to infinitely more interesting. I've bought packs of Lorwyn and Morningtide, where I bought none for Onslaught block.
The settings of Alara are some of the most dull I have seen from WotC in years - Bant is white, Esper is blue, and so on. They didn't even try to fit that into the set mechanics - for the most part, the multicolor cards don't feel as if they have much to do with, well, anything. Let's see.. what else? The cycling feels kludged-in. Naya's mechanical identity is lousy, lousy, lousy. I admit that Exalted is intriguing, but they didn't really do much with it, I felt.
In summary - Lorwyn forever, Alara (and Onslaught) never.
That may be a little disorganized, but I hope I've been clear enough.
edit: oh, yeah one further thing - I don't think Alara is the worst set WotC has ever printed, much less since Champions or some other arbitrary mark. I simply find it disappointing in most respects and will not buy it or even try playing with most of the cards. Perhaps I'll be missing out on something amazing that way. Oh, well. I'll live.
I'd like to know where this was stated.
That's awful.
Anyway, I love how they're talking up this card as possibly being cool and unusual in its effect. I hope it really is.
That would be amazing.
hmm, yes, that's true. A single card from M11 and another card from a set released three years ago is indicative of a trend. I agree.
Seriously though - if "breaking the color pie" becomes a green thing then that is only because what Green does is so restricted that WotC has to do so to print actual interesting green cards.
I find the general idea behind Conflux dull and entirely to be expected, but I will say? The art isn't bad, and I enjoyed the flavor text on many of those... like Magister Sphinx.
So tired of hearing about him.
Mossodon makes me smile.
What do I find bad... uh, lessee.
Well, okay, Godtoucher is the only card I find genuinely awful - most cards are either bland (Battlegrace Angel) or mediocre (Cathertic Adept). Certainly nothing like Lorwyn (Squeaking Pie Sneaks, Footbottom Feast, Hurly-Burly), or Shadowmoor (Kitchen Finks, Fable of Wolf and Owl, Gilder Bairn).
To be fair, Alara does have its share of decent names (like Excommunicate... that one is great), and Lor/Sha has its share (none I can think of right now lol) but.. yes.
Yeah, uh, I disagree - Lorwyn was interesting and Alara isn't.
People complain about the flavor of Lorwyn and call it childlike or babyish, which I find inane. Well, okay, maybe not the precise words used but that seems to be the general gist of the complaints. It wasn't shoehorned into the five colors like Alara is - the tribes were given a more, I suppose I should say, "organic" feel. A (mostly successful) effort was made to spread them out among the colors. As to comparisions with Onslaugt block... to be quite frank, I find Lorwyn/Morningtide to infinitely more interesting. I've bought packs of Lorwyn and Morningtide, where I bought none for Onslaught block.
The settings of Alara are some of the most dull I have seen from WotC in years - Bant is white, Esper is blue, and so on. They didn't even try to fit that into the set mechanics - for the most part, the multicolor cards don't feel as if they have much to do with, well, anything. Let's see.. what else? The cycling feels kludged-in. Naya's mechanical identity is lousy, lousy, lousy. I admit that Exalted is intriguing, but they didn't really do much with it, I felt.
In summary - Lorwyn forever, Alara (and Onslaught) never.
That may be a little disorganized, but I hope I've been clear enough.
edit: oh, yeah one further thing - I don't think Alara is the worst set WotC has ever printed, much less since Champions or some other arbitrary mark. I simply find it disappointing in most respects and will not buy it or even try playing with most of the cards. Perhaps I'll be missing out on something amazing that way. Oh, well. I'll live.
Do we even know what Burrenton has become in Shadowmoor yet?