Think of any major strategy. There have always been a mono blue deck that's been competitive through MTG's history. Aggro, tempo, midrange, ramp, combo, control.
That is patently false.
Competitive mono U decks are few and far between.
It happens, sure, but mono W and mono B are almost always better,
and don't even get me started on mono R.
It astounds me that people still think Blue has a larger slice of the pie than White, Green, or Black.
They may have been a bit... generous to Blue in the past,
but these days it's quite a bit more balanced than a lot of you make it out to be.
My mistake, I worded that differently than what I wanted it to.
I wanted to say that blue has covered all the archetypes in one way or another.
My argument was not one about the power level of blue per se, but about strategy diversity.
Of course the strategy needs to be powerful enough to see competitive play, but my intention was not trying to say that blue was oppressively powerful, just that it is the most flexible color, getting a wide array of tools, usually powerful enough to be considered in competitive play.
Now, when was the last time you saw a mono-green control deck? Even at a kitchen table? There was Lost in the Woods for limited, which was hilarious.
Mono-Black tempo? Mono-white combo? Mono-red ramp?
Thing is, in this day and age, creatures are the primary focus of magic. WotC wants the game to revolve around them as much as possible, and in order to do so, each color needs some way of dealing with them. Black does this with a variety of different kill spells, some sweepers, discard, deathtouch, and recently with big butts to survive. Red does this with burn, temporary theft, pump, first strike, and can't block effects. Green does it with fight, pump, deathtouch, fog and generally being bigger. White does it with exile effects (a lot of which are temporary), protection, first strike, and usually the biggest sweepers. Blue? Blue uses bounce, countermagic, lockdown effects, permanent theft, and polymorphing. Reality shift is just blue creature "removal". Every color needs it, every color gets it.
Now, this is a good argument to help blue there. If at least white and black had Force of Will equivalents, there would be more color diversity in legacy (black could have a Thoughtseize version of Force of Will, and white could have a "your opponents can't win the game this turn, you can't lose the game this turn. If your life total would be reduced to less than 1, it's reduced to 1 instead. Sources opponents control can't make you sacrifice permanents this turn.").
And brainstorm/ponder level consistency tools for non-blue decks.
Maybe this kind of mechanic would be overall helpful for the health of modern. Especially since wizards seems to allow creature based combos.
This comes across as whining about what blue used to get. Most of the things you are complaining about are things in the past, and most of it was the pretty far past. The worst part is that a lot of your arguments about the past are incorrect as well. Mono-black has had plenty of tempo decks. Mono-white combo is a fringe deck in current legacy and modern. I played a mono-red ramp deck in Standard 4 years ago at FNMs, and won with it. I'm not going to sit here and try to make sure theres an instance of each one, but Im sure I could if I tried.
This card is squarely in blues color pie. Furthermore, I'll be shocked if this shows up in any high-tiered decks. It's not very good.
It should be obvious that I am not a blue fan by my avatar (etc) but one of the things that annoys me to no end is when people who don't like blue cry about it incessantly. One could make the argument that blue is the weakest color in standard right now (I think the argument would be pointless since all of the colors are pretty evenly matched, with green maybe a tiny bit out front.)
I can't help but to see your arguments as incredibly immature.
Ill be at the party, and my Internet connection willing, I'll be uploading pictures. My connection has been spotty at best at the convention. The party is several blocks away which I hope helps.
Why do people keep beating that same ol dead horse again. Numerous times they've said that new players don't like to pay life for effects, so they'll never put them in core sets again (this is the reason we switched from the ping lands to checks)
Why people even believe that Thoughtseize, fetches, bob, etc. etc. would be in the core set is maddening. DO A LITTLE RESEARCH!!!!!!
Unless you have first strike damage this won't work, and nobody intelligent would likely play into the first strike trap.
This is not true. You can cast this at the end of combat after you block and kill other creatures. Even though damage is dealt, the creature is still considered attacking at end of combat.
You said the words I couldn't bring myself to say. If you already have two, why would you buy more, thereby taking the potential box set away from someone who DON'T EVEN OWN ONE. There is a word for it. Can't think of it....If everyone wanted a playset then maybe 100 people would have these. Sharing is caring.
I dont care what you want. I want a playset, and Ill get it because I can afford it.
Hopefully I can get it cheaper at $65 a set, but if I have to pay 400 a set for the last two I will.
"Why do you have two houses, there are people without one"
The card is Savage Summoning. I need to play more with it, but its good against control decks (and will be more needed against them when cavern leaves) and its still at use against aggro decks. Flashing in a guy to block is a type of removal, and it lets you pull off plays that your opponent doesn't see coming. I alters race math and puts your opponent in bad situations.
It will be, at worst, a sideboard card. The plate mail is very cool, its just not as good as aetherling in a control deck as a finisher and those cards will be in the same standard for the rest of their lifetimes.
This comes across as whining about what blue used to get. Most of the things you are complaining about are things in the past, and most of it was the pretty far past. The worst part is that a lot of your arguments about the past are incorrect as well. Mono-black has had plenty of tempo decks. Mono-white combo is a fringe deck in current legacy and modern. I played a mono-red ramp deck in Standard 4 years ago at FNMs, and won with it. I'm not going to sit here and try to make sure theres an instance of each one, but Im sure I could if I tried.
This card is squarely in blues color pie. Furthermore, I'll be shocked if this shows up in any high-tiered decks. It's not very good.
It should be obvious that I am not a blue fan by my avatar (etc) but one of the things that annoys me to no end is when people who don't like blue cry about it incessantly. One could make the argument that blue is the weakest color in standard right now (I think the argument would be pointless since all of the colors are pretty evenly matched, with green maybe a tiny bit out front.)
I can't help but to see your arguments as incredibly immature.
I for one am happy that there will be a cycle of lands that are more skill based than any other cycle I can think of. These lands are good.
There is likely something fundamentally wrong with you if you do not like these lands, or if youre upset that they are rare.
The only one I saw was a 2/1 cleric. It was black/white, and it was an enchantment creature.
Sign In Blood
They won't do the fetches, but black pays life in core sets.
This is not true. You can cast this at the end of combat after you block and kill other creatures. Even though damage is dealt, the creature is still considered attacking at end of combat.
Back to ebay, I suppose!
None. There is no solid proof that they will ever be sold at hasbrotoyshop.
The original message indicated that they were saving some for later, but that doesnt mean a whole lot.
I want a playset because I plan on playing with them. It wont be as cool if only one of them is pimp.
Also, who cares if people resell them? The market price is not $65, it is $400. If you get it for $65 you were lucky.
I dont care what you want. I want a playset, and Ill get it because I can afford it.
Hopefully I can get it cheaper at $65 a set, but if I have to pay 400 a set for the last two I will.
"Why do you have two houses, there are people without one"
"Because I have a job. Go away, you smell."
It will be, at worst, a sideboard card. The plate mail is very cool, its just not as good as aetherling in a control deck as a finisher and those cards will be in the same standard for the rest of their lifetimes.