The Counterpart will copy exactly what the Twin copies, and will gain an instance of the ability from its own copy ability, as well as copying the ability that Evil Twin has - so the Counterpart token will have the ability twice.
This is not very useful, as the ability is an activated ability and you can only activate one ability at a time, and must pay the full cost (which includes tapping the token) each time.
As I understand it, an evil twin in play copying a blood artist would be seen by the game rules with the name "blood artist", its cost is "1B", its type is "creature - vampire", its power and toughness is "0/1", and its abilities are:
"Whenever Blood Artist or another creature dies, target player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life. UB,t: Destroy target creature with the same name as this creature."
basically, evil twin would no longer have the cloning ability (or even be named "evil twin"). using cackling counterpart would give you a token with the attributes and abilities I listed above, and wouldn't care if the original blood artist were still in play, and wouldn't see evil twin's ability to clone and gain an additional ability. evil twin is no longer is evil twin, but instead blood artist with an added activated ability. cackling counterpart's token would only have the tap ability once.
your impression that a card "blinks" when it changes control may be based off of the fact that creatures who change control are summoning sick. effects like mind control or olivia voldaren are examples when this would matter. creatures are summoning sick when the enter the battlefield, but also when they change control. unless otherwise stated, permanents that change control don't untap either; the only thing that changes by default is who controls the card and that creatures become summoning sick.
Zealous Conscripts only specifies that it untaps the permanent and and that it gains haste until end of turn. Nothing is affecting the loyalty counters on planeswalkers, so if your opponent controls a Jace with 7 loyalty, when you gain control of that Jace, he will still have 7 loyalty.
wizards stresses not all cards in future sight future shifted will be reprinted, because quite simply not all of them will be reprinted. they already said steamflogger boss will never be reprinted, and that cards will never assemble contractions. future sight was done to act like an unset, but without the un-tone.
I'm just gonna say that if they reprint baneslayer angel in another core set, there'll be no reason why they can't reprint tarmogoyf in a set.
I voted yes. my oppinion is that wizards gets carried away with color-fixing lands. (and then complain when players play too few basics) I think there already is a trade-of of color consistency with added colors, but it isn't large enough. There shouldn't be five-color decks without either some good artifact to do it with, or by using low color intensity splashes. and two color decks should not be usually strictly better than mono-colored decks.
Wizards should continue printing mana fixing at the uncommon level, but should avoid printing rare-level mana fixers, especially multiple sets in a row or at uncommon level. (looking at you, vivid lands and tri lands)
scute mob is not a 4-of turn-1 aggro threat, in my opinion. aggro decks sometimes don't get that fifth land until control has the board, so it'd be a 1/1 most of the time. I'm not saying it won't be in an aggro deck, I'm just saying people will play a hasty 2/2 first. or a landfalling 4/5.
in any midrange or g control deck, he is very attractive. they like having 5 lands before or by turn 5. that means he's a turn 6 5/5, turn 7 9/9. . .
he's kind of like a tarmogoyf, except not as good in aggro for the tradeof of being much better in midrange and controll.
not a $40 card, but not a mere $10 one either. I'd sure like to pay 1 for a 5/5 after wrathing the board.
As long as Esper Charm continues to see play, journey to nowhere will not. (and unless there's a new instant speed draw spell, Esper Charm will be played). No one wants to get rid of a threat just to have their board ***ed and that threat come back.
As for the blue enchantment, I think it will see some play. In terms of waiting, either a fetch land or a harrow will make that three turn wait into a one turn wait, or even a zero turn wait late game with harrow. it won't be played in every control deck, but U/G/x control decks will choose it over anything else.
As for the counterspell, it will see play if people A) feel the need to have a trun 1 negate or b) feel the need to have a 1-mana-cheaper negate for earlier counter wars/ multi-countering.
Specifically, if there's another 4-costed counterspell like cryptic command in every blue deck, people will run the cheaper negate spell because they can cast both spells at the same time. but if the main counters of choice are 2 mana or UX mana, they will choose negate before spell pierce because it's not soft, and the 1 mana doesn't make enough of a difference.
also, people aren't going to play spell pierce because it will make harrow-players cry, any counterspell will do that. and unles I'm mistaken, I'm pretty sure most pros don't play borderposts and will not, they're too slow for aggro, and the tri-lands, 10e lands, and gain life lands are better for control.
i agree i've been waiting to see Nissa for awhile now.
i'm actually thinking that hallowed burial is going to replace wrath of god. yes. i'm guessing wrath will finally see an end to standard. even WotC is stating that wrath is undercosted for it's ability, and burial is exactly what they're looking for in a board-sweeping ability.
also, this will never happen, but i want hymn to tourach and exterminate to come back. black is losing power fast, and wizards should look at balancing all 5 colors rather than weakening one and overpowering another.
what if they printed damnation over wrath? It never made any sense to me why white should get wrath over black, except for the fact that it mentioned religion, specifically deities. It would make sense to me if black got 4cc wrath effects but white had 6cc alternative-effect wraths.
Even though it is possible to print hybrid, it's likely that they won't. so far, Ravnica sets are the only that have both multicolor and hybrid cards in it, and wizards will likely keep to that trend.
T: add W to your mana pool.
when ~ comes into play, you may search your library for an island card, reveal it and put it into your hand. shuffle your library afterwards.
simple, supports domain, thins out the deck, no damage. elegant? you judge.
EDIT: Moar examples...
Tainted Islands
Basic Land: Island
T: add U to your mana pool.
when ~ comes into play, you may search your library for a Swamp card, reveal it and put it into your hand. shuffle your library afterwards.
hhhmm.... or maybe this ones are better?
Grove of Wonders
basic land: Forest
T: add G to your mana pool.
when ~ comes into play, you may search your library for a Basic land, reveal it then put it into your hand. shuffle your library afterwards.
so I can play a five color deck with like two of each of these and no other land and keep any hand with one land and I'm guaranteed to have on land of each type by turn five? And am guaranteed to have ten lands by turn ten, and never to draw another?
seems a little broken to me.
on a different point, it's my opinion that when wizards said they weren't going to print lands strictly better than basic lands, I think they are referring to the actual function of the card. in other words, not only does being nonbasic not count as a drawback, but not having a subtype also does not count as a drawback. Wizards would not print a land that simply taps for mana of two types, even though there are all those red moon effects and fetch lands and whatnot.
as I thought on it, of the ideas people have had so far, I think the most likely route wizards will go is some kind of land that has interactions with counters. i.e., a land that adds green one turn and red the next, or can be used to add a second color of mana so many times, that sort of thing.
personally, I kind of expect them to come up with something entirely new, a drawback we've never before seen on a land.
in dissension, Wrecking Ball and all the non-hybrid multicolored came before Dovescape and all the hybrid cards. This link should show you if you want to double check (if not it's just a gatherer search for Dissension, with the sorting order chosen to be card number)
CARDNAME
land
when CARDNAME comes into play, sacrifice it unless you pay 1.
*mana ability*
I have nothing to back this up, but I think they want to avoid strongly biasing lands, such as painlands which are more harmful in a control deck or grove of the burnwillow lands that hurt aggro more, so I don't expect them to print lands that become obsolete or are obsolete until a point in the game. In otherwords, I doubt they'll do a variation on temple of the lost god.
I think it'll either be something for aggro control to stop wraths or lesser removal, or sideboard material. In U control, it's just spending mana to keep one threat from ever being played. It won't keep the opponent from play threats. But it'll be good to stop the mirror guile or Teferi, or combo's key cards.
As I understand it, an evil twin in play copying a blood artist would be seen by the game rules with the name "blood artist", its cost is "1B", its type is "creature - vampire", its power and toughness is "0/1", and its abilities are:
"Whenever Blood Artist or another creature dies, target player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
UB,t: Destroy target creature with the same name as this creature."
basically, evil twin would no longer have the cloning ability (or even be named "evil twin"). using cackling counterpart would give you a token with the attributes and abilities I listed above, and wouldn't care if the original blood artist were still in play, and wouldn't see evil twin's ability to clone and gain an additional ability. evil twin is no longer is evil twin, but instead blood artist with an added activated ability. cackling counterpart's token would only have the tap ability once.
Zealous Conscripts only specifies that it untaps the permanent and and that it gains haste until end of turn. Nothing is affecting the loyalty counters on planeswalkers, so if your opponent controls a Jace with 7 loyalty, when you gain control of that Jace, he will still have 7 loyalty.
I'm just gonna say that if they reprint baneslayer angel in another core set, there'll be no reason why they can't reprint tarmogoyf in a set.
Wizards should continue printing mana fixing at the uncommon level, but should avoid printing rare-level mana fixers, especially multiple sets in a row or at uncommon level. (looking at you, vivid lands and tri lands)
gives control the card advantage it needs
in any midrange or g control deck, he is very attractive. they like having 5 lands before or by turn 5. that means he's a turn 6 5/5, turn 7 9/9. . .
he's kind of like a tarmogoyf, except not as good in aggro for the tradeof of being much better in midrange and controll.
not a $40 card, but not a mere $10 one either. I'd sure like to pay 1 for a 5/5 after wrathing the board.
As for the blue enchantment, I think it will see some play. In terms of waiting, either a fetch land or a harrow will make that three turn wait into a one turn wait, or even a zero turn wait late game with harrow. it won't be played in every control deck, but U/G/x control decks will choose it over anything else.
As for the counterspell, it will see play if people A) feel the need to have a trun 1 negate or b) feel the need to have a 1-mana-cheaper negate for earlier counter wars/ multi-countering.
Specifically, if there's another 4-costed counterspell like cryptic command in every blue deck, people will run the cheaper negate spell because they can cast both spells at the same time. but if the main counters of choice are 2 mana or UX mana, they will choose negate before spell pierce because it's not soft, and the 1 mana doesn't make enough of a difference.
also, people aren't going to play spell pierce because it will make harrow-players cry, any counterspell will do that. and unles I'm mistaken, I'm pretty sure most pros don't play borderposts and will not, they're too slow for aggro, and the tri-lands, 10e lands, and gain life lands are better for control.
what if they printed damnation over wrath? It never made any sense to me why white should get wrath over black, except for the fact that it mentioned religion, specifically deities. It would make sense to me if black got 4cc wrath effects but white had 6cc alternative-effect wraths.
Slow down standard? with stuff like wild nacatl, wooly thoctar, and matca rioters?
and even if they don't have any mana fixing, there's still plenty from the first two sets to go around.
additionally, I believe there will be a lot of only two-color ally gold, if we consider the fact that all the precon decks are two colors only.
I believe that also means no hybrid, since those aren't gold
so I can play a five color deck with like two of each of these and no other land and keep any hand with one land and I'm guaranteed to have on land of each type by turn five? And am guaranteed to have ten lands by turn ten, and never to draw another?
seems a little broken to me.
on a different point, it's my opinion that when wizards said they weren't going to print lands strictly better than basic lands, I think they are referring to the actual function of the card. in other words, not only does being nonbasic not count as a drawback, but not having a subtype also does not count as a drawback. Wizards would not print a land that simply taps for mana of two types, even though there are all those red moon effects and fetch lands and whatnot.
as I thought on it, of the ideas people have had so far, I think the most likely route wizards will go is some kind of land that has interactions with counters. i.e., a land that adds green one turn and red the next, or can be used to add a second color of mana so many times, that sort of thing.
personally, I kind of expect them to come up with something entirely new, a drawback we've never before seen on a land.
http://beta.gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?output=checklist&sort=cn+&action=advanced&set=%22Dissension%22
So hybrid one-drops are possible and likely.
CARDNAME
land
when CARDNAME comes into play, sacrifice it unless you pay 1.
*mana ability*
I have nothing to back this up, but I think they want to avoid strongly biasing lands, such as painlands which are more harmful in a control deck or grove of the burnwillow lands that hurt aggro more, so I don't expect them to print lands that become obsolete or are obsolete until a point in the game. In otherwords, I doubt they'll do a variation on temple of the lost god.