WotC has managed the Modern format excellently the last two years by cleaning out problematic cards (Twin, Bloom, Probe, Troll) that enabled broken or overly-restrictive decks and printed an excellent card in Fatal Push that is now the most played card in Modern.
You forgot to mention how between banning Twin (premiere "Control" deck and safety valve against linear overload) and simultaneously printing completely broken Eldrazi, they managed to destroy the format for more than a year. Then those additional bans (Probe and GGT) were a result of them printing more stupidbusted things as well as removing the primary means for helping keep speedy linear decks in check while being vulnerable to highly interactive decks. Never mind that they didn't even try to allow Fatal Push to reign in the fast aggro decks that played Gitaxian Probe and got wrecked by Push anyway (to try and create a balance) but instead, decks like Delver, Infect, and UR Spells (Bloo) were effectively destroyed between the two actions. Meanwhile, Death's Shadow morphed into something that will likely eat another ban.
Ignorant, lazy, and ham-fisted doesn't even begin to describe their ability to "manage" formats.
Bloom was a great ban. Deck killed too quickly and through several layers of targeted hate. Nobody lost any sleep over that one, but also literally everyone saw it coming.
I didn't forget to mention anything. I just don't agree with you. You and I will never agree on Twin. I also don't agree w/ anybody making the Push/Probe connection...that is a lazy connection done w/o critical thought, the assumption that Push itself would keep Probe in check when Bolt/Path/pick a cheap removal spell were not already doing so. Basically I don't see the clause on Push that states that if you get Probed while holding Push in your hand you do not have to reveal your hand. The information Probe gave w/o the expenditure of mana is what broke that card in hyper-aggro decks, and why it had to go. Push was not going to stop that.
When the primary means of early kills were because of pump spells and your primary removal spell was Lightning Bolt, perhaps you could see why it might have been ineffective. The entire point of Fatal Push is to bypass toughness and kill regardless of their stats. But if you think that Fatal Push wouldn't affect the effectiveness of small-creature-pump-aggro, then perhaps I'm not the one who has to worry about critical thinking.
If they probe you and see a Push, sweet. It means they probably won't go for the kill with pump spells, you Push on their end step, and they either waste a Vines of Vastwood/Apostle's Blessing and are vulnerable on their next turn or their dude is dead and you have a massive tempo advantage.
The long and short of it is that I want decks to be able to fight each other with cards, not with bans. They could have seen what impact Push would have and ban Probe in the following update if necessary. But they didn't because they don't test, they don't research, they don't really seem to know much of anything about the Modern as a whole.
WotC has managed the Modern format excellently the last two years by cleaning out problematic cards (Twin, Bloom, Probe, Troll) that enabled broken or overly-restrictive decks and printed an excellent card in Fatal Push that is now the most played card in Modern.
You forgot to mention how between banning Twin (premiere "Control" deck and safety valve against linear overload) and simultaneously printing completely broken Eldrazi, they managed to destroy the format for more than a year. Then those additional bans (Probe and GGT) were a result of them printing more stupidbusted things as well as removing the primary means for helping keep speedy linear decks in check while being vulnerable to highly interactive decks. Never mind that they didn't even try to allow Fatal Push to reign in the fast aggro decks that played Gitaxian Probe and got wrecked by Push anyway (to try and create a balance) but instead, decks like Delver, Infect, and UR Spells (Bloo) were effectively destroyed between the two actions. Meanwhile, Death's Shadow morphed into something that will likely eat another ban.
Ignorant, lazy, and ham-fisted doesn't even begin to describe their ability to "manage" formats.
Bloom was a great ban. Deck killed too quickly and through several layers of targeted hate. Nobody lost any sleep over that one, but also literally everyone saw it coming.
I didn't forget to mention anything. I just don't agree with you. You and I will never agree on Twin. I also don't agree w/ anybody making the Push/Probe connection...that is a lazy connection done w/o critical thought, the assumption that Push itself would keep Probe in check when Bolt/Path/pick a cheap removal spell were not already doing so. Basically I don't see the clause on Push that states that if you get Probed while holding Push in your hand you do not have to reveal your hand. The information Probe gave w/o the expenditure of mana is what broke that card in hyper-aggro decks, and why it had to go. Push was not going to stop that.
WotC has managed the Modern format excellently the last two years by cleaning out problematic cards (Twin, Bloom, Probe, Troll) that enabled broken or overly-restrictive decks and printed an excellent card in Fatal Push that is now the most played card in Modern.
What are you looking for exactly, Surge, and what are you doing for 3-4 turns whilst your opponent assembles Urzatron and Ugins you?
Hat feels great and there is no tin or foil involved in its construction, just straight common sense and critical thought. When people "leak" something like an Ixalan set and they are outside of the company making the product, they do not "leak" unclear images, as unclear images serve no purpose to anybody except the company whose property is being "leaked"...unless there is blackmail/ransom involved. Have we heard any evidence of that? Meanwhile, you all got a nice, if unclear, tease of those cool Dinosaurs and Pirates about to invade your gaming tables come Sept., a nice salve for the garbo HOU being released.
What do the Ixalan Planeswalkers do?
Give me the exact wording on all the "new" mechanics.
Ahhh, but you can't, b/c WotC is saving that for when it's time to spoil Ixalan for "reals".
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. You can illuminate for the masses, but you can't make them think.
It should be obvious now that this leak was 100% done by WotC and done on purpose. Looks like they got the mileage out of it they expected as it's covering up/glossing over the failure that is HOU.
It's fitting Hour of Devastation is abbreviated HOU, b/c Houston, we have a problem!
This is theft IF it was stolen from a printing press. If this was not stolen from any press but simply a picture of a sheet that was either at the work station or being evaluated for defects than this is legal. There is nothing illegal about taking a photo of something in America, only how you took the photo or what you plan to do with said photo.
Have you ever dealt with an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement)? I guarantee you Wizards uses them, as most companies with some form of intellectual property do. In such a case, taking a photo and broadcasting it to the world is a complete breach of contract and against the law. Wizards makes money by creating intellectual property. So, whether the sheet was physically stolen, or the copyrighted intellectual property was only "virtually" stolen, it amounts to the same thing.
And photography laws apply to things that can be seen in public. I doubt Wizards put this sheet out on the sidewalk - it was clearly on private property, secure behind a wall and not accessible to the general public. Whoever leaked this can be in a lot of trouble.
Are you open to the possibility that this was leaked by WotC purposefully? Why are the images so obscured? Why are the money planeswalkers unreadable? Did the worst camera-phone operator in the world just luck out?
And others are with me...how much stock do you own in Hasbro, bro?
ZERO. I'm not on one side or the other but I do respect property rights. Always have and always will. Would you be upset if I stole something from you? If in this instance it means I side with Hasbro/Wizards so be it. If they try to blame it on us again like before I'll be against them. Its not always so black and white like you may be thinking. There is a lot of gray in the world.
I know there is gray, do you? You are the one who will not open your mind to the possibility that this was a self-leak by WotC for the purpose of driving up hype and discussion, or for other reasons. You dismiss this out of hand despite how I have articulated to you that it might be the case, and despite the fact that I have encouraged you and others to go read up on guerrilla marketing in the modern era. I, on the other hand, have acknowledged the possibility of theft being involved. You sound like a shill for a $4+ billion revenue mega-corporation that has been accused of some unsavory labor practices over the years, so I'm glad to hear that you are not.
Two threads, 618 posts, and counting...Thank you WotC for giving us something to discuss, 'cause you know we've already moved on from those "defeat" cards by and large, as you knew we would.
If you want specific examples of each you can either squint a lot at the image yourself or go back a few pages in this thread where myself and others have posted the text from all of the readable cards.
It's almost like this leaker was designed by WotC...
Ahhh, the pithy think about it comment. No attempt to discuss or dispute points. I can retort that you should think about it for once, instead of regurgitating, but that advances nothing, does it?
Or I can tell you to look the the main page of the rumor mill on this website and look at the number of posts in threads directly related to WotC's announcements this week and compare them to the number of posts in the two threads about the Ixalan leaks. I can also tell you to go read a book, or an article even, and learn about the concept of guerrilla marketing and how it works in the modern world. Btw raid isn't new and neither are vehicles. I gave you the treasure tokens. I haven't seen clear text for the other two, so I'll go look for your posts now. Really though I want to see what the three walkers do. They are the money cards. When they are spoiled, I will believe the leak is external.
Senior management is very disconnected from the employees and the customer base
Gee, what a shocker.
Cut and paste and apply to any big corporation or business that operates on that structure. Senior management does not exist to connect w/ employees or customers. Senior management exists to enrich shareholders and senior management. Always has, always will.
Path. To. Exile.
I didn't forget to mention anything. I just don't agree with you. You and I will never agree on Twin. I also don't agree w/ anybody making the Push/Probe connection...that is a lazy connection done w/o critical thought, the assumption that Push itself would keep Probe in check when Bolt/Path/pick a cheap removal spell were not already doing so. Basically I don't see the clause on Push that states that if you get Probed while holding Push in your hand you do not have to reveal your hand. The information Probe gave w/o the expenditure of mana is what broke that card in hyper-aggro decks, and why it had to go. Push was not going to stop that.
What are you looking for exactly, Surge, and what are you doing for 3-4 turns whilst your opponent assembles Urzatron and Ugins you?
Modern is in a great place at the moment and it's in that place b/c of WotC's management of it the last two years.
I applaud the change in regard to Modern, however.
Thanks, Wizards
What do the Ixalan Planeswalkers do?
Give me the exact wording on all the "new" mechanics.
Ahhh, but you can't, b/c WotC is saving that for when it's time to spoil Ixalan for "reals".
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. You can illuminate for the masses, but you can't make them think.
You won't get one, most likely. WotC's leak has run its course.
Instead of looking at what the leak spoiled, look at what it didn't spoil. That will tell you clearly that WotC was behind it.
It's fitting Hour of Devastation is abbreviated HOU, b/c Houston, we have a problem!
Are you open to the possibility that this was leaked by WotC purposefully? Why are the images so obscured? Why are the money planeswalkers unreadable? Did the worst camera-phone operator in the world just luck out?
I know there is gray, do you? You are the one who will not open your mind to the possibility that this was a self-leak by WotC for the purpose of driving up hype and discussion, or for other reasons. You dismiss this out of hand despite how I have articulated to you that it might be the case, and despite the fact that I have encouraged you and others to go read up on guerrilla marketing in the modern era. I, on the other hand, have acknowledged the possibility of theft being involved. You sound like a shill for a $4+ billion revenue mega-corporation that has been accused of some unsavory labor practices over the years, so I'm glad to hear that you are not.
Vehicles (Crew)
Raid
Tough
Explore
Treasure Tokens
If you want specific examples of each you can either squint a lot at the image yourself or go back a few pages in this thread where myself and others have posted the text from all of the readable cards.
Ahhh, the pithy think about it comment. No attempt to discuss or dispute points. I can retort that you should think about it for once, instead of regurgitating, but that advances nothing, does it?
Or I can tell you to look the the main page of the rumor mill on this website and look at the number of posts in threads directly related to WotC's announcements this week and compare them to the number of posts in the two threads about the Ixalan leaks. I can also tell you to go read a book, or an article even, and learn about the concept of guerrilla marketing and how it works in the modern world. Btw raid isn't new and neither are vehicles. I gave you the treasure tokens. I haven't seen clear text for the other two, so I'll go look for your posts now. Really though I want to see what the three walkers do. They are the money cards. When they are spoiled, I will believe the leak is external.
Cheers!
Cut and paste and apply to any big corporation or business that operates on that structure. Senior management does not exist to connect w/ employees or customers. Senior management exists to enrich shareholders and senior management. Always has, always will.