MTG Salvation

The card reveal slideshow appears to be stretching the page frame super wide across the screen, I presume that isn't intended behavior? Happens in IE, Chrome, FF. The slideshow doesn't even show up on mobile for me.

Anyone else experiencing this?

Edit: Looks to be fixed now, nice!

As much as I'd like to see Noble Hierarch or Birds of Paradise back in standard, I tend to agree that those are a little overpowered, honestly.

I keep hearing about how they weren't in the past, and that standard did fine with them. That's partially true, however, if you ever had to deal with BoP with a Sword of Feast and Famine attached and attacking before you even got to your turn 3, you might say otherwise. Doran The Siege Tower comes to mind, too. It wasn't broken, but it was a little too good.

The other thing here is that creature quality has been on a steady incline for a while now. Comparing BoP's value in Standard now compared to a long time ago requires some consideration.

As for where BFZ will take us, I'm betting on a homage to Lotus Cobra.

Ingest would've been a lot better if it read "when this creature attacks". The design-space as-is makes it only really that powerful on perhaps token strategies where this effect might be granted, but even then, if you're attacking enough to where this effect is threatening, you probably are about to win with damage anyway.

So with Tragic Arrogance, if opp has Thassa in play with a couple other creatures and enchantments, can I name Thassa as both the enchantment and the creature they get to keep, sac everything else??

Shaman of the Pack is powerful, but in consideration to the fact that we've been dealing with Siege Rhino for a while now, I think it'll be OK. The only context I think it'll be potentially absurd in is Collected Company decks where you've already got a couple elves out there then drop two Shamans.

Goblin Piledriver is going to ensure Gobbos are huge contender in Standard for a while to come.

I don't see how this card can be evaluated as bad at 3 cmc. It has the ability to completely pull you out of the wreckage after a verdict, instant-speed generate deathtouch blockers, and become a 5/5. It has great synergy with Xathrid Necromancer, as well as with creatures that are more only meant for the early game/hyper aggression (3/1's, and stuff like Spiteful Returned, I'm lookin' at you), and even with Tymaret, The Murder King.

Her synergy with Athreos is obscene, giving the opponent no good options or things to look forward to when your creatures die.

Junk or Jund or BUG or whatever, she's getting some limelight in Standard.

He's at his best when you can clear the field for him. While he shares similarities to Hero of Bladehold, he also has some with Geist of Saint Traft (of course not on the same power level as).

Ideally, you've killed Polukranos with some good removal and are beating face and making tokens.

I like Brimaz a lot more in midrange/control than I do in aggro.

All in all I feel like there are enough playables in the set to help it avoid being a complete catastrophe, but it's slim pickings for competitive play, and the Tribute mechanic is just horrible. I can see how it might be fun in a casual environment for the lols and silliness, but giving your opponent options in a tournament is just not a good idea. Inspired, while perhaps not being all that inspired of a mechanic, it's pretty good since it's latent value without a mana cost that can be forced with many cards and of course attacking.

Favorite parts of the set: The removal is superb. A few undercosted bombs will shake up the environment without warping it.

Least favorite parts of the set: Way too many spells that are crippled by an extra 1-2 mana being rather obviously tacked on in order to ham-fistedly slow down the format. The lesser gods are unremarkable for the most part. Mogis and Ephara are more exciting to me than Xenagos. GW God is embarrassingly useless. Not enough sauce even in an expansion set to really light a fire under anything too much. Devotion decks will continue to dominate because they have the best support.

Conclusion: I think Limited will be super fun, Standard will have new toys but probably largely stay the same until the next set, although I think Seer, Courser, and Brimaz will definitely make 4x appearances in a variety of new-ish offerings and/or adaptations to existing archetypes. Modern and Legacy faired about the same. The choicest removal in this set is really good on a meta-level for the game.

This card also doubles as a pseudo mana-fixer in that you may find the land you want to play on top instead of the land in your hand. Honestly I think this card is very strong and will be a deck staple in Standard soon enough.

Quote from smittengoose

The fact that people are even comparing BNG to Homelands, Saviors, and the Dark, should show us how bland and unexciting this set MAY be.

Now, I'll acknowledge that we just got the last 50-60 cards, but after going through and looking at them all together, I'm underwhelmed.

For me, this isn't necessarily due to power level, but from a bland feel that takes over the set. The enchantment creature type seems tacked on and untapped as far a design potential. Same goes with the Gods and, well, the enchantments in general. Bestow just doesn't cut it. Nothing interesting has been done with it thus far. Tribute is...I'm not sure why that's a highlighted mechanic. Seems odd. Finally, Monstrous was inexplicably cut, and Devotion, while having a couple decent cards, doesn't seem supported beyond the already used hybrid cards from last year.

I guess I'm just sitting here wondering what exactly happened with a set that seemed like it could be awesome.

Agreed wholeheartedly. I find myself cringing at the incredibly talented individuals behind the art of this set, and how many of those cards are just horribad.

That said, I think limited gameplay will be fantastic. Standard got a few strong nudges like Courser and Brimaz and a few choice removal options, as well as new beaters, and maybe some antics with the new gods. Modern/Legacy got Spirit of the Labyrinth.

I actually like Inspiration a bit, even if it's not super techy. Tribute is horrifically bad for competitive play.

All in all, I'd say BotG is like a 6/10, albeit maybe a little higher if you're a limited player at heart. A small bevvy of treasures amid a sea of bulk rares.

Yeah for limited this is near-unconditional removal for 3 mana at common. Seriously strong stuff.

Edit: On second thought, since it's a sorcery you're gonna be a panda of sadness unless you can play this immediately after opp's turn that they play a problem threat sometimes. It's still pretty good, 8/10.

Theros is miles better than BotG. Way more playables overall.

Further confirmation that Tribute is a terribad mechanic. Might ok in limited but none of this from tonight is standard playable. I love a few parts of this set, but so many poorly designed cards! What's the deal WotC?

Missed opportunity to offer a more midrange/control sort of angle. I don't know many mill players that want to commit creatures to the board. This is just bad design. Waste of amazing art.

Methinks this would be busted at instant speed, even if a mythic. It's completely standard playable as-is, just needs a home. If Grixis finds it's footing it could be a contender there. Basically any deck that wants to play blue but not UW should be looking at this.