I hate to come off as a total ******* cynic but it seems their origin story for Nissa (a borderline xenophobe) doesn't score very well with the focus groups..
I mean, we essentially got another female elf with slightly more 'ethnic' skin tone and a new backstory. Not MUCH of a change, tbh. What are we supposed to make of it?
I play at a buddy's house where several of the guys smoke. (Most of them vape anymore, but whatever..)
I can recall occasions where we were playing a sealed event and I discovered little black spots/deposits on my cards before we even began the second round of matches. As in, I had just opened them in boosters less than an hour before.. Quite gross.
It doesn't take much, apparently. I recommend playmats highly--(double) sleeves, too.
It's pretty simple. There is nothing inherently special about Core Set 19 or 'Magic's 25th Anniversary' or anything, Ok?
With that out of the way..
Are you a completely new player? Do you need to establish (or just beef up) your stock of 'basic' cards like Lightning Bolt, Llanowar Elves and stuff like that? If 'yes', then sure, I'd pick up some. At that point, you're not really cracking packs for value--you're just cracking for deckbuilding stock. And Core sets are *GREAT* for that purpose.
Or, rre you are an established player? If you are an established player, I don't care WHAT they print at Mythic or Rare. It just doesn't matter at all. You will never break even buying packs. Listen to me very carefully here: N.E.V.E.R. It always makes more sense to just buy the singles you need. Yes, even the stupid 'Buy-a-box' promo. You will spend way less. Believe me.
Buying packs is ALWAYS a good idea when you're starting out and NEVER an good idea once you have your basic staples covered.
That's about as simple (and honest) a breakdown as you'll see. I've been playing for 18 years and it's been true for me for well over a decade now. Take it to the bank.
A 4/4 Bolas feels really weird.
CMC 4 Bolas feels really weird.
Considering that Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire and Nicol Bolas, the Ravager both seem to be part of a cycle of 6/6 dragons for CMC 6, everything above feels really weird.
I don't like that they forced these changes just to implement a flip-version of Nicol Bolas. (I bet R&D submitted it 6/6 for 6 but Development tweaked it..)
I like him but I won't replace my God Pharaohs with these..maybe try a mix of both and see how it goes. (Fwiw, the art also seems a bit borderline to me but that's completely subjective. )
Ajani seems pretty damn good in any Cat deck I can think of..wow. Gonna be build a G/W cat deck for my daughter at some point. This looks perfect.
Well, to be fair Secure the Wastes is one of the most efficient token makers ever printed and it's pretty decent to begin with. It was probably overdue for a correction. Pretty much same deal w/Nature's Will--card was always very strong; folks just forgot about it. It suffers from a much smaller supply though, so the effect was a bit more pronounced.
Stonehoof Chieftain seems pretty ignorable to me though. With very few exceptions, 8-mana cards aren't where I would put my money. I don't see how a spike doesn't come right back down.
It's a card that will never be printed again and the effect has been shifted to another color entirely, so they probably won't just print a re-costed slightly different version of the original either.
Let's also not forget that the original version (in blue) will probably just be better 99% of the time you want to run it in a deck. In the format it will see the MOST play, i.e. Commander, this color issue becomes a lot more relevant.
It's pushing twenty years old. Compared to current print runs of Magic sets, there just weren't that many to begin with and far fewer nowadays. Like several orders of magnitude fewer.
Finally, it's just a unique, and certainly powerful (not to mention, completely open-ended) effect. I don't know if $18 is out of the question but (considering everything above) I think $4 was probably a LOT below what this card should've cost.
Like it or not, this card seems like a very reasonable buyout target. It always sucks to have to pay more for cards but this one actually makes some sense is all I'm saying. If anything, just be happy they found a workable reprint solution via the colorshift.
I mean, we essentially got another female elf with slightly more 'ethnic' skin tone and a new backstory. Not MUCH of a change, tbh. What are we supposed to make of it?
I can recall occasions where we were playing a sealed event and I discovered little black spots/deposits on my cards before we even began the second round of matches. As in, I had just opened them in boosters less than an hour before.. Quite gross.
It doesn't take much, apparently. I recommend playmats highly--(double) sleeves, too.
With that out of the way..
Are you a completely new player? Do you need to establish (or just beef up) your stock of 'basic' cards like Lightning Bolt, Llanowar Elves and stuff like that? If 'yes', then sure, I'd pick up some. At that point, you're not really cracking packs for value--you're just cracking for deckbuilding stock. And Core sets are *GREAT* for that purpose.
Or, rre you are an established player? If you are an established player, I don't care WHAT they print at Mythic or Rare. It just doesn't matter at all. You will never break even buying packs. Listen to me very carefully here: N.E.V.E.R. It always makes more sense to just buy the singles you need. Yes, even the stupid 'Buy-a-box' promo. You will spend way less. Believe me.
Buying packs is ALWAYS a good idea when you're starting out and NEVER an good idea once you have your basic staples covered.
That's about as simple (and honest) a breakdown as you'll see. I've been playing for 18 years and it's been true for me for well over a decade now. Take it to the bank.
CMC 4 Bolas feels really weird.
Considering that Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire and Nicol Bolas, the Ravager both seem to be part of a cycle of 6/6 dragons for CMC 6, everything above feels really weird.
I don't like that they forced these changes just to implement a flip-version of Nicol Bolas. (I bet R&D submitted it 6/6 for 6 but Development tweaked it..)
I like him but I won't replace my God Pharaohs with these..maybe try a mix of both and see how it goes. (Fwiw, the art also seems a bit borderline to me but that's completely subjective.
Ajani seems pretty damn good in any Cat deck I can think of..wow. Gonna be build a G/W cat deck for my daughter at some point. This looks perfect.
Stonehoof Chieftain seems pretty ignorable to me though. With very few exceptions, 8-mana cards aren't where I would put my money. I don't see how a spike doesn't come right back down.
I'd MUCH rather see Delirium/Backlash reprinted...
Small world..
And another..
It's a card that will never be printed again and the effect has been shifted to another color entirely, so they probably won't just print a re-costed slightly different version of the original either.
Let's also not forget that the original version (in blue) will probably just be better 99% of the time you want to run it in a deck. In the format it will see the MOST play, i.e. Commander, this color issue becomes a lot more relevant.
It's pushing twenty years old. Compared to current print runs of Magic sets, there just weren't that many to begin with and far fewer nowadays. Like several orders of magnitude fewer.
Finally, it's just a unique, and certainly powerful (not to mention, completely open-ended) effect. I don't know if $18 is out of the question but (considering everything above) I think $4 was probably a LOT below what this card should've cost.
Like it or not, this card seems like a very reasonable buyout target. It always sucks to have to pay more for cards but this one actually makes some sense is all I'm saying. If anything, just be happy they found a workable reprint solution via the colorshift.