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  • posted a message on [VOW] Grolnok, Wedding Announcement // Wedding Festivities, and more— Weekly MTG previews
    Quote from Tormented »
    I'm not really getting Wedding Announcement. The card seems really bad to me. The fact you have to transform it means you can't use it as some win con token generator, and it seems way too slow for any aggro deck to want it that is triggering the card draw part.

    Wedding Announcement: Having to jump through hoops for a no-frills anthem? No thanks.

    Demonic Bargain: Allows you to dig ridiculously deep for the cost, but exiling a huge chunk of your library just for one card hardly seems worth it. You don't even get a "you may cast that card" tacked on as a pity prize. I'm sure there's scenarios where it'll shine, but I'll stick to Diabolic Tutor.

    Grolnok: I can't help but like this. Gets around graveyard hate by creating a personal exile zone that can't be meddled with. Might get me to finally play a self-mill deck. The Threshold frogs won't work with it, unfortunately. Changelings/Arcane Adaption might be your best bet.


    I don't see what you wanted from Demonic Bargain. You can already cast the card as it goes to your hand, or did you mean for free? The card would be beyond absurd at that point. 3 mana go and get Emrakul and cast it for free? Yer right.

    As it is it's mostly a better Grim Tutor for any deck that wants that. Exiling 13 cards is barely even a cost. Grim Tutor isn't particularly great to begin with though. If this shows up it will be in some combo deck as that's the only real type of deck that wants 3 mana tutors.


    Wedding announcement is not an anthem that you have to go through hoops to flip. Anthem is the reminder of the 3 cards you drew or 3 humans you made (or a combination of the 2) for 3 mana.

    Yes, it is slow and a bit clunky - but the incremental value of this card is quite high - it just isn't the drop crusade and swing that we are used to.


    You've done those things over 3 turns though, that's the problem. It's slow to do anything. The sort of deck that can actually trigger it to draw 3 cards over 3 turn isn't going to want a 3 mana effect that builds incremental card advantage over 3 turns, it's too slow for them. The create a 1/1 every turn part could have had potential as a finisher for decks that gives inevitability that would be hard to interact with, but the fact you have to transform it means it can't even do that.
    Posted in: The Rumor Mill
  • posted a message on Alchemist's Gambit - Stephen Croke preview
    Condolences to the Standard players who saw an Alrund's Epiphany ban as the only way to save the format.


    Tbf I think the 2 1/1 flyers on Epiphany and the fact you can cast it a turn earlier make it far superior to this, not that I think an extra turn spell is exactly what Standard needs right now either.
    Posted in: The Rumor Mill
  • posted a message on [VOW] Volatile Arsonist // Dire-Strain Anarchist— @MTG_Arena preview
    Seems real meh for a Mythic. Hard to see it moving the needle when Goldspan Dragon is in the format.
    Posted in: The Rumor Mill
  • posted a message on [VOW] Mothership 10/28— The Mechanics and Collecting Crimson Vow
    Training is literally just inverted Mentor. Tremendously lazy design.


    I also think it's a pretty horrid ability for constructed as by definition the cards have to have lower power to trigger themselves. It means you are playing lower power cards that have to survive a turn and have another creature to attack alongside them to do trigger, that's just asking too much for constructed.

    It's ok in Limited, but I kind of feel like it's one of those mechanics where you're looking at the card to begin with, and the ability is just upside. Take the white common 3 mana 2/1 flyer here, that baseline is passable in limited, and if you ever get a counter off of training you feel like you're getting a good deal.
    Posted in: The Rumor Mill
  • posted a message on [VOW] Grolnok, Wedding Announcement // Wedding Festivities, and more— Weekly MTG previews
    I'm not really getting Wedding Announcement. The card seems really bad to me. The fact you have to transform it means you can't use it as some win con token generator, and it seems way too slow for any aggro deck to want it that is triggering the card draw part.

    -snip-


    I don't see what you wanted from Demonic Bargain. You can already cast the card as it goes to your hand, or did you mean for free? The card would be beyond absurd at that point. 3 mana go and get Emrakul and cast it for free? Yer right.

    As it is it's mostly a better Grim Tutor for any deck that wants that. Exiling 13 cards is barely even a cost. Grim Tutor isn't particularly great to begin with though. If this shows up it will be in some combo deck as that's the only real type of deck that wants 3 mana tutors.


    No, not for free - "you may cast that card this turn and use mana of any color to play it".

    I would still play Grim Tutor over this. Exiling 13 cards to gain one is a price too high for me. Unless you have manipulated your library to the highest possible extent, permanently removing potential answers, threats, and resources from your deck seems VERY rash to me.


    The decks that want this don't care about any of that though. They are planning to win the same turn they play this. In constructed the chances of you removing all of say a 4 of in your deck in the top 13 cards are extremely low.
    Posted in: The Rumor Mill
  • posted a message on [VOW] You're Invited to Innistrad: Crimson Vow— Debut Show previews
    Training seems like an ability that does nothing in constructed unless the put it on some pushed 1 mana card. The problem with the ability is by definition the card has to have low power to trigger the ability, but they have to survive a turn, and you need to have another creature that can attack with higher power to use the ability unless any have haste, that's just bad in constructed magic. Take the white mythic here, yes the effect is powerful, but it's a 3 mana 1/2 that has to survive a turn and have another creature alongside it to do anything. There's just too much that can go wrong with that to make it anywhere near viable. Even if your opponent just has 2 bigger creatures it's not really doing anything as they will just block it and get their creature back, which can be even worse if it's something with an etb ability.
    Posted in: The Rumor Mill
  • posted a message on [VOW] Grolnok, Wedding Announcement // Wedding Festivities, and more— Weekly MTG previews
    I'm not really getting Wedding Announcement. The card seems really bad to me. The fact you have to transform it means you can't use it as some win con token generator, and it seems way too slow for any aggro deck to want it that is triggering the card draw part.

    Wedding Announcement: Having to jump through hoops for a no-frills anthem? No thanks.

    Demonic Bargain: Allows you to dig ridiculously deep for the cost, but exiling a huge chunk of your library just for one card hardly seems worth it. You don't even get a "you may cast that card" tacked on as a pity prize. I'm sure there's scenarios where it'll shine, but I'll stick to Diabolic Tutor.

    Grolnok: I can't help but like this. Gets around graveyard hate by creating a personal exile zone that can't be meddled with. Might get me to finally play a self-mill deck. The Threshold frogs won't work with it, unfortunately. Changelings/Arcane Adaption might be your best bet.


    I don't see what you wanted from Demonic Bargain. You can already cast the card as it goes to your hand, or did you mean for free? The card would be beyond absurd at that point. 3 mana go and get Emrakul and cast it for free? Yer right.

    As it is it's mostly a better Grim Tutor for any deck that wants that. Exiling 13 cards is barely even a cost. Grim Tutor isn't particularly great to begin with though. If this shows up it will be in some combo deck as that's the only real type of deck that wants 3 mana tutors.
    Posted in: The Rumor Mill
  • posted a message on [MID] Wrenn and Promo Cards— Weekly MTG previews
    These early spoilers just make Adventures in the Forgotten Realms look even worse. It seems pretty clear already this set is at another power level.
    Posted in: The Rumor Mill
  • posted a message on [AFR] Skeletal Swarming— Hareruya preview
    Quote from Boreez »
    "you will just be forced to chump with the tokens"

    you can't chump block with the tokens. They're tapped


    They still untap eventually.


    They have to attack each turn.


    Oh, you're right, I missed that. This card seems worse than I thought then, as that means at parity often you will just have to suicide your guys in, not convinced this is good even in Limited then.
    Posted in: The Rumor Mill
  • posted a message on [AFR] Skeletal Swarming— Hareruya preview
    "you will just be forced to chump with the tokens"

    you can't chump block with the tokens. They're tapped


    They still untap eventually. That's one of the reason the card is so slow, if your opponent is playing like a 4 drop into a 5 drop, and you are playing a 5 drop that does nothing until your next turn, you can easily end up in position that you are never able to utilise the tokens. Where this shines is in a game of parity or one where you're ahead it will really hammer home your advantage, especially if you sacrificing things for a benefit elsewhere. That puts it below bomb level though, as true bombs imo are ones that can bring you back from behind, and I don't think this ever does that as it's just too slow to get to the board. Its upside is when it's good it's probably near unbeatable as most decks probably won't be able to interact with it at all, and once this hits the table you've got to be on the front foot real fast, as you will inevitably lose any long game with this in play if you aren't putting pressure on your opponent.
    Posted in: The Rumor Mill
  • posted a message on [AFR] Skeletal Swarming— Hareruya preview
    This is way too slow for Historic and Pioneer sacrifice piles. Sacrifice piles are looking to win by the time they get to 5 mana.

    It's fine in Limited, not convinced it's a straight bomb. These types of cards have generally got worse over the years as everything else around them become more efficient. It provides inevitability in a long game that you will definitely win with this, and it's a permanent that they probably won't be able to interact with, but it's not a card that's really going to get you back into a game you're behind in as you will just be forced to chump with the tokens and not really get anywhere.
    Posted in: The Rumor Mill
  • posted a message on [AFR] Treasure vault (Artifact land in standard!) - Fan email
    All these artifact lands printed recently just makes it even weird the original coloured artifact lands are still banned in Modern.


    All the current legal artifact lands make colored mana tapped or colorless untapped. It's too strong to have both apparently.


    It really isn't though. Decks wouldn't even be able to fit many in, given most artifact decks are hard pressed for slots between Urza's Saga, Inkmoth Nexus, Spire of Industry, Glimmervoid. They are banned from sins of nearly 20 years ago, they would be fine today and only see marginal play. The other thing is the hate for artifact decks also dictates you can't just run all artifact lands anyway as otherwise you're too cold to Stony Silence.

    Tbh part of me thinks WOTC just don't care because they aren't the sort of cards that will sell packs anyway, so there's no real profit to be made from unbanning them anyway.
    Posted in: The Rumor Mill
  • posted a message on [AFR] Old Gnawbone and Xorn— M.Wakatsuki/aisha previews
    Revel in Riches is really going spike through the roof from this set.
    Posted in: The Rumor Mill
  • posted a message on [AFR] Sorceror Class— Cnews preview
    Quote from pierrebai »
    This just might be good enough for storm in modern. Only the 5 CMC of the final level might be a bit too much.


    Storm doesn't want a bad Looting effect, and doesn't have enough creatures to abuse the 2nd class. This is also way too slow for Storm anyway.
    Posted in: The Rumor Mill
  • posted a message on [AFR] Treasure vault (Artifact land in standard!) - Fan email
    All these artifact lands printed recently just makes it even weird the original coloured artifact lands are still banned in Modern.
    Posted in: The Rumor Mill
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