To be fair I would absolutely try my hardest to play a banana hurling reverse donkey kong country commander. Sadly though, I really don't see this making much of a dent in any formats.
It's always a little touch and go with newer players, but I really don't think you're doing them any favors by giving them the most direct big creature go squish kind of decks. The reason being that by the time they've made it to the table, they're clearly committed to the learning curve and if they're only used to straight swing to the face type decks it's going to be a million times more frustrating for them when they come up against a deck that seems custom built to hose them. I think that one of the most effective ways is to disguise some of the more complicated things behind straightforward tribal. Ghoulcaller Gisa is great for this because it has the appeal of a straightforward zombie deck, and obviously there are going to be a few Zombie lords in there, but you can fit in lots of sacrifice strategies, different types of loss of life (like how to use Massacre Girl as a sweeper if your opponent gets out of hand) and Lilliana type planeswalkers. Don't be afraid to curb stomp them if they start to rely on combat based creature issued damage as a crutch because it'll help them understand why varying your damage sources is important even if the simple stuff might be more mana efficient. Another good way to help with the teach is by helping to change the way a new player naturally thinks about the game. Most newbies see the game as a math problem where big numbers win, and, while that's true in a sense, it's really only half the game. Try to show them that Magic says 'Here's a simple rule set to play. Now figure out how to break those rules to win'.
Hmmm... Cool idea. Rowanalpha above me tightened up the wording pretty well. I think it's a little underpowered for what it wants to do, and you'd be fine giving him Hexproof from instants as opposed to protection. I don't really want to step on anyones toes with the flavor since we all have different styles of storytelling we prefer, and there's no objectively "right" way to work in lore, but from what I can glean by your flavor text, this guy seems to exist in a setting where Goblins are teetering on the brink of extinction likely due to a prolonged military conflict of some kind, and so Red Skeleton here, earnestly fearing for the fate of his species, has resorted to desperate life or death blood magic tactics, but is slowly succumbing to addiction to the power such tactics offer. The "I wonder what race he'll master to survive." bit seems to me like he's also got some sort of trickster element to his magic like what they tried (and in my opinion failed) to do with Tibalt on Kaldheim. It would be cool if, in the end, a trusted friend and war counselor betrays and kills him, but too little too late. The region of the goblins is a vast and empty void. Those who remain are reclusive, untrusting, and full of embittered diaspora. Having no culture to call his own remaining this traitor takes up the skull of his former friend now scorched in fire and fashions it into a veil/crown, and looking out over his kingdom of nothingness he hears the voice of his old friend say "...And now you to are my subject." or something like that.
Goblin-Fire Angel 3WR
Creature - Goblin Angel
Flying
When Goblin-Fire Angel blocks you may pay W. If you do target creature you control gains lifelink until end of turn.
When Goblin-Fire Angel attack you may pay R. If you do target creature you control gains firststrike until end of turn.
3/4
Human Angel
Frog Squirrel
Fungus Horror
Alright, I think I get how this thread works.
Penitence Angel 3WR
Creature - Human Angel
Flying
You may choose not to untap Penitence Angel during your untap step
Tap: Gain control of target creature that dealt damage to you this turn for as long as Penitence Angel remains tapped
3/3 "Redemption is not found in punishment. It is found in repayment"
Frog Squirrel is a little trickier.
Fly Hoarder BG
Creature - Frog Squirrel
Hideaway 5
When the fifth snow permanent of the game is played, if the exiled card is a creature, you may cast it without paying it's mana cost. That creature becomes an insect in addition to it's other types.
2/2 The best laid plans of frogs and squirrels so often end in flies
So, on the surface it seems like Karlach, Fury of Avernus would play like your typical multi-attack phase card in red. Cool, but if I'm reading this right the untap trigger occurs on attack essentially removing all attacking creatures from combat prior to damage being dealt, and just allows them to attack again with first strike. Why would that be worded that way instead of simply attacking creatures gain first strike or something simpler like that? Is there some weird non-redundant benefit to be gained specifically per attack per turn that I'm not thinking of? Is this correct or am I confused about the attack phase sequencing or something?
Obviously this is going to be a personal choice, but I would have to hand the title to Turok 2: Seeds of Evil. Not the most polished game out there, and the plot vaccilates between preposterous pulp nonsense to non-existence. But when I was a kid and had just gotten a '64 for Christmas that game was the one I enjoyed the most.
Nowadays I almost never take up shooters, and I despise online multiplayer anything, but I definitely can get down on anything that looks like it's got a lot of cool ideas, and I'm not part of the market for pre-release sales. I really enjoyed Journey to the Savage Planet and Greedfall from a year or so ago. City builders are nice "comfort-zone" games for me, and of course Fromsoft's stable might be single-handedly raising my blood-pressure into 'at risk' territory. Weirdly enough some of the games I've enjoyed the most over the last few years have had complete jank combat i.e. The Sinking City.
There's always going to be one archetype or color that's more powerful than any other at any given point and time. Stick around long enough and you'll see it change within the rotating formats. Every color has checks though. What strikes me as weird is when, in a game where people in competitive formats are constantly analyzing the meta-data and figuring out to within minor percentage points what deck is the absolute best and most efficient option, suddenly playing "around" something within one particular color identity is non interactive. I mean it's frustrating to play right into a counter spell, but not anticipating that it can happen is just kind of foolish. It's like arguing that fighting games would be way better if they got rid of blocking.
There's lots of cool overcosted creatures in blue and black that you could use with the tacked on ninjutsu ability for value. I know it's not the most original idea, but a ton of Eldrazi from the last few Zendikar sets come with some baked in value at just four cmc, and they're generally pretty cheaply available to buy to boot. If you wanted to power it down maybe integrate some of the black creatures with the dash mechanic so you can take your opportunities to dash in a creature that won't get blocked and ninjitsu in a big stomper with some etb effects. You wouldn't win much, but you'd still have some jank fun.
I think with MTG WOTC is in the unenviable position of balancing support for the profit oriented secondary market whose continued existence is a primary draw for the more competitive side of the community against pricing potential new players out. I am by no means a WOTC apologist, but that type of balance is a lot trickier to pull off than a lot of people think. It's sort of like Netflix knows that their customers are going to share their passwords, but since their proprietary content needs exposure to attract new customers they simply have to accept that they're only going to be making money off part of the market in an already overcrowded field. All I can really say is that at least we're lucky enough to live in an era of MTG where there's a lot of different options for every type of player, many of which are specifically designed to avoid or mitigate some of the "pay to win" problems that are inherent in any collectable card game. Personally I simply set a limit to the amount of money I'm willing to spend on any individual card, and mainly enjoy the more casual kitchen table formats.
For purposes of Kathril, a double-faced card (such as Boseiju Reaches Skyward) has only the front-face's characteristics while it's neither on the battlefield nor on the stack (C.R. 712.4a). Thus, for example, while Boseiju Reaches Skyward is in a graveyard, it has neither reach nor any other keyword ability listed on Kathril's ability.
Thank you. That's a little disappointing, but I guess it makes sense. I'll have to find another place for Boseiju Reaches Skyward then. I was anticipating some pushback from my playgroup on that one, and I really appreciate you helping me to avoid it.
I have a Kathril, Aspect Warper EDH deck I play casually with friends, and I wanted to tinker around with some of the new sagas. Normally I'm not a huge fan of flip sided cards because they tend to create some rules confusion. My question is whether Kathril will get his keyword ETB benefit from a saga's creature side being in the graveyard: Specifically the card Branch of Boseiju in this case. If so, would the saga have to have been transformed before leaving the battlefield to get Kathril's buff, or is it just a permanent enchantment while in the graveyard?
To be fair I would absolutely try my hardest to play a banana hurling reverse donkey kong country commander. Sadly though, I really don't see this making much of a dent in any formats.
Alright, I think I get how this thread works.
Penitence Angel 3WR
Creature - Human Angel
Flying
You may choose not to untap Penitence Angel during your untap step
Tap: Gain control of target creature that dealt damage to you this turn for as long as Penitence Angel remains tapped
3/3
"Redemption is not found in punishment. It is found in repayment"
Frog Squirrel is a little trickier.
Fly Hoarder BG
Creature - Frog Squirrel
Hideaway 5
When the fifth snow permanent of the game is played, if the exiled card is a creature, you may cast it without paying it's mana cost. That creature becomes an insect in addition to it's other types.
2/2
The best laid plans of frogs and squirrels so often end in flies
Cyclops Scarecrow
Nowadays I almost never take up shooters, and I despise online multiplayer anything, but I definitely can get down on anything that looks like it's got a lot of cool ideas, and I'm not part of the market for pre-release sales. I really enjoyed Journey to the Savage Planet and Greedfall from a year or so ago. City builders are nice "comfort-zone" games for me, and of course Fromsoft's stable might be single-handedly raising my blood-pressure into 'at risk' territory. Weirdly enough some of the games I've enjoyed the most over the last few years have had complete jank combat i.e. The Sinking City.
Thank you. That's a little disappointing, but I guess it makes sense. I'll have to find another place for Boseiju Reaches Skyward then. I was anticipating some pushback from my playgroup on that one, and I really appreciate you helping me to avoid it.