One positive change (yes, change can sometimes be helpful) is that the URLs actually have some semblance of reasoning behind them. Here are two URLs to the same article:
I think some of it might be different target audiences.
WotC feels much more geared towards "player who plays a little FNM but not a tournament player". They often talk about what you could bring to an FNM/play with your friends. They have advertisements about things like sleeves and often describe what cards do (with advice like Stormbreath Dragon is good against control). In contrast, SCG feels much more geared towards "tournament-level player" with complicated discussion about various lines and combinations of cards.
Long story short, I think WotC is aiming at a more casual audience, which is why it might feel inferior to deeply-enfranchised players.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out what happened. MTGO management asked how much it would cost to "make MTGO decent" (which would probably involve throwing everything out and starting over, not cheap). They then asked how much additional revenue it would gain vs. the current patchwork approach. Clearly the costs don't outweigh the benefits.
To be honest, I mostly agree with them. Would I play twice as much MTGO as I currently do if it looked better? No. I might play one or two more drafts if it was a nicer UI, but for the most part I go to MTGO when I want to play Magic Online. I don't think any version is ever going to have me say "Wow! The cards look amazing! I should enter another draft RIGHT NOW!"
That seems good. My one complaint is that "return from graveyard to battlefield" abilities aren't particularly exciting in Commander, since you already have the Commander exile-and-recast ability. Although you can return Vlaid for free and thanks to your opponents, so I still think it's pretty cool and multiplayer friendly.
Seems fine. Windbrisk Raptor and Angelic Skirmisher are similarly costed, with the whole flying creatures + lifelink thing. Something a little extra might be nice to push it to mythic. How would you feel about ...
Vlaed, Agony Scourge :5mana::symb::symb:
Legendary Creature - Vampire Spirit (Mythic Rare)
Flying
Whenever an opponent loses life, you may gain that much life.
At the beginning of each opponent's end step, if no player other than you lose life this turn, that player loses 5 life.
5/5
You get life whether your opponents feel like attacking each other or not. Maybe some kind of rattlesnake ability instead (if an opponent dealt damage to you this turn...)? Just something more exciting than Exquisite Blood on a stick.
I eagerly await the day this card is made, just so that this thread can finally die.
I think people are saying "we could have had Necropotence v4, but instead we got this junk". The next coming of Necro was never an option. Instead, they should be saying "we could have had junk like Grave Betrayal, but we got this instead."
On a related note, did you know Quest for the Nihil Stone has a Gatherer rating of 4? Looking through the comments, apparently some players just love this kind of effect. They'll probably love Waste Not as well.
Not for nothing, but two of the top-4 decks in the latest (first of the new standard) SCG open were control decks that ran a combined total of 3 creatures (Etherling, of course). If Wizards is trying to make control decks unplayable, they're certainly not doing a very good job at it.
Why would they cater to the small amount of players interested of doing something new and awesome? Spending a whole year on "Return to that place that most of you hated the first time" instead of a year on a Volcano Dinosaur Pirate plane, now THAT would a wasted opportunity.
Forget about going to new Pirate world. How about revisiting Zendikar or Dominaria? If Wizards is going to revisit worlds, it just makes so much more sense to revisit popular worlds that I want to see more of, instead of the world that gave us fun resonant cards like the Garami.
What is up with Underworld Cerberus? Why is it okay that it only costs 5 with so many potential upsides? Is the second ability supposed to be flavorful?
I LOVE Rescue from the Underworld.
It's Cerberus, the Greek three-headed dog that guards the underworld. As long as he's around, none of the dead can be Rescued or resurrected. Kill him and everyone can get free.
@Lantid: One of the monster's deck best rares is Crater Hellion. A large percentage of its creatures have 5+ toughness to survive the Hellion. In fact, all of the "bad" creatures you listed survive the Hellion (which I assume is intentional), whereas most of the "better" replacements you've listed die to it. In contrast, the much-maligned Armory Guards are the Hero's best way of surviving a Hellion, along with possible trading afterwards w/ a larger threat. Of course, the Heroes get their own one-sided Wrath to play with, so all's fair.
I'd need to play w/ them before I can make a full judgement, but there are a lot of hidden synergies I like. For example, Sun Titan trades with most of the larger Monsters... unless you return and attach an Aura (like Battle Mastery) to it.
That said, I'd have liked to see Brigid, Hero of Kinsbaile (although she's a bit underwhelming matched up against the monsters) and Hero's Resolve (if there's room for a bunch of bad limited cards, there must be room for an on-flavor aura with awesome flavor text).
Fun fact: Every core set has exactly 121 commons (it has to do with print runs), no more, no less. That conveniently divides into five colors plus 1 colorless artifact/land (Sliver Construct, Evolving Wilds, Manalith, ect).
You have two common colorless cards. That means either one has to go (I vote Tin Soldier), you need six colorless commons (which is a lot), or one color is losing a common (terrible idea). Of course, you are more than welcome to wave your hands and decree "my set, my rules", but it's something to consider.
For what it's worth, core sets (well, every set period) needs at least five rare creatures / showoff-y creatures for the five intro decks. M13 had the five legends, M14 has the five planeswalker pets, ect.
1. Name TWO rares you would remove from this.
Vampiric Tutor is an instant. It's also probably too strong. I know Diabolic Tutor sees 0 play, but there's gotta be somewhere between the two.
Loss of Sanity. Three rare discard-based cards is one (and arguably two) too many. One needs to go.
2. Name TWO rare black creatures you would add.
How about Necrotic Ooze. It sees play in some wacky combo decks and could be a fun build-around-me rare. I haven't seen the full list of other colors, but wacky rares are important.
3. Name ONE common black creature you would remove.
Giant Mugger. The rats already has the "discard on etb" effect, and the nightstalker has the "large creature with discard" effect. On a related note, there are a lot (a lot) of discard effects in this set. Intentional?
4. Name ONE common black non-creature you would add.
Dead Weight. I'd remove either Echoing Decay or Vampiric Bite (does the set really need two 1B Shocks? I'd argue no, even if they are slightly different. Dead Weight plays differently (sorcery speed, make large fliers small) and is still very playable.
5. What is your FAVORITE card in this thread?
Plague Bearer. Even if it is a Butcher Ghoul knockoff. (Related note: How'd you feel about making it a three mana 2/2 to diversify the curve a little).
6. What is your LEAST favorite card in this thread?
Misgiving Imp. Do you intent to target opponents. As someone whose been on the wrong end of Jace TMS too many times, I hate anything that lets my opponent screw with my draw step. Yes, I'm losing. At least let me hope that I'll draw my miracle answer.
7. Which cards, if any, are in the wrong rarity (to the best of your expertise)?
I think all of the cards are the right rarity. Arguably the charm (although I think you've already made the decision to make the charms common, which I disagree with, but I'm willing to go with it; it's certainly not an absurd position to take).
https://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/304
http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/checking-planeswalkers-2014-06-16
The first one could go anywhere; the second actually tells me what I'm linking to.
WotC feels much more geared towards "player who plays a little FNM but not a tournament player". They often talk about what you could bring to an FNM/play with your friends. They have advertisements about things like sleeves and often describe what cards do (with advice like Stormbreath Dragon is good against control). In contrast, SCG feels much more geared towards "tournament-level player" with complicated discussion about various lines and combinations of cards.
Long story short, I think WotC is aiming at a more casual audience, which is why it might feel inferior to deeply-enfranchised players.
To be honest, I mostly agree with them. Would I play twice as much MTGO as I currently do if it looked better? No. I might play one or two more drafts if it was a nicer UI, but for the most part I go to MTGO when I want to play Magic Online. I don't think any version is ever going to have me say "Wow! The cards look amazing! I should enter another draft RIGHT NOW!"
Vlaed, Agony Scourge :5mana::symb::symb:
Legendary Creature - Vampire Spirit (Mythic Rare)
Flying
Whenever an opponent loses life, you may gain that much life.
At the beginning of each opponent's end step, if no player other than you lose life this turn, that player loses 5 life.
5/5
You get life whether your opponents feel like attacking each other or not. Maybe some kind of rattlesnake ability instead (if an opponent dealt damage to you this turn...)? Just something more exciting than Exquisite Blood on a stick.
I think people are saying "we could have had Necropotence v4, but instead we got this junk". The next coming of Necro was never an option. Instead, they should be saying "we could have had junk like Grave Betrayal, but we got this instead."
Given that Quest for the Nihil Stone was rare, this card will probably be as well.
On a related note, did you know Quest for the Nihil Stone has a Gatherer rating of 4? Looking through the comments, apparently some players just love this kind of effect. They'll probably love Waste Not as well.
Forget about going to new Pirate world. How about revisiting Zendikar or Dominaria? If Wizards is going to revisit worlds, it just makes so much more sense to revisit popular worlds that I want to see more of, instead of the world that gave us fun resonant cards like the Garami.
It's Cerberus, the Greek three-headed dog that guards the underworld. As long as he's around, none of the dead can be Rescued or resurrected. Kill him and everyone can get free.
I'd need to play w/ them before I can make a full judgement, but there are a lot of hidden synergies I like. For example, Sun Titan trades with most of the larger Monsters... unless you return and attach an Aura (like Battle Mastery) to it.
That said, I'd have liked to see Brigid, Hero of Kinsbaile (although she's a bit underwhelming matched up against the monsters) and Hero's Resolve (if there's room for a bunch of bad limited cards, there must be room for an on-flavor aura with awesome flavor text).
You have two common colorless cards. That means either one has to go (I vote Tin Soldier), you need six colorless commons (which is a lot), or one color is losing a common (terrible idea). Of course, you are more than welcome to wave your hands and decree "my set, my rules", but it's something to consider.
1. Name TWO rares you would remove from this.
Vampiric Tutor is an instant. It's also probably too strong. I know Diabolic Tutor sees 0 play, but there's gotta be somewhere between the two.
Loss of Sanity. Three rare discard-based cards is one (and arguably two) too many. One needs to go.
2. Name TWO rare black creatures you would add.
How about Necrotic Ooze. It sees play in some wacky combo decks and could be a fun build-around-me rare. I haven't seen the full list of other colors, but wacky rares are important.
3. Name ONE common black creature you would remove.
Giant Mugger. The rats already has the "discard on etb" effect, and the nightstalker has the "large creature with discard" effect. On a related note, there are a lot (a lot) of discard effects in this set. Intentional?
4. Name ONE common black non-creature you would add.
Dead Weight. I'd remove either Echoing Decay or Vampiric Bite (does the set really need two 1B Shocks? I'd argue no, even if they are slightly different. Dead Weight plays differently (sorcery speed, make large fliers small) and is still very playable.
5. What is your FAVORITE card in this thread?
Plague Bearer. Even if it is a Butcher Ghoul knockoff. (Related note: How'd you feel about making it a three mana 2/2 to diversify the curve a little).
6. What is your LEAST favorite card in this thread?
Misgiving Imp. Do you intent to target opponents. As someone whose been on the wrong end of Jace TMS too many times, I hate anything that lets my opponent screw with my draw step. Yes, I'm losing. At least let me hope that I'll draw my miracle answer.
7. Which cards, if any, are in the wrong rarity (to the best of your expertise)?
I think all of the cards are the right rarity. Arguably the charm (although I think you've already made the decision to make the charms common, which I disagree with, but I'm willing to go with it; it's certainly not an absurd position to take).