My bet is Magic is keeping the draws around because of tradition, conservativism and the fear of alienating old players.
Yes, I agree with this. I feel like if Wizards felt like they had the liberty to change something like that without everyone freaking out and ragequitting competitive Magic, they would. I know a group of 8-12 competitive players from my area that almost always win any type of tournament because they do intentional draws and whatnot in collusion with each other. A week ago at our regional Prerelease, they did this very thing and they all strategically drew to get into the top 8, and as soon as they made it to top 8, they all just split the pot and didn't play a single game. That kind of sucks, in my opinion.
And Dalkon, I'm not suggesting getting rid of time limits. If you run out of time in a round, you still go to turns, but find another way to determine the winner after turns are over. Many players who have never been in a tournament before think at the end of five turns, whoever has the highest life total takes the win. Since that is the first assumption of new players, wouldn't that feel like the natural thing to go with?
I think Wizards has come to realize that draws in any fashion are not really great for the competitive game overall, even if they don't come outright and say it. I was mindlessly looking at the rules for the MapleStory TCG the other day, and noticed that there can't be draws in that game. One player can concede to another and vice versa, or they play the game until someone wins, but they can't agree to have an intentional draw and the game can't naturally end in a draw either. I would love if they implemented the same system in Magic.
I think it was stated that Wizards raised the wholesale prices on many of their products by 10%, which would be about $6 or 7 on booster boxes. So yeah, that sounds about right.
EDIT: Thanks for pointing out my mistake, Ajax. I did mean 10%.
Work up a tight mana base and I think this would definitely be extremely viable in block. Standard... maybe, but it will only be strong once Lorwyn-Shadowmoor rotates out.
However, why the lack of Path? Also, you may want to try to work in two Wall of Reverence or possibly Wall of Denial to take care of those huge threats that you can't really block otherwise.
I went 5-2 at our Regional Prerelease tournament. We played in a more casual format where you could completely change your deck between games or matches. The first two matches I played a Grixis-colors deck, lost both games. Then I changed it up and went Jund splashing a bit of white and had a five-match winning streak. Unfortunately I was just a few points shy of top 8, but somewhere around 10th place out of 100 or so people overall is not bad.
Cards that look good:
Behemoth Sledge. Obviously. This card is awesome and didn't really turn the tide in any of the games I played, but it definitely put me at an advantage that kept my opponents on their toes.
Lavalanche. I can't see this being great in constructed, but in the games I played it gave me a massive advantage. With enough mana this thing is a one-sided sweeper with a burn to the face to boot.
Bituminous Blast. I was surprised at this one. Going into deckbuilding I felt like this was overcosted for its effect, but every time I played it I cascaded into something amazing that turned the game around for me.
Kathari Bomber. Early game, this is an amazing card. Two damage in the air (meaning likely unblockable), then you get Dragon Fodder for free. Plus you can unearth it and do it all over again. Really nice against beatdown that is missing fliers.
Bant Sureblade. I still think the Hackblade is the best in the cycle, but the first strike on this guy is nothing to sneeze at if you can manage it on turn two or three.
Giant Ambush Beetle. For having possibly the worst card name in all of Magic, this dude actually worked out pretty nice for me. Again, not a card I can see working in standard, but in the games I played, it worked as a removal spell at the least. Against the right deck, it's basically removal plus a nice 4-power beastie.
I like the look of this one. The Quillspike / Druid combo may be a bit fragile, but 4 of each might make it consistent enough to work. I'd be really interested in seeing how this runs.
I wouldn't say that power creep = good set and that's it. Power of course has something to do with it, but I think what this set has going for it is a uniqueness to it that we haven't seen in at least the last 2 sets, and maybe into the previous block.
I don't mean unique as in it being an all gold set. I mean unique in that it has cards that make you want to build decks around them. There are a number of cards that do this, anything from Lich Lord of Unx, to Mayael's Aria, Necromancer's Covenant to Time Sieve. These cards don't necessarily break the format wide open, but they at least provide you with something besides the usual 5-10 cards that define the format, and the rest that are broken down into limited playable or utter junk.
There's also a sense of personality with this set that I haven't seen for a long time. You get a feeling from the cards themselves of the story that is going on, with creatures being merged or invading other lands through their abilities, art or flavor text. I didn't really feel this as strongly from SoA or Conflux, at least from the set as a whole. Even the new mechanic (Cascade) can be approached in so many different ways that it makes people want to make decks around it.
Even the mythics feel mythic, giving us a back story while providing us with a taste of each shard personified. Overall I think it's the randomness that makes the set good, the fact that most of the cards are not boxed into "Okay we need 10 cards from these colors that have these abilities." or "We need 10 creatures to have this creature type."
Each card is unique yet relevant. That's what makes the set good, imo.
Gotta say, this is a brilliant assessment of ARB. Usually in each set there are maybe five cards that you think, "Oh, that's cool. I wonder if I could build a deck around that..." In ARB, I can count probably two dozen of those types of cards easily, maybe more. I like the word you used... "personality."
I came back to the game right before Conflux came out after a three-year break. When I got back, I was worried the game had become too much focused on the competitive aspect. Then Wizards came out with the fact that ARB was all gold. I was really really worried... but as cards started to leak out, I slowly warmed up to this set. Each time a card like Sen Triplets or Finest Hour came out, it got me a little more excited about the set. Now I am completely stoked for it and can't wait for the prere on Saturday! All because of that "personality" you mentioned.
People have been trying to build successful Megrim decks for years. If Drastic Revelation is real and can target an opponent, we might just have a winner. Hilarious.
Yes, I agree with this. I feel like if Wizards felt like they had the liberty to change something like that without everyone freaking out and ragequitting competitive Magic, they would. I know a group of 8-12 competitive players from my area that almost always win any type of tournament because they do intentional draws and whatnot in collusion with each other. A week ago at our regional Prerelease, they did this very thing and they all strategically drew to get into the top 8, and as soon as they made it to top 8, they all just split the pot and didn't play a single game. That kind of sucks, in my opinion.
And Dalkon, I'm not suggesting getting rid of time limits. If you run out of time in a round, you still go to turns, but find another way to determine the winner after turns are over. Many players who have never been in a tournament before think at the end of five turns, whoever has the highest life total takes the win. Since that is the first assumption of new players, wouldn't that feel like the natural thing to go with?
EDIT: Thanks for pointing out my mistake, Ajax. I did mean 10%.
However, why the lack of Path? Also, you may want to try to work in two Wall of Reverence or possibly Wall of Denial to take care of those huge threats that you can't really block otherwise.
Chroma has Sanity Grinding. Beyond that I can't think of any chroma cards that see competitive play.
Cards that look good:
Behemoth Sledge. Obviously. This card is awesome and didn't really turn the tide in any of the games I played, but it definitely put me at an advantage that kept my opponents on their toes.
Lavalanche. I can't see this being great in constructed, but in the games I played it gave me a massive advantage. With enough mana this thing is a one-sided sweeper with a burn to the face to boot.
Bituminous Blast. I was surprised at this one. Going into deckbuilding I felt like this was overcosted for its effect, but every time I played it I cascaded into something amazing that turned the game around for me.
Kathari Bomber. Early game, this is an amazing card. Two damage in the air (meaning likely unblockable), then you get Dragon Fodder for free. Plus you can unearth it and do it all over again. Really nice against beatdown that is missing fliers.
Bant Sureblade. I still think the Hackblade is the best in the cycle, but the first strike on this guy is nothing to sneeze at if you can manage it on turn two or three.
Giant Ambush Beetle. For having possibly the worst card name in all of Magic, this dude actually worked out pretty nice for me. Again, not a card I can see working in standard, but in the games I played, it worked as a removal spell at the least. Against the right deck, it's basically removal plus a nice 4-power beastie.
EDIT: I see what you're saying. Actually, that would make it 14. 4 + 6 + 4. That's pretty crazy... I might have to investigate this one further.
Oh wow, I like that. Get five little creatures out and make it happen. Seems good.
Gotta say, this is a brilliant assessment of ARB. Usually in each set there are maybe five cards that you think, "Oh, that's cool. I wonder if I could build a deck around that..." In ARB, I can count probably two dozen of those types of cards easily, maybe more. I like the word you used... "personality."
I came back to the game right before Conflux came out after a three-year break. When I got back, I was worried the game had become too much focused on the competitive aspect. Then Wizards came out with the fact that ARB was all gold. I was really really worried... but as cards started to leak out, I slowly warmed up to this set. Each time a card like Sen Triplets or Finest Hour came out, it got me a little more excited about the set. Now I am completely stoked for it and can't wait for the prere on Saturday! All because of that "personality" you mentioned.
Anathemancer
Terminate
Thought Hemorrhage
Dauntless Escort
Knotvine Paladin
Maelstrom Pulse
Uril, the Miststalker
Finest Hour
Jenara, Asura of War
Jund Hackblade
Honorable mentions would include Nemesis of Reason and Lord of Extinction.
Now we just need creature types...