I like Waste Not a lot. I've always had fun dabbling in discard, though never had much luck making a good deck focusing on it.
I am against the new border. The border's lack of symmetry is going to bug me for a long time, though it isn't going to bother me as much as the face changes back in Mirrodin/8th edition. When they changed the cards back then, I didn't buy a new card for over 4 years, though at this point I am far too addicted for such a minor annoyance to stop me.
I had a similar idea for an GW enchantment based Ajani, but thought he should try to keep to his life gain roots a little.
Ajani GW3
+1: gain 2 life, search your library for an enchantment with CMC less than or equal to the amount of life you have gained this turn.
-X: Put a 2/2 cat creature token on the battlefield, you may put an aura card with CMC equal to X from your hand onto the battlefield attached to that token.
-7: You get an emblem that states all enchantments and enchanted creatures you control gain hexproof, and indestructible.
I had an idea a while back for what I would want a GW enchantment based planeswalker to be like, if it happened to be Ajani, I think I'd want him to be like this.
Ajani, the Enchanter GW3
+1: Gain 1 life, search your library for an enchantment card with converted mana cost less than or equal to the amount of life you have gained this turn, and put it into your hand.
-x: Put a 2/2 cat token onto the battlefield, you may place an Aura card from your hand with converted mana cost x or less onto the battlefield attached to that creature.
-7: You get an emblem with " Enchantments and enchanted creatures you control have hexproof and indestructible."
4 loyalty
I thought of the general idea for the +ability before voracious worm came out, and after it was printed I think this kind of ability could be a thing. I would want him to only cost 4, so he'd be a good PW, but with a + ability that is card advantage, and the ability to -0 for a token, or -x to get a stronger creature, seems unreasonable at 4.
I found it interesting that of all the colors, red got a one mana cantrip in dragon mantle, though you have to have a creature to target.
On a related note, I miss needle drop.
The thing about this block is they want the enchantments to feel like enchantments.
Sticking "enchantment" on the type line isn't good enough.
I agree this statement completely. A possible way I can think of to make a enchantment land feel like an enchantment would be to tack an overcosted ability that doesn't require the land to tap onto a land that enters the battlefield tapped, such as:
" Nylea's Grove"
Enchantment land forest
Nylea's Grove enters the battlefield tapped.
gg2: Target creature gains +1/+1 until end of turn. Activate this ability only if your Devotion to green is 4 or higher.
"Erebos' Moor"
Enchantment land swamp
Erebos' Moor enters the battlefield tapped.
bb4: Fateseal1. Activate this ability only if your Devotion to black is 4 or higher.
Maybe something like that, just thought those up on the spot so I'm not sure how good or fair either of them might be. Repeatable fateseal might be too abusable.
The thing is Devotion already caters for hybrid and phyrexian mana. If we had one that was only for phyrexian mana then that would be a worse version of Devotion wouldn't it?
Devotion to Phyrexia wouldn't have to be strictly worse then to a specific color, but for them to make it good there would have to be a whole lot of phyrexian in a set, and that would seem to really destroy the color identities in the set since decks of all colors would have access to all the phyrexian cards.
So I feel if they did make devotion to Phyrexia either it would be horrible or the set it was in would be horrible.
What we need is for the Eldrazi to invade Theros and have devotion to colorless, and it would of course have to count numbers in the colorless symbols, instead of the total number of colorless symbols.
I feel fairly sure I have this interaction correct but want to make sure.
I have all non-basic lands, also my opponent has a Burning Earth out and is swinging with a bunch of creatures.
Can I float 3 mana, putting the burning earth triggers on the stack, then cast Safe Passage to prevent the damage from the burning earth?
I think it works as long as I make the mana before declaring I'm casting the spell, but I want to be sure before it comes up again.
I think overcosted spells that refund some mana would be an interesting thing to add to black's slice of the pie, though I know one card doesn't always imply more cards later in that direction.
If it is indeed 2bb, and not 3bb, I would probably use this in a maze's end deck I've played recently since once I get 5 lands, I could always use the mana to activate Maze' end.
At my local FNM, I frequently play a B/R deck full of kill spells which uses Chandra, the firebrand, and Stensia bloodhall as its primary win conditions. That deck definitely wants this card, but even for that deck that wants this card, it sure isn't worth the $25 Star City is preordering for.
I certainly like the card, but it just doesn't seem like it should be more than 8 bucks. It seems only marginally better than the Firebrand, and only in certain decks. Not a Planeswalker I would want for mono red.
It is my hopes that the new wording of exiling abilities is only being used in core sets because they are meant to be more basic sets, and that the Fiend Hunter version will still be printed on more cards to come.
I do have a question about Banisher Priest, since returning the creature seems to happen instantaneously upon Banisher leaving play, if my opponent tries to spear my Banisher to get his creature back, and I cloudshift my banisher, the creature that was exiled previously will already be back and be a legal target for the enters the battle field ability again, right?
Well, I'm not really sure how Chandra's going to turn out because all the red walkers have been sub-par compared to the other colors. Maybe WotC will go out on a limb and pull another Sarkhan the Mad, like this:
Chandra, Pyromaster 3RR
Loyalty: 6
-3: Chandra, Pyromaster deals two damage to each creature.
-2: Destroy target non-basic land.
-6: Each players discards their hand and draws seven cards. Chandra, Pyromaster deals X damage to each opponent where X equals the number of cards he or she discarded.
This way, Chandra has powerful abilities, but you'll have almost no way to keep her around, so it kind of balances out, I guess. My thought process here is that she saves you from aggro, beats control, and has a Wheel of Fortune attached for fun, plus damage.
So in short, Chandra can help you with everything, but she won't stick around.
I feel that if they went this direction they would need one of her abilities to be a -1, so she doesn't sit around on the field with one loyalty unable to do anything. Though when the new planeswalker rules go live it won't actually stop you from playing a second Chandra, so it isn't such a big deal.
Perhaps the last token isn't a creature at all.
Maybe Chandra will have an ability to create an artifact token with " R sacrifice Chandra's Bauble : deal 2 damage to target creature or player".
And that type of ability could fit the criteria of being something new, which everyone seems to suspect Chandra will do.
They need to rethink this concept, as it would open up a lot of design space.
I'm not saying they should become Permanents,
but being able to cash one in for an effect is something I *really* want to see. It's one of the only ways they can put effects like Counterspell or Redirect on a Planeswalker.
They could always do something akin to Erayo's Essence,
but that doesn't really have the flavor of Jace or whoever stepping in and countering a fireball aimed at your skull.
I think to do this they could potentially do an ability like (-4 : Put a token Legendary enchantment on to the battlefield named Jace's Presence, that enchantment has " sacrifice Jace's Presence : counter target spell.")
I personally think that Ajani could be new. Since the cards in core sets that directly reference planeswalkers often seem designed to work well with that planeswalker, Ajani's chosen has me thinking that there may be a new Ajani that either tutors for enchantments or auras.
I am against the new border. The border's lack of symmetry is going to bug me for a long time, though it isn't going to bother me as much as the face changes back in Mirrodin/8th edition. When they changed the cards back then, I didn't buy a new card for over 4 years, though at this point I am far too addicted for such a minor annoyance to stop me.
Ajani GW3
+1: gain 2 life, search your library for an enchantment with CMC less than or equal to the amount of life you have gained this turn.
-X: Put a 2/2 cat creature token on the battlefield, you may put an aura card with CMC equal to X from your hand onto the battlefield attached to that token.
-7: You get an emblem that states all enchantments and enchanted creatures you control gain hexproof, and indestructible.
4
Ajani, the Enchanter GW3
+1: Gain 1 life, search your library for an enchantment card with converted mana cost less than or equal to the amount of life you have gained this turn, and put it into your hand.
-x: Put a 2/2 cat token onto the battlefield, you may place an Aura card from your hand with converted mana cost x or less onto the battlefield attached to that creature.
-7: You get an emblem with " Enchantments and enchanted creatures you control have hexproof and indestructible."
4 loyalty
I thought of the general idea for the +ability before voracious worm came out, and after it was printed I think this kind of ability could be a thing. I would want him to only cost 4, so he'd be a good PW, but with a + ability that is card advantage, and the ability to -0 for a token, or -x to get a stronger creature, seems unreasonable at 4.
On a related note, I miss needle drop.
I agree this statement completely. A possible way I can think of to make a enchantment land feel like an enchantment would be to tack an overcosted ability that doesn't require the land to tap onto a land that enters the battlefield tapped, such as:
" Nylea's Grove"
Enchantment land forest
Nylea's Grove enters the battlefield tapped.
gg2: Target creature gains +1/+1 until end of turn. Activate this ability only if your Devotion to green is 4 or higher.
"Erebos' Moor"
Enchantment land swamp
Erebos' Moor enters the battlefield tapped.
bb4: Fateseal1. Activate this ability only if your Devotion to black is 4 or higher.
Maybe something like that, just thought those up on the spot so I'm not sure how good or fair either of them might be. Repeatable fateseal might be too abusable.
Devotion to Phyrexia wouldn't have to be strictly worse then to a specific color, but for them to make it good there would have to be a whole lot of phyrexian in a set, and that would seem to really destroy the color identities in the set since decks of all colors would have access to all the phyrexian cards.
So I feel if they did make devotion to Phyrexia either it would be horrible or the set it was in would be horrible.
What we need is for the Eldrazi to invade Theros and have devotion to colorless, and it would of course have to count numbers in the colorless symbols, instead of the total number of colorless symbols.
I have all non-basic lands, also my opponent has a Burning Earth out and is swinging with a bunch of creatures.
Can I float 3 mana, putting the burning earth triggers on the stack, then cast Safe Passage to prevent the damage from the burning earth?
I think it works as long as I make the mana before declaring I'm casting the spell, but I want to be sure before it comes up again.
If it is indeed 2bb, and not 3bb, I would probably use this in a maze's end deck I've played recently since once I get 5 lands, I could always use the mana to activate Maze' end.
I certainly like the card, but it just doesn't seem like it should be more than 8 bucks. It seems only marginally better than the Firebrand, and only in certain decks. Not a Planeswalker I would want for mono red.
I do have a question about Banisher Priest, since returning the creature seems to happen instantaneously upon Banisher leaving play, if my opponent tries to spear my Banisher to get his creature back, and I cloudshift my banisher, the creature that was exiled previously will already be back and be a legal target for the enters the battle field ability again, right?
I feel that if they went this direction they would need one of her abilities to be a -1, so she doesn't sit around on the field with one loyalty unable to do anything. Though when the new planeswalker rules go live it won't actually stop you from playing a second Chandra, so it isn't such a big deal.
Maybe Chandra will have an ability to create an artifact token with " R sacrifice Chandra's Bauble : deal 2 damage to target creature or player".
And that type of ability could fit the criteria of being something new, which everyone seems to suspect Chandra will do.
I think to do this they could potentially do an ability like (-4 : Put a token Legendary enchantment on to the battlefield named Jace's Presence, that enchantment has " sacrifice Jace's Presence : counter target spell.")
They should just reprint Ancient Ziggurat.