MTG Salvation

No return to Zendikar would be complete without a bunch of random ability salad and incomprehensible creative choices!

Yeah, I'm sure it's a strong card, but I hate how its very existence cheapens the party mechanic (which I liked quite a lot at first).

To think that I am alive to witness this unprecedented moment of Magic card design.

Quote from Ritokure »

Oh, and also, this card is on Fires colors itself goddAMNIT STOP DOING THIS WIZARDS. Seriously, it's like they are actively trying to promote a single-deck format in Standard.

Is there ever a time when you would want this card and Fires in the same deck?

These columns say less and less with each passing year.

Hey look, a Secret Lair that I find thematically and artistically desirable!

Still not buying WotC's whalebait, now or ever.

Strong card. Good design. Cautiously optimistic about the set.

Quote from Xeruh »

I'm not sure one instance of Eldrazi being met with success (Eldritch Moon) really qualifies them as a success, especially as the tone and setting are vastly different from how they were on Zendikar. But given you think that Zendikar is a bottom-tier plane not like there is a ton of merit in trying to debate that with you, your opinions are simply radically different from how much people who play Magic feel.

I didn't say Zendikar was a bottom-tier plane. I said that Zendikar without the Eldrazi is a bottom-tier plane. Also, I'm not trying to characterize the Eldrazi as a success: ROE was a design and development success, EMN was a creative success, and the Eldrazi therein were buoyed by those sets' successes. BFZ / OGW were failures on just about every imaginable level, and the Eldrazi were just about sunk by those sets' failures. The Eldrazi have a very mixed record.

But you can't blame the Eldrazi for Zendikar's failings. Even if MaRo does this.

And the reason he's doing that is because it's his job to protect the Zendikar brand. Zendikar was a HUGELY popular, top-selling set. It was a top-selling set because it was peppered with ultra-chase cards. The idea of just being in the room when somebody cracked a priceless treasure was an event that drove MASSIVE interest in Zendikar organized play. All of the Secret Lairs and VIP packs and Deluxe Editions of today got their start with the priceless treasure craze of the Zendikar era. And, when a set has that level of enthusiasm around it, why wouldn't people remember it fondly? That kind of social experience is fun. It's certainly a far cry from the cynicism and rolling catastrophes of organized play in this Simic Winter era. For a lot of players, Zendikar defines the "good old days" of Magic. And MaRo's job is to try to salvage that perception of Zendikar. That perception is big business.

Believe it or not, I don't have any problem with people remembering Zendikar fondly. (I do hate chase cards, but that's another issue.)

So, as to the point in continuing to debate this: I think that if you misattribute to the Zendikar setting a bunch of feelings that you have about the Zendikar set, you're positioning yourself for disappointment. A major part of the good creative work in ZEN / WWK was the buildup to the Eldrazi in ROE. The Roil; the mystery of the hedrons; the weird religions centered around Cosi, Ula, and Emeria: all of these were central to Zendikar's original creative identity. When you strip the Eldrazi away from Zendikar, what are you even doing? You're basically dumping it all out and going back to formula. Zendikar was never a generic "adventure" setting; it was never a setting without the Eldrazi. The things that people think they remember about the setting are really not things that the setting ever was. What I suspect players are remembering is the experience of playing Magic at the time of the original Zendikar set, which has more to do with the set's relatively high power level and the social phenomena around the set's chase gimmicks than any creative elements of the setting.

Here's the main thing: after BFZ / OGW, Zendikar is a setting in crisis. You can't go back to Zendikar's roots by removing the Eldrazi, because the Eldrazi ARE the roots. So, something else must be done to save it. You can't coast on chase gimmimcks, because BFZ / OGW had those same gimmicks and were hated. So, what are they going to do? They've got to add a new dimension to the setting, and it has to be good. Because simply taking away the Eldrazi doesn't leave much left.

Quote from Xeruh »

Or to blame it on Battle for Zendikar when the issue is the Eldrazi in general.

This is like saying "don't blame Wood Elemental when the problem is green creatures in general."

You can't generalize Eldrazi based on ROE on the one hand and BFZ / OGW on the other. Apples and oranges. They just slapped devoid on a bunch of godawfully-designed cards that had no mechanical connection to the ROE Eldrazi and called it a good. That BFZ / OGW Eldrazi are nominally colorless is barely even relevant, and battlecruiser is almost a total non-factor. You just can't compare these two eras.

And, even if you just want to talk about the Eldrazi from a creative standpoint, Eldritch Moon totally invalidates your argument. A decent enough set by itself, and arguably the best creative work done with the Eldrazi in Magic. So, there is no issue with the Eldrazi in general. There is a specific issue with the raging garbage fire that was BFZ / OGW, including but not limited to the Eldrazi printed therein.

Also, just in case there's any misunderstanding: I don't WANT the Eldrazi back on Zendikar. Because of BFZ / OGW, that combination is forever ruined. I'm just saying that Zendikar without the Eldrazi is a bottom-tier, generic fantasy setting made popular mostly by peppering booster packs with chase ultra-mythics. As a setting, Ixalan does everything non-Eldrazi Zendikar does, only 10x better. WotC could fix that: no matter how badly they screwed it up in BFZ / OGW, they could still make Zendikar into a compelling and unique setting again. But the way MaRo pins Zendikar's problems on the Eldrazi, it makes me think that WotC didn't really understand their mistakes in BFZ / OGW, and hasn't learned anything from them.

Quote from DJK3654 »

Except for many other players what defines Zendikar for them is not the Eldrazi, and for many of those players BFZ block was a disappointment. It was a popular reaction to the block to wish the Eldrazi weren't there. WotC has said as much. This will be the Zendikar return for those fans who didn't want the Eldrazi. That's just where the numbers lie.

Rise of the Eldrazi was the amazing, revolutionary prog-rock album that the masses didn't understand.

Then, Battle for Zendikar was a cover of that album by a no-talent teenage boy band. It was Magic's Puberty Love.

And then WotC had the stones to be like, "I guess that's what you get when great artists cover crappy source material" and signed the boy band to a 10-album contract.

Yes, of course BFZ was garbage. It and OGW were literally, without hyperbole, the worst sets since Homelands and quite possibly the worst Magic sets ever. BFZ / OGW Eldrazi were awful. That doesn't mean that Zendikar was better without the Eldrazi. The Eldrazi were the mystery that made ZEN and WWK interesting. ROE was a masterpiece. You take the Eldrazi away, you need to put something else in their place, because otherwise there is no hook to the setting. Calling Zendikar "the adventure plane" or whatever they're rolling with is a complete non-statement, and unless WotC comes up with a stronger identity for Zendikar minus Eldrazi, pretty soon it's going to be Magic's worst setting.

A cycle set on Kamigawa that is ultra-parasitic?

A cycle set on Kamigawa that legendary in a way that not only unnecessary but also in conflict with the card designs?

A cycle set on Kamigawa that will thus clog up your hand with unplayable cards?

A cycle where the white and red ones break the cycle design, and are far and away the worst of the bunch?

A we-build-it-for-you cycle where the deck you're supposed to build nonbos with itself?

People... this is self-parody. You're supposed to laugh.

I feel like this should've been a Cat Goat.

White lifegain: "WHAT CRAP."

Green lifegain: "MODERN PLAYABLE, GIVE ME SIX."

Anybody else feel like this is an homage to Demonic Consultation?

Quote from endgame1331 »

Combos like copycat are probably healthy for the metagame

I imagine you are probably right... but that ain't gonna stop players from despising combo and demanding it be categorically banned.

Opponents hate playing against combo, opponents hate playing against control, opponents hate playing against tempo... good thing God gave us midrange, amirite? Nobody could ever hate midrange...

This card is Magic's SWB2 locked Darth Vader, and I hate it.