On another note, I'm growing more and more convinced that WOTC is intentionally leaking these and monitoring the forums like this so they know exactly what questions to put in the FAQ that I'm sure will be published on the Mothership later this month. There's a lot of confusion over how <> will work, questions I think are mainly a result of this distinction not being made since the beginning of the game but once put in use will become clear.
Yes, because WOTC doesn't have market research or testing groups or anything like that.
Come on.
Edit: Also, how many questions could be raised about this mechanic? 100% of the questions are because the mechanic wasn't explained with the spoilers.
If they spoiled Wastes and said "This is the new colorless mana symbol. Some costs can only be paid with colorless mana now. GENERIC mana in costs is unchanged" there would be no confusion.
Just like people said when the expedition breakdown was originally announced for BFZ...
Oath has 20 expeditions.
10 will be creature lands, as that 10set will be completed in BFZ, and it fits the going theme of having some cards in the set proper as expeditions.
10 will be filters, because modern.
Discard will never get you something valuable, artifacts are only good against whip, in which case now killing a small guy is irrelevant, and bringing a guy back will likely mean he's dead again. Oh boy, I've really showed them, I totally removed their early game so that they only have late game on the battlefield! Thanks Kolaghan!
Might as well cut all my discard, shocks, artifact destruction and recursion then. You've made it quite clear they are useless effects.
What discard are you running? Thoughtseize, which costs a third of the mana and gives you choice. The problem with this is that they choose.
What shock are you running? Magma Jet, which costs less than this and gives scry. This one costs 3 mana and needs black as well.
What artifact destruction are you running? None in mainboard, that's for sure, and if we're in sideboard, dear god do you have the most casual FNM players in the world.
What recursion do we have? Whip of Erebos, Fated Return, and Endless Obedience in black, Return to the Ranks in white. Which bring them right to the battlefield. There's a reason why Dutiful Return and March of the Return see no play.
Whispers of the muse sees no modern play
Boomerang sees no modern play
3+ mana counterspells don't see play in modern
Turnabout is never used in modern
During the coverage of the Legacy Championship Randy Buheler was talking about this draft and said that he had been informed that the competitors would not be allowed to keep the cards they draft. He didn't state the reason for this however. Exactly which point in coverage I'm not 100% sure but I think it was between round 8-10.
Players weren't allowed to keep the cards in the physical cube draft either.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, you don't actually believe that ***** do you?
Hahahahahah, Oh god that's hilarious.
Let's look at the facts:
MaRo, the head designer of Magic wishes he could abolish the Reserved List.
He says he can't. Not won't. Not was told that he can't. He just plain can't.
He also says he can't talk about why he can't abolish the Reserved List. That smacks extremely strongly of a legal reason, such as a settlement involving the inability to talk about the settlement.
So, if you've got a better explanation, I'd like to hear it.
Its legal stuff, plus its a hard line that the current CEO is 100% never going to change his mind on.
At any rate, this has as much to do with the reserve list or reprinting cards as when they did physical modo cube packs in a previous year.
It is just the same idea, executed with another popular online draft format.
They could source the cards from literally anywhere. It wouldn't be difficult for WoTC to get power at all.
WoTC said awhile back that 4cmc unconditional sweepers have gone the way of 2cmc unconditional counterspells and 3cmc unconditional LD.
I wouldn't expect to see one anytime soon, if ever again.
Source?
Because that would pretty much be the end of real control decks and make a lot of midrange strategies uncontrollable in Standard.
Source? That sounds too stupid to be true. Without low-cost sweepers, there will be nothing to keep aggro decks in check....on second thought, this is Wizards we're talking about, so I believe it.
Going to repeat this until I'm blue in the face, but there has never been a standard environment that did not have a legal 4 mana wrath effect.
We have had the situation (twice actually) where the core set didn't have it and the wrath was in the fall set, and people made a big to-do about it, complaining that WoTC was screwing control etcetc.
A third unset is not inevitable.
If WoTC keeps making sets like Conspiracy, why should they make a set with zero tournament legal cards?
They want to maximize sales, and any Un-set is going to sell considerably less than any set with black bordered cards.
I think that full art lands are sooner than later though. If not this fall set, the next IMO.
Everyone mentioning it's not an enchantment: Dude, are we going have to do this whole type-line thing again? Didn't we already do this with the god weapons?
Seriously.
MaRo has made it pretty clear that
Legendary Artifact Enchantment - Equipment
Does NOT FIT on a card, so they will fudge the flavor to make the card exist.
Yes, because WOTC doesn't have market research or testing groups or anything like that.
Come on.
Edit: Also, how many questions could be raised about this mechanic? 100% of the questions are because the mechanic wasn't explained with the spoilers.
If they spoiled Wastes and said "This is the new colorless mana symbol. Some costs can only be paid with colorless mana now. GENERIC mana in costs is unchanged" there would be no confusion.
Oath has 20 expeditions.
10 will be creature lands, as that 10set will be completed in BFZ, and it fits the going theme of having some cards in the set proper as expeditions.
10 will be filters, because modern.
Colorless is not a color and Wastes does not have a land type.
Has noone pointed out the problem with this image?
It is supposed to be a picture someone took of a card, at the standard semi-awkward angle.
But it has a visible mouse cursor IN THE ART OF THE CARD.
Whispers of the muse sees no modern play
Boomerang sees no modern play
3+ mana counterspells don't see play in modern
Turnabout is never used in modern
And yet...
Modal spells are the sum and versatility of their parts.
Compare them to previous commands, not combinations of existing spells, jeez.
This card is good.
Not amazing, but certainly going to see play.
Players weren't allowed to keep the cards in the physical cube draft either.
Its legal stuff, plus its a hard line that the current CEO is 100% never going to change his mind on.
At any rate, this has as much to do with the reserve list or reprinting cards as when they did physical modo cube packs in a previous year.
It is just the same idea, executed with another popular online draft format.
They could source the cards from literally anywhere. It wouldn't be difficult for WoTC to get power at all.
You don't have to worry about them, seriously.
Build the best deck and open the best cards for it from your 5 boosters, who cares what color you pick.
It doesn't.
Mass Calcify is in the set.
DoJ or similar is in the fall set, we aren't getting it in M15.
Also, is this THAT much stronger than Aetherize, another card people overvalued like mad?
Going to repeat this until I'm blue in the face, but there has never been a standard environment that did not have a legal 4 mana wrath effect.
We have had the situation (twice actually) where the core set didn't have it and the wrath was in the fall set, and people made a big to-do about it, complaining that WoTC was screwing control etcetc.
I have 0 clue what the thing they haven't done before would be.
A third unset is not inevitable.
If WoTC keeps making sets like Conspiracy, why should they make a set with zero tournament legal cards?
They want to maximize sales, and any Un-set is going to sell considerably less than any set with black bordered cards.
I think that full art lands are sooner than later though. If not this fall set, the next IMO.
Gideon, Nissa, Chandra, Liliana, Jace, Garruk
With Garruk being pretty clearly GB, and the "face of the set", like Bolas and Chandra before him.
Nissa is 100% a new version, Garruk too, and likely Gideon 3.0 is happening.
Seriously.
MaRo has made it pretty clear that
Legendary Artifact Enchantment - Equipment
Does NOT FIT on a card, so they will fudge the flavor to make the card exist.