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  • posted a message on The Lie of Blue's Dominance?
    Quote from unkyunk
    Notice how recent those cards are?



    Cloud of Faeries Lord of Atlantis Merfolk Assassin Merfolk Looter, focusing only on cards in old frames, and skipping a lot of playable cards for the most well known
    Posted in: Magic General
  • posted a message on Avacyn the Inexplicably Whole
    just reading that article, all I could think was Grislebrand got owned.
    Posted in: Magic Storyline
  • posted a message on Where do you see Magic The Gathering in 10 years?
    I could see epic rare working if they only printed truly terrible cards as epic rare. Like epically bad rare. So bad that if you look at it, then look at Chimney Imp, you'll be all like "Damn yo, that imp OP." I'm talking Wood Elemental bad. Sorrow's Path bad. GREAT WALL BAD. Give it random, terrible mechanics, like a Legendary Homarid that Bands with Other Homarids, or a card that costs 8WGB and reads "Gain 5 life, then lose 5 life, then target basic land permanently gains hexproof, Buyback: Sacrifice a creature with Provoke" or "3RB, Hellbent- Target opponent loses 3X life, where X is equal to the # of cards in your hand". Have the ink for the symbol have actual gold in it. Make the art mind splittingly amazing, so that if you put that **** on a playmat, shop employees will die from their injuries as rabid fans violently shove their money at them. Make it so awesome looking, so bizarre, and so irredeemably crappy that Johnnies will wrack their minds into oblivion as they vainly attempt to deduce a way to break it. There needs to be deaths from this people! Then, and only then, would epic rare be acceptable.
    Posted in: Magic General
  • posted a message on What would a worled without Black mana be like?
    Quote from Antibus
    Serra's Realm?


    Ding Ding Ding Ding we have a winner folks! Serra's Realm was specifically depicted as lacking black mana, but having the other 4 colors (white being dominant). In a plane with the 4 equal, it would be less heavenly, but the basics are there: it is a plane of passionate people who value community, life, and learning, but devoid of selfishness and greed. The individual is valued, but they are not given special consideration over the community at large. There is death, but it is not a constant threat, and the very air has natural healing properties. It is, in every way, a paradise, one that only falls when it is invaded by phyrexians.
    Posted in: Magic General
  • posted a message on whats your favorite creatures?
    Quote from ketchakik
    White:SFM, Mother of runes
    Blue: Snapcaster, Delver of Secrets
    Black: Bob, Deciple of the Vault
    Red: Goblin Recruiter, Goblin Piledriver
    Green: Goyf, Vigor
    Artifact: Arcbound Ravager, Blightsteel Colossus
    Gold: Psychatog, Geist of St. Traft
    Manland: Mishra's Factory, Inkmoth Nexus


    I can't believe it took till your post to point out the actual best cards.
    Posted in: Opinions & Polls
  • posted a message on Worst Mythic(s) ever printed?
    mill yourself, sanguine bond, archangel's light. This will be done. it will suck, but it will be done
    Posted in: Opinions & Polls
  • posted a message on Why does wizards play around with crap like traps and curses?
    First, I want to thank the few people in this thread who actually took the time to read my posts, and "curse" the ones that replied to the tagline.

    1: I am not a spike, I'm a Johnny/Timmy, and anyone who actually read my posts would see that. I took issue with them creating what seemed like it could be a cool mechanic and then not giving it enough support, not that the mechanic wasn't powerful. I feel like creating a subtype just to throw a tutor in is a way for wizards to say "there, that should please Johnny", as if that's enough to please Johnny. Curses are boring becuase, at best, you get a very clunky, very slow burn deck. Its a very weak payoff for the amount of work, both in power level and pizzazz for lack of a better word.

    2: Some people still think that arguing that a curse, or a trap, individually is good is a counter argument. I already said that. I was arguing that those cards being good had nothing to do with their subtype, which was a waste

    3: Perhaps "wasting design space" was a bad way to put it. Its more like a missed opportunity. Sure, there are good traps and curses, but they could have given the archetype more support to make it memorable, especially when they had memorable names. There is variety in the curses, but not in the ones that fit in a hypothetical "curse deck". Shrines worked together because you were rewarded for having additional shrines in play, yet they provided variety because they had wildly different effects. The curses that want you to play other curses are all very focused on burning the opponent to the face. Where's the curse that forces opponents to discard? Or the one that gives all other players token dudes? Or the one that makes it harder for creatures to attack?

    All that said, I do think a few people on here persuaded me a bit. I like the bit about it giving newer players something easy to collect. I think maybe my Timmy side makes me feel disappointed that traps and curses, as a subtype but not as individual cards, seem phoned in (though I will admit that this is far less true for curses than traps), but a pure Johnny would still enjoy them. Its just that they tease my Timmy side and leave me disappointed
    Posted in: New Card Discussion
  • posted a message on Why does wizards play around with crap like traps and curses?
    Quote from jskura
    Who says it isnt just there for flavour? This is a flavour set after all.


    MARO did in today's article, which prompted me to write this. He states they have a rule against doing things for decoration, so they make a relevant mechanic around it. Its like putting flowers in your windowsill and saying their there to keep invaders out. Just admit its for decoration and design accordingly.

    Mako and RedWood: I'm the guy that goes nuts for this stuff. I''m the target demographic. I loved shrines, which you could build a deck with. I loved the card from new phyrexia that does damage when you cast spells with phyrexian mana symbols. I like build around me cards and unique mechanics. My problem is that they are wasting the mechanics. I say either give the mechanics support, or don't do them at all. Putting them out there without enough support or as an afterthought created to build flavor is a waste, and it teases players like me who get excited when they see a mechanic like this come out and then see it never pan out. They create it and then let it wither on the vine, and that is what gets to me.

    Underwater guy: I didn't say all curses were bad, I said the curse mechanic sucked, because it wasn't supported. Yes, there are some good traps, but they aren't good because they're traps. Traps sucked as a mechanic because there was no point. You had a trap tutor that was a below average card at best, and a card that forced people to discard traps, which was completely useless. Its the same thing that made the snow mechanic back in ice age and alliances. There wasn't any support worth a damn, so it wasn't really played. Not until Coldsnap came out were you really able to do anything with snow. Wizards admitted there wasn't enough support the first time around, and that it was a mistake. They made an effort to support it in coldsnap partly to make up for that. Why, if they know how they treated snow the first time around was a mistake, would they make the same mistake with traps and curses? Granted, individual trap and curse spells are better than the individual spells that cared about snow, but they are only good individually for their effects, not because of they are traps or curses. Think of it this way: If in the next core set the printed this card

    Homarid Hero
    1U
    Creature: Homarid
    Trample
    4/4

    It would be a great card, but Homarids would still be a terrible tribe

    BonSequitor: I don't care about how it impacts tournaments, which I never mentioned in my post. I care about kitchen table magic, and this deck would suck compared to an average draft deck. My issue is that if they are going to exist, give them a reason to exist. The mechanic has a role to fill, and it fails at that, like snow did the first time around
    Posted in: New Card Discussion
  • posted a message on Why does wizards play around with crap like traps and curses?
    First off, before anybody takes issue, there are good traps and curses. My argument is that the subtypes are completely unnecessary. The cards that rely on the trap subtype are terrible, and lets take a look at the curses available:
    curse of death's hold
    curse of oblivion
    curse of stalked prey
    curse of the bloody tome
    curse of the nightly hunt
    curse of the pierced heart
    curse of exhaustion
    curse of echoes
    curse of misfortunes
    curse of thirst
    curse of bloodletting

    11 cards with the subtype. Curses are unlikely to return in the next set, if Rise of the Eldrazi is any indication of what to expect when the third set is a large one. Add to that 1 card, Bitterheart witch, that supports curses (as a clunky tutor).

    Lets take a look at the curses individually

    Death's Hold makes their creatures smaller. Can be pretty good

    Oblivion slowly eats their graveyard. Its crap, but crap cards exist

    Stalked Prey gives the Innistrad vamp ability to your creautes. Pretty awesome, can take over a game

    Bloody tome is slow mill that you can use on yourself. good in limited, bad in constructed

    Nightly hunt almost assures no blockers, and forces unprofitable attacks. Useful with stalked prey

    Pierced heart is sort of burn. ok in limited, a kill con in a "curse deck"

    Exhaustion is a one sided arcane lab. not bad, but not in the right colors for a curse deck

    Echoes lets you copy your opponents spells. kind of cool.

    Misfortunes is useless outside of a curse deck, and one with a variety of curses at that

    Thirst is like pierced heart but much more expensive and begs for a curse deck to be used right

    Bloodletting doubles damage, which is a decent effect on its own, and makes thirst and pierced heart better.

    The problem here is that the curses that have synergy are all 5 cmc, as is the witch. they also seem to focus on slow burn. Stalked prey is good, but requires a lot of creatures to be good, and wouldnt fit into a curse deck. Nightly hunt falls into the same category. Oblivion sucks. Exhaustion and death's hold provide control and keep you alive. Too bad exhaustion is the only white curse and death's hold costs 5. bloody tome and echoes have no synergy with the other curses, and don't really do anything to win the game (you won't win milling for 2 a turn, and echoes reacts to your opponent, and can often be a dead draw). We're really left with bloodletting, pierced heart, thirst, misfortunes, death's hold, witch, and, since blue sucks, splash white for exhaustion. Great, they're all 5cmc with the exception of heart and exhaustion. There's no card advantage outside of witch, little control, and a weak payoff. This isn't even kitchen table worthy, its worse than the scepter/throne/crown cycle.

    So why make the curse subtype? so you can fetch the good curses with the witch or misfortunes in a non-curse deck? Diabolic tutor exists for 1 less mana, and can find anything (Though you get a crappy body with witch and misfortunes can stick it on them, assuming they don't already have one on them)! or go 2 more mana for rune scarred demon.

    I feel like the cards themselves are useful, but the mechanic was a waste of design space, much like traps were in zendikar. they throw it in for flavor, than shoehorned a hamfisted mechanic just so they could claim that it isn't just there for decoration, even though it obviously is. If they wanted to do this mechanic, it should have gotten some support, otherwise they should have left it out and avoided the needless complexity creep
    Posted in: New Card Discussion
  • posted a message on Explain how cards work/are used thread
    I would say that confidant is better than goyf, because in most decks it just takes over the game. When I see a goyf hit the table, if I can kill it, it does nothing. Its a power house if it connects a couple times, but its usually either just one of many good creatures (zoo), or a main finisher (control). Confidant creates serious card advantage, and draws removal that could otherwise hit the finisher. In terms of pure upside and raw power, confidant seems like a better creature, though it is not good in every deck, while goyf is easier to use and can be good in almost any deck. Also, you don't jump through hoops to get goyf to be big, it happens just by playing the game. When lorwyn came out, the following sometimes happened in extended: turn 1: sac land into mountain, pass. Opponents turn: plays a creature, you hit it with tarfire. Turn 2: goyf at 4/5
    Posted in: Magic General
  • posted a message on Explain how cards work/are used thread
    Thanks, it makes a lot of sense in stax now that I see just how asymmetrical it is
    Posted in: Magic General
  • posted a message on Explain how cards work/are used thread
    I think we should have a thread that explains how certain cards are used/why they are good. Some good cards do not have obvious applications, or can be difficult for newer players, or players who haven't seen them used, to grasp.

    Tangle Wire confuses me. I don't really know what decks use it or how they use it, so I don't know why its good.

    Lion's Eye Diamond is probably the classic "how is that good?" card. I know people use it to power effects or to float mana when they have an empty hand before they draw a card, but I can't cite specific examples.
    Posted in: Magic General
  • posted a message on Public Service announcement about clockworking/Lilianna
    I predict that this will either be retconned out by either:

    A: Wizards ignoring the parts that don't fit and pretending that they didn't happen while accepting the rest of the book as canon, like they did with mirrodin

    or

    B: It was all a dream, or a bolas induced false memory, or some other cop out
    Posted in: Magic Storyline
  • posted a message on My love for Politics
    The problem with this is that the Democrats actually have tried to compromise, while the Republicans have stated that their only goal is to ensure Obama is a 1 term president. HCR was almost identical to Mitt Romney's plan in Mass., which was based on the Republican's proposal for HCR in the early 90's. The debt negotiations over the summer saw the democrats agreeing to most of the Republicans demands for spending cuts, but demanding revenue increases in return at a ratio of $1 revenue : $2 spending cuts, and the republicans refused. The Democrats have time and again attempted to compromise, even starting off with what used to be the Republican party's platform in many cases (Cap and Trade), and the Republicans either refused to budge one inch, or actually hardened their positions, like when the Democrats took the Republican's Cap and Trade plan and agreed to it, and the R's changed their stance and demanded less regulations and more drilling instead.

    so really what is happening is

    1: Both sides come up with plans
    2: Democrats try to compromise, Republicans don't budge
    3: Democrats try to force something through

    or occasionally

    1: Both sides come up with plans
    2: The Democrats say "ok, we'll agree to the Republican's plan"
    3: Republicans block their own plan
    Posted in: Debate
  • posted a message on Rant about storylines...
    Quote from Skibo

    Or the Eldrazi in a Japanese world? THese things don't fit.


    Easy, the Eldrazi have tentacles. I'm sure those will fit rather nicely.

    (MichikoAsuzaKikuandInk-Eyesrecoilinhorror.gif)
    Posted in: Magic Storyline
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