I find Rest in Peace is actually pretty bad in EDH. Sure you can build around not being able to use your graveyard, but it cuts off so many good cards and strategies that unless the whole table is playing out of the graveyard I'd rather use something with a bit more finesse.
Great article, points out some very good cards I hadn't previously considered. I've never actually played with Stonecloaker. Is he really good enough?
- Jaxck
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Member for 14 years, 7 months, and 14 days
Last active Thu, May, 4 2017 22:34:56
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Mar 23, 2015Jaxck posted a message on Word of Command #6 - Preventing a Blast from the PastPosted in: Articles
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Feb 26, 2015Jaxck posted a message on Cazia Part 1 - The Story of a Custom SetSilly oversight, but I forgot to actually explain what Dunes actually are:Posted in: Jaxck Blog
Dune
Basic Land - Desert (B)
(T: Add 1 to your mana pool.)
Yes I will be including a new basic land type, Desert, a topic which deserves its own series of posts, so hold of commentary on that topic for now. -
Feb 4, 2014Jaxck posted a message on Launch Giveaway!Facevaulter - The perfect Goblin, therefore the perfect Magic card.Posted in: Announcements
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Apr 30, 2013Jaxck posted a message on Dragon's Maze Set Review Part 1Trait Doctoring probably isn't as good as I initially thought it was, but it does serve a role as one of the better Cypher cards, mainly for its use as part of combos. I think this card in particular shows a big issue with Cypher, the need to attack makes it that much more interesting in Limited, but really hampers the mechanic's constructed viability.Posted in: Jaxck Blog
Renegade Krasis' ability is incredibly strong. Evolving him just once or twice is enough to get value out. Combined with Evolve all stars such as Fathom Mage and Cloudfin Raptor, I see him being very strong in more casual EDHs and in Limited. I think he'll definitely find a home but not as a staple. -
Dec 7, 2011Jaxck posted a message on Working blog postAbbey Gargoyle - Too big with too many abilities for its cost. I'd either make it a 2/4 (1/4 in a weaker format) or give it defender.Posted in: Robert Blog
Abbey Matron - Fine. Can't target your opponent's stuff, so fewer shennanigans.
Aysen Bureaucrat - This could be more powerful, but I think this is the right version of this card. Gideon's tapper is too good in my opinion.
Aysen Crusader - My only issue with this card is that it feels green, or green-white. If it's ability hit only white creatures I'd say good.
Rashka, the Slayer - Couple of things. A) This needs a new name, as Raksha already exists; B) I want this to do more, as is it is kind of an underwhelming card. Perhaps she blows up black permanents on the attack?
Serra's Silencing - Nice Pacifism rif. Not spashable, so I'd say good.
AEther Storm - Too good of a hoser I think, especially in uncommon. I'd move it to rare and change the sacrifice cost.
Baki's Curse - Not blue. White or green. Blue moves Auras, that's all it does with enchantments.
Chain Stasis - I always liked Chain Lightning.
Dark Maze - Too good for common. Make it uncommon, its activated ability 2U, and I think its good.
Dwarven Sailor - THIS IS NOT BLUUUUUE!!!! Blue gets the worst one-drops, not ones that can kill just about every other one-drop out there.
Forget - Ooh! I like this. Its like Sign in Blood, but better in mill decks.
Giant Albatross - What is it with you and blue creatures? This is too big for its mana cost. If this were 2U, it would be a very good common, but still fair.
Labyrinth Minotaur - Fair I guess, but why is a Minotaur blue?
Marjhan - Good till you get to the last ability. That ability is red, or black with the -1/-1. -
Dec 7, 2011Jaxck posted a message on Innistrad, a step up.I challange you to build a pair of decks with just vanillas and "vanilla spells" (Giant Growth and such). Find a friend with the same play level as you, and play some games. I guarantee you will have fun. What Wizards has been doing recently is lower the complexity level of commons, while raising the complexity of higher rarities(read MaRo's recent article for more in depth on the topic). What this means is more common vanillas and fewer uncommon and rare vanillas. You've also got to consider the set from which those cards were drawn. One is a rare from an expert level expansion, while the other is an uncommon from a core set. If you don't understand the distiction I just made there, you should not be complaining about vanilla creature's existing.Posted in: Massive Marc Blog
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Dec 27, 2010Jaxck posted a message on Help to build decks.Aw frick! I misread Foundry! Time to rebuild red-white Golems...Posted in: ainfectingdragon Blog
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Dec 18, 2010Jaxck posted a message on Mechanic RundownI understand what your saying. I've understood it all along. What I'm saying is that it doesn't break the game to the degree your proposing. Really what needs to be made is a Poison-Life converter of some sorts, that would allow the two totals to be controlled to the same degree. Remember that they still have two whole sets in which to fix Infect.Posted in: Demagogue Blog
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Dec 18, 2010Jaxck posted a message on Mechanic RundownYour not getting what I'm saying. I agree with what your point. MY point is that Infect is in its own design space, with absolutly nothing around it to support Poison. Imagine if you will all mechanical components of Magic in visual form, with lines connecting related mechanics. Every block theme save Poison is already interconnected into the rest of the game. However Poison is not, and therefore Infect will suck until Poison gets more stuff. That is my point.Posted in: Demagogue Blog
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Dec 14, 2010Jaxck posted a message on Mechanic RundownI see the point that your making. Really that is a problem with Poison, not directly with Infect. Infect is a perfectly fine mechanic which I expect will see a lot of play in the coming year. If they somehow bring back more Poison in later years, I expect Infect will become even stronger. Your point is a valid one, and I agree somewhat.Posted in: Demagogue Blog
I agree in that Infect is an exclusive mechanic. It does encourage playing almost excusively with Infect. However I would like to make the counter point that Infect is really the first of its kind. It is the first Poison mechanic to actually have any major effect, and as such will be very exclusive. You could make the same point about tribal when Lorwyn came out, if there were absolutly no tribal cards prior to Lorwyn. My point is really that Infect occupies its own design space, with absolutly no connected mechanics. So yes, judge it. But do not throw it away out of hand. -
Dec 14, 2010Jaxck posted a message on Mechanic RundownI see your problem with Infect. It is basically the same with most linear mechanics. Slivers beget slivers, allies beget allies, infect begets infect, I agree completly. I also agree that Infect is particularly guilty in this category, having only a couple of creatures (Putrefax, Necropede, or Blight Mamba in my mind) that can be played outside Infect decks. I would also like to point out that this is a three part block, not the two parters which we have had since Time Spiral (I call Alara a two part block because Conflux and Reborn went so off theme from Shards, that togethor only one sets worth of Shards theme cards were produced), each set of which will feature Infect. I expect that come Febuary Infect/Proliferate will become one of the stronger constructed forms. MaRo has made a major point of several of his design articles that one should not spoil all their good stuff in one go, but rather spread it out across all the sets which share the theme.Posted in: Demagogue Blog
Rant aside, I agree Infect is a very linear mechanic and there aren't many cards to play with, but I also say that there are more on the horizon. I know this point has been made before, but you can't dismiss Infect till we have seen its complete cycle of existance. If you were writting this after the release of Besieged, I'd have less of a beef. But you cannot dispell Infect simply because of its linearity.
I completly agree with Persist. It is basically flashback for creatures, albeit with a way to get them to come back. I love Persist, and I hope to get my hands on a couple of boxes of Shadowmoor/Eventide to round out my collection. That being said, it does mess with the game and the right deck can manage to get an infinate mass of creatures. This is hard however, as the correct tools aren't really availible. This is one of the simplest, but not neccessarily the best ways to balance a mechanic. I really dislike this methodology however, and really wish they would have (or do in the future) print more persist/Persist support, and balance it by putting the mechanic in the appropriate enviornment. -
Dec 13, 2010Jaxck posted a message on Reworking the type lineI believe the reason that Instant still exists is two-fold: A) They've been a part of the game, in one form or another, since the beginning, and most player's don't find a major problem with them; and B) wording. I accept that the first arguement is weak, but honestly, which is more intuitive: an Instant or a sorcery with flash? Maybe to an experienced player like you or myself, but not to a young inexperienced player. My second point is basically that it would require a huge overall of thousands of cards, and fundamentaly change the way the game works. Plus flash is defined as "playable at instant speed", so flash itself would need to be reworked, in a way which would require more text on cards with flash, limiting its uses.Posted in: Nis Blog
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Dec 13, 2010Jaxck posted a message on Mechanic RundownI would have to disagree with your ordering of these mechanics, but I agree with the general gist of your list.Posted in: Demagogue Blog
Cycling is a fine mechanic. Everyone loves drawing cards, and almost every deck is improved by having a couple of decent cyclers. The big problem with cycling is that it fundamentaly changes the way the game works. If everyone is drawing cards more effeciently, then the game gets accelerated. However lands are not being played any faster (assuming your using a single block which has cycling), so player's access to mana doesn't really shift. This hurts blue, one of whose primary attractors is amazingly efficient card-drawing spells. Cycling is a good, straight-forward mechanic for players, but a headache for designers.
Dredge is one of the worst mechanics in the game. It is also one of the most fun mechanics in the game. The player who intelligently uses Dredge in their deck design will almost invariably end up with a powerful deck, with plenty of options. However the player who isn't playing dredge loses game time, as they have so many fewer relative options, dragging the game out. Dredge also messes with two of the balancing elements of the game: the random draw and the graveyard. The random draw is what makes Magic work, as it stops any one deck from automatically winning, as a player doesn't neccessarily draw everything they need. The graveyard is where dead cards go to die, and should, for the majority of the game, remain untouched. Of course there are obvious exceptions to these rules, as there should be. The problem is that Dredge breaks both of these rules, without much cost to the dredge player. I personally love dredge, but I also think it is one of the worst mechanics for the game as a whole.
Flashback almost falls into the category of Dredge, but doesn't due to the exile clause and the generally high mana cost for the effect. I'll be honest, I don't have that much experience with flashback, but from what I have played with it, it seems to be a fine mechanic.
Scry is a simple way to allow a player to alter the random element of the card draw, without overtly changing the shape of their library. One of the better mechanics I have seem, its primary weakness is wordiness, and an expodential power level as the Scry # gets higher and higher.
Wither is a strange creature mechanic. I call it strange in that it doesn't really effect how my creature works, rather how your creature will work in the future. Due to this, there is very little design space within the mechanic. This is really its only weakness, as it is hard to break such an obviously abusable mechanic.
Kicker is an option giver. That is all it does. Period. This makes it, in my opinion, among the best mechanics ever printed. It adds options to one player, without detracting from the balancing elements of the game (like dredge or cycling) or taking options away from your opponents.
Metalcraft is Affinity V 2. That's all it was designed to be, that's all I expect it ever will be. Overall a limited/casual mechanic, I have no issue with a power pumper like this. One of several of the block mechanics, it encourages a certain theme in a set.
Landfall. Another block mechanic, landfall is simply a way to push the importance of lands without fundamentaly changing the lands. Personally one of my favourites, I'd rank Landfall up for originallity and uniqueness.
Affinity is another one of the worst mechanics in the game, and another of my favourites. While Dredge broke card drawing and the graveyard, Affinity breaks mana. Without the balancing effect of mana, the game breaks down into a "I win, you lose" scenario, without an opportunity for the loser to respond. And it wasn't the artifact lands that broke affinity, it was affinity that broke affinity. Anything which fundamentaly alters one of the game's balancing aspects on a large scale is a bad mechanic.
Infect is a block mechanic. Nothing more. It is meant to sell Scars and to be a powerful casual/limited mechanic. Your primary beef with it seems to be that it is linear, but I would disagree and say that this is a good thing. For a set to be successful, it should have at least one or two linear mechanics which players can immediatly lock onto and play with. One of the reasons Ravnica was so successful was that each Guild was very well defined. Sure, players played multiple guilds in limited. But they almost always worked best with other cards of the same guild.
Just some thoughts. By the way, what was with the etc? It is not immediatly apparent what you are talking about there. -
Sep 8, 2010Jaxck posted a message on Shards of Alara Block Could Have Been BetterWhenever I draft Shards block, I always go ALA-ALA-ALA, or occacionally ALA-ALA-REB. I do this because I completly agree with you. I started playing in regualr limited and standard events right after Conflux came out (I think I started the week after the release), and it was a very bad way to start my competative career. In my first draft, I was all over the place, as I hadn't been able to catch onto the shards just by the cards themselves. The one thing I think Alara did well was Esper. Being artifacts, almost everything meshed and it was really easy to build mechanically and flavourfully around the shard. Alara should have taken a que from Ravnica, but not in block design and set distrebution. They should have had three sets of roughly the same stuff flavourfully (with new mechanics obviously), but they should have also included a watermark for each of the shards. This would have given new players, like myself at the time, an opportunity to better understand the set. I remember first organizing my Alara cards by shard, but I couldn't with some of the stuff from Conflux and Reborn. If Conflux had had an enemy bi-color (rather than five-color) theme, that would have been excellant. Reborn's dilution of flavour broke the already Maelstroming block, severing any hope Wizards had of building a good, solid-gold set in the year 2009.Posted in: Improbable Things
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I can't really comment more, not knowing what your theme or basic mechanics are, but I look forward to seeing them in the future.
Is the flower a Red Rose?
I didn't know about Desert Nomads. That's cool!
Bleeding Petal seems like an Uncommon in my mind, because you can't use it until the third turn (without mana acceleration) and then it depends on you hitting your opponent, minimizing the number of decks which can use it. Since it makes for interesting combos however, it is eligible for the cube but as an Uncommon, not a Rare. If it was based of just damaging your opponent then it would be an excellant Rare for any direct damage deck.
On a side note... Can everybody provide rarities to their cards? This will make my job easier and I won't be designing any part of the card for you.
Here's my submission (something simple):
Desert
Common
Basic Land - Desert
(t: Add 1 to your mana pool.)
WUBRG
Rare
Legendary Enchantment - Shrine
When Ulmay's Passsage comes into play, put a */* Colourless Legendary Spirit token into play with "This Token's power and toughness are equal to the number of Shrines you control," and "When you no longer control a Shrine called "Ulmay's Passage" sacrifice this token."
Next: a card which makes 5 1/1 tokens at once (possible repedative)
My only porblem is that Kitsune, especially the way you have them portrayed, fit more into the White/Red than Green/White. Putting Haste in Green would break the colour pie (except for the occassional Hybrid).
If your going to create a whole plane around these tribes, don't keep their names the same because otherwise it means that they must have come from another plane, or that that is their species name (works for Kitsune, but not for Nactl).
This cube is all about fun combos and tricks. It is NOT about power. The primary objective when you draft this cube is to think "Wow, like, half these cards make a wicked combo," On as many draws as possible. These combos however, should not be about winning the game in one turn, but about gaininbg a serious advantage in a turn and a half, which your opponent then has to compensate for. It should also be fun to play this cube even if you are a power gamer or a super casual player.
Now that you have the basic premise, this is how its going to work: Each round, which lasts for a week, will have a set of criteria for the sort of cards I want for the cube, which I will then pick 5-10 cards from (unless their is an interesting cycle present) to add to the cube.
Every few weeks or so will be a special round in which everybody gets an opportunity to add whatever sort of card they want, so long as it fills a hole in the cube.
The basic outline of this cube (or how it will hopefully turn out):
500 cards, all 500 of which we design!
65 of each colour + 65 artifacts + 40 lands of no particular colour + 50 multicoloured + 20 lands of a particular colour
New criteria and round end notifications will occur every weekend. Note that I will NOT neccessarily be picking the most powerful card from each round.
You may reuse un-selected cards from previous rounds.
If you score a 9 or a 10, your card will make it into the cube guarenteed. 8-8.5 are mabyes, but only if their are only a couple of 9s and 10s (and then I will probably just scale it anyway).
Cards completed so far: 17/500
White: 1
W
Rare
Creature - Human Cleric
At the end of each turn, put X +1/+1 counters on Necrophobe. X is 1 if 3 or fewer cards left your graveyard from anywhere this turn. X is 2 if 4 or more cards left your graveyard from anywhere this turn.
1/1
Black: 0
Green: 0
Red: 2
Uncommon
Creature - Viashino Berserker
Jund Charger is red.
Devour 2
When you attack with a green creature and a black creature, you may put Jund Charger into play from your hand tapped and attacking.
3/2
Goblin Commandos
RR
Uncommon
Creature - Goblin Soldier
First Strike, Suspend 0: 0
If you Suspended Goblin Commandos, then it deals 2 damage to you when it comes into play.
2/2
1
Uncommon
Artefact
t, Exile three cards from your graveyard: Add 2 to your mana pool.
UW
Uncommon
Creature - Cat Spirit
Flash
Vanishing 3
3/1
Meadowgrain Stalker
RW
Rare
Creature - Kithkin Warrior
Vigilance
Whenever Meadowgrain Stalker attacks, it gets +1/+0 and gains first strike until end of turn.
Whenever Meadowgrain Stalker blocks, it gets +0/+1 and gains lifelink until end of turn.
2/2
Land: 11
Uncommon
Land
t, Sacrifice Flowering Garden: Add one mana of any colour to your mana pool.
Whenever you play a land, you may return Flowering Garden from your graveyard to your hand.
Noble's Sanctuary
Uncommon
Land - Plains
Noble's Sanctuary enters the battlefield tapped.
Cumulative Upkeep - You lose 2 life.
(t: Add W to your mana pool.)
t: Add 1 to your mana pool, remove an age counter from Noble's Sanctuary, gain 2 life.
t: Add WW to your mana pool, put an age counter on Noble's Sanctuary, you lose 2 life.
Dream's Sanctuary
Uncommon
Land - Island
Dream's Sanctuary enters the battlefield tapped.
Cumulative Upkeep - You lose 2 life.
(t: Add U to your mana pool.)
t: Add 1 to your mana pool, remove an age counter from Dream's Sanctuary, gain 2 life.
t: Add UU to your mana pool, put an age counter on Dream's Sanctuary, you lose 2 life.
Nightmare's Sanctuary
Uncommon
Land - Swamp
Nightmare's Sanctuary enters the battlefield tapped.
Cumulative Upkeep - You lose 2 life.
(t: Add B to your mana pool.)
t: Add 1 to your mana pool, remove an age counter from Nightmare's Sanctuary, gain 2 life.
t: Add BB to your mana pool, put an age counter on Nightmare's Sanctuary, you lose 2 life.
Fighter's Sanctuary
Uncommon
Land - Mountain
Fighter's Sanctuary enters the battlefield tapped.
Cumulative Upkeep - You lose 2 life.
(t: Add R to your mana pool.)
t: Add 1 to your mana pool, remove an age counter from Fighter's Sanctuary, gain 2 life.
t: Add RR to your mana pool, put an age counter on Fighter's Sanctuary, you lose 2 life.
Beast's Sanctuary
Uncommon
Land - Forest
Beast's Sanctuary enters the battlefield tapped.
Cumulative Upkeep - You lose 2 life.
(t: Add G to your mana pool.)
t: Add 1 to your mana pool, remove an age counter from Beast's Sanctuary, gain 2 life.
t: Add GG to your mana pool, put an age counter on Beast's Sanctuary, you lose 2 life.
Springtime Palace
Rare
Land - Plains
(t: Add W to your mana pool.)
Springtime Palace enters the battlefield tapped.
t: Add GU to your mana pool. Each opponent exiles the top card of your library.
“This is more of a home than I have ever had. Thank you so much for welcoming me into your house.” — Elspeth to Serra
Winter Cavern
Rare
Land - Island
(t: Add U to your mana pool.)
Winter Cavern enters the battlefield tapped.
t: Add WB to your mana pool. Each opponent may draw a card then discard a card.
“These caves are beautiful. So many crystals, you really can't take it in all at once." —Jace to Arno
Summer Deadlands
Rare
Land - Swamp
(t: Add B to your mana pool.)
Sumer Deadlands enters the battlefield tapped.
t: Add UR to your mana pool. Each opponent returns a card from their graveyard to their hand.
“One day they will bow down to me, this world will overrun theirs, and I shall rule the multiverse. No one will be able to stop me." —Nicol Bolas to Minions
Mildseason Hills
Rare
Land - Mountain
(t: Add R to your mana pool.)
Summer Deadlands enters the battlefield tapped.
t: Add BG to your mana pool. Each opponent deals 1 dmage to you.
"These hills have the same power within them as I do within me. It will make my spells more ablaze. I will have to lure Jace here to rid myself of him once and for all." —Chandra to the charred remains of her enemy
Autumn Grove
Rare
Land - Forest
(t: Add G to your mana pool.)
Autumn Grove enters the battlefield tapped.
t: Add RW to your mana pool. Each opponent gains 2 life.
“There is just something about the trees this time of the year. I don’t know, just makes me feel welcome here.” — Ja’tal to Ajani
Round 1 - Closed 30/8/09
Some sort of Artifact or Land which produces mana, but at a cost of another resource.
Round 2 - Closed 5/9/09
A small, fast creature that has some way of being played and attacking before turn 4. Try not to use Haste if possible.
Round 3 - Closed 12/9/09
Make a card that lets you produce tokens and/or sacrifice them for an effect. Think Thallid, but in any colour and with any token type.
Round 4 - Ends 20/9/09
Design a big fatty which can somehow hit the table before its strength says it should.
Bonus Round 1 - Closed 12/9/09
Submit an idea for a round. Do not submit any cards for that round.
Bonus Round 2 - Ends 20/9/09
Submit a card from magic to be cyclized (have a cycle made of it) and inserted into the cube. The original card can't be inserted due to the rules, so pick wisely!
R/R/R/*
Uncommon
Creature - Thinka Wizard
If you used only Red mana to play Tinka Thinka, destroy target artifact when it comes into play.
If you used only Blue mana to play Tinka Thinka, return target artifact from your graveyard to your hand.
1/1
Thinka Spellbomba
2RU
Rare
Creature - Thinka Wizard
When you play spells which deal damage, they deal 1 more damage.
"Hmm. Strapping Bangpowda to pig use make Fireball make bigga..."
2/1
Let's do Saoul.
Saoul are ancient, very powerful, mages and artificers. They used to live on massive flying cities which could planeswalk, until their empire was destroyed by another race...
Physically Saoul are humanoid, but very tall. They have varying skin shades and other physical atributes, depending on the city that they originally hail from. The one thing they share in common is that they naturally appear elegant and superior next to any other species due to their unique magical nature.
Saoul favour chaining spells for greater effect (and a bigger flash). They show up in all colours, depending on their city.
*How do you do Hybrid mana on these forumns?
2R
Uncommon
Artifact - Warrior Equipment
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and Rage (It attacks each turn if able.)
Equip RB
When you unequip Carving Knife, it deals 3 damage to target creature or player.
Unequip RB
Unequip works like Equip in reverse, so you can't Equip to another creature and get the Unequip effect.
Uncommon
Creature - Assassin
Zion Slayer is black.
Madness 3BB, Rage (This creature attacks each turn if able)
When Zion Slayer deals combat damage to a player, put a copy of it into play tapped.
"We are the hands of Zion, its anger, its hatred." -Valos, Zion Slayer
2/2
I bet they're going to make a new version of Liliana with the Veil and a cursed version of Garruk.