Remember that this is ultimately a business. Market research tells them that they should put a dragon in every set and what mechanics/creatures/planes to bring back. The creative individuals make things like planeswalkers, double faced cards, other new risky mechanics. Both methods are needed for every set.
gma, I can confirm the Dragon Shield plastic deckboxes will hold 100 double sleeved cards (Dragon Shield + KMC Perfect Fit). It might even be able to hold 1 or 2 more cards like this as well. The interior space for deck height is 7cm.
It is not known whether any werewolves still exist on Innistrad, but some, perhaps many, might have escaped destruction by slayers and rejected Avacyn's eldritch transformation into wolfir. It was theorized that other lands beyond the great seas harbored exotic species of lycanthropes, and it has been speculated that some werewolves of the known world have fled for those far regions.
There are some good alternates suggested here too. I'll add the good ones and try to categorize them in a way that others can pick them based on their special requirements.
I wouldn't consider Cream of the Crop and Eyes of the Watcher in this list because their activation is conditional on playing another specific spell.
Elkin Bottle is a bit intensive, but does fit the other criteria since you could simply activate it and not cast the spell to put it in your gaveyard to attempt for a better card.
Scrying Sheets seems more like a draw engine, but might be a good choice in the right deck.
This is something I haven't seen done yet. Taking a card that is well known as staple, maybe overpowered, or just over played and providing some alternatives. I'll first list some that I have found or seen in other forums and list them here. As others make suggestions I can also add them to the list.
Starting with Sensei's Divining Top we will be looking for a permanent that lets you manipulate the top few cards of your library. I've broken them down by color and type followed by a number stating how many cards down it will let you view/change per activation.
Also to keep in the spirit of the original card, we will try to keep the CMC to within <= 3 + the original CMC. The card will need to be reusable and not just a sacrifice effect. Also I'll try and stay clear of any cards that exile cards (Browse) or cards that only benefit from certain types of cards in your library (Call to the Kindred).
I put in an Arena as a way for Kresh to take out other creatures at the end of turns. Usually Kresh is pretty big already and will live through any of the "fights".
Yeah, it seems like they are waiting for the last moment. Really I'm looking forward to the alternate art version of the staple common/uncommon like they have done in the past. One thing I really hope they include are emblems for both of the planeswalkers.
This guys is great in my Kresh deck where I use him to bring back some other large creature, then sac Artisan to give a huge boost to Kresh. With eternal witness, this becomes a sick combo.
There have been a lot of people wanting to get a foil Command Tower to pimp out their Commander decks. Best to get it out there now so people will stop asking when it is going to happen. I suspect we'll see several other "Commander Only" cards get the foil treatment now that Flusterstorm and Command Tower are complete.
Starting a new thread since the announcement one was closed.
Looks like the Toolbox barely made it in before the end of the month.
After looking at it, the app looks very good with only a few issues so far.
1. Speed seems a little slow, which could come from having to cache all the card images the first time. We'll see how that plays out after using it some.
2. Commander based searching has a bug. If you select 3 colors (say WUB) and then set the format to Commander, it will still show you multicolored cards as long as they contain the "chosen" colors. Really this should only show cards that fall into those 3 colors + colorless.
Other than that, it's a great start for Wizards on the mobile front.
A couple of weeks ago I played in a legacy tournament for the first time in quite awhile. Since I didn't have much time to prepare, I went with the list that was doing well in the last two SCG tournaments. I went 3 and 3, with several close calls for the loses, which looking back I probably should have mulled some of my hands to make sure to get the sideboard cards in game 2 or 3.
Round 1 was against a WB Stoneblade deck. Mostly I saw Hymm, Thoughtseize, Nighthawk, Vindicate, StP, Batterskull, Sword of F&I, and of course Stoneforge Mystic.
Mostly I played just cautiously enough on turn 2 that I would leave a Mountain open to use my lightning bolt at the end of their turn, this worked great as he would cast his Stoneforge, looking for the Batterskull. I promptly bolted the mystic, setting his plans back for several turns. Game 1 as a pretty easy win. Game 2 I brought in 3 Smash to Smithereens for 3 Flame Rifts. The reason for this is, same CMC, and if I got to a point where both of our lives were <=4 I would much rather have the StS instead against this deck. Game 2 was an easy win as well.
Round 2 I found myself against a BG infect deck. Game 1 I lost bad, even though I was doing pretty well, he dropped a Phyrexian Crusader that I just couldn't do anything about and he hit me one time for 10 poison. Ouch. For Game 2 I traded the Flame Rifts for Pillars as he had several 1 CMC spells. This worked out great as he dropped a Dark Confident. I was able to keep the board clear and in the end his own Confident ended him. Game 3 the Confident came out again as did Pillar, and it ended pretty quickly.
Round 3 I played a guy with the same deck as Round 1. I lost the first match as I couldn't get around the Sword of F&I he hard casted onto his Nighthawk. Games 2 and 3 were mine as I brought the StS back in and keep everything under control.
Round 4 is where my luck ran out. Affinity. Usually I do well against these guys since they run all non basic lands and 1 or 2 PoP end them. Game 1 he got the Raveger out and proceeded to beat me down. Game 2 I was able to get 2 PoP off when he had 3 artifact lands. Game 3 though, Raveger came back out and I had no answer. Too many creatures, two of them were signal pests so the battle cry got me. Made me wish I had some Volcanic Fallouts or Shattering Spree's.
Round 5 was one of the newer combo decks with Past in Flames and Brain Freeze. Game 1 I won only because he cast a spell that let him flip over cards until he hit the named one, and he went from 18 to 0 on his turn 2. I promptly tried boarding in the 6 blasts, Pillars and some grave hate. It did no good on game 2. Game 3 I was very close as he brought himself down to 7 with 3 non basics out and I was ready with the PoP, but he found the brain freeze before he had to use another Probe for 2 life.
Round 6 was against a RUG with Delver, Gyof, and the rest. I won the first game with a double Fireblast. Game 2 I was on turn away, but he was able to swing in with the Gyof and I kept drawing land for 4 turns. Game 3 was similar, leaving me almost wanting to have fetches in the deck regardless of the Stifles.
Over all it was a fun time since I see how using the burn to take out a key creature can really turn the game around in this meta. Stoneforge, Nighthawk and any infect are worth it.
Next I want to try a build with Snapcasters, and then either brainstorm or Bump in the night. I have tried some practice games with Snapcaster and he can really change how people think about your deck, since as a top deck, you can cast him and throw out a few more used spells, which is great card advantage for us.
I have been using the Dragon Shield cases and they work great. They have a bit more room than some of the other clear cases out there, which is great for sideboard/token or a double sleeved deck. Here are a few pictures, one with the double sleeved deck and the other with single sleeved + about 15-20 tokens.
Also this company is about to start making some high end deck boxes. The large one might fit a couple of EDH decks.
It is not known whether any werewolves still exist on Innistrad, but some, perhaps many, might have escaped destruction by slayers and rejected Avacyn's eldritch transformation into wolfir. It was theorized that other lands beyond the great seas harbored exotic species of lycanthropes, and it has been speculated that some werewolves of the known world have fled for those far regions.
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/191a
So if we do return to Innistrad, we may see other shapeshifters other than werewolves.
Elkin Bottle is a bit intensive, but does fit the other criteria since you could simply activate it and not cast the spell to put it in your gaveyard to attempt for a better card.
Scrying Sheets seems more like a draw engine, but might be a good choice in the right deck.
Starting with Sensei's Divining Top we will be looking for a permanent that lets you manipulate the top few cards of your library. I've broken them down by color and type followed by a number stating how many cards down it will let you view/change per activation.
Also to keep in the spirit of the original card, we will try to keep the CMC to within <= 3 + the original CMC. The card will need to be reusable and not just a sacrifice effect. Also I'll try and stay clear of any cards that exile cards (Browse) or cards that only benefit from certain types of cards in your library (Call to the Kindred).
Colorless/Artifact
Crystal Ball 2
Darksteel Pendant 1
Scroll Rack X
Jar of Eyeballs X, Creatures
Ashnod's Cylix 3, Exile
Wand of Denial 1, Non Land
White
Blue
Soothsaying X
Think Tank 1
Descendant of Soramaro X
Eyes of the Watcher 2, Instant/Sorcery
Information Dealer X, Wizards
Jace, the Mind Sculptor 3
Black
Red
Green
Mirri's Guile 3
Sylvan Library 3
Cream of the Crop X, Creatures
Gilt-Leaf Seer 2
WUB
Etherwrought Page 1
UBR
Elemental Augury 3
Land
Soldevi Excavations 1
Scrying Sheets 1, Snow
Looks like the Toolbox barely made it in before the end of the month.
After looking at it, the app looks very good with only a few issues so far.
1. Speed seems a little slow, which could come from having to cache all the card images the first time. We'll see how that plays out after using it some.
2. Commander based searching has a bug. If you select 3 colors (say WUB) and then set the format to Commander, it will still show you multicolored cards as long as they contain the "chosen" colors. Really this should only show cards that fall into those 3 colors + colorless.
Other than that, it's a great start for Wizards on the mobile front.
4x Goblin Guide
3x Hellspark Elemental
3x Keldon Marauders
3x Figure of Destiny
Instants
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Price of Progress
4x Fireblast
4x Chain Lightning
4x Rift Bolt
4x Flame Rift
4x Lava Spike
Land
19x Mountain
1x Relic of Progenitus
2x Tormod's Crypt
3x Pyrostatic Pillar
3x Smash to Smithereens
4x Pyroblast
2x Red Elemental Blast
Round 1 was against a WB Stoneblade deck. Mostly I saw Hymm, Thoughtseize, Nighthawk, Vindicate, StP, Batterskull, Sword of F&I, and of course Stoneforge Mystic.
Mostly I played just cautiously enough on turn 2 that I would leave a Mountain open to use my lightning bolt at the end of their turn, this worked great as he would cast his Stoneforge, looking for the Batterskull. I promptly bolted the mystic, setting his plans back for several turns. Game 1 as a pretty easy win. Game 2 I brought in 3 Smash to Smithereens for 3 Flame Rifts. The reason for this is, same CMC, and if I got to a point where both of our lives were <=4 I would much rather have the StS instead against this deck. Game 2 was an easy win as well.
Round 2 I found myself against a BG infect deck. Game 1 I lost bad, even though I was doing pretty well, he dropped a Phyrexian Crusader that I just couldn't do anything about and he hit me one time for 10 poison. Ouch. For Game 2 I traded the Flame Rifts for Pillars as he had several 1 CMC spells. This worked out great as he dropped a Dark Confident. I was able to keep the board clear and in the end his own Confident ended him. Game 3 the Confident came out again as did Pillar, and it ended pretty quickly.
Round 3 I played a guy with the same deck as Round 1. I lost the first match as I couldn't get around the Sword of F&I he hard casted onto his Nighthawk. Games 2 and 3 were mine as I brought the StS back in and keep everything under control.
Round 4 is where my luck ran out. Affinity. Usually I do well against these guys since they run all non basic lands and 1 or 2 PoP end them. Game 1 he got the Raveger out and proceeded to beat me down. Game 2 I was able to get 2 PoP off when he had 3 artifact lands. Game 3 though, Raveger came back out and I had no answer. Too many creatures, two of them were signal pests so the battle cry got me. Made me wish I had some Volcanic Fallouts or Shattering Spree's.
Round 5 was one of the newer combo decks with Past in Flames and Brain Freeze. Game 1 I won only because he cast a spell that let him flip over cards until he hit the named one, and he went from 18 to 0 on his turn 2. I promptly tried boarding in the 6 blasts, Pillars and some grave hate. It did no good on game 2. Game 3 I was very close as he brought himself down to 7 with 3 non basics out and I was ready with the PoP, but he found the brain freeze before he had to use another Probe for 2 life.
Round 6 was against a RUG with Delver, Gyof, and the rest. I won the first game with a double Fireblast. Game 2 I was on turn away, but he was able to swing in with the Gyof and I kept drawing land for 4 turns. Game 3 was similar, leaving me almost wanting to have fetches in the deck regardless of the Stifles.
Over all it was a fun time since I see how using the burn to take out a key creature can really turn the game around in this meta. Stoneforge, Nighthawk and any infect are worth it.
Next I want to try a build with Snapcasters, and then either brainstorm or Bump in the night. I have tried some practice games with Snapcaster and he can really change how people think about your deck, since as a top deck, you can cast him and throw out a few more used spells, which is great card advantage for us.
Also this company is about to start making some high end deck boxes. The large one might fit a couple of EDH decks.
http://geekchichq.com/the-labs/