Anybody read both McGough and Grubb? Grubb's stuff is superb, but he hasn't written for Magic for several years, while J. R. King got several chances to screw it up (he begins stuff quite well, but they keep letting him END things).
As long as white doesn't get a counterspell of any sort it can never be too powerful. It will certainly never get Armageddon back.
I hate to reopen this tired arguement, but...
WotC has said repeatedly that 'geddon is still in white's domain. Any symetrical board sweeping type spell is white flavored. They removed Armageddon as an experiment, and they have not only said it MAY return, but that it probably WILL. I'm hoping in 9th, along with Trample.
Have we seen anything new with Splice yet? Perhaps non-mana splice costs? That would help make expensive Arcane spells more worthwhile.
Grubb. Grubb > all... though in all fairness I've read no McGough.
King... as far as writing quality goes, it isn't terrible. But the things he DOES in his books... Apocalypse was befuddling enough. I've yet to meet someone who wasn't driven at least slightly insane by Scourge. I mean, her overwrote tons of continuity in Invasion cycle, but by the time he got to Onslaught block, he started contradicting his OWN books... reading his own books shouldn't be too much to ask...
Neither goblin is really a protagonist, save perhaps Squee during Masques, and that's pushing it. Personally, I find the recurring goblin sidekicks thing to be rather tiresome.
Again, this does not necessarily show a shift back. At most, it may signal that they will share Disenchant between two colors -- like card drawing for combat damage is shared between Green and Blue. However, I still believe Disenchant is now a predominantly GREEN ability. Again, I point to Altar's light--it's expensive, meaning Naturalize is still the standard in T2. The card here is slow and still more expensive than Naturalize--it may be used, but I'd think most decks would rather spash green than play something so slow.
Not just any characters, mind you. Main characters. I haven't read past Odyssey directly, so I'm curious as to how Glissa, Toshi, Kamahl et al compare to Urza, Jodah, Gerrard, et cetera. As for those three, my take:
Urza: Very entertaining and quite, quite mad. I rather liked him because he's such a prick to be the great 'hero' of dominaria.
Jodah: Nice guy, easily the most sympathetic of these three. Would like to know what's happened to him since we saw him last--same for Jaya, for that matter, heh.
Gerrard: Worst. Hero. Ever. Well, maybe not--if any of the other nine people in the world who have seen Wizards of the Lost Kingdom are reading this, the little kid entrusted with the magic ring who drops it before even turning around is probably the worst hero ever. But Gerrard is up there. Angst! Pout! Indecision! Ineptitude! I mean, just HOW many times did he crash Weatherlight straight into the ground? He's just so... unlikable. No sympathy is ever developed for him, and in fact, most readers I know root for his death and suffering (myself included).
Heh, I'm hoping they had low turnout, because I was rather pleased with my submission. I put a lot of thought into doing as much of the contradictory things they wanted as possible--such as a focus on characters/settings from Invasion block, but with a particular focus on Shiv and Jamuraa, which are phased out for a MINIMUM of 100 years (Scourge). How'd you deal with that?
Anyway, it could be the staff realized it wasn't going to be there that week anyway, so they extended the deadline. I haven't the foggiest idea, actually, though it would miff me if someone who didn't have their s**t together on time got chosen because of this.
Did anyone else try it? I know most of the storyline people stayed with the old boards, I may check there too. But, anyway...
Anybody but me detect irony in this?:
We're very deadline-driven here, and there's rarely any room for authors to run late. It's not a bad idea to read over our standard submission guidelines.
We have EXTENDED the due date, and will be accepting proposals through the end of the business day on January 3, 2005.
Yeah. Anyway, the assignment was stupidly complex for anybody who really pays any attention to continuity, which doesn't seem to actually involve WotC (or, at least, J. Robert King and his editors). I'll explain if anyone asks/cares.
Best Magic novel, hands down, is The Brothers' War. Grubb is easily their best author; none come close to the depth or quality he does. The next best, therefore, are his three Ice Age cycle books--and also because Jaya Ballard is super spiffy.
Worst Books: I haven't read any since Odyssey, though I have heard nothing positive about Legions or especially Scourge. I've had them explained to me--a plot should not take that many 'apparently's and 'somehow's to explain. Apocalypse was just a horrific culmination of a saga that took years--real time--to reach that moment. Simply put, it doesn't make a bit of sense. Honestly, most of the major plot points are completely insane, as if the author didn't even feel obligated to think things through any longer. And the final ending is a topic about which I would doubtless rant at some point.
Anyway, there is no question in my mind, or in most other people's, that the most horrifically awful Magic book printed to date must be (and shall hopefully remain) Prophecy. No italics for that piece of crap. A friend of mine saw me rereading it (research for that novel submission thing), and noticed the crappiness at just a glance. Seriously, she looked over, read a sentence or two, and exclaimed, "Wow, that is crappy." :puke:
Stay away from it. Even if you want to read the whole Phyrexian war arc, you can safely skip it. Nothing happens in it that can't be inferred from Invasion. In fact, I'll sum up the plot right now:
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Keld Invades Jamuraa.
Urza decides not to help. Barrin does. Rayne dies.
Teferi suddenly remembers he has godlike powers.
Teferi defeats the Keldons.
A little part of my soul dies.
This isn't a shift of disenchant back to white. White still got Altar's Light I think it was, in Mirrodin--slower and not as good as Naturalize. They said at the time white can still kill both, just not as well. A three-mana sorcery constitutes 'not as well,' in my opinion. Not completely sucky--should be fun for Mental Magic.
MTGNews: 328
MTGSalvation: 329
We're about neck-in-neck right now, but we have more registered users each time I look.
I hate to reopen this tired arguement, but...
WotC has said repeatedly that 'geddon is still in white's domain. Any symetrical board sweeping type spell is white flavored. They removed Armageddon as an experiment, and they have not only said it MAY return, but that it probably WILL. I'm hoping in 9th, along with Trample.
Have we seen anything new with Splice yet? Perhaps non-mana splice costs? That would help make expensive Arcane spells more worthwhile.
King... as far as writing quality goes, it isn't terrible. But the things he DOES in his books... Apocalypse was befuddling enough. I've yet to meet someone who wasn't driven at least slightly insane by Scourge. I mean, her overwrote tons of continuity in Invasion cycle, but by the time he got to Onslaught block, he started contradicting his OWN books... reading his own books shouldn't be too much to ask...
Urza: Very entertaining and quite, quite mad. I rather liked him because he's such a prick to be the great 'hero' of dominaria.
Jodah: Nice guy, easily the most sympathetic of these three. Would like to know what's happened to him since we saw him last--same for Jaya, for that matter, heh.
Gerrard: Worst. Hero. Ever. Well, maybe not--if any of the other nine people in the world who have seen Wizards of the Lost Kingdom are reading this, the little kid entrusted with the magic ring who drops it before even turning around is probably the worst hero ever. But Gerrard is up there. Angst! Pout! Indecision! Ineptitude! I mean, just HOW many times did he crash Weatherlight straight into the ground? He's just so... unlikable. No sympathy is ever developed for him, and in fact, most readers I know root for his death and suffering (myself included).
Good riddance. *nod*
Anyway, it could be the staff realized it wasn't going to be there that week anyway, so they extended the deadline. I haven't the foggiest idea, actually, though it would miff me if someone who didn't have their s**t together on time got chosen because of this.
Anybody but me detect irony in this?:
Yeah. Anyway, the assignment was stupidly complex for anybody who really pays any attention to continuity, which doesn't seem to actually involve WotC (or, at least, J. Robert King and his editors). I'll explain if anyone asks/cares.
Worst Books: I haven't read any since Odyssey, though I have heard nothing positive about Legions or especially Scourge. I've had them explained to me--a plot should not take that many 'apparently's and 'somehow's to explain. Apocalypse was just a horrific culmination of a saga that took years--real time--to reach that moment. Simply put, it doesn't make a bit of sense. Honestly, most of the major plot points are completely insane, as if the author didn't even feel obligated to think things through any longer. And the final ending is a topic about which I would doubtless rant at some point.
Anyway, there is no question in my mind, or in most other people's, that the most horrifically awful Magic book printed to date must be (and shall hopefully remain) Prophecy. No italics for that piece of crap. A friend of mine saw me rereading it (research for that novel submission thing), and noticed the crappiness at just a glance. Seriously, she looked over, read a sentence or two, and exclaimed, "Wow, that is crappy." :puke:
Stay away from it. Even if you want to read the whole Phyrexian war arc, you can safely skip it. Nothing happens in it that can't be inferred from Invasion. In fact, I'll sum up the plot right now:
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Keld Invades Jamuraa.
Urza decides not to help. Barrin does. Rayne dies.
Teferi suddenly remembers he has godlike powers.
Teferi defeats the Keldons.
A little part of my soul dies.