So they seem pretty confident that they've figured out how to construct precons that are decently playable in Standard. I for one am willing to be cautiously optimistic about this. After all, the first event decks back in Mirrodin Besieged actually weren't half bad iirc, were they? Here's hoping that this works for people like me who want to play Standard every once in a while without extensive investment of time and money...
Oh, so that's where that 'Lightning Bolt' artwork went (Ramunap Ruins)...I was so sure that'd be one of the Invocations.
I think these are going to make for interesting pick decisions, since they don't contribute to your ~23 nonland cards, but look quite playable. Although 'Desert matters' support so far doesn't look very incentivizing...
Legendary monoblue sphinx that doesn't suck, my prayers have been heard! Although I was just getting fond of the idea of letting Kefnet lead my Sphinx deck in EDH...
I have to agree that financial value, as long as there are no large discrepancies, should be a secondary concern; primarily you are paying Wizards for the service of coming up with these decklists after much iteration and putting them into one convenient box to buy.
And for Archenemy in particular, it seems really difficult to balance a set of three decks to play nicely angainst a fourth...I'd like to hear more opionions on how well you think these are going to play?
Sure, the Gatewatch decks look like “chaff“ as they are mostly commons, but it's still three vs one deck (plus schemes) and I don't see them just run over by Bolas at all...
Those deck boxes actually look legit enough to hold sleeved cards.
That seems very likely, seeing as they are doing the same thing with planeswalker decks and recently duel decks.
Personally, I don't like it at all since I prefer to play my cards without annoying plastic around them whenever possible, but apparently I'm in the minority there. Though, I always thought people who care about that sort of thing would never use these paper deck boxes anyway
The combat step is scarcely engaging in Constructed formats (as opposed to Limited)
That's an interesting point, why do you think that is? Whenever I hear people complain about "creature-centric" gameplay, I always think about how the whole turn structure is basically structured around the combat step and how the way attacking and blocking works in Magic leads to some of the most interesting situations and decisions. But then I mostly play Limited. Why shouldn't it be the same though, when you have two midrange decks facing each other down in Constructed? Aren't there complex board states and attacking/blocking decisions there too, that make the game more interesting that clashing counterspells?
Also, did anyone else note the continuity error in that Olivia was still wielding the sword from her card art, and not the sword she stole from Sorin?
Nice catch! I wonder what that means for the chances of that particular plot point to actually become relevant in the future. Are we going to see Olivia, Lady of Innistrad or was that just something the author of the other story thought was cool?
Personally, in that scene I rather enjoyed how the story called out the utter silliness that is Olivia's own sword. How are you stabbing/cutting anything with that thing? Well, I guess it also doubles as a giant bottle opener, so there's that..
Thanks for the input, you two. Forbidding players from changing the order at all does indeed seem the most elegant solution, so I suppose that is how it's done.
Hi all, this is something that even though I have been drafting for a fairly long time only struck me recently, strangely enough. Most people shuffle the cards before passing them to their neighbor, but I always gathered that was not obligatory. However, doesn't that mean that you can basically communicate exactly what colors you are in by purposefully leaving the cards in those colors on top of the stack? At that point, you might as well say aloud "I'm in color X", which clearly isn't allowed and ruins all the fun about trying to read signals. But if there is such a thing as a shuffle rule then I never heard of it in all my years of playing Magic...sorry if this is a stupid question ^^
I've recently thought about picking up some older theme decks for casual games, seeing how you can apparently get some of them online for reasonable prices. For one thing, I would love to get a feeling for how the dynamic of the games was back then; also, the old-school asthetic of the pre-modern frames appeals to me and I never got to play with these.
So my question is this: are there any theme decks from before the card frame change that you remember as especially cool, interesting to play or evocative of what Magic used to be like?
As for my own contribution, I suggest that Wizards build a school on an island that seperates students into three houses named after the Eldrazi titans and teaches them nothing but how to play Magic.
About the fight scene: how the heck would a creature adapted to swimming through lava be stopped by a wall of fire?(Also, the hellion gets stuck with its teeth in its own scales? seriously?) Otherwise though, the story was fine and enjoyable to read. It seems to imply that Chandra will not be participating in BFZ (though probably in the following set, wasn't it said that all of the Origin Five except Liliana would be involved?)
I think these are going to make for interesting pick decisions, since they don't contribute to your ~23 nonland cards, but look quite playable. Although 'Desert matters' support so far doesn't look very incentivizing...
Here's my best attempt, fwiw:
“Nissa. The soul of this world is dead, you see. I suppose I will gladly kill it again.
-Nicol Bolas“
Not sure how to interpret this, but it definitely says “dead“ and “kill again“, so...
And for Archenemy in particular, it seems really difficult to balance a set of three decks to play nicely angainst a fourth...I'd like to hear more opionions on how well you think these are going to play?
Sure, the Gatewatch decks look like “chaff“ as they are mostly commons, but it's still three vs one deck (plus schemes) and I don't see them just run over by Bolas at all...
Change that to “Sphinx commander“ and I'll go prepare the pitchforks
That seems very likely, seeing as they are doing the same thing with planeswalker decks and recently duel decks.
Personally, I don't like it at all since I prefer to play my cards without annoying plastic around them whenever possible, but apparently I'm in the minority there. Though, I always thought people who care about that sort of thing would never use these paper deck boxes anyway
That's an interesting point, why do you think that is? Whenever I hear people complain about "creature-centric" gameplay, I always think about how the whole turn structure is basically structured around the combat step and how the way attacking and blocking works in Magic leads to some of the most interesting situations and decisions. But then I mostly play Limited. Why shouldn't it be the same though, when you have two midrange decks facing each other down in Constructed? Aren't there complex board states and attacking/blocking decisions there too, that make the game more interesting that clashing counterspells?
Nice catch! I wonder what that means for the chances of that particular plot point to actually become relevant in the future. Are we going to see Olivia, Lady of Innistrad or was that just something the author of the other story thought was cool?
Personally, in that scene I rather enjoyed how the story called out the utter silliness that is Olivia's own sword. How are you stabbing/cutting anything with that thing? Well, I guess it also doubles as a giant bottle opener, so there's that..
I've recently thought about picking up some older theme decks for casual games, seeing how you can apparently get some of them online for reasonable prices. For one thing, I would love to get a feeling for how the dynamic of the games was back then; also, the old-school asthetic of the pre-modern frames appeals to me and I never got to play with these.
So my question is this: are there any theme decks from before the card frame change that you remember as especially cool, interesting to play or evocative of what Magic used to be like?
As for my own contribution, I suggest that Wizards build a school on an island that seperates students into three houses named after the Eldrazi titans and teaches them nothing but how to play Magic.