- Morphling
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Member for 19 years, 2 months, and 18 days
Last active Tue, Apr, 16 2024 20:39:17
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Feb 19, 2018Morphling posted a message on The Role of Ecosystems in Fantasy WorldbuildingVery nicely done.Posted in: Articles
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Dec 2, 2017Morphling posted a message on Word of Command: Un-believableExactly right. Number Crunch is actually the ONLY card in the entire game our casual group ever talked about banning. Luckily, the offending player(s) got the message and voluntarily stopped running it. Let me be very clear: Gotcha cards are TERRIBLE FOR MULTIPLAYER. Don't do it, you will regret it.Posted in: Articles
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Jul 19, 2017Morphling posted a message on Theros: Elspeth's TragedyNicely done.Posted in: Articles
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Apr 19, 2017Morphling posted a message on The Magic Market Index for April 14, 2017Just wanted to check in with you guys. These articles are light-years better than...they used to be. Please keep it up.Posted in: Articles
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Dec 21, 2016Morphling posted a message on The Magic Market Index for December 16, 2016I have no personal beef against Rai, but I would like to voice (as strongly as possible) the opposing viewpoint. These are now actually useful once again, unlike how they used to be. We get targeted comments instead of an recurring obsession on providing bland, neutral, and ultimately-meaningless commentary on *every single card*, no matter its significance or relative insignificance. (And most weeks, at least 50% of them were just lazy cut/pastes of the same repeating statuses over and over.)Posted in: Articles
And a lot of the opinions ("Format BOMB, it's got room to grow." or "This card is garbage, it's going down.") were apparently personal opinions anyway, as we would never get any actual analysis or support to back up claims. That seems a bit pointless too.
I found Rai's updates to be a nearly complete waste of time to read. The current, more focused format is much better in my mind. We get the quick hits and not a lot of fluff about cards that don't even matter.
Sorry but that's how I feel. I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings so I kept it under wraps and then the authorship changed, so I dropped it. (Sorry if any of this hurts your feelings, Rai. Really not my intent. I imagine these are hard to do, and no, I probably couldn't do any better myself.) -
Feb 10, 2016Morphling posted a message on Off Topic: Making a Magic MovieAs for storyline, I think this might be a cool thing: Do a full-on fantasy movie set in a Magic plane. Characters are introduced, crisis erupts, huge battle ensues, ups and downs, all that..Posted in: Articles
Fade to black..
Fade back in to one final, real-world scene in someone's basement. All the heroes (and the villain) are there, talking epic smack, picking up their stuff and shuffling up for the next game. Or packing up for the night and saying something like "See you next time, guys." "Hell yeah, awesome game!!"
Fade to black.. Credits roll.
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Feb 10, 2016Morphling posted a message on Off Topic: Making a Magic MovieAny movie about Magic should spend as little time as possible talking about handsize, milling, any of that stuff. Did the D&D movies spend time talking about dice rolls, THAC0, or encumbrance? (Communicate the flavor of a some rule via a quirky funny one-liner aside to the audience? "You wanna do WHAT now?" Sure--that's reasonable, but absolutely nothing beyond something like that.)Posted in: Articles
The movie doesn't need to be a game tutorial. It's supposed to entertain and get people interested in learning more about the game AFTER the movie.
It shouldn't be an opportunity to stroke Magic players egos with endless in-jokes about Magic and R&D and....a bunch of fanservice, more or less. I mean--Magic players are gonna show up in droves no matter what they put in it. This being the case, they should worry about the NON players and make the movie for them (and less for us). I mean--what's a better payoff? A movie that makes us all feel awesome about ourselves for a few days on the forums or a movie that helps inject a BUNCH of new players to help the game go on for (at least) another decade.
Whatever, my 2¢. -
Aug 31, 2014Morphling posted a message on Why there is a VERY good chance that the eldrazi will get reprinted during Khans of Tarkir blockCool theory..you might get some more looks if you repost this in speculation.Posted in: fire10798
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They are one of 3 animals on the planet (along w/Humans & Chimps) that are capable of 'observational learning', where one member of a species observes another solve a problem or task, and can then replicate the correct solution on the first attempt.
Dolphins can't even do it reliably.
If I turned his Mountain into an Island, and then Eradicate his (now-) Island...it seems wrong to take away all his Mountains, when I named "Island".
I guess that regardless of what I name it, "Island", it remains officially...a Mountain, and since the rest of his lands are 'officially' named Mountain, it removes them. Correct?
Weird.
EDIT: PokerBob explained it clearly. Again...weird...but I absolutely CANNOT WAIT to pull this off. Ohhh....the good times.
1) I turn one of opponent's mountains into an island, using Sea's Claim.
2) I cast Genju of the Falls on that same land.
3) I cast Eradicate and name "Island"
4) I then remove that Genju'd Land, and THEN go through his hand and remove all their Mountains from the game?
That still doesn't seem right....??
I'm not trying to be dense...it just seems like this should NOT work. Explanation, anyone?
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(Pls. forget I even mentioned the Quicksilver Fountain...it just confused things.)
However...if my opponent is playing a red deck.
I turn their mountain into an island using Sea's Claim, and enchant that land with the Genju of the Falls, and then play Eradicate on the island/Genju...what happens?
Is this is a combo or a bombo?
What, exactly, are the limitations....would it blow up all their lands? (or just the one)
1) I'm thinking that unless I catch them playing a mono-blue deck, it'll only affect the land I've targeted (which I turned into an island using various methods. Correct?
2) Is there a way to change temporarily all lands into islands? Quicksilver Fountain was the only thing I could think of that's even similar.
Thanks in advance,
M
Today's Article, "Honey, I Shrunk the Blue Cards", caught my eye...
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/af68
I've been thinking how they might make the (rumored 10) guilds distinct enough to make them mix/matchable enough to create more complexity. Now....a few excerpts..(The BOLD part really got me thinking...)
"... creatures “pluses” for inspiration. Green—the best plus color—can give creatures +X/+X pretty easily. White gets a little slice of that, generally by giving very small bonuses, like +1/+1. White also gets one half of that ability—the +0/+X toughness bonus. And red is now the “Howl from Beyond” color, and can give +X/+0.
So the three permutations of “+X” were divvied up across three colors, yet the three permutations of “-X” were all in one color. I made it my mission to get that changed. It was clear that -X/-X was going to stay black. Black could also keep -0/-X for two reasons—one, it doesn't play that much differently than -X/-X; and two, we don't really ever use it (check out Spirit Shackle, Essence Flare, Takklemaggot, and Ironclaw Curse for some very old-school cards that just give minuses to toughness). So the idea was to put Shrink somewhere else..."
and..
"So what of the other power and toughness altering combinations? For starters, cards that give -X/-Y (such a Weakness, which gives -2/-1) will remain black. The “Flowstone ability”—+X/-X—floats between black and red and might even show up in green from time to time. The reverse ability—-X/+X—is used sparingly (see Pemmin's Aura and Tyrranax for recent examples) and isn't necessarily nailed down anywhere."
Now...consider a card like Sword of Fire and Ice or Sword of Light and Shadow. Each of these has, logically, 2 abilities, each of which are very appropriate for their representative color focus (Red/Blue & White/Black). Why do I point these out? Because I think they're test-runs for stuff we're likely to see in Ravnica.
Now consider all of the two-ability Guildmages from Mirage & Invasion. Notice how each has 2 color-specific abilities that define them. I think we should expect to see an expansion of these types of abilities to the "nth degree", with almost all 'permutable' effects like +X/+X, card drawing, direct damage, life loss, etc...balanced among each color which is BEST at it, and then OK at it, and then WORST at it. Then, combining the various guilds/color combinations, you have a LOT of complexity available. Perhaps the remaining 2 (again, rumored) guilds that are supposed to appear in 2nd or 3rd set are 'meta-guilds' that give additional bonuses when you combine allied guilds.
Did any of that make sense?
The more I think about it, I think he gave us a lot of insight into what the upcoming set...without a lot of folks realizing it. (Best place to hide something is sometimes 'in plain sight'.)
Did anyone else think about this?
Now...if they just reprint Attrition, it's ON.
Tks,
M
EDIT: never mind...found it.
http://forums.mtgnews.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=37727
**COUGH**Threshold**COUGH**Madness**COUGH**Flashback**COUGH**Reanimator Decks**
I really should see a doctor...
Particularly Reanimator Decks...the room for abuse is probably why they made it a Rare.... Compare it to Entomb I've seen Akroma hit the table on Turn 2 using that thing...just wrong.
Thank you, Jabberwocky. :fingers:
Example: Dragon Mask's art was originally planned for, believe it or not, Firestorm Hellkite. Look it up.
And again...I humbly point out:
If that's what's happened on Hypnox, how is it completely out of the realm of possibility that the same thing occurred w/Specter? It's pretty unlikely...but it is possible.
That, and it does look more like Abyssal Specter, but I could totally see them trying for continuity among Specter arts. That sounds like something Cranford would push for.
Please don't get me wrong...I'm psyched over the idea of Hyppie in Core Set...just not convinced. My point was simply that apart from a piece of art named 'Hypnotic Specter.jpg', again, not 100% conclusive b/c of reasons above...do we have anything else to make it a sure-fire thing?
I agree that some of his work adorns some of my favorite cards from ages past...but I also agree that it doesn't 'fit' much anymore. He's surrounded by a stable of eager, competent, and yes, more interesting artists...sorry dude, but your stuff just doesn't cut it anymore.
At least Guay's stands out for style...firing her was a mistake, but she should work on doing less weepy-willow-woman stuff... In contrast, Beard's stuff was just getting so...bland.
My .02¢
Just because he named his image Hypnotic_Specter.jpg doesn't exactly prove anything... He could've just as easily named the file, Black_Lotus.jpg...but that doesn't mean a thing either.
For Example: On THE SAME SITE, he named the art for Hypnox...'Mindwiper.jpg' :dance2:
Don't get me wrong...I'd love to own a couple more Hyppies...but I'm still expecting to see Abyssal Specter instead.
We'll see...