I want 4 damage but I don't like I can't point it at the face :/. Still likely to end up in my standard deck just for the 4 damage, just a pain that killing a long-tusk cub is still nearly impossible in red.
Cut||Ribbons already does the same thing for 2 mana
Looking at the entire set, it seems like Rivals has a high floor and low ceiling power-level wise. I’m not really seeing much that will enter competitive play, but the non-competitive cards seem stronger than usual.
If I was going to run this card I would be trying to curve out at 5 with this and Hour of Devastation. Block all day and live through your own sweepers.
I bought a box of Unstable and decided to build some decks out of it. Figured I'd build five decks, one for each faction. I kept each deck faction specific, and limited rares and Mythics to 2ofs. Bought some singles to supplement the box, didn't spend more than 15 bucks on them when things were done. I added some cheap taplands for mana fixing. I built these decks primarily to work, as opposed to doing silly things. I figure doing silly things is pretty much a given. I haven't tested these decks much, and I'm worried the Crossbreed Labs deck and the League of Dastardly doom deck might be a little weak as those factions don't only a single card in their Faction that builds contraptions, and the only non-faction card that does is blue. I kept all five decks Faction specific, with no cards from other factions. The other three decks all have loads of cards that build contraptions.
Modern most certainly does sell packs and it's one of the reasons that Modern Masters always takes off. There are people who literally save up all year just to buy Modern Masters Booster Boxes because they have no interest in standard and want cards that are playable long term when they crack packs. It isn't even about the actual market price a lot of the time. I know one person at my LGS just likes the thought of opening up Path to Exile and Damnation more than opening up a Hour of Revelation or a Doomfall.
That's all well and good if you already have the cards. It really can suck if you don't. I came back at the end of 2016 and had to start from scratch. Non-creature cards are indeed a lot weaker than I remember them, but I have to deal with what I can find opponents for and play a decent game on my budget. I'm not interested in being a crappy modern player, and being a strong Modern player requires a $1200-2000+ investment. Legacy is a no go unless I start printing my own fake cards. I can(and did) build kitchen table decks using the best of what early sets can offer on a budget, but most casual players play Commander these days, which I hate, and the ones that don't often are prissy about format(Modern or Standard) where I am not. I ended up playing a lot of limited, which I'm good at and enjoy, and I made the jump to Standard when I noticed my Limited playing combined with some of my kitchen table purchasing had produced a surprisingly strong Standard collection, one that I could complete at a reasonable cost factoring in the upcoming rotation. That and I had a monster stack of store credit from my Limited winnings to put into it. I'd rather just play kitchen table, but it's too hard to find people. I don't like Modern. I'm a casual player at heart, and the casual in me looks st Modern and it's all just busted 4-5 turn decks. Standard is weaker, but it doesn't turn me off the same way for that same reason. That and I was in a position to buy in cheap.
For a new or returning player, what is discouraging is being non-competitive against decks you can't personally build. Some of that is skill and experience, but a lot of it is money, especially older cards.
The reserved list isn't the problem to anyone aside from some cranky old timers. Those cards are so rare they have little impact on the big picture. That there seems to be a pseudo-reserved list for Modern is a bigger problem given that Modern is the de-facto premier format for the game right now. The premier format should not be infested with $50-$100 cards to the extent Modern is. IMO that is just a symptom of the bigger problem, which is that Modern has eclipsed Standard as the premier format. Modern doesn't sell packs/boxes. Not even with the MM. MM once a year is a drop in the bucket compared to how big the card pool is. If you want to play Modern, you do so by buying singles. End of story. Standard you can get value out of opening sealed product if you're smart about it, especially if you enjoy playing limited. Modern is also fairly hostile to new players, despite what it's advocates claim. The bar to entry might be low, but the bar to playing Modern well is high.
A lot of selfishness in the last couple of posts. I get it, you guys are old timers and you want to play the game how it used to be using the cards that saw play back during an earlier time when you were playing. I played back in 1996 too. The thing is, those cards were busted and I'm glad they're gone. The game is better now. Vintage and Legacy are busted formats and I don't want them to see more play. Modern is bad enough. Commander is bad enough without old cards being more common.
How fragmented can the game be and survive? Right now we have Standard, Modern, Commander, Scrub Modern(I consider this distinct from competitive Modern), Scrub Standard(far less common than Scrub Modern, but I know two guys who fit this to a tee), Kitchen Table Casual, Legacy, Vintage, etc. Right now Legacy and Vintage are very small, most people seem to be playing Commander and Modern, with Standard third.
The Legacy and Vintage communities are small and I don't think they're that significant in the big picture. Modern is the big deal for this sort of thing.
Just to show what can be done with precon decks, here's an example. I'm the resident non-commander casual guru who helps the noobs and teaches them how to play. The decks I use are a group of 10 2-color(one of each combo) Amonkhet Block decks. These decks are purpose-built, based on draft archetypes, and limited to a $20 budget which I often go well under. Here are two of those decks:
I'd encourage you to give it a shot. I'm unsure that main is where you want him because there are matches like U/W Approach and some builds of R/G ramp where its just a grizzly bear. However, he is solid against Temur and decent against some of the other decks in the diverse meta right now. You could try Sweltering Suns out of the board to help in the Temur and mirror match. I've preferred having the Mentor, personally.
I'm currently running 3 Sweltering Suns out of the SB because it's a decisive card against Zombies.
A friend of mine said that prize support has gone way down across the board for Magic. Maybe that could be an answer, ramp up the prize support for Standard and Frontier by a lot, and ignore Modern.
Cut||Ribbons already does the same thing for 2 mana
Here are the decks:
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/decks/434-unstable-order-of-the-widget
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/decks/435-unstable-agents-of-s-n-e-a-k
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/decks/437-unstable-goblin-explosioneers
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/decks/439-unstable-league-of-dastardly-doom
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/decks/440-unstable-crossbreed-labs
That's all well and good if you already have the cards. It really can suck if you don't. I came back at the end of 2016 and had to start from scratch. Non-creature cards are indeed a lot weaker than I remember them, but I have to deal with what I can find opponents for and play a decent game on my budget. I'm not interested in being a crappy modern player, and being a strong Modern player requires a $1200-2000+ investment. Legacy is a no go unless I start printing my own fake cards. I can(and did) build kitchen table decks using the best of what early sets can offer on a budget, but most casual players play Commander these days, which I hate, and the ones that don't often are prissy about format(Modern or Standard) where I am not. I ended up playing a lot of limited, which I'm good at and enjoy, and I made the jump to Standard when I noticed my Limited playing combined with some of my kitchen table purchasing had produced a surprisingly strong Standard collection, one that I could complete at a reasonable cost factoring in the upcoming rotation. That and I had a monster stack of store credit from my Limited winnings to put into it. I'd rather just play kitchen table, but it's too hard to find people. I don't like Modern. I'm a casual player at heart, and the casual in me looks st Modern and it's all just busted 4-5 turn decks. Standard is weaker, but it doesn't turn me off the same way for that same reason. That and I was in a position to buy in cheap.
For a new or returning player, what is discouraging is being non-competitive against decks you can't personally build. Some of that is skill and experience, but a lot of it is money, especially older cards.
How fragmented can the game be and survive? Right now we have Standard, Modern, Commander, Scrub Modern(I consider this distinct from competitive Modern), Scrub Standard(far less common than Scrub Modern, but I know two guys who fit this to a tee), Kitchen Table Casual, Legacy, Vintage, etc. Right now Legacy and Vintage are very small, most people seem to be playing Commander and Modern, with Standard third.
Just to show what can be done with precon decks, here's an example. I'm the resident non-commander casual guru who helps the noobs and teaches them how to play. The decks I use are a group of 10 2-color(one of each combo) Amonkhet Block decks. These decks are purpose-built, based on draft archetypes, and limited to a $20 budget which I often go well under. Here are two of those decks:
2 Earthshaker Khenra
2 Glory-Bound Initiate
4 Gust Walker
2 Oketra's Avenger
3 Ahn-Crop Crasher
3 Dauntless Aven
2 Khenra Scrapper
2 Emberhorn Minotaur
2 Heart-Piercer Manticore
4 Cartouche of Zeal
2 Djeru's Resolve
4 Magma Spray
2 Onward // Victory
2 Trial of Solidarity
2 Trial of Zeal
9 Mountain
9 Plains
4 Stone Quarry
4 Exemplar of Strength
2 Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons
2 Baleful Ammit
3 Banewhip Punisher
3 Obelisk Spider
2 Plague Belcher
3 Tenacious Hunter
3 Decimator Beetle
2 Hapatra's Mark
2 Shed Weakness
4 Trial of Ambition
4 Cartouche of Ambition
2 Torment of Venom
2 Evolving Wilds
9 Forest
4 Foul Orchard
9 Swamp
These decks actually work and can play real games.
Against Zombies, From the list I posted earlier I would be:
-4 Bomat Courier
-3 Falkenrath Gorger
-3 Hazoret, the Fervent
-1 Abrade
+1 Sea Gate Wreckage
+4 Glorybringer
+2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
+1 Cut // Ribbons
+3 Sweltering Suns
The biggest problem I have with Zombies is falling behind when they start making tokens.
I'm currently running 3 Sweltering Suns out of the SB because it's a decisive card against Zombies.