Was anyone really saying legends is a bad set? It's iconic as hell and has tons of powerful cards, maybe only second to alpha (although urza's saga puts up a good fight).
Not sure I'm convinced the legends rule is good (I don't even really see an argument that it is). Flavor-wise, it is (or at least used to be) a big win. These days...idk man. Having both versions of jhoira is fine, but having 2 of the same version isn't? Maybe it's supposed to be a multiple timelines thing, but then why can you and your opponent have one, but one poofs as soon as one switches sides? It feels like a top-down rule that's proven to be bad for gameplay, and at this point wotc is just trying to pay lip service to the flavor motivations while essentially destroying everything mechanically important about it.
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- DirkGently
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Member for 12 years, 10 months, and 8 days
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Probably they're basing their prices on ebay prices, which are high because of the low supply. Once the supply increases, the prices will probably go down, but if some of those cards prove legacy playable then the prices could still be fairly high.
Ultimately, I think it's any man's game. Devour is probably the strongest, but it'll also get ganged up on the most.
Well, that's not totally accurate...I've got EDH decks but I don't plan on merely integrating these into my existing decks. The wedge dragons never appealed to me, but the new wedge generals are pretty sweet. I'm making new decks around the new generals, not just putting them in decks I've already got.
Of course, stuff like command tower and BB sol rings are going to get put into existing decks for obvious reasons, as will some of the better new cards, but I think the product will definitely result in a lot of new decks being made by existing players, since the most exciting part of the decks, imo, is the new commanders.
As far as new players, only time will tell. EDH has been steadily gaining momentum for quite a while, though, I think this release can only help it.
Anyway, I like the puppets deck, zedruu is crazy cool and nin is very solid, and there are some likely EDH staples like martyrs bond and chaos warp. It doesn't have much for reprints, but so what...sad robot and grave pact have been around for years, I want something new and exciting. The only deck that has similarly exciting new cards is mirror mastery imo.
Well, on the other hand, though, as I mentioned, it's not as definite a hoser as withered wretch. Wretch can stop reanimation all day, every day. If someone briberies someone else's ulamog, or geth's half of someone's deck onto the field, homeward path doesn't eliminate the problem, just redirects it. Although on the other hand, if it's you they stole from, you just got a whole bunch of stuff for free. But I'm guessing once people discover you're running it, they won't target you with bribery or geth anymore. Anyway, it's more complicated than a straight hoser like wretch.
I do agree it might be better if it was 1-time-use, or at least had some sort of mana cost to go with the ability or something. But wizards has made it pretty clear with some of the resent grave-hate that they don't mind making very cheap silver bullets against particular strategies.
My biggest complaint, and my reason against running it, is that it seems like a relatively narrow hoser to me. But if theft is more prevalent in your meta, then it's definitely a game-changing card.
Well, on the other hand, although bog is 1-use-only, it's also barely an inconvenience to play (same is true for most of the other artifact GY hate). Whereas withered wretch is pretty lousy if no one happens to be using graveyard shenanigans. That happens to be a point in homeward path's favor - it doesn't require much commitment.
I'm not saying "Dies to removal" makes it weak, I'm saying that playing withered wretch doesn't mean you permanently hose graveyard strategies forever. It means you temporarily set them back, and force them to use removal, which is what homeward path offers against theft. It's probably not going to permanently ruin their entire strategy, but it will set them back and force their hand on removal.
It's definitely a major deterrent to theft strategies, and I'm sure it will change the meta, although it doesn't drastically affect me personally. I have seen a lot of people going bananas over its power level, though, and I think they're overestimating. It's a solid, low-commitment hoser for theft, but theft isn't a crucial part of many decks. It's a good card, but it's not going to be an auto-include in everything. Personally I prefer high market.
My understanding (also without specific numbers though) is that the "Ending effects" applies to effects given by permanents they control. For example, you get back your control magicked creatures they had. But if they used dominate on your creature, you're out of luck.
I think you can reuse the thought lash via capsize or whatever in response to the didn't pay trigger.
Well, you've got to assume that whoever is playing a theft-dependent deck will strip/waste the homeward path after it's used, then resume their strategy. chainer, dementia master doesn't try to keep working around withered wretch, he sucks up the temporary loss, removes it, and recovers. The only different with the GY hate artifacts is that you can skip the "remove it" step.
Well...the other issue with the card is that it doesn't necessarily "solve" theft. Say player B briberies ulamog from player C...if you're player A who just topdecked homeward path, it might ruin player B's play but it doesn't get rid of the problem.
Similarly, if player B has been gething all of player C's stuff, giving it back to player C may or may not actually be a good thing.
Frankly, if I've got a land in my hand I want to hit my land drops, so I'll play homeward path even if there's nothing to un-theft. preventing control magic being used against me is nice, but stuff like bribery or geth matters a lot less whether it's being used against you or someone else, and high market can often perform a similar function (while being more versatile since it prevents tuck too). I might be able to redirect geth's power, but I'm not getting rid of it.
So it's not necessarily a perfect hoser, is what I'm saying.
Yes, it really screws over geth, and it makes the busted bribery less busted, but I really don't see many dedicated theft decks. Lots of decks pack a few theft effects, but not many are so focused on it that they can't work without them.
There are lots of commonly-used grave-hate cards like bog, relic, and spellbomb, yet grave-based strategies endure.
If I had a theft-based deck, I'd probably just up the LD a little and try not to overextend.
The drawback of colorless isn't nothing, I probably wouldn't run this in rainbow or even 3-color unless I had a good reason. 1-2 color decks can probably run it pretty well, but it still looks like a narrow hoser to me. I don't really plan on adding it to any of my decks anytime soon.