Hey all, nice to see you going strong. I had to cut out of CCL stuff for the past few months due to work/personal stuff, but I'll try to throw in some 2 cents where I can.
Ouch... That happened to one of my Izzet opponents too. Even though Selesnya was their best pool, it was still pretty poor. But luck is a huge factor here. One of my friends pulled two Armada Wurms and an Angel of Serenity, for instance. Having a lot of bombs like that go a long way.
Deck of Omens 3
Artifact (U)
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, you may look at the top card of their library. "What does your future hold for you? Only Madame Xenu knows!"
Hidden Allegiance2RR
Sorcery (R)
Gain control of target creature you don't control until end of turn. Untap that creature. It gains haste until end of turn.
Overload 4RRRR
Mana Burst UG1
Sorcery (MR)
Until end of turn, all lands that tap for mana produce twice as much of that mana instead. 1: Untap target land you control. Use this ability only while Mana Burst is on the stack. Any player may use this ability.
IIW: Teenagers, mutants, ninjas, turtles or some combination thereof.
I will really be disappointed if they don't make Gideon a hybrid Pwalker. It will somewhat keep happy all the fanbois who are saying, "He'd never be red!"... because if you want, he doesn't have to be! He can still be mono-white. Or maybe your Gideon has let rage take him over, and he's mono red. Or a little of both.
It's too bad lifelink was used on Azorious, as it would have been fun to see "gains lifelink/gains deathtouch" on the Orzhov charm.
I'd like the third ability to be useful at any time, so I'd probably change the third ability. Maybe a simple, "you gain 2 life, opponent loses 2 life."
They mentioned in the newest flavor article that the Boros are now more militaristic instead of law enforcement (which was given to Azorius.)
So I think any mechanic the Boros get will have to reflect a "militaristic" feel. (Then again, Unleash really has nothing to do with the theme they've got now, but they admitted that their original "Paincast" mechanic, which was in flavor, had to be discarded.)
I'd like to see a "tactics" flavored ability, in the same vein that Odric's mechanic is very flavorful. Perhaps something like "Overpower - If you control more creatures than your opponent, add +X/+0 to this creature, where X is the amount of creatures more than your opponent that you control." (Yes, the formatting on this sucks, but you get the idea.)
Given that red/white is the weenie color, I'd be surprised if there wasn't something reflecting that in the mechanics. They already stated that "Radiance" was a poorly received keyword, and I think that's because the keyword didn't really fit with the guild.
Thanks for some of the answers all! Some good posts. (For all those who brought up that black gets +1/+1 counters, they usually seem predicated on either combat damage or something dying, rather than ETB.)
I was reading MaRo's comments about color pie in his newest sets of articles, and he mentions how Collective Blessing only works in a GW shell.
Given that, why is Corpsejack Menace black? Duplicating +1/+1 counters is very green, and helping your other creatures is green, but neither part feels black. Lotleth troll requires a discard, and has regen, so that feels black. Corpsejack? Not so much.
My rares:
Counterflux (Guild Pack)
Nivmagus Elemental
Palisade Giant
Deadbridge Goliath
Dreadbore
Pithing Needle
I was a sad panda. At least I got a good offer on my Dreadbore.
Deck of Omens 3
Artifact (U)
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, you may look at the top card of their library.
"What does your future hold for you? Only Madame Xenu knows!"
Down 2U
Instant (U)
Tap up to three target creatures.
///
Out 2W
Instant (U)
Exile target creature.
IIW: Teenagers, mutants, ninjas, turtles or some combo thereof.
Sorcery (R)
Gain control of target creature you don't control until end of turn. Untap that creature. It gains haste until end of turn.
Overload 4RRRR
Sorcery (MR)
Until end of turn, all lands that tap for mana produce twice as much of that mana instead.
1: Untap target land you control. Use this ability only while Mana Burst is on the stack. Any player may use this ability.
IIW: Teenagers, mutants, ninjas, turtles or some combination thereof.
Not for me... I'm going Izzet
It works on too many levels for it not to happen.
I'd like the third ability to be useful at any time, so I'd probably change the third ability. Maybe a simple, "you gain 2 life, opponent loses 2 life."
So I think any mechanic the Boros get will have to reflect a "militaristic" feel. (Then again, Unleash really has nothing to do with the theme they've got now, but they admitted that their original "Paincast" mechanic, which was in flavor, had to be discarded.)
I'd like to see a "tactics" flavored ability, in the same vein that Odric's mechanic is very flavorful. Perhaps something like "Overpower - If you control more creatures than your opponent, add +X/+0 to this creature, where X is the amount of creatures more than your opponent that you control." (Yes, the formatting on this sucks, but you get the idea.)
Given that red/white is the weenie color, I'd be surprised if there wasn't something reflecting that in the mechanics. They already stated that "Radiance" was a poorly received keyword, and I think that's because the keyword didn't really fit with the guild.
Given that, why is Corpsejack Menace black? Duplicating +1/+1 counters is very green, and helping your other creatures is green, but neither part feels black. Lotleth troll requires a discard, and has regen, so that feels black. Corpsejack? Not so much.