Kinda want to just throw my hands up and go "Screw this place and all this convoluted BS."
But...
Kinda wanna stay, since this is kind of the biggest MTG forum out there.
Decisions, decisions...
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- Neuroticneurok
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I think that's a bit of a stretch. Their game plans will work against each other rather than with one another. Edgar wants you to play vampires, which will make you token vampires, all the while slowly increasing the power of your army. Felisa requires that you play some sort of suicide aggro/counters matter deck that will reward you with tokens. Orzhov counters isn't exactly a well-supported archetype - you have cards that care about counters in both White and Black, but this is new territory.
While that's true, what is the end game of this type of play? What are you going to be doing that will ensure you win by keeping attackers away from you? Are there any combos present in the deck?
Felisa cares about nontoken creatures with counters on them dying, which then generate tokens, and Edgar makes tokens that get counters. Yeah, they're both vamps, but their intersectionality seems very limited to me.
There's something quite unappealing about your commander deck being built on an abundance of non-interaction and defense.
Scholarship Sponsor seems like great land ramp hate. If it sees play, it might lead to a trend of increased use of mana rocks.
I can see Shadrix Silverquill getting better with some of the cards in this deck, particularly the bird that stops Inklings from attacking you.
Why was Nils not given art by Nils Hamm?
Fain looks exactly like Loki.
I'm actually mildly disappointed with this deck. Fain is about the most exciting thing I see in it, as a Trading Post on a stick. Felisa is sort of okay, I guess, but it seems messy to mash together tokens, counters, and aggro strategies onto one card.
No, an inability to be targeted would be Shroud, not Hexproof.
In any case "X is unable to be targeted by spells and abilities your opponents control" and Hexproof are one and the same, because the rules text for Hexproof is exactly that.
For example, Privileged Position used to read "Other permanents you control can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control". When the Guild decks came out a few years ago, the card was reprinted, only it now read "Other permanents you control have hexproof". Same card, different wording, but same ability.
It's the most Timmy card I've ever seen. And yet I find myself wanting to play with it. Leatherback Baloth, Gigantosaurus, Kalonian Tusker, etc, etc...
It'll be the cheapest Green deck you ever throw together. None of the cards needed for it are staples or bank-breaking. The only problem is that if you use a card that gives your creatures protection or indestructible or hexproof, it'll switch off Ruxa entirely that turn. Regenerating them is a better bet.
Monologue Tax is so wretched it doesn't even deserve the effort of a scathing critique.
They missed a trick here not reprinting the Ruby and Pearl Medallions. Would've much preferred them (or even one of them) to another Daretti reprint.
It would've been better if they had split the difference and made the plow a solid 4/4 that can't be easily chump blocked or shocked off the field.
Shame they couldn't have put Grave Titan and Prime Time in the same bundle, because I definitely would've gone for that one.
Here's my question: What are things that White should, uniquely, be able to do, and furthermore do well enough to be competitive?
While it's not a direction I think WOTC should take, I think a space that should be explored is taxing. If WOTC refuses to give decent ramp or card draw to White, then the very least they can do is make it so that doing those things is a little more difficult (not IMPOSSIBLE) for all the other colors. I'm not a fan of this kind of model, however, as it suggests that the only way White can be good at something is when it is in fact failing miserably, and has to drag other colors down to its level in order to maintain parity.
Token generation used to be a very White thing too, but all the colors create tokens now. I still think that this is a space that could be brought back and developed.
Exile effects are also very White, although we've been seeing Black start to flex its muscles in this area recently. Exiling is often a very good form of removal, but all too often it is conditional, requiring the creature or enchantment doing the exiling to remain on the field.
Other things that White does or has cared about in the past are enchantments/auras/equipment/artifacts/gaining life. Voltron or Enchantment tribal is all very well and good but I think it's been about done to death, and it doesn't really do much to address the core problems White has at the moment. Sure, there's incidental card draw off auras sometimes, but nothing substantial. Equipment has been pushed hard, but I think it's better in Boros than just in plain White. General artifact support is not amazing. Lifegain is supported, but again, does it solve any real issues?
What else is there that White does, or could do? Thinking about this in the car as I was driving, I also thought we could make a distinction between "Hard countering" and "Return to hand" - Blue can have the former, and White the latter. White often returns things to hand, although annoyingly it requires you to control the target. It fits in better in White than in Blue, I think, as it's that same sort of vague strategy White control has - it doesn't deal with the problem permanently, it just puts it off for a short time and hopes for a miracle.
What are your opinions on this? Let me know; I'm legitimately interested in this topic.
The whole thing is depressing and confusing. It doesn't make sense apart from a cash grab point of view. These cards are mechanically unique and furthermore will not be printed again (barring a, God help us, TWD set). We haven't been able to determine their power level yet in terms of how necessary to a game-winning combo they are, but they have the potential to become key pieces. It's disgusting that Hasbro is just staring at us manically, shoving these in our face, and saying "Buy it. Or else."
These should never have been legal in the first place. They are monetizing legality and that sets a very dangerous precedent - there's nothing to stop them from printing a 1 generic mana card that says "When you cast this card, you win the game." and then charging whatever they want for it, all the while shamelessly urging people to buy with arbitrary purchasing times.