ancient tomb is pretty bad in fair limited
― iatee, Tuesday, 15 December 2015 04:36 (eight years ago) link
it's still pretty strong
― ciderpress, Tuesday, 15 December 2015 04:39 (eight years ago) link
maybe w/ the right deck, but in general you're making your mana worse and starting at like 14 life. if you're behind in a race and drawing poorly, now you've strip mined yourself cause you can't afford to use your land anymore. in my cube experience w/ the card, I've rarely found the variance worth it.
― iatee, Tuesday, 15 December 2015 04:45 (eight years ago) link
I agree with you that it's not usually that strong in Cube, but Cube also has lots of answers that are cheaper than the threats, as well as decks that really punish you for losing early life. Landing threats a turn early seems way stronger in BFZ limited, which doesn't have a lot of cheap answers. Also there aren't strong color requirements in this set, so I don't see that hurting much either. But who knows, you might be right that the life loss balances the card. I wonder if they even bothered to playtest the card in the limited env, given how rarely it will come up
― Vinnie, Tuesday, 15 December 2015 09:06 (eight years ago) link
yeah I mean it's true that if you curve out with that and a fast hand you win, but a cube game is also more likely to have that kind of perfect curve than a normal limited game. it's not that it can't be super good though, it's that it completely loses the game when it's bad.
kor haven seems like it would be pretty annoying to face in normal limited.
― iatee, Tuesday, 15 December 2015 12:51 (eight years ago) link
I doubt they playtested any of it in limited. At our store we ruled you could play the Zendikar treasures if you got them, which I thought was really cool, not knowing what could show up at any game (of course the few people who got them would tell everyone right away)
Been playing some BFZ limited and it's been strange, most matches play more like Cube than any other limited format. Also I 3-0'd one with a deck I thought was kinda janky (though it had a lot of good Awaken cards), then 1-2'd two Origins drafts that I thought I nailed, so who knows
― frogbs, Tuesday, 15 December 2015 14:06 (eight years ago) link
haha yeah I'm sure they did zero playtesting, though it would be hilarious if someone lost a big protour match because of strip mine
― iatee, Tuesday, 15 December 2015 14:28 (eight years ago) link
This is definitely my favorite card spoiled so far:
http://mythicspoiler.com/ogw/cards/hedronalignment.jpg
― frogbs, Tuesday, 5 January 2016 21:41 (eight years ago) link
i do enjoy an alt win con, just to see what ppl do with it. the abyssal persecutor that exiles your library is also a cool design.
overall i have been really liking the look of the oath cards spoiled thus far. both gold uncommon cycles seem pretty nice.
― Roberto Spiralli, Tuesday, 5 January 2016 21:50 (eight years ago) link
I love the design of that card, if you plan to abuse the ability then the undercosted flier likely isn't a big part of your gameplan, but if you want the flier than the ability is dangerous. Should be fun to see in Legacy Cube next year
― frogbs, Tuesday, 5 January 2016 21:57 (eight years ago) link
UR 1/3 flying haste prowess is dope
also bone saw reprint as a trashy bridge card for the surge deck and equipment deck is cute, I enjoy these little details more than the big splashy cards these days
― ciderpress, Tuesday, 5 January 2016 22:03 (eight years ago) link
I'm looking forward to jamming Eldrazi Displacer into every deck I play.
Not looking forward to being wrecked by Kozilek's Return
― Check Yr Scrobbles (Moodles), Tuesday, 5 January 2016 22:08 (eight years ago) link
yeah the u/r 1/3 dude is a card I am gonna buy 4 foil copies of immediately
― iatee, Tuesday, 5 January 2016 22:23 (eight years ago) link
I keep reading "Devoid" as "Devour" and thinking "holy shit is that good"
― frogbs, Tuesday, 5 January 2016 22:46 (eight years ago) link
I think I just built my most degenerate Vintage Cube deck yet, amassing three turn-4 wins with Craterhoof Behemoth, that's the sort of thing that'll keep me addicted to this format until they take it away
― frogbs, Wednesday, 6 January 2016 14:13 (eight years ago) link
ends today sadly. i am borrowing someone else's insight here but one underrated aspect of a powered cube in particular is the entertainment/drama of the draft itself. i have discovered 2 of the worst feelings in magic for me are the creeping realizations that 1) what was going to be a sweet broken deck is actually just a pile of garbage and 2) i have somehow ended up drafting a sad fair deck
― Roberto Spiralli, Wednesday, 6 January 2016 14:31 (eight years ago) link
spending a minute trying to figure out which creature to Bribery and taking a Sheoldred only to have it immediately bounced back with Karakas was pretty bad
― frogbs, Wednesday, 6 January 2016 14:54 (eight years ago) link
i kinda like the chronological flashback draft thing theyre doing this year, there's a lot of dud formats like the core sets but it's also the only chance we'll get to draft the best 'partial' formats, like champions/champions/betrayers of kamigawa and 3x time spiral are among the best draft formats imo but their full block versions are a lot worse
― ciderpress, Wednesday, 6 January 2016 15:46 (eight years ago) link
it also means they have to run coldsnap drafts and coldsnap owns
― ciderpress, Wednesday, 6 January 2016 15:53 (eight years ago) link
for a long time the drafts at the store here were just "any three packs you want" and I liked how full block Time Spiral captured that feeling to some extent
― frogbs, Wednesday, 6 January 2016 15:59 (eight years ago) link
problem with full block time spiral was sprout swarm which was a common that ruined games. planar chaos was fine but not particularly more interesting than just getting a 3rd time spiral pack imo
― ciderpress, Wednesday, 6 January 2016 16:12 (eight years ago) link
i guess i do still like full block though, thinking about it more
― ciderpress, Wednesday, 6 January 2016 16:19 (eight years ago) link
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYEDUJoWsAEOy-o.png
love this card
― Roberto Spiralli, Thursday, 7 January 2016 03:51 (eight years ago) link
I wouldn't say TS-TS-TS was inherently a better format than TS-PC-FS, but I do find that the newness of a totally new format, new world, new mechanics tends to cement way more nostalgia for me. So that when they run TS-PC-FS or especially TS-TS-PC, it feels like a weird version of TS-TS-TS and just makes me want to do TS-TS-TS. I even have more nostalgia for original RAV-RAV-RAV than full block RAV, and I'd guess that's an unpopular opinion
― Vinnie, Thursday, 7 January 2016 09:10 (eight years ago) link
i just like triple large set formats best in general, the main exception being invasion block
― ciderpress, Thursday, 7 January 2016 13:50 (eight years ago) link
agreed - they've gotten pretty good at designing triple large draft formats and a lot of times adding another set feels like they're screwing with the formula.
full block RAV always confused the hell out of me, I could never remember which 3-color combos could draft well and which were traps. I don't really like finishing one pack with an idea of what 3rd color you'll need to splash, that was the thing I didn't like about Fate/Khans/Khans (and triple Khans was pretty much perfect)
― frogbs, Thursday, 7 January 2016 14:03 (eight years ago) link
I don't like any of the multicolor formats that have fewer than 10 supported color combinations, they get stale way faster in my experience
― ciderpress, Thursday, 7 January 2016 14:14 (eight years ago) link
super excited about warping wail, I think it's a sure thing modern/legacy card
― iatee, Friday, 8 January 2016 01:51 (eight years ago) link
yeah i like eldrazi charm
― ciderpress, Friday, 8 January 2016 01:54 (eight years ago) link
full spoiler now up. set looks great at first pass, lots of cool stuff at all rarities esp w/ colourless activations. and very little vanilla.
― Roberto Spiralli, Friday, 8 January 2016 16:07 (eight years ago) link
http://media.wizards.com/2015/ogw_239nCi30ks3/en_RdYPALUIin.pnghttp://media.wizards.com/2015/ogw_239nCi30ks3/en_2coXKQFgkw.pnghttp://media.wizards.com/2015/ogw_239nCi30ks3/en_ZXi4eRRR4S.png
these are p cool cards for commons
― Roberto Spiralli, Friday, 8 January 2016 16:19 (eight years ago) link
http://media.wizards.com/2015/ogw_239nCi30ks3/en_CwUVtu4ZGe.png
― Roberto Spiralli, Friday, 8 January 2016 16:21 (eight years ago) link
http://media.wizards.com/2015/ogw_239nCi30ks3/en_EpO0ChpKsf.png
dealing damage instead of fighting seems red? idk, even at 5cmc this is so much better than the miserable bfz flight card. green still not very exciting overall tho.
― Roberto Spiralli, Friday, 8 January 2016 16:22 (eight years ago) link
fighting with multiple creatures is kinda weird though. also lol @ that card in general
so Wastes are basic lands for draft purposes right? idk what they're doing just seems strange, really believe BFZ should have had this mechanic as well
― frogbs, Friday, 8 January 2016 16:38 (eight years ago) link
you have to draft wastes
― Roberto Spiralli, Friday, 8 January 2016 16:42 (eight years ago) link
set definitely looks like a pretty big step up from BFZ, lots of cards I'm liking
― Check Yr Scrobbles (Moodles), Friday, 8 January 2016 17:10 (eight years ago) link
there are a lot of really strange things about this set
― ciderpress, Friday, 8 January 2016 17:35 (eight years ago) link
xp Wastes are common, they'll show up in common slots, but there's 2 of them so you'll see them twice as often as other commons
― ciderpress, Friday, 8 January 2016 17:36 (eight years ago) link
https://twitter.com/KaolinTiger/status/686755431042183168
― Roberto Spiralli, Tuesday, 12 January 2016 16:02 (eight years ago) link
"big fatty?"
― iatee, Wednesday, 13 January 2016 00:53 (eight years ago) link
it's what we smoke before our games, grandma
― Check Yr Scrobbles (Moodles), Wednesday, 13 January 2016 01:28 (eight years ago) link
did people catch the pithing needle controversy?
― iatee, Wednesday, 13 January 2016 02:21 (eight years ago) link
pithy needle rather
uh oh, WOTC cracking down on proxy-friendly tournaments, get out the pitchforks
― Check Yr Scrobbles (Moodles), Wednesday, 13 January 2016 13:57 (eight years ago) link
the pithing needle thing is dumb, nothing worse than losing on a dumb technicality
― frogbs, Wednesday, 13 January 2016 14:18 (eight years ago) link
I've really been enjoying playing the U/B ingest/devoid deck in BFZ, it's right up my alley and there seems to be enough good commons to make it work
Allies seems like it's the best deck, if you curve out you're basically unbeatable, with no cheap Shock-like removal (Outnumber doesn't count) this deck is dangerous
Still confused by the presence of Converge in this set. The mana elf obviously helps you but barring that there doesn't seem to be any way to generate a 3rd (or 4th or 5th) color. Now that the 2nd set wants you to play colorless mana it gets even more difficult, just seems like a mechanic that doesn't belong
― frogbs, Thursday, 14 January 2016 05:08 (eight years ago) link
Converge seems more pitched toward standard where you can play 4 or 5 color decks with barely any drawbacks. Painful Truths is the big one, but Radiant Flames, Exert Influence, Woodland Wanderer, and Skyrider Elf all see some play.
― Check Yr Scrobbles (Moodles), Thursday, 14 January 2016 05:40 (eight years ago) link
Hadn't heard about the Pithing Needle thing, that's pretty dumb. Seems like everything was played by the rules, but the rules shouldn't allow for that situation. If there are two cards in a format where one card name is wholly in another card name, it should be treated like partially overlapping card names (like how saying "Jace" requires you to specify further, even if there's only one type of Jace in your opponent's deck)
― Vinnie, Thursday, 14 January 2016 18:57 (eight years ago) link
Bye bye Summer Bloom and Splinter Twin. Pretty surprised about twin, but I guess it makes sense. Not real clear on what makes these two so bad but tron, affinity, and storm ok.
― Check Yr Scrobbles (Moodles), Saturday, 16 January 2016 05:21 (eight years ago) link
yeah I am fine w/ them mixing things up, but I really feel like twin was not 'problematic' for the format the same way that tron is, even if the deck is ultimately better. most fair decks can't deal w/ t3 karn, t4 ugin and there's not great land destruction in modern.
I was actually hoping they would ban ancient stirrings. nobody likes playing against a deck that has ancient stirrings in it, and it's secretly the best cantrip in modern.
― iatee, Saturday, 16 January 2016 12:31 (eight years ago) link