Chamale posted:

I think the move away from blocks has resulted in a Standard where synergistic decks are much weaker, so the best decks tend to involve cramming all the best cards together. This problem has existed before, as with four-color Siege Rhino decks. It seems that the gap between the best Standard decks and a casual tribal deck is much wider than it used to be.

Arivia posted:

TBF, we have a short block right now with the two Innistrad sets, and they've definitely been seeding sets with mechanics that do interact well with each other.

Chamale posted:

I think the move away from blocks has resulted in a Standard where synergistic decks are much weaker, so the best decks tend to involve cramming all the best cards together. This problem has existed before, as with four-color Siege Rhino decks. It seems that the gap between the best Standard decks and a casual tribal deck is much wider than it used to be.

Lone Goat posted:

What was the last good standard deck that you felt was "synergistic"?

Sinteres posted:

No idea who that guy is.

Chamale posted:

Oven Cat. Before that, the Wildgrowth Walker/Explore package with Bolas's Citadel.

Arivia posted:

which i think speaks to the problem - the problem isn't the lack of blocks in and of itself, it's the lack of synergies across multiple sets. standard has largely turned into figuring out which particular mechanics package in a recent set is The Best, which feels pretty pre-determined and lovely. it's not a "brew" if you're just putting all the food or all the adventure or all the werewolf cards in a deck, it feels like you're just doing wotc's 75-piece puzzle set.

Dehtraen posted:

MTG wise he did coverage for a long time and was the pro tour historian. He got bumped from the coverage desk and was switched to interviewing and guerrilla coverage for the non-feature match games during PT’s. He stepped down from doing anything related to MTG about 2-3 years ago to pursue other opportunities. He also started the store Neutral Ground in NYC which was basically the place to play mtg in NYC back in the day, had a lot of pros playing there.

Simone Magus posted:

i wish they'd at least treat mechanics in the same way as when there were blocks. it's exhausting now, going through major mechanical innovations like Learn/Lesson and Dungeons in just a single set and then completely abandoning them. like yeah it was annoying that Energy was too good for too long but this is the opposite and it's like... i dunno

i think Learn/Lesson in particular is a design space that's begging for all kinds of cool stuff, surely they'll print more of them some day, and maybe an alternate set of 3 Dungeons some day as well

Chamale posted:

Oven Cat. Before that, the Wildgrowth Walker/Explore package with Bolas's Citadel.

Arivia posted:

which i think speaks to the problem - the problem isn't the lack of blocks in and of itself, it's the lack of synergies across multiple sets. standard has largely turned into figuring out which particular mechanics package in a recent set is The Best, which feels pretty pre-determined and lovely. it's not a "brew" if you're just putting all the food or all the adventure or all the werewolf cards in a deck, it feels like you're just doing wotc's 75-piece puzzle set.

Lone Goat posted:

All blocks did was spread out the good cards over three sets instead of having them all at once, and you'd end up with dud third sets with nothing good in them because they ran out of ideas.

mcmagic posted:

https://twitter.com/Top8Games/status/1443698138053844992

LOL all your MTG faves are crypto freaks.

Gramps posted:

I just miss drafting full blocks. OG Ravnica block limited was absolutely bonkers. I know that's a high watermark but if they do it once they could do it again.

Lone Goat posted:

Return to Ravnica full block sucked rear end though. In conclusion, Ravnica is a land of contrast.

PlasticAutomaton posted:

... ...okay yeah Gatecrash is probably the worst set I've drafted since Avacyn Restored.

Pablo Nergigante posted:

Corbeau posted:

I was assuming since the moment it was first revealed that the Zendikar Party mechanic would get it's other half in the D&D set. Then it didn't. So it's just another throwaway limited mechanic.

I miss blocks.

jpmeyer posted:

from what i understand, this game is more like "your modo cards have serial numbers" rather than "burn down a rain forest every time you open a booster"

mcmagic posted:

LOL all your MTG faves are crypto freaks.

meanolmrcloud posted:

There’s actually a really fun and somewhat competitive bant party deck for standard right now. It does a good job of showcasing how the mechanic could be very powerful. It also showcases how bullshit meathook massacre is.

Elblanco posted:

My issue with standard is that no matter what deck I play I suck, though I guess that's not standard's fault.

fatherboxx posted:

gently caress nfts, bully every crypto shill into dust when you see them.

Goldspan is a messed up card

mcmagic posted:

Alrund's Epiphany is a dead card walking.

Toshimo posted:

That's because "the Internet" doesn't like to take responsibility for their actions.

Making counterfeit cards (cards designed to be easily mistaken for real cards by laymen) is a lovely thing to do.

You got beef with WotC? Cool. Don't play in their tournaments. Hell, don't buy their cards. Nobody's got a gun to your head.

But when you buy or create counterfeit cards, which we've seen time and again work themselves into the ecosystem and be pawned off.on unsuspecting customers, you're just being a shithead. You aren't Robin Hood, sticking it to the man. You don't have some moral high ground. You're just doing harm to all the other people involved: the artists, the printers, the game stores, and fellow players.