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Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

Ponder is easily my favorite magic card. But only with the art with the hand and the three moons, the merfolk art is kinda Meh.

Actually in order my list of top 5 favorite magic cards is

1. Ponder
2. Mana Leak
3. Sphinx's Revelation
4. Tanglewire
5. Stripmine

Madmarker fucked around with this message at 14:31 on Feb 7, 2014

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Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

toadee posted:

It's not that powerful, it fits well into a specific deck in this specific standard, after it rotates it will be a $0.25 card.

To expand on this, its a devotion enabler. A 2/3 flying ophidian for 3 is neat, but not really good as creature on its own. In modern, neither faeries nor merfolk would want to run it, and mono-b isn't really a deck though people are trying to get it to work. It has a laughable body-to-cost ratio for legacy and does nothing nearly broken enough for vintage. Its a suitable standard man that devotion made awesome. However, once it is not in a format with devotion it will fall by the wayside, like Thragtusk before it.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

Kilazar posted:

Really? Care to explain why a 3 cost 2/3 evasive that exiles and play's your opponents cards is not that strong? I've been out of magic a long time and do not have a big overview of whats been out since 7th ed. Can you point me to stronger black 3 drops? I'd like to see what real power is in the 3 drop slot. :)

Not being an rear end, I'm serious.

1. Liliana of the Veil (not a creature but its a relevant black permanent in the 3 drop slot)
2. Geralf's Messenger


Those 2 cards alone will keep nightveil specter from being a thing.

Ok, let me expand further....

So if all cards were in a vacuum and had to be evaluated individually Nightveil seems pretty neat but we have to evaluate in context.

So lets start by looking at the big name decks:
Jund has Liliana and the Nightveil is to difficult on its 3 color mana base for to little reward.

It's not a merfolk, so fish wont run it.

UWR control has no need for an aggresive creature that isn't a land or doesn't have flash (Restoration Angel/Celestial Colonade)

Its not a combo piece for splinter twin.

Its not an artifact so robots/affinity won't run it.

It not aggresive enough to replace Geist in Domain Zoo.

Ninja Bear Delver relies on cheap creatures, and three mana isnt cheap.

Its not lingering souls or spectral procession for W/B tokens.

Beyond that the decks either don't run the relevant colors to cast it, or the deck isn't even tier 2.

Thats just modern mind you, 3 mana is FAR to expensive for a 2/3 flyer in legacy where you have 3/2 flyers for 1 mana and 4/4 lifelink vigilance creatures coming down as early as turn 3, not to mention combos.


So its either to difficult to cast or not aggressive enough. Its only real hope to get played is if devotion is strong enough to keep it around with nykthos, which though possible, seems unlikely.

Madmarker fucked around with this message at 17:20 on Feb 10, 2014

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

Kilazar posted:

But those are really for people who want to spend bank right? I'm talking for a player thats not going to bankroll a deck just to stomp plebs at FNM.

There are better things to do for cheap in modern. You can make a fairly competent burn deck. There is also restore balance, which if I remember correctly is a pretty cheap deck.

Nightveil is a neat fun casual card, but its life expectancy outside of the kitchen table is waning fast.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

Promoted Pawn posted:

Back in my day, Ophidians were 1/3 for 3. And didn't have evasion. And didn't deal damage if you drew a card. And didn't make your other cards better just by being in play. And by gum they were still good!

:arghfist:
:corsair:

Heh, its crazy how good creatures have become, I mean, would people even run Wild Mongrel if it were legal in standard now?

edit-sorry for the double post

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

Kilazar posted:

I guess I just don't get the whole META and only playing "top 10"s. Or looking up decks online to play locally. I just play out of my collection and what I can trade. I did make a purchase for pack rats, but that was for my wife and a crazy rat deck I want to make. She's getting two and I'm getting two. And we have had no luck in cracking any open.

Other than that I usually just trade, and build decks out of what I own. So out of what I own, the specter is kind of a power house 3 drop. And so far he has done me good paired up with my shadow alley courtizen.

Thats all well and good, and you're the perfect person to play Nightveil Specter then. He is a fun casual card and does fun things. That does not make him good. That does not mean he will hold value. This is a good thing then, since you mostly play in a less competitive setting, you will probably be able to buy/ trade for the rest of your playset post rotation for rather cheap. However you do have to bite the bullet on the 2 you already traded for.




Vomax posted:

Wasn't the whole deal with Wild Mongrel that it was an enabler for madness or threshold or whatever was in Standard at the time? I don't think it was a ridiculous card on its own.


Bread Set Jettison posted:

If madness was a major archetype, and/or standard needed a graveyard enabler probably. It would really depend if there was a BETTER madness/graveyard card, and with modern cards there likely would be.

Its all relative.

True, I just remember back when Mongrel came out it getting a lot of press as an amazing creature, so in my head when I think of "Formerly good creature that is now dreck" Wild Mongrel is what first pops into my head.


Entropic posted:

Creatures have definitely become just plain better in the modern era though. When people where dissing the green BNG promo (a 6/6 for 6 with a big upside), I couldn't help imagining Craw Wurm shedding a single tear of despair.

An even better examle is Savannah Lion, where we had a 2/1 for 1 being a highly sought rare to being a junk uncommon.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

jassi007 posted:

Yeah a couple of our friends in our playgroup just never care about competitive constructed magic. If I have affinity they'll play mill or vampires and lose to it and just not really care, but I always feel pretty bad. So we play more Planeschase, EDH with not serious decks, and dumb decks. Our friends love mill and vampires and bad elf decks and protection from all the things white decks and they have no interest in changing, so we play decks that work against them. Its really about bullshitting and some drinks and some time away from the kids (we're all in our 30's with kids) There is another playgroup in our small area that are much more serious, they are big into legacy and even EDH is really competitive with them. We took our casual friends to one FNM for modern masters and they didn't have a very good time. My one friend and I sort of straddle both groups, we go to GPT's and such with the more competitive people but we mostly hang out with the more casual group.

The problem with casual play is you have to have a group that is at the same level effortwise. The second one person, tries harder, spends more money, gets better or whatever the balance is thrown off and the group can easily splinter. Thats not to dismiss casual magic as less-than, its just a different style of play, closer to playing a pen-and-paper RPG with cards than a competitive game. Still fun, but vastly different. The people who complain about netdeckers, are the same people who decry min-maxers, these people play different games using the same base system.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

Failboattootoot posted:

My favorite card will always be erratic portal because it made a friend of mine so mad that he bit the poo poo out of it.

Thats the same reason that I love one, and only one Planechase card, Naar Isle. Every other card just feels so silly, but that one, at a big table......watching the politics is AMAZING.

I for one never roll on Naar Isle, its to much fun to see everyone else struggle to get off the plane.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

jassi007 posted:

I understand what you mean. If you care about your playgroup you'll play to their level even if you are also building stuff beyond the kitchen table. Build that dumb GW voracious wurm lifegain deck and your casual friend will be more impressed by your 15/15 wurm than by your t3 modern stormdeck combo killing machine.
Agreed, I've tried to maintain a balance, but it can be difficult to sometimes. Especially when your favorite cards are all blue.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

jassi007 posted:

Never run removal or sweepers is a good start. Make sure to run a lot of high CMC junk. Minotaurs are pretty funny when they're all 3 and 4 drops. You lose a good amount of the time but sometimes you get 2 lords out and 2 or 3 big minotaurs and they can't deal with it anyway. Also really consider planeschase. The randomness of it helps even things out a lot. When a casual gets a 7/7 annihilator 1 and then the plane shifts, they become more of a threat because the dice helped them out basically. lastly bad tribal edh decks are great. Build RW giants brion stoutarm or something silly.

I can't really stand planechase, people love it, and I tolerate it, but I have shown up with a deck of 56 snow lands and 4 scrying sheets and won thanks to the planes so.......


Kilazar posted:

Can't look it up at work. Whats planechase?

And I so desperately want to build a goblin EDH deck. I just haven't found a good commander for it yet that is a goblin and fun. He's really the only thing holding me back from building it. The supporting spells and lands are easy.

Krenko, Mob Boss
Wort, Boggart Auntie
Shattergang Brothers

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

NofrikinfuN posted:

Coming from that mindset of tinkering with mechanics and building primarily from scraps, it's hard to understand where the fun is in netdecking. I have over 50 different decks, with probably 15 or so in standard. If I only had 3 or 4 decks I think I would get bored inside a week.

Johnny

Timmy

Spike

Melvin

Vorthos

Learn your magic psychographic profile, and you can use these tools to understand what other people get out of the game. I am a Spike/Melvin primarily.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

Olothreutes posted:

People are dumb, mostly. Some people don't like to roll spindown d20s because "someone can learn to roll them for a high number each time" or something equally inane.

As to the randomness claim, that's just wrong. There are 36 permutations for 2d6, but there are only 10 numbers you can get. That's half the options of a d20, because permutations don't matter, no one is betting they'll go first on a hard eight.

The spindown thing has a small grain of truth to it. Spindowns aren't weighted evenly and tend to roll higher numbers, on average, than a a standard d20.

It shouldn't matter when you are rolling off against someone, because your chance of rolling any one number is the same as theirs.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:

With as many RPGs as I've played I don't trust PRNGs because some sort of invisible entity exerts spite via them.

Yeah, but I've read some of your let's plays. I mean after what you did to ff5, do you think any PRNG should have mercy on you?

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

Zoness posted:

A robotic player wouldn't play Affinity, Stax, Painted Stone, or Shop?

Though those are all robots, I can't but thinking that a true robot would be playing doomsday combo.

Even though, the original Sad Robot played Mono-black Control

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

Kabanaw posted:

So it looks like while my back was turned the online Theros block meta was solved:
http://www.mtggoldfish.com/metagame/block

87% of the metagame is RGW and it's the only deck to 4-0 dailies for the past two weeks :psyduck: Hopefully Born of the Gods can make some of the cheaper decks more viable again.

I'm doubtful on that front, I mean if you take a look at the block deck, it looks almost identical to standard rg monsters, I think they had to swap out like 9 total cards in the 75 between standard and block. While everyone else is playing a block deck, RG is a standard competitive deck.

So its possible, I just have very strong doubts. Heck especially with the Xenabros both being legal in the deck, I can't imagine that RGW, or heck even just straight RG won't just dominate.

Further its really hard for a good aggro deck to take off in this format with the only fixing being a scrying tapland. Theros is a midrange heaven, and GRW has all the best stuff.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

Zoness posted:

I like Kataki, War's Wage, who was shoved into the first set they could as a stopgap to Affinity, but by then Affinity's power players had already been banned out of the format (Mirrodin-Kamigawa standard).
2004

June
Standard: Skullclamp is banned.
Mirrodin block constructed: Skullclamp is banned.[25]
September
Extended: Metalworker and Skullclamp are banned.
Vintage: Braingeyser, Doomsday, Earthcraft, and Fork are unrestricted.
Type 1.5: Format becomes independent of Vintage. For full list of bans and unbans see reference.[26]
December
Vintage: Stroke of Genius is unrestricted.[27]
2005

March
Standard: Arcbound Ravager, Disciple of the Vault, Ancient Den, Great Furnace, Seat of the Synod, Tree of Tales, and Vault of Whispers are banned.
Vintage: Trinisphere is restricted.
Starter Level sets Starter 1999, Starter 2000, Portal, Portal Second Age, and Portal Three Kingdoms become legal in Legacy and Vintage in October.[28]



In less than a year Wizards had to ban 8 cards, in standard. People talk about how unfun caw-blade standard was.....and then I point them to mirrodin block and laugh my fat rear end off.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

JerryLee posted:

Even the best core sets aren't as interesting to draft as the expansion sets.

Eh, m14 actually has some neat stuff though. R/B sac deck. The lifegain deck. Blue based control is always my favorite though, It's just a neat change of pace to have such a slow limited format. Hell, winning with elixir of immortality in limited is hilarious.

The fact that its probably the format I have won the most of in limited probably colored my perceptions.

Madmarker fucked around with this message at 05:30 on Feb 17, 2014

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

AnacondaHL posted:

To be fair Americans are completely overworked, both Americans and Spanish would agree.

To be unfair I don't even think Travis was making a "lol everyone lives off conquistador gold lol!" joke and he was just being super dumb.

If he is to be believed he was saying exactly that it was cool, I'll quote an exchange him from his comment section:

quote:

Travis Woo
wow didnt expect so much hate. basically people in america work too many hours and its a huge social problem. european lifestyle is much better. people work less and the people are healthier. thought that was clear.
Reply · 11 · Like · Follow Post · 20 minutes ago

Marco Grunert · Top Commenter · Works at Ericsson
It sounded more like, Europeans seem lazy to you.
Reply · 2 · Like · 16 minutes ago

Travis Woo
i mean, my job is to play magic cards over the internet
Reply · 5 · Like · 9 minutes ago



I mean, he could just be covering his rear end, but there were no other seemingly disparaging remarks so ::shrug::.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

ScarletBrother posted:

The state of modern really stinks right now. Card prices are insane, and at least where I am, there are very few events. So, like, the actual worst scenario.

Agreed, but the other thing to remember is that modern is a YOUNG format. It has been around since early 2011. Compared to the age of standard, sealed, draft, legacy and vintage its a baby. Further its an eternal format, so its likely that people will buy into it over time.

As has been mentioned before, in regards to responding to new events, Wizards moves like an oil tanker, slowly and ponderously. Yes there will be change, and I expect a change in reprint policy to reduce the cost of these modern staples. There will be a fetchland reprint, as Wizards wants Modern to be a thing. They want modern to be a fun and accessible alternative to legacy. They are treading lightly on the reprints, and as pissed as I am that they haven't reprinted Remand doesn't mean they aren't going to. They put mutavault in m14, thoughtseize in theros, Shocks in Return to Ravnica, they are seeding modern staples in each expansion, but they are playing a long game so as not to devalue all of the cards at once. They want to minimize shocks to the secondary market as much as possible, and unfortunately, what they are doing is probably the best way to handle it. Not that it isnt irritating as hell waiting for a sufficient print run of V-cliques, Cryptic Commands, Remands, Fetches, Path etc.

Unfortunatley, their method of reprint is probably for the best.......even though it is frustrating.


Besides, these cards that all us spikey tournament people want, are confusing and relatively off-putting to most casual players. How many casual players are going to understand why v-clique, or cryptic command is good. Why would they want to play a fetchland? Yes we understand they are good, but to the noobish casual player, they are worse than useless, they are confusing, and either make you lose life, or don't seem to do anything (v-clique).

So they don't want to reprint to many of these but they will slowly.........

It does kinda suck though.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

Stinky Pit posted:

There's no way an MTG movie actually happens.

And there have been at least 3 Dungeons and Dragons movies, a movie based on a board game, a movie based on an amusement park ride (that started a humongously successful series) to name a few. Not to mention they are making a movie about the Guardians of the Galaxy, which includes an anthropomorphic raccoon with rocket launchers. At this point I would be more surprised if we DONT end up with a MTG movie before 2020.


That's not saying it will be good.......but I am almost certain it will exist.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

Zoness posted:

The Phyrexians. Also Jeska kinda.

Well, wasn't karn part Phyrexian? Like didn't he have like a phyrexian's heart or something?

I seem to remember thats where the phyrexian oil on mirrodin came from.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

ScarletBrother posted:

Phyrexian mana costed Eldrazi!

Emrakul, Father of Machines

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

Entropic posted:

Isn't the whole thing with the Phyrexians that they can't Planeswalk, 'cause if they could they would have taken over the whole multiverse by now?

They couldn't planeswalk as Yawgmoth didn't have the spark. I mean he was more powerful than the old walkers, but he himself lacked the ability to walk. However, if they get their hands on venser, who on top of being a planeswalker was a teleporty mage, its pretty obvious the things they'd be able to do.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

Zoness posted:

Isn't Karn's first spark still the spark of Glacian (which was in the Weakstone and Mightstone and also the spark of Urza Planeswalker)?

Also Glissa becoming compleated is really sad :/. It's too bad Memnarch was a jerk and tried to take her spark but then Slobad had to use it and then Slobad died.

Shut up I don't follow mtg lore that much okay.

Yeah, Karn's spark came from the Weakstone and Mightstone, Karn has the same spark as Urza did, as Urza also didn't naturally have the spark.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

LeafHouse posted:

Pretty sure he wasn't saying his cards were superior. I get exactly what he is saying. There are some cards I have that I've owned as long as I can remember and thus are special to me. That 6th ed vampiric tutor I opened from a booster when I was 15 means more to me than one that I may have bought on Ebay. It doesn't seem bizarre to me at all.

This is such a weird mindset for me to see. I mean, Im sure I'm a minority here, but there aren't any particular cards that I have an emotional connection to, yeah I mean some are cool,and I don't want to lose them because they would be expensive to replace but it's like getting emotionally connected to a scrabble tile.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

JerryLee posted:

I can understand what you're trying to convey when you make that comparison, but it shouldn't be surprising that the scrabble tile to magic card comparison breaks down on any number of levels for most people, so why shouldn't this be one of them?

I mean, no disrespect intended towards people who do get emotionally invested, I just see the cars as tools to play a game. No more, no less. Hopefully it didn't come off as me attacking people who do get emotionally invested, it is just something I had never even thought of as a thing.

I enjoy playing the game, and analyzing the pieces but one card is as good as another to me.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

LeafHouse posted:

When did you start playing? All that cards I have any emotional connection to are ones that I've had since I started playing as a little kid. I couldn't care less about any cards I've gotten recently. A friend of mine pulled a Foil Shadowmage when the set first came out and people hounded him to trade it but he just wouldn't so they'd always make fun of him saying he was going to take it to his grave. He still has it to this day and I guarantee you that if I outlive him I will make sure he really does take it to his grave.

I'd say it's more like getting emotionally connected to a WoW character or something like that rather than a scrabble tile.

I started playing when I was 12, right about when 7th edition was released. I played some friends at a summer camp and have been playing fairly consistently since then.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

Tharizdun posted:

I can't decide if I hate you or love you now.

I think its a purrfect moniker for the card. I mean he is the mane force behind white based aggro strategies now.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

Korak posted:

You cannot play around the Blood Moon + Spreading Seas + Tefari + Master of Waves deck!

Holy poo poo. Follow every game that he plays please.

Is there a list posted for this deck somewhere............................I must build it.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

JerryLee posted:

Go ahead and order the visible staples ASAP before you wait for the complete list, because I can guarantee you that the speculator market's sphincter is beginning to quiver even as we speak.

Well, I already have blood moon, teferi, snapcaster, spreading seas and master of waves....sadly I don't get paid until next friday, so it just isn't in the budget until then.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

qbert posted:

The price speculation in Modern just seems ridiculous. It seems like card prices skyrocket and crash from week to week. Trying to build decks in the format from scratch must be maddening. Even Standard doesn't fluctuate this badly.

The problem is the small supply of cards. Many of the best cards in modern are from the mirrodin-lorwyn blocks, which had print runs much smaller than more recent sets. Hell, Remand is a ten dollar uncommon. This means its easy for speculators to buy up cards quickly whenever a card debuts in a tournament. There are other cards with hyper-inflated values, like Liliana of the Veil, but those are mostly mythic rares with multi-format appeal. The only way prices will stabilize, in the short term is if they massively reprint staples at a large level. However that will not happen thanks to the secondary market and wizards being gun shy after chronicles. So what they are doing is reprinting a staple or two in each set, to help alleviate the issue. This will slowly help, over time, but it is not going to fix things over night. However, whenever they reprint the fetches (I expect in the next block), it is going to cause a lot of anguish from speculators/collectors, and I expect the price to drop to a respectable 30 dollars for a scalding tarn.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

jhorphear posted:

Remand is at 18-20 now.

Lol, jesus christ. Heh, that'll teach me to not double check a price.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

ScarletBrother posted:

I don't understand all the hate on modern mana bases...

They are expensive. That's a lot of people's dislike. Fetches also feed goyfs, were feeding drs, and other strategies that a good subset of people dislike. Some people also just like 1 and 2 color decks and want to play in an environment that rewards that instead of the greedier mana bases modern allows.

I personally and fine with them, but a reprint is necessary to keep the format growing and healthy.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

clamiam45 posted:

I guess I just come from somewhere $20,000 means more than it does to him. Also I think he only needs like 10 more pro points for platinum anyway.

Yeah $20,000 isn't anything to scoff at, but compared to the first place prize and platinum status, its chump change. Beyond that, you don't get to this level of competition focused on the prize, you are focused on the win, on having your efforts recognized. And in the end to be found naught but second best, has to be a harsh pill to swallow.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

Tharizdun posted:

I've still never understood this... Hasbro doesn't sell on the secondary market, and every mom-and-pop I've been to doesn't even have gripfuls of Tarmagoyfs in their case, so it's not like they'd lose anything. And the knock-on effect of more people getting their hands on the money cards is gonna pop all the value uncommons/lower-end rares to make them affordable, too. It's totally :signings:

Someday I'm gonna do an effortpost collecting all the chicken-littling along with Bleiweiss's article, proof that reprints spike prices not tank them (at least on originals), etc etc.

Until then, at least I won a bet

Mostly, it has to do with the backlash from chronicles. They WAY overprinted everything and the value of all the cards tanked. A lot of people were unhappy and a lot of people left the game.

If you want to know the real effect a mass reprint would have, read some of the "sky-is-falling" articles about the chinese knock-offs that are now stateside. A lot of what makes magic appealing to buy into is the supposed consistent long-term value of the cards, and a massive devaluation of the product will cause cause an exodus of both players and merchants.

Now, I am in a group that I assume much of this thread is in, that really doesn't care about the value of our cardboard art rectangles, however, we to benefit from the prize structure tournaments are able to take advantage of thanks to cards holding value. Without the inherent value of cards, what reason would people have to attend a prerelease, or even an FNM, let alone a GP. As much as we want cheap reprints, they aren't going to do it, its bad for wizards, insofar as customer retention and bad for players, as it harms the competitive circuit a lot of people here are at least tangentially a part of.

I want, as much as the next guy, cheap fetches, but they can't reprint everything at once, otherwise the value of cards craters, and a lot of people leave. What they can do, however, is stagger the reprints to a staple or 2 every set. It sucks, but I don't see a better way.


Entropic posted:

Also they are sleezy cheesecake that confirms the worst stereotypes about the hobby.

I don't mind a cheesecake shot of Olivia Voldaren, the sensuality/bloodlust thing works for Innistraad vampires, but its fairly unnecessary on Demonic Tutor of all things.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

Tharizdun posted:

I was playing back then, and I didn't stop when Chronicles came out. The dirty secret about Chronicles wasn't that they overprinted the poo poo out of everything (although they did), it's that up to that point, crazy-rare Legends and Antiquities stuff was in cases looking awesome and unobtainable - stuff like Carrion Ants was $20 (in 1993 money) because nobody could get their hands on it. Suddenly, Nicol Bolas in every third pack! Holy poo poo yes!

And then we discovered... the cards weren't very good. The things that were printed in Chronicles (other than Blood Moon) are all underpowered garbage and were only valuable because of their rarity, not because they were chase cards. We no longer have that issue (well, we still do, but it's because of the Reserve list and all the market-cornering happening with Legends cards) - cards are valuable strictly based on playability. Mythic rares from underprinted sets still don't have any value if they're as bullshit as Vaevictus Asmadi, because playability matters now, not just scarcity.

More people need to point out that Chronicles tanked values for cards that were scarce, but not good - which is a desirable event.

Not going to disagree with you that there were other reasons for people to stop playing, and prices to drop other than the reprinting during chronicles. However, it has made Wizards incredibly scared of large-scale reprints.

I am not happy with how wizard's is currently handling things, but I can see the reasoning, and prefer this slow trickle we are getting to nothing at all. If nothing else the willingness to reprint staples is a good sign.

Samael posted:

I honestly googled altered art and those came up and thought they looked nice. If you have such sophisticated art tastes, why don't you post your favourite alters and contribute to the discussion?

The problem isn't that the art is bad, its just annoying how much cheesecake one has to delve through to get to anything new or interesting. I think everyone here has seen hundreds of alters of cards where the alterer decided what the card needed was just more boobs. Now, as a fan of boobs, I don't particularly mind some here or there, but at least have them make sense flavor wise for the card.

Very few people take issue with the card Basandra, Battle Seraph, even though it is essentially a woman in her underwear with a whip. But stuff like the Teysa, Ohrzhov Scion avatar on mtgo, or Kemba, Kha Regent, strike people as a bit much.

Now insofar as my favorite alter, I really like this Birds of Paradise.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

Veyrall posted:

Draft is the best way to play Magic. Just sayin'.

There, I fixed that for you.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

Nehru the Damaja posted:

The volatility of modern hit me at just about the time I decided Born of the Gods draft was kind of boring and it's really burning me out on the game as a whole.

I'm taking a break but have any advice besides that on how to get back to enjoying things?

Depends on what you enjoy, BTG is a very boring set, same with Theros. Yeah the gods are neat, but outside of the mythics everything is pretty "meh"

If you have someone who can support it, or think you may enjoy it, cubing is some of the most fun you can have with magic. Awesome cards, cool interactions, and all the neat decisions drafting provides. Its a casual format for spikes.

If your less spikey, EDH is a good call, since it lets you do silly things.

Otherwise, just take a break, and do things other than magic for a while, don't worry, something cool will pull you back soon enough.

Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

suicidesteve posted:

If you have friends that aren't lame (I dont,) make a cube and draft with them. You could make a cheap modern deck; Restore Balance is stupid-fun to play and like, $100 - more than half of which is Blood Moons and Enlightened Tutors, same for my Genesis Wave deck, which is pretty cheap. I recently finished a Necrotic Ooze combo deck which is a blast, and not TOO expensive, especially by Modern standards. All 3 are in my list under modern if you're looking for any "cheap" modern decks.

http://deckbox.org/sets/617198

I hate recommending Commander because it's a terrible format full of the worst kinds of people, but if you can find good people to play with, sometimes it's fun?

So looking at my Genesis Wave deck, when did Primetime hit $15+?! And why?

Amulet of Vigor Combo and Mono-green devotion strategies in modern, and at least the Amulet of Vigor deck showed up at the pro tour, not sure about the monogreen devotion.

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Madmarker
Jan 7, 2007

Bugsy posted:

Semi :nws: but Rebecca Guay has a kickstarter for her art book. It is already funded, but there is less than a month to go on it.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1360132117/evolution-the-art-of-rebecca-guay-1993-2014

Ugh, why did you show me this, especially so close to payday, now I'm going to have to dump money on some of these prints/book. Hell Little Fish and Path to Exile prints are worth it on there own.

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