Hot Dog Hotline posted:

So this happened at the bng prerelease and I wanted your input on it. When determing who went first everyone refused to roll a d20, in favor of two d6. Their claim was "it's more random". I could never get a straight answer out of anyone why, nor could I calculate how they came to this. To me it just seems more likely to result in a tie. Maybe everyone just copied the owner since that's what he did. Anyone have an idea of what I'm missing?

Kabanaw posted:

The only thing to worry about isn't that the number you're getting isn't really ~random~, it's that your opponent is using something that sets its RNG seed once and he or she knows the pattern. I could write a little app that sets its RNG based on a defined number and memorize that number pattern a certain distance out, but anything that sets its RNG again based on the system clock on each call for a random number (which I assume a dice-rolling app will do) is nigh-impossible to game. Besides, at some point you have to accept that your opponent isn't a weirdo creep out to eek a tiny advantage out of the dice roll and just wants to play some magic.

The Wonder Weapon posted:

7th edition was great except for the white borders. 7th foil supremacy.

Stinky Pit posted:

The lame part is that its an understandable decision. The look and feel of sets these days is far stronger and more coherent, the product looks more polished and professional and if WOTC was completely honest and was just like "Well we made the conscious decision that a coherent and consistent style was preferable" then I don't think the Style Guide would be a contentious issue. Instead though they are always spouting bullshit like "WELL THE ART IS JUST SO MUCH BETTER" without giving any weight to the fact that many many people dislike the homogenized feel and miss the unique and interesting art that occasionally graced cards.

Veyrall posted:

As for picture sleeves, what are some decent sources? My LGS only has anime girls (of the clothed variety), Game of Thrones, and Boris Vallejo pin-ups. Is there a way to get custom sleeves?

MiddleEastBeast posted:

Was LSV's Top 8 match on the coverage? I'm reading the recap and paused at the very first line:

Unless I'm missing something, that play is impossible, so...

Samael posted:

Well, yeah a enchantment based control deck with ephara/elspeth, d spheres and the win condition being something like a huge fiendslayer paladin with ethereal armor slapped on it, though it is really in a experimental phase at the moment. I want to use these eidolon of countless battles and hero of iroas, plus they work well with ephara and elspeth. I like sphere of safety as a way of negating g/r monsters and aggro decks, as well as all the removal. I have all these ideas jumbled up in my mind and I am having trouble making it into one cohesive deck.

Mortimer posted:

Perhaps more importantly is sphere of safety going to be relevant with a lot of people running enchantment exiling for anti-god tech?

In modern you can get away with it because no one runs anti-enchantment, really.

Stinky Pit posted:

WV, and dude I've listed these right here on the forums and was perfectly willing to let them go for anything 5 dollars or more and no one even asked about them for 4+ days. I res-posted the list and it's not like I haven't done other business since either, people just don't seem to need Shocks right now.

Mortimer posted:

They look like pocket flutes to me, I dunno, weren't there e-cigs that looked like real cigarettes? Or NOT pocket flutes?

Entropic posted:

No, your opponent can't stop the effect by killing Tymaret. The effect is already on the stack, it doesn't matter than the thing doing the effect is no longer there.

There's basically no way for your opponent to stop you sacrificing a creature for damage if you have the mana available.

Nehru the Damaja posted:

I'd really like "the bad guy" to win this one. I realize that's not unprecedented, even in fairly recent storyline history, but the apotheosis of Xenagos and his cosmic revolution are loving badass and the gods deserve to be toppled.

Sleep of Bronze posted:

More fuel for planeswalker power vs divine power here, and Xenagos comes off worse than Elspeth did. I don't know if there is something about gods not killing mortals (it really hasn't seemed like it so far) but Nylea gave him a really thorough working over. Elspeth did much better, even if Heliod was less determined about it, but I suspect that reflects dissembling on Xenagos' part and he could have tried harder. Overall, the gods still seem like they can kick planeswalker arse if they need to, despite their lesser reach.

Lunsku posted:

It's really drat good in limited, I think I'd happily first pick it in a full block draft. You don't need Heroic for it, you just need guys. The potential for big swing, 2 for 1 or better from it is pretty big, and the only requirement really is that you have some guys on board. It has near Plague Wind level potential if the board is even, because the small boost puts your guys just that one bit over the top so you can snap up the now smaller opponent creatures. Or just trade up at your leisure. And as you're likely green with it, you're likely to have bigger guys than the other player anyway. That it targets several guys mitigates a lot of the risk inherent with the single target fight spells, and it's Instant to boot.

Zorak posted:

Toshimo posted:

For the current standard, though, this card is going to enable 3-color aggro heading into the rotation (and any post-rotation speculation is likely worthless). Something like a mix of any of the 3 red-based aggro decks (Boros/Rakdos/Gruul). But that's about it. None of the mid-range or control decks will likely want this card. It's at home in aggro (and combo, which is scarcer and scarcer in standard).

C-Euro posted:

Hah, seven cards on the banlist and three of them are Storm cards. I wish there was a version of that mechanic that wasn't so easy to break, the ideas of comboing or chaining spells together is cool to me for whatever reason. Would "this spell costs 1 less to cast for each spell cast before it this turn" be too good?

suicidesteve posted:

Nope! Go ahead and use your white-bordered Revised lands.

TheKingofSprings posted:

This, but unironically.

Nemico posted:

I've always believed that vanilla creatures should be full art. They'd feel special in their own way, even though they're boring mechanically.

Oraculum Animi posted:

For being the white-aligned god, Heliod is like the biggest dick. I mean, him and Thassa are just the worst.

RubberJohnny posted:

Maro is such an adorable nerd

Retcon posted:

I only read about the "dead stays dead" policy on Maro's Tumblr so maybe they will just bring back Elspeth back in a few blocks regardless. If they do decide to keep Elspeth dead, not showing her death on a card would be a very weird decision since they've appearently gone back to showing important story moments on cards.

Kabanaw posted:

Yeah, consider the difference in power between a regular mage and a planeswalker as the difference between standard and block constructed. A mage on Theros is capable of summoning creatures on Theros and using magic they've discovered there, but a planeswalker can use spells from that plane, and from the plane they were on last week, and the plane they're from, and also anywhere else they want to go. An experienced planeswalker is basically playing with the spell range and power of modern, legacy, or vintage while their opponents are stuck with whatever's in their block.

Zoness posted:

If magic lore does a good job of anything it's making sure that you don't think White means good.

Cases in point: Konda, Grand Arbiter Augustin IV (well he's U/W), Elesh Norn (well I mean, obviously), the Order (Otaria, with and without Akroma), Radiant.

JerryLee posted:

It doesn't seem to happen that regularly though? The post you quoted has to go back to Urza block to find four major examples. Now I guess we have a fifth. Maybe you could dredge up some more but in the meantime it seems like there's an equal if not greater number of villains (or antagonists, I should say) who fall in the Grixis arc.

poo poo, the closest thing* Magic has to an actual ongoing meta-conflict villain is Bolas (Black/Grixis) who most iconically stands opposed by Ajani (White-centric).


*not saying a shitload, but it's been forgotten less since its respective block than either the New Phyrexians or the Eldrazi have.

Revitalized posted:

Was anything significant ever made out of Allies from the Zendikar block? Are there any popular Ally designs?

Elyv posted:

Could you elaborate on that? I can see how Constellation is basically the Ally mechanic, but I don't see it with Heroic.

jscolon2.0 posted:

And yet Creative killed a 12/12 Human card for Hercules, because a human tribal character shouldn't be that big. drat you, Beyer!

Angry Grimace posted:

I think you guys are overestimating how often Turn 1 Thoughtseize actually occurs in Standard. I don't think it even makes sense to let you brick Turn 1 Thoughtseize.

whydirt posted:

Anyone who's drafted Conspiracy so far: how often were people getting milled out? Is running a 45-50 card deck something reasonable to do or just stick to the standard 40?

Entropic posted:

I think we've established without question that Conspiracies would break Vintage / Legacy.

L-O-N posted:

Is Balance any good in VM? There doesn't seem to be enough artifact mana to be worth it.

Angry Grimace posted:

No, because Godsend isn't "good" equipment. I'm talking like Swords quality.

Tardigrade posted:

And countermagic dies to countermagic.

It's countermagic all the way down.

Dungeon Ecology posted:

My understanding is that they are introducing holographic stamps to the bottom of the rare and mythic cards to reduce counterfeiting. My guess is, since they were already going to rework the card frame to include that, why not freshen it up a bit as well.

Count Bleck posted:

Finally, a large as gently caress Aura that's worth casting? Nice.