Magic the Gathering Appreciation Station

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Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

Jenx posted:

I think that post might actually be MaRo's single greatest contribution to Magic.

I thought name-dropping Roseanne was his greatest contribution?

Sailor Viy posted:

I really don't understand how I've read so many flavour texts with quotes from the Gatewatch, yet I still can't name any individual traits they have other than "shoots fireballs" "makes zombies" etc.

That is the flavor. There isn't much character development you can get out of a dozen sentences spread over cards.

# ¿ Feb 22, 2017 02:13

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 04:55

Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

I've seen it do work in cube and legacy, it quickly grows out of control and can't be easily answered and has a tendency to make goyfs to protect itself.

Ad Nauseam also was pretty poo poo in Standard.

# ¿ Feb 22, 2017 03:41

Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

Elyv posted:

To be fair, there's a very large difference between combo card and generic good card. If a card makes it into Modern through being hyperefficient or extremely powerful(for example, Lightning Bolt or Bloodbraid Elf), then I think it's always seen standard play. Synergy or combo cards like Ad Nauseam, Melira, Death's Shadow, or Amulet of Vigor can get an advantage from being in a larger format. I don't think Ashiok falls into that second category.

Ashiok is legit good against pretty much every blue deck in legacy, especially when he's coming off a DRS turn 1.

# ¿ Feb 22, 2017 04:45

Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

Veyrall posted:

Today I learned being a Cabal grave robber is apparently a difficult job.

I love finding these hidden little bits in old cards. Anyone know of any others, like how Rem Karolus is insanely good at killing things on Innistrad?

e: Looks like magiccards.info doesn't support hotlinking any longer - that used to be something they were OK with.

Bruse Tarl is angry:

http://magiccards.info/scans/en/bfz/40.jpg
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/cns/76.jpg

# ¿ Feb 24, 2017 22:07

Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

I'm not gonna spend $23 on a deck if it's not going to win all the time.

# ¿ Feb 25, 2017 01:29

Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

Bfz was complex because it had a bunch of poo poo that didn't all naturally feed into each other.

The and ingest / processing were needlessly complex for no real gain. The particularly arbitrary nature of the ally type made the team tap mechanic (which I think we skipped, or else it had a terrible name that I can't recall) loving terrible to draft, same with the ingest and processing stuff.

Energy stuff all works with itself and builds up and doesn't require a bunch of mental lifting to just make it function. I can draft harnessed lightning or I can draft it with 7 other cards. That didn't work with BFZ.

It was junk for a lot of reasons but the complexity to no benefit is one of them.

# ¿ Feb 25, 2017 18:49

Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

suicidesteve posted:

Agreed. The fairest thing Spirit Guide does is speed up Living End or let it play around Mana Leak with less than 3 lands up. And Mox Opal doesn't even do anything that fair.

A. It wouldn't.

2. If I'm wrong, good.

Affinity, Lantern, Cheerios, RW Prison, Living End, Ad Nauseam, Eldrazi Tron. I'm not seeing any real loss so far, in terms of the power or the decks or the decks we would lose if they did get killed.

All of those decks are cool and while I get that some people want Modern to be the Jund vs Grixis matchup forever, none of those decks you listed are even remotely injurious to the format, and you even admit that yourself by saying they're not powerful.

# ¿ Feb 26, 2017 18:00

Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

What was the original in that cycle of shard creatures for grixis?

Because sedraxis spectre is a rare.

E:

Also windwright mage was the original esper version.

This looks like it is gonna be fun

Sigma-X fucked around with this message at 17:06 on Feb 28, 2017

# ¿ Feb 28, 2017 17:03

Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

I want to curve Lilly into JTMS every day in modern.

Especially if I can drop a bitter blossom on turn 2

# ¿ Mar 3, 2017 23:25

Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

Chairman Pow! posted:

Speaking of Hierach, is there any alternative cards to use in place of it? the 3 or 4 Hierarchs are all that stands between me and a complete Abzan company. I really cant drop 150-200 to get them, is there anything I can use that's remotely close?

Is this a real question? Birds of Paradise and avacyn pilgrim are both budget options.

There is no alternative exalted mana dork, though.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2017 01:26

Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

Conversely the idea that a car isn't a basic need in a rural snowy area is also rather dumb

# ¿ Mar 9, 2017 07:51

Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

GoutPatrol posted:

I wish. There is alot of design space in it. If they can bring back Madness they can find a way to do that too.

"Curse" cards that are suspended spells that remove counters when players violate the curse, kinda like Nihilith.

Haunt also seems like a cool mechanic to riff on that theme.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2017 05:42

Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

Subways Jared posted:

Read the OP and found a lot of helpful resources. But what I didn't find, I'll ask here.
I've been out of the game for 10 years or so. I used to really love going to FNM's, pre-releases, and just having a group of chill friends to kick it with and play for fun after classes.

I'd like to get back into playing again, but I'm not sure where to start. What's a smart way to jump back into where the game and its rules are today? How do I re-introduce myself into MTG after being away for so long? Any helpful resources out there for something specific like this, or advice from anyone that recently came back into playing?

There's been a couple of key rules changes in that decade:

Damage no longer goes on the stack as a pseudo-spell, it's now assigned and then immediately dealt. This means that you can't do the old mogg fanatic trick of block, put damage on the stack, and then sacrifice it.
Manaburn doesn't exist any longer.
Planeswalkers are a new card type - they're cards you cast that have abilities on them that you can use 1 of, 1 per turn, if you can pay "loyalty" from that walker to use it. Some of them have positive costs to gain loyalty. These can be attacked like a player and damage cards like lightning bolt that say "deal damage to target player" can have their damage redirected to a planeswalker.

Other than that, they're pretty much the same.

I haven't played Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013, but I've played the previous and they're good for casually learning how to play the game. Not super in-depth, but for $10 each they're fun enough and interesting enough while learning how to play.
Here's a link to the demo of 2013: http://store.steampowered.com/app/97330/

There's also a free to play version that I haven't played, called Duels, but based on what I've seen it's more or less an updated version of the above.
Here's a link to it: http://store.steampowered.com/app/316010/

Once you're familiar with the rules, find a store nearby and go do a booster draft. This is a format where you draft cards from packs and build your deck out of it, it'll help you build a collection and also meet real life nerds nearby.

From there you can meet folks and start figuring out what formats people play in your area, etc. Commander is the most chill of constructed formats (outside of "casual" no rules stuff that folks will play with their friends), and is multiplayer focused. Standard is the cheapest of the constructed formats, and is made up of cards from the most recent 2 years only. It's also a good time to buy into Standard as most of the decks don't have a lot of Zendikar Block cards, which are going to be first to rotate out (which means they're no longer played in Standard and are only playable in older formats, which typically means their value drops).

The next set that is releasing, Modern Masters 2017, is not an ideal starting point for a totally lapsed player, despite having a pre-release coming up soon. This is because A) the booster packs are $10 a piece, and B) it's full of powerful and expensive cards , all of which means you're going to spend more money than you normally would to increase your chance of passing someone a $70 card because you didn't know what it was worth and then getting your rear end trounced more quickly because you don't know the wider card base and synergies.

The first pre-release you'll want to attend is for Amonkhet, which will be coming out after MM17, as it will be priced normally and will be usable in Standard (and every other format) and that pre-release will be geared towards new and more casual players.

I would avoid Magic the Gathering Online until you've determined A) you want to spend money on this game repeatedly and B) you don't want to socialize with the local nerds / can't make it to the local nerd store. It's "cheaper" than IRL magic but it is separate, so if you wanted to dabble in both you're going to spend more money than if you focused on one or the other.

# ¿ Mar 12, 2017 03:19

Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

ManMythLegend posted:

I've seen this GIF a few times, but I don't know the context. Is there a video of it somewhere, or can someone explain it?

It's a blind flip bonfire to win Worlds

# ¿ Mar 12, 2017 08:50

Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

HotBobaloo posted:

What would be a reasonable replacement for the horizon canopies? I have everything else and I want to build this.

Not to single you out, but I don't get these questions - it's always 'what is the budget replacement for Horizon Canopy / Noble Hierarch / Thoughtseize' and is it not obvious what the role of the card is in the deck?

# ¿ Mar 13, 2017 06:49

Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

Jabor posted:

I mean, sometimes it's not obvious.

Like, do you replace thoughtsieze with Inquisition, Duress, Fatal Push, or is the deck effectively unplayable without it?

That one is certainly a bit more of a meta call, but it's not like people are running horizon canopy because they want cantrips so you can swap them for serum visions

# ¿ Mar 13, 2017 07:26

Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

Pontius Pilate posted:

And goyf growth.

Was tribal really a trainwreck? It still feels wrong to me that cards like goblin grenade and dragon fodder aren't of the goblin type. It's not as if any tribal cards have been broken let alone because of their type.

being able to find goblin grenade off goblin matron / etc would be really good

# ¿ Mar 16, 2017 05:55

Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

How did he cheat out emrakul on turn 3?

The cool and good way to get emrakul out involves it having haste and swinging on that turn 3. I'm assuming he was a polymorph deck?

# ¿ Mar 17, 2017 03:04

Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

Subways Jared posted:

Played my first FNM last night in 8-10 years and had a great time like I thought I would. Of course I didn't win a match, but it was cool to see the excitement of a FNM still exists.

Everything I've bought over the last week was STD legal, but I saw a lot of guys having fun with the Modern draft last night. People that have advised me about getting back into Magic suggested I start with STD. I did, and it's been sweet.

But would it be smart for me to invest in some of this new Modern Masters product? Awfully expensive, but is the playability value of the cards make spending that money worth it? Especially considering I'm just getting back into playing again. Basically, would it be smarter to keep my money in the STD sets or invest in some MM as well?

If you are thinking you'll.be playing modern in a year or two, this is exactly the time to buy playsets of all the enemy fetches that were reprinted in MM17 if you have that kind of cash floating around. In about a week or two we will see the bottom of their pricing and a year from now they will have held or gained. At that time you can ditch the ones you won't use for modern cards you will use.

The same goes for Tarmogoyf and Lilliana right now. They will be solid pickups that are unlikely to move down in price.

Of course buying all of that is going to be about a grand right now. But you are very unlikely to lose value.

Keep in mind cashing out will be about a 12% loss so unless they gain 12% you will lose a few percentage points if you are cashing. If you are trading them, you can typically trade single high value cards into more than their value of low dollar cards, ie, trade a $120 goyf into $140 worth of $10-$20 cards if you are making real life trades and not using a third party valuation trading service like pucatrades

# ¿ Mar 18, 2017 21:29

Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

Soul Glo posted:

Bolas is gonna make the Anti-Jacetice League, and it will be dumb

The Superfiends

I've been brewing a grixis walkers deck called that

# ¿ Mar 30, 2017 09:38

Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

Marketing New Brain posted:

I enjoyed damage on the stack for the depth it brought, but if you've ever played in limited against someone when they didn't know about it and you did, it felt like cheating.

The biggest loss is old Ravnica and Time Spiral drafts not being as awesome as they once were.

There is no depth in damage on the stack.

There is mechanical complexity but there was never a decision tree. Now there is, and that decision tree is depth.

# ¿ Apr 4, 2017 02:04

Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

mcmagic posted:

There are legacy decks that can't beat the Emblem...

Lol what deck can't remove a planeswalker?

Like any creature deck obv has answers out the wazoo

ANT has chain of vapor and possibly abrupt decay (if they aren't all in on Gideon tribal)

Painted stone eliminates their deck and then swings at Gideon with their recruiters and painters

Seriously what legacy deck doesn't have creatures or blue?

# ¿ Apr 5, 2017 16:02

Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

mcmagic posted:

You're talking a 2 or 3 for one and that is best case. NTM it's it's own clock and it's not like you won't back it up with disruption.

Delver decks are terrible at going wide.

Yes it will be impossible for them to have 2 creatures or lightning bolts or abrupt decay, good catch.

It's a good card but it isn't the unbeatable legacy nightmare you're pretending it is.

# ¿ Apr 5, 2017 16:23

Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

This guy is arguably more powerful than second Lilly, though.

# ¿ Apr 5, 2017 16:24

Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

Terminus needs to get removed though

# ¿ Apr 8, 2017 19:13

Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

The best possible outcome for Hour of Devastation, plotwise, based on my limited knowledge of the plot (bolas is there, gatwatch is summoned, plane spoke to Nissa) is this:

Gatwatch arrives. Find Bolas has built himself a planeswalker factory and shielded the city and warped the culture into one of sacrifice.

Gatewatch stop all of this. The day is saved.

The plane itself or something of similar scale was actually being kept restrained by the sacrifice, and is sentient, the planeswalker harvesting was just a side effect that Bolas set up to extract some value from the terrible process.

Bolas is broken, city collapses, plane rides up, Jace and Nissa move to speak to the plane and convince it that the sacrifice was wrong, Jace tries to communicate telepathically and Nissa through her earth mother voodoo.

It loving eats them and the gatewatch has to flee, knowing a sentient plane is going to attempt to chase them through the blind eternities.

Bolas intercepts them a block or two down the road and suggests that New Phyrexia itself can be weaponized and he had been sowing the seeds for such through Tezz. We go to NP and Bolas tries to play NP, the artificial unlife creator vs Amonkhet, the natural organic life devourer, with the Phyrexian rebellion, jacetice league, tezzerets, and Bolas all having conflicting interests.

# ¿ Apr 12, 2017 22:34

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 04:55

Sigma-X: Jun 17, 2005

YggdrasilTM posted:

So basically Battle for Zendikar?

More like Rath and the weatherlight saga.

# ¿ Apr 12, 2017 23:26

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