They have stuff like this in Elder Scrolls Legends, no problem. Magic is way too slow to adapt with their rules. "It doesn't work within the rules" - well then MAKE it work. Change the rules.
Concerning Mary, it's pretty clear from the wording that you can use it from hand. "Switch a killbot or Mary in your hand with one on the battlefield". What's there not to understand?
Well, all that means to me is that if Mary is on the battlefield, you can switch a killbot or another Mary that is in your hand with a Mary or killbot on the battlefield. But not necessarily that you can activate the ability from your hand.
I don't think the previous un-sets did all that well. They were wacky, sure, but some of the things were too out there and detracted from playing the game. I think so far Unstable looks like it makes sure that a fun game of magic is still possible by reining in some of the crazier things.
Since this set will not be gaining sales based on standard play, it lives and dies on limited/casual. I think ensuring normalish games of magic is a smart move, and I'm really disappointed in anyone who thinks otherwise.
It's nice that we subtly get an answer for why Huatli hasn't been indiscriminately killing everyone while defending her lands. Kudos to the story team for elegantly answering that question.
I thought it might be nice to try something else and run a community poll on card art. I have a bunch of categories and nominations, but more are always welcome! I was planning on running the nomination phase until October 16th, at which point I will compile the nominees and create a poll.
I've mostly been a lurker on MTGSalvation, so please let me know if this is not the appropriate forum (or website) for this thread. I have a reddit post on /r/magicTCG as well. If I can just link to that let me know, as it will be easier to maintain 1 list instead of 2, but until I get confirmation, here is the list!
Creature Most Likely to be Confused for the Wrong Creature Type based on Art:
Yeah, the flavor text on the Brontodon is just dumb, taller than all trees except the tallest? Older than all trees except the oldest? Like, no *****, so am I. Oldest and tallest are pretty arbitrary.
The cards are fine for what they are, limited filler. No reason to cry about them otherwise.
Good, I'm glad this story happened. Not that I thought the Gatewatch were handled spectacularly well during BFZ, but I don't think they deserve as much ire as they seem to get here. The only thing I could think about through this entire thing was how glad I will be when (if) Nicol Bolas finally gets his comeuppance. Sure, he's an old planeswalker and an elder dragon so he's incredibly powerful, but he's still an arrogant prick and there's nothing sweeter than watching the arrogant brought low. Cannot wait to see the Nicol Bolas' Defeat card.
I don't know, I'm kind of sick of these stories. Everyone is always pissing and moaning about the Gatewatch and all, but this plotline has just been getting darker and darker. Starting with Rhonas' brutal and "shocking" death, stuff like Kefnets' followers listening for profundity in Kefnet's last moments and only hearing confused death gurgling (or something), and now ending with this piece. Maybe the last bit of this piece just really affected me because it made me think of my own kids (pretty sure the child is dead, too, and the "savior" was about to say that but decided not to spare Amenakhte). It wasn't bad by any means, and I guess it gets some of the points across like Mister M mentioned, but I was also a little disappointed that it was light on plot progression. I don't know, I'll keep tuning in every week to follow the story, but I really hope this satiates the bloodlust of some of those clamoring for death to everyone and the Gatewatch and we can move on with something less dark.
Maybe I'm just at the stage in my life where I need a little less brutality in my escapism which hasn't traditionally had that much overt brutality in it. If I wanted stuff like this I'd go partake in something billed as such. I understand that I can always just not read it, and there are people that enjoy this kind of wanton destruction, but if people are allowed to voice their utter contempt for the Gatewatch I can voice my dislike for what they are doing here.
Story said hapatra was 34, twice the normal age. So 60 years ago with ~15 years for growth, one a day assuming a 365 days a year gives 16,425 eternals. Not to mention reproduction, those original children would have had to wait a while to be even be able to reproduce.
I don't know how many people started out in the city, but counting that a lot of people don't take the trials, reproduction needs to happen to keep the population going, even more give up, and just as many again are slaughtered and become mummies, I don't know that many more than one a day can even be possible with how many people are seemingly alive in the city today.
That's assuming that only one person was deemed worthy a day. We don't know the actual population, or even the size of the city. For all we know there could be millions of eternals. Do we know how many people went through per day? If it is 100 per day (100 could certainly fit on the boat), that gets you to 1 million. Do we know what percentage of the population 100 individuals is? Lets say it takes an hour for the last trial to happen, and they do 8-10 of them per day. With 15 participants, I could see 100 on average going through. I don't think there is enough information, at least that I have seen, to really actually calculate the numbers. It could be anything, and they can make it anything.
Farm to Market is weird. The name as a whole seems off-flavor, and how does "farm" signify "kill combatant"? Is it a convoluted Swords to Plowshares reference? It would be justified by some really good/interesting mechanical cohesion between the halves, but that seems notably absent as well.
Farm probably signifies the farming of the residents of Amonkhet, as Bolas is turning them into his army of undead using the blue rocks also being harvested on the plane. There are numerous other hints to this in other cards in both this set and the last. So the name is really only off flavor if you have no idea what the set is about.
I think it's fine to have aftermath cards that just work well in the same kind of deck, in this case a control deck which would be very interested in casting the first half early and the second half late when lands are less important, so it definitely has synergy in that regard as far as I'm concerned.
I just want to chime in to say that I actually don't hate the Gatewatch, and would be a little sad to see them all go. I'm not necessarily frothing at the bit to see them get defeated, but it's fine if they don't always win. I've always been a little confused at all the hatred the Gatewatch gets, especially Jace (I liked him in Agents of Artifice). Buck up, Jace. You might not have won this battle, but you'll get 'em next time.
If what many of us think will happen actually happens, he'll need some memory exercises before he can get anybody.
Sure. Maybe they will be able to develop him better as a result of this, and maybe people will stop hating on him so much. He's overcome memory loss before. I don't disagree that it was pretty foolish to think they could "get the drop" on Nicol Bolas, and that they should have enlisted more help. I definitely agree that they should be taught some sort of lesson. However, I don't want them to just go away, and would like them to grow from this.
Well, all that means to me is that if Mary is on the battlefield, you can switch a killbot or another Mary that is in your hand with a Mary or killbot on the battlefield. But not necessarily that you can activate the ability from your hand.
Since this set will not be gaining sales based on standard play, it lives and dies on limited/casual. I think ensuring normalish games of magic is a smart move, and I'm really disappointed in anyone who thinks otherwise.
I thought it might be nice to try something else and run a community poll on card art. I have a bunch of categories and nominations, but more are always welcome! I was planning on running the nomination phase until October 16th, at which point I will compile the nominees and create a poll.
I've mostly been a lurker on MTGSalvation, so please let me know if this is not the appropriate forum (or website) for this thread. I have a reddit post on /r/magicTCG as well. If I can just link to that let me know, as it will be easier to maintain 1 list instead of 2, but until I get confirmation, here is the list!
Creature Most Likely to be Confused for the Wrong Creature Type based on Art:
Creature Most Likely to be Wrongly Thought to have Flying based on Art:
Creature Most Likely to be Wrongly Thought to not have Flying based on Art:
Creature Most Likely to be Wrongly Thought to be Underwater:
Creature Most Likely to be Confused for a Spell Based on Art:
Spell Most Likely to be Confused for a Creature based on Art:
Cards with Most Easily Swappable Art:
Creature with Large Stats but Small in Art:
Creature with Small Stats but Large in Art:
Card Art that Best Represents the Set's Themes:
Best Card Art:
Best Land Art:
Best Dinosaur Art:
Best Pirate Art:
Best Water Elf Art:
Best Vampire Art:
Best Non-Tribal Art:
Best Foil Card Art:
Best Basic Land Art:
Worst Card Art:
Most Disgusting Card Art:
Most Confusing Card Art:
Card Art with Best Perspective Difference:
Funniest Card Art:
Cutest Card Art:
Moosiest Card Art:
Memeiest Card Art:
Card that Most Looks like Someone's Aunt:
Most Glorious Chest:
Most Gleeful:
The cards are fine for what they are, limited filler. No reason to cry about them otherwise.
Maybe I'm just at the stage in my life where I need a little less brutality in my escapism which hasn't traditionally had that much overt brutality in it. If I wanted stuff like this I'd go partake in something billed as such. I understand that I can always just not read it, and there are people that enjoy this kind of wanton destruction, but if people are allowed to voice their utter contempt for the Gatewatch I can voice my dislike for what they are doing here.
That's assuming that only one person was deemed worthy a day. We don't know the actual population, or even the size of the city. For all we know there could be millions of eternals. Do we know how many people went through per day? If it is 100 per day (100 could certainly fit on the boat), that gets you to 1 million. Do we know what percentage of the population 100 individuals is? Lets say it takes an hour for the last trial to happen, and they do 8-10 of them per day. With 15 participants, I could see 100 on average going through. I don't think there is enough information, at least that I have seen, to really actually calculate the numbers. It could be anything, and they can make it anything.
Farm probably signifies the farming of the residents of Amonkhet, as Bolas is turning them into his army of undead using the blue rocks also being harvested on the plane. There are numerous other hints to this in other cards in both this set and the last. So the name is really only off flavor if you have no idea what the set is about.
I think it's fine to have aftermath cards that just work well in the same kind of deck, in this case a control deck which would be very interested in casting the first half early and the second half late when lands are less important, so it definitely has synergy in that regard as far as I'm concerned.
Sure. Maybe they will be able to develop him better as a result of this, and maybe people will stop hating on him so much. He's overcome memory loss before. I don't disagree that it was pretty foolish to think they could "get the drop" on Nicol Bolas, and that they should have enlisted more help. I definitely agree that they should be taught some sort of lesson. However, I don't want them to just go away, and would like them to grow from this.