After watching that video I got the feeling that "Planeswalker" is teaser kinda like a sixth color. The only difference being Planeswalker is seems slightly more likely, and thus it will build a lot more excitement.
I am glad they consider the larger card pool a success. Hopefully we'll continue to see old cards in our collection "timeshifted" to pertinence.
As for Coldsnap, it was inherently alien to the Standard environment. And precons with a large number of cards that aren't even T2 legal just won't sell, no matter what.
...also, he reveals that the next extended rotation will start with mirrodin (not eighth edition as many of us considered)
You're misinterpreting the response. He meant that the *expansion* card pool will start with Mirrodin. The core set card pool will still start with 8th.
B) It took away RAVNICA Block Constructed as a PTQ format.
At least there wasn't a Coldsnap Constructed format...that would probably be a bad format.
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Many players are hitting Coldsnap on the head, but not all at once.
1) Coldsnap's perception to many players was not "stunning" as every found out it was a lie. The build-up of a "lost set" was teased, then shot down by Randy and the guys at WotC... that made some people angry.
2) Power then, power now. Ice Age was the first "reprint" set for cards in Magic. It reprinted a ton of staples from Alpha/Beta (STP, Counterspell, Disenchant, etc.) as well as "replace" over-powered cards, such as Brainstorm instead of Ancestral Recall, Dark Banishing instead of Terror, Incinerate instead of Lightning bolt, etc. Players do not deal with cumulative upkeep, as it's boring and non-competitive.
Standard (Type 2) just does not have this type of power decline. Even though Standard makes god-awful weakened cards, Coldsnap was even weaker in power-level (minus a few cards.) It almost goes back to the days of Ice Age... lots of bad and crap cards; two or three super-powerful, broken cards...
3) Drafting sucked. Period. I draft a lot... fairly decent at it, but do enjoy it. You learn patterns in draft, basically what's the best ways to draft a peticular set of packs... meaning, if you're playing triple-Fifth Dawn, go for 10-12 Myr Servitors and 2-4 Trinket Mages and you'll win, easily. But, if you draft Coldsnap, you'll quickly learn that having 10 of 1 card with about 5-7 snow-lands is just the nuts... usually a Ripple card that deals 2 damage or bounces a permenent. Getting a 2/1 isn't bad...
This tossed in with Thrumming Stone as a rare, you get weird games where you have 8 Sound the Call and 2 Thrumming Stones in your deck... yeah, you just go friggin' nutz.
4) Cards that aren't type-2/standard legal. When players heard the buzz about Coldsnap having reprints, they went crazy wondering if they were going to be Standard and Extended legal... only to have their dreams crushed by a definate "No!" This on top of non-Foiled reprints = bad times. Hot buzz went around as players wanted to know if reprints were going to be foiled, and especially certain ones (Counterspell, Swords to Plowshares, Disenchant, Brainstorm, Dark Ritual, etc.) but it didn't happen.
Standard players were only interested in the few really good cards that were all rares(Ohran Viper, Jester's Scepter, Angel, and Scrying Sheets), or commons (like Rune Snag or Skred), plus just getting their hands on snow-covered lands, which were extremely hard to come by.
5) Full-Block Drafting. Ice Age and Alliances both cost $10 - $15 PER PACK to buy, so drafting it as a full block could cost a minimum of say (10 for IA, 15 for All, and 4 for CSP) $29-$30, and that's just for the packs, no prize support. $35 (including $5 for prize) and you've got a draft that with average prize-support, and it's costing more than a Sealed Deck! Plus, it's not Standard, so it doesn't effect your rating! That's a total turn-off. In addition to cost, Coldsnap did not realy "help" with the original theme of the previous 2 sets, which did not even theme well together, but isntead just re-made newer versions of those older, nastalgic cards... meaning, Coldsnap was just better in all ways than most cards (mostly just creatures!) in Draft!
6) Limited Print run. This is the only thing keeping Coldsnap singles pricey... even after rotation it will... coldsnap was so friggin' hard to get, because most stores got only a case before they ran out of the stuff. That's not really pushing a set, even an experimental one...
Coldsnap was a major turn-off to Standard players, and didn't muster enough out of older players to get into... totally horrible experiment that suffered it's rightful-wrath.
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i guess i'm kinda in the minority ... i really liked coldsnap.. i thought it had some interesting mechanics and themes.. Ripple is a pretty cool effect that i would like to see explored again.. the "snow" gimmick probably didn't come across very well.. but Viper was/is considered to be a great card in standard..
I guess.. i just wish that there is a "new" chronicles released every year as a new "timeshifted" set.. it at least made collecting the "big" set fun throughout its existance.. and i loved the "old cards seeping in" flavor it had.. Tormod's = not the most broken thing in the world.. i was glad to see they printed that after that one guy from SCG who always wants that card to see print (he also wants banding to return.. but thats not likely) I'm glad there are no "fives" in R&D limited pointing.. even though I believe Loxodon Warhammer is pretty close to a 5 in core set limited..possibly even Icy Manipulator.. maybe thats a 4 .. great..in every deck.. but not game breaking..
good interview.. even though Aaron looked tired and bored with it.. I don't know if i want a "middle set" format.. I would just like them to print cards that can compete with some of those older cards.. Pithing Needle is a step in the right direction..
someone mentioned they didn't like coldsnap because the precons had cards that they couldn't use in standard.. it reprinted Dark Rit and Swords to Plowshares.. two cards that I would consider using in Legacy or T1.. so it did kind of bring those cards to players who would love to play legacy but never had the chance to get old good cards.. and the R/G one included 2x incinerates which are going to be reprinted.. also brainstorm.. Aaron mentioned in the past that the reason why there were so many iceage/alliances cards was for MTGO.. a playset of swords sells for 36 tix not to mention brainstorms sell for 2 tix each..
people still dont understand that not all the product they put out is meant for everyone.. i'm sure there is a guy out there who loves the pro player cards or loves collecting each rule card.. i for one just trash them.. but i know people who collect sealed product.. anyways.. just remember that its not always about you..
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I just want people who redraft to admit this:
"I can't draft objectively unless I am able to guarantee that I receive at least 3 rares. I am also better than most average/new players so I want to make sure that I get the best rares and they end up with worse ones. I care more about the monetary value of cards than actually playing the game for decent prizes."
Is it just me or did Aaron Forsythe seem like he didn't want to be there?
LOL, thats exactly what i was thinking. It seemed to me that he was extremely annoyed--he rarely made any eye contact with the camera or the guy interviewing him. Or maybe, thats just the kind of person he is and is a candidate for parkinsons...we don't know and can't judge him. well, i can judge him, but no one else can.
Finishing Ice Age block - okay? I guess? Personally, I enjoyed Coldsnap a bunch on a conceptual level -- I always thought Cumulative Upkeep and Snow had tons more design space, and Snow is still an interesting mechanic I'd love to see again sometime. However, like the Ulgrotha setting because of Homelands, it probably carries a taint such that WotC will never touch it again, which is unfortunate.
Small, limited-oriented set: also, neat idea, and I think rather well done. Riplle makes me giggle like a metaphorical schoolgirl. HOWEVER, because of the relatively low power level of a lot of the cards, meaning virtually all of them were in the 'underpowered' to 'suck' range, nobody really WANTED the cards. People complain about the reprints in the precons that weren't standard legal, but even then I'm sure a standard enthusiast would rather have a few Swords to Plowshares (legal or not) than almost any uncommon in Coldsnap (legal, but too mediocre/bad to actually see play). It's like the paradox of Vintage: every card is legal, but because of that only, what, 150 cards get played?
Coldsnap I lump alongside the Weatherlight saga, not as a failed experiment, but as SEVERAL failed experiments combined. This is especially problematic, because as numerous factors contribute to the failure of the overall project, some may have actually been positive, but will not be viewed as such. People were dissatisfied with the Weatherlight Saga? Therefore, no more massive all-encompassing story arcs at all. People didn't like Coldsnap? Therefore, no more adding on to previous blocks, stand-alone small sets for limited, or Snow.
Hopefully, WotC doesn't take the failure of Coldsnap as an excuse to write off everything about it. I mean, Chronicles was considered a massive failure, yet the Time Spiral Timeshifted set is the most popular thing to happen to Magic since Invasion block. Time will only tell, eh?
I think the answer to whether Lorwyn block has 4 sets will be known this Oct when Wizards will reveal the details of a 4-pack booster draft format. If they continue with the 3-pack format, I think it is unlikely that there is a 4th set to Lorwyn.
Well, assuming Lorwyn is a 4-block set, we wont see this issue crop up again until 3 years from now, and it'll probably be Unglued 3 the next time around.
In a somewhat related note, I definately think we're gonna see $3 12-card packs, especiallly with the announcement that Xth has 16-card packs while we see 5 theme decks that are likely 40-card.) Would definately make drafting a little different.
I think the answer to whether Lorwyn block has 4 sets will be known this Oct when Wizards will reveal the details of a 4-pack booster draft format. If they continue with the 3-pack format, I think it is unlikely that there is a 4th set to Lorwyn.
No, I think that once we see the words 'Set X of X in Lorwyn Block', we will know.
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[quote=Lunan;/comments/5244249]this is very true, they did capture ice age wonderfully
and its true that by TODAYS standard ice age is a very weak set(skull excluded) however at the time ice age was a VERY powerful set,
Well, that's overstating it. The problem with Coldsnap wasn't either the nostalgia or the fact that it tied into a set so old that its power level was too low; it's the particular aspects of that set it needed to emphasise. Old-style cantrips, cumulative upkeep, and snow - these were the innovations Ice Age brought to the table. Cantrips offer little room for development and have long been a standard part of the game, and the others ... are weak. Now, if we'd had a follow-up to Mirage block with flanking, phasing, instant-enchantments, charms, 187 creatures, djinn and efreets being the order of the day, we could have had a much better set even though Mirage's power level is roughly equivalent to Ice Age's (yes, Visions' is rather higher, to be sure. I once heard that Wizards said later that printing so many strong cards at common and uncommon in one set was a mistake and they resolved not to do it again).
Of course, we've now had flanking, charms, djinn and efreets back, flash beats insta-enchantments, and 187 creatures and phasing have remained part of the game (even though phasing has been unkeyworded and only survives in activated "phase out" abilities - even Frenetic Sliver was unkeyworded despite being functionally identical (flying aside) to its phasing inspiration).
I would like to see some Coldsnap themes revisited - Recover cards tended to have overpriced recover costs, but as with most recursion there's a lot of scope for developing the idea. Ripple's a bit boring but has combo potential (e.g. scry). Going back to the Kindle mechanic and pitch cards was welcome, since both had been dormant for a long time, but in the end they weren't good cards save for two of the Kindles (Sound the Call ought to have been a base 2/2, and it could have seen play). The idea of Snow was good, but by its nature it needed more than one undersized set to explore it, since it demands a deck be built around it and the small card pool strongly limited the options. Centaur Omenreader really wasn't enough to add variety in subsequent sets.
IMO, the problem with Coldsnap is that all of its major mechancs were linear. Snow cards require a dedicated snow deck, Ripple requires many copies of a card, aurochs need more aurochs, etc. Only recover was a "role-player" instead of a "build-around" mechanic. It's exactly the same mistake they made in Kamigawa, and that they criticized many Designer Search contestants for making.
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Well, that's overstating it. The problem with Coldsnap wasn't either the nostalgia or the fact that it tied into a set so old that its power level was too low; it's the particular aspects of that set it needed to emphasise. Old-style cantrips, cumulative upkeep, and snow - these were the innovations Ice Age brought to the table. Cantrips offer little room for development and have long been a standard part of the game, and the others ... are weak. Now, if we'd had a follow-up to Mirage block with flanking, phasing, instant-enchantments, charms, 187 creatures, djinn and efreets being the order of the day, we could have had a much better set even though Mirage's power level is roughly equivalent to Ice Age's (yes, Visions' is rather higher, to be sure. I once heard that Wizards said later that printing so many strong cards at common and uncommon in one set was a mistake and they resolved not to do it again).
Of course, we've now had flanking, charms, djinn and efreets back, flash beats insta-enchantments, and 187 creatures and phasing have remained part of the game (even though phasing has been unkeyworded and only survives in activated "phase out" abilities - even Frenetic Sliver was unkeyworded despite being functionally identical (flying aside) to its phasing inspiration).
I would like to see some Coldsnap themes revisited - Recover cards tended to have overpriced recover costs, but as with most recursion there's a lot of scope for developing the idea. Ripple's a bit boring but has combo potential (e.g. scry). Going back to the Kindle mechanic and pitch cards was welcome, since both had been dormant for a long time, but in the end they weren't good cards save for two of the Kindles (Sound the Call ought to have been a base 2/2, and it could have seen play). The idea of Snow was good, but by its nature it needed more than one undersized set to explore it, since it demands a deck be built around it and the small card pool strongly limited the options. Centaur Omenreader really wasn't enough to add variety in subsequent sets.
Phil
Interesting..I never noticed that Omenreader was snow until you brought it up.
I wonder if it means that they are considering the possiblity of returning to the snow mechanic one day?
I dunno. I've been on MTGO for about 5-6 years (since it's launch - I started paper in 95 and "switched over") and during that entire time, the 121 card timeshifted sheet is by far the most exciting and coolest thing that's happened, at least to me.
i remember the coldsnap release chat with Devin Low.. and he said something to the effect (it was my question.. the "would there be basic lands similar to snow in the future with supertypes that matter?" he said that they can't rule anything out (kind of a non anwser) but he mentioned that it does open a lot of design space, and I don't think they are finished with something like coldsnap in the future..
the real problem with coldsnap was the timing.. it was a very mono colored theme set coming off of a very multicolored block.. Coldsnap would have "faired" better coming off of Kamigawi, I envisioned the Recover mechanic would have fit well with the legends. not ot mention the Valkarie would have been great with the "legend rule".. especially in the T2s with the black and white dragons.. instead it kinda rode the tail end of Kamigawi and was never fully realized.. TS is amazing though.. the timeshifted set is exactly what the game needs as a "new chronicles" style set.. i've mentioned this before that its like having all the cards that are "too complicated" for the base set but in a base set.. i love the idea..
hopefully they don't wait for another nostalgia block to bring it out..
but.. I kinda see the Coldsnap set as one of those "this was for the MTGO crowd" because a lot of the cards from the set are popular online.. not just the tourney powerhouses but the precons, the lands, and the legends..
although.. we do have visions.. which is probably the best set to crack 5 boosters from.
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I just want people who redraft to admit this:
"I can't draft objectively unless I am able to guarantee that I receive at least 3 rares. I am also better than most average/new players so I want to make sure that I get the best rares and they end up with worse ones. I care more about the monetary value of cards than actually playing the game for decent prizes."
[quote=urzishra;/comments/5244276]i remember the coldsnap release chat with Devin Low.. and he said something to the effect (it was my question.. the "would there be basic lands similar to snow in the future with supertypes that matter?" he said that they can't rule anything out (kind of a non anwser) but he mentioned that it does open a lot of design space, and I don't think they are finished with something like coldsnap in the future..
As I recall when they previewed Coldsnap on the website, they said it wouldn't be the last we saw of the idea. To me it seems to be basically a template for Tribal - now that Tribal allows non-creature cards to be Elves, Kithkin or whatever, we can get the whole slew of snow effects all over again - creatures that tap for Elf mana (in a literal sense), spells that deal damage to the number of Elf permanents you control and so on and so forth.
Interesting..I never noticed that Omenreader was snow until you brought it up.
I wonder if it means that they are considering the possiblity of returning to the snow mechanic one day?
I fully expect them to (it would make sense if it was in the lifetime of Coldsnap, but I doubt it. Perhaps within its Extended lifetime); I'd have preferred it if the Omenreader had some mechanical reason to be a snow creature, though. Don't suppose it counts as reducing mana costs by up to two snow mana, does it? Maybe they plan on bringing out creatures which cost snow to cast.
Phil
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As for Coldsnap, it was inherently alien to the Standard environment. And precons with a large number of cards that aren't even T2 legal just won't sell, no matter what.
You're misinterpreting the response. He meant that the *expansion* card pool will start with Mirrodin. The core set card pool will still start with 8th.
At least there wasn't a Coldsnap Constructed format...that would probably be a bad format.
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aurochs, hand & hand, Uw control, and maybe some kind of red green aggro...
1) Coldsnap's perception to many players was not "stunning" as every found out it was a lie. The build-up of a "lost set" was teased, then shot down by Randy and the guys at WotC... that made some people angry.
2) Power then, power now. Ice Age was the first "reprint" set for cards in Magic. It reprinted a ton of staples from Alpha/Beta (STP, Counterspell, Disenchant, etc.) as well as "replace" over-powered cards, such as Brainstorm instead of Ancestral Recall, Dark Banishing instead of Terror, Incinerate instead of Lightning bolt, etc. Players do not deal with cumulative upkeep, as it's boring and non-competitive.
Standard (Type 2) just does not have this type of power decline. Even though Standard makes god-awful weakened cards, Coldsnap was even weaker in power-level (minus a few cards.) It almost goes back to the days of Ice Age... lots of bad and crap cards; two or three super-powerful, broken cards...
3) Drafting sucked. Period. I draft a lot... fairly decent at it, but do enjoy it. You learn patterns in draft, basically what's the best ways to draft a peticular set of packs... meaning, if you're playing triple-Fifth Dawn, go for 10-12 Myr Servitors and 2-4 Trinket Mages and you'll win, easily. But, if you draft Coldsnap, you'll quickly learn that having 10 of 1 card with about 5-7 snow-lands is just the nuts... usually a Ripple card that deals 2 damage or bounces a permenent. Getting a 2/1 isn't bad...
This tossed in with Thrumming Stone as a rare, you get weird games where you have 8 Sound the Call and 2 Thrumming Stones in your deck... yeah, you just go friggin' nutz.
4) Cards that aren't type-2/standard legal. When players heard the buzz about Coldsnap having reprints, they went crazy wondering if they were going to be Standard and Extended legal... only to have their dreams crushed by a definate "No!" This on top of non-Foiled reprints = bad times. Hot buzz went around as players wanted to know if reprints were going to be foiled, and especially certain ones (Counterspell, Swords to Plowshares, Disenchant, Brainstorm, Dark Ritual, etc.) but it didn't happen.
Standard players were only interested in the few really good cards that were all rares(Ohran Viper, Jester's Scepter, Angel, and Scrying Sheets), or commons (like Rune Snag or Skred), plus just getting their hands on snow-covered lands, which were extremely hard to come by.
5) Full-Block Drafting. Ice Age and Alliances both cost $10 - $15 PER PACK to buy, so drafting it as a full block could cost a minimum of say (10 for IA, 15 for All, and 4 for CSP) $29-$30, and that's just for the packs, no prize support. $35 (including $5 for prize) and you've got a draft that with average prize-support, and it's costing more than a Sealed Deck! Plus, it's not Standard, so it doesn't effect your rating! That's a total turn-off. In addition to cost, Coldsnap did not realy "help" with the original theme of the previous 2 sets, which did not even theme well together, but isntead just re-made newer versions of those older, nastalgic cards... meaning, Coldsnap was just better in all ways than most cards (mostly just creatures!) in Draft!
6) Limited Print run. This is the only thing keeping Coldsnap singles pricey... even after rotation it will... coldsnap was so friggin' hard to get, because most stores got only a case before they ran out of the stuff. That's not really pushing a set, even an experimental one...
Coldsnap was a major turn-off to Standard players, and didn't muster enough out of older players to get into... totally horrible experiment that suffered it's rightful-wrath.
-- Duncan McGregor, DCI L3 Judge, while playing his "judgebreaker" deck in an IRL EDH game
I guess.. i just wish that there is a "new" chronicles released every year as a new "timeshifted" set.. it at least made collecting the "big" set fun throughout its existance.. and i loved the "old cards seeping in" flavor it had.. Tormod's = not the most broken thing in the world.. i was glad to see they printed that after that one guy from SCG who always wants that card to see print (he also wants banding to return.. but thats not likely) I'm glad there are no "fives" in R&D limited pointing.. even though I believe Loxodon Warhammer is pretty close to a 5 in core set limited..possibly even Icy Manipulator.. maybe thats a 4 .. great..in every deck.. but not game breaking..
good interview.. even though Aaron looked tired and bored with it.. I don't know if i want a "middle set" format.. I would just like them to print cards that can compete with some of those older cards.. Pithing Needle is a step in the right direction..
someone mentioned they didn't like coldsnap because the precons had cards that they couldn't use in standard.. it reprinted Dark Rit and Swords to Plowshares.. two cards that I would consider using in Legacy or T1.. so it did kind of bring those cards to players who would love to play legacy but never had the chance to get old good cards.. and the R/G one included 2x incinerates which are going to be reprinted.. also brainstorm.. Aaron mentioned in the past that the reason why there were so many iceage/alliances cards was for MTGO.. a playset of swords sells for 36 tix not to mention brainstorms sell for 2 tix each..
people still dont understand that not all the product they put out is meant for everyone.. i'm sure there is a guy out there who loves the pro player cards or loves collecting each rule card.. i for one just trash them.. but i know people who collect sealed product.. anyways.. just remember that its not always about you..
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LOL, thats exactly what i was thinking. It seemed to me that he was extremely annoyed--he rarely made any eye contact with the camera or the guy interviewing him. Or maybe, thats just the kind of person he is and is a candidate for parkinsons...we don't know and can't judge him. well, i can judge him, but no one else can.
He's also better looking than I remember.
Finishing Ice Age block - okay? I guess? Personally, I enjoyed Coldsnap a bunch on a conceptual level -- I always thought Cumulative Upkeep and Snow had tons more design space, and Snow is still an interesting mechanic I'd love to see again sometime. However, like the Ulgrotha setting because of Homelands, it probably carries a taint such that WotC will never touch it again, which is unfortunate.
Small, limited-oriented set: also, neat idea, and I think rather well done. Riplle makes me giggle like a metaphorical schoolgirl. HOWEVER, because of the relatively low power level of a lot of the cards, meaning virtually all of them were in the 'underpowered' to 'suck' range, nobody really WANTED the cards. People complain about the reprints in the precons that weren't standard legal, but even then I'm sure a standard enthusiast would rather have a few Swords to Plowshares (legal or not) than almost any uncommon in Coldsnap (legal, but too mediocre/bad to actually see play). It's like the paradox of Vintage: every card is legal, but because of that only, what, 150 cards get played?
Coldsnap I lump alongside the Weatherlight saga, not as a failed experiment, but as SEVERAL failed experiments combined. This is especially problematic, because as numerous factors contribute to the failure of the overall project, some may have actually been positive, but will not be viewed as such. People were dissatisfied with the Weatherlight Saga? Therefore, no more massive all-encompassing story arcs at all. People didn't like Coldsnap? Therefore, no more adding on to previous blocks, stand-alone small sets for limited, or Snow.
Hopefully, WotC doesn't take the failure of Coldsnap as an excuse to write off everything about it. I mean, Chronicles was considered a massive failure, yet the Time Spiral Timeshifted set is the most popular thing to happen to Magic since Invasion block. Time will only tell, eh?
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In a somewhat related note, I definately think we're gonna see $3 12-card packs, especiallly with the announcement that Xth has 16-card packs while we see 5 theme decks that are likely 40-card.) Would definately make drafting a little different.
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No, I think that once we see the words 'Set X of X in Lorwyn Block', we will know.
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Well, that's overstating it. The problem with Coldsnap wasn't either the nostalgia or the fact that it tied into a set so old that its power level was too low; it's the particular aspects of that set it needed to emphasise. Old-style cantrips, cumulative upkeep, and snow - these were the innovations Ice Age brought to the table. Cantrips offer little room for development and have long been a standard part of the game, and the others ... are weak. Now, if we'd had a follow-up to Mirage block with flanking, phasing, instant-enchantments, charms, 187 creatures, djinn and efreets being the order of the day, we could have had a much better set even though Mirage's power level is roughly equivalent to Ice Age's (yes, Visions' is rather higher, to be sure. I once heard that Wizards said later that printing so many strong cards at common and uncommon in one set was a mistake and they resolved not to do it again).
Of course, we've now had flanking, charms, djinn and efreets back, flash beats insta-enchantments, and 187 creatures and phasing have remained part of the game (even though phasing has been unkeyworded and only survives in activated "phase out" abilities - even Frenetic Sliver was unkeyworded despite being functionally identical (flying aside) to its phasing inspiration).
I would like to see some Coldsnap themes revisited - Recover cards tended to have overpriced recover costs, but as with most recursion there's a lot of scope for developing the idea. Ripple's a bit boring but has combo potential (e.g. scry). Going back to the Kindle mechanic and pitch cards was welcome, since both had been dormant for a long time, but in the end they weren't good cards save for two of the Kindles (Sound the Call ought to have been a base 2/2, and it could have seen play). The idea of Snow was good, but by its nature it needed more than one undersized set to explore it, since it demands a deck be built around it and the small card pool strongly limited the options. Centaur Omenreader really wasn't enough to add variety in subsequent sets.
Phil
Oh, don't be silly, it'll just say "Set 1 of Lorwyn block," they want to 'surprise' some people, don't they?
Interesting..I never noticed that Omenreader was snow until you brought it up.
I wonder if it means that they are considering the possiblity of returning to the snow mechanic one day?
I dunno. I've been on MTGO for about 5-6 years (since it's launch - I started paper in 95 and "switched over") and during that entire time, the 121 card timeshifted sheet is by far the most exciting and coolest thing that's happened, at least to me.
the real problem with coldsnap was the timing.. it was a very mono colored theme set coming off of a very multicolored block.. Coldsnap would have "faired" better coming off of Kamigawi, I envisioned the Recover mechanic would have fit well with the legends. not ot mention the Valkarie would have been great with the "legend rule".. especially in the T2s with the black and white dragons.. instead it kinda rode the tail end of Kamigawi and was never fully realized.. TS is amazing though.. the timeshifted set is exactly what the game needs as a "new chronicles" style set.. i've mentioned this before that its like having all the cards that are "too complicated" for the base set but in a base set.. i love the idea..
hopefully they don't wait for another nostalgia block to bring it out..
but.. I kinda see the Coldsnap set as one of those "this was for the MTGO crowd" because a lot of the cards from the set are popular online.. not just the tourney powerhouses but the precons, the lands, and the legends..
although.. we do have visions.. which is probably the best set to crack 5 boosters from.
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As I recall when they previewed Coldsnap on the website, they said it wouldn't be the last we saw of the idea. To me it seems to be basically a template for Tribal - now that Tribal allows non-creature cards to be Elves, Kithkin or whatever, we can get the whole slew of snow effects all over again - creatures that tap for Elf mana (in a literal sense), spells that deal damage to the number of Elf permanents you control and so on and so forth.
I fully expect them to (it would make sense if it was in the lifetime of Coldsnap, but I doubt it. Perhaps within its Extended lifetime); I'd have preferred it if the Omenreader had some mechanical reason to be a snow creature, though. Don't suppose it counts as reducing mana costs by up to two snow mana, does it? Maybe they plan on bringing out creatures which cost snow to cast.
Phil