The mythic rares have special enchantment on themselves so they can be only opened by the people who don't want to open them
More seriously, if Mythic Rares and Rares are printed on the same rare sheet (I think it was like that in Shards of Alara), with 2 of every rare and 1 of every mythic, then the chance would be 1 in 121 packs.
wow ok...i was just wondering b/c my friends and I are opening a case....and we are gonna shotgun cards like a draft lol...and i was wondering the odds of me being able to pick one up
This card ends FFAs in glorious fashion; the player with coat of arms and 50 slivers kills everyone else, while you control his turn, and subsequently dies to your creatures.
In competitive play he is useful mostly for his first ability, which is good, but perhaps not strong enough given his cost.
I have high hopes for Sorin. I just hope the triple-black cost doesn't make it prohibitive for 2- and 3-colored control decks.
Unlike Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, Sorin keeps you alive at the same time he keeps himself alive: +2 life, +2 loyalty and possibly -1 attacker means your opponent has to make a very careful choice about which one to go after. Even more important, that one ability is pretty much guaranteed to swing a game in your favor in an attrition war scenario, and can win the game with no further board commitment. Just think of Sorin as a 2/2 haste, lifelink, unblockable creature that's impervious to traditional removal.
Perhaps the biggest downside to Sorin is that I really don't see any of his two minus abilities being all that useful. Assuming no infinite life combos, setting an opponent's life to 10 will hardly make a difference if you're winning, and is downright useless if you're behind on board position. As for controlling your opponent's turn, well, the ability probably is probably not worth putting Sorin in burn range, and it really requires the game to be fairly stable for it to be game-breaking. And let's face it: if your opponent just let you stick a six-mana planeswalker without a fight, it should be pretty clear who's winning (note: it's not always you!)
lets say your playing aginst that new creature with test of endurance for 40 built in, your opponant hits 40 something life, you drop sorin, and set it to 10, bam huge game swing. but yes his 2nd ability is bad, and will rarely be used, but his first ability makes up for it and i think the difference between +1 and +2 is significant, and the fact that if you use his ultimate, your opponant will not be able to attack him when he is weakend by it. GWB rock seems very powerful post rotation, with fetchlands pumping knight of the reliquary and harrow making trip B pretty easy.
all good points. One has to ask then: Would i pay 3BBB for a 2/2 hasting,life linking, unblockable dude with pseudo shroud?
Well, given you're actually paying 3BBB for a sort-of 2/2 hasting, life-linking dude with shroud that can, at your command redirect his combat damage to a creature, gains 2 toughness whenever he attacks and gives your opponent the choice for him to gain Vigilance and multi-block, things are a bit more complicated than that.
Anyone who's played with Jace and Bolas knows that plus abilities with numbers greater than one are nothing to be scoffed at. Sorin's +2 ability nets you life and takes out smaller attackers, gradually reducing the amount of damage you and him are taking. Moreover, he can switch to the offense just as easily, and finish an opponent all on his own. For a control deck trying to establish late-game board dominance, these are all very important factors and complement very well with the sheer swinginess of Cruel Ultimatum.
Still, six mana can buy you so many strong effects these days that Sorin's playability will depend heavily on whether there are better win conditions out there. So far, Ob Nixilis looks a bit too vulnerable for his cost as control finisher in a format where having less than 4 toughness is a big liability. I could be wrong, but Ob looks like he's much more at home in a dedicated landfall or even a combo deck.
good point. Is all this stuff we are talking about going to be enough? I guess we will have to wait till the end of the week when we see the rest of the set...
I want Sorin Markov for one simple reason...my name is Mark Sorensen. I think it's just too effing perfect. I really hope I pull him from my box of Zendy.
Surprised people dont like that 2nd ability more. It works perfectly with all of the new Vampires who have special abilities that kick in when your opponent has "10 life or less". This is a simple way to activate all those abilities and really do damage.
And like someone else pointed out, at the very least his main ability would allow you to make all his creatures attack Sorin which would leave your opponent open for the kill. Many times, his finally ability will be a "Win Now" ability. Sorin is great.
Surprised people dont like that 2nd ability more. It works perfectly with all of the new Vampires who have special abilities that kick in when your opponent has "10 life or less". This is a simple way to activate all those abilities and really do damage.
And like someone else pointed out, at the very least his main ability would allow you to make all his creatures attack Sorin which would leave your opponent open for the kill. Many times, his finally ability will be a "Win Now" ability. Sorin is great.
All the vampires who care about 10 life or less are aggro creatures. An aggressive vampire deck already has the opponent at 10 life by turn 6, or if not, then at low enough life that Sorin will be doing maybe 3 or 4 life loss and you might as well play Blood Tribute. The real meat on this planeswalker is the +2 ability--repeatable draining that leads into a potential Mindslaver is really good; occasionally being able to reset their life total is gravy, and unless you regularly play against lifegain decks (or if you're playing EDH), not the main reason to be running Sorin.
wow ok...i was just wondering b/c my friends and I are opening a case....and we are gonna shotgun cards like a draft lol...and i was wondering the odds of me being able to pick one up
In competitive play he is useful mostly for his first ability, which is good, but perhaps not strong enough given his cost.
Unlike Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, Sorin keeps you alive at the same time he keeps himself alive: +2 life, +2 loyalty and possibly -1 attacker means your opponent has to make a very careful choice about which one to go after. Even more important, that one ability is pretty much guaranteed to swing a game in your favor in an attrition war scenario, and can win the game with no further board commitment. Just think of Sorin as a 2/2 haste, lifelink, unblockable creature that's impervious to traditional removal.
Perhaps the biggest downside to Sorin is that I really don't see any of his two minus abilities being all that useful. Assuming no infinite life combos, setting an opponent's life to 10 will hardly make a difference if you're winning, and is downright useless if you're behind on board position. As for controlling your opponent's turn, well, the ability probably is probably not worth putting Sorin in burn range, and it really requires the game to be fairly stable for it to be game-breaking. And let's face it: if your opponent just let you stick a six-mana planeswalker without a fight, it should be pretty clear who's winning (note: it's not always you!)
Well, given you're actually paying 3BBB for a sort-of 2/2 hasting, life-linking dude with shroud that can, at your command redirect his combat damage to a creature, gains 2 toughness whenever he attacks and gives your opponent the choice for him to gain Vigilance and multi-block, things are a bit more complicated than that.
Anyone who's played with Jace and Bolas knows that plus abilities with numbers greater than one are nothing to be scoffed at. Sorin's +2 ability nets you life and takes out smaller attackers, gradually reducing the amount of damage you and him are taking. Moreover, he can switch to the offense just as easily, and finish an opponent all on his own. For a control deck trying to establish late-game board dominance, these are all very important factors and complement very well with the sheer swinginess of Cruel Ultimatum.
Still, six mana can buy you so many strong effects these days that Sorin's playability will depend heavily on whether there are better win conditions out there. So far, Ob Nixilis looks a bit too vulnerable for his cost as control finisher in a format where having less than 4 toughness is a big liability. I could be wrong, but Ob looks like he's much more at home in a dedicated landfall or even a combo deck.
And like someone else pointed out, at the very least his main ability would allow you to make all his creatures attack Sorin which would leave your opponent open for the kill. Many times, his finally ability will be a "Win Now" ability. Sorin is great.
10, it's in the card, if it'd say "half of his/her life" would be another history
All the vampires who care about 10 life or less are aggro creatures. An aggressive vampire deck already has the opponent at 10 life by turn 6, or if not, then at low enough life that Sorin will be doing maybe 3 or 4 life loss and you might as well play Blood Tribute. The real meat on this planeswalker is the +2 ability--repeatable draining that leads into a potential Mindslaver is really good; occasionally being able to reset their life total is gravy, and unless you regularly play against lifegain decks (or if you're playing EDH), not the main reason to be running Sorin.
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