Pelakka Wurm needed to be upshifted to rare? OK wizards.
Its insanity.
At some point they included it at uncommon and someone said "its too good, it needs to be upshifted" and they just rolled with it, instead of making the logical conclusion to argue its simply not a core set material card, they should have made a new card instead of reprinting it.
Shifting uncommons to rare is always annoying and in no circumstance makes anybody happy, its terrible.
----
The shifts from rare to mythic are just money grabs.
Its also lazy for the sets design, but it at least "guarantees" some value of money.
Not including a rare land cycle is extremely odd and once again i cannot see who in the team for the set thought thats a good idea.
The crazy amount of planeswalkers in the set + 5 extra versions in the planeswalker decks is also mind boggling overkill ; i still hate the "intentionally" terrible planeswalkers like the plague.
----
A bunch of strange decisions , at least it has a handful of cards that are interesting, but sadly just trash rares in terms of money value.
Pelakka Wurm needed to be upshifted to rare? OK wizards.
Its insanity.
At some point they included it at uncommon and someone said "its too good, it needs to be upshifted" and they just rolled with it, instead of making the logical conclusion to argue its simply not a core set material card, they should have made a new card instead of reprinting it.
Shifting uncommons to rare is always annoying and in no circumstance makes anybody happy, its terrible.
----
The shifts from rare to mythic are just money grabs.
Its also lazy for the sets design, but it at least "guarantees" some value of money.
Not including a rare land cycle is extremely odd and once again i cannot see who in the team for the set thought thats a good idea.
The crazy amount of planeswalkers in the set + 5 extra versions in the planeswalker decks is also mind boggling overkill ; i still hate the "intentionally" terrible planeswalkers like the plague.
----
A bunch of strange decisions , at least it has a handful of cards that are interesting, but sadly just trash rares in terms of money value.
Agree they should avoid most rarity upshifts. It just annoys people and gives then no benefit in many cases.
The upshifts from rares to mythics IS a money grab but I feel like complaining about it is a bit irrational. I mean, the rarity system exists for money grabbing purpose to begin with, so it's not like they using it like this should be a surprise.
Also agree, the lack of a rare land cycle is just a major mistake. If they want to avoid too much mana fixing on standard they could have reprinted one of the current cycles. Maybe they are testing how a set sells without those ? Or maybe they felt the 'hoser' cycle was already too much rares starting players would not appreciate and decided they had to cut one cycle. Still I think the lack of rare lands will drop down value of the box, making life harder for limited players... very disappointing decision.
I agree the bad walkers are overkill but they can't give good PWs in starter's packs and they really feel like PWs cards are fun in those and I agree. I also don't like the reprints that don't come in boosters and the whole 300/285 numeration thing. It's just irksome. I'm not sure why they don't just make these starter packs a separate product.
Pelakka Wurm probably got upshifted to rare due to it being a core set. They did similar things in the old 5th and 6th edition sets as well. I think a lot of people are forgetting that wizards used to make beginner, advanced, and expert level products, with mechanical complexity and card strength going up with each level. Core sets were typically advanced level and didn't have the same power that a standard set did, nor the mechanical complexity. What's different here is that they are using the core set to reprint modern staples as well and are focusing on story highlights. Plus it looks like they put cards in the set they couldn't fit into Dominaria.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
All this talk about upshifts in rarity, but hey, Windreader Sphinx was downshifted from Mythic to Rare!
...I may or may not have forgotten that card even existed, let alone that it existed as a Mythic.
I actually think this will be a really good set to play as a limited set. I just wish that it didn't suffer from being released in the middle of summer when everyone is vacationing and doing other things.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Origins was an awesome draft format, so I have high hopes for this one.
Also: I am shocked noone is talking about them printing (uncommon) Man-o'-war with a relevant creature type. Exclusion Mage should be big news. Blue will be a powerhouse. Yes, I see you can't target your own stuff, but that's fringe.
Well, people can say whatever they want about the set, but this set has hit every basic building block support card that meets the baselines of the new age of Magic. let's just start talking removal:
Shock and Lightning Strike are here at common and uncommon. Black finally has a 3 cmc unconditional kill spell at instant speed with Murder, which was badly needed because the sorcery speed removal spells with upside were always lackluster when it came to performance. Blue got Essence Scatter, Dispersal, and the baseline Cancel, which is welcome even when there are better counter spells in other sets. I would have greatly appreciated Pacifism instead of Luminous bonds for white along with banishing Light, but they are probably saving those for a later set so we are out of luck for now, especially since they gave white Hieromancer's Cage. All will be forgiven if Detention Sphere makes it's triumphant return in Rav.
Creatures are a bit more of a mixed bag. The set has a lot more mid-range support in it than prior sets did, with a lot of cards that aren't just filler being 3-8 cmc. Also a good portion of the high quality finishers are three colors, which is a pretty heavy build restriction. With the kind of color restrictions being placed on cards here and the upcoming sets, it seems safe to say that either Ravnica Shocklands are making a comeback, or a land cycle of similar power with basic land types will be involved to synergize with the check lands. Otherwise, there isn't a lot here that is going to make a big impact on it's own.
Enchantments, Artifacts, and Planeswalkers are where things get interesting. A lot of it is low to mid power level. The Planeswalkers are definitely no where near as pushed as Karn and Teferi were, which is a shame because the new Tezz looks really good and will probably just get his slot eaten by the time wizard, even in an artifact build. Untap two lands and draw a card vs making a 1/1 flying thopter on the uptick is kind of a big difference here. I know people are like "but teferi can make 1/1s that block for dayz!", but ask yourself this: Do you really want to make 1/1 thopters and block for days, or draw an answer spell with a draw effect and have mana open to cast it? If someone is in white and blue, they will run Teferi.
The majority of the rest are all different forms of "not really that good, but you might use them as a one or two of". I'd definitely pick up two [card}vivien reid[/card] as she looks really good for those situations where someone is stalling out the game in a control match up. Liliana is just making me ask why I am dumping cards into my yard on turn 4. On turn 4 I want to be pulling stuff out of the graveyard, which means playing her and then maybe turn 5 get a bunch of little zombie buddies from the yard? It just doesn't feel that strong and unless zombie tribal gets a lot more support in the coming sets is a complete waste.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Egg is a creature type again! That's something I've wanted for a while, and I've asked Maro about it before. Now we need a Dinosaur Egg. Egg tribal, here we come!
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
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(W/U)(B/R)GForm of Progenitus, Shape of a Scrubland
BRGJund Tokens with Prossh, the Magic Dragon Foil
URGAnimar, the RUG CleanerFoil
RRRFeldon of the Third Path 2.0 Foil
BG(B/G)Not Another Meren DeckFoil
UR(U/R)Mizzix, Y Control and X Burn Spells
(W/U)(B/R)GHarold Ramos - The 35 Foot Long Twinkie (In +1/+1 counters)
UB(U/B)Dragonlord Silumgar
Its insanity.
At some point they included it at uncommon and someone said "its too good, it needs to be upshifted" and they just rolled with it, instead of making the logical conclusion to argue its simply not a core set material card, they should have made a new card instead of reprinting it.
Shifting uncommons to rare is always annoying and in no circumstance makes anybody happy, its terrible.
----
The shifts from rare to mythic are just money grabs.
Its also lazy for the sets design, but it at least "guarantees" some value of money.
Not including a rare land cycle is extremely odd and once again i cannot see who in the team for the set thought thats a good idea.
The crazy amount of planeswalkers in the set + 5 extra versions in the planeswalker decks is also mind boggling overkill ; i still hate the "intentionally" terrible planeswalkers like the plague.
----
A bunch of strange decisions , at least it has a handful of cards that are interesting, but sadly just trash rares in terms of money value.
WUBRG#BlackLotusMatterWUBRG
👮👮👮 #BlueLivesMatter 👮👮👮
Agree they should avoid most rarity upshifts. It just annoys people and gives then no benefit in many cases.
The upshifts from rares to mythics IS a money grab but I feel like complaining about it is a bit irrational. I mean, the rarity system exists for money grabbing purpose to begin with, so it's not like they using it like this should be a surprise.
Also agree, the lack of a rare land cycle is just a major mistake. If they want to avoid too much mana fixing on standard they could have reprinted one of the current cycles. Maybe they are testing how a set sells without those ? Or maybe they felt the 'hoser' cycle was already too much rares starting players would not appreciate and decided they had to cut one cycle. Still I think the lack of rare lands will drop down value of the box, making life harder for limited players... very disappointing decision.
I agree the bad walkers are overkill but they can't give good PWs in starter's packs and they really feel like PWs cards are fun in those and I agree. I also don't like the reprints that don't come in boosters and the whole 300/285 numeration thing. It's just irksome. I'm not sure why they don't just make these starter packs a separate product.
BGU Control
R Aggro
Standard - For Fun
BG Auras
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
...I may or may not have forgotten that card even existed, let alone that it existed as a Mythic.
I actually think this will be a really good set to play as a limited set. I just wish that it didn't suffer from being released in the middle of summer when everyone is vacationing and doing other things.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Also: I am shocked noone is talking about them printing (uncommon) Man-o'-war with a relevant creature type. Exclusion Mage should be big news. Blue will be a powerhouse. Yes, I see you can't target your own stuff, but that's fringe.
Shock and Lightning Strike are here at common and uncommon. Black finally has a 3 cmc unconditional kill spell at instant speed with Murder, which was badly needed because the sorcery speed removal spells with upside were always lackluster when it came to performance. Blue got Essence Scatter, Dispersal, and the baseline Cancel, which is welcome even when there are better counter spells in other sets. I would have greatly appreciated Pacifism instead of Luminous bonds for white along with banishing Light, but they are probably saving those for a later set so we are out of luck for now, especially since they gave white Hieromancer's Cage. All will be forgiven if Detention Sphere makes it's triumphant return in Rav.
Creatures are a bit more of a mixed bag. The set has a lot more mid-range support in it than prior sets did, with a lot of cards that aren't just filler being 3-8 cmc. Also a good portion of the high quality finishers are three colors, which is a pretty heavy build restriction. With the kind of color restrictions being placed on cards here and the upcoming sets, it seems safe to say that either Ravnica Shocklands are making a comeback, or a land cycle of similar power with basic land types will be involved to synergize with the check lands. Otherwise, there isn't a lot here that is going to make a big impact on it's own.
Enchantments, Artifacts, and Planeswalkers are where things get interesting. A lot of it is low to mid power level. The Planeswalkers are definitely no where near as pushed as Karn and Teferi were, which is a shame because the new Tezz looks really good and will probably just get his slot eaten by the time wizard, even in an artifact build. Untap two lands and draw a card vs making a 1/1 flying thopter on the uptick is kind of a big difference here. I know people are like "but teferi can make 1/1s that block for dayz!", but ask yourself this: Do you really want to make 1/1 thopters and block for days, or draw an answer spell with a draw effect and have mana open to cast it? If someone is in white and blue, they will run Teferi.
The majority of the rest are all different forms of "not really that good, but you might use them as a one or two of". I'd definitely pick up two [card}vivien reid[/card] as she looks really good for those situations where someone is stalling out the game in a control match up. Liliana is just making me ask why I am dumping cards into my yard on turn 4. On turn 4 I want to be pulling stuff out of the graveyard, which means playing her and then maybe turn 5 get a bunch of little zombie buddies from the yard? It just doesn't feel that strong and unless zombie tribal gets a lot more support in the coming sets is a complete waste.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
So far black border has four Egg creatures:
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.