My only hope is that the sheer volume of powerful cards will lead to a diverse metagame instead of the opposet.
Extendend, EDH, and Eternal formats love sets with this kind of power level. Standard, however, gets a set like this and it can torpedo the format.
My suspicion is that these cards have something to do with Odyssey Block rotating out of Extended; witch Mark Rosewater admitted in an interview was the last set they purpiosly made to have a degenerate power level.
I agree with your first statement. I think there are just so many good cards in this set, and in such diverse colors and strategies, that no one of them is going to break the format.
I see a lot of very good cards here, I don't see anything that looks totally "bah-roken" though, as they say. I think this set is capable of generating or boosting several solid, powerful decks in Standard and Extended, but I don't see anything yet that is going to turn the format into "Affinity vs not-Affinity".
No, but it might be the most FUN set ever... but this is a "game" and therefore the point is to have fun; so, yes.
The power curve isn't shot to hell, unless they reprint Reflecting Pool in 11th (or M10 or 10E or 2010 or whatever it's called). Every once in a while you'll get a set where they actually playtested everything and decided not to print some worthless crap just to make the quota. There are so many things that have never been seen before- cascade (random free spells?? awesome!), pairing removal with fog, other cards with two not-quite-synergistic effects (when is it better to have a card that can only counter two spells? ...almost never, but it's never been done before!). It's like a B-side album of random songs that weren't quite good enough for other records and that sound nothing like each other but sound awesome together in a way no one could have predicted.
Everything reminds me of a better-balanced Apocalypse. Multicolored-themed sets are so great because they inspire creativity, especially with the mixed-hybrid wackiness inventing cards that are '1/2 multicolored' as opposed to monocolored (easy to cast) or fully multicolored (hard to cast). But even then they're sort of hard-multicolored in a two-color deck, so it's almost like they're EASIER to cast in a deck with MORE colors! OR MAYBE NOT! MY HEAD IS GOING TO EXPLODE!
Excellent set, gotta be my favorite set ever (truly) I thought Alara was good, Conflux was great, then figured this set would have some good stuff but would sorta come down from the clouds, WRONG! Boy am I happy about that!
Obviously, this is the best set ever. Any set that hasn't been released is the best set ever.
Okay... It probably isn't the best ever, but there's a lot of great stuff in it. Shadowmoor probably has the highest percentage of cards in my EDH decks and this set could overtake it.
Not a lot of "bad card theory" to be seen yet. Makes me happy.
Forsythe is taking this game to new heights, IMO.
EDIT: Dang, it doesn't let you see who voted for what. Seriously, 7 folks voted "fail"? I bet $5 Goblin Dan is one of those votes.
I like this set so far. It's giving me some more great cards for both my GWU Exalted Aggro deck and my BR Blightning Aggro deck. But there are some other cards that I just want to have in my collection as well and Maelstrom Pulse and Maelstrom Nexus are them.
I personally feel that this is the best set printed since Dissension. I never really liked TS in Standard (casual yes, but not Standard), and Lorwyn through Eventide were made of a few tier 1 cards and tons of filler. Shards was decent, still nothing AMAZING, Conflux was good with a few AMAZING things, and this set has 50% AMAZING things so far.
Maelstrom Pulse is obscenely over the curve. Not only does it nearly wipe Vindicate off the map, but it beats the crap out of Putrefy, also. Even not being an instant, the power level of that card is far and beyond what Putrefy's was.
Powerful cards are certainly fun to see initially, but unless they are balanced then it will ultimately make the meta less enjoyable.
Understand, Dredge is not really a Magic: The Gathering deck. When a card is playable in it, it doesn't mean it's a tournament playable card. It means it's playable in whatever crazy fantasy world that Dredge operates in.
I absolutely adore this set. This has so many good cards that I can't even think when I read the spoiler, all the possibilities knock deck ideas out of my mind like a brick in a mayelstrom.
I also look forward to the laid-back mono-color peacefulness that Zendikar will have to be.
And is it just me, or is it impossible to make a really good G/U card?
The only con I can think of for this set is a lack of great dual lands. I think this is by far going to be my favorite set; it actually has a decent amount of commons and uncommons that are playable outside of limited. Now if I could only afford to buy a box...
I don't think it's the greatest set ever; Urza block has and will always retain that right in my book having some of the best cards ever printed (goblin welder, tolarian academy, yawgmoth's will, tinker)
Maelstrom Pulse does not wipe vindicate off the map not even close. If it could hit lands it nearly would wipe vindicate off the map save for the fact that it's effect is symmetrical and can hit your own tarmogoyf as well as your opponent's.
I like some of the stuff for EDH and this is a powerful set just not the GREATEST set ever.
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"Yawgmoth," Freyalise whispered as she set the bomb, "now you will pay for your treachery."
Turn 1 Wasteland. Turn 2 Scrubland into Thoughtseize. Turn 3 play a swamp tap it to cast Dark Ritual and tap the Scrubland to cats Vindicate. Mana burn for 1 or cast another Thoughtseize or play a Sensei's Divining Top.
Though back on topic: This set is awesome. Its like living through Ravnica again, and who doesn't want to play Ravnica again?
Understand, Dredge is not really a Magic: The Gathering deck. When a card is playable in it, it doesn't mean it's a tournament playable card. It means it's playable in whatever crazy fantasy world that Dredge operates in.
it's been a long time since I genuinely had my face glued to the spoiler list. too long, actually. some of the commons are even warrenting an "oh, cool!" from me.
best set ever? yeah, right. but a strong set? why, certainly.
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Thanks, Heroes of The Planes! You guys are great!
Actual Truth:
"You heard it here folks:
Anyone who disagrees with "Jack from NC" is an idiot."-The Dead Weatherman
I would say it's a pretty decent set so far as it offers a few cards that will be fixtures in the future: the likes of Maelstrom Pulse, Meddling Mage (being reprinted), maybe Thought Hemorrhage, Sen Triplets (for Vintage).
A few decent to excellent rares: Glory of Warfare, Aril the Miststalker, Jenara, Knotvine Paladin
A few good commons, uncommons: Qasali Pridemage, Terminate, Putrid Leech
Huge flavor with the continued good work in blending the story and settings of Alara into the cards. Very well-designed. Esper, Grixis, Jund, Naya and Bant have their own individual flavors yet one could say the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
A few personal favourites in terms of design: Dragon Broodmother, Spellbreaker Behemoth, Spellbound Dragon, Finest Hour
Best quote so far on a card in the set: Nemesis of Reason. Words describing it fail. Pages relating it shrivel. Tales recounting it end.
But what has been disappointing has been the huge no of EDH/casual rares. Karrthus, Thraximundar have so much promise in flavor yet they look like they can only belong in EDH/casual formats. They even screwed up Thraximundar's flavour text. I quote from a pal of mine that the flavour text would have been much much better with just "He who paints the earth red"
So IMO, this set is perhaps a 8 of 10.
Plus pts: Great flavour, and the relative success in designing this all gold set. Dominance of Bant GW, a return for WU. Cool Dragons (Dragon Broodmother especially).
Minus pts: Preponderance of EDH/Casual cards. Dominance of Bant GW. UB is still crap. Slave of Bolas? Sweet art, crap card.
Cascade the new mechanic is interesting but perhaps only limited to a few sets ala Fading (but who knows what will happen in the future?)
Best set ever? Could have done a little better, but we shouldn't ask too much.
Best set is still Fallen Empires.. no i mean Homarids.. no i mean.. nvm
Quite possibly my favorite set since Mirrodin (waits to be punched in the face for saying Mirrodin is is favorite set) and I jsut love the whole danged plane of Alara in general. The block is just so flavorful, but Alara Reborn takes the cake (which is a lie, btw) as my most favorite set of the 3 and possibly of all time.
My only concern is that all this positive feedback about the cards spoiled so far will convince WotC that the way they handled spoilers this season is how every rumor season should go. I hate waiting to the second-to-last week before the prerelease to see more than like 5 cards from the set.
Edit: That said, I love this set. This is probably going to be the first set I intentionally buy a box of instead of buying boosters in random increments that eventually add up to more than 36 over several weeks.
@ Hobtuse: You are right, there is a lot of stuff that the EDH player will love in this set.
I think EDH will continue to grow. I think Standard will become the stronghold for Spikes, and other players will gravitate towards EDH.
I don't think standard will necessarily become lose players, I really think that the game will grow. I think it will reclaim fogeys and induct new blood through EDH.
My only concern is that all this positive feedback about the cards spoiled so far will convince WotC that the way they handled spoilers this season is how every rumor season should go. I hate waiting to the second-to-last week before the prerelease to see more than like 5 cards from the set.
I think it is smart marketing though. Get the fervor to highest pitch before the pre-re.
I can't wait to crack open my fat pack and see what is missing from the spoiler. Tee hee!
I think Alara Reborn is awesome simply because it does away with the overcosted chaff. Most of what we have are simply good, efficient cards that allow for a lot of fun building decks and playing with them. There's enough chase rares but at this point I'm convinced the set is not overpowered. Just extremely well designed in a way I haven't seen in a while. Honestly, I can't wait for this set to come out. If WotC keeps this up, Alara-Zendikar could possibly be the best T2 format ever.
I think it is smart marketing though. Get the fervor to highest pitch before the pre-re.
For this set yes, but hopefully every set after this won't be so over-powered (never thought I'd be saying that, lol). This method of spoiling only works if the cards are exciting enough. I doubt it would have worked for Eventide, for example.
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I agree with your first statement. I think there are just so many good cards in this set, and in such diverse colors and strategies, that no one of them is going to break the format.
I see a lot of very good cards here, I don't see anything that looks totally "bah-roken" though, as they say. I think this set is capable of generating or boosting several solid, powerful decks in Standard and Extended, but I don't see anything yet that is going to turn the format into "Affinity vs not-Affinity".
No middle set will ever beat Legacy.
No third set will ever beat Destiny.
AR is good, maybe even pretty damn effing darn ridiculously good. But it's not the best ever.
The power curve isn't shot to hell, unless they reprint Reflecting Pool in 11th (or M10 or 10E or 2010 or whatever it's called). Every once in a while you'll get a set where they actually playtested everything and decided not to print some worthless crap just to make the quota. There are so many things that have never been seen before- cascade (random free spells?? awesome!), pairing removal with fog, other cards with two not-quite-synergistic effects (when is it better to have a card that can only counter two spells? ...almost never, but it's never been done before!). It's like a B-side album of random songs that weren't quite good enough for other records and that sound nothing like each other but sound awesome together in a way no one could have predicted.
Everything reminds me of a better-balanced Apocalypse. Multicolored-themed sets are so great because they inspire creativity, especially with the mixed-hybrid wackiness inventing cards that are '1/2 multicolored' as opposed to monocolored (easy to cast) or fully multicolored (hard to cast). But even then they're sort of hard-multicolored in a two-color deck, so it's almost like they're EASIER to cast in a deck with MORE colors! OR MAYBE NOT! MY HEAD IS GOING TO EXPLODE!
best. set. evar.
Ok...how about...
BEST SET EVER MADE THAT DIDNT HAVE ITS DESIGNERS ON CRACK!!!
I like Turtles
I love so many of these spoiled cards.
I'm going to try and sell a lot of my collection, to make room for some new stuff. It's so awesome!
( 0.0 )
=O ((U/R)) O=
(")(")
I'm an AI making Magic cards.
http://www.staalmedia.nl/nexus/#generate
Okay... It probably isn't the best ever, but there's a lot of great stuff in it. Shadowmoor probably has the highest percentage of cards in my EDH decks and this set could overtake it.
Not a lot of "bad card theory" to be seen yet. Makes me happy.
Forsythe is taking this game to new heights, IMO.
EDIT: Dang, it doesn't let you see who voted for what. Seriously, 7 folks voted "fail"? I bet $5 Goblin Dan is one of those votes.
GX Tron XG
UR Phoenix RU
GG Freyalise High Tide GG
UR Parun Counterspells RU
BB Yawgmoth Token Storm BB
WB Pestilence BW
You've never been on the receiving end of turn 1 Wasteland. Turn 2 Thoughtseize. Turn 3 Dark Ritual into Vindicate targetting your land have you?
Modern:
Something new every week
Legacy:
Something new everyweek
I also look forward to the laid-back mono-color peacefulness that Zendikar will have to be.
And is it just me, or is it impossible to make a really good G/U card?
Maelstrom Pulse does not wipe vindicate off the map not even close. If it could hit lands it nearly would wipe vindicate off the map save for the fact that it's effect is symmetrical and can hit your own tarmogoyf as well as your opponent's.
I like some of the stuff for EDH and this is a powerful set just not the GREATEST set ever.
Currently Playing:
Retired
No I don't usually get cheated like that.
I'm assuming he played a plains somewhere in there.
Well I probably should've been more specific.
Turn 1 Wasteland. Turn 2 Scrubland into Thoughtseize. Turn 3 play a swamp tap it to cast Dark Ritual and tap the Scrubland to cats Vindicate. Mana burn for 1 or cast another Thoughtseize or play a Sensei's Divining Top.
Though back on topic: This set is awesome. Its like living through Ravnica again, and who doesn't want to play Ravnica again?
Modern:
Something new every week
Legacy:
Something new everyweek
best set ever? yeah, right. but a strong set? why, certainly.
Thanks, Heroes of The Planes! You guys are great!
Actual Truth:
A few decent to excellent rares: Glory of Warfare, Aril the Miststalker, Jenara, Knotvine Paladin
A few good commons, uncommons: Qasali Pridemage, Terminate, Putrid Leech
Huge flavor with the continued good work in blending the story and settings of Alara into the cards. Very well-designed. Esper, Grixis, Jund, Naya and Bant have their own individual flavors yet one could say the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
A few personal favourites in terms of design: Dragon Broodmother, Spellbreaker Behemoth, Spellbound Dragon, Finest Hour
Best quote so far on a card in the set: Nemesis of Reason.
Words describing it fail. Pages relating it shrivel. Tales recounting it end.
But what has been disappointing has been the huge no of EDH/casual rares. Karrthus, Thraximundar have so much promise in flavor yet they look like they can only belong in EDH/casual formats. They even screwed up Thraximundar's flavour text. I quote from a pal of mine that the flavour text would have been much much better with just "He who paints the earth red"
So IMO, this set is perhaps a 8 of 10.
Plus pts: Great flavour, and the relative success in designing this all gold set. Dominance of Bant GW, a return for WU. Cool Dragons (Dragon Broodmother especially).
Minus pts: Preponderance of EDH/Casual cards. Dominance of Bant GW. UB is still crap. Slave of Bolas? Sweet art, crap card.
Cascade the new mechanic is interesting but perhaps only limited to a few sets ala Fading (but who knows what will happen in the future?)
Best set ever? Could have done a little better, but we shouldn't ask too much.
Best set is still Fallen Empires.. no i mean Homarids.. no i mean.. nvm
C Standard C
UW Delver Blade
UBW Esper Control
S Legacy S
URGW Forty Two Control
UBR Past in Tendrils
C Commander C
UB Sygg, River Cutthroat
Edit: That said, I love this set. This is probably going to be the first set I intentionally buy a box of instead of buying boosters in random increments that eventually add up to more than 36 over several weeks.
I think EDH will continue to grow. I think Standard will become the stronghold for Spikes, and other players will gravitate towards EDH.
I don't think standard will necessarily become lose players, I really think that the game will grow. I think it will reclaim fogeys and induct new blood through EDH.
I think it is smart marketing though. Get the fervor to highest pitch before the pre-re.
I can't wait to crack open my fat pack and see what is missing from the spoiler. Tee hee!
For this set yes, but hopefully every set after this won't be so over-powered (never thought I'd be saying that, lol). This method of spoiling only works if the cards are exciting enough. I doubt it would have worked for Eventide, for example.