It's good. Very good. Best ever? I have to withhold judgment until I can actually play it, but by all appearances this is the best set for me since Time Spiral/Planar Chaos. I liked Rav more as a block, but I think outside of flavor (which Rav was loaded with) the strength of the cards in ARB is tremendous.
You know it's important when you see a thread like this and not the "XXX is the worst set ever" threads. Even then, you have some people *****ing that the cards are too powerful. Lol, some people just can't be satisfied, eh?
And I'm shocked 10 people so far have voted "fail." That's amazing. And I was a huge critic of this set when I first heard about the all-gold thing, but I have been converted, safe to say.
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Decks
Commander
Ezuri, Renegade Leader (Aggro/Combo - Favorite) Skullbriar, the Walking Grave (Sac and Grave hijinks) Azusa, Lost but Seeking (Landfall hijinks) Kaalia of the Vast (Heavily modded)
If it's not the best ever, it will be listed among them.
It really does seem to have it all... good tournament cards, good casual cards, interesting combo cards (timesieve, cascade,etc) and cards that bleed across all the formats of play. EDH, Pauper, Standard, Block, Extended, etc... and these are also spread across the rarities with strong commons, uncommons, rares, and mythics.
That's very difficult for one small set to accomplish, and yet, we're in the middle of it. Even if the rest of the cards are limited filler, we still have more fun, playable cards in ARB than most large sets have in the past few years. I'm excited to see the last cards and find out if we have witnessed the "best set ever". It's possible.
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^^
MTGO Writer and Epic Time-Waster.
If you have questions about MTGO PM me, I'm all up ons, as it were.
Check out my articles on http://puremtgo.com/ I'm the nerd you see there... wait, not that one. Nope, not that one either... yeah. That one.
I was quite upset with Shards of Alara; and Conflux, while not as bad, was not enough to remove the bad taste of my mouth. But now they have more than made up for it with Reborn, plus knowing the upcomings changes for M10, apeased a lot of the gripes I had against SHA. Wizards managed to regain my trust.
Might not be the best set ever, but I'm almost sure is the best third set of a block ever.
I'm calling it right now- worst rare in the set. Even good limited players will find better bombs at common and uncommon no sweat. Worst. Episode. Ever.
I really do predict this to be our worst rare in set award winner. I'd be happier opening a jar of eyeballs, so I think anything worse is highly unlikely. This card wont just have zero constructed potential, but not be significantly better than a mass of ghouls in a draft.
I'm going to have to assume you didn't play when Urza's block was in all it's pre-banned glory if you think this is close to that level. The cards in this set have looked powerful, but I mean, come on. Academy, Will, Bargain, Memory Jar, Monolith, Frantic Search, and on and on. I highly doubt we'll ever see a set of Urza's block insanity.
**** you.
I probably started playing before you did.
Of course I played during Urza Block. I still remember the obnoxiousness that was fist turn kill with the academy deck. This set dosent have the combo peices so far to warp the format, but the average card in this is far better then the avarage card in urza block.
I was exaggerating, duchebag.
EDIT: Also, I would argue that Urza's Saga was actually a crappy set becuase the cards were so overpowered that it topedoed the format and wotc could not maintain the power level so they printed Marcadian Masks and everyone left magic. Good sets are fun to play in as well as powerful.
I am petitioning for the removal of mythic rarity. Sig this to join the cause!
Famliy Guy Emperor Says,
"Something, something something, DARK SIDE!
Something, something, something COMPLETE!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHiUitciuJ8
:symrw::symrw::symrw::symrw::symrw::symrw: SPIKE GAYMER: not just a beatdown, a beatdown sung to the tune of "I Feel Pretty"!
Urza's Saga block was a design failure. The theme was enchantments.
What they did instead was create several broken artifacts, and a bunch of terrible cards that cared about enchantments.
Saga block had a small collection of broken cards, yes (3-5 per set?), but a large collection of terrible cards as well. It wasn't all Rancors and Deranged Hermits...a fact I was reminded of looking through my cousin's binder, who played mostly during that time and had a binder full of these 'not good' cards.
This set is a very even plane as far as power level goes. Nothing is OMG terrible yet, and nothing is OMG BAN THIS CARD either.
Many of the cards serve as fixers to keep standard in check, like Thought Hemorrhage, MM, the disenchant bear, etc.
This thread is about the set as a whole, not if certain things are broken or not.
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Urza's Saga block was a design failure. The theme was enchantments.
What they did instead was create several broken artifacts, and a bunch of terrible cards that cared about enchantments.
Saga block had a small collection of broken cards, yes (3-5 per set?), but a large collection of terrible cards as well. It wasn't all Rancors and Deranged Hermits...a fact I was reminded of looking through my cousin's binder, who played mostly during that time and had a binder full of these 'not good' cards.
This set is a very even plane as far as power level goes. Nothing is OMG terrible yet, and nothing is OMG BAN THIS CARD either.
Many of the cards serve as fixers to keep standard in check, like Thought Hemorrhage, MM, the disenchant bear, etc.
This thread is about the set as a whole, not if certain things are broken or not.
Thanks Seds, couldn't have said it better myself, which is why I didn't. I've personally been playing since 1994, and in my very humble opinion, if, and this may be the biggest if if ever there was an if, Wizards keeps spoiling cards of this utility and interesting variety (and likely non-brokenness, please don't let cascade be broken) and continues it into future sets, we may just be entering, pardon the pun, the golden age of Magic. How many cards into a set have to be spoiled before we can say Bravo, Wizards? I don't know, but I'm thinking it already. This collection of cards don't just contain art, they are art.
I also wouldn't agree it's the best ever, but it's certainly a really good set. I already can't wait for the prerelease, it's gonna be so much fun, also drafting will be fun.
The reason I think it's a really good set, it's because even the cards that aren't really powerful, are fun to play and are good in their own way. I'm loving cascade so far, it will create some great epic and fail moments playing limited, the all multicolor cards idea is great!!
For a comparison to the other sets in standard, I sold almost ALL of my (non $$$) rares from non-ALA sets a week or so ago.
I am regretting it a little bit, because now there are TONS of decks I want to make due to cards in this set.
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Plus points: I am in it.
Minus points: I kinda suck. I would have liked to be a zombie pirate.
The set has some very nice flavour (nemesis of reason, a good pal of mine) and very solid cards (heretic, pulse, jenara etc). Cascade is one of the most interesting abilities of all time, the gold-theme was extremely well-handled and I've been pretty excited about the daily spoilers. Art has been fantastic too -- look at Enigma Sphinx, Slave of Bolas (:)), Bant Sojourners, my art (my right side is my good side) etc.
I give it 8.5 Dreg Reavers.
Thraximundar out. You get everything you see in the picture when you buy me in your booster pack. Dreg Reavers sold separately (for $0.10 at Starcitygames). Rawwrr.
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Buy me in a booster pack at a store near you. You will receive everything that you see in the picture. Dreg Reaver not included (but can be purchased from Starcitygames at $0.10). Rawwrr.
Plus points: I am in it.
Minus points: I kinda suck. I would have liked to be a zombie pirate.
The set has some very nice flavour (nemesis of reason, a good pal of mine) and very solid cards (heretic, pulse, jenara etc). Cascade is one of the most interesting abilities of all time, the gold-theme was extremely well-handled and I've been pretty excited about the daily spoilers. Art has been fantastic too -- look at Enigma Sphinx, Slave of Bolas (:)), Bant Sojourners, my art (my right side is my good side) etc.
I give it 8.5 Dreg Reavers.
Thraximundar out. You get everything you see in the picture when you buy me in your booster pack. Dreg Reavers sold separately (for $0.10 at Starcitygames). Rawwrr.
He who paints the earth red.
Tremendously unimpressed. A supposedly monstrous zombie assassin that wouldn't make it in any competitive zombie deck.
But at least you get style points for that ridiculous head gear/face and a Dreg Reaver as a cool ride.
Heh Grixis gets you (Thrax) :-/, Jund gets Karrthus :-/.
while Naya gets Aril :sneaky:, Esper Sen Triplets :stupid:.
and Bant gets Jenara (arranged in order of increasing competence)
7/7 < 3/3
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C Standard C
UW Delver Blade UBW Esper Control
S Legacy S URGW Forty Two Control UBR Past in Tendrils
I'm a pretty new player, only been playing since Shadowmoor. And this set has gotten me excited like no other. I love multicolor especially (really enjoyed SHA-EVE) and ARB is giving me many ideas for a deck I'd just make up for fun.
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?
I wouldn't place my expectations on Zendicar being gold-free as good inter-block design means that Shards needs to blend seamlessly into it. Otherwise your standard would consist of heavy Shards multicolor decks that maybe will include one or two powerful cards from zendicar, unless Zendicar is so powerful that it forces you to play monocolor and forsake all shards cards.
Moreover, what's with people mentioning Urza block? I thought that one was out of contest being borderline broken to try overcome Saga would mean to stomp shamelessly into broken territory. (See Mirrodin)
I'm calling it right now- worst rare in the set. Even good limited players will find better bombs at common and uncommon no sweat. Worst. Episode. Ever.
I really do predict this to be our worst rare in set award winner. I'd be happier opening a jar of eyeballs, so I think anything worse is highly unlikely. This card wont just have zero constructed potential, but not be significantly better than a mass of ghouls in a draft.
It looks decent so far. Not a "bad set" and not the best either. It is the first set since Shadowmoor that makes me want to go out and buy cards so its better then most.
Lol, why dont teh peoples who voted "fail" come in here and post their opinion? I guess all us bandwagon riders scared em away. ^^
I'll bite. Gold is tacked on for no good reason on the majority of these cards, like throughout the set. There are powerful cards here, no doubt, but in retrospect in a year or so we'll be spiteful of wizards to force us to play multicolor without good reason. It's alright so far - I just think most everyone here is like kids before Christmas and just excited at new cardboard.
Oh and I'm going to be fearing drafting this set. I was mana screwed enough running 3-5 colors with mostly all mono-colored cards, now I get a pack of 3-color fixing (tri lands, panaoramas and obelisks) replaces by 2 color fixers (cyclers and borderposts) and all gold cards. bleh.
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Mark Rosewater: "We won't print contstructed utility cards at Mythic."
Nope, you'll print format defining, absolutely necessary cards at mythic instead.
I think it partially stands out b/c of the less-good 1st & 2nd sets in the block.
I agree w/previous poster who said this set feels like Apocalypse redux. In that set, they cranked the power up a couple of notches, b/c of the combining of enemy colors..never been done. Similar thing is happening here w/the new excuse for doing so apparently being 'all gold set'. It probably doesn't help that everyone is like "OhOh this new card is 'Card XYZ' 2.0!!!!" on practically every card. (Or that...oh yeah...R&D apparently designed them that way.)
Lots of 'staple' cards at various rarities. That's a good set right there (at least, in casual land).
The original post of this thread was made when just about 2/3 of the set was spoiled. It is interesting that the poll results haven't really changed more than a couple percentage points for any category since the first 20 or so people voted. Even after 400 votes the breakdown is the same.
Right now I'm marveling at how good Soul Manipulation really is. Does 5CC really need that Mulldrifter back for yet more card advantage while sending the latest threat to the bin? I also like it combined with artifact antics like Master Transmuter and Time Sieve to turn Parasitic Strix into a blinking death machine.
Also, is it just me or is Necromancer's Covenant just the perfect stabilizing/finishing card for a discard deck? It seems balanced, but still very strong, and is generally a good investment at 6-mana. 6 mana can buy you a Broodmate, and might be anti-synergistic with Path to Exile and Unmake, so I don't think covenant finds its way into a lot of decks, but the possibilities with discard is intriguing.
Well it's the first set since I've been playing that hasn't gotten a thread calling it crap (except for maybe Ravnica? I don't remember). I've been around since Saviors though, and this set finally breaks the record.
You know it's important when you see a thread like this and not the "XXX is the worst set ever" threads. Even then, you have some people *****ing that the cards are too powerful. Lol, some people just can't be satisfied, eh?
And I'm shocked 10 people so far have voted "fail." That's amazing. And I was a huge critic of this set when I first heard about the all-gold thing, but I have been converted, safe to say.
Commander
Ezuri, Renegade Leader (Aggro/Combo - Favorite)
Skullbriar, the Walking Grave (Sac and Grave hijinks)
Azusa, Lost but Seeking (Landfall hijinks)
Kaalia of the Vast (Heavily modded)
Standard
Waiting for Innistrad...
Extended
Hah!
Modern
Living End Cascade (RGB)
Legacy
Burn
Vintage
None
Casual
WB Aggro-Control
Green Stompy
Pink Floyd (UWr Wall Control)
Lunch Box (Fatty ramp)
D-Bag (White Control)
Level 13 Task Mage
It really does seem to have it all... good tournament cards, good casual cards, interesting combo cards (timesieve, cascade,etc) and cards that bleed across all the formats of play. EDH, Pauper, Standard, Block, Extended, etc... and these are also spread across the rarities with strong commons, uncommons, rares, and mythics.
That's very difficult for one small set to accomplish, and yet, we're in the middle of it. Even if the rest of the cards are limited filler, we still have more fun, playable cards in ARB than most large sets have in the past few years. I'm excited to see the last cards and find out if we have witnessed the "best set ever". It's possible.
MTGO Writer and Epic Time-Waster.
If you have questions about MTGO PM me, I'm all up ons, as it were.
Check out my articles on http://puremtgo.com/ I'm the nerd you see there... wait, not that one. Nope, not that one either... yeah. That one.
Might not be the best set ever, but I'm almost sure is the best third set of a block ever.
**** you.
I probably started playing before you did.
Of course I played during Urza Block. I still remember the obnoxiousness that was fist turn kill with the academy deck. This set dosent have the combo peices so far to warp the format, but the average card in this is far better then the avarage card in urza block.
I was exaggerating, duchebag.
EDIT: Also, I would argue that Urza's Saga was actually a crappy set becuase the cards were so overpowered that it topedoed the format and wotc could not maintain the power level so they printed Marcadian Masks and everyone left magic. Good sets are fun to play in as well as powerful.
Obvious flame infraction.
Famliy Guy Emperor Says,
"Something, something something, DARK SIDE!
Something, something, something COMPLETE!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHiUitciuJ8
:symrw::symrw::symrw::symrw::symrw::symrw:
SPIKE GAYMER: not just a beatdown, a beatdown sung to the tune of "I Feel Pretty"!
What they did instead was create several broken artifacts, and a bunch of terrible cards that cared about enchantments.
Saga block had a small collection of broken cards, yes (3-5 per set?), but a large collection of terrible cards as well. It wasn't all Rancors and Deranged Hermits...a fact I was reminded of looking through my cousin's binder, who played mostly during that time and had a binder full of these 'not good' cards.
This set is a very even plane as far as power level goes. Nothing is OMG terrible yet, and nothing is OMG BAN THIS CARD either.
Many of the cards serve as fixers to keep standard in check, like Thought Hemorrhage, MM, the disenchant bear, etc.
This thread is about the set as a whole, not if certain things are broken or not.
Twitter
Thanks Seds, couldn't have said it better myself, which is why I didn't. I've personally been playing since 1994, and in my very humble opinion, if, and this may be the biggest if if ever there was an if, Wizards keeps spoiling cards of this utility and interesting variety (and likely non-brokenness, please don't let cascade be broken) and continues it into future sets, we may just be entering, pardon the pun, the golden age of Magic. How many cards into a set have to be spoiled before we can say Bravo, Wizards? I don't know, but I'm thinking it already. This collection of cards don't just contain art, they are art.
As an EDH player, I've begun adding some stuff to my decks, and there is a lot of stuff that is going in.
BTW, the art in this set is amazing again, Jarvis. Too bad you can't see the tears on Slave of Bolas when she's that small.
The reason I think it's a really good set, it's because even the cards that aren't really powerful, are fun to play and are good in their own way. I'm loving cascade so far, it will create some great epic and fail moments playing limited, the all multicolor cards idea is great!!
I am regretting it a little bit, because now there are TONS of decks I want to make due to cards in this set.
Twitter
Minus points: I kinda suck. I would have liked to be a zombie pirate.
The set has some very nice flavour (nemesis of reason, a good pal of mine) and very solid cards (heretic, pulse, jenara etc). Cascade is one of the most interesting abilities of all time, the gold-theme was extremely well-handled and I've been pretty excited about the daily spoilers. Art has been fantastic too -- look at Enigma Sphinx, Slave of Bolas (:)), Bant Sojourners, my art (my right side is my good side) etc.
I give it 8.5 Dreg Reavers.
Thraximundar out. You get everything you see in the picture when you buy me in your booster pack. Dreg Reavers sold separately (for $0.10 at Starcitygames). Rawwrr.
He who paints the earth red.
Tremendously unimpressed. A supposedly monstrous zombie assassin that wouldn't make it in any competitive zombie deck.
But at least you get style points for that ridiculous head gear/face and a Dreg Reaver as a cool ride.
Heh Grixis gets you (Thrax) :-/, Jund gets Karrthus :-/.
while Naya gets Aril :sneaky:, Esper Sen Triplets :stupid:.
and Bant gets Jenara (arranged in order of increasing competence)
7/7 < 3/3
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
Really looking forward to the pre-release.
UBOona, Queen of the FaeBU
Modern -
WUBEsper TempoBUW
RHowling FlareR
WBSuicidal VictoryWB
Legacy-
UWGScapedraziGWU
WUBEsper StonebladeBUW
I wouldn't place my expectations on Zendicar being gold-free as good inter-block design means that Shards needs to blend seamlessly into it. Otherwise your standard would consist of heavy Shards multicolor decks that maybe will include one or two powerful cards from zendicar, unless Zendicar is so powerful that it forces you to play monocolor and forsake all shards cards.
Also what you mean with UG bad cards? many in this set are quite good. Also, Mystic Snake, Voidslime, Coiling Oracle, Snakeform and Simic Sky Swallower want a word with you, just to mention a few.
Moreover, what's with people mentioning Urza block? I thought that one was out of contest being borderline broken to try overcome Saga would mean to stomp shamelessly into broken territory. (See Mirrodin)
I'll bite. Gold is tacked on for no good reason on the majority of these cards, like throughout the set. There are powerful cards here, no doubt, but in retrospect in a year or so we'll be spiteful of wizards to force us to play multicolor without good reason. It's alright so far - I just think most everyone here is like kids before Christmas and just excited at new cardboard.
Oh and I'm going to be fearing drafting this set. I was mana screwed enough running 3-5 colors with mostly all mono-colored cards, now I get a pack of 3-color fixing (tri lands, panaoramas and obelisks) replaces by 2 color fixers (cyclers and borderposts) and all gold cards. bleh.
Nope, you'll print format defining, absolutely necessary cards at mythic instead.
I think it partially stands out b/c of the less-good 1st & 2nd sets in the block.
I agree w/previous poster who said this set feels like Apocalypse redux. In that set, they cranked the power up a couple of notches, b/c of the combining of enemy colors..never been done. Similar thing is happening here w/the new excuse for doing so apparently being 'all gold set'. It probably doesn't help that everyone is like "OhOh this new card is 'Card XYZ' 2.0!!!!" on practically every card. (Or that...oh yeah...R&D apparently designed them that way.)
Lots of 'staple' cards at various rarities. That's a good set right there (at least, in casual land).
Fully-powered 600-Card "Dream Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/dreamcube
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Cubing in Indianapolis...send me a PM!!
Right now I'm marveling at how good Soul Manipulation really is. Does 5CC really need that Mulldrifter back for yet more card advantage while sending the latest threat to the bin? I also like it combined with artifact antics like Master Transmuter and Time Sieve to turn Parasitic Strix into a blinking death machine.
Also, is it just me or is Necromancer's Covenant just the perfect stabilizing/finishing card for a discard deck? It seems balanced, but still very strong, and is generally a good investment at 6-mana. 6 mana can buy you a Broodmate, and might be anti-synergistic with Path to Exile and Unmake, so I don't think covenant finds its way into a lot of decks, but the possibilities with discard is intriguing.