Well this has interesting implications about future standard threats. I doubt this was made just to hose Kaladesh, or any other preexisting threat in standard. Even if it was, why would they print hosers to sets that will rotate in 3 months anyway?.
It's possible this was designed just to address threats within M19 limited, but putting a limited answer at rare seems odd. It's also possible that this is an answer to something in Ixalan block or Dominaria, but neither of those has any real colorless threats (aside from maybe Karn, I guess, but you'd think his tokens would warrent some other form of hatecard than one-shot spot removal).
It seems more likely that this is aimed at something coming in future sets.
The only problem there is that we'll be on Ravnica for the next 3 sets, and then another core set, followed by another rotation. That means that the threats this card is designed for would likely have to be in one of these Ravnica sets, a world not known for its colorless cards.
We do know that the third Ravnica set doesn't focus on the Guilds, so it's possible it could have a colorless theme for some reason, but that strikes me as odd too.
Overall, this is just a bizarre card to see in this meta.
I agree with every word, but remember one thing they said on Announcement Day: "we're spending a third set on Ravnica as well—but we're not quite ready to talk about it yet. Just know that while the setting will be Ravnica, the focus will be on the culmination of the story and not the guilds". The potential threat could very well be in that set
I can only cite an example to illustrate the best quality.
Look in your collections or whatever for cards from the Heroes vs. Monsters. For example, Miraculous Recovery from that deck. Or look for a Dictate of Heliod from the Event Deck and compare it to one from Journey Into Nyx. The ones from the main sets are dry, flimsy, cheap. The ones from smaller print products like the Event Decks or from Heroes Vs. Monsters or from any Theros Intro deck all have this thick, sturdy, glossy, saturated coating that make the cards look like gems.
US or EU main sets? Everyone I've ever met here in EU prefers the main sets.
indeed. That's because main sets are printed in EU and have a very high quality while supplementary sets are almost always printed in the US and distributed all over the world and don't have the best quality, to say the least
Funny that most don't actually feel foreign language cards. There're many reasons why Japanese and Russian cards are so expensive. One of them is the card quality.
I only find this "coating" in Japanese and Russian cards
Where I'm from we call this coating wax. Because it looks like it's slightly oily, feels slightly that way too, but it actually isn't. This layer of wax/coating IMO gives the card that extra protection.
Think of it as lacquer on your wood furniture.
Anyways I don't think smelling cards should be treated as weird. I treat it as authenticity, as well as appreciating the effort put into making quality cards. You know it's good quality when you smell it. IMO feeling, seeing, and smelling makes owning a Magic card more desirable. They don't call it cardboard crack for nothing. haha
That said I hope future cards, especially English ones will get close to these Japanese ones in terms of quality. Kudos to Wizards for making us use the third sense.
I'm pretty sure Russian and English cards distributed in EU are printed by the same printer in Belgium using the same card stock, so there shouldn't be any difference in quality between Russian cards and EU English cards. Regarding US vs EU, well this is a whole different story. I have no idea why WOTC has done this, but card quality coming from US printers is much MUCH worse both in card stock quality and the colouring (In KLD and AER, the US white cards looked awfully yellow and the card stock was the worst I've ever seen on MTG cards). I wish they start printing supplemental products like Master sets in EU instead of the US, as this alone will bring better quality (MM17 for instance had a problem of washed-out rares and mythics due to lack of ink). I've never encountered any problems with EU cards so I wonder if the change in card stock is also applied to EU.
In short:
- Belledin's 1st draft was VERY similar to Baga's work, but was scrapped by WOTC (you can find the draft in his article).
- WOTC specifically requested Belledin to deviate from Baga's Moxen style.
- Belledin "strongly suspects" that Baga will eventually commission his piece for Mox Amber (if so, I assume it will get released as a top-level promotional card...?)
it's a matter of taste, my friend. I find them gorgeous. This is a niche, collector aimed product. You don't have to get it if it's not appealing to you and that's fine. Different products are designed for different crowds. I love the way they're playing with the frames and I hope they keep this trend going forward (the new FNM layout for instance is beautiful in my opinion)
something is defiantly off with this product. I have personally witnessed 5 boxes opened and haven't seen ANY (regular or foil) Kor Firewalker / Fiend Hunter / Simian Spirit Guide / Pillory of the Sleepless. These are uncommons... not opening even one copy of either in 120 booster packs seems way off
I actually love the art and frame. They could have gone with some better card picks though. Cryptic Command with a Jace art would have been incredible but even so looks like a cool product. I do have a problem with the RANDOM foil. This is a nightmare for collectors. Jace should have been the foil card in this and not let randomness slip into this product. Keep it for booster releases
In short:
- Belledin's 1st draft was VERY similar to Baga's work, but was scrapped by WOTC (you can find the draft in his article).
- WOTC specifically requested Belledin to deviate from Baga's Moxen style.
- Belledin "strongly suspects" that Baga will eventually commission his piece for Mox Amber (if so, I assume it will get released as a top-level promotional card...?)
Llanowar Elves is definitely a common