I always thought the book 'Arena' could be turned into a pretty good Hollywood movie. Lots of battles and thematic elements, and also makes the idea of 'Magic' without the cards somewhat plausible.
This is exactly what I was afraid of. As you read through that book you can see where WotC told the author :" Now make sure you mention these things no matter how forced or inane the reference seems: Mirror Universe, Benalia, ... etc. " It just seems you have to be too "in" to get anything out of it.
"I draw mana from Chaos Mountain and cast a Lightning Bolt at thee"
"Foolish red made mage! With the mana I have collected from the Isle of Thought and the Sea of Deception" I counter your Lightning Bolt"
" I summon a Goblin of Haste to attack you immediately"
"I cast an unsummon spell to send it back to the wretched peaks from whence it came"
"I will use all green mana of the Forests of Growth to Summon an Elvish horde"
"I recall the Plains of Order from my youth to draw white mana and cast the Wrath of God" to destroy your horde. Don't even try to regenerate your elves"
I've pulled 3 myself, and while it isn't competitive per se, it is playable. And it only costs 2 mana
I assume you are referring to the activation cost, which is OK I suppose. In reality I am not seriously offended the mere existence of Ooze Flux, I just strongly oppose the idea that it is a rare card. If it was uncommon it would be a perfectly fine card I suppose. After all, there is no inherent advantage to controlling more than one ~ on the battlefield so it isn't at all dangerous to limited formats. Even if it was G1 would it be such a degenerate card wotc? What's the worst case scenario? Turn 1 land, mana dork. Turn 2 land, cast Ooze Flux, and possibly find a 1cmc creature that etb with a +1/+1 counter t6o cast. Turn 3 land, maybe cast a 2cmc creature with 1 or 2 +1/+1 counters, activate ~ and possibly put a 3/3 vanilla ooze token onto the battlefield at the cost of putting your your other 2 creatures into the graveyard? Oh, we could never allow green to have access to a vanilla 3/3 creature token on turn 3 could we? Opponents would immediately concede, run for the hills, and never dare sit down to play a game of MtG again. Sales would flop. Attendance at tournaments would plummet. WotC would go bankrupt before the next block.
My point is I would like any enchantments WotC develoops in the future at rare to have one (dare I interject or more?) of the following features: Less than 4cmc, an immediate impact on the game state the turn it etb, a beneficial etb trigger, an inherent benefit to controlling multiple copies on the battlefield, or simply put it at uncommon where it belongs.
It never fails that whenever there is a totally awful rare, red enchantment that costs too much to do what red wants to do, it'll stalk me to insanity. If that card isn't printed, then it'll be the crappy overcosted blue enchantment that grants a block keyword to everything. I despise rare enchantments above 4cmc that don't immediately make an impact the turn they hit the board.
So, just an update, I have opened ~100 packs of Gatecrash since the prerelease. And can you guess which rare I pulled more than any other? Give up? I am now the bitter owner of 6 Ooze Fluxes. Yet another rare enchantment at 4cmc or above that does nothing on it's own the turn it etb and is completely useless in multiples. Great card design WOTC. How about a permanent moratorium on rare, green enchantments that make ooze tokens and have absolutely zero benefit in multiples on the battlefield.
It never fails that whenever there is a totally awful rare, red enchantment that costs too much to do what red wants to do, it'll stalk me to insanity. If that card isn't printed, then it'll be the crappy overcosted blue enchantment that grants a block keyword to everything. I despise rare enchantments above 4cmc that don't immediately make an impact the turn they hit the board.
Well, don't they essentially have the same mana source? Islands are just really tall mountains sticking out of bodies of water and mountains are potential islands that happen to have efficient water drainage.
I did well for mythics in my 2 boxes as I got 6 and 5 mythics respectively. Got 2 mythics in my fat pack as well. However, I know there is balance in boxes because for every 5 mythic box there is a 3 mythic box. For every 6 mythic box there is a 2 mythic box. I beleive if you opened hundreds of boxes you would get very close to the 1 in 8 ratio that WotC claims.
However, don't get too excited for my luck as I now am the proud owner of a playset of Etched Monstrosity cards.
What does "Semi-random" mean? This is the term I keep seeing to describe the cards in this product.
This refers to 125 "loose cards" (not in boosters). There are some staple commons (think lightning bolt) that will be part of these 125 cards. However, you may get 1 lightning bolt or you may get 4. I bought one DBTK 1.0 and got 4 lightning bolts. My buddy only got 2. We more or less got the exact same commons just in different amounts.
I think the question is "what would a sixth color actually add to M:tG without detracting more?"
Think about what it would detract
1. Destruction of established allies and enemies
2. No immediate presence in constructed decks for legacy, vintage, extended, probably standard, unless they printed some absolutely broken cards right away.
3. Dilution of limited environments.
4. Loss of color pie from all five colors would cause major player uproar
5. Added complexity for newer players.
6. Loss of older "purists".
7. More difficult to make enough ancillary products (Intro Packs etc.) spread among the colors to keep everyone happy.
8. Dual lands would suck up additional rare slots in new sets leaving less slots for other rares.
9. All the mtg logos, inserts, card backs would have to be changed to reflect the new sixth color.
10. Another color for players to complain about always getting the shaft.
plus I'm sure many others other posters could come up with.
Meanwhile, in the "pros" column"
1. it is something new....
I opened 2 boxes. First box I got no mythics in the first 2 columns I opened and was thinking " FORGET you WotC. FORGET you for FORGETTING me". Then in the last column I got 4 mythics including a Tezzeret and Thrun and was somewhat placated. Next box no mythics 1st column and then 6 mythics (including a foil Praetor's Counsel ) in 2nd column. I was thinking "this is going to be a great box" and then got 0 mythics in the last column.
Multiple repeat rares. What kind of distribution gives you 5 Thopter Assembly (including 1 foil) and none of a few other rares? OK maybe normal distribution over a large sampling, but that doesn't help most people.
I don't really get how adding an extra pack for $5 could make anyone stop buying the fatpacks, if anything it makes it more interesting for new players as it has more land and works quite well when playing sealed and draft as you get enough land to actually make a deck.
$1 extra for land shouldn't change so much what people thinks of the product, if they didn't like it to begin with then they won't be attracted but sure it seems like a cool deal for people that is looking to get introduced to the game.
The problem, as I observe it, is that lands are ubiquitous with very little measurable value. Packs are easily obtainable, e.g. if you can buy a Fat Pack it is more than likely that a single pack is in the same retail area for sale. The real values in a Fat Pack, again from my perspective, are the unique components that cannot be purchased through normal MtG retail channels. So the spin down life counter, the player guide and the box are what drive me to buy a Fat Pack. The second box and dividers along with the expansion novel were great back when as well. WotC doesn't print as many novels that correspond easily to the expansions any more so I understand why that was removed. I would just like to see more unique contents of the Fat Pack rather than something I could purchase anytime I have a few extra bucks in my pocket.
Horrible Change. They honestly at this point could get rid of the fatpack, since they ruined its awesomeness when they removed the novel, dividers and the 2nd box.
I don't know about completely ruined awesomeness, but I would go as far as to say diminished awesomeness.
Hey Wizards, if you want to jack up the price of fat packs, do it for something with real value that is unique to the fat packs. Say, bring back the dividers and second box. I can get lands and buy an extra pack any time I want. A second die would even be nice.
5(1 dedicated player of each color)- 1 to change it and the other 4 to complain that changing light bulbs shouldn't be in that color's slice of the color pie.
This is exactly what I was afraid of. As you read through that book you can see where WotC told the author :" Now make sure you mention these things no matter how forced or inane the reference seems: Mirror Universe, Benalia, ... etc. " It just seems you have to be too "in" to get anything out of it.
"I draw mana from Chaos Mountain and cast a Lightning Bolt at thee"
"Foolish red made mage! With the mana I have collected from the Isle of Thought and the Sea of Deception" I counter your Lightning Bolt"
" I summon a Goblin of Haste to attack you immediately"
"I cast an unsummon spell to send it back to the wretched peaks from whence it came"
"I will use all green mana of the Forests of Growth to Summon an Elvish horde"
"I recall the Plains of Order from my youth to draw white mana and cast the Wrath of God" to destroy your horde. Don't even try to regenerate your elves"
And so on and so forth.
I assume you are referring to the activation cost, which is OK I suppose. In reality I am not seriously offended the mere existence of Ooze Flux, I just strongly oppose the idea that it is a rare card. If it was uncommon it would be a perfectly fine card I suppose. After all, there is no inherent advantage to controlling more than one ~ on the battlefield so it isn't at all dangerous to limited formats. Even if it was G1 would it be such a degenerate card wotc? What's the worst case scenario? Turn 1 land, mana dork. Turn 2 land, cast Ooze Flux, and possibly find a 1cmc creature that etb with a +1/+1 counter t6o cast. Turn 3 land, maybe cast a 2cmc creature with 1 or 2 +1/+1 counters, activate ~ and possibly put a 3/3 vanilla ooze token onto the battlefield at the cost of putting your your other 2 creatures into the graveyard? Oh, we could never allow green to have access to a vanilla 3/3 creature token on turn 3 could we? Opponents would immediately concede, run for the hills, and never dare sit down to play a game of MtG again. Sales would flop. Attendance at tournaments would plummet. WotC would go bankrupt before the next block.
My point is I would like any enchantments WotC develoops in the future at rare to have one (dare I interject or more?) of the following features: Less than 4cmc, an immediate impact on the game state the turn it etb, a beneficial etb trigger, an inherent benefit to controlling multiple copies on the battlefield, or simply put it at uncommon where it belongs.
So, just an update, I have opened ~100 packs of Gatecrash since the prerelease. And can you guess which rare I pulled more than any other? Give up? I am now the bitter owner of 6 Ooze Fluxes. Yet another rare enchantment at 4cmc or above that does nothing on it's own the turn it etb and is completely useless in multiples. Great card design WOTC. How about a permanent moratorium on rare, green enchantments that make ooze tokens and have absolutely zero benefit in multiples on the battlefield.
However, don't get too excited for my luck as I now am the proud owner of a playset of Etched Monstrosity cards.
This refers to 125 "loose cards" (not in boosters). There are some staple commons (think lightning bolt) that will be part of these 125 cards. However, you may get 1 lightning bolt or you may get 4. I bought one DBTK 1.0 and got 4 lightning bolts. My buddy only got 2. We more or less got the exact same commons just in different amounts.
Think about what it would detract
1. Destruction of established allies and enemies
2. No immediate presence in constructed decks for legacy, vintage, extended, probably standard, unless they printed some absolutely broken cards right away.
3. Dilution of limited environments.
4. Loss of color pie from all five colors would cause major player uproar
5. Added complexity for newer players.
6. Loss of older "purists".
7. More difficult to make enough ancillary products (Intro Packs etc.) spread among the colors to keep everyone happy.
8. Dual lands would suck up additional rare slots in new sets leaving less slots for other rares.
9. All the mtg logos, inserts, card backs would have to be changed to reflect the new sixth color.
10. Another color for players to complain about always getting the shaft.
plus I'm sure many others other posters could come up with.
Meanwhile, in the "pros" column"
1. it is something new....
and that is about it.
Multiple repeat rares. What kind of distribution gives you 5 Thopter Assembly (including 1 foil) and none of a few other rares? OK maybe normal distribution over a large sampling, but that doesn't help most people.
The problem, as I observe it, is that lands are ubiquitous with very little measurable value. Packs are easily obtainable, e.g. if you can buy a Fat Pack it is more than likely that a single pack is in the same retail area for sale. The real values in a Fat Pack, again from my perspective, are the unique components that cannot be purchased through normal MtG retail channels. So the spin down life counter, the player guide and the box are what drive me to buy a Fat Pack. The second box and dividers along with the expansion novel were great back when as well. WotC doesn't print as many novels that correspond easily to the expansions any more so I understand why that was removed. I would just like to see more unique contents of the Fat Pack rather than something I could purchase anytime I have a few extra bucks in my pocket.
I don't know about completely ruined awesomeness, but I would go as far as to say diminished awesomeness.
Following this line of thinking, Islands are just really tall Mountains sticking out of bodies of water.