So I happen to have some extra DM sealed boosters. I also have an Implicit Maze to run them against.
Sadly, my store was unable to run the event (didn't have enough prizes to give out against number of players attending) so I don't know the system of scoring guild wins to complete the maze.
I know if you have X # of players in a guild, that changes the number of wins they need to proceed in the maze.
One card I haven't seen too much and I love to death is fastbond. Like a mox it's dead late game but it's an incredibly compelling first pick in green and if it hits turn 1 it can push that sol ring feelings. Plus it makes all those card draw and ramp cards work that much faster.
At least for my cube, I have two players who are pretty reliable 3 and 4 color drafters (base bant and U/R/x respectively) so it's not like my 3 color cards aren't good enough, I see nactl, war monk, Sidraxis specter, and broodmate dragon (dragon is hard cast, reanimated, and natural ordered up.)
Caster - I play chaos orb.
Opponent - Can I move my cards before it resolves?
Caster: Yep, just not after it's on the board
Opponent: Cool, in response I'll move my permanents. (moves them)
Caster - Cool. chaos orb resolves?
Opponent - yep!
One of my cube sideboards went awol recently. Sad that I lost the cards, but also enlightening because several of the cards in the board were very much often bench sitters.
One of them, of course, was Sphinx of the Steel Wind.
Now of course I know he's a fine tinker and reanimator target, but I've played my cube now pretty much once a week for the past year and a half and I can't recall Sphinx ever hitting the board other than those two ways.
I'm just thinking, are there any other sweet little esper cards out there that might be compelling enough?
Merieke Ri Berit comes to mind, but I was wondering if anyone had tried anything else out and what the results were.
I run it as vindicate most of the time, there are a couple other cubes I play in and one in particular (TSG's) runs it as worded.
There's some interesting tension between the two mechanics:
If you run it as worded:
- People who are unfamiliar with the card tend to avoid it like the plague, and people who are practiced with the card snatch it up.
- Corollary: People who are practiced with the card are actually incredibly precise with it, so there isn't much tension (like maybe 1 out of 10 attempts they'll miss)
- Corollary: People who have invested practice into the dexterity mechanic LOVE the card.
- Corollary: People who are not practiced with the card HATE when it's used against them intensely (not random enough), AND they dislike it if they control the flip because it's "too random".
If you run it as a vindicate:
- people who have invested practice in the dex mechanic complain that they can't take advantage of it.
- they still pick it, because it's good
- people who don't know how to flip it still play with it.
End of the day: You can play with a card that makes some players happy, and other players REALLY unhappy, or you can play with a card that makes all players relatively happy. It's perfectly acceptable to do either, you just need to know your audience.
Sorceries with Flash - This is exactly what Wizards did with Portal.
The issue with this one comes down to readability - I did a chaos draft and was slightly amused to see four players (including two newer players) insta-pass Just Fate because it read Sorcery at the top.
One MAJOR thing that new players run into that really needs a fix.
Newb: "So I have this card that counters your spell, so I'll kill that Grizzly Bear.."
Me: "Um.. no, that's not a spell."
Newb: "?"
Me: "Nope, it's only considered a spell while I'm casting it."
Newb: "Ok, so can I kill your Grizzly Bear and your Goblin with my Mind Rot! -"Discard two cards!"
Me: "No, it's not a card either."
Newb: 'Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat."
Me: "It's only a card if it's in my hand, or if it's in my graveyard.
Just to clear something up - I did read the Planeswalker and Time Streams books so I'm confused about the heartstone.
Through a decent chunk the whole Planeswalker book Xantcha doesn't even have her heartstone, right? When Urza breaks into Phyrexia for his big attack she goes in and retrieves it, and then keeps in her thigh or something. Then at some point she gives it up and then when she dies (i.e. totally obliterated) Urza's only left with the Heartstone, which in the Time Streams book he uses to jumpstart Karn.
So given this, how did the heartstone become a personality matrix? I thought Xantcha was unique BECAUSE she demonstrated a rebellious personality that was independent of the heartstone.
Do you think that creating planes is something planeswalkers can inheritly do, or do you think it's powerful magic?
Both, if you use the powerstone example, and there are issues with this theory.
A) Glacian was able to create powerstones through a mechanical process (i.e. sufficiently advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic) so he invented a mechanical process that created stones long after he left the picture - goblins could do it. But keep in mind it was his spark that had a say in his ability to give the best direction and create better stones.
B) Urza, one of the most powerful planeswalkers in existence, couldn't create powerstones all by himself, he had to use the Thran forge to do this. The extent of his ability to inhabit the Blind Eternities was to possibly create a small personal space.
C) Serra, another powerful planeswalker, created her own plane but was unable to keep it stable.
- So far, the only planeswalkers I can think of off the top of my head that have created a plane and kept it stable was the unnamed planeswalker who created Phyrexia, Nicol Bolas (Meditation Plane), and Karn (Argentum)
Neowalkers are less powerful than oldwalkers, therefore they can't "reset" planes.
D) Also keep in mind that despite the fact that he had nine planeswalkers, Urza was unable to simply reset Phryexia, they had to manually enter and drop bombs, essentially. (again, using artificial machines)
E) keep in mind how presumably powerful Sorin is in terms of experience - still not enough to tackle Zendikar, has to walk around on foot half the time.
So this would lead to the basic premise that even if you WERE an oldwalker (say Teferi), that doesn't automatically mean you have the talent, experience, or raw power to successful create a stable plane. You needed something special. Not all oldwalkers were created equal.
And these are neowalkers, they aren't beings made of energy, they are mortal and have bodies, and don't live as long (i.e less experience), and that's aside from power level. (each planeswalker has unique talents that are appropriate to their knowledge.) - if there were neowalker who was versed in creation magic or planar magic (basically Karn) then that would be acceptable.
How many of those 23(x4) prereleases are held by WPN-affiliated organizers already? I can say for certain that the Maryland was. Wouldn't that imply that they would still be able to hold that event as usual since they already meet the qualifications, thus resulting in no change for that region?
That's what I was going to say, the two in California probably won't change since both the TO's are associated with storefronts. And the TO's have already done the homework on how many people will attend, they can just shift the order so that it goes through the storefront (this has been a trend lately, the centralizing of distributors.)
First of all, you have an incredibly strong artist bias...
Put it this way, if you tell a random artist that you want them to draw an angel, 99% percent of the time you're going to get a cute girl with wings. Or, to take another common example, you'll find a few cards from the early days of Magic (Legends comes to mind) where "A wizard" is portrayed as a old guy with a blue cap with stars on it and a crystal ball.
This of course, results in the sort of mundane look of Serra Angel starting in the Alpha set (applies to the default dragon and demon's looks as well. And keep in mind that people tend to respond well to Serra in all her incarnations - Even just a few years ago Staples' Serra was "The Face" of Magic as we know it. Yes it makes us vorthos nerds happy to see cool new creatures like Eldrazi or creatures that are unique to Magic lore like Beebles or Llurgoyfs, but you can't base marketing to new players off of images like that. People are drawn to the familiar.
So when you're world building, the responsibility falls on to Creative and the Art Director to define to the artists that Angels looks this specific way. You might have some variations, (Urza Block, Twilight Angel come to mind) but by a large you're have to hit the big marks.
Beautiful
Female
Warrior (armor, weapons - there's not really too many "peaceful" looking angels that come to mind, they've usually got a sword)
Wings
As an artist, it's quite a challenge to communicate "Beautiful" when the face isn't shown. It's harder to connect to the image when you can't see the face.
Pre-ascension Yawgmoth. Sure, he got hooked into a plane eventually, but every move he made up to that point was carefully plotted. He was incredibly hard to pin down, and he was able to incapacitate a fully functional planeswalker (albeit using a another planeswalker's tools) If "the Thran" hadn't started out the way that it did (and we already knew Yawgie was a bad guy), I think it could have plausible that even the reader would have no idea what was coming.
Yawgmoth's motive - he wants to BE a planeswalker. But you couldn't do a "evil doctor routine".
That's kind of interesting: A character who you think is a hero but is actually a villain all along.
As for standard comic book fare - we've got the Plotter, the Galactus menace, and the Brood. We're missing the Evil Time Traveler that wants to muck with the past but that's just awful.
Other tropes we're missing are "The Anti-hero" (Liliana might fit this) "The Justified Villain" (Magneto always handing out that ethical lesson) "Team Evil","The Trickster",The Evil Omnipotent God," "The Otherworldly Menace" (though the Eldrazi sort of fill the Cthulu tentacle trope), and "The Enchantress."
I don't think we've ever had a "Father Complex" character (Ultron)
Sadly, my store was unable to run the event (didn't have enough prizes to give out against number of players attending) so I don't know the system of scoring guild wins to complete the maze.
I know if you have X # of players in a guild, that changes the number of wins they need to proceed in the maze.
Anyone know, or have a copy of the rules?
Caster - I play chaos orb.
Opponent - Can I move my cards before it resolves?
Caster: Yep, just not after it's on the board
Opponent: Cool, in response I'll move my permanents. (moves them)
Caster - Cool. chaos orb resolves?
Opponent - yep!
One of them, of course, was Sphinx of the Steel Wind.
Now of course I know he's a fine tinker and reanimator target, but I've played my cube now pretty much once a week for the past year and a half and I can't recall Sphinx ever hitting the board other than those two ways.
I'm just thinking, are there any other sweet little esper cards out there that might be compelling enough?
Merieke Ri Berit comes to mind, but I was wondering if anyone had tried anything else out and what the results were.
I run it as vindicate most of the time, there are a couple other cubes I play in and one in particular (TSG's) runs it as worded.
There's some interesting tension between the two mechanics:
If you run it as worded:
- People who are unfamiliar with the card tend to avoid it like the plague, and people who are practiced with the card snatch it up.
- Corollary: People who are practiced with the card are actually incredibly precise with it, so there isn't much tension (like maybe 1 out of 10 attempts they'll miss)
- Corollary: People who have invested practice into the dexterity mechanic LOVE the card.
- Corollary: People who are not practiced with the card HATE when it's used against them intensely (not random enough), AND they dislike it if they control the flip because it's "too random".
If you run it as a vindicate:
- people who have invested practice in the dex mechanic complain that they can't take advantage of it.
- they still pick it, because it's good
- people who don't know how to flip it still play with it.
End of the day: You can play with a card that makes some players happy, and other players REALLY unhappy, or you can play with a card that makes all players relatively happy. It's perfectly acceptable to do either, you just need to know your audience.
The issue with this one comes down to readability - I did a chaos draft and was slightly amused to see four players (including two newer players) insta-pass Just Fate because it read Sorcery at the top.
One MAJOR thing that new players run into that really needs a fix.
Newb: "So I have this card that counters your spell, so I'll kill that Grizzly Bear.."
Me: "Um.. no, that's not a spell."
Newb: "?"
Me: "Nope, it's only considered a spell while I'm casting it."
Newb: "Ok, so can I kill your Grizzly Bear and your Goblin with my Mind Rot! -"Discard two cards!"
Me: "No, it's not a card either."
Newb: 'Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat."
Me: "It's only a card if it's in my hand, or if it's in my graveyard.
Newb: "So what is it right now?"
Me: "It's a permanent."
Newb: <HEAD ASPLODE>
Man, Jesper Myrfors - and he was the Art director for Magic...
Through a decent chunk the whole Planeswalker book Xantcha doesn't even have her heartstone, right? When Urza breaks into Phyrexia for his big attack she goes in and retrieves it, and then keeps in her thigh or something. Then at some point she gives it up and then when she dies (i.e. totally obliterated) Urza's only left with the Heartstone, which in the Time Streams book he uses to jumpstart Karn.
So given this, how did the heartstone become a personality matrix? I thought Xantcha was unique BECAUSE she demonstrated a rebellious personality that was independent of the heartstone.
Both, if you use the powerstone example, and there are issues with this theory.
A) Glacian was able to create powerstones through a mechanical process (i.e. sufficiently advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic) so he invented a mechanical process that created stones long after he left the picture - goblins could do it. But keep in mind it was his spark that had a say in his ability to give the best direction and create better stones.
B) Urza, one of the most powerful planeswalkers in existence, couldn't create powerstones all by himself, he had to use the Thran forge to do this. The extent of his ability to inhabit the Blind Eternities was to possibly create a small personal space.
C) Serra, another powerful planeswalker, created her own plane but was unable to keep it stable.
- So far, the only planeswalkers I can think of off the top of my head that have created a plane and kept it stable was the unnamed planeswalker who created Phyrexia, Nicol Bolas (Meditation Plane), and Karn (Argentum)
D) Also keep in mind that despite the fact that he had nine planeswalkers, Urza was unable to simply reset Phryexia, they had to manually enter and drop bombs, essentially. (again, using artificial machines)
E) keep in mind how presumably powerful Sorin is in terms of experience - still not enough to tackle Zendikar, has to walk around on foot half the time.
So this would lead to the basic premise that even if you WERE an oldwalker (say Teferi), that doesn't automatically mean you have the talent, experience, or raw power to successful create a stable plane. You needed something special. Not all oldwalkers were created equal.
And these are neowalkers, they aren't beings made of energy, they are mortal and have bodies, and don't live as long (i.e less experience), and that's aside from power level. (each planeswalker has unique talents that are appropriate to their knowledge.) - if there were neowalker who was versed in creation magic or planar magic (basically Karn) then that would be acceptable.
That's what I was going to say, the two in California probably won't change since both the TO's are associated with storefronts. And the TO's have already done the homework on how many people will attend, they can just shift the order so that it goes through the storefront (this has been a trend lately, the centralizing of distributors.)
First of all, you have an incredibly strong artist bias...
Put it this way, if you tell a random artist that you want them to draw an angel, 99% percent of the time you're going to get a cute girl with wings. Or, to take another common example, you'll find a few cards from the early days of Magic (Legends comes to mind) where "A wizard" is portrayed as a old guy with a blue cap with stars on it and a crystal ball.
This of course, results in the sort of mundane look of Serra Angel starting in the Alpha set (applies to the default dragon and demon's looks as well. And keep in mind that people tend to respond well to Serra in all her incarnations - Even just a few years ago Staples' Serra was "The Face" of Magic as we know it. Yes it makes us vorthos nerds happy to see cool new creatures like Eldrazi or creatures that are unique to Magic lore like Beebles or Llurgoyfs, but you can't base marketing to new players off of images like that. People are drawn to the familiar.
So when you're world building, the responsibility falls on to Creative and the Art Director to define to the artists that Angels looks this specific way. You might have some variations, (Urza Block, Twilight Angel come to mind) but by a large you're have to hit the big marks.
Beautiful
Female
Warrior (armor, weapons - there's not really too many "peaceful" looking angels that come to mind, they've usually got a sword)
Wings
As an artist, it's quite a challenge to communicate "Beautiful" when the face isn't shown. It's harder to connect to the image when you can't see the face.
Pre-ascension Yawgmoth. Sure, he got hooked into a plane eventually, but every move he made up to that point was carefully plotted. He was incredibly hard to pin down, and he was able to incapacitate a fully functional planeswalker (albeit using a another planeswalker's tools) If "the Thran" hadn't started out the way that it did (and we already knew Yawgie was a bad guy), I think it could have plausible that even the reader would have no idea what was coming.
Yawgmoth's motive - he wants to BE a planeswalker. But you couldn't do a "evil doctor routine".
That's kind of interesting: A character who you think is a hero but is actually a villain all along.
As for standard comic book fare - we've got the Plotter, the Galactus menace, and the Brood. We're missing the Evil Time Traveler that wants to muck with the past but that's just awful.
Other tropes we're missing are "The Anti-hero" (Liliana might fit this) "The Justified Villain" (Magneto always handing out that ethical lesson) "Team Evil","The Trickster",The Evil Omnipotent God," "The Otherworldly Menace" (though the Eldrazi sort of fill the Cthulu tentacle trope), and "The Enchantress."
I don't think we've ever had a "Father Complex" character (Ultron)