MTG Salvation

The “rules” For planewalkers abilities are similar to the Pirates Code...just “guidelines” and are the default for a generic planeswalker. Each character however has a unique “power suite” that allows for WOTC to give each walker something different in ability.

This is not much different than any other certification programs for other careers. Take for example Massage Therapy (mostly because I am familiar with it). There are two companies that provide certifications and insurance that several states require to practice. You have to pay for the membership it doesn’t get you a job, but helps to advance your career. If you think of this program in that same manor, this is a very good thing for the judging industry.

Quote from Xcric »

when there's so many different websites, channels, and feeds getting previews that you need to publish an article to track them all, its time to rethink how you ******* preview things.

sweet ******* jesus. no one is going to go to all that ***** to see some damn spoilers. they're going to just go somewhere that shows them all at once.

their spoiler strategy sucks so much dick and is beyond obnoxious now.

Then don’t follow all those sites. WotC is trying to give as much of the content creators a chance to have fun and show some cool things off. Either come here, or go to another spoiler site.

Quote from foam_dome »

I was wondering when Monastery Mentor was finally gonna get a reprint.
A fifth printing of Chalice seems a bit excessive, but hey, they're still expensive.
Reflecting Pool was pretty unexpected.

Quote from Mergatroid_Jones »

Um, yeah dude, that's a lot to spend on one piece of cardboard. We don't all have $10,000 suits and four Underground Seas.

I think long and hard about buying any card over $1. Most of the time I don't do it.

I mean, I have four Underground Seas, and yet I don't have $10,000 suits and I work for close to minimum wage. $15 on a Magic card doesn't sound too bad to me; it's almost as if "expensive" is a subjective definition based on personal preferences and income?

A judge promo reprint of Chalice isn’t gonna do anything to drop its price

This is good, for both MTG and D&D as both teams (especially D&D) needs to expand their teams, even if for MTG it’s creative and other teams from R&D.

My guess is that it’ll be a new non-rotating format and how that will effect Modern, Legacy and Vintage. Standard obviously won’t be effected.


Mark is doing this solo too, so it should be interesting no matter what it is

Quote from Raphael_Aleixo »

By the looks of it, I would bet heavily on Kasmina being the face of the set.

This was my first impression as well

Mark will be making the fall set announcement at his SDCC panel. It’s incredibly irritating that they are not streaming it on Twitch, nor recording it. Like, come the f*** on WotC, get your crap together.

Quote from xaltair »

Netflix may go under before 2020 though. They have the business acumen of bolas so it's fitting they will share his fate.

Not likely, Netflix hasn’t been great financially due to the massive loans that they took out, but they grossed $5 billion in profit last year. Even with Disney+ coming and other streaming services, they are the biggest streamers out there, competition is good.

Quote from Ryperior74 »

Well since cycling is a thing in the set

Crossing my fingers for enemy bicycle lands (amonkhet duel lands)

Per Rosewater the land cycle is the only thing that’s currently Modern legal, my guess is enemy fetch lands

Quote from Morphling »

I expect all to show up. They're not going to sacrifice game play (or design options) just to satisfy the..."flavorists".

I don't think that would actually be pleasing to "flavorists". If you care about flavor, you want the mechanical execution of a vehicle to be a Vehicle. I think the consideration here is more along the Melvin axis rather than the Vorthos axis. Mechanical traditionalism rather than flavor traditionalism. Though "tradition" has actually changed there, so "regressive mechanical traditionalism".

And you know what? Mechanics usually got replaced by something better, so going back for the sake of going back is just as bad as the connotation you probably think of when you hear or read "regressive" in reference to a policy. It's like building a new theme park and deciding because it's themed around the middle ages you give up on modern sanitation and safety measures.

Truthfully, even the Oldwalkers had more difficulty moving companions from plane to plane than some people seem to remember. In Planeswalker, we learn that many planeswalkers Urza knew had traveling companions to keep them sane (much like Xantcha), but many of the crazier ones were those who spent their immortality alone. Meanwhile, to planeswalk with Xantcha he had to come up with a solution based on artifice. And it was only because as a Phyrexian, Xantcha was more comfortable than most with the idea of having her body modified that to make it work. In the very next book, because of Xantcha's death Urza is forced to come up with different solutions altogether. His first idea-- petrify people so they can survive the Blind Eternities then restore them-- actually got some people killed because even stone can get cracked by the Aether. It takes him the entire book to figure out more safe methods, culminating in his ultimate creation, the Weatherlight.

Meanwhile other planeswalkers from Dominaria seem to prefer the companionship of other planeswalkers to keep them sane, or to just settle down somewhere like Freyalise and Bolas. So most of them don't have Urza's particular skill for planeshifting non-planeswalkers around. Teferi may or may not have the knowledge due to being tutored by Urza himself, but by the time he was a full fledged planeswalker, Jhoira was already captaining Weatherlight. Venser in the newer lore had some ideas of how to recreate Weatherlight's planeshifting engine, but Koth forced him to fight on New Phyrexia where he gave up his life for Karn's. I haven't read the Ice Age books, but I get the impression that Jaya never learned the skill either, if only because she was never the scholarly type of mage (more a mercenary, really). And Lilliana definitely never learned how to do it, since she looks down on non-planeswalkers. Karn, if he knows how to do it, probably has a similar attitude to Koth about the technology. He's seen two too many inter-planar wars in his long existence. So that means that at the moment, all of the Oldwalkers that know or have joined the Gatewatch lack the skill even when they were at the height of their power, and Kaya finding a BS way of shifting people through the Eternities is actually not unprecedented in the lore. In fact I would say it actually makes more sense than Urza's final non-artifice method described in Timeshifted: turn the person two dimensional while in the Eternities. And I only just now realized that's a meta joke about the game...

Quote from Flamebuster »

that said o want more Ripple and/or Recover. Both are underused mechanics that deserve more light in the frigid sun.

’buster

Ripple is pretty cool, but I wouldn't hold out for a Thrumming Stone reprint in a non-Dominarian set, though a lot of the Inventions were legendaries and showed up a second time on a different plane so who knows.

I'd like some Beowulf/Grendel stuff, maybe some Barbarian creature-type love with some kind of woad berserking keyword, dwarves, some solid dog cards, Icy Manipulator at common for the first time, Cyclopi, White-aligned Goblins, Land Krakens (maybe a kraken that is a mountain)

Quote from AnneJello »

Can we talk about that little dog though????

“I swing at you for 1 with the dog from Frasier“.

That does quite a lot for its cost.

This is essentially the normal 5cc Walker for 4, in exchange for dealing in enchantments, which this set already has high level support for. Probably way better than people think right now.

Since it's red, exiling Squee, the Immortal and Eternal Scourge can always be two of the cards. If playing Izzet, Misthollow Griffin can be the third one.

Isn't 25x lands too much for an aggro deck ?
You can play Knight of the White Orchid in your 2-drop slot and cut down on lands.

If you're looking for an aggressive 2-drop there is Honored Crop-Captain (Consul's Lieutenant is also similar).

Tithe Taker can potentially be good (as a taxing resilient creature) as well and Imposing Sovereign can help avoid blockers.

There are some situationally useful creatures like: Humble Defector (good with Prince) and Dire Fleet Daredevil.

Some more potentially playable 2-drops can be:
Robber of the Rich, Hanweir Militia Captain, Kari Zev, Skyship Raider, Wojek Halberdiers, Skyknight Vanguard, Precinct Captain and Swiftblade Vindicator/Boros Swiftblade.

Some Strong 3-drops to consider are:
Tajic, Legion's Edge and Thalia, Heretic Cathar that provide some advatage besides combat stats unlike Marshal.
Hanweir Garrison can also be very good and help go wide on its own and Lyev Skyknight is a decent evasive threat that can "detain" a creature (or PW) for a turn.
Some other potentially playabe 3-drops can be: Alesha, Who Smiles at Death and Devoted Crop-Mate which can reanimate smaller creatures.
Mentor of the Meek probably fits a build with a lower curve but is also a creature to consider for some card advantage (same with Militia Bugler).