MTG Salvation

Quote from Flisch »

Looks like Vryn got hit hard.

I've been saying for years that the combination of large wastelands, constant conflicts over resources, massive decrepit conglomerates of people and violent punks with makeshift gear makes Vryn the most likely plane to be the post-apocalyptic / Mad Max World that Mark Rosewater mentioned a few times. Of course, we do know things weren't THAT bad yet from recent card portrayals, so Vryn always seemed one slight push away from going all Road Warrior on us.
With Jace missing and Vryn in shambles after years of teetering on the edge, maybe this will be our opportunity to see it happen.

All Will be One being Red is deliciously ironic. Also its flavortext is something like "The Realmbreaker shall traverse the Blind Eternities and flood the Multiverse with phyrexian perfection" and it actually deals damage to "an opponent or creature/'walker an opponent controls", an important distinction since it's mandatory which means you're not forced to kill your own stuff if your opponent has hexproof.

As for the Dominus cycle, don't like the Green one but the other two seem neat. The Black one can become indestructible super easily and works wonders with Kamigawan Dragons, while the Red one is quite efficient and can win you the game on the spot if you untap with it.

Best case scenario, we'll get Cloud, Black Mage, at least one Summon (probably Shiva/Ifrit, Bahamut also likely), a Moogle and a Chocobo.
Most likely scenario, it's the FF7 crew plus Sephiroth all over again, and the bonus card will be a reskin of a mana rock called "Green Materia".

As for Assassin's Creed, I personally think there's some cool potential for new material there, but considering how AC borrows a lot from "real" history (can't stress enough how important those quotation marks are here) and how usually WotC operates I expect something more akin to the Fortnite SL.

Quote from Blue_Oneironaut »

I don't really care about this kind of product, but I feel like if the FF cards aren't somehow connected to Triple Triad, they'll have really missed the mark.

A creative idea that sadly will definitely not happen considering how creatively bankrupt Square Enix is.

Out of all the things I expected from a MTG article, getting Rickrolled and a reference to a Command & Conquer meme were not what I had in mind but I appreciate it nonetheless.

Quote from DarklingScribe2 »

Interesting that there are cards that are eternal legal that use stickers. Are the stickers removable? If not, is it legal to place the stickers over a card sleeve? I’m asking because presumably putting a sticker on a card and then shuffling up that card for another game would be considered playing with marked cards since the sticker would slightly increase the card’s thickness in that spot.

Stickers stay for as long as the card remains in a public zone. Putting a sticker on your Commander for example permanently adds that trait to the card as it dies and goes back to the command zone, but said sticker "falls off" the moment someone casts a Cyclonic Rift and you decide to return said Commander to the hand. WotC said that the stickers are very similar to Post-It Notes and thus should be easy to add and remove plus they should be fairly reusable.

This should have been a Tolarian Community College preview considering the Prof's latest wardrobe choices.

It does makes a lot of sense since the mysticism of Ixalan was never really explored beyond "mostly a background thing" the first time around so there's lot of material to delve in, but I wonder how will this reflect flavor and mechanics-wise.

I don't think we'll have a major focus on death and the underworld, because this would undermine Ixalan's core flavor of "exploration" and would make too much of an overlap with Theros Beyond Death. Similarly, the mechanics would be compromised since Flip-Lands would be rather hard to do if the story focused too much in a single place and I feel Ixalan needs that hook since its other major mechanic (Treasures) became evergreen. I expect it to tend more towards pre-Eldrazi Zendikar (Quests, Traps and/or land matters) with just a slight mix of Theros Beyond Death rather than full "life, death and reincarnation".

Quote from Lectrys »

How good is the modularity of having both the 1-mana opposing bounce spell and the 4-mana spot removal spell? Well, if Turn // Burn is any indication, things don't look so hot....

Problem with Turn // Burn is that neither side of the equation is good, 3 mana combat trick is awful and no one is paying 2 mana for a Shock unless it also draws you a 4/3. Meanwhile, Unsummon has been proven time and again to be reliably playable in Standard when it got a marginal upgrade. Probably won't make a splash outside of Standard and MAYBE Pioneer/Explorer but I think it's fully playable in those.

Also, that art? Top notch stuff.

Quote from Flamebuster »

Quote from Dusque »

Quote from Flamebuster »

There's our Maro's Teaser revelation -> Tiefling Warrior. A 4/2 haste for 4 but really 6 to use its ability. Yay?



'buster

Just if you use it the turn you play it, or did you misread the number? Not trying to be an ass just trying to understand the 6 lol.






Reading the text feels a bit like I'm having a stroke, but it actually checks out as straight forward and easy to understand heh.

4 mana to cast. 2 to activate. 4+2 = 6. If I didn't state it as such then I apologize.

'buster

People often say "X for first use", not "X for using the ability" which is where the confusion came from.
Either way it doesn't seems to be an unreasonable price, 6 mana to Fork twice but you also get a 4/2? Sure there are some restrictions in play here but those are negligible when compared to the fact said 4/2 can also generate even more card advantage.

Easy guess: Treasures will be a minor subtheme. First reason being that vehicles and artifacts are easy includes in a Art Deco / Gangster set and Treasures are flavorful support for potential artifact matters. Second reason being that we have a card named Contract Killing and it not being reprinted in a gangster set would be criminal.

Far stretch guess: It has been discussed in previous threads before, but I'm onto the idea of New Capenna being a city in Alara. It matches the only two tidbits of lore we have (ties with Elspeth, demons invaded a previously angel-centric town) and the multicolor theme of the set. The biggest clue however may be this old article that stealthily showcases how drastically Grixis changed over the years in the art of Curse of Disturbance.

As for mechanics, Detain and Investigate could be good fits, but if I had to guess we'll be getting a new mechanic akin to Monarch where players fight over a mutual resource. Monarchy itself doesn't really fits the flavor of gangster set, but maybe a new variant where players take control of something by casting multiple spells a turn or having a high permanent count.

Why yes, I would like to draw seven cards for six mana.

Hoping for a Gilgamesh planeswalker that is equipment related.


There's enough material for a FF set, which I think would appease a lot more people that a secret lair or 15/16.

She's like a dog.

When you play with her, you shout: "Fetch!"

What're ya buyin'?

This has no drawback if you have no maximum hand size.

A legendary character returns, but now as a Vampire


Emrakul, the vampire eldrazi.


(Felt like someone had to say it, even though it’s not going to happen)

Plowshares to Sword

Quote from Simto »

Quote from Shadow345 »

If they can do a Gangster setting then a Western set is more possible. It will show us how they will creatively work around the guns aspect of a genre that predominantly features guns.

With Neon Dynasty looking the way it does, a western themed set certainly won't be too high tech or "futuristic" for Magic. It looks like they're pushing REALLY hard to expand Magic from only being fantasy style stuff. I'm definitely not a fan of it moving in that direction and like I said earlier in the thread, that's coming from somebody who prefers sci fi stuff.

Sometimes I feel the need to recall that the story of Invasion block involved an airship, an army of genetically modified clones and people in mech suits fighting off an alien invasion.

Quote from Sliverologist »

I've always imagined Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar as some sort of demon, and looking less like a human.

Well, if you have read Distant Planes anthology, this is her from the illustration...

First off I appreciate the willingness to branch out and go all out on weirder art. I understand the idea behind the artwork and mixing shaded figures with flat elements and colors. Something like Klimt or Art Noveau-ish. That's cool. But holy carp this looks bad not gonna lie. Composition is fine but by God those flat elements loo like automatic MS Paint shapes and overall this picture reminds me of like bad Youtube thumbnails on meme videos or those old Tripod and Angelfire sites which were basically a collection of dissonant nonsense.