Meanwhile I'm just sitting here and hoping for some sweet P3K reprints.
Serra is cute though.
I'm absolutely getting that Serra card, but I'm with you on the P3K reprints. That set has been painfully neglected over the years, there's so much quirky flavor just begging to be reprinted.
Also, regarding the five basic lands, anybody want to lay odds that they're a cycle of older full art basics that never got reprinted? Maybe the ones from the original Unglued?
For me, the idea of blinging out a deck would work best if you had a theme going. An Alpha printing of any card is certainly nice, but in this case it sounds like you already have a Kaladesh theme going so that would be the best thing to stay with.
Been reading this on my lunch breaks and finally finished today. This was a great little dip into this world, and considering I'm not a huge fan of Innistrad to begin with, that's saying something. I loved Davriel, he could have easily been a cliche, but he still kept me interested in what was happening and how he came to be involved (I get his desire for a quiet evening with a good cup of tea).
I think the length was also great. The novels seem to be too much and the short stories not enough, a novella is just right. Here's hoping WOTC keeps going with this concept and also I think I should read some other Brandon Sanderson.
Not too long ago somebody asked Maro on his tumbler blog if a hypothetical Norse set would have snow lands, and his reply was along the lines of “is that really something you all would expect from a Norse set?” Something about the tone of his question made me think that they were in the early stages of planning one but did not have snow-covered lands in the set. Most of the people that responded were in favor of them, so here’s hoping they can get them in.
I like it. I'm a pack cracker, and I'm not going to change my habits anytime soon but I dislike getting so many chaff commons. I can see myself getting my usual bundle plus the planeswalker decks for RNA, but then instead of buying more loose packs from Target and such to fill out the collection, I'd just get a couple of these for more rares and uncommons (not to mention some sweet foils).
Plus they would make for some pretty wacky games of pack wars.
I'm always glad for another printing of these. They have become associated with Ravnica at this point, so all the creativity can be saved for the rest of the set and other sets can do the new dual land designs.
I feel like I bought a good amount of original Ravnica block and hardly pulled any shocklands (this was before mythics) and then with RTR, I was in a lull from the game so I didn't buy very many packs of that. I'll be glad to see these in a set where there's a better chance of me pulling more than 1 or 2 from my packs.
Though I've come to realize it has some serious design flaws, I cannot help but love the flavor.
I recall that Gamestop was still selling Magic cards at the time and would mark down the ones that didn't sell well, so that always included Coldsnap so of course I bought a bunch of them. And then I was watching eBay and found a box of the preconstructed decks really cheap. I even remember when the delivery truck came with it, I was outside mowing in the late summer heat, and I stopped to open this box of winter themed cards
Speaking of those preconstructed decks, I especially loved seeing the old Ice Age and Alliances cards printed in the new frames. My Ice Age block box has them all put together and it makes a fascinating looking collection.
I know it didn't go over well for WOTC, but I hope we can see another snow themed set, especially so we can get the rest of the snow themed taplands.
I believe it was Maro that was telling the story of when they decided to to do the first Return to Ravnica block. He said the first discussion basically went like this:
Everybody in R&D: We should be in the shocklands.
Everybody in R&D: We know, we just said that.
Despite being printed with "flavor neutral" names, they've become tied to Ravnica. We will get the shocklands, but I think we'll also get something else in the 3rd set, the one that Maro has said will be very different from what we're used to.
Removing the basic lands in favor of a land-rarity would be quite a thing to have that benefits the game and increases value of booster packs.
Putting basic lands in the booster packs is the among the top stupid decisions they made and they still defend that stupidity.
I've long maintained that WOTC did the land slot only partially to give new players access basic lands, but mainly to keep from having to raise booster pack prices. I know it only replaces a common but for any people looking to get full sets, or for when a common hits chase status, that's a little more sealed product that gets sold to people going after those cards. It's like packaged food in grocery stores being reduced in size but keeping the same price on the shelf.
But I definitely agree that they should expand the use of the land slot to include fixing and utility lands, though I can see them keeping the best dual lands at rare to help move packs.
Yeah, Dollar Tree has had packs like these for years. They're all bulk commons that have been repacked. I buy a handful every couple years just to see what I pull.
I'll say this for them, I bought a good amount of the original Ravnica set and only ever pulled one Elves of Deep Shadow . Many years later I bought a couple of these packs and pulled two of those Elves (I know it's a cheap common, but I always liked the flavor and was annoyed at how it was basically a mythic common for me).
I've never been able to wrap my head around 2HG. You share life totals, but you can't work together on strategies? People who like it: what is the appeal?
Do we think these may have had a limited printing? I'm afraid the scalpers got to the stores first and I'm never going to see them.
I'm absolutely getting that Serra card, but I'm with you on the P3K reprints. That set has been painfully neglected over the years, there's so much quirky flavor just begging to be reprinted.
Also, regarding the five basic lands, anybody want to lay odds that they're a cycle of older full art basics that never got reprinted? Maybe the ones from the original Unglued?
I think the length was also great. The novels seem to be too much and the short stories not enough, a novella is just right. Here's hoping WOTC keeps going with this concept and also I think I should read some other Brandon Sanderson.
Plus they would make for some pretty wacky games of pack wars.
I feel like I bought a good amount of original Ravnica block and hardly pulled any shocklands (this was before mythics) and then with RTR, I was in a lull from the game so I didn't buy very many packs of that. I'll be glad to see these in a set where there's a better chance of me pulling more than 1 or 2 from my packs.
I recall that Gamestop was still selling Magic cards at the time and would mark down the ones that didn't sell well, so that always included Coldsnap so of course I bought a bunch of them. And then I was watching eBay and found a box of the preconstructed decks really cheap. I even remember when the delivery truck came with it, I was outside mowing in the late summer heat, and I stopped to open this box of winter themed cards
Speaking of those preconstructed decks, I especially loved seeing the old Ice Age and Alliances cards printed in the new frames. My Ice Age block box has them all put together and it makes a fascinating looking collection.
I know it didn't go over well for WOTC, but I hope we can see another snow themed set, especially so we can get the rest of the snow themed taplands.
Everybody in R&D: We should be in the shocklands.
Everybody in R&D: We know, we just said that.
Despite being printed with "flavor neutral" names, they've become tied to Ravnica. We will get the shocklands, but I think we'll also get something else in the 3rd set, the one that Maro has said will be very different from what we're used to.
I've long maintained that WOTC did the land slot only partially to give new players access basic lands, but mainly to keep from having to raise booster pack prices. I know it only replaces a common but for any people looking to get full sets, or for when a common hits chase status, that's a little more sealed product that gets sold to people going after those cards. It's like packaged food in grocery stores being reduced in size but keeping the same price on the shelf.
But I definitely agree that they should expand the use of the land slot to include fixing and utility lands, though I can see them keeping the best dual lands at rare to help move packs.
I'll say this for them, I bought a good amount of the original Ravnica set and only ever pulled one Elves of Deep Shadow . Many years later I bought a couple of these packs and pulled two of those Elves (I know it's a cheap common, but I always liked the flavor and was annoyed at how it was basically a mythic common for me).
I'll still be buying a few packs as I want all those horses, but probably not as many as I would if there were rare duals I could be cracking.