I quit during the Invasion block and re-started again when Time Spiral came out. Aside from discovering that there was now a new card face (and I had sold all my basic lands), I didn't have any trouble getting back into the game. Then again, I was always a very casual player. If you play T2 or something competetive, your mileage may vary.
i think the tribes will fall mostly into one color: elves in green, goblins in red, kithkin and/or rebels in white, etc. whatever, my point is... i expect a dual-ish LOR land to look more like this:
Rebel Alliance HQ
Tribal Land - Rebel
Rebel Alliance HQ comes into play tapped. t: add a W to your mana pool. t: add a G to your mana pool. Play this ability only if you control an Elf permanent.
The way the Petroglyphs work seems to be an odd combination of really intuitive and not intuitive at all--by which I mean, it doesn't really make sense when you think about it. For example, Crimson Kobolds don't get the bonus (it actually explicitly states this in the FAQ), even though "This creature is red" really can't be considered an ability. Enchantments are another story. From the FAQ:
Some Auras and Equipment grant abilities to creatures, meaning the affected creature would no longer get the +2/+2 bonus. For example, Flight grants flying to the enchanted creature. Other Auras and Equipment do not, meaning the affected creature would continue to get the +2/+2 bonus. For example, Dehydration states something now true about the enchanted creature, but doesn't give it any abilities. Auras and Equipment that grant abilities will use the words "gains" or "has," and they'll list a keyword ability or an ability in quotation marks.
By the way that I'm reading it, that would mean that a creature enchanted with Diplomatic Immunity would continue to get the bonus, since not being able to be the target of spells and abilities is "something that is true about the enchanted creature". For that matter, a creature enchanted with an aura that said something like "enchanted creature is red" would still get the bonus, since it is stating something that is now true about the enchanted creature, but a creature that had that same text printed on it (Crimson Kobolds) is considered to have an "ability" and wouldn't get the bonus. Does this make sense?
Also, how do the Petroglyphs interact with +1/+1 counters on otherwise "vanilla" creatures? Would those be considered "abilities" too?
I expect to see City of Brass, and the rest of the (un-confirmed) man-lands.
Perhaps there should be a thread on which NON-FETCH, NON-DUAL lands will be in Xth. It would probably be more interesting than 5 pages of people arguing whether the Onslaught fetchlands are "too good" for the core set.
There's clearly a difference between disobeying arbitrary restrictions one has imposed on oneself and making an ability with limited or no usage. In fact, those aren't even remotely similar!
Yeah, but they did quite a bit of the latter back in the day, too. *cough* Shelkin Brownie *cough*
That being said, I think that Wizards did know what they were doing. Don't forget, The Dark was followed by the dwarf-filled Fallen Empires.
Not necessarily true. Why does everyone think that they'll print planeswalkers? Couldn't they just print a card like: Staff of Tevesh Szat - Planeswalker artifact - equipment. That way they are not forced to print actual godlike beings, just equipment belonging to dead ones and still fulfill the "planeswalker tease of FS".
Just a thought.
That doesn't really make much sense--I mean, we've already seen Glasses of Urza and Ankh of Mishra, and those weren't even legendary, despite belonging to planeswalkers
My first deck that I made consisted of the oh-so-broken combo of Atog and every single artifact that I owned. Oh, and some Keldon Warlords, in spite of the fact that I only had about 10 creatures in the whole deck. Since I started playing during Urza's block, my deck's strategy involved sacrificing things like Fluctuator and Thran Dynamo to give my Atog +2/+2.
When I started playing again recently, I got a crapload of older cards and built a U/B shadow deck (U/B aggro? Can such things be?) that was really good...so good that it took me forever to make another deck that was as good as it...but that's another story.
Perhaps it would be flavorful, but kinda boring, to print a Green wall with flying, call it Limitless Canopy or something.
Wouldn't that be kind of pointless? A green wall with flying would (in most occasions) be exactly the same as a green wall with "this can block as though it had flying", which is a VERY green ability.
Besides, "canopy" implies that it's attached to stuff that's rooted to the ground.
IMHO, green should get a few small fliers each block (think Bayou Dragonfly)--as long as Scryb Sprites isn't reprinted, they don't unbalance anything. I like the "Hopping" idea, but I'm trying to think of what sort of creatures you'd put it on. Hmmm...
Bear on a Pogo Stick 1G
Creature-Bear 1G: Bear on a Pogo Stick gains flying until end of turn.
2/2
It's hard to think of "Green" things that jump...maybe a race of Kangaroo-folk?:)
My idea is poisonlands that give you poison counters -
add GG or BB to your mana pool and get a poison counter and maybe have some other ability like tap another land you control to get poison counters off of yourself. Though, still go the converter land!
Ooh, Good Idea. I could see something like
Love Canal taP: Add G or B to your mana pool. Gain a poison counter taP: Remove a poison counter from yourself; Love Canal doesn't untap during your next untap phase.
They did try and make an enchantment block. It turned into Urza's. (I think it was said that Urza's was intended as the Enchantment block in the Card of the day for fluctuator.)
Yup.
Now we need to hope that it doesn't result in another Urza's/Mir/and if you include it then Antiquities (I do for some reason).
Personally I'm all for a non-broken enchantment block.
MaRo if you're reading this (And we know you are) DO NOT make enchantment lands.
To be fair, one of the main reasons that the Urza's block WAS broken was that it's enchantment theme really wasn't all that strong--aside from Opalescence and Rancor (and, uh, Bargain), none of the enchantments in the set made much of a splash, especially when compared to all of the REALLY broken stuff that did come out of the block.
I don't think it would because they aren't actually "green mana symbols." I'm sure that'll be released with the FAQ, though. ^^ -Jack
What about cards from (for example) Urza's block that say "one green mana" (For example, the man-lands). Will those be erratted to fit with the current scheme? What if a card was printed like that, then reprinted with G in core set (or something)?
I seem to have good luck buying in bulk; I bought several pounds of "unsearched lots" from ebay that turned out to actually be unsearched, and got a FoW, a Cursed Scroll, several StPs, a foil Squirrel Nest, and an entire Beatdown set (how much is that worth?), among other things. I later did the same thing with a different seller and ended up with piles of old dealer stock, but still got a Plow Under, three Wasteland, multiple Lotus Petals, and an inch-thick stack of Tormod's Crypts. Plus, y'know, about 10 lbs of jank, but since the cards came out to about $3 per pound INCLUDING S&H, it was totally worth it.
I don't think they have common non-basic lands in the core sets.
Wouldn't that be strictly worse than Elfhame Palace?
By the way that I'm reading it, that would mean that a creature enchanted with Diplomatic Immunity would continue to get the bonus, since not being able to be the target of spells and abilities is "something that is true about the enchanted creature". For that matter, a creature enchanted with an aura that said something like "enchanted creature is red" would still get the bonus, since it is stating something that is now true about the enchanted creature, but a creature that had that same text printed on it (Crimson Kobolds) is considered to have an "ability" and wouldn't get the bonus. Does this make sense?
Also, how do the Petroglyphs interact with +1/+1 counters on otherwise "vanilla" creatures? Would those be considered "abilities" too?
Perhaps there should be a thread on which NON-FETCH, NON-DUAL lands will be in Xth. It would probably be more interesting than 5 pages of people arguing whether the Onslaught fetchlands are "too good" for the core set.
Yeah, but they did quite a bit of the latter back in the day, too. *cough* Shelkin Brownie *cough*
That being said, I think that Wizards did know what they were doing. Don't forget, The Dark was followed by the dwarf-filled Fallen Empires.
That doesn't really make much sense--I mean, we've already seen Glasses of Urza and Ankh of Mishra, and those weren't even legendary, despite belonging to planeswalkers
When I started playing again recently, I got a crapload of older cards and built a U/B shadow deck (U/B aggro? Can such things be?) that was really good...so good that it took me forever to make another deck that was as good as it...but that's another story.
Wouldn't that be kind of pointless? A green wall with flying would (in most occasions) be exactly the same as a green wall with "this can block as though it had flying", which is a VERY green ability.
Besides, "canopy" implies that it's attached to stuff that's rooted to the ground.
IMHO, green should get a few small fliers each block (think Bayou Dragonfly)--as long as Scryb Sprites isn't reprinted, they don't unbalance anything. I like the "Hopping" idea, but I'm trying to think of what sort of creatures you'd put it on. Hmmm...
Bear on a Pogo Stick 1G
Creature-Bear
1G: Bear on a Pogo Stick gains flying until end of turn.
2/2
It's hard to think of "Green" things that jump...maybe a race of Kangaroo-folk?:)
Ooh, Good Idea. I could see something like
Love Canal
taP: Add G or B to your mana pool. Gain a poison counter
taP: Remove a poison counter from yourself; Love Canal doesn't untap during your next untap phase.
It'd be kind of like a depletion land.
To be fair, one of the main reasons that the Urza's block WAS broken was that it's enchantment theme really wasn't all that strong--aside from Opalescence and Rancor (and, uh, Bargain), none of the enchantments in the set made much of a splash, especially when compared to all of the REALLY broken stuff that did come out of the block.
What about cards from (for example) Urza's block that say "one green mana" (For example, the man-lands). Will those be erratted to fit with the current scheme? What if a card was printed like that, then reprinted with G in core set (or something)?