now if you populated one of the tokens, you'd get two (because of Doubling Season) and those tokens would enter untapped and not attacking and they would not be exiled by the delayed trigger in the end step because they were not created by the Nacatl War-Pride trigger.
Sorry this is what I was thinking when I posted this.
Have a quick question, when Nacatl War-Pride attacks, its ability triggers to put in X token copies of itself. With Doubling Season you would put in double the amount of X into play instead.
The tokens created by Nacatl would be attacking as part of the ability, but the tokens created by Doubling, would they come into play attacking as well, or come in as any other token, untapped and not attacking?
I know that they will persist past my end phase since those tokens do not recognize the end phase part of Nacatl's ability. This was written thinking of populate, not the Doubling Season mechanic.
For those that think that Ring of Three Wishes is good, just look at Planar Portal. Aren't cards suppose to get better over time, not gain a draw back. Also, yes I know the costs have been reduced by 1 for each, but not a good enough reason to make it only usable 3 times. Would gladly pay the 1 more to use it each and every turn you are stalling them.
My question is about Magus of the Abyss. It says that at the beginning of each player's upkeep they choose a nonartifact creature they control. Then Magus destroys it, but Magus states target for ability. So when the player is choosing the target, must it be a legal target Magus can target or can they choose a creature with either shroud or hexproof and the ability fizzles since he cannot target those creatures?
The Pitt is strictly too good. Doesn't matter if it's mythic, it's a 5 colorless repeatable exile that can't be countered in the traditional sense. This might be fine in a Black-White deck, but in mono-blue it's strictly out of the color pie, and would still be absurdly strong with a colored mana activation for the repeatable-uncounterable effect. Compare Mystifying Maze.
I agree with this, it is to good, maybe add a way to get the creature back, something like: "It gains '5: Return this creature to play under its owner's control.'"
Likewise, I don't like your PW because it simply says "win the game", that's boring. Ultimates should functionally win you the game, but not literally. Maybe "Search your library for up to 10 permanents and/or instants or sorceries. You put any permanents revealed this way onto the battlefield and cast any instants or sorceries without paying their mana costs". It's wordy which is annoying, but I'm sure there's a more clever ability that could go there. His other abilities (while strong) are probably fine though. Edit: His exile should probably a -2 at the least.
Yes, his ultimate is somewhat boring will still have to work on it, maybe something like a sac to give you advantage. Also, for the remove, I meant to put 2, miss spelled.
Homarid Transport is problematic since it's ability doesn't require itself to be part of combat initially. This could cause clunky rules issues regarding creatures being in or out of combat. Suggest a rework.
Maybe an activated ability with cost 0 that can only be activated while attacking, that should make things better.
Edit: Also, Chromatic Lantern and Prismatic Omen say hi to your PW. 5 color cards are not perfectly balanced by being hard to cast when there are ways to essentially cast them for their CMC.
That is true, but that goes for almost everything.
The lords shouldn't give themselves bonuses. They have the stats and abilities as if they did have the bonus, then apply the bonus to other creatures in the tribe, like Stromkirk Captain.
That's true, but felt nostalgic Undead Warchief when I thought them up.
Not sure if this is ok here, or if it should be in Custom Set Creation and Discussion.
I decided to start working on a new set, just wanted people's opinions on what I am thinking and what they think of the idea. Basically, I am making a set that involves off beat tribal creature types from all 5 colors that don't have a huge support, or a very limited card pool for each. The 5 tribes I have choosen are: W-Unicorn, U-Homarid, B-Nightmare, R-Kobold, and G-Fungus. If you can think of any better choices than that, please let me know, always open to different choices.
A little of the story I have come up with so far is as follows:
"A powerful Human known as Thromir lived on a dying world, the world destroyed by the population that grew to big and to greedy. As their leader, he was tasked with finding a new place for the population to live. Unable to find a suitable place, the population began to decline, and Thromir became very desperate. In his desperation, his planeswalker spark became ignited and he ended up traveling to a new world, full of beauty and abundance. Unable to control his new powers, he spent a year training on this new world. Eventually, he managed to open a rift between this world and his old. He crossed the rift to his old world to find that only 1/4 of the population was still alive. He led the remaining humans through the rift into the world he discovered. The people grateful, named this new world after him, Thromir. As time passed, their old world faded from knowledge and the rift became something very feared. They began to call the world beyond the rift, their old world, the "Pitt". As time passed, humans became the dominating race on Thromir and began to use their might and power to enslave what they called the "lower races". They used the Funguses to grow their food, Kobolds to mine for minerals, Homarids for travel, Unicorns for entertainment, and Nightmares to fight. This is the order that Thromir used for as long as anyone alive could remember, but the lower races have begun to tire of their captivity. Those that do not do as they are told are thrown through the rift, into the "Pitt", a place they began to believe held nothing but death and that nothing can survive."
Here are a few cards that I have come up with so far.
Creature Lords: Fungal Enchanter1GG
Creature - Fungus [U]
Fungus and Saproling creatures you control get +1/+1 "Humans gave a select few Fungi the power to grow, so that they wouldn't have to." [1/2]
~~~~~ Escaped UnicornWW
Creature - Unicorn [U]
Unicorn creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain Vigilance. "Escaping from its captors, it returned to the wild, telling the others the horrors it saw." [1/1]
~~~~~ Kobold ExcavatorR
Creature - Kobold [U]
Kobold creatures you control get +1/+0 and gain Haste. "Kobolds work fast and hard, afraid of the watch guards watchful eye." [0/1]
~~~~~ Hidden Nightmare2BB
Creature - Nightmare [U]
Nightmare creatures you control get +2/+0 and gain Fear. "Nightmares you see scare you, Nightmares you can't bring fear to you." [1/2]
~~~~~ Fleeting Homarid1UU
Creature - Homarid [U]
Homarid creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain Non-Basic Landwalk. "They learned all the paths through the maze-like reefs, so they could escape with ease." [1/1]
~~~~~ Enchanted Forest
Land - Forest[R] XT, Sacrifice ~: Search your library for a Fungus creature card with cost X or less, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Shuffle your library. "In the enchanted forest, it is always easy to find what you are looking for."
~~~~~ Roaming Circus Plains
Land - Plains [R] XT, Sacrifice ~: Search your library for a Unicorn creature card with cost X or less, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Shuffle your library. "The Roaming Circus travels across the plains, capturing all unicorn they find along their way."
~~~~~ Miners Mountain
Land - Mountain [R] XT, Sacrifice ~: Search your library for a Kobold creature card with cost X or less, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Shuffle your library. "The mountains are littered with Kobolds, reach into any hole and you will find one."
~~~~~ Darkened Swamp
Land - Swamp [R] XT, Sacrifice ~: Search your library for a Nightmare creature card with cost X or less, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Shuffle your library. "The swamps have grown dark, travel lightly, you never know what you will find in the next brook."
~~~~~ Shallow Waters
Land - Island [R] XT, Sacrifice ~: Search your library for a Homarid creature card with cost X or less, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Shuffle your library. "When the tide lowers, those not fast enough to swim away will always find themselves pulling someones carriage."
Some other cards.
Nightmare IntrusionBB
Sorcery [U]
Destroy target non-Nightmare creature.
~~~~~ Captured Unicorn1W
Creature - Unicorn [C]
At the beginning of your upkeep, put an age counter on ~, then if ~ has 3 or more age counters on it, sacrifice it. If you do, search your library for a card named Unicorn Champ, and put it into play. It gains haste until end of turn. [1/1]
~~~~~ Unicorn Champ2WW
Creature - Unicorn [U]
First Strike, Vigilance [3/4]
~~~~~ Fungal Feast2G
Sorcery [C]
Search your library for a basic land card and put it into play tapped. You gain 3 life.
~~~~~ Watch Guards2R
Creature - Human Soldier [C] T: Target creature gains haste until end of turn. ~ deals 1 damage to that creatre. [2/1]
~~~~~ Homarid Transport3U
Creature - Homarid [U] T: Target attacking creature you control becomes unblocked. ~ becomes blocked by all creatures that where blocking it. [0/3]
~~~~~ The Pitt
Land [M] T: Add 1 to your mana pool. ,T: Remove target creature from the game. It gains "5: Return this creature to play under its owner's control."
~~~~~ Thromir, the RiftWUBRG
Planeswalker - Thromir [M]
+1: Search your library for a creature card, shuffle your library, then put it on top.
0: For each player, choose up to one creature that player controls. Return those creatures to their owner's hand.
-2: Remove target creature from the game.
-10: Target player sacrifice all permanents they control and discard their hand. [5]
Let me know what you think so far, and any suggestions would be appreciated.
Edit: Fixed first five lands, added a way to get back creatures from The Pitt, and changed # on Thromir and ultimate.
So, what is your complaint, that it is not as relevant as Rakdos Guildmage in Modern?
Because if you're oh so bitter about it not being as good as its predecessor in Standard, then I don't get it, because Rakdos Guildmage is not in Standard. Why is it so hard for people to judge cards based on their own merits for Standard, rather then compare them to cards that are not legal in the format and end up becomign disgruntled because said cards may come up short to their old counter parts.
If Wizards printed Necropotence at BBBB, would you moan ceaselessly about it costing one more ana, or would you have the good sense to realize that even at 4 mana, Necropotence would be grossly overpowered? Rix Maadi Guildmage isn't Necropotence, obviously, but this penchant need to compare it to an older card and deride the new card for being worse is totally idiotic and unnecesary.
So if you don't think it is Standard playable, that's fine, but if your reasoning for that is because it is not as good as Rakdos Guildmage, your argument is fundamentally flawed.
Ok, fine, then I will compare it to the other guildmages revealed so far (Korozda Guildmage and Nivix Guildmage) to give it reasoning. Starting with Korozda, neither of its abilities have any kinda of stipulation that it can only be used at a certain time, you can use either of them at any time you wish. The first being a pump AND evasion for just 1 more mana. The second ability makes removal less important as you can sacrifice in response to it and you get creatures, plus it works with the guild's theme of stuff in the graveyard. Now on to Nivix Guildmage. Both abilities can be used at any time as well. The first allowing you to move faster through the deck and can put targets for Snapcaster Mage, so it doesn't even seem like a huge drawback. Second allows you to copy any spell you have played and choose new targets for that spell. This gives extreme versatility to your spells, allowing you to copy a counter if you get into counter wars, or if you need to get a little extra burn, go ahead and copy it. It seems like pure card advantage, allowing one card to be twice as effective. They both have the same mana requirements to play them, but they both have more useful creature types as well, Elf and Wizard.
Now to move onto the supposed aggro effects he has on standard. Lets say you play four of the M13 dual lands and four of the shock lands, that's eight lands out of 20-24. Let's say you are running 22 lands. That means that 35% of your lands are dual, leaving 65% scattered between red and black. That means that more than half the time the land you draw will be basic. If you are playing one color more heavily than another, you will probably fix your land to have a few more of that color. So if you had more black cards you might run 8 swamps and 6 mountains. Now putting the percentages at 35% dual, 35% swamp, and 30 % mountain. That might seem like a good fix, but you will have the problem of having more swamps than mountains most of the time. So now I purpose a hand consisting of 2 swamps, 1 mountain, 1 one drop, 1 Rix Maadi Guildmage, and remainder to be seen. Your turn order will be: (1) Swamp, play one drop (2) Mountain, Rix Maadi (3) Swamp, ability or three drop. By this time if you have not drawn a mountain or dual but a swamp, then you are stuck at only using its ability once. I'm sorry but "Magical Christmas Land" doesn't always happen, you will get mana screwed and you will draw more of one land type than another. Also, how aggro can a deck be if its three drop, four drop, or five drop can't be cast on their respective turns because you had to give a creature -1/-1.
No one would say Necropotence is bad at four mana, nor am I looking at non-standard formats. I was talking about how effect the first guildmage was in its standard environment and how this will be in its standard environment. He is to mana intensive for his abilities to do so little and have restrictions.
Magical Christmas Land is a phrase used to describe the absolute best outcome of a card, hand, or deck. So saying your starting hand is "Magical Christmas Land" means that you have the best possible hand to start with.
That sounds like you're generalizing. The new one is very combat oriented, he plays with your opponent's head and puts pressure on their defenders for the explicit purpose of getting your guys through. Then the second main phase is where you can use the mana to spend on your spells, or just activate the second ability a bunch.
The old guildmage usually just tossed around -2/-2's to trigger keywords and kill creatures more indiscriminately. The new one uses it to threaten. I'd still wager that their uses are quite different.
If you don't generalize them then you are already narrowing them down to BE different, generalizing is really the only way they should be looked at if comparing. They both have the same effect, they just do it in a different way. Having the -2/-2 available is just a much pressure as a -1/-1 here and there. If they wish to block and attempt to kill something attacking, it makes them have to consider the -2/-2 going at one of their creatures just as -1/-1. As for the damage, the first just does it through combat instead of as a trigger. Plus if you are not able to target the opponent due to something like Witchbane Orb, you would still have the chance to get the damage through.
by your logic, an even BETTER ability would have been "11B: target creature gets -6/-6 until eot." because it's less color restrictive at that specific scaling of the ability. The fact that this guildmage's ability gives you more choices in how much of a mana investment you want to make is an advantage. you can give something -3/-3 if you have to. On turn 3, you can give something -1/-1 to swing the combat math or just to kill it off. That can be useful if you need it, because a lot of times you don't NEED -2/-2, so why spend the extra mana to get that? Since Rakdos in RTR is all about aggro and just getting damage in, being able to use its abilities earlier can be huge.
As for the discard clause: yeah, discarding a card CAN be useful, but that won't always be the case. And sure, it gets you closer to hellbent, but once you have zero cards in hand to activate hellbent its ability is dead whereas this one is always active.
Once again, scaling does matter because on turn 5, you might have a 3 drop so you can activate the guildmage's ability once followed by your play but the old guildmage doesn't have that flexibility. I'm not saying one ability is BETTER than the other, they're just different and it's a subjective call imho.
My logic is nothing close to saying 11B is better because of -6/-6. My logic was based on the fact that more than half of the time you will be stuck with less color than the other, preventing you from being able to trigger more than once most of the time during your early game.
Also the fact that is costs one of each color means that if you wish to play spells, you might be shorting yourself of the colors you need for the ability or to play the card. If they had made it more hybrid mana cost, then it would have not been so bad.
As you stated, RTR is showing to be another aggro set, and if this is true and aggro remains the standard, putting your mana into its abilities early on just should not happen, you should be playing cards so you can be aggro. Not wasting your mana on 1/1's.
I don't even compare this to the old guildmage, they serve vastly different roles.
But they don't serve different roles. They both do the exact same thing, lose life and -X/-X. It just the way they do it is different. In my opinion, the first one is just more versatile in the way it does so.
PS: Sorry if I am coming off as a prick, this card just rubbed me the wrong way and am kinda in a pissy mood over Rakdos getting another meager card.
I am one who loved to play Rakdos the first time around. It was fun and powerful, which is why I am saddened by the cards revealed for Rakdos this go around. They are not on par with most of the cards the first time around, and now that they have revealed the new guildmage, it continues to disappoint.
The new guildmage is posted on the first page for your viewing unpleasure, and here is the old Rakdos Guildmage.
I am saddened to see how many people view the new guildmage as good and better than the original. This is just not true, and for those that do think this way, I am sorry. I am about to ruin what you think about the new guildmage compared to the old.
We will start with the first ability of each of the guildmages, the -X/-X ability. The new guildmage has a requirement of BR to activate for -1/-1 and requires a creature to be blocking in order to activate. Now compare to the firsts ability, 3B plus a discard for -2/-2. Look real hard at each ability for a second and think about how they are designed. Ok, so for the first one, you need to pay 3B to activate, and the new one requires BBRR to get the same negative. Which seems easier to use. Now for the second requirement. The first requires you to discard, this is seen as bad but has MANY uses (Reanimation targets, madness, dredge, Haakon) so I don't see how this could be called a bad thing plus it helped move along the Hellbent ability for the guild at that time. Now the new one requires a creature to be blocking, it is good to get the blocking creatures a wee bit weaker and can be used any number of times, but since it requires a creature to block, the ability to use it is so limited I don't see why they printed it. The ability to use the -2/-2 at any time is what made it good the first time, plus it got rid of the small creatures that they wouldn't block with. Ok, I think that covers that, now to move onto the next ability.
Now for the life lose ability for each. The new guildmage yet again requires you to pay BR for its ability, and the old requires 3R. Yet again making the old ability easier to use rather than BBRR for the 2 life lose. The new guildmage requires that the opponent has to have lost life in order to activate, once again limiting it greatly. The old guildmage put in a 2/1 goblin creature, although it is more likely that this damage might not get through, it requires your opponent to have another blocker to stop it as well. So if they have just enough to block all your creatures so they take no damage, the old guildmage can make sure they still get two damage. Plus it is a creature, so you can activate it on your opponents turn for a blocker if needed, and you can sacrifice it to anyone one of the vast amounts of sacrifice triggers. Plus Plus, its a goblin, benefiting from all the goblin goodness of the goblin creature type. Well, that's covered, still think the new one is good or better that the old one.
Now for the mana cost.......:-/....... Well, the new guildmage is only two mana, one B and one R. Ok that seems like it is pretty good, "OR" if you look at the old guildmage who cost two B or R, it should be easier to see which one is just easier to cast. Plus the old guildmage has the versatility of being able to be played in a mono colored deck, even if not the best choice. We still have one more reason the old guildmage is better.
Now on to the CREATURE TYPES!!:o!! Yes creature types matter and it matters to these two guildmages. The new guildmage has the creature types of Human Shaman, the human part of its creature type is just to show what race it is and has little if no benefits for its creature type (Don't mind correcting me on this, I don't really know if there are) and the shaman is not an overall powerhouse of a creature type either, making both not that important. The old guildmage shares the shaman creature type so no biggy there, but its other creature type Zombie is a HUGE deal. Zombies have been a power house in most formats and are currently a powerhouse in standard. This creature type gives it great benefits from the many zombie lords and is just another reason it is better.
Well I am finally done informing everyone how the old guildmage is just better, and probably have swayed many peoples opinion of this card, but if you still think this card is good or better than the old one. Please post your reasons, I would love to see what you have to say, and remember, don't forget to eat your vegetables.
Sorry this is what I was thinking when I posted this.
Thanks for the information.
The tokens created by Nacatl would be attacking as part of the ability, but the tokens created by Doubling, would they come into play attacking as well, or come in as any other token, untapped and not attacking?
I know that they will persist past my end phase since those tokens do not recognize the end phase part of Nacatl's ability.This was written thinking of populate, not the Doubling Season mechanic.Thank you for your help.
"He struts through the maze alone, being like, "Yeah, i'd like to see you try."
I agree with this, it is to good, maybe add a way to get the creature back, something like: "It gains '5: Return this creature to play under its owner's control.'"
Yes, his ultimate is somewhat boring will still have to work on it, maybe something like a sac to give you advantage. Also, for the remove, I meant to put 2, miss spelled.
Maybe an activated ability with cost 0 that can only be activated while attacking, that should make things better.
Sorry, forgot to add the X or less part to each land. Fixed.
That is true, but that goes for almost everything.
That's true, but felt nostalgic Undead Warchief when I thought them up.
I decided to start working on a new set, just wanted people's opinions on what I am thinking and what they think of the idea. Basically, I am making a set that involves off beat tribal creature types from all 5 colors that don't have a huge support, or a very limited card pool for each. The 5 tribes I have choosen are: W-Unicorn, U-Homarid, B-Nightmare, R-Kobold, and G-Fungus. If you can think of any better choices than that, please let me know, always open to different choices.
A little of the story I have come up with so far is as follows:
Fungal Enchanter 1GG
Creature - Fungus [U]
Fungus and Saproling creatures you control get +1/+1
"Humans gave a select few Fungi the power to grow, so that they wouldn't have to."
[1/2]
~~~~~
Escaped Unicorn WW
Creature - Unicorn [U]
Unicorn creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain Vigilance.
"Escaping from its captors, it returned to the wild, telling the others the horrors it saw."
[1/1]
~~~~~
Kobold Excavator R
Creature - Kobold [U]
Kobold creatures you control get +1/+0 and gain Haste.
"Kobolds work fast and hard, afraid of the watch guards watchful eye."
[0/1]
~~~~~
Hidden Nightmare 2BB
Creature - Nightmare [U]
Nightmare creatures you control get +2/+0 and gain Fear.
"Nightmares you see scare you, Nightmares you can't bring fear to you."
[1/2]
~~~~~
Fleeting Homarid 1UU
Creature - Homarid [U]
Homarid creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain Non-Basic Landwalk.
"They learned all the paths through the maze-like reefs, so they could escape with ease."
[1/1]
~~~~~
Enchanted Forest
Land - Forest[R]
XT, Sacrifice ~: Search your library for a Fungus creature card with cost X or less, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Shuffle your library.
"In the enchanted forest, it is always easy to find what you are looking for."
~~~~~
Roaming Circus Plains
Land - Plains [R]
XT, Sacrifice ~: Search your library for a Unicorn creature card with cost X or less, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Shuffle your library.
"The Roaming Circus travels across the plains, capturing all unicorn they find along their way."
~~~~~
Miners Mountain
Land - Mountain [R]
XT, Sacrifice ~: Search your library for a Kobold creature card with cost X or less, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Shuffle your library.
"The mountains are littered with Kobolds, reach into any hole and you will find one."
~~~~~
Darkened Swamp
Land - Swamp [R]
XT, Sacrifice ~: Search your library for a Nightmare creature card with cost X or less, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Shuffle your library.
"The swamps have grown dark, travel lightly, you never know what you will find in the next brook."
~~~~~
Shallow Waters
Land - Island [R]
XT, Sacrifice ~: Search your library for a Homarid creature card with cost X or less, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Shuffle your library.
"When the tide lowers, those not fast enough to swim away will always find themselves pulling someones carriage."
Nightmare Intrusion BB
Sorcery [U]
Destroy target non-Nightmare creature.
~~~~~
Captured Unicorn 1W
Creature - Unicorn [C]
At the beginning of your upkeep, put an age counter on ~, then if ~ has 3 or more age counters on it, sacrifice it. If you do, search your library for a card named Unicorn Champ, and put it into play. It gains haste until end of turn.
[1/1]
~~~~~
Unicorn Champ 2WW
Creature - Unicorn [U]
First Strike, Vigilance
[3/4]
~~~~~
Fungal Feast 2G
Sorcery [C]
Search your library for a basic land card and put it into play tapped. You gain 3 life.
~~~~~
Watch Guards 2R
Creature - Human Soldier [C]
T: Target creature gains haste until end of turn. ~ deals 1 damage to that creatre.
[2/1]
~~~~~
Homarid Transport 3U
Creature - Homarid [U]
T: Target attacking creature you control becomes unblocked. ~ becomes blocked by all creatures that where blocking it.
[0/3]
~~~~~
The Pitt
Land [M]
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
,T: Remove target creature from the game. It gains "5: Return this creature to play under its owner's control."
~~~~~
Thromir, the Rift WUBRG
Planeswalker - Thromir [M]
+1: Search your library for a creature card, shuffle your library, then put it on top.
0: For each player, choose up to one creature that player controls. Return those creatures to their owner's hand.
-2: Remove target creature from the game.
-10: Target player sacrifice all permanents they control and discard their hand.
[5]
Edit: Fixed first five lands, added a way to get back creatures from The Pitt, and changed # on Thromir and ultimate.
Peerless (If a spell that does not target this permanent would destroy or deal damage to it, this permanent becomes indestructible until end of turn.)
That might be a little to good though, but would stop most global damage and wrath effects.
Been a long time since I have been here so if I am forgetting anything in the rulings or made mistakes, sorry.
Aboshan, Cephalid Emperor
Cephalid Aristocrat
Cephalid Retainer
Ok, fine, then I will compare it to the other guildmages revealed so far (Korozda Guildmage and Nivix Guildmage) to give it reasoning. Starting with Korozda, neither of its abilities have any kinda of stipulation that it can only be used at a certain time, you can use either of them at any time you wish. The first being a pump AND evasion for just 1 more mana. The second ability makes removal less important as you can sacrifice in response to it and you get creatures, plus it works with the guild's theme of stuff in the graveyard. Now on to Nivix Guildmage. Both abilities can be used at any time as well. The first allowing you to move faster through the deck and can put targets for Snapcaster Mage, so it doesn't even seem like a huge drawback. Second allows you to copy any spell you have played and choose new targets for that spell. This gives extreme versatility to your spells, allowing you to copy a counter if you get into counter wars, or if you need to get a little extra burn, go ahead and copy it. It seems like pure card advantage, allowing one card to be twice as effective. They both have the same mana requirements to play them, but they both have more useful creature types as well, Elf and Wizard.
Now to move onto the supposed aggro effects he has on standard. Lets say you play four of the M13 dual lands and four of the shock lands, that's eight lands out of 20-24. Let's say you are running 22 lands. That means that 35% of your lands are dual, leaving 65% scattered between red and black. That means that more than half the time the land you draw will be basic. If you are playing one color more heavily than another, you will probably fix your land to have a few more of that color. So if you had more black cards you might run 8 swamps and 6 mountains. Now putting the percentages at 35% dual, 35% swamp, and 30 % mountain. That might seem like a good fix, but you will have the problem of having more swamps than mountains most of the time. So now I purpose a hand consisting of 2 swamps, 1 mountain, 1 one drop, 1 Rix Maadi Guildmage, and remainder to be seen. Your turn order will be: (1) Swamp, play one drop (2) Mountain, Rix Maadi (3) Swamp, ability or three drop. By this time if you have not drawn a mountain or dual but a swamp, then you are stuck at only using its ability once. I'm sorry but "Magical Christmas Land" doesn't always happen, you will get mana screwed and you will draw more of one land type than another. Also, how aggro can a deck be if its three drop, four drop, or five drop can't be cast on their respective turns because you had to give a creature -1/-1.
No one would say Necropotence is bad at four mana, nor am I looking at non-standard formats. I was talking about how effect the first guildmage was in its standard environment and how this will be in its standard environment. He is to mana intensive for his abilities to do so little and have restrictions.
If you don't generalize them then you are already narrowing them down to BE different, generalizing is really the only way they should be looked at if comparing. They both have the same effect, they just do it in a different way. Having the -2/-2 available is just a much pressure as a -1/-1 here and there. If they wish to block and attempt to kill something attacking, it makes them have to consider the -2/-2 going at one of their creatures just as -1/-1. As for the damage, the first just does it through combat instead of as a trigger. Plus if you are not able to target the opponent due to something like Witchbane Orb, you would still have the chance to get the damage through.
My logic is nothing close to saying 11B is better because of -6/-6. My logic was based on the fact that more than half of the time you will be stuck with less color than the other, preventing you from being able to trigger more than once most of the time during your early game.
Also the fact that is costs one of each color means that if you wish to play spells, you might be shorting yourself of the colors you need for the ability or to play the card. If they had made it more hybrid mana cost, then it would have not been so bad.
As you stated, RTR is showing to be another aggro set, and if this is true and aggro remains the standard, putting your mana into its abilities early on just should not happen, you should be playing cards so you can be aggro. Not wasting your mana on 1/1's.
But they don't serve different roles. They both do the exact same thing, lose life and -X/-X. It just the way they do it is different. In my opinion, the first one is just more versatile in the way it does so.
PS: Sorry if I am coming off as a prick, this card just rubbed me the wrong way and am kinda in a pissy mood over Rakdos getting another meager card.
The new guildmage is posted on the first page for your viewing unpleasure, and here is the old Rakdos Guildmage.
I am saddened to see how many people view the new guildmage as good and better than the original. This is just not true, and for those that do think this way, I am sorry. I am about to ruin what you think about the new guildmage compared to the old.
We will start with the first ability of each of the guildmages, the -X/-X ability. The new guildmage has a requirement of BR to activate for -1/-1 and requires a creature to be blocking in order to activate. Now compare to the firsts ability, 3B plus a discard for -2/-2. Look real hard at each ability for a second and think about how they are designed. Ok, so for the first one, you need to pay 3B to activate, and the new one requires BBRR to get the same negative. Which seems easier to use. Now for the second requirement. The first requires you to discard, this is seen as bad but has MANY uses (Reanimation targets, madness, dredge, Haakon) so I don't see how this could be called a bad thing plus it helped move along the Hellbent ability for the guild at that time. Now the new one requires a creature to be blocking, it is good to get the blocking creatures a wee bit weaker and can be used any number of times, but since it requires a creature to block, the ability to use it is so limited I don't see why they printed it. The ability to use the -2/-2 at any time is what made it good the first time, plus it got rid of the small creatures that they wouldn't block with. Ok, I think that covers that, now to move onto the next ability.
Now for the life lose ability for each. The new guildmage yet again requires you to pay BR for its ability, and the old requires 3R. Yet again making the old ability easier to use rather than BBRR for the 2 life lose. The new guildmage requires that the opponent has to have lost life in order to activate, once again limiting it greatly. The old guildmage put in a 2/1 goblin creature, although it is more likely that this damage might not get through, it requires your opponent to have another blocker to stop it as well. So if they have just enough to block all your creatures so they take no damage, the old guildmage can make sure they still get two damage. Plus it is a creature, so you can activate it on your opponents turn for a blocker if needed, and you can sacrifice it to anyone one of the vast amounts of sacrifice triggers. Plus Plus, its a goblin, benefiting from all the goblin goodness of the goblin creature type. Well, that's covered, still think the new one is good or better that the old one.
Now for the mana cost.......:-/....... Well, the new guildmage is only two mana, one B and one R. Ok that seems like it is pretty good, "OR" if you look at the old guildmage who cost two B or R, it should be easier to see which one is just easier to cast. Plus the old guildmage has the versatility of being able to be played in a mono colored deck, even if not the best choice. We still have one more reason the old guildmage is better.
Now on to the CREATURE TYPES!!:o!! Yes creature types matter and it matters to these two guildmages. The new guildmage has the creature types of Human Shaman, the human part of its creature type is just to show what race it is and has little if no benefits for its creature type (Don't mind correcting me on this, I don't really know if there are) and the shaman is not an overall powerhouse of a creature type either, making both not that important. The old guildmage shares the shaman creature type so no biggy there, but its other creature type Zombie is a HUGE deal. Zombies have been a power house in most formats and are currently a powerhouse in standard. This creature type gives it great benefits from the many zombie lords and is just another reason it is better.
Well I am finally done informing everyone how the old guildmage is just better, and probably have swayed many peoples opinion of this card, but if you still think this card is good or better than the old one. Please post your reasons, I would love to see what you have to say, and remember, don't forget to eat your vegetables.