The green one is the best of the cycle. The whole point is that it gets you a turn ahead in your mana development, so on turn three you can potentially have four mana available instead of your usual three. It also fixes your mana, making it easier to have access to a second or third color of mana. I gotta say though, as someone who enjoys limited a lot more than constructed, this cycle does not excite me. Aside from the green one, I just don't think these cards do enough to warrant their inclusion. Theros block is very tempo-oriented, and I don't think it's worth giving up the amount of tempo required to cast and use these. They're just too durdly.
Ya I agree. They look pretty bad right now, considering that they are worse than their sorcery counterparts by 1 mana.. Then again, they can help if you somehow are stuck on mana or something (the blue one, at least). The Rampant Growth Font at least has some promise, though locking up both turns 1 and 2 are kinda sucky just so you can hit 4 on turn 3. But aside from those two, I don't see much utility from the other 3 (I generally don't have that 2x disentomb card in my decks either lol).
Man...Wizards seems to think black is still the underdog. They are giving them so many options.
Black deserves it. Do you realize what it was like playing black or predominantly black decks from Lorwyn up until Theros ? It was a disaster on huge proportions.
I hear that a lot, but I guess I don't understand why. Black has had some great removal the past few years. Jund has been a great archetype for a long time. And Lorwyn? C'mon, didn't you get Bitterblossom?
Faeries was a blue deck that that splashed black for Bitterblossom and Thoughtseize. That's it. 2 cards.
Jund was RG deck that splashed black for Blightning, Broodmate Dragon and Terminate. This time it's 3.
Neither of your examples were predominantly black decks. They were just decks that did light splashes. The way it's been since Lorwyn is that black has gotten 1 or two really strong cards in a block but with everything else being awful usually due to high mana costs.
Ah that makes more sense now. What about other years? Weren't there a bunch of strong black vampires in Zendikar? (I don't speak from experience since I did not play during Zendikar of Scars blocks.) In Innistrad zombies was a very competitive archetype, and I know Jund did very well in RTR with some monoblack cards and several black multicolored cards.
Naw, Jund back then played more than 3 black cards. It played blightning, broodmate, terminate, maelstrom pulse, putrid leech, bituminous Blast, and sometimes sprouting thrinax. It's very heavy on the black if you wanted it to be. Just because it's a BBE deck + bolt, doesn't mean it isn't heavy on black. You can see a sample decklist here. This particular deck has equal representation from all 3 colours.
Standard monoB vampires were a thing back then, just tier 1.5.
The blocks involving innistrad obviously have Lilianna, unburial rites, Olivia, etc. Wizards treated black pretty well in Innistrad in general.
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This new card is pretty sweet, especially in EDH where 7 mana isn't unheard of and getting rid of Avacyn at instant speed is pretty important.
Not sure about sb yet, since I don't know the meta, but I'm deathly afraid of monoblack and some crazy burn decks. I have a feeling at gameday those would be the most likely decks that'll give me trouble, though I will expect mono U, some form of UW control, and possibly someone piloting Maze's End as well.
I don't think I need to fear Blood Baron at all. Kiora basically stops that guy from doing anything until you verdict (i.e. they commit another one, or beatdown with mutavault), and if combined with Jace, not even a mutavault can get there against her bubble.
Lands looks to be the problem here. I have no idea of what to do against those things, since I don't have any mutavaults of my own, and Maze's end has a faster clock. I can't interact very well against either.
In unravel the aether vs revoke existence...I dunno. There aren't that many gods we need to solve either. I think the instant speed makes unravel a bit better.
So far the only m/u I've played against was a homebrew...which ironically does well against control. So I dunno how it works against the meta yet. I'll see after gameday, I guess. I like the Mistcutters in the sb, I think I'll try to fit some in there as well.
Every single card you mention above are better than these commons. The thing to remember about bestow is that the creature has to be playable on its own, which is not the case for these new ones.
I don't think Hopeful Eidolon is playable as a 1/1 lifelink for 1. It's almost entirely because of bestow that it was any good.
These guys are mostly fine. 2/3 and 3/1 for 3 aren't terrible by themselves, and certainly are playable on curve. 2/1 for 2 is also on curve. The only ones that are iffy are the red and white ones (1/2 and 1/1 for 1), but they also have extremely cheap bestow costs as well to match with heroic.
A wingsteed rider with the 1/2 bestow puts you basically out of most removal range already, outside of blue.
Anyhow, still dealing with medicine and being cynical about medicine. So, not much has changed since last update here.
My local shop (soon to not be local anymore...) is doing a lot of EDH now, which is pretty cool. I'm busting out my old Sharuum decks and the like again. Man, those were the days, playing EDH in its classic glory. I'm still hanging out with the FGC too, which is pretty cool. Oh btw, I made a Jeleva deck, and just stuck in as many interesting sorcery/instants I can find. Deck is hilarious.
Movies! Recent viewings: Hunger Games Catching Fire and Madoka Rebellion. Rebellion was the better movie. :X
Kill La Kill is just as ridiculously over-the-top as Gurren Lagaan, except with even more fan service packed in there. I was impressed they managed to make Ryuuko appear more lewd than Yoko. But ya, I like anime that's over the top like that though.
One Piece is quite good. The problem is that it is quite long and has some pacing issues. It's not like SnK slow pacing, but ya it's there as a problem. Well at least when it's exciting it really is. The epic story arcs like Impel Down are ridiculously epic.
SAO...honestly I liked Accel World more. Maybe it's because I like making jokes about accelerating, or maybe it's because of Kuroyukihime. Whatever. Just saying.
Kyoani no Katana (ya ok I know what it is really called)...I dunno. I watched to ep 5. It's not really grabbing me much, but then again Kyoani's stuff with like K-On and the like have always had this "boring" element to it that you generally can't get rid of. I really don't know what to say about it though.
Kill la Kill is still amazing. I'm convinced that Trigger wanted to make it as ridiculous as Gurren Lagaan too. Dunno how it's gonna end though, including that thing with Mako. Then again, it would be hilarious to see galaxy shuriken again.
Mash shuffling will split ultra pro, bushiroad, broccoli, and random chinese branded sleeves. Depending on the type of ultra pro sleeve, it can either split the backing off or the part that contains the cards. Either way, mash shuffling will damage these brands of sleeves and quickly as well. I suggest that if you're going for any sort of tournament caliber play, either oversleeve if you have those brands, or at least use dragon shields.
Ya I agree. They look pretty bad right now, considering that they are worse than their sorcery counterparts by 1 mana.. Then again, they can help if you somehow are stuck on mana or something (the blue one, at least). The Rampant Growth Font at least has some promise, though locking up both turns 1 and 2 are kinda sucky just so you can hit 4 on turn 3. But aside from those two, I don't see much utility from the other 3 (I generally don't have that 2x disentomb card in my decks either lol).
Naw, Jund back then played more than 3 black cards. It played blightning, broodmate, terminate, maelstrom pulse, putrid leech, bituminous Blast, and sometimes sprouting thrinax. It's very heavy on the black if you wanted it to be. Just because it's a BBE deck + bolt, doesn't mean it isn't heavy on black. You can see a sample decklist here. This particular deck has equal representation from all 3 colours.
Standard monoB vampires were a thing back then, just tier 1.5.
The blocks involving innistrad obviously have Lilianna, unburial rites, Olivia, etc. Wizards treated black pretty well in Innistrad in general.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This new card is pretty sweet, especially in EDH where 7 mana isn't unheard of and getting rid of Avacyn at instant speed is pretty important.
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Temple Garden
4 Breeding Pool
3 Temple of Enlightenment
3 Temple of Mystery
2 Temple of Plenty
3 Island
3 Plains
Removal/Counter
3 Azorius Charm
2 Last Breath
4 Detention Sphere
3 Syncopate
3 Dissolve
4 Supreme Verdict
1 Fated Retribution
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
4 Jace, Archetect of Thought
3 Kiora, the Crashing Wave
Misc
4 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Elixir of Immortality
2 Pithing Needle
1 Selesnya Charm
2 Unravel the Aether
1 Glare of Heresy
1 Negate
2 Gainsay
1 Aetherling
1 Fated Retribution
4 Archangel of Thune
Not sure about sb yet, since I don't know the meta, but I'm deathly afraid of monoblack and some crazy burn decks. I have a feeling at gameday those would be the most likely decks that'll give me trouble, though I will expect mono U, some form of UW control, and possibly someone piloting Maze's End as well.
I don't think I need to fear Blood Baron at all. Kiora basically stops that guy from doing anything until you verdict (i.e. they commit another one, or beatdown with mutavault), and if combined with Jace, not even a mutavault can get there against her bubble.
Lands looks to be the problem here. I have no idea of what to do against those things, since I don't have any mutavaults of my own, and Maze's end has a faster clock. I can't interact very well against either.
In unravel the aether vs revoke existence...I dunno. There aren't that many gods we need to solve either. I think the instant speed makes unravel a bit better.
So far the only m/u I've played against was a homebrew...which ironically does well against control. So I dunno how it works against the meta yet. I'll see after gameday, I guess. I like the Mistcutters in the sb, I think I'll try to fit some in there as well.
I don't think Hopeful Eidolon is playable as a 1/1 lifelink for 1. It's almost entirely because of bestow that it was any good.
These guys are mostly fine. 2/3 and 3/1 for 3 aren't terrible by themselves, and certainly are playable on curve. 2/1 for 2 is also on curve. The only ones that are iffy are the red and white ones (1/2 and 1/1 for 1), but they also have extremely cheap bestow costs as well to match with heroic.
A wingsteed rider with the 1/2 bestow puts you basically out of most removal range already, outside of blue.
This card is amazing though. The flavour is awesome.
Also, good old polukrynos (or however you spell him) will be happy to get all dat mana.
Including you Mindslavor (sorry bro...). D:
Anyhow, still dealing with medicine and being cynical about medicine. So, not much has changed since last update here.
My local shop (soon to not be local anymore...) is doing a lot of EDH now, which is pretty cool. I'm busting out my old Sharuum decks and the like again. Man, those were the days, playing EDH in its classic glory. I'm still hanging out with the FGC too, which is pretty cool. Oh btw, I made a Jeleva deck, and just stuck in as many interesting sorcery/instants I can find. Deck is hilarious.
Movies! Recent viewings: Hunger Games Catching Fire and Madoka Rebellion. Rebellion was the better movie. :X
One Piece is quite good. The problem is that it is quite long and has some pacing issues. It's not like SnK slow pacing, but ya it's there as a problem. Well at least when it's exciting it really is. The epic story arcs like Impel Down are ridiculously epic.
SAO...honestly I liked Accel World more. Maybe it's because I like making jokes about accelerating, or maybe it's because of Kuroyukihime. Whatever. Just saying.
Kill la Kill is still amazing. I'm convinced that Trigger wanted to make it as ridiculous as Gurren Lagaan too. Dunno how it's gonna end though, including that thing with Mako. Then again, it would be hilarious to see galaxy shuriken again.
I'm watching Madoka this saturday! weeeeeeeeee