MTG Salvation

I opened a fantastic pool, wound up playing a strong WGRb deck with plenty of fixing and not one creature I was sad to play, went into the final round with the best record I've ever posted in a prerelease up to that point (3-1, with nine prize packs if I won the next match or three if I tied, my first prize payout from prerelease sealed ever), and then lost the next match to the tournament organizer - who had already posted a bad enough record to be disqualified for any prizes - because he Swerved an O-Ring onto my Behemoth Sledge and neither of us caught the error until a judge pointed it out after the game. And I do mean that I lost because of that; if it wasn't for that, I would have won the game because he wouldn't have been able to deal with both the Sledge and the Mage Slayer.

I think, next time, if I can't manage a regional prerelease, I'll just stay home.

...Are we sure it's Gravegill Axeshark and not Gravelgill?

Quote from Confusion567

Whyso? I see six Legendary, six names, five promoted color combinations and a strong artifact race. That screams "cycle" to me.

SHA Goblins are RG. So are SHA Giants. And SHA Faeries are UB, just like in Lor. That screams "no cycle" to me.

My prediction!

Persist -- Cost: Effect (Play this ability only if this card is in your graveyard.)

Maybe it'll be like Forecast, and only be playable once per turn, or only during your upkeep, or both. But that makes more sense to me personally than a creature just coming back.

Quote from ThunderEarthFire

No, it doesn't - Alara is rock not Shadowmoor.

Because, as we all know, precons are in no way indicative of the contents of the set, and there's no way Wizards would want two adjacent sets to synergize well.

My thoughts: The "angel" art will be Demigod of Justice, and it will be mono-white. There will be no other Demigods.

Seafloat City
Land - Plains Island
(T: Add W or U to your mana pool.
As Seafloat City comes into play, reveal your hand. Then, if no nonland cards are in your hand, you lose 4 life.

Well? How horribly stupidly broken is it?

All right, thank you. I guess that just leaves the question of if I worded it anywhere near right... Also, joke card:

Pompous Councillor - B
Creature - Dwarf Advisor
Protection from Hunter Kaelian
"Assassins? Don't be stupid. I have dozens of hired guards, and the very best locks available."
- Councillor Krazark, last words
1/1

Quote from Phyrexian

We can't you just have it say "This card is colorless" or something?

Protection from Angels, protection from legendary permanents, protection from creatures. And curiosity.

Hunter Kaelian - XX2WB
Legendary Creature - Angel Assassin (Rare)
Flying, deathtouch
As Kaelian comes into play, destroy X target creatures, and Kaelian comes into play with X +1/+1 counters.
Kaelian ignores protection abilities.
"You have insulted the Queen's light. Now meet her darkness."
3/3

Ability in question is underlined. It would be an interesting one-of, if I got it right. Was originally keyworded "Merciless", though I took the keyword off when I realized that it would suck as anything more than a one-of. Am I learning?

Prepare yourselves, for I bring today an epic story, of the tearwrenching sorrow of crushing defeat, and the glorious epic victory that followed.

It was a rather cold day out. I was all nicely showered and shaven, ready for a nice day of Magic. Unfortunately, due to me forgetting where exactly I was supposed to go (Our prereleases bounce back and forth between two buildings, which are very far apart), I arrived ten minutes too late to sign up for the final sealed flight.

No worries, I like drafting, even though I'm not very good. My first pack, first pick: Doran, the Siege Tower. Second pack, first pick: Murmuring Bosk. It was just that kind of draft. Went great for me, and I ultimately wound up with this little masterwork of synergy:


I was really pleased with it. Seemed like a rather tight little Elf/Treefolk deck, to say nothing of the fun that slapping a Runed Stalactite on a Wolf-Skull Shaman or Winnower Patrol could bring. So, imagine my surprise when I lost 0-2 in the first round. I almost left right then and there, but ultimately decided to participate in another draft. I was really, really angry, and didn't really pay all that much attention to what was going on. (Though I was rather pleased, for just a second, when my first Morningtide pack had another Murmuring Bosk.) The deck I wound up with was... well, see for yourself. (Oh, and I forgot a couple cards,. If I remember what they were, I'll edit them in.)



Yeah, it was crap, and I knew it. I mean, my tribal effects were limited to Scarred Vinebreeder, Elvish Eulogist, Heritage Druid, and Lys Alana Bowmaster, none of which are really all that great. And yet... and yet...

I don't know what it was, but this deck won. Fast and hard. Holding on to my rage, I swept the first two rounds, before I realized what a crappy deck I was taking into the final round and proposed a prize split with the other finalist. He accepted, and we each got seven packs. The big one I remember is that 2/10 Treefolk, but there was also a Vendilion Clique which I don't really care all that much about. It was awesome.

Well, that's my story. I'm gonna go nap, and then work on a Doran EDH deck. Later!

So, remember this: Get angry. It helps.

Quote from Kenaron

I see three mostly nonsensical creature types together, so I'd first say that MaRo had stepped down from lead design and Gleemax took over. Or, if it's from a custom set, I'd say the designer was new.

This card has memory issues, which makes it a bad common. Now a 1WU flying shroud 2/2 wouldn't really get me excited, so this overly hybridized card doesn't do it for me either. The set is clearly making a multi-color theme from the fact that this is a common.

So mechanically this isn't a wow set, but let's see about flavor. A merfolk angel is a little off, but I can't see the art so I'll give the benefit of the doubt there (even though I shouldn't.) Now, about advisor, this class mostly means bureaucrat. Merfolk bureaucracy is within my acceptance, but Angel bureaucracy isn't, and certanly fishy-angel bureaucracy. So either a tribal theme is at work here or this card is basically nonsense.

I find it doubtful that all of those types are relevant. Now we can't entirely judge the card without the envrionment sure, because if it were only this guy and basic land he would be a game winner like none other. But I can't think of a single envrionment I've ever played in where I'd want to use this guy. I would therefore judge the set it's poorly, no offense. In a set where that is a common I can only assume that uncommons are so complicated they need to use smaller font to get them onto cards and rares are assumidly mind-cracking Melvin cards. That's what I would assume.

BTW, {wu} in mana tags is (W/U).

Common? What are you... crap. It was supposed to be UNC. Editing now, with my apologies.

I remember reading an article over at magicthegathering.com recently about how players cannot properly guage the strength of a card without first having the context of the set the card belongs to. Which got me to wondering, why can't we figure out some of that context ourselves?

So, what I want you to do is tell me:

What conclusions can you draw from the following card about the set that the card is in?

Seafloat Ambassador - 1[W/U][W/U]
Creature - Angel Merfolk Advisor (Uncommon)
If W was spent to cast Seafloat Ambassador, it has flying.
If U was spent to cast Seafloat Ambassador, it has shroud.
2/2

*first post since LOR prerelease*

Didn't read the whole thread, so someone else may have mentioned this, but I think that red Kinship guy is a Treefolk masquerading as an Elemental. Think about it:

A lot of Treefolk are Shamans.
Treefolk have high toughness.
The Treefolk cost-reducer guy also reduces the cost of Shamans, like our buddy here.

So, some Treefolk, the Elemental Shaman, a few Changelings to bridge the gap... Certainly playable in Limited, if you get enough Treefolk. Also playable in multiplayer, provided you wait a bit so the Elemental Shaman doesn't get toasted the moment he comes in.

A question. Is there a place in this deck for the Hoofprints of the Stag/Vanish Into Memory combo I've seen drifting around? Seems to me Vanish could work as another Blink, in addition to being tech with Hoofprints.