That being said, $450 is a monstrous price. It isn't hurting anybody for existing, though, so I don't see much need to get worked up over a product I'll never buy.
I disagree with it not hurting anybody. Maybe not today but I tell you with the direction of the "specialty" products that it could be harmful later on. Just like loot boxes in video games, they weren't hurting anybody at first but eventually it became a necessity to play games to compete. I could see WoTC sneaking in playable cards only obtainable in these specialty products. I hope not but with how much WoTC is digging into the pockets, it wouldn't surprise me.
They are already sneaking in standard playable cards in ancillary products while at the same time making them unobtainable unless you buy the ancillary product or the collector boosters.
The slippery slope is already there and we already started sliding down.
Personally, I'm ok with that.
I'm really fed up by the idea that in many decks (and all multi-color decks) the manabase is one of the most expensive parts while at the same time being the most important part of the deck if you don't want your chance to win to go down the drain.
When you can reliably pull off 3 and 4 color decks with almost every multi-color land coming into the battlefield UNTAPPED, then there is something wrong with the balancing (personal opinion, obviously).
just wait after the deck releases, then.
Or just buy the deck itself.
Presale prices are always extremely high for some cards, especially if the card has been spoiled just a few hours/minutes prior.
when there's so many different websites, channels, and feeds getting previews that you need to publish an article to track them all, its time to rethink how you ******* preview things.
sweet ******* jesus. no one is going to go to all that ***** to see some damn spoilers. they're going to just go somewhere that shows them all at once.
their spoiler strategy sucks so much dick and is beyond obnoxious now.
That's why I ignore all of them and just look at spoilers on sites like this one or on mythic spoilers or mtgpics.
I can't stand most of the youtube videos with spoilers (apart from Desolator, at least his commentary is funny sometimes), I neither have the will nor the time to watch long boring streams on twitch just to look at a low-quality screencap of a card and I can't be bothered with Twatter.
At least this time they will spoil an entire deck each day starting from august 5.
If it is the same quality as War of the Spark, then no book is better... Way better.
Not counting that the WotS book wasn't even complete because "screw you, you whale who bought our book thinking it would have been a good and complete product".
I’m not sure how much of the blame should go to Greg Weismann. He had to write about dozens of characters and conclude a story arch that different authors have been creating, and I have a feeling his writing was micromanaged by a bunch of people.
It may be his style, but I've listened to an excerpt of one of his Star Wars books and... It was an awful mess of periods with random punctuation trying to mimic a stream of consciousness and failing miserably, so... I would say that even without micromanagement the book would have been a literary disaster.
Don't worry, if WotC wants to have Bolas back in the future, they will just write a deus ex machina to restore him to his former glory.
Same way as they wrote back Teferi's spark into the story, because... Teferi.
This said, I hopere there will be no major overarching plotline. It makes things old and stale, while having loosely related stand-alone stories allows for a more expansive exploration of the multiverse without having everythng to converge to a single final moment that will most likely be another overhyped garbage fire like War of the Spark.
Not sure about that. It could be a prominent tribe, but not have real tribal support, like Angels in the Innistrad block.
On the other hand, it would be nice to have knights in colors different from black and white.
I imagine it will be just one.
For how they described the new way they are doing sets (when they removed blocks) cases like Ravnica will be the exception and not the rule.
Would sound a little strange having them saying "Now we are doing 1-set = 1-plane unless narrative decisions require more sets" then have it apply only for 1 story-driven set (core sets do not really count) in the 2 years after the announcement.
I would never play Brawl over 1Vs1Commander on paper, but on arena, that's nice to have.
I was thinking about leaving arena for good (I'm not liking the current standard at all), but I might remain a little longer to see how they handle 1vs1Brawl there.
If they treat it like a per-se queue like the standard and the upcoming historical (or whatever it is called) formats (free to join and counts towards quests and daily wins), then I'll be mostly playing there. Even more so if they make a non-rotating version.
Female King Arthur... Either she is Sabre or the set is dead to me
Anyway, everyone with a drop of good taste knows that King Arthur can only be depicted in the likes of Graham Arthur Chapman.
...The set really needs a Killer Rabbit, tho...
If WotC is going to take pretty much every popular public domain fairy tale and switch it around in order to "subvert expectations", the gimmick is going to grow old very soon.
It is pretty early to jump to conclusions, but with WotC being WotC, I don't expect them becoming creative with this kind of source material. At most they will switch some roles around (Goldilocks becoming a bear hunter) and the little mermaid being a human girl turned into a mermaid. All "damsel in distress" tropes will either be genderbent or removed outright (because there otherwise would be a twittermob calling for their heads at the cry of "toxic masculinity" and "kissing Sleeping Beauty / Snowwhite is sexual assault!").
I would have been hyped for the setting as long as it was just high fantasy... Put in the fairytales and WotC adding a "twist" on them and you lose me...
For me McKinnon's art is very hit or miss.
Some I like very much, for example Blood for Bones, Unholy Indenture or Answered Prayers, others are a complete miss for my tastes (Deliver Unto Evil or Dirge of Dread), yet he seems he got his stride going when he started using more abstract compositions starting from Dominaria (or little earlier with Phantom Tiger).
Looking at the artwork he is doing now for cards, you would be hard pressed to believe that he also made pretty generic artwork like Attended Knight or Blind Obedience
WotC must love this easy money.
They are already sneaking in standard playable cards in ancillary products while at the same time making them unobtainable unless you buy the ancillary product or the collector boosters.
The slippery slope is already there and we already started sliding down.
I'm really fed up by the idea that in many decks (and all multi-color decks) the manabase is one of the most expensive parts while at the same time being the most important part of the deck if you don't want your chance to win to go down the drain.
When you can reliably pull off 3 and 4 color decks with almost every multi-color land coming into the battlefield UNTAPPED, then there is something wrong with the balancing (personal opinion, obviously).
Or just buy the deck itself.
Presale prices are always extremely high for some cards, especially if the card has been spoiled just a few hours/minutes prior.
I can't stand most of the youtube videos with spoilers (apart from Desolator, at least his commentary is funny sometimes), I neither have the will nor the time to watch long boring streams on twitch just to look at a low-quality screencap of a card and I can't be bothered with Twatter.
At least this time they will spoil an entire deck each day starting from august 5.
Not counting that the WotS book wasn't even complete because "screw you, you whale who bought our book thinking it would have been a good and complete product".
It may be his style, but I've listened to an excerpt of one of his Star Wars books and... It was an awful mess of periods with random punctuation trying to mimic a stream of consciousness and failing miserably, so... I would say that even without micromanagement the book would have been a literary disaster.
Same way as they wrote back Teferi's spark into the story, because... Teferi.
This said, I hopere there will be no major overarching plotline. It makes things old and stale, while having loosely related stand-alone stories allows for a more expansive exploration of the multiverse without having everythng to converge to a single final moment that will most likely be another overhyped garbage fire like War of the Spark.
On the other hand, it would be nice to have knights in colors different from black and white.
For how they described the new way they are doing sets (when they removed blocks) cases like Ravnica will be the exception and not the rule.
Would sound a little strange having them saying "Now we are doing 1-set = 1-plane unless narrative decisions require more sets" then have it apply only for 1 story-driven set (core sets do not really count) in the 2 years after the announcement.
I was thinking about leaving arena for good (I'm not liking the current standard at all), but I might remain a little longer to see how they handle 1vs1Brawl there.
If they treat it like a per-se queue like the standard and the upcoming historical (or whatever it is called) formats (free to join and counts towards quests and daily wins), then I'll be mostly playing there. Even more so if they make a non-rotating version.
Anyway, everyone with a drop of good taste knows that King Arthur can only be depicted in the likes of Graham Arthur Chapman.
...The set really needs a Killer Rabbit, tho...
If WotC is going to take pretty much every popular public domain fairy tale and switch it around in order to "subvert expectations", the gimmick is going to grow old very soon.
It is pretty early to jump to conclusions, but with WotC being WotC, I don't expect them becoming creative with this kind of source material. At most they will switch some roles around (Goldilocks becoming a bear hunter) and the little mermaid being a human girl turned into a mermaid. All "damsel in distress" tropes will either be genderbent or removed outright (because there otherwise would be a twittermob calling for their heads at the cry of "toxic masculinity" and "kissing Sleeping Beauty / Snowwhite is sexual assault!").
I would have been hyped for the setting as long as it was just high fantasy... Put in the fairytales and WotC adding a "twist" on them and you lose me...
Some I like very much, for example Blood for Bones, Unholy Indenture or Answered Prayers, others are a complete miss for my tastes (Deliver Unto Evil or Dirge of Dread), yet he seems he got his stride going when he started using more abstract compositions starting from Dominaria (or little earlier with Phantom Tiger).
Looking at the artwork he is doing now for cards, you would be hard pressed to believe that he also made pretty generic artwork like Attended Knight or Blind Obedience