MTG Salvation

Elspeth travelled to Dominaria and learned that the plane survived an invasion by the same force that enslaved her community: Phyrexia."

Quote from Jenesis

Elspeth being from Phyrexia actually makes a lot of sense, considering her backstory.

The way I interpret that sentence (if I rightly assume it's the one you're referring to) is that Phyrexia is not Elspeth's community, but the same force that enslaved her community

I like it. I'll go as far as saying that if it were for me, IDs would be allowed only in the top 4. It's not like a good player isn't able to win all the games he needs to in order to get in a top 8, meatgrinders and gp trials prove it very well. Just these last nationals 4 friends of mine did it (I lost when there were 16 of us left, which proves that between them and me they deserved it much more, even if in a similar situation in a PTQ swiss portion we could've all started IDing). It's also terribly heart-breaking, after drawing, to find out you're 9th or 10th, whereas you would be in if you played it out (personal experience, especially when you later find out that you've refused to play with a great matchup or a bombless sealed).

I guess they're pretty proud about the planeswalker signature spells - maybe we'll even get them at rare this time. Maybe they'll even be constructed playable

A player must always assume a card works on its own. If it doesn't, it's bad design. Warp World is worded how it is because the distinction between auras and the other permanents is important - if they all came into play together, the auras wouldn't have any permanents to be attached to (unless you're also playing with Animate Dead or Spellweaver Volute) since they can't enchant anything that's put on the battlefield at the same time (note however that when an aura is put onto the battlefield it doesn't require targets, only when it's cast as a spell). Add that at the time of its first printing there weren't any Planeswalker cards to make the sentence any longer, and you see why the printed one is the only fully functional text available.

If you want it as streamlined as possible and you don't wanna play with auras (although competitive Warp World decks used to play as many as eight between Fertile Ground and Trace of Abundance, bringing another argument in favor of Wizards' template), then... do just that

Each player shuffles all permanents he or she owns and all permanent cards in his or her graveyard into his or her library, then reveals that many cards from the top of his or her library. Each player puts all nonaura permanent cards revealed this way onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffles his or her graveyard into his or her library, then puts all cards revealed this way that weren't put onto the battlefield on the bottom of his or her library.

You can't "shuffle your battlefield" because you might have an opponent's creature under your Mind Control, and that would make each player end up with cards he doesn't possess in his or her deck, and that just can't happen, although you could theoretically shuffle any zone in your library. I made the spell shuffle the graveyard in a two-part process to eliminate that clunky initial counting, but you could just leave the spells in the grave if you want it even shorter. It would read better if the shuffling was the last action, but then the library would be completely random, which is not what the spell does. Also, why tapped? If your opponent ends up with a pair of fatties you might've just tapped out the turn before you die, the original Warp you everything untapped.

I think the best version should be:

Each player shuffles all permanents he or she owns and all permanent cards in his or her graveyard into his or her library, then reveals that many cards from the top of his or her library. Each player puts all nonaura permanent cards revealed this way onto the battlefield, then shuffles all cards revealed this way that weren't put onto the battlefield and his or her graveyard into his or her library.

Quote from charlequin

What you're describing is how wither would work if it were a replacement ability, but it isn't. In fact, it's an ability that changes what kind of damage is dealt. There is never a point in the game where damage has been dealt before the -1/-1 counters show up. The damage that is dealt is -1/-1 counters. It's all completely simultaneous.

It is not completely simultaneous; just because you can't do nothing in between doesn't mean that something can't be made of multiple steps, like casting or resolving a spell, for example.

Quote from Comprehensive Rules »

119.4. Damage is processed in a three-part sequence.
119.4a First, damage is dealt. Abilities that trigger when damage is dealt trigger now and wait to be put on the stack.
119.4b Next, damage that’s been dealt is transformed into its results (such as life loss - if dealt to a player - or counters - if dealt by a creature with wither to another creature).
119.4c Finally, the damage event occurs.

This is what I was talking about, and what I studied for my recent level 1 test

"Damage is first dealt, then it's transformed in -1/-1 counters if it came from a source with infect or wither" can't be the description of a replacement effect; if it were, it would read "Instead of damage being dealt, that many -1/-1 counters are put on the creature" or something like that, which is once again, inexact. Lifelink, deathtouch, wither and infect damage interacting with creatures, players or planeswalkers is always dealt, even if it doesn't end up being marked on the creature.

Quote from Ledgem

Its not the quantity of metal on the creature, but the fact that mirroden creatures are BORN with metal, while Esper creatures merely replace their body with etherium. I think the phyrexian abominations are born that way too, I think. Its not as simple as "this being has metal scales and fangs, they should be an artifact!

Quote from charlequin

The difference is that Mirrodin creatures have basically superficial metal -- their hair is metal, or they've got metal plates on their skin or something. If you Shatter them, all that happens is that they go bald or their skin plates come off or something.

Esperites actually take functional, vital parts of their body and replace them with etherium. If you Shatter those, they aren't left with a full, functional body and they die.

This is way I didn't mention Leonins, Vulshoks or Neuroks in my post, because I agree with you and don't think those should be artifacts, nor that every creature should also be an artifact. I mentioned Hoverguards, Furnace Dragon and Replicas, which do have functional body parts made of metal (Hoverguard Observer's flavor text even says it's "made", Furnace Dragon has a furnace where the chest should be - Shatter that and it should break in two -, and the Replicas were as color-aligned as it could get back then).

Colored artifacts just need specific mana to work, which is a flavorful and easy to grasp concept, already implemented in the original mirrodin, with Leonin Sun Standard or Proteus Staff.

Quote from Seth Dracovitch

I think I'll be exploiting my job.

I plan on doing that too - I get 25$ each Saturday, and I want to start saving up to afford (by installments) an advanced mnemonic stage that makes you a f-ing genius (not really, but betters your speed in learning, reading, and your memory), but costs like, more than 1000$ - which is the main reason why my parents won't let me do it. My reply is that even if it's not worth all the money, it's still money I work for, money I "throw away" investing in my capacities rather than spending it on smoke or alcohol, and probably even on cards.

Quote from Piet

Well, there is too much to see there, you really have to experience it!

Case in point, I completely missed the Da Vinci museum

Quote from Jenesis

Lol, can't you just say:

Hungry Dragon 2RR
Creature - Dragon [Rare]
Flying, haste
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice a creature and put a +1/+1 counter on Hungry Dragon.
3/3

I hoped that especially you, a rare other Melthos, could understand me

Now that I think of it, we could go as far as saying

Hungry Dragon 2RR
Creature - Dragon [Rare]
Flying, haste
At the beginning of your upkeep, devour 1.
3/3

*o*

Quote from charlequin

Standard and Extended will both have SoM's poison theme as a huge part of their total cardpool (and therefore poison-as-a-cost will be balanced by the threat of poison-as-a-win-condition) while Legacy and Vintage are already so huge and home to such broken effects that poison won't wreck them up.

It's true that my reasoning becomes less reliable in the new, smaller Extended (feature I didn't take fully into consideration at the time of posting, my bad), but I wasn't thinking of spectacular cards or strategy enablers, but cards that could fill the roles of cards like Ponder or Thirst For Knowledge in Vintage. Cards that are borderline playable in non-eternal formats can be all-stars when you get to play them and never pay the consequences.

Quote from me »

Wither and Infect damage doesn't put counters on creatures instead of dealing damage; first damage is dealt, and then it's transformed into -1/-1 counters. Therefore, if the creature also has deathtouch and/or lifelink, it works as you would expect it to work on any other creature.

Quote from charlequin »

Your conclusion is correct but your reasoning is not. Damage is dealt by a creature with wither or infect but damage is never put onto the recipient of that damage; instead, it's dealt in the form of poison or -1/-1s. The answer to the question "is damage being dealt" is still yes so lifelink and deathtouch still apply, but there's never any time in which damage is placed on the creature or player before it's "transformed" into something else like you suggest.

Maybe I didn't make myself clear enough, but I controlled the CR just to be sure (again): damage is first dealt, then it's transformed in -1/-1 counters if it came from a source with infect or wither. Processing it this way is the only argument that supports the correct answer (yes) you've given to the question "is damage being dealt in the above case?". I didn't say that damage was marked on the creature, and afterwards, additionally, placed counters on the creature. Even if you interpret "damage is dealt" as "damage is marked", it would be this "marked damage" to be transformed into counters, avoiding any damage-doubling.
I tried rereading my post in the other languages I know, and I still don't understand it your way, although I could miss a nuance of meaning, or be obviously partial

I think refusing to adopt a useful tool is a questionable choice.

Tribal returned to give flavor to Eldrazi spells, and hybrid made shard-aligned creatures easier to cast, helping the flavor of a reunited Alara, where spells of all colors could be cast in all five regions.

IMO, Luminous Angel, all the Hoverguards, or Furnace Dragon, from the top of my mind, are much more artificial than, say, a Puppet Conjurer, and their type doesn't reflect it simply because almost a decade ago we didn't have the technology we have today.

This leads me to think that we will have at least some colored artifacts, if not in Scars, in the block - also because Mirrodin wanted them so badly across multiple cycles, from Spellbombs, to Replicas and others.

Quote from Castle

Yesterday I tried to design a card to show the flavour of a Phyrexian creature with Infect that turned creatures it killed into Phyrexians and brought them over to your side. I was about to hit the "post" button when I realised I'd just redesigned Necroskitter, right down to the exact same P/T and mana cost.

Don't worry, we all love It That Betrays-styled cards

Random card:

Hungry Dragon 2RR
Creature - Dragon [Rare]
Flying, haste
At the beginning of your upkeep, devour 1 or sacrifice Hungry Dragon.
3/3

Imagine it in a deck with Sprouting Thrinax, Bloodghast and Vengevine. Bring it on!

Use moderately - don't try keyword abilities as action words at home.

Quote from the_cardfather

How does that work for something like Gideon? If I attack into an Infect creature with Gideon does he get -1/-1 counters that only affect him if he's a creature?

Assuming you have a Leyline of Punishment on the battlefield and an Gideon Jura gets blocked by a Boggart Ram-Gang, three -1/-1 counters are put on the planeswalker (which don't fall off when he stops being a creature) because he's a creature being dealt damage by a source with wither, and three loyalty counters are removed from him, because he's a planeswalker being dealt damage.

Quote from tgdgc

I don't think that there's going to be a 1 mana 1/1 infect creature, it sounds too overpowered. A 1 mana 0/1 creature with infect seems more fair to me.

Quote from Arnnaria

If it had zero power it would never give out poison counters, though...

This reasoning didn't stop and Arcbound Ravager-powered Ornithopter from dealing massive amounts of damage, and I think we can agree this set will have at least some equipment.

Quote from overkill222

Burning Sting 2R
Instant
Deal 4 Damage to target creature or player and put 2 poison counters on yourself.

This matter has been already addressed: using poison counters as a cost is terribly unbalanced in formats that don't care about them - your design, outside of block, is strictly better than Pro-Tour-top-8-ing Flame Javelin and Char, and as splashable as it gets for any aggro strategy. This is the same reason why there are no undercosted cards that use milling yourself as an additional cost, because simply put, they would be too powerful against any strategy that doesn't want to win by milling.

Quote from The Derk

I'm very disappointed to see "creature" in the reminder text, implying this won't be on non-creature cards.

The reminder test that appears on cards is often slightly different from the comprehensive rules version. Using "creature" instead of "permanent", "source", or even "object" helps better attain the main goal of reminder text: helping players, not confusing them with precise and often-times unneeded terminology.

Quote from VexedShusher

It's almost fair to assume this is going to be a color oriented mechanic, Black, because of it being attributed to Phrexians. No?

Single color-oriented mechanics (and, god save us, sets!) are historically too narrow to fuel competitive, diverse and/or fun strategies. IMO, even Prowl, which showed up in two colors, is not well-spread enough. I prefer the modern approach of Leveling, for example, centered in two colors, but present in all of them. I'm pretty sure we'll see it at least also on artifact creatures.

Quote from Dark Akroma

So if you give a creature with Infect a Basilisk Collar, and it blocks a creature, do you still kill the creature with the Deathtouch ability? Also, will you gain life from the Lifelink?

Wither and Infect damage doesn't put counters on creatures instead of dealing damage; first damage is dealt, and then it's transformed into -1/-1 counters. Therefore, if the creature also has deathtouch and/or lifelink, it works as you would expect it to work on any other creature.

Quote from Mr.Quidam

Now that I think about it, one thing is bothering me about this mechanic: how do artifact creatures get infected?

They get corroded

Quote from Razorgore

Unlike the rest of the purists speculating about the mox, I'm pretty sure Wizards is entirely comfortable redesigning the so-called sacred aspects of the moxen (0 casting cost, artifact mana-ramp, etc.)

They could, but they wouldn't, since the new art is perfectly resemblant to the new arts for the Vintage Championship Winner moxen (scroll to the bottom of the page). Previewing such a picture and not meeting everyone's expectation would be a terrible marketing move, not to mention that the sacred aspects you mention are met by all the cards with that name.

Quote from Artifice 101

Where does a player put counters?

They just keep track of it, as with lifepoints. There are many aspects of magic that don't have a visual representation that can be simply kept track of with pen and paper.

Quote from Shalako

is how I feel about infect as a keyword.

If you want something about your set to get noticed, you have to put it on a) playable cycles of rare/mythic cards; and/or b) a keyword or ability word. For example, chroma, IMO, was a bit of a letdown, but I sure remember it, and everyone's photographic memory is helped by it: I can recall a way wider number of cards with chroma than those with "gating", the unnamed mechanic featured on Cavern Harpy and Shivan Wurm.

Quote from Razorgore

Trying to explain to a novice the interaction between Modular and Infect would be a ruling nightmare under the current mechanics.

Try to explain it this way:

1. State Base Actions are performed all at the same time.
2. If Arcbound Bruiser (current toughness 3) is dealt damage by Boggart Ram-Gang, you have a base 0/0 creature, with three -1/-1 counters and three +1/+1 counters (current toughness 0).
3. You have two problems now:
4. Both -1/-1 and +1/+1 counters on the same permanent - Solution: remove all of them.
5. A creature with toughness 0 still on the battlefield - Solution: put it on the graveyard.
6. Since you perform SBAs contemporaneously, at any time the creature is still on the battlefield, it means it still has all its counters. If that weren't true, in other words if the creature doesn't have any counters, it means it should also be already in the graveyard: if you removed the counters, then you should've also put the creature in the grave, because SBAs are performed all at the same time.
7. Modular triggers from the graveyard and checks how many +1/+1 counters the creature had the last time it was on the battlefield (it uses Last Known Information). If we assume the previous statement true, the Modular trigger sees a 0/0 creature, with three -1/-1 counters and three +1/+1 counters.
8. Modular put three +1/+1 counters on an artifact creature you control.
It's not obvious, but once explained, it does make sense (at least logically) - differently from a lot of two card interactions in Yu-Gi-Oh, which just have to be accepted as gospel truth. However, modular is not confirmed, so this interaction could currently happen only in Legacy

Is there a higher resolution available?
Also, Venser coming back in PW is certainly exciting.

Quote from Life Weaver

Personal Yet Ultimate Deck Goal of Mine: kill the opponent in four different ways yet on the same turn.

This one is the closest I got

Quote from Anubis_Ravenheart

True Character 1WU
Enchantment
All creatures power and toughness equals that of their printed power and toughness.

Quote from Jenesis

Very precise and detailed explanation why this wouldn't work.

Wow, Jen. You sure you don't wanna take that judge test?

Quote from Dr.Krieg

Leonids with humans fighting against evil monsters?

It's not a monster, it's just your everyday Iron-Barb Hellion

Quote from CopySix

The Fat Pack is indeed lighter in weight this time around.

So much in fact that it doesn't even seem to feature spindown lifecounters or those plastic things you use to separate the maindeck and the sideboard. I was one of those happy to be able to buy the novel without having to buy a Fat Pack, but going on like this, I don't even know why we keep calling it fat... It's practically 8 boosters at discount price (sort-of) and little more.

Quote from Spicay

Because he's obviously too sexy for his shirt.

I'll keep singing it 'till I fall asleep, damn you!

Quote from Artificer Andy

I mean really, when was the last time there was a truly playable start deck foil?

I just wanted to add to the already sufficient counterexamples previously posted last summer's Honor of the Pure that literally sold out the white intro pack.

Quote from Nave686

You are my hero.

QFT