MTG Salvation

So, I'm guessing each iconic creature type gets a constructed playable mythic at cmc 5 with a double colored mans cost. We have baneslayer angel at 3WW, thundermaw hellkite at 3RR, kalonian hydra at 3GG, the new mythic demon at 3BB. I guess we're just waiting on the blue sphinx for 3UU in either this or the next coreset to complete the cycle.

I would compare the paladin to vampire nighthawk. They both have a life swing of four, the hexproof from red and black makes him hard to remove, and his first strike allows him to get through. I think he is situationally a lot better against certain removal heavy decks like jund, but is overall pretty decent. He won't see maindeck play unless in a meta filled with removal heavy decks. He's very bad against bant auras. I think once theros comes out, there's a chance he sees decent play. Right now, he's mediocre.

Jace, Architect of Thought

5.0: Multi-format All-Star (and undoubtedly worth too much money). Snapcaster Mage. Tarmogoyf.

4.0: Format staple. Mana LeakCavern of Souls. Moorland Haunt.

3.5: Good in multiple archetypes, but not a format staple. Inkmoth Nexus. Primeval Titan Geist of Saint Traft.

3.0: Archetype staple. Gut Shot. Tempered Steel.

2.5: Role-player in some decks, but not quite a staple. Think Twice. Curse of Death’s Hold.

2.0: Niche card. Sideboard or currently unknown archetype. Celestial Purge. (Bear in mind that many cards fall into this category, although explanation of why is obviously important)

1.0 It has seen play once. One with Nothing. (I believe it was tech vs Owling Mine, although fairly suspicious tech at that.)

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While Jace 4.0 probably won't be a format architect like his older brother, Jace, the Mindsculptor, Wizards has printed a fairly costed and seemingly well-balanced planeswalker that offers an opportunity to get some great card advantage. Right now there aren't many cards in the standard format that are in Innistrad, M13, or that have been revealed for RTR that offer very deliberate card advantage and this looks like a promising candidate give a thought. While he is no jace in the hole, I do believe that come the full release of RTR, that he will see play simply for his -2 ability. If his +1 ability is proven to be good in the fall meta, then he'll go up in value.

For now I'm giving him a 2.5/5, but expect that number to go up if he sees more play in a control build.

I am not quite sure where this thread belongs, but I feel like it best fits into Magic Rulings, so here we go.

On MTGO, I have noticed that certain pauper staples printed through Masters Edition Sets have undergone a change in rarity; cards such as Hymn to Tourach and High Tide. I have also noticed that High Tide combo decks do not see play online, which I feel would be rampant given the meta. Are these paper commons that are rereleased as uncommons online allowed for deck construction in pauper on MTGO?

I would like to know the answer to this before I drop 30 tix on a playset of Hymns.

Thank you,

Lavin3yard

He's an Izzet Mage from Ravnica 100%. He follows the style guide flawlessly.

Here is a link to the style guide for Guildpact, compiled by comic book artist, Doug Alexander Gregory at ainokostudios.com:

http://www.ainokostudios.com/concept/WOTC%20styleguide-resized/WOTC.html

I read some post on the Jace's Archivist thread about Vedalkens so I decided to look at your discussion about the "problem."

They are a tribe unique to Magic the Gathering that help drive home a specific aesthetic and experience. Ever color in Magic has a variety of tribes specific to that type of mana as well as a few that bleed from color to color. If every blue creature card was a merfolk, not only would it be terribly boring from a flavor standpoint, it would also be terrible game design from an interactive standpoint. In order to counteract this, R&D adds a variety of tribes in each color. Vedalken are yet another tribal variation of blue's ideology and themes.

Also, as a race specific to Magic: the Gathering, I find that they are actually MORE effective at creating Magic's aesthetic more unique than Merfolk, which have dozens of iterations across multiple fantasy-oriented franchises, and showcase fewer aspects of what is inherently blue.

Now, if you felt they could be replaced or obsoleted by something more interesting, perhaps you would have an argument here.

EDIT: 1/2 Nath'd?

Roughly half of the illustrators that Wizards of the Coast commissions for Magic the Gathering artwork use traditional mediums. Its very difficult to tell between the two on such a small format. Here's a list of artists that use traditional, off the top of my head:
-Mark Tedin
-Kev Walker
-Steven Belledin
-Wayne Reynolds
-Chris Rahn
-Jesper Ejsing
-Terese Nielson
-Mark Zug
-Donatano Giancola
-Dan Dos Santos
-Steve Prescott

By no means Splinter Twin and Exarch, but Turntimber Ranger hitting play while a Xenograft is on table = infinite wolf tokens.

This has probably already been mentioned, however.

EDIT: whoops on the thread name.

I would drop the Demons in favor of more Wurmcoil. You seem to have a lot of life loss. Of course, this is all in theory.

Another thing that you could do is add in some duals for Stoic Rebuttals main, but that might just lock up your mana and make things inconsistent. Its an interesting direction though.

But yeah, more wurmcoils, csswim.

The artwork looks photoshopped? Thats because most digital artwork is painted in photoshop. It looks fine. There are just a few minor things that could have been done better. The cropping is a little distracting from the central focus with the frontal figure escaping the picture plane between quadrants one and two. You get no sense of scale and it creates an awkward movement that starts at his crotch and travels up and off the plane over his forehead. The figure should have been shifted down a tad.

This is, of course, assuming that the problem at hand was the artist's fault. Karl Kopinski is a very established concept artist. I would not be surprised if he had submitted a painting file that Wizards cropped and refitted. I don't think that the artist would make this kind of mistake, even if the artwork is a little on the boring side.

What's the advantage of running Rend Flesh over Unmake?

Thanks for the advice. I think, what I'm going to do, is save my money. I'm going to an art school, so I'm not so sure how much time I will have to play Magic: The Gathering. My girlfriend plays though, so we'll see how it goes. She's rooming on the floor below me, so I figure a good deal of magic will be played. If anything, I suppose I am most interested in Ajani Vengeant and Garruk Wildspeaker. I know I should be interested in the duals, but I tend to buy those as I need them. There's no reason for me to drop 200.00 on duals to get a playset of each one month before my first semester of college. That might be a big mistake.

Futuresight cards. The Land. And the Rampant Growth with cycling. Can't remember names right now.

I am going off to college in a couple of weeks, and I plan on playing Magic competitively with my dorm buddies. I want to know which cards re the wisest investment for Standard (will most likely see play in a variety of decks) from M10 and Alara Block. I also realize that this involves speculation on the Zendikar Standard. However, I am more focused on staples.

For example, are the new duals worth purchasing?

I own the following "staples":
2x Elspeth, Knight Errant
4x Bloodbraid Elf
2x Sarkhan Vol
4x Terminate
4x Banefire
5x Noble Hierarch
4x Birds of Paradise
4x Each of the Trilands
4x Quasali Pridemage
2x Rafiq of the Many
1x Ajani Goldmane
4x Woolly Thoctar

Any ideas?

Also, cards such as Great Sable Stag, which will probably drop in price and begin to see infrequent play should be excluded.

Did you ever consider that Vol's master might have been the same Demon who bestowed Vess her power.....and that maybe, just maybe, he is keeping tabs on Vess, who has gone rogue.

Although Nicol Bolas being his master does make sense, seeing as Bolas is a big ole' dragon and Vol is supposed to worship dragons and such.