The sector of the market that knows enough to want to build a cube, is too lazy to build one themselves, and doesn't care about having the absolute least pimped out cube ever is ridiculously small. Even with new artwork and such, FTV foils are considered less pimp than regular foils, since regular ones are much rarer. (I believe even non-foils win, such as Beta Berserk over foil FTV Berserk)
I'm not arguing with you. I totally agree with your points. I'm just saying, I wouldn't put it past them (WOTC) to print it, is all.
This would honestly be likely to sell poorly. The majority of people with cubes go out of their way to pimp them out as much as possible, so cards from a promo cube would have no place in there, meaning that the product obsoletes itself. Also, $100 is very expensive for a Magic product, and frankly they know better. I'm sure they've already learned from the premium Sliver decks that if they want something to sell at $35, it needs to be a LOT better than those decks were. I'm really enjoying the deck and its a lot of fun, but their attempt next year will hopefully be better.
Your logic cannot counter my boundless pessimism!
Although slightly more seriously, if WOTC released a product like this, they'd be aiming at people who've heard how much fun it is to cube but who didn't care to pimp out a cube. Or they could always release it in all-foil, or with new artwork, tempting people who *are* pimping out cubes.
I realize that I'm painting a corner case here. I don't expect them to do this (and I really kinda hope they don't).
I cube is normally 400+ of the best cards ever printed including a full set of fetch lands, shock lands, dual lands, power, etc. If WotC sold cubes, they would retail at thousands of dollars per unit.
#edit: Or be gold bordered, but they'd still be expensive.
They don't have to make the super-powered cube. They could have 400+ of the best commons, uncommons, and unrestricted rares that they felt they could justify reprinting. Call it a cube, sell it for a hundred bucks, and suggest some cards that could go into it if you feel like upgrading - same as with the intro packs. If nothing else, it'd be a great opportunity for them to fill some more gaps in MODO.
I wonder what these "semi-random game cards" are... probably those tiny newb intro decks with 30 cards?
The hope (and speculation) is that WOTC has chosen a small set of useful commons and uncommons and perhaps rares, perhaps 300, and each box will have a selection from that set. They may decide to split it up such that there are 6 subsets of the set, and when you buy one of these boxes, you will only get the cards from subset "A", for example. Or maybe your box is a "B" box, and you'll only get the cards from subset "B". The other alternative is that they have this selection of useful cards, and they just shuffle* them up and distribute them like normal boosters, so you'll have some overlap if you buy a few of these, but not the complete overlap that you'd have if you happened to buy two "C" toolkits. Since it's a repackaging and not a reprinting in either case, I don't particularly care.
*Yes, I know that there's a very sophisticated collation mechanism. But, as my physics profs used to say, imagine a spherical cow.
In all honesty, how often do you run into a Sliver deck mirror match? Off the top of my head, I can think of three of my many friends that own Sliver decks, and one of those are the Premium Deck Series. If you have a "meta" full of Sliver decks then I guess Overlord is better, but other than that situation he's just a tutor-on-a-stick.
I don't think we can ever say "just" a tutor-on-a-stick. That being said, the Queen is a combo card with Ashnod's Altar and Heartstone to get infinite slivers. The Overlord gets cards that make your slivers better. In a vacuum, the Queen is better. In a sliver deck that isn't trying to do shenanigans, and has no sacrifice outlets, and is almost a singleton deck anyway, the Overlord seems better.
As a note, it honestly is difficult to write that. I have so many fond memories of the Queen, and I'm such a combo fiend, that I really want to say "Screw the reserve list, put in the Queen!" But in this deck, the Overlord is better (although Queen has better art).
I'm with you on the first 2, but I disagree on the third. For people who'd like to resell (and I'll admit this includes me), an extremely limited edition is great, because we can make money on it. However, from the point of view of actually getting copies into the hands of people who want it, I'm glad they printed as many as they did. This isn't the kind of set that FTV is, and I'm glad to see people able to get their hands on it, even though it means I won't be able to resell my copy at a higher price.
However, You're totally right about number 2. This just isn't a good deck. I've tried to play it . . . . and it's not good. It's actively bad. The manabase stinks (but is more playable than you'd expect), and the rares they chose are awful. Wild Pair in particular is horrible, but Coat of Arms instead of Sliver Legion is completely inexcusable.
Oh well. I've got shiny slivers for my EDH deck.
J
The benefit to making it a more limited print run is to drum up interest for future "Premium Deck Series" products - scarcity is a great selling point, as we saw with FTV. If they find that Premium Deck Series: Slivers had an extremely lacklustre performance, then they may print fewer of the next one. I think that they pulled a Fallen Empires here - demand has been up lately, with FTVs and Duel Decks flying off shelves (and, at least in my F"L"GS, Planechase), so they figured that they'd print more of this thing so that they could sell more. Unfortunately, they printed too much of an underwhelming product, so everyone who thought that it might be uber-limited bought one or two, and everyone else is waiting to see if they get it for Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanzaa/Life Day. So now the excess is sitting on shelves, and everyone who bought it as an investment is either selling the Rootbound Crags while the market is good for them, or putting them into Tawnos' Coffins for ten years.
I agree, Bloodbraid Elf desperately needs new art. Some kickass Kormack stuff for example
How about Steve Argyle? I think that Steve would make an amazing Bloodbraid Elf.
She could be blonde, wearing leathers, with a lizard skull on her right shoulder. She might even have a crown with obsidian flakes, and be holding a spear in her left hand. She'd definitely be a green-eyed Naya elf who seems to have found herself in Jund, from the volcanoes in the background. Maybe she'd have some green face paint, or it could be a tattoo.
I shoved most of the cards into an EDH deck, but as a control player I'm having trouble reconciling Crystalline sliver's use (I know, it's almost an objectively "right" decision to run it in any sliver deck that can), but I'm finding it so much more fun using Sliver Overlord+Amoeboid Changeling.
Other than that, I feel like I'm just a couple slivers and a Patriarch's Bidding shy of a rockin' deck.
See, I think you're on to something here. With only one copy in the deck (two if you want to count Homing Sliver), it's probably not going to come up too often, so we should enjoy fun shenanigans like Overlord + Amoeboid. I think that it's a shame that there's no Magma Sliver here (or other T: do something cool Slivers)
Patriarch's Bidding would've been very nice, but I can see why they decided against it - Aphetto Dredging does most of the same thing, and doesn't take a rare slot.
Each specific creature-type/power/toughness/color combination gets a new illustration for each block it shows up in. Invasion saprolings get different art from Ravnica or Time Spiral saprolings, for example.
So what have they been using on MODO for Stronghold Sliver tokens, if they didn't use the Legions one and they haven't rolled Jim Pavelec's new awesometasticness out yet?
Yep. When a token is created in MTGO, it has a piece of unique art. Stronghold, released on MTGO soon, has Sliver Queen, which makes sliver tokens, so they need art. I'd be pretty confidant that that's what this is.
I'm slightly surprised that they didn't just go with Tony Szczudlo's Sliver token from Legions. Of course, I'm even more surprised that they forgot to put Sliver tokens into PD:S (and you'd think that if they'd just commissioned new Sliver token art, they'd slip a few into the deck ...).
They like putting one or two flashy finishers in every Duel Deck. I think it's safe to assume it will be the case here. But they may try to avoid putting demons in this because of the Divine vs Demonic Duel Decks. At most I could see one demon in this DD. And I can't think of a demon that would really fit the theme. At least there ain't a card named "Phyrexian" that bears the Demon type. Then I could be missing a demon that's phyrexian but isn't called so, since I'm not a storyline wizards at all.
How about a Horror? I'd love to see Devouring Strossus in the new frame. That art was fearsome; I loved it. That and Elvish Champion were my favorites from Invasion.
Hopefully they'll do as you say. After all, they try to include multiple cards with new arts (usually 6-7) into the Duel Decks. Cards that come from non-Dominaria-related sets (like the Omen), provided Wizards decide to include some of them, should be on the top of the list when choosing which reprints deserve to get new artwork.
Concur. The new art is usually my primary motivator to buy these things.
I know that it's an absurdly bad card, but I think that my favorite card is still Gabriel Angelfire. I remember when I first got one for my GW deck, before it was reprinted in Chronicles. I had a choice - for $17 I could get either Gabriel or the Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale. I was advised by the store owner to get the Tabernacle, and I kind of wish I'd followed that advice now, but I bought Gabriel and shuffled him into my 65 (60 card deck? What's that?). I don't know that I drew him in more than a handful of games, but I really liked playing with a Legend.
I'm not arguing with you. I totally agree with your points. I'm just saying, I wouldn't put it past them (WOTC) to print it, is all.
Your logic cannot counter my boundless pessimism!
Although slightly more seriously, if WOTC released a product like this, they'd be aiming at people who've heard how much fun it is to cube but who didn't care to pimp out a cube. Or they could always release it in all-foil, or with new artwork, tempting people who *are* pimping out cubes.
I realize that I'm painting a corner case here. I don't expect them to do this (and I really kinda hope they don't).
They don't have to make the super-powered cube. They could have 400+ of the best commons, uncommons, and unrestricted rares that they felt they could justify reprinting. Call it a cube, sell it for a hundred bucks, and suggest some cards that could go into it if you feel like upgrading - same as with the intro packs. If nothing else, it'd be a great opportunity for them to fill some more gaps in MODO.
The hope (and speculation) is that WOTC has chosen a small set of useful commons and uncommons and perhaps rares, perhaps 300, and each box will have a selection from that set. They may decide to split it up such that there are 6 subsets of the set, and when you buy one of these boxes, you will only get the cards from subset "A", for example. Or maybe your box is a "B" box, and you'll only get the cards from subset "B". The other alternative is that they have this selection of useful cards, and they just shuffle* them up and distribute them like normal boosters, so you'll have some overlap if you buy a few of these, but not the complete overlap that you'd have if you happened to buy two "C" toolkits. Since it's a repackaging and not a reprinting in either case, I don't particularly care.
*Yes, I know that there's a very sophisticated collation mechanism. But, as my physics profs used to say, imagine a spherical cow.
I don't think we can ever say "just" a tutor-on-a-stick. That being said, the Queen is a combo card with Ashnod's Altar and Heartstone to get infinite slivers. The Overlord gets cards that make your slivers better. In a vacuum, the Queen is better. In a sliver deck that isn't trying to do shenanigans, and has no sacrifice outlets, and is almost a singleton deck anyway, the Overlord seems better.
As a note, it honestly is difficult to write that. I have so many fond memories of the Queen, and I'm such a combo fiend, that I really want to say "Screw the reserve list, put in the Queen!" But in this deck, the Overlord is better (although Queen has better art).
Actually no, I'd never heard that nickname before. It does seem appropriate, though. Does that make him a Hungry Hungry Rhino?
Usually they only do Un-cards right after an Un-set releases. I don't think we'll be seeing Spatula of the Ages anytime soon.
The benefit to making it a more limited print run is to drum up interest for future "Premium Deck Series" products - scarcity is a great selling point, as we saw with FTV. If they find that Premium Deck Series: Slivers had an extremely lacklustre performance, then they may print fewer of the next one. I think that they pulled a Fallen Empires here - demand has been up lately, with FTVs and Duel Decks flying off shelves (and, at least in my F"L"GS, Planechase), so they figured that they'd print more of this thing so that they could sell more. Unfortunately, they printed too much of an underwhelming product, so everyone who thought that it might be uber-limited bought one or two, and everyone else is waiting to see if they get it for Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanzaa/Life Day. So now the excess is sitting on shelves, and everyone who bought it as an investment is either selling the Rootbound Crags while the market is good for them, or putting them into Tawnos' Coffins for ten years.
How about Steve Argyle? I think that Steve would make an amazing Bloodbraid Elf.
She could be blonde, wearing leathers, with a lizard skull on her right shoulder. She might even have a crown with obsidian flakes, and be holding a spear in her left hand. She'd definitely be a green-eyed Naya elf who seems to have found herself in Jund, from the volcanoes in the background. Maybe she'd have some green face paint, or it could be a tattoo.
Just sayin'.
See, I think you're on to something here. With only one copy in the deck (two if you want to count Homing Sliver), it's probably not going to come up too often, so we should enjoy fun shenanigans like Overlord + Amoeboid. I think that it's a shame that there's no Magma Sliver here (or other T: do something cool Slivers)
Patriarch's Bidding would've been very nice, but I can see why they decided against it - Aphetto Dredging does most of the same thing, and doesn't take a rare slot.
So what have they been using on MODO for Stronghold Sliver tokens, if they didn't use the Legions one and they haven't rolled Jim Pavelec's new awesometasticness out yet?
The "Fan Art" to which you're drawing attention is the previous piece in the slideshow.
I'm slightly surprised that they didn't just go with Tony Szczudlo's Sliver token from Legions. Of course, I'm even more surprised that they forgot to put Sliver tokens into PD:S (and you'd think that if they'd just commissioned new Sliver token art, they'd slip a few into the deck ...).
How about a Horror? I'd love to see Devouring Strossus in the new frame. That art was fearsome; I loved it. That and Elvish Champion were my favorites from Invasion.
Concur. The new art is usually my primary motivator to buy these things.