13 damage presumably kills any Humans you have on the table. The Angel is no longer indestructible, but still has 13 damage marked on it, so it's destroyed.
People are saying FNMs aren't nearly as competitive as larger tourneys, but the heavy weighting is a way to counteract this by encouraging the 'good' players who used to avoid rogue-filled FNMs in order to save rating to ACTUALLY PLAY in them. Thus increasing the overall competitive level of FNM.
Yes, exactly. This is the heavy hand of WOTC saying "Look pro's, we need committed talented people at FNM tournaments, we need your help if you want to see this game live on. Don't expect a free ride on your superior talent, if you aren't going to get involved, why should we worry about you?"
Magic isn't golf. It can't be, that business model can't be applied if you want WOTC to stay in business. In order to justify the expense of their higher level events they need the lower level events to be active and generating income. They need LGS's alive and healthy. They need FNM to be a closer mirror to competitive events or there is no path to GP's and PTQ's for the casual player to consider in the future when they decide to become competitive. The hurdle was large for the regular player before, now it is large for the occasional player instead. This is more healthy for the game.
We can all feel sorry that invites aren't purely based on skill and the rift between competitive and casual players is being closed... but long term there is just no way to justify any other behavior if you want WOTC to continue printing cards and making money. The points system will undoubtedly get some tuning, but regular participation is going to be necessary going forward, that much is clear.
While I have seen FNMs chock-full of newbs, I currently attend and have attended many other FNMs that have all T1 and 1.5 decks being pilotted by players who tune and playtest their decks many times a week. While I will admit that FNMs are not usually representative of the competitve Magic environment, there are still plenty of FNMs out there that provide a hefty challenge. Don't knock it until you find an FNM with insane competition and high calibre decks and players.
It should also be said that maybe the high concentration of newbs is exactly what they are trying to balance. FNM is now going to draw a variety of players, mixing the casuals and the competitors and pulling more casuals into competing or at least upping their game.
FNM is now going to move towards being representative of competitive magic.
1) Promotes addictive and unhealthy behavior be rewarding players from playing too much
I'm gonna have to say Cons outweigh the pro's IMHO... Mainly because Promoting addictive behavior is something WoTC should not be doing. I can not wait to hear about the story of the mediocre skilled grinder that quits his job because he now believes he can just show up to a billion events, make it onto the PT and then becomes an hero when it does not work out.
Why is this any different than before? "OK, I can just grind to a PT" or "OK, I'll just play all day and night until I'm good enough for a PT". Both are a commitment of untenable amounts of time and money under a misguided perception of reality. The new system no more encourages addiction than the last. The fact there is something different to not understand is not terribly significant. Addiction is a serious problem, but it exists on its own and is neither encouraged nor discouraged by either system.
I would say the company that spends time and money devising a bs rating system that mainly benefits grinders in certain areas of the US and casual players for whom rating does not matter at all instead of trying to popularize the game and/or keep prices reasonable outside of USA is to blame.
Ok, I think we've had enough deriding players who regularly participate in tournaments. Since when is being an active well performing player a sin to which we need label "grinding"? Are we actually concerned people will be faking participation at 18 tournaments a week and dropping without playing a game? Do you actually think that it is going to be so easy to dupe the system?
It's as if some people think that only the occasionally participating Pro level player is a "real" contestant worthy of entry. All those dedicated regulars are just riff-raff or something, wholly unworthy of participation despite their level of dedication.
I agree completely, but I don't see why we need to eliminate the option of preparing extensively for a few tournaments. This system rewards you for preparing very little and playing in every tournament you can find. It takes the time requirements the old system had and trebles them.
Yes, well sort of. Except it is unlikely you will be seeing many grinders who regularly lose benefiting the change. I just don't see it. They may out rate the occasional player, but not the regulars who are winning. This just means that by being an occasional player, you now have to occasionally commit to a 4 month stint of high activity. This seems very fair and reasonable. If you really want in, a 4 month tour of duty is not untenable for anyone who has an even remotely flexible life.
I'm guessing you have no understanding of professional Magic. 99.99% of Magic players on the Tour can't support themselves financially by playing Magic; it's why people write articles and why LSV is associated with a card shop. It's just not possible to fund your 401k by grinding 8-4 queues. If they get rid of things like PPC and appearance fees, that's going to make it financially untenable for a lot of players to show up at GPs at the very least.
That all said, this change mostly affects moderately talented players who aren't quite professional Magic players, but are good enough to finish well at GPs and get qualified for Nats, etc., off of rating. Those players just got burnt by these changes - GPs are irrelevant now, Nats invites now reward grinders instead of the best players in the nation, and PT invites are just impossible to get off of rating.
It is WORK. I never said it is a job or a form of employment or a method of being a self supporting individual. It is work though, just the same. It is like a second part time job that may or may not pay anything and requires you to supply all your own equipment. I am in no way under the delusion all the PT attendees make a living off of Magic.
I am upset that I will never be Q'ed for nats again due to geography. People saying this is good because they can now Q on the basis of playing in multiple tourneys a week irritate me. You comparing this to driving to work makes me wonder if you can understand why Magic should not be work.
Magic... is not work. Professional Magic and pursuit thereof is work. It just is. Anything beyond casual requires a time commitment. On what basis should the invites be handed out if not diligence and skill? Pure skill? No basis on your commitment to the game or your LGS?
Most players under the age of 25 seem to think that you can actually play Magic as a job, and that people with jobs shouldn't play Magic. I don't understand this at all, but it's the recurring trend on this forum.
No, I work. I could commit to setting my sights at competitive magic, but I realize that would take a big commitment. It would mean giving up Friday nights, a significant part of my free time as I work 60 hours a week. It would mean spending much of the rest of my time play testing. It would mean much less time for relationship/friendships. I realize some people are willing to make those choices and those people deserve to get invites over me, even if I were to just be that skilled.
So the pro tour should be a reward for spending money? I'm confused as to why you feel you should be given credit for playing badly.
Moreover, this is a different form of entitlement - why should you be rewarded for living near places that host sanctioned events? I'm a 2/3 hour drive from the closest FNM - I feel that I should have a chance to play at Nats despite my geographical location.
Wait what? They are entitled because they are willing to play in sanctioned events? You feel that despite not participating in the events you should be entitled to attend Nats? I drive an hour to work every day.
"OMG change, what will we do, our dreams are crushed, the pro's will be exiled to Sardinia and toddlers will get PT invites."
Now lets look at the cold hard facts.
1.Competitive only cares about the latest 4 months worth of points.
2.Winning > draw > loss STILL TRUE
3.Playing in events > not playing in them (WOTC want make $$'s)
4.Pro's still get auto invites
5.Europe can hold FNM on days other than Friday
6.Lifetime totals are only for FUN (Who knows, maybe a new MPR later)
7.FNM is the focus with a 3x multiplier
I don't play FNM's, don't have time, but I can hardly argue it isn't incredibly smart to put the focus on the event. Also, you still need to play a lot and play well in your given season to have any kind of chance at the pro-tour. This just makes sense. That is the kind of person WOTC should want in the PT, currently active good players.
If it where possible for me to play on a Friday my points would then have been around ~3600 instead. (probably a little bit less due to PTQs and other big events not changing - still this is a massive difference)
Plus I am excluded from the FNM championship and so on (and this is on top of the FNM promos we where already excluded from).
This is messed up.
No, it really isn't. You are attending an event at your convenience rather than an event WOTC would like to encourage attendance to. You still get points, just less. You also get more points if more people attended the event. Play more, play more targeted events and play with more people, get more points. Simply put, help the game grow more, get more points.
I have to fully agree with this sentiment. I'm tired of companies pandering to the casuals. Blizzard did the same thing to World of Warcraft through the various point systems they developed in order to hand out gear to people doing regular dungeons. It was no longer rare nor special to see it worn on a player.
Now I can sanction a casual game? That's silly. Pure silly. The rating will mean nothing to me.
Wait, you are tired of companies providing products their customer base wants to pay for???
Yes, you can sanction casual games and increase your rating. It will not affect your competitive rating though as I understand it. So yes, your lifetime achievement numbers can be inflated so the rating is not a direct correlation to skill, but rather a dual purpose number.
If you want WOTC to ignore their customers, you want them to go out of business and if you want that, why should they care what you want?
There aren't. There are rules about playing spells, but those aren't limited by type (other than the instant-sorcery / permanent divide). There are still some supertype rules, mainly for legendary things and planeswalkers. But try and spell any, or, more to the point, all of those rules out onto a card.
Planeswalkers and Legends have rules you simply need to know, the cards will not explain them. This is the same for double-faced cards. Yes, it is an additional set of rules to know that the card doesn't spell out. Yes, it is an unprecedented complexity creep, but it is fairly intuitive as well.
Point is, through removing the rules associated with Walls, and turning Legend into a supertype rather than creature type, and creating reminder text for all of the keyworded abilities, and through their own stated policies, Wizards had been moving toward making as much as possible explicit on cards.
Sometimes you clean, sometimes you make a mess. Design and growth of the game is not a one way street.
Now, on one type of card alone, you have: a) the sun/moon thing; b) the color indicator blotch thing; c) a keyword action, transform, none of which are explained.
But all of which is tied to one mechanic, which people will have to learn. It isn't as if these are all parts of separate unrelated mechanics. That keeps the complexity creep to a minimum.
This makes me happy as that means Blasphemous Act will likely see play. The angel and invisible stalker with Divine Reckoning have crazy synergy.
Yes, exactly. This is the heavy hand of WOTC saying "Look pro's, we need committed talented people at FNM tournaments, we need your help if you want to see this game live on. Don't expect a free ride on your superior talent, if you aren't going to get involved, why should we worry about you?"
Magic isn't golf. It can't be, that business model can't be applied if you want WOTC to stay in business. In order to justify the expense of their higher level events they need the lower level events to be active and generating income. They need LGS's alive and healthy. They need FNM to be a closer mirror to competitive events or there is no path to GP's and PTQ's for the casual player to consider in the future when they decide to become competitive. The hurdle was large for the regular player before, now it is large for the occasional player instead. This is more healthy for the game.
We can all feel sorry that invites aren't purely based on skill and the rift between competitive and casual players is being closed... but long term there is just no way to justify any other behavior if you want WOTC to continue printing cards and making money. The points system will undoubtedly get some tuning, but regular participation is going to be necessary going forward, that much is clear.
It should also be said that maybe the high concentration of newbs is exactly what they are trying to balance. FNM is now going to draw a variety of players, mixing the casuals and the competitors and pulling more casuals into competing or at least upping their game.
FNM is now going to move towards being representative of competitive magic.
Why is this any different than before? "OK, I can just grind to a PT" or "OK, I'll just play all day and night until I'm good enough for a PT". Both are a commitment of untenable amounts of time and money under a misguided perception of reality. The new system no more encourages addiction than the last. The fact there is something different to not understand is not terribly significant. Addiction is a serious problem, but it exists on its own and is neither encouraged nor discouraged by either system.
Ok, I think we've had enough deriding players who regularly participate in tournaments. Since when is being an active well performing player a sin to which we need label "grinding"? Are we actually concerned people will be faking participation at 18 tournaments a week and dropping without playing a game? Do you actually think that it is going to be so easy to dupe the system?
It's as if some people think that only the occasionally participating Pro level player is a "real" contestant worthy of entry. All those dedicated regulars are just riff-raff or something, wholly unworthy of participation despite their level of dedication.
I would call it Mr. Stabby and it would be a mythic
What is wrong with this name? Dragon of Flight Crimson would be the same deal, do you just dislike the word "of"?
Seems decent
Does it? Seems like a good name for a card that summons endless ranks of the undead...
Seconded. Who brought the Kool-Aid? They did just all drink the Kool-Aid right?
Indeed, I want to play this so many times... with radiate.
Yes, well sort of. Except it is unlikely you will be seeing many grinders who regularly lose benefiting the change. I just don't see it. They may out rate the occasional player, but not the regulars who are winning. This just means that by being an occasional player, you now have to occasionally commit to a 4 month stint of high activity. This seems very fair and reasonable. If you really want in, a 4 month tour of duty is not untenable for anyone who has an even remotely flexible life.
It is WORK. I never said it is a job or a form of employment or a method of being a self supporting individual. It is work though, just the same. It is like a second part time job that may or may not pay anything and requires you to supply all your own equipment. I am in no way under the delusion all the PT attendees make a living off of Magic.
Magic... is not work. Professional Magic and pursuit thereof is work. It just is. Anything beyond casual requires a time commitment. On what basis should the invites be handed out if not diligence and skill? Pure skill? No basis on your commitment to the game or your LGS?
No, I work. I could commit to setting my sights at competitive magic, but I realize that would take a big commitment. It would mean giving up Friday nights, a significant part of my free time as I work 60 hours a week. It would mean spending much of the rest of my time play testing. It would mean much less time for relationship/friendships. I realize some people are willing to make those choices and those people deserve to get invites over me, even if I were to just be that skilled.
Wait what? They are entitled because they are willing to play in sanctioned events? You feel that despite not participating in the events you should be entitled to attend Nats? I drive an hour to work every day.
"OMG change, what will we do, our dreams are crushed, the pro's will be exiled to Sardinia and toddlers will get PT invites."
Now lets look at the cold hard facts.
1.Competitive only cares about the latest 4 months worth of points.
2.Winning > draw > loss STILL TRUE
3.Playing in events > not playing in them (WOTC want make $$'s)
4.Pro's still get auto invites
5.Europe can hold FNM on days other than Friday
6.Lifetime totals are only for FUN (Who knows, maybe a new MPR later)
7.FNM is the focus with a 3x multiplier
I don't play FNM's, don't have time, but I can hardly argue it isn't incredibly smart to put the focus on the event. Also, you still need to play a lot and play well in your given season to have any kind of chance at the pro-tour. This just makes sense. That is the kind of person WOTC should want in the PT, currently active good players.
No, it really isn't. You are attending an event at your convenience rather than an event WOTC would like to encourage attendance to. You still get points, just less. You also get more points if more people attended the event. Play more, play more targeted events and play with more people, get more points. Simply put, help the game grow more, get more points.
Wait, you are tired of companies providing products their customer base wants to pay for???
Yes, you can sanction casual games and increase your rating. It will not affect your competitive rating though as I understand it. So yes, your lifetime achievement numbers can be inflated so the rating is not a direct correlation to skill, but rather a dual purpose number.
If you want WOTC to ignore their customers, you want them to go out of business and if you want that, why should they care what you want?
Now, can we PLEASE get MPR back?
How about a mailing based on your rank? Say 5 different cards, in both foil and non-foil once a year.
Full-Art/Textless cards
Rank 1: Basic Land
Rank 2: Common
Rank 3: Uncommon
Rank 4: Rare
Rank 5: Mythic
Rank 6-10: same as above in foil
I would be so happy to see this.
Planeswalkers and Legends have rules you simply need to know, the cards will not explain them. This is the same for double-faced cards. Yes, it is an additional set of rules to know that the card doesn't spell out. Yes, it is an unprecedented complexity creep, but it is fairly intuitive as well.
Sometimes you clean, sometimes you make a mess. Design and growth of the game is not a one way street.
But all of which is tied to one mechanic, which people will have to learn. It isn't as if these are all parts of separate unrelated mechanics. That keeps the complexity creep to a minimum.
No, it would not have a dot. It is not double-faced. Only double-faced cards utilize the color dot as part of their rules.