While I'm sure we're getting a new Nissa sometime soon, I just sort of assumed a big part of the reason they went with Nissa was to balance the gender ratio. Three guy walkers, three girl walkers. Choosing the Lorwyn 5 for the initial run is obvious, they're pretty much Magic's mascots now. Sticking Nissa in with them not only gives us a third girl, but a second non-human. I don't think it's a strong indication one way or the other that she's in M15 or anything.
Yeah Innastrad was a good block, Heroes vs. Monsters, It will be a while before we see that again.....what? We are talking about a completely new thing?!? A brand new product exploring new territory.....into an extremely tired theme.
But Gothic Horror flavored heroes vs monsters is a completely different feel than greek mythology flavored heroes vs monsters.
Gothic Horror is like "Can these mere humans, using their bravery and resourcefulness, manage to survive against the overwhelming power of the forces of the night, dark creatures that in some ways aren't that different than the humans they prey upon"
While Greek mythology is like "Watch these larger than life heroes, with amazing abilities and divine heritage, battle against gargantuan beasts that are more akin to forces of nature than mere animals!"
If WotC made two duel decks named Heroes vs Monsters, one themed around Innistrad and one themed around Theros, they would play completely differently. So I don't see what you're trying to say.
This story, plus Doug Beyer's blog post, have definitely made me more accepting of the new slivers. I'm still not a big fan of them, but they don't offend my Vorthos sensibilities nearly as much now.
They threw me at first because she doesn't have a planeswalker card and none of the female neo-walkers are artificers.
I knew what was going to happen to him when I saw the ant, but I didn't understand the predicament. Did she let herself get caught to save these prisoners or were they natives she just happened to be with.
She doesn't have a planeswalker card because Jhoira isn't a planeswalker.
I almost exclusively build very Vorthos-y, flavor heavy EDH decks.
My crowning achievement is that I have a deck for 9 of the guilds, with number 10 being a work in progress. Not only do these decks pack in plenty of cards from both Ravnica blocks, but when choosing cards from other sets to include, they had to have flavor symmetry as well as mechanical symmetry. Also, I wouldn't include cards from other guilds, even if mechanically they fit in because I felt it wouldn't match the flavor.
Also, I have a monogreen Elf tribal deck and a U/B Zombie tribal deck where every creature in the decks are the creature type the deck is themed around, something I did because I felt it'd be slightly more flavorful that way. I'm doing the same thing with a monored Goblin deck.
I just find it hard to take this topic seriously when the OP insists on comparing a vanilla common from Alpha to a mythic rare from a more recent set. Among other things, I'd like to point out that Fire Elementalused to be uncommon. The ability for red to get a 5/4 for only 3RR used to be so "good" that they wouldn't print it at common.
But times change and power creep happens. Back in Alpha, Fire Elemental didn't have Thundermaw Hellkite to be compared to. If you wanted a 5 power creature in red, it was either Fire Elemental or paying 6 mana for Shivan Dragon. And boy, compared to Thundermaw, Shivan Dragon looks bad. I mean, why pay 6 mana for a 5/5 flyer when you can pay 5 for one with haste and a cool comes into play ability?
But then, that's why rarity exists. That's what makes limited work as a format. I don't draft, but if I were drafting, and I were drafting red, then yes, I would rather have a Thundermaw Hellkite over Fire Elemental. But I'm not necessarily going to open a Thundermaw Hellkite. I probably will open one or two Fire Elementals though. And that's why they exist. For limited.
Ok, I have an Izzet EDH deck with an Isochron Scepter in it, and I want to double check and make sure I understand how it works with some of my spells.
1) I play Isochron Scepter and have Fire//Ice in my hand. Am I correct in assuming that if I imprint it, do I choose one side to imprint and only get that side each time? Or do I imprint the whole card and get to choose a side each time I use the Scepter?
2) I play Isochron Scepter and have Electrickery in my hand. Am I correct in assuming that if I imprint it, I can't Overload the copy because Overload is an alternate cost?
3) If I imprint Leap of Flames, can I Replicate it when I create the copy? I think I can since Replicate is an additional cost, rather than an alternate cost.
4) For cards such as Wee Dragonauts or Kiln Fiend, do copies made by the Scepter or Replicate count as being cast for the purpose of triggering their abilities?
I agree with your sentiments. That sounds like this individual was incredibly unprofessional. As a person who works in retail for a living, hearing people act like that at work makes my blood boil. If I were to treat customers like that where I work, I'd find myself out of a job.
If it were me, I'd probably try complaining to the management. I'd probably say something along the lines of "This employee's behavior is incredibly unprofessional and it is bothering me. If you don't do something about it, I will not only take my money and my business elsewhere, but I will tell all my friends to avoid this shop as well."
Unlike big chain stores that don't care that much about the loss of a customer or two, small businesses like this really live or die with each and every customer. If the management really thinks they might loose your business, they might try addressing the problem.
I think from my username, we can all tell that I'm on the "We need more squirrels" boat.
Thankfully, we have an ally within Wizards. MaRo is a huge squirrel fan, and as long as he's head designer, he'll keep trying to sneak some squirrels into Magic. Creative is going to have to let up sooner or later and allow some to slip in.
Personally, I'm hoping when we get a Norse mythology themed set, we'll at least get a Legendary squirrel based off of Ratatosk.
I loved Kamigawa block. And while I'm not alone in this thought, I am in the minority. A huge minority.
MaRo has mentioned several times on his blog that a return to Kamigawa is incredibly unlikely.
It wasn't well received mechanically, it wasn't well received for its flavor, its power level was criticized....apparently, Kamigawa block tested very, very poorly with the vast majority of the Magic fanbase. Which makes me sad.
So, we probably would be more likely to visit a different Japanese inspired world before we revisit Kamigawa. At least Tamiyo shows that they haven't completely forgotten about Kamigawa.
As for other East Asian cultures.....I don't know much about any of them, but I wouldn't mind seeing a block based on a few of them. My only hope is that a potential Chinese mythology block has a shout-out, in some shape or form, to Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. He's one of my favorite mythological figures of all time.
Tonight on Uncharted Realms, the secret origins of Domri Rade.
About time. I'm looking forward to how this progresses, because not only are we getting more on Domri, but it looks like we're getting more world building.
In addition to rare spells being guarded secrets or complex undertakings, I also imagine that most rare creatures are probably exotic beats that are either difficult to find, or difficult to study long enough to get a complete enough picture of their capabilities and summon an accurate imitation.
But Gothic Horror flavored heroes vs monsters is a completely different feel than greek mythology flavored heroes vs monsters.
Gothic Horror is like "Can these mere humans, using their bravery and resourcefulness, manage to survive against the overwhelming power of the forces of the night, dark creatures that in some ways aren't that different than the humans they prey upon"
While Greek mythology is like "Watch these larger than life heroes, with amazing abilities and divine heritage, battle against gargantuan beasts that are more akin to forces of nature than mere animals!"
If WotC made two duel decks named Heroes vs Monsters, one themed around Innistrad and one themed around Theros, they would play completely differently. So I don't see what you're trying to say.
In all honesty, it's probably going to get the Hollywood treatment and we'll wind up with a sort of Ancient Grome setting.
She doesn't have a planeswalker card because Jhoira isn't a planeswalker.
And that's not counting guys with other forms of evasion.
My crowning achievement is that I have a deck for 9 of the guilds, with number 10 being a work in progress. Not only do these decks pack in plenty of cards from both Ravnica blocks, but when choosing cards from other sets to include, they had to have flavor symmetry as well as mechanical symmetry. Also, I wouldn't include cards from other guilds, even if mechanically they fit in because I felt it wouldn't match the flavor.
Also, I have a monogreen Elf tribal deck and a U/B Zombie tribal deck where every creature in the decks are the creature type the deck is themed around, something I did because I felt it'd be slightly more flavorful that way. I'm doing the same thing with a monored Goblin deck.
But times change and power creep happens. Back in Alpha, Fire Elemental didn't have Thundermaw Hellkite to be compared to. If you wanted a 5 power creature in red, it was either Fire Elemental or paying 6 mana for Shivan Dragon. And boy, compared to Thundermaw, Shivan Dragon looks bad. I mean, why pay 6 mana for a 5/5 flyer when you can pay 5 for one with haste and a cool comes into play ability?
But then, that's why rarity exists. That's what makes limited work as a format. I don't draft, but if I were drafting, and I were drafting red, then yes, I would rather have a Thundermaw Hellkite over Fire Elemental. But I'm not necessarily going to open a Thundermaw Hellkite. I probably will open one or two Fire Elementals though. And that's why they exist. For limited.
If I were to imprint Glacial Ray onto a Scepter, would I be able to Splice other spells with Splice onto Arcane onto the copy?
1) I play Isochron Scepter and have Fire//Ice in my hand. Am I correct in assuming that if I imprint it, do I choose one side to imprint and only get that side each time? Or do I imprint the whole card and get to choose a side each time I use the Scepter?
2) I play Isochron Scepter and have Electrickery in my hand. Am I correct in assuming that if I imprint it, I can't Overload the copy because Overload is an alternate cost?
3) If I imprint Leap of Flames, can I Replicate it when I create the copy? I think I can since Replicate is an additional cost, rather than an alternate cost.
4) For cards such as Wee Dragonauts or Kiln Fiend, do copies made by the Scepter or Replicate count as being cast for the purpose of triggering their abilities?
If it were me, I'd probably try complaining to the management. I'd probably say something along the lines of "This employee's behavior is incredibly unprofessional and it is bothering me. If you don't do something about it, I will not only take my money and my business elsewhere, but I will tell all my friends to avoid this shop as well."
Unlike big chain stores that don't care that much about the loss of a customer or two, small businesses like this really live or die with each and every customer. If the management really thinks they might loose your business, they might try addressing the problem.
Thankfully, we have an ally within Wizards. MaRo is a huge squirrel fan, and as long as he's head designer, he'll keep trying to sneak some squirrels into Magic. Creative is going to have to let up sooner or later and allow some to slip in.
Personally, I'm hoping when we get a Norse mythology themed set, we'll at least get a Legendary squirrel based off of Ratatosk.
MaRo has mentioned several times on his blog that a return to Kamigawa is incredibly unlikely.
It wasn't well received mechanically, it wasn't well received for its flavor, its power level was criticized....apparently, Kamigawa block tested very, very poorly with the vast majority of the Magic fanbase. Which makes me sad.
So, we probably would be more likely to visit a different Japanese inspired world before we revisit Kamigawa. At least Tamiyo shows that they haven't completely forgotten about Kamigawa.
As for other East Asian cultures.....I don't know much about any of them, but I wouldn't mind seeing a block based on a few of them. My only hope is that a potential Chinese mythology block has a shout-out, in some shape or form, to Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. He's one of my favorite mythological figures of all time.
About time. I'm looking forward to how this progresses, because not only are we getting more on Domri, but it looks like we're getting more world building.