People want to play the red Genju because it is a potential 6 points of damage for a 3 mana investment, assuming you can hit with it once and never hit with it again. In an aggressive red deck, you only need to hit with it once for it to pay its way.
I do believe there's too much emphasis on playing it early and swinging on turn 3. In an environment filled with Elders and Samurai, that's not going to happen that often. That's why I think 4 are too many.
However, if you have 4 mana open and a card in hand, your opponent must be wary of going all in while racing, as at any time you can drop the Genju on a Mountain -- which won't have summoning sickness if it's been around a turn -- and go in for 6. Even if they leave a blocker back, they have to consider the possibility that you'll EOT Ray or Flame out their blocker and go in for 6.
Any time you have mana open at the end of their turn, or the potential for 3 mana and a card in hand the next turn, the opponent has to play around it.
Outside of Block, Genju works well with cards like Flamebreak and Pyroclasm in more controllish red decks. If you have 5 mana, which is a regular occurrence in a deck centered around casting Arc-Slogger, you can Clasm away blockers and then activate Genju.
I personally don't think it's a 4-of in an aggressive red deck but I wouldn't call it "just bad." It's not Ball Lightning, but we're not going to get Ball Lightning again.
EDIT: Nice nick. I'm a big Thomas Covenant fan ... actually planning on rereading both series in the spring, haven't read them in years.
Kev Walker is very strict about his contact info not getting out. He will only sign cards at appearances. I expect that he will be a) hard to find and b) not overly enthusiastic about visiting a message board.
John Avon only signs cards at appearances as well. His contact info is easy to find but again, I don't expect he'll be terribly hyped about visiting. He's notoriously hard to get anywhere but at conventions, primarily because he's "land guy" and everyone who approaches him has a 6" stack of basic lands they want signed.
I think Nottsuo's English is limited.
Pete Venters posts regularly on the Wizards boards, and Chris Moeller and Anthony Waters have threads there as well. I just bought a Wild Mongrel print from Anthony Waters and he is a super-cool guy. Quinton Hoover, Ron Spencer, and some other artists post there irregularly.
I have had very positive experiences with rk post, Scott Fischer, Anthony Waters, Matt Cavotta, Jim Nelson, Hugh Jamieson, Pete Venters, Tom Baxa, and Donato Giancola. They are all very approachable. If you respect their privacy etc., they'd be good people to ask. The worst that could happen is they'll say "no."
people who whine about a set's power level are obviously beyond stupid, because they simply don't realize that it doesn't matter if 99.99% of a set's cards are truly god awful (and im not saying betrayers is bad, in fact i kinda like it) its not like your opponent gets to pick which sets HE can use in standard or limited. EVERYONE HAS TO USE THE SAME CARDS.
This is absolutely correct. It's not like you're stuck operating at a lower power level than everyone else simply because a set is a little slower. Every player in the format works under the same constraints. If you don't adapt well, blame yourself, not the cards.
In any case, there are plenty of constructed-worthy cards in Betrayers. And I was skeptical about the "Japanese" flavor, but I believe they've done a pretty good job.
"Goblin Cohort" = Mogg Conscripts. Conscripts saw a lot of play in early Rath Block Constructed, but those decks ran an insanely low land count and a *lot* of creatures. If a similar deck becomes viable in t2 or Block, this would be a very good card. The only problem is that the Rath Cycle deck had Jackal Pup, Mogg Fanatic, Wasteland, and Cursed Scroll. Now we have Akki Avalanchers, Frostling, Crack the Earth, and, um, yeah.
Non-Creature Spells (10):
4 Glacial Ray
4 Yamabushi's Flame
2 Blind with Anger -OR- Hanabi Blast
Land (24):
1 Shinka the Bloodsoaked Keep
23 Mountain
I'm personally leaning toward the Akki/LD version simply because it looks more enjoyable to play, exploits one of the block's themes, and has light disruption.
Non-Creature Spells (16):
4 Crack the Earth
4 Glacial Ray
4 Stone Rain
4 Yamabushi's Flame
Land (24):
2 God's Eye Gate to the Renkai
1 Shinka the Bloodsoaked Keep
21 Mountain
Kumano Master Yamabushi probably goes in, but he's expensive for a deck that eats its own land at least a couple times a game.
24 land is "too much" for a deck with this curve, but you'll often be sacrificing your own land. The land count will need careful tweaking.
I'd use more Genjus, but the deck is land-hungry, and you have to spend 3 land (2 to activate, plus the Enchanted Mountain itself) to use it on a given turn, so it will not be coming online until mid-game.
On the bright side, the light LD theme should help keep opposing Genjus offline; most opponents will be wary of activating and blocking even with the white 2/5 Genju for fear of post-combat burn setting them back another land. Additionally, if the opponent kills the 6/1 before damage goes to the stack, it'll pump your Akki Raider.
I'd use more God's Eyes, but drawing two in your opening hand seems like an automatic mulligan.
I think this is a solid starting point. I don't know yet what the exact numbers should be, and there's a good possibility that BoK contains more cards for the deck, as I think the theme is getting pushed hard. Since there doesn't seem to be a precon centered around it, I also suspect the theme will get something significant, along with a precon, in SoK.
I'd say there's also a very playable non-land-Akki red deck with Avalanchers, Frostlings, and Genjus as one-drops, Raiders and Hearths as two-drops, a selection of CoK's aggressive three-drops, Kumano, and burn. This deck probably won't use the secondary LD theme, and will more closely resemble classical Sligh.
That's my early take on it, but I won't be sleeving up a card until March or so as I'm stuck studying for the February bar exam.
Akki Avalanchers
Akki Raider
Zo-Zu the Punisher
Crack the Earth
Glacial Ray
Stone Rain
God's Eye whatever it's name is
I assume any block red deck will play Kumano and Frostling, and probably Hearth Kami just for the bear factor. Yamabushi's Flame is also a solid block-level burn spell.
I haven't had time to even think about testing for Block yet, so I don't know if this is even remotely viable and won't for some time, but it looks like a start. A good mana curve + burn is already in place.
Some aggresive decks wouldn't mind the loss of land in return for free creatures, but what do I know. (Answer: nothing)
There are definitely times when it's worth losing a land to gain a 1/1. It will definitely be fun to Crack the Earth, sac a God's Eye, splice a Glacial Ray to remove a blocker, and attack with Akki Raider.
All I'm saying is that it will be subpar to draw, say, a Mountain and two God's Eyes in your opening hand. Most aggressive decks care a lot about draw consistency... it's nice to get a "free" 1/1, but it's more important to consistently cast your two- and three-drops.
That's why I think 2 is the right number for the Block Akki deck. If there's a combo deck out there centered around God's Eye, I am utterly unqualified to speculate about that.
and why bother reducing the number because its legendary? that just means there less chance to get one, whereas if you had 4, a second one would just kill both and net 2 spirit tokens.
Because most of the time, you'd rather use God's Eye as a land than a creature. If you draw doubles and play them, you've cost yourself two cards and, more importantly, two land drops in exchange for two 1/1s. That's not a good deal. Two in your opening hand = very bad.
In most situations, God's Eye will be tapped for mana rather than used for its special ability. If it didn't tap for mana, it would be completely unplayable.
Don't forget Stronghold, which had horrible cards like Crystalline Sliver, Ensnaring Bridge, Mana Leak, Mogg Flunkies, Shard Phoenix, Shock, Spike Feeder, Volrath's Stronghold, and Wall of Blossoms.
Congratulations and many sincere thanks for everyone's hard work!
I do believe there's too much emphasis on playing it early and swinging on turn 3. In an environment filled with Elders and Samurai, that's not going to happen that often. That's why I think 4 are too many.
However, if you have 4 mana open and a card in hand, your opponent must be wary of going all in while racing, as at any time you can drop the Genju on a Mountain -- which won't have summoning sickness if it's been around a turn -- and go in for 6. Even if they leave a blocker back, they have to consider the possibility that you'll EOT Ray or Flame out their blocker and go in for 6.
Any time you have mana open at the end of their turn, or the potential for 3 mana and a card in hand the next turn, the opponent has to play around it.
Outside of Block, Genju works well with cards like Flamebreak and Pyroclasm in more controllish red decks. If you have 5 mana, which is a regular occurrence in a deck centered around casting Arc-Slogger, you can Clasm away blockers and then activate Genju.
I personally don't think it's a 4-of in an aggressive red deck but I wouldn't call it "just bad." It's not Ball Lightning, but we're not going to get Ball Lightning again.
EDIT: Nice nick. I'm a big Thomas Covenant fan ... actually planning on rereading both series in the spring, haven't read them in years.
John Avon only signs cards at appearances as well. His contact info is easy to find but again, I don't expect he'll be terribly hyped about visiting. He's notoriously hard to get anywhere but at conventions, primarily because he's "land guy" and everyone who approaches him has a 6" stack of basic lands they want signed.
I think Nottsuo's English is limited.
Pete Venters posts regularly on the Wizards boards, and Chris Moeller and Anthony Waters have threads there as well. I just bought a Wild Mongrel print from Anthony Waters and he is a super-cool guy. Quinton Hoover, Ron Spencer, and some other artists post there irregularly.
I have had very positive experiences with rk post, Scott Fischer, Anthony Waters, Matt Cavotta, Jim Nelson, Hugh Jamieson, Pete Venters, Tom Baxa, and Donato Giancola. They are all very approachable. If you respect their privacy etc., they'd be good people to ask. The worst that could happen is they'll say "no."
EDIT: for redundancy redundancy
This is absolutely correct. It's not like you're stuck operating at a lower power level than everyone else simply because a set is a little slower. Every player in the format works under the same constraints. If you don't adapt well, blame yourself, not the cards.
In any case, there are plenty of constructed-worthy cards in Betrayers. And I was skeptical about the "Japanese" flavor, but I believe they've done a pretty good job.
This would be much better if it were "Arcane or Spirit," so it could pump off of Frostling and Hearth Kami.
I was hoping there would be some more good red beatdown cards.
True Creatures (23):
4 Akki Avalanchers
4 Frostling
4 Akki Raider
4 Hearth Kami
4 Ronin Houndmaster
3 Kumano Master Yamabushi
Pseudo-Creatures (3):
3 Genju of the Spires
Non-Creature Spells (10):
4 Glacial Ray
4 Yamabushi's Flame
2 Blind with Anger -OR- Hanabi Blast
Land (24):
1 Shinka the Bloodsoaked Keep
23 Mountain
I'm personally leaning toward the Akki/LD version simply because it looks more enjoyable to play, exploits one of the block's themes, and has light disruption.
True Creatures (18):
4 Akki Avalanchers
4 Frostling
4 Akki Raider
4 Hearth Kami
2 Zo-Zu the Punisher
Pseudo-Creatures (2):
2 Genju of the Spires
Non-Creature Spells (16):
4 Crack the Earth
4 Glacial Ray
4 Stone Rain
4 Yamabushi's Flame
Land (24):
2 God's Eye Gate to the Renkai
1 Shinka the Bloodsoaked Keep
21 Mountain
Kumano Master Yamabushi probably goes in, but he's expensive for a deck that eats its own land at least a couple times a game.
24 land is "too much" for a deck with this curve, but you'll often be sacrificing your own land. The land count will need careful tweaking.
I'd use more Genjus, but the deck is land-hungry, and you have to spend 3 land (2 to activate, plus the Enchanted Mountain itself) to use it on a given turn, so it will not be coming online until mid-game.
On the bright side, the light LD theme should help keep opposing Genjus offline; most opponents will be wary of activating and blocking even with the white 2/5 Genju for fear of post-combat burn setting them back another land. Additionally, if the opponent kills the 6/1 before damage goes to the stack, it'll pump your Akki Raider.
I'd use more God's Eyes, but drawing two in your opening hand seems like an automatic mulligan.
I think this is a solid starting point. I don't know yet what the exact numbers should be, and there's a good possibility that BoK contains more cards for the deck, as I think the theme is getting pushed hard. Since there doesn't seem to be a precon centered around it, I also suspect the theme will get something significant, along with a precon, in SoK.
I'd say there's also a very playable non-land-Akki red deck with Avalanchers, Frostlings, and Genjus as one-drops, Raiders and Hearths as two-drops, a selection of CoK's aggressive three-drops, Kumano, and burn. This deck probably won't use the secondary LD theme, and will more closely resemble classical Sligh.
That's my early take on it, but I won't be sleeving up a card until March or so as I'm stuck studying for the February bar exam.
EDITED: Spelling not so good.
Akki Avalanchers
Akki Raider
Zo-Zu the Punisher
Crack the Earth
Glacial Ray
Stone Rain
God's Eye whatever it's name is
I assume any block red deck will play Kumano and Frostling, and probably Hearth Kami just for the bear factor. Yamabushi's Flame is also a solid block-level burn spell.
I haven't had time to even think about testing for Block yet, so I don't know if this is even remotely viable and won't for some time, but it looks like a start. A good mana curve + burn is already in place.
There are definitely times when it's worth losing a land to gain a 1/1. It will definitely be fun to Crack the Earth, sac a God's Eye, splice a Glacial Ray to remove a blocker, and attack with Akki Raider.
All I'm saying is that it will be subpar to draw, say, a Mountain and two God's Eyes in your opening hand. Most aggressive decks care a lot about draw consistency... it's nice to get a "free" 1/1, but it's more important to consistently cast your two- and three-drops.
That's why I think 2 is the right number for the Block Akki deck. If there's a combo deck out there centered around God's Eye, I am utterly unqualified to speculate about that.
Because most of the time, you'd rather use God's Eye as a land than a creature. If you draw doubles and play them, you've cost yourself two cards and, more importantly, two land drops in exchange for two 1/1s. That's not a good deal. Two in your opening hand = very bad.
In most situations, God's Eye will be tapped for mana rather than used for its special ability. If it didn't tap for mana, it would be completely unplayable.