Hard to justify giving Dimir Nightveil Predator then turning around to give Azorious this...thing.
Could have at least given it 4 toughness to allow it to survive Lightning Strike/Block Chainwhirler
WOTC clearly hating on Tron lately with this and Damping Sphere. Maybe they're trying to ensure the mistake that was Oath of the Gatewatch can always be kept in check in Modern.
Seeing how well this archetype placed in Phoenix, I bit the bullet and finished my deck. A good thing too because Noble Hierarch keeps rising in price. Based off Tate Donovan's GP deck this is what I've decided to pilot out week 1.
1. Make gameplay good
2. Stop catering to people who don't play the game, spend resources rewarding players who do play the game
3. Don't ban/unban cards to sell your product
4. Stop pursuing Family Friendly policies. Kids like things that seem adult.
Moving Masters sets from "formats" to "themes" is really about one thing only - finding a way to deliver less value for the same money. It's all about reprint equity. They can't keep printing desirable staples at the rate they were and keep the pace of releases up. One of theses two things had to change...and they're obviously going to try the approach first that makes them the most money, even if it burns shops and players as a result.
So...instead of simply releasing less Masters sets, but keeping the value intact, they're trying to have their cake and eat it too. They want to pump these things out, dramatically change the formula by watering them down with low-supply, low-demand bubbles and Commander fodder, while putting a Jace, or what the **** ever, on the cover to convince Timmy to buy it. Meanwhile, they heavily emphasize drafting, as though constructed players should really give a ***** as to whether or not the the $30+ drafting environment is marginally better by dramatically sacrificing card pool availability.
The "But Limited..." argument defending some very questionable rare/mythic inclusions is really starting to max out on the bull***** meter, in my opinion. Master sets have to deliver value first and foremost. Limited really needs to be a second priority. We already have Iconic Masters rotting on shelves lending incontrovertible evidence to back up this claim.
As much as I want to love A25, it just reeks of manipulation sprayed from a Jace-branded can to cover up the stench of this *****ty new recipe for "premium" sets. It's such an obviously callous move to "unban" Jace to prop up a watered down Master set, once you had some pretty good evidence that people are, in fact, not stupid, and didn't take the bait by supporting your new idea of what kind of value a premium set should deliver. They probably weren't even sure, themselves, whether or not they were going to unban Jace until they got feedback back from Iconic Masters....and decided that they really needed to do something to save a set that was likely to suffer a similar fate.
Don't get me wrong...A25 is certainly better than IM, but that's not saying a lot. It's miles away in quality from MM17... which, itself, was selling for $180 shortly after launch.
All in all, I'm both heavily disappointed and relived. Disappointed for obvious reasons...but relived because I now have little desire to pick up boxes of this set and can happily spend that money elsewhere.
Far be it from me to tell people how to spend their hard earned money but it's very clear this is Iconic Masters 2.0 in terms of value. If you want to buy a box simply wait a few months the price should plummet.
Looks horrible, I can't believe this has been hyped up to be the next big step for MTG online play.
The big deciding factor however will be card acquisition. For any digital card game to be successful it needs a crafting system so people can actually make the decks they want.
Could have at least given it 4 toughness to allow it to survive Lightning Strike/Block Chainwhirler
Will probably see a lot of play in standard, however.
1x Blade Splicer
4x Flickerwisp
1x Kitchen Finks
4x Leonin Arbiter
2x Mirran Crusader
4x Noble Hierarch
4x Restoration Angel
2x Scavenging Ooze
4x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4x Voice of Resurgence
1x Forest
1x Gavony Township
4x Ghost Quarter
4x Horizon Canopy
1x Plains
4x Razorverge Thicket
1x Stirring Wildwood
2x Tectonic Edge
4x Temple Garden
Instant (4)
4x Path to Exile
4x Aether Vial
2x Auriok Champion
2x Dismember
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Kataki, War's Wage
1x Mark of Asylum
2x Qasali Pridemage
2x Rest in Peace
2x Stony Silence
2x Wrath of God
I may also replace a Wrath of God with a Settle the Wreckage. With Leonin Arbiter out that card can be a blowout against creature based decks.
Also like the idea of 1-2 Collected Company mainboard and was wondering how its performed for other people
2. Stop catering to people who don't play the game, spend resources rewarding players who do play the game
3. Don't ban/unban cards to sell your product
4. Stop pursuing Family Friendly policies. Kids like things that seem adult.
https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgfinance/comments/81512v/so_value_of_mm25_looks_meh_treeofredemption/dv0zjhg/
Moving Masters sets from "formats" to "themes" is really about one thing only - finding a way to deliver less value for the same money. It's all about reprint equity. They can't keep printing desirable staples at the rate they were and keep the pace of releases up. One of theses two things had to change...and they're obviously going to try the approach first that makes them the most money, even if it burns shops and players as a result.
So...instead of simply releasing less Masters sets, but keeping the value intact, they're trying to have their cake and eat it too. They want to pump these things out, dramatically change the formula by watering them down with low-supply, low-demand bubbles and Commander fodder, while putting a Jace, or what the **** ever, on the cover to convince Timmy to buy it. Meanwhile, they heavily emphasize drafting, as though constructed players should really give a ***** as to whether or not the the $30+ drafting environment is marginally better by dramatically sacrificing card pool availability.
The "But Limited..." argument defending some very questionable rare/mythic inclusions is really starting to max out on the bull***** meter, in my opinion. Master sets have to deliver value first and foremost. Limited really needs to be a second priority. We already have Iconic Masters rotting on shelves lending incontrovertible evidence to back up this claim.
As much as I want to love A25, it just reeks of manipulation sprayed from a Jace-branded can to cover up the stench of this *****ty new recipe for "premium" sets. It's such an obviously callous move to "unban" Jace to prop up a watered down Master set, once you had some pretty good evidence that people are, in fact, not stupid, and didn't take the bait by supporting your new idea of what kind of value a premium set should deliver. They probably weren't even sure, themselves, whether or not they were going to unban Jace until they got feedback back from Iconic Masters....and decided that they really needed to do something to save a set that was likely to suffer a similar fate.
Don't get me wrong...A25 is certainly better than IM, but that's not saying a lot. It's miles away in quality from MM17... which, itself, was selling for $180 shortly after launch.
All in all, I'm both heavily disappointed and relived. Disappointed for obvious reasons...but relived because I now have little desire to pick up boxes of this set and can happily spend that money elsewhere.
The big deciding factor however will be card acquisition. For any digital card game to be successful it needs a crafting system so people can actually make the decks they want.