MTG Salvation

The rest of the block will be monocolor-themed, wizards has said this. The multicolored cards were most likely simply for carry over from RTR.

Just went through the full spoiler. GTC wins the award for best flavor(text) of any set, ever.

Also, orzhov=best in limited, by leaps and bounds.

Quote from Paragon.3

Nice list under your favorite combos section you have both the Niv-Mizzet's listed you can't play them together as they are both the same legend, playing one kills them both.

Deck looks like its a lot fun to play. I imagine it constantly cycling through cards and just generating tons of mayhem. If you ever find that you are drawing more cards then you want I suggest taking a look at Words of Wind and Words of War.

That isn't true. Legendary creatures are sacced as SBE's if and only if they both share the exact same name. Dracogenius and firemind don't. Planeswalkers are sacced if they are the same type (jace, chandra, gideon).

Quote from Victor Sant

Yeah but it's on boros colors, and boros is aggro. There's not much control/midrange decks with WR that would really need this.

Boros can also play in an American Control build, or possibly a Big Boros build, sweepers everywhere with white removal, use this guy and gideon as inevitability in a control build. Seems actually possible, weirdly.

EDIT:
And my 1776th post mentions america. How patriotic.

Quote from Aesnath

Actually Z was talking about D&D, not magic.

But for real, he was being sarcastic.

Most of the time going first is an advantage, but I think the few times anyone has looked at it the die roll hasn't been shown to have a major impact on the game over the long haul (i.e. across players and many, many games). I know this discussion in general came up in Magic General a few weeks back and the consensus was that the current structure does its best to minimize the impact of the die roll.

As for the OP, deck construction, deck match-up, and playskill count far more than the die roll over the course of a tournament.

From what I recall from the few times its appeared in Magic General, stats from MTGO say that the deck that goes second is more likely to win...by about .5% chance. So, one out of every 200 games might, and I stress might, be decided by the die roll, on average.

No, it says the perfect thing.

Wall of text incoming, I'm sorry to those who venture into the dark realm ahead, its a scary place, but needs to be said.

Quote from Xenphire

I'm sorry to see you go, Sene. Having kept an eye on CI and community events since the website's inception, unfortunately I can't say I'm surprised it came to having to step down. The best way to make instigators like the mod lounge leakers less effective is to not react to them.

Yeah, this is a bad idea, and I think everyone agrees with that (staff, gutter, everyone but you and resonance)

While I agree they are doing nothing but harm to MTGS, the true blame for damage to the website's image falls on the shoulders of the ridiculously over-zealous, self-righteous sub group that takes every political or staff issue on the website and proceeds to turn it into a fight against "the man". In an ironic twist, this handful of people who are there at every turn to try and twist any given website issue into some conspiracy, have only ultimately put much, much more stress on the forums than there would be if they would just shut their mouths and leave things alone.

So, the onus is on the people who are (arguably at best) trying to hurt the site, and not on those that are knowingly providing them with ammo to do it?

I'm not going to name names, because they know who they are. Frankly, it's about time that the staff stopped giving into them and said enough is enough.

You mean like...the 15+ longstanding members who were banned? The only people who I might even think you are talking about are like...belgarath, az, and shaz, two of which are former admins.

I see what many of them claim to be as being in the best interest of the website, as wrestling for control and power without having the label. If you think about it, those individuals have had more control over the direction and end result of political squabbles on this website than the actual staff has had in quite some time. If MTGS were denied the Curse deal, which is really only to the benefit of the community as a whole, it's not because of anything the staff has done but because of several individuals who will not keep their collective noses out from where they belong.

And the leakers, I'd expect that nothing bad would have happened with this until the deal was finished if it hadn't been for the leakers, since...you know, they gave people the fuel for this whole debacle.

Here's some food for thought:

Once again, the majority of this drama comes from The Gutter, it's supporters and side-line commentators, and those that vicariously take part in the forum drama through providing commentary (whom have no stake in it staying or going and just feel the need to assert their voice).

So, the majority of the drama comes from people posting in CI that aren't staff? I mean, what group isn't covered by this blanket? Yes, people who post in CI cause drama, because...well, CI is the place where we discuss drama (pegging chamber aside).
Are you really saying I don't have a right to post regarding the gutter because I'm not a member of the gutter, and that if I were a gutter member, by posting regarding the gutter I'd be trying to stir drama?
Not to mention that fact that you are doing just that. I'll admit I'm doing it too, but I won't say it isn't your right to as well. I'm attempting to get something accomplished, and as misguided as you feel that might be, it doesn't mean you should jump to the conclusion that what I (or anyone else here that is involved with this) is doing is detrimental to the site. Leave that blame to the leakers.

The drama ultimately stems from a sub-community on the website that does not consist of even close to 10% of our every day user base. If Curse does a 180 after seeing all this unfold over drama regarding that subgroup and a lack of control over their shenanigans and far too willingness to try to be transparent with them over issues regarding their subgroup, then that is damaging the other 90%+ of the user base.

Yes

It's time for those users to let go or relocate elsewhere if things are supposedly that terrible here for them, because their issues do not effect the users who are here to use MTGS as a resource for what it was intended to be. They may have been in the right in some previous instances, but in this instance their interference from them and their supporters leaking in the staff are being nothing but selfish. This is a Magic: the Gathering community, not 4chan. If you ruin a deal that benefits the greater majority of the user base and Magic: the Gathering players here over your selfishness regarding your sub community and issues with authority, then that says a lot more about your characters than anything you try to push off onto our staff members. It's just plain time to shut the **** up.

So, when someone is wrong, they should leave? (god I wish this was how the internet worked )
This also isn't strictly an MTG community, not anymore. (as evidenced by a thread started a few down, about removing all forums not related to MTG). It is a group of forums tangentially related by some (current or prior) interest in MTG.
Also, They have left

I'll just flat out tell you as the founder of this website:

Is this supposed to give you the right to lecture me on what the forum is?

This website was not made for you to idle in an invisible sub forum and to provide you a soap box. This website was created as a haven for Magic: the Gathering players who want to discuss the card game and to save a community that actually had problems that lead to the entire staff leaving it's former home (the ridiculous comparisons of which to our small time political bullcrap need to stop, by the way)

So, again: This.

The fact that all this drama has stemmed from a subgroup that doesn't even remotely have to do with Magic: the Gathering discussion is a load of bollocks, and insulting to everyone who registers here for the purpose of being part of that community. Posting here was, is and will continue to be a privilege, not a right. Having a Debate, Water Cooler Talk or hidden sub forum is also a privilege. It's time that those users started to recognize that fact, and it's time for the staff to begin to enforce that fact.

Yes, and obviously, if you were an admin, that right would have been revoked for many of the people posting here long ago. Luckily, the current admins have the foresight to realize that having reasonable discourse with those whom they disagree with is a really could way to make positive things happen, as long as that discourse remains civil (which for the most part, it has, and those who haven't been are gone with little exception).

When was the last time we actually had an issue regarding the state of a Magic: the Gathering discussion forum on this forum that was even treated like as a big of a deal as this entire, ridiculous Gutter saga? The competitive forum structure and moderatorship has been great for a long time, the mod situation in those areas is stable and the Rumor Mill is under control and we don't get a thread every other day from some disgruntled user who wanted to treat a Spam Warning like they got banned. Things where they actually should matter on this forum are in pretty good shape. That is what is actually important, and too many people have lost sight of that.

To you, certainly, obviously not to some others.

Frankly, I wish I were in that admin position again now that I'm nearly 7 years older and 7 years wiser.

And thank goodness you aren't.

Thank you for founding this site. Its wonderful. I love discussing standard and edh strategy, and discussing spoilers and rumors. The spoiler system that this site has is the best.

It isn't your thing. The forum you founded belongs no more to you than it does to any other person here, and if all you are going to do is tell people who are engaging in reasonable and respectful discussion that they are being detrimental to the site, you are the one that should sit back, think, and try to be more constructive than whatever this was, because trying to throw the blame that lies with staff at other people won't do anything but inflame tension.

EDIT: If I didn't make this clear, blame lies with other people too. I probably have some of this on my shoulders, but the staff has some of it, and they know it. It isn't your place (or mine, or anyone but the current staff's) to say whether or not anyone has the right to post here, and the holier-than-thou attitude does nothing to calm anyone

Nope. Damage can be redirected (and damage causes life loss), but life loss cannot be redirected.
Felllix keeps Nathing me

Quote from Bitsy

It seems probable that the leaker was a staff member. As the prospective deal was a secret it would have been on a need to know basis. So I expect that the Admins, maybe some trustworthy Globals, Hannes, and whatever Curse guy who handles potential acquisitions knew the specifics and that's it. None of these people seem to have any reason to leak the information but then again you just never know. I don't expect any confessions of guilt or agreement with what I think. I'm just saying.

No, all of moderation knew everything the admins knew (or nearly that much anyway). The leaker was a moderator, but it could have been any moderator.

Quote from Bitsy

It was dumb to tell the Gutter they might be shut down after negotiating with them and the fallout is solely on the staff.

Except the staff at large didn't do that. The leakers did.

So, good and bad effects of the proposed Grand Spell Type Update (some of which have already been covered above):

[list="1"]
[*]Good: All references to "instant or sorcery spell" become simply "sorcery spell."
[*]Good: All references to "instant card or a card with flash" become simple "instant card."
[*]Bad: All references to "instant spell" become "instant sorcery spell."
[*]Bad: All references to "sorcery spell" become "non-instant sorcery spell."
[*]Bad: The terms "instant" and "sorcery" have become baked into Magic as the defining "speeds" of spells and abilities. Changes will need to be made to the definitions/reminder text for:
[LIST]
[*]Equip
[*]Unearth
[*]Level up
[*]Transmute
[*]Scavenge
[*]Sorcery-speed abilities (Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.)
[*]Fortify
[*]Transfigure
[/LIST]
Okay, I'm kind of joking about Fortify and Transfigure, but every ability here has reminder text reading "Equip[/Unearth/Transmute/etc.] only as a sorcery." These would need to be changed to something like "Equip only as a non-instant," which is weird, or "Equip only as a non-instant sorcery," which is oddly specific because there's nothing special about sorceries any more.
[*]Related to the last point, and in my opinion this is the [B]absolute dealbreaker[/B] for any hope of getting an instant supertype at this point: [B]New cards and old cards would use the exact same wording to mean different things.[/B] After this change and the subsequent errata, players would be required to know the exact chronology of every Magic set with modern borders if they want to understand the cards as written.
[/list]
To elaborate on that last point: In cards from sets [I]before[/I] (let's say) the 2015 Core Set, "instant spell" means "instant sorcery," but after that it means any spell with the instant supertype, and also spells with flash if you're errataing those to be Instant Creatures/Enchantments/etc. A card referring to a "sorcery spell" means "non-instant sorcery" if it's from before M15, but any sorcery if it was printed after that, and also pre-M15 instants.

Is this completely insurmountable? No. Technically, you could do this and make it consistent. It's not the hardest thing in the world to learn that "Instant" now means "Instant Sorcery" in the type line -- after all, they turned Interrupts into Instants without killing the game.

But [I]holy hell[/I] would this make learning the game a pain in the butt for new players, and at a time when new players are a big focus for Wizards. I may not be a game designer, but I do know that you want to have a massive and fundamental benefit that's integral to the game's development before you turn around and make all of your existing product lie to your players.

And the ability to stop writing "instants and" on stuff just does not come anywhere close to offering that kind of benefit.
List tags are malformed.

Augur of Bolas is not guaranteed card advantage. It forces you to build your deck in a fashion that make it powerful. Fortunately, it's time in Standard allowed you to play it alongside Snapcaster Mage, another strong creature that moved you to play a high spell count, meaning the core you needed for the deck was much more sustainable. Ultimately, the argument is irrelevant because neither of them are going to be legal at the same time in Standard.

@tacketra: If you fail to see how scry 2 relates to card quality, which in turn can be translated to effective card advantage, maybe you should not be so hasty telling people they don't understand Magic.

OK, I re-read my posts and I feel that I might have been too abrasive. FWIW I'm sorry for this, its just that this kind of thing frustrates me to no end and I wish people on a magical cards forum could act like adults just one time.

Don't know if anyone mentioned it yet, but...
RIKUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!2323425

Characters does not necessarily translate into signature length due to codes and spoilers and the like, and the fact that certain things like quotes will take up more space than plain text. If I spent 100 characters on two quotes, that'll appear longer than if I just had this paragraph in my signature instead (though it is significantly more than 100 characters).

Personally, I find most signatures on MTGS to be too long, and that my preferred maximum signature length is way shorter than the perceived norm. I used to have signatures hidden for this reason.

Quote from Taylor

Well, my message tracker says you've not opened a most of mine...

Well. Now this is awkward ...

Well, now I'm just confused.
Is "Tachy Goes to Coventry" what it was called?

I mostly just call it "that hilarious thing we did to Kroen that time where I spent a day following him around and masterfully responding to him in such a way that he felt he wasn't invisible while the other posters in threads who couldn't see his posts wouldn't think I'm weird", but yeah, that is the official title.

May God guide you on your quest.

Quote from itachiitachi

It's already been established that it is easier for a newb/bad player to win with an aggro deck rather than a control deck.

established where? prove this statement. prove it rigorously. a single result is not rigorous. show me a pattern.

this thread is bad. i don't know why it got necro'd but this discussion was absolutely horrible and stupid from day 1. please let it die again.

Quote from LMTRK

Tutoring for cards I dont want, or fetching lands I dont need, or killing creatures I could leave alone, or choosing not to attack for the win dont factor into how slowly I am playing, only how long the game takes (if my opponent doesnt scoop). If I play quickly while doing those things then I am not playing slowly (I am playing quickly).

Right?

Very generally speaking, these are all correct and legal actions. While certainly they might attract the attention of a judge, and could get a question or two about what's happening, there should be no actual violation of tournament policy absent deliberate "pauses" or other actions that do nothing more than waste time.

However, situations that take these otherwise legal plays and make them into things like "Pause, think, take action. Pause, think, take action." style of play that can eat up extraordinary amounts of time in the aggregate. In which case, a judge should be very cognizant of that. Or even deliberately taking time for each mulligan decision and otherwise going through a lot of extraordinary motions that do take up significant time. That also should merit additional attention.

But yes, very typically the change in the pace of the match or some kind of deliberate pause should be the focus. Not just the actions themselves.