It's solid, I wanted Crystal Quarry in modern and this is better. Will really help the various 5C decks I was trying to build.
Based on the flavour text, I would not be surprised if Bolas entombed the original God-Pharaoh and is using its power to power the Hekma and such. In which case, that might also explain by everything is so brutal, because Bolas seized control and said so. A non-walker God-Pharaoh would be a pretty good candidate for a 5-color god card.
Not sure why people are complaining about the 3 cmc. If this card had been made a few years ago it would have cost 5 or something silly. You can easily use Lotus Bloom to get back your 'turn', and AV will also compensate for the lost cards.
I think the once per turn limit will keep this card in check just fine, and will probably make it too slow for modern.
I checked in Photoshop, this Bolas is using the pre-Tarkir frame, and thus cannot be the new one (missing the new card info corner is also a give-away). Also, the textbox does not have the middle effect with a more transparent backing, like normal walker.
Cycling seems a bit disappointing in this set, also discarding cards seems counterproductive if we have devotion back in this set.
I hope you're not saying that just because there are Gods in this set. There's been no indication that Gods will always have devotion. We need to wait and see.
==
Cycling being back will make a lot of people happy. With the other card we saw, and general Egyptian obsession with life/death, it does seem like a good fit.
Exert is probably 'double-tapped' / 'doesn't untap next turn', etc. This kind of thing has been a long time coming, it opens up a lot of design space as a balancing tool and cleaner templating.
The Vault sounds awesome, but I'm sure it requires too much set-up and support, since you will at least need top-deck manipulation to abuse it. If it put permanents revealed this way into play, then it would get around the land-drop limit.
I don't think the back needs to be changed, but when you really look at it, then yeah, it does smack of 1990-era graphic design, albeit very sensibly made.
It is possible to update the back with modern graphic design without changing the layout/colors so much that you can't recognize it. The biggest difference would just be 'Magic' in gold, and 'Deckmaster' missing.
In any case, I switched to sleeves about a year after starting Magic because of the grime that builds up on cards. I'd welcome any new card treatment that makes the cards more resilient to damage.
If they are serious about this, they will probably get our feedback ahead of time before printing something, and/or test it by printing some small supplemental product.
So my question is, why would wotc bother? I feel like the differences are large enough to be guided, and not just the artist doing whatever. So if they did create a new style guide for Kamigawa, could it signal a return? Are they changing the art on Kamigawa reprints to match the new future style as a way to accustom players to it before revealing a return? I imagine they would only relent on a return if their surveys returned positive results, and art is apparently a huge part of that, hence the new Kamigawa art and updated style guide.
It's hard to build a list of the reprints that received new art, so please mention additional cards if possible.
The hype is real. This said, I wonder what kind of horse *****e would Maro pop out to justify including such a doorknob in a supposedly high-value, high interest limited set?
I don't think Maro works on these kinds of sets.
As before, Seance would be better if it didn't put a token in play, but the card. At least then blink shenanigans would make it good.
The Theros gods used devotion and were enchantments only because it thematically fit the whole Nyx thing. Neither of those are likely to occur on Amonkhet.
It's more likely that these gods 'turn on' ( can attack/block ) if you meet an impressive condition, since they are explicitly called gods of trial. I don't think they will toggle creature-ness; that would force them to have an unnecessary second card type.
I expect Indestructible, then the attack/block clause, then an ability that rewards you for X, helping you activate the god. For ex: "Can't attack or block unless you have 40 or more life. // Creatures you control have lifelink, etc."
What I'm more interested in is whether R&D will try to make all Gods on par with each other.
I doubt they are artifacts, they are still clearly organic under the clothing. I expect artifact gods would be more esper-like.
I don't expect a second card type for these, unless it's something new. I do expect them to have subtypes beyond 'God', as there should be room this time without 'enchantment'.
The art ratio is a little weird. Either it was commissioned with extra art on the sides for playmats, or these are cropped, much like planeswalkers are now, in order to make it harder for fakers to affect the secondary market with hype.
I think you're going about it wrong, trying to keep the original in play.
Cogwork Assembler lets you copy the heart. Sacrifice the original to the legend rule, then use the copy for the extra turn. Then use graveyard recursion cards to get back the original and replay it. Expensive mana wise, but doable. Standard does not have a good repeatable artifact recursion card, even to hand, except Emeria Shepherd which requires a land drop every time.
However, it can be done with Scrap Trawler + Workshop Assistant. Sac the assistant, get back anything. Then when the original heart dies, Trawler lets you get back Assistant. Sac Assistant to get back heart.
So far this is a pure artifact strategy. Very mana intensive though. A loop will cost 15 mana (cast heart, assistant, copy heart).
What I'm not sure about is whether the heart gives you EE when the copy etb, or if that's another priority issue thing.
I believe some of the larger online retailers have custom mats made by the same artist as the original art for whatever card they've chosen. This is certainly not the first time this has happened.
Based on the flavour text, I would not be surprised if Bolas entombed the original God-Pharaoh and is using its power to power the Hekma and such. In which case, that might also explain by everything is so brutal, because Bolas seized control and said so. A non-walker God-Pharaoh would be a pretty good candidate for a 5-color god card.
I think the once per turn limit will keep this card in check just fine, and will probably make it too slow for modern.
I'm fine with these Gods so far, this isn't Yu-Gi-Oh where the high profile cards have to win you the game in some ridiculous fashion.
Also, it seems the scheme cards have been redesigned to be Bolas-y.
Curious where the art is from?
I hope you're not saying that just because there are Gods in this set. There's been no indication that Gods will always have devotion. We need to wait and see.
==
Cycling being back will make a lot of people happy. With the other card we saw, and general Egyptian obsession with life/death, it does seem like a good fit.
Exert is probably 'double-tapped' / 'doesn't untap next turn', etc. This kind of thing has been a long time coming, it opens up a lot of design space as a balancing tool and cleaner templating.
The Vault sounds awesome, but I'm sure it requires too much set-up and support, since you will at least need top-deck manipulation to abuse it. If it put permanents revealed this way into play, then it would get around the land-drop limit.
It is possible to update the back with modern graphic design without changing the layout/colors so much that you can't recognize it. The biggest difference would just be 'Magic' in gold, and 'Deckmaster' missing.
In any case, I switched to sleeves about a year after starting Magic because of the grime that builds up on cards. I'd welcome any new card treatment that makes the cards more resilient to damage.
If they are serious about this, they will probably get our feedback ahead of time before printing something, and/or test it by printing some small supplemental product.
Consider Kaseto, Orochi Archmage, and the recently revealed Zo-Zu the Punisher, and Desperate Ritual. These cards use what appears to be a revised design for those races.
So my question is, why would wotc bother? I feel like the differences are large enough to be guided, and not just the artist doing whatever. So if they did create a new style guide for Kamigawa, could it signal a return? Are they changing the art on Kamigawa reprints to match the new future style as a way to accustom players to it before revealing a return? I imagine they would only relent on a return if their surveys returned positive results, and art is apparently a huge part of that, hence the new Kamigawa art and updated style guide.
It's hard to build a list of the reprints that received new art, so please mention additional cards if possible.
I don't think Maro works on these kinds of sets.
As before, Seance would be better if it didn't put a token in play, but the card. At least then blink shenanigans would make it good.
It's more likely that these gods 'turn on' ( can attack/block ) if you meet an impressive condition, since they are explicitly called gods of trial. I don't think they will toggle creature-ness; that would force them to have an unnecessary second card type.
I expect Indestructible, then the attack/block clause, then an ability that rewards you for X, helping you activate the god. For ex: "Can't attack or block unless you have 40 or more life. // Creatures you control have lifelink, etc."
What I'm more interested in is whether R&D will try to make all Gods on par with each other.
Cat - gWu
Crane - wUb
Crocodile - uBr
Jackal - bRg
Snake - rGw
I doubt they are artifacts, they are still clearly organic under the clothing. I expect artifact gods would be more esper-like.
I don't expect a second card type for these, unless it's something new. I do expect them to have subtypes beyond 'God', as there should be room this time without 'enchantment'.
The art ratio is a little weird. Either it was commissioned with extra art on the sides for playmats, or these are cropped, much like planeswalkers are now, in order to make it harder for fakers to affect the secondary market with hype.
Cogwork Assembler lets you copy the heart. Sacrifice the original to the legend rule, then use the copy for the extra turn. Then use graveyard recursion cards to get back the original and replay it. Expensive mana wise, but doable. Standard does not have a good repeatable artifact recursion card, even to hand, except Emeria Shepherd which requires a land drop every time.
However, it can be done with Scrap Trawler + Workshop Assistant. Sac the assistant, get back anything. Then when the original heart dies, Trawler lets you get back Assistant. Sac Assistant to get back heart.
So far this is a pure artifact strategy. Very mana intensive though. A loop will cost 15 mana (cast heart, assistant, copy heart).
What I'm not sure about is whether the heart gives you EE when the copy etb, or if that's another priority issue thing.
Also Mayan =/= Egyptian.