In terms of safe packs, I have never heard of anyone bothering to search a pack of fallen empires even though it is possible. Set is actually decent for limited with its combination of tribal and efficient weenies in all colors.
I have played all of these ccgs to a minimal extent...
Pokemon
L5R (first and second generation)
Digimon ccg
WWE ccg
Star Wars Episode 1 ccg
Babylon 5 (that game was so damn complicated it was essentially unplayable...running type 1 combo decks is easier than reading the HUGE rulebook...game has like 5 victory conditions and as far as I can tell takes like 5 hours to complete a single game)
I have played these casually quite a lot
YGO-in the early days it was fun before it degenerated into eternal battle of the combo decks...I played control just to screw with all of the random Timmies
WoW-I only knew 1 guy who played this, but it seemed like a solid system, pretty good art overall too. I ended up deciding that I would rather do a raid in the real WoW with 1 of my level 80s than do the card game rendition of that.
Wyvern-That this game died so early in its life cycle makes me cry...The look of the game (uniformity of art style like ygo, but way better art), the play mechanics (the resource system in particular), and the victory conditions were all very unique and really worked well. Even from the first set there were pretty much no broken cards ,indeed the one problem with the game imho is that the power level of cards might have been too uniform, but different archetypes were viable and the game was just starting to add new mechanics with its first non-base expansions when it was cancelled
I have really always wanted to play Shadowfist...that game has been around forever and keeps chugging on with a niche following. The core mechanics seem solid and I really like the art and flavor of the game (like early mtg in many ways). i think that its storyling also progresses in an interesting way. (not as in depth as L5R's tournament driven storyline, but without the annoying obsolescence of all cards that L5R goes through every generation.)
As far as dead games I need to give a try,aside from getting a few more wyvern booster boxes of Pheonix expansion
1. Galactic Empires-Launched in 1994-Died 1997-From what I have read, this may have been the proverbial "good sci-fi" ccg without hideously complex rules (babylon 5, star wars, star trek) or way to simple of mechanics (episode 1 ccg...way too much dice rolling)
2.Doomtown-The wierd poker mechanics of the game honestly have always intrigued me...even if the system didn't work, it was a cool idea.
3.Jyhad-It has vampires...and not the sparkly kind
@legendary name-they aren't speculating that Marit Lage is ther master of the Eldrazi, but that she merely is one of them.
If they are Lovecraft inspired they aren't likely to all look the same (Cthulhu looks nothing like Nyarlathotep or Yog-Sothoth), and from what we have seen of the Eldrazi thus-far (monument, novel cover, Grim Discovery seems to be an Eldrazi tomb, Relic Crush may have an Eldrazi in the background) that holds true.
We also have gotten hints that there are possibly several tiers of Eldrazi (Eldrazi titans?) and various minion races (Brood Lineage).
@Eid-Yeah it would sort of cheapen Lovecraft...but if you look at Odysea block that was basically based on a dismemberment of the works of Robert E. Howard.
This is about the last place to start when it comes to "fixing" education in America.
this very well may be the first time I've said this in the debate forum, but i really agree with iRebel on this. I think that the biggest possitive overhaul of our public education system could come about from switching over to a system that accepts that many kids won't graduate and have no interest in graduating. Classes like shop classes and craft classes (not to mention the arts and physical education) have been decimated in out education system due to a blind and foolhardy rush to try to focus our education system on a math/science for all paradigm. Jimbo with an IQ of 80 is unlikely to be a research biologist, therefor he drops out of highschool without having first learned any skills that would be of value to the economy and becomes a wage slave in the fast food business or something. This creates a drain on our economy far more damaging in the long run than producing a few less scientists does.
I am in no way opposed to early and aggressive specialized education in some cases and for individuals with the aptitude and interests to use that education, but I think that combined with an inept use of standardized testing and horribly qualified/respected/payed teachers it hurts american education when applied too broadly.
I have to say that in spite of his great achievements, a child rapist who flees to another country to evade jail is a pretty nasty variety of criminal. Sure you can defend him claiming that he fled because he was scared and that he only committed rape because his parents died in the Holocaust and his wife was murdered by the Manson Family...but guess what, not all holocuast survivors of family members of murder victims are rapists. What happens to you does not excuse violent crimes like rape. Stealing to live if you are a poor drug addled hood rat is somewhat understandable and can be blamed largely on circumstances, but rape and murder cannot.
Eh, I think that fleeing is a generally white aspect alltogether. Serra did it too, ne?
When the perfect world turns out to not be so perfect afterall, both Elspeth and Serra chose to just leave. Strange, for a colour thats supposedly about order and protection.
based on her behavior I honestly think that Serra would have been W/B if she had ever bothered to mess with black mana as in many ways she was the direct mirror of Yawgmoth's arrogance and delusions of godhood transmuted into the white mindeset (see also Konda)...I think that the easiest way that wotc has found to create a white antagonist or flawed white walker is to create a character who decides that the are the embodiment of their people who become self obsessed dictator types. Best real world comparisons are probably Hitler and Mao. (Stalin didn't delude himself into thinking that what he was doing was meant to benefit anyone other than Stalin)
"My treessss! They're burning! *tear tear* Time to leave."
my interpretation of what Elspeth does in the Alara book remains "Oh crap! I got machine parts inside of me! /runs away before creepy black ooze blood is noticed."
Except for Pyromancer Ascension, Bloodghast, anything with Unearth...and it's great in mill decks. Ravenous Trap will be a staple across the format in sideboards.
who is going to be playing pyromancer ascension though? it only really hoses unearth if you are really dumping lots of unearth cards into your graveyard at once. I agree that fast mill decks might run it...but in archive trap based mill, I would rather maximize my chance of killing my opponent asap than run a card that keeps them from using the stuff in their graveyard unless facing grixis, blightning, or time sieve.
I agree with this but there is one card that makes WW awesome and that is Brave The Elements it is so good that i play 3 in my deck, you can do so many combo's with it lol.
which is one big advantage that vampires actually have over many decks in the WW match up that somewhat offsets all of their pro black and potential sideboard hate; we don't run mass removal which minimizes the kimpact of brave the elements which against neo-wrath or fallout (which will be played in lots of decks) is beastly but its potency is somewhat mitigated against spot removal as the 1 for 1 trade is going to be for much more similiar mana cost spells and it will only be saving 1 guy instead of multiples.
That being said, i do think that WW will not be a cakewalk matchup.
I actually have to say that after thinking about it a second time, I think that the people suggesting eldrazi monument in the deck might be on to something after all. I will need to test it, but I am convinced that it could have a place alongside nocturnus as it really does interact nicely with bloodghast if you are having trouble getting the last of your damage through fast enough. As far as it being hated out by anti esper stuff...I don't think esper will be played super heavily, for while it loses next to nothing to the loss of lor/sha it also gains next to nothing from zen leaving it essentially a block deck.
2.Ravnica
3.Shadowmoor
4.Fallen Empires
5.The Dark
6.Lorwyn
7.Ice Age
8.Legends
9.Time Spiral
10.Zendikar
Maybe on Iquatana...sky pirates of the aether.
That is like saying that Carebears and He-Man are in the same literary league as LOTR and Harry Potter just because they all have magic in them.
Pokemon
L5R (first and second generation)
Digimon ccg
WWE ccg
Star Wars Episode 1 ccg
Babylon 5 (that game was so damn complicated it was essentially unplayable...running type 1 combo decks is easier than reading the HUGE rulebook...game has like 5 victory conditions and as far as I can tell takes like 5 hours to complete a single game)
I have played these casually quite a lot
YGO-in the early days it was fun before it degenerated into eternal battle of the combo decks...I played control just to screw with all of the random Timmies
WoW-I only knew 1 guy who played this, but it seemed like a solid system, pretty good art overall too. I ended up deciding that I would rather do a raid in the real WoW with 1 of my level 80s than do the card game rendition of that.
Wyvern-That this game died so early in its life cycle makes me cry...The look of the game (uniformity of art style like ygo, but way better art), the play mechanics (the resource system in particular), and the victory conditions were all very unique and really worked well. Even from the first set there were pretty much no broken cards ,indeed the one problem with the game imho is that the power level of cards might have been too uniform, but different archetypes were viable and the game was just starting to add new mechanics with its first non-base expansions when it was cancelled
I have really always wanted to play Shadowfist...that game has been around forever and keeps chugging on with a niche following. The core mechanics seem solid and I really like the art and flavor of the game (like early mtg in many ways). i think that its storyling also progresses in an interesting way. (not as in depth as L5R's tournament driven storyline, but without the annoying obsolescence of all cards that L5R goes through every generation.)
As far as dead games I need to give a try,aside from getting a few more wyvern booster boxes of Pheonix expansion
1. Galactic Empires-Launched in 1994-Died 1997-From what I have read, this may have been the proverbial "good sci-fi" ccg without hideously complex rules (babylon 5, star wars, star trek) or way to simple of mechanics (episode 1 ccg...way too much dice rolling)
2.Doomtown-The wierd poker mechanics of the game honestly have always intrigued me...even if the system didn't work, it was a cool idea.
3.Jyhad-It has vampires...and not the sparkly kind
If they are Lovecraft inspired they aren't likely to all look the same (Cthulhu looks nothing like Nyarlathotep or Yog-Sothoth), and from what we have seen of the Eldrazi thus-far (monument, novel cover, Grim Discovery seems to be an Eldrazi tomb, Relic Crush may have an Eldrazi in the background) that holds true.
We also have gotten hints that there are possibly several tiers of Eldrazi (Eldrazi titans?) and various minion races (Brood Lineage).
@Eid-Yeah it would sort of cheapen Lovecraft...but if you look at Odysea block that was basically based on a dismemberment of the works of Robert E. Howard.
I am in no way opposed to early and aggressive specialized education in some cases and for individuals with the aptitude and interests to use that education, but I think that combined with an inept use of standardized testing and horribly qualified/respected/payed teachers it hurts american education when applied too broadly.
based on her behavior I honestly think that Serra would have been W/B if she had ever bothered to mess with black mana as in many ways she was the direct mirror of Yawgmoth's arrogance and delusions of godhood transmuted into the white mindeset (see also Konda)...I think that the easiest way that wotc has found to create a white antagonist or flawed white walker is to create a character who decides that the are the embodiment of their people who become self obsessed dictator types. Best real world comparisons are probably Hitler and Mao. (Stalin didn't delude himself into thinking that what he was doing was meant to benefit anyone other than Stalin)
It will remain so until proven otherwise
That being said, i do think that WW will not be a cakewalk matchup.
I actually have to say that after thinking about it a second time, I think that the people suggesting eldrazi monument in the deck might be on to something after all. I will need to test it, but I am convinced that it could have a place alongside nocturnus as it really does interact nicely with bloodghast if you are having trouble getting the last of your damage through fast enough. As far as it being hated out by anti esper stuff...I don't think esper will be played super heavily, for while it loses next to nothing to the loss of lor/sha it also gains next to nothing from zen leaving it essentially a block deck.