While I am a fan of all reprints, I do feel the Core has become problematic for WotC. They don't want it to be too advanced, nor do they wish to reprint much needed staples for fear said staples will screw with standard and limited, thus we often get a watered-down or unimpressive core.
Couple that with the incredible success of sets like Conspiracy, and a lot of folks are going to wonder why they bother with a core at all.
Highly unlikely. They will likely not take chances nor make the film for fans. They will attempt to bring in a broad audience, thus fulfilling the old adage "When you make a movie for everyone, you make a movie for no one."
In my opinion, they should have reprinted Liliana of the Veil. If they feel she is too overwhelmingly powerful, then they need to ban her in other formats. You can't just leave this must have card sitting around, shooting up in price so high that it is a burden to get a hold of. Either the card is fair, and deserves a reprint, or the card is unfair and deserves a ban.
It's funny that in all the "I'd love to see a Return To X" there's been little if any talk of a "Return To Arabian Nights." I know the set was themed on real life tales and characters, but I don't know that that's out of the question again. Sucha set would lend itself to djinn, efreets, and I'd love to see it.
I hope to never see a rare planeswalker, but then again I am not a fan of them at all. Obviously, anything is possible, but so far the trend has (thankfully) been to keep them at mythic.
As far as lands are concerned, I think the pain lands are highly underrated for a multi colored infect deck. We're looking for a fast win with this deck, so taking the hit doesn't mean much and provides, hopefully, the mana and colors we need depending on which variant we're running.
Synonyms: mad salt, aggro, raged, mad, upset, buttsore, griefed... Basically being too upset to play well.
You forgot "Going full Fred Flintstone."
I know it sounds trite, but it is true: repeat to yourself "It's just a game...I should really just relax." Calm down. It's a game of cards. There will be other tournaments. Luck plays a factor, a large one. You can't win every coin flip.
If you must use intro packs for this purpose (see: http://youtu.be/r-BPsAgqFtw) then you'd likely find Green and Black to be the most 'balanced' overall.
However, for teaching new players you might consider (depending upon your collection) Putting two very basic decks together, say just cards in mono color from the core set with some vanilla creatures from the block. Flying, reach, nothing fancy. It might be cheaper than the intro packs and easier on them in the long run (I'd hate to teach a brand new player BESTOW).
In my opinion (keep in mine I haven't actually played Conspiracy) I feel the 'complexity' issue is more an issue of forced interaction and politics.
It all goes back to EDH. The type of politics and interaction (I'll make a deal with you! Now, I betray you!) that was so popular in those games has been something WotC has tried to replicate in card form. You can't. Looking at the made for Commander cards, most try and create a forced interaction between players. Conspiracy is taking this to new levels, and it is creating the feeling of over-complexity.
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They are trying to manufacture social interaction, but you can't do that any more than your teacher or parents can order you to "Go have fun and play nice!" That's something your group either does on its own, or not at all.
awesome card, mechanically and flavour wise. the only thing that is off for me is the subtypes. I would have personally made this a human advisor instead of a zombie wizard
I am very unhappy with the ruling and think it is quite broken, especially in regards to planeswalkers. I preferred the old Legends rule overall, and if phantasmal image was being abused so heavily, then they should have updated clone rules instead (i.e., a creature that is a 'copy' of a legend does not gain legendary status, etc)
Innistrad will only increase in value over time. Clique and sword are at all-time highs, and there's a chance they can go down. They are still climbing, but it is a steady climb. If you are not going to ever play with them and want the best time to sell, you likely won't regret selling now. Even if they go up more, it won't be extreme, but if they drop due to a reprint or whatever then the drop might indeed be by a lot.
I think a lot the confusion stems from the fact that cards do not rotate out of Modern, and thus many people (incorrectly) assign the term eternal to describe the format, because they feel their Modern-legal cards "live forever" due to never rotating out.
I will confess to making this error myself on occasions in the past. Sploops!
Eternal formats include cards released in special sets (like commander decks, or the upcoming conspiracy).
Modern is not eternal because it does not allow such cards.
And thank heavens for that! Quite frankly, this is one of Moderns biggest selling points. I hate, hate, hate those damn cards, and if things like True Name Nemesis started being legal in Modern, I'd likely quit the format, and quite frankly most aspects of the game, altogether. Print it in Standard first, and if you can't do that then don't print it at all. I know I am in the VAST minority on this, but I'm a cranky old man and thats the ways I sees it!
Couple that with the incredible success of sets like Conspiracy, and a lot of folks are going to wonder why they bother with a core at all.
Highly unlikely. They will likely not take chances nor make the film for fans. They will attempt to bring in a broad audience, thus fulfilling the old adage "When you make a movie for everyone, you make a movie for no one."
You forgot "Going full Fred Flintstone."
I know it sounds trite, but it is true: repeat to yourself "It's just a game...I should really just relax." Calm down. It's a game of cards. There will be other tournaments. Luck plays a factor, a large one. You can't win every coin flip.
However, for teaching new players you might consider (depending upon your collection) Putting two very basic decks together, say just cards in mono color from the core set with some vanilla creatures from the block. Flying, reach, nothing fancy. It might be cheaper than the intro packs and easier on them in the long run (I'd hate to teach a brand new player BESTOW).
It all goes back to EDH. The type of politics and interaction (I'll make a deal with you! Now, I betray you!) that was so popular in those games has been something WotC has tried to replicate in card form. You can't. Looking at the made for Commander cards, most try and create a forced interaction between players. Conspiracy is taking this to new levels, and it is creating the feeling of over-complexity.
\
They are trying to manufacture social interaction, but you can't do that any more than your teacher or parents can order you to "Go have fun and play nice!" That's something your group either does on its own, or not at all.
Again, just my opinion.
Yeah, but zombie wizard is so...cool...
I will confess to making this error myself on occasions in the past. Sploops!
And thank heavens for that! Quite frankly, this is one of Moderns biggest selling points. I hate, hate, hate those damn cards, and if things like True Name Nemesis started being legal in Modern, I'd likely quit the format, and quite frankly most aspects of the game, altogether. Print it in Standard first, and if you can't do that then don't print it at all. I know I am in the VAST minority on this, but I'm a cranky old man and thats the ways I sees it!