The Sphinx...well, to try and defend the bugger, he's impossible for an opponent to keep control of, or *insert creaturekill of choice here* if you're careful. Still feels mediocre though.
Shadow Of Doubt = the cash card of the set, along with the Noodles, mark my words. It's such a great versatile card against soooo many deckstyles, and can be played by anything packing black or blue. Noyce. (EDIT: Oh yeah, who can forget the Birds Of Paradise? Black bordered cash!)
The rest are lukewarm. This set is amaaaaaaazing. Thanks contributors!
Sol Ring is restricted in Vintage for a reason. Who wouldn't put four of these in a deck? Nothing like turn two Kokushos! Even a variation like a legendary version would still be overpowered. Please think about the things you post before you waste other readers' time with such nonsense.
Back on topic...Wayfarer's Bauble would be fantastic to give any deck at least some decent accel, along with the Signet cycle. Real accel will always be green's forte, sure, but that doesn't mean we can't hope for another quality artifact accel that every deck could use (ie not color specific). Exploration would also be sweet, buuuuut I doubt it. We'll probably get Elves Of Deep Shadow or Elvish Pioneer, sorry to say. Here's to hopng for something spicier though.
EDIT: "Common!" D'oh. So much for Exploration as a possibility (screw the reserve list)...
Wizards also ran a test of Emperor as well, so it's up for consideration for sanctioning at least, though the 2HG tournies greatly overshadowed that. My name is Jon Mittendorf; I helped run the Thursday initial 2HG tourney along with Judah, Azrael, Dom, and whoever else I left out. The 2HG tourney at GenCon will be sanctioned, so they of course will have the official rules a bit more ironed out by then. Again, they are the new 600 set of rules, and have already no doubt transformed several times over and grown since we got that one all too simple page for the Origins tourney. These rulings stood out:
-Matches are one game only! 2HG games are so much longer that this is a necessity if you want to be done before the weekend is over. Accordingly, other rules were adjusted to offset this; each team gets one free seven card mulligan before the usual Paris mulligans begin. As it was, we decided to allow only three turns once time was called in Swiss instead of five for the same reasons, which Wizards didn't officially decide at that time.
-Players on a team do, in fact, take simultaneous turns. Untap, upkeep (the team decides how to stack triggered abilities; one head doesn't have to stack all of theirs before the other head does, which is cool), draw, main, combat (declare attackers at the other team; when combat damage is assigned, heads are chosen for the purpose of triggered effects like ninjas/specters), main the sequel, end (again, the team stacks triggers at this point however they choose). Whew!
-Cards that check life totals like Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant and Hidetsugu's Second Rite check half theteam's life total, rounded up. Rune-Tail only flips if the team is at 59 life or higher, therefore, and the Second Rite will only zap a team who has a life total of 19 or 20. Wizards may rule differently on the rounding of life by the time GenCon gets here, but that's how it was at Origins.
-"You" are you, and only you, if a spell says such. Your teammate is not "you." What does this mean? You can't share mana. You can't splice onto a teammate's spell, and vice versa. You can't sacrifice your teammate's permanents. You can't pay any kind of costs for your teammate. Ultimately, the only things you share are opinions, turns as a whole, and life totals. "Opponent" is either head of the opposing team. Kokusho, therefore, is extra nasty in this format, as are so many other cards.
There are surely more I am forgetting; it was a chaotic, albeit a very fun, day for everyone who participated. Again, PM or reply if you have questions. Hope to see some of you at GenCon!
I judged the "test run" of 2HG at Origins. It was massive chaos, but tons of fun, and the players enjoyed it very much. It was also very interesting to be on the phone with R&D for judge calls (cards that check life totals, stacking of various triggered abilities, etc). The preliminary official rules set we had was labelled as the 6xx.xx set, fyi. Some things they are no doubt still working out. The five extra turns; in 2HG three works much better...play or draw rules (if both players get to draw if they choose play, it's retarded card advantage, trust me)...not to mention that landwalk is way more powerful, and Kokusho, oh lordy. Limited was crazy enough; Standard should be straight sick with brokenness. Anyone who would like to PM me with a question about it, I'll answer it to the best of my ability. Oh, total aside...I got to guard all 8 foil Gemstone Mines the day of the Amateur Championships...man they were pretty.
Can't WAIT till the prerelease, and States.
Shadow Of Doubt = the cash card of the set, along with the Noodles, mark my words. It's such a great versatile card against soooo many deckstyles, and can be played by anything packing black or blue. Noyce. (EDIT: Oh yeah, who can forget the Birds Of Paradise? Black bordered cash!)
The rest are lukewarm. This set is amaaaaaaazing. Thanks contributors!
Back on topic...Wayfarer's Bauble would be fantastic to give any deck at least some decent accel, along with the Signet cycle. Real accel will always be green's forte, sure, but that doesn't mean we can't hope for another quality artifact accel that every deck could use (ie not color specific). Exploration would also be sweet, buuuuut I doubt it. We'll probably get Elves Of Deep Shadow or Elvish Pioneer, sorry to say. Here's to hopng for something spicier though.
EDIT: "Common!" D'oh. So much for Exploration as a possibility (screw the reserve list)...
-Matches are one game only! 2HG games are so much longer that this is a necessity if you want to be done before the weekend is over. Accordingly, other rules were adjusted to offset this; each team gets one free seven card mulligan before the usual Paris mulligans begin. As it was, we decided to allow only three turns once time was called in Swiss instead of five for the same reasons, which Wizards didn't officially decide at that time.
-Players on a team do, in fact, take simultaneous turns. Untap, upkeep (the team decides how to stack triggered abilities; one head doesn't have to stack all of theirs before the other head does, which is cool), draw, main, combat (declare attackers at the other team; when combat damage is assigned, heads are chosen for the purpose of triggered effects like ninjas/specters), main the sequel, end (again, the team stacks triggers at this point however they choose). Whew!
-Cards that check life totals like Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant and Hidetsugu's Second Rite check half the team's life total, rounded up. Rune-Tail only flips if the team is at 59 life or higher, therefore, and the Second Rite will only zap a team who has a life total of 19 or 20. Wizards may rule differently on the rounding of life by the time GenCon gets here, but that's how it was at Origins.
-"You" are you, and only you, if a spell says such. Your teammate is not "you." What does this mean? You can't share mana. You can't splice onto a teammate's spell, and vice versa. You can't sacrifice your teammate's permanents. You can't pay any kind of costs for your teammate. Ultimately, the only things you share are opinions, turns as a whole, and life totals. "Opponent" is either head of the opposing team. Kokusho, therefore, is extra nasty in this format, as are so many other cards.
There are surely more I am forgetting; it was a chaotic, albeit a very fun, day for everyone who participated. Again, PM or reply if you have questions. Hope to see some of you at GenCon!