Magic: The Gathering Thread XIV: Instant Annoying, Just Add Hexproof

[Lord Seth]

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Not to mention that Detention Sphere basically says "{1}{W}{U}: Win against target token deck."

We already had that for 1U at Instant speed with Echoing Truth.

[Fable Wright]

We already had that for 1U at Instant speed with Echoing Truth.

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Not, however, in the same set as Populate. Win against target token deck... in a Standard when Token decks are trying to be a thing. In the colors whose mechanic is weakest to token strategies.

[Binks]

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Has anyone else noticed that Revelation is an Instant? That's a pretty big deal for a tapout control card. Mind Spring is great but you have to cast it on your turn which leaves you open. Sphinx's Revelation can be cast on your opponent's endstep after leaving counterspell mana open.

Also X=3 means this card is Jace's Ingenuity + Healing Salve, which I find kind of hilarious myself. I wonder if that's how it was costed...seem too perfect to be a coincidence

[tgva8889]

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I don't understand this whole "oh man control is going to be awesome" thing. I mean, sure, maybe, but nothing I've seen has led me to believe a control deck can stand against BG Zombies.

[9mm]

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I don't understand this whole "oh man control is going to be awesome" thing. I mean, sure, maybe, but nothing I've seen has led me to believe a control deck can stand against BG Zombies.

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it comes down to how resilient the zombies remain after losing a chunk of removal, while the sheer amount of graveyard hate is exploding. BG Zombies will be a player, but it's a player everyone sees coming. Personally I'm worried about BG Zombies (or the BUG Zombies I'm expecting) able to maintain tempo, because if detain is easily available at common; beatdown is going to have a bad time.

[IthilanorStPete]

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So y'know how we were talking about having a good 2 mana black removal spell?



Yeah.

[Duos]

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Well, that's a real shame, going into a block where most of the good creatures we can expect to see will most likely be multicolored. Hell, it doesnt even kill Huntsmaster or Aristocrat.

I guess I'll just have to be happy with a reprint of Pithing Needle and the new nega-Snapcaster that also hoses Gravecrawler.

[tgva8889]

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it comes down to how resilient the zombies remain after losing a chunk of removal, while the sheer amount of graveyard hate is exploding. BG Zombies will be a player, but it's a player everyone sees coming. Personally I'm worried about BG Zombies (or the BUG Zombies I'm expecting) able to maintain tempo, because if detain is easily available at common; beatdown is going to have a bad time.

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Zombies doesn't need removal. They only played so much removal before because they literally didn't have enough creatures. Now instead of playing removal you get to play awesome creatures like Loleth Troll, Dreg Mauler, and possibly Slitherhead. You still have access to Abrupt Decay which is huge, and you still have a lot of good 1-drops and Geralf's Messenger and Blood Artist.

Control has no tools to let it beat Zombies right now. None. None of the graveyard hate does enough; you have to play cards like Purify the Grave or Tormod's Crypt that don't help you not lose to them just curving out against you. So I don't see control being a big deck.

I don't think the detain cards are going to be a big deal for Zombies. They're annoying but I don't think they're going to be too much to worry about. I mean, Detain is more or less just an Unsummon on the creature unless it's Loleth Troll.

Some response to today's spoilers:

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Ash Zealot is awesome. Good offensive card, highly effective against Zombies as most of their creatures lose in combat to him. Definitely like this. First Strike also gives it some defensive uses, too, which might make for something pretty interesting.

[9mm]

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hmm... so plithing needle is back, more snapcaster hate. so standard... wait, pshycic spiral? Self mill just got a hilarious new trick.

[tgva8889]

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Psychic Spiral makes me laugh. Mostly because it's hilarious and I'm sure someone's going to do something ridiculous with it.

[Squark]

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Blistercoil Wierd... That untap ability just gives you so many possibilities...

[tgva8889]

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Rakdos Charm is really cool. I like it, even if it has low overall power level. Definitely like the variety of effects.

My guess is that there are 15 hybrid cards, 1 at each rarity in each color. They might do something different, but that's my basic guess as of now. We already knew there was going to be a 1-drop Uncommon cycle, since I think they told us.

[9mm]

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Blistercoil Wierd... That untap ability just gives you so many possibilities...

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also Wee Dragonauts have new friends.

rackdos charm might as well be named Hate charm. They are definitely shoring up red's lack of hate this set.

[Sith_Happens]

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I seriously think I'm in love with Ash Zealot. First off, she's a bear with two amazing keywords in red, which pretty much never happens. If that weren't awesome enough, she also hates on about half of Innistrad block with a vengeance. And on top of all that, she's a hot redhead.

[Duos]

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Rakdos may or may not have been spoiled, there are a few accusation of incorrect fonts and suspiciously grainy photos flying around. It looks pretty neat to me, though, so if it's a fake, it's a very interesting one

[Squark]

Question about spoiler tags for the new sets; Is it really necessary? I mean, Virtually all, if not all of this page is in spoilers. Isn't it more reasonable to just add a spoiler warning to the front of the thread?

[tgva8889]

Possibly. But at least this way if someone suggests something like a deck idea that has nothing to do with new spoilers we know the difference between someone gushing about cards that don't exist yet and someone actually looking for real help on stuff. Possibly not relevant, though.

[9mm]

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Rakdos may or may not have been spoiled, there are a few accusation of incorrect fonts and suspiciously grainy photos flying around. It looks pretty neat to me, though, so if it's a fake, it's a very interesting one

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indeed, but I'm beginning to wonder about Racdos: was there something wrong about bloodthirst? or is the fact that was Gruul why they not using it?

[Duos]

Bloodthirst was the Gruul mechanic from Ravnica proper, and Hellbent was the Rakdos mechanic from the same. They promised to invent all new keywords for each guild for RtR, ones that would synergize with the previous one.

[Lord Seth]

Out of curiosity, is there anyone here who is afraid of reading spoilers for the next set?

[Zombimode]

Hm, I've avoided most of the spoilers so far, buts thats because I've ordered a display and opening packs is so much more fun if you don't know the cards

But why would you so you're "afraid" to reading spoilers?

[Androgeus]

Talking of spoilers, lot of stuff just got spoiled.

[Binks]

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Ohhh A johnny blue enchantment that's going to be a $.25 rare and gives me plenty of ideas for how to abuse it! I already want 4 of them.

Also, I like how the new 3/3 for 2 spell is both better and worse than watchwolf. It's better because it synergizes with populate, but worse because both flicker and bounce destroy it. Very interesting take on the idea.

[9mm]

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Ohhh A johnny blue enchantment that's going to be a $.25 rare and gives me plenty of ideas for how to abuse it! I already want 4 of them.

Also, I like how the new 3/3 for 2 spell is both better and worse than watchwolf. It's better because it synergizes with populate, but worse because both flicker and bounce destroy it. Very interesting take on the idea.

Bant here we come...

[tgva8889]

Bloodthirst was the Gruul mechanic from Ravnica proper, and Hellbent was the Rakdos mechanic from the same. They promised to invent all new keywords for each guild for RtR, ones that would synergize with the previous one.

Actually it was just that cards with the same watermark (and therefore from the same Guild) would all work well together if you decided to jam them all into the same deck. So not specific working together of mechanics. (Unleash and Hellbent don't really do anything synergistic with each other, for example.)

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Bant Populate in Standard seems absurd. Trostani is actually a very good card, and following it with a Thragtusk or a Resto Angel seems like unrealistic value. Cackling Counterpart on a Thragtusk is also unreal, and Populating your Thragtusk token is absurd. Also, Geist of St. Traft and Trostani are amusing buddies.

Of course, we could just play Geist and all the ridiculous Detain cards. A 2 mana detain cantrip? Really? A 2/1 detain for 2? Really? Geist seems like it's getting better and better.

[9mm]

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Bant Populate in Standard seems absurd. Tristani is actually a very good card, and following it with a Thragtusk or a Resto Angel seems like unrealistic value. Cackling Counterpart on a Thragtusk is also unreal, and Populating your Thragtusk token is absurd. Also, Geist of St. Traft and Tristani are amusing buddies.

Of course, we could just play Geist and all the ridiculous Detain cards. A 2 mana detain cantrip? Really? A 2/1 detain for 2? Really? Geist seems like it's getting better and better.

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cracling counterpart + populate = shenanigans. tokens everywhere with azorious tempo plays just makes my head hurt.

[Mystic Muse]

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So, what are the chances of Birds of Paradise appearing in the last ten cards to be spoilered?

[Lord Seth]

Hm, I've avoided most of the spoilers so far, buts thats because I've ordered a display and opening packs is so much more fun if you don't know the cards

But why would you so you're "afraid" to reading spoilers?

Well my question is whether we honestly need to bother spoiling all this stuff because I question whether there's anyone here who honestly would have that much of a problem with it. This isn't like a book or TV series where you can spoil a character's death or something.

[Fable Wright]

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So, what are the chances of Birds of Paradise appearing in the last ten cards to be spoilered?

Pretty good, I'd say. There is no way they wouldn't reprint it right before a multicolor block...

[Nightson]

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So, what are the chances of Birds of Paradise appearing in the last ten cards to be spoilered?

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Zero unfortunately, the already spoiled cards don't leave a space for it in the name/number crunch.