Magic: The Gathering XIII: What A Horrible Night To Have An Enchantment- Curse

[Callos_DeTerran]

Eh...On new set spoiler...

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I suppose it's interesting, but Ravinca never really grabbed me. I'm much more excited for Avacyn Restored then I am for Return to Ravnica. Especially if it has Jace in it. Can't we please get a new blue planeswalker? Koira maybe?

Oh well, I'm still hoping for new planeswalkers in Avacyn Restored. Forget where I read it, but there's supposed to be 1-3 planeswalkers in it.

[AgentPaper]

@Seth:

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Your point seems to be "Avacyn isn't as deck-warping as Delver or as good as Thalia", which doesn't really make much sense to me, and seems to come back around to "Avacyn isn't very likely to show up in tournaments a lot", which as has been stated before does not make her a failure as a card. She's big, she's splashy, has good art, good flavor, and her ability hasn't been done before. What exactly were you expecting her to do? If you were the one to design her, what would she look like?

[tgva8889]

Spoiler discussion.

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Well, Return to Ravnica has an almost 100% chance of having Jace in it now, seeing as he's in the spoiler art for it. I guess that explains why they waited to long to announce it, since Ravnica is one of the best Magic sets ever printed (I forget where but I think they did actually do something that made this statement official).

There is a high percentage chance that we'll see Shocklands reprinted. I'm not sure what they're going to do, since by the storyline of Ravnica: City of Guilds block the Guildpact is gone and there aren't really guilds anymore.

Also, stuff was spoiled for Avacyn Restored big whoop who cares Return to Ravnica.

Okay, not really that short, but I am more excited for Return to Ravnica than I am for anything I've seen so far in Avacyn Restored. Miracle just seems incredibly annoying (5 damage? For R? Actually guys?), and none of the other mechanics actually excite me. I don't want more Undying cards, the majority of them are just annoying to play against in any format. I don't want more ridiculous creatures with Hexproof. These are not things that actually excite me to be playing Magic.

Edit: Alright, after getting to see a card image, Soulbind actually looks like a really fun mechanic. Not sold on the rest.

[IthilanorStPete]

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Well, Return to Ravnica has an almost 100% chance of having Jace in it now, seeing as he's in the spoiler art for it. I guess that explains why they waited to long to announce it, since Ravnica is one of the best Magic sets ever printed (I forget where but I think they did actually do something that made this statement official).

There is a high percentage chance that we'll see Shocklands reprinted. I'm not sure what they're going to do, since by the storyline of Ravnica: City of Guilds block the Guildpact is gone and there aren't really guilds anymore.

Also, stuff was spoiled for Avacyn Restored big whoop who cares Return to Ravnica.

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On the "best Magic sets ever" thing, Maro said it on his tumblr. He also said on Twitter that they waited so long to announce it because they wanted to do it at PAX East.

[Narkis]

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RAAAVNICAAA!!!!!!

Who gives a **** about Avacyn, we return to Ravnica!


RAAAAAVNIIICAAAAAA!!!!!

[Mystic Muse]

Quick sum-up of stuff so far

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Mechanics
Undying is in
Cards


Sigarda, Host of Herons - 2GWW - Flying, Hexproof, 5/5, spells and abilities your opponents control can't cause you to sacrifice permanents
(I think this is meant to be a Legendary Angel, but they keeps omitting creature type)

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Think this will adversely affect Phyrexian Obliterator very much?

[flabort]

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(5 damage? For R? Actually guys?)

Well, you have no choice as to when you play it for that... and if you do try to have a choice, you'll be paying about 4. Prime time for it to be countered is when you can't counter the counter.

And I think they were having trouble getting people to draft Red.
In the draft I "recently" went to (Thank Spring Break!), I didn't see one person actually PLAY red. Oh, most took a card or five, but no-one played it. There was Blue control, Black/white aggro, green/black aggro, Blue/green mill, a combo white/black/green... Only one Red card actually went into a deck, I believe, and it was payed for with a Shimmering Grotto.

And it's still Red. Red is known for burn, at ridiculous ratios.

[AgentPaper]

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Well, you have no choice as to when you play it for that... and if you do try to have a choice, you'll be paying about 4. Prime time for it to be countered is when you can't counter the counter.

And I think they were having trouble getting people to draft Red.
In the draft I "recently" went to (Thank Spring Break!), I didn't see one person actually PLAY red. Oh, most took a card or five, but no-one played it. There was Blue control, Black/white aggro, green/black aggro, Blue/green mill, a combo white/black/green... Only one Red card actually went into a deck, I believe, and it was payed for with a Shimmering Grotto.

And it's still Red. Red is known for burn, at ridiculous ratios.

You must have a very strange environment, because from all accounts I've heard of, red/black and red/green are some of the most powerful archetypes to draft, and red/blue is pretty good as well. Only Red/white is considered poor, and even that is considered better than green/black, which I've never seen anyone draft. Drafted it once myself, and very much regret doing so, even though the cards I got were decent on their own.


As for "OMG 5 damage for 1 mana!", I'd point to Galvanic Blast, which does 4 damage for 1 mana, and is probably less restrictive in how it works. Seems like it could be strong, but not as crazy as it initially seems I think.

[memnarch]

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*faints*

(So the Boros angels disappeared because they became trapped in the Helvault, right? )

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This makes me wonder given what the Ravnica block's set of books ended with with regards to angels. Namely,

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all dead except for Feather. I'm guessing they won't be showing up.

[tgva8889]

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It's not less restrictive in how often you can set it up. Few decks that aren't Affinity consistently set up Galvanic Blast for 4 damage.

Even just "deals 5 damage to target creature or player" for the 6 mana that it costs is good in Limited. The random times you topdeck it for 1 seem like random "whoops guess game's over" moments, especially in constructed. Maybe it's just me. The card isn't broken or anything, and I think it will probably play well. I am just not excited about it.

[Callos_DeTerran]

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...Wow, I'm really the only one not excited about the Return to Ravnica. XD Should have seen that coming. Anyway, does anyone know when the books/stories for a set comes out? I heard it happens once all the sets are printed, but I wanted to get confirmation...

[Sohala]

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I am hoping for new dual lands, not reprints. (this clearly has nothing to do with EDH)

[The-Mage-King]

Wrong button. You want [SPOILER ][/ SPOILER], not [QUOTE ][ /QUOTE]

Ninja edited.

[tgva8889]

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...Wow, I'm really the only one not excited about the Return to Ravnica. XD Should have seen that coming. Anyway, does anyone know when the books/stories for a set comes out? I heard it happens once all the sets are printed, but I wanted to get confirmation...

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They don't release books very often anymore. I think the practice now is that there's 1 per block? I dunno when they'll release them, though.

[Lord Seth]

Starting with Shards of Alara they changed it to one book per block, though according to Mark Rosewater's tumblr, it looks like Innistrad won't be getting a book because the books weren't selling. Of course, Wizards could have just put someone other than Robert J. Wintermute in charge of writing them and seen sales go up, but such is their way.

[tgva8889]

They probably didn't do that because it costs money.

[Frankelshtein]

To give some context as to how bad the books have become, I'd like to share a review of Quest for Karn from mtgfiction (which has some excellent read-throughs if you'd like to get acquainted with some of the novels, but don't necessarily want to read them through).

I've taken the liberty of copying the "overall" section of the review to provide something of a TL;DR:

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"OVERALL
Score: 0/10 (This is not an average.)

You will be filled with confusion, anger, hope, laugher, tears, and resignation all because of how the words are technically strung together, and not because of what is happening in the story. To top if off the ending will then take your tired and battered spirit and drag it through the mud one last time. You know, for old time's sake. This is without a doubt the worst book I have ever read. Wizards should be ashamed and embarrassed that this book was released, and should without hesitation refund everyone's money.

I don't know the circumstances in which this book was written. I don't know how much time was given to the author, how much guidance he was given, how much time was left for editing, and what the approval process was like. All I know is that the book felt like a first draft of a poorly written fan fiction, while using spell-check in replace of an editor. The best thing I can say about the Scars of Mirrodin: The Quest for Karn is that there was only one likely typo in the book.

DO NOT BUY. You have been warned. The only reason you should buy this book is if you can't stand having an incomplete collection or want many clear examples of how not to write a book."

[Fleeing Coward]

So last draft - my opponent hits me down to 5, he's on 12. I have a 1/1 spirit, 2 1/1 humans and an Elgaud Inquisitor. He taps out to wrack with madness the inquisitor leaving me with 2 1/1 spirits and 2 1/1 humans.
I have Thraben Doomsayer in hand so I win with Fateful Hour right?... I hate lifelink

[Suedars]

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There's definitely a good chance that shocklands will be reprinted in RTR. They need to be reprinted fairly soon or Modern will have troubles as a format, and R&D has acknowledged this.

There's also the fact that sets the last couple years have clearly been designed around the rotation of the old 7 year Extended (since blocks are planned out 4+ years in advance, so RtR would have been planned before Extended's changes). When Onslaught was going to rotate, and with it the fetches that were the glue for Extended's manabase, Zendikar came in with new duals. Then the next block we have Scars replacing the old Mirrodin block. Innistrad/Kamigawa don't have much of a link, since Kamigawa was a bit of a miss, but now we have RtR replacing Ravnica whose most important contribution to Extended was the shocks.

[Sith_Happens]

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So, what are the chances of Shockland and Bob reprints in Return to Ravnica? Having just traded for a Dark Confidant at $45, I'm hoping that they don't reprint him yet, but what do you think?

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Dark Confidant is how much now?

And I thought I felt good about having gotten my eight Stomping Grounds and four Entombs back when they were $10 and $8, respectively. My cousin is the one with four Confidants...

[Androgeus]

So last draft - my opponent hits me down to 5, he's on 12. I have a 1/1 spirit, 2 1/1 humans and an Elgaud Inquisitor. He taps out to wrack with madness the inquisitor leaving me with 2 1/1 spirits and 2 1/1 humans.
I have Thraben Doomsayer in hand so I win with Fateful Hour right?... I hate lifelink

When ever something with lifelink deals damage damage, you gain life equal to damage dealt. So unfortunately you're at 7 life.

[memnarch]

When ever something with lifelink deals damage damage, you gain life equal to damage dealt. So unfortunately you're at 7 life.

Aye, that's why he hates lifelink!

[9mm]

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Ravinca!

actually, Meh.

In other news: I hate sideboard making!

[The Extinguisher]

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It's not less restrictive in how often you can set it up. Few decks that aren't Affinity consistently set up Galvanic Blast for 4 damage.

Even just "deals 5 damage to target creature or player" for the 6 mana that it costs is good in Limited. The random times you topdeck it for 1 seem like random "whoops guess game's over" moments, especially in constructed. Maybe it's just me. The card isn't broken or anything, and I think it will probably play well. I am just not excited about it.

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It doesn't matter. It's still a four of in Legacy Burn, and pretty much every straight burn deck. 5 for 1 always except for if you draw it in your opening hand? Yes yes a thousand times yes.

[AgentPaper]

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It doesn't matter. It's still a four of in Legacy Burn, and pretty much every straight burn deck. 5 for 1 always except for if you draw it in your opening hand? Yes yes a thousand times yes.

...and if you do draw it in your opening hand, it's essentially a dead card. Or, if you're on the play and you draw it first. Also, if you're on turn 2 and draw it, then you have to choose between casting it and doing anything else on your turn, unless you happen to have another 1 mana card. Or if you draw it turn 4, you have to choose between casting it and playing your 4-drop, etc.

There are certainly a lot of situations where it's very good, but also ones where it's not very good.

[tgva8889]

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It doesn't matter. It's still a four of in Legacy Burn, and pretty much every straight burn deck. 5 for 1 always except for if you draw it in your opening hand? Yes yes a thousand times yes.

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I don't think it's a 4-of in any Legacy deck. All the times you have it in your starting hand are mulligans. You don't want that in Legacy Burn. You definitely play it, but I'd play 2. You really can't afford to have it in your starting hand, because you will probably never get to resolve it (even if you get to cast it at all).

Agentpaper:

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I mean, there isn't going to be that much of a choice. In constructed, the card is nearly uncastable at 6 mana. You're going to Miracle it pretty much every time, since every other time it's pretty much a dead card.

[The Extinguisher]

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...and if you do draw it in your opening hand, it's essentially a dead card. Or, if you're on the play and you draw it first. Also, if you're on turn 2 and draw it, then you have to choose between casting it and doing anything else on your turn, unless you happen to have another 1 mana card. Or if you draw it turn 4, you have to choose between casting it and playing your 4-drop, etc.

There are certainly a lot of situations where it's very good, but also ones where it's not very good.

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Okay, maybe it is a two of, but not because of this. Clearly you've never played Legacy Burn. The deck runs 20 Lightning Bolts. There's nothing you want to do other than play spells that damage the opponent. This is such an efficient way of doing it.

tgva, I'd still test it as a 4 of. Because in my mind it's worth it. 5 for 1 is so much better than anything Burn plays already (except maybe Fireblast, but even then it's iffy)

[AgentPaper]

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Okay, maybe it is a two of, but not because of this. Clearly you've never played Legacy Burn. The deck runs 20 Lightning Bolts. There's nothing you want to do other than play spells that damage the opponent. This is such an efficient way of doing it.

tgva, I'd still test it as a 4 of. Because in my mind it's worth it. 5 for 1 is so much better than anything Burn plays already (except maybe Fireblast, but even then it's iffy)

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Oh, I was thinking more about RDW, and standard.

[Suedars]

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Burn is pretty much the worst deck ever at taking mulligans, and starting with one in your opener is more or less a mull, so I really don't think 4 is the way to go.

[tgva8889]

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It's better than your other burn spells, unless it's not an actual card, like every time it's in your opening hand. I mean, the burn deck still does plenty of damage. Is it helpful to have, yes, but I don't want to increase inconsistency for it. I would play 2, as then it's not likely to be in my hand but I still have the possibility of just topdecking my opponents.