I feel like I'm one of the few who really enjoy reading these stories on the website so it's kind of a dickkick that they are going back to making me pay for full novels but as long as I can snag em for kindle I'll buy.
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
Magic: the Gathering |OT| Guilds of Ravnica - We built this city on blocks of gold
- Thread starter SigmasonicX
- Start date
- Status
no you're not the only one, they used to do books way back but nobody bought them, they then switched to ebooks w/ theros but no one bought those either. They switched to the universally loved method of distribution w/ Magic Origins I believe and now think they can cache that cheque back in w/ books again just cause they hire somewhat known authors and tie them in through side stories.
I hope this blows up in their face big time.
Ya, this is a huge step back for story proliferation. It didn't work before, it's not gonna work now.
OP
OP
Under the Cover of Fog
Nicky Drayden
Merret, a covert agent of House Dimir, works a lowly position on the docks until he stumbles upon life-changing magic.
* Merret works at the docks, using simple fog magic and a crowbar to open crates and allow a spybug to look for valuables, since House Dimir doesn't consider him good for anything else.
* His boss at the docks, a minotaur named Grimbly Wothis, asks him to clear the fog to show off to an investor, but he can't clear the whole thing. He does expose some Simic merfolk that were sneaking through, who promptly get annoyed and turn invisible. Grimbly laughs with the investor about this, but he docks Merret's pay for not doing his job well. Most of his income comes from his dock work, despite being undercover.
* At home, he has a wife, a baby son, and a daughter a few years older. The wife makes potions to sell in the market, but the baby is malnourished and isn't growing much. She tells him to do something about this.
* Merret tries to steal from a grocery in a wealthy district, but they carefully watch him from the moment he comes in, so he can't do anything.
* He unexpectedly spots his boss and realizes he lives nearby.
* He sneaks into his boss's apartment. The door is sealed by magic, but he didn't bother with his window.
* He snatches some bread and then spots a mind-enhancing potion. Taking a few drops, he finds that he can actually apply the Dimir magic lessons he got years ago.
* Grimbly's wife comes into the kitchen, and Merret is ashamed he didn't think to check for that. He is able to use magic to hide himself from her.
* At the docks, he uses his enhanced magic to clear the fog, and then gets revenge against a viashino coworker who insulted him by giving him nightmares while he operates a crane. This wrecks some shipments, including some expensive whisky, and almost hurts Grimbly and an investor. He sees Grimbly see remnants of magic coming from his hand, so he runs home to get his family away.
* At home, the baby has already gotten healthier and can even walk, thanks to the bread soaked in mind potion. The baby sneezes and candles all around the apartment complex light up.
* Grimbly comes knocking and Merret tells his family to hide. The minotaur breaks the door down. He knows Merret can't ever pay him back, but he noticed the baby demonstrating pyromancy, and will take him.
* Merret uses nightmare magic on Grimbly, but withdraws it when he almost steps on his daughter. The minotaur immediately kicks him and takes the baby, and with the potion wearing off, Merret can't do anything.
* However, Lazav suddenly appears. He offers to compensate Grimbly, and Merret will keep his family, on the condition a Dimir tutor stays with them to raise the baby.
* Next thing Merret knows, he and his family are laughing with his wife's aunt, who's staying with them until she can get back on her feet. He happily eats some fruit, wondering why his jaw hurts.
I thought this was a good story, showing what life is like for a low ranking Dimir agent.
Nicky Drayden
Merret, a covert agent of House Dimir, works a lowly position on the docks until he stumbles upon life-changing magic.
* Merret works at the docks, using simple fog magic and a crowbar to open crates and allow a spybug to look for valuables, since House Dimir doesn't consider him good for anything else.
* His boss at the docks, a minotaur named Grimbly Wothis, asks him to clear the fog to show off to an investor, but he can't clear the whole thing. He does expose some Simic merfolk that were sneaking through, who promptly get annoyed and turn invisible. Grimbly laughs with the investor about this, but he docks Merret's pay for not doing his job well. Most of his income comes from his dock work, despite being undercover.
* At home, he has a wife, a baby son, and a daughter a few years older. The wife makes potions to sell in the market, but the baby is malnourished and isn't growing much. She tells him to do something about this.
* Merret tries to steal from a grocery in a wealthy district, but they carefully watch him from the moment he comes in, so he can't do anything.
* He unexpectedly spots his boss and realizes he lives nearby.
* He sneaks into his boss's apartment. The door is sealed by magic, but he didn't bother with his window.
* He snatches some bread and then spots a mind-enhancing potion. Taking a few drops, he finds that he can actually apply the Dimir magic lessons he got years ago.
* Grimbly's wife comes into the kitchen, and Merret is ashamed he didn't think to check for that. He is able to use magic to hide himself from her.
* At the docks, he uses his enhanced magic to clear the fog, and then gets revenge against a viashino coworker who insulted him by giving him nightmares while he operates a crane. This wrecks some shipments, including some expensive whisky, and almost hurts Grimbly and an investor. He sees Grimbly see remnants of magic coming from his hand, so he runs home to get his family away.
* At home, the baby has already gotten healthier and can even walk, thanks to the bread soaked in mind potion. The baby sneezes and candles all around the apartment complex light up.
* Grimbly comes knocking and Merret tells his family to hide. The minotaur breaks the door down. He knows Merret can't ever pay him back, but he noticed the baby demonstrating pyromancy, and will take him.
* Merret uses nightmare magic on Grimbly, but withdraws it when he almost steps on his daughter. The minotaur immediately kicks him and takes the baby, and with the potion wearing off, Merret can't do anything.
* However, Lazav suddenly appears. He offers to compensate Grimbly, and Merret will keep his family, on the condition a Dimir tutor stays with them to raise the baby.
* Next thing Merret knows, he and his family are laughing with his wife's aunt, who's staying with them until she can get back on her feet. He happily eats some fruit, wondering why his jaw hurts.
I thought this was a good story, showing what life is like for a low ranking Dimir agent.
Last edited:
This was actually a really good story. I'm a sucker for lower-deck episodes generally, but just the way it was written was a treat.
NICOL BALLS
"It's a little... gauche, isn't it?" Jace, the Guildpact™ said, surveying the graffiti scrawled across the Izzet campaign mural.
Gideon, Swole Bro™ stepped back from his work, flexing his muscles in response. "Balls," he hollered. "Like Bolas, but testicles. Wee testicles for a wee dragon." His buttocks clenched and unclenched rapidly.
With the Ravnican mid-terms in full swing, Jace and his merry band of planeswalkers had been roving the city, drumming up grassroots support against the incumbent, Nicol Bolas, El Presidente™. By utilizing contacts within the Dimir Guild, who, he was surprised to find out, weren't mere messengers, but spies, ninjas, and vampires, Jace had been manipulating the flow of information across Ravnica to shine light on Nicol Bolas, El Presidente™ as a greedy sycophant whose every decision was formed by his own best interests. Unfortunately, this seemed to appeal to many Ravnicans, who could look no further than their own desire to BE Nicol Bolas, El Presidente™, and his work had fallen flat.
"Nicol Bolas is... huge, Gid," Jace sighed. "I'm not sure this joke hits the way you want—" Jace's disapproval was stopped short by a raucous laugh, followed by the barking cough of a fire mage. Jace jumped at a pinch on his buttocks. Chandra, Burning Desire[FONT=system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, Apple Color Emoji, Segoe UI Emoji, Segoe UI Symbol]™ sidled up beside him, her smile easy and [/FONT]mischievous.
"I LIKE it," she said. "Good one, Gid."
Jace scowled. He was about to say something to Chandra, when two Golgari Guildmages passed by, stinking of rot, clearly drunk. With a guffaw, one laughed and pushed his friend toward the group of planeswalkers. "Lookit that!" he snickered. Lookit, Bloorg. Nicol Balls! Like testicles. Who wants balls for president?" They devolved into drunken laughter, until Bloorg vomited all over the graffiti'd mural.
They disappeared, making jokes about testicles until they could no longer be heard under the general noise of the waking city.
"Look what I have," Chandra said, breaking the moment. She pulled a large campaign poster from somewhere in her impossibly tight leather outfit.
VOTE CHANDRA
BURN IT TO THE GROUND
"You... you're... running?" Jace stammered. "For president of Ravnica?"
"Sure," Chandra said, casually waving away his concern. "Gotta beat Nicol Balls somehow."
"Couldn't you just... I don't know, roast him with a fireball? This seems... risky compared to your usual methods."
Chandra smiled. Her "There's got to be a little risk factor to it, or where's the fun."
Jace wasn't sure fun was the point of politics. His face fell into its usual brooding scowl. "But. But. Is it a good plan? Aren't there better options. You're giving control of your fate to the very people who are fighting against you. It's never worked in the past."
"Doesn't mean it'll never work in the future."
Jace stammered, then jumped back in surprise as the words on the campaign poster ignited.
"Cool, hey?"
Gideon stared, entranced by the spectacle.
"Burn it to the ground," Chandra said. "Burn Nicol Balls to the ground."
"It's a little... gauche, isn't it?" Jace, the Guildpact™ said, surveying the graffiti scrawled across the Izzet campaign mural.
Gideon, Swole Bro™ stepped back from his work, flexing his muscles in response. "Balls," he hollered. "Like Bolas, but testicles. Wee testicles for a wee dragon." His buttocks clenched and unclenched rapidly.
With the Ravnican mid-terms in full swing, Jace and his merry band of planeswalkers had been roving the city, drumming up grassroots support against the incumbent, Nicol Bolas, El Presidente™. By utilizing contacts within the Dimir Guild, who, he was surprised to find out, weren't mere messengers, but spies, ninjas, and vampires, Jace had been manipulating the flow of information across Ravnica to shine light on Nicol Bolas, El Presidente™ as a greedy sycophant whose every decision was formed by his own best interests. Unfortunately, this seemed to appeal to many Ravnicans, who could look no further than their own desire to BE Nicol Bolas, El Presidente™, and his work had fallen flat.
"Nicol Bolas is... huge, Gid," Jace sighed. "I'm not sure this joke hits the way you want—" Jace's disapproval was stopped short by a raucous laugh, followed by the barking cough of a fire mage. Jace jumped at a pinch on his buttocks. Chandra, Burning Desire[FONT=system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, Apple Color Emoji, Segoe UI Emoji, Segoe UI Symbol]™ sidled up beside him, her smile easy and [/FONT]mischievous.
"I LIKE it," she said. "Good one, Gid."
Jace scowled. He was about to say something to Chandra, when two Golgari Guildmages passed by, stinking of rot, clearly drunk. With a guffaw, one laughed and pushed his friend toward the group of planeswalkers. "Lookit that!" he snickered. Lookit, Bloorg. Nicol Balls! Like testicles. Who wants balls for president?" They devolved into drunken laughter, until Bloorg vomited all over the graffiti'd mural.
They disappeared, making jokes about testicles until they could no longer be heard under the general noise of the waking city.
"Look what I have," Chandra said, breaking the moment. She pulled a large campaign poster from somewhere in her impossibly tight leather outfit.
VOTE CHANDRA
BURN IT TO THE GROUND
"You... you're... running?" Jace stammered. "For president of Ravnica?"
"Sure," Chandra said, casually waving away his concern. "Gotta beat Nicol Balls somehow."
"Couldn't you just... I don't know, roast him with a fireball? This seems... risky compared to your usual methods."
Chandra smiled. Her "There's got to be a little risk factor to it, or where's the fun."
Jace wasn't sure fun was the point of politics. His face fell into its usual brooding scowl. "But. But. Is it a good plan? Aren't there better options. You're giving control of your fate to the very people who are fighting against you. It's never worked in the past."
"Doesn't mean it'll never work in the future."
Jace stammered, then jumped back in surprise as the words on the campaign poster ignited.
"Cool, hey?"
Gideon stared, entranced by the spectacle.
"Burn it to the ground," Chandra said. "Burn Nicol Balls to the ground."
OP
OP
The lack of romance is concerning.
Not sure if this font thing was intentional, but it adds to it.
Man. There ain't no time for lovin' when Nicol Balls is running the show.
I wish I could claim the font thing as my own, but it was a happy accident when copy/pasting the TM symbol from Wikipedia.
So, I just stomped on a Teferi player in competitive, who was at the highest possible rank and was called "The Eraser". I won with a Selesnya tokens deck (with only one March so far though...) 2-1, but he almost lost all three (I had to mulligan to 5 and still left him at less than 10 when I lost).
Most satisfying win so far.
Most satisfying win so far.
i own(ed) the Arena book because the first time i bought cards was a fat pack of onslaught and i got the book
dont think i read more than chapter one
dont think i read more than chapter one
Izoni is a total beating if you put any effort into enabling her because dropping a 2/3 and 8 1/1s is serious business
I kind of prefer the books to the weekly online stories as long as the books are written by semi-competent writers. I liked the books as a teenager and still have 20-30 of them. From Kamigawa back.
Opened the box of Guilds that I bought yesterday and got 5 mythics which is the most I've ever gotten in a box. Included both planeswalkers. Got Assassin's Trophy also. Only 2 shocks though.
Does anyone still need one of the Arena codes that came in the prerelease packs? I have an extra.
Opened the box of Guilds that I bought yesterday and got 5 mythics which is the most I've ever gotten in a box. Included both planeswalkers. Got Assassin's Trophy also. Only 2 shocks though.
Does anyone still need one of the Arena codes that came in the prerelease packs? I have an extra.
Has anyone seen this new deck-building website? I spotted it on Reddit and now it's basically my favorite. I think it still needs some work in the intuitive UI department though.
https://archidekt.com/
Also the prices for cards aren't either displaying correctly or not at all.
https://archidekt.com/
Also the prices for cards aren't either displaying correctly or not at all.
The presentation is nice and this probably works pretty well for Standard and Modern, but the lists are just not readable for commander decks. Tappedout seems way better for that.
Tappedout is unruly. Deckstats has the best interface for deck construction and visual display of decks imo.
They also track revisions which is extremely helpful.
They also track revisions which is extremely helpful.
Hmm, I don't have the code on me now but I'll check it tonight to see if I entered it wrong.
Guild boosters are awesome, pulled a Trophy out of a Golgari one. One rare guaranteed but a couple I got had two. Seems like the best way to get playsets of all the C/U cards without buying a box.
Seems like there are three times as many Golgari in each display as the other guilds...wonder why Wizards did that. /s
Seems like there are three times as many Golgari in each display as the other guilds...wonder why Wizards did that. /s
Keep in mind that codes are case-sensitive
Anyone have a good list for Boros Angels for me to work towards in Arena? Realize it'll be a while still because of all the mythics needed, but I already have 4 Resplendent Angels, a History of Benalia, and 6 mythic Wildcards. Hoping Dominaria draft will treat me well when that comes around, to fill in the list a bit better...
Here you go
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/standard-boros-angels-60565#paper
Unfortantually you are looking at one of the most mythic heavy decks currently in the format.
Thanks! And yeah, it's gonna be rough, but it's definitely the deck the interests me most, so I want to make it work. Thank god for just lucking into all those Resplendent Angels, though, as it'll make this whole thing a LOT easier.
OP
OP
M-Files - Multicolor
* Artful Takedown used to be a bigger Agony Warp, but that was too strong for common. It's modal to loudly tell players it can target two different creatures, which is less clear when not written this way. I hadn't thought of that.
* It's interesting that with Charnel Troll, they had to take into account the wording still working with Solemnity on the battlefield. That is to say, to make sure the sacrifice clause didn't look at the counter being added, like earlier wordings, but the creature card being exiled.
* Looks like they deliberately wanted Niv-Mizzet to go infinite with Curiosity effects, since that's what people expect from him.
* Knight of Autumn originally had Trostani's "anti-Hostage Taker" ability. That was before it got a modal effect.
* Mnemonic Betrayal originally kept stuff in your opponent's graveyard the entire time, but that proved confusing with priorities for cards you can cast from your graveyard and such, so they kept adding restrictions to your opponent until eventually they just exiled everything.
* Aurelia's boost isn't mandatory due to Justice Strike.
* Artful Takedown used to be a bigger Agony Warp, but that was too strong for common. It's modal to loudly tell players it can target two different creatures, which is less clear when not written this way. I hadn't thought of that.
* It's interesting that with Charnel Troll, they had to take into account the wording still working with Solemnity on the battlefield. That is to say, to make sure the sacrifice clause didn't look at the counter being added, like earlier wordings, but the creature card being exiled.
* Looks like they deliberately wanted Niv-Mizzet to go infinite with Curiosity effects, since that's what people expect from him.
* Knight of Autumn originally had Trostani's "anti-Hostage Taker" ability. That was before it got a modal effect.
* Mnemonic Betrayal originally kept stuff in your opponent's graveyard the entire time, but that proved confusing with priorities for cards you can cast from your graveyard and such, so they kept adding restrictions to your opponent until eventually they just exiled everything.
* Aurelia's boost isn't mandatory due to Justice Strike.
This only mattered because it was originally 2/4 but as it was printed as a 2/5 Justice Stike misses it now.
I think in this article we are starting to see Play Design's influence. Lots of notes on cards coming back redesigned an rebalanced from them and FFL.
OP
OP
From the new Drive to Work, George Fan (Plants vs. Zombies) is working at Wizards for six months now.
He made a GDS3 submission where he said he just wanted to work there for a bit and they said he could just go ahead and do that instead of going through the contest.
He made a GDS3 submission where he said he just wanted to work there for a bit and they said he could just go ahead and do that instead of going through the contest.
He did a guest design spot too, right?
Yep - it was Genesis Hydra. Constructed staple for a while.
Yep - it was Genesis Hydra. Constructed staple for a while.
i was playing some mtgo beta sealed and i have decided that sprout swarm makes everything miserable for everyone
So uh, basically they're playing Hearthstone's Conquest format?
I read "Seth" and thought Wizards had finally given recognition to the true GOAT, SaffronOlive. But alas it was just a beautiful mirage.
Seth new video opening a box of Creature Forge tokens is both hilarious and infuriating. Truely wonderful.
"This must be a knight."
*Holds up token with 'Golem' label facing the camera*
i just want seth to play pokemon for pokegoldfish so i can experience the full impact of getting pokemon names wrong
It was hilarious but I was more upset that the product itself is literally nothing but plastic trash to fuck up the oceans.
Drafting and sealed and reward packs gave me enough pieces to toss together a couple Rock variants. It's a fun deck, awesome to keep generating value, but feels vulnerable to being slow. Even though it's not a ramp deck.
I don't watch SaffronOlive much, when he pronounces things wrong is it because he seriously hasn't figured out how even after all this time, or is it just for memes?
I'm convinced he says a lot of the things wrong because he's moving fast and just talks then develops it as a habit. But some of the things he gets wrong, sometimes it feels like it's on purpose "for the lulz".
Plus he always says Gollum instead of golem and it drives me mad.
The one that gets me is he pronounced "Basilisk Collar" very distinctly as "Basilica Scholar" which should probably be an Orzhov common in the next set.
His latest stream is pretty good, featuring iconic Magic cards such as "Price of Flame" and "Protein Raider".
Heads up for EDH peeps, the physical Command Zones from realityfoundry.net are pretty slick for the price. Ordered a green one for my Grunn deck and it works great, perfect dimensions.
- Status