If they flood the market with enough copies of the hypothetical challenger deck that includes it, it should go down I guess.
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Magic: the Gathering |OT| Ravnica Allegiance - These 5 Lands Will SHOCK You!
- Thread starter SigmasonicX
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If they flood the market with enough copies of the hypothetical challenger deck that includes it, it should go down I guess.
I think they might chuck a Teferi or 2 in the Challenger deck. I say we see 5 of the 6 watered down decks as our challenger decks in a month or two.
White Weenie or Boros Aggro
Izzet Drakes
Azorius or Jeskai control
Selesnya Tokens
Golgari Midrange
Mono Red Aggro
White Weenie or Boros Aggro
Izzet Drakes
Azorius or Jeskai control
Selesnya Tokens
Golgari Midrange
Mono Red Aggro
Chances of >1 Teferi in the challenger decks is 0%. It is possible we get 1 but for some reason I doubt it, though there is not really a downside for Wotc. I get that they have to balance these reprints so as not to anger people who bought these cards for a lot of money and also not to ruin the business of LGSs which are at least somewhat depending on single card sales. However, 1 reprint should strike a balance...
They did it last year with Chandra and Hazoret, and if what I remember reading was right, they were more expensive back then as singles than the whole cost of the deck. They have to find a balance between offering a competitive product that can be used at a casual-competitive scenario OOTB (in this case FNM), balance them against one another, and set them at an affordable price point that doesn't scream "WotC is trying to get in the business of selling singles for their secondary market price". If this means a copy of Teferi has to go in because otherwise UWx control just flops, then so be it.
Edit: they could also start printing these decks with white borders to decrease collectors' and whale's desirability of them so they can get away with printing more "value" while putting some minor barrier to scalping and LGS gutting them for singles instead of selling the whole product.
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Would that decrease value though lol? I'm sure some players would love a playset of white border Teferis!
It's a good possibility but I was banking on the fact that lots of players don't really like white bordered cards due to all the years of core sets up until 9th edition being seen as a "lesser" product, and the old connotations of the white border to indicate a mostly reprinted product meant not to hurt the collectability of the original black-bordered print runs. And as I said, it would deter the LGSs in the scummier side of the spectrum from gutting them for the chase singles, at least for the first couple of weeks when it's unlikely somebody might have traded one of those back in, or grossly marking them up.
Hmm, guess I could definitely sell at least 1 Teferi. Not 100% on the second one, as a part of me is like "it's a cool card I got from Prerelease..." but Arena has made me hate how it's actually played and Azorious is probably my least liked color combo...
Also have a Karn who I'm definitely keeping for emotional reasons, a Vivien Reid who I'm not sure (Green is my most common color and I kinda like her and how I got her, but I'd imagine her value is definitely tanking when standard rotates), and a Search for Azcanta (which again, less sure on selling). Then there's the weird question of all the stuff that's worth like $3-5 and whether it's worth bothering with. Definitely keeping the Shocklands I got though, as I'd imagine those will maintain value and will be helpful throwing Commander decks and junk together in the future. I dunno, selling stuff is weird to me, haha.
Either way, selling at least one of the Teferis and my Bayou and Tropical Island to fund two new commander decks. One's gonna be Merfolk, even if it isn't great, because I just LOVE the art on them in modern times. And then presumably one more serious deck. Got the cat one from like 2 years back already, which I swiveled to be seriously equipment focused. As for other stuff, I really LOVE the angels in Magic... but my friend already has a Boros one with Gisela as commander, and I don't want direct overlap at least. But mostly, I just really love stuff with cool synergy, and don't like control stuff. Like, I can play a few control cards here and there to aid my deck, but I never want to go full on control deck. Also, just off the top of my head, don't think I want to do zombies as I just am not very fond of them aesthetically.
So yeah, any suggestions?
Oh, and I was planning on waiting for rotation to build a trashy Dino commander deck (mainly thinking Carnage Tyrant, but the prices on the rest will probably just straight up shrivel up, right?) but... not sure if I should do the same on Merfolk or not, since the deck isn't exactly tier 1 regardless...
(Sorry for embedding a good number questions in one post, haha.)
Also have a Karn who I'm definitely keeping for emotional reasons, a Vivien Reid who I'm not sure (Green is my most common color and I kinda like her and how I got her, but I'd imagine her value is definitely tanking when standard rotates), and a Search for Azcanta (which again, less sure on selling). Then there's the weird question of all the stuff that's worth like $3-5 and whether it's worth bothering with. Definitely keeping the Shocklands I got though, as I'd imagine those will maintain value and will be helpful throwing Commander decks and junk together in the future. I dunno, selling stuff is weird to me, haha.
Either way, selling at least one of the Teferis and my Bayou and Tropical Island to fund two new commander decks. One's gonna be Merfolk, even if it isn't great, because I just LOVE the art on them in modern times. And then presumably one more serious deck. Got the cat one from like 2 years back already, which I swiveled to be seriously equipment focused. As for other stuff, I really LOVE the angels in Magic... but my friend already has a Boros one with Gisela as commander, and I don't want direct overlap at least. But mostly, I just really love stuff with cool synergy, and don't like control stuff. Like, I can play a few control cards here and there to aid my deck, but I never want to go full on control deck. Also, just off the top of my head, don't think I want to do zombies as I just am not very fond of them aesthetically.
So yeah, any suggestions?
Oh, and I was planning on waiting for rotation to build a trashy Dino commander deck (mainly thinking Carnage Tyrant, but the prices on the rest will probably just straight up shrivel up, right?) but... not sure if I should do the same on Merfolk or not, since the deck isn't exactly tier 1 regardless...
(Sorry for embedding a good number questions in one post, haha.)
You should do Zacama or Gishath for dinosaurs and there's no reason to wait. Carnage Tyrant will be in a challenger deck for sure. Just buy it later. Everything else is already cheap and the deck style is really fun and pretty good.
State of Product Design 2018
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State of Product Design 2018
Gavin Verhey
2018 was packed to the brim with diverse Magic products. Here, Gavin overviews those that stood out most, for better or for worse.
* Masters 25 was something they were pretty excited for, but the response was pretty negative due to the lack of money cards. The set still sold fine.
* Ultimate Masters, originally named Immortal Masters, did very well.
* No last minute surprise, there really aren't any other Masters sets coming up. The reprints will be spread out through other products.
* The late reveal of Ultimate Masters strained both stores and some fans, so they won't do late reveals like this anymore.
* The Core 2019 Welcome Decks and Planeswalker Decks were big hits.
* There has been some question of if these decks really need to be Standard legal, but there will be no changes there for now.
* Spellslinger Starter Kit was an out of the box introductory two-player product sold in mass-market stores (Wal-Mart, Target, etc.). In order to make sure experienced players would feel fine recommending it, they included a few money cards like Ghalta. It did fine, and they'll need another one to really assess it.
* Magic Game Night was an out of the box five-player "board game" product. Design was more constrained than they would have liked. It sold alright, and they feel like they could make it better with a second chance.
* Challenger Decks are doing great. Currently they have to finalize the decks five months ahead of time.
* Battlebond did great. It's clear that both multiplayer-focus and good reprints lead to successful sets. There won't be another Two-Headed Giant set for a while, but we can expect more of those two.
* Commander 2018 had issues, such as so few lands matter cards, but it's still selling very well.
* The price raise came after the decks were finalized (so yes, the line about more money for more power was bunk).
* They are going to improve the quality of reprints with the 2019 decks.
* Guild Kits were a hit. Preconstructed decks continue to do well, even ones aimed at pure casual play (and not Commander) like these.
* The response to Archenemy: Nicol Bolas is that people just wanted decks.
* They'll be experimenting more with preconstructed decks in the future.
* Duel Decks just haven't been selling well, which is why they stopped with Elves vs. Inventors. Plus, they were running out of good themes, and stores thought too many products were coming out, so they had to make a cut somewhere. Unfortunately, that means we're missing out on Sarkhan vs. Sarkhan.
* The ComicCon promos have gotten pretty stale, but they hope to change them up.
* Theme Boosters are a big success, and will be part of all Standard sets going forward. Dominaria had one for each color, and Ravnica 3 has had one for each guild, containing only cards of that theme.
* Mythic Edition has been successful, but they've decided this isn't the exact model they want to use for a high-end direct market product.
* Signature Spellbook: Jace accomplished their goals, so we can expect more Signature Spellbooks in coming years.
* Commander Anthology sold well, which goes to show people are hungry for more Commander products. These won't come out often, but it's another tool in their toolkit.
* Global Series: Jiang Yanggu & Mu Yanling was a flop, due to the restraints of it being Standard legal but only in China, making it super weak. No more Global Series are planned, but Gavin does hope they can bring the global collaboration that went into these decks to other avenues.
* It's too early to tell how Heroes of Dominaria, the board game, is doing.
EDIT: Ravnica Allegiance survey.
Gavin Verhey
2018 was packed to the brim with diverse Magic products. Here, Gavin overviews those that stood out most, for better or for worse.
* Masters 25 was something they were pretty excited for, but the response was pretty negative due to the lack of money cards. The set still sold fine.
* Ultimate Masters, originally named Immortal Masters, did very well.
* No last minute surprise, there really aren't any other Masters sets coming up. The reprints will be spread out through other products.
* The late reveal of Ultimate Masters strained both stores and some fans, so they won't do late reveals like this anymore.
* The Core 2019 Welcome Decks and Planeswalker Decks were big hits.
* There has been some question of if these decks really need to be Standard legal, but there will be no changes there for now.
* Spellslinger Starter Kit was an out of the box introductory two-player product sold in mass-market stores (Wal-Mart, Target, etc.). In order to make sure experienced players would feel fine recommending it, they included a few money cards like Ghalta. It did fine, and they'll need another one to really assess it.
* Magic Game Night was an out of the box five-player "board game" product. Design was more constrained than they would have liked. It sold alright, and they feel like they could make it better with a second chance.
* Challenger Decks are doing great. Currently they have to finalize the decks five months ahead of time.
* Battlebond did great. It's clear that both multiplayer-focus and good reprints lead to successful sets. There won't be another Two-Headed Giant set for a while, but we can expect more of those two.
* Commander 2018 had issues, such as so few lands matter cards, but it's still selling very well.
* The price raise came after the decks were finalized (so yes, the line about more money for more power was bunk).
* They are going to improve the quality of reprints with the 2019 decks.
* Guild Kits were a hit. Preconstructed decks continue to do well, even ones aimed at pure casual play (and not Commander) like these.
* The response to Archenemy: Nicol Bolas is that people just wanted decks.
* They'll be experimenting more with preconstructed decks in the future.
* Duel Decks just haven't been selling well, which is why they stopped with Elves vs. Inventors. Plus, they were running out of good themes, and stores thought too many products were coming out, so they had to make a cut somewhere. Unfortunately, that means we're missing out on Sarkhan vs. Sarkhan.
* The ComicCon promos have gotten pretty stale, but they hope to change them up.
* Theme Boosters are a big success, and will be part of all Standard sets going forward. Dominaria had one for each color, and Ravnica 3 has had one for each guild, containing only cards of that theme.
* Mythic Edition has been successful, but they've decided this isn't the exact model they want to use for a high-end direct market product.
* Signature Spellbook: Jace accomplished their goals, so we can expect more Signature Spellbooks in coming years.
* Commander Anthology sold well, which goes to show people are hungry for more Commander products. These won't come out often, but it's another tool in their toolkit.
* Global Series: Jiang Yanggu & Mu Yanling was a flop, due to the restraints of it being Standard legal but only in China, making it super weak. No more Global Series are planned, but Gavin does hope they can bring the global collaboration that went into these decks to other avenues.
* It's too early to tell how Heroes of Dominaria, the board game, is doing.
EDIT: Ravnica Allegiance survey.
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Sounds like they'll push Commander harder and that's fine with me. Definitely the best format.
I don't get why they said "we discontinued duel decks" and then put out 10 of them. Because that's exactly what the Guild Kits were. It's largely the same product, you just don't have to buy two separate decks.
Because Guild Kits are selling way better than Duel Decks have been.
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They're different in theme and packaging. You might as well say any 60 card preconstructed deck is basically a Duel Deck.
I have reached the point where I don't even fucking care whether Nexus of Fate is "overpowered" or whatever, it's just so fucking unfun to play against it NEEDS to be banned in Arena. It fucking sucks. Every time I play against one of these shitheads it makes me want to play the game less, and that should make Wizards fucking terrified.
nexus is certainly one of their bigger recent mistakes, but an important part of mtg is that you can basically avoid standard
the arena devs don't really understand that whole part of the game because they drink too much of the wotc kool-aid, but it's basically okay to play the game less. i think they should offer other modes (eg. singleton) much more frequently just to give people an escape from the competitive standard format, but they've kind of build the whole game around standard and treating everything else like shit
i wouldn't play the game at all if had to suffer through every design mistake they make in standard, but i find it interesting enough in moderate amounts so that i have reasons to collect the cards and play with them. i play real decks if i'm paying for entry (and therefore prizes), but i'm also fine playing in the free queues with fun nonsense and just conceding against decks i don't like (or can't ever beat)
One deck compromised of a deck of one guild of Ravnica with cards across all three Ravnica sets is the same as getting two shitty decks based around a boring theme? I don't see how you come to that conclusion.
Glad they are pushing commander. It's my favorite format and the most popular one in my area. It dwarfs standard attendance.
As I only collect full sets with only one of every card, commander allows me to enjoy being a collector and be able to play the game at the same time.
As I only collect full sets with only one of every card, commander allows me to enjoy being a collector and be able to play the game at the same time.
I don't think any of the EDH cards they've released have been exceptionally powerful. Im just hoping for new Commanders and some reprints really. The number of good commanders that feel unique is way too low. I love the commanders that make bad cards good.
The worst part about the EDH/Commander releases is they pollute the MTGO cubes with a bunch of unpleasant, nostalgia-less cards with fake mechanics like Council's Dilemma and Monarch.
Expropriate is really bad in that you really shouldn't play it cause it will just get countered but it's also annoying in that it's way too strong to ever resolve and not win the game.
For some reason I never see expropriate countered in commander. By the time it comes around people have exhausted their counters OR... you have someone who ramps up so fast with mana that people are normally tapped out from their previous turns during early rounds just trying to get permanents out.
This saved me twice from Expropriate foolishness. Another badass commander card.
This saved me twice from Expropriate foolishness. Another badass commander card.
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Standard is a cute way for people to have a fresh meta every year with their new cards from sealed/draft but Commander is more in line with what Magic was originally intended to be. It's Magic: The Gathering, not Magic: The BO3 Sideboard. If it wasn't for Commander I wouldn't have come back.
Like for real, how can someone look at a card like Captive Audience or Mass Manipulation and not immediately want to wreck their friends with it? Not every card has to be a Phyrexian mana cantrip for Modern.
Like for real, how can someone look at a card like Captive Audience or Mass Manipulation and not immediately want to wreck their friends with it? Not every card has to be a Phyrexian mana cantrip for Modern.
My form of commander is very spikey so most commander cards are still just too pricey in cmc. I run the occasional Ethereal Absolution more for fun than that I believe it will work even in 2 out of 5 cases. So most of the cards I'm looking at are the high powered low cost cards and most standard crap rares are left by the wayside as a result.
And all Expropriates will be countered.
And all Expropriates will be countered.
Magic Story - The Principles of Unnatural Selection
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The Principles of Unnatural Selection
Nicky Drayden
Deep below the surface of Ravnica, a Simic educator tests the limits of her students, herself and her guild.
* A merfolk teacher runs a small class teaching the old merfolk ways, but she gets teased by a newly crabified teacher about this, so she takes the class out into the ocean for field observation.
* They come across an Orzhov ghost who wants his ship returned to the surface, after it was sunk by pirates long ago. But they discover he was the pirate, and destroy the ship when he attacks them, rescuing a Simic artifact.
* It turns out the artifact was Momir Vig's old keyrune, and it's shown off in a museum, making the teacher proud.
*... Then the story continues.
* A student is a klutz and sends some old cytoplast on display flying toward the teacher, mutating her. Everyone is arrested.
* The students explain to Zegana what they learned, and they're allowed to go free.
* They learn that modification isn't necessarily bad, but it needs to be done with a purpose and with balance.
Alright story, but then it just kept going.
Nicky Drayden
Deep below the surface of Ravnica, a Simic educator tests the limits of her students, herself and her guild.
* A merfolk teacher runs a small class teaching the old merfolk ways, but she gets teased by a newly crabified teacher about this, so she takes the class out into the ocean for field observation.
* They come across an Orzhov ghost who wants his ship returned to the surface, after it was sunk by pirates long ago. But they discover he was the pirate, and destroy the ship when he attacks them, rescuing a Simic artifact.
* It turns out the artifact was Momir Vig's old keyrune, and it's shown off in a museum, making the teacher proud.
*... Then the story continues.
* A student is a klutz and sends some old cytoplast on display flying toward the teacher, mutating her. Everyone is arrested.
* The students explain to Zegana what they learned, and they're allowed to go free.
* They learn that modification isn't necessarily bad, but it needs to be done with a purpose and with balance.
Alright story, but then it just kept going.
I remember I got to pull off the Arcane Savant, Followed Footsteps, Expropriate combo in Conspiracy 2 draft. The funny thing is, both the expropriate and followed footsteps got passed to me.
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A Flavorful Guide to the Guilds of Ravnica Allegiance
Chas Andres
There's a lot going on inside the guilds of Ravnica Allegiance, and Chas runs through everything you need to know.
Chas Andres
There's a lot going on inside the guilds of Ravnica Allegiance, and Chas runs through everything you need to know.
I think it's okay as long as they're printing stuff like Vannafar and Smothering Tithe that, while obviously aimed more firmly at other formats, could have an outside chance of being a component in some sort of combo deck.
Like you can't print 100 percent of your cards as having an automatic and known home in an obviously good deck unless you want a very different sort of game experience. A lot of them have to be dark horses that probably won't get played but maybe one in a dozen actually finds a home somewhere.
My verdict on the new Bo3 Standard: sucks ass. Pushed cards are so good that jank is pointless. My fun decks have 40-45% win rate while my suboptimal burn is at 70%. Should not be so in Bo3.
if you look at most sideboards, there's nothing that really makes burn actively bad in bo3
the sideboards are mostly there to punish decks that just play with themselves. if you negate a lightning strike it doesn't really accomplish much. if you negate a wilderness reclamation or nexus of fate or teferi, it completely changes the game
burn being good is a problem, but that's mostly because it has been dominant for 3 years in a row. if it was good just once in a while, i wouldn't mind as much
Mono red isn't that big of an issue. Has it even won any tournaments? It isn't even really getting into top 8s. You have to go down to 21st place to find the highest placing RDW in last weekends MTGO PTQ.
Burn is not that good and I don't know why people think it's dominant. Burn is really popular because it costs very little on Arena.
Are you honestly surprised that jank brews can't get over 50% winrates?
burn isnt that good against decks with a purpose, it just absolutely preys upon decks that are trying to do anything that doesnt turn on until turn 4
which a lot of people would consider the fun decks
which a lot of people would consider the fun decks
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