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Magic: the Gathering |OT| Theros: Beyond Death - Zombie Land Saga
- Thread starter SigmasonicX
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Three expansion sets release each year + one core set. No small sets anymore, all sets are big standalone sets. The expansion sets for a given year may or may not be related in story or theme.
I like the art but I just hate the Constellation frame. Hard pass. I'd have bought normal frames.
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Magic: The Gathering documentary on the way from the team behind The Toys That Made Us
Learn about the history of the original collectible card game
www.polygon.com
MaRo was asked about it yesterday and he had no idea it existed. So somehow they're making a Magic documentary without having talked to MaRo, which seems kind of impossible to me, unless they haven't actually interviewed people yet. Like I'm pretty sure even if they didn't ask MaRo directly, he'd yeet his way into the interview room. Or maybe the interview was so long ago he lost track.
Yeah that seems...impossible? No matter what you think about Maro like, he's probably the single most involved person in Magic over its entire history out of anyone on the planet.Magic: The Gathering documentary on the way from the team behind The Toys That Made Us
Learn about the history of the original collectible card game
MaRo was asked about it yesterday and he had no idea it existed. So somehow they're making a Magic documentary without having talked to MaRo, which seems kind of impossible to me, unless they haven't actually interviewed people yet. Like I'm pretty sure even if they didn't ask MaRo directly, he'd yeet his way into the interview room. Or maybe the interview was so long ago he lost track.
Challenger Decks 2020 lists
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Challenger Decks 2020 | MAGIC: THE GATHERING
New Challenger Decks are coming April 3. Get a look at what each deck will contain here.
April Challenger Decks announced
Jeskai Fires of Invention with 4x Fires, 4x Narset, 1x Kenrith
Golgari Adventure with 4x Lovestruck Beast, 4x Innkeeper, 1x Fabled Passage
Monored Cavalcade with 4x Cavalcade, 1x Embercleave
Simic Flash with 4x Nightpack Ambusher, 1x Brazen Borrower, 1x Fabled Passage
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Wow I was wondering if wotc would be stingy about shocklands but the fabled passages are nearly 20bucks on their own. Imma have to pick up a couple.
Well Jeskai fires deck has a steam vents
Well Jeskai fires deck has a steam vents
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The finals were pretty interesting. The very last game came down to Marcio flopping with a super risky hand he really should have mulliganed.
Saturday at my LGS was filled with people complaining about Thassa's Oracle combo.
I really don't see the Pioneer combo meta staying for more than a couple more months without people abandoning the format in droves.
Why did these chucklefucks print a Red Yawgmoth's Will in a standard legal set again?
I really don't see the Pioneer combo meta staying for more than a couple more months without people abandoning the format in droves.
Why did these chucklefucks print a Red Yawgmoth's Will in a standard legal set again?
what is more Fun Inviting Replayable and Exciting than a red Yawgmoth's Will that doesn't exile the cards played?
print Throne -> ruin all formats -> make a new good format -> create three ~top-tier instant-win combo decks with the very next set
The worst part is I keep seeing people blame the problem on Pioneer's lack of efficient interaction. That seems reasonable until you remember that Inverter Oracle wins with two ETB abilities protected by Thoughtsieze, while Lotus Breach plays out of the graveyard. The best way to beat these decks is to go under them; Lotus Breach's worst matchup is mono-Red aggro, while Inverter Oracle's is... Lotus Breach.
I feel like all the stupid Modern Twin fans just grabbed onto "the next Twin" and are reluctant to admit that Inverter Oracle is basically everything they claimed Twin wasn't.
I think it's too early to ban stuff after 2 events very close together. It probably doesn't help that there was a long period of no real events and everyone was getting away with playing bad decks. If you want a format to be supported it's going to have best decks, and the answer isn't constant bannings.
having best decks is fine, but the situation is a bit dire because the best 3 decks (65% of the meta) are all combo decks
and then you have a tutor-for-emrakul deck taking up 10% of the remainder
and then you have the finance side where nobody knows what decks to buy because you either buy something that gets banned or something that's underpowered. since the format is new, the delay on any statement about what is or isn't going to be legal hurts because so many people are looking to buy their first deck
Combo decks are always going to be at their best right after being discovered. Dig should probably be banned but I don't think Wizards need to rush into anything.
I agree the approach to announcements is really poor. Even when something doesn't need banning the community discourse is going to continue to be shit, and Wizards will have created the environment themselves through a combination of poor policy and 2019s card mistakes.
There's nothing to suggest those mistakes stopped in 2020. The two best decks are based around Theros cards.
Dig is a problem, but at this point I honestly think it's a scapegoat for the horrific design of Thassa's Oracle. There's a reason the deck basically was non-existent when all it had was Jace.
I support banning Oracle and Breach because they're intrinsically dumb cards (Oracle because it's a two-mana win con you can't interact with outside of counterspells, Breach because duh), not because it's "necessary." The format just isn't better off with them in it. The old standards for banning applied when Wizards didn't just print 10 of these cards a year.
Something hilarious about Thassa's Oracle: In the article "Word Heist: A Theros Beyond Death Caper", Mark Gottlieb talks about how a huge effort was made to reduce the wordiness of Theros Beyond Death cards. The article ends by showing the wordiest card in the set, Thassa's Oracle, where Gottlieb talks about how despite their efforts they decided cutting any of the text would hurt the card.
Which means that WotC decided Thassa's Oracle needed the win trigger to still go off on an empty board. Apparently removing the "or equal to" part of the trigger and allowing instant speed removal to stuff the effect just wasn't an option.
Which means that WotC decided Thassa's Oracle needed the win trigger to still go off on an empty board. Apparently removing the "or equal to" part of the trigger and allowing instant speed removal to stuff the effect just wasn't an option.
Don't know what it is, but I feel like I get back into Magic this time of year every year, and have been getting deep into Theros draft on Arena.
I really, really like the lower power level, and Escape is one of my favorite limited mechanics in a long time. That said, black is ridiculously overpowered and the bots seem miscalibrated (getting Final Death 6th/7th, lifelink 4/4 rare as late as 6th, and drafting 6 NIghtmare Shepherds in 9 or 10 drafts). The play quality in traditional (bo3 unranked) also seems... suspect lol, and I'm near even in terms of gems after 9 or 10 drafts despite making some pretty bone-headed mistakes that I'll chalk up to being rusty
I have a ton of wildcards and am considering whether to use them for this standard format. Reading up and Eldraine standard seems like it was miserable; is the current format improved post-banning? The current flavor of Azorius control seems less oppressive than when Dominaria was around, and Jeskai Fires looks fun to pilot.
I really, really like the lower power level, and Escape is one of my favorite limited mechanics in a long time. That said, black is ridiculously overpowered and the bots seem miscalibrated (getting Final Death 6th/7th, lifelink 4/4 rare as late as 6th, and drafting 6 NIghtmare Shepherds in 9 or 10 drafts). The play quality in traditional (bo3 unranked) also seems... suspect lol, and I'm near even in terms of gems after 9 or 10 drafts despite making some pretty bone-headed mistakes that I'll chalk up to being rusty
I have a ton of wildcards and am considering whether to use them for this standard format. Reading up and Eldraine standard seems like it was miserable; is the current format improved post-banning? The current flavor of Azorius control seems less oppressive than when Dominaria was around, and Jeskai Fires looks fun to pilot.
Improved, sure, because there was no way it could get worse.
If you're asking if it's good or bad, I think it's still terrible. It's just up to a 3 on a 1-10 scale, whereas post-Field, pre-Oko ban was a 1 and pre-Field ban was a 1.5.
So what you're saying is, there's never been a better time!
In all seriousness, I guess I'll have to watch some vids to see if it's at all appealing.
Jumpstart announced; Commander 2020 deck names
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Introducing Jumpstart: A New Way to Play Magic | MAGIC: THE GATHERING
Jumpstart is an innovative play experience that draws on the best parts of Limited and Constructed Magic.
Jumpstart is a new booster product with 20 cards that all work together with a single theme, ex: Goblins, Garruk, Doctor. You take two booster packs and put them together into a 40-card deck.
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- Each booster contains 20 cards centered on a theme. What theme each booster contains is randomized, but each themed 20 cards will be sealed inside the pack and labled.
- One in three boosters includes an extra rare.
- It's loaded with reprints—almost 500!
- Jumpstart introduces 37 new cards to the game. These will not be Standard-, Pioneer-, or Modern-legal cards. They are legal in Legacy, Vintage, and Commander.
- It's closely tied to Core Set 2021—they share a lot of content and release near one another—but Jumpstart is a stand-alone product.
- All cards are legal in Eternal formats (Legacy, Vintage, and Commander)
- Every pack includes one basic land with art that matches the pack's theme. A few of them use thematically appropriate lands from M21, but most of them use brand-new themed land art created for Jumpstart.
We also plan to bring this fun play experience to MTG Arena sometime this year!
Like Jumpstart itself, Prereleases for this product are going to be a little bit different.
Jumpstart Prereleases will be run all day. Each player will get two Jumpstart boosters to create a deck and then they just—play. Play enough matches, get a promo card. And if you want to jump back in? Hey, go right ahead. You may even earn another promo.
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Stream confirmed that while this is coming to Arena, this is NOT coming to MTGO.
And we have names for the Ikoria-themed Commander 2020 decks
I have to get more info on this to see if it's anything I care about. 2 pack limited doesn't exactly scream fun to me as it takes away like... any deck building which is a huge draw for limited...Introducing Jumpstart: A New Way to Play Magic | MAGIC: THE GATHERING
Jumpstart is an innovative play experience that draws on the best parts of Limited and Constructed Magic.magic.wizards.com
Jumpstart is a new booster product with 20 cards that all work together with a single theme, ex: Goblins, Garruk, Doctor. You take two booster packs and put them together into a 40-card deck.
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And because Prereleases are fun, we're going to be holding a Prerelease for Jumpstart June 20-21! Check with your local stores to see if you can sign up for a Jumpstart event.
- Each booster contains 20 cards centered on a theme. What theme each booster contains is randomized, but each themed 20 cards will be sealed inside the pack and labled.
- One in three boosters includes an extra rare.
- It's loaded with reprints—almost 500!
- Jumpstart introduces 37 new cards to the game. These will not be Standard-, Pioneer-, or Modern-legal cards. They are legal in Legacy, Vintage, and Commander.
- It's closely tied to Core Set 2021—they share a lot of content and release near one another—but Jumpstart is a stand-alone product.
- All cards are legal in Eternal formats (Legacy, Vintage, and Commander)
- Every pack includes one basic land with art that matches the pack's theme. A few of them use thematically appropriate lands from M21, but most of them use brand-new themed land art created for Jumpstart.
We also plan to bring this fun play experience to MTG Arena sometime this year!
Like Jumpstart itself, Prereleases for this product are going to be a little bit different.
Jumpstart Prereleases will be run all day. Each player will get two Jumpstart boosters to create a deck and then they just—play. Play enough matches, get a promo card. And if you want to jump back in? Hey, go right ahead. You may even earn another promo.
End copypaste
Stream confirmed that while this is coming to Arena, this is NOT coming to MTGO.
And we have names for the Ikoria-themed Commander 2020 decks
Always excited for reprints tho.
I'm incredibly unexcited by yet another new kind of booster, especially one that has a giant chunk of cards that won't translate into any format i give a crap about.
At least it low-key implies Garruk is in magic 2021.
At least it low-key implies Garruk is in magic 2021.
Built a few meta decks last night for Arena, and it's easy to forget how many rares you need vs. mythics. It's also wild to me that a meta UX control deck doesn't have a single mythic in it hah. In any case, the whole crafting process did strike home how awesome Arena is in a vacuum; I have spent a fair amount of money (mainly because I am a fiend for all forms of limited), but the outlay is a fraction of the IRL cost of the three decks I built and I still have enough wildcards to complete the rest of the blue meta decks. Once you get that rare landbase put together, it's so much "cheaper" to craft a deck.
I'll give any form of limited a try, but can definitely see the lack of appeal to most folks. As unique as it sounds, it still doesn't sound all that interesting relative to something like Modern Horizons.
Something that allows you to do more than just splash green and still be competitive.
Not sure what you mean - Mono Red, UW and Jeskai Fires are all top decks with quite different playstyles.
I get what you mean, anything with green splashed is just insane ramp right now with minimal effort, and of course green has like bomb cards in any other aspect of green which is a pretty far reaching section of the color pie, but it's not like there aren't other options.
Does anyone still happen to have an extra Theros pre-release code? I haven't been on Arena in a while and completely forgot I'd need one.
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Ikoria pictures from the Toy Fair
It seems collector boosters will have shiny packaging now.
The monster on the collector booster has a metal stump. I imagine this mechanically represents attaching monster parts to it.
It seems collector boosters will have shiny packaging now.
The monster on the collector booster has a metal stump. I imagine this mechanically represents attaching monster parts to it.
I'm so over every product using the Beledin font. Every expansion's packaging looks so same-y now.
Mmm... mangos.Ikoria pictures from the Toy Fair
It seems collector boosters will have shiny packaging now.
The monster on the collector booster has a metal stump. I imagine this mechanically represents attaching monster parts to it.
Unfortunately, this is brand cohesion at work.
Source: am graphic designer
Agreed on the packaging, but I feel the card art itself is so much less egregiously "cohesive" (generic) the last couple of sets versus the several sets prior to that.
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