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Magic: the Gathering |OT11| Amonkhet - Have you ever had decks with a Pharaoh?
- Thread starter SigmasonicX
- Start date
- Status
Eh... I think completely missing the interaction with Saheeli + Guardian is the absolute worst thing that they've done. It took Twitter literally minutes to see that when the card was revealed.
Infinite Stars
Member
To be fair to R&D, the type line of Felidar was changed late in development
Basically, they need to stop changing shit without adequately testing it.
I can side with this. Hopefully they've learned.
divisionbyzorro
Member
They haven't learned it after their other fuckups. Why would now be different?
FreedomFrisbee
Member
It's as easy as having a flag on cards in their database. 'Card has been tested' along with the rest of the description, maybe with some color coding. If that flag hasn't been set, then that cards not allowed to see print.
Really, a lot of the current problems are things that should never have been problems by all accounts.
charlequin
Banned
Yeah, true. If I was him I would've wanted to keep Helene on though, lol. (And I think Cocks' decisions have mostly come off as pretty sensible so far.)
I mean, they literally told us this was part of their plan in the announcement of their new digital intiative.
Wulfric
Member
Maybe it's me because I've already seen the finished cards, but do these art descriptions sound a little too specific to anyone? There's only so many ways you can pull this off considering you have even less space on the card to work with.
On the positive side, they posted high res versions of the card. The middle part of the painting is missing however.
On the positive side, they posted high res versions of the card. The middle part of the painting is missing however.
The latest art descriptions from the past several sets are this way. I think they're way too specific too. Should give the artists some room for creativity.
Simply Sarah
Member
I think it's a fantastic ability that opens up all sorts of interesting options. The problem is that they printed it with cheaper Kiki-Jiki in planeswalker form.
Ay. The days of getting super weird and out there art pieces for cards is long gone. I understand why they want everything to be more uniform in quality, but I miss the days when you could look at a card and clearly tell that the artist was just given the name and nothing else to go off of.
The problem is they're dumb because they could have just taken the template from these cards:
Weed and hookers basically. More serious answers include the Rijksmuseum, the Anna Frank house and the Van Gogh Museum if you like that stuff. The Vondelpark is also nice if you want to wind down and the weather is nice, even though you'll most likely spend your days inside.
Would anyone mind explaining to me why Rhonas the Indomitable is still so expensive? Median price for him on TCGPlayer is over $13, but he's not seeing any play what so ever. None of the other AMK gods are nearly as expensive, and they're also not seeing any play so I don't get why Rhonas is standing out ahead of the pack. Are people just speculating that he might see play?
I want some for a janky RG Electrostatic Pummeler deck, but I'm not going to spend almost $30 on a pair of cards for a deck that isn't serious.
I want some for a janky RG Electrostatic Pummeler deck, but I'm not going to spend almost $30 on a pair of cards for a deck that isn't serious.
No the problem is they didn't intend any of this and they managed to do it in a set with a planeswalker designed to be a combo piece. Card is sick though. It's very fun in a power format like modern. It just unfortunate that the card ended up in the one standard with the one walker that utterly breaks it.The problem is they're dumb because they could have just taken the template from these cards:
It sounds cliché, but coffee shops, red light district, sex museums, canal cruises if you're into these sorts of things.
Rijksmuseum if you want to appreciate actual culture.
If you prefer the nature, rent a bike and go to tulip fields.
If you're into Asian food, try Chinatown instead of the shitty steakhouses for loud British people. It's a tad expensive but there's more choice. Beats convention food.
Simply Sarah
Member
The problem is they're dumb because they could have just taken the template from these cards:
No, those are boring and often are used as a sort of removal instead of blinking your own stuff.
Thanks, I'll make sure to check out the Rijksmuseum if it's open. Might be a good thing to do after my 0-3 drop on Saturday. I also heard that you can get really good Indonesian food in Amsterdam? And pancakes are a big deal as well?
Did WotC ever give a reason why an opponent's energy counters can't be interacted with? It seems like it would've been so simple to have something like "Target player loses X energy and you gain X energy".
It probably wouldn't have solved the core problems with Marvel, but at least it'd be one more weakness it'd have to work past.
SigmasonicX
Member
It's the same problem as land destruction, with the added factor that if there is a good possibility your opponent can make you lose energy, then people just won't play with energy cards.
Besides, would a card like that really be worth playing? Considering it would have to take up a slot in your deck when you could be facing decks that don't use energy.
I don't really see it as being on the same level as land destruction. Having your lands destroyed means you can't play nearly any cards, but energy is never required for casting anything, just getting effects out of stuff already on the field. Plus you can get tons of energy per turn, whereas it's much rarer to get more than one land per turn.
And of course a card that just straight up said "Target player loses some energy" wouldn't be playable. Far too narrow. It'd have to be something like an aggressively costed creature that steals or removes energy on hit, and even then it'd just be a sideboard card.
Simply Sarah
Member
I...no, it's fine except that one very specific planewalker that could do it infinitely was in Standard at the same time. Otherwise it is perfectly fine. Just because they messed up printing two things close together doesn't mean either of the pieces is inherently bad. It just means they shouldn't have been in Standard together. Dumping an interesting card just because a bad interaction is theoretically possible (or because one actual case) is the way towards ultra dull design and development.
I forget the specifics but I assume it was similar to why they printed threats without answers: They wanted to avoid "feel bad gameplay" at any cost.
I'll second this recommendation. It's a tremendous museum.
From Maro's Tumblr:
I also remember reading somewhere that they were concerned that new players would be frustrated if they built a deck around gathering energy, and then seeing it all siphoned away or destroyed by their opponent. (But I can't find the quote.)
Joe Molotov
Member
What if new players built a deck around not getting btfo by a T4 spaghetti monster? Git gud, scrub.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
the best homelands card
New set trademarks- "25"
http://news.toyark.com/2017/05/17/magic-gathering-25th-anniversary-set-rivals-ixalan-252923
http://news.toyark.com/2017/05/17/magic-gathering-25th-anniversary-set-rivals-ixalan-252923
Hey, man, when I was a new player, my Craw Wurm got Terror'd all the timeand you know what? I liked it and asked for more.
https://t.co/A86V5oh5JF
They're creating a third design/dev group solely dedicated to playtesting constructed formats. Dan Burdick, DeTora, and someone else are the initial members, and they're recruiting others right now.
This is good. What's really good here is that this actually lets them hire on people who aren't creative types but are instead "exploit"/"breaker"/"criticism" types and actually have a place for them.
They're creating a third design/dev group solely dedicated to playtesting constructed formats. Dan Burdick, DeTora, and someone else are the initial members, and they're recruiting others right now.
This is good. What's really good here is that this actually lets them hire on people who aren't creative types but are instead "exploit"/"breaker"/"criticism" types and actually have a place for them.
My point is they've been playing it safe since ages (except when it comes to colorless cards for some reason). They've dumbed down removal, bounce, counterspells, land destruction, rituals, mana rocks, ramp spells, card draw, for the way of creature interaction. This has been a mission of theirs for a while. The fact that this creature which is supposed to be harmless enables an infinite combo is funny to me.
It's more a fusion of Indonesian, Malaysian, Chinese and sometimes Dutch food. In Amsterdam, chances are it's delicious though if you avoid the tourist hotspots. I don't like pancakes at all, so can't help you there. They do have a wafflehouse near Nieuwmarkt though if you're into that.
RIP SaffronOlive.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Definitely can recommend the Van Gogh museum in amsterdam.
Hiring him (like hiring Evan) would be a mistake long-term.
Infinite Stars
Member
Fucking finally. The fact that it took this past year for Wizards to realize this was long overdue is kind of stupid(really, they should have had this going on since the last Standard Bans in SoM block) but I'm glad it's now here.
I just hope that this will be better then current R&D.
Simply Sarah
Member
They want people to evaluate for high-level play, not people to find weird jank that isn't as bad as it looks but is still generally mediocre.
SigmasonicX
Member
Magic Story - Judgment
* Samut is sneaking around, having escaped after being captured in the story introducing her. She realizes now that she can't sway any minds just by screaming in the streets, but hopes to convince at least Djeru before the end.
* Djeru disguised himself as a mummy to secretly meet her, grumbling about the heresy of doing so.
* She tells him not to go through the Trial of Zeal, but he refuses.
* Later, Samut rushes to Hazoret's Monument. Hazoret allows her in to talk.
* Now that she is actually in front of the god, Samut struggles to get the words out, but she eventually pleads for Hazoret to spare Djeru.
* Samut asks Hazoret if she herself is mistaken about the purpose of the trials. Hazoret burns with rage, but deep within, Samut feels love and compassion. The old hieroglyphics referred to her as the Mother of Zeal and talked of how she viewed her subjects as family.
* For a moment, part of Hazoret seems to remember, but she instead curses Samut and has mummies take her away. They seal her in a sarcophagus alive, alongside others like her.
* The Trial of Zeal involves the initiates fighting and killing dissenters like them.
* Chandra and Gideon stumble onto them (this is the same location Oketra stopped them from investigating earlier) and break them out.
* Oddly, her interactions with them are done through narration, not dialogue, for a while. They explain Bolas. Liliana chooses now to bring up her demon, which confuses Samut.
* All five gods appear. Everyone faints, and they wake up in the Trial of Zeal, with cartouches of control around their necks.
* Though they can't move, Jace and Nissa push back against their cartouches with mind magic.
* Hazoret uses magic on the dissidents to make them aggressive, and she unleashes them on the initiates.
* Samut fights Djeru. Jace isn't allowed to use his magic and gets dunked on. Chandra and Liliana also get dunked on without magic, but they last longer than Jace. Nissa and Gideon are doing fine.
* Samut overcomes her spell by fighting to protect Djeru from Gideon. Gideon isn't indestructible anymore and gets dunked on by the two of them.
* Djeru prays to Hazoret to spare Samut. Gideon starts to break out of the spell and tells Djeru not to give up his life, but he punches Gideon.
* Hazoret dismisses her magic and calls Djeru and Samut forward. The Gatewatch are still alive and allowed their magic again.
* Samut rejects the offer to be killed by Hazoret, but Djeru accepts it. Samut tackles Djeru and Gideon blocks Hazoret's attack, as depicted on Gideon's Intervention.
* The other gods just leave, as the time of Bolas's return is approaching. Djeru is in despair over being denied a good death. Hazoret is confused by what happened. Samut tries to talk to him.
* As Bolas starts to arrive, Hazoret steps over them to leave.
* Djeru rushes to the Gate of the Afterlife, hoping the God-Pharaoh will kill him.
* The Gatewatch follow him. Gideon looks at the injuries he received, and reflects on what Hazoret told him after he blocked her spear: she sees his death. He is no god.
* Samut is sneaking around, having escaped after being captured in the story introducing her. She realizes now that she can't sway any minds just by screaming in the streets, but hopes to convince at least Djeru before the end.
* Djeru disguised himself as a mummy to secretly meet her, grumbling about the heresy of doing so.
* She tells him not to go through the Trial of Zeal, but he refuses.
* Later, Samut rushes to Hazoret's Monument. Hazoret allows her in to talk.
* Now that she is actually in front of the god, Samut struggles to get the words out, but she eventually pleads for Hazoret to spare Djeru.
* Samut asks Hazoret if she herself is mistaken about the purpose of the trials. Hazoret burns with rage, but deep within, Samut feels love and compassion. The old hieroglyphics referred to her as the Mother of Zeal and talked of how she viewed her subjects as family.
* For a moment, part of Hazoret seems to remember, but she instead curses Samut and has mummies take her away. They seal her in a sarcophagus alive, alongside others like her.
* The Trial of Zeal involves the initiates fighting and killing dissenters like them.
* Chandra and Gideon stumble onto them (this is the same location Oketra stopped them from investigating earlier) and break them out.
* Oddly, her interactions with them are done through narration, not dialogue, for a while. They explain Bolas. Liliana chooses now to bring up her demon, which confuses Samut.
* All five gods appear. Everyone faints, and they wake up in the Trial of Zeal, with cartouches of control around their necks.
* Though they can't move, Jace and Nissa push back against their cartouches with mind magic.
* Hazoret uses magic on the dissidents to make them aggressive, and she unleashes them on the initiates.
* Samut fights Djeru. Jace isn't allowed to use his magic and gets dunked on. Chandra and Liliana also get dunked on without magic, but they last longer than Jace. Nissa and Gideon are doing fine.
* Samut overcomes her spell by fighting to protect Djeru from Gideon. Gideon isn't indestructible anymore and gets dunked on by the two of them.
* Djeru prays to Hazoret to spare Samut. Gideon starts to break out of the spell and tells Djeru not to give up his life, but he punches Gideon.
* Hazoret dismisses her magic and calls Djeru and Samut forward. The Gatewatch are still alive and allowed their magic again.
* Samut rejects the offer to be killed by Hazoret, but Djeru accepts it. Samut tackles Djeru and Gideon blocks Hazoret's attack, as depicted on Gideon's Intervention.
* The other gods just leave, as the time of Bolas's return is approaching. Djeru is in despair over being denied a good death. Hazoret is confused by what happened. Samut tries to talk to him.
* As Bolas starts to arrive, Hazoret steps over them to leave.
* Djeru rushes to the Gate of the Afterlife, hoping the God-Pharaoh will kill him.
* The Gatewatch follow him. Gideon looks at the injuries he received, and reflects on what Hazoret told him after he blocked her spear: she sees his death. He is no god.
Poodlestrike
Banned
So yeah Gideon's a goner.
charlequin
Banned
They are totally correct on this. A card that hurts the opponent's energy stores is very unlikely to be a positive metagame contributor or to be a maindeck play unless it's super goofy good, and it has a decent chance to just hate out the mechanic for no gain. Everything that's problematic about energy is in the specific design of cards (really, one card) that consume it, not the idea of a resource the player can accumulate and spend without interference.
This is a very good idea. For one thing, it actually targets the exact problem: it specifically focuses precisely on finding issues with competitive balance, instead of doing that as one small part of a larger holistic process. Your reason here is also good: it lets them leverage a category of pro players they wouldn't really hire normally otherwise. It seems like a good place to plug in DeTora too.
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