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[Santiako]

Maro also posted this today:Storm Scale: INNISTRAD and SHADOWS OVER INNISTRAD

Nothing too surprising, Madness still an 8, no one liked Fateful Hour, Miracles probably never coming back, Skulk failed miserably, Meld was unpopular but might come back, people seem to like Transform and double face cards for some reason that eludes me so they'll be back and everyone loves Flashback and Investigate so they'll be definitely coming back multiple times.

 

[Joe Molotov]

Especially based on this one example, for the cards we're gonna see here the flavor's gonna typically be people so devoted to their job or whatever that they come back after death to keep doing.

Except the explanation specifically said they don't care about their old jobs now, only about "serving". So basically just regular old Necromancy.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

but that's not the reason to mummify someone. Pharaohs and sometimes their wives got mummified to prepare them for the journey to the afterlife, not to serve in their death.

Yet why is a duelist being embalmed? Why would anyone go through the lengths it takes for a random bear.

 

[Firemind]

TIL mummies aren't just zombies wrapped in toilet paper.

 

[Hero]

Maro also posted this today:Storm Scale: INNISTRAD and SHADOWS OVER INNISTRAD

Nothing too surprising, Madness still an 8, no one liked Fateful Hour, Miracles probably never coming back, Skulk failed miserably, Meld was unpopular but might come back, people seem to like Transform and double face cards for some reason that eludes me so they'll be back and everyone loves Flashback and Investigate so they'll be definitely coming back multiple times.

Seems weird that Meld was unpopular.

 

[Joe Molotov]

Meld was under used in its set and it always felt like magical Christmasland if you were ever able to pull it off at all.

 

[bigkrev]

Seems weird that Meld was unpopular.

Needing to get 2 specific rare cards (or 1 rare 1 mythic) isn't something that someone opening their first packs wants to see

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

So they're printing tokens for every creature with Embalm?

EDIT: OHHHH that's why the tokens don't have a mana cost. Because they're printing bespoke tokens and that would get super confusing.

wait a minute, why does a mummy have tits? Do they not let them decay.

 

[OnPoint]

wait a minute, why does a mummy have tits? Do they not let them decay.

Im unfamiliar with the specifics of mummification. Do they remove them when they perform the procedure?

 

[divisionbyzorro]

They're religiously-sanctified zombies that arise as part of an orderly, societally-important cycle of life instead of by a random necromancer selfishly forcing them out of the grave. Especially based on this one example, for the cards we're gonna see here the flavor's gonna typically be people so devoted to their job or whatever that they come back after death to keep doing it.

Or, in other words: the thing here isn't that they made zombies and then had to come up with a reason for them to be white, it's that they made an in-color white reanimation mechanic and had to call them "zombies" since they're technically reanimated corpses.

Okay, I'll buy that. It's a little weird at first blush, but that makes sense.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Im unfamiliar with the specifics of mummification. Do they remove them when they perform the procedure?

I wouldn't know but decomposition isn't kind to bodily figures.

 

[charlequin]

Except the explanation specifically said they don't care about their old jobs now, only about "serving". So basically just regular old Necromancy.

Don't take Matt Tabak's snarky mechanic article as the definitive flavor of the mechanic. They specifically retain all their abilities from life, which separates them pretty strongly from most Magic zombies.

Seems weird that Meld was unpopular.

It has one of those problems where the way they executed it would be unpopular both with people who wanted it not to exist and people who wanted it used in a bigger or more thorough way.

Im unfamiliar with the specifics of mummification. Do they remove them when they perform the procedure?

They only take out the brain and all the trunk organs.

 

[ultron87]

I wouldn't know but decomposition isn't kind to bodily figures.

The entire reason Egyptians performed mummification was to avoid decomposition. So there'd probably be something left? And hey now there's magic.

 

[Poppy]

i feel like mummies are generally gonna be relatively human shaped dried out husks underneath the bandages, i think the form would still carry over. but i am not a mortician

also dont take mummy girls away from me, i need this

 

[Santiako]

wait a minute, why does a mummy have tits? Do they not let them decay.

It's a walking corpse reanimated by magic, they can use some magic to conserve dem titties.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Also while we're at it. Cloth is highly unsuitable for preservation outside, what do they do if it rains? Dry their wrappings on a fire.

The entire reason Egyptians performed mummification was to avoid decomposition. So there'd probably be something left? And hey now there's magic.

If there's magic for preservation there'd be no point in embalming in the first place. It slows down decomposition and that under curated environmental conditions. If you look at mummies, there's skin left and hair but not fat.

 

[Angry Grimace]

wait a minute, why does a mummy have tits? Do they not let them decay.

I don't think they're skeletons, dude.

 

[kirblar]

Yeah, if you're doing Meld, you need to be doing it on all the flip cards. They kind half-assed the execution of it, and so it didn't really ever see play outside of Brisela.

 

[OnPoint]

If there's magic for preservation there'd be no point in embalming in the first place. It slows down decomposition and that under curated environmental conditions. If you look at mummies, there's skin left and hair but not fat.

Maybe she was freshly mummified. Or maybe the art showing similarly shaped figures is better for a number of reasons. Stop looking for issues that aren't there.

 

[Infinite Stars]

They're religiously-sanctified zombies that arise as part of an orderly, societally-important cycle of life instead of by a random necromancer selfishly forcing them out of the grave. Especially based on this one example, for the cards we're gonna see here the flavor's gonna typically be people so devoted to their job or whatever that they come back after death to keep doing it.

Or, in other words: the thing here isn't that they made zombies and then had to come up with a reason for them to be white, it's that they made an in-color white reanimation mechanic and had to call them "zombies" since they're technically reanimated corpses.



Bro, white had Resurrect in Alpha.

I'd jokingly equate them to the Spirits of the Abzan Houses, or Geist of Saint Traft: They're bound by the duty they served in life to serve in death.

It's not like we haven't had planes where differing expressions of colors exist and the colors are filtered through a lense of another. New Phyrexia's Praetors all are their colors respectively, but the secondary abilities are filtered through Black IE White didn't get Anti-Anthems.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Maybe she was freshly mummified. Or maybe the art showing similarly shaped figures is better for a number of reasons. Stop looking for issues that aren't there.

Whether something is an issue or not is thankfully still up to the individual but it really isn't much of an issue.
Mummification in rags for servitude purposes probably has many more holes in it than I got from my kneejerk reaction.

 

[OnPoint]

Whether something is an issue or not is thankfully still up to the individual but it really isn't much of an issue.
Mummification in rags for servitude purposes probably has many more holes in it than I got from my kneejerk reaction.

Not telling you what to think. Just saying there's already a lot worth questioning in how WotC does stuff. It's better to pick fights worth having imo.

Seems like a really safe implementation of the mechanic to me. Makes me sad it may not be playable outside of standard.

 

[shrapnelmagnet]

Maybe they have figured out seeded packs if this is the case and they are printing a larger than usual number of tokens.

I have a feeling that this set is going to have very difficult to obtain tokens. There are surely some weird snake tokens etc. Tokens are already arguably more rare than actual rares and have a "common" symbol just to taunt you.

Yeah, if you're doing Meld, you need to be doing it on all the flip cards. They kind half-assed the execution of it, and so it didn't really ever see play outside of Brisela.

I know it's not competitive playable so not really what you were getting at, but as a casual player who enjoys combat, I really like the Hanweir Garrison / Battlements = Writhing Township thing. However, I agree, it was not on enough cards to make me get excited about it.

 

[Simply Sarah]

Maro also posted this today:Storm Scale: INNISTRAD and SHADOWS OVER INNISTRAD

Nothing too surprising, Madness still an 8, no one liked Fateful Hour, Miracles probably never coming back, Skulk failed miserably, Meld was unpopular but might come back, people seem to like Transform and double face cards for some reason that eludes me so they'll be back and everyone loves Flashback and Investigate so they'll be definitely coming back multiple times.

I have to feel that the negative reception for Meld has to be more because it was utterly tacked on and hard to activate rather than it not being liked. I really like the mechanic. Or I would if it ever actually would happen.

 

[twobear]

I have to feel that the negative reception for Meld has to be more because it was utterly tacked on and hard to activate rather than it not being liked. I really like the mechanic. Or I would if it ever actually would happen.

it also wasn't very pushed, i think. what was the best melder?

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Bruna, no contest.

 

[y2dvd]

I hope control gets a lot of cheap exile effects or gy hate because embalm is gonna give aggro a lot of gas.

 

[Simply Sarah]

it also wasn't very pushed, i think. what was the best melder?

In practice the one you were most likely to see (and after the first few weeks really the only one) in higher level play Hanweir, the Writhing Township simply because there was a deck running both pieces. Grisela is a reasonable card that matched up badly against things in Standard and the only real reason to play Bruna was to meld so Brisela just wasn't worth running.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

In practice the one you were most likely to see (and after the first few weeks really the only one) in higher level play Hanweir, the Writhing Township simply because there was a deck running both pieces. Grisela is a reasonable card that matched up badly against things in Standard and the only real reason to play Bruna was to meld so Brisela just wasn't worth running.

Brisela saw play in variants of the BW tap out control shell which got much further than any deck playing township.

Gisela was a 4 drop in a format with Ref Mage though.

 

[bigkrev]

Ari Lax mentioned on Twitter- Embalm does a wonderful job of allowing creature flashback without breaking the format. It doesn't interact with Prized Amalgam, has no synergy with Emerge, and can't be flickered for Value.

 

[Simply Sarah]

Brisela saw play in variants of the BW tap out control shell which got much further than any deck playing township.

Gisela was a 4 drop in a format with Ref Mage though.

Really? It felt like those decks died out a lot sooner than the ones with township. Neither was particularly great, though.

 

[Infinite Stars]

Gisela wasn't good (and will likely never be good enough) for Standard because she's a shittier Gideon as a 4 Mana White Drop. It's not exactly rocket science which one I'd prefer in a format with fuck all for Planeswalker hate

 

[Angry Grimace]

Yeah, if you're doing Meld, you need to be doing it on all the flip cards. They kind half-assed the execution of it, and so it didn't really ever see play outside of Brisela.

Meld was also dumb, so there's that

 

[Firemind]

What does Embalm do?

 

[divisionbyzorro]

Meld was also dumb, so there's that

Meld felt like some Yu-Gi-Oh or Duel Masters shit.

 

[Santiako]

Amonkhet Masterpieces will be called Invocations

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/daily-magic-update/update-2017-03-27

We'll have a bunch of them tomorrow from streamers, and the full list will be posted on Wednesday. HYPE.

 

[Joe Molotov]

Invocations sounds like spells.

 

[Angry Grimace]

The reminder text for Embalm is going to be pretty ridiculous in terms of the number of things in it.

Embalm 2W (You may exile this card from your graveyard for its Embalm cost. If you do, create a token that's a copy of this creature except its white, its a zombie in addition to its other types, and it has no mana cost. Embalm only as a sorcery.)

 

[TheBlackMarvel]

I liked meld. Needed to be on more cards though.

 

[ultron87]

Shiny Talrand's Invocation here we gooooooo.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Invocations sounds like spells.

Almost assuredly, I would think.

I'm guessing mixed instant-sorceries, so you'd get Abrupt Decay, Damnation, etc. The thing about that is that most instants and sorceries that see play aren't expensive cards. They're mostly just removal, so my wild speculation is that this will involve less lottery stuff other than Force of Will or whatever.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Invocation sounds like sorcery to me.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Invocation sounds like sorcery to me.

There aren't enough of those to make 43 cards. You can make a list that hits about ~20 cards, that includes some questionable inclusions before you're putting in random garbo. The highlight sorcery you could even put there is Damnation, which isn't a sought-after reprint given that it was reprinted and dropped to 1/3 of its previous value 2 weeks ago.

The problem with Sorceries is that they don't see enough play to be interesting as lottery cards.

Speaking of Sorceries, I hope the Gods theme means we get Anger of the Gods back.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

There aren't enough of those that see play to make 43 cards. You can make a list that hits about ~20 before you're putting in random garbo that's comically arguable.

Timewalk Kappa. They should go down that number anyway.

Fucking Ornithopter got a card, rarity hardly matters.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Timewalk Kappa. They should go down that number anyway.

Fucking Ornithopter got a card, rarity hardly matters.

Ornithopter is one of the more expensive Inventions, actually. So is Sol Ring. The difference is that Sorceries are inherently weaker than Instants and almost always color-locked, which artifacts aren't.

Going the pure sorcery route would mean you're talking about Thoughtseize, Duress, Wrath and Damnation and then getting into seriously questionable shit.

 

[jph139]

If they lump Instant and Sorceries together, man, they're burning through types pretty fast. That just leaves Enchantments, Planeswalkers, and Creatures (though Creatures are a deep enough well that you could do a few runs without hitting repeats).

 

["God's Beard!"]

Keen Sense is no longer a colorshifted card!

Well to be fair Keen Sense also works with pingers.

 

[Angry Grimace]

If they lump Instant and Sorceries together, man, they're burning through types pretty fast. That just leaves Enchantments, Planeswalkers, and Creatures (though Creatures are a deep enough well that you could do a few runs without hitting repeats).

There aren't enough Enchantments for that ever to work and Planeswalkers isn't very realistic. They're more likely to start grouping them thematically rather than by type; e.g. if you go to Dominaria and do a 25th anniversary set, you have a ridiculous number of options because half the cards that exist are on Dominaria. (Willing to bet the 25th Anniversary set is named "Dominaria")

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Ornithopter is one of the more expensive Inventions, actually. So is Sol Ring. The difference is that Sorceries are inherently weaker than Instants and almost always color-locked, which artifacts aren't.

It means it's reliant on playability more than rarity of a card. Probably modern to a higher degree than legacy.

 

[Angry Grimace]

It means it's reliant on playability more than rarity of a card. Probably modern to a higher degree than legacy.

That's what I mean: sorceries aren't often playable outside of Standard because the card type is generally speaking quite weak.