You seem to love the commander kills rather than grinding wins with the broken cards in your deck. Maybe that is why people love your deck building series so much. Anyone can build broken. It takes an artist to do it with style and win via commander damage (assuming you are using an easy button commander like Mr Poison dragon or Maga the I Kill YOU NOW guy). Nice article (again.)
Specifically I had no preconceptions of what the set would contain so not particularly disappointed by anything being missing from it. I would of course love to see more in the way of enters the battlefield effects (always a favorite) and maybe something that makes Fateful Hour more relevant.
I actually have a fun paper deck that I would put archangel's light in. It's a tribal cephalid deck with test of endurance. It would also be good for a ffa 5-6 player match. Cards are like women, anyone can use a beutiful(great) one, but it takes a real man to use a ugly(bad) one. GOOD NITE AMERICA!
Fish is primarily an aggro strategy (play dudes, play lords, smash face) so aggro control at best. Red and Black elements tend to be more disruptive and murderous than controlling. Not to say they can't fill those roles but White does it best without counters (cheap exilers, and a huge variety of sweepers including exilers). Blue does it best with counters of which most are not creatures though there are some.
Colorless wasn't included in my selection since it goes into anything including white decks. Yes I guess that means that white isn't the only good control "color" but my point is still valid. A whole slice of magic is negated just by the format.
I am not saying this is wrong either. Just noting it. This why blue control decks are scarce in the format. You have to run creatures that counter or run only counters and hope you don't need to deal with board situations that get past your counters. It can be done but people don't seem to enjoy being put into that position. Not to mention that many people who are drawn to the format in the first place actively frown on counters.
I don't miss any specific cards, but I expected a werewolf where the original side is stronger. Not the power and toughness, but other abilities. For example a Prodigal which would transform to a vanilla 2/2. The werewolf is bigger, but mindless, hence worse in most circumstances.
When I first saw Cloistered Youth I thought of Haunted Angel other cards that came to mind were Haunted Crossroads and Lesser Werewolf but this set is pretty sharp as is.
I prefer to go the board control route: You know your opponent will be playing twenty creatures, so use that to your advantage. Countering is principally helpful against combo, control and 'one big threat' decks, weak to getting swarmed.
If you look just to the left of the card type, you will see a dot that signifies card color on the back side of DFCs. In this case, the black dot is the rules equivalent of "this card is black".
In a sense. Because the transformation is black the card as a whole has a black color identity. Color identity includes costs and symbols but also includes things like "This card is black" or flip sides where the color is indicated by the hue of the frame.
I guess the discussion of what is combo is really more of an argument over semantics. And who cares?
The real question is what to do about it if anything. There has always been a tension in Tribal between super Aggro and super combo with very little room for control. The only time control had its way was when Aether Vial was allowed. After the banning of Moat control hasn't seen a decent standing since. Not to say it is unplayable, and I know some players have managed to do well with control but for the most part it is left out in the cold.
The other two parts of the game dominate too much. And that isn't because the decks aren't available to play but that is what people like. People like goblins. People like Dream Halls Conflux (myself included.) I happen to love control, but control doesn't often win for me in this format. At least not at the TA level. Sure in JuFF, control does fine thrashing ill conceived decks right and left.
The problem for control is that it is primarily a creature format with 20 minimum in each deck. Sometimes more. So whatever control strategies you have must fit that criteria. Far easier to play 20 goblins + burn, or elf combo, or 20 odd ducks and your I win now combo. Can't stuff your deck with both counters and board control. Unless you find a tribe that does these things.
Also legacy in general is broken. Without sideboarding there are a myriad of strategies that can be used with impunity. Fires/Grove? fits into any number of tribes. And it even looks innocuous until you lose to it.
This isn't a complaint by the way. I love the format. I just think it is complex enough that people forget its essentially broken nature. There is no fixing it. Play it, love it, or don't. The rest is merely trading words back n forth. Sure stuff might get banned. (Why on earth is Moat banned still???) And sure the actual decks might change. (But really does it matter if the tribe is endangered if the shell is a well worn legacy deck?)
This is the reason I've only shown up a few times last year. (And lost miserably with "fair" decks.) I have little urge to play the decks that people have played for years in various forms. Even Walldrazi was only new in its use of the annihilating legends. Before that it was WallBurn or something else ridiculous. Still love the format, still brew decks for it but I am finding Modern and Standard to be more entertaining on a competitive level.
If I'm not mistaken, I think Mark Rosewater's article recently explained how this tiny brown ball of a card was squeezed out. It is unfortunate, but I agree that if you are stuck in a tight spot, it is better to err on the side of underpowered compared to overpowered. Definitely not a reason to cancel your preorder.
That said, really guys?? Really? Why not 5 life? Heck, why not 3 life at least? just little something else, it still wouldn't rock standard.
I agree on Archangel's light. It reminds me a lot of other high cost white spells like Storm Herd. It may not have any obvious applications yet but I wouldn't dismiss it as forever junk. On the other hand I think there is zero chance of Urza Tron being reprinted any time soon. It was just brought back in Med 4 with the original art.
On the other hand at mythic it shouldn't be too available so you wont be getting this instead of another rare too often. That sort of bothers me more about the card in a way. Crap rares exist in every set but I understood that crap mythics would be a thing of the past.
C'mon, combo is fun! :)
The only thing a combo player must avoid is running the same combo deck again and again. That becomes super-boring for both the player and his opponents. If you're a true combo player, and not just someone who tries to exploit a strong combo to win easier, you want to change anyway, or at least rotate the decks on a frequent basis. In my experience, the first time I go off with an elaborate combo, people who never saw it before are deeply fascinated. Of course, a well-known combo or the same combo week in week out would become an annoyance very fast.
(This is a subtle warning to Nagarjuna for his Splinter combo deck: stop before people will hate your guts! :P)
Also, it's just like for the serial killers: two cards are an interaction, to be combo there need to be at least three cards involved.
You seem to love the commander kills rather than grinding wins with the broken cards in your deck. Maybe that is why people love your deck building series so much. Anyone can build broken. It takes an artist to do it with style and win via commander damage (assuming you are using an easy button commander like Mr Poison dragon or Maga the I Kill YOU NOW guy). Nice article (again.)
Im missing Headless Horseman...
Specifically I had no preconceptions of what the set would contain so not particularly disappointed by anything being missing from it. I would of course love to see more in the way of enters the battlefield effects (always a favorite) and maybe something that makes Fateful Hour more relevant.
I actually have a fun paper deck that I would put archangel's light in. It's a tribal cephalid deck with test of endurance. It would also be good for a ffa 5-6 player match. Cards are like women, anyone can use a beutiful(great) one, but it takes a real man to use a ugly(bad) one. GOOD NITE AMERICA!
Fish is primarily an aggro strategy (play dudes, play lords, smash face) so aggro control at best. Red and Black elements tend to be more disruptive and murderous than controlling. Not to say they can't fill those roles but White does it best without counters (cheap exilers, and a huge variety of sweepers including exilers). Blue does it best with counters of which most are not creatures though there are some.
Colorless wasn't included in my selection since it goes into anything including white decks. Yes I guess that means that white isn't the only good control "color" but my point is still valid. A whole slice of magic is negated just by the format.
I am not saying this is wrong either. Just noting it. This why blue control decks are scarce in the format. You have to run creatures that counter or run only counters and hope you don't need to deal with board situations that get past your counters. It can be done but people don't seem to enjoy being put into that position. Not to mention that many people who are drawn to the format in the first place actively frown on counters.
blinking spirit
I don't miss any specific cards, but I expected a werewolf where the original side is stronger. Not the power and toughness, but other abilities. For example a Prodigal which would transform to a vanilla 2/2. The werewolf is bigger, but mindless, hence worse in most circumstances.
When I first saw Cloistered Youth I thought of Haunted Angel other cards that came to mind were Haunted Crossroads and Lesser Werewolf but this set is pretty sharp as is.
White, black, red and colorless, by my count, not including fish archetypes which are easy enough to shoe in with free counters.
Precisely my point. Without sideboarding counter decks are relatively neutered and so control is primarily relegated to white variants.
Roar of the Wurm
I prefer to go the board control route: You know your opponent will be playing twenty creatures, so use that to your advantage. Countering is principally helpful against combo, control and 'one big threat' decks, weak to getting swarmed.
If you look just to the left of the card type, you will see a dot that signifies card color on the back side of DFCs. In this case, the black dot is the rules equivalent of "this card is black".
In a sense. Because the transformation is black the card as a whole has a black color identity. Color identity includes costs and symbols but also includes things like "This card is black" or flip sides where the color is indicated by the hue of the frame.
I guess the discussion of what is combo is really more of an argument over semantics. And who cares?
The real question is what to do about it if anything. There has always been a tension in Tribal between super Aggro and super combo with very little room for control. The only time control had its way was when Aether Vial was allowed. After the banning of Moat control hasn't seen a decent standing since. Not to say it is unplayable, and I know some players have managed to do well with control but for the most part it is left out in the cold.
The other two parts of the game dominate too much. And that isn't because the decks aren't available to play but that is what people like. People like goblins. People like Dream Halls Conflux (myself included.) I happen to love control, but control doesn't often win for me in this format. At least not at the TA level. Sure in JuFF, control does fine thrashing ill conceived decks right and left.
The problem for control is that it is primarily a creature format with 20 minimum in each deck. Sometimes more. So whatever control strategies you have must fit that criteria. Far easier to play 20 goblins + burn, or elf combo, or 20 odd ducks and your I win now combo. Can't stuff your deck with both counters and board control. Unless you find a tribe that does these things.
Also legacy in general is broken. Without sideboarding there are a myriad of strategies that can be used with impunity. Fires/Grove? fits into any number of tribes. And it even looks innocuous until you lose to it.
This isn't a complaint by the way. I love the format. I just think it is complex enough that people forget its essentially broken nature. There is no fixing it. Play it, love it, or don't. The rest is merely trading words back n forth. Sure stuff might get banned. (Why on earth is Moat banned still???) And sure the actual decks might change. (But really does it matter if the tribe is endangered if the shell is a well worn legacy deck?)
This is the reason I've only shown up a few times last year. (And lost miserably with "fair" decks.) I have little urge to play the decks that people have played for years in various forms. Even Walldrazi was only new in its use of the annihilating legends. Before that it was WallBurn or something else ridiculous. Still love the format, still brew decks for it but I am finding Modern and Standard to be more entertaining on a competitive level.
is black? I can't see any black mana symbol. Is it some kind of MTGO quirk?
Doom Blade fizzles on her anyhow, since she is black...
If I'm not mistaken, I think Mark Rosewater's article recently explained how this tiny brown ball of a card was squeezed out. It is unfortunate, but I agree that if you are stuck in a tight spot, it is better to err on the side of underpowered compared to overpowered. Definitely not a reason to cancel your preorder.
That said, really guys?? Really? Why not 5 life? Heck, why not 3 life at least? just little something else, it still wouldn't rock standard.
Thanks, mate, and don't worry - I see only draft articles for me for the near future. :)
I agree on Archangel's light. It reminds me a lot of other high cost white spells like Storm Herd. It may not have any obvious applications yet but I wouldn't dismiss it as forever junk. On the other hand I think there is zero chance of Urza Tron being reprinted any time soon. It was just brought back in Med 4 with the original art.
On the other hand at mythic it shouldn't be too available so you wont be getting this instead of another rare too often. That sort of bothers me more about the card in a way. Crap rares exist in every set but I understood that crap mythics would be a thing of the past.
C'mon, combo is fun! :)
The only thing a combo player must avoid is running the same combo deck again and again. That becomes super-boring for both the player and his opponents. If you're a true combo player, and not just someone who tries to exploit a strong combo to win easier, you want to change anyway, or at least rotate the decks on a frequent basis. In my experience, the first time I go off with an elaborate combo, people who never saw it before are deeply fascinated. Of course, a well-known combo or the same combo week in week out would become an annoyance very fast.
(This is a subtle warning to Nagarjuna for his Splinter combo deck: stop before people will hate your guts! :P)
Also, it's just like for the serial killers: two cards are an interaction, to be combo there need to be at least three cards involved.
I always look forward to these articles
I'm surprised that Cremate, Zombify, Shadowfeed, Reanimate, and Buried Alive aren't anywhere near this set.
Of course Control is Combo's BFF. I was including it in the anti-aggro rant by default.
Sir, you speak truly enlightened words.