I vaguely care what happens because I care about MTGO and MTG - that is to say I don't care about classic directly but I still read the article and I am posting here. I care more about Legacy, and I care much more about Overextended which I hope is going to become a new eternal format (and one that I think can co-exist with Legacy).
In my opinion, they should start letting MED sets have cards from more recent expansions (they could even go all the way and have cards from 8th ed / Mirrodin forward with the old card frame). This lifts a bunch of constraints, let's them have a go at making the format much better in limited, and also lets them address other pinpoint shortages such as Wasteland if they want to.
Epic fail on so many levels, how so? This way Wotc keeps balance in check ( not too many enter the system, foil copies will be nearly impossible to get and the most important they keep their expensive value and their mysteriousness ) and have a major sell point for Masques.
And once again - the block is not as rubbish as you think. Compare it to Mirage, not to Saga. There are less chase rares ( a few in Masques at least ) but some pretty decent Commons and Uncommons. Of course most of the Sets is rubbish. That is true for every block... most cards are designed for limited. Another point is, that if you release the block as a whole, less chase rares like Rishadan Port and less good foils will enter the system, but TONS OF PROPHECY CRAP. Seriously, Prophecy is what makes the Block a desaster. Not one playable card in there! And with the rules change it got even worse. I don't like Wotc forcing me to opening packs and play it, if you understand my point.
If I were WotC, I would add three Power Nine cards as Mythics in each of the Mercadian Masques sets - with Mox Sapphire, Ancestral and Time Walk in Prophecy.
You right about the other landcycling cards like Jhessian Zombies. I remember looking at them, but I don't remember why I left them out. In a lot of ways they are better then the basic landcycling cards.
Since I wrote the article the new commander decklists have come out. Three of my top five are in the new decks. I think that's a pretty good indication of their quality.
We also have the new MTGO Commander rules since yesterday. So cards now have the quality of color. No more using Obelisks in decks that don't have all three colors. Overall I like the changes to make MTGO Commander the same as Paper Commander. The only one I don't like is how you can no longer choose your Commander at the beginning of the match if you have several candidates in your deck. It would be good to still be able to do this especially now that Commanders are subject to the Legendary rules.
These are getting awfully stale(No events is really making it hard for things to be relevant).
April was the same as only 1 event fired and June is already gone without a single event firing. While I don't know what needs to be done I do THINK things like More guests(even an interview in text form-Xkorpio/Cat Weasel/Wilddog/Greyes/Blazelix-) and Maybe you guys can do a Penguin TV where you three record series of matches with the top played decks against each other going over plays and sideboarding.
The upcoming PRE should give some more topics of discussion.
Edit: Recall is much better than Walk. On an empty board Walk will get you another draw and another mana source where as Recall EOT is tantamount to 3 turns of draws.
Morphling has most played card stats and Recall beats Walk every month of the year everytime.
Thanks for the link, guys! In hindsight I should have coordinated it better so that you guys could mention it on the podcast, but in all honesty, it was totally a spur-of-the-moment thing for me. Although I have been considering this for literally weeks, I finally had had enough and after talking to others to get a spectrum of opinions, I decided to jump in headlong. It's funny listening to Mike's reasoning for the Open because it's precisely what is driving me to run the League. Also I'm liking how the PRE/League is a testing ground for the larger Open that Mike is going to run. The League is a great place to test a new deck BEFORE going into the Open, which will have a bigger prize pool, I imagine.
[soap box] When-o-when will red mages get a halfway decent red planeswalker?! Seriously, blue gets a Vintage playable planeswalker... red gets not even Legacy playable bunk. *sigh* How about a "zero" ability that's a Lightning Bolt? No, of course not, that would be crazy, right? But a "zero" Brainstorm, arguably the strongest card in Legacy and restricted in Vintage... sure! o.O Sometimes I really don't know what's going through their minds. [/soap box]
Good stuff. Some other land cyclers that don't get much love are the Onslaught mutants like Twisted Abomination and Elvish Aberration, and the Alara Reborn guys like Igneous Pouncer and Jhessian Zombies. First, these guys aren't limited to searching basics so you can go grab that Taiga if you want. And late game they are decent creatures that can act as blockers or pick up some equipment. Very underrated in my book.
Treasures in Masques block would suck - sorry epic fail on so many levels. Talking of Masques block my view on that is for WOTC to release the block all in one go and have MPN drafts straigh of the bat please dont slow roll us for a year with this rubbish block!
Treasures in Masques block would suck - sorry epic fail on so many levels. Talking of Masques block my view on that is for WOTC to release the block all in one go and have MPN drafts straigh of the bat please dont slow roll us for a year with this rubbish block!
First: I'm not playing Vintage if they don't have original art p9 online.
Sorry Stingmoggie, I couldn't resist. Not having original art would piss me off though.
Anyway. My theory is still Power 9 as treasure cards in Masques. I'd love to have a MED 5 though, as I miss original art birds and nostalgia like sorceress queen.
We had some people in the Classic community quit when power wasn't in ME4. It doesn't mean they quit the game altogether, they just stopped playing Classic. "Vintage without power" just seems like an insult to some people.
Indeed it is hard to imagine a MED5 with the available card pool.
I say again the best way to make it fun exciting and palatable is cheap power 9 in an FTV set and bam profit making from the demand for the support cards with MED1234 Sealed events whenever. Under this model supply of the the Power 9 would be halted after the 2-3 mass release so in time it will rise how much depends on how many copies are sold in the release window and whether there is a cap on the number of copies an individual could purchase. If you release med5 do you then make med12345 sealed events ? do you continue to allow power to flow into the system. Can you seriously see MED5MED5MED5 drafts or MED1MED4MED5 drafts getting enough product into the system to keep prices reasonable based on anticipated demand. Is MED12345 at 20 tickets and 40 card decks more or less desirable thatn MED1234 at 16 Tickets for a sealed event (I dont know). How fun would triple MED5 drafts really be go Power or Go Home in terms of money and if you get a TimeWalk go Busted? heck even in limited the Power 9 are ridic.
Besides people buying 9 cards for $34.99 is equivalent to players going R1 drop on three consecutive nix tix drafts and I can imagine an awful lot more people stumping up £34.99 - The MED1234 sealed have a much better EV now due to increase demand for the Duals, FOW, Drain, Workshops etc thus making the MED1234 even more desirable and a much better limited format than Triple MED5 could ever dream of being.
I hear you about the cash generation that WOTC could make from making Power into a draftable set. However I just don't think they set would be any good in limited and WOTC likely realizes this. Back when MED1 came out (when there were cards to draw from not online[very few left])it was a terrible set to draft, and it would be worse now. This makes a draftable set with Power an unpalatable option imo,even though it would indeed be far more exciting to crack open a Foil Black Lotus that way.
@ George: The Anniversary would be an ideal venue for Power to be released.
We are onto your plan WOTC.
I am at an "advantage" so to speak. I have only been online for 2 years now. So my "waiting period" for power 9 hasn't been as long.
As far as events firing, I believe Vintage events would probably even out fire legacy. Essentially, it comes down to someone up high in the WoTC world just saying yes. I have read up a couple articles over the past couple months on release of the power 9. There is no question it would benefit WoTC greatly. Which leads me to believe someone is stone walling it for some reason.
It was like when i was reading the article on the banning of Jace, The Mind Sculptor. WoTC made it sound like they made an evil card that should have never been printed. I'm happy when they print over powered cards. It makes the game fun. It makes them come up with answers...it shuffles meta's. It keeps this game alive. Sometimes WoTC needs to reprint(or put online) Broken cards.
I would say all signs point to power 9 coming online. They are releasing alot of different powerful cards slowly but surely.
Random thought: Is it possible they are trying to make MTGO a pilot for the "Modern" format?
anways, at the end of the day...there is only one thing that matters the most. How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?
Whilst I agree with not making a statement is a valid business mind approach may I remind you that we have been in this status quo for 4 years now since the release of MED1 - It becomes stale after a while and has the opposite effect. No way will Power 9 appear in store without a massive fanfare both within the current MTGO user base but also to the masses of current paper players and retired magic vetrans to whom power 9 digital would appeal. Planeswalker idea is not even funny. Regarding WOTC not hurting if they delay. To some extent I agree I mean they can pull the trigger whenever they want if indeed at all. But I guarantee you that if there is vintage online the constructed events will fire more than Classic could ever dream of doing so. The other point about waiting is that the MED1234 bubble bursts lets keep the momentum and make these a regular ching ching money in the bank affair. As for the multiplayer casuals they lose respect when they say no burn!
Sideboarding is always the trickiest part. So this is what I do:
UB Control
+4 Mirran Crusader, +3 Exclusion Ritual, +2 Karn Liberated
-3 Tumble Magnet (sometimes I leave one in), -2 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, -2 Dismember, -1 Phyrexian Rebirth, -1 Divine Offering (sometimes I take out Revoke Existence and sometimes I keep it in)
WW Steel
+3 Marrow Shards, +2 Revoke Existence
-4 Hero of Bladehold, -1 Dismember
Mono Red
+3 Exclusion Ritual, and depending on the deck they play +2 Karn Liberated
-2 Revoke Existence, -1 Phyrexian Rebirth
Infect
+4 Mirran Crusader, +1 Dismember and depending on the deck they play +3 Marrow Shards
-2 Revoke Existence, -2 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite (sometimes I leave her and take out extra Divine Offerings), -1 Divine Offering (this is if they are light on artifacts of course)
I guarantee all power 9 will be released online. Its all about money baby, and that would make some money. As to when? Who knows..maybe its their ace of spades. Maybe if they start losing parts of their player base they will decide to go all in and drop FTV:COW MILKING..(is that right???, i like cows)
I suppose people can keep torturing themselves over the "when" its going to be released. But it isn't going to make them come any faster. Should WOTC give their player base some kind of answer as to yes or no? Meh...if i were a business and i had a golden cookie that everyone wanted....I wouldn't let anyone know when i was going to drop it. Cause it keeps people talking. It keeps people wanting more. Hell, maybe they won't announce it at all. We could log on one day and check the store...bam..there it is..(probably not likely at all) I personally think it would be really funny is if they release gold bordered power 9 for April Fool's Day. Maybe planeswalker would become a super competitive format then...
I don't think WoTC is hurt by waiting to release power 9. I personally don't know anyone quitting the game over power 9 not being released. Quitting the game over 9 cards would be kinda dumb in my honest opinion anyways.
But one day, In the multiplayer room..I will get to see "NO Infect, NO Annhilator, NO Counters, NO power 9"
I like this deck (I happen to like a lot of your decks!). But I have a request: can you briefly summarize the sideboard change for the different matchups? I always feel like it's even more important to know that than to read the full decklist!
I vaguely care what happens because I care about MTGO and MTG - that is to say I don't care about classic directly but I still read the article and I am posting here. I care more about Legacy, and I care much more about Overextended which I hope is going to become a new eternal format (and one that I think can co-exist with Legacy).
In my opinion, they should start letting MED sets have cards from more recent expansions (they could even go all the way and have cards from 8th ed / Mirrodin forward with the old card frame). This lifts a bunch of constraints, let's them have a go at making the format much better in limited, and also lets them address other pinpoint shortages such as Wasteland if they want to.
Ivo.
Epic fail on so many levels, how so? This way Wotc keeps balance in check ( not too many enter the system, foil copies will be nearly impossible to get and the most important they keep their expensive value and their mysteriousness ) and have a major sell point for Masques.
And once again - the block is not as rubbish as you think. Compare it to Mirage, not to Saga. There are less chase rares ( a few in Masques at least ) but some pretty decent Commons and Uncommons. Of course most of the Sets is rubbish. That is true for every block... most cards are designed for limited. Another point is, that if you release the block as a whole, less chase rares like Rishadan Port and less good foils will enter the system, but TONS OF PROPHECY CRAP. Seriously, Prophecy is what makes the Block a desaster. Not one playable card in there! And with the rules change it got even worse. I don't like Wotc forcing me to opening packs and play it, if you understand my point.
If I were WotC, I would add three Power Nine cards as Mythics in each of the Mercadian Masques sets - with Mox Sapphire, Ancestral and Time Walk in Prophecy.
Thanks for the kind words.
You right about the other landcycling cards like Jhessian Zombies. I remember looking at them, but I don't remember why I left them out. In a lot of ways they are better then the basic landcycling cards.
Since I wrote the article the new commander decklists have come out. Three of my top five are in the new decks. I think that's a pretty good indication of their quality.
We also have the new MTGO Commander rules since yesterday. So cards now have the quality of color. No more using Obelisks in decks that don't have all three colors. Overall I like the changes to make MTGO Commander the same as Paper Commander. The only one I don't like is how you can no longer choose your Commander at the beginning of the match if you have several candidates in your deck. It would be good to still be able to do this especially now that Commanders are subject to the Legendary rules.
These are getting awfully stale(No events is really making it hard for things to be relevant).
April was the same as only 1 event fired and June is already gone without a single event firing. While I don't know what needs to be done I do THINK things like More guests(even an interview in text form-Xkorpio/Cat Weasel/Wilddog/Greyes/Blazelix-) and Maybe you guys can do a Penguin TV where you three record series of matches with the top played decks against each other going over plays and sideboarding.
The upcoming PRE should give some more topics of discussion.
Edit: Recall is much better than Walk. On an empty board Walk will get you another draw and another mana source where as Recall EOT is tantamount to 3 turns of draws.
Morphling has most played card stats and Recall beats Walk every month of the year everytime.
Thanks for the link, guys! In hindsight I should have coordinated it better so that you guys could mention it on the podcast, but in all honesty, it was totally a spur-of-the-moment thing for me. Although I have been considering this for literally weeks, I finally had had enough and after talking to others to get a spectrum of opinions, I decided to jump in headlong. It's funny listening to Mike's reasoning for the Open because it's precisely what is driving me to run the League. Also I'm liking how the PRE/League is a testing ground for the larger Open that Mike is going to run. The League is a great place to test a new deck BEFORE going into the Open, which will have a bigger prize pool, I imagine.
[soap box] When-o-when will red mages get a halfway decent red planeswalker?! Seriously, blue gets a Vintage playable planeswalker... red gets not even Legacy playable bunk. *sigh* How about a "zero" ability that's a Lightning Bolt? No, of course not, that would be crazy, right? But a "zero" Brainstorm, arguably the strongest card in Legacy and restricted in Vintage... sure! o.O Sometimes I really don't know what's going through their minds. [/soap box]
Dang George, you must be using up all your luck on those die rolls in P.T.V.
Good stuff. Some other land cyclers that don't get much love are the Onslaught mutants like Twisted Abomination and Elvish Aberration, and the Alara Reborn guys like Igneous Pouncer and Jhessian Zombies. First, these guys aren't limited to searching basics so you can go grab that Taiga if you want. And late game they are decent creatures that can act as blockers or pick up some equipment. Very underrated in my book.
Sorry about that.
The article is awesome, but either my browser is bugged or the article was pasted twice...
Keep up the good work!!
Nice job. That's really all I can think of right now. Well done.
Treasures in Masques block would suck - sorry epic fail on so many levels. Talking of Masques block my view on that is for WOTC to release the block all in one go and have MPN drafts straigh of the bat please dont slow roll us for a year with this rubbish block!
Treasures in Masques block would suck - sorry epic fail on so many levels. Talking of Masques block my view on that is for WOTC to release the block all in one go and have MPN drafts straigh of the bat please dont slow roll us for a year with this rubbish block!
First: I'm not playing Vintage if they don't have original art p9 online.
Sorry Stingmoggie, I couldn't resist. Not having original art would piss me off though.
Anyway. My theory is still Power 9 as treasure cards in Masques. I'd love to have a MED 5 though, as I miss original art birds and nostalgia like sorceress queen.
Agreed GB - Those people are snoozing till we get Power - First Whiff and they are back in the game.
We had some people in the Classic community quit when power wasn't in ME4. It doesn't mean they quit the game altogether, they just stopped playing Classic. "Vintage without power" just seems like an insult to some people.
Indeed it is hard to imagine a MED5 with the available card pool.
I say again the best way to make it fun exciting and palatable is cheap power 9 in an FTV set and bam profit making from the demand for the support cards with MED1234 Sealed events whenever. Under this model supply of the the Power 9 would be halted after the 2-3 mass release so in time it will rise how much depends on how many copies are sold in the release window and whether there is a cap on the number of copies an individual could purchase. If you release med5 do you then make med12345 sealed events ? do you continue to allow power to flow into the system. Can you seriously see MED5MED5MED5 drafts or MED1MED4MED5 drafts getting enough product into the system to keep prices reasonable based on anticipated demand. Is MED12345 at 20 tickets and 40 card decks more or less desirable thatn MED1234 at 16 Tickets for a sealed event (I dont know). How fun would triple MED5 drafts really be go Power or Go Home in terms of money and if you get a TimeWalk go Busted? heck even in limited the Power 9 are ridic.
Besides people buying 9 cards for $34.99 is equivalent to players going R1 drop on three consecutive nix tix drafts and I can imagine an awful lot more people stumping up £34.99 - The MED1234 sealed have a much better EV now due to increase demand for the Duals, FOW, Drain, Workshops etc thus making the MED1234 even more desirable and a much better limited format than Triple MED5 could ever dream of being.
I hear you about the cash generation that WOTC could make from making Power into a draftable set. However I just don't think they set would be any good in limited and WOTC likely realizes this. Back when MED1 came out (when there were cards to draw from not online[very few left])it was a terrible set to draft, and it would be worse now. This makes a draftable set with Power an unpalatable option imo,even though it would indeed be far more exciting to crack open a Foil Black Lotus that way.
@ George: The Anniversary would be an ideal venue for Power to be released.
We are onto your plan WOTC.
Exiled=Power
I am at an "advantage" so to speak. I have only been online for 2 years now. So my "waiting period" for power 9 hasn't been as long.
As far as events firing, I believe Vintage events would probably even out fire legacy. Essentially, it comes down to someone up high in the WoTC world just saying yes. I have read up a couple articles over the past couple months on release of the power 9. There is no question it would benefit WoTC greatly. Which leads me to believe someone is stone walling it for some reason.
It was like when i was reading the article on the banning of Jace, The Mind Sculptor. WoTC made it sound like they made an evil card that should have never been printed. I'm happy when they print over powered cards. It makes the game fun. It makes them come up with answers...it shuffles meta's. It keeps this game alive. Sometimes WoTC needs to reprint(or put online) Broken cards.
I would say all signs point to power 9 coming online. They are releasing alot of different powerful cards slowly but surely.
Random thought: Is it possible they are trying to make MTGO a pilot for the "Modern" format?
anways, at the end of the day...there is only one thing that matters the most. How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?
Thanks for the comments "Keepshooting"
Whilst I agree with not making a statement is a valid business mind approach may I remind you that we have been in this status quo for 4 years now since the release of MED1 - It becomes stale after a while and has the opposite effect. No way will Power 9 appear in store without a massive fanfare both within the current MTGO user base but also to the masses of current paper players and retired magic vetrans to whom power 9 digital would appeal. Planeswalker idea is not even funny. Regarding WOTC not hurting if they delay. To some extent I agree I mean they can pull the trigger whenever they want if indeed at all. But I guarantee you that if there is vintage online the constructed events will fire more than Classic could ever dream of doing so. The other point about waiting is that the MED1234 bubble bursts lets keep the momentum and make these a regular ching ching money in the bank affair. As for the multiplayer casuals they lose respect when they say no burn!
Sideboarding is always the trickiest part. So this is what I do:
UB Control
+4 Mirran Crusader, +3 Exclusion Ritual, +2 Karn Liberated
-3 Tumble Magnet (sometimes I leave one in), -2 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, -2 Dismember, -1 Phyrexian Rebirth, -1 Divine Offering (sometimes I take out Revoke Existence and sometimes I keep it in)
WW Steel
+3 Marrow Shards, +2 Revoke Existence
-4 Hero of Bladehold, -1 Dismember
Mono Red
+3 Exclusion Ritual, and depending on the deck they play +2 Karn Liberated
-2 Revoke Existence, -1 Phyrexian Rebirth
Infect
+4 Mirran Crusader, +1 Dismember and depending on the deck they play +3 Marrow Shards
-2 Revoke Existence, -2 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite (sometimes I leave her and take out extra Divine Offerings), -1 Divine Offering (this is if they are light on artifacts of course)
Hope this helps.
LE
I guarantee all power 9 will be released online. Its all about money baby, and that would make some money. As to when? Who knows..maybe its their ace of spades. Maybe if they start losing parts of their player base they will decide to go all in and drop FTV:COW MILKING..(is that right???, i like cows)
I suppose people can keep torturing themselves over the "when" its going to be released. But it isn't going to make them come any faster. Should WOTC give their player base some kind of answer as to yes or no? Meh...if i were a business and i had a golden cookie that everyone wanted....I wouldn't let anyone know when i was going to drop it. Cause it keeps people talking. It keeps people wanting more. Hell, maybe they won't announce it at all. We could log on one day and check the store...bam..there it is..(probably not likely at all) I personally think it would be really funny is if they release gold bordered power 9 for April Fool's Day. Maybe planeswalker would become a super competitive format then...
I don't think WoTC is hurt by waiting to release power 9. I personally don't know anyone quitting the game over power 9 not being released. Quitting the game over 9 cards would be kinda dumb in my honest opinion anyways.
But one day, In the multiplayer room..I will get to see "NO Infect, NO Annhilator, NO Counters, NO power 9"
haha..Nice Article sir.
Two thumbs up to you sir I agree with everything you say.
I like this deck (I happen to like a lot of your decks!). But I have a request: can you briefly summarize the sideboard change for the different matchups? I always feel like it's even more important to know that than to read the full decklist!
Double Post - Edited out - Sorry