There have been 3 articles on the same topic appearing at once. :)
But it's a hot topic right now, so it's nothing wrong to read more than one view, even within such a brief amount of time.
"...lack of other cards that make artifact tokens": yeah, not enough non-artifact generators of artifact tokens for a hypotetical WU Shape Anew deck. Maybe splashing R for Tuktuk the Explorer, but it would be clunky (and besides, is a 5/5 really that expendable?). Another possibility is playing an Architect deck ramping into Battlesphere, and using Shape Anew to find another Battlesphere, but it seems somehow pointless.
As for big artifacts to cheat into play, though, there's Blightsteel Colossus now. I will try to concoct something, just for fun, because I like to cheat things into play, but I don't think that just 4x Master's Call would be enough as a fuel for Shape Anew. Maybe it's something for a Tribal deck (i.e. an Eternal format where you can allow yourself to experiment a little more than in Classic/Legacy).
Let's keep in mind that Nexus dies to everything red, so doing the Tez ability vs mountains will always be a risky proposition. You do always have darksteel axe though, which will prove pretty broken with Tez - even though it doesnt have infect.
The block shakeup will be significant. It remains to be seen what this set will do to standard. I fear this expansion will have an extremely limited effect on Extended and beyond.
I second your excitement for both Consecrated Sphinx and Treasure Mage. The Mage will see constructed play in a lot of formats, since it's a very versatile tutor. I can see it become a Commander staple, for instance. The Sphinx is awesome. Not being an artifact is a good thing in block constructed, yet it's a slight flaw in some other formats (no interactions with Sharuum/Open the Vaults).
I disagree about Cryptoplasm. The case you consider makes no sense: Cryptoplasm costs half the cost of a Wurmcoil, so it's fair to assume it could be already on the board when the wurm shows up. Think about that, instead: monoblue, you cast Cryptoplasm with a counterspell in hand (that's easiest to do since it's a 3cc creature). Opponent's turn. If he casts a threat, you will have the same threat as soon as your upkeep kicks in (and yours has haste). If he tries to kill it, you can protect it. Worst case, you slowed down the opponent, causing his Wurmcoil to stay in his hand. In your upkeep, the plasm can find some targets anyway, maybe another creature of yours. What about double Architect boost? Hasted Palladium Myr? Until the next big threat (yours or opponent's) hits the board. I can see some play for such a card.
I like reviews that focus on the positive cards rather than lambasting the bad cards (I'm a vorthos at heart, to Vorthos there are no bad cards.) I do know that I want at least one of those sphinxes for commander, he becomes a must kill card as soon as he's on the board. Drop him, then tap a temple bell and draw 7 cards? Jeez louise!
The original point was that it will lose flying and infect at EOT. If you reactivate the ability to give it flying and infect, you will also reset it to 1/1 until EOT. Presumably, at EOT, it will revert to 5/5.
Yeah, I'm just not 101% on the interaction, so I didn't want to right about it without testing it first, which I'll be able to start doing in a couple weeks.
I think your reaction is over the top. Whatever the worth of the article, Rene has been a consistent contributor and has worked hard to improve his English and style here. You are taking way too hard a line on this. My suggestion is step back, take a breath and relax.
I play a lot of Pauper, and I find it rather aggravating to see people "publishing" articles about Pauper who clearly have little to no expertise on the format. I find it aggravating when janky decks get published on WotC's site, I find it aggravating when we get tepid, useless articels here, and I find it aggravating that for whatever reason the actual Pauper experts don't seem to write articles.
Anyway, ever since SoM hit, there have been a variety of "Post" decks. This article doesn't even explain what "Post" decks are, how they came to be, how they tend to play, nothing about how they fit in they meta, no comparison between the different Post decks, and no explanation of why the author chose mono green for this article--especially because the blue/red ones are the most common ones with the most success to date.
So I kinda have to agree with hammer, this "article" fails in just about every way it could. I guess I'll have to write Pauper articles myself if I want there to be any good ones.
I think UB infect control will be awesome. Tezz can be the real deal. I already have ideas a brewing. The best part is block is going to get a shake up
I like reading articles from many different people. I find it funny that 3 set reviews got published on the same day. I would of preferred being on a different day. It's funny too cause Starcity has like a ton of set reviews today also. Just calm down and enjoy....if you cant enjoy it...dont read it.
I think that a set review is one of the few article that actually benefits from being repeated from different authors, as each author might analyze each card on a different point if view and have a different opinion on it, highlight different interactions, etc.
And of course, the review has to be made now, even if the set is not on MTGO yet. Paper magic is going to explore the format and thus identify which cards and strategies are worth playing before it gets online, and that's the point of the article, it's useless to have it when the set has already been around for a month.
As on the article itself, I would have liked it a lot more if the test matches were more in detail and were made in a real tournament. Despite it's name, people play whatever comes to their mind in the TP room and two out of three decks that you faced are not even real decks in the Pauper meta.
I'm conflicted after finding this card ruling going undisputed:
Cards do what they say they do. No more, no less. Tezzeret says "Target artifact becomes a 5/5 artifact creature." He doesn't say "Target artifact becomes a 5/5 artifact creature and loses all abilities." So the animated Inkmoth Nexus is going to have flying and infect until end of turn (since that's when the effect that gives it flying and infect wears off). It will continue being a 5/5 (since Tezzeret's effect doesn't wear off at end of turn).
If you activate Inkmoth Nexus' ability again it will be a 1/1 with flying and infect until end of turn (since the effect making it 1/1 will have a more recent timestamp than the one making it 5/5), going back to 5/5 without flying or infect when Inkmoth Nexus' ability wears off.
I didn't want to risk posting misinformation so I didn't touch on it. Would an artifact targeted with Tez' -1 still retain its abilities, or just be a vanilla 5/5?
I think the biggest shake-up of the format is going to come from Burn the Impure and Slagstorm, which means that Grand Architect will no longer be safe against red, which means that the Architect decks will no longer have a great match-up against mono-red.
This means that another deck will have to be built that can beat Koth mono-red. Phyrexian Crusader might be a part of that deck.
I also like Tezzeret's -1 ability with infect artifact creatures.
I am in heaven with all the block talk today. I can't wait to try out a U/B infect control deck. I think it has all the tools now for block with the inkmoth nexus, infect mind control, and go for the throat.
I think you have to respect a card like Hero, capable of dealing 7 damage by itself. Yes, it suffers Jace -1 but ideally you should have some more creatures on the board when you cast it. Also, not every deck plays Jace.
I might be wrong on Zenith, and I dismissed Distant Memories too, I included it in the article to explain why it's not good.
There have been 3 articles on the same topic appearing at once. :)
But it's a hot topic right now, so it's nothing wrong to read more than one view, even within such a brief amount of time.
"...lack of other cards that make artifact tokens": yeah, not enough non-artifact generators of artifact tokens for a hypotetical WU Shape Anew deck. Maybe splashing R for Tuktuk the Explorer, but it would be clunky (and besides, is a 5/5 really that expendable?). Another possibility is playing an Architect deck ramping into Battlesphere, and using Shape Anew to find another Battlesphere, but it seems somehow pointless.
As for big artifacts to cheat into play, though, there's Blightsteel Colossus now. I will try to concoct something, just for fun, because I like to cheat things into play, but I don't think that just 4x Master's Call would be enough as a fuel for Shape Anew. Maybe it's something for a Tribal deck (i.e. an Eternal format where you can allow yourself to experiment a little more than in Classic/Legacy).
All I know is that deck desperately needs Moment's Peace as I have tested it for significantly more than three matches.
Let's keep in mind that Nexus dies to everything red, so doing the Tez ability vs mountains will always be a risky proposition. You do always have darksteel axe though, which will prove pretty broken with Tez - even though it doesnt have infect.
The block shakeup will be significant. It remains to be seen what this set will do to standard. I fear this expansion will have an extremely limited effect on Extended and beyond.
I second your excitement for both Consecrated Sphinx and Treasure Mage. The Mage will see constructed play in a lot of formats, since it's a very versatile tutor. I can see it become a Commander staple, for instance. The Sphinx is awesome. Not being an artifact is a good thing in block constructed, yet it's a slight flaw in some other formats (no interactions with Sharuum/Open the Vaults).
I disagree about Cryptoplasm. The case you consider makes no sense: Cryptoplasm costs half the cost of a Wurmcoil, so it's fair to assume it could be already on the board when the wurm shows up. Think about that, instead: monoblue, you cast Cryptoplasm with a counterspell in hand (that's easiest to do since it's a 3cc creature). Opponent's turn. If he casts a threat, you will have the same threat as soon as your upkeep kicks in (and yours has haste). If he tries to kill it, you can protect it. Worst case, you slowed down the opponent, causing his Wurmcoil to stay in his hand. In your upkeep, the plasm can find some targets anyway, maybe another creature of yours. What about double Architect boost? Hasted Palladium Myr? Until the next big threat (yours or opponent's) hits the board. I can see some play for such a card.
hey westane...how bananas is inkmouth nexus in SOM block. I love this card. Will get 4 during prerelase
I like reviews that focus on the positive cards rather than lambasting the bad cards (I'm a vorthos at heart, to Vorthos there are no bad cards.) I do know that I want at least one of those sphinxes for commander, he becomes a must kill card as soon as he's on the board. Drop him, then tap a temple bell and draw 7 cards? Jeez louise!
The original point was that it will lose flying and infect at EOT. If you reactivate the ability to give it flying and infect, you will also reset it to 1/1 until EOT. Presumably, at EOT, it will revert to 5/5.
Yeah, I'm just not 101% on the interaction, so I didn't want to right about it without testing it first, which I'll be able to start doing in a couple weeks.
I think your reaction is over the top. Whatever the worth of the article, Rene has been a consistent contributor and has worked hard to improve his English and style here. You are taking way too hard a line on this. My suggestion is step back, take a breath and relax.
I play a lot of Pauper, and I find it rather aggravating to see people "publishing" articles about Pauper who clearly have little to no expertise on the format. I find it aggravating when janky decks get published on WotC's site, I find it aggravating when we get tepid, useless articels here, and I find it aggravating that for whatever reason the actual Pauper experts don't seem to write articles.
Anyway, ever since SoM hit, there have been a variety of "Post" decks. This article doesn't even explain what "Post" decks are, how they came to be, how they tend to play, nothing about how they fit in they meta, no comparison between the different Post decks, and no explanation of why the author chose mono green for this article--especially because the blue/red ones are the most common ones with the most success to date.
So I kinda have to agree with hammer, this "article" fails in just about every way it could. I guess I'll have to write Pauper articles myself if I want there to be any good ones.
You are correct. 5/5 for ever
If you make the Nexus a 5/5 guy using Tezz, doesn't he stay a 5/5 everytime he is activited much like the Affinity land used to do with ravager?
Tezz says it makes them 5/5 forever not just till end of turn or am I misunderstanding?
I'm pretty sure the nexus will stay a 5/5 dude everytime it's activated.
I think UB infect control will be awesome. Tezz can be the real deal. I already have ideas a brewing. The best part is block is going to get a shake up
I like reading articles from many different people. I find it funny that 3 set reviews got published on the same day. I would of preferred being on a different day. It's funny too cause Starcity has like a ton of set reviews today also. Just calm down and enjoy....if you cant enjoy it...dont read it.
Yup, I was just agreeing, and adding that IMHO it's not just bad it's AWFUL!
I think that a set review is one of the few article that actually benefits from being repeated from different authors, as each author might analyze each card on a different point if view and have a different opinion on it, highlight different interactions, etc.
And of course, the review has to be made now, even if the set is not on MTGO yet. Paper magic is going to explore the format and thus identify which cards and strategies are worth playing before it gets online, and that's the point of the article, it's useless to have it when the set has already been around for a month.
As on the article itself, I would have liked it a lot more if the test matches were more in detail and were made in a real tournament. Despite it's name, people play whatever comes to their mind in the TP room and two out of three decks that you faced are not even real decks in the Pauper meta.
I'm conflicted after finding this card ruling going undisputed:
Cards do what they say they do. No more, no less. Tezzeret says "Target artifact becomes a 5/5 artifact creature." He doesn't say "Target artifact becomes a 5/5 artifact creature and loses all abilities." So the animated Inkmoth Nexus is going to have flying and infect until end of turn (since that's when the effect that gives it flying and infect wears off). It will continue being a 5/5 (since Tezzeret's effect doesn't wear off at end of turn).
If you activate Inkmoth Nexus' ability again it will be a 1/1 with flying and infect until end of turn (since the effect making it 1/1 will have a more recent timestamp than the one making it 5/5), going back to 5/5 without flying or infect when Inkmoth Nexus' ability wears off.
Tezz only alters the P/T. The rest remains the same.
LE
I didn't want to risk posting misinformation so I didn't touch on it. Would an artifact targeted with Tez' -1 still retain its abilities, or just be a vanilla 5/5?
I think the biggest shake-up of the format is going to come from Burn the Impure and Slagstorm, which means that Grand Architect will no longer be safe against red, which means that the Architect decks will no longer have a great match-up against mono-red.
This means that another deck will have to be built that can beat Koth mono-red. Phyrexian Crusader might be a part of that deck.
I also like Tezzeret's -1 ability with infect artifact creatures.
I am excited about trying U/B infect control, red aggro, white weenie, and Mono Black Infect. It will be fun times for a couple months.
Also I must say that this website has the most and best block articles that I can find. Keep up the good work all.
they didnt reprint it last year when it was 150
I am in heaven with all the block talk today. I can't wait to try out a U/B infect control deck. I think it has all the tools now for block with the inkmoth nexus, infect mind control, and go for the throat.
I think you have to respect a card like Hero, capable of dealing 7 damage by itself. Yes, it suffers Jace -1 but ideally you should have some more creatures on the board when you cast it. Also, not every deck plays Jace.
I might be wrong on Zenith, and I dismissed Distant Memories too, I included it in the article to explain why it's not good.