DemonDragonJ Deckling

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In this post, here, a reader asked about black being able to destroy enchantments, and Mark Rosewater responded that black may be tertiary in that ability, but I severely dislike that, since being unable to destroy enchantments is a deliberate weakness of black's, and undermining that weakness may upset the balance of the color pie.

What does everyone else say about this? Should we be worried about this post? Will this lead to a trend of the colors being blurred into each other?

The new Kaalia is very nice; she costs 1 less mana, has vigilance, and has higher power and toughness over her previous incarnation, but, in exchange, her ability is not quite as powerful, but it still shall be very nice in EDH decks with her previous incarnation as the general.

Golos is also very nice, and I do appreciate seeing a creature that allows for five-colored decks in EDH that are not tribal, but I hope that WotC does not overdo those creatures, so that they shall still feel special and unique.

I usually do not play standard, but I am very happy to see protection back in that format; clearly, WotC has realized that that mechanic is not too powerful if used sparingly. Also, it is nice that Disenchant is now finally legal in modern; considering that WotC has not reprinted Holy Day in many sets, instead favoring Fog , it is only fair that white receive something in return.

Field of the dead is too strict to be very powerful; perhaps, if it required only five or six lands with different names, then it would be better.

Leyline of combustion is very nice, but the fact that its ability triggers only once per source of damage, rather than for each permanent that is targeted, severely limits its usefulness (compared to Flameblade Angel , whose ability triggers for each permanent that is targeted). Also, the reprint of Leyline of Anticipation is nice, but it does have me hoping that WotC shall reprint Vedalken Orrery , again, since that card is too expensive at this moment.

The first day of previews for Core Set 2020 are not too bad, but, after the double whammy of War of the Spark and Modern Horizons, this set will almost certainly be underwhelming, at least to enfranchised players, such as myself.

I shall immediately state that I dislike how angel of vitality says “25 or more life;” did WotC not learn anything from Serra Ascendant ? Would it really have been that difficult for the cad to say “5 or more life greater than your starting life total?”

On a more positive note, Seb McKinnon’s artwork on scheming symmetry is again amazing, and I especially appreciate the resemblance to the artwork of a traditional playing card. Whoever Kethis is, I do hope that they (although the name sounds masculine) eventually have a card. As for the card itself, a Vampiric Tutor that costs no life is quite awesome; it does assist an opponent, and is only a sorcery, but those are small prices to pay for such amazing card advantage. I also am very pleased to see that WotC has not completely phased out "tutors," as those have been an essential aspect of the game since its very beginning.

It is nice to finally see a red/white/green angel, but I am not certain that I can make room in my EDH deck of those colors for her, unfortunately.

I very much like cavalier of flame for its first ability, which is slightly more expensive than that of Moonveil Dragon , but also grants haste and is on a creature that is not specific to any plane, increasing its options for reprints in the future.

Dread presence is very nice, a perfect embodiment of black’s philosophy; I wish that it had higher toughness, to survive a Lightning Bolt , but it likely would have needed to have had a higher mana cost, in that case.

Why did WotC choose Chandra as the face card of this set? Is there something special about her?

Corpse knight should gain its controller life equal to the life lost when its ability triggers, because there is nothing white about it otherwise.

I fail to see any reason for which ironroot warlord’s toughness should not be variable, as is its power.

Wow, that new Ajani is awesome, but I thought that his color identity was settled on green/white by this time.

Atemsis is nice, but her (the name sounds feminine) ability definitely feels more black then blue, in my mind.

Cryptic caves is also very nice, essentially a colorless version of Horizon Canopy , albeit with a stricter requirement for activating its ability.

I see that Yanling shall be in this set, so I am pleased to see a planeswalker who has not been in a core set, before. I really hope that Sorin is both black and white, but that is not likely, since core sets usually have one planeswalker of each color (with an exception being made for Chandra, in this case).

I dislike the fact that Negate is being reprinted, again; why must WotC continually reprint such a mediocre card? I would much have preferred Countersquall , Condescend , or Mana Leak .

Seeing the enemy-colored talismans in this set makes me wonder if the allied colored talismans shall eventually be reprinted with new artwork and flavor text, since the original two Mirran swords were reprinted with new artwork after the three swords in the Scars of Mirrodin block were printed.

Boza, that idea is clearly false, since there are plenty of non-planeswalker characters in this story who can comprehend the idea of planes beyond their own, and most people in actuality can imagine the idea of planets or universes beyond our own, as well.

RicketyEng, WotC keeps saying that they wish to keep planeswalkers unique and have only them be able to travel across the planes, but, realistically, it is only logical that citizens of various plans will wish to study and research planeswalkers, and possibly even find a way to synthetically replicate planeswalker sparks; think of how often people in actuality have replicated natural processes with science and technology. It would strain credibility if people in this universe did not attempt to build more planar portals or seek to make artificial sparks.

I also feel that the mythic rare Chandra's emblem-generating ability should be a negative ability, because it is too powerful as it currently is, since her controller can simply keep using it indefinitely until their opponents are defeated.

There was a great amount of action in this week’s story, and, as usual, many characters involved; WotC may say that it is a coincidence, but I still feel that the similarities to the final battle in Avengers: Endgame were very strong.

I noticed that both Sorin and Nahiri were mentioned in the same sentence, and they were not attempting to kill each other; did they actually reconcile? Also, how could Rat be familiar with Kor, when they are not native to Ravncia?

I still feel that this story was rushed, but it certainly was dramatic, with numerous instances of the audience being led to believe that everyone was either saved or doomed, and the manner in which Bolas was finally defeated was quite epic, as well.

I am glad that Hekara remembered Rat, but very sad that she was not able to see Rat, and then promptly forgot her when someone else arrived; that certainly made the ending very bittersweet.

I see that there are several unresolved plot lines that need to be resolved; first, who shall be the masters of the new guilds? It seems that Vraska is still the master of the Golgari, but Kaya, Niv-Mizzet, Domri, and Isperia are either dead or in other positions, so their guilds shall need new masters (I personally believe that Borborygmos shall return to being master of the Gruul, Lavinia shall be the new master of the Azorious, Teysa shall be the new master of the Orzhov, and Ral shall be the new master of the Izzet). Also, three of the planeswalkers who assisted Bolas escaped, so I expect that the searches for them shall be major plot lines in upcoming sets and blocks. Also, what shall be done with the Immortal Sun? I agree with Angrath that it should be destroyed, since it is more harmful than helpful, but I suppose that Jace does have a point in that it would be useful in trapping the planeswalkers whom they are seeking.

Why did Karn mention Ob-Nixilis? As far as I know, the two of them never met before this story, so Karn would have no reason to dislike him. I am very glad that Jace and Vraska seem to have reconciled, so I hope that they do not have any further trouble between themselves.

After this titanic battle, I expect that the next several story arcs shall be fairly minor, as WotC would not wish to have another massive climactic battle so soon.

RicketyEng, why could Ugin not simply let Bolas die? What reason is there to keep him alive?

Also, the fact that all the sparks that were harvested evaporated into nothing was disappointing; think of all that power that was lost!

I am very displeased by these spoilers for several reasons: first, we just had a set that contained planeswalkers not being mythic rares and with abilities other than loyalty abilities, and WotC assured us that that would be a rare occurrence, but it now seems that they were not being honest about that; second, after the climactic battle of War of the Spark, I was expecting that the story would not focus on the Gatewatch for some time, but it seems that that is also incorrect. Also, this is a fairly minor complaint, but having three versions of Chandra at different rarities in the same set is far too similar to Pokemon for my liking, and this game predates Pokemon, so it should be above such petty actions as imitating one of its own imitators. Furthermore, I understand that different artists may illustrate the same character in different ways, but the first two depictions of Chandra look very different from every other depiction of her.

Will there be a vertical cycle for a planeswalker of each color? I dislike this idea, but WotC likes to have cycles and balance among their colors, so I expect that they shall, indeed, do that.

ThoAlmighty, yes, I did, and that is amazing; you made an accurate prediction, so I am very impressed.

I definitely would like to see a return to Alara, although it likely would be a single set, since there likely is not sufficient material for two or three sets.

I also would very much like for the game to return to Kamigawa, but the chances of that occurring are very minuscule, unfortunately because of how poorly the original block was received, but I still am hoping that the fact that each set is a stand-alone set could allow for a single set on that plane.

Now that this game has had a plane modeled after ancient Greece (Theros) and a plane modeled after ancient Egypt (Amonkhet), I am hoping for a plane modeled after Norway/Scandinavia, because I always have been fond of Norse mythology, in addition to Greek and Egyptian mythology.

Mark Rosewater has said that the autumn set for this year is a set that he has been attempting to make for over a decade, and that he is very excited about it, but, if it has taken him a decade to make it, there must surely be a reason for that, so I am wary of it, since I question the quality of a product that has been in development for that long (with other prominent examples being Chinese Democracy by Guns 'n' Roses or Duke Nukem Forever).

T8ters, I see; that is a very effective and devious strategy.

windlnk, why would Niv-Mizzet use physical force, when he is one of the most intelligent beings on Ravnica? That was very out-of-character for him.

How do you plan to summon the general of this deck without red mana?

This does look exciting, but I do not have an account with Netflix, and I have no desire to make such an account, so I shall not watch this series.

I am very disappointed that it is not an adaptation of the early story of the game, since the saga of Urza and his war against Phyrexia is amazingly epic and a great example of fantasy storytelling, but I suppose that the early story is not as well-known as is the current story, unfortunately. Hopefully, this series shall do well, and help to bring this game to a greater audience.

Do I really need to have four storage lands in this deck? Mage-Ring Network is a great card, but, given that this is a four-colored deck, it may not be as useful as the other storage lands, and I really would like to put Gavony Township back in this deck.

Also, I am considering replacing Recoil with Generous Gift , since recoil is useful only if the owner of the permanent that it targets has no cards in their hand (because they could simply discard another card and re-summon that permanent), but white is already overwhelmingly the most prominent color in this deck, and I wish to have greater balance among the colors, and I do not wish to use Beast Within , because it is a blatant violation of the color pie. Does anyone have any feedback to offer regarding that issue?

exec-MTG, yes that card is nice, as is Beast Within , but I am not certain what card I would remove to make room for it; perhaps I could remove Recoil , since that card is only truly useful if the opponent has no cards in their hand.

In today’s story, Rat seeing Hekara’s corpse definitely added emotional drama to the plot, but her returning to life produced a mixture of reactions from me; one on side, this game has the word “magic” in its name, so a character being able to return to life is not a major surprise, but, on the other side, it also reduces the emotional impact of that character’s death. Also, I thought that WotC had a policy of characters who die remaining dead, so that the shock of their death is not lessened.

However, the fact that Hekara was no longer able to see Rat was definitely a harsh moment, so I do hope that either Hekara regains that ability, or Rat can overcome that emotional trauma.

I see that Exava is the second-in-command of the Rakdos guild, other than Rakdos, himself; I presume that Judith and Massacre Girl are other high-ranking members of the guild.

During the assembly of the guild leaders, Lazav revealing that he had been present the entire time was played as humorous, but that is a very sinister ability, so I wonder how anyone can trust anyone else when someone has that ability.

The ritual to revive Niv-Mizzet was awesome, and I am certain that it would be vsiaully impressive if that scene were ever made into a movie. Niv-Mizzet was great in his fight against Kefnet, but the fact that he seemed to be exhausted after only that was very anti-climactic, so I hope that he recovers soon and can continue fighting.

In this game, the power level of cards is variable; some cards remain either powerful or weak, but others may change, depending upon other cards that are printed in the future.

Therefore, this thread is for discussing cards that retroactively became more powerful.

The first two cards that I shall mention are Doubling Season and Pithing Needle , which both became much more powerful after planeswalkers became a card type, since they had significant interactions with those cards. Phyrexian Revoker , however, was printed after planeswalkers had become a card type, so it does not qualify for this thread.

The next card that I shall mention is Captain Sisay , who became more powerful after all planeswalkers were changed to be legendary, since she could now search for a planeswalker. The new version of her, Sisay, Weatherlight Captain , does not qualify, since she was printed after planeswalkers had become a creature type.

After planeswalkers became a card type, AEther Snap became more powerful, because it can eliminate them instantly.

When Vampire Hexmage was printed, Dark Depths became more powerful, because the hexmage could immediately removes its counters and summon marit Lage.

What does everyone else say about this? What are some cards that retroactively became more powerful?

clayperce, if that is the case, why is the card called "fountain of ichor," instead of "fountain of oil?" In this game, the word "ichor" is used almost always for Phyrexian oil. Why did WotC tease the audience in that manner?

Also, Karn seeking to destroy New Phyrexia on Mirrodin is a sensible goal, but I really hope that WotC has not forgotten the plotline of Karn worrying about infecting other planes, because that is too good of a plotline to forget.

Rabid_Wombat, I enjoy playing this game with physical cards, so, if WotC ever stops printing physical cards, I will stop playing this game.