Dragon Maze: How Standard Will Change
General forum
Posted on March 7, 2013, 5:35 p.m. by DarkHero
Soooooo...m13, innistrad, dark ascension, avacyn restored are all gone from standard in like september or october. meaning that the likes of Thragtusk, Olivia Voldaren, Huntmaster of the Fells Flip, Bonfire of the Damned, Restoration Angel, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and almost all of the most annoying and over used stuff is leaving standard. Personally I am a little sick of running someone down in life and feeling I have the game in the bag and then having to deal with a Thragtusk. Obviously this stuff is going to be replaced by other annoying things at some point or another. Dragon Maze is rumored to be based partially on legendary creatures, and the possibility of Guild alliances. Meaning that multi color decks shouldnt see any kind of decline after the rotation. The most exciting rumor I have heard regarding this is cards consisting of multiple abilities from 2 different guilds. Like undying and evolve on the same card or overload and unleash on the same card or bloodrush and scavenge on the same card, just that I can think of off the top of my head. I would like to make this a forum where people can share their thoughts on what they expect from Dragon Maze and where they think standard might be going. Or perhaps just voice some displeasure on certain cards you are happy to never see again or express your disappointed regarding cards that you won't have access to anymore.
blackdragonetm says... #3
I think it's to early to tell right now, though the idea of having double key words would be kind of cool, but the only way i can actually see this working is old keywords and new keywords working in conjunction with the same guild. This is because if they tricolored any cards it'd be tricolored guilds >.> such as r/w/u would be available to battalion, overload, and detain. Now certain guild keywords are for permanents or spells and others are multipurpose!
Spells you could see overload/detain which could be absolutely amazing! Another really sweet combo would be overload with populate that would be amazing.
Permanents you could see something like unleash with evolve(but this is the one that could actually see all 3 because of bloodrush) but then you get to b/r/w and then you have some really agressive creatures being unleashed with battalion(and because it too has 3 colors with something that can be on a creature idk)
What I think we are most likely to see is mono colored cards sporting dual key words and dual color creatures with maybe a handful of tri color creatures.
Now last thing I can think of and this would be kind of crazy cool. a combination of boros' battalion with Azorius' Detain...being triggered off battllion :)
March 7, 2013 6 p.m.
All the old powerful cards will be replaced by new ones. There's point moaning about how OP they were because there's always something around the corner. Better to try and work it into your own deck or try and beat it - that's the real challenge.
March 7, 2013 6:47 p.m.
If they don't replace the awesome jund creature base (Olivia, Thrag, Huntmaster, ect.), jund midrange might take a hit
March 7, 2013 7:12 p.m.
So I don't know if anyone else here has been reading The Secretist (http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/223c - Sorry, not good with formatting so it's not a clickable link) but it provides what may be hints at what might be coming in Dragon's Maze. If you are interested in reading The Secretist you may want to stop reading as there will be a few spoilers here but not many and not very big ones but anyway, you have been warned.
First off, the Maze seems to be the key to a large source of power that has been speculated to be a fail-safe to the dissolution of the Guildpact. The guilds have to work together to unlock that power and at the end of part 2, Niv-Mizzet calls on each guild to select a representative that will run the Maze. (This may be the basis for the Legendary creature rumor.) Now it's not known what this power is or what it does or even if the first guild runner to complete the maze can use the power without the other guilds. (I kind of think that it is designed to provide a means and power for a new Guildpact, but that is complete speculation on my part and I won't be surprised if I am wrong.) Anyway, all the guilds, of course, want this prize for themselves so I kinda doubt the multiple guild abilities on one creature/spell and this would imply cooperation between guilds. Although if this "fail-safe" actually blends the guilds together somewhat to reduce the tensions and conflicts that arise from the lack of restraint enforced by the Guildpact then it may be possible that we could have mixed abilities. (I could see a cipher spell that gives the creature it is encoded to extort, or a creature with a battalion trigger that populates) Although the basis for this rumor could just stem from the double guild method being used for the prerelease. Anyway, I guess that's about it for now.
March 7, 2013 7:18 p.m.
I thought that Wizards themselves have confirmed allied guilds, something about at the prerelease you will choose a guild and you'll get a pack or something related to that guild's secret ally guild.
March 7, 2013 7:53 p.m.
I don't know for sure that wizard actually said that, but I recall reading somewhere that they did. Whether or not it was a trustable resource is yet to be determined. Seems pretty legit to me.
March 7, 2013 8:25 p.m.
GreatSword says... #9
The idea of an "allied guild" is just for the prerelease; it's not a set-in-stone lore thing. It'll just be a random shared-color guild from the opposite expansion. So if you pick Rakdos, your "allied guild" will be Gruul or Boros, (sharing red) or Dimir or Orzhov (sharing black).
Interestingly (to me, anyway) this leaves us with the "true opposite" for each guild. Simic would be Rakdos', Azorious' would be Gruul, Izzet would be Orzhov, etc. Classicly, Magic has had really great mechanical counters for every thematic conflict (red vs blue, colored vs multicolored, graveyard vs battlefield, etc) so I wonder if there will be any cards to represent specific guild conflicts.
March 7, 2013 8:30 p.m.
Back to the original intent of this post: I certainly will miss the Innistrad block being a huge fan of Jund Midrange. Losing basically my whole creature lineup will force me to seriously rethink my build and look elsewhere for my competitive build. I really don't see Dragon's Maze replacing all the loss Jund Midrange is looking at all by itself. I also don't forsee a m14 reprint of Thragtusk. I believe it will be one of those cards that rules standrad for a time then fades into Modern or other formats. I know that a lot of people find Restoration Angel to be annoying and overplayed, but there is a reason. I'll miss using them with my Snapcaster Mage. I use Entreat the Angels heavily and Innistrad rotating out will definitely force me to look hard at what I'm going to use in the competitive arena. Right now I am looking into a Naya build that combines things like Loxodon Smiter, Boros Reckoner, and Gruul Ragebeast. hopefully that pans out.
March 7, 2013 9:48 p.m.
I meant to use Ghor-Clan Rampager, not Gruul Ragebeast.
March 7, 2013 9:48 p.m.
blackdragonetm says... #12
You should start looking at things that can replace the cards that will be rotating out. G-C Rampager will be a great slot taker cause extras in hand can be used to pump. closest thing to thrag power green we have is a 4 drop golgari that is a 5/5...sadly no token generation or life gain.I think snapcaster will be the only card I miss but I'll happily enjoy seeing his price drop cause I'm a casual player. The only reprints I wanna see and see quickly are the dual lands from innistrad block.
March 7, 2013 10:01 p.m.
I agree, I want to see those lands resprinted, too. Also, do you really think that Snapcaster Mage will drop? I thought he sees a lot of Modern play, too?
March 7, 2013 10:04 p.m.
blackdragonetm says... #14
He won't drop very much at all...just enough to put him on a proper level for being rotated out of standard. His price is mostly driven by being wanted by both modern and standard players. Idk when sets will be released and I don't know when the last time wizards did extended but you could see a bit of extended to help get people adjusted...idk...it's been so long since I've followed magic properly xD
March 7, 2013 10:07 p.m.
I haven't played MtG for along time...Ursa's Saga block was the last set that I was buying, and I came back in mid Innistrad block. Is it pretty standard for WotC to wait until the final chapter of a block to include the new "champion" cards that will in a sense replace what in rotating out of the previous block? I am not seeing much from RtR block yet that is dictating what the meta will become just yet. Aside from a few promising allstars here and there, I mostly see Innistrad decks at my local FNM spots.
March 9, 2013 9:42 a.m.
It just seems like there is so much leaving standard soon. I can't imagine Dragon Maze is going to contain enough to replace all of it if any of it. Things will change for better or worse, just seems strange. I get the vibe that Dragon Maze will be a pretty small set too idk. Also rumor has it Dragon Maze will do away with a basic land being the final card in booster packs and instead it will be a Guildgate, Shockland, or the Mythic land.
March 9, 2013 3:18 p.m.
yes, I have read an article that confirms there will be non-basic lands in the land spot of the Dragon's Maze booster packs. I also agree that there is a ton of amazing cards leaving and they haven't even started to be replaced yet. Perhaps the idea here is to replace the meta of amazing cards with a bunch of small ones working together. Basing decks around the guild mechanics may be what WotC want to see from decks now moreso than basing them around certain cards. Who knows...I will be very interested to see what m14 holds as well. When m14 was announced onthe wizards website there was a new picture of concept art of Chandra, so we can most likely expect a new version of her to pop up with the new core set as well.
Sidneyious says... #2
it wont change much, its going to be the same dribble.
March 7, 2013 5:52 p.m.