MTG Color Pie

Modern Thoughts About Modern Masters

Modern Masters comes out today and we’ll be able to get our hands on it.

Or, some of will get our hands on the set. Maybe they’ll play with it; maybe they’ll store it in a closet hoping it will go up in value. I mean, it can’t go any higher, can it?

So let’s address some of the topics that everyone is talking about and let’s see if we can shed some light on it in a non-“What has WotC done?” panic that I keep reading online. Is it just me, or do you imagining people screaming throwing their hands above their head?

1 – What’s in the Set

Obviously this is the most important part. Modern Masters has money cards for everyone. For Tournament players there’s Tarmogoyf, AEther Vial, Cryptic Command, Dark Confidant, Arcbound Ravager, Pact of Negation, Kiki-Jiki, Blood Moon, Bridge from Below, Elsepth, etc. For Casual/Commander players there’s Doubling Season, Swords of Fire and Ice/Light and Shadow, Sarken Vol, Demigod of Revenge, Divinity of Pride, the Kamigawa Dragons, etc.

And those are just some of the Rares and Mythics. This set is so full of good stuff that it’s insane. Really insane. That’s why the packs are so expensive and the hype is so high. If you play Magic, there are cards in here that interest you. For the alternative Cubers, there’s plenty of support here especially with the rarity changes of many of the cards (which is also a help to the budget players (and yes, I know that I’m saying “budget players” semi-ironically when it comes to a set like this)).

Continue reading “Modern Thoughts About Modern Masters”

Fun Fun Fun Now That WotC Took the Legend Rule Away

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Prerequisite reading:

Magic 2014 Core Set Rules Changes – Matt Tabak
Legendary Rule Change – Sam Stoddard

Let’s say you didn’t read those articles, what has happened in the past 24 hours has shook up the Magic community. Here’s what it boils down to:

The “Legend Rule” used to “say”:

There can be only one copy of a Legend with a unique name on the battlefield at a time. If there were ever more than one Legend with the same name, they are all put into the graveyard due to state based effects.

Now, the “Planeswalker Rule” was almost the same thing, except it checked to see the Planeswalker type, not just the name. So this meant that If I have any copy of Jace on the battlefield, and you cast any Jace, they both go to the graveyard. This was the same with Legends; if I have a Rafiq of the Many and you reanimate one from your graveyard, they both go to the graveyard.

This played a huge role for two reasons: One, it would keep the “power” of Legends in check because you could just play yours and get rid of your opponents; and two: it solved the issue flavor wise of both of us are trying to use the same character and, just like in any time travel movie, the character would just disappear because it couldn’t be in two places at the same time.

There was one added part to the “Legend Rule”: if you were to copy a Legend, using Clone or another variant, than the copy and the Legend went to the graveyard.

This is all how the game has played for a good number of years. Now it all changes. (Cue Dramatic Music)

Each player now gets to control a copy of a Legend with a Unique name, and if you cast one you already had you get to choose which one goes to the graveyard. Planeswalkers now work like that as well, meaning everyone can have a Jace on the battlefield. Oh, and Clones can’t kill Legends anymore.

Of course, this isn’t the only change with M14 (the sideboarding part will get some discussion once this initial rules shock wears off), but you can see a shifting of the way Magic is being handled. And we’re going to discuss that.

It will be okay. Continue reading “Fun Fun Fun Now That WotC Took the Legend Rule Away”

Uncle’s Games Summer Invitational Announcement

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We’ll get to the YMTC and the updates to Slivers in future posts.

I walked into my local game store, Uncle’s Games, and was asked if I wanted to be part of something cool. Of course, I do, doesn’t everybody? I was told that the game store is announcing its first ever Summer Invitational. This was cool.

It looks like at the moment that it will semi-represent the old Invitationals that WotC used to do with the pro players (here’s coverage of the 2005 Invitational). Uncle’s decided that it would be a tournament of 16 people, where everyone would get an invite through different means. Some of the people would be invited from their Bellevue (Washington) store, others from their Redmond (Washington) store.

It would all culminate on August 17th where the winner gets 4 copies of From the Vault: Exiled. You know FtV: Exiled, right? Balance, Beserk, Channel, Gifts Ungiven, Goblin Lackey, Kird Ape, Lotus Petal, Mystical Tutor, Necropotence, Sensei’s Divining Top, Serendib Efreet, Skullclamp, Strip Mine, Tinker, and Trinisphere. Basically a nice Vintage/Legacy/Commander/Cube starter pack of awesome cards. A playset of them (for those of you keeping track at home). Plus more prizes will be announced as we get closer to the event.

I nodded my head, “Yeah, I like this. How do people get an invite?” Continue reading “Uncle’s Games Summer Invitational Announcement”

You Make the Card 4 – Round 5 (Submit the Mechanic)

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So it all comes down to this.

I knew that non-arua would win the vote, but I didn’t expect it to be by that much. That’s all fine and good.

Now it comes down to those of us in America and Canada submit our designs. I feel bad for the rest of the world, since obviously the community is larger than just these two countries. I’m sure it has to do with something on the legal side of things, but I have no knowledge of what it could be. Hopefully one day we can live in a world without lawyers. But back to the good part.

If you haven’t submitted your design yet, stop and take a breath. You only get one design so you better make it a good one. Already I’ve seen hundreds of submissions that people have sent in and I’m noticing a huge pattern here:

You’re rushing things.

I was going to spend some time about what Black can and can’t do, but I feel like we need to take a step back and look at card design in general. Most everyone is getting the idea of what Black is, so that’s good. And I think the benefit of submitting a top down design is fantastic since we can convey the flavor easier. However, everyone’s so excited to submit their card they’re losing perspective on several things. I tweeted out this link to one of Maro’s posts on basic design but I feel like people need to see it again, and again.

And again.

Before we get to that review, I want you to look at your design and ask yourself some honest questions:

Is it fun?
Would you put it in a deck?
Would you be happy to see it when you draw it?
Would you be happy to see it played against you?

While the 4th question is a little awkward, let me explain. There comes a point in every card’s life that you just don’t want to see it played against you. Either because it’s too powerful, you see it all of the time, or a combination of both. Primeval Titan is a fun card that you play, but you get tired of seeing your opponents play it. What about Black Enchantments? Recurring Nightmare is a hugely fun card for you to play, but when your opponent has it, you’re just groaning and complaining about why would WotC print such a broken card? Cards that create repetitive gameplay gets tiresome. Cards that create repetitive gameplay gets tiresome. Cards that create repetitive gameplay gets tiresome.

Listen, I’m not saying your card can’t be good; balancing cards that are fun for the person using them while not completely ruining the game for your opponents is very hard to do. But saying “I’ve got an idea for a Black enchantment”, scribbling down your first idea then submitting it doesn’t give this contest justice. You can come up with a ton of different Black enchantments but if they don’t follow the first three questions, while maybe touching on the fourth, then why are you submitting it? Continue reading “You Make the Card 4 – Round 5 (Submit the Mechanic)”

You Make the Card 4 – Round 4 (Aura or Non-Aura)

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(Note: That link is this page’s address so it’s easier to share this page.)

And Black won the vote. Fine, I’ll just crumple up all my Red enchantment designs and throw them in the drawer of “stuff I’ll use sometime”.

Hopefully this vote also dispels the rumors that A) WotC is trying to control the vote by linking my articles (though I’m very grateful) and 2) that I have supreme power over the voting process.

I am not surprised that Black won the vote as I figured it would be Red or Black since the players want to complete cycles. They were the top two colors because that’s what people wanted to see. And now we’re in the all “important” phase of choosing if we want the aura card or not.

What we’re deciding here is if the card type line will read “Enchantment” or “Enchantment – Aura”. That’s it.

This might be one of the more lopsided votes that we’ll have throughout the whole contest but it’s not one to take lightly. By ignoring the vote, we could get stuck with a choice few of us want.

Vote for “Global Enchantment.”

Yeah, we don’t use the term “Global” anymore, but we did at one time. So, no, we’re not voting on “Enchant Worlds” either and that would be an aura anyway using modern templating. But there are two main reasons why you shouldn’t vote for Auras. Continue reading “You Make the Card 4 – Round 4 (Aura or Non-Aura)”