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Title: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Johny Cee on August 31, 2006, 08:57:22 PM www.mtgsalvation.com
Has a bunch of good info on it. This new set looks like a doozy. Reprinting about 100 cards as "bonus" cards in packs. Bringing back alot of very good mechanics (madness, flashback, buyback, an INTERRUPT mechanic....). The rumors floating around are that the bonus reprints will be beloved power cards from year back. Not sure if they'll be Type 2 legal. Really too much info to go into. If you've ever played the game, go read up on the latest set now. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: schild on August 31, 2006, 09:07:36 PM Wow. jesus. Some of that shit is horribly powerful compared to what we've had. Seriously. Krosan Grip? Yea, I like that.
Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Xilren's Twin on September 01, 2006, 02:48:50 PM A) The set sounds very interesting.
B) WotC is raising the MSRP on magic packs, which includes MTGo packs, from 3.69 to 3.99 in October. Approx 8% price hike. Raising the price on digital cards that cost nothing to create just so they don't undermine their paper product again..... RAGE! Xilren Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Margalis on September 01, 2006, 05:46:24 PM Technically you can redeem a full set of digital cards for real ones, so it does make at least a little sense.
Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Johny Cee on September 01, 2006, 09:26:30 PM Really, the only thing Wizards has to do for true price parity with cardboard is to give a significant discount to buying a "box" of product just like how it is with paper cards.
Paper boosters are $3.69 or whatever, but I think I usually buy a box or two each set for.... $75 to $80. That drops price for boosters down to a little over $2. Generally, you get most of the commons and uncommons you need, and at least 1 of alot of the rares. I don't buy into the whole "paying money for worthless virtual product" thing. The cardboard cards are worthless virtual product with a cost for materials that's probably negligable. Wizards has proven, with cardboard and online, that they won't do anything stupid to undermine the value of cards. I think once Wizards made a reprint set.... the secondary market blew up and they had to promise to never do it again. And they haven't. Most of the people I know who quit either cardboard or online have managed to sell their collections for a significant amount of money, which tells you something about the actual value of imaginary pieces of cardboard or data. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Johny Cee on September 01, 2006, 09:35:11 PM I really like the new "split second" (basically it's the old interrupt) mechanic....
A big problem with recent sets has been printing cards with good activated abilities that you could put on the stack over a solution. To illustrate: Ravager and Disciple of the Vault. Your opponent has a mess of artifacts (artifact lands, creatures), Ravager, Disciple in play. You cast a Shock at the Disciple. In response, your opponent can sac out all the artifacts using Ravager to pump the Ravager and cause you a ton of life loss. Often the game winner for the Ravager player, and one of the reasons Disciple caught a ban. Same situation with Goblin Sharpshooter in a Goblin deck. Basically, the cards meant to be a solution were ineffective. Split second means that your opponent can't abuse abilities in response to your solution. The Storm mechanic is also back, and the rumors floating around indicate that we'll probably see Akroma (the actual 6/6 bad ass legend) back. Alot of rumors counterspell will get reprinted with Hinder leaving Type 2. The rumors of massive reprints would be inline with my theory that Wizards is trying to boost the cardpool online for Vintage/Classic players. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: eldaec on September 02, 2006, 02:31:24 AM Technically you can redeem a full set of digital cards for real ones, so it does make at least a little sense. Actually only about 3.5 cards can ever be redeemed from a booster. Because you have to do it in sets, and each booster only introduces one rare to the world, so 2 uncommons and aprox 9.5 commons are trapped in the mtgo world forever. Also, of course, MRSP != what people pay for offline boosters. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Raging Turtle on September 03, 2006, 09:31:15 PM Official previews starting this week. ***SPOILERS*** below if you avoid even the official previews, but the second card... wow. Pretty amazing from a flavor perspective.
(http://www.wizards.com/magic/images/mtgcom/fcpics/making/mr244_746k6931e7zwwp9g.jpg) (http://www.wizards.com/magic/images/mtgcom/fcpics/features/357_v9xgx90l8hru7xq2.jpg) Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Johny Cee on September 04, 2006, 08:08:39 PM Fuck.
Teferi is insane. The 4 backend is enough that he isn't fodder for most burn except Char. There's almost guaranteed to be a decent mono-blue deck based around him. Play with all snow islands, throw in the Coldsnap legend that bounces things. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Strazos on September 05, 2006, 11:15:38 AM Wow, that totally blocks all kinds of crazy instant-speed spells, including stuff like Countermagic. Ouch.
Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Margalis on September 05, 2006, 01:01:52 PM 5 for a 3/4 in blue isn't that bad.
As far as stopping countermagic, getting down a 5CC card through counters will be tough, although the ability to play it as an instant will certainly help. Sedge Sliver is pretty beastly too. A 3/3 for 3 that regenerates? Not bad for red/black. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Johny Cee on September 05, 2006, 07:02:18 PM 5 for a 3/4 in blue isn't that bad. As far as stopping countermagic, getting down a 5CC card through counters will be tough, although the ability to play it as an instant will certainly help. Sedge Sliver is pretty beastly too. A 3/3 for 3 that regenerates? Not bad for red/black. Teferi is a house in blue. Blue works best when it can get away with tricks at the end of it's opponents turn. Against non-blue colors, it retards your opponents play. Forcing them to react only during their turn means they can't just hit it with targetted removal in response. You have to committ to removing it during your regular main phase. Very interesting. I think that the new "take another turn" spell is fairly solid too. With a beater on the board, getting an extra turn means another turn to swing away (plus further mana development and card drawing.) I used Beacon of Tomorrows (and Decree of Silence, snicker..) pretty effectively in a monoblue deck around the Ravager timeperiod. Not a great deck, but not terrible. When I lost, it was close. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Raging Turtle on September 06, 2006, 10:26:20 AM (http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=30447&stc=1&d=1157515725) Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Johny Cee on September 06, 2006, 09:22:10 PM Looks like Gating is back.
A 2/1 white creature for W1; Tap, pay 4, put a rebel card with casting cost of 3 or less into play from your library. Gating can be absolutely broken. I did pretty well in extended tourneys a couple years ago with a White Weenie deck featuring Ramosian Sergeant (W; 1/1; T, pay 3, put rebel with casting cost 2 or less into play from your library). Of course, I also had Armageddon and Parallax Wave..... Ahhh, Parallax Wave. Been deriving much amusement from the mtgsalvation forums. Those people are idiots. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: eldaec on September 06, 2006, 11:53:28 PM Jaya Ballard 1RR
Legendary Creature - Human Spellshaper Rt, discard a card : Destroy target blue permanent. 1Rt, discard a card : Incinerate 5RRt, discard a card : 6 to each player & creature 2/2 Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Johny Cee on September 07, 2006, 08:23:29 PM That new Angel is nuts.
WW; 3/3; Flying; Vigilance; You can't cast it on your turn 1, 2 or 3. Ummmm..... So I can drop a massively efficient flying beater with good power and toughness, and have enough mana to counter? Or after turn 6, I can Wrath and immediately get a threat out? Or turn 4, drop two evading 3/3's? Jaya is a pretty good card as well. Not as much of a factor because of the sheer amount of removal, though. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Margalis on September 07, 2006, 09:35:46 PM That angel may have the worst mechanic I've ever seen.
I've never liked things that spoke too much to the game rules rather than the game itself. For example things based on hand size. Those types of cards seem to break the 4th wall too much and call attention to the rules. This is far worse. It seems to stupid and contrived. "Hmm guys, this card is way too good." "I know...how about you can't play it for the first 3 turns!" "You mean, like it costs more or something? Requires 3 colors? Requires other permanents in play first?" "NOPE!" This mechanic is dreadful. In a way it is interesting in that one of the main purposes of a low cost card is that you can play it early but it seems way too forced. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Raging Turtle on September 07, 2006, 10:25:11 PM Shadow!
(http://www.wizards.com/magic/images/mtgcom/fcpics/latest/af135_8ma4a2jn3m11dcaq.jpg) :heart: :heart: :heart: Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Strazos on September 08, 2006, 12:02:30 AM Totally unrelated, but I love cards that impose -whocares/-something - cheesey removal FTW.
Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Margalis on September 08, 2006, 07:46:05 AM Even when the -something is zero?
I give you -zero, three times!!! Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Strazos on September 08, 2006, 08:24:26 AM Har.
Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: eldaec on September 08, 2006, 02:03:34 PM Image from an ebay auction....
(http://i3.ebayimg.com/02/i/08/50/ff/87_1.JPG) http://cgi.ebay.com/MTG-Magic-the-Gathering-Time-Spiral-Lot-Live-71-Cards_W0QQitemZ200025274507QQihZ010QQcategoryZ19113QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem It shows a bunch of cards being printed at 'B' rarity (it was the revelation of the new rarity that pissed wotc off enough to sue Rancored Elf earlier this year). Key points... There are 121 B rarity cards in TS. They are reprints. They use the old frames, old art, new purple expansion symbol. They are numbered x/121, separate from the other 301 cards. I'm image leeching there - so expect to see a red cross when wotc ask ebay to take the auction down. Also, note Memory Jar throwback... Magus of the Jar 3UU t, Sacrifice Magus of the Jar : Each player removes his or her hand from the game face down, and draws seven cards. At end of turn, each player discards his or her hand and returns to his or her hand each card he or she removed from the game this way. 3/3 Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: schild on September 09, 2006, 12:20:22 AM Is it just me or is this set just ridiculous? I mean, I see what they're trying to do, and I like it. But it just seems so, so...."Hey we're running out of steam. Time to press the reset button." And boom, we have a set like this.
Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Johny Cee on September 09, 2006, 12:35:12 AM That angel may have the worst mechanic I've ever seen. I've never liked things that spoke too much to the game rules rather than the game itself. For example things based on hand size. Those types of cards seem to break the 4th wall too much and call attention to the rules. This is far worse. It seems to stupid and contrived. "Hmm guys, this card is way too good." "I know...how about you can't play it for the first 3 turns!" "You mean, like it costs more or something? Requires 3 colors? Requires other permanents in play first?" "NOPE!" This mechanic is dreadful. In a way it is interesting in that one of the main purposes of a low cost card is that you can play it early but it seems way too forced. I disagree. Alot of people have been hammering Wizards for not doing more experimentation with new mechanics, i.e. reprinting beloved old mechanics (cycling), reworking or tweaking old mechanics (rampage to flanking to bushido), or using them to make predesigned decks (affinity). If you want some innovation, you have to step outside of what is considered the normal design and offer some real differences. At first, they will be particularly jarring (especially for MODO players, where the rules of play are enforced by the computer and can't be ignored like they can in real play) because we are so used to how play behaves. I think cards like the Angel may help break out of the rut Constructed has fallen into, with Control (few creatures and board control) and Aggro (many fast creatures/burn plus stall and cards to mess tempo) perpetually switching off who's the top dog. We really haven't had many decent aggro-control (mix of creatures of all sizes and "controlish" cards) or beats-style (play out a range of creatures, pump them) style decks. The Angel is not a great choice for aggro, beyond a couple slots. Their strategy is faster, and the earliest the angel can get swinging is round 5. (Still might be worth a couple slots as a finisher). Aggro likes efficiency (Isamaru, Watchwolf, Kird Ape, hasty 2 power creatures, etc), but needs speed/fast tempo. The Angel is not a great choice for control. Control wants to stabilize, control the play surface, then play out a finisher. (Still might be worth some slots as a blocker/delay card that consumes few resources). Control, if it plays a creatures, expects the creature to "... Win". The Angel is a great choice for an aggro-control strategy, because aggro-control likes efficiency and versatility and can afford to pay the drawback. Aggro-control only really works as a Sealed/League strategy now. I'm biased, since my first favorite deck was blue/white aggro-control. Spot removal, board sweeping, some limited counter to stop bombs, and bunches of efficient creatures (White Knight, Serendib Efreet, Serra Angel, Mesa Pegasus) Combo.... combo needs a complete rethink. Right now, Combo sucks to play against and isn't much fun to play. To be good, it needs to consistently win very early through disruption, which leads to a felling of helplessness from your opponent. Literally, the last few "good" combo decks your opponent rarely if ever even has to pay attention to what you play.... (Krak Clan, Mind's Desire, Heartbeat to an extent, and the bizarro Extended "inifinite life" decks) The problem is some of these mechanics are going to be complete stinkers, or just cause detachment from the play and flow of a game, or be stupidly overpowered. I'll be willing to trade a little of that risk for some changes and more revolutionary thinking. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Margalis on September 09, 2006, 11:30:04 AM Mike Flores in his article on the angel said that it would be good in a pure aggro deck, and I tend to agree.
The idea is that an aggro deck has a whole bunch of one or two drops already, a lot of redundancy, so you are rarely going to be stuck with an unplayable angel in hand. For example, say you start with: Land, Land, Land, Angel, Isamaru, S. Lions, Leonin Skyhunter. In that case you already have a couple of turns worth of plays and will draw into some more, so the angel doesn't just sit in your hand doing nothing. When you do get around to playing it it will be huge for the CC, and flying to boot. It seems to me the basic analysis of angel is that it is good when you want to play it later, because you have other things to do in the first few turns. Developing the board and playing control for a few turns is one example of that, but playing other threats is another example. In a deck with 12 creatures 4 angels is probably a pretty bad idea, but in a deck of 20 creatures 3 or 4 angels could be a really good idea as it increases your overall power without affecting your pace. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Johny Cee on September 09, 2006, 11:13:44 PM Mike Flores in his article on the angel said that it would be good in a pure aggro deck, and I tend to agree. The idea is that an aggro deck has a whole bunch of one or two drops already, a lot of redundancy, so you are rarely going to be stuck with an unplayable angel in hand. For example, say you start with: Land, Land, Land, Angel, Isamaru, S. Lions, Leonin Skyhunter. In that case you already have a couple of turns worth of plays and will draw into some more, so the angel doesn't just sit in your hand doing nothing. When you do get around to playing it it will be huge for the CC, and flying to boot. It seems to me the basic analysis of angel is that it is good when you want to play it later, because you have other things to do in the first few turns. Developing the board and playing control for a few turns is one example of that, but playing other threats is another example. In a deck with 12 creatures 4 angels is probably a pretty bad idea, but in a deck of 20 creatures 3 or 4 angels could be a really good idea as it increases your overall power without affecting your pace. I think there is some potential for the angel in an aggroish deck, but not pure aggro. Turn 4 is generally the death knell turn for pure aggro: either you have your opponent beat, or they board wipe/stabilize. You don't want to continue developing your critter base past turn 4, but you do want to hoard a couple of cards for the coup de grace after wipe. The problem with running 4 angels, is that it's a deadish card in an opening hand for an aggro deck. And it takes the slot of a another 2 cc card you could drop out for fun and games. Basically, for aggro, vigilance is a wasted ability. Flying is better, but not great. At the two mana slot, why not run something like Watchwolf that has the same damage potential without screwy side effects? This is the same reason, I think, for the general failure of quite a few great creatures to not see Constructed play. Moroii, for instance. Efficient 4/4 with evasion and a laughable drawback. Not played, even though there have been various flavors of aggroish black (from W/B to Suicide Black to those black Hand decks) because it is not a great aggro card, and a poorish control card as well. Aggro-control, on the other hand, will run 20 creatures. But the creatures will be played for either their efficiency or their other abilities and fill a role. Court Hussar is being played in alot of controlish decks now because of the card drawing and it's ability to slow down the aggro rush until enough mana comes online for defence. Mind linking to the Flores article, by the way, so I can take a glance? Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Margalis on September 10, 2006, 12:28:23 PM http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/mf110
From article: Quote The deck is basically 20 2/2 creatures (okay, Savannah Lions is 2/1) for one, two, or three mana, 20 lands, and 20 “stuff” (mostly burn spells). In the offensive abstract, there is no difference between Savannah Lions, Isamaru, Kami of Ancient Law, Hand of Honor, Leonin Skyhunter, or Paladin en-Vec. In fact, you can make the argument that Savannah Lions is often a better card than the nigh invincible Paladin en-Vec when Boros is on the attack. It is only in specific matchups where the differences come into play. Paladin en-Vec may be Dominaria's best speed bump, but Hand of Honor is better at fighting other Paladins and trading with Watchwolf. Kami of Ancient Law is kind of a slow-witted Hound of Konda… unless you are up against Eminent Domain, Heartbeat of Spring, or some other enchantment-reliant Blue deck. Unless the opponent has relevant creatures to block, Leonin Skyhunter (a minority inclusion in the archetype) is just a Grizzly Bears. The deck basically does the same thing with essentially the same cards from turn 1, spending free mana to clear a path or send burn cards to the opponent's dome. Serra Avenger fits in perfectly in a deck like this for two reasons: 1) Because of the extreme redundancy built into the deck, it doesn't matter that she can't show up on the first turns because some sort of Spirit, or Lion, or some other kind of Cat will cover for her until she is good and ripe, and 2) Boros with 20 lands doesn't have a lot of spare mana anyway, so tapping for her mid-game instead of some 2/2 might actually be a call for celebration: Don't be surprised if the rotation of Umezawa's Jitte obsoletes Paladin en-Vec to some degree, making this creature the preferred drop in Standard Boros. I guess it really depends on the decks that evolve, but I can see his point. And if your opponent does wipe the board playing two 3/3 flyers the next turn is a pretty good response. I can see this being especially useful in an aggro mirror match, where you are going to be trading off a lot and playing a 3/3 for 2 is a pretty big deal there. In those types of matches you just keep playing creatures and trading until someone finally wins. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Raging Turtle on September 10, 2006, 12:53:36 PM I totally forgot the Jitte is rotating. Maybe I'll spend a few tix to get back into standard finally.
Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: eldaec on September 10, 2006, 03:20:27 PM I totally forgot the Jitte is rotating. Maybe I'll spend a few tix to get back into standard finally. Remember, the shocklands are *not* rotating. So it's only worthwhile if you have deep pockets. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: hal on September 10, 2006, 09:06:43 PM There are other ways. Mono green speed (mana accell) is still viable and mono black while not as competitive can still win. Two colors is more affordable. You can ease into the 3..4 color scene at least.
Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Strazos on September 10, 2006, 09:26:54 PM Good riddance to the Jitte.
Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Johny Cee on September 10, 2006, 10:09:34 PM There are other ways. Mono green speed (mana accell) is still viable and mono black while not as competitive can still win. Two colors is more affordable. You can ease into the 3..4 color scene at least. Green land fixing lets you play 5 colors without using the shock or pain lands, though it's hurt by rotation of elder and kodama's reach. I played a couple of competitive 5 color decks back in the Mirrodin/Kami block. Monoblack isn't good. I tried building something with the cardpool available.... and generally I would say "why the hell aren't I splashing white/green?" The only decent board clearers are white. The only decent targeted removal are W/B or G/B or straight W (Fetters and Condemn) Monowhite is rougish and can win some games, but very vulnerable to Persecute and "target one color" effects. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: eldaec on September 10, 2006, 11:51:01 PM TS release : October 30th.
Also, token art preview... http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/arcana/1160 That is all. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: schild on September 11, 2006, 04:26:55 AM I see a homarid token!
Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Johny Cee on September 11, 2006, 07:54:16 PM People are going apeshit on mtgspeculation....
Supposedly, one of Adult Swim's bumps last night for MtG was a reprinted Akroma, with the new purple rarity symbol, confirming her appearance in the new set as a reprint. Right now, the rumors seem to be focusing around the distribution of the purple rarity cards. Purple rarity taking one slot in a booster, and boosters staying at 15 cards. Either: 1. Purple usurps 1 common slot. Seems most likely to me, as the purple reprints aren't all rares. Some commons/uncommons mixed in. 2. One purple per pack, but takes the place of the rarity the reprint is; i.e. Akroma takes the place of a regular Timespiral rare. Seems really unlikely, as it would make the purple reprint rares virtually impossible to find. I'm not really surprised much by the reprints. Wizard's has show that their trying to really push MODO, and this is another good way to increase the card pool online to the benefit of casual/classic/open players. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Fabricated on September 19, 2006, 03:50:48 PM A lot of old cards I liked are timeshifted. I haven't bought cards in years but I may grab a few tournament boxes and boosters for the sheer nostalgia of it all. Much love for Feldon's Cane, Tormod's Crypt, Flying Men, Gemstone Mine, Grinning Totem, etc.
Avalance Riders though, that card pissed me off so much. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Margalis on September 19, 2006, 05:50:07 PM Strange they haven't really mentioned it on wizards.com with prerelease coming up. Are these cards even legal?
Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Johny Cee on September 19, 2006, 08:45:50 PM Someone translated a memo from the head French DCI guy about legality. Basically, reprints (purple) are legal as a part of the Time Spiral set.
So legal in Limited, Standard, etc. The Rack is back! Psionic Blast! Witchhunter! Lightning Angel! Psionic Blast is a $20-$30 rare now. I'm still trying to figure out if it's going to go up or down in price with it legal in Standard. Lots of fun cards here, and nothing that would seem to be a problem. There's forum bellyaching about Psi Blast and Tormad's Crypt. The Crypt because it hoses graveyard strategies (reanimator, W/B knight decks, dredge decks). Psi Blast because it goes against the present color pie. Generally, if you played Magic back in the day, it seems those folks are excited. People new to Magic since the color pie was shifted around and standardized are bitching. Seriously all, go check the spoiler list on mtgsalvation again. Alot more info, and sooo many cool cards are back (Uncle Istvan! Browbeat! Spectral Lynx!) Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: schild on September 19, 2006, 08:47:03 PM Ugh. This might actually finally be the set to pull me back in.
Edit: Version 3 of the client better come out first. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Johny Cee on September 19, 2006, 09:28:36 PM Ugh. This might actually finally be the set to pull me back in. Edit: Version 3 of the client better come out first. You're a slave to the shiny. Spectral Lynx for the cat deck! Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Margalis on September 19, 2006, 09:40:19 PM Uncle Istvan! Yay.
I knew the purple cards would be legal, just because it would be extraordinarily stupid to do otherwise. I don't get what people are bitching about - who cares about the color pie? I mean the standardization they have done is good but they don't have to be slaves to it. The point is to have fun. I saw the spoiler a bit ago but this new one is more up-to-date. Soul Collector! (Love the art, and not a bad creature, flip, block, get a new friend) Giant Oyster! (LOL) Although this does make me think about how lame the core sets are. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: schild on September 19, 2006, 09:56:18 PM Going through the list, things that stand out as "wtf? awesome.":
Arena Safe Haven The Rack Feldon's Cane Mirari (omg fun) What? Elder Dragons? Nicol Bolas? Shadowmage Infiltrator Sol'Kanar the Swamp King Don't care about Red. Never did. Bad Moon!!! Evil Eye of Orms-by-Gore Uncle Istvan! Yay Again! I like this. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Johny Cee on September 19, 2006, 09:59:21 PM Eron the Relentless!
And I love Essence Sliver. Edit: YARRR! Pirate Ship! It's unplayable in a constructed deck, but it's a fucking Pirate Ship. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: schild on September 19, 2006, 10:00:06 PM It's the variety that makes me like this set. I wonder what the set would be like without the purple cards since that's all I care about.
I'd wager " Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: eldaec on September 20, 2006, 03:42:54 AM (http://magiccards.info/scans/en/al/75.jpg)
...is being reprinted in purple. (EDIT: Oh, Mr Cee already said) Also, another sliver... Gemhide Sliver 1G Creature - Sliver All Slivers have 't: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool' 1/1 And it's a common. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Fabricated on September 20, 2006, 03:12:48 PM If Time Spiral reprints the bolt I will declare it the best set since ever.
Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Johny Cee on September 20, 2006, 06:26:41 PM If Time Spiral reprints the bolt I will declare it the best set since ever. We'll see Bolt again the same time we see Swords to Plowshares. :wink: Incinerate (Instant; R1; Deal 3 damage to target creature or player, creatures can't regenerate) is a lock for 10th, though. Incinerate is just below the bolt in burn power, and in certain formats better because of the kill regenerate thing. I think that we liked to play Incin over Bolt back in the day casually because of the way most decks would have a 4 of "wimpy regenerating blocker to stall you". Drudge Skeletons or Wisp for black, the Uth. Troll for red, etc. Other observations without double posting: - Lots of decent Thallids. Could be a decentish rogue/casual player deck (read cheap and easy to put together, like Onslaught elves or zombies) that can steal some wins against the rare heavy behemoths. - Smallpox (BB; Sorcery; Each player sacs a land, creature, discards a card, loses 1 life) is AMAZING. Could make a monoblack control deck possible when combined with the tools already at hand. - The new common "T and sac, fetch any basic land and put into play tapped" is really, really, really good for common mana fixing. Will help budget conscious folks play multiple colors without shock lands (which are still priced between 10-20 tix online, or $16-20 cardboard) - DISINTEGRATE, BITCHES! So fun, huge nostalgia card. Even if slightly worse then Demonfire. - Auratog (1W; creature; 1/2; sac an enchantment, gains +2/+2) could have a real place. Not as good (obviously) as psychatog, but in an Enchatress deck has alot of potential. And it has great, great art. - Resurrection. (2WW, reanimate). Bitching because it's in white. I'll throw in one copy in white decks just to fuck with people's minds. Overall, it just seems to me that Wizards has upped the availability of good commons/uncommons, and provided a bunch of powerful rares that are just weak enough to remain $2-4 cards but strong enough to be playable in Constructed. A good step, after Rav made a highly priced land base almost a necessity. I need to paw through a bunch of old shoeboxes to chase down copies of cards now. For myself.... I'd love to see Serendib Efreet reprinted. Especially if it was accidentally green again. I love my misprinted Serendibs. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Margalis on September 20, 2006, 06:57:28 PM I love cards like Smallpox. I really liked black in Mirrodin T2 environment with Barter in Blood and Death Cloud. It seems like black has been missing those types of "kill a whole lot of everything from everyone" lately.
In Revised era I played mostly janky black beats decks, but my Pestilence-based deck was the real deal. --- I doubt bolt will ever be reprinted as wizards does not want to print a card that is strictly better than another, later one. Shock is just a worse bolt. Exactly the same in every way but less damage. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Raging Turtle on September 24, 2006, 10:12:30 AM Full spoiler is out.
DAMN what a set. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Johny Cee on September 24, 2006, 04:27:57 PM Quite a few of the Invatational cards were reprinted as purple cards. Invitational cards are designed by the winner of a special tournament set up by Wizards, where they invite 16 of the top Magic players.
EVENT LOCATION DATE WINNER CARD SET Duelist Invitational Hong Kong, Hong Kong 14 Feb - 16 Feb 1997 Olle Råde Sylvan Safekeeper Judgment Duelist Invitational Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 29 Jan - 02 Feb 1998 Darwin Kastle Avalanche Riders Urza's Legacy Duelist Invitational Barcelona, Spain 04 Feb - 07 Feb 1999 Mike Long Rootwater Thief Nemesis Magic Invitational Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 02 Mar - 05 Mar 2000 Chris Pikula Meddling Mage Planeshift Magic Invitational Sydney, Australia 16 Nov - 19 Nov 2000 Jon Finkel Shadowmage Infiltrator Odyssey Magic Invitational Capetown, South Africa 05 Oct - 07 Oct 2001 Kai Budde Voidmage Prodigy Onslaught Magic Invitational Seattle, Washington, USA 18 Oct - 20 Oct 2002 Jens Thoren Solemn Simulacrum Mirrodin Magic Invitational Los Angeles, California, USA 11 May - 13 May 2004 Bob Maher Bob Maher designed the Dark Confidant from Rav. Because so many Invitational cards had been reprinted, it was widely rumored that Meddling Mage would be as well. Invitational cards are referred to by the first name of their creators. For example, "play a Bob" means you're playing a Dark Confidant. Edit: Some kid named Terry Soh won in 2005. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: eldaec on October 17, 2006, 03:33:23 PM Launch avatars...
Quote Jaya Ballard -1 hand +2 life X: Jaya Ballard deals an amount of damage chosen at random from 0 to X to target creature of player. Use this ability only once each turn. Stuffy Doll +0 hand -6 life 0:Prevent all damage that would be dealt to you by a a source of your choice this turn. Stuffy doll deals damage equal to half the damage prevented, rounded up, to both you and your opponent. Use this ability only once each turn. Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: Margalis on October 17, 2006, 08:28:26 PM I'm working on my draft cheat sheet, will post it sometime soon.
Title: Re: Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow Post by: eldaec on October 25, 2006, 06:55:29 AM Quote On Monday, October 30th at 9:00 am PST, Time Spiral goes on sale in the Magic Online store. NOTE: Time Spiral becomes legal in ALL Constructed formats the day it goes on sale (October 30). All casual rooms and constructed queues will use Time Spiral starting on October 30. Constructed Premier events will not run until November 9 and will use Time Spiral starting on that date. Time Spiral Release events begin Thursday, November 2 and will have 4 components: Release Leagues Premier Event Flights (2x and 4x Prizes) Draft Queues Release Championships (2x and 4x) Time Spiral Release Leagues SIGNUP: November 2, 9:00am – November 13, 9:00pm (the final 1 week, 2x league will start no later than 9:00pm on November 13). Release Leagues will have a maximum of 256 players each and will auto-spawn (as soon as a league reaches 256 players, another will begin registration). LEAGUE DURATION: 1 week PRODUCT: 1 Time Spiral Tournament Pack and 2 Time Spiral Booster Packs. ADMISSION: 2 Tix, Product PRIZE SUPPORT: 2x prizes, Participation Avatar: Stuffy Doll; Records of 5-0 get Prize Avatar: Jaya Ballard, Task Mage. Avatars will be distributed Approx. 3 weeks after the last league concludes NOTE: The regularly schedule downtime will still take place on Thursday, November 9 at 8:00 am PST. Plan your league games accordingly as no compensation will be issued if you lose a game due to the servers going down for maintenance. Time Spiral Draft Queues QUEUES BEGIN: Monday, November 6, 10:00 am. FORMATS: Booster Draft PRODUCT: 3 Time Spiral Boosters. (Note: Only Time Spiral and 9th Edition drafts will run for the duration of the Time Spiral Release Events) ADMISSION: 2 Tix, Product PRIZE SUPPORT: 4-3-2-2 and 8-4 NOTE: The regularly schedule downtime will still take place on Thursday, November 9 at 8:00 am PST. Queues will be down during the downtime. Time Spiral Premier Events (2x Flights) DURATION: November 2, 2:00 pm – November 13 9:00 pm (last starts at 9:00 pm). 2x Flights will have 32 players per flight and will start every hour, on the hour. Each flight will have a minimum of 24 players, maximum of 32 players. PRODUCT: 1 Time Spiral Tournament Pack and 2 Time Spiral Booster Packs, top 8 booster draft. The booster draft format will be 3 Time Spiral Boosters. ADMISSION: 2 Tix, Product (Events that start between the hours of 10 pm and 8 am will be "Nix Tix events and require 0 event tickets) PRIZE SUPPORT: 2x Prizes, Top 8 Place Boosters 1 24 2 18 3-4 12 5-8 4 All who participate in a 2x Prize Premier Event Flight will get the Stuffy Doll avatar. Top 2 will get a Jaya Ballard, Task Mage avatar. In addition, the 1st place finisher will qualify for the Time Spiral Release Event 2x Championship NOTE: All 2x events held from November 2 through November 7 will qualify for the Time Spiral Release Event 2x Championship on Saturday, November 18 @ 8:00 am PST. All 2x events held from November 8 through November 13 will qualify for the Time Spiral Release Event 2x Championship on Sunday, November 19 @ 8:00 am PST. NOTE: The regularly schedule downtime will still take place on Thursday, November 9 at 8:00 am PST. There will be no Premier Events starting from 10:00 pm on November 8 through 10:00 am on November 9. Time Spiral Premier Events (4x Flights) DURATION: November 2, 3:00 pm – November 13, 9:00 pm (last starts at 9:00 pm). 4x Flights start every 3 hours. Each flight will have a minimum of 24 players, maximum of 128 players. PRODUCT: 1 Time Spiral Tournament Pack and 2 Time Spiral Booster Packs, top 8 booster draft. The booster draft format will be 3 Time Spiral Boosters. ADMISSION: 4 Tix, Product (Events that start between the hours of 10 pm and 5 am will require 2 event tickets) PRIZE SUPPORT: 4x Prizes, Manual Pay to Top 16 (Prizes for 9-16 place will be paid out within 72 hours of event completion) Place Boosters 1 48 2 36 3-4 24 5-8 12 9-16 6 All who participate in a 4x Prize Premier Event Flight will get the Stuffy Doll avatar. Top 4 will get a Jaya Ballard, Task Mage avatar. In addition, the top 8 finishers will qualify for the Dissension Release Event 4x Championship on Saturday, November 18 @ 12:00 pm PST. NOTE: All 4x events held from November 2 through November 7 will qualify for the Time Spiral Release Event 4x Championship on Saturday, November 18 @ 1:00 pm PST. All 4x events held from November 8 through November 13 will qualify for the Time Spiral Release Event 4x Championship on Sunday, November 19 @ 1:00 pm PST. NOTE: The regularly schedule downtime will still take place on Thursday, November 9 at 8:00 am PST. There will be no Premier Events starting from 10:00 pm on November 8 through 10:00 am on November 9. Time Spiral Release Event 2x Championship START TIME: November 18, 8:00 am PST and November 19, 8:00 am PST PRODUCT: 1 Time Spiral Tournament Pack and 2 Time Spiral Booster Packs, top 8 booster draft. The booster draft format will be 3 Time Spiral Boosters. ADMISSION: FREE – (No Tix, No Product, Invitation only) PRIZE SUPPORT: 6x, Manual pay to Top 64 Place Boosters 1 72 2 54 3-4 36 5-8 18 9-16 12 17-32 6 33-64 3 The winner of the Championship will also receive a complete set of Magic Online Premium Time Spiral cards (Including "Timeshifted" cards.) Second place will receive a complete set of regular Magic Online Time Spiral cards (Including "Timeshifted" cards.) Although players may have multiple accounts qualified for the Championship event, players not permitted to have more than 1 of their accounts entered in the event. Players are not permitted to have secondary accounts played by another person. If a player is discovered to have more than 1 account playing in the Championship either before, during, or after the event, appropriate penalties will be applied (including disqualification from the event with no refund of product or event tickets). Time Spiral Release Event 4x Championship START TIME: November 18, 1:00 pm PST and November 19, 1:00 pm PST PRODUCT: 1 Time Spiral Tournament Pack and 2 Time Spiral Booster Packs, top 8 booster draft. The booster draft format will be 3 Time Spiral Boosters. ADMISSION: FREE – (No Tix, No Product, Invitation only) PRIZE SUPPORT: 6x, Manual pay to Top 64 Place Boosters 1 72 2 54 3-4 36 5-8 18 9-16 12 17-32 6 33-64 3 The winner of the Championship will also receive a complete set of Magic Online Premium Time Spiral cards (Including "Timeshifted" cards.) Second place will receive a complete set of regular Magic Online Time Spiral cards (Including "Timeshifted" cards.) Although players may have multiple accounts qualified for the Championship event, players not permitted to have more than 1 of their accounts entered in the event. Players are not permitted to have secondary accounts played by another person. If a player is discovered to have more than 1 account playing in the Championship either before, during, or after the event, appropriate penalties will be applied (including disqualification from the event with no refund of product or event tickets). Important information regarding system crashes and refunds for Premier Events If during your event the system crashes, 1 of 3 things will happen: 1. The system will come right back up. In this case: * Events will continue and additional time will be given to allow players to finish the event * No Compensation will be given 2. The system cannot recover the event and "finishes" (prematurely ends) the event, or a WOTC Tournament Coordinator must "finish" (prematurely end) the event. * We will accept the prize payouts "as is" - This means that whatever prize payouts and invites the system awards, we will not change what the system does. * No changes will be made to these events from what the system automatically pays out as prizes or invitations If the event is in TOP 8: * No product or tickets will be refunded * All players keep the product used to enter the event as well as the drafted cards from the TOP 8 draft. If the event is still in Swiss Rounds: * Players can request a refund through Customer Service. * We will refund your Product and tickets. 3. The event is cleared or cancelled by the system. If an event is cancelled this means the event can no longer be viewed in the premier event listings. * The system will automatically refund your tickets. * Players can request a refund through Customer Service. * We will refund your Product. I'm surprised that Stuffy Doll is the participation avatar and not JB. JB is a much more casual avatar than Comborific Doll. /shrug I guess noone actually plays vanguard anyway. |