Read up on Time Spiral... nownownow

[Fabricated]

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.

[Margalis]

Strange they haven't really mentioned it on wizards.com with prerelease coming up. Are these cards even legal?

[Johny Cee]

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!)

[schild]

Ugh. This might actually finally be the set to pull me back in.

Edit: Version 3 of the client better come out first.

[Johny Cee]

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!

[Margalis]

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.

[schild]

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.

[Johny Cee]

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.

[schild]

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 "trash" "homelands-bad."

[eldaec]

...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.

[Fabricated]

If Time Spiral reprints the bolt I will declare it the best set since ever.

[Johny Cee]

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. 

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.

[Margalis]

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.

[Raging Turtle]

Full spoiler is out. 

DAMN what a set.

[Johny Cee]

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.  I think Zvi Mowshowitz won in 2005,  but I'm not sure.

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.

[eldaec]

Launch avatars...

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.

[Margalis]

I'm working on my draft cheat sheet, will post it sometime soon.

[eldaec]

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.