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Maybe it's just me, but does anyone else notice how R&D has been pushing for more expensive spells in Standard since M12? For me, I think that from Alara block to New Phyrexia they were experimenting with pushing the limit on how low they could cost certain types of spells (mainly cheap, effective ones and aggressively-costed creatures with immediate impact on the board), and after seeing how things can be, they are now going to tweak the bar slightly the other way and seeing how far they can go before people notice it.
For example; since Alara block we've always had a cheap, effective card cycler (Preordain, Ponder), cheap removal (Lightning Bolt, Path to Exile, Doom Blade, Terminate), something small and cheap that gave us an advantage or complicated combat (Vapor Snag, Gitaxian Probe, Gutshot), pretty decent counterspells (Mana Leak) or aggressive creatures (the Titans cycle, Elesh Norn, the Eldrazi, Huntmaster, Thragtusk). Look at the format now; cards are more expensive for similar effects, or are at Sorcery speed when other versions were at Instant. There aren't as many all-encompassing, "do it all" spells like the above spells used to do.
Look at the removal spells that currently see play; most are either Sorcery speed (Pillar of Flame), cost more (Searing Spear), or exile cards (Sever the Bloodline vs. Maelstrom Pulse). Counterspells tend to be either uncounterable (Counterflux) or more focused/restrictive in what they hit (Dispel/Essence Scatter/Negate) or exile the countered spell (Dissipate). Not as many expensive creature cards impact the board, or there's way to go around, or over, or ignore them, as probably the only one that seems to have the "feel" of a Titan is Thundermaw Hellkite.
Planeswalkers I have no real clue how to comment on, as I think R&D is still trying to hit that sweet spot with them. We've seen how far they're willing to make them go to be good (JTMS) and how bad they can be as well (Tibalt). To me, it feels like they're close to that sweet spot, as Tamiyo and Jace, Architect of Thought seem to be about as "middle of the road" as a 'walker can be.
Cliff notes: more expensive spells = healthier Standard format.
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They`re just catering to noobs who like attacking with creatures and dont like worrying about playing around spells.
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On January 03 2013 01:16 Rainofpain wrote:
They`re just catering to noobs who like attacking with creatures and dont like worrying about playing around spells.
You prefer sitting there with 5 counterspells in hand draw going for 20 turns? How is that fun? How is that Magic?
Creatures are spells too, and they should be important and playable. I like the direction that they're going to an extent. I do think the removal suite is heavy on sweepers and light on spot removal in this format, but we haven't seen Gatecrash yet.
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Wooooot!! Knew we'd be getting a Gideon this time around! :-D Sad he's not RW, however; love the gold Planeswalkers.... :-C Don't mind his art too much. Abilities make him look like a beefed up version of his first iteration, and now with an Apocalypse minus the hand-discard. And he's one mana less to boot.
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Straight outta Johto18973 Posts
At first I thought Clan defiance was a nice card, but rather situational. Then I read the text again and realised you could pick more than one option. I'd complain about it not being instant speed, but I think that would start being petty.
Since I'm not that interested in Standard I don't have much comment about the current R&D Design aside from the fact I had a huge shock when I saw new cards since I missed out everything from old Ravnica to new Mirrodin.
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When you read the card for the first time and miss the "one or more" part, you should be wondering why they would put 3 different cases there, when they could just write "deals X damage to target creature or player" instead. I was.
Sure, there's the case of a creature gaining/losing flying between mode selection and resolution, but to tailor a card specifically to be weak against that kind of thing would be so weird...
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On January 03 2013 01:54 cLAN.Anax wrote:
Wooooot!! Knew we'd be getting a Gideon this time around! :-D Sad he's not RW, however; love the gold Planeswalkers.... :-C Don't mind his art too much. Abilities make him look like a beefed up version of his first iteration, and now with an Apocalypse minus the hand-discard. And he's one mana less to boot.
He's not really beefed-up. He's like Desecration Demon in white plus indestructibility minus the ability to ever block. I suppose enchanting him with evasion is better than DD. 2.0 does zilch versus aggro (you can't pass T4 to an aggro deck, even if it lets you beat their face for 9-10 the next turn) and less versus control (not a 6/6 unless you wait 2 turns, can't remove their finisher or force it into a bad attack). 1.0 was able to immediately impact the board nearly 100% of the time which is why he was really an amazing card. I'll be surprised if Champion of Justice is played even half as much as 1.0.
Maybe an okay card versus grindy midrange stalemates, but I'd rather have Odric there to be honest. Odric is also better versus aggro because of the first strike blocker and versus Tusk because he kills both halves.
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When are the next card previews for Gatecrash due out? Or are they just people getting them in random RTR boosters?
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Straight outta Johto18973 Posts
On January 03 2013 04:45 Leonite7 wrote:
When are the next card previews for Gatecrash due out? Or are they just people getting them in random RTR boosters?
They're coming out on the Mothership (aka Wizards website). The MTG Subreddit has a nice summary of each day's spoilers.
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Another Spoiler, some healer hate for red.
Correct me if I'm wrong but player X plays his Sphinx's Revelation, in response player Y plays skullcrack and player X gains 0 life, right or does it have to be preemptive?
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On January 03 2013 09:22 NotSorry wrote:
Correct me if I'm wrong but player X plays his Sphinx's Revelation, in response player Y plays skullcrack and player X gains 0 life, right or does it have to be preemptive?
It ends up being preemptive actually with the way the stack works. Skullcrack resolves before the revelation.
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On January 03 2013 09:27 el_dawg wrote:Show nested quote +On January 03 2013 09:22 NotSorry wrote:
Correct me if I'm wrong but player X plays his Sphinx's Revelation, in response player Y plays skullcrack and player X gains 0 life, right or does it have to be preemptive? It ends up being preemptive actually with the way the stack works. Skullcrack resolves before the revelation.
thought so just wanted to make sure before I got too excited
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that sounds correct. As well as an in response to a Thragtusk cast.
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On January 03 2013 09:42 Shotcoder wrote:
that sounds correct. As well as an in response to a Thragtusk cast.
You could do it in response to the enters the battlefield trigger too, though I'm not sure why you would other than to troll your opponent.
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On January 03 2013 09:59 el_dawg wrote:Show nested quote +On January 03 2013 09:42 Shotcoder wrote:
that sounds correct. As well as an in response to a Thragtusk cast. You could do it in response to the enters the battlefield trigger too, though I'm not sure why you would other than to troll your opponent.
If you have them DoB through the Thragtusk and were gonna cast it anyway, seems good.
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With Skullcrack, if you cast it in response to Sphinx's Revelation or Thragtusk lifegain trigger, they will not gain life.
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skullcrack is hilariously good. Wtf. I mean I play BR rakdos zombies or whatever you want to call them...man..I mean, I'll likely play UB after gatecrash is out..but cards like this excite me, because they pretty much scream "GET READY FOR A META SHAKE-UP", and I was really a bit over the lifegain v lifegain, win by milling them out matches..I mean come on..
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Playing BR Zombies and my local meta recently shifted from jund midrange/bant control/selesnya midrange(pretty balanced 4-5 of each which I destroy blind folded) and a few random shit to nearly all UW Flash and it's giving me a lot more trouble than I feel that it should, I still end up 5-1/4-2 on the night but the games generally way too close for comfort.
My current deck list
4 Blood Artist
4 Diregraf Ghoul
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
4 Geralf's Messenger
4 Gravecrawler
3 Hellrider
4 Knight of Infamy
Creatures [27]
4 Brimstone Volley
4 Searing Spear
3 Sign in Blood
Spells [11]
4 Blood Crypt
1 Mountain
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Rakdos Guildgate
9 Swamp
Lands [22]
SIDEBOARD
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Pillar of Flame
2 Victim of Night
2 Appetite for Brains
3 Slaughter Games
I generally side out of 8 1drops for 4 vampire nighthawks, 3slaughter games, 1 appetite for brains for games that I draw, for games on the play I leave in my 1drops and remove 3 sign in blood, 4 Blood Artist for 3 Slaughter games and 2 Appetites and 2 Victim of Night.
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On January 03 2013 14:16 NotSorry wrote:Playing BR Zombies and my local meta recently shifted from jund midrange/bant control/selesnya midrange(pretty balanced 4-5 of each which I destroy blind folded) and a few random shit to nearly all UW Flash and it's giving me a lot more trouble than I feel that it should, I still end up 5-1/4-2 on the night but the games generally way too close for comfort. My current deck list + Show Spoiler +
4 Blood Artist
4 Diregraf Ghoul
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
4 Geralf's Messenger
4 Gravecrawler
3 Hellrider
4 Knight of Infamy
Creatures [27]
4 Brimstone Volley
4 Searing Spear
3 Sign in Blood
Spells [11]
4 Blood Crypt
1 Mountain
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Rakdos Guildgate
9 Swamp
Lands [22]
SIDEBOARD
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Pillar of Flame
2 Victim of Night
2 Appetite for Brains
3 Slaughter Games
I generally side out of 8 1drops for 4 vampire nighthawks, 3slaughter games, 1 appetite for brains for games that I draw, for games on the play I leave in my 1drops and remove 3 sign in blood, 4 Blood Artist for 3 Slaughter games and 2 Appetites and 2 Victim of Night.
These are just my suggestions, your milage/experience with the deck can tell you otherwise.
Blood Artist and Knight of Infamy need to turn into something else. The moment one of those UW Flash decks notice that they can fit red into the manabase easily enough, you'll start losing to Staticasters and Pillars faster than Snap + Vapor Snag back in SOM-AVR Standard. Most lists have shifted the Knights into Thrill-Kill Assassins, and only run Artists in the SB. And with the incrimental life gain now gone from the deck, the Sign in Bloods are very much a high risk investment, and something I personally don't feel is worth the reward.
Second, try to pick up a Thundermaw Hellkite or two for the deck. It gives you a nice finisher that they sometimes have no answers to after surviving the initial onslaught of the small things and the 3-4 drops of Geralf, Falkenrath, and Hellrider.
Third, add some Cavern of Souls to the landbase. Making Falkenrath, Hellrider, Geralf and Thundermaw uncounterable means more damage.
Lastly, I've made changes to the sideboard to try and help with the various Control archetype matchups you might face.
This is what I suggest:
+ Show Spoiler +
4 Diregraf Ghoul
4 Thrill-Kill Assassin
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
4 Geralf's Messenger
4 Gravecrawler
3 Hellrider
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
(25 Creatures)
4 Brimstone Volley
4 Searing Spear
3 Pillar of Flame
(11 Spells)
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Rakdos Guildgate
3 Cavern of Souls
9 Swamp
(24 Lands)
SIDEBOARD
3 Vampire Nighthawk
1 Pillar of Flame
2 Underworld Connections
2 Appetite for Brains
2 Slaughter Games
3 Blood Artist
2 Archwing Dragon
As for the cards spoiled today; Domri Rade was revealed, which is the exact same as the one we saw a month or so ago, which basically means that the other 4 cards are real.
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EPT
