My favorite Final Fantasy is VIII. It has the best storyline, best combat setup, and best summons. VII is alright, but toward the end it gets tedious. A close second to VIII is Super Mario RPG for the SNES. Best Action-RPG ever.

All right I'll throw my two cents in.
At first I thought the art was Sol Ring, but Disk makes more sense, however, both will probably be in it, so:

Sol Ring (w/ new art)
Larry Nevin's Disk (new art)
The new card from "Lights"...
Aether Vial
Ornithopter (They have to throw in some crappy stuff or the set would be too good...)
Black Vise (new art)
Ivory Tower (new art) (they need both)
Smokestaxx
Mindslaver (new art)
Zuran Orb (new art)
Jester's Cap
Solemn Simulacrum (new art b/c the old one is terrible)
Millstone (new art)
Icy Manipulator (new art)
The "exclusive preview card"...

For my money, all the From the Vaults sets so far have been underwhelming. They usually have a couple of decently expensive cards and the rest are kind of janky. Sol Ring and Mindslaver will probably be this set's big draw unless they do something crazy like reprint Mana Crypt, but again, given how disappointing the other FtVs have been, I wouldn't be counting on that happening.

Another related question based on the original topic:

Assuming your opponent wants you to play it out until one of the last two cards is a Gaea's Blessing, and you've named a large number for Storm, when and how do you reshuffle you graveyard into your deck? I know Blessing triggers once it's milled but what if your opponent's deck has, say 49 cards, so it doesn't mesh with the 3-card-packet that Brain Freeze mills. So you mill 48, then what? Do you mill the last one, reshuffle then mill two or set the graveyard aside, mill the last one and then mill two?

I realize this is largely hypothetical but I'm just curious. Thanks!

You're probably right however wouldn't that be counterproductive to print Warp World-esque cards at the "Mystic Rare" level? If I were draw into Magic because of these "Mystic Rares" only to get a bunch of Warp Worlds I'd be more than a little disappointed.

Sorry, I'd prefer seeing Shahrazad unbanned instead.

I'm not so sure about that. Even if the sets are going to be smaller, some of these "Mythic Rares" could become chase cards and shoot their value skyward. The size of a set doesn't have much of an impact on the value of a card (see Lorwyn with Thoughseize or FutSig with Tarmogoyf). Planeswalkers (the few we've seen) and Legends generally are deck staples, so making the cornerstones of popular decks even rarer will only up their value. Given all of this, I can't see many reasons other than greed being the biggest factor behind this decision. If Wizards has poll numbers that coinside with their statement, I would love to see them.

I have a great poker face.


I agree that not all players will disagree with this change. However this change may represent a shift away from maintaining they're player base in order to expand the game. I'm merely saying that that may not be the best thing to do for the prolonged health of the game. I'm still on the fence on what to believe on this. It may work and contribute to a more stable game but I would caution against radical change just because of greed when the current system works fine.

I think that most Magic players are a mostly tightknit group of people who generally aren't a big fan of change. As a Magic player of 8 years, this move seems like Wizards is trying to draw new players in (from Yu-Gi-Oh or Pokemon or whatever) at the expense of they're older players. MaRo states that they are essentially trying to keep up with other card games. Has Magic fallen that much? Has Magic stopped playing the role as trendsetter in the CCG industry or is it content to sit back and let other games innovate and just follow they're lead?


Exactly!! What's next? "Super Rare"? "Ultra Rare"? "Secret Rare"? "Super Duper Ultra Rare"? "I Can't Believe It's Not Rare Rare"? Alright... maybe not that last one but this does open the door for more rarities, so what's next?

If you have read the updates on magicthegathering.com from Saturday (after recovering from the restriction of Brainstorm) you noticed that there is a new level of rarity being added to Magic, that of a "Mythic Rare" level. This "Mythic Rare" will take the place of a rare at a ratio of 1:8 packs and will have a foil version of the card at about the same ratio foil rares currently are. These "Mythic Rares" have a red-orangeish color symbol (see Mark Rosewater's column on Saturday to see the preview). These "Mythic Rares" differentiate themselves from normal rares, as Rosewater explains, by having a special and unique flavor, meaning cards like Planeswalkers, most Legends, and "epic-feeling creatures and spells".

The question:
Is this good for Magic? Does this open the door to better cards and more players or will this lead to more expensive cards, an alienation of existing Magic players, or another step toward making Magic more like Yu-Gi-Oh and pandering to a younger audience?

Discuss...

You see. Give them an inch and they'll take a mile. It started with the innocuous banning of Shahrazad. And since no one (aside from myself) made too much of a fuss about that banning, it would seem they've moved on to larger prey. I must say I agree with Flash being restricted but to restrict the most popular card drawing spells, that just seem ludicrous. I makes me think that they're just trying to stir the pot, and since they hardly sponsor Type 1, they can get away with it.

Perhaps now you'll see the forest for the trees and start calling Wizards out on these kinds of mistakes. Or, of course you could just lie down and take it. It's your choice.

This forum is for supporting the unbanning of Shahrazad which was annouced on September 1 by Aaron Forsythe. This ban came without reason in a direct abuse of authority by Wizards. For Wizards to ban a card, any card, without a good reason, without citing a definite source where a card was a problem, and without consulting the players is something no one should stand for. This banning creates a dangerous precident that says that Wizards can and will ban any card they deem unsavory or potentially abusable now or in the future. I support anyone to email Wizards to voice your concern and disgust with this needless banning. This matter will not be silenced or derailed. We will not stop until Wizards admits it made a mistake in banning Shahrazad and revokes the ban. Thank you all for your support.

The reason given by Forsythe that OP asked for the ban doesnt seem to hold any weight. Why would Forsythe let OP basically do his job for him and ban a card they deemed potentially problematic? Why, if there was a tournament where Shahrazad was a problem, didn't Forsythe cite that source? Why would Forsythe and OP claim that Shahrazad is a problem without understanding the card's mechanics? To say that Shahrazad takes too long shows they didn't read the caveat about being able to concede the subgame at any time. To say that Shahrazad has the potential to become abused in the future can be said about any card. As you can see, there are far too many holes in the story given to us. If they had given a good reason with a definate situation where Shahrazad was abused, then the ban could be a little more understandable. But they didn't do that and until they do, no one should stand for a banning without reason.

To say that Shahrazad's banning is just because it was banned back it 1994, is just wrong. In 94, there were only a hundred or so White cards in Magic and barely any of those were playable, which left Shahrazad as a last ditch choice for White decks. Back then, the banning might have mase sense because people were actually playing the card, unlike today. This banning did not make any sense. The reasons given for the banning were sketchy at best and completely bogus at worst. I agree with most of the other posters on this board: Wizards has a lot more to worry about (GAT, Flash, Gush) than some random card only a few people know about, much less played against.

This matter has nothing to do with power level and shouldn't have anything to do with the function of the card. Any intellegent player of Shahrazad will stack up the cards in the main game and set them to the side, not relocate to another table. Stacking up the cards takes 15 seconds max, add another 15 to explain what the card does and it takes as much or less time than explaining a semi-complex combo like tendrils. The problem I have with the ban is that there was no reason for it. There was no explanation given other than it could draw out an imaginary tournament. As not only a player of Shahrazad, but also a player of Magic, I will not allow Magic's officials to abuse their power without reason and neither should any of you.

The power level of Shahrazad isn't the problem. No one asserts that it is broken or unfair in terms of power. The problem comes from the unnecassary banning of a card without reason. I encourage all players who want this game to grow and prosper to write Wizards, the person who is replacing Forsythe, or anyone you can think of to remedy this injustice. As paying customers of Magic, we deserve better treatment than what we are getting now: the lack of trust from Wizards that we don't want the best for the game we love.

There has been an argument made saying that Shahrazad was banned because it would somehow become broken because of these new Planeswalkers cards. If that is the case, then Wizards should have waited to see if this prediction came true before they do something as reckless as ban a card. If the reason wasn't the possiblity of complications with Planeswalkers, then there is absolutely no reason to ban the card. Forsythe has said that Organized Play was the one who requested the ban. If that is so, at least give some definitive evidence to show how Shahrazad has become broken. Forsythe should have taken OP's request under consideration like any good leader would and then try to find evidence to support OP's claim, especially before banning a card, a desicion that is basically saying a card never existed. By tha I mean that most casual players abide by the B/R lists, something not taken into account by Forsythe in his article. All players need to take a stake in this argument and not stand for it for the continued success and health of the game.

The fact of the matter is is that Shahrazad has not become a nuisence. There are no decks that abuse Shahrazad or cards that make it unreasonable. As for the "forced" consession problem, it is considered good strategy to concede especially when time is a factor just like its good strategy to play Brainstorm at the end of your opponents turn or to Vampiric Tutor for a key card in your deck. What really gets my ire is that the banning was seemingly arbitrary. There were no calls for Shahrazad to be banned because its a fringe card no one uses. To ban something just because you can without a good excuse is bull and an abuse of power. Not only that, but Forsythe deciding to quit and take Shahrazad with him is rather suspicious to me but I'll let you guys ponder that one.

Hello all. This thread is for supporting unbanning Shahrazad which was banned starting September 1, 2007. Shahrazad is not a broken or unfair card by any streach of the imagination. A player can concede at any time to prevent a drawn out game and usually do so. To say that a card only a few people play has any affect on a format, much less a negative one is ludicrous. The second problem I have with the banning is that it was completely unprovoked and without warning and without consulting the players of Type1 and Legacy. Banning Shahrazad in this fashion sends the message that Wizards has the power to ban any card it wants and will do so without provocation. This thread is to gather support for Shahrazad and hopefully with pressure Wizards into rethinking and ultimately unbanning Shahrazad.
Thanks