I've seen it seven times now...my opinion of it changed dramatically on the second viewing and I fel like it was New Hope redux...then on the 4th viewing I stopped feeling that way and just accepted that it's a really fun film with great new characters...I'm back to thinking it's slightly better than ROTJ actually.

NO SPOILERS!!!

I saw it yesterday... the nostalgia is there, but doesn't rely on it to carry the film... it looks and feels like an original Star Wars film...
I need more time to digest... It's better than the prequals... I can't say it's better than ROTJ... it MIGHT be on par... but I'm still in the hype bubble and need to have a few more viewings... no fan will be dissapointed... I can and will nitpick after a few weeks when spoilers have occurred.

May the Force be with you all!

As more time passes and more leaks present themself... I fear that you are correct.

I compiled several of the potential leaked plot synopsis and then went through each trailer frame by frame and tried to line things up... It's like he took elements from each film in the original trilogy, threw it in a blender and called it a day.

I still think it will be awesome and better than the prequels (doesn't take much) but now I am getting concerned that it is going to rely heavily on nostalgia.

It pains me to feed your ego Steve   I think you are right.

I will eat a Lotus on Youtube if Chewie bites it... it will be Han (and I suspect that particular scene is Finn on the ground after being bested by Kylo and Rey about to FINALLY pick up a lightsaber and go ape.)

Yeah- I'm not crazy about the Kylo mask at all... it does look a bit like Garindan!

Most rumors/speculation/leaked information suggests that Han/Chewie take Rey/Finn to see Maz Katana - the motion capture character that narrates the final trailer (and the newest TV spot.) Supposedly, she is a mystic and tells them about the past (in flashback.) So that image of luke, hooded, touching RDs dome is more than likely flashback...so we see Luke, but don't actually see Luke...
I think he's going ROTJ and waiting until the last frames to show us Luke: Jedi Master... I mean think how sexy and frustrating it will be to have this whole thing leading up to taking Luke back his lightsaber and we FINALLY see him and we cut to credits... you better believe EVERYONE is running to the sequel.

No way... He's going to be the Obi Wan character to Rey- is my guess.

In fact, I think we're only going to see him for a second at the end of the movie...Rey will hand him the lightsaber and it will go to credits.

I actually shed tears when I saw the final trailer...

I managed a 7PM VIP (assigned leather recliner!) ticket for an IMAX 3D show on the 17th!!!!

I cannot wait!!!

- I haven't been playing Vintage for a few years, but I sure have been following the format (so take this with a grain of salt...)

BUT I'm not sure I agree with you. A chalice and a tangle wire combined really devestated an opponents mana base and allowed you a permanent to tap down to the wire without impacting your ability to pay for more threats... It's still a very strong card, but I don't know that it's alive and kicking now(?)

Years ago, Mastriano and myself (and a few other meandeckers) would drive from PGH to OH (and even MI) for tourneys regularly... but Mastriano moved and I stopped playing...
from what I hear though, there is a nice vintage scene at Mr Nice Guy Games in Monroeville PA... I would suggest going and seeing if you can wrangle up some carpool buddies.

The Serious crew are some of the best ppl and the events are not to be missed!

Here's my question: Was he trying to make a Star trek film for Star Trek fans?

I mean, it really seemed like it was a franchise reboot and an attempt to bring NEW blood into a dying franchise... and imho he nailed that by making Star Trek seem like an action packed sci fi adventure film...there's a much larger audience for that, than a thinking man's sci fi film that questions man's place in the universe, breaks down social barriers and has moral/ethical dilemas... but he tried to throw a TON of bones to the Trek fanatics.

Just trying to play devil's advocate here.

http://screenrant.com/star-wars-7-force-awakens-original-trilogy-connections/

"…we’ve obviously had a lot of time [during the development process] to talk about what’s happened outside of the borders of the story that you’re seeing. So there are, of course, references to things, and some are very oblique so that hopefully the audience can infer what the characters are referring to. We used to have more references to things that we pulled out because they almost felt like they were trying too hard to allude to something. I think that the key is—and whether we’ve accomplished that or not is, of course, up to the audience—but the key is that references be essential so that you don’t reference a lot of things that feel like, oh, we’re laying pipe for, you know, an animated series or further movies. It should feel like things are being referenced for a reason."

- I have faith that Kathleen Kennedy would never allow this to be a nostalgia trip without any real substance, moreso than JJ... but a part of me thinks he really 'gets' than he can't rely on past success for this film to be successful even if he's being coached to some degree by her/Disney.

JJ is using nostalgia in terms of marketing... He's made it pretty clear that he's trying to seperate these films and only use past elements if it makes sense and propels the plot in a logical way. he DOES NOT want this to be Original Trilogy Redux.

I think the two trailers have been GENIUS in terms of giving our generation the tie that's going to get us excited and thinking about the classic trilogy... but also feels like we're passing the torch.

Going into Phantom Menace, I had NO CLUE who Padame, Jar Jar or Qui Gon were ... nor did I have ANY care for them...but I swear I can't forget the names Poe, Finn and Rey... and I've seen, what 40 seconds of actual film! O and I actually give a crap about seeing the torch passed and these guys leading us into an action packed Star Wars adventure.

I think this is going to be a tall order... this was before digital cameras and cellphone cameras were the norm...

Maybe try contacting Peter or Gary Adkison through FB?

This is all rumor, but could be potential Spoiler...

At the very end of the trailer, you hear a lightsaber...LUKE's lightsaber!

I've heard that the movie may begin with Luke's lightsaber floating through space and finding it's way to Taitoine. Daisey Ridley recovers it and somehow someway the Empire finds out and sends a squadron to try and recover it. (The trailer shows the troopers and door opening and if you freeze it you can see housing silhouttes that look like the huts that Uncle Owen/Aunt Beru lived in.)

Rumors go on to say that John Boyega goes AWOL and is being hunted by the Empire.

Daisey Ridley finds him and helps him- and she has the lightsaber... they encounter Han and Chewie and those guys recognize Luke's lightsaber and get them off the planet; in search of Luke.

A lot of what happens in the trailer lines up pretty well with some of these rumors... and I would put a safe bet that their's some truth to some of the rumors.

Time will tell, but for being a teaser (for a film that's a year away from release) I think we got some generous glimpses.

I'm actually surprised by most of the reactions...

Personally, I thought the trailer was INSANE in the best way possible!

Startled, paniced, helmetless stormtrooper... and in the background you can hear an imperial probe droid! - my best guess here is that someone has gone awol against the Empire (keep in mind that although Palpatine was killed, the Empire didn't just completely dissolve... so you SHOULD have a weakened Empire versus a strengthened Rebel Alliance.)

The little ball droid is based on a Ralph McQuirre scetch from back in the original Star Wars days...

The speeder bike looks like poo... but the rumors are that Daisey Ridley is playing a junker... so it would make sence that it looks like a hunk of junk.

The lightsaber plasma is unstabble and suggests that it's an old Sith Lord from a way earlier time resurected.... and the hilt suggests that as well.

As far as the Falcon looking CGI-ish... really?! It looks aged and proper... unlike the super polished CGI of the prequels... heck JJs attention to detail is unreal... look at the radar on the Falcon! It got knocked off in Jedi and appears different now - as if Han and Chewie actually replaced it themselves.

I'm geeking out like crazy over this one... I think it's going to rival Return of the Jedi! (Feel free to use this in your signature if the movie flops.... but it's doubtful that it will be less than awesome!)

Most of the community has come to know Prospero (aka Nick Detwiller)…heck, I’d go as far as to say that he’s become synonymous with Eternal MTG in the last few years.

He’s championed the Eternal formats and done so in a way that welcomes new players and makes them each feel of value to the community. His enthusiasm and encouragement can be found throughout TMD and he’s really become one of the most active moderators of the site.

Nick has an extreme passion of original MTG art and has done a wonderful job of raising awareness of this once niche area of the hobby. He is a big fan of the Saga block in particular and it holds some dear memories for him personally.

Recently, Nick was able to purchase the original art for Giancola’s Disenchant from me….This wasn’t an easy piece for me to give up as I collect Disenchants- but I knew that it was important to him. (http://thedisenchantproject.weebly.com/)

I know what you’re probably thinking… big deal?! People buy and sell things in this hobby all of the time and everyone already knows Nick is a good dude….

Here’s the thing gang, unprovoked Nick took it upon himself to provide me an additional ‘thank you’ gift for selling him a painting that meant so much to him.

He sent me a package with about 12 Disenchants. – Again, big deal…12 MTG cards…<people roll eyes, scoff>

It took me a good 10 minutes of holding the cards that it really sunk in… I’ve spent YEARS trying to track down a single PORTUGESE foil Mercadian Masques Disenchant…. YEARS and countless hours of searching the internet, sending emails, chasing dead end leads….that’s not even including the other cards!

And here’s a guy that had nothing to gain by helping me, that felt such an appreciation that he wanted to do something special for someone else… I was holding a stack of pure selflessness….. the guy is aces, even beyond what I originally thought.

I know writing this and sharing it with the community is a small drop in the bucket as to how much time, energy and thought Nick put into his ‘thank you’ gift but I feel strongly that this is something everyone should be aware of…

He says it enough to all of us; I think it’s time he hear it back…

Nick Detwiller- you’re a good man.

Obviously near and dear to my heart...

I have contemplated this time and time again... but how the hell do you ever get the mana and resolve this thing LOL. It 100% should have a silver border!

Varal- I 100% agree with your take on Shaharazad! It is one of the most flavorful MTG cards ever. It would have been my fourth pick- but since we had to limit to 3.... 

#1 Goblin Game.... it sums up everything I love about the game of MTG... (http://www.starcitygames.com/article/19493_Feature-Article---Goblin-Game-Guy.html)

#2 Goblin Welder... Probably my single favorite card to actually play with! Perfect art, perfect flavor text and more fun than a barrel of Monkies...and speaking of Monkies...

#3 Gorilla Shaman.. I love eating moxen and cracking skulls.

I spent about 45 minutes contemplating these choices and this has been a fun and interesting excercise. I've always been a control player at heart and I was shocked that my list is comprised of all red cards and nothing blue! Granted, my little red buddies feel more blue than red

When I saw this earlier, my first thought was: Nat Moes is the Treasonous Ogre!

Also, the Kenobi memes are legendary!

I know nothing about Modern- but would a control deck with clockspinning be viable? You can actually go infinite with 8 mana and a resolved clockspinning.

man! we did this in Pittsburgh in 2010- a total blast to play!
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=40391.0

Force of Will isn't the house it is today! - Strip mine and LOA are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO broken back then.

Super fun to play!

Legend is one of my all time favorite films... I have to disagree STRONGLY on the grounds of a remake...

Bottin's makeup in that movie is groundbreaking and really ahead of it's time (1985)... Tim Curry as Darkness ... just genius casting...acted to perfection. Meg Muckbones and all of the elves, goblins, dwarves.... they looked as good as anything Weta did digitally -if not better!

Personally, I think the biggest issue with the film is Ridley's Scott's struggle with the distributer...the studio chopped up his version of the film (removing almost an hour of relevant film!), removed the classical score and added Tangerine Dream.


Thankfully, the Ultimate Edition DVD and the Blu Ray release both have Scott's original cuts of the film... it is vastly superior and I'd be shocked if after viewing this version you'd feel a remake was in order.

1) Best Poster Prospero
2) Funniest Poster twaun
3) Worst/Most Hated Poster Can't say anyone for this
4) Best Trashtalker Soly's grown up so much but he's still getting the vote here.
5) Best Deck Innovation Smennen
6) Most Influential Figure Rich Shay
7) Biggest Forum Whore Hmm due to Punk Floyd often posting three-five posts rather than 1 giant one, you're getting my vote
8) Pimpest Deck/Collection have you seen my foil German signed altered stack? Going with myself
9) "I own this freaking deck" award (The person who has played and talked about the same deck on TMD the longest) Not sure- greg fenton with Oath
10) Person who, without, TMD would fall apart (other than Jacob, because that's obvious) Prospero
11) "What the deuce happened to ~" award
12) Best Tournament NYSE looked to be insane
13) Funniest Single Post - no clue
14) Best Article anything by Forest Failed You
15) Best Tournament Report- no clue
16) Newcomer of the Year (based on influence, posting, and articles) no clue
17) Player of the Year (based on influence, posting, and articles) Joel Lim
18) Greatest Asset to the Community Nick Coss (hands down)

Thanks LotusHead

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It just launched this week... if you dig it, please follow us on twitter and FB for content alerts and updates.

We printed these out in color x 20 each page, cut and glued to basic lands... then we built and played with nothing but these...

R/W was a decent deck... The Nemeta Lion and Look to the Gods was ABSURD.
Also Delicate Balance was an absolute house.

There were some power issues, but nothing was over the top insane.


It was just intended to be a stand alone, but we def. considered other formats while we were doing it... being that we were all vintage players, we tried to design a bit in that direction.

Wasn’t sure where or if I could post this, so if it’s the wrong place, please let me know and I can move it:

 In 2008 Paul Mastriano, Myself and Will Schilling developed a set of MTG cards. Additionally, Pat Chapin reviewed and gave an immense amount of feedback.
The set was Greek/Roman inspired and we were calling it Mythos.

We created the cards and play tested- which was a blast! Obviously, some of the cards were busted and some of our wording was/ is a mess…but it was still a fun time.

What’s pretty cool- years later we are getting Theros. Also, some of the cards that we thought of have found their way into MTG over the years.

For example- Disfigure is EXACTLY a card we created called Pass Through Hell. Also, the fetch lands obviously came into being.

I thought I’d share the full spoiler, since we never did back then:

Welcome aboard Ryan!