Rumors/Previews/mtg.com articles 2010 - 2013

[honestabe]

Also, according to Aaron Forsythe, Modern is officially a format, and will be rolling out on MTGO within the next few months

[Troy_Costisick]

Also, according to Aaron Forsythe, Modern is officially a format, and will be rolling out on MTGO within the next few months

That's pretty big news IMO.

[Norm4eva]

Also, according to Aaron Forsythe, Modern is officially a format, and will be rolling out on MTGO within the next few months

Minus Hypergenesis, I approve this message

[Troy_Costisick]

Also, according to Aaron Forsythe, Modern is officially a format, and will be rolling out on MTGO within the next few months

Minus Hypergenesis, I approve this message

I imagine there will be a revised banned list.  They have to take the recent Jace/Stoneforge problems in Standard into account as well.

[DubDub]

Bob is the new DCI Judge promo.

[honestabe]

Yeah, Hypergenesis needs to go, and probably Glimpse of Nature.

I'm pumped for the rest of it though.  Snap bought cryptics, bitterblossoms, and shocks

[Troy_Costisick]

Yeah, Hypergenesis needs to go, and probably Glimpse of Nature.

I'm pumped for the rest of it though.  Snap bought cryptics, bitterblossoms, and shocks

Don't forget to get Mutavaults and Bob.

[honestabe]

Yeah, Hypergenesis needs to go, and probably Glimpse of Nature.

I'm pumped for the rest of it though.  Snap bought cryptics, bitterblossoms, and shocks

Don't forget to get Mutavaults and Bob.

I didn't  =)

[DubDub]

If there's a return to Ravnica coming (speculation to that effect on MTGSalvation), will we get Legendary Nephilim?  That would rock for Commander players!  It could even be sold as five four-color combinations emerging from the crumbling ten guilds, as guilds not sharing a color pair off.  My distaste for white is becoming more evident to me as I build Commander decks, so a  commander option would be very welcome without having to go five-color.

  could be seen as: Simic + Rakdos, Izzet + Golgari, or Dimir + Gruul.  Similarly for each of the others (distributed so that no one guild combines into more than one four-color collection).

[Nefarias]

If there's a return to Ravnica coming (speculation to that effect on MTGSalvation), will we get Legendary Nephilim?  That would rock for Commander players!  It could even be sold as five four-color combinations emerging from the crumbling ten guilds, as guilds not sharing a color pair off.  My distaste for white is becoming more evident to me as I build Commander decks, so a  commander option would be very welcome without having to go five-color.

  could be seen as: Simic + Rakdos, Izzet + Golgari, or Dimir + Gruul.  Similarly for each of the others (distributed so that no one guild combines into more than one four-color collection).

That seems pretty doable. The only question I would have is whether or not they would consider them Mythic Rare and, if so, whether they would want to devote 5 Mythic slots to difficult-to-cast cards that will likely be designed specifically for and used exclusively in EDH.

[DubDub]

If there's a return to Ravnica coming (speculation to that effect on MTGSalvation), will we get Legendary Nephilim?  That would rock for Commander players!  It could even be sold as five four-color combinations emerging from the crumbling ten guilds, as guilds not sharing a color pair off.  My distaste for white is becoming more evident to me as I build Commander decks, so a  commander option would be very welcome without having to go five-color.

  could be seen as: Simic + Rakdos, Izzet + Golgari, or Dimir + Gruul.  Similarly for each of the others (distributed so that no one guild combines into more than one four-color collection).

That seems pretty doable. The only question I would have is whether or not they would consider them Mythic Rare and, if so, whether they would want to devote 5 Mythic slots to difficult-to-cast cards that will likely be designed specifically for and used exclusively in EDH.

The original Nephilim were all rares in Guildpact, so I could see them as a cycle of rares in the large set (Codename: Hook).  If they're going to be Mythic then breaking them up throughout the block may work instead, so three in Hook, one each in Line and Sinker.  That way they're 3/15, 1/10 and 1/10 of the Mythics in the sets, instead of overloading with 5/15 in one set.

[Troy_Costisick]

Redux sux.  I can't believe they'd do yet another multi-color themed block.  If it really is Ravnica, I bet it will be something different this time.  The Guildpact was destroyed, so everyone is a free agent there now.

[DubDub]

Redux sux.  I can't believe they'd do yet another multi-color themed block.  If it really is Ravnica, I bet it will be something different this time.  The Guildpact was destroyed, so everyone is a free agent there now.

Maybe instead of multicolor making it color-matters instead?  Or multicolor versus monocolor.  I think there are ways to get the flavor of Ravnica without it just being "Shards block with wedges".

[Troy_Costisick]

Paintings are out for this year's champs: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/764



and for Legacy:

[honestabe]

I initially thought that FoW looks like counterbalance, but regardless, it's fucking gorgeous.  I'd expect to see the force in print sometime soon.

[DubDub]

Re: the actual art.

These are beautiful.  I too think the new Force art strays too far from the original.  The Force art looks better suited for Dismiss, where a wizard is calmly dispatching a spell than for Force of Will, where the figure is nearly engulfed in self-immolation as a result of the strain required.

Re: these promos.

I couldn't care less.  Hey, Wizards, if you actually want to help out the Eternal formats then you will print actual cards so that people can play Magic.  I'm glad the paintings are worth money, because the rest of the prize pool at the World Championships is kinda lame, but aside from some good PR these do nothing to further Vintage and Legacy.

[DubDub]

Full FTV:Legends spoiler is out.

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/774

Teferi
Kresh
Proggy
Doran
Kiki-Jiki
Sun Quan, Lord of Wu
Cao Cao, Lord of Wei
Captain Sisay
Omnath
Oona
Rafiq
Sharuum
Ulamog
Visara

And a preview card from Innistrad: "Mikaeus, the Lunarch".  A white legend that gets counters like a green Hydra, but can also continue to grow, or shrink to pump your whole team.

On the whole this is a bit disappointing.  Once again (as Troy was lamenting yesterday) they could have reprinted a valuable card (the One-Eyed black legend from P3K), and didn't.  This is also a pretty sad collection of very-recent generals.  I don't think there's a dearth of Alara generals, Omnaths (still legal in Standard!), or Dorans (which already has a cooler full-art foil promo) that needed to be addressed.  Honestly I would have been happier with a foil Riku of Two Relfections or The Mimeoplasm.

EDIT: WOW, did not see that both both of Mikaeus's activated abilities require tapping.  That is so much trash.  I thought it was  ":" as the cost for each.  I guess in retrospect that might have been too strong, but I think at some mana-cost without being limited by tapping they would have been better but still fair.

[birds of paradise]

I would probably buy this if it wasn't foiled. I hate the cheap FTV-foil process that they're using.

[BC]

Worst. FTV. Evar.

[Troy_Costisick]

Yeah, even the dragons one was better.  A new art version of Teeg, Vendilion Clique, and Kataki would have made the set so much better.  Not to mention they picked the crappiest Eldrazi for the set.  I think they wanted to appeal to Commander players a little too hard in this.

[honestabe]

I truly can't believe how bad this FTV is.  It has to be a joke, right?

[DubDub]

Yeah, even the dragons one was better.  A new art version of Teeg, Vendilion Clique, and Kataki would have made the set so much better.  Not to mention they picked the crappiest Eldrazi for the set.  I think they wanted to appeal to Commander players a little too hard in this.

They probably didn't want to tread on the Judge Vendilion Clique that was just released, although in my opinion including Clique here would have been a better way to get them into the market (~25K copies instead of ~1K, I think?).

The more I look at this set, the more I'm disappointed.  I'll upgrade the Teferi and Visara I have in decks to these foils, and the new guy might go in my Ghave COMM deck, but outside of that I couldn't care less.  I already have Rafiq/Proggy/Ulamog/Kiki/Sharuum etc. in foil, so this kinda stinks.  The problem is that too many of these cards are already readily available in foil, and that the 'rare' ones, especially the P3K ones aren't very good.

[Troy_Costisick]

I just realized the total irony of this set!  Do you realize that From the Vault: Legends has exactly zero cards from LEGENDS!!!!!!!

[BC]

This set really needed a "money" card (e.g., Berserk, Mox Diamond).  I thought Xiahou-Dun the One-Eyed would have been a good choice.  I guess that card got a little too valuable to be reprinted.  I like the inclusion of Teferi, Doran, Kiki-Jiki, Sisay, Oona, Sharuum, and even Progenitus, even though it has some of the worst new art I have ever seen, particularly in contrast to the ultimately awesome previous art.

[Tha Gunslinga]

The problem is that pretty much all the Legends from Legends up through Urza block are on the Reserved List, except for the stuff that was reprinted in Chronicles.

[Troy_Costisick]

Kira, Great Glass Spinner would have been a good choice too.  Omnath?  Srsly?

[honestabe]

Modern is official, and my god, did they manage to screw it up.

Added to the banned list is:

Hypergensis --Ok, it needed to go.  The possibility of a turn 1 Emrakul is simply too good

Glimpse of Nature --Sure, they don't like combo, I can see why they don't like this, it's probably too good

Dread Return --I can understand this.  I don't dredge was really that good, but people don't like playing against it, so sure

Stoneforge Mystic --It enhanced every deck except Hypergeensis, which is now every deck.  I'm down with this ban

Valakut --I don't really know what they're doing here.  They said combo decks that win after turn 3 are fine, but they still kill Scapeshift.  Seems bad, but whatever

Bitterblossom --Doubt they needed to ban this.  Sure faeries is good, but banning everything that could resemble a combo deck seems to make zoo really good and it would easily keep faeries in check.  It's a bad ban.

Jace, the Mind Sculptor --I can see why they wanted to ban this, but I mean, once again lets see how good zoo is before we get too hasty

Mental Misstep --Is this real life?  They're actually banning mental misstep?  WTF

Ancestral Vision -- OH COME ON.  WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?

[Diakonov]

From the people I've talked to, the initial Modern decks that were coming out most competitive were essentially proven Legacy strategies with different mana bases and no FOW's.  I'm sure that banning Jace, Stoneforge, Mental Misstep and Bitterblossom has to do with making Modern look different than Legacy.  Realistically, I'm sure they'd love to ban these cards in Legacy too if it wouldn't cause such a wave in the populous; they can get away with it here because it's brand new.

[honestabe]

Bitterblossom is rarely played in Legacy, and Ancestral Vision's play is inversly related to the popularity of Counterbalance, so it's hardly a staple.

That being said, even if they are just legacy decks being ported over (which some are, and some aren't; I tested the format quite a bit) how come Zoo didn't get anything banned?  Modern zoo shares more cards with it's legacy counterpart than any other deck.  Plus, the shock manabase makes all decks inherenly weaker to zoo; they should have hit zoo harder than anything else.

Listen, if they want to ban all the best cards to make the format new and have something to show off at the pro tour, I understand.  I don't agree in the slightest, but I understand.  But if that's the case, ban all the good cards, not just all the good blue and combo ones.  Bloodbraid Elf, Tarmogoyf, Dark Confidant, knight of the reliquary, Elspeth and blightning are all just as powerful as (if not better than ) Bitterblossom, Ancestral Vision, Jace, and Mental Misstep (lol) in the context of Modern, yet they all remain legal.

[Odd mutation]

Yeah, Hypergenesis needs to go, and probably Glimpse of Nature.

I'm pumped for the rest of it though.  Snap bought cryptics, bitterblossoms, and shocks

I finally get it... For a long time I was like:"Why do people need to get Shock? Isn't Lightning Bolt also in the format??"

ShockLANDS!

I hate it when people abbreviate...