By: one million words, Pete Jahn
Jun 24 2016 1:00pm

State of the Program for June 24th 2016

In the News:

Quarterly MTGO Update: Wizards has released the most recent MTGO Update. This time, Chris Kiritz was the author. The article has three parts – the first part of the year, where we are right now, and what to expect the rest of the year. The recap of the year so far revolved around the Eldrazi – just like the rest of Magic. In MTGO terms, rewriting the mana system caused headaches and glitches. Many of these are fixed, but some remain. Chris also noted that two major infrastructure changes (the update to .NET 4.5.2 and our recent client refactor) have proved valuable for stability and speeding client fixes. On the plus side – solidly – sealed leagues arrived. Moving forward, Wizards is looking at improvements in the play experience, and the Player Advisory Board (soon to be announced) will be helping with that effort. Expect tweaks to events, player rewards, features, more types of leagues, etc. Read the article here.

Eldritch Moon Spoilers have Started – and It’s Emrakul: Mark Rosewater gave us some initial info on the concepts behind Eldritch Moon. Basically, Innistrad is going mad, and the madness is because the missing Eldrazi lord is no longer missing. The video, which include the Eldritch Moon trailer and the new Emrakul, is here.

Wizards Talks Bomb Rares: Sam Stoddard wrote an article explaining how R&D thinks about bomb rares, and their effects on limited. Read it here.

Extended Downtime Next Week: Like it says.

Vintage Cube Returns July 13^th: The powered Cube is returning middle of next month. Wizards has not changed much, but has tweaked things a bit. They are correcting colors for some cards (e.g. Dismember will be considered colorless going forward). The big news is that the entire cycle of modern creaturelands will be in the Cube. Read about it here.

A Few League Bugs Being Worked: The latest update has caused some problems with certain league functions. According to Twitter, Wizards made some minor fixes and had at least one hot patch. Others are being worked. I know I experienced at least one bug, after the fix.

Rise of the Eldrazi Drafts were back – emphasis “were”: The first official spoiler blurb on Eldritch Moon came out. The big “surprise” is that Emrakul is back. To “celebrate,” Wizards brought Rise of the Eldrazi drafts back to MTGO for one day, with no prior warning. Sorry if you missed them.

The Timeline:

This is a list of things we have been promised, or we just want to see coming back. Another good source for dates and times is the MTGO calendar and the weekly blog, while the best source for known bugs is the Known Issues List. For quick reference, here are some major upcoming events. In addition, there are either one or two online PTQs each weekend, with qualifiers running the three days prior to the PTQ.

Item: date and notes

· Power Nine Challenge: Last Saturday of the month, at 11am Pacific. Next one June 25^th. That’s tomorrow.

· Legacy Challenge: Second Saturday of the month, at 11am Pacific. Next one July 9^th.

· League End Dates: all current leagues end July 27, 2016

· Eternal Masters: June 16 through July 6. Details here.

· Legacy Championship Qualifiers: July 6 through July 20

· Legacy Championship: July 24

· Vintage Cube: July 13 to July 27. Info here.

· Eldritch Moon Prerelease: July 29-August 1. Details here.

· Kaladesh Prerelease: October 7-10, on sale October 10^th. Product code KLD.

· From the Vault Lore: releases online October 10, 2016.

· Aether Revolt: January 2017 release

Flashback Schedule:

Flashback drafts are 10Tix / 100 Play Points / 2 Tix plus product, not Phantom, single elim and pay out in play points: 200 for first, 100 for second, 50 for third and fourth.

· 2 Shadowmoor, Eventide: June 22 to June 29

· Triple Shards of Alara: June 29 to July 6

· 2 Shards, Conflux: July 6 to July 13

· Shards, Conflux, Alara Reborn: July 13 to July 20

· Triple Magic 2010: July 20 to July 27

· Triple Zendikar: August 17 to August 24

· 2 Zendikar, Worldwake: August 24 to August 31

· Triple Rise of the Eldrazi: August 31 to September 7

· Triple Magic 2011: September 7 to September 14

· Triple Scars of Mirrodin: September 14 to September 21

· Mirrodin Besieged, 2 Scars of Mirrodin: September 21 to September 28

· New Phyrexia, Mirrodin Besieged, Scars of Mirrodin: September 28 to October 5

· Triple Innistrad: October 26 to November 2

· Dark Ascension, 2 Innistrad: November 2 to November 9

· Triple Magic 2012: November 9 to November 16

· Triple Avacyn Restored: November 16 to November 23

· Triple Magic 2013: November 23 to November 30

· Triple Return to Ravnica: November 30 to December 7

· Triple Gatecrash: December 7 to December 14

· Dragon’s Maze, Gatecrash, Return to Ravnica: December 14 to December 21

Flashback This Week: The next Flashback draft is triple Shards of Alara. The Shards money cards include Ajani Vengeant, Elspeth, Knight-Errant, and Knight of the White Orchid. Not a ton, but interesting draft environment.

Opinion Section: Am I Just Becoming Jaded?

Last week, Wizards released the initial Eldritch Moon promotions, including the Mark Rosewater video with the embedded EM trailer, and the story update. I did not have a positive reaction to the reveals. Maybe I have been through this too many times, and have forgotten how to be surprised, but I’m just not excited this time around.

As for the story update, I found it pretty lame’rakul. (To get that reference, you may need to read it.) I don’t recommend the story. However, I may not be the target audience anymore. I have read a lot of the fiction and have a dozen or more Magic novels on my bookshelves, but I have not really enjoyed any of them since The Brother’s War. Brother’s War was published back in 1998. Maybe I’m just old, or maybe writing styles have changed too much for my liking, but I just can’t suspend my disbelief – and if you cannot do that, fantasy novels don’t work. But that’s just me – if you enjoy them, great. People’s tastes differ, and that’s fine.

So the overarching plot of Eldritch Moon is that Emrakul is driving everyone and everything insane. Mark Rosewater gets really excited over the idea in the video. I, well, I don’t. The plot here is that a huge monster from beyond space is destroying everything, and the Planeswalkers have to unite to kill it. That’s a decent plot: sort of Justice League vs. Godzilla, or maybe Imperiex. That’s a plot, to be sure, but Wizards should have saved it for Return to Homelands. The superheroes battle the big evil thing is self-contained, and the setting is just a pile of things to break and knock over. It did not really matter that Avengers was set in NYC, instead of Gotham or Singapore. Likewise, ~~Eldrazi~~ Eldritch Moon seems to be about a big Eldrazi making everyone crazy, then the Planeswalkers take it out.

I would not be disappointed if Wizards was using this for a plane that had no internal story, meme or flavor, but Innistrad had. It was chock full of gothic horror and monster movie tropes. Wizards could have played off that, but they fell back on superheroes vs. giant monster, again.

BTW, this is not adding Cthulhu to the gothic horror / monster movie themes. Read your Lovecraft – you don’t fight Elder Gods. What makes the Cthulhu mythos so terrifying is that the monsters are unstoppable and just don’t care. You don’t fight Cthulhu. If you are a cute, fuzzy chipmunk living in a burrow by the old oak, Cthulhu is the 6 lane highway bypass that is going to pave over your whole neighborhood. It’s not like Alvin vs. Killdozer, or even Bambi Meets Godzilla. It’s Earth vs. the Vogon Destructor Fleet.

In the end, though, the story is like the art – something you may like or dislike, but that does not have a direct effect on game play. Hopefully, you like it. As for me, if the set is fun to play, I don’t worry about the other stuff.

Judge Question of the Week:

I have been training new judges for many years, and part of that training involves setting out scenarios and problems that teach various parts of the rules. They start simple – i.e. a creature with trample is blocked by a creature with protection – and get harder as they go. The goal is to determine what areas of the rules I need to teach, and what my candidate already knows. And to have some fun. Here we go.

You have two Oversold Cemeteries in play. You have four creatures, including one Krosan Tusker, in your graveyard. Can you resolve the first trigger returning Krosan Tusker, then landcycle the Tusker and retrieve it again with the second Oversold Cemetery trigger?

Hint: You have four cards in the graveyard. If you return one, then put a card in the graveyard before the second trigger resolves, it will still resolve. The fact that you dropped to three cards in between triggers does not matter. The triggers only check when they would go on the stack, and when they resolve.

Cutting Edge Tech:

Standard: Standard has settled down, but it is not completely solved, yet. That said, the base white aggro decks are looking really strong. Here’s one that won the SCG Open last weekend. The Top 32 decklists for that event are here.

RW Humans

Tom Ross, Winner, SCG Standard Open

Creatures
3 Expedition Envoy
3 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
3 Anointer of Champions
4 Dragon Hunter
4 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Town Gossipmonger
4 Thraben Inspector
2 Hanweir Militia Captain
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
17 cards

Other Spells
4 Declaration in Stone
3 Gryff's Boon
4 Always Watching
0 cards

Lands
14 Plains
4 Battlefield Forge
18 cards

Sideboard
4 Needle Spires
4 Reckless Bushwhacker
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 Stasis Snare
1 Secure the Wastes
1 Silkwrap
14 cards

Modern: No Modern GPs this week. TCGPlayer.com ran a series of Modern State Championships recently. Decklists are here. One deck that showed up in a number of places was Naya Burn.

Naya Burn

Allen Hood, Winner, TCGPlayer Modern States, MD

Creatures
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Goblin Guide
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Wild Nacatl
18 cards

Other Spells
4 Atarka's Command
4 Boros Charm
4 Lava Spike
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Rift Bolt
4 Searing Blaze
24 cards

Lands
3 Copperline Gorge
2 Mountain
3 Sacred Foundry
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Stomping Ground
4 Wooded Foothills
18 cards

Sideboard
2 Deflecting Palm
3 Destructive Revelry
3 Kor Firewalker
2 Lightning Helix
3 Path to Exile
2 Volcanic Fallout
15 cards

Legacy: The biggest Legacy event last weekend was the SCG Legacy Open in Orlando. The Top 16 decklists are here.

Sneak and Show

Dan Savage, Winner, SCG Legacy Classic, Orlando

Creatures
3 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3 cards

Other Spells
3 Omniscience
3 Griselbrand
1 Flusterstorm
2 Preordain
2 Spell Pierce
4 Ponder
3 Cunning Wish
4 Brainstorm
3 Sneak Attack
4 Show and Tell
3 Lotus Petal
1 Intuition
1 Impulse
4 Force of Will
38 cards

Lands
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Polluted Delta
1 Mountain
3 Island
2 City of Traitors
3 Ancient Tomb
3 Volcanic Island
19 cards

Sideboard
1 Kozilek's Return
1 Firemind's Foresight
1 Flusterstorm
1 Release the Ants
1 Trickbind
1 Wipe Away
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Through the Breach
1 Echoing Truth
1 Eladamri's Call
1 Misdirection
1 Intuition
3 Blood Moon
15 cards

Vintage: The VSL Season 5 has begun. The Season 5, round two decklists are here. Once again, Paul Reitzl has one of the more interesting decklists. This reminds me a bit of the old BBS days, although this is hardly that deck.

Basically Blue

Paul Rietzl, Vintage Super League, Seasdon 5, Weeks 4-6

Creatures
1 Blightsteel Colossus
1 Trinket Mage
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Consecrated Sphinx
4 cards

Other Spells
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Tinker
1 Time Walk
4 Force of Will
3 Mana Drain
3 Mental Misstep
2 Flusterstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Repeal
1 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
3 Null Rod
1 Black Lotus
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Mana Crypt
3 Back to Basics
36 cards

Lands
9 Island
4 Wasteland
2 Polluted Delta
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
20 cards

Sideboard
1 Flusterstorm
2 Annul
2 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Mindbreak Trap
2 Dismember
1 Propaganda
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Arcane Laboratory
1 Ravenous Trap
15 cards

Card Prices:

Note: all my prices come from the fine folks at MTGOTraders.com. These are retail prices, and generally the price of the lowest priced, actively traded version. (Prices for some rare promo versions are not updated when not in stock, so I skip those.) You can get these cards at MTGOTraders.com web store, or from their bots: MTGOTradersBot(#) (they have bots 1-10), CardCaddy and CardWareHouse, or sell cards to MTGOTradersBuyBot(#) (they have buybots 1-4). I have bought cards from MTGOTraders for over a decade now, and have never been overcharged or disappointed.

Standard staples: Standard was down, almost across the board, this week. Prices are down everywhere. I’d guess this is a mix of people getting bored with the formats, coupled with the need to raise TIX for Eternal Masters drafts.

Standard Cards	Price	Last Week	Change	% Change
Archangel Avacyn	$18.05	$23.23	($5.18)	-22%
Chandra, Flamecaller	$13.47	$17.60	($4.13)	-23%
Collected Company	$17.88	$21.80	($3.92)	-18%
Dragonlord Atarka	$7.90	$7.63	$0.27	4%
Dragonlord Ojutai	$6.34	$7.08	($0.74)	-10%
Dromoka's Command	$8.47	$11.20	($2.73)	-24%
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar	$26.60	$24.82	$1.78	7%
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy	$27.28	$28.82	($1.54)	-5%
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet	$23.07	$26.31	($3.24)	-12%
Kozilek's Return	$8.18	$10.43	($2.25)	-22%
Kolaghan's Command	$5.31	$6.33	($1.02)	-16%
Kytheon, Hero of Akros	$15.64	$18.38	($2.74)	-15%
Nahiri, the Harbinger	$15.68	$12.17	$3.51	29%
Nissa, Voice of Zendikar	$12.37	$15.63	($3.26)	-21%
Nissa, Vastwood Seer	$22.45	$21.48	$0.97	5%
Sylvan Advocate	$6.46	$7.19	($0.73)	-10%
Thought-Knot Seer	$8.28	$8.04	$0.24	3%
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger	$6.57	$9.01	($2.44)	-27%

Modern staples: Modern is mixed this week. Just the normal fluctuations – and some big moves. Cavern of Souls bounced back after a big drop last week.

Modern Cards	Price	Last Week	Change	% Change
Ancestral Vision	$30.32	$26.12	$4.20	16%
Auriok Champion	$20.49	$20.19	$0.30	1%
Batterskull	$32.70	$33.24	($0.54)	-2%
Blood Moon	$31.66	$32.34	($0.68)	-2%
Cavern of Souls	$35.05	$29.83	$5.22	17%
Crucible of Worlds	$20.07	$21.80	($1.73)	-8%
Eidolon of the Great Revel	$17.30	$18.19	($0.89)	-5%
Ensnaring Bridge	$30.54	$28.05	$2.49	9%
Griselbrand	$35.36	$35.04	$0.32	1%
Grove of the Burnwillows	$30.60	$33.69	($3.09)	-9%
Horizon Canopy	$31.72	$33.34	($1.62)	-5%
Inkmoth Nexus	$29.17	$29.20	($0.03)	0%
Liliana of the Veil	$94.44	$85.28	$9.16	11%
Mox Opal	$33.01	$32.75	$0.26	1%
Scalding Tarn	$39.13	$37.34	$1.79	5%
Scapeshift	$28.70	$28.08	$0.62	2%
Tarmogoyf	$53.86	$51.34	$2.52	5%
Twilight Mire	$15.91	$15.51	$0.40	3%
Vendilion Clique	$16.32	$15.63	$0.69	4%
Voice of Resurgence	$32.98	$37.49	($4.51)	-12%

Legacy and Vintage: Legacy and Vintage are mixed this week. Eternal Masters cards are fluctuating. Daze, especially, has been all over the map.

Legacy / Vintage Cards	Price	Last Week	Change	% Change
Ancestral Recall	$47.25	$48.92	($1.67)	-3%
Black Lotus	$132.58	$131.52	$1.06	1%
Daze	$4.65	$11.19	($6.54)	-58%
Doomsday	$23.56	$23.56	$0.00	0%
Exploration	$41.88	$39.36	$2.52	6%
Food Chain	$38.10	$39.30	($1.20)	-3%
Force of Will	$26.72	$24.49	$2.23	9%
Gaea's Cradle	$49.16	$47.37	$1.79	4%
Infernal Tutor	$56.00	$51.37	$4.63	9%
Misdirection	$84.82	$84.86	($0.04)	0%
Mox Jet	$42.81	$42.82	($0.01)	0%
Mox Sapphire	$62.07	$61.31	$0.76	1%
Rishadan Port	$196.84	$189.41	$7.43	4%
Show and Tell	$56.84	$61.63	($4.79)	-8%
Tangle Wire	$52.79	$51.85	$0.94	2%
Time Walk	$33.76	$36.92	($3.16)	-9%
Wasteland	$38.00	$55.03	($17.03)	-31%

Set Redemption: You can redeem complete sets on MTGO. You need to purchase a redemption voucher from the store for $25. During the next downtime, Wizards removes a complete set from your account and sends you the same set in paper.

Complete Set	Price	Last Week	Change	% Change
Battle for Zendikar	$68.83	$73.66	($4.83)	-7%
Dragons of Tarkir	$97.89	$109.79	($11.90)	-11%
Magic Origins	$112.12	$121.82	($9.70)	-8%
Oath of the Gatewatch	$111.57	$128.87	($17.30)	-13%
Shadows over Innistrad	$84.24	$92.42	($8.18)	-9%

The Good Stuff:

The following is a list of all the non-promo, non-foil cards on MTGO that retail for more than $25 per card. These are the big ticket items in the world of MTGO. Rishadan Port is back under $200 each, but just barely. The list is just under 70 cards, with the original dual lands reappearing on the list.

Card	Set	Rarity	Price
Rishadan Port	MM	Rare	$ 196.84
Black Lotus	VMA	Bonus	$ 132.58
Liliana of the Veil	ISD	Mythic Rare	$ 94.44
Misdirection	MM	Rare	$ 84.82
Mox Sapphire	VMA	Bonus	$ 62.07
Show and Tell	UZ	Rare	$ 56.84
Infernal Tutor	DIS	Rare	$ 56.00
Wasteland	TE	Uncommon	$ 55.23
Tarmogoyf	MM2	Mythic Rare	$ 54.31
Tarmogoyf	FUT	Rare	$ 53.96
Tarmogoyf	MMA	Mythic Rare	$ 53.86
Tangle Wire	NE	Rare	$ 52.79
City of Traitors	EX	Rare	$ 52.71
City of Traitors	TPR	Rare	$ 50.08
Gaea's Cradle	UZ	Rare	$ 49.16
Wasteland	TPR	Rare	$ 49.02
Ancestral Recall	VMA	Bonus	$ 47.25
Mox Jet	VMA	Bonus	$ 42.81
Exploration	UZ	Rare	$ 41.88
Underground Sea	ME2	Rare	$ 40.67
Underground Sea	ME4	Rare	$ 40.64
Volcanic Island	ME4	Rare	$ 40.24
Scalding Tarn	ZEN	Rare	$ 39.13
Volcanic Island	ME3	Rare	$ 38.45
Food Chain	MM	Rare	$ 38.10
Wasteland	EMA	Rare	$ 38.00
Force of Will	MED	Rare	$ 37.97
Lion's Eye Diamond	MI	Rare	$ 37.35
Mox Emerald	VMA	Bonus	$ 35.55
Containment Priest	C14	Rare	$ 35.53
Blood Moon	MMA	Rare	$ 35.51
Containment Priest	PZ1	Rare	$ 35.50
Griselbrand	AVR	Mythic Rare	$ 35.36
Cavern of Souls	AVR	Rare	$ 35.05
Volcanic Island	VMA	Rare	$ 34.36
Underground Sea	VMA	Rare	$ 34.35
Mox Ruby	VMA	Bonus	$ 34.13
Time Walk	VMA	Bonus	$ 33.76
Mox Pearl	VMA	Bonus	$ 33.43
Mox Opal	MM2	Mythic Rare	$ 33.06
Mox Opal	SOM	Mythic Rare	$ 33.01
Voice of Resurgence	DGM	Mythic Rare	$ 32.98
Blood Moon	8ED	Rare	$ 32.75
Batterskull	NPH	Mythic Rare	$ 32.70
Horizon Canopy	FUT	Rare	$ 31.72
Blood Moon	9ED	Rare	$ 31.66
Ensnaring Bridge	8ED	Rare	$ 31.35
Ensnaring Bridge	ST	Rare	$ 31.14
Grove of the Burnwillows	FUT	Rare	$ 30.60
Ensnaring Bridge	7E	Rare	$ 30.54
Ancestral Vision	TSP	Rare	$ 30.38
Ancestral Vision	DD2	Rare	$ 30.32
Inkmoth Nexus	MBS	Rare	$ 29.17
Lion's Eye Diamond	VMA	Mythic Rare	$ 28.88
Scapeshift	MOR	Rare	$ 28.70
Unmask	MM	Rare	$ 28.63
Force of Will	VMA	Rare	$ 27.52
Celestial Colonnade	WWK	Rare	$ 27.48
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy	ORI	Mythic Rare	$ 27.28
Engineered Explosives	5DN	Rare	$ 26.93
Engineered Explosives	MMA	Rare	$ 26.74
Force of Will	EMA	Mythic Rare	$ 26.72
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar	BFZ	Mythic Rare	$ 26.60
Verdant Catacombs	ZEN	Rare	$ 26.10
True-Name Nemesis	PZ1	Mythic Rare	$ 25.88
True-Name Nemesis	C13	Rare	$ 25.82
Mox Diamond	ST	Rare	$ 25.81
Mox Diamond	TPR	Mythic Rare	$ 25.68
Undiscovered Paradise	VI	Rare	$ 25.17

The big number is the retail price of a playset (4 copies) of every card available on MTGO. Assuming you bought the least expensive versions available, the cost of owning a playset of every card on MTGO is $ 27,650. That’s down about $850 from last week’s number. Some of that might be Eternal Masters pushing prices of some chase cards down, and part of that might be people selling stuff off to buy Eternal Masters packs.

Weekly Highlights:

Eternal Masters is pretty well done. I am not really happy about the cards they included, and did not include, but the set plays well. Check it out if you get a chance.

I have also been having some weird bugs in my Standard League. I am still 2-0, despite having played four matches so far. I finish the match, my opponent apparently conceding, and I get the “reveal Hand’ and “Draw a Card” buttons, but the game hangs there. I never get the “3MWords wins the Match” pop-up, and the screen never closes. I have tried various things, but nothing gets me off that screen except exiting MTGO, and if I do, the program does not record the result. I am still showing as 2-0 in the league. If it keeps on like this, I’ll take screen shots and report it and all, but for now I’m just chilling. I’ll try playing again this weekend, maybe, and see if it continues or if Wizards has stomped this bug.

PRJ

“One Million Words” and “3MWords” on MTGO

This series is an ongoing tribute to Erik “Hamtastic” Friborg.

HammyBot Super Sale: HammyBot was set up to sell off Erik Friborg’s collection, with all proceeds going to his wife and son. So far, HammyBot has raised over $8,000, but there are a lot of cards left in the collection. Those cards are being sold at MTGOTrader’s Buy Price.

Answer to the Judge Question of the Week:

No. You have to choose targets when the abilities are put on the stack, so both Oversold Cemeteries would be targeting the Krosan Tusker. When the Tusker changes zones, it becomes a new object, thus the second trigger is countered because its target no longer exists.

13 Comments

Thanks by MichelleWong at Fri, 06/24/2016 - 16:01

Thanks Pete for your helpful update.

I don't think we are going to by longtimegone at Sat, 06/25/2016 - 00:22

I don't think we are going to see the same story on Innistrad as we did on Zendikar, they won't beat Emrakul.

Emrakul also won't destroy Innistrad. One of the magic stories a while back, Kozilek showed up and they were giving us the perspective of someone who's mind was being taken over and become a thrall to Kozilek. It's mentioned that Kozilek, for all his power, is a poor creator, nothing like his eldest sibling, presumably Emrakul.

Ugin seemed to be hinting that the 3 titans had some sort of natural balance, and it's looking like Ulamog was the blind destroyer to Emrakul's blind creation.

Trailer by MichelleWong at Sat, 06/25/2016 - 08:02

LongTimeGone, I believe you're right that they won't beat Emrakul once and for all.

I think the story is getting quite interesting, I don't think that the plot is on a level lower than what was in The Brothers War novel.

And as to the Eldridch Moon video trailer, credit to the Wizards team. Seeing Liliana's zombies rushing towards Emrakul was.....well it was stunning! I don't remember something on that level since the New Phyrexia trailer.

I think you may be by Paul Leicht at Sat, 06/25/2016 - 08:33

I think you may be misunderstanding/misconstruing the Cthulhu connection here in that the games particularly Call of Cthulhu tend to pit the players against the elder gods (well mostly their minions) in an attempt to stop them. It isn't that they win but that they die or go mad (more often than not) trying. So this isn't so much about the purity of Lovecraft but the books influencing the games, influencing culture, influencing THIS game.

As to the flavor/story I feel similarly. Gonna put it down to us being grumpy old men. Well Grumpy anyway.

My issue with the story was by xger at Sun, 06/26/2016 - 18:08

My issue with the story was different. We, yet again, have =: mystery-->Jace comes-->Jace solves mystery-->Jace + friends fight off the problem.

I don't like Jace all that much, and using him to have a story they've done repeatedly now is getting old.

I guess I didn't articulate by Paul Leicht at Sun, 06/26/2016 - 18:44

I guess I didn't articulate that part of it here though I did on the FFTR podcast perhaps less clearly but still. Rehashing tired tropes isn't particularly good advertising for the game, imho. Perhaps this is what happens when creative gets put on rails...

My issue with the story was by xger at Sun, 06/26/2016 - 18:08

Double post = /

lore by Hearts at Mon, 06/27/2016 - 02:33

MtG started out 'building on/taking from' Tolkien's world, and wotc should never have left that.

Phyrexia, Mirrans, Emrakul, Jace and whatnot is so tragically bad that Garfield would have turned in his grave if he was dead, which he isnt, which is very good.

You do realize that by ricklongo at Tue, 06/28/2016 - 12:17

You do realize that Phyrexians and planeswalkers were in the game from the very start, right?

I have several issues with Magic's ongoing storyline. I hate it that they're going after tired superhero tropes with the planeswalkers, for example, and I absolutely loathed the time-travelling shenanigans in Khans block. That said, I'd much rather they do their own thing than endlessly rehash Tolkien, that's for sure.

re by Hearts at Wed, 06/29/2016 - 15:33

I did not know that phyrexians and planeswalkers were in the game from the beginning. Examples ?

Rehashing Tolkien is the only thing to do, creating NEW fantasy is completely hopeless and extremely hard.

You would have to be hollywood or marvel or smth to make some NEW fantasy work.

But thats my opinion =)

Phyrexians by MichelleWong at Wed, 06/29/2016 - 23:23

The Phyrexians are definitely there from close to the beginning. By Book 5 (Bloodlines) half of the plot takes place IN Phyrexia, and the books before that have references or incidents involving Phyrexian contact.

This comment is the silliest by Paul Leicht at Thu, 06/30/2016 - 00:21

This comment is the silliest thing I have read in a while and that's in a month where Brexit,Amexit and Texit have been trending topics. (The silly parts of those trends should be obvious enough.)

If you go into any Barnes & Nobles you can throw a book at a shelf randomly and hit a good fantasy author's works. There are hundreds of new fantasy novels coming out every year and more than a few are good enough to be on my must read list. (Sadly I have hundreds of books to read right here at home and have gotten slower as I have aged in getting through them.)

The problem is that WOTC has a certain creative direction and not everyone agrees with that direction, which is normal. And maybe they were not correct in their choices (having gone with the cheese perhaps too often) which is less normal and more alarming but not the end of the world for them or us because lets face it.

As Pete says, if the game is good, we will play it regardless of the flavor. Well some of us will. Others may rage quit, sulk or otherwise eschew their own enjoyment because of past imagined or real gripes with the company.

=edit=
Also the relation of MTG to Tolkien is not direct or distinct.

The presence of some Tolkien like creatures in the game has much to do with Garfield's passion for RPGs (such as D&D which DOES owe a debt to JRR but which is its own vast body of work.)

MTG has as much relation to Tolkien as it does to Age of Wonder or Master of Magic or Kings & Things*. In other words, all these games descend from D&D and similar rpgs that came out decades before MTG was first published.

This block's storyline is my by ricklongo at Tue, 06/28/2016 - 12:20

This block's storyline is my favorite in a while. I hated Khans, and BFZ had a very badly-written cartoon villain in Ob Nixilis, but this one has been very enjoyable, and Emrakul just fits nicely in my opinion. Nothing on the level of The Thran (which remains my favorite Magic novel) and Brothers' War, but much better than the last couple of blocks.