Yeah, there are a more than an handful of invasion cards I would love to play with but they are just so pricey. Unless a card is unique, or just amazing I try and find something similar that I can pick up at a much lower price. I would love to play with the mutation cards, eldamri's call, sterling grove, spirit monger, phyrexian altar, rout etc. I just can't bring myself to shell out the tix for them though.
What a fun block for commander. I think it's telling how many of these cards were reprinted in the preconstructed decks. That's how I got my aura shards. The only downfall is lots of these aren't budget cards. Maybe invasion will be the prize for cube and we'll be able to get more of these cards online.
I still plan on coming back to it! There are a number of other things on the list first, but so far I have not yet gotten it quite right, though I have not forgotten :)
Thanks for the write up. I do want to mention though that soulbond decks can be brutally fast. Once we start drafting, you *must* account for soulbond decks. My prediction is that the draft format will boil down to RG Soulbond vs UW Blinky Bounce, with RG being the overall favorite thanks to Lightning Mauler. Returning stuff to their hand isn't as effective when it comes back with haste.
I think Terra Incognita, as you put it, would be a 100-tix card. :)
If you put "with a basic land type" in there, it would be merely a 25-tix card.
If you put just "basic" in there, it would be something that WoTC might even print. :)
And Guile is the incarnation of permission players. That's what they look like inside their souls.
I totally agree with your points here. I would add to it, cards like Distress. I can see written in the game log what cards were in your hand. It makes it less likely I am going to forget. And with the ability to screen capture, when I play a card like Cranial Extraction, I can take a photo of your entire deck. That comes in super handy when sideboarding.
I do realize this is impractical in the "real world". But I also still think in sanctioned play, it's a viable option for consideration despite it being impractical.
Besides fastish aggro, the other major vulnerability the deck has is in missing land drops. I'd also try to squeeze one more land in and take the count to 25. Hard to see what to drop though, possibly a Lightning Bolt or a Drift.
Me: Untap step *click*
opp: i have no effects *click*
me: Upkeep i pass *click*
opp: no response *click*
me: I will draw for my turn *click*
opp: vendilion clique *click*
me: no response to clique *click*
opp: v. clique comes into play triggered ability on the stack *click*
me: darkblast the clique with trigger on the stack *click*
opponent:no response, clique goes to graveyard *click*
me: pass on the clique triggered ability *click*
opponent: i also pass (reviews hand, picks a card) *click*
me: i pass in my draw step *click*
opponent: I also pass in your draw step *click*
I would keep going but frankly writing this way is more boring than playing this way would be.
I tried out Atalya in a Cleric-themed Commander deck and she is extraordinarily good. If you can stop general damage and infect, Atalya will keep your life total high while you beat down for the win. She's so good I'm thinking of trying her out with Rings of Brighthearth.
Bang the clock to pass priority. I'm all for implementing "chess clocks" for paper, and forcing paper players to hit their button several times each turn.
It would also make paper players realize viscerally about things like priority and time management.
the topic of your article is a very often debated explanation, but it remains ever interesting and here well writen.
I would add also something other : beside shuffling,the global overview of library and graveyard is to me much better with the mtgo interface.
I mean when you're tutoring for a card, mtgo allows the user not only to see all the library/graveyard overview in a same screen instantaneously, but also provides a highlight on targetable cards. This is often a precious help not to forget the entire possibilities a tutor offers : this is especialy true with "limited tutor" like mystical tutor or even bribery type of card. Demonic tutor effect in exemple is pretty easy to use whatever the interface : choose any card, put it in your hand. But with a limited tutor, you only have access to some specifics cards such as "only instant & sorcery cards" or "only creatures cards"… the fact is that the risk to forget a valuable target in paper magic is much higher than on mtgo, also because global overview is clearer and easier to appreciate/evaluate.
A similar advantage with the graveyard : you dont have to move, to take in hands any cards to check an information in a graveyard card pool : you just do it immediatly on mtgo, without any question. This implies you provide to the opponent much less games informations … which are often crucial and the battle for victory. If my "reanimator" opponent sees that I'm checking his graveyard, he would probably deduces that I'm preparing to answer soon. If he doesnt see that, he dont have any idea of when I could attack his ressource … details ? No that much to me.
Only my feelings though.
The rules engine being enforced is near the top of my list. Have you ever read the "Rules Q&A" forum on the Wizards web site? 99% of the questions asked there can be answered with "play mtgo and you'll get it."
@ Sam - not sure if you'll see this off of Facebook, but since I don't use it for comments I'll leave this response here! I will definitely add hexproof to the list, great idea! There are a couple ideas already in the works so I don't know when you'll see it, but I'll definitely cover it
Yeah, there are a more than an handful of invasion cards I would love to play with but they are just so pricey. Unless a card is unique, or just amazing I try and find something similar that I can pick up at a much lower price. I would love to play with the mutation cards, eldamri's call, sterling grove, spirit monger, phyrexian altar, rout etc. I just can't bring myself to shell out the tix for them though.
Bonus points go to BOBBAKAKE! It was indeeed Pierre Joseph Proudhon who wrote 'All property is theft..." in his book 'What is property'.
What a fun block for commander. I think it's telling how many of these cards were reprinted in the preconstructed decks. That's how I got my aura shards. The only downfall is lots of these aren't budget cards. Maybe invasion will be the prize for cube and we'll be able to get more of these cards online.
I still plan on coming back to it! There are a number of other things on the list first, but so far I have not yet gotten it quite right, though I have not forgotten :)
pierre joseph proudhon
Thanks for the write up. I do want to mention though that soulbond decks can be brutally fast. Once we start drafting, you *must* account for soulbond decks. My prediction is that the draft format will boil down to RG Soulbond vs UW Blinky Bounce, with RG being the overall favorite thanks to Lightning Mauler. Returning stuff to their hand isn't as effective when it comes back with haste.
I think Terra Incognita, as you put it, would be a 100-tix card. :)
If you put "with a basic land type" in there, it would be merely a 25-tix card.
If you put just "basic" in there, it would be something that WoTC might even print. :)
And Guile is the incarnation of permission players. That's what they look like inside their souls.
Thanks for the comments guys! Just a note, I forgot to include Void in the list of staples. It's really good!
great stuff, I have always thought this block had some of the most playable cards and used to take a lot from it for commander, prism, and even tribal
I totally agree with your points here. I would add to it, cards like Distress. I can see written in the game log what cards were in your hand. It makes it less likely I am going to forget. And with the ability to screen capture, when I play a card like Cranial Extraction, I can take a photo of your entire deck. That comes in super handy when sideboarding.
Good point. I managed to forget Geist is legendary. That's part of the reason Clone's in the deck too. /facepalm
If you Clone the Geist, it just dies
Now *THAT'S* what I'm talkin' about!
I do realize this is impractical in the "real world". But I also still think in sanctioned play, it's a viable option for consideration despite it being impractical.
Besides fastish aggro, the other major vulnerability the deck has is in missing land drops. I'd also try to squeeze one more land in and take the count to 25. Hard to see what to drop though, possibly a Lightning Bolt or a Drift.
Me: Untap step *click*
opp: i have no effects *click*
me: Upkeep i pass *click*
opp: no response *click*
me: I will draw for my turn *click*
opp: vendilion clique *click*
me: no response to clique *click*
opp: v. clique comes into play triggered ability on the stack *click*
me: darkblast the clique with trigger on the stack *click*
opponent:no response, clique goes to graveyard *click*
me: pass on the clique triggered ability *click*
opponent: i also pass (reviews hand, picks a card) *click*
me: i pass in my draw step *click*
opponent: I also pass in your draw step *click*
I would keep going but frankly writing this way is more boring than playing this way would be.
I tried out Atalya in a Cleric-themed Commander deck and she is extraordinarily good. If you can stop general damage and infect, Atalya will keep your life total high while you beat down for the win. She's so good I'm thinking of trying her out with Rings of Brighthearth.
Devil's advocacy here:
Bang the clock to pass priority. I'm all for implementing "chess clocks" for paper, and forcing paper players to hit their button several times each turn.
It would also make paper players realize viscerally about things like priority and time management.
tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick....
lol true I pushed back other plans after doing some thinking and deciding this was the right thing to do
the topic of your article is a very often debated explanation, but it remains ever interesting and here well writen.
I would add also something other : beside shuffling,the global overview of library and graveyard is to me much better with the mtgo interface.
I mean when you're tutoring for a card, mtgo allows the user not only to see all the library/graveyard overview in a same screen instantaneously, but also provides a highlight on targetable cards. This is often a precious help not to forget the entire possibilities a tutor offers : this is especialy true with "limited tutor" like mystical tutor or even bribery type of card. Demonic tutor effect in exemple is pretty easy to use whatever the interface : choose any card, put it in your hand. But with a limited tutor, you only have access to some specifics cards such as "only instant & sorcery cards" or "only creatures cards"… the fact is that the risk to forget a valuable target in paper magic is much higher than on mtgo, also because global overview is clearer and easier to appreciate/evaluate.
A similar advantage with the graveyard : you dont have to move, to take in hands any cards to check an information in a graveyard card pool : you just do it immediatly on mtgo, without any question. This implies you provide to the opponent much less games informations … which are often crucial and the battle for victory. If my "reanimator" opponent sees that I'm checking his graveyard, he would probably deduces that I'm preparing to answer soon. If he doesnt see that, he dont have any idea of when I could attack his ressource … details ? No that much to me.
Only my feelings though.
Possibly because of the complexity of interactions in priorities vs triggered abilities and other forced events.
I see no reason why they can't use a chess clock to play magic.
See I gave you an article to write ;p
Sweet! I will be waiting for that! :)
Preaching to the choir here, man.
The rules engine being enforced is near the top of my list. Have you ever read the "Rules Q&A" forum on the Wizards web site? 99% of the questions asked there can be answered with "play mtgo and you'll get it."
@ Sam - not sure if you'll see this off of Facebook, but since I don't use it for comments I'll leave this response here! I will definitely add hexproof to the list, great idea! There are a couple ideas already in the works so I don't know when you'll see it, but I'll definitely cover it