I think everything makes sense except for a few of the sacrifice effects.. it just means they will make new cards that have a keyword that says "play only when damage is being dealt.. sacrifice this for an effect".. I wouldn't put it past them.
The saddest part is, I know this as I've explained ad infinitum on various message boards this week.
Bad form. Although the more times I explain the changes the more it seems like the new rules aren't going to be all that much different than the old rules in a lot of circumstances. Some will, granted, be very different. Others will be quite the same.
A better example on my part would be:
"We'll reminisce about the days when we could trade our Ravenous Baloth with an attacking Craw Wurm and still gain four life.". As that's actually a scenario that kind of makes sense... except for the fact that no one uses Craw Wurms....
Yeah...Hunted Wumpus second pick? And multiple Enormous Baloth? AND Phage?
So...notice the hands in the games that you won. No Baloth, No Phage, and no Hunted Wumpus. If your hand had contained those cards do you think you would have still won those games? Just curious.
-M
This was my first article back after a small stint off to finish finals and whatnot - I'm going to work on and probably finish the next one this weekend - and I'm going to try and take into account what has been said - so thank you again.
i think the new blocking scheme does make more sense now, as you have to decide in which order to deal damage to the blockers and you have to "trample" over the first one to deal damage to the second one. this i think is more realistic, or at least i can imagine the situation for the on the battlefield involved creatures to be realistic in this case.
i cannot remember how it was before i came back to magic in 2006 so basically i am new to the missing of the damage stack. i am not sure if i like it but i guess it makes combat tricks more interesting. it probably just needs some time to get used to it. oh and bounce effects... i think i never used them as a combat trick but more for a speed set back when my opponent has a tap land and i was on the play.
no mana burn is ok, i didn't care for mana burn anyways but sometimes when you missclicked on mtgo you had that one point of damage and were not able to undo it - so i think that is ok. mulligan rule is ok, too. and the exile zone is imo a very cool possibility to play with that zone with new cards/mechanics, too in the latter case, i think that the removed from game zone was getting crowded anyways with all the new removals of the last two sets... if new mechanics are introduced in the game (which was kind of hinted at in the MaRo article) which mess with the exile, oblivion ring might become a multipurpose tool even more than before.
oh! ball lightning is coming back... at three mana he even comes back by the bloodbraid elf. that might be quite a lot of damage there.
I've tried to be as objective as possible about the new rules changes. I've tried not to jump to conclusions. I've tried to read and understand both sides of the debate and this site and it's contributors have done a good job of keeping things civil and level headed. I applaud everyone here for that fact alone.
Problem is....... I just can't be bothered to log onto MTGO any more. The enthusiasm has gone.
I've tried to understand why exactly. I mean yes the rules have changed. That's a fact and nothing can change that. I still have no idea if the game will be better or worse or just different because of it. I'm just not that good at Magic to know. Sure they just killed my only (almost) competative deck and the one I love the most (goblins) but it's not even that which is bugging me. (well alright it is a bit).
I think what I'm most upset about is being lied to. I've been waiting patiently for a long time now for Leagues to return. I've accepted the corporate line from WotC that they are busy and they have a lot to work on and that whilst I might think that Leagues were a fantastic part of the game for the financially challenged casual player to build a collection, they were low on thier list of priorities. I've been in the IT industry as a programmer for over 20 years so I do appreciate the complexity of running big IT projects and getting quality software out to users so I accepted that new card sets, UI changes and bug fixes needed to come before new development on Leagues.
A couple of days ago what I was effectively told is that WotC have the resources (manpower and money) to implement changes to a part of the game that has been working for 10 years and nobody, apart from them, felt it necessary to change. I wouldn't feel quite so annoyed if they had the guts to just announce that they have no intention of bringing Leagues back.
I don't know. I'm not going to get animated and shout about how I'm quitting the game. Too many people do that in the heat of the moment. I just have the totally opposite feeling. I can't summon up any great feeling, I just can't be bothered which is sad because I used to love the game.
The simplicity of the creatures in 10th draft make card advantage king and trading pretty much 1 for 1 on all cards, P1P3 should therefore always be Sift. Then pick 5 i would take recover. There are usually Spined Wurm and Craw Wurm in the format, they should top the mana curve. 7 mana is a lot to play for a card. P3P1 You probably shoudlve taken the Mind Stone and P3P2 should probably be Rampant Growth with the Sift that should be in your pile. I rly dislike the Armor, as it screams getting 2-for-1ed against the best deck in teh format (UB cardadvantage)
And, the Thopters can still chump block, as well a gain you one life when you sacrifice an artifact. So you are still getting card advantage. It just isn't freaking awesome (in limited) any more. It used to be amazing. Now it is just pretty good.
"Horrifically mind-numbingly infinitely worse:
Sacrifice effects - Something like Thopter Foundry is now complete garbage."
Again, you can still do this during the declare blockers step (after blockers were declared). The sacrificed creatures just won't deal damage. So it's not all bad. Thopter Foundry can still be used with Sword of the Meek, which is what it was pretty much used for anyway. Arcbound Ravager effects are a different story however.
Honestly I played from 1994-1998 and came back around 2004 and didn't like the new combat damage at all. It doesn't make sense. Mogg fanatics shouldn't be able to deal damage twice.
I'm glad it was changed back. A lot of card functionality will change, but hey there are like 11 000 cards you can play with, so we'll deal with it.
"This is the type of week that players will remember for a good long while. Years from now we'll talk about the days when we could block a Craw Wurm with a Mogg Fanatic and still kill a (Bird of Paradise). Uphills both ways."
You can still do this with the new rules. You just won't deal 1 damage to the craw wurm as well.
the new rules concerning cards like Sakura-Tribe Elder. I was also under the impression that I wouldn't be able to block and then use it's ability. I really don't mind the idea that it can't both deal damage and then have its ability activated. It actually makes sense since it technically has to die to use its ability. I never really thought about it for these new rules were announced.
I have only been playing Magic since 2006, so I want to thank whiffy for explaining the changes that took place during sixth edition. I now have an understanding what impacts major rules changes can have. It seems to me that the change that makes the least sense to me is the removal of mana burn. Where it makes sense that a sacrificed creature can't deal damage because it's on the stack, taking away mana burn just seems to simplify the game.
hahaha. Yeah, there is compensation. I didn't know this until AFTER I submitted my article, but there IS compensation. That fact solidified my plans to make a regular article.
I really just wanted to write though, and most other sites aren't as open about who they allow to do articles as PureMTGO is.
Not that I know how good the compensation is. It's a strange system. But if you want to contribute to writing on limited, God knows the site needs it. Probably could use more Standard writers too...
I expected more in the way of "whys/whynots" and you missed rating the Borderpost, but the article was reasonably good. I look forward to reading more.
With your comment about the counter. In fact it is a good point about limited in general. In constructed lifegain is almost always suboptimal unless combined with something that furthers your goals dramatically (Drain Life, Corrupt, etc). In limited a counter that changes the life swing a bit can buy you the one turn you need to win with. On the other hand it IS interesting to see how other people (such as the author) rate their picks. Even with terse descriptions of why a card is good/notgood/optimal or not the extra point of view is a good thing. I hope to continue reading articles like this here. I for one dislike counters in limited because the nature of limited means you need men, or a serious control theme. Cards like this are sort of inbetween. Good against a few decks and not good against most. VI is probably the right catagory.
I like the new mana burn rules. The way I play in cube and in online magic I use Signets and RavBouncelands alot. Sometimes you take damage from a signet that uses off color mana of the spell you're casting, and sometimes you really only need one mana from a bounceland.
I don't mind the combat damage step but really don't like how the multiple blockers work.
Why don't you try taking his job then instead of just complaining about how it doesn't help YOU? Some of us "more experianced" players like hearing some differing opinions, like his opinion on Aven Mimeomancer helped influence my rating of it in MY upcoming limited article. These evalutation exist to give you another point of view, and to help newer players who frequent this site thatnks to MTGOTrader's port.
Just don't read limited articles if you're going to be such an overwhelming Douche about it. Hving just submitted my first article, I can tell you it's not easy and that us wriers sacrifice alot of time to help the rest of you out. Once again instead of crying about how the article sucks, why don't you go push "Write for PureMTGO" up there at the top? THat's what I did, because I thought that this site needed more card by card evaluation for Draft sets. So lay off him.
I believe that second one is more or less a better mulldrifter. Last time I checked, Mulldrifter already was an absolutely insane card, so I think we should maybe make it's variant a little less powerful maybe?
Though I do overall agree, this odes open up more design space. However, I still don't like alot of the changes, as it screws with my beloved combat tricks.
While it is undeniably true that some cards (mogg fanatic, fulminator mage) are going to be worse, I think that tactically the game just became much trickier in the world of combat. You can no longer have your cake (combat damage) and eat it too (sac effect). There is no longer a clear best answer, and I think this opens up a lot of design space in that it requires the player to make a value judgement as to which is worth more and opens up a lot of powerful sac abilities. Before a 1B 2/1 fear creature that could sac to terror would have been insane, but now he could exist. Or a 2U flying 2/2 that sacs to draw 2 cards. I think that the sakura tribe elder style guy ( e.g. A sorcery on legs) is wide open and has been under utilized because they were limited in how powerful they could be.
completely agree with the last comment.
discussing archetypes, perhaps discussing their value if they should be splashed could be worth alot.
similarly like ethercaste knight is absolutely like a 2nd or 3rd pick when you have UW aggro.
even further inside on the 4cc counter gain life card, while not maindeckable, it should definitely have consideration for the sideboard - particularly if you don't have much removal (which UW tends not to have) and you need to deal with their bombs like broodmate, hellkite, karrthus, caldera hellion, lavalanche etc. it has won me plenty of games out of the sb primarily for this reason when they have a bomb they areabout to cast.. 4 life + them wasting their turn on their best card (not entering play) is quite a swing since you are the UW racing deck, etc. stuff like that would be nice to know instead of just saying you're not gonna play it - other people might - like me
I think everything makes sense except for a few of the sacrifice effects.. it just means they will make new cards that have a keyword that says "play only when damage is being dealt.. sacrifice this for an effect".. I wouldn't put it past them.
For shame, hammy, for shame.
The saddest part is, I know this as I've explained ad infinitum on various message boards this week.
Bad form. Although the more times I explain the changes the more it seems like the new rules aren't going to be all that much different than the old rules in a lot of circumstances. Some will, granted, be very different. Others will be quite the same.
A better example on my part would be:
"We'll reminisce about the days when we could trade our Ravenous Baloth with an attacking Craw Wurm and still gain four life.". As that's actually a scenario that kind of makes sense... except for the fact that no one uses Craw Wurms....
Yeah...Hunted Wumpus second pick? And multiple Enormous Baloth? AND Phage?
So...notice the hands in the games that you won. No Baloth, No Phage, and no Hunted Wumpus. If your hand had contained those cards do you think you would have still won those games? Just curious.
-M
Thanks for the feedback everyone.
This was my first article back after a small stint off to finish finals and whatnot - I'm going to work on and probably finish the next one this weekend - and I'm going to try and take into account what has been said - so thank you again.
Cheers
i think the new blocking scheme does make more sense now, as you have to decide in which order to deal damage to the blockers and you have to "trample" over the first one to deal damage to the second one. this i think is more realistic, or at least i can imagine the situation for the on the battlefield involved creatures to be realistic in this case.
i cannot remember how it was before i came back to magic in 2006 so basically i am new to the missing of the damage stack. i am not sure if i like it but i guess it makes combat tricks more interesting. it probably just needs some time to get used to it. oh and bounce effects... i think i never used them as a combat trick but more for a speed set back when my opponent has a tap land and i was on the play.
no mana burn is ok, i didn't care for mana burn anyways but sometimes when you missclicked on mtgo you had that one point of damage and were not able to undo it - so i think that is ok. mulligan rule is ok, too. and the exile zone is imo a very cool possibility to play with that zone with new cards/mechanics, too in the latter case, i think that the removed from game zone was getting crowded anyways with all the new removals of the last two sets... if new mechanics are introduced in the game (which was kind of hinted at in the MaRo article) which mess with the exile, oblivion ring might become a multipurpose tool even more than before.
oh! ball lightning is coming back... at three mana he even comes back by the bloodbraid elf. that might be quite a lot of damage there.
I've tried to be as objective as possible about the new rules changes. I've tried not to jump to conclusions. I've tried to read and understand both sides of the debate and this site and it's contributors have done a good job of keeping things civil and level headed. I applaud everyone here for that fact alone.
Problem is....... I just can't be bothered to log onto MTGO any more. The enthusiasm has gone.
I've tried to understand why exactly. I mean yes the rules have changed. That's a fact and nothing can change that. I still have no idea if the game will be better or worse or just different because of it. I'm just not that good at Magic to know. Sure they just killed my only (almost) competative deck and the one I love the most (goblins) but it's not even that which is bugging me. (well alright it is a bit).
I think what I'm most upset about is being lied to. I've been waiting patiently for a long time now for Leagues to return. I've accepted the corporate line from WotC that they are busy and they have a lot to work on and that whilst I might think that Leagues were a fantastic part of the game for the financially challenged casual player to build a collection, they were low on thier list of priorities. I've been in the IT industry as a programmer for over 20 years so I do appreciate the complexity of running big IT projects and getting quality software out to users so I accepted that new card sets, UI changes and bug fixes needed to come before new development on Leagues.
A couple of days ago what I was effectively told is that WotC have the resources (manpower and money) to implement changes to a part of the game that has been working for 10 years and nobody, apart from them, felt it necessary to change. I wouldn't feel quite so annoyed if they had the guts to just announce that they have no intention of bringing Leagues back.
I don't know. I'm not going to get animated and shout about how I'm quitting the game. Too many people do that in the heat of the moment. I just have the totally opposite feeling. I can't summon up any great feeling, I just can't be bothered which is sad because I used to love the game.
The simplicity of the creatures in 10th draft make card advantage king and trading pretty much 1 for 1 on all cards, P1P3 should therefore always be Sift. Then pick 5 i would take recover. There are usually Spined Wurm and Craw Wurm in the format, they should top the mana curve. 7 mana is a lot to play for a card. P3P1 You probably shoudlve taken the Mind Stone and P3P2 should probably be Rampant Growth with the Sift that should be in your pile. I rly dislike the Armor, as it screams getting 2-for-1ed against the best deck in teh format (UB cardadvantage)
And, the Thopters can still chump block, as well a gain you one life when you sacrifice an artifact. So you are still getting card advantage. It just isn't freaking awesome (in limited) any more. It used to be amazing. Now it is just pretty good.
We must talk .... what happened here?
"Horrifically mind-numbingly infinitely worse:
Sacrifice effects - Something like Thopter Foundry is now complete garbage."
Again, you can still do this during the declare blockers step (after blockers were declared). The sacrificed creatures just won't deal damage. So it's not all bad. Thopter Foundry can still be used with Sword of the Meek, which is what it was pretty much used for anyway. Arcbound Ravager effects are a different story however.
Honestly I played from 1994-1998 and came back around 2004 and didn't like the new combat damage at all. It doesn't make sense. Mogg fanatics shouldn't be able to deal damage twice.
I'm glad it was changed back. A lot of card functionality will change, but hey there are like 11 000 cards you can play with, so we'll deal with it.
"This is the type of week that players will remember for a good long while. Years from now we'll talk about the days when we could block a Craw Wurm with a Mogg Fanatic and still kill a (Bird of Paradise). Uphills both ways."
You can still do this with the new rules. You just won't deal 1 damage to the craw wurm as well.
the new rules concerning cards like Sakura-Tribe Elder. I was also under the impression that I wouldn't be able to block and then use it's ability. I really don't mind the idea that it can't both deal damage and then have its ability activated. It actually makes sense since it technically has to die to use its ability. I never really thought about it for these new rules were announced.
I have only been playing Magic since 2006, so I want to thank whiffy for explaining the changes that took place during sixth edition. I now have an understanding what impacts major rules changes can have. It seems to me that the change that makes the least sense to me is the removal of mana burn. Where it makes sense that a sacrificed creature can't deal damage because it's on the stack, taking away mana burn just seems to simplify the game.
-4 mental note +4 Aether Burst
In the end, this article generated comments and has compelled me to write. I will try to when I get the chance.
hahaha. Yeah, there is compensation. I didn't know this until AFTER I submitted my article, but there IS compensation. That fact solidified my plans to make a regular article.
I really just wanted to write though, and most other sites aren't as open about who they allow to do articles as PureMTGO is.
Not that I know how good the compensation is. It's a strange system. But if you want to contribute to writing on limited, God knows the site needs it. Probably could use more Standard writers too...
Anyways, good luck to you.
I expected more in the way of "whys/whynots" and you missed rating the Borderpost, but the article was reasonably good. I look forward to reading more.
With your comment about the counter. In fact it is a good point about limited in general. In constructed lifegain is almost always suboptimal unless combined with something that furthers your goals dramatically (Drain Life, Corrupt, etc). In limited a counter that changes the life swing a bit can buy you the one turn you need to win with. On the other hand it IS interesting to see how other people (such as the author) rate their picks. Even with terse descriptions of why a card is good/notgood/optimal or not the extra point of view is a good thing. I hope to continue reading articles like this here. I for one dislike counters in limited because the nature of limited means you need men, or a serious control theme. Cards like this are sort of inbetween. Good against a few decks and not good against most. VI is probably the right catagory.
We do pay per article.
"Though a playset of demigods is beyond my qualificaion of budget" I agree, especially since a playset of lieges would fit the dec better imho.
I like the new mana burn rules. The way I play in cube and in online magic I use Signets and RavBouncelands alot. Sometimes you take damage from a signet that uses off color mana of the spell you're casting, and sometimes you really only need one mana from a bounceland.
I don't mind the combat damage step but really don't like how the multiple blockers work.
do mtgo writers get compensated? if not on a per-article basis or something? then i'll write.
Why don't you try taking his job then instead of just complaining about how it doesn't help YOU? Some of us "more experianced" players like hearing some differing opinions, like his opinion on Aven Mimeomancer helped influence my rating of it in MY upcoming limited article. These evalutation exist to give you another point of view, and to help newer players who frequent this site thatnks to MTGOTrader's port.
Just don't read limited articles if you're going to be such an overwhelming Douche about it. Hving just submitted my first article, I can tell you it's not easy and that us wriers sacrifice alot of time to help the rest of you out. Once again instead of crying about how the article sucks, why don't you go push "Write for PureMTGO" up there at the top? THat's what I did, because I thought that this site needed more card by card evaluation for Draft sets. So lay off him.
I believe that second one is more or less a better mulldrifter. Last time I checked, Mulldrifter already was an absolutely insane card, so I think we should maybe make it's variant a little less powerful maybe?
Though I do overall agree, this odes open up more design space. However, I still don't like alot of the changes, as it screws with my beloved combat tricks.
While it is undeniably true that some cards (mogg fanatic, fulminator mage) are going to be worse, I think that tactically the game just became much trickier in the world of combat. You can no longer have your cake (combat damage) and eat it too (sac effect). There is no longer a clear best answer, and I think this opens up a lot of design space in that it requires the player to make a value judgement as to which is worth more and opens up a lot of powerful sac abilities. Before a 1B 2/1 fear creature that could sac to terror would have been insane, but now he could exist. Or a 2U flying 2/2 that sacs to draw 2 cards. I think that the sakura tribe elder style guy ( e.g. A sorcery on legs) is wide open and has been under utilized because they were limited in how powerful they could be.
completely agree with the last comment.
discussing archetypes, perhaps discussing their value if they should be splashed could be worth alot.
similarly like ethercaste knight is absolutely like a 2nd or 3rd pick when you have UW aggro.
even further inside on the 4cc counter gain life card, while not maindeckable, it should definitely have consideration for the sideboard - particularly if you don't have much removal (which UW tends not to have) and you need to deal with their bombs like broodmate, hellkite, karrthus, caldera hellion, lavalanche etc. it has won me plenty of games out of the sb primarily for this reason when they have a bomb they areabout to cast.. 4 life + them wasting their turn on their best card (not entering play) is quite a swing since you are the UW racing deck, etc. stuff like that would be nice to know instead of just saying you're not gonna play it - other people might - like me