I don't have time to really play much as it's summer but I'll always have a soft spot for PDC in all its variations. Keep up the good work with this series!
The WotC boards have been all funky lately, with threads not loading properly and random other issues. If you're still having these issues I'd recommend contact their customer support folks at http://wizards.custhelp.com. But come to think of it, they too need you to register before you can use the forms. :/
It more means that you haven't been selected _yet_. The beta sign-up period hasn't officially ended yet, so no new testers will be given access until they 'turn on' the forums for whomever else is chosen. However, previous beta testers should still be able to see them if they try to log in. Also, if you get an error in Firefox/Opera/etc, try them in IE. Last go-round they had a problem working in non-IE browsers.
Sorry to stray, but I've been a long-time lurker on the Wizards MTGO boards (read daily but never posted anything - I wonder what percentage of board traffic people like me represent?). i notice now the boards are requiring registration and login even for VIEWING threads. This is unfortunate for those of us that can't or don't want to create an account (and there are valid reasons for not wanting to do so - like privacy or secure connections creating suspicion at work). Could someone post these concerns in the forum? (And thanks for letting anonymous viewers read and post at PureMTGO!)
Yeah it's the perfect counter to a 1 mana discard spell. All you need to do is play land for 6 turns praying he doesn't make you discard your 6 mana 4/5 creature (already overcosted compared to the dieties)
Pyrosin's Comments: The contest was to design a splashy rare cycle; you made a common cycle." End Quote
Although I may of not read the rules correctly, That is an Uncommon symbol, not common. If unsure about the something a card has, I believe the judges should ask before making a final judgement. That is not a common symbol.
I like it, I think it's going to make an impact. limited: 6 mana is easily castable in limited and it's a big flyer with a good ability that must be answered immediately.
Constructed I'm not so sure, it will be played in block constructed for sure I'm not convinced it will be in standard though, and it is way too expensive to be played in extended.
I have also noticed an increase in sales and a decrease in people selling out. I think MTGO is finally on it's way back up and will continue as long as WOTC doesn't do something really stupid again(holds breath).
The reason maro got a over 50% t2 kill is that they start with 9 cards. If they got druid+1 drop they can make t2 kills. If they get Topter and some other 1 drop + Ranger they can make t2 kills. If they get Auger + Topter + Bridge from below they can make t2 kills... There are a few t2 kills in that deck. I think they all in all get over 50%
Like I said in the article, it has been really hard to test decks in individual matches. Also, I am not an expert on Maro, so I'm not sure what its individual matchups are like. I can see how Maro COULD win on t2 some percentage of the time, but I have a hard time believing its more than 25% (of course this is all dependent on starting life). This is just the best Reaper King deck that I could come up with. It may have a bad matchup against Maro since all of Maro's creatures are bigger. It may even be better for Maro to play defense since they have the biggest creatures, and avoiding losing is more important.
I'm looking forward to the return of PEs so we can actually test these. I have some ideas on how to deal with all the aggro decks.
Cool, With Windbrisk Heights mana costs in white decks are largely irrelevant. Which means that any card just needs to be important to the deck to see play. I'm not sure if what this card protects against is enough to give it play, but I can see a lot of fun casual uses on this guy for sure.
That's not really competing with Maro. Maro is t2 vs that deck (above 50% I think) and t3 vs. nearly anything else (Ive played 20 or so matches with 5 games lasting more then 3 turns - Mirror mainly. Mirror always seames to be wierd in vanguard). I suspect that pili-pala is to slow for the current interration of Maro - you do not want to wait 'till turn 3 to hit hard and if you did tower above might be even stronger...
Devoted Druid is ok tho (t1 on the draw: forest, topter, 8 cards left, t2, forest, Druid, tap to pump the topter +6/+6, untap, pump itself, untap, pump topter, untap pump topter, untap pump topter and so on. All in all you will end up with a 16/18 turn 2 which takes out Nektrall and King. You could exchanges the topter with one of the other 8 one drops and do the same - well it does not have flying tho but is abit more stable if the game goes to turn 3).
I designed my card the night Sunday before this was all due. I simply just couldn't think of a good cycle of rares that I thought were worthy of the contest and just went with something off the top of my head. That said, the idea was that if an infinite targeting effect could be set up, then these cards would indeed need to be rare due to their passive activations. For example, Grafted Wargear targets a creature for 0 mana, and if you have 2 creatures in play... well, you get the idea. The same could be done with all the other En-Kor creatures, several Equipment cards, and a few enchantments. Even some of the one mana activaters would make it pretty strong.
AJ, right you are, in looking at it, I should have made it "another target creature" instead. Good catch.
In any case, I knew my entry was pretty weak and was pretty sure it wasn't quite rare for the contest, but it was all I could manage at the time. Thanks for running th contest guys and congratulations to all the winners. As for May's contest, I never got any comments and so I decided to forego the article for it, plus I really didn't have much time to get it done anyhow, sorry guys.
On a side note, the CCC has inspired me so much that I designed a block set based on my D&D campaign I run. It's not quite finished, but I'm pushing to get it done by this weekend (been working on it for about 6 months). I'll provide a link when I can.
I designed my card the night Sunday before this was all due. I simply just couldn't think of a good cycle of rares that I thought were worthy of the contest and just went with something off the top of my head. That said, the idea was that if an infinite targeting effect could be set up, then these cards would indeed need to be rare due to their passive activations. For example, Grafted Wargear targets a creature for 0 mana, and if you have 2 creatures in play... well, you get the idea. The same could be done with all the other En-Kor creatures, several Equipment cards, and a few enchantments. Even some of the one mana activaters would make it pretty strong.
AJ, right you are, in looking at it, I should have made it "another target creature" instead. Good catch.
In any case, I knew my entry was pretty weak and was pretty sure it wasn't quite rare for the contest, but it was all I could manage at the time. Thanks for running th contest guys and congratulations to all the winners. As for May's contest, I never got any comments and so I decided to forego the article for it, plus I really didn't have much time to get it done anyhow, sorry guys.
On a side note, the CCC has inspired me so much that I designed a block set based on my D&D campaign I run. It's not quite finished, but I'm pushing to get it done by this weekend (been working on it for about 6 months). I'll provide a link when I can.
No, that's not what "Strictly better" means for a basic land, and I quote MaRo: "The ramification of the “strictly better” rule is that we cannot design lands that tap for a colored mana without having some kind of drawback. The nonbasic land status, incidentally, is not considered by R&D to be enough of a drawback. While there are spells that hose nonbasic lands (like Price of Progress), there are also spells that hose specific basic lands (like Boil) that do not affect nonbasic lands (other than the original dual lands). As such, we consider the ability to be a slight negative but not enough to avoid the “strictly better” problem."
I love this article series!
I don't have time to really play much as it's summer but I'll always have a soft spot for PDC in all its variations. Keep up the good work with this series!
The WotC boards have been all funky lately, with threads not loading properly and random other issues. If you're still having these issues I'd recommend contact their customer support folks at http://wizards.custhelp.com. But come to think of it, they too need you to register before you can use the forms. :/
It more means that you haven't been selected _yet_. The beta sign-up period hasn't officially ended yet, so no new testers will be given access until they 'turn on' the forums for whomever else is chosen. However, previous beta testers should still be able to see them if they try to log in. Also, if you get an error in Firefox/Opera/etc, try them in IE. Last go-round they had a problem working in non-IE browsers.
Here kitty, kitty, kitty..... meet my friend Terror. Waste of mana.
http://forums.gleemax.com/forumdisplay.php?f=218
Can you see that without logging in? I tried it on a computer where I wasn't logged in and I could view it fine.
Sorry to stray, but I've been a long-time lurker on the Wizards MTGO boards (read daily but never posted anything - I wonder what percentage of board traffic people like me represent?). i notice now the boards are requiring registration and login even for VIEWING threads. This is unfortunate for those of us that can't or don't want to create an account (and there are valid reasons for not wanting to do so - like privacy or secure connections creating suspicion at work). Could someone post these concerns in the forum? (And thanks for letting anonymous viewers read and post at PureMTGO!)
I was about to ask the same thing.
Yeah it's the perfect counter to a 1 mana discard spell. All you need to do is play land for 6 turns praying he doesn't make you discard your 6 mana 4/5 creature (already overcosted compared to the dieties)
So if we can log in to the betaboards, but can't see any forums we're not in the beta?
Just a comment for Pyrosin...
Quote "
Pyrosin's Comments: The contest was to design a splashy rare cycle; you made a common cycle." End Quote
Although I may of not read the rules correctly, That is an Uncommon symbol, not common. If unsure about the something a card has, I believe the judges should ask before making a final judgement. That is not a common symbol.
I like it, I think it's going to make an impact.
limited: 6 mana is easily castable in limited and it's a big flyer with a good ability that must be answered immediately.
Constructed I'm not so sure, it will be played in block constructed for sure I'm not convinced it will be in standard though, and it is way too expensive to be played in extended.
I used to like mtgo, but now i have a non-inflatable girlfriend
I have also noticed an increase in sales and a decrease in people selling out. I think MTGO is finally on it's way back up and will continue as long as WOTC doesn't do something really stupid again(holds breath).
Fixed!
I also added the instructions to make sure that you mention "Eventide Beta" in the beta request information. My appologies for the mistake!
The reason maro got a over 50% t2 kill is that they start with 9 cards. If they got druid+1 drop they can make t2 kills. If they get Topter and some other 1 drop + Ranger they can make t2 kills. If they get Auger + Topter + Bridge from below they can make t2 kills... There are a few t2 kills in that deck. I think they all in all get over 50%
Your article says to go join the Eventide beta here, but there is no link there. Always a good article ham!
Like I said in the article, it has been really hard to test decks in individual matches. Also, I am not an expert on Maro, so I'm not sure what its individual matchups are like. I can see how Maro COULD win on t2 some percentage of the time, but I have a hard time believing its more than 25% (of course this is all dependent on starting life). This is just the best Reaper King deck that I could come up with. It may have a bad matchup against Maro since all of Maro's creatures are bigger. It may even be better for Maro to play defense since they have the biggest creatures, and avoiding losing is more important.
I'm looking forward to the return of PEs so we can actually test these. I have some ideas on how to deal with all the aggro decks.
Cool, With Windbrisk Heights mana costs in white decks are largely irrelevant. Which means that any card just needs to be important to the deck to see play. I'm not sure if what this card protects against is enough to give it play, but I can see a lot of fun casual uses on this guy for sure.
It's a flying Simba!
I enjoyed this article very much. Very informative as well as entertaining. Kudos.
That's not really competing with Maro. Maro is t2 vs that deck (above 50% I think) and t3 vs. nearly anything else (Ive played 20 or so matches with 5 games lasting more then 3 turns - Mirror mainly. Mirror always seames to be wierd in vanguard). I suspect that pili-pala is to slow for the current interration of Maro - you do not want to wait 'till turn 3 to hit hard and if you did tower above might be even stronger...
Devoted Druid is ok tho (t1 on the draw: forest, topter, 8 cards left, t2, forest, Druid, tap to pump the topter +6/+6, untap, pump itself, untap, pump topter, untap pump topter, untap pump topter and so on. All in all you will end up with a 16/18 turn 2 which takes out Nektrall and King. You could exchanges the topter with one of the other 8 one drops and do the same - well it does not have flying tho but is abit more stable if the game goes to turn 3).
delete one please, nt
I designed my card the night Sunday before this was all due. I simply just couldn't think of a good cycle of rares that I thought were worthy of the contest and just went with something off the top of my head. That said, the idea was that if an infinite targeting effect could be set up, then these cards would indeed need to be rare due to their passive activations. For example, Grafted Wargear targets a creature for 0 mana, and if you have 2 creatures in play... well, you get the idea. The same could be done with all the other En-Kor creatures, several Equipment cards, and a few enchantments. Even some of the one mana activaters would make it pretty strong.
AJ, right you are, in looking at it, I should have made it "another target creature" instead. Good catch.
In any case, I knew my entry was pretty weak and was pretty sure it wasn't quite rare for the contest, but it was all I could manage at the time. Thanks for running th contest guys and congratulations to all the winners. As for May's contest, I never got any comments and so I decided to forego the article for it, plus I really didn't have much time to get it done anyhow, sorry guys.
On a side note, the CCC has inspired me so much that I designed a block set based on my D&D campaign I run. It's not quite finished, but I'm pushing to get it done by this weekend (been working on it for about 6 months). I'll provide a link when I can.
I designed my card the night Sunday before this was all due. I simply just couldn't think of a good cycle of rares that I thought were worthy of the contest and just went with something off the top of my head. That said, the idea was that if an infinite targeting effect could be set up, then these cards would indeed need to be rare due to their passive activations. For example, Grafted Wargear targets a creature for 0 mana, and if you have 2 creatures in play... well, you get the idea. The same could be done with all the other En-Kor creatures, several Equipment cards, and a few enchantments. Even some of the one mana activaters would make it pretty strong.
AJ, right you are, in looking at it, I should have made it "another target creature" instead. Good catch.
In any case, I knew my entry was pretty weak and was pretty sure it wasn't quite rare for the contest, but it was all I could manage at the time. Thanks for running th contest guys and congratulations to all the winners. As for May's contest, I never got any comments and so I decided to forego the article for it, plus I really didn't have much time to get it done anyhow, sorry guys.
On a side note, the CCC has inspired me so much that I designed a block set based on my D&D campaign I run. It's not quite finished, but I'm pushing to get it done by this weekend (been working on it for about 6 months). I'll provide a link when I can.
No, that's not what "Strictly better" means for a basic land, and I quote MaRo: "The ramification of the “strictly better” rule is that we cannot design lands that tap for a colored mana without having some kind of drawback. The nonbasic land status, incidentally, is not considered by R&D to be enough of a drawback. While there are spells that hose nonbasic lands (like Price of Progress), there are also spells that hose specific basic lands (like Boil) that do not affect nonbasic lands (other than the original dual lands). As such, we consider the ability to be a slight negative but not enough to avoid the “strictly better” problem."
It was his article entitled This Land is My Land
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/mr65
So this non-basic is strictly better than a basic land because it can tap for colored mana every turn without a drawback.