I've played magic since about alliances with friends but recently moved away and was wanting to start MTGO, I have everything installed but whenever I try to go to free trial or create account it tells me that it could not connect to the server. My internet connection is fine (as I'm typing this I'm trying again) and it gives me the same error message. Does this happen often or is something wrong on my end?
I hate to be negative, but I have a few issues with the judging this month.
Rasparthe's entry got criticism from two judges who thought the -N ability should have been Blue or Green. But look at cards like Conjurer's Ban or Orim's Chant. I think that ability is fine in White or White/Black. One judge also criticized the "target library" wording. While I agree that it's kind of dumb, it's not wrong: look up Circu, Dimir Lobotomist.
As for my own submission:
>> Synergy - The only synergy they have is that they all are from a horrid block. <<
Setting aside the question of whether a judge's personal distaste for a block is a good reason to penalize an entry in any category, let alone three... I had hoped it would be obvious that the first two abilities are designed to let you "play" cards while under the Epic restriction. Does this not come across?
>> I never liked the fact that reanimation spells like Zombify let you get any creature into play without having to play the color of that creature. <<
I understand this objection, but I think it's out of touch with reality. Every color has ways to cheat cards of other colors into play: just off the top of my head, there's Zombify, Reveillark, Elvish Piper, Through the Breach, Polymorph, and the colorless Summoner's Egg. Compared to any of these options, 3UUU and bouncing an unblocked attacker -- after you've telegraphed to your opponent that they need to block -- doesn't seem unfair. That said, if I could change the card now, I would probably go up to 2U or more for the Ninjutsu cost.
>> There's a lot of instants and soceries out there that should not have Epic; things like Walk the Aeons. <<
You can already cast Walk the Aeons (or any other instant or sorcery) every turn by imprinting it on Panoptic Mirror. That combo is easier and less restrictive than the one with Shimamura, but still isn't breaking any formats.
>> the second ability just lets you play any instant or sorcery in your hand And you don't have to pay the correct mana for them, which breaks the color wheel again. <<
I disagree. Blue gets a very similar effect on cards like Terraformer or Vision Charm.
I also want to reiterate the objection, raised both here and in the discussion thread, to using the "Nineteen Principles" to judge this contest. They were fine guidelines for designing the first cycle of Planeswalkers. But if you try to adhere to all 19 of them, I think you'll end up with the Lorwyn Planeswalkers, or cards very similar to them, every time. I have to wonder whether the judges tried designing any cards for this contest themselves. I think it's a good habit to get into; it gives you valuable perspective on what's challenging about the rules.
Finally, why abandon the "Flavor" criterion that previous contests have used, in exchange for "Synergy", which seems to me to be just a component of "Balance"? Flavor seems even more important than usual when it comes to Planeswalkers.
All that having been said, I do want to thank the judges for the time they spent on this contest.
I suspect the jump in Abeyance is due to a Hoarder. This is a good target for the hoarders as there are limited copy number in MTGO. Abeyance was very recently proposed as a card in the Painter/Grindstone combo, although current build have moved away from this, it is possible that this speculative decklist triggered a hoarder to make a move. Also Dragon can run abeyance in the board and intuition will be a big shot in the arm for this deck in classic play. I suspect this is a speculative hoard based on the knowledge that tempest promises to increase this cards playability if it finds a deck either MD or SB it is easy to imagine the price will move to the high teens low twenties, a nice profit from its previous price of 10
Guttural Response is good tech for Red, Green, or R/G decks when they run into newer Faerie decks that run 8 maindeck counterspells and 11 after board. I'd be more than happy to trade a Response with one of these counters to assure that I get my creature on the board or my burn to their face or Mistbind Clique, especially if that counter happens to be a Cryptic Command. Cryptic Command is actually the best reason to run this card in your sideboard, because when this card drops it is such a painful tempo swing and can usual stabalize things for a realing Faerie player. This card is stricly better than Shusher IMO because it ISN'T attached to a body, which is a good thing in a format swarming with spot removal. Yes you MAY get more uses out of a Shusher, but chances are you won't have it there when you need it most because your opponent will be sure to deal with it before that time comes. The overall strength of Faeries and its infestation of the metagame constitutes playing Guttural in your board if you are playing R/G Ramp, Dragonstorm, and other Green or Red decks that plan on making a high mana cost drop on one turn that swings the game, because Guttural can assure that your bomb WILL hit the table and not get Cryptic Commanded leaving you to far behind to ever recover.
Will be in a broken infinite combo reanimation deck sometime in the next couple years. I suspect the reason it costs 5 instead of 4 is because R&D made this deck already.
Also Guttural Response is the bomb as long as decks continue running Cryptic Command. I even got a Commandeer with one in my r/g Tarmo-burn deck.
Nice article I like the way you highlight the advantages of classic play and blow away the myths of high financial maintance. The thresh list is very solid. The teaser about the new PE deck is also nice and I hope you follow up with an article to show the success/failure of said deck once PE's are GO! Id like to see your take on Flash and your views on the lark kill. A primer on the potenital impact of tempest would be awesome also - Although it looks like Tempest release is getting bumped :-( Keep writing Whiffy I am very impressed!
I was going to make a sarcastic remark and everything! Dang! But yea, that made me go, "Wait a minute!" Prof Command is still nice, just not THAT nice.
Profane Command doesn't stop Persist from happening, as the creature with persist must have a -1/-1 counter on it for Persist to not be triggered, or the creature is put somewhere other than the graveyard. All Profane command does is forces the creature to go to the graveyard in a way that isn't destroying the card.
I run Null Rod to beat any deck relying on artifacts, as against MOST of them I don't mind siding the Jittes/Clamp out, especially Bomberman/SS. I can always side them back out game three if I win off the back of them game two and am worried they'll bring in disenchants or a like card. Kataki+discard is fine too, this is just how I chose to approach the problem.
um.. sorry for those who posted here but please take note of the rules of the contest that state to e-mail ur entries which would help figuring who submitted which idea first and please put everything that's required as in the rules. i need mtgo handle (if you have), decklist and some short notes. I currently received only one repeat of a card idea which isn't up here so you can still send your entries to the mail. thanx loads.
I like the 5-3-2-2s because they are basically the same payout but more at stake. Honestly running 8 mans where you plan on batting .500 makes no sense. However if your deck or playskill puts you at all over .500 they are good to play.
I also feel the need to point out that Sonic Boom was rendered unplayable before Response/Susher were printed.
There are two problems with the Meddling Mage deck:
You need to know which card to name. If this is game 1, you won't know until your opponent actually plays it, which could be too late, if he or she casts a bomb (say Cranial Extraction).
You need to reliably draw Island + Plains. Without dual lands, your chances of hitting both are reduced, though aggresive mulligans will get you there.
Otherwise, it's definitely a contender, format-warping to say the least. One Selesnya Guildmage might get through, but that's hardly enough to deal with an evergrowing army of Mages reliably, and it'll only get through on the draw and in game 1.
There are two problems with the Meddling Mage deck:
You need to know which card to name. If this is game 1, you won't know until your opponent actually plays it, which could be too late, if he or she casts a bomb (say Cranial Extraction).
You need to reliably draw Island + Plains. Without dual lands, your chances of hitting both are reduced, though aggresive mulligans will get you there.
Otherwise, it's definitely a contender, format-warping to say the least. One Selesnya Guildmage might get through, but that's hardly enough to deal with an evergrowing army of Mages reliably, and it'll only get through on the draw and in game 1.
There are two problems with the Meddling Mage deck:
You need to know which card to name. If this is game 1, you won't know until your opponent actually plays it, which could be too late, if he or she casts a bomb (say Cranial Extraction).
You need to reliably draw Island + Plains. Without dual lands, your chances of hitting both are reduced, though aggresive mulligans will get you there.
Otherwise, it's definitely a contender, format-warping to say the least. One Selesnya Guildmage might get through, but that's hardly enough to deal with an evergrowing army of Mages reliably, and it'll only get through on the draw and in game 1.
There are two problems with the Meddling Mage deck:
You need to know which card to name. If this is game 1, you won't know until your opponent actually plays it, which could be too late, if he or she casts a bomb (say Cranial Extraction).
You need to reliably draw Island + Plains. Without dual lands, your chances of hitting both are reduced, though aggresive mulligans will get you there.
Otherwise, it's definitely a contender, format-warping to say the least. One Selesnya Guildmage might get through, but that's hardly enough to deal with an evergrowing army of Mages reliably, and it'll only get through on the draw and in game 1.
wins against Meddling Mage when you start playing. The other problem with Meddling Mage is that he needs 1 Plains and 1 Island. This could be a problem. Selesnya Guildmage could be played without any restriction in the mana cost, and can win with the new constelation of mana (lands) with saprolings and the pumpeffect of the gulidmage.
I think you missed on this on It seems like a really nice play on turn 2 with some help from an Elf. If Faeires doesn't kill it right away, can they really win? That trample gets you over their X/1's...it just seems like a nightmare.
I've played magic since about alliances with friends but recently moved away and was wanting to start MTGO, I have everything installed but whenever I try to go to free trial or create account it tells me that it could not connect to the server. My internet connection is fine (as I'm typing this I'm trying again) and it gives me the same error message. Does this happen often or is something wrong on my end?
I hate to be negative, but I have a few issues with the judging this month.
Rasparthe's entry got criticism from two judges who thought the -N ability should have been Blue or Green. But look at cards like Conjurer's Ban or Orim's Chant. I think that ability is fine in White or White/Black. One judge also criticized the "target library" wording. While I agree that it's kind of dumb, it's not wrong: look up Circu, Dimir Lobotomist.
As for my own submission:
>> Synergy - The only synergy they have is that they all are from a horrid block. <<
Setting aside the question of whether a judge's personal distaste for a block is a good reason to penalize an entry in any category, let alone three... I had hoped it would be obvious that the first two abilities are designed to let you "play" cards while under the Epic restriction. Does this not come across?
>> I never liked the fact that reanimation spells like Zombify let you get any creature into play without having to play the color of that creature. <<
I understand this objection, but I think it's out of touch with reality. Every color has ways to cheat cards of other colors into play: just off the top of my head, there's Zombify, Reveillark, Elvish Piper, Through the Breach, Polymorph, and the colorless Summoner's Egg. Compared to any of these options, 3UUU and bouncing an unblocked attacker -- after you've telegraphed to your opponent that they need to block -- doesn't seem unfair. That said, if I could change the card now, I would probably go up to 2U or more for the Ninjutsu cost.
>> There's a lot of instants and soceries out there that should not have Epic; things like Walk the Aeons. <<
You can already cast Walk the Aeons (or any other instant or sorcery) every turn by imprinting it on Panoptic Mirror. That combo is easier and less restrictive than the one with Shimamura, but still isn't breaking any formats.
>> the second ability just lets you play any instant or sorcery in your hand And you don't have to pay the correct mana for them, which breaks the color wheel again. <<
I disagree. Blue gets a very similar effect on cards like Terraformer or Vision Charm.
I also want to reiterate the objection, raised both here and in the discussion thread, to using the "Nineteen Principles" to judge this contest. They were fine guidelines for designing the first cycle of Planeswalkers. But if you try to adhere to all 19 of them, I think you'll end up with the Lorwyn Planeswalkers, or cards very similar to them, every time. I have to wonder whether the judges tried designing any cards for this contest themselves. I think it's a good habit to get into; it gives you valuable perspective on what's challenging about the rules.
Finally, why abandon the "Flavor" criterion that previous contests have used, in exchange for "Synergy", which seems to me to be just a component of "Balance"? Flavor seems even more important than usual when it comes to Planeswalkers.
All that having been said, I do want to thank the judges for the time they spent on this contest.
Should be: "C:Program FilesWizards of the CoastMagic Online IIIGraphicsModels". But the article editor often pulls out the '''s it seems. :(
A good point on Abeyance. I didn't even think of hoarding, but it certainly fits! That should be interesting to see how that shakes out. :)
I suspect the jump in Abeyance is due to a Hoarder. This is a good target for the hoarders as there are limited copy number in MTGO. Abeyance was very recently proposed as a card in the Painter/Grindstone combo, although current build have moved away from this, it is possible that this speculative decklist triggered a hoarder to make a move. Also Dragon can run abeyance in the board and intuition will be a big shot in the arm for this deck in classic play. I suspect this is a speculative hoard based on the knowledge that tempest promises to increase this cards playability if it finds a deck either MD or SB it is easy to imagine the price will move to the high teens low twenties, a nice profit from its previous price of 10
20x Island
40x Krovikan Mist
Guttural Response is good tech for Red, Green, or R/G decks when they run into newer Faerie decks that run 8 maindeck counterspells and 11 after board. I'd be more than happy to trade a Response with one of these counters to assure that I get my creature on the board or my burn to their face or Mistbind Clique, especially if that counter happens to be a Cryptic Command. Cryptic Command is actually the best reason to run this card in your sideboard, because when this card drops it is such a painful tempo swing and can usual stabalize things for a realing Faerie player. This card is stricly better than Shusher IMO because it ISN'T attached to a body, which is a good thing in a format swarming with spot removal. Yes you MAY get more uses out of a Shusher, but chances are you won't have it there when you need it most because your opponent will be sure to deal with it before that time comes. The overall strength of Faeries and its infestation of the metagame constitutes playing Guttural in your board if you are playing R/G Ramp, Dragonstorm, and other Green or Red decks that plan on making a high mana cost drop on one turn that swings the game, because Guttural can assure that your bomb WILL hit the table and not get Cryptic Commanded leaving you to far behind to ever recover.
Will be in a broken infinite combo reanimation deck sometime in the next couple years. I suspect the reason it costs 5 instead of 4 is because R&D made this deck already.
Also Guttural Response is the bomb as long as decks continue running Cryptic Command. I even got a Commandeer with one in my r/g Tarmo-burn deck.
Faeries>the format
Nice article I like the way you highlight the advantages of classic play and blow away the myths of high financial maintance. The thresh list is very solid. The teaser about the new PE deck is also nice and I hope you follow up with an article to show the success/failure of said deck once PE's are GO! Id like to see your take on Flash and your views on the lark kill. A primer on the potenital impact of tempest would be awesome also - Although it looks like Tempest release is getting bumped :-( Keep writing Whiffy I am very impressed!
I was going to make a sarcastic remark and everything! Dang! But yea, that made me go, "Wait a minute!" Prof Command is still nice, just not THAT nice.
Profane Command doesn't stop Persist from happening, as the creature with persist must have a -1/-1 counter on it for Persist to not be triggered, or the creature is put somewhere other than the graveyard. All Profane command does is forces the creature to go to the graveyard in a way that isn't destroying the card.
Heh. Profane Command > Persist
I run Null Rod to beat any deck relying on artifacts, as against MOST of them I don't mind siding the Jittes/Clamp out, especially Bomberman/SS. I can always side them back out game three if I win off the back of them game two and am worried they'll bring in disenchants or a like card. Kataki+discard is fine too, this is just how I chose to approach the problem.
Moat is a house that I always forget about xP
um.. sorry for those who posted here but please take note of the rules of the contest that state to e-mail ur entries which would help figuring who submitted which idea first and please put everything that's required as in the rules. i need mtgo handle (if you have), decklist and some short notes. I currently received only one repeat of a card idea which isn't up here so you can still send your entries to the mail. thanx loads.
60 Mishra's Factory
I like the 5-3-2-2s because they are basically the same payout but more at stake. Honestly running 8 mans where you plan on batting .500 makes no sense. However if your deck or playskill puts you at all over .500 they are good to play.
I also feel the need to point out that Sonic Boom was rendered unplayable before Response/Susher were printed.
My apologies for the double post. I got a few ASP errors while posting. Something about "an URL is required".
There are two problems with the Meddling Mage deck:
Otherwise, it's definitely a contender, format-warping to say the least. One Selesnya Guildmage might get through, but that's hardly enough to deal with an evergrowing army of Mages reliably, and it'll only get through on the draw and in game 1.
There are two problems with the Meddling Mage deck:
Otherwise, it's definitely a contender, format-warping to say the least. One Selesnya Guildmage might get through, but that's hardly enough to deal with an evergrowing army of Mages reliably, and it'll only get through on the draw and in game 1.
There are two problems with the Meddling Mage deck:
Otherwise, it's definitely a contender, format-warping to say the least. One Selesnya Guildmage might get through, but that's hardly enough to deal with an evergrowing army of Mages reliably, and it'll only get through on the draw and in game 1.
There are two problems with the Meddling Mage deck:
Otherwise, it's definitely a contender, format-warping to say the least. One Selesnya Guildmage might get through, but that's hardly enough to deal with an evergrowing army of Mages reliably, and it'll only get through on the draw and in game 1.
15*Plains
15*Forest
30*Selesnya Guildmage
wins against Meddling Mage when you start playing. The other problem with Meddling Mage is that he needs 1 Plains and 1 Island. This could be a problem. Selesnya Guildmage could be played without any restriction in the mana cost, and can win with the new constelation of mana (lands) with saprolings and the pumpeffect of the gulidmage.
I think you missed on this on It seems like a really nice play on turn 2 with some help from an Elf. If Faeires doesn't kill it right away, can they really win? That trample gets you over their X/1's...it just seems like a nightmare.
Other than that, I agree with you.
The reason the cards are not linked is because we are still waiting for the programmer to get the files to update our image library.