I did ask an adept about splitting the top prizes of a 2x PE, and they said that it should work to offer a split. However, it does not happen in PEs. My guess is that people do not trust the system to split the packs evenly.
The CoC does say that you can't coerce someone or reward them for conceding, but giving packs after a concession as long as you don't negotiate it before hand.
I liked the article. I agree with everything you have listed.
I wasn't really looking forward to the red portion of Morningtide but I am now after reading this. Here is what I'm looking forward to:
1. Counrtyside Crusher - Looks very fun and interesting.
2. Sensation Gorger - Reminds me of Wheel of Fortune.
3. Shard Volley - I want to play this with Flagstones of Trokair, Greater Gargadon and Restore Balance.
4. Vengeful Firebrand - Warriors seem like something to look forward to once Morningtide hits. I know I'm exhausted with all of the elves and faeries.. It's going to be cool if a class can get somewhere in standard rather than a race (Rouges look good too).
5. Titan's Revenge - Another cool all around goodie.
While it may not seem like a big deal, the fact is that splitting in the manner you mention is illegal according to the code of conduct. Whever you have concession and prize exchange together you have a violation. I know in 8-4 draft queues you can offer to draw and it will split the packs awarded 6 - 6. In the 4-3-2-2 queues it only gives 3 to each player since it doesn't come out evenly, but since a regular 2x would award an even number of packs, why can't (or dont) people just draw? won't MO automatically divide the packs between the two players?
Thanks for pointing that out. Back when I was working with the spoilers, Shared animosity read differently from the version you see now :P Thanks for your comments though.
Willbender can't bend Molten disaster beacuse Molten disaster doesn't target anyone :P Although Morph itself is unaffected by the effects of Split second, Willbender's ability (When Willbender is turned face up, change the target of target spell or ability with a single target -Oracle) is rendered useless to Molten Disaster's ( If the kicker cost was paid, Molten Disaster has split second. Molten Disaster deals X damage to each creature without flying and each player -Oracle) text which deals to each creature without flying and player.
Just thought I'd point out that Shared Animosity isn't an aura and so isn't subject to the 2-for-1 potential of auras. It's a regular enchantment, and the bonus applies to all your attacking creatures.
I liked your review according to Standard. Great puns and in color jokes throughout. I would however like to see how the new set might fare in block, ext and limited. Hopefully JX will allow you to expand next time. Looking forward to April for your next article.
Another fine piece of writing, Alex. It's a shame Zombies.dec isn't performing anywhere outside of casual though, I play it sometimes and have a lot of fun. Hopefully we'll soon see some good zombies to make it work. :)
Believe it or not, we've thought about adding a deck-o-pedia style to these metagame articles, and I hope we can put something out soon which will work as a good reference.
I'm glad you liked the review! I enjoyed creating it and I'm happy to see it garner some comments.
I'm not a limited player most of the time - usually I am writing about contstructed. When I do play limited, I tend to make heavy heavy aggro decks, so my ratings may be skewed in the direction of winning by turning cards sideways.
With regard to the specific comments on cards - Blightsoil Druid is just bad in constructed. Leaf Gilder is practically better in every way. Violet Pall I see as basically worse than a lot of removal that you can pick up at common in Lorwyn.
Wow I totally whiffed on the Schemers. It is indeed a 3 power flyer for 5 mana, which gets played in limited all the time. Also a good point on the Warren Weirding in limited though, it is true that lots of Changelings and stuff get played in limited more.
I don't know, lots of people have come back at me for the Auntie's Snitch rating, but I can see it going either way. The fact that it feeds itself into a loop in the late game is countered by the fact that in the late game, you are more likely to come across mass removal so you will end up topdecking for Rogues.
I also gave them a 3 star limited and 1 star constructed, not a 2, but the stars can be hard to read sometimes. If I end up doing this for Shadowmoor or some other set, I will probably list out the numbers, or make it clearer somehow.
I still don't see Bitterblossom as anything but a token generator that is slow and doesn't work that well. I could be proven wrong though, and I would be happy to see that.
I don't play a lot of limited, and when I do I go all-out aggro more often than not. I may not be the best guy to be evaluating these cards for limited.
Oona's is great, but it doesn't make ALL the other Rogues better (it doesn't make Faeries better, mind you), it only makes the ones that are still in your hand or your deck better. That's why it gets a lower rating from me. I am so very annoyed when I want to hold a card I could play now back because it will be better to play when something else I have to wait to do.
I added the decklist to the article couple of days after the PE where I was already trying to improve the deck more. The card that is missing is Facevaulter.
I won't comment on Pall for limited as it has been done before, just a couple of things to add, mostly for limited as that is what I play.
BitterBlossom: this is a splashable 2 mana win condition. Someone will build a winning deck around this. Despite the hype of Marlen and Mind Shatter I consider this the chase black rare of the set.
for limited....
Offlesnout: A flash 2/2 blocker is good. The ability to foil Makeshift Manakin/Pilf etc is gravy. I will play a 2/2 flash blocker all day in limited.
Oona's Blackguard: Makes all other rouges/fairies better. As stated by better limited minds than myself, there are cards that are made better by other cards and there are cards that make all the other cards better. This is the latter, and I intend to get 4 quickly(consider this the equivalant of Perfect from Lor), and play every one I see in limited.
This was my idea. I know how burdensome doing a set review can by when one person is going at it, and assinging a writer a color that they want to write about was in my opinion the best way to go about it.
I do not see any malice in your comments, I just wanted to explain my thought process. :)
As someone who has played 8-mans on MTGO but not yet a PE, I was wondering what the level of competition in a PE is like. Is it more like a PTQ (a few skilled players near the top, but a lot of unskilled players/untuned decks in the bottom half) or a Grand Prix (a lot more skilled players/tuned decks)? Or is a PE somewhere in-between? Thank you for any feedback.
Auntie's Snitch - 2B - Rare Creature - Goblin Rogue - 3/1 Auntie's Snitch can't block. Prowl 1B Whenever a Goblin or Rogue you control deals combat damage to a player, if Auntie's Snitch is in your graveyard, you may return Auntie's Snitch to your hand.
With the card you discribe this with I would rate this as a 5 for sure. With a rogue hitting them to trigger the return to hand ability, you can pay 1B to play it since a rogue dealt damage. Very good since there are quite afew Goblin/rogues and these guys can trigger themsevles. Not sure how you could rate them as a 2? I would have to say they are at least a 4.
Also sorry to sound all mean, but if possible I think there should be only 1 person doing reviews. so far 3 people's thoughts on 3 different colors makes it harder to see the way the writer feels about MTG through all the colors
Yeah I was looking into doing that deckopedia idea myself for this article and for jam's but I am not very good with the forums. I really need some help there.
I know that Karsten had a seperate post for a 'deck-o-pedia' that he just added decks to and would link them. Is it possible to do a similar thing for yours? Have a seperate page with deck lists and anchors and link them as you add them?
Just throwing that out there. :)
Great article though, even though I don't play Extended these are always a good read, thanks!
Check previous articles. I'm not going to keep running the same decklist week after week, and King in the Castle is there.
Dragon Stompy sounds just like it's legacy counter part, it's a port from legacy to extended and really hurts those with non basic lands with eight main deck blood moons.
I have no idea what that deck is. You just provide a name and not a list. Also don't know what Dragon Stompy is. If this article is supposed to be helpful, more detail is needed.
Great improvement to the morningtide review series I have to say.. =)
Weed-Pruner Poplar and Violet Pall are both very underrated. Poplar is a 5 mana 3/3 that feeds on merfolks and the small faeries. If peppersmoke was decent, poplar is sick. Really. Limited games come to a gum on the ground. The lack of stuff like 1/1 pingers allow the /1s to roam around freely. Poplar is the answer from wotc. I would definitely be happy to have this creature around in my deck.
Violet Pall is definitely great. It's a removal that gives you a blocker at the very least. The great amount of bombs running around make this alot better because good removal is hard to find. Especially when this destroys any creature regardless of creature type. Only the chameleon colossus doesn't die to this. Limited games don't really come down to how cheap your cards are. The are far too many good 2 drops in the set already. This allows mid game decks to stabilize and make a possible 2 for 1. Plus, this and poplar are so easy to splash with vivid lands.
Looking back, Weed Strangle wasn't very popular because it costs bb and you don't always win the clash and that could mean you have spent 5 mana to kill some random guy. Violet pall is instant and creates a blocker. Cast Glarewielder attack => kill friend, block wielder.
Nightshade Schemers, although less powerful than the above 2, isn't that bad either. A flying 3/2 for 4 colorless and 1 colored mana isn't that bad. Of course a 3/3 would be perfect but you can't ask for more when you get to cast it so easily.
Blightsoil Druid isn't that bad too. It provides mana acceleration. That's never bad. Plus it trades creeps with /1. It comes out on turn 2 so that you can fuel your 4 mana guys. Being a player who has played Vesper Ghoul many times, I believe this is superior in that way because the only thing good about it was that it spat every color. This may not fix your mana all the time but it accelerates into the 4s and 5s. This guy deserves some credit. Really.
Warren weirding isn't too great in limited. Reasons being people like changelings and people play with weak creatures. I'd really rather have a card that can target in limited. Unless you get really lucky, it's going to be very difficult for the goblin edict to work simply because lorwyn block has so many creatures. Edicts are usually better in constructed than in limited because they kill untargettables or big stuff.
I guess you evaluate cards this way because your limited decks are much more aggresive than mine. I don't have the luck aggro needs so I play control based decks which value removal and evasion higher. Not many people I know can be comfortable with 5 mana cards.
I did ask an adept about splitting the top prizes of a 2x PE, and they said that it should work to offer a split. However, it does not happen in PEs. My guess is that people do not trust the system to split the packs evenly.
The CoC does say that you can't coerce someone or reward them for conceding, but giving packs after a concession as long as you don't negotiate it before hand.
I liked the article. I agree with everything you have listed.
I wasn't really looking forward to the red portion of Morningtide but I am now after reading this. Here is what I'm looking forward to:
1. Counrtyside Crusher - Looks very fun and interesting.
2. Sensation Gorger - Reminds me of Wheel of Fortune.
3. Shard Volley - I want to play this with Flagstones of Trokair, Greater Gargadon and Restore Balance.
4. Vengeful Firebrand - Warriors seem like something to look forward to once Morningtide hits. I know I'm exhausted with all of the elves and faeries.. It's going to be cool if a class can get somewhere in standard rather than a race (Rouges look good too).
5. Titan's Revenge - Another cool all around goodie.
Good job!
While it may not seem like a big deal, the fact is that splitting in the manner you mention is illegal according to the code of conduct. Whever you have concession and prize exchange together you have a violation. I know in 8-4 draft queues you can offer to draw and it will split the packs awarded 6 - 6. In the 4-3-2-2 queues it only gives 3 to each player since it doesn't come out evenly, but since a regular 2x would award an even number of packs, why can't (or dont) people just draw? won't MO automatically divide the packs between the two players?
Heh... Thanks for comment Nick. I actually hope it won't be another 3 months... >.<
Thanks for pointing that out. Back when I was working with the spoilers, Shared animosity read differently from the version you see now :P Thanks for your comments though.
Willbender can't bend Molten disaster beacuse Molten disaster doesn't target anyone :P Although Morph itself is unaffected by the effects of Split second, Willbender's ability (When Willbender is turned face up, change the target of target spell or ability with a single target -Oracle) is rendered useless to Molten Disaster's (
If the kicker cost was paid, Molten Disaster has split second.
Molten Disaster deals X damage to each creature without flying and each player -Oracle) text which deals to each creature without flying and player.
Just thought I'd point out that Shared Animosity isn't an aura and so isn't subject to the 2-for-1 potential of auras. It's a regular enchantment, and the bonus applies to all your attacking creatures.
Why cannot you Willbender Molten Disaster?
I think you can...
I liked your review according to Standard. Great puns and in color jokes throughout. I would however like to see how the new set might fare in block, ext and limited. Hopefully JX will allow you to expand next time. Looking forward to April for your next article.
Another fine piece of writing, Alex. It's a shame Zombies.dec isn't performing anywhere outside of casual though, I play it sometimes and have a lot of fun. Hopefully we'll soon see some good zombies to make it work. :)
Believe it or not, we've thought about adding a deck-o-pedia style to these metagame articles, and I hope we can put something out soon which will work as a good reference.
I'm glad you liked the review! I enjoyed creating it and I'm happy to see it garner some comments.
I'm not a limited player most of the time - usually I am writing about contstructed. When I do play limited, I tend to make heavy heavy aggro decks, so my ratings may be skewed in the direction of winning by turning cards sideways.
With regard to the specific comments on cards - Blightsoil Druid is just bad in constructed. Leaf Gilder is practically better in every way. Violet Pall I see as basically worse than a lot of removal that you can pick up at common in Lorwyn.
Wow I totally whiffed on the Schemers. It is indeed a 3 power flyer for 5 mana, which gets played in limited all the time. Also a good point on the Warren Weirding in limited though, it is true that lots of Changelings and stuff get played in limited more.
I don't know, lots of people have come back at me for the Auntie's Snitch rating, but I can see it going either way. The fact that it feeds itself into a loop in the late game is countered by the fact that in the late game, you are more likely to come across mass removal so you will end up topdecking for Rogues.
I also gave them a 3 star limited and 1 star constructed, not a 2, but the stars can be hard to read sometimes. If I end up doing this for Shadowmoor or some other set, I will probably list out the numbers, or make it clearer somehow.
I still don't see Bitterblossom as anything but a token generator that is slow and doesn't work that well. I could be proven wrong though, and I would be happy to see that.
I don't play a lot of limited, and when I do I go all-out aggro more often than not. I may not be the best guy to be evaluating these cards for limited.
Oona's is great, but it doesn't make ALL the other Rogues better (it doesn't make Faeries better, mind you), it only makes the ones that are still in your hand or your deck better. That's why it gets a lower rating from me. I am so very annoyed when I want to hold a card I could play now back because it will be better to play when something else I have to wait to do.
I added the decklist to the article couple of days after the PE where I was already trying to improve the deck more. The card that is missing is Facevaulter.
I won't comment on Pall for limited as it has been done before, just a couple of things to add, mostly for limited as that is what I play.
BitterBlossom: this is a splashable 2 mana win condition. Someone will build a winning deck around this. Despite the hype of Marlen and Mind Shatter I consider this the chase black rare of the set.
for limited....
Offlesnout: A flash 2/2 blocker is good. The ability to foil Makeshift Manakin/Pilf etc is gravy. I will play a 2/2 flash blocker all day in limited.
Oona's Blackguard: Makes all other rouges/fairies better. As stated by better limited minds than myself, there are cards that are made better by other cards and there are cards that make all the other cards better. This is the latter, and I intend to get 4 quickly(consider this the equivalant of Perfect from Lor), and play every one I see in limited.
Thanks for the set reviews.
regards,
___helper_monkey on MTGO
This was my idea. I know how burdensome doing a set review can by when one person is going at it, and assinging a writer a color that they want to write about was in my opinion the best way to go about it.
I do not see any malice in your comments, I just wanted to explain my thought process. :)
As someone who has played 8-mans on MTGO but not yet a PE, I was wondering what the level of competition in a PE is like. Is it more like a PTQ (a few skilled players near the top, but a lot of unskilled players/untuned decks in the bottom half) or a Grand Prix (a lot more skilled players/tuned decks)? Or is a PE somewhere in-between? Thank you for any feedback.
Auntie's Snitch - 2B - Rare
Creature - Goblin Rogue - 3/1
Auntie's Snitch can't block.
Prowl 1B
Whenever a Goblin or Rogue you control deals combat damage to a player, if Auntie's Snitch is in your graveyard, you may return Auntie's Snitch to your hand.
With the card you discribe this with I would rate this as a 5 for sure. With a rogue hitting them to trigger the return to hand ability, you can pay 1B to play it since a rogue dealt damage. Very good since there are quite afew Goblin/rogues and these guys can trigger themsevles. Not sure how you could rate them as a 2? I would have to say they are at least a 4.
Also sorry to sound all mean, but if possible I think there should be only 1 person doing reviews. so far 3 people's thoughts on 3 different colors makes it harder to see the way the writer feels about MTG through all the colors
Yeah I was looking into doing that deckopedia idea myself for this article and for jam's but I am not very good with the forums. I really need some help there.
I know that Karsten had a seperate post for a 'deck-o-pedia' that he just added decks to and would link them. Is it possible to do a similar thing for yours? Have a seperate page with deck lists and anchors and link them as you add them?
Just throwing that out there. :)
Great article though, even though I don't play Extended these are always a good read, thanks!
Check previous articles. I'm not going to keep running the same decklist week after week, and King in the Castle is there.
Dragon Stompy sounds just like it's legacy counter part, it's a port from legacy to extended and really hurts those with non basic lands with eight main deck blood moons.
I have no idea what that deck is. You just provide a name and not a list. Also don't know what Dragon Stompy is. If this article is supposed to be helpful, more detail is needed.
Great improvement to the morningtide review series I have to say.. =)
Weed-Pruner Poplar and Violet Pall are both very underrated. Poplar is a 5 mana 3/3 that feeds on merfolks and the small faeries. If peppersmoke was decent, poplar is sick. Really. Limited games come to a gum on the ground. The lack of stuff like 1/1 pingers allow the /1s to roam around freely. Poplar is the answer from wotc. I would definitely be happy to have this creature around in my deck.
Violet Pall is definitely great. It's a removal that gives you a blocker at the very least. The great amount of bombs running around make this alot better because good removal is hard to find. Especially when this destroys any creature regardless of creature type. Only the chameleon colossus doesn't die to this. Limited games don't really come down to how cheap your cards are. The are far too many good 2 drops in the set already. This allows mid game decks to stabilize and make a possible 2 for 1. Plus, this and poplar are so easy to splash with vivid lands.
Looking back, Weed Strangle wasn't very popular because it costs bb and you don't always win the clash and that could mean you have spent 5 mana to kill some random guy. Violet pall is instant and creates a blocker. Cast Glarewielder attack => kill friend, block wielder.
Nightshade Schemers, although less powerful than the above 2, isn't that bad either. A flying 3/2 for 4 colorless and 1 colored mana isn't that bad. Of course a 3/3 would be perfect but you can't ask for more when you get to cast it so easily.
Blightsoil Druid isn't that bad too. It provides mana acceleration. That's never bad. Plus it trades creeps with /1. It comes out on turn 2 so that you can fuel your 4 mana guys. Being a player who has played Vesper Ghoul many times, I believe this is superior in that way because the only thing good about it was that it spat every color. This may not fix your mana all the time but it accelerates into the 4s and 5s. This guy deserves some credit. Really.
Warren weirding isn't too great in limited. Reasons being people like changelings and people play with weak creatures. I'd really rather have a card that can target in limited. Unless you get really lucky, it's going to be very difficult for the goblin edict to work simply because lorwyn block has so many creatures. Edicts are usually better in constructed than in limited because they kill untargettables or big stuff.
I guess you evaluate cards this way because your limited decks are much more aggresive than mine. I don't have the luck aggro needs so I play control based decks which value removal and evasion higher. Not many people I know can be comfortable with 5 mana cards.
Just my 2 cents.
nice article! Much better than mine! lol
btw, i've seen other people spell out their email addy due i think to spam:
danielejay at gmail dot com