Exploring Block Constructed
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Overall a decent article on Block. Tokens was just as stifling and powerful as you've guessed and while Boros isn't anywhere near as bad it's still pretty powerful and is getting some lovely new toys in the form of the utility land and Thatcher's rebellion.Encaen said:
If you haven't seen them the utility land gives +2/+0 haste+vigilance for RWtap. Thatcher's Rebellion puts 3 1/1 human tokens into play with haste and you sac them at tend of turn for 2R.
Only a week before the pre-release... So close and yet so far away.
edit: Cavern of Souls. This card is going to keep at around $20 for a long time due the fact it's pretty nuts. It's also going to push ramp strats into a firm tier 1 with uncounterable turn 4 titans ever single game. Summer of Titans here we come
Suggestion for Question of the week (pretty easy one):
If an opponent tries to oblivion ring your Avacyn, Angel of Hope and you have a Cloudshift/Momentary Blink in hand and mana to play it, when do you play it to save your Avacyn from being exiled?
Never had too much knowledge on block constructed. The article made alot of sense though. Tokens seem really useful...
I usually end up using tokens in booster draft (when I end up getting the cards for it...)
Vexing devil and and some sort 'un summon ' type spell with instant speed seems like it could be useful...
I've been told some big 10 mana cost mythic spell is true...
Anyone hear about that?
I usually end up using tokens in booster draft (when I end up getting the cards for it...)
Vexing devil and and some sort 'un summon ' type spell with instant speed seems like it could be useful...
I've been told some big 10 mana cost mythic spell is true...
Anyone hear about that?
That doesn't work how you think it works(R.E. Vexing devil/unsummon interaction). The vexing devil comes into play and it's triggered ability goes on the stack. Your opponent doesn't choose the outcome of it until the resolution of that ability at which point you can't interact with it at all.MrMixelPixel said:
The Big Green Thing is likely going to be revealed on the mothership in the articles for the 19th.
Oh my, how did I forget the RW utility land?! Slayers' Stronghold [http://media.wizards.com/images/magic/tcg/products/avr/2gizwhd145_en.jpg] for reference. I've been reading speculation on this card from Justin Vizaro over at TCGPlayer for a while now, and I'm pretty glad it's not quite as powerful as he'd been anticipating.TheGuy(wantstobe) said:Overall a decent article on Block. Tokens was just as stifling and powerful as you've guessed and while Boros isn't anywhere near as bad it's still pretty powerful and is getting some lovely new toys in the form of the utility land and Thatcher's rebellion.Encaen said:
If you haven't seen them the utility land gives +2/+0 haste+vigilance for RWtap. Thatcher's Rebellion puts 3 1/1 human tokens into play with haste and you sac them at tend of turn for 2R.
Only a week before the pre-release... So close and yet so far away.
edit: Cavern of Souls. This card is going to keep at around $20 for a long time due the fact it's pretty nuts. It's also going to push ramp strats into a firm tier 1 with uncounterable turn 4 titans ever single game. Summer of Titans here we come
Suggestion for Question of the week (pretty easy one):
If an opponent tries to oblivion ring your Avacyn, Angel of Hope and you have a Cloudshift/Momentary Blink in hand and mana to play it, when do you play it to save your Avacyn from being exiled?
Regarding Cavern of Souls [http://mtgsalvation.com/avacyn-restored-spoiler.html#Land], it makes me really sad that I just dismantled my ramp deck. I guess it may have its time in the sun again if I pull some Caverns, though. I'm a little surprised at the $20 price tag, to be honest, but time will tell.
On another note, I'm really excited to play with Soul of the Harvest [http://mtgsalvation.com/avacyn-restored-spoiler.html#5983]. Turning Titans into cantrips is pretty amazing!
I don't see Cavern of Souls maintaining the 20 dollar price tag. I see it as a prerelease high, followed by a short, steep drop to about 5, and then a ramp up to 10-15 at the most.
Of course, I will also say that in the long term, this is going to be a high priced land. Give it a few years, and I suspect it will be able to grab and maintain a 35+ price tag.
I don't think we've seen our set surprise yet. When I say that, I'm talking about a card that's probably not going to start seeing use immediately, but as soon as a high profile tournament is won with it, it's going to skyrocket, similar to the huntsmaster.
Of course, I will also say that in the long term, this is going to be a high priced land. Give it a few years, and I suspect it will be able to grab and maintain a 35+ price tag.
I don't think we've seen our set surprise yet. When I say that, I'm talking about a card that's probably not going to start seeing use immediately, but as soon as a high profile tournament is won with it, it's going to skyrocket, similar to the huntsmaster.
I'm not surprised by the price tag on cavern at all. Simply because it'll be used as at least a 2 of in Legacy and Vintage Gobos, Merfolk, Elves etc as a away of getting your creatures in through FoW, Daze and the other counters everyone runs will likely be used in Modern for Shaman Tribal too along with the aforementioned ones.Encaen said:Oh my, how did I forget the RW utility land?! Slayers' Stronghold [http://media.wizards.com/images/magic/tcg/products/avr/2gizwhd145_en.jpg] for reference. I've been reading speculation on this card from Justin Vizaro over at TCGPlayer for a while now, and I'm pretty glad it's not quite as powerful as he'd been anticipating.TheGuy(wantstobe) said:Overall a decent article on Block. Tokens was just as stifling and powerful as you've guessed and while Boros isn't anywhere near as bad it's still pretty powerful and is getting some lovely new toys in the form of the utility land and Thatcher's rebellion.Encaen said:
If you haven't seen them the utility land gives +2/+0 haste+vigilance for RWtap. Thatcher's Rebellion puts 3 1/1 human tokens into play with haste and you sac them at tend of turn for 2R.
Only a week before the pre-release... So close and yet so far away.
edit: Cavern of Souls. This card is going to keep at around $20 for a long time due the fact it's pretty nuts. It's also going to push ramp strats into a firm tier 1 with uncounterable turn 4 titans ever single game. Summer of Titans here we come
Suggestion for Question of the week (pretty easy one):
If an opponent tries to oblivion ring your Avacyn, Angel of Hope and you have a Cloudshift/Momentary Blink in hand and mana to play it, when do you play it to save your Avacyn from being exiled?
Regarding Cavern of Souls [http://mtgsalvation.com/avacyn-restored-spoiler.html#Land], it makes me really sad that I just dismantled my ramp deck. I guess it may have its time in the sun again if I pull some Caverns, though. I'm a little surprised at the $20 price tag, to be honest, but time will tell.
On another note, I'm really excited to play with Soul of the Harvest [http://mtgsalvation.com/avacyn-restored-spoiler.html#5983]. Turning Titans into cantrips is pretty amazing!
edit: I already have plans for hilarious and broken things for Dual cast in mind. That's gonna be my fun card of the set for now.
Silverblade paladin is grossly underpriced at $2.50 for the effect he has in an aggro heavy meta. Short term rise to $5 settling in around $3.50-4. That's pretty much the only price rise I can see happening atm.vxicepickxv said:
The next pretty big Standard event (The Pro Tour is Block Constructed) is the 19-20th of May GP Minneapolis as all SCG are doing are invitational qualifier events. So while it's unlikely we'll see a Huntmaster like rise this set it's possible if Conley/LSV/Chapin see something and keep it for then and actually attend it that is.
I dunno. Most of the decks you've mentioned are dual colored, Human decks, right? Cavern of Souls is essetially a dual land that comes into play untapped and makes all your Humans uncounterable. Sounds pretty damned good even in Block...
There aren't many counters in block, and the big one counterlash [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=262830] doesn't need to succeed at countering for the second part to go off. While the Cavern is good in block, it's better when free of the restrictions of a limited number of sets.The Deadpool said:
Hey I know this just sounds like rules lawyering but at the end of the article you say Teyza's ability is countered because it has not legal targets. It sounds obvious that you are targeting a wurm token your opponent controls but you didn't actually say that. Also at the end you say it is countered because there is no legal target. This makes is sound like the o-ring question from a few weeks ago that checks for a target after the spell has resolved, but you declared the target of the ability before the butcher's abilities resolved. Which means it is countered not because there are not legal targets but the abilities legal target was gone. Also you end up with a 1/1 spirit because the butcher died. I know this sounds obnoxious but with other cards like o-ring that check for targets later the points when targets are declared become important.
Also if you are looking for a Q&A question:
After activating my shrine of loyal legions my opponent used a ratchet bomb. In response to the ratchet bomb I cast divine offering. Is the ratchet bomb's ability countered? Did I again two life? Was ratchet bomb a legal target?
Also if you are looking for a Q&A question:
After activating my shrine of loyal legions my opponent used a ratchet bomb. In response to the ratchet bomb I cast divine offering. Is the ratchet bomb's ability countered? Did I again two life? Was ratchet bomb a legal target?
Well, counters aren't used very often, sure... But there's still half a dozen of them. Dissipate and Frightful Delusion are 3 drops (like good old fashioned Cancel).vxicepickxv said:
Granted, they aren't AS common... But it's still a "use a mana of whatever color you damned want to play 80% of the cards in your deck with no negative effects at all." which is actually pretty good... My thing is, if you're playing one of the Red/White or Red/Green aggro decks that everyone is playing, how is having four of these NOT benefitting you?
"I activate Teysa's first ability, sacrificing three Spirit tokens to pay its activation cost, targeting one of the Wurm tokens. "karp250 said:
From the question... Emphasis added by me.
You are correct though... I too would have expected mention of the 1/1 spirit... As well as the 3/3 Beast...
Haha, that's fair! I didn't give a full rundown of the board state after resolution of everything because I was already going pretty long on the answer and the original question just wanted to know whether Butcher could be killed before his ability triggered for the spirit tokens dying, but you're quite right that there's going to be a Spirit token from Butcher dying(Teysa's second ability) and a Beast token from Beast Within. I'll make a point to be more complete going forward!karp250 said:
As to the specific cause of countering Teysa's first ability, I'm not sure whether there's specific verbage to use here, but it is countered by game rules because all targets, for each instance of the word "target", are now illegal (ie. it has changed zones). To be sure, you do not get to choose new targets when the ability resolves, it tries to affect the original target of the ability but that object no longer exists.
If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal. A target that?s no longer in the zone it was in when it was targeted is illegal. Other changes to the game state may cause a target to no longer be legal; for example, its characteristics may have changed or an effect may have changed the text of the spell. If the source of an ability has left the zone it was in, its last known information is used during this process. The spell or ability is countered if all its targets, for every instance of the word ?target,? are now illegal. If the spell or ability is not countered, it will resolve normally. However, if any of its targets are illegal, the part of the spell or ability?s effect for which it is an illegal target can?t perform any actions on that target or make that target perform any actions. The effect may still determine information about illegal targets, though, and other parts of the effect for which those targets are not illegal may still affect them.
Can someone explain what's killing the graveyard in Avacyn Restored? I haven't played standard recently (mostly EDH right now) but I haven't seen much graveyard hate in the standard sets.
I mostly just meant that they're not using the Flashback mechanic in the new set, so milling yourself will not become any more profitable than it already is. Also, between Banishing Stroke [http://media.wizards.com/images/magic/tcg/products/avr/a40w6ujz9w_en.jpg], it seems slightly fewer creatures will be hitting the yard from play, not that this seems to make a great difference for the UG game plan.Zen Toombs said:
There's not a huge amount of graveyard hate in Standard, although Nihil Spellbomb [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=278452] is fairly popular.
Well apart from Snapcaster mage being able to give any of those spells milled a single use and noxious revival doing disgusting things with miracles you're pretty much spot on.Encaen said:
Played in GP Manchester (sealed) this weekend. Started off 5-0 with a sweet U/W Flying idiots deck with a dungeon geists, lingering souls+ midnight haunting then my deck proceeds to bend me over the table and give nothing but land or never and land for next 4 rounds and I end up dropping at 5-3 on round 8. I love this limited format but AVR looks like it'll be even more fun.
Hey, 5-0 is a pretty good way to start off the day! Congrats on a strong start, even while your deck is plotting against you.TheGuy(wantstobe) said:
Have you had a chance to run through the completed spoiler list for AVR yet? I'm super excited to play the Pre-Release this weekend, but I really want to study the spoiled set in preparation if I can find the time. Anything you're particularly excited about for their Limited relevance?
From what I can tell the format is gong to be pretty slow (apart from likely R/G or R/W if the uncommons and rares are there) so i'm looking at cards that are both defensive but also allow for some beatings later on.Encaen said:Hey, 5-0 is a pretty good way to start off the day! Congrats on a strong start, even while your deck is plotting against you.TheGuy(wantstobe) said:
Have you had a chance to run through the completed spoiler list for AVR yet? I'm super excited to play the Pre-Release this weekend, but I really want to study the spoiled set in preparation if I can find the time. Anything you're particularly excited about for their Limited relevance?
Commons to watch out for are;
White: Angelic wall, Defang, Midvast Protector, Righteous blow and Seraph of Dawn
Blue: Elgaud Shieldmate, Peel from reality, Spectral Prison, Scrapskin drake
Black: Bone Splinters, Butcher ghoul, Undead Executioner
Red: Fervent Cathar, Hanweir Lancer, Guise of Fire, Mad prophet, Pillar of Flame, Thatcher Revolt, Thunderbolt
Green: Nightshade Peddler
AVR standard though is going to be fun. I have 2 competetive decks in mind to build and two "troll decks" that win through being a dick such as Mind unbound+Descent into Madness+ Laboratory maniac a,Turbofog deck and U/G ramp that wins through the nutty combo of Acidic Slime+Deadeye navigator to blow up their board before dropping a fatty.
As for what cards are going to make people flip tables (and hence what I would love to open), That'll be Entreat the Angels, Thunderous wrath and Wolfir Silverheart. They will all lead to massive blowouts from nowhere.