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4 years ago ::
Sep 17, 2009 - 1:53PM
#1
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This thread is for discussion of this week's Latest Developments, which goes live Friday morning on magicthegathering.com.
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4 years ago ::
Sep 17, 2009 - 9:28PM
#2
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Date Joined:
Jul 22, 2004
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Emeria, the Sky Ruin  (given as a choice in "what's your favorite land?") isn't in the visual spoiler 
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4 years ago ::
Sep 17, 2009 - 9:34PM
#3
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- Aww it's a cute OH MY GOD
- the bear goes RAWR!
Date Joined:
Jul 28, 2003
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Emeria, the Sky Ruin (given as a choice in "what's your favorite land?") isn't in the visual spoiler
CTRL-F "reveal" scroll up
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4 years ago ::
Sep 17, 2009 - 10:15PM
#4
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Date Joined:
Oct 28, 2006
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55% either like or love the current Standard? Well shut me up. When the return of last year's Merfolk deck is seen as "rogue", when Faeries and 5cc (now with Baneslayer!) still consistently T8, and Vivid-fueled Jund Mannequin is the only thing that qualifies as new, that to me is a stangnant environment. But I can't argue with a majority who like it.
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4 years ago ::
Sep 17, 2009 - 10:20PM
#5
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Date Joined:
Sep 26, 2005
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I don't really like Emeria much, mostly because I already have visions of obnoxious endgames revolving around a land (something which is a pain to get rid of). I much prefer the red one; it makes your mountains into lightning bolts, which is powerful, but once it is done, it is done; sure, there are ways to exploit it, but they're interesting. Emeria is boring in its straightforwardness, and you don't have to do anything to exploit it; you just plya a mono-white deck, then on turn 8 (well, probably a bit later than that) once you hit the requisite number of plains it turns into Debtor's Knell. That's why I don't like it as much; there's really not as much interesting stuff to do with it, and a lot of the time it is not going to be played as part of a combo but just a "I win if I hit 7 plains" card. Its not even legendary, so there's no question of running them. The only real question is "Will my deck be monowhite?" And I DO like that it supports monocolor play. However, I like the red one better for the aforementioned reasons. Not that the Sky Ruins are a bad card, but more it just seems like an annoying card in some games. I'm also a bit disappointed the green rare land doesn't seem to encourage you to play mono-green.
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4 years ago ::
Sep 17, 2009 - 10:53PM
#6
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Date Joined:
Oct 23, 2003
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I agree. I think Crypt of Agadeem is the most interesting of the cards. It has build-around potential, not just "go a little slower in exchange for big payoffs later". The Sky Ruin that brings creatures back probably isn't broken in constructed for its mono-whiteness, but I can see it being pretty annoying in casual. LD isn't something you usually want to have in casual multiplayer (because most likely all it will do is shut someone who is already losing out of the game, not solve an actual threatening problem). However, this card really punishes you for not having it. At least these lands come into play tapped and aren't strictly better than basics! Would be more flavorful if they were Legendary, though.
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4 years ago ::
Sep 17, 2009 - 11:34PM
#7
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Date Joined:
Sep 19, 2007
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Whatever the Blue one is going to be, it is my favourite simply for being a rare blue land.
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4 years ago ::
Sep 18, 2009 - 12:08AM
#8
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Date Joined:
Nov 18, 2004
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I take it Tom is focusing on the "good" and fished for the "bad" in some nod to the critics who've voiced their disaproval of the way things were going. I am guessing that the rules changes, not the design of M10, is responsible for the fact that over 1/5th of poll respondents said they aren't playing after it. this is nearly a quarter of respondents, while only a bit over half said that they at least liked M10 in Standard. I find it most amazing that Tom, in need to focus on that good that I mentioned, did not mention the negative showing in his poll. Is he surprised? Is WotC surprised that almost a quarter of the polled players stopped playing? Note that it doesn't just cover people who didn't play at all, but stopped (which is why precise wording is king, Tom, not your slipshod "whatever seems closest" philosophy).
"Possibilities abound, too numerous to count."
"Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth." --- P.B. Medawar (1969)
"Ever since man first left his cave and met a stranger with a different language and a new way of looking at things, the human race has had a dream: to kill him, so we don't have to learn his language or his new way of looking at things." --- Zapp Brannigan (Beast With a Billion Backs)
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4 years ago ::
Sep 18, 2009 - 5:08AM
#9
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- Jawsome UnCon Prizewinner
Date Joined:
Sep 22, 2003
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Bah, "Hide Signatures" is no longer working  .
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4 years ago ::
Sep 18, 2009 - 5:26AM
#10
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I take it Tom is focusing on the "good" and fished for the "bad" in some nod to the critics who've voiced their disaproval of the way things were going. I am guessing that the rules changes, not the design of M10, is responsible for the fact that over 1/5th of poll respondents said they aren't playing after it. this is nearly a quarter of respondents, while only a bit over half said that they at least liked M10 in Standard. I find it most amazing that Tom, in need to focus on that good that I mentioned, did not mention the negative showing in his poll. Is he surprised? Is WotC surprised that almost a quarter of the polled players stopped playing? Note that it doesn't just cover people who didn't play at all, but stopped (which is why precise wording is king, Tom, not your slipshod "whatever seems closest" philosophy).
I think you're projecting a bit here. Only 2ish% say they hate it and 4ish% say they don't like it. Don't play is not the same as don't like/unhappy. I'm not playing Standard, and it's not for any special anti-rules reason. I just don't play Standard. Is it any surprise that 1/5 of people who play Magic in some fashion have been playing draft or vintage or casual instead?
It may have been better to include an "I stopped playing" vs "I don't play Standard" option, but I think that may have been hard to phrase without translating into a "I hate the new rules and I'm mad about it" option, and people may have selected that instead of "It's not great" when they've actually been playing and like it okay, because they're still upset about the rules. I think the recent push of utility and decidedly non-epic mythic rares is worth criticizing them over, but the rules changes have barely come up in any of the games I play. Removing one area of decisionmaking in an area that comes up 1% of the time does not ruin the game.
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Kicker Aggro (Invasion Block)
