|
3 years ago ::
Feb 01, 2010 - 2:31PM
#31
|
Date Joined:
Jul 27, 2009
|
As a purely limited player, the design of this entire block disgusts me, and Worldwake is just another slice from the same fabric as Zendikar. It's so purely aggressive that it makes actual interaction during games rare. The sheer lack of blocking that tends to occur, given that creatures are often better on their controllers' turns (in what other format would Kraken Hatchling been playable...), makes this block a failure in limited design.
So, because it's not tailored to your personal playstyle taste, it's a failure in Limited design? And that's to say nothing of whether or not your perception is even accurate in the first place...
|
|
|
|
3 years ago ::
Feb 01, 2010 - 2:47PM
#32
|
Date Joined:
May 18, 2002
|
So, because it's not tailored to your personal playstyle taste, it's a failure in Limited design? And that's to say nothing of whether or not your perception is even accurate in the first place...
Wait...
"I hate it, therefore it sucks!" isn't a valid argument?
|
|
|
|
3 years ago ::
Feb 01, 2010 - 2:49PM
#33
|
Date Joined:
Aug 20, 2008
|
Of course, this generally means the next block is likely to break the game in half, again, and the one after that is going to be Homelands-bad, again.
I'm not sure what you mean by "break the game in half", but for the one after that being at least Kamigawa-bad, that is, unpopular because of not being strong enough to rotate Standard (despite perhaps being well-designed in other areas) I agree, for reasons... not to be discussed outside Future Set Speculation.
I have to think, though, that Amulet of Vigor is broken. Not Power Nine broken, but Lion's Eye Diamond  broken. So we hardly have to wait for the next block to see cards that stretch the game a bit... hopefully not too far out of shape.
It's so purely aggressive that it makes actual interaction during games rare.
I don't think you have to be a Limited player to dislike that. I'm not inclined towards Limited myself, as I want to play more than once with the cards I buy. I will admit that not having any colorless Eldrazi spells in Zendikar and Worldwake - if that is the case - is a Steamflogger Boss  kind of thing to do (and that was a rare in Future Sight), but that just means the first player with that pack ends up taking the best uncommon in it instead; Booster Draft is a format in which chance plays a big role.
Presumably, though, players who get Eye of Ugin should hold on to it, because it will be worth something when the next set comes out. (A pity Magic cards aren't liquid enough to be really good investments...)
Coming up with weird ideas to make everyone happy since 2008!     I have now started a blog as an appropriate place to put my crazy ideas.
|
|
|
|
3 years ago ::
Feb 01, 2010 - 3:37PM
#34
|
|
|
So, because it's not tailored to your personal playstyle taste, it's a failure in Limited design? And that's to say nothing of whether or not your perception is even accurate in the first place...
Wait...
"I hate it, therefore it sucks!" isn't a valid argument?
Are you illiterate? The argument is that they have created a format that drastically reduces meaningful player interaction. That is the heart of any Magic format, especially limited. A healthy limited format is one that allows for multiple draft avenues in some level of equity. Not only is there color imbalance in Zendikar and Worldwake, but there is also a serious lack of feasibility of pure control strategies or really a whole lot in between.
That, to me, IS a failure in design. That doesn't mean that it doesn't satisfy people, but making casual players happy and allowing for a healthy limited format are not mutually exclusive ideas.
|
|
|
|
3 years ago ::
Feb 01, 2010 - 3:52PM
#35
|
|
|
Could the Eldrazi cards have "'x' is colorless" rules text on them like Ghostfire?
|
|
|
|
3 years ago ::
Feb 01, 2010 - 4:04PM
#36
|
Date Joined:
Jun 28, 2004
|
So, because it's not tailored to your personal playstyle taste, it's a failure in Limited design? And that's to say nothing of whether or not your perception is even accurate in the first place...
Wait...
"I hate it, therefore it sucks!" isn't a valid argument?
Are you illiterate? The argument is that they have created a format that drastically reduces meaningful player interaction. That is the heart of any Magic format, especially limited. A healthy limited format is one that allows for multiple draft avenues in some level of equity. Not only is there color imbalance in Zendikar and Worldwake, but there is also a serious lack of feasibility of pure control strategies or really a whole lot in between.
That, to me, IS a failure in design. That doesn't mean that it doesn't satisfy people, but making casual players happy and allowing for a healthy limited format are not mutually exclusive ideas.
Seems like you are kinda jumpin the gun on that one, three days is a pretty short amount of time to make a conclusion on wether the format is healthy or not. As for the aggressiveness of the format, there are plenty of new tricks added in to make blocking viable. They also weakened the army of 2/1s through things like caustic crawler, the new vulshok sorcerer, and halimar excavator. Blue was also strengthened (quite a bit) through the additions of things like calcite snapper and the new mind control which in many situations has a boon rather than a drawback.
Sure there is still some color imbalance still, but that doesn't make drafting bad either. Green might be weak, but that just means less people draft it and you have a high chance of getting 5th pick terra stompers or seeing a harrow table. Blue currently has one of the strongest suit of flyers I have ever seen, and white continues to have a large amount of both combat tricks and strong removal cards.
The one worldwake draft I had the chance to do at my prerelease was very eye opening, as were the sealed rounds before it. I don't think they made black/red weaker, but they gave other colors a lot of answers to deal with the aggressive format.
As for drafting straight control, sure it's hard but that's more a symptom of wizards trying to keep the power level in constructed down I think. However I don't think it is at all impossible. I have managed to win drafts with nothing but late game flyers by using a variety of early game cancels and spreading seas to keep the board clean and their mana locked out of one color. I will admit to it being a pretty bad deck by todays current limited standards, but it still could win and managed to do so multiple times. So far you are the first person I have heard that is actually unhappy with the addition of worldwake to the format.
|
|
|
|
3 years ago ::
Feb 01, 2010 - 4:50PM
#37
|
Date Joined:
Aug 21, 2008
|
Good article!!!
But the point is: wwk is one of the worst expansion...
|
|
|
|
3 years ago ::
Feb 01, 2010 - 5:37PM
#38
|
Date Joined:
Jan 24, 2002
|
What was Tempest powered down from? Certainly not Mirage or Ice Age.
Unlimited Edition. Yes, all the way back to 2E.
Are you claiming that Tempest was a powered-down block by comparing it to a set with the P9 that had been completely out of print for about 3 years before it was released?
|
|
|
|
3 years ago ::
Feb 01, 2010 - 6:11PM
#39
|
Date Joined:
May 18, 2002
|
Are you claiming that Tempest was a powered-down block by comparing it to a set with the P9 that had been completely out of print for about 3 years before it was released?
Tempest was the end of the long climb out of The Dark implosion. Then all hell broke loose.
|
|
|
|
3 years ago ::
Feb 01, 2010 - 6:12PM
#40
|
|
|
Another love of mine is flickering
great! i love flickering! especially the kind that doesn't wait until the end of my turn to finish!
why would you bring up stone idol trap without addressing it's bizarro color pie issues? a red card whose cost is reduced by attackers? a defensive card? a 6/12? this all seems rather white/green. and yes, i understand the ball lightning concept: this is ball lightning that blocks and has 11 more toughness. sorry. not mono red.
but if red is being shifted a bit (given more depth) that's fine. i would just have liked to hear about it.
i should also admit now that i hated this card violently until playing it at the prerelease. fun. now i'm just mildly irritated about its pie antics.
Edit: And why is Stone Idol Trap  red? I still don't understand it...
Because you get a temporary  creature  .
that's  white  , too. and white tends to emphasize the defensive applications. stone idol trap is a red/white gold card in a block stressing monocolor. as a red/white card it would have made perfect sense and been a really clever example of cross-color synergy. instead of being kind of confusing.
Plus rares are allowed to be a little off-color 
no, rares shouldn't be off color. they should be very, very on color. ball lightning is on color, this isn't. this is ball lightning with a very white defensive mode attached to the front of it. bolas was irritating to me but at least has multiple excuses (ITZ TEH BOLAS, recoil  can destroy an artifact, etc) and was addressed by numerous writers on this site. they made an exception for one of the most major characters in magic, but that doesn't mean they should make exceptions for a giant stone head or whatever else they want to make exceptions for. that said, i do understand the flavor of the stone head thing, and it's cool, but i wish it would be addressed, because i'm interested.
Not only is there color imbalance in Zendikar and Worldwake, but there is also a serious lack of feasibility of pure control strategies or really a whole lot in between.
i'm not quite as angry about it as you are, but i can attest to the fact that the prerelease i went to was pretty unbalanced. everyone played black, and almost no one played blue. white, green and red were secondary colors. limited is always pretty creature heavy, though, so i didn't find the lack of control surprising. i did see one mill deck (i don't know how well it did, though). in general, though, it was aggro/midrange with black all the way. i don't know similar my experience is to the average.
|
|
|
