|
2 years ago ::
Feb 01, 2011 - 6:38PM
#1
|
Date Joined:
Jun 24, 2008
|
This thread is for discussion of this Feature Article, which goes live Wednesday morning on magicthegathering.com.
|
|
|
|
2 years ago ::
Feb 01, 2011 - 9:24PM
#2
|
|
|
As a nearly-exclusive Limited player, I have to say that I fell in love with Breakout the moment I saw it. It's a mechanic that seems like it would be a ton of fun to play with in a draft environment and is incredibly flavorful - the moment I saw it I "got" what was going on. It evokes Black and Red hurling themselves desperately against the prison bars as the White and Blue guards try equally desperately to hold them back.
Out of the other contestants, I felt Fleischer's was the best this round. Evolve has been truly distilled down to its most basic and grokkable form, and the theme deck was a solid way of capturing a green and red take on the mechanic. I didn't feel it was as inspired as Van Essen's Breakout mechanic, but it was very solid.
I think Gold counters and Blight are kind of boring (if flavorful), so while I really hope Van Essen and Fleischer make it to the next round, I have no strong feelings about the other contestants.
|
|
|
|
2 years ago ::
Feb 01, 2011 - 9:51PM
#3
|
|
|
Breakout's wording seems a bit awkward. Based on other cards with similar abilities (whenever this attacks and isn't blocked), it seems correct, but the timing doesn't seem all that intuitive, and unlike cards with similar abilities, I can see new players having trouble with a creature with breakout attacking and then getting killed before blockers (a creature attacking and then getting removed from combat by something like regeneration in response to removal seems especially confusing, but that doesn't seem likely to come up much).
Being able to use gold for life payments seems kind of weird now that the mercenary mechanic is gone. Gold is colorless mana, and can be used for "gold payments" like goldbreather, making it do 3 different things seems needlessly complicated. Overall the deck seems kind of generic, it seems like a lot of the new cards for this round are basically french vanillas.
The blight deck seems like it has a lot of removal, and the evolve deck seems like it has a lot of counters, but without actually playing the decks, I can't really tell if that's true or not. Blight world and "Utopia" still seem very generic.
|
|
|
|
2 years ago ::
Feb 01, 2011 - 10:52PM
#4
|
|
|
I really like the gold counters from the city of gold deck. I remember reading an article about wizards contemplating releasing another color many years ago. This accomplishes that feat in many respects. Gold counters are different enough from mana that they could show up from time to time and make their way into sets, but not be required like the regular five colors. Gold is a color, but also an asset in many definitions, so its has a dichotomy that traditional mana does not have, which makes it more splashy as well. Overall, I think gold counters give the sense that we are using our "gold" mana for payment, but it is still distinguishable from the other colors in its feel. Way to go...
|
|
|
|
2 years ago ::
Feb 01, 2011 - 11:25PM
#5
|
Date Joined:
May 11, 2009
|
Some very strong submissions this round, with probably Evolve being the most balanced deck and most polished design so far, although I must say I don't know exactly which demographic Mr Allosaurus McMassive is trying to appeal to (I just can't see it playing as an Allosaurus should, if you know what I mean).
Breakout is definitely a step in the right direction, and I can really appreciate Scott's explanation of his reasoning in regards to Breakout creatures and Breakout enablers.
The weakest link is probably Blight, just because it still seems clunky and inelegant to me, no matter how many times I look at it, although many of the individual cards from that deck I enjoyed (Deal with the Damned, i'm looking at you!)
The flavor of City of Gold really shined for me this time, from the deliciously ominous BBEG Vampire (I can just see the art now, a huge golden throne sculpted into upstretched human hands atop a vast treasure hoard, seated upon which is the Ageless Patron himself, he is either impossibly aged and twisted, or elegant and youthful, all the while lowly vassals add more gold to the pile.), to the quirky and LOL-worthy Rental Hydra. I'm honestly wondering what people rented hydras for in times of peace, perhaps garden ornaments? I don't know, but I love not knowing. The smugglers and lotus tenders are great, Lotus Garden is cool too. Mechanically very close to Eldrazi Spawn, but is has been mentioned already (plus, if players are provided shiny MTG gold coins to collect, they won't notice ;-))
I really enjoyed the submissions this round. Keep it up guys!
|
|
|
|
2 years ago ::
Feb 02, 2011 - 12:03AM
#6
|
|
|
I think Breakout would read better as "Whenever CARDNAME attacks and you control at least one unblocked creature ..."
|
|
|
|
2 years ago ::
Feb 02, 2011 - 12:14AM
#7
|
Date Joined:
Sep 22, 2010
|
That doesn't work - creatures aren't considered "unblocked" until the declare blockers step. Scott's template, OTOH, reads as a variant of the "attacks and isn't blocked" template. I think it might read a bit cleaner as, say, "Whenever one or more creatures you control attack and aren't blocked, if ~ is attacking, ...", but I'm no editor; this is not really relevant. (Though I suppose the use of the intervening if makes that technically slightly different.)
Though if you're just suggesting that for the reminder text then maybe it would be OK.
|
|
|
|
2 years ago ::
Feb 02, 2011 - 5:07AM
#8
|
Date Joined:
Mar 16, 2004
|
I think Breakout is awesome, and Jailbreak may be my favourite of the decks.
I still don't like Dinosaur World, but I think Ethan may be the strongest designer in the challenge.
I like blight a lot, and think Shawn did a good job of addressing its problems and making a fun deck.
I love the idea of City World, but I think Devon's uber-parasitic deck may lose him the interview.
|
|
|
|
2 years ago ::
Feb 02, 2011 - 6:42AM
#9
|
Date Joined:
Jun 10, 2009
|
That doesn't work - creatures aren't considered "unblocked" until the declare blockers step. Scott's template, OTOH, reads as a variant of the "attacks and isn't blocked" template. I think it might read a bit cleaner as, say, "Whenever one or more creatures you control attack and aren't blocked, if ~ is attacking, ...", but I'm no editor; this is not really relevant. (Though I suppose the use of the intervening if makes that technically slightly different.)
Though if you're just suggesting that for the reminder text then maybe it would be OK.
A creature is not considered "blocked" or "unblocked" until the declare blockers step. See Gossamer Chains  's rulings.
|
|
|
|
2 years ago ::
Feb 02, 2011 - 8:33AM
#10
|
Date Joined:
Jun 22, 2009
|
Breakout is a great idea, and may even be undercosted for its effects - it is trivially easy to ensure you are always triggering with Signal Pest or something.
I also liked the Evolve deck, which was very thematically pure and had a couple Lightning Bolts thrown in just like real intro packs do. This is exactly what you want to pull off the shelf at Target: a giant dinosaur and some mana elves.
|
|
|
