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2 years ago ::
Mar 11, 2011 - 11:35AM
#11
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Date Joined:
Apr 16, 2007
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Spot on Tom, glad it's on the site. I've really enjoyed Neo-Mirrodin limited and seeing you write about the same concerns I have is gratifying. I've had to hand out the exact same argument several times during draft to players debating to play Strandwalker and Skinwing.
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2 years ago ::
Mar 11, 2011 - 10:34PM
#12
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The equipment would be perfectly okay and safe in an old environment when MAGIC was not about creature combat mostly. In the modern environment, where it's mostly all about winning with creatures equipment is a very powerful tool.
That's a really good point. In the original Mirrodin block, Equipment was strong because it helped make up for your relatively bad creatures. Now that creatures are better, Equipment can be a bit overpowering.
Actually, I think his point was "I want cheaper counterspells!"
"We will all be purified in Wurm.
What is good will be used to heal Wurm, or grow Wurm, or to fuel Wurm's path. What is vile will be extruded, and we will be free of it forever."
--Prophet of the Cult of Wurm
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2 years ago ::
Mar 11, 2011 - 11:11PM
#13
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Date Joined:
Oct 23, 2006
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It's not just about the loss of counterspells in this day and age of Monster Mash. Countermagic actually seems okay right now anyway.
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2 years ago ::
Mar 11, 2011 - 11:47PM
#14
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It's not just about the loss of counterspells in this day and age of Monster Mash. Countermagic actually seems okay right now anyway.
That's because people have finally figured out how powerful cheap, conditional counters are. It took gutting Counterspell but I think it's been worth it.
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2 years ago ::
Mar 12, 2011 - 12:14AM
#15
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Date Joined:
Oct 13, 2009
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Enjoyed the article, don't enjoy Standard too much right now, although that's not Mirrodin Beseiged's fault. I don't see Jace's dominance (or $100 pricetag) going away anytime soon, metalcraft will basically never see the light of day in Constructed, infect is way too slow to compete (and while I think there's a possibility that it becomes viable post-New Phyrexia, and an even greater chance that it's dominant post-rotation, that's a while from now, and I don't really like the archetype that much anyway). Seriously, something just seems wrong with the format when an archetype that has the opponent start at effectively 10 life, whose creatures even apart from that are almost strictly better than those that were playable during the previous Mirrodin block ( Viridian Shaman  + wither = Viridian Corrupter  , e.g.), are too slow/not good enough to see play now. Power creep much, Wizards?
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2 years ago ::
Mar 12, 2011 - 12:38AM
#16
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Date Joined:
Oct 16, 2007
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"When Mirrodin Besieged was being released, many players commented derisively about the poor-looking numbers on Strandwalker and Skinwing. Their equip costs are  and  , respectively, which are quite large compared to traditional Equipment."This was a very good call, though. Both of those cards are extremely strong in Limited even with the high equip costs. A couple of mana cheaper to equip and they'd cross the line between strong and annoying!
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2 years ago ::
Mar 12, 2011 - 12:44AM
#17
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Date Joined:
Oct 23, 2003
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Seriously, something just seems wrong with the format when an archetype that has the opponent start at effectively 10 life, whose creatures even apart from that are almost strictly better than those that were playable during the previous Mirrodin block ( Viridian Shaman + wither = Viridian Corrupter , e.g.), are too slow/not good enough to see play now. Power creep much, Wizards?
That's not quite a fair comparison. The reason that Viridian Shaman was good during the original Mirrodin block wasn't because of its power level per se, it was because anything that could kill artifacts was at a premium. Let's be glad that artifacts aren't quite as strong right now as they were then!
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2 years ago ::
Mar 12, 2011 - 1:30AM
#18
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Date Joined:
Oct 23, 2006
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It's not just about the loss of counterspells in this day and age of Monster Mash. Countermagic actually seems okay right now anyway.
That's because people have finally figured out how powerful cheap, conditional counters are. It took gutting Counterspell but I think it's been worth it.
Actually it's because there are the right amount of them. We've had several solid control environments since Counterspell left Standard long ago. In this case there are enough playable counters in a format that also has Jace.
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2 years ago ::
Mar 12, 2011 - 9:06AM
#19
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Date Joined:
Aug 28, 2009
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Seriously, something just seems wrong with the format when an archetype that has the opponent start at effectively 10 life, whose creatures even apart from that are almost strictly better than those that were playable during the previous Mirrodin block ( Viridian Shaman + wither = Viridian Corrupter , e.g.), are too slow/not good enough to see play now. Power creep much, Wizards?
Except if you took a mirrodin block constructed Affinity deck and put it up against any current standard deck, the affinity deck would curb stomp it. The overall power level of what they are printing now is not any higher than it used to be. Large creatures are much more powerful than they used to be, but stuff like land destruction, countermagic, and instant speed card draw is weaker. Dominant archetypes of the past like Affinity, Psychatog, Replenish, Nightmare Survival were all much more overpowering and unfair than modern decks like Fairies, Jund, Valakut, and Cawblade.
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2 years ago ::
Mar 12, 2011 - 9:28AM
#20
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Except if you took a mirrodin block constructed Affinity deck and put it up against any current standard deck, the affinity deck would curb stomp it. The overall power level of what they are printing now is not any higher than it used to be. Large creatures are much more powerful than they used to be, but stuff like land destruction, countermagic, and instant speed card draw is weaker. Dominant archetypes of the past like Affinity, Psychatog, Replenish, Nightmare Survival were all much more overpowering and unfair than modern decks like Fairies, Jund, Valakut, and Cawblade.
Most of this is true, but there's one very important metric and another that correlates with it that you're leaving out that I don't think has changed significantly from Mirrodin or Urza or maybe even the heyday of Necro Black to now, which are:
1) the discrepancy in power level between the top one, two, maybe three decks and the rest of the environment, and
2) the number of archetypes that are competitive at one time.
These, to me, are the key measures of how well Wizards is regulating the "power level" of the game (nebulous as that term is). I don't think they're doing a much better or worse job than they have been in a long time.
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Kicker Aggro (Invasion Block)
