I still find it hilarious that I was telling people how good WWK was way back when and nobody believed me. So, I am going to tell you all now: Scars Block is VERY powerful, it just doesn't have anything on the level of Jace. Aside from that, the all-around powerlevel is actually higher. The primary things I'm gonna miss are manlands and Tec Edge.
SOM block has some nice things in it, yes. but at the same time, jace, lotus cobra, man lands, tec edge, the boros deck, stoneforge mystic (which has become a cross format phenom), gideon, full art basics for the common man, valakut, eldrazi, IOK, white's point removal, and many more. i'm just saying, it feels like there's a lot more leaving than being made up for by the current surviving block than normal. but maybe its just because of how different SOM block is in general...
i never understood why WWk was so downplayed either, i thought it had a lot going on. never made the comparison with conflux like some tried to.
Blue is the best color ever. How do you deal?
Team GFG - "gulf, foxtrot, gulf" Twitter: Burning_Forest
IoK leaving sucks, but we'll still have Despise, and possibly Duress.
White will always have point removal.
Green will always have accel.
As for everything else, I don't really mind Mystic, Jace, Journey, Nighthawk, Geopede, Goblin Guide, Lynx, Dragonlord and all of the others leaving. It was fun while it lasted, but I won't mind trying something new.
Comment to the card Nurturer Initiate: [QUOTE=phaseshifter;15594671]She can suck as much as she wants, she's hot
Edit:.....wow, I just realised what I just said...[/QUOTE] --------- [QUOTE=reedbee]I can't count on both hands the number of times I've woken up next to a gorgeous girl after she came up to me and asked to get a better look at my Wumpus.[/QUOTE] ---- [QUOTE=Beanman1000;17774354]Naw man, you just walk around with a messenger bag with a trade binder and some decks, then use amazing magic pick up lines like "Hey baby, I'd tap that" and "Hey honey, wanna see me use giant growth?"[/QUOTE] ---- [QUOTE=Dr_Kraid;18066052]I want to be banned for laying my ween0r on my opponent's deck and posting pictures on the Internet [/QUOTE] ---- On Master Transmuter: [QUOTE=namdoolb;18132994]Nah, I'd rather send her packing on my flame javelin .[/QUOTE] ---- [QUOTE=Caldera42;14735749]And I'm not a jerk to myself.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Islands;14771286]You're missing out.[/QUOTE] ---- [QUOTE=Axl_Strife;17032267]I'm Matt Gottlieb b*tch! *banhammer*[/QUOTE]
Moral of the story... Serra is the kind of angel you marry... She's very loyal and always there for you both to attack or block. BSA... Well, she's the kind you call up every now and then to do all those things Serra won't do on some random Friday night.
[QUOTE=Momo;17971299]Actually you win, sir.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=sisomic;17973044]A "You win, sir." from Momo is worth 10 zillion dabloons. If only you could sell it...[/QUOTE]
There were others - this one was just the only one that mattered.
Skide Fuld - Problem of Evil by frontsession Check out the first one of my songs to be recorded by my Jazz/Fusion/whatever-band. Critique is welcome - just send me a PM or something.
I still find it hilarious that I was telling people how good WWK was way back when and nobody believed me. So, I am going to tell you all now: Scars Block is VERY powerful, it just doesn't have anything on the level of Jace. Aside from that, the all-around powerlevel is actually higher. The primary things I'm gonna miss are manlands and Tec Edge.
SOM block has some nice things in it, yes. but at the same time, jace, lotus cobra, man lands, tec edge, the boros deck, stoneforge mystic (which has become a cross format phenom), gideon, full art basics for the common man, valakut, eldrazi, IOK, white's point removal, and many more. i'm just saying, it feels like there's a lot more leaving than being made up for by the current surviving block than normal. but maybe its just because of how different SOM block is in general...
i never understood why WWk was so downplayed either, i thought it had a lot going on. never made the comparison with conflux like some tried to.
White's point removal will be replaced because R&D has a raging hard-on for the color. Mystic will be a loss but Tezz is going to go a long way in the new format because of it. Valakut is an in-block powerhouse, and I'm betting it's replaced by something degenerate in Innistrad. Anyways, stuff I see being overlooked workhorses after rotation:
1) Elesh Norn - seriously, that effect is absolutely BONKERS. 2) White Sun's Zenith - Uh, hello? Top-end finisher for any Big White deck 3) Black Sun's Zenith - Sweepers are eventually going to matter again, and this is one of the best 4) Green Sun's Zenith - Duh? 5) Good Infect cards - We have enough of them to make strong decks now 6) Tezzeret - I'm willing to be this is a stable $50 card in 6 months, not to mention a format-defining powerhouse 7) Tempered Steel + Jor Kadeen - I will actually LOL if this guy becomes playable after all of the "bulk rare" ratings, and I think that W/R metalcraft is a viable deck 8) Koth - The Elspeth KE of SOM 9) Venser - Overlooked and underplayed. This guy synergizes with a lot of cards in this block 10) Argent Sphinx - If Bolt goes away, this dude is the nuts. 11) Grand Architect - See above 12) Volition Reins - Not sure why it's not seeing play 13) Semblance Anvil - I already have a deck for this thing, and I see a ton of potential for it to tear up Standard 14) Geth - Innistrad is speculated to be a GY block, so this has potential. Same with Life's Finale 15) Red removal - Again, Bolt going away makes this stuff bonkers 16) Genesis Wave - Elves? Karn breathes new life into this card, too 17) Argentum Armor - Oh right, people are already talking about PS Paladin 18) Masticore - Again, Innistrad is looking like a GY block 19) Hero of Bladehold - Once we don't have Hawks with Swords running around, this becomes good 20) Consecrated Sphinx - You want to make your opponent regret playing JTMS? Here you go. 21) Hero of Oxid Ridge - I still expect this to be a $20 card eventually 22) Praetor's Counsel - GY block potential gives this potential 23) Glissa TT - Bolt is expected to rotate 24) Thrun - Hawks with Swords 25) Bonehoard - I've said it enough already
And that's mostly ignoring NPH
My blog (everyone else is doing it...): http://ideas-abounding.blogspot.com/
"Opinions are immunity to being told you're wrong. Paper, rock, and scissors, they all have their pros and cons." - Relient K
DISCLAIMER: I'm not a nice person.
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Meh. It's not the reason. It's just going to suffer the consequences.
Well said. Cobra, exarch, and stoneforge are the reasons. Souleater gets the splash hate.
Clearly you have not been testing. Cobra does not kill you in one turn if you don't answer it. Stoneforge has already done its damage once it hits play and packing more hate to kill it is mostly pointless (packing artifact hate to deal with swords does hurt the souleater). Odly enough exarch and the new sword actually pull hate away from the souleater. Thanks to those 2 cards condemn is all but unplayable post NPH, and condemn is one of the best answers to souleater.
Keep undersetimating the card all you want. It is a very powerful card, and you will die to it. The thing I hate the most about it is the fact that you can play perfectly against it and have your opponent play like a complete fool because he does not realize it is stupid to go all in vs. an opponent with untapped mana and cards in hand, but still lose because you just did not have the removal and were just bluffing.
Meh. It's not the reason. It's just going to suffer the consequences.
Well said. Cobra, exarch, and stoneforge are the reasons. Souleater gets the splash hate.
Clearly you have not been testing. Cobra does not kill you in one turn if you don't answer it. Stoneforge has already done its damage once it hits play and packing more hate to kill it is mostly pointless (packing artifact hate to deal with swords does hurt the souleater). Odly enough exarch and the new sword actually pull hate away from the souleater. Thanks to those 2 cards condemn is all but unplayable post NPH, and condemn is one of the best answers to souleater.
Keep undersetimating the card all you want. It is a very powerful card, and you will die to it. The thing I hate the most about it is the fact that you can play perfectly against it and have your opponent play like a complete fool because he does not realize it is stupid to go all in vs. an opponent with untapped mana and cards in hand, but still lose because you just did not have the removal and were just bluffing.
The souleater is a decent creature but seriously any player with decent skill and half a brain will now how to handle him once it hits play. Caw will just drop a mortarpod, red and black will hold back removals, aggro will have chump blocks ready for him. At best the immolator is a kiln fiend and I haven't seen kiln fiend being played in major tournaments since forever.
Souleater is good when it survives. It does die to pretty much everything, though. And to be truly effective, you often need a deck that caters to it. And when it dies anyway, you'll have invested large amounts of life for nothing.
The card could very well make a splash. In most scenarios, however, I think I'd rather play Geopede.
It could, however, take advantage of a format playing little removal. This was the case at one point in ALA/ZEN Standard, as I recall - Jund played a good chunk of removal (most often a mix of Bit Blast, Pulse and Bolt), but Naya relied almost entirely on Sparkmage and UW relied on stopping guys with Wall of Omens. In a meta like that, if you can reliably remove blockers...
Right now, however, no. People need to be able to answer cards like Lotus Cobra, because yeah, one turn is all it takes for you to be losing badly. Same with a Mystic that's already fetched a Batterskull. Sorcery speed will do - as long as that critter is dead.
While Souleater decks might be powerful in the abstract, they will have a hard time competing in our metagame. This might be a good thing, though, as this allows it to come from behind when the meta shifts.
Comment to the card Nurturer Initiate: [QUOTE=phaseshifter;15594671]She can suck as much as she wants, she's hot
Edit:.....wow, I just realised what I just said...[/QUOTE] --------- [QUOTE=reedbee]I can't count on both hands the number of times I've woken up next to a gorgeous girl after she came up to me and asked to get a better look at my Wumpus.[/QUOTE] ---- [QUOTE=Beanman1000;17774354]Naw man, you just walk around with a messenger bag with a trade binder and some decks, then use amazing magic pick up lines like "Hey baby, I'd tap that" and "Hey honey, wanna see me use giant growth?"[/QUOTE] ---- [QUOTE=Dr_Kraid;18066052]I want to be banned for laying my ween0r on my opponent's deck and posting pictures on the Internet [/QUOTE] ---- On Master Transmuter: [QUOTE=namdoolb;18132994]Nah, I'd rather send her packing on my flame javelin .[/QUOTE] ---- [QUOTE=Caldera42;14735749]And I'm not a jerk to myself.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Islands;14771286]You're missing out.[/QUOTE] ---- [QUOTE=Axl_Strife;17032267]I'm Matt Gottlieb b*tch! *banhammer*[/QUOTE]
Moral of the story... Serra is the kind of angel you marry... She's very loyal and always there for you both to attack or block. BSA... Well, she's the kind you call up every now and then to do all those things Serra won't do on some random Friday night.
[QUOTE=Momo;17971299]Actually you win, sir.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=sisomic;17973044]A "You win, sir." from Momo is worth 10 zillion dabloons. If only you could sell it...[/QUOTE]
There were others - this one was just the only one that mattered.
Skide Fuld - Problem of Evil by frontsession Check out the first one of my songs to be recorded by my Jazz/Fusion/whatever-band. Critique is welcome - just send me a PM or something.
Caw-blade runs 1 mortapod. What are the chances they have that turn 2? Red has answers. Black has a much more dificult time dealing with an artifact creatures without changing their current revmoal set. Leaving a guy back to chump block vs. a red deck? Yeah that is oh so effective. And yes he is far better then kiln fiend. Sorta like JtMS is far better then his alter ego. Here we go. This is the situaition I have seen more times then I care to count in real life playtesting. Playing caw-blade on the draw.
OT1: mountain, guide, swing for 2. T1: land, preordain (take that guide) Ot2: mountain, swing for 2, souleater! T2: Damn! Well I could drop my land and play my mystic, but that is as good as conceeding so I will just play a land and say go.
What happens next all depends on what is in my hand and how dumb my opponent is. If I have a removal for the souleater I am in pretty good shape, but that is all of 6 cards in my deck. Lets assume I don't have a removal. If my opponent is smart he just plays a land and swings for 6 dropping me to 10, and leaving me with nothing to do and facing lethal on the board. If my opponent is a fool he just kills me (unless I have a mana leak/spell pierce). Both those opitons suck royally. It was not that I kept a bad hand. I kept a hand with plenty of gas, all of it is useless vs a turn 2 souleater. You can't play mystic or you die. You cant play hawk or you die. You can't use mana leak because they aren't casting any more spells when you have mana up. So what is the answer? Mulligan every hand that does not have one of your 6 removal spells in it? What happens when you tap out to play jace and they untap and drop souleater+kicked bushwhaker? You die thats what. What happens when you try to untap with your sworded hawk and it gets burned? Again, you die. Tap out to play DoJ? Dead again. It is clear people are not actually playing against the card. It is not as easy to deal with as most here think.
It is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool then open it and prove you are a fool. Caw-blade runs 1 mortapod. What are the chances they have that turn 2? Red has answers. Black has a much more dificult time dealing with an artifact creatures without changing their current revmoal set. Leaving a guy back to chump block vs. a red deck? Yeah that is oh so effective. And yes he is far better then kiln fiend. Sorta like JtMS is far better then his alter ego. Here we go. This is the situaition I have seen more times then I care to count in real life playtesting. Playing caw-blade on the draw.
OT1: mountain, guide, swing for 2. T1: land, preordain (take that guide) Ot2: mountain, swing for 2, souleater! T2: Damn! Well I could drop my land and play my mystic, but that is as good as conceeding so I will just play a land and say go.
What happens next all depends on what is in my hand and how dumb my opponent is. If I have a removal for the souleater I am in pretty good shape, but that is all of 6 cards in my deck. Lets assume I don't have a removal. If my opponent is smart he just plays a land and swings for 6 dropping me to 10, and leaving me with nothing to do and facing lethal on the board. If my opponent is a fool he just kills me (unless I have a mana leak/spell pierce). Both those opitons suck royally. It was not that I kept a bad hand. I kept a hand with plenty of gas, all of it is useless vs a turn 2 souleater. You can't play mystic or you die. You cant play hawk or you die. You can't use mana leak because they aren't casting any more spells when you have mana up. So what is the answer? Mulligan every hand that does not have one of your 6 removal spells in it? What happens when you tap out to play jace and they untap and drop souleater+kicked bushwhaker? You die thats what. What happens when you try to untap with your sworded hawk and it gets burned? Again, you die. Tap out to play DoJ? Dead again. It is clear people are not actually playing against the card. It is not as easy to deal with as most here think.
Never posted an example of a (bad)play to support your argument because I could also posted a lot of (good)plays to counter your point. You will not always draw a god hand and your opponent will not always draw a bad hand.
I assume that you know that a lot of caw blade list packs condemn, oust and into the roil main deck, don't you?
As for your argument, you're right - some of the way, at least. High-powered aggressive creatures work wonders against current Caw lists - especially on the play. Try replacing Souleater with Geopede. You'll get pretty much the same result.
If they don't have an answer for your 2-drop on the play, you're in good shape. If they do, you're often in a bad (or at least worse) shape, because they're one turn closer to being able to dominate you with expensive PW'ers.
All of this is, of course, assuming that you even have the t1 Guide (preferably on the play) to make your scenario plausible. If all you had t1 was, say, a Spikeshot Elder on the draw...
Comment to the card Nurturer Initiate: [QUOTE=phaseshifter;15594671]She can suck as much as she wants, she's hot
Edit:.....wow, I just realised what I just said...[/QUOTE] --------- [QUOTE=reedbee]I can't count on both hands the number of times I've woken up next to a gorgeous girl after she came up to me and asked to get a better look at my Wumpus.[/QUOTE] ---- [QUOTE=Beanman1000;17774354]Naw man, you just walk around with a messenger bag with a trade binder and some decks, then use amazing magic pick up lines like "Hey baby, I'd tap that" and "Hey honey, wanna see me use giant growth?"[/QUOTE] ---- [QUOTE=Dr_Kraid;18066052]I want to be banned for laying my ween0r on my opponent's deck and posting pictures on the Internet [/QUOTE] ---- On Master Transmuter: [QUOTE=namdoolb;18132994]Nah, I'd rather send her packing on my flame javelin .[/QUOTE] ---- [QUOTE=Caldera42;14735749]And I'm not a jerk to myself.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Islands;14771286]You're missing out.[/QUOTE] ---- [QUOTE=Axl_Strife;17032267]I'm Matt Gottlieb b*tch! *banhammer*[/QUOTE]
Moral of the story... Serra is the kind of angel you marry... She's very loyal and always there for you both to attack or block. BSA... Well, she's the kind you call up every now and then to do all those things Serra won't do on some random Friday night.
[QUOTE=Momo;17971299]Actually you win, sir.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=sisomic;17973044]A "You win, sir." from Momo is worth 10 zillion dabloons. If only you could sell it...[/QUOTE]
There were others - this one was just the only one that mattered.
Skide Fuld - Problem of Evil by frontsession Check out the first one of my songs to be recorded by my Jazz/Fusion/whatever-band. Critique is welcome - just send me a PM or something.
I assume that you know that a lot of caw blade list packs condemn, oust and into the roil main deck, don't you?
Have you done any testing? Condemn blows post NPH. That leaves oust, maybe roil, and devine offering which I hope for your sake you are playing main post NPH.
Alien Finger79: Again I am not saying this card is unstopable. It is very strong, and it will change the way the game is played. You have to constantly play around it wether it is no the board or not. People here are just dismissing it saying "I will always have the removal for it", and that is just plain foolish. I have played against it quite a bit, and it steals games plain and simple.
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