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Re: drafting infect.

This is not a prisoner's dilemma (www.youtube.com/watch?v=IotsMu1J8fA). In a prisoner's dilemma, you want to play a particular strategy regardless of what the other players are doing. It appears the dynamic is more like a game of chicken (www.youtube.com/watch?v=sww-Zsl0IRY). There is a better strategy (drafting infect) but if a lot of people do it, then everyone who does is screwed.

It's funny how most of the discussion is about the last line of an article about an entire YEAR of design. I suppose my first comment on this article would be that Maro really shouldn't have stuck it in there as everyone seems to have forgotten what the article was about. Now, on to the meaty bits.

As a player who survived the Phyrexians the first time around and was at his peak during the Mirrodin block, I was kinda dissapointed with the nostalgiaic portion of Scars. A lot of the key aspects from both sides were removed like Phyrexians always being black and all the internal Mirrian conflicts. I understand that, creatively, there was a reason for this but it didn't feel like the old stuff to me.

 In regards to poison, I thought was pretty cool and opened up a lot of deck possibilities( I have a pretty decent U/B Infect without any proliferate) but I think it was probably scaled back to much during design/development. You just don't see a lot of winning Infects out there( yes, I said mine is pretty decent but Caw-Blade often rips it to shreds).

 Now, I thought the Phyrexian mana concept was pretty awesome. I wish it had been around since Scars because I think there was a lot more design space than we ended up seeing. Yeah, Dismember was a bad idea but Mental Misstep was great( take THAT, RDW) without being too broken( at least in Standard. I can't speak for Legacy and Vintage...).

 As far as Commander goes, big hit! I've heard lots of rumblings about EDH for years now and I have been curious to see what it was all about. I ended up winning a Commander pre-con(Counterpunch) as a random prize at FNM. Then I, of course, got my friends to make EDH decks and, wow, this game is a LOT of fun. It seems Wizards if finally starting to realize that the casual market isn't afraid to throw down cash for new product(Commander, Archenemy, Planechase...) and I couldn't be happier. It opens up new doors both for players and for the R&D squad.

 Regarding Innistrad, I am more excited about this set than I have been in YEARS!!!! The last set that got me this pumped was Torment( although, it was a bit of a let down. Nightmares suck) so it's pretty clear why I'm so happy.

 And finally, sice talking about it is SO popular, here is may take on all Innistrad bits: My guess for the Un card is Look at Me, I'm the DCI as there are already cards that restrict the playing of other cards, the "life total exchange" will be with a Plainswalker as they, also, have "life"(in the form of loyalty counters), the "loss=win" card sounds VERY Johnny-rific, the five abilities doesn't worry me at all. Why? While I know they were designing Innistrad before the banning of Jace, the Wallet Emptier, if this Plainswalker was going to be a problem, they would have changed it then. Also worth noting, I don't think there will be a new Garruk. Yes, I've seen the art and it is compelling, I believe that they wouldn't release TWO versions of him in back-to-back sets. No, I'm guessing it's going to be that weird, blue Plainswalker from the 2012 game.

 Anyway, to quote the Tweet I just recieved "Innistrad is going to rock"! I'm really hoping you're right, Maro.

In games we refer to this as the prisoner's dilemma. If you're the only  one (or one of the few) to draft infect in your draft pool,  statistically speaking, you have a much better chance of winning.

Just as an aside: this ISN'T an example of Prisoner's Dilemma.

The decision over whether to draft Infect in 3xSoM was such that (obviously) you want to draft it if it's open and not when it isn't. By contrast, the defining feature of a Prisoner's Dilemma in game theory is that you ALWAYS do better to defect. (This actually makes it an extremely dull game in strategic terms. The reason it's endlessly fascinating to some people is that there exists a payoff reachable by irrational players which leaves all parties better off than the rational equilibrium.)

Aug 21, 2011 -- 10:59PM, SweetoothTKC wrote:

 No, I'm guessing it's going to be that weird, blue Plainswalker from the 2012 game.

This. The five ability walker is likely Ral Zerek.

An izzet walker with five abilities should be interesting to say the least.

Don't you love all the people thinking a PW with so many abilities will be format warping before even seeing the card?

On one part they are doing one thing that playing Magic teach them to do (work with incomplete information to generate assumptions); on another, this is not a game, it's real life. 

Anyway, my guess is that the new pw will be too centered into a theme so it's good in only one deck. I'm pretty sure they discovered that Jace was too versatile and I doubt they'll make the same mistake.

At the very least, his teasers sound like they are pushing the envelope, which I like; sure, that comes with some failures but usually it'll bring way more successes than playing it safe. At worst, they can learn from the mistakes, like your all beloved Jace, and figure where not to go with the game. 

About some other teasers:

a)13 Damage for one mana? Obv red, and maybe it has flashback (if the unofficial spoilers tell us something)?

Red Burn
5RR
Deals 13 damage to each creature
Flashback - R 

b) Free creatures echantment. Actually, it doesn't tick me as green. It could be R and have "creature gains haste, sac EOT." B and you have to pay X amount of life or discard X cards. W and your opp gains life = to power/CMC/etc. U and your opp gets a copy of it. Just throwing ideas, obviously, it won't be entirely free. Maybe even like Aether Vial.

c) Turn a loss into a win. Platinum-Angel-like with flash? :P