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2 years ago ::
Aug 21, 2011 - 9:45PM
#11
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Date Joined:
Jul 21, 2011
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I have to say, this is by far the best of your State of Design articles. The highlights and 'failures' were far more specific and focused and even though I disagree minorly on a few points, you did an incredible job with this. Thanks.
And now I'm mainly wondering how the heck five abilities will fit on a card.
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2 years ago ::
Aug 21, 2011 - 9:45PM
#12
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- YMtC Champion
- Ceci n'est pas une porte
Date Joined:
Mar 22, 2004
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A five-ability planeswalker would have to be built inside very significant simplicity constraints. A regular, three-ability planeswalker already needs to have simple abilities (because it has three of them). Look at most planeswalkers, and you'll likely see that two or three of the card's abilities are among the simplest possible abilities.
With a five-ability planeswalker, the complexity of the card would have to be massively reduced, likely by making the abilities follow a pattern (or a few patterns). Without this, the card would probably be too complicated, even if it had five really basic abilities, like "Gain 3 life" and "draw a card". Also, such a simple-ability card would end up just being a list of unrelated abilities, rather than a cohesive card. I think Frommerman's card with five different "destroy target [type]" abilities is the kind of thing that would make sense here. It's very easily understandable and cohesive.
Also, I'm predicting that this planeswalker will be some species of pancake, as that's the only art that would fit into the narrow space left on the card.
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2 years ago ::
Aug 21, 2011 - 9:46PM
#13
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Date Joined:
Oct 28, 2010
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The card being "reprinted" from an un-set is probably either AWOL (as someone else already said), Look at Me, I'm R&D, or Staying Power. They are the only cards I can see as being reprintable in standard. Personally, I'm rooting for R&D, though some way to really, permanently get rid of a creature for the rest of the game would be cool too. I just wonder how they would implement it, as it would require making another exile zone.
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2 years ago ::
Aug 21, 2011 - 9:46PM
#14
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Date Joined:
Oct 31, 2009
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Okay...after all that melarky with Jace the Bank Sculptor, Innistrad's gonna have a planeswalker with five loyalty abilities??? I dunno about y'all, but that's REALLY overdoing things. Seriously. Keep the loyalty abilities at a cap of three from now on. Giving a 'walker so many abilities is not healthy for the game.
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2 years ago ::
Aug 21, 2011 - 9:47PM
#15
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My guess is Look at Me, I'm R&D  . Very few un-cards actually could migrate to black-bordered land, and that's one of three or four that can. And is certainly the most interesting, in my opinion. As for Five Loyalty Man... I'm more curious to see how they fit that on the card than I am worried about any power concerns. Now the next question I need to consider is with what will life totals be exhangeable... Planeswalker's Loyalty?
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2 years ago ::
Aug 21, 2011 - 9:48PM
#16
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Date Joined:
Mar 18, 2007
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Ah, the State of Design article is always an exciting thing to behold. I had a feeling Maro'd be giving the 2010/11 year 2.5/3, or one half short of perfect, from the start just because of Infect and its divisiveness (I'm one of the huge fans by the way).
If Innistrad previews weren't starting next week, I'd be feeling just super teased rather than giddily excited. Honestly, I can't imagine what the big controversial Mechanic X is going to be, or even be like, so great work on Wizards' part for creating a product progressively high in innovation and anticipation. I might be in the minority, but I, a longtime player, genuinely feel that Magic gets better and better every year in different ways and on so many different levels. Stage 5 is going to be a continued success for sure.
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2 years ago ::
Aug 21, 2011 - 9:48PM
#17
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Date Joined:
Jul 25, 2011
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I am happy to see that Mark hit home on what was my greatest problem with the Scars of Mirrodin Block, the Mirrans. I did not feel like they got the treatment Phyrexia did, and I found that sad as a lover of artifacts. I did not think it really felt like Mirrodin. Hopefully the Innistrad tribes will be more balanced against each other than the Mirrans versus Phyrexians.
What I am curious about is the new block setup. Does this mean we can say goodbye to blocks with one central theme (like land or multicolor)? I can see the reasoning for doing this. Take Zendikar for example. If someone absolutely HATES the Land card type, they will probably feel a little isolated. This new method also allows them to reuse mechanics more frequently, as a block from now on is supposed to have multiple themes to create one big picture. So if they were to say... bring back Infect in Innistrad (I know they wont I am just using it as an example) then, since Infect was not the main focus of the Scars Block, it would allow your old decks to be expanded upon more without using up an entire year of Magic as a resource.
My only problem with this is if, with so many themes creating one big picture, there will be enough development of the themes a certain player likes throughout the block. For example, since Innistrad is graveyard based with a tribal theme as well, by the end of the block will the graveyard lovers be just as satisfied with the cards Wizards gave them to build with as the tribal lovers? I am hoping the answer is yes, and if it is I will be happy with this new block setup.
As far as those Innistrad tips go I wonder how many tokens that card will make? As far as I know, them most tokens that a card has ever made is twelve (Conqueror's Pledge) but I haven't taken the time to look. A card that wins you the game by losing the game? Funny thing. I was just looking at the final rounds of the Great Designer Search today and remember seeing a card that said "You win the game if your life total is less than 0." I wonder if we will actually get it?
Hopefully this new Five Ability Planeswalker wont turn out like the last time we got an extra ability planeswalker (gives Jace, the Mind Sculptor the evil eye). I kind of hope that it is either just average power level or cost like [10] mana. This game has to many overpowered mythics already.
Anyways, can't wait to see how Innistrad comes out! I haven't been this excited for a fall set since... Scars of Mirrodin!
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2 years ago ::
Aug 21, 2011 - 9:49PM
#18
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Date Joined:
Oct 11, 2007
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Five-ability planeswalker will be Liliana, almost certainly. I don't think the uncard will be AWOL  . Unless Pull from Eternity  is being reprinted, it wouldn't really mean anything. I'd say Staying Power  or Look At Me, I'm R&D  are the most likely candidates that haven't already been black-borderified. I believe Conqueror's Pledge  is the current token-making champion at twelve tokens; what with the set's themes, I'm guessing that the new one will make exactly thirteen. I'm guessing the life-total exchanger will exchange with a planeswaler's loyalty. Edit: Thread is full of ninjas. Ninjas that have the same opinions on what uncards could be printed, apparently.
blah blah metal lyrics
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2 years ago ::
Aug 21, 2011 - 9:49PM
#19
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Date Joined:
Oct 28, 2010
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And the new life total exchange?
Life Total Exchanger 3BB
Enchantment
Sacrifice a creature: Your life total becomes the sacrificed creature's toughness.
Eventually, you would run out of creatures to sac, so I don't think this would be terribly broken. Also, this way, sacing a titan would not save you from a 7-point fireball.
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2 years ago ::
Aug 21, 2011 - 9:50PM
#20
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Date Joined:
Feb 18, 2009
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Okay regardless of how good or bad this five ability walker is going in this direction just seems bad for the standard environment. Thats too much versatitlity on a card type that is notoriously difficult to deal with.
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