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1 year ago ::
Apr 06, 2012 - 7:00AM
#21
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I disliked the mirran/phyrexian at besieged because it was already clear and spoiled by then that phyrexians would win. It felt like in WoW how we have actually no say in what goes on in the storyline. Did the alliance lose WSG enough to make them lose most of ashenvale? Its pretty much just spoonfed with no regards to the actual gameplay. sure mirrans and phyrexians were split 50/50 but did mirrans lose like 70% of the games? and i am surprised it was split 50/50, heck even doubtful. At the prerelease i went to most people chose phyrexian, for one they are the stronger pack and most casual players thought they were the cooler faction. I think thats the same most places.
also whats with the crappy prerelease cards? that demon was awful. no one cares about lord of the pit nostalgia anymore. lord hasnt been in standard in like pretty much forever and hasnt been a good tournament card for a long time. I go to casual like 3 times a week or more and never see anyone whip out a pit deck anymore. Havent since like maybe kamigawa block. seriously that prerelease card was like a kick in the junk. mayor was a little better but not much so, as the werewolf mechanic itself is weak for constructed play. as a human lord he might be more playable and he probably doesnt get the play he deserves.
They should have made the prerelease cards Olivia Voldaren and maybe Havengul Lich or Drogskol reaver or maybe Mikaeus. Wurmcoil still is worth his fair share and so is hero and sheoldred. I just looked at the mythic list for dark ascension and it looks terrible. moonveil dragon takes an uncommon ability and slaps it on a rare body and maybe is mythic? because if you have like 30 guys in play they can all firebreath or something? Beguiler of Wills feels rare especially in comparison to mind control. Could make planeswalkers mythic though that did hurt ajani vengeants price quite a bit since he didnt see as much play as he should have.
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1 year ago ::
Apr 06, 2012 - 8:01AM
#22
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Beguiler of Wills feels rare especially in comparison to mind control.
This is off topic, but Beguiler of Wills keeps stuff permanently, not as long as it is tapped. So each time it untaps, you can take something else. Given enough time or untap effects, you can steal everything. I think it counts as a mythic from a mechanics point of view, but the flavor is very flat. It is a human wizard in a block where the humans have a green/white tribal component. It should have been a vampire, and vampires in this block should have been blue/black.
That way vampire aristocrat could have been drogskol reaver, which seems like something an aristocratic vampire would be, not a variant of something played by a spider on Ravnica. Not to get all flavor contraditions on you all here, but how is it that Markov's chosen is freshly turned into a 4/4, but something that is an aristocrat is a 4/1? These types of vampires better fit a black/blue model and something called aristocrat should have a lot of toughness. It is an old, powerful vampire. It seems odd to do a flavor-driven block and then create vampires that are contradictory to the pre-existing vampire expectations it seems it draws from.
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1 year ago ::
Apr 06, 2012 - 8:53AM
#23
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Date Joined:
Oct 28, 2006
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I thought the point of a prerelease was to artificially limit scarcity in order to charge grossly inflated prices. Or maybe that's just MTGO Prereleases. The "unique experience" idea has merit. But if you're going to make an event, do it for a Release Event, or Game Day. Prereleases are already an event. In fact they used to be unique: Big gatherings with low stakes. But that was killed in order to force people to the LGS. What you should have done, what you still should do, is have a few big gather Prereleases that are focused on being Prereleases and nothing else. Then take all these other ideas for special events and create special events. This current strategy is just unifying focus on the store at the one time the store can't sell the products, and it just doesn't make sense. If you insist on the LGS being the only place to play, then you don't need PREreleases anymore anyway. Just make the first event the release. That way when you get people there, when you create the unique event, people can actually buy the thing you're trying to sell.
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1 year ago ::
Apr 06, 2012 - 8:58AM
#24
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Date Joined:
Jun 24, 2003
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I appreciated the insight into Wizards' recent attempts to create experiences for the prereleases, especially as they've seemed gimmicky to me, and I'm glad to hear they've been so successful so far.
Unfortunately, I had to read this whole article with a huge grain of salt, because for me, what made prereleases an experience, and not just a product, was going to a large, regional prerelease event with hundreds of other people, seeing people I knew from earlier prereleases, having the opportunity to play in multiple flights, and especially getting my cards signed by artists.
Two months ago, I went to a party. I sat down next to a guy on the couch, and he recognized me from the Mirrodin prereleases - for the original Mirrodin block. He told me he'd been thinking recently about getting some friends together to draft, so we exchanged contact information. That's much less likely to happen now, with the small store prereleases, because you meet far fewer people.
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1 year ago ::
Apr 06, 2012 - 9:06AM
#25
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Beguiler of Wills feels rare especially in comparison to mind control.
This is off topic, but Beguiler of Wills keeps stuff permanently, not as long as it is tapped. So each time it untaps, you can take something else. Given enough time or untap effects, you can steal everything. I think it counts as a mythic from a mechanics point of view, but the flavor is very flat. It is a human wizard in a block where the humans have a green/white tribal component. It should have been a vampire, and vampires in this block should have been blue/black.
That way vampire aristocrat could have been drogskol reaver, which seems like something an aristocratic vampire would be, not a variant of something played by a spider on Ravnica. Not to get all flavor contraditions on you all here, but how is it that Markov's chosen is freshly turned into a 4/4, but something that is an aristocrat is a 4/1? These types of vampires better fit a black/blue model and something called aristocrat should have a lot of toughness. It is an old, powerful vampire. It seems odd to do a flavor-driven block and then create vampires that are contradictory to the pre-existing vampire expectations it seems it draws from.
I get that you get them forever. But it is still a fragile creature with no immediate effect that also needs several other guys in play. sure if they cant kill it it can snowball but usually mindcontrol is going to just be better and more immediate.
also power toughnesses never match flavor. 2 squirrels can beat a grizzly bear and three can beat an elephant. right. 5 of them can beat a sperm whale. id like to see 5 squirrels fight a sperm whale in hand to hand combat. aristocrats are also soemwhat daintier than footsoldiers so that might explain the 1 toughness. power can really mean anything. can mean spell power in the case of high powered wizards like delver, can mean anything like i said. also the indestructibility and the haste and really everthing makes it a much stronger card barring something like curse of deaths hold.
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1 year ago ::
Apr 06, 2012 - 9:11AM
#26
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Date Joined:
Apr 16, 2009
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I have to challenge one of the assumptions in the article.. "You're going to play more sealed."
Umm, no I'm not.
Sealed events are more or less impossible to find. I get to play Sealed once per set, and that's at the prerelease.
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1 year ago ::
Apr 06, 2012 - 9:49AM
#27
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Date Joined:
Jun 14, 2007
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I have to challenge one of the assumptions in the article.. "You're going to play more sealed."
Umm, no I'm not.
Sealed events are more or less impossible to find. I get to play Sealed once per set, and that's at the prerelease.
Same here. Pre/Release are the only Sealed events I know of around here, and now Release is gone. So, I get to play sealed once per set, assuming I can even make it to the event.
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1 year ago ::
Apr 06, 2012 - 10:03AM
#28
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ya ive noticed that too. cant remember the last tiem a store did a weekend sealed outside of the prerelease. probably when they stopped doing tournament packs. kinda miss those. i guess theres sealed ptqs and on mtgo you can sealed all day but i guess most people dont ptq or mtgo
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1 year ago ::
Apr 06, 2012 - 12:34PM
#29
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Date Joined:
May 18, 2002
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Sealed just isn't very popular. It costs twice as much as a draft, and quite a few competitve (and also some not-quite-so-competitive) players hate the lucksack factor.
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1 year ago ::
Apr 06, 2012 - 1:40PM
#30
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I have to challenge one of the assumptions in the article.. "You're going to play more sealed."
Umm, no I'm not.
Sealed events are more or less impossible to find. I get to play Sealed once per set, and that's at the prerelease.
I have to challenge one of the assumptions in the article.. "You're going to play more sealed."
Umm, no I'm not.
Sealed events are more or less impossible to find. I get to play Sealed once per set, and that's at the prerelease.
Same here. Pre/Release are the only Sealed events I know of around here, and now Release is gone. So, I get to play sealed once per set, assuming I can even make it to the event.
ya ive noticed that too. cant remember the last tiem a store did a weekend sealed outside of the prerelease. probably when they stopped doing tournament packs. kinda miss those. i guess theres sealed ptqs and on mtgo you can sealed all day but i guess most people dont ptq or mtgo
Sealed just isn't very popular. It costs twice as much as a draft, and quite a few competitve (and also some not-quite-so-competitive) players hate the lucksack factor.
2 letters: GP
Furthermore, this raises some logistical questions. Is whatever's in these Helvaults going to be an item to be given away to everyone who participated in the event? If so, then it's just another bit of swag that may as well have been handed out at the beginning of the event. Is it going to be something reserved for the top players at the tournament? Then it is really nothing more than a change of the reward structure for that individual event. Is it something else, such as a preview card from an upcoming set or product? Well, that would be immediately leaked after the event anyway, so it quickly loses its uniqueness.
I don't expect it to be that way. I expect the seals to be some kind of built-in delay that eventually, during the event, the Vault will get opened. But then, if it is rather "inevitable", what is the accomplishment of getting it opened, when it should happen sooner or later anyway?
My guess would be that the people who broke seals with achievements get to pick first, so you gain something when doing so, even if you're 0-4 in the event. In the same way, it was very cool in the Dark Ascension prerelease that every match, even those in the lowest brackets, were important. You were really rooting for your fellow zombies for example to win.
I'm pretty sure prereleases could be described as the quintessential Timmy tournament =)
Even this article was kinda admitting "Spikes, I know it has great EV but it's isn't for you"
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