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Apr 8, 2012 -- 10:56PM, Zoomba wrote:

Two other things just popped out at me while re-reading the article. First, mentionning the moxie of Tinsman to just make the mechanic as is a deal with rules consequences to be handled later and by other people seems less inspired than short-sighted to me. Second, you talk about how early designs of miracle were split between cost reduction and adding a rider effect to the "miracle casting". But then you just drop this thread by saying "development picked cost reduction" without explaining why.

These thing, combined with making a marginally more complicated Time Walk, make me unconvinced and uneasy about Miracle. You wrote about how draw triggers have been a design wish for years, but you still haven't sold us on why they suddenly work, much less that they're a good idea in this form.

Very this.

Temporal Mastery is now $39.99 at StarCityGames, up $15 since yesterday morning.

Some more notes about the preview card and miracle cards in general:

1.   In my opinion,  Temporal Mastery will almost always be cast for 2 mana (except in EDH maybe), since it is so easy to set up with the cards available today.  This makes the card too powerful for Standard, Legacy or any other format. The card wont only give you an extra turn; decks will be built to draw multiple  Temporal Mastery to take complete control of games.

2.  As someone posted already, Miracle cards are undervalued for their casting cost, but overvalued for their miracle cost.  This means that the player has to decide if the chance to draw the card (determing the percentages to draw, but after your first 7 to decide how many to have in a deck is way beyond me!) is worth the chance of having it stuck in your hand in the beginning.  That only increases a card like  Temporal Mastery 's value in combination with Ponder (in standard) and other cards that allow for draw setup will ensure it is cast for it's undercosted miracle price.

3.  As far as how people draw cards, this will be a nightmare in all but the high level tourneys.  Normal FNM, drafts and sealed tourneys at the local shop do not have constant judge supervision; usually the local judges in my area are playtesting tournament decks once the games begin.  And in normal casual play, there is no judge presence.  So now, all players have to change the way they draw cards AND have to closely watch the other player(s) draw their cards to ensure there is no funny business.  This will only bring trouble as the games are played and people inadvertantly (or on purpose) try to play miracle cards from their hand.  As someone posted before, MTG mechanics that go against human nature fail.  Marc pounds this on a regular basis in his articles.  Yet he allowed an enthusiastic designer break this rule simply by putting it off on the local judges?  A serious misstep in judgemnt in my opinion.

4.  After some of the recently printed cards Stoneforge Mystic , Jace, the Mind-sculptor , Lingering Souls (In limited), WOTC either did not do enough extensive playtesting, did not do enough research into card interaction with current cards (like when Batterskull was introduced in New Phyrexia), or they have lost their damn minds and don't care about balance and are willing to simply ban cards to fix their design mistakes.  It seems like WOTC has forgotten how bad overpowered cards affect the game (like with affinity) or how an overpowered card can screw up the metagame (like when the Jitte came out).  At least with the Jitte, anyone could buy a Rat's Nest deck at walmart and get one.  Now, we are stuck dealing with WOTC's bad decisions; especially harsh since when they produce overpowered cards, players who want to be even marginally competitive have to purchase said cards.  Totally unnacceptable.

5. While I do realize doomsday preaching may be premature, it is very hard to see how what is essentially a Power 9 card being printed in today's format won't be overpowered.  While Mox Opal is similar, its reliance on metalcraft is a much bigger drawback than the miracle mechanic.

Apr 9, 2012 -- 9:58AM, amobo wrote:

First of all, sorry for my English.

I respect your opinions, and I love to read them, and I agree with a lot of the posts. However, it's untolerable how some people says that Wizards is crazy to print Temporal Mastery and that it will be banned soon, only five minutes after knowing the card. Wizards has been testing this set, and more concretely this card, to avoid things like a color unbalance and a Standard brokeness, so the designers and the developers know a lot more than us about the card.

Of course, they can be wrong. Maybe you're right, and the card is completely broken. But maybe you're not. Express yourself without any fear, but don't say Wizards is crazy or other things without basis.

Another thing I'd like to comment is that there's a difference between a topdecked Time Walk and a topdecked Temporal Mastery. You can cast a Time Walk (topdecked or not) as early as your second turn, but Temporal Mastery "only" as early as your third turn, and if you're lucky enough to draw it at the exact moment.  It is a dead card if you have it in your opening hand, because no deck other than a strong control deck can allow to cast a 7 mana spell (and if you don't believe me, ask to Karn Liberated). Even if you can hard-cast it, it's not as game breaking as Elesh Norn. As well, the "exile after use" is more important than it might seem, because otherwise Noxious Revival would be too powerful combined with this, as many of you have said.Well, I'm trying to say that, in my opinion, the card is format defining, but not broken.

I can't wait, it seems so fun to play with. Unfortunately, it seems like it would be very, very expensive...

I think people have a legit reason to worry Wizards misunderstood the balance issues here.

If I remember correctly, there was an AF interview where he talked about them not understanding how good Delver/Inivisibile Stalker is. See also MJF's recent article on how Delver may be the best deck in standard right now.

This card seems custom made for Delver. So I don't think it's unreasonable to worry that this might break standard, or at least make for an unfun format with much less diversity.

There's also the problem of increased variance regardles of power level. If I were to build a deck tomorrow, for standard with AR it would be probably be Delver with 4 TM. I don't think 4 is right number for the best deck. But I'm bad at magic right now. I would expect to end up middle of the pack of a PTQ, and not T8ing. So 4 TM is probaly the best number for me, because it gives me the chance to get lucky, not draw it in my starting hand, and win, and I can still mulligain it away even if I do draw it. And if not, I probably wouldn't have T8ed anyway.

I don't think my opponents will enjoy getting blown out by a lucky sequence of TM draws, by a player with a deck with an objectively worse EV, who is herself probably objectively worse. And I won't take much joy in winning with TM god draws, because its not like I'll have won on the back of some clever play. I think TM will make the games less fun for both of us even if I win more.

I know MaRo likes to say some randomness is a feature and not a bug, because it's good to give us players who aren't that great some chance, but I think this may cross the line. That said, I'll be surprised if I'm not packing 4 TM at the next PTQ regardless of format.

In non-modern eternal formats, it even pitches to FoW, so 4 probably is the right number there at least, so at least no randomness advantage there.

Apr 13, 2012 -- 9:30AM, pedrodyl wrote:

If Temporal Mastery becomes a thing, which it probably will considering Ponder/Preordain etc. exist, just mainboard/ sideboard some Thought Scour s. Then they can Snapcaster Mage it for nine mana. Which is fine by me.

Thought Scour doesn't hose Temporal Mastery except to the extent that it already hoses library manipulation.  By the time Temporal Mastery is revealed, it's too late to mill it with Thought Scour , and randomly casting Thought Scour has no net effect on your opponent's chances to draw Temporal Mastery.