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1 year ago ::
May 07, 2012 - 9:09PM
#31
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Date Joined:
Aug 31, 2010
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I feel like the majority of core black concepts have been given out to other colors at this point. Spell based mana acceleration (ex: Dark Ritual) has been given to red,
Mana Flare 
targeted creature removal has been given to white for the most part,
Swords to Plowshares 
even reanimation has been creeping over to white,
Resurrection 
and there aren't even that many self-damaging
Griselbrand 
or "sacrifice a ~something~: do something cool" effects any more.
Corpse Traders 
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
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1 year ago ::
May 08, 2012 - 12:24AM
#32
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Well, there is some truth there. Black is (or was, maybe I'm not up to date) the least played color in Modern, simply because it offers not that much these days.
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1 year ago ::
May 08, 2012 - 8:14AM
#33
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Date Joined:
Mar 16, 2004
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One of my biggest issue is planeswalkers really dont make sense flavorfully. Why does some ability grant loyalty and others lose it? And why at so many numbers? Its all just mechanics. No flavor.
Really? I thought that was explained very well, back when the first Planeswalkers were printed in Lorwyn. For example, Chandra Nalaar  , she has one player-burn spell that she actively likes casting. Being "ordered" to cast that spell just makes her cackle with glee. Garruk Wildspeaker  loves it when you "order" him to renew your mana bonds with a couple of lands: that's what he loves to do already. Jace Beleren  has a spell that sharpens the minds of everyone around, and he's always happy when he gets to cast that. If you use up your one opportunity this "slice-of-time" (let's not get into the flavour of what a "turn" is right now) ordering a 'walker to cast a spell that they really like getting to cast, they'll come to feel happier being around you, be willing to stick around you a bit longer, and so on - which is mechanically reflected with loyalty counters.
There are other spells which take a lot out of them; they can't cast them too frequently, and asking them to do it too much will get them fed up with you. Garruk in his Garruk Wildspeaker phase found it exhausting to summon beasts all day, but by the time reflected on Garruk, Primal Hunter  he's got to the stage where summoning beasts is a snap-of-the-fingers activity that makes him smile.
And as for casting Overrun  , or spewing out giant wurms from every land in the area: that's something that Garruk ain't gonna do on a first date. His big spells are precious things; you need to sweet-talk him for a while before he'll make his wurms pop out for you. Erm. As it were.
...Anyway, what I was trying to say is that I think the flavour of some loyalty abilities being [+1] and others being [-3] is great.
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1 year ago ::
May 08, 2012 - 8:18AM
#34
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Date Joined:
Jun 21, 2010
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When making Zealous Strike was the design team aware that it was making a card obsolete that appeared in Dark Ascension (Skillful Lunge)? Were one of these two cards changed in development in a way that led to this? Obviously making cards strictly better than other cards happens from time to time, especially given the power level of very old cards, but to do it one set later feels more like an oversight.
You're right, silly oversight on their part.
If you kill a Baneslayer Angel, a necomrancer can make it Rise From the Grave. But if you exile the angel (Whether that means imprisoning it, cleansing it, or letting it become a farmer hippie), it ain't coming back.
Yeah, this is important flavor. People understand that mechanically, exile is often used as a holding place so you can use holding cards like that, and open that design space up for a great deal of effects.
However, many didn't realize this flavor. Exile is not death, the creature isn't lifeless in a Graveyard, or re-spun into a spell in the library, or re-spun into a spell into the hand. It is not in some parallel dimension somewhere, it is just completely made irrelevant to the current battle. Whether Swords to Plowshares  makes it a pacifist, Journey to Nowhere  sends it on an illusionary trip not to be found, Appetite for Brains  causes the consumption of a major memory (a large spell), or Temporal Mastery  is lost in the aether during the time travel, none of these exiled cards can be considered dead in a grave somewhere, returned as a memory, or lost in some dimension called the exile dimension. That's the key difference in this game compared to yugi, where exile is another dimension, called simply a different dimension, and things pop in and out of it all the time.
With that in mind, I agree it is odd Misthollow Griffin acts kind of like it dimension-walks, even when it is just become a pacifist with a peaceful existence somewhere. The odd flavor to support it, is that it just kind of changes existence. No matter where or what it's doing, what spell it is under, or what idea is planted in it's mind, sometimes it simply vanishing and reappears somewhere else... completely strange indeed.
Tamiyo is fine as a design and fine in terms of backstory. Her problem is the same problem Tibalt has: they're no-names. Since when are plot-irrelevant 'walkers made into cards? The closest to that that you've ever done before is Nissa, and I am not at all happy to see you fall further down this slope. If you're going to bring a 'walker from Kamigawa into the game, make her a critical part of the lore that the block centers around, so that when she shows up, it's exciting fulfillment of expectation instead of "Oh, planeswalker #5 in the block. Okay."
You're right, that's the biggest problem with Tamiyo and even Tibalt. Yes, you can design a PWer to really be right with the set, and Tamiyo misses even that mark a bit, but there's something that doesn't settle with me. The major issue is that the PWers are name-dropped, and have no affect on the plot. They are just randomly on the plane, and that warrants their inclusion?
How's this for the novel back cover: "The disrupted plane of Innistrad is withering away from the inside. The creatures of old lore creep from their nests into the godless cities. The people are backed into a corner with no way out, praying to angels that may not exist. Is their only hope forsaken? Meanwhile, Tamiyo studies for her doctoral thesis in selenology. As her dissertation fast approaches, will her studies yield fruitful before she is eaten alive? Or will her degree seep into another 4 years of obscurity? Find out next time!"
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1 year ago ::
May 08, 2012 - 1:13PM
#35
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However, many didn't realize this flavor. Exile is not death, the creature isn't lifeless in a Graveyard, or re-spun into a spell in the library, or re-spun into a spell into the hand. It is not in some parallel dimension somewhere, it is just completely made irrelevant to the current battle. Whether Swords to Plowshares makes it a pacifist, Journey to Nowhere sends it on an illusionary trip not to be found, Appetite for Brains causes the consumption of a major memory (a large spell), or Temporal Mastery is lost in the aether during the time travel, none of these exiled cards can be considered dead in a grave somewhere, returned as a memory, or lost in some dimension called the exile dimension.
That is usually the flavor, yes, but there are exceptions, usually red. Pillar of Flame  and Carbonize  , as well as other, similar cards, are represented as the creature being atomized: so thoroughly destroyed that there's not a remaining piece large enough to rebuild it. White and Black dabble in this with cards like Cremate  or Purify the Grave  .
So, just like most things in the game (card drawing as a tasty fish  ) one thing is represented many ways.
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1 year ago ::
May 08, 2012 - 3:31PM
#36
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Date Joined:
Jan 13, 2008
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1 year ago ::
May 08, 2012 - 4:53PM
#37
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Date Joined:
May 24, 2011
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Re: Planeswalker Loyalty
Yeah, they explained it pretty well when planeswalkers were introduced. What I don't like about it is that you have to go through the sweet-talking every time you summon the planeswalker. No matter how many times I've worked with Ajani Goldmane  in the past, he never remembers who I am. I suppose the problem there is less with planeswalker design and more with there not being any continuity between games of Magic; my legendary creature can come back in the next game even if it got killed in the last game.
That is an impressive level of commitment to Vorthos-y goodness! Kudos to you, sir!
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1 year ago ::
May 08, 2012 - 8:30PM
#38
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Date Joined:
Jun 21, 2010
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He never remembers who you are because every time you summon him you reset those recent memories. The spell you drafted of him is of a particular time and thus dimension. When you summon that period of him, a copy from that time is put under your control, with exactly the same memories and abilities as the first time you did it-- that's the nature of a spell. You later lose loyalty, and cause that incarnation of him to fade out of your control. If somehow you can restore the spell or cast another copy (or a copy of him from a later time period), then you see him again-- but as the exact copy of the spell you cast. He has no reasons to have memories a past incarnation of him had since that incarnation faded and lost all its memories of working with you.
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1 year ago ::
May 08, 2012 - 11:06PM
#39
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Date Joined:
Oct 23, 2003
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He never remembers who you are because every time you summon him you reset those recent memories. The spell you drafted of him is of a particular time and thus dimension. When you summon that period of him, a copy from that time is put under your control, with exactly the same memories and abilities as the first time you did it-- that's the nature of a spell. You later lose loyalty, and cause that incarnation of him to fade out of your control. If somehow you can restore the spell or cast another copy (or a copy of him from a later time period), then you see him again-- but as the exact copy of the spell you cast. He has no reasons to have memories a past incarnation of him had since that incarnation faded and lost all its memories of working with you.
I don't care much for that interpretation. It loses the flavor of actually having another planeswalker as your teammate, and instead makes him some sort of mindless drone who operates under a predictable set of rules. It seems like what would happen if Melvin took over describing the flavor of MtG mechanics. That's certainly not how I picture it working when Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker  summons Sarkhan the Mad  or Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas  to do his bidding.
If you were just making a copy of the planeswalker, then why would there be the limit of only one on the battlefield? Seems like there could be as many copies as you and your opponent care to invest mana in. I think it makes a lot more sense to assume that casting a planeswalker spell means inviting the real one show up and help you out.
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1 year ago ::
May 09, 2012 - 3:04AM
#40
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He never remembers who you are because every time you summon him you reset those recent memories. The spell you drafted of him is of a particular time and thus dimension. When you summon that period of him, a copy from that time is put under your control, with exactly the same memories and abilities as the first time you did it-- that's the nature of a spell. You later lose loyalty, and cause that incarnation of him to fade out of your control. If somehow you can restore the spell or cast another copy (or a copy of him from a later time period), then you see him again-- but as the exact copy of the spell you cast. He has no reasons to have memories a past incarnation of him had since that incarnation faded and lost all its memories of working with you.
I don't care much for that interpretation. It loses the flavor of actually having another planeswalker as your teammate, and instead makes him some sort of mindless drone who operates under a predictable set of rules. It seems like what would happen if Melvin took over describing the flavor of MtG mechanics. That's certainly not how I picture it working when Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker summons Sarkhan the Mad or Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas to do his bidding.
If you were just making a copy of the planeswalker, then why would there be the limit of only one on the battlefield? Seems like there could be as many copies as you and your opponent care to invest mana in. I think it makes a lot more sense to assume that casting a planeswalker spell means inviting the real one show up and help you out.
Space/time continuum. See Back to the Future.
Ajani and Nicol know a little bit about this sort of thing.
And it's not a copy, it's summoning that planeswalker from a certain point in time/space. You only know how to summon them from that point, so it's the same every time.
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Kicker Aggro (Invasion Block)
