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11 months ago ::
Aug 03, 2012 - 4:01AM
#21
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I did enjoy this article a lot. Idea-wise. But is anyone else bothered by the multiple uses of the informal "like"? ...if it really needs to deal with like a Stuffy Doll or Staff of Nin.
I haven't thought about most of these decisions in like a year and a half...
Come on, man. You're a writer for a professional site. Thousands of people read your article every week. Most of them are still young enough to be in public school and developing their writing style. Be a role model.
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11 months ago ::
Aug 03, 2012 - 4:49AM
#22
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Date Joined:
Jul 15, 2011
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it's such fun to read about these little deliberate tweaks that development does! vandwedge said:
Come on, man. You're a writer for a professional site. Thousands of people read your article every week. Most of them are still young enough to be in public school and developing their writing style. Be a role model
zac's style of writing is one of the things that makes his articles so enjoyable for me to read. because of his colloquial writing style, i feel that he's very /personable/ and extremely genuine. i would be sad to see him write in any other way!
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11 months ago ::
Aug 03, 2012 - 6:35AM
#23
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Date Joined:
Aug 19, 2007
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on a side note: reprint Flametongue Kavu
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11 months ago ::
Aug 03, 2012 - 9:00AM
#24
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Date Joined:
Aug 11, 2008
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Those who fear the darkness have never seen what the light can do.
I've seen angels fall from blinding heights.
But you yourself are nothing so divine.
Just next in line.
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11 months ago ::
Aug 03, 2012 - 9:12AM
#25
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Date Joined:
Oct 18, 2005
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I mostly liked what I played of Magic 2013, but it's always the things that bother us that we complain about. So...
I wanted to voice my disagreement with the design and inclusion of Encrust. One of blue's big strengths has always been its counterspells, and giving it ways to neutralize things that get into play via Encrust  instead of some Unsummon  variant seems to violate part of the essence of blue. Blue pre-empts problems, but is bad at solving them when under pressure. Encrust is essentially an Arrest  variant that blue (and only blue) can play. You were bothered that blue had "only" two ways to deal with powerful artifacts, and they were both counterspells? If you don't like dealing with problems that way, you don't like playing blue -- play something more pro-active.
The problem is that limited is, and should be about combat. Counterspells are generally a pretty bad answer to things because you have to leave up mana for Negate (or even worse, Cancel if that's what you're trying to do) while your opponent develops their board, and if they don't play this thing that you're leaving up an answer for, then they're pressing their advantage in limited in a subtle, but very real way.
With something like the ring cycle, this is especially true. They're pretty cheap, so they can wait until they have a window when the player has tapped out (because they can't afford to leave two mana fallow each turn if they don't want to fall behind on board), and the ring can sit on the table until it's appopriate to do so.
I think there's this perception of blue in limited that it's an extension of what it's been known for in constructed, which is to say that it's a purely reactive color. When in reality, blue in limited is still about creatures, but often with less power/toughness, more evasion, and more utility. Draw-go rarely if ever works in limited, no matter how blue you are. So by saying "you don't like playing blue -- play something more pro-active" misses the point in that if blue was designed to be so reactive, it would be essentially unplayable.
Counterspells are a pretty poor answer in limited, and especially so against cheap threats.
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