Community

This thread is for discussion of the feature article "Developing the Return", which goes live Monday morning on magicthegathering.com.

Must... Break...

You know, at first glance that guildmage looked underwhelming....

Then I glanced twice and realized you could activate these abilities as many times as you like. And I saw it was awesome

Super flanking and Wicked Akuba for the win! 

You can almost complete the 6x6 grid of vanillas with just using single mana + colorless.  Those seem simpler than including artifact creatures or creatures with multiple colored mana symbols.
2/6 (missing totally)
4/6 (Obsianius Golem is only one ever printed)
5/2 (missing totally)
5/3 (double colored mana only)
5/5 (double colored mana only)
6/2 (Glass Golem is only one ever printed)
6/4 (double colored mana only or Razorfield Thresher)
6/5 (double colored mana only)

Get on these!

Also, for the 8x8 grid of ANY creature in Magic, we're missing:
(No creature in Magic has ever been printed with this P/T in it's corner)
7/8
8/1
8/2
8/3
8/6

Get on these too!

Isn't that Ethan Fleischer in the header image, not Shawn Main?

Sep 10, 2012 -- 7:30AM, jeffderek wrote:

Isn't that Ethan Fleischer in the header image, not Shawn Main?

I don't think so. I can't remember Ethan too well, but I remember him being taller and balder.

It was actually Ethan, but they've since updated the graphic.  Now it's definitely Shawn.

I guess they think all the GDS2 guys look alike.

none of them so far seem good enough for constructed, but korozda seems by far the best.

2/6 my guess is 4 CMC (white maybe)
5/2 I'm guessing 5 CMC (red)

I love Populate and Scavenge, and people generally seem happy with Detain even though I don't think it fits my playstyle. Overload seems like a narrow mechanic that can be overpowered if it's simply one-sided, so not sure of it right now.

Unleash, however, just makes me feel like no one really cares about BR at wizards. The mechanic has nothing to do with Hellbent (I was personally hoping you guys decided to add Madness as a "new" keyword for the guild) and appears as if it was tacked-on at the last minute. The color combination still gets no answer for enchantments in modern, but blue gets an answer for artifacts in m13 (which, oddly enough, is also an enchantment). I only mention this since I thought Rakdos needed a major push for anyone to care about it this time, and so far it doesn't look like it got it outside of dreadbore.

I may be wrong, but Unleash looks like a limited-only keyword. I honestly have no desire to try rakdos out if I was to go to a prerelease as of now, and I can't imagine why anyone would. +1/+1 and a major drawback as an ability is exciting for me to build a constructed deck around? Seriously, anyone who is excited by Unleash, can you respond on the boards? I just don't get this keyword outside of an "it plays well in limited" decision-maker.

Of course, watch rakdos end up being the Jund-type boogieman once the third set shows up :D.

Oh, and another question for the boards, do you feel that wizards should try to push the less popular guilds harder than popular guilds? Obviously you know what I think haha.

Well... atound the 5 guilds that will show up on Return to Ravnica, all seem interesting, but none of them really excites me to play with because none of them fits on my playstyle.

But one thing I have to admit... Wizards are being unfair with Rakdos. Seriously, for me, Unleash is a stupid mechanic and I really had not see anything that would make me even try to use it in combat.

"Creature combat mechanic"? It's more like to "beat and get beaten" (more probabbly get beaten).

And the good Unleash creature have a damn high cost... and, as told before, Unleash have nothing to do with Hellbent, both mechanics didin't seem to work well together (even thought Forecast and Detain didn't seem to have any sinergy too).

I was hoping to play as Rakdos on pre-release... but I'm about to change my mind. 

I LIKE Unleash, but I'm certainly not "excited" about it. I just like it. 

One problem with the mechanic is that +1/+1 is a lot more on a small creature than a big one; being unable to block is also a lesser drawback on small, aggressive creatures than it is on big, slow ones. This means that (as shown by the previews thus far) it's going to be mostly on creatures where it doesn't seem very impressive, unless they really want to push something very aggressive like a 1/1 for 1 (which I assume we'll see, actually). 

Sep 10, 2012 -- 6:25PM, morticianjohn wrote:

2/6 my guess is 4 CMC (white maybe)
5/2 I'm guessing 5 CMC (red)

If you go hybrid mana, 5/2 is Scuzzback Marauders .

I was just guessing what the vanilla creatures would cost since he said there will be a vanilla 5/2 and a vanilla 2/6

Sep 10, 2012 -- 7:07PM, mrpiddle wrote:

I love Populate and Scavenge, and people generally seem happy with Detain even though I don't think it fits my playstyle. Overload seems like a narrow mechanic that can be overpowered if it's simply one-sided, so not sure of it right now.

Unleash, however, just makes me feel like no one really cares about BR at wizards. The mechanic has nothing to do with Hellbent (I was personally hoping you guys decided to add Madness as a "new" keyword for the guild) and appears as if it was tacked-on at the last minute. The color combination still gets no answer for enchantments in modern, but blue gets an answer for artifacts in m13 (which, oddly enough, is also an enchantment). I only mention this since I thought Rakdos needed a major push for anyone to care about it this time, and so far it doesn't look like it got it outside of dreadbore.

I may be wrong, but Unleash looks like a limited-only keyword. I honestly have no desire to try rakdos out if I was to go to a prerelease as of now, and I can't imagine why anyone would. +1/+1 and a major drawback as an ability is exciting for me to build a constructed deck around? Seriously, anyone who is excited by Unleash, can you respond on the boards? I just don't get this keyword outside of an "it plays well in limited" decision-maker.

Of course, watch rakdos end up being the Jund-type boogieman once the third set shows up :D.

Oh, and another question for the boards, do you feel that wizards should try to push the less popular guilds harder than popular guilds? Obviously you know what I think haha.

I hear you.

But... DREADBORE!!!!!

However, the gruul beter get an awesome mechanic. Bloodthirst was terrible.

also, i think NWO is getting in the way because they can't make complex unleash creatures.
No "If unleashed, it gets X"

What? They already revealed at least one "if unleashed, it gets x" creature (Chaos Imps or whatever it is called). The problem is the "x" is the rather boring "trample." 

I'm hoping for Unleash with "If this has a +1/+1 counter, creatures can't block."

Sep 12, 2012 -- 3:30PM, Spuuky wrote:

What? They already revealed at least one "if unleashed, it gets x" creature (Chaos Imps or whatever it is called). The problem is the "x" is the rather boring "trample." 

didn't see that when i posted. hopefully, its a good sign

Sep 12, 2012 -- 3:26PM, gruulsmash wrote:

However, the gruul beter get an awesome mechanic. Bloodthirst was terrible.

also, i think NWO is getting in the way because they can't make complex unleash creatures.
No "If unleashed, it gets X"

Worth pointing out that NWO applies to common, not rares, so "if unleashed, X" can still be seen on rare Rakdos cards. (As we see with Chaos Imps.)

Sep 12, 2012 -- 3:26PM, gruulsmash wrote:

Sep 10, 2012 -- 7:07PM, mrpiddle wrote:

I love Populate and Scavenge, and people generally seem happy with Detain even though I don't think it fits my playstyle. Overload seems like a narrow mechanic that can be overpowered if it's simply one-sided, so not sure of it right now.

Unleash, however, just makes me feel like no one really cares about BR at wizards. The mechanic has nothing to do with Hellbent (I was personally hoping you guys decided to add Madness as a "new" keyword for the guild) and appears as if it was tacked-on at the last minute. The color combination still gets no answer for enchantments in modern, but blue gets an answer for artifacts in m13 (which, oddly enough, is also an enchantment). I only mention this since I thought Rakdos needed a major push for anyone to care about it this time, and so far it doesn't look like it got it outside of dreadbore.

I may be wrong, but Unleash looks like a limited-only keyword. I honestly have no desire to try rakdos out if I was to go to a prerelease as of now, and I can't imagine why anyone would. +1/+1 and a major drawback as an ability is exciting for me to build a constructed deck around? Seriously, anyone who is excited by Unleash, can you respond on the boards? I just don't get this keyword outside of an "it plays well in limited" decision-maker.

Of course, watch rakdos end up being the Jund-type boogieman once the third set shows up :D.

Oh, and another question for the boards, do you feel that wizards should try to push the less popular guilds harder than popular guilds? Obviously you know what I think haha.

I hear you.

But... DREADBORE!!!!!

However, the gruul beter get an awesome mechanic. Bloodthirst was terrible.

also, i think NWO is getting in the way because they can't make complex unleash creatures.
No "If unleashed, it gets X"

Hmm... dreadbore. You drive a hard bargain. Hadn't thought about that one! I do like the way you think, gruul. I think we can be friends.

Unleash looks like it is an aggro mechanic in constructed, but will probably follow the same problem bloodthirst had - it's a win-more mechanic. If unleash cards also granted haste with the +1/+1 counter, I would think it was a great mechanic since it adds tension and decision-making, but it may have been too powerful.

I'm sure both unleash and bloodthirst are great from a developer standpoint in limited, but they do bore me since they make your deck lose to a) faster aggro decks b) deck that can block with bigger critters or c) decks with mass removal. It just seems like not a big enough mechanic to stand on its own in the modern game of magic, especially when BR needs something more since all I can ever rely on them for is to destroy any creature on the board (well, as long as the creature doesn't have hexproof or the spell isn't countered).

well, hopefully carnival hellsteed proves you wrong. Its gonna be boss with wolfir silverheart.

But everything is good with Wolfir Silverheart, the things that are best with it are things that are already in play when it comes down (no matter what those things are). Birds of Paradise is nearly the ideal companion card.

Sep 13, 2012 -- 3:08PM, Spuuky wrote:

But everything is good with Wolfir Silverheart, the things that are best with it are things that are already in play when it comes down (no matter what those things are). Birds of Paradise is nearly the ideal companion card.

10 points of first strike haste that comes down the turn after the silverheart. prepare for the might and power of jund.

Dear Erik Lauer,
Open letter, regarding your article "January 28, 2013 DCI Banned ":
I’m part of a very active magic community in Richmond, VA. During my time at local pre-releases (prior to this article coming out), I heard multiple fellow players say that they were avoiding Modern PTQs because they feel the environment if overregulated. This is an opinion I have heard espoused since the creation of modern, and it has not gone away. Have you thought about an article explaining why there was a need to ban more cards to counteract the numbers that Jund is showing, as opposed to removing powerful alternatives from the banned list? I feel that this could help the community’s feelings toward modern more than mentioning the one card that has recently been removed from the banned list while banning two more?
I’m curious about the following:
• mental misstep
o stops Jund’s disruption, bolts, and explosive Deathrite shaman draws (by the way, this guy is everywhere
o oh, by the way, this is good against storm as well
• Punishing fire
o Kills almost everything in the deck and recovers from the disruption
• Wild Nacatl
o As Jund typically has a poor matchup against agro strategies
• Ponder/pre-ordain/Jace/ancestral visions
o there doesn’t appear to be a control deck anywhere in the field
Ever
I’d appreciate anything you have to say in regard to the other side of the coin.

Thank you for your time and input,
Todd Scott