I think there are two problems with the set and neither have to do with the cards.
1) It's a new set and every new set in recent memory has had a thread made titled "new (set) sucks" within the first 2 weeks of release or earlier.
2) Expectations were way to high on this being the greatest set of all time. Those expectations are unrealistic. The reason Ravnica was so good is because literally there weren't any expectations other than it was a new set.
Are the cards in the set themselves bad? I mean not anymore than usual. You have a bunch of limited filler mixed with a bit of unplayable garbage and then you got a handful of good utility cards and chase rares/mythics. Seens like a typical mix.
My only issue with the set is the way they handled the mechanics. I feel like instead of making build around me mechanics they just kinda threw stuff out there that made sense flavorwise. The only mechanic that has that build around me feel is populate.
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I wonder how many people who constantly scream Kamigawa sucks actually played during it.
It's like me saying I was incredible disappointed with the Dark after the fact.
It was fine in limited. There are redeeming factors in constructed, but ultimately, it's not interesting.
Splicing spells was an excellent idea, but the execution was terrible. There weren't enough arcane spells to give us a decent base to build from. I'd like to see "splice onto any spell" someday.
So many legends was a little interesting, but only one is mulicolored. This vastly reduces their ability to be played in Commander, where legends shine. Outside of commander, legends are just another creature. The Mulicolored one doesn't even work well in commander. So many legends also meant that many of them are just boring. Ravinca had some boring legends, too, but nearly every legend since has been interesting and somewhat unique.
Saviors deserves this hate. "Cards in hand" as a major theme for one set? Please. Champs was a good set, I'd say above average for its time. Betrayers was redeemed by non-mana spice costs and Ninjas. It's so Okay it's Average.
You should never explain layers to people unless one of the following is true: they're studying for a judge exam, you're both in a Ben Affleck movie and it's the only way to save the world, or you hate them.
First is the art. The multicolored cards look great for the most part, but some of the artwork just feels like Wizards said: "Ok, we need a vampire art" and then accepted the first one available. For example Ash Zealot, Necropolis regent, those red imps, Guild Feud and Axebane guardian all look like they just came from Innistrad. And that Mythic Wurm looks like its from Zendikar.
I don't know, in my opinion complaining about the art really isn't valid. Sure there will be some cards with bad art, but overall, I think the art is solid, and a ton of people expressed their love for the red imp card in it's thread. The mythic wurm has a lot of cityscape in the art.
Then the guild mechanics, which are the most dissapointing thing. They are just not interesting, and could be compared to Bloodthirst in old Ravnica.
Detain, Scavenge, Populate, Overload and Unleash are ALL abilities that affect things on the battlefield (mostly creatures because obviously thats where the fun is). In original Ravnica you had things like transmute and dredge.
Except transmute and dredge are awful mechanics. Dredge is really overpowered, and prompted several bannings. Transmute is also a "dumb" mechanic in my opinon, because any deck that's running transmute cards knows exactly what they want to transmute for, so they play the same every time.
I like overload. It's like a better miracle, in that it actually takes a skilled choice when to use the card, and when not to. Scavenge is cool, and prompts some really rogue self-mill decks, as well as providing some fun casual sacrifice decks. Sure it's powerful, and will probably impact standard with the "dumb beats" style, but hey, there certainly are innovative ways to use it.
Detain is fun with bounce, populate is really cool build around me cards, and well unleash...well, I don't really like unleash
Sidenote: replicate doesn't take any more skill than overload. I say this having played both. knowing when and how many times to replicate only requires counting your mana.
And then we have the Wizards "must have" list. This set just had to have a mythic vampire and mythic dragon. Then the standard crap/boring commons/uncommons with the "its for limited" excuse. Why print such mythics then? Sealed is always won by the guy who gets the most broken mythic/rare. I should know because I was first at the Innistrad prerelease with 2x Ludevic abomination and Grim-Grin. The guy who will open the armada wurm or the loxodon smiter will have such a huge advantage its not even funny.
And the guy who opened 3 watchwolf in old ravnica didn't? Come on.
And then the random hosers for strategies that wizards thinks are "Anti-fun", like the cannot be countered cycle or that red lady from innistrad and her graveyard hate, and that white enchantment etc... Most of these hosers seem so random to me, they just ruin the feel of the set.
You're right. It's not like there's a gamebreaking legacy, standard, and modern deck thats been utterly dominating the hosers are targetting. no way
I don't know, I love the set personally. The hate for it is almost entirely due to hype.
Woot! Go RED! I love red! Red is awesome! Did I mention I love red?
I wonder how many people who constantly scream Kamigawa sucks actually played during it.
It's like me saying I was incredible disappointed with the Dark after the fact.
It was fine in limited. There are redeeming factors in constructed, but ultimately, it's not interesting.
Splicing spells was an excellent idea, but the execution was terrible. There weren't enough arcane spells to give us a decent base to build from. I'd like to see "splice onto any spell" someday.
So many legends was a little interesting, but only one is mulicolored. This vastly reduces their ability to be played in Commander, where legends shine. Outside of commander, legends are just another creature. The Mulicolored one doesn't even work well in commander. So many legends also meant that many of them are just boring. Ravinca had some boring legends, too, but nearly every legend since has been interesting and somewhat unique.
Saviors deserves this hate. "Cards in hand" as a major theme for one set? Please. Champs was a good set, I'd say above average for its time. Betrayers was redeemed by non-mana spice costs and Ninjas. It's so Okay it's Average.
It just seems that at the time everybody hated it and then everybody hated it afterwards. Really, it wasn't that bad. I think people who have fond memories of Ravfinity and how they lowered the power level afterwards are ****s. There was nothing balanced about Ravnica and the standard environment was terrible. Kamigawa brought it back into check with the exception of STD making games retarded long and Jitte being an instant in all decks.
You can tell they were sheepish with mechanics. Splice is a really good idea but they did it for Arcane only so nobody could easily break it. Then every creature they printed was a legend so they didn't make another Ravager by mistake. Stuff like that. Yeah, mechanically stuff didn't work out but that happens with every block. They just throw that stuff out and move on. Some of the stuff is narrow but you can tell stuff like exalted was an improvement on bushido. You learn from mistakes and improve on it.
People make it seem like the set was Homelands for christ sake. I'm annoyed (but not really) because people aren't looking at it in context of the situation.
At Above, I agree with most of that. The set was very good for Standard. It's rotated, and although there are still good things in it (A lot of uncommon s with effects are usually rare is a great thing I always forget), However, it fails at being a legendary block, because the cards are terrible in commander, where legends matter. This puts it below average, if only slightly.
You should never explain layers to people unless one of the following is true: they're studying for a judge exam, you're both in a Ben Affleck movie and it's the only way to save the world, or you hate them.
Return to Ravnica, so far, seems interesting enough on its own merits. The problem I have with it is that it seems to be all about outdoing themselves on the first Ravnica. Two throwback sets in three years is a bit... Well, I hope it won't become a trend, at least. And if they are going to return to something done previously, perhaps they could show us what happened to the currently three plane-destroying villains that we have running around instead of just adding to the pile. That's just irrelevant flavour talk, though. The important thing, of course, is the cards.
The cards... Well, no, it doesn't seem that great, honestly. Hellbent was an interesting all-or-nothing mechanic. Unleash is pretty underwhelming for its name and flavour. Maybe if they had done Unleash X and made the counters variable? Maybe if the "downside" of the mechanic was something more impactful? +1/+1, gains Haste, has to attack every turn? That, in my mind, would be more of an all-in mechanic like Wizards said they intended for it to be. Still think there ought to be a variable amount of counters, but they probably playtested that already, so I won't admonish them too much for that.
Detain and Populate, while both rather uninteresting in gameplay terms (To me, at least - I am sure that Doubling Season fans can do a lot of cool stuff with Populate) both make sense flavourwise and could be relevant in actual gameplay. Can't see either breaking the game a whole lot - maybe Populate - but Detain is a nice rider on any card, as long as it doesn't add too much to the creature's cost.
Overload, to me, is a rather uninteresting mechanic. It's probably gonna have one or two competitively useful cards and not do much else. I do find it amusing how it seems like the Izzet nicked Radiance and improved upon it, though. But considering how terrible Radiance cards were, that's hardly much of a feat. And lastly, Scavenge is boring. Just boring. I am not sure why Wizards love to cram counters down our throats like that. I am sure that someone out there likes them, but I am personally rather tired of counters and tokens.
Other than that, the reprinted shock lands are neat, though the less impressive artwork (Again, in my opinion) is a shame. None of the cards revealed so far really have much in the way of must-have factor for me. There's a few nice ones (Pithing Needle reprint, Dreadbore, the new 3/3 token maker (Still not a fan of tokens) and the new Leyline of the Void . Not much more to say. I'm sure the set will be interesting enough, but it's nothing impressive.
I honestly don't care if Return to Ravnica becomes a success or not. All I know is there's going to be spamming and abuse of making Izzet decks. And I just happened to realize what kind of deck could actually beat an Izzet deck with ease. Literally turning the deck's strength into its own weakness.
I am both orderly and instinctive. I value community and group identity, defining myself by the social group I am a part of. At best, I'm selfless and strong-willed; at worst, I'm unoriginal and mindless.
I think RTR will be a stable, if not strong set overall. Most of the cards *look* bad a first sight, because of viewing them without considering the in-guild, in-set synergy that many RTR cards have.
Lotleth Troll is frankly not a great card alone (even in limited), but it gains so much value when used with other Golgari/GY manipulation cards. Expensive UR sorceries/instants are judged without taking that nifty common bear (Electromancer) into account. Horncaller's Chant might be two trampling 4/4s for a hefty 8 mana (not great, but playable in limited), or it could be a 4/4 trampler and a vigilant 8/8.
That said, there are plenty of obligatory rares/limited jank. And, like many others, I feel that the approach to mechanics was lackluster. The new Gate subtype is only referenced in half a dozen generally bad cards. Unleash didn't live up to its potential.
Limited will definitely be slower, and much more skill-rewarding than M13. Primarily I think this is due to more expensive, situational removal and more demanding deck building.
Some weaknesses (like every set), but built on a stable base so I think RtR will be widely enjoyed in all its formats.
Woot! Go RED! I love red! Red is awesome! Did I mention I love red? 
