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Dec 3, 2012 -- 8:21PM, miss_bun wrote:

toby, your name is awesome.

and while im familiar with the concept of feeding trolls, the purpose of not feeding trolls is so theyll go away.  GM is not going away, so i feel the need to point out his errors for the benefit of new people.

and while youre definitely right about jund and all that, the heart of synergy is castability.  it doesnt have to necessarily be  a combo; it just has to work together.  multicolored blocks do that better, because they have cards designed to enable cross color decks more easily.  this makes decks that are just full of raw power possible, certainly, but it also enables neat combos that might not otherwise be possible in a tribal block.  im sure i could dig up some interesting goblin/wizard synergies from onslaught, but no one ever played them, because youre pigeonholed to a large extent in those blocks, especially in draft formats.

Thanks =)

No, the heart of synergy is working together. 

Castability is an enabler. As you say, it makes it easier for cards to be played together, and thus put their synergy to use. However, it is by no means a guarantee. You can design an all-hybrid set with the easiest castability ever and still not put any synergy in there, just goodstuff. 

Tribal, on the other hand, is at its heart about synergy. Tribal means cards enhancing each other. You don't have to dig for goblin/wizards synergies. Goblin/goblin synergies are synergy enough. Tribal without synergy simply isn't possible.

Tobi Show

or not Tobi? Show

~Kooki ~Kooki

Dec 3, 2012 -- 4:42PM, GM_Champion wrote:

As luck would have it though, sale and popularity skyrocketed with the release of Onslaught. The block was a huge success they rode that wave all the way until Ravinca, when the game took another flatline hit. Ravinca was a flop. 

Then they cranked out Coldsnap, looking to bank on nostalgia and finish of the Ice Age block, but it was a flop as well. Now they were getting nervous, a little desperate. Lucky for them, they were able to recover from it with Time Spiral, which was a huge hit. Time Spiral block provided another huge wave for them to ride on all. Then Lorywn was another hit, giving them a double boost. They've been riding that wave ever since.

I am sorry, but your facts aren't straight. First of all, Ravnica wasn't a flop. It was complete opposite of that. Between Onslaught and Ravnica there were Mirrodin and Kamigawa blocks which weren't exactly "riding the wave of Onslaught's success". Yes, Mirrodin was cool and interesting, but it spawned the horror that was Affinity. Affinity was so overpowered, it was either "play Affinity or play something that beats Affinity". Tournament attendance started to decline, general mood was not really happy - that wasn't success. Kamigawa has met a cool reception, due to low power level and flavor that was too foreign for many. Then came Ravnica and all became well with the world. Ravnica was balanced, it was cool, it was gold. It was a savior of Magic. Why would so many players hail the Return to Ravnica if original Ravnica was a flop? The situation mirrored the one several years before that: broken Urza block, mediocre Masks block, and a beloved gold block to come save us all.

You got it right with Coldsnap, that was a flop. But Time Spiral - while it was very popular with experienced players, due to nostalgia and very diverse limited, not to mention the golden days of Ravnica/Time Spiral Standard, it didn't live up to Ravnica in terms of sales. You should know all this, Rosewater said that multiple times. The trend of decreasing sales/tournament attendance continued with Lorwyn, due to "cheesy" setting and domination of Faeries. So not exactly "another hit" and "double boost". Alara was able to stem the bleeding a little, due to its goldness, but couldn't really become a new savior. And then Magic 2010 and Zendikar returned the players back and raised the wave which Wizards were riding ever since.

Oh, I got trolled, it seems. Oh well.

In other news, for some time I have entertained a conspiracy theory in which Alara Block wasn't scheduled to be after Lorwyn block, but after Zendikar, i.e. after a normal 4-year interval. What happened is that in the middle of Lorwyn it became apparent Magic's health is rapidly declining and it needed immediate reanimation measures. So Bill Rose broke the glass on the wall of his office (or on his table, can't decide which is better) and punched the red button captioned "Emergency Gold Block". And so, for the third time, gold block has saved Magic, although it didn't restore it to full health this time, just barely enough to breathe. Thankfully, it was all that was needed. So everything Rosewater says about Alara is covering up the real truth.

Unfortunately, "Emergency Gold Block" button can't be used now (at least for some time), but there's a brand new shining "Emergency Innistrad Block" button in VP's office.