Soooo. It's the first time I've posted anything I've written for people to read it. I'll start by saying I'm not a native english speaker, so I may have made a few mistakes, be lenient. The idea for this short story came to me during the night, so here it is, just posting for some comments on my style.
She shuddered and closed the coat closer to her. The chilly air of the Stensia swamps seeped through every crack she didn’t cover. By Avacyn, the humidity!
“We should set camp”, she shouted over the wind. “Sleep a bit and continue when it’s warmer. A fire would be perfect right now.” “Would it?” calmly said the man a few paces ahead of her. “Do you know how close we are of the Falkenrath manor?” “A few leagues at best”, she agreed. “Vampires don’t trouble me.” “They don’t, now, do they?” “Avacyn protects me!” she protested. “You mean that bauble you bought at Thraben’s market?” he smirked. “Right. Avacyn’s power came back, but I’m sure it doesn’t flow through a bit of wood carved in her ‘effigy’.” “Don’t talk like that.”
She had tried to sound assured, maybe even commanding. She failed. Her voice had trailed off. This man... He had no problem talking about Avacyn like it was some sort of animal released recently. He would blaspheme every now and then, apparently without really thinking about it. He was... Well, she didn’t know who he was. She had met him a few villages back, just before entering Stensia. He had offered to walk alongside her. She was a simple priest, with no experience in traveling. She had only recently begun to wander the countryside to protect the citizens, and even with the holy power of Avacyn watching over her, she had been mugged more than once by simple men who hadn’t have enough to eat in the last few weeks.
It was enough so that a lonely woman who encountered a handsome man with a long claymore at his side would let herself be protected by what looked like a valiant knight. Now, with the dim lighting of their torches reflecting on the pools of dirt in which they were traveling, his long, white hairs made him look more like a geist than a knight. After all, he was all clad in black.
“What’s your name anyway?” she asked. “Sorin”, he simply answered.
Very informative.
“Sorin who?” “Let’s just say my family has no bearing on this journey and leave it at that, priestess.”
Right. Like he ever asked her name.
“We stop here for the night”, she decided firmly. “Continue on if you want, Avacyn will protect me.”
Why was he smirking like that?
“If Her Holiness insists, there’s a patch of dry grounds over there”, he bowed.
She hadn’t decided yet if the bows were genuine or if he was pulling her leg. Avacyn taught that one should always give the benefit of doubt. It was becoming incredibly difficult to have any doubt, though.
Still, he helped her plant their tent and drew some symbols here and there. She prayed to Avacyn for protection and a calm night. Then, they parted in their respective tents and went to sleep.
She awoke to the sensation of cold steel on her throat. A knife was firmly placed under her chin. Her muscles tensed immediately. The pale face of her journey companion was incher from her own, his long white hairs falling on each side of her head. He had that terrifying smirk over his face, like he was about to eat her.
Which, on Innistrad, wasn’t excluded from the possibilities.
She trembled softly, fear clogging up her senses. He slowly slid the edge of the knife across her throat and under the Holy Angel’s necklace. Then, with one swift movement, he cut it loose from her neck.
“I guess it wasn’t Darksteel”, he muttered with a mischievous grin.
He got up on his feet and looked at her from above.
“Next time you think such a bauble is worth two silvers, remember the value of something that would really protect you from harm”, he calmly said, sheathing his knife. “Nothing will stop vampires from going at your throat except a good blade or a ward you cast yourself.”
She should have said something, but she could find the nerve to protest before he was gone. Who was that man? Why was he traveling with her? And by Avacyn, how did he get through the wards she did cast around her tent?
---
“Rough night?” he asked.
She sighed. Even after what he did last night, he had yet to apologize for the fear he gave her. He was casually leaning against a bog tree while she paused a bit. No matter how far they walked, he always seemed to be full of energy. How did we do that? Maybe she needed some more exercise. Studying holy books doesn’t help your endurance, that’s for sure.
“You know, normal people would apologize right now”, she snapped. “Doesn’t Avacyn teach the utmost control over your primal emotions such as fear or frustration?”
He was provoking her.
“You don’t have the slightest idea”, she simply answered. “Do I? ‘And it shall be that forever, humans shall be freed of pain, fear and doubt. Revel in my Holy Name, as it shall be. Under my watchful gaze, none shall fear the dark, none shall fear the unknown, for I am Avacyn, and you are of my flock’”, he recited.
Who was he?
“That verse doesn’t mean that we should strive to control our fear, just that Avacyn is watching over us.” “Does it?” he smirked. “Well, you know better than I. Can we go?”
The more she knew about that man, the more she knew she didn’t know. Or something like that.
“You never told me where you were going”, she noted when they were on their way. “I’m going there”, he pointed before them. “Why ask?” “Why don’t you ever give an intelligent answer?” she snapped again. “Why don’t you ever ask an intelligent question?” he answered back. “You could have asked many things. Where I’m going is completely irrelevant to you. If I intend to kill you would be a start. How I know so much about Avacyn would also be interesting. How about my capacities? You priests never ask the important things and always expect people to answer everything.”
She didn’t like where the conversation was going.
“Do you intend to kill me?” “No.” “How do you know so much about Avacyn?” “Av and I go way back”, he casually threw over his shoulder. “Stop blaspheming!” she shouted. “Stop that!” “And stop shouting, foolish girl”, he snapped back.
His voice was suddenly deep and powerful. She stopped instantly, surprised. Not once in their journey had he used that voice. A dark voice ripped with power that she knew he had imbedded magic upon.
But as much as she didn’t want it to be true, he was right : shouting in the middle of Stensia wasn’t the brightest idea she ever had. They both listened to the rustling of the leaves and the sound of water being tossed aside as someone, something was coming towards them. She muttered the incantation for a protective ward and prepared for combat. If those Falkenrath wanted blood, she’d feed them their own.
Much to her relief, she saw a Wolfir come out of the bushes. Tall like one and a half men, his fur white as snow, he was coming to verify the source of those shouts. Sorin seemed displeased with the sudden appearance, but more mildly annoyed than anything else.
“Sir Wolfir”, he saluted with a quick bow of his head.
The creature stopped a few feet before him and glanced at him. They looked at each other for a moment. The beast sniffed the air without a glance for her.
Then suddenly, it happened. The beast threw a paw at Sorin’s head. It happened so fast it blurred. It looked like the paw had gone through Sorin’s head unimpeded, but when she looked again, she realized that the arm of the Wolfir was laying in an increasing pool of blood a few paces from them and that Sorin held his claymore in his hand.
It was simply impossible. Nobody moved that fast.
Under her eyes, the arm withered. The great beast looked at it with a surprised look. Sorin then calmly put a hand on its chest and threw a powerful rot spell. Before she could protest, she saw the bones under the fur, the heart beating and the lungs rotting. A macabre vision that would be imprinted in her mind for the rest of her life.
Though it may not be that long before the end came.
There was only a rotten corpse left where there once stood a mighty beast. Sorin sheathed his sword and gave her an amused glance. She knew who he was, now, and he knew it. She couldn’t believe it, but it was him. Sorin Markov, the heir of the great vampire family. One of the most powerful vampires of Innistrad. The pale face, the unnatural strength, the name... all fell in place.
“Let’s go, shall we?” he smirked. “After all, I have a rendezvous with my grandfather I wouldn’t miss for this world, and you’re invited.”
‘May Avacyn have mercy on your soul at the darkest hour, for you are of her flock. May her light reach you from the darkest reaches of hell to the highest spires of the heavens. When all is dire, look at her and pray, for she answers. Call upon her name and do not falter. When the cloud part and the Holy Angel descend upon you, then you shall be saved and bask in Her Holy Glory forever.’
Yeah... Until next game, where it'll be right back.
Seriously, there's no way to deal with Rancor in any format. It should be banned, except Gleemax is a lobbyist for the Rancor party, so that'll never happen.
You can't ban rancor, it just returns to your deck.
You might want to actually talk to the Flavor & Storyline Board people... since, you know, our whole reason for playing Magic is the flavor. I'm willing to bet you'll get a lot more interest there than in General.
Indeed, both posters down there would be thrilled.
When talks about banning Jace first started, I was thinking that I would see him banned come June 20th. But as I think more about it, I don't really think that Jace is the problem anymore. Sure his power level leaves very little to the imagination (opening Jace is like opening a refrigerator box with a naked girl on the inside), and sure his price does have a strong impact on what players choose to play (playing Jace is like being intimate with a woman and she doesn't charge you in the morning), but it is not the source of all the problems in Standard.
How do people think saving room to print more abilities on cards is dumbing down the game?
Do you really think, say, Akroma would ever be printed if she said, "Akroma can block by creatures with this ability and cannot be blocked by creatures without this ability. If a creature without this ability would deal combat damage by Akroma would be destroyed, prevent all combat damage that creature would deal to Akroma this combat. Attacking does not cause Akroma to tap. If Akroma is blocked and deals lethal damage, it deals the remainder of its damage to the defending player. Akroma may attack and use abilities that require tapping in the casting cost the turn it enters the battlefield. Akroma cannot be damaged, enchanted, equipped, blocked or targeted by black or red sources" rather than her "dumbed down" wording she has? No freaking way. Keywording and shorthand allows them to make complicated cards easy to play with, allowing them to be printed in the first place.
1. cast frankie peanuts 2. ask opponent "will you concede the game this turn"? if they say yes, you win; if they say no, play a staying power 3. subsequently ask "will you attack this turn"? and "will you cast a spell this turn"? (using a Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir for the second question if necessary) to ensure they can't disrupt the combo 4. donate them a platinum angel 5. play a mox lotus and braingeyser them for every card in their library. play an opalescence and donate them a glorious anthem and a blacker lotus , then play enchanted evening . play and activate a mindslaver and then donate them a fastbond and the mox lotus (returning one of the donates to your hand with eternal witness or whatever) 6. during their turn, play every permanent in their hand (playing lands with fastbond) then (as yourself) cast mirrorweave on the blacker lotus, so every permanent becomes a copy of it. proceed to tear up every card they control, and hopefully do it before they notice that they aren't bound by staying power's ability anymore and can concede
Dark Ritual being overpowered is determined more by what is done with it than the card itself.
True, but the fact that it enables so many ridiculous things is pretty telling. It's like, sure I can use a shotgun as a bludgeoning instrument, but that doesn't make it not a shotgun.
Shortly before Serra died, she transferred her spark into an angel whose full name was Asha Avacyn Bolas. Her dragon father groomed her for her positions in Alara and Innistrad, and she's also been getting help from her uncle Ugin in the form of Urza, who was resurrected as Marit Lage to be the avatar as which she projects herself into material realms. Grieslbrand is a split personality who sometimes wanders the planes disguised as a human woman named Liliana Vess.
Everyone's life would be easier if players would, instead of coming to the 'net for help with a deck, just netdeck and be done with it. And I'm not talking about some Top 8 lists, for the Casualists, too, can benefit from netdecking. I've netdecked plenty of decks from the Casual Play forums from users such as Mown, Raedien, Floopfoot, and a few others. I snatched straight the heck out of my web browser. Yes, people, your original idea fell victim to a savage netdecker. You have been assimiliated.
Suppose I wanted a Zombie deck. Why on earth would I spend time searching Gatherer for a decent list of Zombie cards when Raedien already did it for me? Taking time to be creative or waiting on people on the forums to tell you why your deck sucks or 'go to Casual forums' is a disasterous waste of time (to me).
That being said, Magic was ruined back in Alpha when they added all that rules and cards [Debutantes avert your eyes]. My friends and I still like playing it the "pure" way (Basically we go into the woods and hit eachother with wiffle bats while shouting made up obscenities. You know, the way Garfield wanted it to be played).
Don't worry about it. I've come up with a list of changes to fix EDH.
-First off, there's no commander. -The minimum deck size is 60 cards, and each deck can have up to four of each card, save basic lands and relentless rats. Also decks have no color identity. -Starting life total is 20.
Here's a clever play you can try yourself: -Convince friend to run relentless rats.dec in legacy tournament -Get a deck with lots of mill, yixlid jailer, and humility -Drop humility and jailer, wait for him to dump his hand, mill him out -All his rats now have no abilities. Call a judge because he's playing an illegal deck with more than 4 of a single card. -Get him/her banned from competitive magic play
L, is for the leather gloves you weaaaar. O, is for the organs that guy could spaaaare. V, is very very, extraordinay. E, is for every vagrant i butchered in a wine cellar befooooore.
The outer layer of the Magic: the Gathering box, the carton, or crust, is fairly thin and light, and contains largely aluminosilcates.
Within that lies the middle layer, consisting of the familiar booster pack. Although solid, the booster packs' high temperatures allow them to acutally move around within the booster box. This flow, sometimes called convection, is cited by frustrated box mappers as one of WOTC's most genious uses of thermodynamics since the Ravnica block.
No one knows what lies at the core of the booster box, but scientists theorize that it must be especially dense in order to make up for the large amount of fluff distributed amongst the booster packs.
I imagine [Ajani 3's] second ability involves him hurling the creature at your opponent Brion Stoutarm style, then the guy is just like "Okay, that may have worked, but don't- GOD DAMN IT!" as he does it again because cats don't give a **** :33.
Its like that one time Elves broke out in a field of Jund. Elves became a resurgent hit, then died off again once Jund adapted to the rest of the field of G/W that it required mass removal that inherently pooped on Elves too.
Submit to the menace. Delver can, and will blot out the sun.
"I remember my days as a youth at Tolarian Academy ." "Wow, small multiverse, I actually went there too." "WAIT, DON'T- Well ****, there's $200,000 in student loans well spent."
And flavor goes out the window when you cast a second copy of a planeswalker right after the first one dies, so...
"Hey Nissa, I need a favor." "You just asked me for a 'favor' like thirty seconds ago, and it turned out to be having Sarkhan Transmogrify my only follower into a dragon like 5 times -which dickery aside also violates some laws of causality - and then you let me get beaten over the head by that hedron crab." "...I'll give you " "...Well all right then."
GM, I don't think Dill is better than you. I KNOW it. Even if he wakes up every morning, clubs a baby seal, steals all the TV remotes from within a block's radius of his house and then robs hungry orphans of their food he'd be better than you, for the simple reason that he learns from his mistakes.
What would they have to fight about? Like, all I can think of now is Gideon going "Hey, long-ears! I'm gathering a group of 'Walkers together to fight some tentacle monsters.....you want in?" and Tamiyo going "Ew! Hentai no bakka Gideon-desu desu!" and flying away.
I open 4 packs just to be on the safe side. Not only do I get more cards than everyone else, but I also get to spend the rest of the night off. Win Win.
MaRo has a thing for people opening boosters with bad cards. But since he can only get so many bad cards printed in each set, he has found a devious way of getting more bad cards into circulation: He makes entire print sheets with just bad rares, then puts them onto the assembly line. He proceeds to wring his hands and twirl his evil mustache that he grew for twirling purposes as a lightning bolt strikes in the background. Afterwards, he goes to make sure that the good cards are only opened by everyone's friends, and that we all only get to open bad cards. He does this by memorising each booster, than switching them around accordingly. Whenever someone complains about a card, he immediately jumps out from behind a chair to yell "WELL, IT'S NOT FOR YOU!" before merging back into the shadows in order to devise new ways in which he can screw over players, then claim that he has valid reasons for doing so.
Mark Rosewater is sitting in a seemingly innocuous cable TV van, outside of Bankaimastery's house. Sitting nearby are two hardened criminal hackers, fresh out of prison, and filled with resentment at their lack of physical fitness. "Have you managed to hack his brainwaves yet? The set deadline's coming up fast." "We're almost through. It should be coming up on the screen any second." The hacker presses a button, and Kevin's thoughts flash onto the screen. Mark and the hackers stare in amazement at the sheer beauty, the elegance, and the raw truth of what they see. It's like the ending to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Brilliant light shines across the screen, the truth of existence is made clear to them, and they despair at their own foolishness, their own ignorance, their own inadequacy. And then they steal his ideas. As they return back to R&D, Mark sneers at a haggard old man chained to a cast-iron sphere. The man looks up from his laborious task of breaking rocks in the dungeon of Wizards of the Coast headquarters, and asks a question: "Kevin, my greatest student. He - he's all right, isn't he? You didn't hurt him?" Mark deals him a weighty blow with his boot. "Know your place, Richard. Get back to work."
I'm only opposed to it because it bears so little relation to how people actually play the game. The example of Miracles is actually a much better one then the Clone example I was trying to use.
From the game's perspective, the card can move instantly from face down in the library to revealed in the hand and that's fine for the rules. But in real life, we can't actually do that, so the card spends a good bit of time in locations that are neither where that player's library is nor where that player's hand is. And that's fine for real life. What I don't want is the disconnect to be explicitly codified. Along the lines of
183664.697 A game of Magic as laid out by these rules exists only as a pure Platonic ideal, utterly unrealizable by fallible mortals limited by the confines of physicality and the ravages of evil and sin.
183664.698 The cake is a lie, too.
I know it's true, but I don't want the rules to actually straight-up tell me that.
Pfft this cant be serious can it? If it is please delete your account OP. Its not even close to ban worthy, considering what JTMS and stoneforge had to accomplish to get banned i see the WotC selling magic to aquire Pokemon before that ever happens.
I'm trying to imagine sorin markov as a gym leader in one of those pokemon games which you have to beat him to get his badge... somehow I imagine that he would stab you in the chest with his sword before giving you the badge, even if you beat his pokemon....
Personally, I'd be fine with tea time but then I'm not gonna waste the mana summoning Emrakul, the Aeons Torn . He always takes all the sugar, drinks the whole pot of Earl Grey and doesn't even say thank you. SO. RUDE.
Break the Card is a regular thread in the Cards and Combo Forum. Quite simply, the participants are given a Johnnystatic card (e.g. Xenograft ) and are asked to build a deck around it. The winner and honorable mentions are sigged below. Get brewing!
This week's Break the Card was based around Xenograft . Thread : http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/27681049/Break_the_card_:_Xenograft?pg=1
Winner : Axterix with his Vampdrazi deck. Finalist : Vektor480 with his Ally/Golem/Plant deck. Honorable mentions : Zammm for the Turntimber Ranger combo and TinGorilla for suggesting Sarkhan the Mad .
Here's the link to the Mindlock Orb contest : http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/27697565/Break_the_Card_:_Mindlock_Orb?sdb=1&pg=last#497536269
Here's the link to Break the Card : Bludgeon Brawl : http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/27715169/Break_the_Card_:_Bludgeon_Brawl?sdb=1&pg=last#498208797
Winner : Vektor and his Grab the World deck. Finalist : Crandor with his Awesome Aliteration deck. Honorable mentions : RP Jesus with his Wat deck and Zix200 with his Signet Renewal deck.
This week was Followed Footsteps : http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/27748677/Break_the_Card_:_Followed_Footsteps?pg=1
Winner : Tevish_Szat with his Exponential Growth deck. Honorable mentions : Zix with his Carbon Copies deck and Escef with his Fungus of Speed and Time deck.
This week's card was Jace's Archivist : http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/28063377/Break_the_Card_:_Jaces_Archivist.
Finalists : Jentaru with his "Consecration of the Draw" deck and HereticSmitty with his "ADHD: The deck" deck. Winner : JaxsonBateman with his "The Archives Are Endless!" deck.
She shuddered and closed the coat closer to her. This is a bit awkward... maybe "drew the coat closer around her" or "pulled the coat more snugly around her" or something like that? The chilly air of the Stensia swamps seeped through every crack she didn’t cover. By Avacyn, the humidity!
“We should set camp”, she shouted over the wind. “Sleep a bit and continue when it’s warmer. A fire would be perfect right now.”
“Would it?” calmly said the man a few paces ahead of her. “Do you know how close we are ofto the Falkenrath manor?”
“A few leagues at best”, she agreed. “Vampires don’t trouble me.”
“They don’t, now, do they?”
“Avacyn protects me!” she protested.
“You mean that bauble you bought at Thraben’s market?” he smirked. “Right. Avacyn’s power came back, but I’m sure it doesn’t flow through a bit of wood carved in her ‘effigy’.” Nice way of telling us when the story is set
“Don’t talk like that.”
She had tried to sound assured, maybe even commanding. She failed. Her voice had trailed off. This man... He had no problem talking about Avacyn like it was some sort of animal released recently. He would blaspheme every now and then, apparently without really thinking about it. He was... Well, she didn’t know who he was. She had met him a few villages back, just before entering Stensia. He had offered to walk alongside her. She was a simple priest, with no experience in traveling. She had only recently begun to wander the countryside to protect the citizens, and even with the holy power of Avacyn watching over her, she had been mugged more than once by simple men who hadn’t have enough to eat in the last few weeks.
It was enough so that a lonely woman who encountered a handsome man with a long claymore at his side would let herself be protected by what looked like a valiant knight. Now, with the dim lighting of their torches reflecting on the pools of dirt in which they were traveling, his long, white hairs made him look more like a geist than a knight. After all, he was all clad in black.
“What’s your name anyway?” she asked.
“Sorin”, he simply answered.
Very informative.
“Sorin who?”
“Let’s just say my family has no bearing on this journey and leave it at that, priestess.” Ahaha. Hah.
Right. Like he ever asked her name.
“We stop here for the night”, she decided firmly. “Continue on if you want, Avacyn will protect me.”
Why was he smirking like that?
“If Her Holiness insists, there’s a patch of dry grounds over there”, he bowed.
She hadn’t decided yet if the bows were genuine or if he was pulling her leg. Avacyn taught that one should always give the benefit of doubt. It was becoming incredibly difficult to have any doubt, though.
Still, he helped her plant their tents and drew some symbols here and there. She prayed to Avacyn for protection and a calm night. Then, they parted in their respective tents and went to sleep.
She awoke to the sensation of cold steel on her throat. A knife was firmly placed under her chin. Her muscles tensed immediately. The pale face of her journey companion was incher from her own, his long white hairs falling on each side of her head. He had that terrifying smirk over his face, like he was about to eat her.
Which, on Innistrad, wasn’t excluded from the possibilities.
She trembled softly, fear clogging up her senses. He slowly slid the edge of the knife across her throat and under the Holy Angel’s necklace. Then, with one swift movement, he cut it loose from her neck.
“I guess it wasn’t Darksteel”, he muttered with a mischievous grin. Oh Sorin, you incredible ass.
He got up on his feet and looked at her from above.
“Next time you think such a bauble is worth two silvers, remember the value of something that would really protect you from harm”, he calmly said, sheathing his knife. “Nothing will stop vampires from going at your throat except a good blade or a ward you cast yourself.”
She should have said something, but she could find the nerve to protest before he was gone. Who was that man? Why was he traveling with her? And by Avacyn, how did he get through the wards she did cast around her tent?
---
“Rough night?” he asked.
She sighed. Even after what he did last night, he had yet to apologize for the fear he gave her. He was casually leaning against a bog tree while she paused a bit. No matter how far they walked, he always seemed to be full of energy. How did we do that? Maybe she needed some more exercise. Studying holy books doesn’t help your endurance, that’s for sure.
“You know, normal people would apologize right now”, she snapped.
“Doesn’t Avacyn teach the utmost control over your primal emotions such as fear or frustration?”
He was provoking her.
“You don’t have the slightest idea”, she simply answered.
“Don't I? ‘And it shall be that forever, humans shall be freed of pain, fear and doubt. Revel in my Holy Name, as it shall be. Under my watchful gaze, none shall fear the dark, none shall fear the unknown, for I am Avacyn, and you are of my flock’”, he recited.
Who was he?
“That verse doesn’t mean that we should strive to control our fear, just that Avacyn is watching over us.”
“Does it?” he smirked. “Well, you know better than I. Can we go?”
The more she knew about that man, the more she knew she didn’t know. Or something like that.
“You never told me where you were going”, she noted when they were on their way.
“I’m going there”, he pointed before them. “Why ask?”
“Why don’t you ever give an intelligent answer?” she snapped again.
“Why don’t you ever ask an intelligent question?” he answered back. “You could have asked many things. Where I’m going is completely irrelevant to you. If I intend to kill you would be a start. How I know so much about Avacyn would also be interesting. How about my capacities? You priests never ask the important things and always expect people to answer everything.”
She didn’t like where the conversation was going.
“Do you intend to kill me?”
“No.”
“How do you know so much about Avacyn?”
“Av and I go way back”, he casually threw over his shoulder.
“Stop blaspheming!” she shouted. “Stop that!”
“And stop shouting, foolish girl”, he snapped back.
His voice was suddenly deep and powerful. She stopped instantly, surprised. Not once in their journey had he used that voice. A dark voice ripped with power that she knew he had imbedded magic upon.
But as much as she didn’t want it to be true, he was right : shouting in the middle of Stensia wasn’t the brightest idea she ever had. They both listened to the rustling of the leaves and the sound of water being tossed aside as someone, something was coming towards them. She muttered the incantation for a protective ward and prepared for combat. If those Falkenrath wanted blood, she’d feed them their own.
Much to her relief, she saw a Wolfir come out of the bushes. Tall like one and a half men, his fur white as snow, he was coming to verify the source of those shouts. Sorin seemed displeased with the sudden appearance, but more mildly annoyed than anything else.
“Sir Wolfir”, he saluted with a quick bow of his head.
The creature stopped a few feet before him and glanced at him. They looked at each other for a moment. The beast sniffed the air without a glance for her.
Then suddenly, it happened. The beast threw a paw at Sorin’s head. It happened so fast it blurred. It looked like the paw had gone through Sorin’s head unimpeded, but when she looked again, she realized that the arm of the Wolfir was laying in an increasing pool of blood a few paces from them and that Sorin held his claymore in his hand.
It was simply impossible. Nobody moved that fast.
Under her eyes, the arm withered. The great beast looked at it with a surprised look. Sorin then calmly put a hand on its chest and threw a powerful rot spell. Before she could protest, she saw the bones under the fur, the heart beating and the lungs rotting. A macabre vision that would be imprinted in her mind for the rest of her life.
Though it may not be that long before the end came.
There was only a rotten corpse left where there once stood a mighty beast. Sorin sheathed his sword and gave her an amused glance. She knew who he was, now, and he knew it. She couldn’t believe it, but it was him. Sorin Markov, the heir of the great vampire family. One of the most powerful vampires of Innistrad. The pale face, the unnatural strength, the name... all fell in place.
“Let’s go, shall we?” he smirked. “After all, I have a rendezvous with my grandfather I wouldn’t miss for this world, and you’re invited.”
‘May Avacyn have mercy on your soul at the darkest hour, for you are of her flock. May her light reach you from the darkest reaches of hell to the highest spires of the heavens. When all is dire, look at her and pray, for she answers. Call upon her name and do not falter. When the cloud part and the Holy Angel descend upon you, then you shall be saved and bask in Her Holy Glory forever.’ I'm unclear on just who is speaking here... Is this just supposed to be an epigraph?
I liked what is there, although the viewpoint character is, well, almost supernaturally stupid. Like daaaaamn is she dumb. Some of that might just be the construction of certain things--like, I guess you're assuming Sorin is a common name on Innistrad still, but with nothing to indicate that it comes as a surprise that she knows who Sorin Markov is and doesn't, y'know, think "hey, maybe this guy with pale skin and black eyes might be THAT Sorin." I think you need something in there expanding on the name thing.
The other primary problem is that the story ends very abruptly. I'm not really clear on why Sorin has decided to presumably bring the priest to his grandfather when previously he seemed content just to troll her. There's just no benefit to him to killing her. I just feel like there should be something morethere.
I think the best parts are probably the moments where Sorin makes comments the reader understands but the priest doesn't--especially any of the overtly Planeswalkerish comments. And as far as vampire stories go, you're definitely hitting all the important points. So, I think for a first attempt you're doing good work. It just needs a bit more plausibility and resolution, if that makes sense.
Hm, I should have my girlfriend read this... she's a vampire story specialist of sorts. :P
The first paragraph describes her as a priest but Sorin later calls her a priestess. Consistency is good, unless you were going for "Sorin looks down on her because she's a woman" kind of thing.
As soon as it was said that Sorin's skin was pale, it completely took me out of the narrative. I simply cannot believe that a trained priestess would not recognize an unglamored vampire when she saw one.
I'm not going to call you out on whether or not Sorin's name is famous, because we simply don't know if it is or not. Markov most certainly is though.
As soon as it was said that Sorin's skin was pale, it completely took me out of the narrative. I simply cannot believe that a trained priestess would not recognize an unglamored vampire when she saw one.
Yeah, this kind of thing was my main problem. Like I said, she just came off as almost supernaturally dumb and oblivious, and I feel like you just don't even survive to read wander-around-the-woods-with-strange-pale-dudes age on Innistrad with that mentality.
Heh. Sorin is not so known around Innistrad, since he's often away, no? I may be mistaken, but I didn't think that a simple "Sorin" would be enough to tip anyone off. There must be a couple of those around. The pale skin... well she sure is stupid.
The feeling I wanted to get off was that of a young and naive priestess that got spun in a lie by Sorin, who simply brought food to the metting table, if you know what I mean. Maybe I overdid it. Ah hell.
And yes, it's supposed to be an epigraph. I was afraid it wouldn't be clear. A quote from Avacyn's teaching that failed the priestess.
Every comment on the language I completely agree. Typo for priest and the rest is a consequence of me not being a native speaker.
Thanks for the comments, guys, I really appreciate it.
Yeah... Until next game, where it'll be right back.
Seriously, there's no way to deal with Rancor in any format. It should be banned, except Gleemax is a lobbyist for the Rancor party, so that'll never happen.
You can't ban rancor, it just returns to your deck.
You might want to actually talk to the Flavor & Storyline Board people... since, you know, our whole reason for playing Magic is the flavor. I'm willing to bet you'll get a lot more interest there than in General.
Indeed, both posters down there would be thrilled.
When talks about banning Jace first started, I was thinking that I would see him banned come June 20th. But as I think more about it, I don't really think that Jace is the problem anymore. Sure his power level leaves very little to the imagination (opening Jace is like opening a refrigerator box with a naked girl on the inside), and sure his price does have a strong impact on what players choose to play (playing Jace is like being intimate with a woman and she doesn't charge you in the morning), but it is not the source of all the problems in Standard.
How do people think saving room to print more abilities on cards is dumbing down the game?
Do you really think, say, Akroma would ever be printed if she said, "Akroma can block by creatures with this ability and cannot be blocked by creatures without this ability. If a creature without this ability would deal combat damage by Akroma would be destroyed, prevent all combat damage that creature would deal to Akroma this combat. Attacking does not cause Akroma to tap. If Akroma is blocked and deals lethal damage, it deals the remainder of its damage to the defending player. Akroma may attack and use abilities that require tapping in the casting cost the turn it enters the battlefield. Akroma cannot be damaged, enchanted, equipped, blocked or targeted by black or red sources" rather than her "dumbed down" wording she has? No freaking way. Keywording and shorthand allows them to make complicated cards easy to play with, allowing them to be printed in the first place.
1. cast frankie peanuts 2. ask opponent "will you concede the game this turn"? if they say yes, you win; if they say no, play a staying power 3. subsequently ask "will you attack this turn"? and "will you cast a spell this turn"? (using a Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir for the second question if necessary) to ensure they can't disrupt the combo 4. donate them a platinum angel 5. play a mox lotus and braingeyser them for every card in their library. play an opalescence and donate them a glorious anthem and a blacker lotus , then play enchanted evening . play and activate a mindslaver and then donate them a fastbond and the mox lotus (returning one of the donates to your hand with eternal witness or whatever) 6. during their turn, play every permanent in their hand (playing lands with fastbond) then (as yourself) cast mirrorweave on the blacker lotus, so every permanent becomes a copy of it. proceed to tear up every card they control, and hopefully do it before they notice that they aren't bound by staying power's ability anymore and can concede
Dark Ritual being overpowered is determined more by what is done with it than the card itself.
True, but the fact that it enables so many ridiculous things is pretty telling. It's like, sure I can use a shotgun as a bludgeoning instrument, but that doesn't make it not a shotgun.
Shortly before Serra died, she transferred her spark into an angel whose full name was Asha Avacyn Bolas. Her dragon father groomed her for her positions in Alara and Innistrad, and she's also been getting help from her uncle Ugin in the form of Urza, who was resurrected as Marit Lage to be the avatar as which she projects herself into material realms. Grieslbrand is a split personality who sometimes wanders the planes disguised as a human woman named Liliana Vess.
Everyone's life would be easier if players would, instead of coming to the 'net for help with a deck, just netdeck and be done with it. And I'm not talking about some Top 8 lists, for the Casualists, too, can benefit from netdecking. I've netdecked plenty of decks from the Casual Play forums from users such as Mown, Raedien, Floopfoot, and a few others. I snatched straight the heck out of my web browser. Yes, people, your original idea fell victim to a savage netdecker. You have been assimiliated.
Suppose I wanted a Zombie deck. Why on earth would I spend time searching Gatherer for a decent list of Zombie cards when Raedien already did it for me? Taking time to be creative or waiting on people on the forums to tell you why your deck sucks or 'go to Casual forums' is a disasterous waste of time (to me).
That being said, Magic was ruined back in Alpha when they added all that rules and cards [Debutantes avert your eyes]. My friends and I still like playing it the "pure" way (Basically we go into the woods and hit eachother with wiffle bats while shouting made up obscenities. You know, the way Garfield wanted it to be played).
Don't worry about it. I've come up with a list of changes to fix EDH.
-First off, there's no commander. -The minimum deck size is 60 cards, and each deck can have up to four of each card, save basic lands and relentless rats. Also decks have no color identity. -Starting life total is 20.
Here's a clever play you can try yourself: -Convince friend to run relentless rats.dec in legacy tournament -Get a deck with lots of mill, yixlid jailer, and humility -Drop humility and jailer, wait for him to dump his hand, mill him out -All his rats now have no abilities. Call a judge because he's playing an illegal deck with more than 4 of a single card. -Get him/her banned from competitive magic play
L, is for the leather gloves you weaaaar. O, is for the organs that guy could spaaaare. V, is very very, extraordinay. E, is for every vagrant i butchered in a wine cellar befooooore.
The outer layer of the Magic: the Gathering box, the carton, or crust, is fairly thin and light, and contains largely aluminosilcates.
Within that lies the middle layer, consisting of the familiar booster pack. Although solid, the booster packs' high temperatures allow them to acutally move around within the booster box. This flow, sometimes called convection, is cited by frustrated box mappers as one of WOTC's most genious uses of thermodynamics since the Ravnica block.
No one knows what lies at the core of the booster box, but scientists theorize that it must be especially dense in order to make up for the large amount of fluff distributed amongst the booster packs.
I imagine [Ajani 3's] second ability involves him hurling the creature at your opponent Brion Stoutarm style, then the guy is just like "Okay, that may have worked, but don't- GOD DAMN IT!" as he does it again because cats don't give a **** :33.
Its like that one time Elves broke out in a field of Jund. Elves became a resurgent hit, then died off again once Jund adapted to the rest of the field of G/W that it required mass removal that inherently pooped on Elves too.
Submit to the menace. Delver can, and will blot out the sun.
"I remember my days as a youth at Tolarian Academy ." "Wow, small multiverse, I actually went there too." "WAIT, DON'T- Well ****, there's $200,000 in student loans well spent."
And flavor goes out the window when you cast a second copy of a planeswalker right after the first one dies, so...
"Hey Nissa, I need a favor." "You just asked me for a 'favor' like thirty seconds ago, and it turned out to be having Sarkhan Transmogrify my only follower into a dragon like 5 times -which dickery aside also violates some laws of causality - and then you let me get beaten over the head by that hedron crab." "...I'll give you " "...Well all right then."
GM, I don't think Dill is better than you. I KNOW it. Even if he wakes up every morning, clubs a baby seal, steals all the TV remotes from within a block's radius of his house and then robs hungry orphans of their food he'd be better than you, for the simple reason that he learns from his mistakes.
What would they have to fight about? Like, all I can think of now is Gideon going "Hey, long-ears! I'm gathering a group of 'Walkers together to fight some tentacle monsters.....you want in?" and Tamiyo going "Ew! Hentai no bakka Gideon-desu desu!" and flying away.
I open 4 packs just to be on the safe side. Not only do I get more cards than everyone else, but I also get to spend the rest of the night off. Win Win.
MaRo has a thing for people opening boosters with bad cards. But since he can only get so many bad cards printed in each set, he has found a devious way of getting more bad cards into circulation: He makes entire print sheets with just bad rares, then puts them onto the assembly line. He proceeds to wring his hands and twirl his evil mustache that he grew for twirling purposes as a lightning bolt strikes in the background. Afterwards, he goes to make sure that the good cards are only opened by everyone's friends, and that we all only get to open bad cards. He does this by memorising each booster, than switching them around accordingly. Whenever someone complains about a card, he immediately jumps out from behind a chair to yell "WELL, IT'S NOT FOR YOU!" before merging back into the shadows in order to devise new ways in which he can screw over players, then claim that he has valid reasons for doing so.
Mark Rosewater is sitting in a seemingly innocuous cable TV van, outside of Bankaimastery's house. Sitting nearby are two hardened criminal hackers, fresh out of prison, and filled with resentment at their lack of physical fitness. "Have you managed to hack his brainwaves yet? The set deadline's coming up fast." "We're almost through. It should be coming up on the screen any second." The hacker presses a button, and Kevin's thoughts flash onto the screen. Mark and the hackers stare in amazement at the sheer beauty, the elegance, and the raw truth of what they see. It's like the ending to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Brilliant light shines across the screen, the truth of existence is made clear to them, and they despair at their own foolishness, their own ignorance, their own inadequacy. And then they steal his ideas. As they return back to R&D, Mark sneers at a haggard old man chained to a cast-iron sphere. The man looks up from his laborious task of breaking rocks in the dungeon of Wizards of the Coast headquarters, and asks a question: "Kevin, my greatest student. He - he's all right, isn't he? You didn't hurt him?" Mark deals him a weighty blow with his boot. "Know your place, Richard. Get back to work."
I'm only opposed to it because it bears so little relation to how people actually play the game. The example of Miracles is actually a much better one then the Clone example I was trying to use.
From the game's perspective, the card can move instantly from face down in the library to revealed in the hand and that's fine for the rules. But in real life, we can't actually do that, so the card spends a good bit of time in locations that are neither where that player's library is nor where that player's hand is. And that's fine for real life. What I don't want is the disconnect to be explicitly codified. Along the lines of
183664.697 A game of Magic as laid out by these rules exists only as a pure Platonic ideal, utterly unrealizable by fallible mortals limited by the confines of physicality and the ravages of evil and sin.
183664.698 The cake is a lie, too.
I know it's true, but I don't want the rules to actually straight-up tell me that.
Pfft this cant be serious can it? If it is please delete your account OP. Its not even close to ban worthy, considering what JTMS and stoneforge had to accomplish to get banned i see the WotC selling magic to aquire Pokemon before that ever happens.
I'm trying to imagine sorin markov as a gym leader in one of those pokemon games which you have to beat him to get his badge... somehow I imagine that he would stab you in the chest with his sword before giving you the badge, even if you beat his pokemon....
Personally, I'd be fine with tea time but then I'm not gonna waste the mana summoning Emrakul, the Aeons Torn . He always takes all the sugar, drinks the whole pot of Earl Grey and doesn't even say thank you. SO. RUDE.
Break the Card is a regular thread in the Cards and Combo Forum. Quite simply, the participants are given a Johnnystatic card (e.g. Xenograft ) and are asked to build a deck around it. The winner and honorable mentions are sigged below. Get brewing!
This week's Break the Card was based around Xenograft . Thread : http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/27681049/Break_the_card_:_Xenograft?pg=1
Winner : Axterix with his Vampdrazi deck. Finalist : Vektor480 with his Ally/Golem/Plant deck. Honorable mentions : Zammm for the Turntimber Ranger combo and TinGorilla for suggesting Sarkhan the Mad .
Here's the link to the Mindlock Orb contest : http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/27697565/Break_the_Card_:_Mindlock_Orb?sdb=1&pg=last#497536269
Here's the link to Break the Card : Bludgeon Brawl : http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/27715169/Break_the_Card_:_Bludgeon_Brawl?sdb=1&pg=last#498208797
Winner : Vektor and his Grab the World deck. Finalist : Crandor with his Awesome Aliteration deck. Honorable mentions : RP Jesus with his Wat deck and Zix200 with his Signet Renewal deck.
This week was Followed Footsteps : http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/27748677/Break_the_Card_:_Followed_Footsteps?pg=1
Winner : Tevish_Szat with his Exponential Growth deck. Honorable mentions : Zix with his Carbon Copies deck and Escef with his Fungus of Speed and Time deck.
This week's card was Jace's Archivist : http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/28063377/Break_the_Card_:_Jaces_Archivist.
Finalists : Jentaru with his "Consecration of the Draw" deck and HereticSmitty with his "ADHD: The deck" deck. Winner : JaxsonBateman with his "The Archives Are Endless!" deck.
As soon as it was said that Sorin's skin was pale, it completely took me out of the narrative. I simply cannot believe that a trained priestess would not recognize an unglamored vampire when she saw one.
Yeah, this kind of thing was my main problem. Like I said, she just came off as almost supernaturally dumb and oblivious, and I feel like you just don't even survive to read wander-around-the-woods-with-strange-pale-dudes age on Innistrad with that mentality.
I don't know if him just being pale would be enough of a tip off, really. Stensia is described as being very rough and mountainous, often with over cast skies. I can't really see it as being the place to go and get a tan. My real biggest problem was him calling out darksteel. In the comics, Sorin tore Dack a new one over the very idea of explaining planeswalkers to mundanes, so I cannot see him just randomly flashing bits of knowledge like that at strangers. Teasing them about having visited far off lands and strange cultures, sure, but not actually presenting them with something he might then have to explain. Its not a big concern though; you would have to read the comics to pick up on that.
What are catpoints? A way of measuring how much I love you. How do I get catpoints? 1: participate in my forum games/contests. 2: make awesome posts. 3: destroy Carthage. What can I do with catpoints? You can ask favors of me. I may or may not agree to your favor, depending on how big the favor is and how many catpoints you have. Who has how many catpoints? shadowchu: 100 Islands: 100 Niche: 50 mrindigo: 50 kips: 50 Rstnme: 25 Jman: 25 everyone else: 0 Keeperofmanynames: -100 Morgothra: -100
My real biggest problem was him calling out darksteel. In the comics, Sorin tore Dack a new one over the very idea of explaining planeswalkers to mundanes, so I cannot see him just randomly flashing bits of knowledge like that at strangers. Teasing them about having visited far off lands and strange cultures, sure, but not actually presenting them with something he might then have to explain. Its not a big concern though; you would have to read the comics to pick up on that.
What? That one slipped completely by me Never read the comics.
Yeah... Until next game, where it'll be right back.
Seriously, there's no way to deal with Rancor in any format. It should be banned, except Gleemax is a lobbyist for the Rancor party, so that'll never happen.
You can't ban rancor, it just returns to your deck.
You might want to actually talk to the Flavor & Storyline Board people... since, you know, our whole reason for playing Magic is the flavor. I'm willing to bet you'll get a lot more interest there than in General.
Indeed, both posters down there would be thrilled.
When talks about banning Jace first started, I was thinking that I would see him banned come June 20th. But as I think more about it, I don't really think that Jace is the problem anymore. Sure his power level leaves very little to the imagination (opening Jace is like opening a refrigerator box with a naked girl on the inside), and sure his price does have a strong impact on what players choose to play (playing Jace is like being intimate with a woman and she doesn't charge you in the morning), but it is not the source of all the problems in Standard.
How do people think saving room to print more abilities on cards is dumbing down the game?
Do you really think, say, Akroma would ever be printed if she said, "Akroma can block by creatures with this ability and cannot be blocked by creatures without this ability. If a creature without this ability would deal combat damage by Akroma would be destroyed, prevent all combat damage that creature would deal to Akroma this combat. Attacking does not cause Akroma to tap. If Akroma is blocked and deals lethal damage, it deals the remainder of its damage to the defending player. Akroma may attack and use abilities that require tapping in the casting cost the turn it enters the battlefield. Akroma cannot be damaged, enchanted, equipped, blocked or targeted by black or red sources" rather than her "dumbed down" wording she has? No freaking way. Keywording and shorthand allows them to make complicated cards easy to play with, allowing them to be printed in the first place.
1. cast frankie peanuts 2. ask opponent "will you concede the game this turn"? if they say yes, you win; if they say no, play a staying power 3. subsequently ask "will you attack this turn"? and "will you cast a spell this turn"? (using a Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir for the second question if necessary) to ensure they can't disrupt the combo 4. donate them a platinum angel 5. play a mox lotus and braingeyser them for every card in their library. play an opalescence and donate them a glorious anthem and a blacker lotus , then play enchanted evening . play and activate a mindslaver and then donate them a fastbond and the mox lotus (returning one of the donates to your hand with eternal witness or whatever) 6. during their turn, play every permanent in their hand (playing lands with fastbond) then (as yourself) cast mirrorweave on the blacker lotus, so every permanent becomes a copy of it. proceed to tear up every card they control, and hopefully do it before they notice that they aren't bound by staying power's ability anymore and can concede
Dark Ritual being overpowered is determined more by what is done with it than the card itself.
True, but the fact that it enables so many ridiculous things is pretty telling. It's like, sure I can use a shotgun as a bludgeoning instrument, but that doesn't make it not a shotgun.
Shortly before Serra died, she transferred her spark into an angel whose full name was Asha Avacyn Bolas. Her dragon father groomed her for her positions in Alara and Innistrad, and she's also been getting help from her uncle Ugin in the form of Urza, who was resurrected as Marit Lage to be the avatar as which she projects herself into material realms. Grieslbrand is a split personality who sometimes wanders the planes disguised as a human woman named Liliana Vess.
Everyone's life would be easier if players would, instead of coming to the 'net for help with a deck, just netdeck and be done with it. And I'm not talking about some Top 8 lists, for the Casualists, too, can benefit from netdecking. I've netdecked plenty of decks from the Casual Play forums from users such as Mown, Raedien, Floopfoot, and a few others. I snatched straight the heck out of my web browser. Yes, people, your original idea fell victim to a savage netdecker. You have been assimiliated.
Suppose I wanted a Zombie deck. Why on earth would I spend time searching Gatherer for a decent list of Zombie cards when Raedien already did it for me? Taking time to be creative or waiting on people on the forums to tell you why your deck sucks or 'go to Casual forums' is a disasterous waste of time (to me).
That being said, Magic was ruined back in Alpha when they added all that rules and cards [Debutantes avert your eyes]. My friends and I still like playing it the "pure" way (Basically we go into the woods and hit eachother with wiffle bats while shouting made up obscenities. You know, the way Garfield wanted it to be played).
Don't worry about it. I've come up with a list of changes to fix EDH.
-First off, there's no commander. -The minimum deck size is 60 cards, and each deck can have up to four of each card, save basic lands and relentless rats. Also decks have no color identity. -Starting life total is 20.
Here's a clever play you can try yourself: -Convince friend to run relentless rats.dec in legacy tournament -Get a deck with lots of mill, yixlid jailer, and humility -Drop humility and jailer, wait for him to dump his hand, mill him out -All his rats now have no abilities. Call a judge because he's playing an illegal deck with more than 4 of a single card. -Get him/her banned from competitive magic play
L, is for the leather gloves you weaaaar. O, is for the organs that guy could spaaaare. V, is very very, extraordinay. E, is for every vagrant i butchered in a wine cellar befooooore.
The outer layer of the Magic: the Gathering box, the carton, or crust, is fairly thin and light, and contains largely aluminosilcates.
Within that lies the middle layer, consisting of the familiar booster pack. Although solid, the booster packs' high temperatures allow them to acutally move around within the booster box. This flow, sometimes called convection, is cited by frustrated box mappers as one of WOTC's most genious uses of thermodynamics since the Ravnica block.
No one knows what lies at the core of the booster box, but scientists theorize that it must be especially dense in order to make up for the large amount of fluff distributed amongst the booster packs.
I imagine [Ajani 3's] second ability involves him hurling the creature at your opponent Brion Stoutarm style, then the guy is just like "Okay, that may have worked, but don't- GOD DAMN IT!" as he does it again because cats don't give a **** :33.
Its like that one time Elves broke out in a field of Jund. Elves became a resurgent hit, then died off again once Jund adapted to the rest of the field of G/W that it required mass removal that inherently pooped on Elves too.
Submit to the menace. Delver can, and will blot out the sun.
"I remember my days as a youth at Tolarian Academy ." "Wow, small multiverse, I actually went there too." "WAIT, DON'T- Well ****, there's $200,000 in student loans well spent."
And flavor goes out the window when you cast a second copy of a planeswalker right after the first one dies, so...
"Hey Nissa, I need a favor." "You just asked me for a 'favor' like thirty seconds ago, and it turned out to be having Sarkhan Transmogrify my only follower into a dragon like 5 times -which dickery aside also violates some laws of causality - and then you let me get beaten over the head by that hedron crab." "...I'll give you " "...Well all right then."
GM, I don't think Dill is better than you. I KNOW it. Even if he wakes up every morning, clubs a baby seal, steals all the TV remotes from within a block's radius of his house and then robs hungry orphans of their food he'd be better than you, for the simple reason that he learns from his mistakes.
What would they have to fight about? Like, all I can think of now is Gideon going "Hey, long-ears! I'm gathering a group of 'Walkers together to fight some tentacle monsters.....you want in?" and Tamiyo going "Ew! Hentai no bakka Gideon-desu desu!" and flying away.
I open 4 packs just to be on the safe side. Not only do I get more cards than everyone else, but I also get to spend the rest of the night off. Win Win.
MaRo has a thing for people opening boosters with bad cards. But since he can only get so many bad cards printed in each set, he has found a devious way of getting more bad cards into circulation: He makes entire print sheets with just bad rares, then puts them onto the assembly line. He proceeds to wring his hands and twirl his evil mustache that he grew for twirling purposes as a lightning bolt strikes in the background. Afterwards, he goes to make sure that the good cards are only opened by everyone's friends, and that we all only get to open bad cards. He does this by memorising each booster, than switching them around accordingly. Whenever someone complains about a card, he immediately jumps out from behind a chair to yell "WELL, IT'S NOT FOR YOU!" before merging back into the shadows in order to devise new ways in which he can screw over players, then claim that he has valid reasons for doing so.
Mark Rosewater is sitting in a seemingly innocuous cable TV van, outside of Bankaimastery's house. Sitting nearby are two hardened criminal hackers, fresh out of prison, and filled with resentment at their lack of physical fitness. "Have you managed to hack his brainwaves yet? The set deadline's coming up fast." "We're almost through. It should be coming up on the screen any second." The hacker presses a button, and Kevin's thoughts flash onto the screen. Mark and the hackers stare in amazement at the sheer beauty, the elegance, and the raw truth of what they see. It's like the ending to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Brilliant light shines across the screen, the truth of existence is made clear to them, and they despair at their own foolishness, their own ignorance, their own inadequacy. And then they steal his ideas. As they return back to R&D, Mark sneers at a haggard old man chained to a cast-iron sphere. The man looks up from his laborious task of breaking rocks in the dungeon of Wizards of the Coast headquarters, and asks a question: "Kevin, my greatest student. He - he's all right, isn't he? You didn't hurt him?" Mark deals him a weighty blow with his boot. "Know your place, Richard. Get back to work."
I'm only opposed to it because it bears so little relation to how people actually play the game. The example of Miracles is actually a much better one then the Clone example I was trying to use.
From the game's perspective, the card can move instantly from face down in the library to revealed in the hand and that's fine for the rules. But in real life, we can't actually do that, so the card spends a good bit of time in locations that are neither where that player's library is nor where that player's hand is. And that's fine for real life. What I don't want is the disconnect to be explicitly codified. Along the lines of
183664.697 A game of Magic as laid out by these rules exists only as a pure Platonic ideal, utterly unrealizable by fallible mortals limited by the confines of physicality and the ravages of evil and sin.
183664.698 The cake is a lie, too.
I know it's true, but I don't want the rules to actually straight-up tell me that.
Pfft this cant be serious can it? If it is please delete your account OP. Its not even close to ban worthy, considering what JTMS and stoneforge had to accomplish to get banned i see the WotC selling magic to aquire Pokemon before that ever happens.
I'm trying to imagine sorin markov as a gym leader in one of those pokemon games which you have to beat him to get his badge... somehow I imagine that he would stab you in the chest with his sword before giving you the badge, even if you beat his pokemon....
Personally, I'd be fine with tea time but then I'm not gonna waste the mana summoning Emrakul, the Aeons Torn . He always takes all the sugar, drinks the whole pot of Earl Grey and doesn't even say thank you. SO. RUDE.
Break the Card is a regular thread in the Cards and Combo Forum. Quite simply, the participants are given a Johnnystatic card (e.g. Xenograft ) and are asked to build a deck around it. The winner and honorable mentions are sigged below. Get brewing!
This week's Break the Card was based around Xenograft . Thread : http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/27681049/Break_the_card_:_Xenograft?pg=1
Winner : Axterix with his Vampdrazi deck. Finalist : Vektor480 with his Ally/Golem/Plant deck. Honorable mentions : Zammm for the Turntimber Ranger combo and TinGorilla for suggesting Sarkhan the Mad .
Here's the link to the Mindlock Orb contest : http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/27697565/Break_the_Card_:_Mindlock_Orb?sdb=1&pg=last#497536269
Here's the link to Break the Card : Bludgeon Brawl : http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/27715169/Break_the_Card_:_Bludgeon_Brawl?sdb=1&pg=last#498208797
Winner : Vektor and his Grab the World deck. Finalist : Crandor with his Awesome Aliteration deck. Honorable mentions : RP Jesus with his Wat deck and Zix200 with his Signet Renewal deck.
This week was Followed Footsteps : http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/27748677/Break_the_Card_:_Followed_Footsteps?pg=1
Winner : Tevish_Szat with his Exponential Growth deck. Honorable mentions : Zix with his Carbon Copies deck and Escef with his Fungus of Speed and Time deck.
This week's card was Jace's Archivist : http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/28063377/Break_the_Card_:_Jaces_Archivist.
Finalists : Jentaru with his "Consecration of the Draw" deck and HereticSmitty with his "ADHD: The deck" deck. Winner : JaxsonBateman with his "The Archives Are Endless!" deck.
Heh. Sorin is not so known around Innistrad, since he's often away, no? I may be mistaken, but I didn't think that a simple "Sorin" would be enough to tip anyone off. There must be a couple of those around. The pale skin... well she sure is stupid.
The vampires know of Sorin. The humans, I'm not sure. The humans don't know his connection to Avacyn (Yeah, the devil's grandson made God.), while the vampires clearly do.
: Regenerate.
Never read the comics.
