I definitely think Gideon is the more powerful card, but I can’t think of a deck that sees no play but would probably be pretty good if only Gideon wasn’t in the format. However, there are tons of decks that could be tier 1.5 or even tier 1 but can’t really be format staples because the best aggro deck in the format randomly has efficient enchantment removal.
I would probably have a better opinion of Rav/Ths if it didn’t come immediately after Inn/Rav, where there was no obvious top dog at all.
HUR HUR SHE SAYS HAPPY NOW BECAUSE SHE IS TOTALLY FUCKING COOL!
This is so fucking fanfictiony it hurts. I can’t believe we went from Sisay to this.
(Yeah, Tamiyo could have still been mono-Blue, but it’s pretty much Jace’s fault that she isn’t since they doubtless didn’t want two mono-colored Planeswalkers of the same colors in block. As usual, Jace makes things worse. Who is surprised?)
I don’t know. The “happy now” is clearly sarcastic and fits with previous characterizations. It may only feel “fan-fictiony” given the Jacetice League as a whole feels forced and like poorly written fan-fiction, especially given Nissa’s unnecessary retcon to not be the Elf equivalent of a race supremacist.
I mean, it seemed pretty clear when there was no Black Oath last block that they were saving the spot for her, especially given her and Jace’s history. It’s also interesting to note that unlike the other Oath cards, you can’t see her other hand and that she doesn’t have any magic in the hand you can see; both signs that she’ll likely betray them at some point, especially given the whole “Chain Veil” thing, even though Black isn’t supposed to be always “evil”.
Anyway, I’m laughing way more at the fact that she looks like a Disney villain in these two artworks and that quite a few people are saying her new Planeswalker card is “bad” like they were actually stupid enough to expect another Liliana of Veil despite that card being stupid as fuck, even though The Last Hope is only 3cc as well and actually pretty decent, especially in Zombies.
Whatever. I’m just glad they finally made a Legendary Spider card and one that’s technically Golgari colors and pretty decent at that:
Eat your infected hearts out in jealousy, Werewolves.
I personally don’t see Blue that way. Blue is the color of progress and perfection, and because of this, Blue is the color most likely to meddle with the status quo alongside Black. Tamiyo, OTOH, cares very much for status quo. It’s as you said, Tamiyo takes things as they are. She doesn’t want to get involved in any problems and turmoils that a world may face, not because she doesn’t care, but because she feels that she could cause more harm than good by intruding on that world’s natural state. That is about as Green as anyone can get, so to me Green/Blue perfectly captures who Tamiyo is. I agree that adding White to her is arbitrary, and that her abilities on her cards are all things that Blue can do fine by itself. Otherwise, Green is clean for Tammy.
(White is arguably in Tamiyo’s second ability, but, yeah, White didn’t necessarily to be in here casting cost. Oh well. I’m far more concerned about her third/ultimate ability cost plus Double Seasoning.)
Anyway, I thinking that we were done for today, but apparently we get at least one more card today in the form of a generally worse Incinerate that is still pretty decent, especially given the current plight of burn spells in Standard:
The humorous flavor text also helps a bit.
My wet dream of building a semi viable spider tribal deck is one step closer to being fulfilled.
I actually really like the artwork of Lili here. Of course I also really like purple, and that purple dress just pops in this pic. Her abilities seem pretty boring to me though.
Progress is part of Blue in terms of artifice, but that’s a minor component to Blue’s flavor. Blue is primarily focused on knowledge, and I don’t feel that Blue needs to be involved with Green at all if it’s just watching how things unfold. If you’re only concerned with knowledge you’re not going to get involved, whether you’re watching a tree grow or Phyrexia invade. Natural and unnatural really don’t matter to a chronicler that is purely interested in observation. It’s cold and detached empiricism, it doesn’t get much more Blue than that.
Not getting involved is only a Green act if nature is chugging along the way it’s supposed to. The moment something disrupts what Green sees as natural it very much isn’t going to let that fly and jump into action. Contrast this to the Blue minded person who will just watch and chronicle no matter what happens: natural or unnatural. There is no desire to maintain any sense of balance or harmony, which are values of Green and White.
Any color can disrupt the status quo, depending on what the status quo is. In a society dominated by White values the Red minded person will rebel and resist control while the Black minded person will feel their individuality stifled. While a society dominated by Red values would see a White minded person pushing for codified predictability and the Blue minded person advocating for less emotional impulsiveness and more rational thought.
No color really has claim to the status quo. A green mage will push for change just like any other if he’s on the streets of Tolaria or gazing across the death fields of Urborg.
If someone ever wins a standard or modern tournament with a spider deck, is the day I give out free PS4s
(Please don’t quote images on the same page if you can avoid it, which you almost always can, especially if you’re just going to reply with a sentence.)
Anyway, MTG Goldfish just got to the break news on whether Zombies will actually be in a thing in Standard despite the clear GW push that WotC is going for as of late. To use overused catchphrases, “we in there!”:
In before “dies to exile effects” and before Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy’s spikes back up one last time.
I’ll believe it when I see it. The card is powerful but durdly. It might be too tempo-negative. Then again it might be a key card in some sort of value-madness strategy.
In other news I just realized that Sigarda randomly counters half of Living End. Given that she also counters Annihilator and can give some trouble to Grixis and GBx, Thrun is now out of my Modern SB and Sigarda is in.
In before isn’t there a card that states, counter target spell that targets you permanent
(I can understand the continued reservations about Zombies as far as Standards is concerned. I still have them too. Cryptbreaker is certainly a step in the right direction though, especially given how hard they’ve been pushing Green and White.)
It’s unlikely that (the reprint) Turn Aside is going to see any play this time around either, but we’ll see now that Murder is back. Otherwise I’d basically guarantee that Invasive Surgery would be used over Turn Aside in every instance, especially since Invasive Surgery can stop all of the board wipes whereas Turn Aside fails there too.
Anyway, as the cards revealed so far today go, the only ones I’m liking are Mercurial Spirits, even though that’s a generally worse Wee Dragonuts and Nivix Cyclops, and Mirrorwing Dragon. The Golgari Human Warrior didn’t need to be mythic at all and Standard is currently too aggro heavy with too much casual anti-enchantment stuff for the Blue mythic to see any play until at least Dromoka’s Command rotates if sees any non-casual play at all, which seems unlikely.
Oh well. At least reprint of Ride Down has cooler art and flavor text now.
Man these spikes on City of Traitors/Serra Sanctum and Ancient Tomb are insane. Gotta unload all the Tombs I got now.
Funny looking at a new set and only looking for cards for 2 decks(Legacy and Pauper) as appose to a entire format. Oddly Chaos Reveler is a interesting and might be one card I try out tonight as it makes Dark Ritual read add 4 and Rite of Flame add 3 and might be nice against tempo decks and Miracles just for the last effect of drawing alone but would require a change to the mana base which I’m unsure I like but does make Pulverize a option again which would be nice. I mean Sphinx of the Final Word wasn’t terrible and this is 5x better.
ya legacy is dead or already dying since all the legacy prices are skyrocketing now. Miss the days when I could get wastelands for $20, and stoneforge for $5
Some saucy fine spoilers today. Wild Mongrel 2.0. Red Treasure Cruise. A fusion dance of Death Wind and White Sun’s Zenith.
Blue’s primary goal is perfection. Knowledge is merely the means to achieve perfection. Take this quote from Mark Rosewater on the philosophy of Blue.
“Blue seeks perfection through knowledge.”
Blue is the idealist. It knows anything and everything has room to improve. Put another way, Blue always sees problems in the world and it strives to solve those problems. By that nature, Mono-Blue simply cannot gather information and stand in the sidelines as Tamiyo does; problems don’t resolve themselves after all. So when Innistrad is in peril and Tamiyo chooses to do as little as possible to help, that’s not her Blue kicking in, it’s her Green.
Tamiyo accepts that the Multiverse has a course set for it. If a world were to die, so be it. Perhaps it was simply meant to die, and saving it would only cause unforeseen consequences in other places in the multiverse. Tamiyo believes in destiny. Mono-Blue doesn’t believe in such things, though. Accepting destiny is accepting that the world is incapable of change, which is far gone from Blue’s philosophy. Of course, Mono-blue is not immune to inaction. If logic and reasoning dictates that meddling into an affair would only distract from a greater work or would complicate a situation further or would simply be too strenuous to solve, Blue is more than happy to walk away. However, Tamiyo’s reason for inaction is different. Innistrad’s turmoil to her is not a problem to be solved. It’s not even a problem at all. It just is.
As for Green and the status quo, you’re right. Maintaining the status quo isn’t solely a Green trait, nor is Green incapable of being an agent of change when the natural order has been upset too far. However, of all the colors, Green is the least movable when it is comfortable. If a peaceful society could become more peaceful, White wouldn’t hesitate. If a free tribe can quell minor arbitrary rules to become more free, Red wouldn’t hesitate. For Green, though, good enough is good enough. There’s no need to obsess over the details. Nature would eventually fix itself, and any effort would simply detract from this fix.
Sauce: http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/94613898853/hey-mark-im-a-bit-confused-on-the-actual
Trying to make a green Stasis deck for Legacy. Any ideas?
Point being, Blue is primarily focused on the acquisition of knowledge.
Not all knowledge has a ready application. Sometimes you just want to know because you want to know. There’s even an entire branch of scientific research that focuses on exactly that (fun fact, science is Latin for ‘to know’). Sure, someday someone might use that knowledge to achieve some end, but that’s not what the researcher is necessarily focused on.
Knowledge is knowledge. Sometimes it is sought for a specific cause. Sometimes it is sought for its own sake.
I don’t feel that Blue needs to seek knowledge for improvement. In fact seeking knowledge just to know sounds about as Blue as you can get. When you strive for knowledge to achieve some other end, like power, it begins inching towards other colors.
Then why was Tamiyo originally mono-blue? Because sitting on the sidelines and collecting knowledge is exactly what she did before.
Again, I absolutely disagree with you in that Blue has to be trying to solve problems. And I absolutely disagree with you that Blue cannot just sit on the sidelines and collect information.
By this logic, a Blue mage that just sits around casting card drawing spells wouldn’t be acting in accordance with Blue, because all he’s doing is sitting around acquiring knowledge.
This is a moral statement. The pursuit for knowledge in its purest sense is amoral (without morality). It just wants to know and it will use whatever is the most efficient ends is to gain said knowledge. Think GLaDOS from Portal.
What if I believe my destiny is omniscience, am I still Blue?
I don’t really think belief in destiny has anything to do with how Blue someone’s outlook is. In fact if you look at the world in regards to cause and effect in a web of interacting variables, and Blue’s ultimate goal is omniscience, you could easily argue that Blue desires to understand the destiny of everything. If I understand everything and how everything interacts, I can predict everything. It would be like a Blue mage who just arranged his entire library and knows what every draw will be.
Tamiyo would have to change a lot as a character to pick up 2 extra colors. If she was mono-blue before, what changed?
If an area could become more natural green wouldn’t hesitate? Of course it wouldn’t. There are a number of cards that imply that green can be quite proactive in actively spreading what it sees as natural.
I feel all the colors pursue what they see as perfection.
A mono color green deck of any kind is better than a mono any other color deck of any kind in most formats. Quicker and to the point. Mono red is a close second
https://twitter.com/martinshkreli/status/750872008460738560
This is hype!!
Real life Troll Luthor is probably gonna buy every Black Lotus and have a bonfire.
The Reddit thread is gold.