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Alucrid

Chicken Photographer
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Oct 25, 2017
11,514
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went 7-0 in my draft. with cosmos and multiverse i was able to cast alrund's epiphany every single game. augury raven's evasion is real nice. giant's amulet is good value for a 4/5 hexproof but letting you recast cosmos for one mana is insane. gates of istfell is a nice mana sink later on. didn't use glorious protector to save my board ever, but it did pretty well as a 3 mana flash blocker. counter spells are usually eh but disdainful stroke and didn't see it coming did a ton of work. wish i had another multiverse for that but i could always pilfering hawk too. people have a lot of trouble removing gods' hall and having that 3/6 vigilance out on turn 4 is so good. wish i had nabbed a cosmos charger. that would have made the deck too good though.
 
Magic Story summary - Episode 4: Into the Demons' Realm; Direction. Purpose. Honor. Glory.
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SigmasonicX

SigmasonicX

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,641
magic.wizards.com

Episode 4: Into the Demons' Realm | MAGIC: THE GATHERING

Kaya and Tyvar pursue Tibalt into the realm of the demons. Can they stop him from ushering in the end of days?

* Kaya and Tyvar go into Immersturm. This is actually the first time for him or any elf; usually the seal's too strong to open an Omenpath.
* It turns out Tyvar went to Zendikar thinking it was just one of the realms. Kaya explains being a planeswalker to him, but he isn't interested; he'd have to build up his reputation on each new world.
* They're attacked by three demons. Kaya takes down two without even using any weapons, through a lot of phasing, but she burns a hand. Tyvar takes down the other with a lava sword.
* Tyvar uses his magic to forge Kaya some new weapons, making the axes from the promo art.
* They see thousands of demons gathering; the Doomskar has already started, and there's a huge portal in the sky, made by the Sword of the Realms.

* Tibalt appears and attacks them with fire. He breaths a cloud of smoke, which places an enchantment on the two heroes to doubt themselves and want to planeswalk away. This doesn't work on Tyvar, because he never doubts himself.
* He grabs Tibalt, but he planeswalks away. Kaya says he won't be coming back, and also establishes that planeswalking takes too much energy to do it again right away. So, probably not him being tossed to the snake.
* The Doomskar is still going on. Kaya says there's nothing they can do and they should just leave, but Tyvar is aghast at this idea. He opens an Omenpath, and Kaya decides to follow after him.

magic.wizards.com

Direction. Purpose. Honor. Glory. | MAGIC: THE GATHERING

Ranar is dead, and his spirit wanders the afterlife. He joins forces with another traveler who has some very unfinished business.
* This is the story of Ranar the Ever-Watchful.
* It starts with his arrival in Istfell. He is surprised not to be in Starnheim with the worthy heroes, but he decides to prove himself in this realm. He throws his axe up, and goes in the direction it lands.
* At one point, he comes across a pair of demons transporting some living children. He kills the demons, and the children escape back to the world of the living.
* Later, he arrives at the bridge into Istfell, where he remains for several centuries.

* A teen boy noble comes to Ranar, asking for his assistance. He explains that his family tells stories of him, and how he once rescued young vassals of his family.
* The boy, Bjorn, says that he was told by augurs that his ancestors have been building a great tower in Istfell that goes all the way to Starnheim. Ranar is to accompany him on his quest; he agrees.
* They fight the Elk King and then the Crow King, spirits who built their own castles and kingdoms among the dead. Their crowns will assist in opening the way to Starnheim.
* All this while, Ranar feels more alive, even regaining some of his flesh.
* Ranar realizes that these kings are all Bjorn's kin. Desiring to go to Starnheim himself, Ranar continues accompanying the teen.

* They arrive at the tower, which indeed goes all the way up to Starnheim. However, the top is guarded by the Bear King, who is guarding Istfell from threats both inside and out.
* They defeat him, and the Bear King realizes that Bjorn is no kin of his.
* He reveals his true form as Egon, god of death. Egon opens the gate to Starnheim, but Firja, Judge of Valor is waiting there. Not even the gods are permitted into Starnheim until their time comes. Moreover, allowing Egon in would mark the realm's end.
* Firja easily smacks away his scythe, and Egon punches the ground in frustration.

* Ranar talks to Firja. She says he deserves to go to Starnheim more, but she questions his judgment in following Egon. He honestly says that he wished to break into Starnheim too.
* She tells him to continue guarding Istfell, and he agrees. She repairs his axe and instructs him to kill Egon, which he does.
* Like all denizens of Istfell, he'll regain his form in some time.
* Firja said that Egon did this before, and Ranar realizes that he did too. Firja confirms that this has been repeating for eons; though Ranar isn't present every time.
* Ranar wonders how he can protect the realm if he keeps forgetting his duty. Firja tells him he has the soul of a guardian, and he'll shape to whatever task comes to him.
* Ranar tosses his axe and wanders again.

This was a pretty interesting story.
 

Nacho

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,151
NYC
lmfao, valki is my favorite new card, not because i play that card (tho he does look fun), but playing hard dimir control with no creatures, I've gotten like 3 instant concedes today when the valki/sac player sees my hand and realizes half their cards are useless against me.
 

cdViking

Member
Oct 28, 2017
222
Still suck at draft for this format, but the sealed format is extremely fun. Power level may be a little high for the rares, but they have such varied mechanics that you feel like your sealed deck has an actual archetype (vs. everything being generic midrange). Also, Svella may be my favorite ever card to play with in a proper limited format... winning with the 8-mana tap ability is so satisfying.

edit: Also, I'm pretty sure Bloodline Pretender is either bugged or intrinsically broken. I named "Shapeshifter" as the creature type (had a Maskwood Nexus in play) and every single creature of mine that ETBed gave it a +1/+1 counter. It seemed to turn every entering creature into a shapeshifter, which was interesting.

edit 2: Disregard prior edit; there is no bug and I need to RTFC.
 
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SmokeMaxX

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,339
edit: Also, I'm pretty sure Bloodline Pretender is either bugged or intrinsically broken. I named "Shapeshifter" as the creature type (had a Maskwood Nexus in play) and every single creature of mine that ETBed gave it a +1/+1 counter. It seemed to turn every entering creature into a shapeshifter, which was interesting.
I'm confused. What's the bug? Isn't that literally what Maskwood Nexus does?
 

Nacho

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,151
NYC
Man, I'm so sad how esika is completely ruining brawl. As if 5 color goodstuff brawl commanders werent bad enough already, why not just let someone have an enchantment (whcih can't be interacted with by certain colors at all) as their commander that just lets them not worry about pesky colors or even mana at all after easily being able to get to cast her on or ahead of curve every time. What fun.

I'm truly sick of cards that are just 'hey, why don't you just not play the game, let the game play itself for you!' I'd like to play a game of magic where decisions matter instead of just watching someone solitaire their way to knocking their deck over onto the battlefield.
 
Last edited:
Oct 28, 2017
6,119
Man, I'm so sad how esika is completely ruining brawl. As if 5 color goodstuff brawl commanders werent bad enough already, why not just let someone have an enchantment (whcih can't be interacted with by certain colors at all) as their commander that just lets them not worry about pesky colors or even mana at all after easily being able to get to cast her on or ahead of curve every time. What fun.

I'm truly sick of cards that are just 'hey, why don't you just not play the game, let the game play itself for you!' I'd like to play a game of magic where decisions matter instead of just watching someone solitaire their way to knocking their deck over onto the battlefield.

I think Esika is pretty great for Commander. But yeah, Brawl she's terrible.
 

SmokeMaxX

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,339
Out of the ~10 drafts I've done, the most obnoxious card to play against is probably Koma, Cosmos Serpent. I haven't played against Starnheim Unleashed yet though.
 

Nacho

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,151
NYC
I've played against Esika god tribal in commander twice now and I'm already sick of it. It's like Golos 2.0.
Yeah man, its basically golos but you dont have to actually afford the cost of activating it. Pretty bonkers.

I can see esika being fine for an actual 4 player commander game, where 100 card deck means some actual variance and risk, and going for powerful plays puts a target on your back, but 1v1 brawl is just a waste of two peoples time.
 

Nacho

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,151
NYC
At least Golos can whiff. Last game against Esika, the guy stuck Prismatic Bridge on T3 and was archenemy until they won.
Yeah that's another good point, while unlikely, golos can at least not find anything playable in the top six cards. Esika is just like, nah dont worry about that, keep looking until you get something its all good!
 

Deleted member 87949

User requested account closure
Banned
Dec 11, 2020
145
I'm working on a browser based multiplayer vintage cube simulator. Would anyone be interested in seeing it? I've implemented about 100 cards and things like the stack, delayed triggers, auto tap.
 

Bigkrev

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,387
I want to shout out Fortell as a home run mechanic. It has great flavor AND great gameplay design
 

LSauchelli

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,036
Foretell is as good as cycling. Incredible mechanic.

Boast is also quite good, as it incentivates players to actually attack and gives you options. I hope it comes back in a future set with added depth.
 

Barrin

Member
Dec 12, 2017
255
I have a prerelease code from Kaldheim for 6 extra packs for anyone interested.

6A2DC-C35A1-0AE1D-49BCE-E1E9A
 

Poppy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,319
richmond, va
had a great ug snow deck that grinded out games to the bone in draft, punted a 20+ minute game by drawing ONE extra card i didnt need and decked myself (against an oppo who was on perfect 6 lands all spells the entire game playing stuff every turn, 10+ lands in their bottom 20 cards) and immediately became depressed then tilted off the next match and died to aggro

a learning experience

to be fair my deck was mostly just very hard to kill, i was definitely missing a bomb or good finisher, just had wurms
 

fallout

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,248
had a great ug snow deck that grinded out games to the bone in draft, punted a 20+ minute game by drawing ONE extra card i didnt need and decked myself (against an oppo who was on perfect 6 lands all spells the entire game playing stuff every turn, 10+ lands in their bottom 20 cards) and immediately became depressed then tilted off the next match and died to aggro

a learning experience

to be fair my deck was mostly just very hard to kill, i was definitely missing a bomb or good finisher, just had wurms
Yeah, I had a good sealed run going yesterday and got mana screwed in my splash colour. I could blame the shuffler, but the big mistake there was keeping a hand with 3 of the 5 black cards in my deck with zero black mana. I instantly regretted it, then it just kept getting worse. I then proceeded to lose my next 2 games making really dumb mistakes. At least I got the 4 wins in, so it wasn't that bad from a gem-loss perspective.
 
Rules updates
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SigmasonicX

SigmasonicX

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,641

Comprehensive Rules changes

107.4h This rule defines {S}, the snow mana symbol, which on cards looks like a snowflake. Prior to Kaldheim, this symbol was used exclusively to denote a cost, payable by one mana from a snow permanent. Now in the time of Kaldheim, things have changed a bit. First, we now have snow spells that...
magic.wizards.com

Oracle Changes | MAGIC: THE GATHERING

Alrund, God of the Cosmos [card]Alrund, God of the Cosmos[/card] [autocard]Alrund, God of the Cosmos[/autocard], ruler of all that is, was accidentally printed without the words "revealed this way." Taken literally, you would put all cards of the chose...

No Phyrexian type errata yet, oddly enough. MaRo was very sure it was coming.
Also, lots of recent cards getting minor formatting fixes.
 
Magic Story summary - Episode 5: The Battle for Kaldheim
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SigmasonicX

SigmasonicX

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,641
Last part of the main Kaldheim story

magic.wizards.com

Episode 5: The Battle for Kaldheim | MAGIC: THE GATHERING

The human clans attempt to defend themselves against hordes of draugr, elven armies, and rampaging giants. Good luck, human clans.
* Not much to say about this, since it's a lot of fighting.
* Kaya and Tyvar meet up with a bunch of legendary characters. Alrund, God of the Cosmos, shows up too, saying that Kaya needs to get the Sword of the Realms to Halvar, God of Battle.
* They go, but have to fight demons and draugr along the way. Tyvar had left to go convince Harald and the elves to help, and they do.
* Cosima, God of the Voyage, shows up to help too.
* Halvar gets the sword, but he'll need time to seal the tears between worlds.

* Koma shows up, and following after him are the valkyries and Niko.
* Kaya and the others kill the demon Varragoth.
* Halvar casts his spell, closing all the portals. All the invading armies are cut off from their reinforcements, but there are still enough wandering around that it'll take years to clean all this up; and the same's true of every other realm.
* Tyvar decides to go exploring other worlds after all, after seeing how much Kaya helped here. Kaya also talks to Niko briefly.
* Kaya still intends to track down Vorinclex, though she suspects he isn't restricted to Kaldheim.

* In the epilogue, Vorinclex fatally wounds Esika, God of the Tree. She is shocked this could happen. Using words seemingly stitched together from other voices, he tells her she didn't have enough hunger and fear to survive.
* He takes one of Esika's bottles and takes some of the World Tree's sap, which she used to synthesize into the potion of divinity.
* Vorinclex says, "Sample acquired. I am ready to return." A planar portal then opens, and another unearthly voice welcomes him back, saying they're another step closer to perfection.

This was a really rushed final part. Characters just appear and they fight.
 

onpoint

Neon Deity Games
Verified
Oct 26, 2017
15,184
716
Are they trying to resurrect Yawgmoth or something
Please nooooo lol I loved that arc in high school but I look back on him as a villain fairly poorly now. The power level of characters like him and Urza allowed for constant deus ex machina levels of stupidity. And there's always an element of that in fantasy, but they were just on another level.
 
Secret Lair - Black is Magic
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SigmasonicX

SigmasonicX

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,641
magic.wizards.com

Introduction to Black Is Magic | MAGIC: THE GATHERING

Jontelle Leyson-Smith introduces Secret Lair: Black Is Magic with a look forward for Wizards of the Coast.
magic.wizards.com

Designing Black Is Magic | MAGIC: THE GATHERING

Sydney Adams shares the stories, growth, and celebration that created Secret Lair: Black Is Magic.
magic.wizards.com

Black Is Magic Product Details | MAGIC: THE GATHERING

Wizards of the Coast is proud to celebrate Black History Month with Secret Lair: Black Is Magic, which celebrates and supports different expressions of Black identity.

Ys83Dds9ds.png
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Plus five more cards.
All money raised goes to Black Girls CODE
Foil: $49.99/€54.99*/£49.99*
Non-foil: $39.99/€44.99*/£39.99*
*inclusive of local VAT

Notably, they have hired a new director of diversity, Jontelle Leyson-Smith, who is Black; and who I believe is their first Black designer, Sydney Adams (who designed this Secret Lair)
 
Oct 28, 2017
6,119
Good for them! Wizards always comes off as "white men only". I hope this will help dispel that notion. They need more POC front and center.

Not a fan of the Shalai art. It's a cool piece, but it is not green at all. Kinda feels like a miss.
 
Jun 22, 2019
3,660
This is by far the best 5 color Sealed run I've ever had, lmao. The two losses I did have were super fun and satisfying too. Deck worked unexpectedly smooth as butter.

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Hjzh0Oe.png
 

Weebos

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,060
magic.wizards.com

Introduction to Black Is Magic | MAGIC: THE GATHERING

Jontelle Leyson-Smith introduces Secret Lair: Black Is Magic with a look forward for Wizards of the Coast.
magic.wizards.com

Designing Black Is Magic | MAGIC: THE GATHERING

Sydney Adams shares the stories, growth, and celebration that created Secret Lair: Black Is Magic.
magic.wizards.com

Black Is Magic Product Details | MAGIC: THE GATHERING

Wizards of the Coast is proud to celebrate Black History Month with Secret Lair: Black Is Magic, which celebrates and supports different expressions of Black identity.

snipsnip

Plus five more cards.
All money raised goes to Black Girls CODE
Foil: $49.99/€54.99*/£49.99*
Non-foil: $39.99/€44.99*/£39.99*
*inclusive of local VAT

Notably, they have hired a new director of diversity, Jontelle Leyson-Smith, who is Black; and who I believe is their first Black designer, Sydney Adams (who designed this Secret Lair)

Pretty good looking secret lair so far. I'll probably get this one, Black Girls CODE is supposed to be a great charity.

Good for them! Wizards always comes off as "white men only". I hope this will help dispel that notion. They need more POC front and center.

Not a fan of the Shalai art. It's a cool piece, but it is not green at all. Kinda feels like a miss.

Shalai is also technically not green at all.
 

SilentAnthem

Member
Oct 27, 2017
24
Really starting to hate limited in this set.
Seems like every game is nothing but 'whoever goes first wins' due to all the aggro/win-more cards.

*Sigh* Probably has more to do with the lackluster removal outside of red (and the fact that boast makes defensive blockers even worse than usual).
 

Nacho

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,151
NYC
Really starting to hate limited in this set.
Seems like every game is nothing but 'whoever goes first wins' due to all the aggro/win-more cards.

*Sigh* Probably has more to do with the lackluster removal outside of red (and the fact that boast makes defensive blockers even worse than usual).
Hmm, I dont know that I agree with the first sentiment, but things do tend to lean aggro from what I can tell. I actually really dig the ox because of this, on the draw, having an 0/6 is a life saver.
 

Poppy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,319
richmond, va
i think the limited is pretty good tbh

some people think it's too bomby but bombs always exist, sometimes you just get koma'd or angel'd
 
Feb 16, 2018
2,704
the 'bombs' are too common. too many at lower rarity. too many at higher rarity.

the game just doesn't handle this level of power very well
constructed is only playable because of metagaming / interacting with whatever is powerful
limited without in-pod play doesn't have any of that

the drafting part is quite fun, but the games are almost all lopsided in this set
i wouldn't mind if the games were short, but they're often not close and still take f o r e v e r to finish
 

LSauchelli

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,036
Honestly, this is the best format for draft in years. Mostly thanks to MDFC and Foretell.

I tried a few color combinations, even using White as the main color (which, according to several draft guides, its the worst color just behind Blue) and everything can work. Really fun games.
 

Deleted member 29682

User requested account closure
Banned
Nov 1, 2017
12,290
Hmm, I dont know that I agree with the first sentiment, but things do tend to lean aggro from what I can tell. I actually really dig the ox because of this, on the draw, having an 0/6 is a life saver.

I think aggro is just a safe and consistent draft archetype that does well in all early limited sets. An opponent being able to play a decent common creature on curve each turn is a hard thing to deal with if you don't draw right or get too ambitious in your draft.
 

TheYanger

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,181
collation in collector's boxes seems bunk. I got so many duplicate rares in one box, but I did get a phyrexian vorinclex so that's cool.
 

Pundere

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,053
Getting back into standard after a hiatus and boy Rogues sure is a miserable deck huh
 

Imperfected

Member
Nov 9, 2017
11,737
Rogues are the worst because 9 times out of 10 it's just Mono-Blue Tempo with a cheeky little facelift.

It's very (very) slightly less oppressive on the play but in exchange actually has a late-game plan, but you only see that in a tiny minority of games, which is unfortunate because when it actually turns into an incremental mill deck it has some mildly interesting gameplay.
 

fallout

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,248
Man, rogues playing Into the Story just kills me every time. I played around all their bullshit, I've finally got the upper han-aaaaaand they've got a full hand again.
 

Nacho

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,151
NYC
heres how to fix a lot of my least favorite matchups

ban into the story and genesis ultimatum
I know calling for bans is basically a meme, but banning genesis ultimatum I can get behind. The cats out of the bag that ramp makes a 6 cmc RRUUUGG trivially easy to cast.an easy card to cast that just spits out 6 permanents is not healthy for the game to say the least. Is the issue more ramp than genesis?yeah probably, but genesis is easier to deal with by just getting rid of it. Spells in general that just dump your library into the board are incredibly stupid in general anyway. Might as well play a random number generator with pictures of dragons and elves on it and boom you're playing the same thing.
 

Poppy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,319
richmond, va
love to flood every draft

i probably should just stick with best of one because if i'm going to lose one match to flooding every single draft i might as well do it in the format that doesnt matter anyway
 
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