The Official Magic the Gathering card game Rules, Questions, and General Discussion Thread

[Selaya]

it's unbelievable exactly how much this set is getting ruined by this phoned-in, F-tier art, tbh ...
i really like the vibe otherwise; even tho there's a few other flavor fails (looking at you mr bombadil), the overall feel is pretty good

 

[Vayra86]

it's unbelievable exactly how much this set is getting ruined by this phoned-in, F-tier art, tbh ...
i really like the vibe otherwise; even tho there's a few other flavor fails (looking at you mr bombadil), the overall feel is pretty good

Yeah I am considering a draft at the LGS come release time after all. As a set on its own, could be fun, I think we just need to view it that way altogether, and ignore whatever statements about legality were made.

 

[Selaya]

well ig its time to save up to $1,000,000 to commission a fully altered version of the set (including tom bombadil's typeline)
Kappa

 

[Space Lynx]

@Vayra86 Did you check out the 30th anniversary edition premier draft that started today on magic arena? It's pretty neat, just a lot of RNG really. I had fun with it anyway, nothing to take too seriously as it is all RNG. You get 3 wins and you get 1000 gems though, which is decent.

Also, what are your OC settings for your 7900 XT? Just curious.

I did two premier magic 30th anne drafts so far, won 3 and lost 3 on both. max win I think is 6. I might do one or two more over the weekend, I got a lot of gold saved up.

 

[Vayra86]

@Vayra86 Did you check out the 30th anniversary edition premier draft that started today on magic arena? It's pretty neat, just a lot of RNG really. I had fun with it anyway, nothing to take too seriously as it is all RNG. You get 3 wins and you get 1000 gems though, which is decent.

Also, what are your OC settings for your 7900 XT? Just curious.

I did two premier magic 30th anne drafts so far, won 3 and lost 3 on both. max win I think is 6. I might do one or two more over the weekend, I got a lot of gold saved up.

Nope, I hard banned Magic Arena and its not like WotC has learned since then That POS ain't getting a megabyte of space anywhere, I like playing paper a lot more too.

OC... underC more like, though I do have mem stable at 2600 mhz now, the rest is core mV at 1050 and -10% power target.

 

[Space Lynx]

Nope, I hard banned Magic Arena and its not like WotC has learned since then That POS ain't getting a megabyte of space anywhere, I like playing paper a lot more too.

OC... underC more like, though I do have mem stable at 2600 mhz now, the rest is core mV at 1050 and -10% power target.

fair, i don't give WotC any money for the record, if I had friends irl that played i'd prob do same as you. Arena scratches my itch when I need it to though, and its free, so meh.

minus 10% power target, interesting... I have mine set at positive 15% power target, core mV at 1010 (strong undervolt), and ram is 2780.

i am new to RDNA3. Maybe I will try negative power target and see if my scores change any. my temps are already really good, but i guess i could dial it in for energy savings.

 

[Vayra86]

fair, i don't give WotC any money for the record, if I had friends irl that played i'd prob do same as you. Arena scratches my itch when I need it to though, and its free, so meh.

minus 10% power target, interesting... I have mine set at positive 15% power target, core mV at 1010 (strong undervolt), and ram is 2780.

i am new to RDNA3. Maybe I will try negative power target and see if my scores change any. my temps are already really good, but i guess i could dial it in for energy savings.

I might try your approach too, I didn't drop core voltage very far because mem went unstable or it would just cost too much core boost, but perhaps with a positive power target that behaviour is different. 2780 on ram is nice!

 

[Space Lynx]

I really dislike cards like this, it basically means exile should be called graveyard number 2. There is literally nothing different about exile status when you start using it in this manner. Wizards of the Coast is just gimmicky as a crap these days. Exiled should not be able to do same things as a graveyard imo. I always thought Exile was dumb from the beginning, but this is even more dumb.

 

[Vayra86]

On request @Space Lynx ... one of the hardest hitting EDH decks of late Its mighty fun to pilot. Around midgame you have so many options to choose from and things to stack on your beloved Hamster... this deck is like a guy you keep flooring and he just keeps getting up to dish out another punch. The only weakness: its 100% commander centric, and despite tons of mana sources if Minsc dies a half dozen times, you will be slowed down. But even at a play cost of 10+ due to commander tax, Minsc is re-playable in this deck without much trouble, it just slows you down.

There are small refinements possible btw, still playing/testing some elements, the consistency of this deck is superb, perhaps even too much overlap/consistency between cards. Swap some overlap out for more spot removal, perhaps, or a few board wipes.

Results include attacking with a 120/120 Hamster, throwing 120 damage at a player with stuff like Gravitic Punch afterwards, and then still using Minsc's -2 to actually sacrifice said Hamster for another 120 damage on a player. Yes, everyone was dead in one turn If you happen to draw Chandra's Ignition or a Surestrike Trident, you can do even better.

And you WILL draw cards. This is a Gruul deck with more card advantage than Blue. You will draw north of seven cards easily, or perhaps even half your deck.

MTG Deck: Minsc & Boo, Tossing Hamsters

Go Hamster Minsc & Boo is straightforward stuff, commander has abilities, you us...

tappedout.net

 

[Space Lynx]

@Vayra86 thank, hamster deck incoming lmao

@R-T-B today is frog day in magic the gathering arena, I kid you not... special frog mode/game option lmao never seen this before

GARGLE lmao

 

[Vayra86]

View attachment 311802

I really dislike cards like this, it basically means exile should be called graveyard number 2. There is literally nothing different about exile status when you start using it in this manner. Wizards of the Coast is just gimmicky as a crap these days. Exiled should not be able to do same things as a graveyard imo. I always thought Exile was dumb from the beginning, but this is even more dumb.

Yeah, the exile pile... I do think its another graveyard at this point, there is more interaction with exiled cards than there is with graveyard by now.

The one big BUT here, is that exiled cards often are only 'visible' to their originating card/effect. A graveyard is a static pile that anyone can interact with. But an exiled card is there for specific reasons and can generally ONLY be interacted with through one specific way. And you might have some triggered effect on cards cast out of exile, perhaps. But there is no 'return target card from exile', like there is from a graveyard. There also is no recursion from exile.

Another important thing is that exile is a zone change, while the card doesn't 'die'. Big difference. I used to run this chick to maximize that potential; with a bunch of 'exchange' effects. 'Here, take my [x]' and I'll have your 'OP thing'. Oh, I'll take my [x] back now with this -1 ability, as well, thanks.

I kinda love exile

EDIT: ruling fail

 

[Selaya]

cards had been removed from the game for later use starting w/ like what? either antiquities or alpha itself, i quite forgot (looked it up, it's AQ [Tawnos' Coffin] - it used to be Oubliette, from AN but that got errata'd like 15 times and its current wording uses phasing, not RFG)

and adventures cast will be RFG'd because you can recast it (w/ the other mode)
obviously this kinda makes them modal spells, which they've been bombarding us as of late, but that's something else entirely

as for making uh use of cards removed from the game by a third party - that is essentially unheard of, the only thing (besides silver-bordered) that comes to my mind rn are them processors from bfz

 

[Space Lynx]

I FUCKING DID IT!!!! AFTER 22 YEARS OF PLAYING THIS GAME I FINALLY DID IT!!! I WON A LAUNCH DRAFT FOR A NEW EXPANSION!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO FUCK YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i won my first 6 games, lost two, won the last very last game. most fucking clutch victory of my entire life, holy fucking shit. mods please do not edit this. holy shit. lmao

@W1zzard teach me how to dance yeah!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

[Selaya]

meh, going 7-x isn't exactly hard (depending on your rank & luck ig, but ive found that up to like gold or platinum going at least 5-3 is essentially trivial as long as you're following the drafting best practises)

but what do i know, i havent launched up mtga in like 2 years' time now so

 

[Space Lynx]

new expansion launched today, I had a free draft token, I went 3 win and 3 loss, meh. I really am liking this expansion though, there is a lot of synergy going on, both on purpose and on surprise to give it a bit of fun, Descend and Craft with Artifact is neat.

I did a Sealed Deck tournament just now and went 4 wins and 3 loss, not too bad and got most of my gems back from so many wins, still haven't spent a single penny on this game yet I get to enjoy every launch expansion event cause I win so much lol (plus do my daily quests)

I have ten packs to open and this was in second pack, lot of uncommons that make me go hey thats not that bad of a card really... lot of cards like that in this expansion, pretty cool stuff. Craft with Artifact just gives it extra life basically for later in the game

eh its a 5/5 creature my screenshot didnt work

this is what i opened on my first pack and I am going to build a deck around it (imo this is what is the most fun about magic, not buying every card out there, just participate in a few events, open some free packs, then build around the cards you get and see what you can make of it) I hate that meta/theorycrafting/bla bla elitist shit. So much more fun when you play the way I do.

the artwork is beautiful as usual, I don't know how they do it every expansion, but they always impress me with the art. there is one card called Melting something I forget, but it shows an ancient civilization being melted away underground from volcano spillover is my guess... really cool art

 

[Vayra86]

I'm mildly interested in Ixalan. I like the setting and the set's mechanics, Explore is nice; the transforming lands were cool from the previous Ixalan set. I want more Enrage creatures, that mechanic is awesome too.

Its just a shame Wizards keeps pushing SO MANY FUCKING SETS. Its too much. I'm worn out. Stahp. Half the cards I barely even read anymore, because its just utter filler and reinventing things in a tiny niche. So much text. So much exile. So much transforming and state change. Its tiring, because it doesn't really amount to much outside the standard rotation and limitations. And also... so many reprint(s - in) sets. Its retarded. And because they release so much, I wonder what design space there's really left. They keep pulling in trinkets and nonsense to change things up, I'm not a big fan of all the extra card mechanics like Planes, or those Dungeons, or Day/Night... none of them really stick either.

And its also.. looking at Commander... the cards released within standard sets have sharply decreased in usefulness. If I compare how many must have cards there are in the last 1-2 years worth of Standard sets compared to the time prior to it, its a staggering difference. Today, sets release with one or two obvious price gauging staples for multiple formats and the odd Commander centric bomb, and they shoot up to 20-30 bucks and never go down. The rest is just... utter crap, at best there's the odd card that you can add to some archetype somewhere. A good example is the Orcish Bowmaster in that Lotr set. Its literally one of maybe two or three cards in it that really have staying power - and even that card is primarily a Modern staple now. And just underneath that level of cards, there are sooo many cards that look good at first glance, but then you consider all the angles and they're actually pretty meh.

Those craft with Artifact things are a good example. They work in the pace of Standard, perhaps, at some levels below the top, but I reckon most won't. A few will probably turn into a killer combo for standard and barely useful outside of it. Similar things occur with the transforming creatures and their day/night affinities in Innistrad. They work in that vacuum, not outside of it. The synergy you get with other tech or archetypes is also pretty non existant - and that's problematic. All those exile effects that are sealed to their parent card are cards like that. They don't mix well with anything else, only rarely so. In older sets, those 'pay a price with a zone change' things were on the axis of dying and sacrifice and graveyard; or blink, making it another ETB, making them much more transferrable to lots of other interactions and strategies.


In Commander land... I've just built Giada for a full Angel tribal vibe, proxied all the legends because Angels are a bit too rich for my blood. Gonna try it Friday, can't wait to drop some bombs
We've also been going into Pauper commander. Damn nice. Buddy of mine built Zada... its stupid. Turn 4: 27 damage with a common deck. But yeah. Definitely gonna do more of that, how can one complain about building a whole 100 card deck on a budget of maybe $15 from scratch.

PDHREC | Pauper Commander Card Recommendations

PDHREC collects thousands of decks, and analyzes them so you can build the best possible deck.

www.pdhrec.com

 

[Space Lynx]

yeah I mostly agree, too many expansion, but I ignore all of them except for the Standard ones, I enjoyed LOTR one too, but that was the only one I enjoyed outside of the Standard expansions.

I hope dungeons and dragons makes a comeback someday, I really enjoyed that dungeon mechanic, it has potential anyway.

What is your favorite set btw @Vayra86 mine is Judgement. I still remember being a wee lad opening my Judgement theme decks and boosters, good times. Phantom Centaur, MIrari's Wake, man those were fun times.

 

[Vayra86]

yeah I mostly agree, too many expansion, but I ignore all of them except for the Standard ones, I enjoyed LOTR one too, but that was the only one I enjoyed outside of the Standard expansions.

I hope dungeons and dragons makes a comeback someday, I really enjoyed that dungeon mechanic, it has potential anyway.

What is your favorite set btw @Vayra86 mine is Judgement. I still remember being a wee lad opening my Judgement theme decks and boosters, good times. Phantom Centaur, MIrari's Wake, man those were fun times.

Urza block. It will be the one and only champion forever, I reckon.

The power level increase they set up there has made the game so much more. There's also heavy bias because that's when I started playing, but even looking back, those three Urza sets were insane. I think its this block and the ones surrounding it that turned Magic from being all weird and fiddly to a very well flowing game, also in how cards were worded.

 

[Selaya]

urza's is fun'nd all but nothing beats mirage and its art.

 

[Space Lynx]

Urza block. It will be the one and only champion forever, I reckon.

The power level increase they set up there has made the game so much more. There's also heavy bias because that's when I started playing, but even looking back, those three Urza sets were insane. I think its this block and the ones surrounding it that turned Magic from being all weird and fiddly to a very well flowing game, also in how cards were worded.

damn, I started playing around when Odyssey block launched in 2000 or 2001, I might have played with some urza cards, but not properly, I know I was heavily invested into Odyssey block and I loved Odyssey block (Judgement being my favorite in that block) I loved the lore of that block too - it wasn't as complex and overwhelming as nowadays. I usually just ignore magic lore these days as i just find it a bit overwhelming. everything was nice and simple back then, but still satisfying when you got good synergy going on. I liked Onslaught a lot as well, but after that I stopped playing, when artifacts became a common normal thing and not a rare part of your deck, I was like ok im out fuck this... it just felt wrong to me. didn't play for several years after that.

I remember in high school I had a madness deck that kicked ass, and I made sure to follow Standard rules, etc. I would get punk kids who would play cards that were not legal and think their deck was better, thats when I stopped playing locally, people are just too stupid, online is nice simply because the rules are forced automatically. I wish I had got to experience urza block properly. Maybe someday I will get to simulate different release blocks

 

[Vayra86]

damn, I started playing around when Odyssey block launched in 2000 or 2001, I might have played with some urza cards, but not properly, I know I was heavily invested into Odyssey block and I loved Odyssey block (Judgement being my favorite in that block) I loved the lore of that block too - it wasn't as complex and overwhelming as nowadays. I usually just ignore magic lore these days as i just find it a bit overwhelming. everything was nice and simple back then, but still satisfying when you got good synergy going on. I liked Onslaught a lot as well, but after that I stopped playing, when artifacts became a common normal thing and not a rare part of your deck, I was like ok im out fuck this... it just felt wrong to me. didn't play for several years after that.

I remember in high school I had a madness deck that kicked ass, and I made sure to follow Standard rules, etc. I would get punk kids who would play cards that were not legal and think their deck was better, thats when I stopped playing locally, people are just too stupid, online is nice simply because the rules are forced automatically. I wish I had got to experience urza block properly. Maybe someday I will get to simulate different release blocks

Just proxy the whole thing four times

 

[Vayra86]

urza's is fun'nd all but nothing beats mirage and its art.

Oh yeah. Ancient art > everything and Mirage is definitely still in that ancient category

With Urza that definitely took another direction as well. More managed.

 

[Selaya]

meh, not all ancient art is all that great.
mirage's still the set-as-a-whole w/ the best & most consistent art. it's a night-and-day compared to both IA and TP blocks, it's chronological neighbors. (altho TP still has a fair share of hits from the leftover artists.)
urza's art is a solid 6/10, while mirage is an easy 9.5 if not outright 10

 

[Space Lynx]

meh, not all ancient art is all that great.
mirage's still the set-as-a-whole w/ the best & most consistent art. it's a night-and-day compared to both IA and TP blocks, it's chronological neighbors. (altho TP still has a fair share of hits from the leftover artists.)
urza's art is a solid 6/10, while mirage is an easy 9.5 if not outright 10

What do you rate Odyssey block art? Personally for me I love the art of almost all the sets, about 95% of them, so I am kind of biased and can't really rate accurately. lol

pictures dont really do these justice, i own both of those irl, and my spectral lynx is much more darker purple. beautiful cards imo

 

[Selaya]

they're meh tbh, i liked mirage/harkey's art style more. it doesn't have to be this generic (almost-)photorealistic crap to look good tbh