Magic: The Gathering C/D

yeahhh probably just going for the single copy this time, i crashed and burned pretty spectacularly during force of will month

that new planeswalker seems really good?

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/26846_Exclusive-Theros-Preview-Xenagos-The-Reveler.html

closest comparable is probably garruk wildspeaker, in that it makes mana and tokens? and that garruk was a standard staple.

damn. i'm back in school so no more mtgo, but i really like the prospect of my block deck migrating to theros standard. it has such a fun and simple gameplan, just going 1-1 (and occasionally 2-for-1 with reckoner) until you hit 5-6 mana at which point you just take over. something along the lines of:

creatures (18)
4 boros reckoner
2 chandra's phoenix
2 gideon, champion of justice
1 spark trooper
4 stormbreath dragon
2 archangel of thune
3 aurelia, the warleader

removal/utility (16)
4 chained to the rocks
4 magma jet
2 mizzium mortars
2 boros charm
4 warleader's helix

lands (26)
4 sacred foundry
11 mountain
10 plains
1 nykthos, shrine to nyx

also, i agree that nightveil specter could totally become a card. it's already seeing play in block control decks, and it pairs really well with the blue god (only decent one so far imo).

disagree, red god seems quite playable too

I dont know why the blue god costs only 3, but IMO the mana costs aren't really super relevent (at least, the difference between 3 and 4) because you'll never get Thassa as a creature by turn 3 anyway. IMO they're all playable but a lot will depend on how many playable enchantments each color gets. Like Chained to the Rock seems extra good if you're playing the white god because you get more devotion that doesn't die to mass removal that way, ideally you want to be able to just drop a creature after a Verdict that can re-activate the God and swing for 5 or 6. Power level wise I imagine they'll all be quite similar though I do think blue's Scry 1 every turn seems the most useful now

the red god is the most interesting to me rn, the obvious application w/young pyromancer (and ogre battledriver?) mono-red already has a four mana echantment but if there are mostly two-color decks in the meta post-rotation this is obv better. i do think the blue one is the best rn though, also nice that there's a solid 1U creature to replace augur of bolas. (haha i just realized that the new creature is a kind of 'augur')

ha, never thought of how crazy that would be with Pyromancer

Wow, multiple playable r/x mythics. Looks like it's time to take out a second mortgage on the house.

the dragon is basically about as good as thundermaw, which i was not expecting at all

R/G seems like its getting an immediate full reload when it wasn't even losing a huge amount of stuff. at least there's no size on the low end with flinthoof boar gone, so it won't be unbeatable

'as good as thundemaw' seems about right, fwiw

people on mtgs are kinda freaking out over the new r/g 'walker and while i think its reasonably powerful i do wonder how good it will be. its interesting to think about different decks in the coming standard but i'm probably pretty bad it. one thing i have been thinking about is that scry makes duskmantle seer a lot better and i'm already v interested in a u/b tempo or control deck built around thassa and nightveil spectre. also far//away which is one of my favorite cards. i just wonder if that deck has enough game against real control decks given the current counter suite.

thoughtsieze definitely helps the u/b tempo deck but there also aren't enough aggressive plays to start with. cloudfin raptor feels like it rewards the wrong thing (e.g playing creatures) although thassa does trigger evolve iirc (i may not). the big problem is that seer doesn't get around counters/sweepers very well. still this feels like a deck i would like to play with, if it gets enough support from theros to be at all viable.

The R/G walker reminds me of Koth: one aggro mode, one ramp mode. Pretty strong. Be interested to see if there is a deck that can use both (not that a deck HAS to use both). The ultimate on Xenagos doesn't seem like it'll ever happen - you'll either win the game from the spells you ramp into, or you'll make a bunch of 2/2s if you can't use the mana.

Thassa triggers evolve if you have the devotion for her.

Oh and new Elspeth looks pretty nutty. I mean, she does cost six, but that's a super strong set of abilities.

just realized that Rescue from the Underworld exiles itself upon resolution. oh well, there goes all the shitty combo decks I was planning

Thassa triggers evolve if you have the devotion for her

only? i want to know how good cloudfin raptor is looking

Anyone else think the Shrine to Nyx land is going to get played a lot? I remember Temple of the False God being something of a staple and this feels a hell of a lot better.

it looks like the kinda card that would slot into decks outside of standard even

so Xenagos, +1, Domri, +1 is gonna be the turn 3/4 play du jour this upcoming standard, seems fun

i don't think xenagos and domri go in the same deck really. domri wants you to have ~30 creatures and xenagos is not a creature, so if you play them both you have 0 slots for removal. this seems exploitable.

^ yeah that's whats making me qn how good xenagos is. domri seems better to me, and i think domri works better in an aggressive creature deck. i will say the token being r/g makes me want to try him with the red good but that four-drop slot is getting supercrowded now in my imagination. i'm not sure r/g token burn is a thing but thats where im going with it. the satyr that rituals could be good here i guess for an explosive turn 4/5

i think whatever the requisite jund deck looks like after rotation, xenagos is most likely going in that

the best uses of his +1 i see so far are to overload mizzium mortars and to pay monstrosity costs, most notably so far the dragon

you dont want to go deep on clan defiance?

i don't think xenagos and domri go in the same deck really. domri wants you to have ~30 creatures and xenagos is not a creature, so if you play them both you have 0 slots for removal. this seems exploitable.

well Magma Jet works with Domri

only? i want to know how good cloudfin raptor is looking

Not good. Thassa won't be a creature as it ETB if you don't have the devotion, won't trigger Evolve.

Koth was pretty nice in Block Constructed to do damage early, and ramp into a big Red Sun's Zenith as a finisher. Could see Xenagos having a similar role.

i'll certainly test clan defiance xp

i got a playset of thassas for a good price, i really want to make u/b work

U/B walker seems pretty unproductive, though if nothing else he does essentially drop on turn 3 with 5 loyalty (even if he really can't affect the board state)

he's a must-answer threat vs control decks, probably not playable vs any deck that gets on the board by turn 3 though

i think (s)hes a good sideboard card in u/b tempo against the u/w control decks - xp

I like the new walker - seems very unique. Although I'm about 100 times more excited that there will be three GPs within 3 hours of me next year, in formats I actually want to play. (The GP 30 minutes from my house this season is Legacy, bleh.) And increased cash payouts for bigger events is also fantastic.

well 5 loyalty + 2 every turn kinda makes him hard to kill right away. if nothing else she sucks up a lot of damage.

that said Fleecemane Lion looks absolutely bonkers, maybe even better than Voice of Resurgence. once it becomes Monstrous I think Mortars is like the only way to kill it.

yeah that's a helluva card in a pro-enchantment set

mortars doesn't kill indestructible things

i'd say its closer to call of the conclave than voice in power level but still a dead lock for standard play

Yeah wow, that Lion is insane. That's gonna be super obnoxious to play against, and even more so with an Aura like Unflinching Courage on it. But I suppose enchantment removal is going to be a lot more useful come Theros.

Yeah you need Merciless Eviction, or a sac effect like Devour Flesh or Celestial Flare. Not many answers.

for the 4th year in a row the new england GP is on a weekend when i'm likely going to be away on vacation :/

might look at hitting up the philly or DC ones if i'm feeling good about magic next summer though

yeah ok Mortars does nothing, I'm dumb

none of the cards that Vinnie mentioned are likely to get much Standard play. Far/Away takes care of it I guess. I mean the fact that it's a Watchwolf even outside of Monstrous is insane, the only parallel I can think of is Figure of Destiny, which of course did not have the stupid combination of hexproof and indestructable. In fact, outside of that one Angel that requires a human in play, have they ever printed those two abilities on the same card?

its a bit of a trap though in that your opponent has plenty of time to prepare to blow you out by killing it in response to the activation

in general I'd think the good instant spot removal would have been used on this thing earlier, it's still an over-the-curve 2-drop. and it's not like Lightning Bolt is still legal.

scry lands don't seem so good

no one's going to play them until RTR rotates, but they're probably better than they look

are you serious

they will see heavy play in non-aggro decks