Magic: The Gathering C/D

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

well without any other options they kinda have to

getting scrys from your manabase is pretty powerful when the alternative is 'having worse mana' rahter than 'having faster mana'

maybe I shouldn't have said "no one", if nothing else that W/U one will see a lot of play. shocks just seem so good right now when the power of 2-4 mana spells are all so high and many of them can end a game quickly if not dealt with. but Scrylands are good draws at pretty much any point in the game which is why I think ppl will underrate these.

we don't have the W/U one yet. this is actually a big deal for standard i think

and yes part of the hidden power of these is that they are better lategame topdecks than any other land excluding manlands. they also let you keep a slightly wider range of opening hands and will create a format with a bit less flood/screw which is beneficial to stronger players.

i'm happy enough with the u/b one, still haven't seen anything that makes me think my u/b tempo deck couldn't possibly be competitive

ha, didnt even see that they only did the Gatecrash ones, very clever

Whoops I skimmed over the fact that they aren't just straight ally color duals. This is gonna be the first standard in a while where we only have one set of duals that can come into play untapped, right? Seems like 2-color aggro decks are gonna take a consistency hit. And forget about 3-color aggro.

yeah that sounds about right.

Vinnie, wasn't that also the case a year ago when RTR came in? There weren't GTC shocks at that point.

It seems like they are making a concerted effort to sink u/w control between these lands and all the ways that they are hosing Sphinx's Revelation.

I'm with the vast numbers of mtg complainers in saying that the scry lands should be uncommon rather than rare. Maybe if they were tap for scry instead of ETB it would make more sense.

oh, I see what you mean about one set of duals... was thinking half of color pairs, duh...

They certainly feel uncommon. They remind me of the Zendikar Refuges, though way more useful.

i've pretty much made my peace with that, especially in the presence of cards like Thoughtseize being rare (given that every similar effect is common or uncommon)

these are much stronger than refuges. they are reasonably equivalent to lots of other past rare dual lands in power. they don't read well at all, so hopefully they'll be dirt cheap to start and you can pick some up before the pro tour produces the first round of tuned standard decklists

looks like scg has started them at $6 but i wouldn't be surprised if they drop down to 3 before going back up based on use