Tag: Vandermonde
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The Bigger Picture: What the ‘Monday 6’ Tell Us About ROE
This article is part of the Rise of the Eldrazi Alliance. Wizards of the Coast is working with Good Gamery, among other fan web sites, to help drum up excitement for the upcoming set. Take a look at the humorous and/or strategic content generated so far, and stay tuned for more new ROE-related articles and ‘chops!
The rest of the staff has done a great job at the difficult task of attempting to evaluate the six preview cards in a vacuum. Of course, the true test of their utility, especially in limited, will be how they perform in the context of the rest of the set. To that end, we’re here to take a look at how Rise of the Eldrazi might play out, based entirely on these 6 cards.
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Above all else, the format will be extremely slow for a myriad of reasons. There are also some color pie and balance issues, and finally some unorthodox choices that may upset the casual and collector markets.
First and foremost, it seems the average spell will cost 5.3333333333… mana. You’ll often have to keep hands with no action for the first several turns, and it will be very difficult to cast multiple spells in one turn. This will make ROE’s 41.5 spells similar to Prey’s Vengeance that can gain tempo very important. This dynamic will also mean you want to value highly the set’s 41.5 or so cards like Corpsehatch that create tokens which can be sacrificed for additional mana.
Just as important, though, is how common ground stalls will be. With no evasion except for about 41.5 instances of “can’t be blocked except by three or more creatures,” a lot of people are going to be holding their 1/7s back.
This will be further compounded by the fact that dozens of instants will be creating pairs of 0/1 chumpblockers, that a full third of the set’s creatures will have Defender, and that each of those Defender creatures will be capable of returning those instants from your graveyard to your hand.
Forcing colors is clearly going to be a highly effective drafting tactic, enjoying perhaps the highest relevance since OTJ. Black, for instance, will make a powerful support color, with an unprecedented level of removal that can target any creature in the set. It will, however, be difficult to build a balanced deck around Black due to its complete lack of creatures.
Apparently there’s no mana-fixing in ROE, so splashing for off-color bombs will be difficult. Thankfully, all of the bombs are colorless.
Finally, both drafters and casual players alike will need to be aware of the change in rarity distribution. There are no rares in ROE, and 5 times as many uncommons as commons.
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Is Loot Making Our Prisons Less Safe?
This article is part of the Rise of the Eldrazi Alliance. Wizards of the Coast is working with Good Gamery, among other fan web sites, to help drum up excitement for the upcoming set. Watch for new ROE-related articles and ‘chops, and check back on midnight this Sunday night (March 14/15 midnight) for 6 ROE card spoilers.
As you know, all those giant octohedral obelisks flying across the Zendikari sky aren’t just there to impress the local crab population. They’re part of an intricate prison that spans the whole of Zendikar. While they’re the most important piece of that system, they’re far from the only piece. There are also a multitude of traps, runes, seals, barriers, and guard monsters.
But it’s the final piece of the puzzle that’s led some to question the prison’s design, namely, the loot. Loot has long been included in the design and consruction of every magical dungeon, tomb, and palace of the Mysterious Imprisoners, inc., and has been featured heavily in several of their broom closets. Zendikar is no exception. Although the project budget has not been publically released, experts estimate that loot accounts for between 32 and 44 perecent of the total materials costs. Among the known valuables stored in this prison are various jewels, alchemical reagents, several enchanted weapons and pieces of armor, and even that unimaginative old standby: large piles of non-descript gold. All this treasure is difficult to recover in case of a financial emergency, and many middle-class citizens find it distasteful that the incarcerated are technically wealthier than they are.
The outcry isn’t just about the cost though. The greater concern for many is how the loot affects Zendikar Prison’s security. Since its construction, a constant stream of adventurers have been pouring in, massively compromising Zendikar’s security measures in the process. Rogues have disarmed its arrow traps and pressure plates to plunder its magic daggers. Wizards have disabled its runes of warding and alarm to gather its amulets of power. And bards have really ruined its ambiance with all the dreadful sonnets they keep reciting about its beautiful gems.
The opposition has grown loud enough that the prison’s lead designer, Zmriron the Inescapable, has issued the following response:
Stocking unlikely locations with vast amounts of easily transportable riches is a proud tradition of our culture going back millenia. I for one believe it is worth respecting, but even if you don’t share that belief, the alternative — mazes, monsters and traps without any treasure at all — will not solve the problem.
We never told any adventurers there was any wealth to be had on Zendikar. We didn’t even tell them it was a prison. But because of our history, the adventuring mind has come to associate all of these pitfalls and warnings with great reward.An adventuring party doesn’t think like you and I do. Where we take a wall of unexstinguishable flame as a suggestion to leave, they see it as an opportunity for a better life if they can just survive running straight through it. And once inside the defenses, while we would take the apparent absence of valuables to mean no valuables were present, that would not be their conclusion. They would simply believe the magic items were extremely well-hidden, and furthermore if someone bothered to hide them so well even after all those traps and monsters, they must be incredibly powerful indeed.
This is not mere theory. I once went over budget when constructing a labyrinth to contain an evil gorgon and betrayed my principles by including no extraneous items of value. When I returned to check on it a week later, no two stones were left standing on one another, the prisoner was nowhere to be found, and I had enough money in statuary to fund an entire mansion full of broom closets.
Zmriron the Inescapable
Lead Designer, Zendikar Prison
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Planeswalkers Search for Eldrazi
This article is part of the Rise of the Eldrazi Alliance. Wizards of the Coast is working with Good Gamery, among other fan web sites, to help drum up excitement for the upcoming set. Watch for new ROE-related articles and ‘chops, and check back on midnight this Sunday night (March 14/15 midnight) for 6 ROE card spoilers.
The Eldrazi were once the most feared force imaginable – terrible beings from the space between worlds who sought to reshape the planes in the grey, featureless image of their home. But they had been banished for so long, that their memory had all but faded from the multiverse.
There was however still one prophecy that told of a time, soon to come, that their minions would spill forth from their prison and once again threaten the planes. Two planeswalkers discovered it, and swore to work together to defeat the Eldrazi threat once and for all. They unraveled the cryptic clues of the prophecy’s text to learn of the general area and time of their emergence, but sadly, not its direction.
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Allied Expedition Faces Inquiry
As of this writing, the Ally Party’s latest expedition is three million mana over budget and 53 turns behind schedule. Although the quest committee blames unforeseen difficulties and inclement weather, an ongoing investigation has uncovered the wasteful and corrupt inclusion of an alarmingly large number of Ally Party members and their associates on the quest payroll.
Initially, the committee countered this accusation by pointing out that the roster was not all fellow Allies. They said the mission was in fact incredibly diverse, featuring among others a mercenary, a rebel, a ninja, a sliver, and a kami. On further inspection though, these were all found to be pseudopods of one colossal shapeshifter.
The first irregularity that watchdogs noticed was the now-iconic inclusion of a librarian on this dangerous, combat-driven wilderness mission. Sadly, several other unqualified members have been uncovered since. Their number includes holy men of several irreconcilable faiths, a four-piece band, and two rogues convicted of a combined 7 counts of armed robbery. The most shameless though is undoubtedly that Chancellor Krynal approved an exuberant 40-mana retainer for “Mr McWhiskers” who we now know is not even a person, but rather a house cat for whom he set up a fake ID and bank account.
The proposed motivation for these alleged acts of graft is a plethora of kickbacks. Evidence points to committee members having received hundreds of life, cards, and mana and over 1200 +1/+1 counters in return for these appointments.
Even in the seemingly unlikely event that their names are cleared, outraged land-taxpayers are questioning whether these ruins were worth exploring in the first place. Many have rallied around opposing pundit Rava Marn’s observation that “It’s not as though we found anything great with the first three expeditions we sent there.”
We sent a correspondent to get the Party’s side of the story, but while on that assignment, he suffered a fatal camera explosion. The case’s medical examiner notes that the blast caused him an amount of damage suspiciously similar to the number of allies he was about to interview.
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To my Fellow Archivists
I’ve held my tongue this long because I didn’t want to jeopardize my position here at the Encyclopedia Dominaria, but I cannot look the other way any longer. Someone has to stand up and say what we’re all thinking: our editor is abusing his power to spread his bigotry. People count on our work for objective information; they rely on us to accurately report on how tough a cerodon is, and how much mana and of which types it takes to issue a cryptic command. That said, at first I welcomed the introduction of subjective “flavor” pieces in its entries. Our editor Vorlus promised they would be excerpts of poetry, local sayings, and pithy quotes that would humanize our otherwise-technical list of facts and figures.
But with each edition and supplement it becomes more clear that they are just an excuse for him to insert his anti-goblin bias into the work. It was ambiguous at first; when he called the Mercadian Guild “Home to the multiverse’s smartest goblins (and fastest quadriplegics)“ I took no notice. When he said of Toggo’s war club “Crude but ineffective, much like its owner,” I wrote it off as a harmless joke, or at worst an insult to one man. But after he said of the Zendikari tribes, “They’d lose track of their own mouths if their breath didn’t smell so foul,” I knew I could not let him continue.
My friends, we must collectively stand up against this policy. Not only because it is the right thing to do, but for the future of ourselves and our beloved publication. For if a goblin takes offense at these comments, we could be liable for a large settlement. Granted, the chances of a goblin reading anything are pretty low because… well… let’s just say that their language has over 70 words for illiteracy.
— Koron the Scribe
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Experts Declare “Halo Hunter” Photo a Hoax
Experts have debunked the recent photo of Halo Hunter as a fake. However, some still believe it to be real. You be the judge:
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Magical Cards Facebook Feed 2
Bog Wraith suck it Scathe Zombies!
July 10, 2009Aaron Forsythe is extremely happy with the “flavor reboot” in M10. For the first time we are presenting a compelling, cohesive, and completely intuitive fantasy world to new players.
July 8, 2009Amnesia posted his Top 5 New M10 Cards
June 30, 2009Kelinore Bats, Runeclaw Bears, Essence Scatter, Act of Treason, and Divination.
Fade from Memory likes this.
Kaboom! Billy Mays: REST IN PEACE
June 28, 2009Oxidize likes this.
Lifelink joined the group Cards named after abilities.
June 27, 2009Kjeldoran Knight is looking for another knight to band with. Let me know if you know anyone.
June 26, 2009Overrun can somebody make some damn tokens over here?
June 26, 2009Savannah Lions is friends with Captain of the Watch.
June 25, 2009Savannah Lions changed his profile picture.
June 25, 2009Magma Spray is looking for Kitchen Finks. Anyone know where I could find them?
June 25, 2009Harm’s Way
Sorry man, no idea. But you know what? I think it would be way more interesting to go find Figure of Destiny.Lightning Bolt thinks he nailed that job interview :)
June 16, 2009Nantuko Husk While it used to require a trained professional to deal combat damage, that’s no longer the case: Modern combat damage is as easy as 1, 2, 3, literally.
June 12, 2009Nantuko Husk
Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
*Turn to page 56 and find the FIFTH sentence.
*Post that sentence AS YOUR STATUS.
*Post these instructions in a comment to this status.
*Use the CLOSEST book. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST book.Pulse of the Forge left the group Cards you can pretend are in your deck when you accidentally take mana burn
June 11, 2009Wizards of the Coast posted a note: M10 Rules Changes.
June 10, 2009We have instituted some exciting new changes to the way Magic works! Read all about them here:
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/46aWizards of the Coast tagged Ball Lightning in a photo.
June 10, 2009Glacial Fortress joined the group Chase Rare Lands that could have easily been Uncommon.
June 9, 2009Yann Massicard changed his profile picture.
May 30 2009Yann Massicard is feeling lucky :)
May 30 2009 -
The Evolution of Magic’s Rules and Flavor
With big changes coming in 2010, now is a great time to look at the past to help contextualize the new framework of magic. In this series, we’ll consider an area being updated in 2010, trace it back to its earliest roots, and look at what 2010 means to its future.
Flavor and Terminology
Alpha — Ice Age
Cards were often printed with their initial inspired-by-fantasy-flavor wording, with any revisions or clarifications tacked on the end rather than represented by edits. As a result, it was common to see effects such as “Draw an extra land or spell from your library in addition to your normal draw for the turn, but only once a turn, and not if your hand is full already or you didn’t pay 4 mana.”
Ice Age — 6th Edition
Designers get tired of magic cards that sound like your drunken uncle trying to tell a joke he barely remembers, and standardize the wordings of common effects and meanings. Now all the cards with the same intended effect say the exact same thing, except the 90% of those cards printed either before this standardization or after one of the several changes to the standard in question.
6th Edition — 2010’s Paper Release
Flavor takes a back seat to functionality in card wordings. Terms are further standardized, and evocative fantasy words are replaced with mundane gaming ones. For instance, ‘cast’ becomes ‘play.’ Unfortunately, due to a rather severe editing error, the words ‘tap,’ ‘control,’ ‘card,’ ‘phase,’ ‘attack,’ and most confusingly ‘library’ also become play. Thus prompting Noam Chomsky to famously declare Godo, Bandit Warlord’s text…
… to be “completely friggin’ indecipherable.”
2010’s paper release — 2010’s MTGO release
Evocative fantasy words return in greater numbers than ever before! This brings an end to the confusion over how coming into play is different from being played, and replaces it with confusion over how three islands and an underground river can be in a field.
2010’s MTGO release — ???
Due to a strconst.dat error, words on cards will be chosen almost entirely at random.
Mana and Burn
Alpha — Legends
In keeping with the fantasy-flavor-driven motif, mana is conceived as magical energy drawn from the land – wild and not easily contained. Likewise, mana burning is conceived as absentmindedly leaving the eldritch stove on and setting your arcane house on runic fire.
Legends — 6th Edition
The game checks to see if you are mana burning at the end of each phase, but only checks to see if you’re dead every turn. Because of these questionable priorities it becomes popular to intentionally burn yourself to death, then later reveal that the game takes place in a mirror universe where it is actually the opponent that has been dead all along. Although this strategy never won any major tournaments, its supporters were vindicated when the film adaptation was nominated for 6 Oscars.
6th Edition — 2010’s Paper Release
Death makes up for lost time and starts killing people at 0 life any time anyone has priority. Mana burn keeps up its steady pace of once a phase. R&D members realize they can create cards that use mana burn as a weapon or a balancing drawback. This epiphany opens up fascinating design space for upwards of 4 cards, which range from “sort of ok” to “reasonably good I guess?”
2010’s Paper Release — 2010’s MTGO Release
Instead of mana burn arbitrarily taking effect at the end of each phase, it will arbitrarily take place at the end of each step, or it would if it existed at all. Previous cards built partially on mana burn degrade from their previous quality to “nothing special” and “meh, it’ll do.”
2010’s MTGO Release — ???
Whenever you pass priority with mana in your pool, a dialogue box will appear asking, “do you want to take mana burn?” If you click “no” you will retain priority. If you click “yes” you’ll be removed from the event for cheating and your account will be suspended pending administrative review.
Combat and the Stack
Alpha — Mirage
Combat damage and its prevention or mitigation do not use “the stack.” Instead, there is a plethora of various reactive sub-steps for damage prevention. For example, whenever a creature is played, there is immediately a sub-step in which you can pay 2 mana to prevent it from ever doing damage. If you elect not to, you’ll enter a series of steps and phases where you can pay 1 mana to nullify its ability to deal damage. Finally, if a creature somehow entered combat, its damage was immediately dealt, after which point you had one last chance to prevent its damage. As previously noted though, there was no real rush even then, as you still had a whole turn to gain that life back before anyone noticed.
Mirage — 6th Edition
Catino’s infamous Grave Servitude ruling at PT Atlanta sets precedents that will be pivotal to the priority and the stack understanding of magic. The idea of judges interpreting and creating the rules in the middle of a high level event may seem unpleasantly arbitrary and unpredictable to neophytes, but savvy pros know you can count on them to make decisions along party lines 95% of the time.
6th Edition — 2010’s Paper Release
Alarmed by its loss of market share in the adolescent boy demographic to other collectible games, Wizards re-directs its marketing to Turing-complete machines. Abilities use a first-in-last-out stack to resolve. The game no longer contains unique, reactive batches and sub-steps; each step and phase operates in the same basic fashion. Play is accomplished by explicitly passing the right to use actions several dozen times per turn. Combat damage is now an object that takes time to process and exists independent of the source it is referencing. People looking to enjoy a casual game complain that only a computer program could process these painfully rigid rules in their stated form. Unfortunately, they are widely discredited when repeated attempts to create such a program fail miserably.
2010’s Paper Release — 2010’s MTGO Release
While the stack is still seen as a positive device, combat damage using it is deemed too confusing to new players. In order to remedy this, a system in which combat damage is dealt upon assignment is instituted, which renders damage prevention and regeneration terribly unintuitive. In order to remedy this, an unintuitive damage-prioritizing system is instituted which renders deathtouch terribly unintuitive. In order to remedy this, the system unintuitively doesn’t apply to deathtouch. Because of this corner case, the war is lost, and all for want of a nail.
2010’s MTGO Release — ???
Changes function exactly as intended; are reported broken by hundreds of players unfamiliar with the new rules.
I totally agree. Now that you’ve gotten rid of all the cards whose flavor made no sense, you won’t have to look for such cards ever again. Well done!