Magic: The Gathering,GO TEAM MS!

[Anatole Kuragin]

damn a big bang theory dig, what a maverick

[Shanba]

Is Quiet Contemplation as sideboard tech for the Pearl Lake Ancient mirror too cute?

[Natirasha]

Also, I fucking hate MaRO.

I don't hate him anymore, but I definitely don't value him like I used to. As much as it sounds like it here, I don't actually think the sky is falling with Magic. It's just, a different game nowadays, and MaRo's cult of personality has to do with that, I think.

Also Cardboard Crack is pretty bad!

[Natirasha]

Is Quiet Contemplation as sideboard tech for the Pearl Lake Ancient mirror too cute?

I feel Stain the Mind is a bit more applicable, imo.

[GreyICE]

I dunno, I feel like the direction for R&D has been set by market research and sales figures for a while now. MaRo is often handed the task of justifying marketing decisions, like making the magic frames more similar to Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon, to the drop in complexity, to the shift from combo-engine type decks to creature-midrange type decks. MaRo's sets were Urza block and Odyssey Block, and neither of them resemble modern magic.

[Shanba]

Is Quiet Contemplation as sideboard tech for the Pearl Lake Ancient mirror too cute?

I feel Stain the Mind is a bit more applicable, imo.

Not sure. Stain the mind is 5 mana which means it gets hit by disdainful stroke + is generally harder to protect with counter magic, and is significantly awkward if they're also/instead playing prognostic sphinx, whereas quiet contemplation is neat against that too.

Edit: Isn't Time Spiral a MaRo set too?

If so looks like every time he cuts loose he's been rebuffed and now sits happily in staid conservatism.

Magic design these days is very predictable. Next set will have as rare some creature with above-the-curve stats that also has a decent ETB effect/some way of generating value, a small above-the-curve creature in red or black or white with some trinket text ability and a powerful planeswalker that does w/e (2W 3 loyalty -2 exile target non-land permanent until Name leave the battlefield +1 prevent all damage that would be dealt to Name until the beginning of your next turn -5 exile all non-land permanents until Name leaves the battlefield). Set mechanics will be irrelevant in constructed, propped up in limited by ainok bond-kin (or akroan skyguard, or wojek halberdier, or whatever random just above-par common that is good enough for limited but can never reasonably exist in a world dominated by siege rhinos or whatever random ridiculous value 4 or 5 mana creature.

The dominant strategies are midrange mush, super-lean aggro and tap-out control. The sweet interesting decks are basically unplayable.

[Klazam]

anyone going to GP NJ on Nov 14-16?

[Natirasha]

See, I don't think the frames were particularly a response to Yu-Gi-Oh and I think a large, understated part of Magic's continued success in the market is because the cards themselves actually look professional. The recent updates were more to combat the increasing quality of fakes than anything imo.

[GreyICE]

See, I don't think the frames were particularly a response to Yu-Gi-Oh and I think a large, understated part of Magic's continued success in the market is because the cards themselves actually look professional. The recent updates were more to combat the increasing quality of fakes than anything imo.

Professional, and its synonym sterile, are so overrated. I don't play games because I want to look professional. I'm a fucking engineer, if I want professional I'll do it at my job. I play games for fun, and the new frames have always been less magical. It's funny because Planeshift really had great frames that were done amazingly in the new style (if less sterile).

It's also funny because Jeskai Ascendancy demonstrates that when they take a risk nowadays, they have no idea how to balance it. I'll take a 3 mana card that is an engine enabler, mana producer, and win condition please!

[Sudo_Nym]

I don't mind that Wizards needs to ban cards- they probably aren't pushing the envelope enough if there isn't a need for the occasional ban. I'm more concerned that they still haven't figured out the value of card advantage, and that power creep has made it hard to even pick these things out in advance.

That said, anything that shakes up Eternal formats and brings combo back to Standard is a good start to me. I loved the old-school RPS style of Aggro-Control-Combo, and chopping off one leg of it was not cool.

[hasdgfas]

I just want the Planar Chaos color-shifted frames or the Future Sight future-shifted frames back

[Natirasha]

Professional, and its synonym sterile, are so overrated. I don't play games because I want to look professional. I'm a fucking engineer, if I want professional I'll do it at my job. I play games for fun, and the new frames have always been less magical. It's funny because Planeshift really had great frames that were done amazingly in the new style (if less sterile).

I feel like I just stepped into 2004, wtf.

I agree the planar chaos frames(which I assume you are talking about) are really really nice and I would love if they changed to them/brought them back(I also liked the Future Sight frames!), but, like, I don't know what you're arguing here? I know I don't want my cards to look like this. The current design is perfect in a minimalistic way, imo.

[Natirasha]

Also Jeskai Ascendancy is an okay card, Treasure Cruise is increasingly proving to be the problem in Modern(lol Treasure Cruise Burn mirror in the finals of the last Japanese tournament).

[Thestatusquo]

Treasure cruise is fine. Anything that makes creatures less playable is good.

[Sudo_Nym]

Frankly, I don't see why any game should last longer than turn 3. As far as I'm concerned, if somebody hasn't comboed off by then, there's something wrong.

[GreyICE]

Meh, I started playing with Fallen Empires, I'll shake my old man cane at things whenever I want to.

Also weren't the Planar Chaos cards with the alternate frame called "Planeshifted"? I seem to recall they were.

[Thestatusquo]

Frankly, I don't see why any game should last longer than turn 3. As far as I'm concerned, if somebody hasn't comboed off by then, there's something wrong.

I actually think treasure cruise has done more to enable control/tempo decks than combo decks?

[Sudo_Nym]

I actually think I didn't reference Treasure Cruise at all in my post?

[Natirasha]

I think the only form of acceptable Magic is winning on turn fifty-two with your one copy of Elixir of Immortality.

[GreyICE]

Old school players use Feldon's Cane. Curse your modern cards

[Sudo_Nym]

The best magic game would be won on turn three, but only after both players each played 4 Shahrazads.

[Glork]

Meh, I started playing with Fallen Empires, I'll shake my old man cane at things whenever I want to.

D'awwww

[GreyICE]

Does anyone else remember when the white mana symbol was an 8 pointed star? DO YOU MOTHERFUCKERS?

[Sudo_Nym]

Remembering ante? Remember when Flying Man was a great blue 1 drop? Remember when Channel-Fireball-Lotus was the best deck? Pepperidge Farm remembers!

[Klazam]

remember when a underground sea was worth the same as an Island and a Swamp?