Magic the Gathering Arena

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Ranselknulf]

since they didnt ban uro or muxus in historic im eyeing mono black standard again and thinking about rotation.

True, it is quite bad from aggro perspective. gutterbones, ebony knight, dinosaur, mayhem devil... If you look at critters up to 3 mana there is basically just one left: paragon of the blackest lance.
I dont see how hunted nightmare and mardu outrider could fill that void.

I think you're expected to go either devotion or midrange disruption with mono black post-rotation. Open with durex, follow up with Kitesail. The current one drops are bad and two drops are otherwise barely serviceable.
You may need to put up Heraldic Banners to keep the aggro up (and maybe reconsider the Obosh aggro plan with Whisper Squad).

I love the raw stats on the expired dino, but it really sucks when you're hit with brazen borrower in response to the discard trigger. Ran into this play a few times too many and I've found that Hunted Nightmare is actually a decent replacement.
Still beats down well with Demonic Possession (which will be the workhorse in this deck).

Biggest loss imo is Lazotep Reaver and Priest of Forgotten Gods. Unless we get a few more decent sac fodder and sac outlets other than Ayayayara, Lurrus with Archfiend Vessel and serrated scorpion plan will be missing pieces.
Will have to wait and see what Zendikar brings in this regard, another important thing is what's the next cycle of rare lands, adding red could fix some of the above issues, but you won't be doing much two-color aggro with tapduals.

The past 3 "seasons" I've noticed a lot of historic cards get allowed again only to be rebanned, and every time you buy a card that has been banned during that season, you get another free wild card (mythic or gold)

So, if ur looking to farm the OP historic cards, and you know something is OP for that season / set rotation,

That's the reason for the whole "suspension" thing. Once shit is banned, it's supposed to stay banned, while suspension let's them stay flexible and see how the situation develops.
Their policy is to give wildcards when shit actually gets banned in historic, so yeah there's no reason not to craft the top decks/cards.
Worst case scenario, you get to keep a bonkers deck you can finish ranking up with, or bring it to an event and gamble for a bit of extra geld every now and then when the stars are right.

Still, even getting 4 wildcards back is basically nothing in the grand scheme of things. If you want to build your collection, git gut at drafting.

I've been playing on "Free" mode for the most part (I think I spent $10 at one point for the new player gems thing). I've earned a couple draft tokens and gems from just playing. Get gems randomly for wins as wild card (not rank reward) and I'm not sure why I have 2 draft tokens, must have come from some where. When I get enough gems from free play I buy the season pass and get all the packs I've earned up throughout the season. I usually earn enough gems before a season ends and I get the 100+ rank rewards all at once.

I might start drafting at some point, but it just feels like, if I'm gonna draft, why not go in and play a real FNM at a card shop.

I get my magic itch scratched in free mode either way.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[spectre]

Yeah, let's just post the whole thing from Rosewater, eh?

Before previews for Zendikar Rising officially begin, I thought it would be fun to do another of my Duelist-style teasers where I give tiny hints of things to come. Note that I’m only giving you partial information.

First up, here are some things you can expect:

A white creature that can make an opponent lose the game simply by attacking them no matter how much life they have

A multicolor creature that lets you repeatedly reanimate permanents out of your opponent’s graveyard for no mana
Three creatures with five creature types
An artifact granting +2/+2 to a subset of creatures that first appeared in Alpha
X being used for a variable it’s never been used for before
a 6/6 artifact creature that costs 3 and a 7/5 artifact creature that can cost 3
The return of four mana symbols that have each only ever been used on two cards before
Lands that come with a choice you’ve never had before
Targeted enchantment removal in black
A red/white creature with a line of rules text that starts with “Whenever” and ends with “draw a card”
A card with three different activated abilities that all copy something


Here are snippets of rules text, you’ll see:
“three plus”
“different converted mana cost X or less”
“equal to 20 minus”
“Cowards can’t block Warriors”
“don’t lose unspent red mana”
“twice the number of equipment”
“If it’s the third time”

And finally, here are some creature type lines you’ll see:
Mouse
Leviathan Crab
Shapeshifter Rogue
Demon Cleric
Wurm Horror
Hydra Horror
Cat Horror
Angel Wizard

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

“don’t lose unspent red mana”
REPRINT BANEFIRE

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

been having some really good matches in ranked 2021 with my dimir control deck
the deck feels so rewarding to play, usually have lots of decisions to make and you get rewarded/punished accordingly, it's never just like "LOL let's slam uro haha uro go brrrr" nonsense
and it's holding its own against the busted bullshit piles of good stuff decks *cough* simic colors/adventure *cough*, which is really surprising because I think overall the power level of my deck isn't super high it just rewards good decisions.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Haven't heard anything, but IIRC quick draft changes on around the 8th, so we'll probably have at least 2 quick drafts before it changes to Zendikar (Since they always go a few weeks on just premium before opening it up to quick) so I wouldn't be surprised if they sneak it in there.

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

I thought they said they won't be doing any quick drafts for historic sets?
kinda gave up on collecting historic cards tho no way I can keep up with them releasing like 8 sets a year 4 is already time consuming enough for me

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

I thought they said they won't be doing any quick drafts for historic sets?
kinda gave up on collecting historic cards tho no way I can keep up with them releasing like 8 sets a year 4 is already time consuming enough for me

I thought they had a quick draft of Dominaria not that long ago, like within the last month?

And yeah, I'm probably going to ignore draft for the most part because pushing sets direct to historic means I can't keep up with everything, so if I just buy individual packs then at least I'm getting more wildcards to selectively pick up the shit I want. Draft is good for trying to get all the rares in a set but with the increased rate they're adding cards that's less viable if you want to play historic.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

I just engaged in a hate crime. I killed a mono-white lifegain deck with mono-black abyss on turn 5.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Bara]

Wait so is it permanent mana that refreshes every turn or that mana expires after use?

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

good I was worried that uro, goose, cultivate, visionary,.. . might not be enough ramp once rotation happens glad to see a nice two drop for them

 

[Jason Liang]

Black Green Nissa! squeals

Also, stop burying the lead:

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

i was really hoping for some phyrexia thing next year
but kaldheim looks cool so I guess it's ok
I hope innistrad isn't "we're releasing two full sets at the same time lol pay up kids"

 

[zerotol]

landfall just what we need with Uro amirite

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

I kinda don't like getting an outright D&D set. More fun if they're just doing their own thing with cards/lore/fluff instead of teleporting behind your back with Drizzt or whatever. That split Innistrad set sounds weird though, that'll be interesting.

 

[spectre]

Took them... how many sets before they realized they needed to print counters to ramp? Though this one might as well be Landfall enabler.
I was silently hoping for a revamped Balance or Armageddon and I really do hope other colors get shit like that.

An obvious combo? Shame that the full party mechanic is such jank.

Was there any info about how this shit works?

Looks like a split card that's also a land.