Magic: the Gathering - T: Add Three Mana Of Any One Colour To Your Mana Pool

[Lycodrake]

[aldeayeah]

January 15, 2018 Banned and Restricted Announcement

[Seika]

Another addition to the (dis)honourable list of Commons that had to be banned.

I guess Standard was never really the format you bought into and played because of stability, but the number of bannings we've had recently is just ... it's got to be doing bad things to player confidence. Both in terms of the fact that their cards won't suddenly crash in price and that the format will just be a fun and worthwhile one to play. Yes, the new design system is meant to help, but I don't think just the announcement of that is really going to have had much of an impact.

WotC really need to step it up (and to have already stepped it up given the design-release scheduling) over the next few sets or the massively successful period they've had recently is going to plunge off a cliff.

[Lycodrake]

Something has to change very soon. I haven't played standard since right before the Emrakul ban, but I've seen enough of standard since then to know that there are major problems going on that WOTC apparently didn't see. Hostage Taker getting errata, all these bans...one of my best friends has outright stated that it's matching up too much to how Yu-Gi-Oh! began to spiral down the drain.

[aldeayeah]

Newest Magic Story ends on the perfect note.

Spoiler:

"You will refer to her as Captain," Jace said in a measured tone.

The sphinx growled and looked past Vraska at Jace. "And what does that make you?"

"I am Jace Beleren, the Living Guildpact," he said with confidence.

The sphinx's wings flinched. "The fail-safe?!"

"The pirate."

[Seika]

Ugin compelling Jace to 'walk away if someone tried to see memories of him would have been workable on its own. It's pretty in-character. That he specifically shoved him to Ixalan is something I actually want to find out about and see how it ties into the larger plot.

[aldeayeah]

2,000 YEARS AGO

Azor: Imma build a planeswalker prison, send me the bad guys

Ugin: K

[aldeayeah]

i was right

fuck

[aldeayeah]

Ended up skipping GDS3 due to lack of time and being inelligible to actually win the thing (not like that would ever come up, heh.)

Considering the test they used, I almost certainly wouldn't have passed anyway, due to a handful of questions having multiple equally defensible answers IMO.

so anyway, I've been scratching my itch by posting random shit to the custom magic reddit

[Seika]

Could just be black-bordered if you change the first ability to "U, return target creature you control to its owner's hand: Put ~ onto the battlefield from your hand."

Also, Jace/Vraska d-d-d-deito?!?!

[aldeayeah]

Keeping the blocking/blocked status was non-negotiable, but so fucking wordy in black border land...

I was all DEATH FLAGS EVERYWHERE in that scene.

[Seika]

I will be platinum mad if they turn this into cheap angst.

Interesting though that they're continuing to poke at the idea of Jace taking up Guildpacting more (and saying that Ravnica is so infused with hierarchy that it really does need one, even without Azor trying to make it so). He's their most recognisable and popular 'walker, so there's no way I see them writing him out of the action.

[aldeayeah]

I had a bit of fun with this one.

Stormlight Archive, kinda

As for Jace, I guess dissolving the Guildpact (again) would be an out? Once the dust settles in Ravnica, I mean.

[Seika]

I have design concerns. (After some thought, I believe I need to brush up on my replacement effect rules knowledge, but I still have concerns).

A) If I board wipe you (let's say you cast Decree of Justice for fifty for some reason and I cast Retribution of the Meek to kill all your 4/4 Angels but not him), doesn't he end up madly flickering between forms? Each creature causes the replacement effect to try to go off, and because it's the same permanent, they still act on the other side.

B) There's a reason all "if something would die, do something else" effects all still cause that object to change zones. Let's say you cycled Decree of Justice for fifty instead and made 1/1 Soldier tokens, because you know I have Retribution of the Meek. Now I play a Night of Souls' Betrayal. The spell resolves, SBAs are checked, they would die, replacement effect happens, they don't die. But they still have toughness 0, so whenever SBAs are checked (does this happen again before he transforms?) they try to die again. I'm not quite sure of the timing, but this might straight-up lock the game state. (Similarly, temporary toughness-lowering effects like Toxic Deluge, and even damage effects like Pyroclasm, because they're still 1 toughness creatures with 2 damage marked).

[aldeayeah]

Now you're having fun too! What a great design!

[aldeayeah]

If I got this right...

All SBAs happen simultaneously (704.3) and are replaced by a flurry of simultaneous transformations (how does that even wark), then they're checked again. If Kal ended up on the front side, this is a loop that draws the game, otherwise the creatures die, Kaladin's untransform triggers go on the stack (only one of them will transform him because of 701.26f) and players get priority.

Avoiding death without turning the dying object into a different object (by moving it around or whatever) is pretty hard.

[aldeayeah]

Lantern takes the Modern Pro Tour! Will the PT curse strike again?

oh well it was a great run anyway

Also, against all odds, Black-Red Hollow One was one of the best performing decks, featuring such Constructed powerhouses as Flameblade Adept, Burning Inquiry or Goblin Lore. I don't think anyone saw that coming (not that it would see play, but that it would do so well).

[aldeayeah]

February 12, 2018 Banned and Restricted Announcement

Modern:

Jace, the Mind Sculptor is unbanned.

Bloodbraid Elf is unbanned.

It begins.

[aldeayeah]

Keeping it simple, except it's not simple at all.

[Nihilm]

I think you need to add "reveal to your opponent" as well there to avoid being able to just place anycard face down as a land and claim it's a sleepy bear.