In General: A New Paradigm for Core Sets

As you might have noticed, I am a fan of Magic 2015. It has juice, it has story lines, it has nostalgia, it has the 'new', and it has sparked more conversation than any core set I can remember...which is all of them. I love it. Plain and simple. But that doesn't mean I think it is perfect...

In the modern game, core sets behave more like expert expansions than the core sets of yore. It is strange to me that core sets now seem to contain more new cards than reprints. When I picture core set limited, I picture a very low power cube. It has basically everything you would expect and only a few new things. The mechanics would be restricted to the most basic, most common elements in order to keep the experience easily digestible. This is the version of your game that anyone can play, right when they pick it up. If a person has played Cube, but never played YOUR Cube they wouldn't need to much training to get into the swing of things. That is the goal for core set.

Somewhere along the line that all changed. Core sets are now just slightly more nostalgic expert sets. They can't produce a completely new mechanic, but they can freely print previous expert-level mechanics. Side note: does anyone still use the beginner, intermediate, expert terminology when referring to Magic sets?

I am thinking of a different model for core sets; for what an introductory product would look like. Instead of using core set as an avenue to produce new things that you want to see get made, or instead of using a rotating card pool to control what gets played in Standard;  make periodic updates to the SAME SET trying to hone it until it is perfect for the game of Magic. At least as far as an introductory product goes. Obviously that changes slightly, but consistently over time, so you will have to make up-dates and release a new version of the product every so often to hit those moving targets.

You know, that sounds kind of familiar. That is what core set USED TO BE. Here is THE GAME. There are other parts of it, but those are just modules that you fit onto this basic set.

I have some unsubstantiated thoughts of my own. Here is a completely unsorted, unregulated, unrestrained stream of hypothetical questions I have that could help re-imagine the core set as a product for beginners.

• Perhaps it should be on an as-needed basis instead of on the yearly model. Smaller, less frequent updates would help build consistency. This could help all players establish the same foundation for understanding the rules and basic strategies.
• What if you had set releases specifically designed for constructed and limited separately? Limited adds a new layer of complexity to an already difficult-to-understand game. Maybe we don't have to use one product to accomplish both of these goals.
• Expanding on that, you could market them differently. Bomb rares wouldn't ruin limited. Worthless commons wouldn't clog up your packs when you are looking for tournament quality cards. 
• What if, like Richard Garfield originally imagined, you played with these sets of cards independent of other sets, or in a modular fashion, instead of treating them as part of one giant mass?

This isn't a diatribe about how core sets suck. This isn't a rallying cry that they need to change. Ever since this Magic 2010 thing Core Sets have been getting a little...awesome. Instead, this is an inquiry: what does it do? Is that what we want it to do? How can it do that thing better?

Starter 1999, 2000, and the Portal series were attempts at this concept, but they ended up being too similar to a 'normal' set. They changed the rules instead of just changing the format. They didn't prepare you well enough for 'real Magic'.

All of this got me thinking. The game is hard to learn and hard to teach, but what if we had a tool to facilitate that? What if we had like a...Beginner's Cube. A small, tightly focused play environment where all the decks are pre-constructed. Specifically designed to easy to be use, but also to allow you to progress to higher difficulties. Sort of like the 40-card promo 'decks' that Wizards gives away at certain events, but with much more design work and much more potential for expansion.

This lead me to two possible designs for a prototype.

1. A very small set, less than 360 cards for sure. Each color would have maybe 3 rares 8 uncommons and 10-15 commons that would showcase the most common themes and mechanics in the game. This is for the real first timers. A kiddie pool if you will.
2. The second model would be large, 1000 cards or less, with only a few cards being printed in multiples. This would include every mechanic, in every color, for the ENTIRE history of the game. This is like the encyclopedia. The living, playing history of the game. You get to see it all, but just a few bites at a time and the cards that are shown are the simplest to understand. These are the hooks, the cards that get you into playing and designing with these mechanics. This would give you a small taste of what Magic has to offer, while showing you a little bit of everything there is to find out there in the game. You could really engender a sense of the game's rich history by including popular cards that have significant design choices or historical anecdotes.

Wouldn't that be great? If the flavor text on a card wasn't just some vapid nonsense, but instead told you something about why the card exists, how and when it was used, and how it fits into the larger picture of the game I would be just BESIDE MYSELF with joy. 

So here is my challenge to you, Zoners! Do you ever teach new players the game? Don't you wish it were a littler easier to get them to understand the nuances? Design a set for them. Make the Beginner's Cube and try it out. See if you can improve the translation of your experience into their learning. And of course, let me know how it works out! Feel free to share your designs here on the blog. In a few months, after I have spent some time building and refining my own, I will circle the wagons to discuss my experiences. Until then let us do our best to make the game that we all love as appealing and inviting to new fans as possible.

-GG

UL's M15 Loot

Amidst all the great M15-related stuff GG's been doing the last couple weeks, I decided to hold off on talking about the set until I got my hot stack of nonsense in the mail, which arrived yesterday. So it's time to take off our serious, awesome Grandpa-Growth-analysis hats, and put on our silly, "why-in-the-world-is-Landdrops playing this" ones. Maybe that puts a little excitement in your belly. Maybe you think me saying that is stupid, and my ideas are worse. I wouldn't disagree, but this is the Crazy Train, and we all know that the only direction it goes is "off the rails."

BLUE

At the top of the order is Quickling. 

What can I say? I'm a total sucker for Evasion, Flash, and protecting my stuff. I play Whitemane Lion, Faerie Impostor, Stonecloaker, and Dust Elemental, and so there's nothing that's going to stop me from continuing my silly penchant- especially when it comes in both Faerie AND Rogue form. I heart Rogues.

I got two copies, and I can't decide which decks would be the best fits. I really like it, I think I just need more. Maybe even a foil one. This art isn't great, but I think foiling could improve it. 

I'm surprised GG missed the glaring opportunity to Pop Culture blast you in the face, and I'm not going to strike out on the same pitch:

What if I say it's not like the others?
What if I say it's not just another one in your place? 

What if I say Wizards will never surrender when it comes to making clones? What if I say I'm happy about that? 

Foo Fighting Rhetoric aside- Mercurial Pretender is sweet. I don't need more Clones, but the slightness of upgrade is so enticing there's no way I'm going to say no. While it's really only as exciting as being a Mac user and going from the Leopard OS X to Snow Leopard, or from iPhone 5c to 5s, it's still enough to want to queue up the Internet's oldest Dancing Baby, and throw a small party for yourself.

OTHER BLUE CARDS I PICKED UP:

Polymorphist's Jest- Because should the day arise when I'm done playing Magic, I don't want to look back and be the guy that never turned another dude's guys into Frogs.

Aetherspouts- I like subgames. This presents one of the most interesting ones I've ever seen.

Kapsho Kitefins- I've been looking for cards to make a non-rare Animar decklist, and I think this looked pretty tasty. Having flying, I can also slot it into this basic Isperia the Inscrutable deck I've been working on, or even into Thassa.

Void Snare- Got two copies. Not sure if I'll play both, but for one blue, even at Sorcery speed, it's gotta be borderline playable, right?

Military Intelligence- One of my newer decks, Thassa, loves devotion, drawing cards, and it's cool to have a draw trigger when I attack. Not particularly an instant slam dunk, but I'm trying it out.

Glacial Crasher- Just another weird Pauper card I thought would slot nicely into Animar. 

GREEN

Perhaps Genesis Hydra is a slightly more purposive reason to dance like dial-up and AOL are still relevant, so I've kept it close in case for extra dancing time. 

Let me start off by saying I share GG's feelings of being annoyed by Hydras. When they were talking about Theros at last year's Comic-Con, Rosewater said that he was happy they'd finally found a creature type for all the colors, the last being Hydra.

In the last couple years, I've never seen more Hydras in my life. Some times I feel like I'm back in Ancient Greece, where you couldn't walk 5 feet into Athens without having to face a damn Hydra. They're like the 7-Eleven of mythology, now they've invaded Magic, and I'm not thrilled by this.

However, I do like what Genesis Hydra does. I like that its flavor matches up with a card we Green players have all beaten to death in Genesis Wave, and that it produces a kind of card advantage Green players might not get, in that it can cast a noncreature, nonpermanent spell as a result of its ability. I'm keen to try this. Looks like fun.

OTHER GREEN CARDS I PICKED UP

Reclamation Sage- Because duh. This is the biggest no-brainer in its color.

Kalonian Twingrove- Had a nice debate about this card with GG if you read the comments on Threats, Part I. Personally, I think this card is bonkers in mono-Green, but I also play a crap-ton of forests and ramp for days. This scales favorably with my plans, and could be a nice Commander Doppelganger when Silvos isn't out beating face. I've added a nice token package to it, and this is on theme there.

Shaman of Spring- It was green, it said draw a card, I couldn't resist. 

RED

Objectively, this card is as dumb as Grandpa thinks it is. 

Still, I'm not going to pass up the opportunity to play Ronald Reagan's favorite Magic card, or to say stupid things like, "Mr. Gorba-Dragon, Tear Down These Walls!"

Doctors maintain they still don't know what's wrong with me. Healthy people wouldn't say things like this, and they surely wouldn't be playing Magic cards like this, but I'm obviously neither of these things.

When Siege Dragon got spoiled, I wasn't so focused on the ETB trigger as much as I was his attack trigger, which goes great with Basilisk Collar and Loxodon Warhammer- things I play in HH. I also liked the idea of playing this in Animar, where he helps my like 2 and 3-drops to trade with mid-range guys. So I got one.

I want to Reagan Smash with Siege Dragon. And if I can sell you on this card, then I should use this as part of my application package I send to Wizards.

OTHER RED CARDS I PICKED UP

Act on Impulse- It's a secret that long ago they printed a card named Three Wishes in Visions that did the same thing for 1UU and was an Instant. Why this couldn't be as powerful, I have no idea, but I thought it was worth a look. I play a lot of garbage cards in HH, and I don't mind the extra dig or pitching it to another discard/draw spell.

Chandra, Pyromaster- This has been a ridiculously expensive card for a long time- at least, more than I want o pay for one. I'm happy to have waited, and I can't wait to see if her "Exile the top card of Library" effect is any good in Commander either.

BLACK

Other than Soul of Innistrad and Soul of New Phyrexia, I wasn't excited at all for the rest of the cycle. Well, I was excited about the blue one until I realized it was color based, not "quantity of color" based.

GG compared this to Grave Titan, and so did the rest of the Internet, and Soul of Innistrad is clearly not better. However, that was never going to be a "fair" fight to begin with.

Personally, a more accurate comparison for Soul is Theros' Champion of Stray Souls. While Champion provides a nifty little Graveyard Blink, Soul is going to be a little slower, but it's also bigger, will trade with bigger stuff, and gives you the opportunity in the long term for aggressive expansion.

I definitely think this is a card that wants to be played in big mana mono-black, and other graveyard/sacrifice based decks, which goes give it more of a label than the do-it-all Grave Titan. That doesn't make it worse necessarily, but I have a feeling we are never going to get the kind of power that those Titans had ever again.

I love this card. I didn't think I would throughout the creation and voting process, but I'm sold.

This is a card I ordered post pre-release because I was hoping the price might drive it down, but with another year of Thoughtseize in standard, we're looking at a card that makes value out of late-game Thoughtseize.

It's sweet, and it's immediately going into Greel.

OTHER BLACK CARDS I PICKED UP

Eternal Thirst- This is probably going to be the card I regret picking up from the set, but whatever. It's a rinky-dink ten-cent enchantment that gives black creatures lifelink and a +1/+1 counter whenever a creature dies. I liked the idea of comboing with Crypt Rats so much I thought it'd be worth it, but it's probably not.

WHITE

Like Magister Sphinx, I have a feeling Resolute Archangel is going to agitate kitchen tables everywhere. In cases like this, I feel pretty justified in being the first to do it.

Resolute Archangel is dangerously powerful. If you manage your life total correctly, and you play her in the danger zone, there's no doubt you should be gaining over 25 life when you cast this 4/4. Again, insane value when you think the next best life gain card is Beacon of Immortality. This severely outclasses it, and it can be blinked and bounced to your hand.

I think the future is going to go 1 of 2 ways. Either Archangel is going to get banned by the EDHRC, or we're going to see more cards with this rules text. Either way, I'm down.

OTHER WHITE CARDS I PICKED UP:

Hushwing Gryff- It felt silly not to. I've been griping about getting more copies of Torpor Orb for a while, because I want to see what happens when we have quality answers to ETB triggers. This is certainly a quality answer. Gryff is basically an ETB counterspell.

Return to the Ranks- Whenever GG says that a card is going to hold its monetary value, I listen. He's my Magic Stockbroker, if there ever was a thing. RttR is something I knew I'd like in both my mono-White decks from a playability standpoint, but I wanted to have a back door plan for getting rid of it if it didn't make the cut. It's not as profitable as I'd want, but I have a feeling Craig Wescoe's White Weenies in Modern are going to be totes ridiculous at the next Pro Tour.

Ephemeral Shields- Convoke and a cheap casting cost gives a creature the opportunity to be a free counterspell on a Doom Blade. Another suspect purchase, but if I keep them in that dime-to-quarter range, I think I'll be able to sleep at night.

COLORLESS

Sorry Miss Jackson's of the World- This card is fo' Real.

And yes, it's made to make your daughter cry. And no I won't apologize a trillion times for playing it.

I think SoNP is easily the best of the cycle, not only because it slots into every deck, but because it provides each deck with another 6/6 for 6 threat with Trample. It's the Temple Bell of Creatures. I don't see any reason not to be considering this, especially when he protects your stuff.

Naturally, this card has been powered down because everyone and their mother is playing Deglamer/Unravel the Aether/Return To Dust which fortifies the Path/Swords removal core that already existed in most decks. Even so, there is still such a small quantity of cards that hose Soul that I doubt we'll be playing much longer without seeing two or three of this guy coming out to play.

Additionally, I love Daarken's artwork on this one. It's like he got together with the people who designed the Transformer graphics and asked himself, "What would Elesh Norn and Wurmcoil Engine look like if they had a Transformer baby?"

The last card worthy of a picture is possibly the funniest card I've seen printed in a long time.

Seldom do cards combine flavor, silliness, and somewhat awkward, unorthodox power to create a fresh, unique offering to our game.

Despite this card being very nonsensical, it makes me happy to see. Another set, another new target for Trinket Mages everywhere.

OTHER COLORLESS CARDS I PICKED UP:

Rogue's Gloves- The 2/2 Pay/Equip ratio might be a little too fair for this design, but it says Draw a Card, so why not give it a spin?

Radiant Fountain- Not much, but I still liked it enough to get copies. Card draw isn't my only favorite. I also love Land.

Well, that's my list. What cards are you most excited about? Be sure to include them in the comments below.

Pass Turn.
-UL

In General: Magic 2015 Pauper Picks

Hello Zoners! I am glad that all the hustle of the set review is behind us. It is a very busy time here on the blog and that doesn't leave us very much time to dedicate to other projects that we want to get to in the future. This week, I want to stop and talk about a few of the cards that didn't make it into the set review, specifically, some commons.

A common has to be truly outstanding to make an appearance in Commander. So, unless you are playing a pauper variant, you aren't likely to care about them for casual use. I however, play a ton of limited, a ton of Pauper online, and maintain a Pauper Cube which is an absolute blast. In the near future I am going to post my list and preach the virtues of this criminally underplayed format. It is the most fun I have playing the game. That is the truth, but I digress.

Magic 2015 is a powerhouse set. It is a telling sign! When your set is strong, it is strong all the way down to the commons. M15 doesn't appear to have anything that is going to break the game or shatter your favorite format, and thank the lord for that, but it does have solid cards all across the board. Everywhere you look in this set you will find juice!

Today I want to share some of my favorites from the set and talk a bit about why I find them so interesting. Let's jump right in!

We're going to kick things off with a SALAMANDER! I am not a hundred percent sure why we have both both lizards and salamanders. I am also not sure why this is either one of them when it could easily have been a merfolk.

There have been many similar Creatures in the game. Hard/impossible to block is a very common mechanic at this mana cost. That is certainly playable; in my pauper cube I have some slots dedicated to this kind of thing. What makes Pathmage exciting is the ability to make other Creatures, and possibly multiple Creatures unblockable. I can get behind that. It singlehandedly solves board stalls and gives a way for smaller midrange strategies to punch through a control deck's defenses.




This is another mild upgrade, but a key difference that makes this very valuable is there is not yet enough of this effect to saturate your decks. A three-power two-drop with no drawback is pretty special. It isn't much help on defense, but the same could be said of Gorehouse Chainwalker. This is going directly into my cube, where it will happily smash face.







I really dig that they have now brought color-specific (or rather exclusive) hosers to common. There are enough one toughness Creatures in Pauper that this can realistically sweep the board. At the very least you will be able to kill a few of your opponent's dudes and set up some messy blocks.



Kor Hookmaster has happily been occupying a spot in my Pauper Cube since the initial design. I am excited to include a second copy, even if it is positioned in a slightly less aggressive color. This is okay for two reasons: First, Blue and White work well together. Secondly, there are enough multicolor decks, that having another cheap value Creature is never a bad thing.







It isn't very often that I have to review a card that I have no precedent for. This is a cheap Creature. That is a good thing, but it combines the Creature half with another kind of card that I never play...Burst of Speed. Is that good? I have no idea, but it is interesting.





We have had a lot of Creatures like this in the past. They are huge, they have some sort of weird drawback that prevents you from attacking players who don't control an island, and they have some combat-related keyword ability that is mostly irrelevant.

Well, this shakes up the mold by making it care about mountains instead of islands. This would normally be a problem. Since it is a Blue card, you will most likely have an island laying around, but perhaps not a mountain. Six mana is too much to pay for a Creature that can't attack. Trample is also unheard of on Blue cards. All that adds up to something interesting, but probably not worth serious play.



This effect is extremely powerful. Totem-guide Hartebeest sees play in Commander decks because tutor effects are just that good. There are only a handful of ways to search your library at common and those almost always find some kind of land. This can find removal spells AND buffs. The body is mediocre for its cost, but this is a full two mana cheaper than its closest historical counterpart. You had best believe that this is going to make an appearance in Pauper.

So the Green color-excluded card is pretty sweet as well. This is a combat trick that I can get behind...mostly because, instead of exposing you, it protects you. Fog effects are occasionally used in Pauper, but this is really more like a Safe Passage than a Fog. This is going to make some normally reasonable blocking decisions look very silly.

There aren't many combat tricks in a traditional Cube. In Pauper Cube, they make up a much larger portion of the card pool and they make for some very interesting game play. Knowing what combat tricks to play around and when is a key aspect of winning matches in basically any limited environment. Adding unique rider text such as 'nongreen' to a card like this is going to make that mental chess match much more difficult.



BRO FIST! Where are my Pewdiepie fans at?! Oh, they don't play Magic. I forgot.

We already got to look at one interesting Red card that could sort of switch functions mid-game. It is a true testament to the awesomeness of Magic 2015 that there is actually a SECOND interesting Red common that can switch functions mid-game.

Inferno First doesn't look like much, but I think I will get some real mileage out of this in my Pauper Cube. If it trades with a Creature, that is fine. If it does more than four damage to your opponent on the way...well that is pretty incredible for this price.



A 3/3 for three in common sounds good in theory, but it turns out that there really isn't anything special about that. This however, has the added value of an enter the battlefield trigger. It looks like a drawback or an additional cost, but we have seen before that this effect can be very valuable. Kor Skyfisher has been a staple of the Pauper format for years. Giving you the ability to retrigger other etb effects, reset enchantments or the permanents they are attached to, generating an extra mana, or creating an expensive untap effect. I'm surprised this can't cook your breakfast too.

So we know that the ability is powerful and relevant. The key to evaluating this card then, lies in its body. A 2/3 Flier for two mana was an excellent deal and certainly better than getting a vanilla 3/3 for three, but I think that is alright. This card is still going to have a place.



Deathcult Rogue saw plenty of play in it's limited environment and has done good work in my Pauper Cube. Enforcer here fits the same role, but it is easier to block and harder to cast. Why does Red always get the short end of the stick?

Still, I think this is worth a shot because aggressive decks need to punch through crucial points of damage in the late game and it is much less likely that your control opponents will have Red Creatures. They would probably have a Mulldrifter or Ulamog's Crusher instead, which cannot block this.




Sentinel Spider is a huge threat in my Pauper Cube. It is just such a brick wall for opposing Creature decks. This is not anywhere close to the same power level, but it does share one important characteristic: It can effectively block 95% or more of the Creatures commonly played in Pauper. That alone makes this an excellent defensive play. I think that is reason enough to test this out.

Because Cube is almost exclusively a singleton format, you can't include some of the most important cards in the Pauper world. Squadron Hawk, Cloudpost, Glimmerpost - those are some important names. The format still wants something like Glimmerpost though, and I am happy that this will give me access to that. At the very least, it is something to return with your Invasive Species.





I admit that this card seems kind of bad. It bears a striking resemblance to Puppet Strings, which was already thought of as 'the bad Icy Manipulator'. Keep in mind though, this effect isn't common. I repeat for emphasis: This is an uncommon design, that has been printed at common. That demands a certain amount of attention. Conventional logic would state that they have made it safe by increasing the cost, but a colorless removal spell is nothing to sneeze at in limited.


I just hope that this a little more Moonglove Extract and a little less Razor Boomerang.

The flavor text on this card isn't entirely vapid. It sort of breaks the fourth wall in talking about how R&D has had to go through the design process for umpteen different variations of Boomerang. Because, you know, they can't just print Boomerang. At least this is one of the better variations. Sigh.


As always, thanks for reading. We really appreciate the support you guys have been giving us. Traffic has been steadily increasing on the blog and in the last year we have hit some very significant milestones. I am confident that we are going to break 5000 visitors this month. We will strive to keep providing great content for our readers and we have big hopes for the future.

-GG

M15 Set Review: Mana and Utility

Hello and welcome back to The General Zone's review of Magic 2015. If you missed any of our ongoing coverage of the set, you can find the previous installments of the review here: Threats pt. 1, Threats pt. 2, Legends. Answers!

Today we will be looking at everything that is left in the set: Mana and utility cards. Mana is easy to define: is it a land? Does it produce some kind of mana? Done. Utility is somewhat more fluid. Utility expands the functionality of your deck. Adding resources, adding new angles of attack, engines, etc.

This is the home stretch so let's get right to it.

This is a cheap, reliable token generator that simultaneously grants you some partial protection from board sweepers. If that sounds pretty awesome...well that is because it is awesome. The only hiccup I can see is that it requires a small amount of mana every time you want to do anything. If you just pay the casting cost, you are never going to get anything out of this. To maximize the value from this card, you have to set back your curve by an entire turn and be conscious about leaving up mana to protect your Creatures from being destroyed. That can be a tall order in a format full of mana hungry decks.



I am not going to lie to you. I don't know how this is going to work. I didn't think much of Grand Architect, but it turned out to be very complex. In certain decks it can generate truly unfair amounts of mana, which puts opposing players in an awkward situation. Do they kill it? How do I know whether or not it is going to be good in this particular game?

Now, with that in mind: Chief Engineer is less explosive. It doesn't generate as much mana per Creature. This is balanced by the fact that you can use any and all of your Creatures for mana. So I would guess that this is somewhat worse than Grand Architect, but still worth looking into.



As a draw engine, this doesn't seem very powerful. It is easy to disrupt with removal and all but folds to board sweepers. That being said, it is cheap and doesn't have to net you too many cards in order to feel like your investment paid off.

I don't necessarily see this being the most useful in a mono Blue linear strategy. Instead, I see uses for this in aggro-control decks like Edric. Bant based token swarm decks may also have a spot for this. I think this is worth trying out, but I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up getting cut for something better.



This is an engine that I can get behind. You basically get to cycle all of your Creature cards, setting yourself up for a reanimation effect later in the game. If you commit yourself to a Zombie theme, you can net a free 2/2 every time you do this, which is an awesome bonus! I have been itching to see a Rooftop Storm deck...I might just have to build one.



Waste Not is certainly very powerful. There are easy and profitable ways to get your opponents to discard their cards. Some strategies even want to be discarding by default.

No matter what they pitch you get some kind of value, but the key to making this card successful is going to be how you leverage the second ability. Many players are going to want to discard lands so that they can hold onto their action spells, but if you have some sort of mana sink like say, a Scepter of Fugue, then you can really put that extra mana to a good use.



I am really happy to see that Red has been getting more equal treatment in recent years. However, finding ways to create card advantage and card selection that 'feel' Red isn't always easy. Unfortunately, this paradigm of 'use it or lose it' card draw doesn't fit well in Commander. The format revolves around high impact plays and so many of those crucial, game-winning cards are quite expensive. That means that you are going to need 10+ mana in order to regularly be able to generate card advantage out of this. Maybe that is reasonable. Maybe that is asking too much.



Speaking of Red and card advantage...and also about needing a lot of lands in order to eek out some semblance of value...Why does this say that you can't play lands? This was close to becoming one of the top Red cards in the format. However, the particulars of the wording make it such that this card is going to be difficult to use. Unfortunately, I think that this has one safety valve too many.






This doesn't feel like a piece of equipment to me. You draw the cards as an upkeep trigger, not a attack or combat damage trigger? That is somewhat unique, but not entirely a good thing. You have to equip it and then wait through your opponent's whole turn hoping that they don't kill your Creature.

This card will create an interesting interplay in deckbuilding because you want to be certain that you have more removal than your opponent, but you also need to find room for the Creature to put this on.

I can't hate on this too hard because I am die hard fan of Penny Arcade. I have been reading it since the beginning and I won't stop until they do. However, having seen them play Magic, they are definitely funny...



Well, we made it to the final card. I was so close to making it through a set review without going on some sort of rant about bad decisions by the creative team. We both know I can't miss an opportunity like this though. Begin rant:

The line we were given to justify changing the look of slivers was that they were too difficult to differentiate in art. They all just looked like a sliver doing a thing, instead of a sliver that COULD do a thing. Or whatever.

My first problem with this is: if that were true, how does making them look like the Predator solve that? The 2014 slivers all looked the same too. I never looked at the art on a sliver card and thought to myself 'wow, that humanoid body shape really helped convey they differences between this sliver and EVERY OTHER ONE THAT LOOKED LIKE IT!'

This would be a problem, but the point of slivers is that each one adds something to the collective, resulting in them all being IDENTICAL. They are supposed to look alike, right? They literally make each other more similar. I guess the main takeaway we are getting from this sliver fiasco is that slivers can be anything they want to be when they grow up...including the same thing they always were.

Thanks to the design team for press fitting in an overused hook into a set that was already overflowing with hooks. I am not sure whether this is the best core set ever or the worst, but it has accomplished some very important goals:

1. It provides a stable footing for new players to learn the game. Using a simplified rules set and obvious references to the previous core sets in Aaron Forsythe's tenure as head of R&D (M10 and forward), Wizards has created a pristine environment for learning and exploration within the game.
2. It resonates with long time players by calling back to popular mechanics and themes that veterans can appreciate.
3. It successfully launches a merger between the Pro Tour and the release of core sets. This set is complex and interesting enough for us to WANT to watch the pros play it, and it should provide a great show.
4. M15 adds a wealth of new, highly competitve cards. The power level of the set is quite high, ensuring that players who invest heavily in this set will be able to use their cards, even at top level tournaments. 
5. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly for the designers, this set has MASS appeal and is going to sell like hot cakes. I wouldn't be too surprised to find out that this was the highest selling core set of all time. The marketing tie-ins were all there: Pro Tour exposure, slivers, high-profile cycles, the Garruk ad campaign, Duels of the Planeswalkers, outside designers, You Make the Card, and the return of pain lands! This set has just about everything that you could want and it caps off a summer that has been absolutely huge for the game. 

I can say with confidence and pride that the game is at an all-time high in terms of fan support and financial stability. It gives me some comfort to know that the game I have loved and cherished for so many years is showing no signs of slowing down. If you are a Magic fan, you should be thrilled to know that the game is going to keep growing and keep getting better for years to come.

That is all for us here at TGZ. Magic 2015 is sweet. No doubt about it. The time has come to stop talking about the cards and start playing with them. If you attended prerelease events in your area, you have already gotten your hands on the set.

As always, we appreciate your support and your feedback, so feel free to drop us a line in the comments to talk about the cards, the review, the future, or anything else.

-GG

M15 Set Review: Answers

Hello and welcome back to The General Zone's review of Magic 2015. If you missed any of our ongoing coverage of the set, you can find the previous installments of the review here: Threats pt. 1, Threats pt. 2, Legends.

In today's segment we will be reviewing the answer cards from the set.

What is an answer? An answer is something that you use to stop your opponent from winning the game. Sometimes that means dealing with Creatures, countering spells, discarding cards, and many other things. If your opponent wants to do 'it', you should have an answer for 'it'. Counterspells, removal, land destruction, and graveyard hate, are all easy examples of answers, but they can take on many other forms. An explanation of what you are trying to answer with a given card is just as important as how it is going to accomplish that.

To kick things off, we have a real doozy. How this is not a rare, I don't really understand. This card has way more salt than your average sliver. This is the first time I have ever looked at a gimmicky tribal strategy like slivers and thought, I really want to play this. Constricting Sliver could be the card that gets me to build a tribal deck.

Most of the time you can just kill the important sliver and that will dramatically weaken the sliver player's board. Ex: Muscle Sliver, Winged Sliver, or Root Sliver. You cannot apply that same tactic here. If, by way of this card's ability, some slivers exile your Creatures, you have to get them back one at a time...regardless of whether you deal with the Constricting Sliver! What?! Tell me that isn't annoying. I am absolutely certain that thousands of players will fall into this trap on prerelease weekend. That seems a little over-powered to me. Part of me is hoping that I am just reading it wrong. Slivers are bad...I can keep wearing my tin foil hat forever...


I am extremely excited for this card. Setting aside its incredibly arbitrary flavor and subtype, this combination of abilities is seductively powerful. Modern has been crying for this type of effect since the format's inception. Torpor Orb sees consistent sideboard play against decks like Twin and Pod. Torpor Orb is horrible! It is extremely narrow and has no alternative uses. This is a Flying attacker! It has Flash! This makes Torpor Orb look very under-powered.

Woweeezowee. So here we get to see what a rare version of Aetherize looks like. I am not sure anyone really wanted this to become a reality, but it is quite impressive. This card is right up my alley because it forces your opponent into making difficult decisions that have no right answers. It is most likely that they will bottom less relevant Creatures and leave their best threats on top, but they can't ever truly be sure that they wouldn't have drawn something better. Even if they get to keep their threat safely on top of their library, they still have to waste precious time and draw steps to get it back.

Make no mistake, this card is very powerful and will be difficult to play around. Make sure you know who in your playgroup has copies of this and remember to pick up a few for yourself.




I can't explain to you why the new choice of arbitrarily comical subtype is frog. I can tell you though, that this card is quite strong. It compares easily with Sudden Spoiling, although it is slightly worse. One part Fog, one part Plague Wind, this card is all value. The tricky bit is going to be setting it up to create favorable blocks, but that really shouldn't require too much work. This is where Sudden Spoiling shined though, because it featured Split Second.






Speaking of Plague Wind. I see this as a completely fair update for modern Magic. Planeswalkers are out of control. There are too many of them and they take up too much of the spotlight in top decks. I think that this card would even be safe to print at 5BB.

I get the flavor. Wherever Garruk goes, he wrecks shop. He is climbing in your window, snatching your people up. I have a fundamental problem with this though. He is out to hunt down all the planeswalkers in the multiverse, except you? Wasn't the whole advertising campaign for the set centered around him hunting down the player? But now, you can summon him as an ally and control him. Also you can apparently tell him where to walk. This card doesn't so much represent a spell as it does Garruk  just walking around and messing stuff up...'sorcery'. That's right, you're a wizard, Harry.

Yes!!! Finally we get a truly expanded version of Uktabi Orangutans! I love the elegance of this design. It has become somewhat common to print 2/1s for 1 mana in modern Magic. Which is fine, they are rarely good anyway. The awesome twist for me is that now we have a precedent to combine a 2/1 body and a cmc 2 spell into one card. No drawbacks, no weird casting costs, no silly subtypes! Perfect. I have been wanting this for a long time and I am glad to see that it finally made it to print. This will be a shoe-in to Commander decks and cubes everywhere.



Whenever I play this card, I am going to sing "Notorious", except change the words to Perilous. That only seems fair.

This is a viable alternative to All is Dust for decks that require a colorless board sweeper. Unfortunately, the decks that usually want this effect use Oblivion Stone because they want to recur it with Glissa the Traitor or Academy Ruins. Perilous Vault does not have this same potential, but I still think it will see some isolated play in certain decks.

That's all for today. Remember to like, comment, subscribe, and do all of the socials! We will return on Tuesday for the thrilling conclusion of our Magic 2015 set review!
-GG

M15 Set Review: Threats Part Two

Hello and welcome back to The General Zone's set review for Magic M15. I am your guide, Grandpa Growth, and today we are getting back on the horse to finish up our look at the threat cards.

You can find the previous part of this article here: Threats Part One.

Today we are beginning right where we left off, with Red cards, and then finishing with some juicy Artifact Creatures.

So they press fit a Goblin Piledriver onto a Goblin Assault. I can dig that. With the notable exception of Protection from Blue, this has pretty much everything those cards had and, to be honest, those cards are surprisingly strong. A 2/2 is very easy to get rid of in Commander, but forcing your opponent to use precious removal on your early plays can clear a path for your haymakers to stick later in the game. Every deck needs a certain percentage of these medium impact, cheap plays, in order to be successful. Rabblemaster can fit that role nicely.

I am just glad that there is so much text on this card that they didn't have room print an idiotic joke.



At some point, marketing communicated to design that the customer base liked dragons. Since then they have printed a dragon in just about every set. Nowadays, when I look at a spoiler for a new set, I am not thinking: 'Oh wow, look at this awesome new dragon.' Instead I am thinking: 'Oh lord what abominable fan service have they had then unenviable obligation of printing this time.'

This dragon hoses walls. Not that anyone cares. There are many wall Creatures and maybe five are playable in Commander. Save me the trouble of ridiculing you and just never play this. I have only included it in the review because I want to mention the design decision that goes into printing something like walls.

For years design had been moving away from the subtype wall because, well let's be honest they don't make any sense. If it is a wall it isn't a creature. Even if it were some sort of living wall, it then isn't really a wall, it is just a strangely shaped creature. The Defender ability essentially renders the identity of walls obsolete while also opening of the creative space that they can occupy in terms of creature type and as story elements. I realize that Aaron Forsythe is the head of the R&D department for Magic and that he can essentially do what he wants, but...why do this? Why regress the game to an objectively less refined state by reversing previously established decisions.

Many cards have referenced Shandalar. There was even an old point and click style Magic game that took place on Shandalar. It is safe to say I have received enough disparate information about this place that I don't really know what it looks like. Is there ever going to be a block set there? Probably. Do I have any idea what this place looks like? No. There has been no presentation of a consistent thematic or flavor identity, just bits and pieces. This card makes me think that it is a place I am not excited to go. Mostly because it is horribly weak, not so much because of the lightning and such. Starfall just got printed in Journey into Nyx and EVERYONE hated it. It was nigh unplayable in draft. Why would anyone want a walking Starfall factory?

Sure, this card's effect is substantially better than Starfall, but still. It conjures up an all-to-familiar image of poor cost/effect balance. I would say that this is the weakest in the cycle if not for the fact that it DIRECTLY counters and consumes the Soul of Zendikar's ability. Tragic.


Geroge Fan of Plants vs. Zombies fame brings us, what else, a plant. Why is it a plant? Arbitrary creative. Why is it a hydra? Well, do you remember what I said earlier about dragons?

Mechanically, this card is very powerful. Getting stuff for free is an easy way to take over the game. It calls back to some very excellent cards like Thicket Elemental and Maelstrom Wanderer. Expect to see a lot of this at the Commander tables. It will have massive fan appeal for a short time after it is released, but then will likely fade away to some extent.




Of all the spiritual predecessors that this card has, only one ever saw any play at all in Commander: Dungrove Elder. Why do these cards consistently under-perform? It is simple. As I have said many times before, if all your threat does is damage, that isn't enough. It doesn't matter how big it gets. It doesn't matter that you get two of them. If it is going to cost six mana it needs to generate card advantage. That is it.

I sometimes get asked, why does mono Green struggle, while mono Black thrives? On the surface it looks like Green has the better cards. The trouble is that 'swamps matter' cards are better than 'forests matter' cards. The proof is in the pudding. If you are going to be mono Green, you need a stronger incentive than this.



Previous Nissa was a stone blank in Commander...and pretty much every other format. This card, however, is hot. It hits hard, making a 4/4 every turn is going to put your opponent under lots of pressure and allows you to effectively defend your planeswalker while you take the long journey up to seven loyalty. On the other hand, four is a big chunk of mana. Sure you can only untap forests, but I can think of some pretty good forests. Bayou and Tropical Island come to mind. This is going directly into several of my Green EDH decks, where I expect it to stay until something truly broken gets printed to replace it.


This is very comparable to Liliana of the Dark Realms and Garruk Wildspeaker, two of my favorite planeswalkers. In terms of mana generation, this is just about the most value you are ever going to get.


It is a plant that comes back to life! The dev team must have all gotten free copies of Plants vs. Zombies 2. I dig that it resists most mass removal. I can even dig that it has more power than it's cost so it can trade across with just about anything. However, it is a big bummer than they can take this 'titan' out of commission for a full turn cycle using just about anything they have laying around the house. If this got into a fight with a ham sandwich it would be a tie. That is kind of sad.

Someone needs to inform the creative team at Wizards that fungi aren't plants. This is like saying crabs are walnuts because they have a hard shell. Also, if this is supposed to give me the idea that an entire ecosystem is just an extension of one organism, this card should be legendary. If they are all part of the same thing, could there ever really be more than 'one' of them?


Reach has always been something of a throwaway ability to me. It adds some value to Creatures that need a boost, but it isn't anything substantial. I have never said: 'Oh no! You're guy has Reach?! Now my Akroma does nothing!!!' But heck man, it makes 3/3s. A walking Centaur Glade is pretty sweet.

Hands down the worst piece of art in the set. Possibly the worst piece of art to make it into a core set since the M10 reboot. I vastly prefer the promo art, which more clearly shows the hedrons on the beast's back...and isn't an arachnid.




This is very reminiscent of Nicol Bolas, planeswalker. It provides an immediate answer to opposing pdubs and generates value even if they don't have one. It can also answer opposing Creatures and provide you threats of your own. This has a much more multiplayer friendly ultimate, but it is still only useful against one player. That is fine, I am simply pointing out that this and Nicol Bolas both share then weakness of having their ultimate essentially kill one player, but not necessarily win the game. Like the other expensive planeswalkers, and planeswalkers in general, this card is well positioned in Commander and will see a great deal of play.

So I was under the impression that, when Garruk got cursed by the power of the Chain Veil, that...ya know, it was a bad thing! Apparently it just turns you into a hulking master badass. I would like to sign up for this kind of therapy.



Well if Soul of Zendikar had the worst art, this thing has the worst name. You see, scuttle is a verb yes, but it is something that you do to ships. It is not how I imagine our terrifying robot overlords getting around.

A remarkably bland colorless threat that can't be chump blocked and is weak to exiling removal? I am not sure that there is enough room in the format for a worse Wurmcoil Engine. Did I say worse? I meant terrible.




The final installment of the Soul cycle and the final card for this article, Soul of New Phyrexia offers something old to a new market. Avacyn, Angel of Hope gave the power of unlimited indestructibility to White. Now, for a somewhat inconvenient price, every color can have this privilege.

This card will see a lot of play. More than it should. It isn't that good, but players are wary of board sweepers in Commander; with good reason. This will give other colors, mainly Green and Red, a way to work around Wrath of God while still advancing their plan of smashing face. That is good enough for me.

I have trouble seeing this cycle really getting off the ground. Their activated abilities are so expensive that it isn't feasible for you to cast and activate them in the same turn. If you had that much mana you could be doing MUCH more powerful things. I would guess that most of the time this cards net effect will just be making your opponent discard two removal spells. So it is basically just a worse Mind Rot, right?

That's all for this segment. Thanks for sticking with us through a longer-than-average set review, but remember that we still have more to come. Check back later this week for answers, legends, and utility cards. As always, leave you feedback in the comments and I will see you next time.

-GG