[THB] Mothership Spoilers - Theme Booster Rares

[Dusk]

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/a ... 2019-12-17

Theme boosters make a return, with each color having two rares that are unique to the theme booster. Not sure if they are available through the collector's boosters or not.

[void_nothing]

I'm kind of exhausted by exclusive releases, but damn, I love Deathbellow War Cry.

[Dusk]

Several of these look interesting, to say the least. Already brewing with a few of these

[Rumpy5897]

I was going to write one of those absurdist mini-skits I sometimes bust out when something stupid like this happens, but I've honestly got nothing I haven't said before. The reception to the return of mechanically unique cards has been negative since Firesong and Sunspeaker first made their appearance, and our feedback was "duly noted" but "things take time". Instead of doing the incredibly difficult thing of cancelling a single extra card printed per set, more of these have started rolling out. I'm having trouble believing that WotC sets things in irreversible stone so far in advance that the buy-a-box getting groaned at nearly two years ago (and subsequently introducing the wonderful card known as Nexus of Fate) had no impact whatsoever on the existence of this all-new class of mechanically unique cardboard.

[The N82O Molecule]

holy casting costs batman

I like the ironscale hydra

[The Fluff]

the chimera looks strong enough as a payoff for reanimator strategies. Large body, shinen of life's roar ability, and ancestral recall on death.

need to get at least two of this guy.

[Lord_Mektar]

In pioneer, you have good options for Deathbellow War Cry. Power it out early with Irencrag Feat, grabbing Kragma Warcaller, Boros Battleshaper, Rageblood Shaman, and Neheb, The Worthy for a lethal, hasty boardstate in one shot.

[5colorsrainbow]

I was going to write one of those absurdist mini-skits I sometimes bust out when something stupid like this happens, but I've honestly got nothing I haven't said before. The reception to the return of mechanically unique cards has been negative since Firesong and Sunspeaker first made their appearance, and our feedback was "duly noted" but "things take time". Instead of doing the incredibly difficult thing of cancelling a single extra card printed per set, more of these have started rolling out. I'm having trouble believing that WotC sets things in irreversible stone so far in advance that the buy-a-box getting groaned at nearly two years ago (and subsequently introducing the wonderful card known as Nexus of Fate) had no impact whatsoever on the existence of this all-new class of mechanically unique cardboard.

They never said they where gonna cancel the buy-a-box they said they where gonna make them more available...which they have.

[Mookie]

Well, at least none of these look particularly competitive. Still a couple that seem interesting though.

Underworld Sentinel seems fun. Delayed mass reanimation if you can attack enough times.
Deathbellow War Cry seems... abusable. Primarily limited by the creature type, but throw in Arcane Adaptation and fetch up something busted.
Treeshaker Chimera actually looks quite solid, and I might try to pick one up as a janky removal / card draw spell. A bit slow/expensive, but drawing three cards isn't something available on many creatures.

[Jace]

I adore that Serpent if Yawning Depths and the new hydra. Can't wait to use the serpent in my Arixmethes deck. I am considering hydra tribal after this set as well. I didn't enjoy Angels as much as I thought but green is always fun in commander.

[Dusk]

Rules question for Grasping Giant:

I attack with giant while enchanted with Lure and blockers are declared. I then Cloudshift my Giant with the exile affect on the stack. Would the blockers be exiled and then returned since the object that exiled them is no longer on the battlefield or would they stay exiled since they were exiled after the object that exiled them left the battlefield? Just trying to understand the wording here.

[CommanderMaster999]

Rules question for Grasping Giant:

I attack with giant while enchanted with Lure and blockers are declared. I then Cloudshift my Giant with the exile affect on the stack. Would the blockers be exiled and then returned since the object that exiled them is no longer on the battlefield or would they stay exiled since they were exiled after the object that exiled them left the battlefield? Just trying to understand the wording here.

It wouldn't exile them forever

If it had wording like oblivion ring yes it would rid of them forever

Wording like banishing light which is what the giant has no

Aka if it had "when it leaves the battle return exiled creatures to battlefield" it would exile them forever

[darrenhabib]

For commander and Deathbellow War Cry I've come up with Kragma Warcaller, Rageblood Shaman, Neheb, the Eternal, Morophon, the Boundless.
Morophon, the Boundless names Sliver to cast Sliver Overlord from command zone.
You can get up to 27 red mana off Neheb, the Eternal post combat from just the Deathbellow War Cry creatures.

You can win by searching for Lavabelly Sliver, Hibernation Sliver, Shapesharer.
Shapesharer becomes a copy of Lavabelly Sliver and you bounce Hibernation Sliver infinitely to deal lethal via the Lavabelly Sliver(s).

You actually only need 14 mana post combat to do this, so as long you can push through trample damage via Rageblood Shaman then it should be easy.

[JoeyB11223]

Hmm so I'm assuming these won't be in collectors boosters? I dislike these various streams of exclusivity tbh. Reminds me of football in the UK where now to watch all games you have to have Sky sports, BT,Amazon prime and premier player (and technically even more if you want true 100% coverage).

Anyway Treeshaker Chimera is interesting, especially if you can grant haste to your creatures, it's likely to remove multiple targets and draws you 3. Not too shabby.

[CalebLost]

Hmm so I'm assuming these won't be in collectors boosters? I dislike these various streams of exclusivity tbh. Reminds me of football in the UK where now to watch all games you have to have Sky sports, BT,Amazon prime and premier player (and technically even more if you want true 100% coverage).

Anyway Treeshaker Chimera is interesting, especially if you can grant haste to your creatures, it's likely to remove multiple targets and draws you 3. Not too shabby.

Already confirmed that these can be found in collector booster in the ancillary slot (like brawl cards in ELD)

[Dusk]

Rules question for Grasping Giant:

I attack with giant while enchanted with Lure and blockers are declared. I then Cloudshift my Giant with the exile affect on the stack. Would the blockers be exiled and then returned since the object that exiled them is no longer on the battlefield or would they stay exiled since they were exiled after the object that exiled them left the battlefield? Just trying to understand the wording here.

It wouldn't exile them forever

If it had wording like oblivion ring yes it would rid of them forever

Wording like banishing light which is what the giant has no

Aka if it had "when it leaves the battle return exiled creatures to battlefield" it would exile them forever

That's what I thought, but just wanted to verify beforehand. thank you

[DirkGently]

Ugggghhhhh, these are so damn stupid.

Theme boosters are a...fine idea, I guess. For brand new players ONLY. If there's one thing I don't need, it's a ton of commons and uncommons in a booster pack that costs twice as much, and maybe more importantly can't be drafted.

But whatever, I guess I don't care if wotc wants to print dumb products for people to waste their money on. Little kids love getting tons of cards even if they're garbage.

But now, of course, we've got EXCLUSIVE cards, to try to make everyone buy these stupid things, just for the CHANCE of getting an exclusive. Because, most likely, these were selling like crap, because no one except small children would want to buy them. You buy boosters to draft with. You buy singles to construct with. You buy collectors boosters to...gamble, I guess. The only thing I can think of to do with theme boosters is build starter decks with, because financially they're garbage.

I mean, obviously I'm not buying theme boosters. I'll buy the singles from them as necessary. But seriously wotc, piss off with these exclusives. Stop trying to make me buy stuff I don't have any interest in, just because there's a small chance of an exclusive. Regular boosters are already luck of the draw. Now we've got an increasingly endless list of cards that can't be acquired from regular boosters, and it's getting more and more frustrating.

[Ulka]

I know I'm the odd one out but I actually Like these. These "premium" cards are behind a 8 buck themed booster. These themes packs are excellent personally was they often are meant for newer players and these cards are perfect for new players. These compliment the Intro decks nicely and honestly give a reason to purchase these for newer players.

But then again in my view, these packs and cards aren't intended for the Enfranchised players, the players to spend lot on card and such, they seem to be for the true kitchen tablers, the 5th graders who are just starting off, the true casual players.

It is way better than a Buy a box promo for a price buy in and for availability and I'm honestly liking them as a cool casual player promo.

[hyalopterouslemur]

[mention]DirkGently[/mention] IKR? I like the idea of theme boosters and things like the deckbuilder's toolkit. These help new players fill out their collection and help returning players get a bunch of Standard-legal cards. It's a great place to put common and uncommon staples that are often used by both casual and tournament players. So, you have two options:

First, you can make them weak. I know a lot of card games do it, and this is what they do with planeswalkers in planeswalker decks.. For a newbie product, it's easy to do, though. Just make it Timmyrrific.

Second option is to lean into this, make it strong so everybody wants it. Nobody likes this option.