Unreleased and New Card Discussion

[Mookie]

I have mixed feelings about many of the bulk rare reprints, and I'm not a big fan of the profile legends... but the full-art cards looks reeeeeal nice. Smothering Tithe, Balefire Dragon, and Flawless Maneuver all look great.

[Jemolk]

I have mixed feelings about many of the bulk rare reprints, and I'm not a big fan of the profile legends... but the full-art cards looks reeeeeal nice. Smothering Tithe, Balefire Dragon, and Flawless Maneuver all look great.

Really. I think they, along with the rest of the "frame breaks," look horrendous. The art gets in the way of the text, and the text distracts from the art. Worst UX decision put to cardboard since the Amonkhet block Invocations, and at least those gave us funny things like Hazoret the Pervert.

The regular full art treatment is nice. These would be more reasonable candidates for textless versions. At least then the text and art wouldn't openly clash in distracting and ugly ways.

[yeti1069]

Just give me Song of the Dryads Wizards, you know you want to!

Dragonlover

Guess what...

[Serenade]

WOW, new Sakiko, Mother of Summer looks so cool! And here the only snake I wanted was Ohran Frostfang in that sweet snow border.

[NZB2323]

How good actually is Ezuri's Predation? I guess it's good to have a "board wipe" in green but it cost 8 mana.

I was thinking of running it in my Legolas, Counter of Kills deck as a way to survive against aggro and put a bunch of counters on Legolas.

It also seems good with cards like Blood Artist or Purphoros, God of the Forge, but then you have access to better board wipes.

Edit: Whirlwind seems better.

[pokken]

An asymmetrical board wipe that also presents a table kill is pretty good.

[Serenade]

People forget that you can do it in green. New art is sweet.

[Mookie]

I would compare Ezuri's Predation to Decree of Pain - eight mana is a lot for a board wipe, but you also generate enough value that you will probably go on to win the game if it resolves. It's also in green, which doesn't really have other board wipes, and it works well with stuff like Parallel Lives and Garruk's Uprising. Not the first card I would throw in a deck, but it's a reasonable topend card / finisher, particularly if you are for some reason not interested in creature or ramp-based win conditions.

[RxPhantom]

You can tell they're out of ideas when 'close-ups on your favorite characters looking to their right' passes as a gimmick. Having said that, they're not all bad; they actually run the gamut between awesome (Gisela, Blade of Goldnight|84710, Mikaeus, the Unhallowed|84516) and goofy (Kykar, Wind's Fury|84491, Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger|84555).

The price they're charging for this is absolute insanity. I don't think they have enough reprint equity to ever make it worth that price, even if they blew it all. I am looking forward to picking up some singles though.

[toctheyounger]

The price they're charging for this is absolute insanity. I don't think they have enough reprint equity to ever make it worth that price, even if they blew it all. I am looking forward to picking up some singles though.

Likewise, there's stuff I'll definitely grab once the price is right.

As far as pack cracking goes, that paradigm has changed. It's not a fun jaunt anymore, it's an investment, either in your own pocket or a draft experience. Reprint equity doesn't exist in the value of cards outside the chases, it's in the premium treatments now. I will say I don't think that's a bad thing, as it definitely has driven prices down here and there, but it certainly makes it less viable to buy sealed product for the average mtg enthusiast.

[yeti1069]

How good actually is Ezuri's Predation? I guess it's good to have a "board wipe" in green but it cost 8 mana.

I was thinking of running it in my Legolas, Counter of Kills deck as a way to survive against aggro and put a bunch of counters on Legolas.

It also seems good with cards like Blood Artist or Purphoros, God of the Forge, but then you have access to better board wipes.

Edit: Whirlwind seems better.

I think most mono-green decks should probably be running it as one of the few outs to dangerous creature-based board states.

If you have synergies this plays into, it can be very strong. There are plenty of ways for those 4/4s to draw you a bunch of cards, win fights with bigger threats, survive their own fights, or do other shenanigans. Many times, you end up wiping most of the rest of the board while retaining a number of 4/4s you're ready to attack with.

Had someone recently use this to good effect in Esix, Fractal Bloom. We misplayed (forgot the fights happen before any ETBs resolve), but that's still a ton of value otherwise.

[RedCheese]

Holy %$#%, this sliver deck is ass for 100 dollars product. That mana base is embarassing

[Mookie]

Looking at new cards from the sliver deck...

• Rukarumel. Biologist is alright if you want Arcane Adaptation in the command zone. Only hitting nontoken creatures is a limitation though, and I suspect most tribal decks want an actual payoff / enabler for their tribe in the command zone, but it is a reasonable alternative to Morophon, the Boundless if you want to support a weird tribe.
• Titan of Littjara is another Distant Melody / Kindred Discovery effect.
• For The Ancestors is a very strong card for other formats - I believe Lead the Stampede has seen play in Elves in the past, and this digs a card deeper, is instant speed, and has flashback. On the other hand, tribal decks are sort of unplayable these days due to Plague Engineer and Orcish Bowmasters, so... yeah.
• Descendants' Fury is an interesting polymorph effect, and very silly with Feywild Visitor (which came up in RCotD recently).

Other than that... I guess the new slivers go in sliver decks? I am otherwise unimpressed by the reprints, particularly given the selling price. That said, slivers don't really appeal to me, so it's possible there are some exciting sliver reprints someone is excited for - I guess Sliver Hivelord? I'm more excited for the Eldrazi precon anyway.

[Arebennian]

Looking at new cards from the sliver deck...

• Titan of Littjara is another Distant Melody / Kindred Discovery effect.

This is a nombo with The First Sliver, right? It isn't a sliver on the stack so it doesn't get the cascade trigger.

[Mookie]

Looking at new cards from the sliver deck...

• Titan of Littjara is another Distant Melody / Kindred Discovery effect.

This is a nombo with The First Sliver, right? It isn't a sliver on the stack so it doesn't get the cascade trigger.

Yes, that is correct. It will only work with slivers that apply to sliver creatures on the battlefield - no Sliver Gravemother or Homing Sliver either.

[Igzex]

Rukarumel. Biologist...PHELDDAGRIF SLIVERS.

[Sporegorger_Dragon]

I am otherwise unimpressed by the reprints, particularly given the selling price.

I'm guessing the other main appeal is that the weird humanoid Slivers from M14 have now been reprinted with new art depicting them with the classic Sliver design, a massive win in my opinion.

[gsgfdf]

The sliver precon is horrendous. The manabase is the same as the Painbow precon with Jared Carthalion that is still available for 45€. Really low on actually rare sliver reprints, it seems like printing the M14 slivers in the traditional sliver form is the only appeal of the deck.

I had a preorder for 120€ that I have already canceled. It's such a ridiculous product for this price.

[duducrash]

Flawless Maneuver all look great

Damn, Teysa does not give a single %$#%. Love it

[PrimevalCommander]

The new slivers look pretty decent, but I will reiterate the complaints with the mana base. Mana base looks pretty trash for the price of the deck. Same $0.50 reprint lands from every other precon. PUT THE TRIOMES in instead of the crappy tri-lands. You have Nature's Lore, Three Visits, and Farseek, but only a scant few dual-typed cards to fix colors. Put in 5 Triomes with those and maybe even a Crop Rotation or Tempt with Discovery and you have some decent fixing. Being able to fix 3 colors with one spell is where it's at.

Also, drop SOL RING and put in Urza's Incubator

I will probably need to get a hand full of singles from this deck, but I'm not seeing the value for the premium price here.

Capricious Sliver and Taunting Sliver are my favorite. Regal Sliver and Lazotep Sliver look decent.

[TheGildedGoose]

Why people think WotC will ever put expensive mana fixing lands in precons is beyond me. I mean, a) they sell more cards if people have to buy lands and b) upgrading and understanding your manabase is a learning experience that theoretically makes people better deckbuilders. If you think that precons should be playable at most tables right outside of the box, you're welcome to your opinion but I think that's an unrealistic expectation.

Anyway, the price is too damn high and, as always, I will only buy singles. Other than that I really don't have much to say about reprint sets.

[pokken]

Why people think WotC will ever put expensive mana fixing lands in precons is beyond me. I mean, a) they sell more cards if people have to buy lands and b) upgrading and understanding your manabase is a learning experience that theoretically makes people better deckbuilders. If you think that precons should be playable at most tables right outside of the box, you're welcome to your opinion but I think that's an unrealistic expectation.

I feel like they could at least get Forbidden Orchard and City of Brass in there, at $80. City really should be normalized as 4+ commander deck material imho, and orchard too. It's really fine.

[PrimevalCommander]

Why people think WotC will ever put expensive mana fixing lands in precons is beyond me. I mean, a) they sell more cards if people have to buy lands and b) upgrading and understanding your manabase is a learning experience that theoretically makes people better deckbuilders. If you think that precons should be playable at most tables right outside of the box, you're welcome to your opinion but I think that's an unrealistic expectation.

Anyway, the price is too damn high and, as always, I will only buy singles. Other than that I really don't have much to say about reprint sets.

I mean, what is expensive? Jetmir's Garden Spara's Headquarters Ziatora's Proving Ground are all under $8.00 right now. It does add up if you add all 3 of them in there, but honestly if they are going to increase the cost to purchase, they need to increase the value to compensate. See your bolded comment about price.

I'm not saying you are wrong, as history has proven your point. But that doesn't make it good practice for Wizards. I don't need "expensive", I just need "functional", or at least more functional than Nomad Outpost et. all. At least then the Bad River would be somewhat useful, if still glacially slow.

[TheGildedGoose]

I mean, what is expensive? Jetmir's Garden Spara's Headquarters Ziatora's Proving Ground are all under $8.00 right now. It does add up if you add all 3 of them in there, but honestly if they are going to increase the cost to purchase, they need to increase the value to compensate. See your bolded comment about price.

I'm not saying you are wrong, as history has proven your point. But that doesn't make it good practice for Wizards. I don't need "expensive", I just need "functional", or at least more functional than Nomad Outpost et. all. At least then the Bad River would be somewhat useful, if still glacially slow.

$8/land is expensive. A lot of shocks can be had for ~$10. Should they only include the lands under $10? As for increasing quality when increasing price, why would they? A sliver deck will sell like hot cakes regardless of quality, and they stand to make more money overall by making crappy decks you have to buy supplemental product for.

Obviously it's a terrible practice, but WotC is a terrible company, so...

[PrimevalCommander]

Being $8.00 hardly precludes anything from getting a print in commander product. See Urza's Incubator previously mentioned. But I assume being a playable land over $2.00 means it is "too good" to be in the decks and they like to put the reprint equity into headlining non-lands. But really these 4+ color decks need some help. Having so many non-tutorable tapped lands put these decks to incredibly far behind the curve. Ziatora's Proving Ground is only $1 more than Three Visits.

Funny enough, most new players I meet would gladly spend $$ getting the cool non-lands for a precon deck, and the mana base is the last thing they look at. So I'm not sure the agrument that making the mana base suck encourages more spending actually comes to fruition.