Magic: The Gathering

[Nama]

Why... didn't they just stick to the Kamigawa-style card flipping mechanic? Just to make cloning not work as well?

You know Wizards they just love to try new things~ Not to mention that the kamigawa flip cards looked horrible and provided much less space for art and more importantly effects. Since every transformer can change back instead of flipping once there needs to be enough text space for each side.

[miokomioko]

I agree that the Kamigawa thing was generally ugly and was super confining on the artwork as well as slightly smaller space for abilities... but this whole double-faced cards thing sounds like a nightmare. Did they want opponents to be able to see these cards during a draft, while its in your hand, or on the top of your library? Can they even Morph?

It just feels like one of those things that sounded fun, but just didn't work with the way the game works/looks/etc. I'm surprised they went this far with it.

[zoobernut]

I agree that the Kamigawa thing was generally ugly and was super confining on the artwork as well as slightly smaller space for abilities... but this whole double-faced cards thing sounds like a nightmare. Did they want opponents to be able to see these cards during a draft, while its in your hand, or on the top of your library? Can they even Morph?

It just feels like one of those things that sounded fun, but just didn't work with the way the game works/looks/etc. I'm surprised they went this far with it.

You cannot play with these cards unless they are in opaque sleaves which they stated already unless you sub in the check list card as a proxy which has a standard magic back. Also in the new rules they stated that morphing and cards that cause these to go "face down" have no effect on double sided cards. These cards are considered face up always.

[miokomioko]

I know it's how most people think, but I'm not always referring to sanctioned play... It's incredibly awkward when you have to use proxies in a casual setting.

Anyways, that aside, I really like the flavor and style of what it's doing.

Some transform spoilers:

(day) Gatstaf Shepherd: 1G
Creature - Human Werewolf
2/2
At the beginning of each upkeep, if no spells were cast last turn, transform Gatstaf Shepherd

(night) Gatstaf Howler (green)
Creature - Werewolf
3/3
Intimidate
At the beginning of each upkeep, if a player cast two or more spells last turn, transform Gatstaf Howler.

---

(day) Mayor of Avabruk: 1G
Creature - Human Advisor Werewolf
1/1
Other Human creatures you control get +1/+1.
At the beginning of each upkeep, if no spells were cast last turn, transform Mayor of Avabruk.

(night) Howlpack Alpha (green)
Creature - Werewolf
Other Werewolf and Wolf creatures you control get +1/+1.
At the beginning of your end step, put a 2/2 green Wolf creature token onto the battlefield.
At the beginning of each upkeep, if a player cast two or more spells last turn, transform Howlpack Alpha.

---

(day) Ludevic's Test Subject: 1U
Creature - Lizard
0/3
Defender
1U: Put a hatchling counter on Ludevic's Test Subject. Then if there are five or more hatchling counters on it, remove all of them and transform it.

(night)
Ludevic's Abomination (blue)
Creature - Lizard Horror
13/13
Trample

---

(day) Civilized Scholar: 2U
Creature - Human Advisor
0/1
Tap: Draw a card, then discard a card. If a creature card is discarded this way, untap Civilized Scholar, then transform it.

(night) Homicidal Brute (red)
Creature - Human Mutant
5/1
At the beginning of your end step, if Homicidal Brute didn't attack this turn, tap Homicidal Brute, then transform it.

---

and some other 5/5 vampire that turns into a little bat

[Yuri-G]

it's like everything wizards does is intended to make me feel good about my decision to quit. every time I think about coming back, there's some weird bullshit going on. fun to read about, though!

and how would these cards work in opaque sleeves... wouldn't you have to pull them out and reinsert backwards over and over again? seems like pain at the least, a way to scratch your cards at the worst.

just thinking about the story of how and why Arabian Nights kept the original backing, and comparing it to what's going on now, is enough to make me shake my head.

edit: Olivia looks hot though. and not sure how I feel about Diregraf, but it's interesting.

[miokomioko]

I'd expect to have either 2 copies in opaque sleeves, the night-side on hand for swapping upon transformation, or 1 checked-off proxy for your deck in the opaque and the actual card in a transparent sleeve for flippin'.

Mark Rosewater wrote a long (as usual) article on why they did it this way, and he has a ton of good points (as usual), but it still doesn't make it any less cumbersome/awkward when it comes down to it.

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazin...g/daily/mm/158 A good read (as usual), I recommend it.

At this point, I can imagine the fun of the double-faced cards could bring, I'm now more curious about this curse aura subtype.

[Cantih]

May as well stick this brouhaha here. If anyone thinks it's worth making into a GD thread, feel free.

http://gizmodo.com/5833787/my-brief-...thering-player
Reposting article because fuck giving gizmodo more page views

Spoiler: show

My Brief OkCupid Affair With a World Champion Magic: The Gathering Player

This story sounds mean. It's about a girl judging a boy because he's a nerd (like so many of us!) that she met on OkCupid. But that's the point: Judging people on shallow stuff is human nature, and the magic and absurdity of online dating is how immediately and directly it throws that into relief. One person's Magic is another person's fingernail biting, and no profile in the world is deep enough to account for that.

Earlier this month, I came home drunk and made an OKCupid profile. What the hell, I thought. I'm busy, I'm single, and everybody's doing it. Sure, I'd heard some stories, but what was the worst that could happen?
Two weeks into my online dating experiment, OKCupid had broken me down. It was like the online equivalent to hanging out alone in a dark, date-rapey bar. Every time I signed on, I was hit by a barrage of creepy messages. "Dem gurl u so foine, iwud lik veru much for me nd u to be marry n procreate." Or "your legs do look strong." So when I saw an IM from a guy named Jon that said, "You should go out with me " I was relieved. He seemed normal. I gave him my name. "Google away," I said. Then dinner was ready, and I signed off without remembering to do the same.

We met for a drink later that week. Jon was thin and tall, dressed in a hedge fund uniform with pale skin and pierced ears. We started talking about normal stuff—family, work, college. I told him my brother was a gamer. And then he casually mentioned that he played Magic: The Gathering when he was younger.
"Actually," he paused. "I'm the world champion."
I laughed. Oh that's a funny joke! I thought. This guy is funny! But the earnest look on his face told me he wasn't kidding.
I gulped my beer and thought about Magic, that strategic collectible card game involving wizards and spells and other detailed geekery. A long-forgotten fad, like pogs or something. But before I could dig deeper, we had to go. Jon had bought us tickets for a one-man show based on serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer's life story. It was not a particularly romantic evening.

The next day I Googled my date and a wealth of information flowed into my browser. A Wikipedia page! Competition videos! Fanboy forums comparing him to Chuck Norris! This guy isn't just some professional who dabbled in card games at a tender age. He's Jon motherfucking Finkel, the man who is so widely revered in the game of Magic that he's been immortalized in his own playing card.
Just like you're obligated to mention you're divorced or have a kid in your online profile, shouldn't someone also be required to disclose any indisputably geeky world championship titles? But maybe it was a long time ago? We met for round two later that week.
At dinner I got straight down to it. Did he still play? "Yes." Strike one. How often? "I'm preparing for a tournament this weekend." Strike two. Who did he hang out with? "I've met all my best friends through Magic." Strike three. I smiled and nodded and listened. Eventually I even felt a little bit bad that I didn't know shit about the game. Here was a guy who had dedicated a good chunk of his life to mastering Magic, on a date with a girl who can barely play Solitaire. This is what happens, I thought, when you leave things out of your online profile.

I later found out that Jon infiltrated his way into OKCupid dates with at least two other people I sort of know, including one of my co-workers. Mothers, warn your daughters! This could happen to you. You'll think you've found a normal bearded guy with a job, only to end up sharing goat cheese with a guy who takes you to a one-man show based on Jeffrey Dahmer's life story.
Maybe I'm an OKCupid asshole for calling it that way. Maybe I'm shallow for not being able to see past Jon's world title. I'll own that. But there's a larger point here: that judging people on shallow stuff is human nature; one person's Magic is another person's fingernail biting, or sports obsession, or verbal tic. No online dating profile in the world is comprehensive enough to highlight every person's peccadillo, or anticipate the inane biases that each of us lugs around. There's no snapshot in the world that can account for our snap judgments.

So what did I learn? Google the shit out of your next online date. Like, hardcore.

and responses
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2011/08/aly...rs-online-too/
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_1...34-501465.html

[miokomioko]

I just read that today. Such a stupid bitch.

If Gizmodo as a whole had any reputation to keep up, they'd pull that worthless "article" and remove that piece of shit bitch after she made a public apology for using it as her own blog about how she doesn't like nerds.

edit: apparently, the article was originally posted on Jezebel, a sister-site to Gizmodo/Kotaku/etc. focused on nothing but celebrity gossip bullshit. Which makes more sense, but that was a pretty retarded move to share the article with Gizmodo on top of posting the guy's name/videos/wiki/etc.

[Myrrh_Quetz]

That chick sounds like a massive bitch.

[Cantih]

What I got a kick out of, was she's so shallow that she managed to fail being a golddigger.

Finkel's loaded himself, and any consistent top tier tourney player will have decent income too.
And though he retired, the ones still playing, as part of their "nerd hobby" have to frequently travel to places such as
2011 PT Paris & Nagoya, 2010 PT San Juan, Amsterdam, & WC Chiba, 2009 PT Kyoto, Honolulu, & WC Rome. Not to mention all the GPs you could ever want.

And she just advised everyone to stay the hell away from all that.

[Vimes]

Pretty hilarious. Girl's got issues, lol.

I don't get it though. She seems fairly intelligent in her writing. Her brother's a gamer. She's an editor for Gizmodo. Why freak the fuck out because someone plays Magic.

Even if she didn't like the guy, she could've made a witty column about it without sounding like a complete bitch. Oh well, internet shitstorm coming her way, no doubt :D Pretty sure in the future she won't tell her dates to Google her own name anymore.

[Galaika]

I recently got back into MTG after a 9-10 year break (last played during the Invasion cycle) and I am determined to have fun with it without spending shedloads of money. After looking around for a fun deck that is both affordable and will be legal after Zendikar cycles out, I found this deck (http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/V...px?ID=148260):

1 xGravedigger
2 xRoyal Assassin
4 xRune-Scarred Demon
4 xSphinx of Uthuun
1 xFuryborn Hellkite

4 xQuicksilver Amulet

1 xDiabolic Tutor
4 xDoom Blade
1 xSorin's Vengeance
2 xDivination
2 xFrost Breath
4 xMana Leak
1 xMind Unbound
2 xNegate
4 xPonder

12 xIsland
12 xSwamp

Essentially slight Blue/Black control (my favourite colours/deck style) with Quicksilver Amulet used to tutor a card advantage with the Demons and Sphinxes. Sorin's Vengance and the Furyborn Hellkite are nice finishers too. Played it a bit casually and it's fun, but all the cards are from 2012.

I'm looking for suggestions involving inexpensive Scars of Mirrodin block cards or even other Magic 2012 cards that you would make to improve the deck. I'm not just looking for the biggest fatties I could get out with Quicksilver Amulet. Currently thinking about trying to fit some merfolk looters in maybe.

Thanks in advance for any help

[Cantih]

Dismember is pretty hot to take out anything big, maybe sideboard it for vs black matches (too early to tell how popular Vampires will be for Innistrad)
You might also try running Gitaxian Probes for more tempo and to help target your counters and removal.

[Franzer]

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comment...k_me_anything/

John Finkel from that article, is doing an IAmA on reddit, its the highest upvoted thread today lol

[Cantih]

The new Vess
http://media.wizards.com/images/magi...yu12sbr_en.jpg

I dub the final ability "Fact or FUCK YOU"

[Cantih]

bah double

[Qalbert]

theres an email address hidden in the page that Liliana was posted on on the official site.

[Cantih]

Yeah, they're doing a viral-ish campaign. Emailing the address gets a bit of Innistrad flash fiction mailed to you.

[Qalbert]

and a twitter account, which showed some "haunted" cards

[Nama]

I'm all about these 2 guys once Innistrad releases~

Spoiler: show

http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/attac...3&d=1314676984
http://www.magiccorporation.com/host...d/images/6.jpg
Invisible Stalker 1u
Creature - Human Rogue
Hexproof.
Invisible Stalker is unblockable.