Recent content by ravnic

I want to revisit the idea to have Sagas as a theme that could primarily cover {G/W}. I'll just dump some thoughts here for the moment so I can focus on my thesis again. This is just a first pitch, nothing too concrete yet. Sagas for the core: down in the valley the huntsman's redemption the...

Now after Cube Open Wilhelmshaven I wanted to take another look at some "data", regarding the decks that got played in the eleven drafts since I implemented the core/occasionals structure. Aggro 49-51 Aggro decks seem balanced, which is an improvement compared ro other impressions in this...

Balance of Terror Hate it when such a sweet clean design gets horrendous art/flavor thanks to UB

Ayula's Influence This card seems kinda nuts in a low to midpowered environment with Life from the Loam. Am I too scared of a best case scenario here or is this probably just too strong of a card? (Lands matter is my green-based/sometimes mono green theme of choice)

I think we need tags at cube cobra - no UB - only fantasy UB - full UB I know the lines are blurry, but it would help people avoid these cards at events and such, which I've seen people getting annoyed by a random spider man in their pack. One more way to avoid them might help reduce people's...

May I talk to you about our Lord and savior Gurzigost

This set is weird. It has a lot of jarring looking cards, some of which are literally the worst we've had in permier sets, but then there are also quite a few that are honestly looking like magic cards. It's mostly the alien beasts and more fantastical appearing life forms, als well as some...

That's rough, buddy

So, I found a way to do a rematch with the abzan graveyard deck and the white based lifegain aggro deck. The first game ran into exactly the same problem, no one could finish the game, boards had time to get bigger and bigger until both players didn't even bother to think anymore – it was like...

Toph, Earthbending Master I'll show you now a few 4-drops that have been (very) good but unproblematic in my cube and you tell me if that Toph seems more dangerous to you than these. Talrand, Sky Summoner Zimone, Mystery Unraveler Battle Screech Ojutai Exemplars Traxos, Scourge of Kroog

Should work decently well with a good base body as fallback plan. But I would avoid it for all it's trinket text, suggesting themes that aren't there.

This set has a lot of three mana 2/4s. I'm glad I won't play with the cards anyway.

Oh, and another thing commander players often don't do when you put them into a context of real 1-vs-1 Magic is to sideboard. Recently in my cube one player had a red aggro deck with Bloodrage Brawler but only very little things to actually discard (mostly just one Rootwalla). She lost game one...

Cube Open Wilhelmshaven was a success! It was cool to help organize a small cube event, even though I couldn't do as much as I wanted with a thesis to write and a baby to care for. However, my Casual Champions Cube got drafted once again, although this time it got played in a 6-pod. 1. {B}{G}...

It is really astonishing to me how many absolute basics of playing Magic are lost to people who only come from Commander. No hate. I love it when people come to this game and I don't care how good you are, but it's still fascinating how learning the game has changed over the years. In the most...