Sets Amonkhet (AKH) Spoilers

Chris Taylor

Contributor
combatcelebrant.jpg

So, basically theres nobody in the comments that thinks this card is any good, but that's probably hinging on walking balista.

However, viewed as a sorcery, this card is extremely powerful. Relentless Assault + Lightning Elemental for 3 seems pretty over the top.
 
This Gideon at least doesn't snowball. Not that it's fun, or anything close to fun, it simply looks worse to me.
 

FlowerSunRain

Contributor
the small discussion on the -1/-1 counters vs undying, almost made me think about quitting magic.

Magic's inelegance is very frustrating. If it came out in 2017 it would be inexcusable. But it came out in 1993. Have you seen what games were coming out in 1993? Here's BBG's list:

https://boardgamegeek.com/search/boardgame?sort=rank&advsearch=1&q=&include[designerid]=&include[publisherid]=&geekitemname=&range[yearpublished][min]=1993&range[yearpublished][max]=1993&range[minage][max]=&range[numvoters][min]=&range[numweights][min]=&range[minplayers][max]=&range[maxplayers][min]=&range[leastplaytime][min]=&range[playtime][max]=&floatrange[avgrating][min]=&floatrange[avgrating][max]=&floatrange[avgweight][min]=&floatrange[avgweight][max]=&colfiltertype=&searchuser=&playerrangetype=normal&B1=Submit

A lot of even clunkier games, a few abstract/party games, and Lifeboats.

I too get annoyed at Magic's clunkiness a lot, but that's the price you pay for 24 years of reverse compatibility in a first of its kind title.
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Try playing Beta in constructed or limited and tell me how fun that first (technically second) set really was compared to modern sets if you factor out the nostalgia. Magic today isn't the same game as it was back then, but still, it's amazing how close to its roots the underlying core of the game still is to something that came out so long ago.
 

Dom Harvey

Contributor
The more I hear about software development the more Magic reminds me of a piece of legacy code that has done the job very well but would look totally different if designed nowadays
 

Chris Taylor

Contributor
It's one of those weird things, like

Yawgmoth's Will is absolutly insane, broken card.
But it's really REALLY fun to cast :p
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
The more I hear about software development the more Magic reminds me of a piece of legacy code that has done the job very well but would look totally different if designed nowadays
No doubt. There's an interesting article by Rosewater somewhere in the archives about what he would change with the knowledge of years of making Magic, and there's some pretty interesting tweaks.

Ha! Found it! The interesting part starts halfway after the long winded, self-congratulatory "introduction" ;)
 
I don't know what is more mind-blowing:
  • MtG has 17,000 unique cards
  • They are all compatible with each other
It's the ultimate modular game.

I'd argue these cards are not really compatible. We have how many different formats now? They printed cards back in the day that didn't end up broken until cards printed later on. It's ultimately what happens when you make that many cards over this much time. All sort of starts falling apart balance wise. Magic has definitely not avoided that.

Board games ultimately have this problem too with expansions. First version is generally pretty tight. Well tested, balanced, etc. Then one expansion after another and it starts to degenerate into something that sort of sucks. I've never played a board game where this wasn't true. That's where Magic is at basically. And they keep piling onto the problem to sell cards. It's a business and I get that there is no other option really. Let the game die or find other ways to exploit and ruin it. But for me at least, Cube is all that is left of Magic that's worth playing. And that's only true because you can control the environment so much.
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
I'd argue these cards are not really compatible. We have how many different formats now? They printed cards back in the day that didn't end up broken until cards printed later on. It's ultimately what happens when you make that many cards over this much time. All sort of starts falling apart balance wise. Magic has definitely not avoided that.

Board games ultimately have this problem too with expansions. First version is generally pretty tight. Well tested, balanced, etc. Then one expansion after another and it starts to degenerate into something that sort of sucks. I've never played a board game where this wasn't true. That's where Magic is at basically. And they keep piling onto the problem to sell cards. It's a business and I get that there is no other option really. Let the game die or find other ways to exploit and ruin it. But for me at least, Cube is all that is left of Magic that's worth playing. And that's only true because you can control the environment so much.

Eh. Modern, legacy, and vintage are all beloved by enough people that I feel they've done a well enough job. Each format sees cards played from all different periods, it's really the old creatures that have (mostly) fallen out of favor, the spells are certainly still competitive. Really, they've just gotten better at making this game over time, and the game nowadays is imo in a better place then it was in the past. Of course there's nostalgia, and it's only human to fondly remember the good old days, but that doesn't mean that things objectively used to be better.
 

Laz

Developer
"So, we are thinking about reusing the 'You can't lose the game' mechanic again on a splashy white mythic."

"Ok, I suppose Platinum Angel isn't breaking anything... White Mythic you say, I suppose you could up the P/T a bit and maybe give it a keyword? Vigilance? Lifelink?"

"Nope. Hard to interact with permanent type that prevents other things from dealing damage. Also it becomes indestructible."

"Ok... so, big stupid enchantment that breaks the game like Omniscience?"

"Nope. CMC of 3 seems reasonable."

Totally Unrelated Edit: The Cycling dual lands have basic land types. This means you can pick them up with Gush... and then cycle them!
 

Kirblinx

Developer
Staff member
This is a card that really caught my eye:
insultinjury.jpg

Injury is just lunge, a card that most people don't even know exist. While it is just a bonus to the card, most people will think of the cards as a whole as 4RR deal 4 damage to a creature and 4 damage to a creature. A fine limited card to be sure, however, insult is another beast all together.
I don't think there has ever been anything like it to change the way a red aggro deck could work. Sure there forks and damage doublers but nothing of this magnitude with no drawback. It seems pretty cube worthy, and with my single-card centric combo world it belongs quite well. There will be so many nuance plays with this to try and eek out as much damage as possible. Really want to preorder a couple and see if can be broken in standard.

Off topic:
With all of these split cards being produced, I hope they try and merge some of the existing single words they have already used, as the pool they have can't be too deep. Plus, who needs to use the _&_ naming convention of split cards anyway?! Here is a terrible card that will never see print:
Fl2tH9Z.jpg
 
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