General Battlebond 2018

[Velrun]

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/announcing-battlebond-2018-02-14

The next set in the drafting-family by Wizards of the Coast following Conspiracy, Conspiracy: Take the Crown and Unstable is named Battlebond. Most likely there will be more Battlebonds but the first one is confirmed for June 8 in 2018.

(Conspiracy was on the plane of Fiora. Unstable on Bablovia. Battlebond will explore a new plane that goes by the name Kylem and it is going to have a sporty feel to it and e-sporty feel to it.)

It is going to be a drafting experience for the Two-Headed Giant format.

The set is going to introduce new cards and reprints alike. There is going to be a few returning cards with new artwork.

 

[sigh]

I'm reserved but hopeful at the part where he talked about having cube in mind.

I'm very interested to see what they do with the "sports" flavor. I guess this means there will be much less direct flavor surrounding war, death, espionage, etc? They did specifically say the primary combat was not about killing. Neat.

 

[Suicufnoc]

Sounds cool. We shall see.

 

[Alfonzo Bonzo]

I'm reserved but hopeful at the part where he talked about having cube in mind.
.

I read that in relation to the reprints.

 

[Kirblinx]

Time to bump this since there are now previews:
Partners:

The partner cards seem interesting for cube. Do you squad them? Do you run multiples? Running them just as themselves in a normal cube would be a bit confsuing as you would be looking for the other cards too much.
Pir is good enough by itself, Toothey isn't terrible either. Squadding them together seems a bit too strong. Some of these designs are really cool though. Quite fond of the Protege and Mentor.

Assist:

Assist seems like a great way to deal with mana screw in a team limited environment. These also seem like commander plants, and if you are doing a multiplayer cube they could be a nice addition but they aren't doing much for a normal cube.

More Multiplayer

A couple more cards that work well in multiplayer, but not so hot in 1v1. I really like the idea of Soaring Show-off, just a shame giving your opponent cards is generally not a good idea.

There are some nice spicy cards that are more suited for cube, but I only like to show them when they are in english, which should be tomorrow. The green 3 drop is interesting.

 

[sigh]

some neat stuff so far. I just want to point out that Pir's Whim searches up a land, not a basic land, so that adds to the power level. Seems good in either a format with heavy artifact or enchantment theme(s) where this can be a good incidental control mechanism with a ramp upside, or in a slightly slower format where you can search up something sweet like a bounceland.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I had this in my cube already! The card turned out to be too strong at four mana with the additional tuck, but... I had this!

 

[Rasmus Källqvist]

Would things be different if show-off costed 2?

 

[Velrun]

I have always loved your Curse but never had any room for it since Bolas was occupying the Grixis spot.

I am not interested in Stolen Strategy. Curse is way cooler.

 

[shamizy]

I'm excited to get an affordable copy of Land Tax without ugly man art.

 

[Seeker]

I'm excited. Warrior tribal wasn't something I cared about before this, but this one's good enough that I think I'll be making marginal decisions on the basis of it now.

 

[safra]

I'm excited. Warrior tribal wasn't something I cared about before this, but this one's good enough that I think I'll be making marginal decisions on the basis of it now.

see also: graveyard hate, anthem, reach plan. Archetype seems centred in BWr, bleeding into G with Elf Warriors. It's always been on the edge for me and I also really like the look of this chick.

 

[Chris Taylor]

Oooooooo

2G
Creature - Elf Advisor
When Generous Sponsor enters the battlefield, support 2. (Put a +1/+1 counter on each of up to two other target creatures.)
Whenever you put one or more counters on a creature you don't control, draw a card.
1/4

Interesting. Gets more interesting if you've got pacifism effects, which will let you get around the "intended use" of this by playing this in 1v1.

 

[GalacticTraveler12]

Woah the elf thing looks amazing with -1/-1 counters, tons of neat engines there:

Grasping Dunes + Life from the Loam (plus the draw activates dredge!)
Gwafa Hazid
Contagion Clasp/Contagion Engine
Tetzimoc, Primal Death: pay to draw a card :eek:
Ruthless Sniper + any discard outlet: pay to loot and put a -1/-1 on your opponent's dude

Some of these sound fun with Lab Man

 

[sigh]

Oh man, the fact that its any kind of counter is GREAT. Fun one:


OHMAN

 

[GalacticTraveler12]

Plus you can redraw it off the draw triggers :eek:

 

[Rasmus Källqvist]

Really happy about these additional +1/+1 counter support.

 

[sigh]

This seems really spicy. That restriction of Trinket Mage that reigns in it being busted with the really strong utility angle. Looks great.

 

[inscho]

 

[Chris Taylor]

View attachment 1955
This seems really spicy. That restriction of Trinket Mage that reigns in it being busted with the really strong utility angle. Looks great.

Blue imperial recruiter!

I don't know if this is the kind of play patterns that I want, but it's interesting.

Cuuuuute. Also hey, splashable 2/2 double strike, random dragon upside. Could be worse.

Black was never really the heroic color, but this is interesting.

It's Brawl! (Like, from hearthstone)

 

[Onderzeeboot]

It's Brawl! (Like, from hearthstone)

Didn't someone turn in this design for the Great Designer Search 3? Like, the judge report on it came out just last week or something?

 

[Rasmus Källqvist]

Black was never really the heroic color, but this is interesting.

Wouldn't this be sweet to play in a control deck to buff up your dork while also sweeping the board, if the power level is a little lower where a 4 -2/-2 mana sweeper is worth it?

 

[Dom Harvey]

This set is already offering much more than I expected. Together Forever + Walking Ballista!

Pir and Toothy are fantastic. Notably Pir works with *any* card type - planeswalkers, enchantments, lands - which opens up a lot of weird lines. Winding Constrictor is great but there's stiff competition for gold slots (especially in BG for the kind of deck Constrictor enables) and having this effect also be available in other Gx is perfect. As for Toothy, Chasm Skulker has been a mainstay of my Cube for a long time. The 'drawing cards matter' stuff is really fun but there aren't many payoffs that aren't expensive (Locust God) or busted (Sphinx's Tutelage) and this is a cheaper payoff that rewards you with more of the same afterwards. If I squadron Pir + Toothy, I can imagine first-picking them a lot and seeing which of those two silly nonsense decks I can make work (with the pipe dream of both at the same time!)

 

[Taamas]

I'm interested in some of these pairs, but how would we implement it? Squadroning? Doesn't sound that good. Looking at Cogwork Librarian, I'm now thinking of putting pairs in same booster and making the player put a card from their pool into the pack to pick the pair. Although this would require to show that what you ar picking. What are your ideas on this?

 

[Dom Harvey]

It ends up not being a real cost since you can just put back the off-colour card you had to take that you were never playing anyway