General CBS

[japahn]

This makes me optimistic about Unstable:

"Unstable is not designed as a set to read once, chuckle at and never play again. It’s us exploring play spaces on the edge of what’s currently allowed."
http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/163329591428/contraptions-in-unstable-sounds-like-possibly-the

Unglued and Unhinged were great sets to read the spoilers, but not necessarily great fun gameplay or too replayable. Unhinged is, though, a set release in 2004 during Kamigawa block. Look at how far design has come since then - especially in limited - and think of how drastically better Unstable could be! I believe it will play more like Magic with a twist, and as such we might get cool silver-bordered content for our cubes. Contraptions are confirmed, for example.

 

[Salmo2]

Un-sets have had a lot of gems: Blast From the Past, Symbol Status, Magical Hacker (the true god). Topsy Turvy, City of Ass, Old Fogey, Booster Tutor. We're undoubtedly going to get some silly shit since it's MaRo and he can't help himself, but I'm excited since the precedence has already been set.

 

[Chris Taylor]

Well mark, thank you for assuage great my biggest fear about the set, but I'll believe it when I see it

 

[ahadabans]

Contraptions? Oh snap.

is probably still bad though right? I opened that in a Future Sight pack way back when and was pretty unhappy about it as I recall.

 

[Salmo2]

There's no way to know until we know what Riggers are and how they produce contraptions.

 

[Chris Taylor]

There's no way to know until we know what Riggers are and how they produce contraptions.

God damnit maro you asshole you're defeating the whole reason this card exists!

Steamflogger boss is an example of how absurd magic can sound, and how we don't realize because we've been with it the whole time. Steamflogger boss is as insane and meaningless to us as flying, lifelink, and T: Add to your mana pool are to normal people. That's the whole reason it exists

But no, you want to explain the joke. You want to kill the goose to get idiots to shut up about the golden eggs it'll someday lay. AND APPARENTLY YOUVE BEEN TRYING FOR 10 FUCKING YEARS:

I think the final card does what it is meant to do quite well—be funny, with just a hint of potential, and not actually be worthless in play. Others, including Mark Rosewater, disagree, citing that people now expect us to make Contraptions some day and won't be happy until we do. The card is certainly polarizing and has generated lots and lots of discussion, which is good enough for me. I don't really expect Contraptions to be realized in the game, but I'm sure some enterprising young designer will surprise me some day; in fact, Kenneth Nagle has already put forth a few ways that the game could incorporate the idea in such a way that Steamflogger Boss actually makes sense.

God damnit maro.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Eh... Is that really worth getting this mad about? Like any card from Future Sight, it was a possible preprint from a future set, we just didn't know which one. Now we do!

 

[Salmo2]

Bro I want some motherfucking golden eggs, and I want my riggers to drop two of them bad boys

 

[Chris Taylor]

Eh... Is that really worth getting this mad about? Like any card from Future Sight, it was a possible preprint from a future set, we just didn't know which one. Now we do!

This was the one card there that was effective because couldn't be reprinted. Not without missing the point.

 

[James Stevenson]

I hate steamflogger boss

 

[Onderzeeboot]

This was the one card there that was effective because couldn't be reprinted. Not without missing the point.

I literally don't understand what you're saying here.

I guess what you're saying is that Steamflogger Boss was the only card that didn't make sense on its own, but saying that the card couldn't be reprinted because of that is poppycock. Just because you don't know how it's supposed to work and it doesn't make sense in the current multiverse doesn't mean it thus can't work and won't make sense ever. Furthermore, it's probably one of the most requested reprints from the set precisely because people want to see what contraptions are about, so it shouldn't even come as a surprise that they've been trying to make it work for years. At the very least it isn't worth cussing and slinging profanities at MaRo's head over. He's just doing his job, and I'm pretty that job doesn't include "chivalrously defending the integrity of the game by making sure Steamflogger Boss never gets a reprint and contraptions don't ever see the light of day". Anyway, that's my opinion.

 

[Chris Taylor]

Sure, if it's reprinted and there's still no meaning behind assembling contraptions it's fine, but that's not the aim is it? The aim is to make assembling contraptions make sense.
The only card in magic defined by not making sense. Like sure, you can puzzle a bit over whatever the hell ice cauldron does or is supposed to do, or try and figure out what the wording of animate dead should be in current magic, or puzzle out overwhelming splendor corner cases, but this card only exists because there are no answers.

Now he's just another lord.

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

Steamflogger boss...when you're really reaching for reasons to be mad at WOTC.

 

[shamizy]

RIP Steamflogger memes.

 

[ahadabans]

I was going to respond with a jab at how surprising it is to me that people always come to the defense of WOTC no matter what they do. And then I realized it's just as easy to reverse that and say how surprising it is that people always want to attack WOTC regardless of what they do (like me for example).

And I guess what that means is that WOTC elicits a very strong emotional response from people invested in the game. Which is our Captain Obvious moment of the day I suppose.

 

[Kirblinx]

The only thing that confuses me is that Steamflogger Boss is a black bordered card. It is going to be confusing if it is the only black bordered card in the set (minus basic lands). They can't print it with a silver border, as then people might be confused when some plays a silver bordered Steamflogger in Modern for example.

What they should do is make the whole set black bordered. If nothing else just to let some people troll Legacy tournaments with their 'put shoes on the table'-esque cards.

 

[ahadabans]

Who says they have to include it in the set? Maybe they'll make a joke about it and print contraptions, riggers and all that but NOT actually reprint Steamflogger Boss. They can even reference it in flavor text to add to the joke. "Hey, anybody seen steamflogger Boss?"

 

[sigh]

They are printing it as a basic land, which I personally think is on par with the "jokeiness" of the set concept. It's appearing less on the sheet than the other basics or something.

 

[Salmo2]

What they should do is make the whole set black bordered.

Just reprint Journey to Nix in its entirety

 

[Mondschwein]

They shouldn't reprint Steamflogger Boss itself but print ten different cards that assemble contraptions and on each one of those 'assembling a contraption' should be something completely different.

 

[sigh]

Regarding Unstable:

Absolutely. One of the goals of the design was to make cards for other formats where we thought players might be able to use silver-bordered cards - Commander and Cube were the biggest recipients. Every faction has legendary options.

This is... a good sign. I'm more and more looking forward to seeing what this set has to offer.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Shit... The credit card on my Patreon account expired and I forgot to update it in time. Now all the custom card images on my cubetutor account are gone

 

[Jason Waddell]

Shit... The credit card on my Patreon account expired and I forgot to update it in time. Now all the custom card images on my cubetutor account are gone

Maybe if you contact Ben he can sort it out for you?

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Maybe if you contact Ben he can sort it out for you?

Yeah, I sent him a mail yesterday. No reply yet, but I'll wait. I don't run that many customs anymore (only 16 in the current iteration) so uploading the customs for my current cube won't cost me a lot of time, but there's a lot of history lost with all of the customs I tried out over the years.

 

[Salmo2]

Yeah, I sent him a mail yesterday. No reply yet, but I'll wait. I don't run that many customs anymore (only 16 in the current iteration) so uploading the customs for my current cube won't cost me a lot of time, but there's a lot of history lost with all of the customs I tried out over the years.

Do you have old decks drafted from the cube with the cards in it? Unfortunately don't fully know how cubetutor works in that regard, but maybe some of the images are still in those decks?