Sets (MKM) Murders at Karlov Manor Previews

Not really. The term "morph" implies that the creature would be changing from one thing into another. On both Dominaria and Tarkir, the "morph" creatures have really just been in a disguise, with Tarkir having the glowy magic bubble and Dominaria having those weird crab things that they crack out of to unmorph. In my opinion, the name "morph" implies something closer to the transform mechanic.
The weird crabs in dominaria aren't really all that well expanded on flavor-wise, but butterflies emerging from their cocoon is one of the most iconic representations of metamorphosis. I already said Tarkir did a poor job.
For what it's worth, there's a significant portion of transforming cards that don't actually undergo any form of transformation.
 
Remember this request from the The Lost Caverns of Ixalan thread?

No common dump yet. Why they hate me.

I have good news for you.

During the reveal stream on Magic's Twitch channel they got a question from chat they they answered. The question was about if we could get more common cards spoiled earlier during the spoiler season. The person answering the question was the one in charge of how the spoiler seasons go and he said he would take that into consideration in future spoiler seasons. He said it was actually a good idea because many people love to play limited. I consider this good news because he was literally the person in charge of how early the common cards should get spoiled.

So maybe there's about to be some changes when it comes to common cards being spoiled earlier.

It has officially already happened. Blake confirmed this during the Murders at Karlov Manor Debut Day stream. This is why we already see more common spoilers spread out over the spoiler season.

Ixalan thread:
https://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/lci-rex-lost-caverns-of-ixalan-and-jurassic-park-spoilers.3752/

Debut Day stream with confirmation:
https://m.twitch.tv/videos/2034378014
 
We haven't talked about a surprising number of these cards yet:

This is Selesnya's answer to Savage Knuckleblade. Trostani can make combat a mess for the opponent, doling out Deathtouch and Double-Strike to your creatures. Attacking with Thalia? Give it Deathtouch and murder their blocker. Have a Siege Rhino? Ok, the opponent is taking 8 now. Oddly, I think the alt-arts for this card are better than the normal version.
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I definitely don't think this card is going to revolutionize Selesnya or anything, but I think she's another good stopgap until we get Selesnya's answers to Assassin's Trophy and Expressive Iteration.

Also, I like that one of Trostani's heads was the murder. I was expecting it to be Azor but this is a nice surprise!


This is a nice card for killing threats in tempo-based counterspell decks. Kill that Ragavan, nuke that Delver, and murder that DRS. Also this kills Oko.


Hey! This is a nice card for Watchwolf World formats. I like that it trades up into three-toughness things while still dying to two-power things. The only real issue I have with this card is that it dies to Courser of Kruphix.


This is such a flavorful design! Any time one of your creatures is murdered, you get to investigate. It's like the card... investigates the homicide.

Not sure if this has a home outside of an Aristocrats or Blaggro deck, but I think the design is very cool. Is this another Academy Manufactor deck card?
 

Escape Tunnel is sweet. I will never complain about additional Evolving Wilds variants, especially if they do something interesting like helping you win the game through a board stall or something.

Oddly, I think the alt-arts for this card are better than the normal version.
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These are both way better than the standard version, and are the odd special frame card I'd actually consider using since they don't hide any reminder text!!

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Hey! This is a nice card for Watchwolf World formats. I like that it trades up into three-toughness things while still dying to two-power things. The only real issue I have with this card is that it dies to Courser of Kruphix.
I like that this has a very Ravnica background, even if the creature doesn't look particularly Golgari. We're getting to a point with tokens that this isn't all that niche, will have to remember it in two years' time.
 
nervousgardener.jpg


Nervous Gardener is pretty cool. Is it super strong? Nope! Is it happily a 2, a 3, or a 4 in a lower-powered format? Yep!
 
I was just pointing out:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter#Cause_of_failure
Tldr: there is no good or bad definition. One should be careful before assuming anything. I made an error poking the bears. That's on me.

It’s not an opinion so please stop with this Wikipedia spamming. A format has a power curve and only if that power curve is crept upwards is there power creep. Hence the definition. Another solid proof is that 4 mana Chimney would be power creep if that Wikipedia fan writing was true but it isn’t.

You might confuse power creep with strictly better. Because a 4 mana Chimney would in fact be strictly better than the original 5 mana. But it wouldn’t power creep any format I know.
 
It’s not an opinion so please stop with this Wikipedia spamming. A format has a power curve and only if that power curve is crept upwards is there power creep. Hence the definition. Another solid proof is that 4 mana Chimney would be power creep if that Wikipedia fan writing was true but it isn’t.

You might confuse power creep with strictly better. Because a 4 mana Chimney would in fact be strictly better than the original 5 mana. But it wouldn’t power creep any format I know.
Again, a different definition gives different outcomes. There is no good or wrong definition, but a definition where one has to look at all the cards in a specific format is definitely one that I would not advocate. First of all, you do not know the environment.

Second, a simple example where your definition fails:
A format with a lot of 2/2 for 2. A few 3/3 for two. The tier one would be the 3/3. However, changing the 2/2 to 3/2 would change the power of the format without changing the top tier. So there is not your power creep but it will play a lot faster.

In most formats a four mana chimney would still be bad, but would a 3 mana one or a 2 mana one, or one, or 0? At least the Wikipedia one is consistent. Each time it is power creep. Would it matter most of the time no, but that depends on the format, which 1) you do not know, 2) in a format a card that becomes stronger on its own could actually become weaker. So your definition is not wrong, it is just inconsistent and depends on all the other cards, which makes it also inconvenient.
 
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Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Again, a different definition gives different outcomes. There is no good or wrong definition, but a definition where one has to look at all the cards in a specific format is definitely one that is not one I would advocate. First of all, you do not know the environment.
There is actually a pretty widely acccepted definition of power creep as it pertains to card games: https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Power_creep

To paraphrase: "Power creep is [...] the gradual unbalancing of a game due to successive releases of new content."

Second, a simple example where your definition fails:
A format with a lot of 2/2 for 2. A few 3/3 for two. The tier one would be the 3/3. However, changing the 2/2 to 3/2 would change the power of the format without changing the top tier. So there is not your power creep but it will play a lot faster.

In most formats a four mana chimney would still be bad, but would a 3 mana one or a 2 mana one, or one, or 0? At least the Wikipedia one is consistent. Each time it is power creep. Would it matter most of the time no, but that depends on the format, which 1) you do not know, 2) in a format a card that becomes stronger on its own could actually become weaker. So your definition is not wrong, it is just inconsistent and depends on all the other cards, which makes it also inconvenient.
So, for me these two paragraphs are at odds with each other. In the first one you claim that changing the 2/2 to a 3/2 isn't power creep, while in the second you say that every time a cheaper version of Chimney Imp gets printed, it is power creep. I don't agree with this second notion. Making Chimney Imp cheaper, isn't power creep, until we get to the point where the increase in Chimney Imp's power level leads to an unbalancing of the game. The reason it is absolutely vital to look at the bigger picture when talking about power creep of the game as a whole, is that it's possible to push the power level of certain areas, while artificially limiting the power level in other areas, so as to create new and exciting cards, without unbalancing the game as a whole. You get this state of flux where different areas of the game alternate in power level, without the floor being raised all the time.

I get the feeling Velrun is talking about this kind of power creep, which concerns the overall power level of the game, and you are looking at more isolated parts of the game and putting the label power creep on it. For sure, we can call a creature power crept if it outvalues everything that came before, because that does raise the floor of the entire game, but when looking at making weak cards strictly better in a way that doesn't impact the broad scope of the game in their particular niche (like printing a Chimney Imp for {2}{B}), we can't call that power creep imho.
 
There is actually a pretty widely acccepted definition of power creep as it pertains to card games: https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Power_creep

To paraphrase: "Power creep is [...] the gradual unbalancing of a game due to successive releases of new content."
There is no widely accepted defenition. It is very similar with the definition of cube. For some it means power max singleton, for others it just means a box of (custom) cards. So one has first to be clear what one means.
So, for me these two paragraphs are at odds with each other. In the first one you claim that changing the 2/2 to a 3/2 isn't power creep
no, I claim it was not velruns power creep definition. With the wiki definition it is power creep.
you say that every time a cheaper version of Chimney Imp gets printed, it is power creep. I don't agree with this second notion. Making Chimney Imp cheaper, isn't power creep, until we get to the point where the increase in Chimney Imp's power level leads to an unbalancing of the game.
If you adhere to this definition, than I repeat myself it is 1) inconvenient since you have to look at everything (which is not wrong, but leads to different outcomes each time which is also inconsistent). So there are environments where the chimney imp for 4 is power creep. Second, it is inconsistent since it switches from non-power creep to power creep with the same permutation.
I like the KISS principle, and the wiki definition is that, the environment one is not.
The reason it is absolutely vital to look at the bigger picture when talking about power creep of the game as a whole, is that it's possible to push the power level of certain areas, while artificially limiting the power level in other areas, so as to create new and exciting cards, without unbalancing the game as a whole. You get this state of flux where different areas of the game alternate in power level, without the floor being raised all the time.
It is possible to create this flux. However, wizards failed miserably at this. It is possible to have a sinus function that you propose, but wizards made a sinus function with an upward trend in it. Thing is: when creatures become stronger, the non-creaturess have to become stronger as well. This leads to the spiral. A solution could be to only have standard like environments where from time to time that pendelum switches from spells stronger to creatures.

As cherry on the pie:
To paraphrase: "Power creep is [...] the gradual unbalancing of a game due to successive releases of new content."
If wizards decided to have the next set have the best creatures, but then with +2/+2 then it is not power creep due to this definition since it is not gradual...
 
I am giving up. There aren’t several definitions of power creep. There aren’t Velrun’s definition of power creep and other variants. What Rusje is talking about is something in the category of strictly better which is when you zoom in and focus on a single card comparison. This conversation should have ended long ago but refusing to absorb the teachings or even taking a look the evidence has drawn this out. I kindly provided them an easy to watch YouTube videos and got a private message saying they would not watch them. So I am giving up.

In theory if enough people repeat something wrong then it can eventually become right because this is how languages sometimes evolve over time. We are hopefully still not there with power creep even though enough people have played competitive games online and heard the wrong definition enough on internet forums to actually believe it. Velrun out
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
It is possible to create this flux. However, wizards failed miserably at this. It is possible to have a sinus function that you propose, but wizards made a sinus function with an upward trend in it. Thing is: when creatures become stronger, the non-creaturess have to become stronger as well. This leads to the spiral. A solution could be to only have standard like environments where from time to time that pendelum switches from spells stronger to creatures.
I think you are eminently wrong here. Magic started out as an unbalanced game, and WotC has raised the floor and ceiling of creature spells over time to compensate. So, yes, WotC has purposely power crept old era creatures. Take one look at competitive Vintage decks, and you'll see hardly any old era creatures. However, you'll see plenty of old era noncreature spells, proving that those haven't been outclassed. There is literally no reason to assume WotC needs to (or plans to) make non-creature spells more powerful to compensate for the creature power creep.

Anyway, I'm with Velrun here. Let's agree to disagree, because while I could pick apart the rest of your response to my post, it's not going to change your mind, nor am I going to agree with your take.
 
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So what can we call it when an old card is outclassed by a newer one?
During spoiler season the Magic discord I'm in will post a spoiler accompanied by "eat shit [old card]" (and occasionally "eat steak [old card]" when the old card is strictly better, which does not happen often)

so this set we've had eat shit Terramorphic Expanse, Alpine Grizzly, Rupture Spire... it's like a fun little name game!

edit: oh the ridiculous alpine grizzly hasn't been posted yet. This won't make anyone's cube but I laughed at it:
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"Pompous Showoff"
2G
Creature — Human Citizen
"Pompous Showoff" has hexproof as long as it's your turn.
"Pompous Showoff" can't be blocked by creatures without names.
4/2
 
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