My wife really likes otters and does not play Magic: the Gathering(tm)
If these spoilers are any guide, she's gonna have some new favorite cards.
General [TLA/TLE] [UB] Avatar: The Last Airbender
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If these spoilers are any guide, she's gonna have some new favorite cards.
Some basic lands that are of particular interest for my land box:
The Appa in this land seems dissonant with the rest of the piece, which is probably my biggest complaint, but it's a theme of this Mountain. The lens flare is a bit too much here. I don't think mixing the photo-realistic elements with a more cartoony/painterly look works as well as they'd hoped. The artist is going for too much of a Shinkai-style thing here but they're just shy of actually nailing it to me. That said, this is still lovely, and more importantly, my drafters will go nuts for it. It's making the land box.
I'm a sucker for this style of mountain and this color scheme, and Luc Courtois nails the line between painterly and anime styles. Composition is fantastic. Appa still looks somewhat dissonant here, and it doesn't feel as "Forest-y" as I'd prefer, but this one I like a lot.
Again, these landscapes are all a weird mix of the ATLA house style and attempts of realism, and it just barely works. I think it's a nice Island, but not a shoe-in for the land box, particularly because it could easily be misidentified as a snow-covered one.
I think this is a great Plains, but I worry that if people haven't seen the show they won't be able to tell what they're looking at. Another cusper.
Mountains are the most competitive basics to get in the land box, but this one is extremely dramatic, moody, and shows off a city extremely well. Usually, it's hard for urban environments to make the most of mountains. I'm a big fan, but since my drafters won't like it the same way I do, I'm still unsure if this is making the box.
The Appa in this land seems dissonant with the rest of the piece, which is probably my biggest complaint, but it's a theme of this Mountain. The lens flare is a bit too much here. I don't think mixing the photo-realistic elements with a more cartoony/painterly look works as well as they'd hoped. The artist is going for too much of a Shinkai-style thing here but they're just shy of actually nailing it to me. That said, this is still lovely, and more importantly, my drafters will go nuts for it. It's making the land box.
I'm a sucker for this style of mountain and this color scheme, and Luc Courtois nails the line between painterly and anime styles. Composition is fantastic. Appa still looks somewhat dissonant here, and it doesn't feel as "Forest-y" as I'd prefer, but this one I like a lot.
Again, these landscapes are all a weird mix of the ATLA house style and attempts of realism, and it just barely works. I think it's a nice Island, but not a shoe-in for the land box, particularly because it could easily be misidentified as a snow-covered one.
I think this is a great Plains, but I worry that if people haven't seen the show they won't be able to tell what they're looking at. Another cusper.
Mountains are the most competitive basics to get in the land box, but this one is extremely dramatic, moody, and shows off a city extremely well. Usually, it's hard for urban environments to make the most of mountains. I'm a big fan, but since my drafters won't like it the same way I do, I'm still unsure if this is making the box.
It'd honestly be really easy to paint over Appa in this one.
OK, why did no one post this card?
On the one hand, it's a goofy-ass card based off of a joke of a side-character. On the other hand, I really like the mini-game the card creates, where it has a pretty strong hatebear effect that villain can interact with without having to aim removal at The Cabbage Merchant. What a surprisingly cool design.
On the one hand, it's a goofy-ass card based off of a joke of a side-character. On the other hand, I really like the mini-game the card creates, where it has a pretty strong hatebear effect that villain can interact with without having to aim removal at The Cabbage Merchant. What a surprisingly cool design.
Another cool earth-bending card. I really wish it was
, but maybe Earthbending is stronger than I'm giving it credit for. While the lands can't do anything the turn they transform (unless you untap them somehow), the effect at least sticks around even if the Agents are removed.What a cool card though to signal synergies with landfall, sacrifice, counters, and lifegain if that's a thing in Abzan for your cubes.
Another disappointing card (without errata). How I wish this said 'three or more Instants or Sorceries in your graveyard,' but then I guess we'd be seeing it everywhere.
Took a couple reads to realize that once this gets online, it blinks every turn like a Conjurer's Closet. It has a floor of a sorcery speed Soul Partition (with cheaper recasts), but triggers enchantress style effects and can be quite annoying to deal with later in the game if you're built to get value from it.
The real killer of course being the lack of reminder text. I've mocked up a version that actually explains what it does, provided you don't care about any possible hyper specific 'airbending' synergies.
I really like this? It's obviously not super strong, and is probably just worse than Kitesail Larcenist, but encourages some fun play patterns in both directions.
My gripes are the creature types (from spiderman to avatar we keep getting 'performers', yuck) when I'd love her to be a wizard. It could also really use a touch of vigilance, ward or both. Still cool though if your power level is low enough.
Probably my favorite card so far? I think it's better than Kykar, Wind's Fury, both being 3/3 and making 1/1 tokens. While you can't sac the tokens for mana, I think I prefer the menace prowess on both Sakka and the tokens instead?
In a lot of ways he is just a beefed up Monastery Mentor, but I don't think there's anything wrong with that? Worse if he gets removed, better if he sticks around.
The ally synergies are a bummer. I'd have rathered see it make and buff warrior tokens instead (Mobilze go brrr) but we'll see if any other good allies come out of this set (I kind of doubt it though).
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A lot of the stuff they showed off was kind of parasitic (The Lion-Turtle, Allies at Last, etc), but there's some interesting stuff too:
Couple of those aren't on scryfall yet I guess? Wait for it.
ps
Couple of those aren't on scryfall yet I guess? Wait for it.
ps
I wasn't expecting an additional cycle of full-art lands and these two in particular are some of the most gorgeous printed this year:
Hell yeah.
I think most of the most interesting cards have already been covered, but here's a few I wanted to talk more about.
Wan Shi Tong, All-Knowing is surprisingly impressive. Only being a little silly here, but it's basically a blue Ravenous Chupacabra meets Cloudgoat Ranger. And it flies!
I think this has a great chance of making it into my Cube and sticking around so long as I have other cards that generate these spirit tokens by the time spoiler season is done. The biggest knock against it besides that is that I'm also very interesting in including Wan Shi Tong, Librarian and think they may legitimately get mixed up.
Solstice Revelations probably suffers from being limited to the number of mountains you've got on its first go-around, but I like this kind of mini-cascade thing. What puts it over the top for me is that it's an instant.
I give any card that's good sitting in a graveyard extra attention, and I love flashback cards that have a subtle way of being more powerful on their second go-around. Seriously interesting.
Gran-Gran is also a little disappointing to me. I would've been close to including it without the second line of text at all, as getting a 1MV creature that loots on attack/waterbending is something I really like. Blurry Beeble was taken out for obvious reasons, but even without the unblockability, the gameplay it generates is pretty good. Benthic Biomancer is a staple of my on-deck binder, but also only gives you one shot to pay for the privilege. Enclave Cryptologist was in my cube for about a decade but my blue players hated spending mana on their main phases for her (and she's too expensive to level-up). Hell, I've recently considered Hapless Researcher! I may end up trying her out, but we'll see -- I took out Aunt May out of annoyance with her trinket text that occasionally would be relevant (a terrible sin) as well! Don't want to confuse drafters into seeing a lesson theme if I include just 1-2 of them.
Firebending Student feels like it's going to ruin standard, but is the right level for my Cube. I think Emberheart Challenger is the better pick in the same niche, but I do like firebending and think this is a great execution of it. The promo art of it being very foot-forward is...new for WotC. I think it's a positive that they're letting characters show midriff again in this set, but those are some toes!! We don't get toes on Magic cards very often.
Unlucky Cabbage Merchant is pretty ideal for my Cube, but it'd have a hard time beating out my other two-mana green dudes who come in with food tokens, Tough Cookie and Spider-Ham, Peter Porker. I love Avatar Kyoshi, Earthbender and would be playing her if she was 1 cheaper. The Last Agni Kai is great, but probably not for me. The design of The Fire Nation Drill is perfect.
This set feels much closer to a Final Fantasy than anything else. I'm beyond stoked to draft it!!!
Hell yeah.
I think most of the most interesting cards have already been covered, but here's a few I wanted to talk more about.
Wan Shi Tong, All-Knowing is surprisingly impressive. Only being a little silly here, but it's basically a blue Ravenous Chupacabra meets Cloudgoat Ranger. And it flies!
I think this has a great chance of making it into my Cube and sticking around so long as I have other cards that generate these spirit tokens by the time spoiler season is done. The biggest knock against it besides that is that I'm also very interesting in including Wan Shi Tong, Librarian and think they may legitimately get mixed up.
Solstice Revelations probably suffers from being limited to the number of mountains you've got on its first go-around, but I like this kind of mini-cascade thing. What puts it over the top for me is that it's an instant.
I give any card that's good sitting in a graveyard extra attention, and I love flashback cards that have a subtle way of being more powerful on their second go-around. Seriously interesting.
Gran-Gran is also a little disappointing to me. I would've been close to including it without the second line of text at all, as getting a 1MV creature that loots on attack/waterbending is something I really like. Blurry Beeble was taken out for obvious reasons, but even without the unblockability, the gameplay it generates is pretty good. Benthic Biomancer is a staple of my on-deck binder, but also only gives you one shot to pay for the privilege. Enclave Cryptologist was in my cube for about a decade but my blue players hated spending mana on their main phases for her (and she's too expensive to level-up). Hell, I've recently considered Hapless Researcher! I may end up trying her out, but we'll see -- I took out Aunt May out of annoyance with her trinket text that occasionally would be relevant (a terrible sin) as well! Don't want to confuse drafters into seeing a lesson theme if I include just 1-2 of them.
Firebending Student feels like it's going to ruin standard, but is the right level for my Cube. I think Emberheart Challenger is the better pick in the same niche, but I do like firebending and think this is a great execution of it. The promo art of it being very foot-forward is...new for WotC. I think it's a positive that they're letting characters show midriff again in this set, but those are some toes!! We don't get toes on Magic cards very often.
Unlucky Cabbage Merchant is pretty ideal for my Cube, but it'd have a hard time beating out my other two-mana green dudes who come in with food tokens, Tough Cookie and Spider-Ham, Peter Porker. I love Avatar Kyoshi, Earthbender and would be playing her if she was 1 cheaper. The Last Agni Kai is great, but probably not for me. The design of The Fire Nation Drill is perfect.
This set feels much closer to a Final Fantasy than anything else. I'm beyond stoked to draft it!!!
Firebending Student is honestly a really cool, clean design. I also appreciate that it's a 1/2 and not, like, a 3/1 or something.
This seems like an honestly insane reanimation spell?
Huh. I like the design, but I feel like it's going to end up being more expensive than it really should be.
Pretty weak in the early game, but I like how WotC is messing around with having things scale off of how many lands you have. Also, I feel like we're going to get enough decent Lessons this time around to make Lessons actually work as a cube subtheme, though I'm on the "not sure how I feel about having to keep track of Lessons in your graveyard as a mechanic" side of things.
This seems like an honestly insane reanimation spell?
Huh. I like the design, but I feel like it's going to end up being more expensive than it really should be.
Pretty weak in the early game, but I like how WotC is messing around with having things scale off of how many lands you have. Also, I feel like we're going to get enough decent Lessons this time around to make Lessons actually work as a cube subtheme, though I'm on the "not sure how I feel about having to keep track of Lessons in your graveyard as a mechanic" side of things.
if a 1/1 you see, the card draw it be
Wan Shi Tong, All-Knowing is surprisingly impressive. Only being a little silly here, but it's basically a blue Ravenous Chupacabra meets Cloudgoat Ranger. And it flies!
I think this has a great chance of making it into my Cube and sticking around so long as I have other cards that generate these spirit tokens by the time spoiler season is done. The biggest knock against it besides that is that I'm also very interesting in including Wan Shi Tong, Librarian and think they may legitimately get mixed up.
if you see power 4, your creature ain't around no more
Dom Harvey
Contributor
giving myself a little treat whenever they print a card that is fucked up with Sensei's Divining Top
What a cool card! Is it finally Fblthp, the Lost's time to shine?
For those who can stomach a little Alchemy, Case of the Lost Witness is a better inclusion than Fblthp himself IMO, and this as well as any other card that 'conjures' into the library like Toralf's Disciple or Oracle of the Alpha are cool synergies with Wan Shi too.
Floodpits Drowner, Stay Hidden, Stay Silent and the rest of the Ninja suite will be all over this card for it's (mostly) unblockable tokens (with Saiba Syphoner even triggering it on death!)
Oust, Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, Marang River Regent (or any omen card) and the disgusting potential of Top mentioned above are probably the easiest synergies already present in most cubes.
I haven't had the chance to play it yet, but I conceptually prefer Michelangelo, the Heart over Spiderham and the Cabbage Merchant for this slot. It's also horrendous flavor wise, but maybe better than the other two depending where your nostalgia lies.
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the cowards. the absolute cowards. let me somehow remove Human from my Changeling and have world's biggest brushwagg
(the only way I know of is Wings of Velis Vel etc. targeting Werewolf Pack Leader)
MaRo has already admitted that people found the Spider-Man ones difficult to read, and I'm sure the same was true of the Final Fantasy ones...
I'm just not sure how they didn't do anything about it. Like it takes literally one glance at any of these to be like, okay, can't read it. You've done three sets now and counting and you haven't figured out "a text box"?!
They already know how to do it! They did it in this set! Look!
This guy is really cool. I can't wait to earthbend a fetchland and get it back! Or make Paradise Mantle tap for 2. I love abilities like that that allow you to do weird corner case stuff.
Huh. I like the design, but I feel like it's going to end up being more expensive than it really should be.
This one seems like it's going to be a ton of fun to play with. I love power matters cards because they work with a lot of things. Prowess makes it even more versatile!
I feel like Unlucky Cabbage Merchant is probably a better game peice than Spider-Ham, Peter Porker. In addition to having a more useful ability, it also doesn't force you to track a dozen different creature types and provides an art upgrade. Seems like an easy swap to me unless I really need support for Squirrel Tribal.
Oh I hadn't even thought of the potential with fetches. The landscape cycle also synergizes super well with earthbending, since you can tap them for colorless the turn they come down to cast the spell, and then sac / return the next turn.
Completely agree. As impossible as it feels to say, Michaelangelo is an art downgrade to Spiderham, made worse by the fact that we likely won't get one in a normal frame. (To this point: please give me all the Final Fantasy/LotR scene cards and Tarkir Commanders with a normal Magic frame PLEASE). But yeah, I think it's a more interesting/useful card for my Cube and many others than either of the two current food boys I run, and will likely kick out Spiderham.
I think that's generally true, but for my Cube in particular, it's a lot closer. I run 47 cards that either fit into one of Spider-Ham's supported creature types or make tokens of one of those varieties. Token support, even generically, is highly-supported in my list, so boosting up so many tokens makes this a poor man's Hildibrand Manderville. My playgroup finds this kind of card very amusing and a fun challenge to support; the long list of the Ents here is actually a bonus for its novelty. Spider-Ham is also legendary, which my Cube's obsessed with.
For sure it's an art upgrade. And I love fixing with my durdly trinkets. But I think I need to hem and haw for this a little longer, which seems silly since, like Keith mentioned, they're all surpassed by Michaelangelo.
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The Mechanist, Aerial Artisan is neat. Forensic Gadgeteer has been coming in and out of my Cube lately, and I think this is a little better in every way. While I do have a lot more artifact creatures than most, I think the "artifact deck" will still trigger this more often than the Gadgeteer. I also like the idea of making my trinkets into reasonably big thopters a little more than getting a mana discount on sacrificing them (and not restricted to sorcery speed!!) but I did also like random benefits Gadgeteer allowed for. If not for me recently trying to shift the creature/non-creature ratios of all my colors, especially blue, this would be a guaranteed inclusion...and it's still more likely than not.
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I really like having one card for every three-color combo in my Cube, but Bant has been the hardest to find a card I really like. This may solve my issue! Kind of reminds me of Shiko, Paragon of the Way and Yathan Roadwatcher, both of which I like quite a bit. Still, another DFC is always fiddly, and I don't like how it's boltable on the frontside.
This might be ok? I like a super-Grave Titan in concept (Ogre Chitterlord my beloved, you were printed just a few years too late from being a beloved staple for Cubes everywhere!!), but this is probably worse on average than Aragorn and Arwen, Wed or Vernal Sovereign, which have the advantage of being one fewer color.
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Foggy Swamp Visions is just a cool card. Love this design.
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See above note about borderless cards. Don't love a Magic card without reminder text, and would prefer it to just say "earthbend 4" since the cases where that's not what it does are niche enough and not very interesting, IMO. Still, I like the card, and would be potentially interested if it had a different printing.