I don't have a lot to say on the terms of flavor and design, so I'm just going to be nitpicky and talk about the templating on the first few cards in the batch.
Kugelblitz
Card types aren't captilized, only subtypes. Also instants and sorceries can't be on the battlefield, so that text might tend to confuse players.
How I would word it: "Exile all enchantments on the battlefield, then exile all instants, sorcieries, and enchantments from all graveyards.
Sesoned Tactician
This card has two seperate abilties: an activated ability that costs 1, T and a triggered ability triggered by the creature dying. They should either be on seperate lines, or have the tap ability set up a delayed triggered ability. I'm not sure whether or not the game has the ability to track where tokens come from, but I'm assuming it does to make it easier to template.
Also you put tokens onto the battlefield, not place.
How I would word it: "1, T: Put a 1/1 white Soldier creature token onto the battlefield under your control. // When CARDNAME dies, exile all tokens created by it."
Sharpshooter Mercenary
Interesting concept of a creature that can't attack or block, acting kind of like an artifact that dies to damage. I'm not sure whether the proper templating would be to give it Defender and spell out cannot block or not, seeing as defender implies it defends.
Solus Regina
Line 2 should say "owners' hands", since you can control creatures with multiple owners. Line 3 should trigger on "Whenever another creature enters the battlefield under your control", since creatures don't have controllers until they're on the battlefield.
Termination Notice
There's too much blank space between the rules text and flavor test.
Vorlan Infantry
Creatures get +X/+X and gain keyword abilites (cf Overrun). Keyword abilites aren't capatalized either. Also if you're referring to a specific name (rather then card types), you have to specify that.
How I would word it:"W: CARDNAME gets +1/+1 and gains vigilance until end of turn. Activate this ability only if you control another creature named Vorlan Infantry."
EDIT: derp made the same mistake
Aguolubra
No problems with this one.
Amaterasim
It's pretty hard to mess up templating on a french vanilla, and this card is done perfectly.
Arkoptyrrus Device
Even in the context of Magic, adjectives still need nouns to modify. "if it's a nonland" should be "if it's a nonland spell".
How I would word it: "1, T: Look at the top card of your library. If it's a nonland card, you may cast it. Otherwise, put it on the bottom of your library."
Grand Realization
Seems alright to me, but I would have either put "Draw three cards." on it's own line or changed it to "Then, draw three cards.".
Also, I hope you realize that this card just serves as a Concentrate if a player has two or less cards in hand. If you didn't intend this, then returning the cards should be an additional cost to cast it, or it should be "If you do, draw three cards."
Nimbovore
Another French vanilla, no errors.
Time Travel
Card aren't sent to the graveyard, they're put into a graveyard, which always include a "from" clause, although it can be "from anywhere".
Caring about the action of exiling is something I don't think Magic has done before, so that's new templating ground.
How I would word it: "Return each creature that was exiled from anywhere or put into a graveyard from anywhere last turn to the battlefield under its owner's control. Return each instant, sorcery, and enchantment card that was put into a graveyard from anywhere or exiled from anywhere last turn to its owner's hand. // At the beginning of the next end step, exile CARDNAME from your graveyard."
Development-wise, keep in mind this card is ridicioulsy easy to loop with Time Warp and another copy of itself: Cast Time Travel and Time Warp, next turn cast a second Time Travel to get back the first and the Time Warp, cast Time Warp again, etc. I don't think three cards and 7UUU is a high enough cost for infinite turns.
Desperation
Typically instants and sorceries that exile themselves put that at the end of their rules text, and all on one line.
The main effect of the card itself, though, is problematic because effects can't trigger at the end of a phase, step, or turn, only at the beginning. (To keep this in mind, what phase and who's turn is it when this effect goes on the stack?) Fortunently, these problamatic "end of turn" effects are what the cleanup step was added to fix.
Also, opponents can still win the game, but I'm assuming that this is the desired outcome of this card, so I'm adding it in reminder text.
How I would word it: "Until the end of the next turn, you cannot lose the game. (You will still lose if an opponent wins the game.) At the beginning of your next cleanup step, you lose the game. Exile CARDNAME."
Horror
Card types aren't captialized. Also it should probably be "instant, sorcery, or enchantment card", ala Despise. Also it should say "that player's hand" and "that hand"; otherwise it would be able to target two seperate players.
Mind Germ
Enchant player isn't a sentence, it's a keyword; therefore, it shouldn't have a period.
Magic doesn't use the personal they, it should be "if he or she has" or "if that player has".
Step In
X/Y tends to be avoided in rules texts. Also as a personal note, I would have given the token a triggerd ability, rather then put a delayed triggered ability on the spell that created it.
How I would word it: "Put a black Human creature token with Hexproof and 'When this creature dies, you lose the game.' onto the battlefield. Its power is equal to the number of lands you control, and its toughness is equal to your life total."
Undead Caltosaur
Again, this is breaking new ground for Magic and thus there's no "correct" way to template it. However, I must note that Magic does abbreviate "cannot" to "can't".
Canis Major
This ability is problematic because it cannot be properly typed as static, activated, or triggered. The way Magic typically does abilites like this is by checking during the upkeep or the end step with a conditional triggered ability.
How I would word it: "At the beginning of each end step, if you control no creatures other then CARDNAME, sacrifice it."
Critique aside, I really like some of the things you're doing in this set. Messing with exile seems tricky but it can be rewarding if done right.
The looseness of the rules text reminded me more of early Magic then it does most attempts to make cards by those who aren't fully versed in templating, so you're better then the beginners. (I'm still trying to learn the ins and outs myself.) The best solution I can offer is to look at real cards that do something simular to what you're doing, and look to see what the Oracle text is.
Custom Magic sets are a unique form of expression that requires both creativity and dedication to a science, so that provides double the reason to keep on practicing and making cards.
I don't have a lot to say on the terms of flavor and design, so I'm just going to be nitpicky and talk about the templating on the first few cards in the batch.
[...]
Critique aside, I really like some of the things you're doing in this set. Messing with exile seems tricky but it can be rewarding if done right.
The looseness of the rules text reminded me more of early Magic then it does most attempts to make cards by those who aren't fully versed in templating, so you're better then the beginners. (I'm still trying to learn the ins and outs myself.) The best solution I can offer is to look at real cards that do something simular to what you're doing, and look to see what the Oracle text is.
Custom Magic sets are a unique form of expression that requires both creativity and dedication to a science, so that provides double the reason to keep on practicing and making cards.
Thank you very much. I'm getting feedback all around on these, from my college's local Magic players to the forums on MTG Salvation. I'm not sure what I plan on doing with these, but whatever it is, it's going to be with the highest-quality cards available.
Heh, you're welcome. I'm glad you haven't gotten too annoyed by my critisizim, especially the occasinal mistakes I've noteices.
Here's red, green, multicolored, and colorless templating critiques.
Canis Major
Yeah, I went over this one last time, but I thought of a way to make it a static ability by having it get -4/-4 or simular while you don't control other creatures. Only problem is that that'll make it not die if it's pumped, but it's a suggestion.
Discordant Automaton
Seems good.
Miranovi Prowler
Another French vanilla, can't go wrong.
Monster Slayer
First strike shouldn't be capalitized, otherwise this seems fine.
Befriend
A reverse of a common gotcha here-- this isn't setting up a delayed triggered ability, it's just saying the end of an effect. Therefore, it should just be "until your next upkeep".
Forgotton Power
A accidental ommission here; put two +1/+1 counters on what?
Track Down
This is a rather complicated effect; the easiest way I can talk about it is just retemplating it, but note that tutoring is usually worded differently and that the effect never says to put the tutored card onto the battlefield.
How I would word it:
Search your library for a creature card, reveal it, and put it into your hand or onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library. If you choose to put the revealed creature onto the battlefield, when it enters the battlefield, you may chose another target creature. If another creature was chosen this way, both creatures fight. Then sacrifice the revealed creature.
Wow that's complicated. Here's another version I thought of that does a simular effect with less battlefield manipulation.
Search your library for a creature card, reveal it, and put it into your hand or your graveyard. Then shuffle your library. If you chose to put that creature into your graveyard, you may have it deal damage equal to it's power to target creature.
Verdagrashe
Done well.
Zeharian Lancer
Pretty simple card, only problem is that Reach isn't capatlized.
Crack the Sky
This card has the hybrid frame, but it's not a hybrid card. It should have the gold frame instead.
The rules text seems alright, although it might have to be "instant, sorcery, and enchantment cards" instead of just having the nouns as nouns.
The Project
Card types aren't capatlized, but otherwise done alright.
Offload
Another gold card with the hybrid frame. Also the enchant keyword implies targetting, and shouldn't have a period.
Final Boss
More of the recurring issues: the hybrid frame, the capatlized keywords, and the period on the enchant line.
Reluctant Zombie
Now this is an interesting card. Except for the frame, done well.
Thorinfel, Blade of Kings
The second sentence of the first line is a bit wordy, and it should be on it's own line since it's a seperate ability (+3/+1 and first strike is static, that ability is triggered). There's also a question of what happens if the creature who dealt damage changes controller or leaves the battlefield before the effect resolves.
How I would word it:
Equipped creature gets +3/+1 and has first strike.
When equipped creature dies, if another creature dealt damage to it this turn, chose one of those creatures. If it's still on the battlefield, it's controller gains control of CARDNAME.
Equip 2
Surgical Predation
!
This effect seems remenecent of banding, so I'm gonna dig into the reminder text for banding to reword this card.
How I would word it:
This turn, up to X creatures you control can attack in a band. Bands are blocked as a group. If the creatures in that band are being blocked, assign combat damage to them starting with the creature with the lowest toughness, then the creature with the second lowest toughness, and so on. If two or more creatures are tied for the lowest toughness, defending player choses the order in which they are assigned damage.
Corona, the Nightmare
The only issue I see with this card templating-wise is that legends are refered to only by their name before the comma after the first mention, so the second line would say Corona, the Nightmare, but lines three and four should just say Corona.
Development-wise though, I wouldn't mind at all tapping just WWRR for a 7/1 flyer, since not all decks run creature removal and flyers (especially in limited).
Volran Marine
Again, the frame should be gold. The second line doesn't have a source of damage and, like the Vorlan Infantry should mention that it's referring to the name.
How I would word it:
Haste
T: CARDNAME deals 1 damage to target creature. Activate this ability only if you control at least one other creature named Vorlan Marine.
Induced Empathy
Interesting concept in hybrid here. Only problem I see templating-wise is that the word mana is redutant, the mana symbols already imply that it's mana.
Cynai, Mount of Ages
Forest and Island should actually be capatalized, because they're subtypes. (Unlike types, subtypes are captiatlized.) Also there's an extra blank line between the rules and flavor test.
Dragoon Suit
The toughness increase should be a triggered ability that lasts until the end of the turn, otherwise it would go away after combat and the creature would die regardless.
Fixer-Upper
Lines two and three should say "from your graveyard" instead of "in your graveyard", and the third one should say "return" as well.
Insert Capacitor
Counters are put on permanents, not added to them. Also, I'm not sure about this, but I think flipping uses the stack, so the second line should be either part of the first ("Put a charge counter on CARDNAME, then if CARDNAME has 3 or more charge counters on it, flip it.") or trigger at the beginning of a step. I'd go with making it part of the tap ability ala Ludevic's Test Subject.
Riot Suit
Again, this should be a triggered ability that lasts until end of turn.
Golem Graveyard
This card shouldn't have the white border unless it makes white mana. Also I'd have put the upkeep cost onto the token itself.
How I would word it:
CARDNAME enters the battlefield tapped.
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
1W, T: Put a 2/3 white Golem creature token onto the battlefield. It has "At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice this creature unless you pay W."
Creative-wise, non-artifact golems seems like an odd choice.
Jadestone Temple
The forest icon on a nonbasic land is a new development as of From the Vault: Realms. However that icon only shows up on lands that are actualy typed as Forets. This land doesn't produce any mana at all, let alone green mana, so it shouldn't even have a color.
Design-wise, I should point out that non-mana-producing lands are only allowed in specific flavor circumstances (ala Eye of Ugin) in modern MtG design.
Project Psi, the Infusion Chamber
This might benefit from the "isn't a spell" reminder text. Hexproof and deathtouch aren't capatlized, and the Dimir watermark seems out of place.
Well of Starlight
Seems alright to me at the moment, save the Dimir watermark.
Coal Power Hydroelectricity Nuclear Fusion Solar Power Wind Power
I can definately see the flavor issues in these new basic lands, but from a mechanics standpoint, I don't think new basics that are functionally identical to the old ones would do that much good.
Well there's my critique on the rest of the set, I'm glad you seemed to enjoy my last post and didn't take it personally. I'm looking forward to seeing any additions to the set you may post in the future too, and not so I can analyze them! (Awkard complement is awkard.)
Thank you, once again. To be honest, a few of those adjustments were things I was planning on changing myself. Two things of note:
Throwing caution to the wind and playing Corona as a flat 7/1 is actually a neat idea, and the sort of emergent strategy that I imagine Wizards of the Coast squees over every time they see more of it.
Also, if it's alright with you, I'm going to try to keep the word "banding" out of any cards I put in. "Attacking as a single creature" is both less confusing and easier to append extra keywords ("with trample") to. "Banding" has a stigma about it. But I did put in the "defending player chooses order" clause. Even cut out the flavor text for room.
I appreciate your help, and you can rest assured that I'll keep on carding. My brain hasn't run out on me yet.
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Gather the Townsfolk
4 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Silverblade Paladin
3 Detention Sphere
3 Fiend Hunter
4 Dryad Militant
3 Spectral Flight
4 Precinct Captain
1 Angelic Overseer
4 Azorius Charm
3 Moorland Haunt
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
1 Azorius Guildgate
7 Plains
3 Island
it's pretty untested, but I tested it against zombies and I win against myself most times :P The reasons I want to look at this deck is:
Geist is still nutty, and there are many ways in this deck to force through geist hits like delver used to. Silverblade paladin, spectral flight, azorious charm, detention sphere, and fiend hunter all get him in there. And zombies has no way of answering a spectral flighted geist.
Precinct captain is also extremely good against zombies. Diregraf ghoul, gravecrawler, and the first half of geralf's messenger are all stopped by this guy. (fiend hunter and detention sphere are also good against zombies)
(also zombies is the current deck to beat at the moment)
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Gather the Townsfolk
4 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Silverblade Paladin
3 Detention Sphere
3 Fiend Hunter
4 Dryad Militant
3 Spectral Flight
4 Precinct Captain
1 Angelic Overseer
4 Azorius Charm
3 Moorland Haunt
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
1 Azorius Guildgate
7 Plains
3 Island
it's pretty untested, but I tested it against zombies and I win against myself most times :P The reasons I want to look at this deck is:
Geist is still nutty, and there are many ways in this deck to force through geist hits like delver used to. Silverblade paladin, spectral flight, azorious charm, detention sphere, and fiend hunter all get him in there. And zombies has no way of answering a spectral flighted geist.
Precinct captain is also extremely good against zombies. Diregraf ghoul, gravecrawler, and the first half of geralf's messenger are all stopped by this guy. (fiend hunter and detention sphere are also good against zombies)
(also zombies is the current deck to beat at the moment)
My deck is similar to yours:
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Doomed Traveler
2 Thalia
4 Lyev Skyknight
3 Fiend Hunter
2 Elite Inquisitor
2 Precinct Captain
3 Geist of Saint Traft
2 Silverblade Paladin
2 Wingcrafter
I put in the Elite Inquisitors because I am not sure how much more common vampire decks will get, and the zombie Protection is cool.
Wingcrafter is just an idea, have yet to test. I do not want to run 4 silverblade Paladin because I feel like 4 is too much. This is all just a test deck, but seems runnable. I call it Police Brutality because Azorius people are policemen also.
I just can't wait until they release Orzhov and Boros. They're my two favorite guilds. I've got a B/W EDH deck that needs new cards even after it eventually rotates out >:3
So... they're reprinting Tarmogoyf. How bout that.
I'm actually really excited about the set, I'm going to assume most of the cards are going to be played a lot in Modern and thus will be worth something, so I might pick up a good amount of packs, Modern would be fun to get into.
Best of Forum Games Quote Archive brought to you by the Obliteration Party Station.
Originally Posted by absoluteCertainty
why is everyone roleclaiming
seriously if there is an obliterate tomorrow
and the next day
and the next day
and the day after that
etc.
14:26 <Deceptive> Once you get sucked into the vortex of mafia it is hard to escape.
22:46 CheeseDeluxe I was right about Patashu the whole time
22:46 CheeseDeluxe And nobody gave a damn
22:46 CheeseDeluxe ;^;
22:46 PrimeIntellect of course not
22:46 PrimeIntellect i was hungry
20:25 TallyBot No votes have been cast.
20:25 TallyBot A majority has been reached.
20:25 TallyBot beruru has died.
20:25 Trout Tallybot: "A no lynch? fuck that, kill beru."
22:27 ACionyx: 3 ( Sotek Trout Zatch ).
22:27 TallyBot A majority has been reached.
22:27 TallyBot nolynch has died.
11:01 Godbot LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL
11:01 Godbot that is your victory call
11:01 Godbot it's right here in my field guide
11:01 Godbot I have this little whistle to mimic your call
11:01 Godbot and some earplugs
Originally Posted by Epamynondas
Remember when you were in school, and half of the class was talking, and the teacher told you to shut up, and you answered that everybody else was talking too?
Remember when the teacher asked you how that changed the fact that you were talking?
Yeah, it's the same.
Except this time you'll die.
23:19 Sotek beru is only happy if she can make people eat words >:|
23:19 Sotek IT IS THE ONLY WAY SHE KNOWS JOY
Originally Posted by Sotek
Originally Posted by Chumpy
nick cage represents sanity
When does this happen?
when it is covered in bees
16:28 Patashu the only reason why you people die n1 is because you're the only people who know how to play mafia here
22:08 curiousCat I just keep going
22:08 curiousCat like an energizer bunny
22:08 curiousCat but like
22:09 curiousCat made of rotting flesh
19:58 Chirality "Hey Chiral, you now are supposed to have sick fetishes"
19:58 Watts Have an oblit fetish then
19:58 Chirality I got over it
19:58 Chirality When there was no one else to oblit
20:32 Chirality Physicists keep talking about space-time
20:32 Chirality It's actually space-derp-time
20:32 Chirality derp is an integral part of the universe
20:41 x1372 "The sacrifice is a gun that the witches accidentally shoot themselves in the foot with."
20:41 x1372 "the angel protection vote is more akin to a pillow"
20:41 curiousCat uh, no
20:41 x1372 "chumpy just used that pillow to decapitate the priest"
20:41 curiousCat The sacrifice is a gun the witches were using to intentionally shoot themselves in the foot with.
20:42 curiousCat P:
20:42 x1372 well
20:42 x1372 its just a good thing that's never become an issue in any of the dersehunt games
20:42 x1372 ANYWAY.
Originally Posted by Chirality
Never. Try. To. Control. Killers.
That would be all.
[23:23] <x1372> chiral isn't happy with victory
[23:23] <x1372> he's only happy when the moderator is weeping
<Wattz> Some people want to be the master of scumhuntmon
<Wattz> No fuck that
<Wattz> I wanna kill 'em all
<Wattz> Jan Valentine standin' proud on a charred mountain of blood and guts
<Wattz> scratchin' his crotch and smokin' a cigar
<Wattz> "Welp, time to go home and masturbate"
<Wattz> Like he always promised ;w;
<Wattz> Sotek should be banned from tournament play
<Trout> Sotek is the zapdos/pit of mafia
<gloomyMoron> Are there any minors here? Because this conversation is gold. But like gold that's been covered in feces and is filthy, but I can't tell whether it's hilarious or sad.
<Wattz> We would like to take this opportunity to remind you that the IRC cannot speak.
<Wattz> In the event that the IRC does speak, we urge you to disregard its advice.
[01:32] <Wattz> I can finger exactly one scum based on pretty much nothing
[22:40] <Chirality> werupu?
[22:40] <Chirality> Is that the evil self of Beruru
[22:40] <Chirality> Oh wait, Beruru is the evil self
[21:47] <Chirality> And on Beru's side, I think that she'd try to take down the Harper government before going for one city in a country she doesn't live in
[21:47] <Chirality>
[21:48] <Blueberry> well harper isn't the mafia is he
[21:48] <Chirality> Of course he is
<Brocrates> have you seen a diagram of female sexual organs
<Brocrates> ^u^ is that
<Brocrates> obviously
<Loather> only diagrams, bro
<Loather> only diagrams
[01:58] <Chirality> But, Yes beru
[01:58] <Chirality> You should be having adventure time in your bed now
[20:11] <soundlyParanoid> BUSTED LIKE A FIVE DOLLAR WHORE GOING DOWN ON AN UNDERCOVER POLICEMAN
[21:54] <Sotek> I successfully ate food without any getting into my hole!
<Jacquerel> turns out mafia was throwing soiled toilet paper at a giant crocodile
<Acionyx> PLEASE GOD(FATHER)
<Acionyx> JUST ONE VOTE
<beruru> you're the godfather
<Acionyx> SHIT
[20:53] <DeceptiveGM> Prime was...
[20:53] -->| Schazer (~Schazer@182.54.164.92) has joined #mspafia
[20:53] <Acionyx> PRIME WAS SCHAZER
[13:50] <CheeseDeluxe> You're fucking an /entire/ zoo?
[13:50] <CheeseDeluxe> that's gonna be hard :x
[13:51] <Acionyx> well it's kind of hard to do soft
[16:45] <Watts> If there was an internet equivalent to pantsing you could do it to me and I would prance about with my virtual ding-dong wobbling around
<Tallybot> beruru rides like a mechanical bull!
[18:59] <GenetiXientist> I'M JUST MAKING AN OBSERVATION
[18:59] <soundlyParanoid> THAT WON'T SAVE YOU FROM SARCASTIC REMARKS
[18:59] <GenetiXientist> WHY NOT?
[19:00] <soundlyParanoid> Y NOT GOT LYNCHED
[23:38] PrimeIntellect my pain
[23:38] PrimeIntellect is unbearable
[23:38] PrimeIntellect unberuable
[23:38] PrimeIntellect i cannot beru it
Originally Posted by imperviousScofflaw
I understand that my role is too bad-ass and you think that I can't possibly be what I claim, but I am NOBUNAGA, MOTHERFUCKERS. I DON'T GIVE SHITS, I CONQUER THEM.
17:44 Eidolonic Has anyone that I remotely trust with my mental health looked over the setup?
17:45 Eidolonic It's not that I don't trust you, Tea, it's just
17:45 Deceptive you don't trust tea with your mental health?
17:45 Eidolonic Would you?
17:45 Deceptive oh god no
17:46 Eidolonic It's like when I had sex with your mother, and felt like my dick was on fire.
17:46 Eidolonic Firections.
17:46 Eidolonic Hm.
Originally Posted by absoluteCertainty
obviously i am the pants charmer
i play my flute
the pants come off
So... they're reprinting Tarmogoyf. How bout that.
I'm actually really excited about the set, I'm going to assume most of the cards are going to be played a lot in Modern and thus will be worth something, so I might pick up a good amount of packs, Modern would be fun to get into.
Yeah, hella excited about Mordern Masters, especially since I've always wanted to build Jund, but at the moment I'm looking at a minimum of £350 for the Goyfs ALONE.
Gonna bump the thread to ask for some feedback on a casual-ish GW Human Defiance deck.
10 Forest
6 Plains
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
3 Champion of the Parish
4 Fencing Ace
3 Gather the Townsfolk
3 Champion of Lambholt
2 Silverblade Paladin
4 Wild Defiance
2 Rancor
4 Faith's Shield
4 Selesnya Charm
4 Travel Preparations
3 Common Bond
Sideboard:
4 Ranger's Guile
3 Purify the Grave
3 Ray of Revelation
3 Rootborn Defenses
2 Wild Beastmaster
I'd like to add in a few more instant/sorceries, but I really like the creature mix I've got now and I don't want to change it too much, so maybe the only thing I'd do is drop the Rancors for something. Sideboard was kinda just thrown together, I'm never very good with them to be honest. This is kind of a budget build too, but I'm thinking about splurging and replacing the Silverblade Paladins for Ajani instead.
So I finally bought myself a starter deck and was wondering if you guys had tips for a Golgari beginner. I've only played twice before: Once with someone else's deck(I lost), and once with my current deck split between me and my roommate(I won). Is there a FAQ somewhere that goes beyond the rules in the poster that came with the starter deck?
For Example:
I saw this guy earlier in the thread. If I had him and Corpsejack Menace out on the field at the same time, could I increase Pentavus's Power/Toughness by one each for every two lands I control per turn?
If so, how could that possibly be beaten other than with cards like Murder that instantly destroy a creature or against something with deathtouch?
Additionally, if the boosted Pentavus's is destroyed while I have Death's Presence out, can I just move all that accumulated awesomeness times 2 over to corpsejack and continue to fuck shit up?
vexedProgrammer on Pesterchum. Feel free to pester me whenever you want!
Originally Posted by DgallowsCalibrator
The 5 Cycles of Post-Update -
Denial. - Hussie has just trolled you again with an update about one or more of a character death, another crazy plot twist, an ambiguous mystery, questionable game mechanic, or author self insert. You get on the forums and pretend you really liked it.
Anger - You start disagreeing with someone about whether said character will be revived, how stupid there death was, what the plot twist means, what the answer to the mystery is, how the mechanic works, and/or how hilarious the self insert was.
Bargaining - Everyone agrees to disagree and begins making crackpot theories and going off on wild tangents.
Vriska - The Flying Orange becomes related to the update in some inane way right before the big derails start.
Depression - After the discussion has been seriously derailed, people begin talking about how their discussion has once again left the station and took a turn too tight into trainwreck valleyway, where the valleyway is the off-topic, and the trainwreck is you. Proceeds to talk about how depressing it is we haven't got another update and how we've descended to talking about this, and or talking about the discussion itself.
Acceptance - Ooh look update.
Originally Posted by Gigabacon
It will finish on the 21/12/2012. As the meteors begin to fall, the last page will have a download link to two files, and the words "you know what to do."
Yes. First land you remove one counter, make token. Second and, sacrifice token, get 2 counters. You are up one counter.
Things that can deal with it include Oblivion Ring and other cards that can exile it, Smelt and other cards that destroy artifacts, and stuff like Terminus that put it back in your library.
If someone destroys it while death's presence is out, they are stupid or have a plan, because that would indeed fuck their shit up if they have no blockers or answers.
Usually you can find these things out just from knowledge of other existing cards and experience playing the game. If you want to know neat combos like that, usually you can look up the card and see what other people say about the card. Many have ideas of different ways to use cards.
Death's Presence activates when a creature you control "dies". Is dying considered to be any time a creature is sent from the field to the graveyard? Including sacrifices? If so...
Also, can reassembling skeleton and others with graveyard abilities use that ability as soon as they are sent to the graveyard?
I'm also not entirely sure what constitutes a "turn". For example, if I use Golgari Keyrune's 2nd ability to make it a 2/2 creature with deathtouch until the end of the turn, does it stop being a creature during the end of my Main Phase 2 or on the start of my next Main Phase 1?
Last edited by WillyDeWulfe; 11-04-2012 at 11:32 PM.
vexedProgrammer on Pesterchum. Feel free to pester me whenever you want!
Originally Posted by DgallowsCalibrator
The 5 Cycles of Post-Update -
Denial. - Hussie has just trolled you again with an update about one or more of a character death, another crazy plot twist, an ambiguous mystery, questionable game mechanic, or author self insert. You get on the forums and pretend you really liked it.
Anger - You start disagreeing with someone about whether said character will be revived, how stupid there death was, what the plot twist means, what the answer to the mystery is, how the mechanic works, and/or how hilarious the self insert was.
Bargaining - Everyone agrees to disagree and begins making crackpot theories and going off on wild tangents.
Vriska - The Flying Orange becomes related to the update in some inane way right before the big derails start.
Depression - After the discussion has been seriously derailed, people begin talking about how their discussion has once again left the station and took a turn too tight into trainwreck valleyway, where the valleyway is the off-topic, and the trainwreck is you. Proceeds to talk about how depressing it is we haven't got another update and how we've descended to talking about this, and or talking about the discussion itself.
Acceptance - Ooh look update.
Originally Posted by Gigabacon
It will finish on the 21/12/2012. As the meteors begin to fall, the last page will have a download link to two files, and the words "you know what to do."
Death's Presence activates when a creature you control "dies". Is dying considered to be any time a creature is sent from the field to the graveyard? Including sacrifices? If so...
Also, can reassembling skeleton and others with graveyard abilities use that ability as soon as they are sent to the graveyard?
I'm also not entirely sure what constitutes a "turn". For example, if I use Golgari Keyrune's 2nd ability to make it a 2/2 creature with deathtouch until the end of the turn, does it stop being a creature during the end of my Main Phase 2 or on the start of my next Main Phase 1?
The turn is divided into 5 phases with some steps inside of some of them..
Beginning Phase:
•Untap
•Upkeep
•Draw
Main Phase 1
Start Combat
• Declare Attackers
• Declare Blockers
• Assign Combat Damage
Main Phase 2
End Phase
• End of Turn
• Cleanup
Funnily enough, your "end of turn" effect on the Keyrune would not end at the End of Turn step! Instead, it ends at the cleanup step.
So I finally bought myself a starter deck and was wondering if you guys had tips for a Golgari beginner. I've only played twice before: Once with someone else's deck(I lost), and once with my current deck split between me and my roommate(I won). Is there a FAQ somewhere that goes beyond the rules in the poster that came with the starter deck?
For Example:
I saw this guy earlier in the thread. If I had him and Corpsejack Menace out on the field at the same time, could I increase Pentavus's Power/Toughness by one each for every two lands I control per turn?
If so, how could that possibly be beaten other than with cards like Murder that instantly destroy a creature or against something with deathtouch?
Additionally, if the boosted Pentavus's is destroyed while I have Death's Presence out, can I just move all that accumulated awesomeness times 2 over to corpsejack and continue to fuck shit up?
ooh ooh I love helping new players!
that combo does work, it's actually a (watered down) version of a popular commander combo (the combo in question is Ghave, guru of spores as your commander plus doubling season.)
But you want to be careful, since that combo is incredibly easy to disrupt. Both of the cards in the combo are creatures which are easy to remove, and one of which has a very high mana cost. Which means that mosteasilyavailableanswers to your combo are going to give a significant advantage to your opponent.
as a general tip, are you familiar with the terms card advantage or mana curve?
as a general tip, are you familiar with the terms card advantage or mana curve?
I don't have any idea what those mean, but I can guess.
Card advantage probably means either having a creature with better stats or having more creatures on the field. I suspect mana curve has something to do with lands and exponential growth, like having mana allows you to play cards that let you search for more lands so you can have more mana, rich get richer, etc.
vexedProgrammer on Pesterchum. Feel free to pester me whenever you want!
Originally Posted by DgallowsCalibrator
The 5 Cycles of Post-Update -
Denial. - Hussie has just trolled you again with an update about one or more of a character death, another crazy plot twist, an ambiguous mystery, questionable game mechanic, or author self insert. You get on the forums and pretend you really liked it.
Anger - You start disagreeing with someone about whether said character will be revived, how stupid there death was, what the plot twist means, what the answer to the mystery is, how the mechanic works, and/or how hilarious the self insert was.
Bargaining - Everyone agrees to disagree and begins making crackpot theories and going off on wild tangents.
Vriska - The Flying Orange becomes related to the update in some inane way right before the big derails start.
Depression - After the discussion has been seriously derailed, people begin talking about how their discussion has once again left the station and took a turn too tight into trainwreck valleyway, where the valleyway is the off-topic, and the trainwreck is you. Proceeds to talk about how depressing it is we haven't got another update and how we've descended to talking about this, and or talking about the discussion itself.
Acceptance - Ooh look update.
Originally Posted by Gigabacon
It will finish on the 21/12/2012. As the meteors begin to fall, the last page will have a download link to two files, and the words "you know what to do."
iirc card advantage is the difference between the cards in your opponent's hand and yours - creature advantage is the difference between your creature quantity and your opponent's creature quantity. Mana curve is having a decent spread of one-mana cards, two, mana cards, and so on so that you don't end up dead before you can cast any big spells.
The basic concept is both players start with 7 cards in hand and must use those cards to kill the opponent. If you use 2 cards to accomplish the same goal that your opponent does with one card, then your opponent has 6 cards and you have 5 cards, which means your opponent has card advantage over you. Example:
You cast grizzly bears on turn 2 and on turn 3 you enchant it with a oakenform. When you move to attack phase, your opponent kills it with a murder. You have now spent 2 cards and your opponent has spent one.
More simply, any play that makes your opponent lose more cards than you, or you gain more cards than your opponent, is card advantage. Cards like day of judgement, pyroclasm, concentrate, or arc trail are classic routes to card advantage. Most auras are classic routes to card disadvantage, and should be avoided unless they are so powerful that it's worth it.
The concept of a mana curve is that you want to build your deck so that you are doing something on every turn. Take a look at this deck - lower on the page you can see a graph that shows the cost of the cards in the deck. You can see that most of the cards cost 2 or 3 mana. this is good for a very aggressive deck because you want enough 1-drops (cards you can play on turn 1) to make sure you do something on turn 1 every game, but not so many that you are flooded with 1-drops on turn 4 or 5 when they're terrible. Similarly, you want very few cards that cost 4 or more mana, because having a hand filled with those cards will mean there's a significant chance you won't be able to play cards on your first 3 turns. On the other end of the spectrum, a deck like this one tries to play later in the game and is less concerned with turns 1 through 3, but it still pays close attention to its curve and while it may be doing nothing on turn 1 most of the time, on turn 2 and 3 it will likely be doing something. because while this deck wants to survive to play its powerful 4 and 5 mana cards, it can only do something if it's playing cards to keep up with the faster plays by more aggressive decks.
Couple comments on Greydon:
His +1 is quite nice against some control decks, although I'm not sure if it shuts down hardcore burn or aggro decks at all. His -2 is rather eh, all things considered - in his current state, a Shock or Lightning Bolt from your opponent gives them a huge advantage by nuking Greydon for four less mana than he cost. Maybe he should start at three loyalty? His ult doesn't really seem to fit in with the rest of the "control / choices" theme he has going - maybe something more like "You get an emblem with 'Whenever a source deals damage to you, that source's controller sacrifices it'"?