I remember wanting to build a Minotaur deck and trying to get that card and how it all fell apart
Looking up commander rules I kind of like them but building 100 card decks is not my thing
The best approach is to buy one of the Commander packs they release each year. That way you have your deck playable out of the box and can tweak it to your satisfaction.
Commander is a ton of fun and a great way to while away a couple of hours. My friends and I get together every couple of weeks and catch up while playing it.
As the card polarized people in R&D, so the Steamflogger Boss has polarized my readers, and, I'm sure, the bulk of Magic players as a whole. Some can appreciate the absurdness of the joke; others don't think "regular" (as in "not Unglued or Unhinged") Magic sets are the place for stunts like this.
Two recurring themes both on the boards and in my mail were (a) many people were okay with it until I admitted the card was conceived as a "joke" from the beginning, and (b) many people were okay with it conceptually but resent the fact that is was made a rare.
To the first point, from "Apeiron" on our boards:
Man do I feel cheated. So this card only purpose was to have nonsense written on it?! For real? Sigh... I know they warned of these red herring stuff, but I believe this went a bit too far.
Part of the fun of reading magicthegathering.com is finding out things you didn't know before. Sometimes (most of the time, I hope) those things are entertaining and fun and make you feel more connected to the game somehow. Other times, to show that we don't have much to hide, we talk about less savory things like bad rares, bad mechanics, and development errors. If you want to know how sausage is made, visit the sausage factory. If you don't, and just want to enjoy your sausage without thinking too much about how or why it exists, by all means stay home and enjoy it. I know there is a certain percentage of our audience that would make it through their weeks in better moods—and probably be happier with Magic—if they never read the things Mark and I had to say, and instead returned to that ignorantly blissful phase where they thought new Magic cards mysteriously materialized on the shelves every four months without the influence of "people."
So I'm sorry that finding out my intentions ruined Steamflogger Boss for some of you, but that's what finding things out will do sometimes.
Now I will come down off my high horse and say that I'm sorry the card was a rare. Having your rare—the crown jewel of your booster pack—be a goofy card that is mostly unusable is never going to be a great feeling, and the joke could have been pulled off at uncommon just as well.
I don't anticipate us doing any more "just for fun" style cards in normal sets any time soon. I remember a discussion I was having with the Jelly development team about potentially putting a card in the set that was also in Butter, the set before, so you'd get the exact same card two sets in a row. It was Doug Beyer that said, "Stuff like that is funny to hear about and read about, and fun to talk about, but it stops being funny once it's in your pack." Point taken.
Maro's also said for years that Contraptions might be silverborder.
It's unpleasable! That's the problem! There are so few fucking knobs to turn on a vanilla card, that to make it worth running you would need something either unplayable or oppressive. If it's something that's just overstatted for its cost, wow, woo-hoo, I'm so happy that's in the format. Great card design, really impressive. Just keep adding stats as rarity goes up, what is this, YuGiOh? If it's some complex buildaround, like a creature with 0 toughness, or a creature without a mana cost that you have to cheat into play, now you've spent an entire mythic slot on a card that does literally nothing by itself. Either way it's something I either don't want in the format for balance reasons, or would be woefully underpowered, uninteresting, and miserable to open in a pack. The entire reason people like the idea of a "vanilla mythic" is the intellectual question of "how would they make a vanilla creature worth a mythic slot?", it's this idea they build up in their head without realizing that if no one can think of a good answer, maybe there just isn't a good answer and it's a bad thing that shouldn't happen.
And that's not getting into my second problem with the whole "vanilla mythic" idea which is that people build up offhand things that WotC says into things that are bigger than they actually are. Not to pick on BFL here but he refers to the idea of these things as "intriguing promises", and hon, developers promise nothing. There are all sorts of other futureshifted cards that are never getting reprinted. The "promise" made was made in the community's mind, and built up amongst themselves.
Everyday we stray further from God's light Steam Switch FC: 2799-7909-4852
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The Escape Goatincorrigible ruminantthey/themRegistered Userregular
GW 2/6, possible relevant tribal. Overstattedness can still be annoying in a low power/high toughness scenario, but will pretty much only be annoying to the aggro player unlike how a 2 mana 4/4 would just be annoying to everyone. It gets a niche as defensive low-drop that doesn't have the drawback of walls, being that it can kill things that attack it and hit back given the opportunity. It fits the Watchwolf/Call of the Conclave theme of overstatted GW 2-drops. It gets extra value in EDH because it curves into Doran excellently. And even for aggro red, while it'll be extremely hard to beat once resolved because it's effectively immune to your damage-based removal and eats your Goblin Guide and walls your Swiftspear, the sort of deck that's looking to play a multicolored two drop is exactly the sort of deck aggro red tears apart when they stumble mana-wise (at least afaik, all my statements toward matchups is purely speculative).
Yeah boy I'd love a 2/6 for 2 that sounds fuckin' great.
(that would not only fuck over aggro red, but also control red, EG)
I didn't mean to say it was the perfect solution, but more a proof of concept that you can get a lot closer to "real card" than I think you were giving credit for. Plus this conversation is pretty much telling me we already have the vanilla mythic and it's named Tarmogoyf.
Like, even the 2/6 for 'control red' isn't an unsolvable issue. In modern switch over to Rakdos/Grixis/Jund (like most controlly red decks already are) to grab your Pushes and Terminates. If you don't want it ravaging standard have a black or white spell that destroys a critter with 2 or less power. You can even drop it to 2/5 so it dies to Guide/Swiftspear + bolt, so that it's not unbeatable by mono-red.
And here's another idea for the vanilla mythic, just pander directly to Commander players:
you're just describing the issue i have with it though, which is that you've pitched a format-warping card that doesn't do anything but be a ball of boring stats
you're just describing the issue i have with it though, which is that you've pitched a format-warping card that doesn't do anything but be a ball of boring stats
I have a very strong feeling that it being two color would stop it from being format warping, but I could be wrong. Maybe it'd take an alternate timeline where Goyf and Noble Hierarch are banned so that Abzan and Bant aren't as desirable colors.
you're just describing the issue i have with it though, which is that you've pitched a format-warping card that doesn't do anything but be a ball of boring stats
I have a very strong feeling that it being two color would stop it from being format warping, but I could be wrong. Maybe it'd take an alternate timeline where Goyf and Noble Hierarch are banned so that Jund and Bant aren't as desirable colors.
standard is the most played format and you're describing a standard-warping card
you're just describing the issue i have with it though, which is that you've pitched a format-warping card that doesn't do anything but be a ball of boring stats
I have a very strong feeling that it being two color would stop it from being format warping, but I could be wrong. Maybe it'd take an alternate timeline where Goyf and Noble Hierarch are banned so that Jund and Bant aren't as desirable colors.
standard is the most played format and you're describing a standard-warping card
Pre-ban it in standard, then. It's a card designed for Modern, in the end, which might be a "no" in the current design philosophy, but with Leovold getting play in Legacy because of the supplementary set clause I think the precedent is there to directly inject a card into a certain format. Should they do that? Probably not, but they certainly could.
you're just describing the issue i have with it though, which is that you've pitched a format-warping card that doesn't do anything but be a ball of boring stats
I have a very strong feeling that it being two color would stop it from being format warping, but I could be wrong. Maybe it'd take an alternate timeline where Goyf and Noble Hierarch are banned so that Jund and Bant aren't as desirable colors.
standard is the most played format and you're describing a standard-warping card
Pre-ban it in standard, then. It's a card designed for Modern, in the end, which might be a "no" in the current design philosophy, but with Leovold getting play in Legacy because of the supplementary set clause I think the precedent is there to directly inject a card into a certain format. Should they do that? Probably not, but they certainly could.
if your pitch for "how do you make a vanilla mythic" is "Pre-emptively ban it from a format" i'm going to say you've demonstrated the problems with the idea
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The Escape Goatincorrigible ruminantthey/themRegistered Userregular
you're just describing the issue i have with it though, which is that you've pitched a format-warping card that doesn't do anything but be a ball of boring stats
I have a very strong feeling that it being two color would stop it from being format warping, but I could be wrong. Maybe it'd take an alternate timeline where Goyf and Noble Hierarch are banned so that Jund and Bant aren't as desirable colors.
standard is the most played format and you're describing a standard-warping card
Pre-ban it in standard, then. It's a card designed for Modern, in the end, which might be a "no" in the current design philosophy, but with Leovold getting play in Legacy because of the supplementary set clause I think the precedent is there to directly inject a card into a certain format. Should they do that? Probably not, but they certainly could.
if your pitch for "how do you make a vanilla mythic" is "Pre-emptively ban it from a format" i'm going to say you've demonstrated the problems with the idea
If you think a card needs to fit in every format, I'd say you've got too narrow a vision. Hell, like I just said, Leovold was effectively pre-banned from Modern (and may have actually been pre-banned from Commander? It's banned right now, at least, which makes me think that probably happened quickly). There's precedent there for designing a card at a particular power level and just cutting it out of the formats it'd be too high power in.
i think a card needs to fit in the formats that the set it is printed in is designed to support, yes
the thing people were excited about is a vanilla mythic in a regular, standard set
and again, designing it at that power level based on nothing but raw stats is bad
and also, "Well how are you going to design a vanilla mythic?" "Well we're just going to intentionally push it to inject it directly into a format" is bad
I remember wanting to build a Minotaur deck and trying to get that card and how it all fell apart
Looking up commander rules I kind of like them but building 100 card decks is not my thing
The best approach is to buy one of the Commander packs they release each year. That way you have your deck playable out of the box and can tweak it to your satisfaction.
Commander is a ton of fun and a great way to while away a couple of hours. My friends and I get together every couple of weeks and catch up while playing it.
It looks like fun but I would need a few games to figure out how to build the one I think of
I have a Commander deck from 2014? that I really bought for 3 cards
I remember wanting to build a Minotaur deck and trying to get that card and how it all fell apart
Looking up commander rules I kind of like them but building 100 card decks is not my thing
The best approach is to buy one of the Commander packs they release each year. That way you have your deck playable out of the box and can tweak it to your satisfaction.
Commander is a ton of fun and a great way to while away a couple of hours. My friends and I get together every couple of weeks and catch up while playing it.
It looks like fun but I would need a few games to figure out how to build the one I think of
I have a Commander deck from 2014? that I really bought for 3 cards
That's generally how I approach it.
I have 18 commander decks at this point, very few of which overlap each other. The beauty of commander is since it is a singleton format you don't need lots of expensive cards, there are plenty of decks you could build on a budget.
Generally it starts with a legend or theme I like (druid tribal with Titania at the head or Queen Marchesa with a bunch of kings and kingdom style effects with soldier tribal subtheme) or a mechanic (like say banding, -1/-1 counters, +1/+1 counters) or a combination of cards with a weird effect or strong synergy.
I think the only way to do a vanilla-ass mythic would be to make it legendary, and just about the only stat line to mana cost ratio I could see it having would be GW for a 3/4 or MAYBE GR for a 4/3.
I agree with INANGTP that it would be a bad card, and that it shouldn't be done, but going over 2 mana has already been done unless you want to make a 3 mana 6/6 which would just be stupid bullshit.
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StragintDo Not GiftAlways DeclinesRegistered Userregular
I remember wanting to build a Minotaur deck and trying to get that card and how it all fell apart
Looking up commander rules I kind of like them but building 100 card decks is not my thing
The best approach is to buy one of the Commander packs they release each year. That way you have your deck playable out of the box and can tweak it to your satisfaction.
Commander is a ton of fun and a great way to while away a couple of hours. My friends and I get together every couple of weeks and catch up while playing it.
It looks like fun but I would need a few games to figure out how to build the one I think of
I have a Commander deck from 2014? that I really bought for 3 cards
That's generally how I approach it.
I have 18 commander decks at this point, very few of which overlap each other. The beauty of commander is since it is a singleton format you don't need lots of expensive cards, there are plenty of decks you could build on a budget.
Generally it starts with a legend or theme I like (druid tribal with Titania at the head or Queen Marchesa with a bunch of kings and kingdom style effects with soldier tribal subtheme) or a mechanic (like say banding, -1/-1 counters, +1/+1 counters) or a combination of cards with a weird effect or strong synergy.
I feel better about have 10 EDH decks now, soon to be 11.
EDH would be so much more affordable for me if I could bring myself to just switch cards between decks that share cards. I have a super friends and +1/+1 counter Atraxa deck that I switch between, one of the cards being a Doubling Season. My Rhys deck also needs a Doubling Season but I don't want to keep switching and resleeving. I am also probably gonna buy the cards for a Hapatra deck in the next few weeks and I could save a bunch of money by using the mana base from my Meren deck, very similar to each other but again I don't want to switch stuff around.
Meren being double sleeved also doesn't make it any less annoying.
PSN: Reaper_Stragint, Steam: DoublePitstoChesty
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
I am very curious about the Vampire commander deck? will they bring back Baron Sengir? as back in Homelands he was just a Legend nothing more
Still I forgot where in the house I put the commander deck I think I bought one or 3? I have no idea?
I know I bought the one with Nevinyrral's Disk since I only had one of those cards from back in the day
But I think I bought another or this I have no idea and I am quite confused?
Posts
I remember wanting to build a Minotaur deck and trying to get that card and how it all fell apart
Looking up commander rules I kind of like them but building 100 card decks is not my thing
Yeah when vamps go multicolor they tend to go BW. Ravnica has a bunch of Orzhov vampires, although they also throw the occasional UB curveball too.
On that subject, there are a few Grixis vamps: Blood Tyrant, Garza Zol, and Jeleva.
The best approach is to buy one of the Commander packs they release each year. That way you have your deck playable out of the box and can tweak it to your satisfaction.
Commander is a ton of fun and a great way to while away a couple of hours. My friends and I get together every couple of weeks and catch up while playing it.
Steam Switch FC: 2799-7909-4852
Dang what's the point of these intriguing promises if they turn out to just be jokes in the end?
They hinted at these things, then only after did they announce a third Un-set. Most folks probably thought these were coming in black border.
http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/latest-developments/three-things-i-get-mail-about-2007-05-11
Maro's also said for years that Contraptions might be silverborder.
http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/157222011088/scenario-you-solve-contraptions-but-in-a-way
http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/154107853508/would-you-consider-contraptions-solved-if-they
http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/137112930938/would-you-be-satisfied-with-a-silver-border
http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/135731644683/ok-ive-seen-on-multiple-occasions-people-ask-you
http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/124369748363/when-you-solve-the-issue-of-contraptions-can-you
I'm still a little sad though
What if it was a 5/3 for 1G
I was becoming unenchanted with the idea of a third Un set but this made me laugh so maybe there's hope for me yet.
And that's not getting into my second problem with the whole "vanilla mythic" idea which is that people build up offhand things that WotC says into things that are bigger than they actually are. Not to pick on BFL here but he refers to the idea of these things as "intriguing promises", and hon, developers promise nothing. There are all sorts of other futureshifted cards that are never getting reprinted. The "promise" made was made in the community's mind, and built up amongst themselves.
1G
Steam Switch FC: 2799-7909-4852
(that would not only fuck over aggro red, but also control red, EG)
I didn't mean to say it was the perfect solution, but more a proof of concept that you can get a lot closer to "real card" than I think you were giving credit for. Plus this conversation is pretty much telling me we already have the vanilla mythic and it's named Tarmogoyf.
Like, even the 2/6 for 'control red' isn't an unsolvable issue. In modern switch over to Rakdos/Grixis/Jund (like most controlly red decks already are) to grab your Pushes and Terminates. If you don't want it ravaging standard have a black or white spell that destroys a critter with 2 or less power. You can even drop it to 2/5 so it dies to Guide/Swiftspear + bolt, so that it's not unbeatable by mono-red.
And here's another idea for the vanilla mythic, just pander directly to Commander players:
Maybe 6/0? Thats the only thing I could imagine enjoying.
Looks a bit like a Mean Streets of Gadgetzan set to go along with Un'Goro.
I have a very strong feeling that it being two color would stop it from being format warping, but I could be wrong. Maybe it'd take an alternate timeline where Goyf and Noble Hierarch are banned so that Abzan and Bant aren't as desirable colors.
standard is the most played format and you're describing a standard-warping card
Pre-ban it in standard, then. It's a card designed for Modern, in the end, which might be a "no" in the current design philosophy, but with Leovold getting play in Legacy because of the supplementary set clause I think the precedent is there to directly inject a card into a certain format. Should they do that? Probably not, but they certainly could.
if your pitch for "how do you make a vanilla mythic" is "Pre-emptively ban it from a format" i'm going to say you've demonstrated the problems with the idea
If you think a card needs to fit in every format, I'd say you've got too narrow a vision. Hell, like I just said, Leovold was effectively pre-banned from Modern (and may have actually been pre-banned from Commander? It's banned right now, at least, which makes me think that probably happened quickly). There's precedent there for designing a card at a particular power level and just cutting it out of the formats it'd be too high power in.
the thing people were excited about is a vanilla mythic in a regular, standard set
and again, designing it at that power level based on nothing but raw stats is bad
and also, "Well how are you going to design a vanilla mythic?" "Well we're just going to intentionally push it to inject it directly into a format" is bad
Homelands/Ice Age is where I attempted to make a Vampire deck or a proto Commander Deck
It had a family of vampires
It looks like fun but I would need a few games to figure out how to build the one I think of
I have a Commander deck from 2014? that I really bought for 3 cards
That's generally how I approach it.
I have 18 commander decks at this point, very few of which overlap each other. The beauty of commander is since it is a singleton format you don't need lots of expensive cards, there are plenty of decks you could build on a budget.
Generally it starts with a legend or theme I like (druid tribal with Titania at the head or Queen Marchesa with a bunch of kings and kingdom style effects with soldier tribal subtheme) or a mechanic (like say banding, -1/-1 counters, +1/+1 counters) or a combination of cards with a weird effect or strong synergy.
I agree with INANGTP that it would be a bad card, and that it shouldn't be done, but going over 2 mana has already been done unless you want to make a 3 mana 6/6 which would just be stupid bullshit.
I feel better about have 10 EDH decks now, soon to be 11.
EDH would be so much more affordable for me if I could bring myself to just switch cards between decks that share cards. I have a super friends and +1/+1 counter Atraxa deck that I switch between, one of the cards being a Doubling Season. My Rhys deck also needs a Doubling Season but I don't want to keep switching and resleeving. I am also probably gonna buy the cards for a Hapatra deck in the next few weeks and I could save a bunch of money by using the mana base from my Meren deck, very similar to each other but again I don't want to switch stuff around.
Meren being double sleeved also doesn't make it any less annoying.
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
Still I forgot where in the house I put the commander deck I think I bought one or 3? I have no idea?
I know I bought the one with Nevinyrral's Disk since I only had one of those cards from back in the day
But I think I bought another or this I have no idea and I am quite confused?