The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

[Kapol]

It's just too bad the Chromanticore isn't legendary.

[ElFuzzy]

Then use Karona, voltron her and see what people do with her.

[Utilitarian]

Yes yes, hilarious 5 colour gimmick thingie.

Let's talk abut the real goods: Spirit of the Labrynth

3 power 2 mana creature is already white weenie playable, but the effect, yeesh. Completely turns off any sorcery speed card draw and severely hinders even instant speed draw.

[Kapol]

As I said on Facebook, I don't know how relevant it'll be to standard. The only really good draw that standard has right now is Sphinx's. And drawing a card and gaining X life is still good. The fact it's usually played by control decks also means the creature likely won't stick around long enough to have an impact on Sphinx's. It might be good in a bant deck with Prophet of Kruphix, but outside of that... I don't see it being that great.

Modern though... it seems good. The fact it makes Brainstorm into net card loss is pretty good.

[Utilitarian]

It means black decks will only be able to use a single copy of Underworld Connections, and only use it on their opponent's turn, it means that blue decks won't be able to get any cards off their Bident of Thassa. Plus a lot of control decks are running a Divination variant on top of their Sphinx's Revelation these days. I agree that it's superior in a format like Modern where card draw is a bigger thing but I still feel like it'll at least be in some competitive sideboards for Standard.

[Kapol]

Considering that Underworld Connections is still good card draw for black, it doesn't hurt it that much. It's a four-of card. But normally you'd only get two out anyways. And even then, it's adding double black to your devotion, which is relevant with Gary.

For Bident, that's relevant, I'll admit. I've never actually played against mono-blue, so I'm not 100% sure how much of a blow it's being dealt by that loss.

And those decks might not run Divination, but that's not a huge loss. And even then, I bring up the point that control still has access to enough removal to kill that creature by the time you want to draw. That's why I brought up the idea of bant. A bant deck that can flash it out in response to card draw thanks to Prophet would make it better, since it's harder to get rid of.

I just don't think it's going to make a huge impact in standard. And while I don't know older formats that well, it seems like it'll fine a solid place in modern at least.

[Lord Hosk]

My first game back after like a month of not playing, I drop into a theros phantom sealed. I opened 3 Triton Shorethief 3 Yoked Ox 4 Priest of Iroas and 2 Asphodel Wanderer, and 11 yes, 11 satyrs, one boon 3 hedonist 3 pipers, three ramblers, and two voyaging.

I have such a bad deck.

[ArchieO]

The Spirit goes right in Legacy Death and Taxes or Vintage Hatebears, to quote some one else: "I set my aether vial to 2, pass" "Ok at the end you your turn I brainstorm" "Activate Vial, you may now tilt" Replace Brainstorm with Griselbrand, JTMS or Recall in vintage and its the same thing.; The fact that its a 3/1 for 2 is also no mean feat.

On a completely separate note I'm really hoping there is going to be some more inspired stuff coming in Journey into Nyx because if there is enough I kinda want to make a twiddle/pemmins aura commander deck with derevi and the untap cards from lorwyn block.

[AdmiralMemo]

The Spirit goes right in Legacy Death and Taxes or Vintage Hatebears, to quote some one else: "I set my aether vial to 2, pass" "Ok at the end you your turn I brainstorm" "Activate Vial, you may now tilt" Replace Brainstorm with Griselbrand, JTMS or Recall in vintage and its the same thing.; The fact that its a 3/1 for 2 is also no mean feat.

Or if you have 1GW open, you can do something similar in Standard. "Pass" "Tap everything for Sphinx's Revelation." "In response, Savage Summoning, then when that resolves, Spirit of the Labyrinth."

[Utilitarian]

Well based on the pre-order pricing spirit's being put up there with the less powerful gods. We'll see which format's market is driving that

[Kapol]

If this card is going to be as good in older formats as a lot of people seem to think she will be, I'm tempted to pick up a playset. Even if she doesn't go up anytime soon, I can store her with my Caverns for the future.

[Volafortis]

As a Legacy player, I'm already having nightmares for games against Death and Taxes.

"Alright, Brainstorm"
"In response, vial in Spirit of the Labyrinth"
"Fuuu...."

[Kapol]

So do you think that they'll go up in value in the future Vola? I don't know older formats enough to be confident one way or the other.

...and whatever happened to the price speculation thread someone was going to start?

[Volafortis]

Well, the top decks in Legacy are Delver, ANT, Death and Taxes, Miracles, DeathBlade, Sneak and Show, EsperBlade, Elves, and Shardless BUG.

The only deck among those that want it is Death and Taxes.

A solid comparison to it in my opinion is Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. Although I feel like Thalia was a little bit better than Spirit in Standard, they seem to be similar in power in both Legacy and in Modern. Thalia just rotated, and is still a 4-dollar card that is well-poised to climb over time. This is a trend I'd expect to see from Spirit of the Labyrinth.

Unless Spirit is bonkers in Standard, but I don't know, it seems good against Sphinx's Revelation, but if you're running Sphinx's Revelation, you should be able to kill it first (or Sphinx's Rev in response).

[Kapol]

Right. I'm pretty sure it won't be great in Standard. It sounds like it'll be a 'pick it up when it rotates' situation, when it should be at it's cheapest.

[Del]

D&T will really only be running one for vial anyways.

Without cards to support its playability in standard I don't think it will come out to be much more price-wise than Ashen Rider did as a sneak n show stopper.

White weenie is almost there I think, especially with the pushed white archetype that gives first strike, but it hungers for something like a Dauntless Escort to really survive that first boardwipe. Give me something like that and spirit as a 3/1 for 2 becomes that much more playable.

[Volafortis]

D&T will really only be running one for vial anyways.

This doesn't make sense. Vial can't search for it, it can only drop it from hand into play. I could see it being an easy 2x in D&T, possibly even 3x, in a Stoneblade/Miracles heavy meta.

Maverick also might want 1 or 2.

The biggest issue is I'm not sure what either deck would cut. Maverick honestly probably just sides 1, since it typically runs an E-Tutor sideboard package of singletons anyway, and Spirit is conveniently an enchantment. D&T might do that too, but I feel like D&T wants it main deck.

[AdmiralMemo]

Siren of Silent Song: WHAT THE BUS? That art... That effect... *shakes head* Is this real life?

[Prospero101]

This may or may not be the Matrix, but that questionably real card needs to get into my questionably real deck RIGHT STAT NOW.

[Dix]

Siren of Silent Song: WHAT THE BUS? That art... That effect... *shakes head* Is this real life?

DAT RARITY.

[AdmiralMemo]

Perplexing Chimera: I get your spell and you get my guy, but then you can do that to me, too?

Sounds weird... Perhaps perplexing...

Fated Return: So awesome, but the cost... The cost...

Hunter's Prowess: Significant card draw in green? Hunh...

Also... How many of these new instants/sorceries are essentially "Reprint+Scry"?

[Kapol]

Perplexing Chimera seems to want to be in a deck with Conjured Currency.

Vortex Elemental seems pretty good. It can remove any creature it blocks for 1 mana and save itself. That seems solid.

Acolytes Reward seems to be just what mono-white needs to be a thing, honestly. It seems really good.

The flavor of Eye Gouge is hilarious and it makes me happy.

Gild seems... good and bad? It seems odd that it doesn't specify 'under your control' though. Very odd in fact.

Fall of the Hammer seems really solid.

Aspect of Hydra seems good.

Fated <blank> seems to be a cycle. Out of them, I'm not sure which is the best. The black one is pretty powerful. The green one is a nice surprise thing. But the white one seems like the best to me, at least in potential. Instant-speed board wipe is a powerful thing, even for 7 mana. The blue one also could be very strong in the right deck.

The new hydra feels really weird to me. It seems good... just weird. The fact you have to tap it really ties it down though.

Reap What Is Sown seems like the best Heroic Enabler for a Heroic deck. Being able to activate 3 at once is very strong.

Siren of Silent Song seems nuts, especially with people scrying.

I don't know how to feel on Hunter's prowess. It seems bad to me. 5 mana, Sorcery speed, no more of a boost than a Giant Growth. All in a format that has a ton of removal and bounce. The chances of it landing are slim. That said... it's card draw in green. It gives trample. These two things together make it so it could be good enough to see play in mono-green at least. I'd rather it not have the +3/+3, cost less, and be instant, but still... it has it's uses.

[Phosphatide]

Knowing the rules, Gild would put the token onto the field under your control since you control the spell. I do expect plenty of judge calls on that though.

I absolutely cannot wait to use the Vortex Elemental. I am even more excited to obtain a copy of Whims of the Fates to put in my "random outcome" Commander deck.

[Kapol]

I'm sure Gild puts it on your side, to justify the 4 cost. But the fact it doesn't specify was a bad move on Wizard's part.

[korvys]

It's covered explicitly in the release notes.

The danger of adding the extra wording is implying that if it doesn't say "under your control" then other cards like that (I'm not sure if there are any, but maybe in the future) don't work that way.
Also, then we'd lose space for flavour text. And flavour text is awesome.

Speaking of which, Aspect of Hydra and Floodtide Serpent are my favourites for flavour text so far. But I've not been paying too much attention.