The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

[guidance]

With the pre-release of return to ravnica letting you choose what guild you're gonna play as, what guild would you choose? I know there isn't much to go on right now other than colours and general themes of each guild, but it's fun to speculate. I would probably go for Niv-Mizzet because I like the combination of control and burn. If not that then Isperia because control and flyers are annoying. I pretty much just want to screw with people.

[Kapol]

Without anything to go on, I'll likely be going White/Green, though I'm largely waiting to see how Populate will work with the cards before I make that decision. If not White/Green, then likely White/Blue depending on the Keyword and cards. The last choice would likely be Green/Black just because it doesn't interest me at the moment. But it might turn out to be awesome.

Also, RE:How many of one legendary, it depends on the deck and the legendary more then anything. I'm specifically avoiding putting more then one of each legendary creature in my main deck I posted before. Mainly because it's based around Descendants' Path, and it'd be so easy to be forced to play a legendary and kill both. Higher-cost I'd only put 1 or 2 in depending if it's Mana-ramp. I'd only put 1 or 2 of Avacyn or Gisela in a non mana-ramp deck, and even then it'd only be 2 or 3 at most. Lower cost I'd put 3-4 in. Like maybe Siguarda.

EDIT: I just remembered that Descendant's Path doesn't force you to cast creatures. Hmm...

EDIT 2: You know, I get the feeling Merfolk will be coming back in a fairly strong way for RTR. Which makes me think it'd be wise to pick up any Master of the Pearl Tridents one may want relatively soon.

[Volafortis]

Azorius, Izzet, or Golgari. Still not sure which, though.

[LackingSanity]

Since Simic won't be in until Gatecrash, I'll probably go Izzet or Golgari.

[phlip]

My LGS is going to be running 5 pre-release events. There are 5 guilds in RTR. I don't think this is a coincidence, and I think they're hoping many others will have the same plan I have.

[MrParivir]

Same here and coincidentally it will be my first foray into mtg since... apocalypse I think? Well that's the most recent spin-down counter I have anyway.

[Kapol]

I'm going to be going with the Blue/Green guild for Gatecrash. Looking forward to drafting all three sets during Sinker.

Played the TNMO and lost pretty bad. First person I played had Avacyn and a Restoration Angel. Second guy I played got a Tamiyo. The first got Resto out in all three games and Avacyn in one (which I still managed to win). Second managed to get Tamiyo out and use her ability to beat me. All I got that was semi-decent was Terminus and Moonsilver Spear. I was a bit annoyed to be honest.

[Ninety-Three]

I've always hate-hate-hated Sealed events (I have a history of opening awful pools), but I'm very excited about the Guild specific packs that exist for the Prereleases. I imagine it would be great fun to amass a bunch of those packs and hold a Grab Bag draft; does anyone know if they can be purchased independently?

[Volafortis]

I don't think so, it's a promotional only kind of thing, I think. Don't know what the stores will do with extras.

Everyone gets a guild specific promo that they can use in their sealed deck this time around though, so that should be interesting.

[Lord Hosk]

I think its 5 Return to Ravnica packs and 1 pack which supports the "guild of your choice" which for most people will probably turn out to be the store owner/operator saying "here are your 5 packs plus promo pack and your promo card dont open the packs until we say so, and you cant use the promo card in your deck" as they pass them out randomly.

[Volafortis]

I think its 5 Return to Ravnica packs and 1 pack which supports the "guild of your choice" which for most people will probably turn out to be the store owner/operator saying "here are your 5 packs plus promo pack and your promo card dont open the packs until we say so, and you cant use the promo card in your deck" as they pass them out randomly.

At the panel where they announced the prerelease sealed format, they also stated you will be able to use the promo.

As far as extras of the guild packs, the only thing I can think of that was similar was the Mirrodin Besieged prerelease, which had faction packs for Mirrodin and Phyrexia. I think my LGS owner gave them out as door prizes, but I can't remember for certain what he did with the extras, since it was about a year and a half ago.

[Lord Hosk]

WANT!

[tanatoes]

Are those official? That Chromatic Lantern should be a mythic, not a rare. Mana troubles will apparently not be an issue any longer. Seriously - I can't even believe such a card would ever be printed. It's like a super-charged myr on turn 3.

[Jenelmo]

They are official wizards spoiled 40-50 cards at PAX last night
http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/returntoravnica/cig

[Lyinginbedmon]

Why hello Goblins, nice to see you in my futures again. Guttersnipe might do rather nicely for me I think.

[the_lone_bard]

Terminate returns! Slightly nerfed, but it's still a 2drop straight up "Fuck you" card.

[Kapol]

Do want that latern soooo much. I'm not sure what I'd rather have, that latern or the dual-lands. Oh, wait. I know the answer to that. ALL OF THEM.

EDIT: I'm torn. I managed to get 1 FTV:Realms set and I'm not sure what I want to do. Selling it would mean I could get a good chunk of money for my trip in a couple weeks or almost enough to buy myself a RTR box. Holding onto it means I'd get some awesome cards that I'd likely put into a commander deck and/or could use as trade fodder. Or just keeping it unopened means it could go up in value as time goes on...

I just don't know.

[Lord Hosk]

Sell now, get cards later

[vxicepickxv]

Terminate returns! Slightly nerfed, but it's still a 2drop straight up "Fuck you" card.

That or planeswalker makes it a very nasty spell.

I think my favorite thing I'm seeing in this set is the return of shock lands.

Chromatic gate is going to be a high value rare. Jace is generally a high value rare, and this one isn't going to change the trend too much. He's not going to hit Mindsculpter money, but he's not going to be as worthless as Archangel's Light in terms of mythic value.

I don't see Jarad breaking 10 bucks, simply because of Izzet vs Golgari duel decks being available. Normally that will set the value at about 10 bucks for quite some time. If you wait long enough, the duel deck version will be worth more than a regular one. If you think I'm kidding, look at the Divine vs Demonic Akroma.

Gatekeeper vine seems very interesting, simply because it can help you with both mana fixing and thinning out your deck.

[the_lone_bard]

To be fair, Divine vs Demonic is also cards that are no longer in print.

The problem with most dual decks is that the cards usually stay in print for awhile. Venser vs whoever it was for example.

Also, I know someone who has a DvD akroma. I've offered him elspeths for it. Multiple. He refused because it's out of print.

And While I do like jarrad, so far it feels like Golgari is getting screwed this time around.

I look forward to Dimir though.

[Lord Hosk]

This Jace looks kinda crummy

hes kinda a shield who give you the power to cast something big from your library and something crappy from your opponents.

[the_lone_bard]

He's actually kinda fine, it's just that every other jace has been insta win... So he seems bad at first.

But let me put it this way, you now have a praetors grasp that you can use as other cards if your opponent has nothing you can run/deny them.

[Kapol]

Sell now, get cards later

You think that's the best choice? I guess my thing is that I love Grove of the Burnwillows and Dryad Arbor especially, and I do like the idea of having these awesome lands for if/when I do get into commander. Still, you're likely right. I'll likely just end up using it to pay for my RTR box.

I think my favorite thing I'm seeing in this set is the return of shock lands.

Chromatic gate is going to be a high value rare.

I am really looking forward to the shock lands... if I can get them. It's obvious they'll be going for a pretty penny since everyone will want a lot of them and I don't care much for buying singles anyways. They seem really good though and I'd easily run them in my current main deck... and my lifegain/token deck... and my black/red/blue deck... and any deck I build really.

Do you mean the Latern? I didn't see a Chromatic Gate. If you did mean the Latern, how much of a high-value rare do you think it will be? I see it going for $20 for a playset right now and am considering pre-ordering it since it goes great in most multi-colored decks.

Are those official? That Chromatic Lantern should be a mythic, not a rare. Mana troubles will apparently not be an issue any longer. Seriously - I can't even believe such a card would ever be printed. It's like a super-charged myr on turn 3.

To be fair, if the Golgari gate is any indication, we're going to be getting dual-lands that are simply commons with the only downside being coming in tapped. Not to mention the Transguild land which can produce anything. I think that not getting the color of land you need will become less of a problem with RTR.

He's actually kinda fine, it's just that every other jace has been insta win... So he seems bad at first.

But let me put it this way, you now have a praetors grasp that you can use as other cards if your opponent has nothing you can run/deny them.

As someone who hasn't used/played against any Jace other then Memory Adept, I can agree that he looks pretty crummy. The +1 ability isn't bad, I can see it shutting down token strategies for a bit, but it isn't all that useful in my opinion. The -2 is nice, but it seems like it'd depend largely on your deck and your opponent what happens with it. And, while the -8 is pretty amazing, it's going to take a long time (depending on other cards' effects in play) to get up to it.

That's not to say he won't find his place though. I'm much happier with him like that then the R/U version that was floating around. It's just not all that amazing for the planeswalker that's supposed to be the figurehead for the set in some ways.

[Volafortis]

I think this new Jace looks better than Memory Adept, his -2 is really good, and his +1 can be amazing in certain metagames. I don't expect him to be more than niche sideboard tech, but that's still better than Memory Adept.

Obviously, he's no Mind Sculptor, but anyone who thought he would be is dreaming.

[Lord Hosk]

I just think its funny that the Wizards R&D has such a hard on for Jace. He has appeared almost as frequently as basic land.