With a set solely devoted to reprinting staple cards, you can imagine my surprise when some of these cards are given different rarities and such when they are reprinting, a obvious example from this set is Worm Harvest which is a rare from Eventide, it's been demoted to Uncommon due to rarity issues and such, which is weird since now it is possible to draft lands.deck for sure, or something along those lines. Modern Masters to me has seemed like vain attempts to get staples from the following formats
#1) Commander - Reprinting specific commander favorites is always nice,Adarkar Valkyrie and the 5 Kamigawa dragons are a perfect example of commander favorites, even Death Cloud is seeing a reprint in this set and it's weird to say, but EDH players wallets must have been lightened a little due to specific cards seeing reprints, the swords included, Sword of Fire and Ice and Sword of Light and Shadow are perfect examples of EDH playable cards seeing solid reprints finally, which is always good. I'm not saying this is a bad thing but this set seriously caters to the crowd of EDH players in a way not seen in a while since the original commander's precons were set on the market those 2 years ago, which let's face it sold out rather quickly over the course of a couple of days.
Though the commander market for this set is going to be small, you gotta remember the format for the major event which is taking place is Booster Draft/Sealed in Las Vegas, so the secondary market for specific reprints of these cards is going to be quite impressive, even if quantity for the product is limited.
#2) Legacy - A lot of the format's revealed cards thus far see play in legacy as well, as well as predictable archetypes like Dredge, which uses cards like Life from the Loam, Stinkweed Imp and Narcomeba to do the job a mana less dredge deck does, which is always nice, but some bombs like Tombstalker and Aether Vial being reprinted but the thing is Vial is seeing a rarity, where as it's original printing is a Uncommon, meaning that original prices may go down a bit, but that might depend on the amount of each card which sees the secondary market as a whole. Overall the legacy side of things look a bit interesting, since we have fan favorites from legacy like the previously mentioned dredge variant, storm decks and the milling machine in Worldgorger Combo, Oona, Queen of the Fae is seeing a reprint, overall these things seem like a bad thing, but always having new copies of old cards on the market seems good since newer players can pick up these singles a little cheaper then their current version of the card, which sits at a higher price then ever.
#3) Modern - Since the set is named after the format, it's going to affect modern in a way we've not seen in a while, specific card prices will either rise or drop thanks to these newer versions seeing a reprint, a perfect example of this is the first spoiled card Tarmogoyf, which sat at the 120-130 range before the announcement, nowadays it sits at about the 115-120 range depending on the store, so a slight drop in price is likely to happen with reprints, but it's overall not going to make the card prices tumble like a stone, if wizards truly wanted the format of Modern to be a thing, they'd be reprinting this particular set in more then limited quantity in my eyes, to affect both the secondary market and give newer players a chance to get into the modern format.
Wizards honestly has no idea how to handle these formats anymore, they are banning cards left and right, making ridiculous reprints of old cards which doesn't really affect the secondary market as a whole, it's becoming a point where magic as a whole is going to see prices that will shoot through the roof and detract newer players who don't have much to spend on the format and stick to the more casual formats, as it is Standard and Modern are 2 of the most inexpensive formats to get into magic wise, with Legacy and EDH being the most expensive due to the legality of the Onslaught fetch lands being legal for the format and specific other cards which are popular for the format, including Timetwister which is the only legal piece of the power nine in Commander.
Is modern masters good for the magic community as a whole, yes, as long as they print a good quantity of the product in the long run, not print it like Commander's Arsenal, where it was a one time product and that was it, let's go back to a few years back where as there was a little format known as Extended, which was modern's predecessor where as the format was diverse and didn't have that many banned cards, but had a rotational period for the format, where as it was a 7 year format, which rotated out a set every 2 years if i am not mistaken, it was a good format where the players were playing diverse enough decks to encourage play, but as word of the Modern format began to circulate, the extended format died out slowly and eventually ceased to exist as a whole, leaving Modern as a new eternal format in their eyes.
Usually a banned/restricted list warrants some time and thought, but when wizards first premiered the banned list for Modern, most people were just shock so many good cards were banned in the format as a whole to start with, a whopping 20 cards which started the ban list, eventually grew into 27 thus far, with 7 new additions over the course of 6 different ban periods, most of those wizards called the "Problem Cards" so what if they were problem cards, they were consistent, you wanted to ban consistency wizards, then ban cards like Splinter Twin, or Pestermite to discourage the twin players in a way not seen before, or perhaps it's time for Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker to get a break from the modern spotlight and see the dark void for a bit on the ban list, but the recent banned list announcements for the format of Modern proves wizards doesn't know what the hell they are doing anymore, sure you ban Seething Song, Second Sunrise and the most annoying offender of the format, Bloodbraid Elf, but where's the true reasoning behind each of these bannings, not some stupid little statement giving a BS reason as to why these cards are banned.
This is a perfectly logical reason as to why the formats of Legacy and Standard are more played then modern, since people don't want to invest in a format where they don't know if their investments will stay for another year or even 3 months, where as standard has a rotational period of every year, it's fresh and easy to understand with a limited and easy to adapt to card pool, Legacy however is a whole new ball game where as it is so diverse it literally has over 50 decks to play which are all unique and fresh to the format, modern has maybe 9 after the format banned list taking into effect as of May 3rd, 2013, with the recent banning of Second Sunrise being the last casualty of the format, since they did give a good reasoning behind this particular ban, but this does not excuse the BS treatment this format has received since it's inception, it's a joke wizards and something needs to change, let's face it, Modern can go the way of the dinosaur at the rate this format is going.
Anyways I'm going to stop now before I decide to retract this piece and throw it into the abyss of doom, which let's face it is where most of my creativity has gone over the past few weeks, so until next time this is Vergil signing off.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Commander League: June 1st, 2013
Alright, so let's get down to business before we begin, this is not a return, just a slight idea being put into motion, with that let me explain what this particular commander league is going to be all about.
#1) This league is intended to be fair and fun for all EDH players in the city of Toronto and around the city, who want a consistent event that's not Duel Commander.
#2) We are using a points system for this event, which can be expanded further but with approval from everyone at the league, I will go into detail for the league's point system a little later.
#3) The location of this event will take place at the Hairy Tarantula North Store, located at 6979 Yonge, to get there, go to finch station and catch the 53 Steeles East to Steeles Avenue, the store is located within the little strip mall, go downstairs and you are there.
The start time and the event date are as follows
Start Time: 1:30 PM Eastern Standard Time
Event Date: Saturday, June 1st, 2013
Entry Fee: $5 Canadian
The points system we are using for this event is a little complex, since we are basing it off of 2-3 different point systems with inclusions from Sheldon Menery's suggested point system, so let's get down to the points system.
Basic Points
[+1] Fatality - Eliminate a player. This award can be earned multiple times, but only once per turn.
[+1] Frontline Commander – Eliminate a player through commander damage.
[+2] Last Planeswalker Standing – Win the game by having all other players eliminated.
[+1] Fateful Kill – Eliminate a player when you have 5 or fewer life.
[+1] Get Creative – Eliminate a player through a method other than damage, commander damage, or poison counters.
Basic points are considered easier to get then others, due to some creative thinking, this points system encourages a unique way of playing the game, while making it balanced and fun.
Co-operation Points
[+1] Quick Save – Save one opponent’s creature from another opponent’s removal.
[+1] Get Back In There – Save another player from being killed by another opponent.
[+1] Gift of Knowledge – Cause another player to draw 3 or more cards with a non-symmetric effect. (Symmetric effects include Howling Mine, Arcane Denial, etc.)
[+1] Gather the Tribe – Control six or more creatures with different names of the same creature type. (Conspiracy effects don’t count.)
Co-operation points are one of the more enjoyable, since each reward is based off specific situations in game, alliances will come into play more then likely to take out the strongest threat at the table during the games played.
Negative Points
[-4] Nice Game, Bro – Eliminate a player before they have taken their fifth turn.
[-2] Natural Disaster – Destroy one or more opponents’ mana base. Examples include Armageddon and like effects , using targeted land destruction to destroy a player’s only source(s) of one colour , or using Wasteland and Crucible of Worlds to prevent a player from further developing their mana base.
[-2] No Turns For You – Soft lock a player, preventing them from playing all spells for three or more turns. Examples include recurring Yosei, the Morning Star, or Silence on an Isochron Scepter targeting the same player each time.
[-1] Hog the Spotlight – Take more than 2 additional turns in a given turn cycle.
[-1] Just Call A Judge – Argue over a rules question and be wrong.
Negative points can be given as well for situations that stall the game, kill a player before a sufficent board state is accumlated and the like, this is probably not going to be changed unless we need to alter a rule or add a new rule to the points system.
End of Game Points
[+1] No Tutors, No Bribes – Finish the game without searching a player’s library for a nonland card. Effects controlled by other players that cause you to search your library do not cause you to lose this achievement.
[+1] Wild Card – At the end of the game, each player secretly votes for an opponent whose playing they enjoyed the most. The player who receives the most votes gets this achievement.
End of game points will also determine the winner, as after each and every match the game winner will be determined by the total number of points, plus the additional +1 from the Wild card which is more then likely going to swing the game win in a totally other player's way.
The points system for this event was thought up by Myself, Jay and Mike who thought of this league while borrowing the best rules system we can for it, we encourage everyone to attend for this event on the 1st saturday of June, till then this is Vergil signing off
#1) This league is intended to be fair and fun for all EDH players in the city of Toronto and around the city, who want a consistent event that's not Duel Commander.
#2) We are using a points system for this event, which can be expanded further but with approval from everyone at the league, I will go into detail for the league's point system a little later.
#3) The location of this event will take place at the Hairy Tarantula North Store, located at 6979 Yonge, to get there, go to finch station and catch the 53 Steeles East to Steeles Avenue, the store is located within the little strip mall, go downstairs and you are there.
The start time and the event date are as follows
Start Time: 1:30 PM Eastern Standard Time
Event Date: Saturday, June 1st, 2013
Entry Fee: $5 Canadian
The points system we are using for this event is a little complex, since we are basing it off of 2-3 different point systems with inclusions from Sheldon Menery's suggested point system, so let's get down to the points system.
Basic Points
[+1] Fatality - Eliminate a player. This award can be earned multiple times, but only once per turn.
[+1] Frontline Commander – Eliminate a player through commander damage.
[+2] Last Planeswalker Standing – Win the game by having all other players eliminated.
[+1] Fateful Kill – Eliminate a player when you have 5 or fewer life.
[+1] Get Creative – Eliminate a player through a method other than damage, commander damage, or poison counters.
Basic points are considered easier to get then others, due to some creative thinking, this points system encourages a unique way of playing the game, while making it balanced and fun.
Co-operation Points
[+1] Quick Save – Save one opponent’s creature from another opponent’s removal.
[+1] Get Back In There – Save another player from being killed by another opponent.
[+1] Gift of Knowledge – Cause another player to draw 3 or more cards with a non-symmetric effect. (Symmetric effects include Howling Mine, Arcane Denial, etc.)
[+1] Gather the Tribe – Control six or more creatures with different names of the same creature type. (Conspiracy effects don’t count.)
Co-operation points are one of the more enjoyable, since each reward is based off specific situations in game, alliances will come into play more then likely to take out the strongest threat at the table during the games played.
Negative Points
[-4] Nice Game, Bro – Eliminate a player before they have taken their fifth turn.
[-2] Natural Disaster – Destroy one or more opponents’ mana base. Examples include Armageddon and like effects , using targeted land destruction to destroy a player’s only source(s) of one colour , or using Wasteland and Crucible of Worlds to prevent a player from further developing their mana base.
[-2] No Turns For You – Soft lock a player, preventing them from playing all spells for three or more turns. Examples include recurring Yosei, the Morning Star, or Silence on an Isochron Scepter targeting the same player each time.
[-1] Hog the Spotlight – Take more than 2 additional turns in a given turn cycle.
[-1] Just Call A Judge – Argue over a rules question and be wrong.
Negative points can be given as well for situations that stall the game, kill a player before a sufficent board state is accumlated and the like, this is probably not going to be changed unless we need to alter a rule or add a new rule to the points system.
End of Game Points
[+1] No Tutors, No Bribes – Finish the game without searching a player’s library for a nonland card. Effects controlled by other players that cause you to search your library do not cause you to lose this achievement.
[+1] Wild Card – At the end of the game, each player secretly votes for an opponent whose playing they enjoyed the most. The player who receives the most votes gets this achievement.
End of game points will also determine the winner, as after each and every match the game winner will be determined by the total number of points, plus the additional +1 from the Wild card which is more then likely going to swing the game win in a totally other player's way.
The points system for this event was thought up by Myself, Jay and Mike who thought of this league while borrowing the best rules system we can for it, we encourage everyone to attend for this event on the 1st saturday of June, till then this is Vergil signing off
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