Casual Card Hall of Fame Nominations: Shards of Alara
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theorgg
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Awesome! Alara! I nom...
oh. nothing. I'm on the committee! Wheee!
oh. nothing. I'm on the committee! Wheee!
Shabbaman
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I like Alara's flavor, but the shards feel like Ravnica's guilds. In theory there's a big difference, because the shards don't know their enemy shards and don't "metagame" against them. But in practice this just isn't the case. Case in point: scourglass, sphinx of the steel wind. That it's so easy to play 5 colors in your deck doesn't strengthen the shard-feel either. As a matter of fact, it just makes the whole block seem like a big pile of randomness.
Anyway, I have to nominate a card. I hope it's clear what I expect of a HoF card (fits the theme, showcases major set mechanics, flavor). I have to say that I don't really feel the casual appeal with this set. Personally I like zombies and legends, so I could go with Sedris. I like the ultimatums, but they're actually only big spells. I really like devour, because of the om nom nom jokes... but instead of some fancy devour dragon I'll go with Kresh the Bloodbraided. It ties into devour and is a good representative of the Jund shard. I feel the card shows what the set wants to be. The main reason I'm choosing this card is that it's one of the most popular EDH generals, and as such it has proven the card has casual appeal.
Anyway, I have to nominate a card. I hope it's clear what I expect of a HoF card (fits the theme, showcases major set mechanics, flavor). I have to say that I don't really feel the casual appeal with this set. Personally I like zombies and legends, so I could go with Sedris. I like the ultimatums, but they're actually only big spells. I really like devour, because of the om nom nom jokes... but instead of some fancy devour dragon I'll go with Kresh the Bloodbraided. It ties into devour and is a good representative of the Jund shard. I feel the card shows what the set wants to be. The main reason I'm choosing this card is that it's one of the most popular EDH generals, and as such it has proven the card has casual appeal.
The Heralds brought back memories of the Spirit of the Night Trio.
As a big, beefy flier with lifegain, Battlegrace Angel appears to be a casual players dream.
Broodmate Dragon: What's better than 1 dragon? 2!!
Crucible of Fire makes big creatures even bigger....
Empyrial Archangel: MORE BEEFINESS!!!!!!
Feral Hydra: Beefy to specification!
I wondered if Immortal Coil was so bad that it was good, but it's not (even if it makes an appearance in Standard Dredge sideboards)
I was really tempted to list Mayael of the Anima, but it's not as good as what I did nominate.
I'm not that big of a Sphinx fan, so Sharuum the Hegemon went by the wayside for me.
Titanic Ulitmatum: What's better than 2 beefy creatures? NOTHING BUT BEEFY CREATURES!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, okay. So my attention to this block was a little skewed towards the big creatures and whatnot. I'm not ashamed of it. Especially when my nomination has the potential for the best fattiness.
Sarkhan Vol: In short, SV allows for what most players want to do: Bash and Bash Fast.
Ransac, cpa trash man
As a big, beefy flier with lifegain, Battlegrace Angel appears to be a casual players dream.
Broodmate Dragon: What's better than 1 dragon? 2!!
Crucible of Fire makes big creatures even bigger....
Empyrial Archangel: MORE BEEFINESS!!!!!!
Feral Hydra: Beefy to specification!
I wondered if Immortal Coil was so bad that it was good, but it's not (even if it makes an appearance in Standard Dredge sideboards)
I was really tempted to list Mayael of the Anima, but it's not as good as what I did nominate.
I'm not that big of a Sphinx fan, so Sharuum the Hegemon went by the wayside for me.
Titanic Ulitmatum: What's better than 2 beefy creatures? NOTHING BUT BEEFY CREATURES!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, okay. So my attention to this block was a little skewed towards the big creatures and whatnot. I'm not ashamed of it. Especially when my nomination has the potential for the best fattiness.
Sarkhan Vol: In short, SV allows for what most players want to do: Bash and Bash Fast.
Ransac, cpa trash man
I thought about Death Baron (Skeletons have to start getting some love), Lich's Mirror (ends up just sitting there until the opponent can get rid of it), and Skill Borrower (In the end, if I want to use those abilities I'd rather have those cards).
So I channeled my younger self and decided to nominate the card that he would have most wanted for his extremely casual decks and that is Flameblast Dragon. The only thing better than attacking with a big dragon, is also being able to shoot down whatever else you want. Or so that poor naive boy thought before he learned about counterspells and card advantage.
So I channeled my younger self and decided to nominate the card that he would have most wanted for his extremely casual decks and that is Flameblast Dragon. The only thing better than attacking with a big dragon, is also being able to shoot down whatever else you want. Or so that poor naive boy thought before he learned about counterspells and card advantage.
Well, there's several interesting cards, looking over the set. I thought about nominating Elspeth, Knight Errant, kind of as a foil to Sarkhan, but two planewalkers out of three nominations seems overdone (although if there were more nominations, I might have done it).
So I'll go with Sedris, the Traitor King. His unearth ability could lead to some interesting decks and he is a Zombie, which is one of the more "fleshed" out tribes.
So I'll go with Sedris, the Traitor King. His unearth ability could lead to some interesting decks and he is a Zombie, which is one of the more "fleshed" out tribes.
Sorry, forgot Sarkhan Vol.
Final nominations:
Shabbaman: Kesh the Bloodbraided
Melkor: Flameblast Dragon
Ransac: Sarkhan Vol
Spidey: Sedris, the Traitor King
Four nominations is probably all you're gonna get, since some people have stated that they aren't nominating because they aren't familiar with the set. So onto the voting!
Closed for voting.
Final nominations:
Shabbaman: Kesh the Bloodbraided
Melkor: Flameblast Dragon
Ransac: Sarkhan Vol
Spidey: Sedris, the Traitor King
Four nominations is probably all you're gonna get, since some people have stated that they aren't nominating because they aren't familiar with the set.
So onto the voting!Closed for voting.
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