From 3/27/18
Blake Rasmussen's card: The First Eruption
From 3/28/18
Blake Rasmussen's cards: Time of Ice
Blake Rasmussen's card: The First Eruption
From 3/28/18
Blake Rasmussen's cards: Time of Ice
Dominaria Card Image Gallery
- Thread starter Spiderman
- Start date
I probably should have said this when you started commenting on the Wizard cards, but yeah, these previews are just a taste of what the set is. Until it's all revealed, who knows how they either fit in with the whole set and/or play for real and whatnot. So yeah, I don't think you can really evaluate them.
Oversoul
The Tentacled One
I don't know how much you've been following the situation with their "leak" on this set, but most of the set has already been revealed at this point. I'm not just seeing the first few cards and making extrapolations about the whole set. I think like 60% of the set, in terms of card text (not art), is already publicly known. I'm not giving up on the possibility that some of the seemingly lackluster cards will turn out to be more useful once the synergies are spotted with other, perhaps still unknown, cards in the set. But I don't think it's too early to at least speculate on these things.
My bad.Friday 3/30/18
Blake Rasmussen's card: Karn's Temporal Sundering
Blake Rasmussen's card: The Mirari Conjecture
Blake Rasmussen's card: Time of Ice
Monday 4/2/18
Mark Rosewater's card: Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain
Blake Rasmussen's card: Karn's Temporal Sundering
Blake Rasmussen's card: The Mirari Conjecture
Blake Rasmussen's card: Time of Ice
Monday 4/2/18
Mark Rosewater's card: Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain
Oversoul
The Tentacled One
I can't be the only one who thinks Richard Garfield's Saga concepts there look amazing. Bummed out they didn't make it into the set.
It really seems like this set could have been so much better and that it was modified into weakness for some reason. I'm guessing that in large part it's meant to have appeal for Commander (and for Brawl). Like, the new Jhoira's ability is great, but she costs more mana so she can be a 3/3. Why is a human woman who builds magical artifacts a 3/3? Yes, Magic plays fast and loose with creature stats, but usually a character who is a wizard would have smaller power and toughness, with emphasis on some activated or triggered ability as the point of interest. Like, Gerrard is a 3/4, but he's a powerful fighter-mage, so loading more combat functionality onto him is important. But Hanna is a 1/2, Captain Sisay is a 2/2, Rofellos is a 2/1, etc. Old Jhoira was a 2/2. I'm not arguing that it's not silly for an academic research lady to be basically as strong as a bear. The flavor of the game was already weird about that and it can't be helped. A bear is exactly strong enough to kill two squirrels in combat, but it also perishes along with them. That's the world we live in. Not taking it too seriously. Just saying, Jhoira was already a 2/2 for 1UR. For this new version, they bumped her up to be a Hill Giant. But I don't want a Hill Giant! I want that sweet card-drawing ability and I want it at a mana price-point that makes me think, "This could be good and I want to play it" and not "This could be good...for some scrub in a Commander game who doesn't have an actually good Commander." It seems like she got better in combat, where you don't want her anyway, specifically for the purpose of justifying her mana cost. If she were cheap, combo players might have a new toy to work with. And, apparently, WotC wouldn't want that.
I'm griping. A lot. But I really do like that ability! It's new and interesting. I wish I could think of a way to justify to myself playing this card. But four mana? It's so disjointed. Anyone who wants to play that ability wants to get it out early, so four mana is unappealing. And anyone who wants to play that ability doesn't want to risk losing the creature in combat. A utility creature that's a card-drawing engine is great. A midrange combat creature is fine. Hybridize the two of them and you get, well, something that's mediocre for both roles.
I know, I know. I'm being Debbie Downer here. But this set does have some cool stuff. I'm not enthused over every thematic aspect or mechanic, but some stuff jumps out at me as promising. And the consistent disappointment seems to be that extra numbers in circles are tacked onto the top right corners of all of the cards. It's like passionate, engaged designers came up with this set, maybe not the best set ever but a set with some really great ideas, and then a team of gremlins started adding generic mana to the costs of everything, just to make sure it would suck.
It really seems like this set could have been so much better and that it was modified into weakness for some reason. I'm guessing that in large part it's meant to have appeal for Commander (and for Brawl). Like, the new Jhoira's ability is great, but she costs more mana so she can be a 3/3. Why is a human woman who builds magical artifacts a 3/3? Yes, Magic plays fast and loose with creature stats, but usually a character who is a wizard would have smaller power and toughness, with emphasis on some activated or triggered ability as the point of interest. Like, Gerrard is a 3/4, but he's a powerful fighter-mage, so loading more combat functionality onto him is important. But Hanna is a 1/2, Captain Sisay is a 2/2, Rofellos is a 2/1, etc. Old Jhoira was a 2/2. I'm not arguing that it's not silly for an academic research lady to be basically as strong as a bear. The flavor of the game was already weird about that and it can't be helped. A bear is exactly strong enough to kill two squirrels in combat, but it also perishes along with them. That's the world we live in. Not taking it too seriously. Just saying, Jhoira was already a 2/2 for 1UR. For this new version, they bumped her up to be a Hill Giant. But I don't want a Hill Giant! I want that sweet card-drawing ability and I want it at a mana price-point that makes me think, "This could be good and I want to play it" and not "This could be good...for some scrub in a Commander game who doesn't have an actually good Commander." It seems like she got better in combat, where you don't want her anyway, specifically for the purpose of justifying her mana cost. If she were cheap, combo players might have a new toy to work with. And, apparently, WotC wouldn't want that.
I'm griping. A lot. But I really do like that ability! It's new and interesting. I wish I could think of a way to justify to myself playing this card. But four mana? It's so disjointed. Anyone who wants to play that ability wants to get it out early, so four mana is unappealing. And anyone who wants to play that ability doesn't want to risk losing the creature in combat. A utility creature that's a card-drawing engine is great. A midrange combat creature is fine. Hybridize the two of them and you get, well, something that's mediocre for both roles.
I know, I know. I'm being Debbie Downer here. But this set does have some cool stuff. I'm not enthused over every thematic aspect or mechanic, but some stuff jumps out at me as promising. And the consistent disappointment seems to be that extra numbers in circles are tacked onto the top right corners of all of the cards. It's like passionate, engaged designers came up with this set, maybe not the best set ever but a set with some really great ideas, and then a team of gremlins started adding generic mana to the costs of everything, just to make sure it would suck.
P
Psarketos
Guest
Hush Oversoul, or we will lose Fridays article!
Also Richard Garfield related:
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018...hands-on-with-artifact-digital-trading-cards/
Also Richard Garfield related:
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018...hands-on-with-artifact-digital-trading-cards/
Friday 4/6/18
Melissa DeToro's cards: Isolated Chapel, Sulfur Falls, Woodland Cemetary, Clifftop Retreat, Hinterland Harbor
Quinn Murphy's card: Marwyn, the Nurturer
Melissa DeToro's cards: Isolated Chapel, Sulfur Falls, Woodland Cemetary, Clifftop Retreat, Hinterland Harbor
Quinn Murphy's card: Marwyn, the Nurturer
P
Psarketos
Guest
Teshar + Mox Amber + Glint Hawk, monowhite recursion engine. Clunky yet new, provides a secondary unbounded mana engine to complement the existing Kitchen Finks + Vizier of Remedies + Viscera Seer / Cartel Aristocrat life gain + scry engine. Another casual variation for the Abzan creature combo palette.
Throw in Altar of the Brood and Debt to the Deathless and you have a full Dominaria-inspired multipath combo deck.
Throw in Altar of the Brood and Debt to the Deathless and you have a full Dominaria-inspired multipath combo deck.
T
Terentius
Guest
I can't quite put my finger on it, but it feels like they stepped up their artwork game for this one. Lots of really good portraits and other details.
P
Psarketos
Guest
Another Dominaria Combo: Altar of the Brood + Naban + Aether Adept. By turn 3 you have milled all opponents 6, bounced a creature, and set up a 1UU: mill each opponent 2 and bounce a creature every turn (the second Adept trigger returns itself). Wizards Retort fits it that deck nicely, and I suspect there are other shenanigans that would make this a very interesting deck...