This was going to be a post about the NaNoWriMo project for the year, weighing all the possible ideas that I had for a novel. However, after I started listening to this one song I found (See yesterday's post! Music really does help people!), I completely got my motivation running at full speed and I've settled on a plot. Hurrah for me.
This does leave me in a bit of a sticky situation regarding today's Blog Post though. I've done some quick thinking, and I've decided to hit another section of Nerddom that I haven't gotten to yet.
Magic: The Gathering.
For those of you who don't play, this post is going to be heavy in the “I don't understand” category. For those that do, this is mostly going to be my ideas about Scars of Mirrodin – which has it's prerelease this weekend. I'm only half excited, because I don't know if my cash situation at the moment is going to permit me to go and participate, but still, it's something.
First off, infect proliferate and metalcraft are the three new keywords for the set. Of the three, I think that metalcraft is poorly budgeted. That is, there seems no reliable way to budget it. Either you're running a deck that's nearly certain to have it active, or it's rarely going to be. So, either you want the cards with it, or you don't, at least in draft (my preferred format). It's the same as the issue with affinity. It just gets better the more of it you have. I feel generally the same way about infect. Every creature with infect you take is a creature that deals NO damage. Every creature without it you take is one creature that deals NO poison. This is gonna be an all-or-nothing choice, and I feel like that's going to make them impossible to splash into a deck.
Proliferate is the only one of those mechanics that I think has something significant to say about itself. First off, I think we can all agree that proliferate is a monstrously powerful ability. Add counters of any type already present – cool – to as many permanants as you want.
What? So, as many or few as you'd like? Really?
That's awesome. Except that it's rare. It's hard to do. Thrummingbird is the only real source of consistent low-mana proliferation. Steady Progress does a decent job, but it's an instant, and proliferate is one of those things you want to keep doing again and again. The contagion spells – clasp and engine – seem to be the go-to for long-lasting proliferate effects, but they're high-costed, and mana syncs at that. I question if the 6 mana artifact is going to see terribly much play. It'll be interesting to see how they synergize.
In a more Limited format, artifact destruction is going to reign supreme. With shatter available at common, as well as Svalok Replica and plenty of other options as well, we can expect the boards to be fairly dynamic. Destruction seems to come cheap, and defenses are fairly rare as well. Plenty of reanimation is in the set, but very little in the way of protection.
Myr are worth a word or two as the easiest infinite combo ever. It wouldn't be a huge stretch to see one, even in draft. The key is going to be finding something to spend that infinite mana on. There's plenty of places you can throw it, but you'll have to pull one, because the set notably lacks much in the way of tutor effects. (A decent amount of card draw though, so perhaps we'll find the niche there.) I want to kill someone with a Myr Battlesphere. I want to do it a lot.
One final note is on the Mirran vs. Phyrexian conflict which is silently progressing in the watermarks of the cards in this set. While I'm personally rooting for the Phyrexians, I think that this is one of the most flavorful additions to the set. I'm hoping that the cards of a given watermark will synergize as well with each other. The phyrexians seem like a solid team. The Mirrans...well, not so much. I'm a little worried about our Mirran buddies. I think that big daddy Yawgmoth is gonna stomp them pretty hard.
But we'll see. I'll tell you that I'll certainly be drafting Phyrexia if I can.
What do you guys think of Scars? Are you thrilled about the return of Phyrexians? Which of the keywords have you weak in the knees? Sad about the loss of Alara from Standard? Big changes in magic, go talk about em down below!
No comments:
Post a Comment