Dies to Removal

@Izzet Burn: Electromancer + Firedancer + Essence Backlash is hilarious, but xmas land. Better card economy and sweepers could be a good thing. Shock has the advantage of creeping through the odd turns alongside a rebated Strike or Bolt. but still, only 2 damage.

Why am I not as sold on Juzam Junior (Herald of Torment) like everyone else? It´s something about his slow impact and high cost vs Phoenix or Reckoner. The Bestowing Pain Seer plan looks cute, but believing that it´ll happen at 5 mana without presenting any juicier targets than Pack Rats (who really should scurry away ill fast) seems like wish thinking. I get that it's evasive and the flying ranks are thin atm, but both of blacks new removals hits it. Red may be waning due to the same thus lowering the number of Lightning Strikes. Yet, still...

My favourite is Spiteful Returned. You pay 2 and will cause at least 2 damage unless they spend a resource on it.
What´s not to like by an aggro player?

Yarpus, both YP$ and Firedancer md seems overkill. Pyromancer in side for control and Firedancer main mehaps. Then you´d fit some ca.

I'd rather play Pyromancer and Pain Seer main, Firedancer SB.
Pyromancer is both good against Aggro and Control. Hell, he even generates chumps against midrange!
Firedancer is value against creature-decks, but he's completely and I mean COMPETELY useless against Control.
I mean, it's cool to make T2 Firedancer T3 Searing Blood their Pack Rat/Rakdos Cackler while also dealing them 3 damage and killing their Nightveil Specter/Herald/Whatever. But it sucks to play 1/1 for 2 against UW Control.

Steam Augury

More like Steam Ughery, am I rite?

The best Theros card that never was.

It needed to be in INN.

Trying to figure out if this is a worse set than Dark Ascension, and James makes the point that DA had Hellrider.

...but it also had Lingering Souls. So yeah, by far the worst set in recent memory.

Yes, that includes Dragon's Maze.

I don't care that the set isn't powerful, just that it's like 9/10ths not powerful.

And the other 1/10th is all in one color.

It's Torment 2.0

I think this set has some interesting ideas, but most of the cards erred too heavily on the side of underpowered to be actually useful in constructed.

That said I think white weenie and commander players got a lot of nice toys here, but that's about it

At least it's pretty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ohc26D2TOg

PTQ Theme Song Found

Artist: Halc
Name: Aggressive Blue Magic
Style: FF VI OC Remix

I've been listening to a bunch of related songs on this Balance & Ruin album. It's very good, thanks for the link

I'm a fan of the FF series' music in general, I usually play the piano collections while streaming.

Speaking of streaming, I was thinking of setting up a small play area that I could stream feature matches in my shop once I open it. An SCG-like setup with an overhead camera and a spotter. Thoughts?

I like the idea, Alex. Please set up a decent pair of uni-directional mics so we can hear the players instead of the whole shop and their scratchy neckbeards.

If they would just print something that cares about the GY like Spellheart Chimera it would be fun to play with. As it is I'd rather just play Thoughtflare for one mana more.

Also, Bolt of Keranos is crap. I'm assuming you were brewing with it when the spoiler was wrong. It was incorrectly spoiled as "3 to target creature and/or player" but was corrected to "target creature OR player." Scry one for R at sorcery speed is not worth it. Annihilating Fire is better and actually more relevant with Chandra's Phoenix, Xathrid Necromancer, and Voice of Resurgence seeing more play in the format.

I hope zem doesn't mind, but I'm copying this comment from him over from FB. In a single paragraph, he eloquently encapsulated the sum difference between casual and competitive Magic...it really speaks to me. Hell, I'd sig it if there was room.

"One thing I know for sure is that Magic is about making correct decisions, over and over again...Sifting through the vast unknowable and finding correct conclusions. When you play the same kind of deck season after season, you recognize all the patterns, know all the issues and tricks and understand what the real themes of your matchups are. Experience and insight--coupled with tight play that can only come from achieving those two attributes--are worth substantially more than the latest tech."
-zemanjaski

Initial impressions of Born of the Gods

Good: Heavily-flavored spells and creatures; amazingly good artwork; mechanics like Inspired and Tribute continue to push design space into new and interesting territory; Black gets a lot of new toys, which makes quite a few people happy, so good for them.

Bad: Better get used to playing against Black a lot; seriously, did you see some of the toys they gave to Black?; mechanics like Heroic still require a heavy investment into creature buffs, which mean jack all when the creature gets blowed up; Red looks very underpowered in this set (did they somehow think that we had it too good lately?); Minotaur tribal, which started out promising, hasn't really gone anywhere; and where the hell are the awesome artifacts like swords and shit?

Overall, I'm not quite sure to make of this set. Satyr Firedancer looks pretty cool, but it severely lacks good burn spells to make it exceptional.

The regrettable problem with sets like this is that if any of the cards turn out to be playable, they're going to skyrocket because no one wants to open packs. DKA was like that (mainly in black and red), and Voice of Resurgence (DGM) is still over $30 even though GW has been crap throughout Theros (mostly because of Modern pod decks, but still)...if Naya or Junk do turn out to be viable, Voice is going to be worse than Thundermaw and Bonfire at their peaks.

Initial impressions of Born of the Gods

Good: Heavily-flavored spells and creatures; amazingly good artwork; mechanics like Inspired and Tribute continue to push design space into new and interesting territory; Black gets a lot of new toys, which makes quite a few people happy, so good for them.

Bad: Better get used to playing against Black a lot; seriously, did you see some of the toys they gave to Black?; mechanics like Heroic still require a heavy investment into creature buffs, which mean jack all when the creature gets blowed up; Red looks very underpowered in this set (did they somehow think that we had it too good lately?); Minotaur tribal, which started out promising, hasn't really gone anywhere; and where the hell are the awesome artifacts like swords
and shit?

Overall, I'm not quite sure to make of this set. Satyr Firedancer looks pretty cool, but it severely lacks good burn spells to make it exceptional.

I can mostly agree with this. I'm not as thrilled with inspired or tribute but they might play better than I'm giving them credit for. I'd also like to add that white got some nice toys too. The big ones are the Kitty King and 3/1 hate bear. Hero of Iroas looks like he could be fun to brew around, not sure how viable he'll be. The one thing they did with this set that I did like was that they pushed betsow a bit more. I think the mechanic has potential.

Spot on the art work. I like how the human hero cards are depicted in battle and the Eidolons' strong use of black bring out the brighter colors in their figures. Flavor text wise, I really like Whelming Wave's, "I can see why this appeals to Thassa - Kiora".

Overall, I'm more excited for this set than Dragon's Maze. I haven't been playing long enough to
really compare them to anything else, but Dragon's Maze was... yuck. Even when I draft RtR block I open the Dragon's Maze pack and think, "What the fuck is this?" If/when I win some tournaments around here I plan opening a few Born of the Gods packs. I think there's enough playables to be worth while.

hot damn Windstrider ... dat sig!!

I happen to think the only playable red card in the entire set is the Satyr with haste and Inspired. He's going to be pretty good against control and mono black and he's splashable.

Why are people comparing this set to DKA? That set was awesome. It had Pyreheart Wolf, Hellrider, Vampire Aristocrat, Huntmaster of the Fells, Strangleroot Geist, Geralf 's Messenger, and Lingering Souls. Plus I'm sure I forgot a few things.

At least with this set, I anticipate somebody will try to get cute and craft a "Goldmember" theme deck with Gild....

I have to admit, this set is terrible.

I love this set.

Helios, get out. You must conform.

Every set is terrible.

I can't think of a time where everyone saw a set and said "wow, this looks overall good!"

People like to complain. Then they actually play with it, realize it's manageable, and move on.

Well since I've been playing Magic, I haven't been disappointed after seeing a set spoiled. I have now been disappointed.

hot damn Windstrider ... dat sig!!

NBW made me very happy with that sig.

I ... I think I'm in love with it.

Every set is terrible.

I can't think of a time where everyone saw a set and said "wow, this looks overall good!"

People like to complain. Then they actually play with it, realize it's manageable, and move on.

You're terrible.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k53NGe64RBU

How accurate, even if it is pop-schlocky in a lot of ways. She's cute, though.

Slightly NSFW-ish towards the end as she gets naked but covered by swirling lights.

Why are people comparing this set to DKA? That set was awesome. It had Pyreheart Wolf, Hellrider, Falkenrath Aristocrat, Huntmaster of the Fells, Strangleroot Geist, Geralf 's Messenger, and Lingering Souls. Plus I'm sure I forgot a few things.

Yes--awesome rares, but the set was crap to play in Limited, which meant that little product got opened, which meant low numbers of Mythics and high costs. Also, look at the cards you just named and think about when the actually started seeing play...most of them didn't see big play until RTR block/SOM rotation, well after drafting of the set was effectively
finished.

I'm building a tribal EDH deck. Get at me budget cajs!

Both Hellrider and Aristocrat were considered kinda trashy when the set first came out.

I personally loved the Innistrad set when it was first released. It got me back into Magic after a years-long hiatus.

Innistrad is my favorite set.

Teh flavorz.

It never occurred to me that Hellrider is a trash card when it's first spoiled, though. Of course, I'm one guy who won't be bothered to get himself Hero of Oxid Ridge.

I heard a rumor that Hellrider was never spoiled. It was left off of the list or something.

Shit, I was rocking 4 in a deck the moment DKA dropped. I pulled 2 in the prerelease and never looked back. And as far as limited goes, it was the ONLY time I ever enjoyed Limited. And that means it must've been good. Lol

Actually, DKA was what brought me back from my hiatus after Mirrodin Besieged. Well, I did show up to an FNM for one last hurrah with Goblin Guide right before rotation .... But it was at the request of a friend of mine that I actually showed up for the DKA prerelease when I rejoined the game. I picked up some Nobles after that and laid the smackdown with Hellrider for as long as he was legal. And you guys know the rest.

the set sucks

long live the set

I didn't know when I pre-ordered a set of Hellrider that he was going to be so awesome. I got him for cheap. Fast forward to today, I haven't pre-ordered any rares/mythics from BNG. Only thing I got was a set of 4x C/UC. Considering I'm going to be playing MBD, I think that's where most of the value lies for me.

I gonna do what I always do : play Red cards, tap Mountain, and win with my superior skill and extremely good looks. It's worked pretty good so far.

Why are people comparing this set to DKA? That set was awesome. It had Pyreheart Wolf, Hellrider, Vampire Aristocrat, Huntmaster of the Fells, Strangleroot Geist, Geralf 's Messenger, and Lingering Souls. Plus I'm sure I forgot a few things.

Because the set overall was fucking awful. It had some okay cards in it drafted like absolute shit. This set is going to be the same.

You could at least draft cool stuff in Dragon's Maze.

Why are people comparing this set to DKA? That set was awesome. It had Pyreheart Wolf, Hellrider, Vampire Aristocrat, Huntmaster of the Fells, Strangleroot Geist, Geralf 's Messenger, and Lingering Souls. Plus I'm sure I forgot a few things.

Because the set overall was fucking awful. It had some okay cards in it drafted like absolute shit. This set is going to be the same.

You could at least draft cool stuff in Dragon's Maze.

It's good cuz I say it it's good.