Board 8 > Magic the Gathering Topic: Bunch of Punches

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/940-cards-2018-03-19

Wasn't that one of Kupo's cards?
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Yes it was.
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Wait for him to confirm but I also thought so.
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100%
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Yep. I think we complained about the templating too.

Also, MaRo just inadvertently doxd Moogs. Not really of course.
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oh wow this is super weird
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I double took
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Three, when I did my pass on the 94 design tests, I ended up pulling out nineteen as my favorites. Eight of those, based on the other trials and consultation with all the judges, made it as finalists. The eleven designs I'm showing off today are from all the designers who came close but didn't quite make the final cut (in no particular order of relevance).

damn it I actually got so close
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My question is, since it's been a while since I've played and have forgotten some stuff, what is the proper verbiage for lethal damage? Like how is the rule worded that determines when a creature is removed from the battlefield?
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I think I got the specific "lethal damage" wording from the comprehensive rules. It was something like "when a creature has lethal damage marked on it, it is sent to the graveyard next time state-based actions are checked". I'm not sure the phrase has ever been used on an actual card though.
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Lethal damage is the correct term, it's just one of those rules components Wizards doesn't like putting in rules text as it is fairly clunky. Same with the stack, as an example.

There is an existing card that has lethal damage referenced in its oracle rules text, Ogre Enforcer, so the Bunch of Punches card isn't illegal as written. It's just not the best solution to resort to that particular wording.
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Well either way, congrats on the shoutout moogle! (I think? His particular entry sounded like rosewater was insulting him just from the title >.>)
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It sounds like that but it also said he was one of maros favorites so it's kind of weird?
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Well Moogs's fucking awesome UR Phoenix had to make up for Bunch of Punches
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he calls the card "very cool", so I'm assuming he likes it conceptually, but just doesn't think it could be printed as written
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Yeah that was pretty much my thinking with it. Everyone knows what it does intuitively, and what it does is very cool, but it's practically impossible to word cleanly so it should've been avoided.
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https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/signature-spellbook-jace-packaging-and-contents-2018-03-20

I think these look pretty cool.
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Its no FTV but Ill take it.
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Some of the art is pretty cringey. Particularly the Negate looks terrible to me.
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The Mana Sword posted...

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/signature-spellbook-jace-packaging-and-contents-2018-03-20

I think these look pretty cool.

I like them! Not even a big Jace fan, but some of that art is great. Wizards really likes messing with borders lately.
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Some promos from DOM leaked.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/371402051080683522/425997442849439745/image.jpg

I'm really digging the frame treatment on those FNM promos, minus the ugly planewalker symbol in the textbox.
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That Llanowar Elf tho
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I like the planeswalker symbol. Especially in that.. opt?
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the way they're playing with shorthand in rules text is a little strange, but what can you do. i wonder if this will help or confuse new players

what i'm talking about: saying "when this enters" instead of "when this enters the battlefield" , "add G" instead of "add G to your mana pool"
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https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/dominaria-frame-template-and-rules-changes-2018-03-21

Article about cosmetic updates. Mana pool isn't going to be referenced on cards anymore. I think that's probably fine.

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/dominaria-mechanics-2018-03-21

Mechanics article with some new cards. Hexproof getting an optional rider to only allow the card to be hexproof from a certain color. Basically protection-lite.
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Oh hey, protection-lite. That's interesting.

Overall fine updates I think.
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The Mana Sword posted...

Mana pool isn't going to be referenced on cards anymore. I think that's probably fine.

I have no problem with cutting a few words but it shouldn't say "Add {R}." It should say like... "Generates {R}" or even just "{R}".
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https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/ways-play/join-brawl-2018-03-22

Wizards attempting to push a new casual format which is essentially Standard Commander. This is going to be a huge miss. No casual player is going to want to join a format where their cards become obsolete every year.
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I mean, people are already used to rotation, not sure why this would be automatically less appealing.

This is clearly being pushed to coincide with Arena, so I think this format's success will probably be more determined by that then anything else.

I'm actually a bit interested, if only because it means Wizards finally figured out a way to ban Sol Ring.
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People who play Standard are used to rotation, but I don't think that's who this is being aimed at. I wouldn't consider anyone who plays Standard regularly to be casual. If that's who ends up playing, this just becomes super spikey, which I suppose is the fate of any new format.

Perhaps I'm too cynical, but this strikes me as just another way to get casual players to buy more product, which rubs me the wrong way, especially after the the whole exclusive buy-a-box promo thing from yesterday. Bad one-two punch.

edit: That said, you're probably right and this will mostly be contained to Arena, so in the long run whatever. I just always get irked when they trot out "hey here is this Great New Thing!" that is clearly flawed and everyone seems to recognize it immediately.
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Well, by definition all formats exist to sell cards. That said I think it will be relatively easy to make a Brawl deck, since it's singleton and has a small card pool. You'll probably be including some more niche commons and uncommons that will be easy to obtain.

It's probably a better casual format than Commander, though that's not saying much.
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I think the lower card pool is probably a negative as you'll end up seeing a lot of decks that are 98% identical.

Though I suppose I probably shouldn't care much about this anyway seeing as I'll never actually touch it. I'm just in a grumpy mood this morning.
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I just read that Buy-a-Box thing. Its gross. I understand their intentions trying to make up to WPN stores after repeated screwjobs lately but this is just an awful idea.
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Who cares if a bulk rare is promo exclusive. Not like it'll be more expensive than some random Mythics in the set. A bunch of low IQ investor wannabes might buy them up, then lose out big when it gets reprinted/no one cares about the card.
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Nobody cares if a bulk rare is promo exclusive. People are concerned about the precedent that it sets. That a standard legal card is not available in standard product. Imagine if the promo exclusive became a format staple like Siege Rhino or the like.
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Yankees posted...

Nobody cares if a bulk rare is promo exclusive. People are concerned about the precedent that it sets. That a standard legal card is not available in standard product. Imagine if the promo exclusive became a format staple like Siege Rhino or the like.

Still less rare than a specific Mythic.
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That's... not a very useful way to compare things. I mean, I'm pretty sure I can get an Exquisite Archangel or Overflowing Insight for less than I will this new card.
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Sceptilesolar posted...

This is clearly being pushed to coincide with Arena, so I think this format's success will probably be more determined by that then anything else.

So wait, do we have a good idea on when Arena is launching?
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Eventually

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/promos-dominaria-2018-03-22

Heres English versions of the DOM promos. Weird that theyre using the same art, but I still really like that border treatment so Im willing to forgive it.
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God damn those borders look good. Also, they're actually printing good FNM promos. Took 'em long enough.

Also I guess Opt is just becoming a perennial card now. I'm OK with this.
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Yea I love these promos. Need to actually try to hit up events this time.
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Oh hey I got into the MTG Arena Closed Beta.
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Nice! I hope you're allowed to tell us what you think of it.
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The NDA lifted on Thursday.

Spoilers: the economy is real bad right now

And just so I'm not being totally negative about it, the rest of the game seems great (in terms of look, feel, interface, etc.)! They just need to polish it up a little bit more and reduce some of the lag and some other minor things. It's frustrating because it's going to live or die based on how generous it is going F2P, and right now it's tuned WAY too low.
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HeroDelTiempo17 posted...

The NDA lifted on Thursday.

Spoilers: the economy is real bad right now

And just so I'm not being totally negative about it, the rest of the game seems great (in terms of look, feel, interface, etc.)! They just need to polish it up a little bit more and reduce some of the lag and some other minor things. It's frustrating because it's going to live or die based on how generous it is going F2P, and right now it's tuned WAY too low.

Way too low coming from what perspective? F2P games or games in general?

I find 95% of people who complain about F2P game progression would bankrupt companies if they had their way as to what a good progression felt like. Not always the case but usually.
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I played Duels a lot and am also in the Beta.

Progression is slower than Duels and the UI is a lot more clunky.

I'm not a fan.
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I havent played Arena, but Ive definitely heard a lot of people voice concerns over the economy, especially after the most recent update. I think having separate crafting materials for each rarity is a mistake, and then should probably do something closer to Hearthstone with a singular currency that just costs more to craft rarer cards.
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Yeah that's kind of the problem. They didn't really account for their new crafting system and seemed to have a similar reward system to Hearthstone. They made it a little more generous, but the same progression doesn't work well for MTG because sets are twice as big and release more often, and you need 4x for a playset instead of 2x or 1x.

People are extra mad right now because they replaced the Mythic Wildcard from the vault with a random mythic while increasing the rate it opens. Based on feedback that people had too many Mythic Wildcards stockpiling back when the only sets were Ixalan and Rivals and so most mythics were bad.
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First impression is that the UI is really clunky.

Magic is just too complex for an online format IMO. They try to automate a lot of stuff but it just makes it confusing. One of the games I just played was just me and my opponent drawing and playing land with nothing on the board and that was just painful to have to click through all the phases still.
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You definitely shouldn't have to manually click through phases unless there's something you can actually do. Otherwise you can hit End Turn to auto-pass priority and put stops if you want to do something EOT.
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