Magic: The Gathering (Spoiler-free)

So what did everyone think of the latest Shadows of Innistrad chapter?

Reposting what I said last page, but

As expected, that ripped my heart out and tore it into a billion pieces and then each of the pieces were devoured by separate tendrils of Emrakul.

R.I.P. Avacyn

It wasn't bad, but as someone who never really got the Avacyn hype (I prefer the more Uberwaldean stuff on Innistrad, what can I say) it didn't affect me that much emotionally.

The slideshow of artwork after her death was surprisingly affecting.

Maybe my final draft of SOI because I've had enough of the format, even though it is excellent. Was rewarded with double mythic angels out of my packs. Played horribly and still went 3-0 because Avacyn isn't fair. The deck: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/soi-draft-5-1/

Something Twisted This Way Comes

Some of the things Chas talks about here are more noticeable than others, but there's a lot of interesting details about the art that I never picked up on before.

Okay now the Emrakul-implications are getting too obvious.

The funny part there is that he calls out the mole's nose as being a hint, but there are moles that actually just look like that. Unless of course, there are eldrazi corrupting earth as well.

And yeah, being clever with visual clues isn't as effective when you do a post saying "See? Look how clever we are!" They market a product towards obsessive nerds, they should trust their audience to notice this stuff (and for the most part, the audience did notice most of it already.)

edited 30th May '16 11:41:42 AM by MrShine

It's an extension of the exact same philosophy that has given us the story beats explained in fat pack booklets: they want to make sure everyone playing the game knows the story. This means that they can't just drop the clues in a giant pile and leave everyone to figure it out; at some point, they actually have to reveal the "murderer".

And I'm pretty sure I've seen several "hey look at this thing we did in the art" articles before.

edited 30th May '16 12:20:49 PM by CountDorku

The article does make me appreciate the art more, particularly depictions of the trees.

On the other hand, you'd think they'd do a better job of appreciating the fact that it's a social game that people play against each other and that people talk about online.

They don't need to spell out all the clues for the same reason they can't keep people from figuring out the basic metagame or hide bonuses inside packs. If something's not quite clear for some players, there should be an expectation that through basic interaction both in card shops and online anyone who's in the dark and wants to know about the clues can ask people who have figured it out.

Or at they very least, they could wait till the murder has been revealed before they tell us all the clues that explain how we could have figured it out ourselves first.

That was the same expectation they had regarding the story. We have synopses of major plot points in fat packs now because, according to Wizards themselves, it proved to be a failed expectation.

Hanweir Chronicle Recap

Yep, it's clearly Emrakul. If the fungal lattices and mutated tentacles weren't enough of a giveaway, the point he makes at the end about the pink and purple breaking color motif spells it out plain enough. Unnatural pink and purple are the go-to colors for Eldrazi.

I'm still rooting for something shocking and different, but at this point it seems pretty blatant.

It's a bit unusual when you account for the fact that Magic likes to jump around with its story blocks, but it does sorta make sense when you think about the change to blocks that recently occurred. Battle for Zendikar was originally conceived as Blood, Sweat, and Tears. The set we're in right now would have been the third chapter to BFZ which, had it followed suit with the first two, would probably have been about adding Emrakul to the clusterf*ck battle against Ulamog and Kozilek.

When the new system orphaned Tears, it grew into the Tears and Fears block which we now know as Shadows Over Innistrad. It makes sense that if Tears was supposed to be about fighting Emrakul, then it would take Emrakul with it and do a story about her rather than coming up with something new to slot in between BFZ and Kaladesh.

edited 31st May '16 3:19:08 PM by TobiasDrake

Also, it looks like they're going to sell Emrakul as being far more fearsome than her fellows. I kind of hope the story revolves around averting her arrival, rather than kicking her fungal cap in.

I assume it will. That's how most Lovecraftian stories go and SOI has never shied away from the fact that it's unapologetically Lovecraft. "Magic the Gathering: Lovecraft Edition" is its entire gimmick.

Plus, actually having Emrakul show up would warrant a sudden genre switch to bring the rest of the Gatewatch in and rehash BFZ. Magic doesn't like rehashing.

edited 31st May '16 3:32:36 PM by TobiasDrake

All that came before.

edited 1st Jun '16 9:23:24 AM by googlebot

Just read that story. Really like it, despite it having very little happen. Felt like it had heart.

Also, I've always liked Ancestral Mask. Bonus points for being set on the plane it originally appeared on.

Eldritch Moon kicks off with Archmage of Goldnight.

[Hashtag]Notallwerewolves

edited 8th Jun '16 12:37:01 PM by TheSpaceJawa

I very much like Paladin Werewolf Mom.

Stone and Blood.

Should we move this to the spoiler thread?

I suppose yes.

Okay, so I have these cards Mikaeus the Unhallowed and Unbreathing Horde. Do they work the way I think they do?

Basically, every time the Horde would get dealt damage remove a +1 / +1 counter. Mikaeus lets it survive its last counter getting removed as a 1 / 1 due to his empowering ability.

Next the Horde dies, and Mikaeus' ability involving Undying brings it back as it had no counters on it. Because it then comes into play, it would then get all the +1 / +1 counters it had at the start again.

No, you have a 1/1 zombie that can't be killed with damage. " If Unbreathing Horde has no +1/+1 counters on it (but its toughness is raised above 0 by another effect), any damage dealt to it will still be prevented, even though no counter will be removed."

Now, if someone did kill it without combat damage when it had no counters on it, then yes, it would work the way you think.