Board 8 > Magic the Gathering topic: How did that purge before Prerelease

(+) Yeah! (+)

ban chainwhirler!!!
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I'm actually on board with pretty much everything there, Ulti. (Don't know how often I'll say that again!) I'll lose a LOT of value from RL going away, but fuck it, it's good for the game. It's a game first, a collectible second.
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Too bad they legally can't do that.
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Yeah, basically.
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I never really understood why they got rid of Masterpieces. They got panned initially as a gimmick to sell boxes, and it's not good as a primary source of reprints, but most people I talked to came around on it when it drove Standard prices down. Plus they just look sweet.

They said it was because they couldn't keep up good themes when done consistently, I still expected them once every few sets. And if A25 and Dominaria weren't the sets to bring them back, what are?
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TomNook posted...

Too bad they legally can't do that.

I've heard this explained before but it sounds like wishful thinking more than something that would actually stand up in the court of law, unless there was already some trial about it.
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HeroDelTiempo17 posted...

I never really understood why they got rid of Masterpieces. They got panned initially as a gimmick to sell boxes, and it's not good as a primary source of reprints, but most people I talked to came around on it when it drove Standard prices down. Plus they just look sweet.

They said it was because they couldn't keep up good themes when done consistently, I still expected them once every few sets. And if A25 and Dominaria weren't the sets to bring them back, what are?

Yeah I dunno. They said they weren't getting rid of them, just using them more sparingly, but then they weren't in Dominaria when that was the ideal place for them. The invocations from Amonkhet were poorly thought out, but the masterpieces should have a lot more life in them despite that.

EDIT: As far as Reserve List goes, it's highly dubious that there would actually be a legal issue in abolishing the reserve list. It seems to be more of a trust issue, protecting the price of certain cards to make them safe investments. Whether that is desirable or not... Well, it isn't desirable, but Wizards thinks differently.
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Theyll save masterpieces for sets theyre unsure about reception for, which wasnt the case for Dominaria. They were confident in the set, thus no masterpieces. I believe Maro has echoed this in his blog. I wouldnt expect to see any from any of the Ravnica sets either. At least not the first two.
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That's a good point. Maybe we'll see them every Core set then, since those are typically unexciting for established players.
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7 variants of red or red/black aggro in the top 8 of the PT


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It's almost like wizards cant create a balanced environment anymore
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Ixalan standard after the energy bans was relatively balanced, if not a little bland.

Chainwhirler is definitely a little too good, though.
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yeah 28 copies of a card in a top 8 seems well into banning territory
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Scrubbed out of a Pauper 2K. Lost a die roll to burn and therefore lost; lost to slivers having nut draw both games.

Audibled into a Battlebond and oh my lord this format is nuts. My pick-up partner and I had degenerate decks -- I was UB Control/tempo, he was GW ramp with the guy that makes soldiers for 3 mana and fucking Seedborn Muse.

I also saw @MajinZidane there but we didn't get to talk much, he left before I got to reminisce with him about B8 shenanigans.
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I might try to go to a Battlebond event next week. Dont generally care for 2HG, but Im curious.

Also thinking about trying to start playing standard again. Won a couple hundred bucks at a casino last night so I have a bit of extra spending cash. Kind of hoping some of the UW stuff with drop in price after the less than stellar showing at the PT.
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And here I was stupidly thinking the UW decks were good enough to keep RB in check.
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Is chainwhirler really the card pushing those decks over the top? I'm skeptical.
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Well, there are many factors invo- yes, it is.
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Ok, let's come at this from another angle. Would banning chainwhirler, by itself, significantly hinder them?
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Ended up buying into standard. I guess as long as the cards come in by then, Ill be going to my first FNM in like 5 years this week.
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Nice! What deck?
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UW Control
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Nice. I dont see how I beat that with GB snek.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccoj5lhLmSQ" data-time="

About how I feel reading posts in this topic.
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...Yeah, it gets really jargon-heavy. Never feel ashamed to ask anything!
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redrocket posted...

Ok, let's come at this from another angle. Would banning chainwhirler, by itself, significantly hinder them?

Absolutely - It kills Llanowar Elves, Siphoners, Bomat Couriers, Rekindling Phoenix tokens, Toolcraft Exemplars, Champion of Wits as the big main targets (plus random tokens, Angel of Invention, Earthshaker Khenra no longer exists for this reason...), it crews Heart of Kiran by itself on turn 3 which is a big deal and then it's also a 3/3 first strike for 3.

Chainwhirler is big game, as long as people are playing X/1s. And nearly everyone is.
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I guess this is what I get for playing a deck with no creatures < 3 toughness.
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super okay

Played some Standard last night. Still have some rust to shake off, but the deck performed well.
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Oh I forgot the other super good thing about Chainwhirler. Chandra and Teferi both come down and -3 something and then Chaniwhirler comes down immediately after and kills them with a ping.
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if you don't like it can you give it to me?

I'm already calling dibs here
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Battlebond sealed is extremely bad
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If by "extremely bad" you mean "fucking awesome" then I agree with your statement!
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TMS has no idea what he's talking about ever.
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I mean, I think 2HG in general is just kinda bad - theres too much variance in Magic for 1-game matches to feel good. Battlebond seems extra egregious because the bombs are extremely swingy and the removal seems pretty sub-par, especially when youre trying to split only 6 packs between two people.
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I mean weren't the alts all ousted by the time we got to the finals? Even if they weren't and Slowking owes his victory largely in part to alts, Fa Mulan is still considered the winner of the (what was it?) third Save My Disney Character contest when her victory was marred by alts. Just put an asterisk next to Slowking and move on, imo.

oh right, it's the contest where only people who play both games counts

makes a whole lot more sense now - only people who like VNs would play them. If they're the only votes that count, then yeah this is obvious.
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Got 5th place at a PPTQ yesterday, but it was only cut to top 4 because there were only 14 people

Still not bad for my second standard tournament back in constructed magic.
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Not bad at all! Especially when you're on Control.
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Oh hey Guttersnipe is gonna be standard again in M19.
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Colossal Dreadmaw confirmed for M19


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I think it's kinda great that Colossal Dreadmaw has become a meme even to WotC now.

Also, Core Set hype. I love this stuff.
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10/10 dino for 5...
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eh, Ghalta is already better than that in most cases.
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Por que no los dos?
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trdl23 posted...

Scrubbed out of a Pauper 2K. Lost a die roll to burn and therefore lost; lost to slivers having nut draw both games.

Audibled into a Battlebond and oh my lord this format is nuts. My pick-up partner and I had degenerate decks -- I was UB Control/tempo, he was GW ramp with the guy that makes soldiers for 3 mana and fucking Seedborn Muse.

I also saw @MajinZidane there but we didn't get to talk much, he left before I got to reminisce with him about B8 shenanigans.

ayyyyy, yeah we ate tacos together
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At first I didn't even realize it was you, otherwise I would have talked Mercs!
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Mentor of the Meek in M19. I enjoyed that card a lot back in Innistrad.
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or maybe he'll be on and then there will be large backlash over it and they will have to change it cause of their sponsor