#Mercadian Masques Block

[beatsandskies]

The "Secret" Precons of the Prophecy Player's Guide

I can’t believe that I overlooked these decks. And from Prophecy, no less! A set that I’m a bit obsessed with. I’m not going to go so far as to say that it was a good set, but it certainly was an interesting one. So much so that my debut into cubing will be a Masques Block affair which I’m hoping to curate to highlight the sort of interactions that I think the designers were going for with the…

[solarmusick]

@nothingbutland-blog you gotta understand, the material in Masques was really toned down from the immediately previous sets. saga had cards that could get stuff on the board ridiculously quickly, we're talking turn 1 wins in standard. Masques had free spells like "1/2 with protection from black" ... and they were contingent not only on things like what lands you controlled but also on what lands your opponent controlled (in the case of the previously quoted card, they need a swamp and you need a plains). sure, we had daze -- a free counterspell -- but there's nothing like force of will, a hard counter without any board requirements. you need an island to cast daze, you have to bounce it off of the table, and daze only adds 1 to the cost of the opponent's spell. the spellshapers were slow and costly. rebels did well, but none of their cards were really busted either on their own or in combination. they were just a new white weenie mechanic that ensured you wouldn't run out of creatures to play -- perhaps a necessary balancing force, since white is not known for its card draw ability. none of the free spells had the urza's block interactions with untapping land, which was a busted thing to have included in a block with tolarian academy and gaea's cradle. overall the casting contingencies were stricter and the power level was modest. (except maybe snuff out...love that card.) masques itself (prior to nemesis and prophecy) was especially cautious, and i feel that prophecy barely made an impact on the game. i can't remember the last time i saw someone playing a prophecy card other than rhystic study. you want all my lands to be tapped? weird ask, but ok...

the urza's and tempest blocks had been really experimental. masques was somewhat experimental too, in that they experimented with whether they could still print free cards without breaking the game, but it was incredibly restrained compared with the open-ended powerhouses printed in the urza's block (mind over matter, for instance: the price of discarding a card seems high, but urza's block had jaw-dropping draw capacity, so the card -- with no mana limits or other resource constraints -- became a powerhouse). tempest saw intruder alarm, which is still a lynchpin in what seems to be an infinite number of infinite combos. tempest block had dream halls ffs. that's a crazy card. there was nothing like that in masques. player moaned and complained about the drop in power level. now, were there cards in masques that could pull their weight or impress a player? sure -- conspiracy, for example; a card that did a lot of work in a set that cared about creature type. prophecy gave us some staples. but you can't judge the block by cards like rhystic study: overall, the rank and file cards were a little junky. it was stuff like this:

mind you, back then you took damage if you drew mana and didn't use it. and there were tons of cards in the set that cared about whether your lands were tapped at the end of your turn. but it was kind of a crappy thing to care about. why would i include something in my deck that required me to forego all things like counterspell or the chance of responding to a creature with haste before it attacks? i get that "making choices" is a virtue for r&d, but this was not a choice that made the game more fun. so it was a set with little to show when the final tallies were made. maybe they knew what they were doing when they picked that flavor text.

anyway, that's my essay on why the masques block was considered underpowered at the time. there are key cards that really work, and i'm sure they still see play in legacy/vintage, but there just weren't as many game-breaking single cards or combos, and that was the goal.

your mileage may vary

You have said that R&D made Mercadian Masque a "weak" block,but its a block with free spells, rebel, Brainstorm, spell shapers, if it was printed into Standard today it would probably be the most dominant set being played. How in R&D's eyes was the block made "weaker"?

It was significantly weaker than Urza's Saga Block. : )

[overgrown-estate]

Magic the Gathering has been around for 30 years and more than 100 Standard expansion sets. Wouldn't it be nice if Wizards of the Coast printed a collection of cards from each set? Well, a single card from each set without bias towards power or popularity. An objective way to Magic's history.

As you might know, I make an effort to highlight one card from each Standard set. That card being the one who's card number corresponds to the expansion set's number. For example, Duskmourn is Magic's 102nd Standard expansion set. It's corresponding card is Grievous Wound, being card number 102 of that set.

So, wouldn't be nice to track Magic's history without worrying about how powerful or popular a card from any set might be? That's what I'm hoping to show with this and future posts. Call it a case of Magic OCD. Cuz obviously it's been on my mind for awhile now. 😉

This first group, from the first nine(?) sets of Magic the Gathering, are in a special zone of their own. That's because of the fact that the Ice Age block was retroactively remade to include Coldsnap and remove Homelands, so these cards were chosen by what their corresponding numbers would be. It just makes it easier in my head to do it this way.

Not that it would matter. The selected cards from 'The Dark', 'Fallen Empires', and 'Homelands' will never be reprinted unless the Reserved List is removed. The cards corresponding to 'Arabian Nights', 'Antiquities', and 'Legends' have never been reprinted or haven't been reprinted since 'Renaissance'.

I do believe if Wizards of the Coast actually did do something like this, they would have to do so with cards that weren't on the Reserved List or actually start with sets that came after the use of the Reserved List, which wasn't until Mercadian Masques.

And that's it for the first grouping of cards, tell me what you think of them and would you go for such a collection of cards.

[thecornwall]

Cornwall's Random Card of the Day #600: Cho-Manno, Revolutionary

Title Drop!

Cho-Manno, Revolutionary is a rare from Mercadian Masques. This guy was the head of the rebellion in Mercadia, trying to overthrow their oppressive hegemony(good on em). You might be forgiven for thinking that Lin-Sivvi was the leader, since she was the focal point of the Rebels deck and lynchpin of making the whole thing work, but, no, it was this guy.

Add this to the "seems super broken when you're only just picking up the game" list cause he can be destroyed neither by combat, nor red removal. Which seems good, till you realise black removal is totally a thing that can and will kill him. Dies to Doom Blade. Also a 2/2 can be blocked forever by any creature with 3 or higher toughness. BUT YOU CAN AUGMENT IT- yes but you could augment any creature, and doing so here will only make it worse when the black player starts thinking you're a threat. Better to augment something with a higher power, perhaps.

I don't reckon we'd see this effect again in the game for anything costing less than 7 mana, though, since it ALSO falls into the "old card which is miserable to play against or worthless depending on the matchup" list. Against red decks, this thing will likely stop you winning. Against decks with non-damage-based removal, or with tough walls and fliers, or any number of other common things, it's an overcosted bear.

[aroaceaunt]

Here's a format you won't find in Magic's official tournaments.

Mercadian Masques block draft, 3 team multiplayer, Emperor.

[askkrenko]

Krenko’s Guide to Creature Types: Mercenary

Art by  Carl Critchlow

What is a Mercenary (flavorfully)?

In simplest terms, a Mercenary is someone who engages in combat for money, usually with a general lack of loyalty. Many of Magic’s mercenaries are such people, but the majority are… weird. To the point where I’m not even sure the developers knew what a Mercenary was.

Mercadian Masques block featured a number of Mercenaries over its three sets, and while many are just normal humans with Mercenary jobs, some like Molting Harpy and Death Charmer are just monsters that I’m not convinced have a concept of money, and then there’s a few Phyrexian mercenaries, and honestly, I’m not sure how a Phyrexian could even BE Mercenary. Maybe I just don’t understand the Masques block storyline well enough, but Primeval Shambler’s flavor text implies that it can’t even think, so what does it need cash for?

What is a Mercenary (mechanically)?

Because the Mercenary type exists, many cards that are simply flavored as mercenaries have it in other sets, and outside of Masques block, mercenaries have no mechanical identity other than a higher tendency toward drawbacks. In Masques block, however, Mercenaries are black creatures designed for a mono-black go-wide deck, many of which have an ability that effectively translates to “CMC, Tap: Search your library for a Mercenary that costs less than this one and put it into play. Then, shuffle your library.” Numbers are written out on each Mercenary, but the relation to their own CMC is entirely consistent.

Can I make a Mercenary deck?

The Mercenary cards certainly want you to. Ten of them search out other Mercenaries, and two more have tribal abilities. That said, as they’re all creatures made in Mercadian Masques block, most of them are kind of garbage. It’s not a fault of their abilities or their design, creatures were just much lower power overall.  Mercenaries just aren’t an efficient use of mana, in Constructed or Commander. Also, because you want to fill your deck with the ones that have tap abilities, you have to choose between attacking and getting more Mercenaries, but the more Mercenaries you’d be getting are weaker and Mercenaries don’t have the Toughness to make it worthwhile to block and then activate their abilities.

Is Mercenary a good creature type?

Mercenary seems like it would’ve been really fun and useful in limited, and I understand and appreciate the concept, but the execution is lacking and they’ve been mostly ignored since.  I also just don’t really get why so many of these Mercenaries are strange monsters that don’t have types explaining what they actually are. Sure, many of them have been errata’d to Horror, but now I just don’t know why these Horrors are Mercenaries. Is there a problem in the Horror economy? Are they trying to make rent?

I don’t begrudge Mercenary’s existence, because there’s so much support for it, but it didn’t work, so let’s just… move on.

[thevorthoscast]

The crew is all together, both podcast and Weatherlight, for our second episode chronicling the story of the legendary skyship. This week covers the sets that are most commonly associated with the Weatherlight Saga: Tempest, Stronghold, Exodus, Mercadian Masques, and Nemesis. All hands on deck for another journey into Magic's storied past!

If you enjoy The Vorthos Cast, consider supporting us on Patreon at www.patreon.com/thevorthoscast!

01:26 – The Vorthos Cast at Magic Fest Atlanta 02:42 – Throne of Eldraine Announced Link: magic.wizards.com/en/articles/arch…r-fun-2019-07-20 04:07 – Throne of Eldraine: The Wildered Quest: Novel by Kate Elliott Link: magic.wizards.com/en/articles/arch…ebook-2019-07-25 05:56 – We have a Commander (2019 Edition) Preview Card! 07:03 – The Weatherlight Saga: Rath and Mercadia Link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwLm187ubeg 08:25 – Prequel Stories 14:42 – Rath and Storm (Tempest Block) 30:42 – Mercadian Masques 39:40 – Nemesis 46:04 – Final Thoughts

[internationalspacehobo]

okay i was gonna do this yesterday but here’s a list of the non-pre-revisionist  (post-revisionist? revised?) MTG novels

==Artifacts==

The Artifacts novels revolve around Urza, one of the most emblematic characters from the entire Magic setting. There’s older novels but this is where the story as we know it today really started. Even if you only got into mtg as recently as Dominaria, some of those elements appeared here for the first time. Jhoira, Karn, and Teferi are all introduced here.

In terms of the game; these novels vaguely correspond to about a dozen sets: Antiquities, the Dark, Fallen Empires, Mirage, Weatherlight, Visions, Tempest, Stronghold, Exodus, Urza’s Saga, Urza’s Legacy, and Urza’s Destiny.

The Brother's War (1998)

Planeswalker (1998)

Time Stream (1999)

Bloodlines (1999)

==Ice Age==

What happens when you blow up the world with a magic nuke? You get millenia of frost covering your entire planet. If you’re curious about who that apparently ancient wizard that Jhoira talked to during Dominaria was, or how Jaya Ballard might have been when she was Chandra’s age, this is the cycle you’re looking for.

The Gathering Dark (1999)

The Eternal Ice (2000)

The Shattered Alliance (2000)

The resolution to this block was released six years later, for the small set Coldsnap (the one I started playing with!). I’ve archived it as best as I could [here].

==Masquerade==

These books revolve (mostly) around Gerrard Capashen (the result of Urza’s generations-long eugenics project), and the crew of the Weatherlight (notice how much of this stuff shows up in Dominaria?).

It also marks the start of magic getting one story per non-core set! Which they kept up all the way until Lorwyn / Shadowmoor*; almost always naming the novels after the set they correspond to (with some exceptions).

Rath and Storm (1998) (Not technically part of the cycle anymore, but was originally the first book of the story. Wizards just like to shift shit around)

Mercadian Masques (1999)

Nemesis (2000)

Prophecy (2000)

*aside from Legends, which has always done its own thing

==Invasion==

Invasion closes up the Weatherlight storyline, with the Phyrexian invasion of Dominaria. 

The Thran (1999) is not part of any of the cycles (published originally as a prequel to the invasion cycle, then later re-published as the last bit of the artifacts cycle), since it takes place thousands of years before the very beginning of the story.

Invasion (2000)

Planeshift (2001)

Apocalypse (2001)

==Odyssey==

The Urza / Weatherlight saga is over! 21 sets, 15 novels, 7 years, and a shit ton of cards later, we get to discover a whole buncha new characters. Not gonna lie, I have never read up on the story of professional Beefy Boy Kamahl. I know it sets up the Cabal (eh? eh? sound familiar?) and the Mirari, and gets a couple shout outs in cards in Dominaria, but I’m lost beyond that.

Odyssey (2000)

Chainer's Torment (2001)

Judgement (2001)

==Onslaught==

The continuation of the Odyssey cycle! Kamahl does some stuff, his sister fuses with an angel and I think someone else as well and becomes an almost god? Or something? Magic got wild for a while, I’m not gonna lie.

Onslaught (2002)

Legions (2003)

Scourge (2003)

==Legends==

Hey how about some unrelated characters? We all love legendary cards right? Do you like furries? If you answered “uh... i guess?” to all of these then boy is the first Legends cycle for you!

Johan (2001)

Jedit (2001)

Hazezon (2002)

Man, sure seems like nothing relevant to the modern story has happened in a while, huh? We got to follow good ole’ Jedit Ojannen do his thing for a bit. Man, and that was only the first half. The second one probably isn’t any better, huh? Apparently the bad guy is named “Nicol Bolas”? Who came up with THAT name, huh? Doesn’t sound like an intimidating and long running villain, if I’m gonna be honest. I doubt we’ll see him again.

Assassin's Blade (2002)

Emperor's Fist (2003)

Champion's Trial (2003)

==Mirrodin==

*notices your new focus on exploring worlds beyond dominaria* OwO what’s this?

The Mirrodin block marks the beginning of the Modern format, and a new focus on exploring new worlds instead of just tangientially mentioning them in relation to Dominaria! It still continues with the publishing format of one book per non-core set but we finally get to what I think attracts most people to the lore: the exploration of other worlds, with their own stories, characters, and even fundamental laws of physics.

The Mirrodin set revolves around the completely metallic plane of Argentum, created by our old buddy Karn (you might remember him from the very beginning; or the Dominaria storyline, if you’re working your way backwards), and what wild shit happens there during his absence.

The Moons of Mirrodin (2003)

The Darksteel Eye (2004)

The Fifth Dawn (2004)

==Kamigawa==

What an incredible setting, and what a let down of mechanics. Kamigawa is actually formed of two worlds: the material world and the world of spirits (or kami, as they’re called here). When a spirit is kidnapped by the humans, O-Kagachi, lord of all things, declares a war to take back That Which Was Taken.

Kamigawa was (until the Dominaria set) the only set that had legendary creatures at uncommon! They came up with a bunch of wild stuff, like ”arcane” spells, which are a sort of proto-tribal mechanic, and cards you could flip around to become different cards. This was before I started playing so I couldn’t tell you how it played at the time; but apparently it was a commercial failure. Here’s hoping we get to revisit it someday (maybe with Tamiyo?).

Outlaw: Champions of Kamigawa (2004)

Heretic: Betrayers of Kamigawa (2005)

Guardian: Saviors of Kamigawa (2005)

==Ravnica==

The original introduction of the most popular plane in the history of magic: the gathering!! If you’re even vaguely interested in the story of the game you know what Ravnica is; so I’ll just leave it at: Cop Mystery Drama Set on Ravnica. Also: the Guildpact, when it was an all encompassing legal-magic-spell, and not a skinny nerd in a blue cloak.

Ravnica: City of Guilds (2005)

Guildpact (2006)

Dissension (2006)

==Time Spiral==

After 3 years of planeswalking, covering 3 blocks of 3 sets each, we finally make it back to Dominaria (the plane)! Modern Horizons before Modern Horizons; Dominaria (the set) before Dominaria (the set). Glimpses of the past, an alternative reality where everything is just slightly shifted, and visions of what the future might hold.

Time Spiral (2006)

Planar Chaos (2007)

Future Sight (2007)

==Lorwyn / Shadowmoor==

Fairy tales, a self contained story that doesn’t require any previous knowledge of the lore, and also isn’t required reading to understand any of the later stuff. What more do you want?

Llorwyn (2007)

Morningtide (2008)

Shadowmoor (2008)

Eventide (2008)

[mtgcolorpie]

War of the Spark is an interesting set. But did you know that there are connections to other sets and Planes within this pile of cards? Here’s a non-complete look at the references to other Planes and sets of Magic found within War of the Spark.

Karn, the Great Creator – Dominaria (Weatherlight)

While the first static ability mimics the ability almost completely (except for the one-sidedness), Null Rod is part of the Legacy Collection, and so is Karn. What other parts of the Legacy Collection will we see next? I can’t wait for Juju Bubble to be on the next Karn card.

Ugin, the Ineffable – Zendikar (Worldwake) and Tarkir (Fate Reforged)

While the colorless spells don’t have to be Eldrazi with the new Ugin, it is close enough to the Worldwake card especially since it’s his eye. But his +1 ability is pretty much Manifest, but you still get the card if it creature dies. Makes sense since Ugin first had his card in Fate Reforged.

Grateful Apparition – Mirrodin (Scars of Mirrodin)

While I’m not going to touch on each Proliferate card since they’re using the mechanic in the set, but this is just a straight color shifted Thrummingbird with the Planeswalker damage rider as well.

Makeshift Battalion – Ravnica (Gatecrash)

And this is where the first of the named mechanics are part of a card name. Since mechanics like Battalion are ability words, they don’t have any extra rules text attached to the word. So things like this can happen even though they aren’t “true” Battalion cards (but they are).

Narset’s Reversal – Ravnica (Ravnica: Guilds of Ravnica)

A Fork effect is common enough that it’s not really a reference, but it’s the returning to the hand that’s a clear reference to the first time we visited Ravnica. You get a copy of the spell instead of drawing a card, which is pretty okay trade-off.

Teferi’s Time Twist – Kamigawa (Betrayers of Kamigawa)

Another almost straight reprint. Here’s your link to Kamigawa here for those that want a return to that plane.

Bolas’s Citadel – Dominaria (Onslaught)/ and Ravnica (Ravnica: City of Guilds)

Bolas is from(?) Dominaria so of course he would use the amazing enchantment that’s also a set name. He also believes in Greatness at any cost, so really this should read Bob’s Citadel.

Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage – Ravnica (Guilds of Ravnica)

I don’t know where Davriel is from but this enchantment is much closer to the Planeswalker’s static ability than The Rack, so it gets the nod here.

Deliver Unto Evil – Kamigawa (Champions of Kamigawa)

Two references to Kamigawa in one set? How the God-Pharaoh looks down upon you and smiles. Doubt he’ll make that same mistake again.

Ob Nixilis, the Hate-Twisted – Dominaria (Legends)

I don’t know if there’s any relation of Ob Nixilis to Dominaria. But I do know there was some outcry from the players when Underworld was reprinted in 8th Edition saying it was “Too good”. It was also the set that Serra Angel was a Rare, so that that as you will.

Bolt Bend – Tarkir (Khans of Tarkir)

The first of several that are “Ferocious” cards in this set. Ironically, there was no Blue “Ferocious” card even though this was the Temur mechanic.

Triumph cycle – Amonkhet (Hour of Devastation)

The Triumph Cycle and the Finale cycle will fit here (Chandra’s was the one alphabetically first). Both of the cycles obviously reference the cycles in Hour of Devastation with the Gatewatch’s previous fight with Bolas.

Devouring Hellion – Jund (Shards of Alara)

Devouring comes from Devour, the Jund mechanic from Alara. Bonus: Ajani is from Naya but visited Jund when he first Planeswalked. Neat!

Spellgorger Weird – Tarkir (Khans of Tarkir)

While not really Prowess, it’s a modified one as Prowess most likely won’t be coming back. Plus, it’s a weird card.

Turret Ogre – Tarkir (Khans of Tarkir)

Fun fact: Red now has six cards with Reach, the first two in Planar Chaos. Neat!

Arlinn, Voice of the Pack – Innistrad (Innistrad)

I mean, this one was kind of a given, right?

Awakening of Vitu-Ghazi – Zendikar (Battle for Zendikar)

Awakening is the connection here. It’s very flavorful and makes sense here. I wish Awaken was an okay mechanic and it got more love.

Evolution Sage – Zendikar (Zendikar)

Everyone says this is Landfall – Proliferate. And they’re right.

Finale of Devastation – Mirrodin (Mirrodin Besieged))

The only Finale that’s really almost a direct reference to another card in a high profile cycle. You can search your library or graveyard for any color with an additional mana, but you lose the ability to shuffle it in. You decide if it’s worth it.

Kronch Wrangler – Tarkir (Khans of Tarkir)

Could this mechanic find a way into more sets? Sure, but I would like to open it up beyond 4 power, but it seems like a good, known value.

Elite Guardmage – Kaladesh (Kaladesh)

Gain a life, lose a card draw, but lose a mana and gain a toughness. Was Cloudblazer too good? Clearly the most broken card in its set.

Huatli’s Raptor – Ixalan (Ixalan)

When I was little there was a VHS tape I would watch over and over called DinoRiders. It was the pilot episode and I’ve only seen that one, but I watched it like a 100 times. If you know where I can find the other episodes, wait a minute they’re on YouTube. I know what I’m doing tonight.

Living Twister – Rath (Exodus) and Ravnica (Guildpact)

I mean, clearly the returning to land ability references the lands from the original Ravnica block and not the Moonfolk from Kamigawa since they were all Blue and the fact that I’ve written Kamigawa more in this piece that actual articles in the last year means something’s wrong.

Solar Blaze – Mercadia (Mercadian Masques)

It’s it cute how wording changes in 20 years. Yes, Mercadian Masques is 20 years old. Pro Tip: If you’re going to make a card multi-colored, you can drop a mana in its cost (most of the time).

Teferi, Time Raveler – Dominaria (Time Spiral)

Tenth District Legionnaire – Theros (Theros)

If you change the color you can add a new ability, such as haste. Surprised that Hero wasn’t referenced anywhere on here. Complete fail of a set.

Ashiok, Dream Render – Ravnica (Ravnica: City of Guilds)

Is Ashiok a shadow? I would like to think so, but if I’m in a court of law, I’m not as sure as a

Huatli, the Sun’s Heart – Lorwyn (Lorwyn)

Sure, I could’ve chosen Assault Formation, but Lorywn was part of the most complicated limited format ever. And for that, I have to give it up to the OG Tree.

Guild Globe – Ravnica (Ravnica: City of Guilds)

That’s right Karn, harder to break than a snow globe. Those are impenetrable. (Ha, not Citizen Kane!)

Emergence Zone – Dominaria (Weatherlight)

There might be some talk of Alchemist’s Refuge here, but I decided to do with the OC Flash Land, since it clearly makes sense that Winding Canyons would allow creatures to be cast as an Instant.

I’m sure this isn’t the complete list, but it does give you a nice place to start. This is one of the few times outside of a Core Set that there has been this many references to older cards and places since Time Spiral block.

Until next time, which hopefully will be much sooner than before.

New MTGColorPie Post: War of the Spark's "Hey, Remember That?" I take a look at cards in #MTGWAR that have connections to other planes. Don't know if anyone has done this before, but here you go. War of the Spark is an interesting set. But did you know that there are connections to other sets and Planes within this pile of cards?

[gold3nladybug]

Let's build a Legacy Deck

I do a lot of thinking about magic; you've possibly realised that, since I post long diatribes about what the game means to me on a somewhat regular basis. However, I'm not really very... let's say creative in how I approach the game. I'm not looking to explore new ground, I'm mostly trying to be as good at this game as I possibly can be. I'm pretty competitive, but my motivation isn't really winning - it's more about improving.

Legacy is a beautiful format. Not just the cards themselves, but the complexity, diversity and unbelievable skill ceilings that you can strive to attain playing these cards. I always feel like there is so much more I can learn, so many things I can improve. The level of mastery that could be achieved with these cards is seemingly endless.

So it is only fitting that we start here:

Mercadian Masques is the best Brainstorm. Don't @ me.

Now, beyond that, it's actually not that easy to branch out too far. There is a very real, very challenging financial barrier to playing this amazing format (and indeed all non-rotating formats share this problem to some degree). I own a handful of blue duals, and that unlocks a certain subset of the format for me. I bought them over the course of a year or so, and they were much, much cheaper than they are now. I doubt I'll ever be able to justify buying more, and since I don't have the quantity of duals necessary for some decks, and I own zero Tropical Islands, that subset actually isn't that large. I also don't really own any of the cards to play non-brainstorm decks - no Death & Taxes, no Eldrazipost, no Lands, no Quinn the Eskimo (yup, that's a real deck name. Give it a google, its delightful).

So, I own Tundras. That means that in Legacy, I'm pretty much always playing Miracles. My collection supports that. But that isn't really where I think I wanna be right now

Beautiful.

Stoneblade has had a bit of a renaissance recently, putting up good finishes at a high level because someone recently decided "I think I should play Death's Shadow in Legacy" and almost won the Pro Tour. Decks that play white mana have a pretty solid answer to that, and Stoneblade's ability to switch strategies between defender and aggressor is really valuable. I loved Miracles with Sensei's Divining Top, but the deck was a problem, and without that card it can't always claim inevitably. You need to win the game somehow, and Batterskull is a pretty solid somehow. But it can't do it alone.

Here's the rest of the team.

Snapcaster Mage is a ridiculous magic card. There are a lot of good instants and sorceries, y'all. In a format like legacy, though, playing the full four copies can sometimes be a liability, especially if you don't have cards like Lightning Bolt that can let you convert excess mages into a noncommittal, one size fits all kinda spell. All the cards I have are pretty specialized, and Snapcaster Mage can be all of them. Absolutely wild. I hear Tiago Chan, the winner of the invitational that led to this card, became a professional wrestler.

Wild.

Jace, the Mind Sculptor set the gold standard for what a Planeswalker could be. It feels like a privilege to be able to play with this card sometimes. One thing that I find interesting, is that in my experience I am vastly more willing to +2 Jace as my main plan than others. I get that Brainstorming is awesome and all, but the elevator going up is pretty cool too. It doesn't create numerical advantage, but using Jace's fate seal can create a lot of qualitive advantage and also let's you use an ability that wins the game. I'm a fan.

Vendilion Clique, though, might just be one of my favourite magic cards. It does a whole lot of very cool things, the most important of which to me is create informational asymmetry. This game would be a lot easier if you knew all the cards your opponent had, and usually that means you have to play cards like Thoughtseize. But that card is gross. Also, don't sleep on using Clique to send one of your own cards away, especially if that card is an equipment that you can find with your stoneforge mystic.

Lastly, we have True-Name Nemesis. This card isn't always good, but when it is it's the best card in your deck. If creatures attacking or blocking matters in a game, there is no card that does either that is better for its cost than TNN. My copies are the only cards in my deck that are altered or signed, and I normally like having things be really consistent in my constructed decks, but you can see Zack Stella's beautiful signature. Can you blame me?

So that is how I'm going to win. How am I going to not lose?

Death's Shadow matches up so poorly against Swords to Plowshares, like damn. My pick for the most outrageous removal spell of all time, even with Assassin's Trophy coming down the pipeline, Swords to Plowshares solves so many problems. A lot of this post is just me gushing about these cards, and I understand that might not be the most engaging thing to read, but I really do just love so many of them.

The rest of these spells are broadly about patching holes up. One of the amazing things about Brainstorm is that you get to see a lot of cards each game, so having a few discrete answers to unusual problems can pay a lot of dividends. Council's Judgment and Enginnered Explosives can answer weird permanents that might otherwise beat me, and Supreme Verdict (though sometimes weird in a deck that wants to put creatures on the battlefield) will occasionally just bail you out. And while it might sound funny, it really is relevant that it is blue sometimes.

This is also the best counterspell art. Still don't @ me.

Force of Will is a bit of a weird card, because in a perfect world I wouldn't even want to play it. It is clunky, puts you down cards a lot of the time and is a massive hassle to play for retail. But also, sometimes Force is the only thing standing between you and rampant degeneracy. People play Belcher in this format! It is the glue that holds the format together.

And then we get to this, and I start to question if I actually know what I'm doing. Sometimes I make these really calculated choices, trying to eke out the smallest possible advantage. Other times I think to myself "yeah, that seems right" and this is one of those times. Flusterstorm is a really powerful, versatile piece of interaction that comes with inbuilt protection and scales throughout the turn. Great with Snapcaster Mage, but absolutely worthless some of the time. People play Chalice of the Void in this format!

Spell Snare is hyper specialized, but it does a lot of things that Flusterstorm can't. There are a legion of incredibly powerful, diverse threats that exist at 2cmc in this format; Baleful Strix, Hymn to Tourach, Tarmogoyf, Sylvan Library, enemy Snapcaster Mage, Counterbalance, Exhume, Infernal Tutor, etc, etc. Snare stops them all cold, but only them.

Spell Pierce is the middle ground, the bridge between two entirely different points of view. It's kinda boring, but its pretty okay at standing in for both of the other's jobs. Spell Pierce never wins employee of the month, but I hope it knows I appreciate it.

One last spell in the main deck, and its Search for Azcanta.

X marks the Spot! I play with checklist cards almost exclusively for any DFC cards that I use, even if I'm 100% sure the sleeves I'm using are completely opaque. It is way better to be safe than sorry, and I also like not needing to actually take my card out of the sleeve to flip it when I can have the real card off to the side in an inner to place on the board when I need it.

Once, when I was playing two Azcanta in a standard deck, I asked my teammate if I should have two Azcanta sleeved, one flipped and one not, because I couldn't actually have two in the same state on the battlefield. They looked like they wanted to slap me.

After that is just lands, and you probably don't want to see that...

Who are we kidding, the lands in a legacy deck are beautiful

I'm really proud of my legacy manabase.

This is also one of those examples of those really calculated choices, optimising for the smallest possible advantages. It turns out that you're only allowed to play four Flooded Strand, and after that NONE of the fetches get both basic Island and basic Plains. Normally this means a couple of Scalding Tarns, or whatever other blue fetch you have a few copies of, but why not extract the tiniest, most infinitesimal fraction of an advantage. What if they Pithing Needle Scalding Tarn? What if they're monsters who cast Surgical Extractions on random targets to see if they getcha? Well you're not going to get me, because I have insulated myself by playing three different blue fetches and an Arid Mesa.

Otherwise, Karakas is a lovely tech land against any sort of reanimator strategy, while also unlocking all sorts of fun play patterns with Vendilion Clique. Wasteland is playing in a similar space, being a low investment singleton that can be really good in some matchups, but I don't know if I like it. I might play an extra basic over it, we'll see.

But wait, I hear you asking, why are you playing Volcanic Island. You don't have any red cards!

Entirely fair question.

All the way from the sideboard, red cards.

As you might have gathered, there are some pretty amazing blue cards in legacy. I'm not one to let people just get away with playing blue cards. It's a little weird to have a 2/1 split of red blast effects, but it's just one of those micro optimizations. Sometimes they'll have a meddling mage naming Pyroblast, you know? Also, on my wishlist is a black border red elemental blast of some description. My pyroblasts just look so much prettier.

Also I guess I lied about TNN being the only signed card I play. But again, just look at Franz Vohwinkel's signature. Impossible to turn it down.

The rest of the sideboard is pretty easy to break down. A Hydroblast, because we can't let people get away with playing red cards either. An extra Flusterstorm, because it's just a fantastic card that usually gets better after sideboard. People usually have pretty good spells in their decks, and stopping Flusterstorm from countering those spells can be pretty challenging. Disenchant is a pretty good hedge a lot of the time, for a similar reason. People tend to have some high impact enchantments or artifacts kicking around, so I usually want a cheap way to fight that available to me. Containment Priest and the two Surgical Extractions are a concession to the speed and power of reanimation strategies, that also happen to have some really good splash damage against other really powerful strategies. I kind of want to make room for a Rest in Peace, but for now these will serve. Monastery Mentor is just one of those cards that, in a post sideboard game where a lot of the removal is gone and Pyroblasts imperil the battlefield and stack, can take over a game with extreme speed and quickly end it. It could also be something like a Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, but there's value in dodging Spell Pierce.

So the only part of this that might be a bit weird is the Spell Queller, Counterbalance package. My thinking is, coming from Miracles, that Counterbalance is sometimes an exceedingly powerful card. And sometimes it's pretty janky. It's hard to truly cut it from the main deck there, because it helps enable so many of the soft synergies in the deck (revealing for Predict, making all the cantrips that much better, finding spots to crack fetch lands for extra value), even though the times that it's bad it is so bad. But here, I've almost got the same amount of cantripping and deck manipulation as I would in Miracles, but my main proactive gameplan is strong enough that I don't need them in my main deck. It's a perfect card to slide into the sideboard, where I can access it both as a value engine for blue pseudo-mirrors and a desperate tool to fight combo as well.

Spell Queller was a card I considered for Vendilion Clique's spot for a long time. They are approximately as vulnerable as each other in the context of the format, but eventually the inability to profitably play it for value proactively gave Clique the nod. But the other main three drop I play kept me thinking about it. When it matters, TNN is exceptional. But when it's bad, there's nothing you want less; True Name feels like such a brick if your opponent is doing something degenerate. It's an easy swap in those situations for this powerful reactive spirit. Like Mentor, dodging Flusterstorm and Spell Pierce is a huge deal in winning counter wars while also transitioning into an aggressive stance. So many important cards are vulnerable to being quelled, and I'm honestly quite excited to play with it.

So... there you have it. That's my legacy deck. It's not perfect, and I'm sure before too long I'll end up putting Terminus back in here and going back to Miracles. It's hard to change decks in Legacy, and not just because of the price. These cards really do feel special, like you're playing with important pieces in the history of a really great, really important game. I hope I get to keep playing Legacy for a long, long time.

[beatsandskies]

Theme Deck Review Compendium: Nemesis “Eruption”

Some hard decisions to be made in regards to the art from this deck already. Normally I like to use a really nice piece from the current set (ie: Nemesis rather than Mercadian Masques in this instance) for the preview picture. One of the more powerful, fun or thematically appropriate cards ideally. As much as I appreciate Seal Of Fire… yeah. Doesn’t really feel quite right. But oh well. Clearly…

[markrosewater]

Were the Mirage and Visions sets successful in the 90s when they came out when it comes for being received well by the them fanbase and when it came for sales?

Mirage is one of my favorite childhood sets and I recall it having some of the most amazing artwork and flavor. If I recall correctly, it wasn't as popular as the Rath Cycle and Urza Block, though.

Could that be the reason why we didn't get a set fully focused on Zhalfir yet, but instead it would make "guest appearances" in sets like "Prophecy" or more recently March of the Machine?

Is there any data of how Mirage fared compared to Ice Age, Tempest, Urza's Saga and Mercadian Masques when it comes for product sold?

Mirage did well. It's early days where we had a lot less data, so it's hard to be as clear as we can about modern sets.

[overgrown-estate]

25 years ago today saw the release of 'Mercadian Masques', the first expansion set of Magic the Gathering's Masques Block. The set told the story of the Weatherlight's escape from Rath to the plane of Mercadia.

art for the card 'Overtaker' as illustrated by Clyde Caldwell.

[thecornwall]

Cornwall’s Random Card of the Day #337: Squee, Goblin Nabob

Squee, Goblin Nabob is a rare from Mercadian Masques, seen here in some Commander product.

Squee is a member of the OG Weatherlight crew, and as such, has a lot to talk about. So, when they came up with the Weatherlight crew to be the main characters of the next multi-year storyline, they came up with a bunch of broad archetypes: your heroes, your brooding badboys, your proud warrior race. Squee was the comic relief, and if you know Magic, you know that meant he was gonna be a goblin.

Squee’s “goblin nabob” title came from when they landed in Mercadia, which was ruled by a crafty race of goblins, so Squee was used as a front of authority by the party. His mechanics come from the fact that a) he’s a comic relief character, always getting into danger that would certainly kill another character, but staying alive, and b) AFTER the Masques block, he was kidnapped by Volrath and enchanted to live forever as a gift for Crovax, who always hated Squee and was now compleated and working for Crovax. He was giddy that he got to kill Squee every day.

The item in the art that Squee is hugging is Squee’s Toy, a card in its own right and one of the artifacts that made up the Legacy Weapon, with the power to eliminate Phyrexia completely. How Squee got a hold of it I don’t know, noone knew what it was at the time. But it made Squee feel safe. Turns out it had genuine protective properties.

Finally, a word about how this version of Squee plays: which is, he doesn’t. He’s used almost exclusively as discard fodder, since it doesn’t matter from whence he entered the graveyard, at the start of the turn, you get him back. The designers saw this as a bit of a shame, and the next time they made a Squee card, they’d make sure it was one you had to cast....

[alphamurho]

My favorite illustrations from each block in order from least to greatest based on total number of cards from the block, from Ice Age forward, in my list of 1100 favorite illustrations.  The Mercadian Masques Block only has 8 cards in that list.

Mercadian Masques - Horn of Plenty by Brian Despain - rank 148 Nemesis - Plague Witch by Nelson DeCastro - rank 646 Prophecy - Avatar of Woe by rk post - rank 256

[edh-a-to-z]

Dominaria Predictions & Hopes

84 DAYS 84 DAYS 84 DAYS 84 DAYS 84 DAYS 84 DAYS 84 DAYS 84 DAYS 84 DAYS 84 DAYS 84 DAYS 84 DAYS 84 DAYS 84 DAYS 84 DAYS 84 DAYS 84 DAYS 84 DAYS

So...Rivals of Ixalan is here. The analysis done. 9 creatures added to my to-do list. (I’m never gonna get them all, sweet heavens, theres still 700+ left).

ONTO THE FUTURE!!!

Future sight will be where I try to guess at what’s coming. Kinda new to this, so let’s try it out!

(1) A return of the Three cycle.

The “3″ cycle was one of the most iconic parts of Old Magic. I believe that we’ll get a reprinting of some of the old cards, with cards reminiscent (in name and function) to older cards.

Healing Salve. Weak enough to see as a common reprint. But it sucks. A lot.

Healing Salve 2.0 - have the option (choose one or both) to do both for W

Ancestral Recall - Okay, this one is actually OP as heck. And reserved

Ancestral Recall 2.0 - Maybe Draw 3, discard 2-3?, or reprint Ancestral Vision

Dark Ritual - Probably too powerful for standard. But if Bolt can come back, so can this. But really no.

Dark Ritual 2.0 - Sac a permanent, add BBB. Basically Culling the Weak changed for Standard and Limited

Lightning Bolt. The Red player’s favorite card. Powerful and fun. And if I see another Shock reprint, or a godforsaken Open Fire, I’m gonna cry. Kick it to uncommon and it’ll work in limited.

Giant Growth - a classic, way better than the 20 other variations of Instant G buff cards

An alternative is they make a completely new cycle that references them, as IMO only Bolt and Growth could be possible reprints. Or maybe they’ll save it for the Core Set that’s in the work.

Probability: Average.

Dominaria should be a powerful set, to shake off the dust that is Kaladesh’s energy. Every new set should start off new decks, not just offer “strictly better” cards for extant Standard decks.

However, given the sheer power on most of these (except the salve), It’d be hard to sell for 

(2) Surviving Characters

Amazingly, for a place known for being destroyed a dozen times, there are people living in Dominaria.

Key art from Dominaria, Unknown 

Shown here we have the fan favorites Jhoira, Teferi, and Karn. 

Of them Jhoira has a card (Jhoira of the Ghitu) and IS NOT a planeswalker whence last we saw her. Teferi has a creature card and a Planeswalker card, and was depowered (from being a ‘walker) whence we saw him last. WOTC could do a reprint of Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir, but I’m hoping for something new.

And Karn.

We last saw him on New Phyrexia after being saved by Venser, and it looks like he’s back home. Hopefully we can have a Karn walker that’s not broken as all heck.

Jaya Ballard Art, Yongjae Choi

But let’s not forget everyone’s favorite Red Mage (bite me Chandra), Jaya.

Other Dominarian Characters I hope are around:

Sisay - STILL ALIVE!!! Orim - b/c every Star Trek style crew needs a doctor Cho-Manno - an unfortunate reminder of Mercadian Masques Oriss - Possible descendant of theirs who may be alive Squee - Basically immortal Tahngrath - Probably chilling with Sisay and Squee on the Victory

Other Dominarian Characters I hope aren’t around:

Liliana Vess - So much screentime elsewhere Nicol Bolas - As above

Probability: Basically Guaranteed. It’s in the art

(3) The Hive

Slivers

Slivers Slivers Slivers

SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS

So yea, we’re back on Dominaria. 

GIVE US THE QUEEN

Sliver Queen, by Ron Spencer

SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS SLIVERS

I’m guessing it’s not a return to the 1.0 slivers that say “All Slivers get X”, but more like the M14 & M15 slivers. A mix of new slivers and reprints.

Probability: Like 1 to 20 odds. Slivers and standard feels like a pipe dream for me, and a nightmare for everyone else.

(4) Classic Tribes

Not a big part, but will be nominally mentioned. Maybe (good ol’ Cabal), Soliders, Elves, classic looking Goblins, Zombies, and Wizards. Less printed tribe like Clerics, Kavu/Beast,  Tribal representation and some weak tribal support.

Tribal support can link up with other sets in standard, like Zombies or Merfolk, so there’s already some groundwork for potential tribal decks in standard.

Probability: Like 1 to 2 for weak mechanics, and 1 to 20 for some serious tribal support.

(5) Story Connections

How did we get here?

Well, after the Gatewatch was scattered to the wind, and we saw Jace on Ixalan (plus that Ugin had planted the location in his mind to check out), why do we -the audience -  end up on Dominaria?

Liliana, Heretical Healer, by Karla Ortiz

We know Liliana Vess hails from here, so perhaps this is where she ended up post-Amonkhet.

I also hope that the Gatewatch will take a backseat this round. I love ‘em, but for heck’s sake I can’t take 9 blocks of them being in the spotlight. Keep ‘em in the background. Those Story Spotlights should not be about the new characters, but instead reach back for more nostalgic characters.

I’m hoping we don’t get the view of locals. I like the Vamps, Merfolk and Pirates of Ixalan, but I don’t have to really care about them - only the Planeswalkers are important long term.

Probability: like 50/50. We need the story somehow. I’m just hoping the way we tell the story is with characters we know (unlike Ixalan’s non-Jace/Vraska character) but haven’t heard from in a while (the Gatewatch).

(6) Old Artists

Bitterblossom, by Rebecca Guay

Rebecca Guay. Phil Foglio. Melissa Benson, Ron Spencer. And so many more.

Bringing back artists famed for their work in older sets would be a great treat. We got to see John Avon and Rebecca Guay back for Commander 2017, maybe this is the start of bringing them back for more art.

Probability: 1 in a 100. While nice, it’s a lot harder to get older artists back than it is to do all of this stuff on Creative’s side.

 (7) Phyrexia

Slay, by Ben Thompson

So, after the Legacy was fired off, Urza, Gerrard, and Yawgmoth bit it. The Phyrexians on Dominaria folded after that. 

BUT!!! We can still have Phyrexian holdouts, lurking around Dominaria! Sure, most of them were killed after Yawgmoth died, but what if some survived? And are working with maybe the Cabal. You know, being villains and all.

Probability: 1 in a 100.

I don’t think that’ll Phyrexians will be a plot focus, as it seems we’re going to Dominaria to pick up the rest of the cast and fight Nicol Bolas on Ravnica.

(8) Masterpieces

Picture this, but with a fancy frame

Now that they’ve become “lets make the set special” after the thrashing of Amonkhet, I think Dominaria can have some really great masterpieces.

Masterpieces of stuff we associate with Masters sets, like Alpha powerhouses of Birds of Paradise, Sinkhole, Swords to Plowshares, all would be great choices to get as masterpieces. With new art or old art, new frames or old frames, I’d love me some masterwork of 

Probability: 1 in a 10. I don’t know when WOTC will bring the Masterpieces back, and they may consider Dominaria good enough on it’s own

Easy bets:

No Vehicles (for the love of god please no)

No artifact/equipment/enchantment block focus

No Bird of Paradise, or any Masters power-level reprints ( we don’t get to have nice things in Standard).

Reprint of old Painlands like Caves of Koilos as the set’s dual lands. Apocalypse had the first batch and we haven’t seen them since Origins. They made Blood Sun for a reason. Maybe reprint time?

Artwork that references older cards. Maybe showing updated locations, like Academy Ruins did for Tolarian Academy.

Well, that’s all I got campers.

What do y’all think? What are you hoping to see? Let me know what you think.

Wonder how accurate these’ll be.