#smuggler's copter

[mtg-cards-hourly]

Smuggler's Copter

Artist: Florian de Gesincourt TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

[blue-jacket]

One of my favorite moments was crewing a Smuggler's Copter with a Calcite Snapper when vehicles first came out. Just the idea of a mage putting a turtle in a helicopter tickles me.

[photobombingcryptid]

Mobile Link - About

Name: Blaze

Faction: Neutral (NAIL)

Age: Around 4 million years old Creation Date: 30th of October Height: 8 metres/26 feet Weight: Lightweight; deceptively strong Special: Outlier with the ability to create anything using technology similar to holomatters.

Voice Claim: Norman Reedus Face Claim (holomatter): Norman Reedus

Occupation: Nomadic merchant, ruin explorer (for hire), smuggler (for hire), black market dealer, walking 3D printer

About himBastard. Cryptid. Your sleep paralysis demon.Goat Man.

Blaze.

Blaze is a sharp, bold-looking mech. Although unassuming at first glance, his intense, piercing glare reveals otherwise. He’s a nomad, moulded and shaped by the many years of constant travel throughout space. With his spaceship, his home, Voyager, he has seen many sights and has more to witness and experience. 

Chaotic is a word that best describes Blaze’s essence of his character. He is a bundle of endless energy, no matter what situation. Nothing seems to tire him out or bring his mood down, always being able to pick himself up and resume his streak of contagious joy. Blaze likes fun and knows how to both seek and create it.  He’s a cunning mech with a mischievous streak. If he sees an opportunity to create chaos or inconvenience someone in the name of fun, he will take it.

Much of his life is kept a close-kept secret. There’s barely any surviving records of his pre-war activities, keeping his identity somewhat shrouded in mystery. He prefers it this way, as he doesn’t enjoy when people pry too much into his personal life. He may appear extroverted, but Blaze needs to recharge his social battery more often than not.

Which is why he’s perfectly suited for his lifestyle. Over the years, he’s built in impressive mileage and knows everything about space travel. He’s explored every nook and cranny, exploits every possible shortcut and knows how to get from point A to point B as fast as possible. His passion for travelling goes hand-in-hand with his hobby - and career - of exploring anything abandoned and mysterious. He has a knack of finding lost treasure and belongings, essentially having become a bloodhound for trinkets. Anything he collects he restores and auctions off. For a price, he will look into specific locations. He adamantly sticks to his end of the deal and he expects the very same from his clients. 

Don’t take his happy-go-lucky personality for granted. Blaze has a spicy temper that quickly erupts if the right buttons are pushed. Although on the shorter side, he is deceptively strong and has developed a very dirty fighting style. He is a fearless mech, unafraid to close the distance. Along with his strength comes his endurance and speed that makes him a tough opponent to fight against. His quick-witted character gives him an upper edge, able to adapt quickly. He owes this all to his nomadic lifestyle that has taught him so much about survival. 

A not so hidden aspect of his life is his outlier ability. Whether it’s a gift or a curse, Blaze had become unmotivated to learn about them very early in his life. He carries an untapped potential in his servos, forever kept from the outer world all thanks to Blaze’s disinterest. He’s only learned what he needed to. Essentially being a walking 3D printer, he knows how to generate objects using an advanced form of holomatter technology. It’s one of the reasons he’s been able to keep Voyager running for this long. 

Alt Mode

Unlike common helicopters which have rotor blades found on the top of the vehicle and a tiny rotor blade on the back of the tail, Blaze’s alt mode resembles more of a V-TOL or the copter from James Cameron’s Avatar. The tail lacks any kind of rotor blades and instead has two mobile wing blades that serve as wings and help him maneveur the flight. The tails have additional flaps that increase the surface of the tail, making for better turns and stops. 

The two main rotor blades can move independently , allowing him to perform sharp turns and spins. He can even make one side of his blades spin faster than the other one. Same applies to the tail. 

His alt mode is also equipped with boosters which drastically speed him up a bit. These thrusters are mainly used for long distance travel or when he needs that quick boost.

He is not the fastest and cannot break the speed of sound at all. But what he lacks in aerial speed he makes up for with agility. His max speeds linger around 700-900kph, depending on weather and planetery conditions. His alt mode is capable of heavy lifting duties, capable of lifting cargo several times heavier than him. 

When transforming, there’s some mass displacement too. Mainly his rotor blades grow in size.

Equipment/Modifications

Pointy/sharp teeth. All of them

Retractable claws

In-built weapons: The blades protruding from his back have always been used as spears or swords (and other tools), though it’s primary usage has always been its alt-mode function; it helps him better manevour in the air, allowing for tighter turns. From now on, along with the blades, he will have in-built guns, that are hidden in his forearms and chest. To remain nimble and fast, the guns are lightweight and will at their best injure his opponents, ranging from minor to possibly severe injuries, depending on how well his aim is and how well-armored his attackers are. As any gun, they can deliver a fatal shot, but he has to be up-close and aim at someone’s head for it to become deadly. To reveal the guns, he has to fold away the armor for the guns to pop out, all activated and directed by his T-cog.

Sometimes he carries missiles. Only used when he knows he needs to use them. 

The claws on his feet are very mobile. They can retract or fully extend and connect to create one sharp pointy structure. The underside on the claws has a special texture that allows him to scale nearly vertical surfaces.

To truly live up to his name, he can self-combust for short durations of time. Used as a scare tactic.

Handheld mutliversal spacebridge device. Allows him to easily hop through multiverse. Sometimes with consequences. 

Outlier Abilities

Blaze’s outlier power is a poorly understood enigma. Theorized to be an anomaly even among other outliers, Blaze’s ability breaks all known laws of physics. To describe his powers in layman terms, he’s a walking 3D printer utilizing an advanced form of holomatter technology, based on solid light projections, to create and/or duplicate items of his choosing. The source of energy is unknown and thought to stem from his own pocket dimension that he himself has yet to understand how it works. Because of his outlier power, Blaze’s spark frequency, signature and EM field are never stable and — especially his EM field — can be overwhelming to others. Thus, he keeps it close to himself and only ever expands it when he is alone or when he wants to be more persuasive. How he materializes is largely similar to holomatter/holoavatar technology, albeit to a much more advanced form. He duplicates objects by learning about their composition, material and many practice rounds. The more complex the object is, the longer it will take. To ease up the process, Blaze can run multiple scans of the object, but more often than not he has to physically dismantle the item to fully study it. Once the object is fully embedded in his memory files, he can duplicate perfect 1:1 copies of the original. The more he practices, the faster the process becomes, eventually leading to duplicating complex structures within seconds. When he wishes to materialize something, Blaze can see the item in his HUD and its predictions on how it would interact in the real world. Once he is satisfied, it takes seconds to minutes to materialize the item. When his powers are in use, his biolights on his palm light up. While Blaze is known for his lack of enthusiasm to learn more about his power, he has refined his skill to be as subtle as possible. Only a very keen eye will notice he is behind all of this. It is not apparent that his powers are in use until the object gets closer to full completion. The object that has been fully materialized will never disappear and is subjected to stresses of its environment. The materialized object experiences wear and tear of everyday use. It behaves just like the original. Failure to fully materialize the object will result in an incomplete form that too can never disappear from existence. Although unpredictable and energy-demanding, just before the item fully solidifies, he can throw it through the air as a projectile. At the moment, he is too clumsy and imprecise with his throws, but given enough time and many attempts, this skill can become more refined. His outlier power is limited to solids that come in singular quantities. Solids that act like liquids (e.g. sand), liquids and gasses are impossible to duplicate, unless presented in a solid state. Despite not using energon as his main source of energy, Blaze’s outlier powers are very demanding on his psyche and frame. Complex objects and prolonged usage will lead to irritation, fatigue, headaches, nausea, pain in the chest and he can pass out if pushed too much. Unpredictable structures When under major stress or when Blaze’s emotions are running high, objects will become malformed. It is the only time that an object will deviate from its original blueprint, by either having features added or subtracted. More often than not, these unpredictable structures take on a form of long, twisting metal beams. This phenomenon has only been observed a few times. Major changes (25/6/2023)

 A materialized object will never disappear once created. This retcons the idea that the materialized object can remain in three states: illusion (holograph), temporary solid holo-object (ability to make it disappear at will), permanent holo-object. This doesn’t change the phase of the object when it appears as a holograph before completely solidifying. An incomplete object that has been created will also never disappear

 Ability to throw materialized objects has been better defined and simplified as a concept

 Added the concept of “unpredictable structures”

Voyager

Voyager is INACCESSIBLE unless given permission from mun or muse

Due to safety reasons, Blaze keeps the ship in planet’s orbit on his visits, only coming in the atmosphere when Blaze boards it in his helicopter mode

If it’s parked on the ground, Voyager has a multitude of sensors and weapon systems to keep any intruders at bay. It can take off on its own should it detect a threat.

Blaze’s ship is a modified experimental warship. With state of the art technology and constantly upgrading, the ship possesses downscaled quantum engines, which at the time of engineering the spaceship’s model was a revolutionary feat of technological achievement - it still is a monumental milestone in quantum engine research field. The engine allow him to make short-distance jumps, greatly speeding up spacetravel and saving on conventional fuel, as the quantum engines simply need to rest before the next jump.

How Blaze acquired such a ship is a secret he holds deep in his spark. Since the purchase, Blaze further modified the ship to make it lighter and faster by removing most of the heavy-duty weaponry, leaving behind a few turret guns. He gutted the interior and installed new walls, turning it into a mobile home/merchant business. Storage rooms hold a variety of trinkets and questionably legal possessions he’s collected over the years. A simple hallway leads straight to the living room, with tech room and Blaze’s private room opposite of each other. The living area is combined with facilities to make food, drinks; sunken platform with a couch to lounge around has been fitted in one part of the room.

The living area houses the cockpit area, with the controls and buttons of every imagination to control the ship. A sophisticated AI runs the ship, with Blaze having long-distance access to the ship’s controls. The ship flies itself the majority of the time, though Blaze is always ready to switch to manual controls, which he is more than adept at, with more than four million years of spaceship piloting experience.

The ship is something Blaze takes huge pride in. Along with self-repair, Blaze himself will tend to any maintanence the ship requires to keep it running. Being his home, Blaze had developed quite an attachment to it and he can’t bear losing sight or contact with the ship. If he loses the ship, he loses everything.

The ship has the ability to take off and land like commercial Earth aircrafts. However, the ship is not restricted to only this type of take off/landing. His ship is able to hover using thrusters located on the underside of the ship.

[inventors-fair]

Three in the Bush: Idiom Winners ~

Congratulations to @helloijustreadyourpost, @reaperfromtheabyss and @yourrightfulking for winning this week's contest!

@helloijustreadyourpost — Goblin Engineering Corps

Let's get my one-and-a-half nitpicks out of the way first: the first ability is missing "to cast" at the end of the sentence; and also, this is envisioning a world where echo is presumably coming back to standard, so keep your fingers crossed, I guess. Neither of these takes away from the fact that this card is one of the best examples of how to use idioms cleverly. I absolutely love the "check this out" hubris on display, emblematic of MTG's traditional goblin mood and at the same time not entirely demeaning—because the card's also pretty great! The more I look at it, the more I feel that it should be a rare in the intended shell, so maybe up this to two-and-a-half nitpicks, but who's counting?

Not these goblins, because they don't have time to count when they could be building things. I don't think I can quantify just how much I'm enjoying this card; instead of attempting to analyze the humor, I'm literally sitting here chuckling to myself. So let's break away and talk about the gameplay, and also talk about playing this and getting a zero-cost hasty Smuggler's Copter. Hoo boy, can you imagine something like Pioneer Eggs with this? The design is somewhat reminiscent of Heartless Summoning, actually, with a slightly different bend. The difference is actually more powerful in some ways, because you can pay the echo cost of one two-drop having drawn into another free one. Let's be real, this is for sure a rare, but it's got the drawback and upside balance that's pushed without being brokenly so. I think out of all the cards this contest, this is my favorite use of an idiom in itself.

@reaperfromtheabyss — Streamside Picknicker

Well, it's cute. Very cute. Pleasantly cute! I think that the flavor text is groanworthy but it can't be groaned without a grin there. It's resembling some of the Bloomburrow shenaniganery, and the enters trigger is certainly a curious case of whether or not it'll fit the archetype well. Sometimes they'll say that it's in one, and it turns out to be not viable, yadda yadda, but here, well, I like the fact that the mechanics tell a story. The frog comes to a stream for a picnic, and, seeing the stream is nice, feels invigorated by its tranquility. And if it's not quite the best vista, it notifies a companion that they should keep moving on. Isn't that just dandy?

Moreover, the mechanics are curious in the best way. Utility lands can perhaps make the untap ability relevant in the late game, but there's always the chance you just want to untap one of your creatures as a blocker post-combat. If you have a more aggressive start, then you untap a land and play another one-drop on turn 2, and you're in business for sure, assuming you don't already have an on-curve play. There are more complex options hidden in this card for limited, and as a common I believe there would be a nice niche for it. Whimsy isn't going to move any mountains, but perhaps it'll untap an Island or a fellow frog. And that's just plain pleasant to me.

@yourrightfulking — Nothing Personal

I'm teleporting behind you as we speak to say: I really frickin' like this card. You can stab your opponents, backstab yourself, and when you're done doing those things you're better off either way! I'm a huge fan of this mechanical versatility. Removal is great, but you can turn a weak blocker into two kickass blockers, or if you're getting ahead you can make your attacks even better and spread out the board. It's a nasty little rare that I would love to play in limited; it's almost reminiscent of that little Dimir cantrippy thing from MKM, the terrible bulk rare that was actually awesome if you got the morbid trigger thingy.

And you really made this flavor text work, in my opinion. It turns the original bird quote from "current resources are just as valuable as potential futures" into "betrayal is as betrayal does," in a sense. That just sends tingles down my easily penetratable spinal column! It's like the very concept of assassination is both speaking the card's name to your opponent and/or your own creatures, and the flavor text is inviting you regardless to look at the life you've chosen and say "Yes, yes absolutely it is worth it. Now lemme swing in." You go, you funky little mercenary. Godspeed, shadows willing.

Running are just around the bend. @abelzumi

[sdyuteiaok]

Didn't realize it's already time for MWM, and it's another gimmick Brawl event, but it's just a Cascade mod, so just plug in a relevant deck and go. The only real snag is making sure to pick a deck with minimal counters, usually permanent-based, and while this might be great for my Milly Vanilly no Taimu deck, I decided to give my Kaito deck a spin, since it doesn't often get a chance to rock. It's focused on getting UB creatures out to ult Kaito and then you get pretty much whatever you want from the deck. I actually pulled it off in today's session, which was cool, and it's not too rare, either. This is a blue deck with almost no counters, aside from ETB stuff like Ertai and the Innistrad exploit Zombie, so I just juiced the basic-heavy mana base so I had plentiful duals and some utilities, and also pulled back on the Ninja subtheme and went to town. Pretty solid. Just getting multiple guys out per cast is quite a boon. I even beat a guy by nabbing his Aurelia, and since he was a RW deck, he was trying to swarm me, but she kept gaining me life and drawing, so pretty good deal. Playing your heavy hitters does feel extra good in this format cuz you also get a consolation prize if they're dealt with. Like I clowned multiple Flubs and Vivi decks, despite the punch they tend to have, cuz they can't leaps too far ahead of you, and you can keep pace thanks to the Cascade Emblem, so while the decks are tricky, they are manageable. One card that always impresses every time I cast it is Ghostly Pilferer, the 2/1 unblockable that draws every time an opponent casts something from nonhand. This is ordinarily nice cuz it triggers off of an boss casts, but it shines in this format cuz every firstcast triggers it from cascade, assuming they cast that spell, too. So one opponent just scooped once I drew my first card with it, but I also like Ledger Shredder here, too, cuz he also springs into action every turn, so like the other guy he kinda punishes your opponent for playing according to the format's demands, though interestingly they both require the opponent to cast their free spell, and don't actually trigger without it, so what's your opponent going to do, not play their free spell? Meanwhile you're playing your two spells and getting ahead. The only downside of Ledger Shredder is he doesn't trigger his very first turn since casting him causes the second spell to fire, so it's a minor nonbo, but definitely worth it since he starts cooking immediately after. I also modified my Milly Vanilly deck since we got a bunch of wildcards, so I cashed in two rares for some cards I suspect will be excellent additions--Reanimate to replace my 4BG Alchemy Reanimator that perpet pumps my grave creatures and revives one--it's just super expensive and doesn't necessarily do anything the turn you get your guy back, in contrast with Back for More, which at least can grab a monster and kill something. Often having a giant guy isn't necessarily helpful; it's a little win-more. And then secondly, I got the 1B enchantment that mills 3 and you can pay 1 and 3 life to grab something back over Copter. Smuggler felt a little slow, though often useful and helpful after wipes, but I feel like the guaranteed mill per turn and ability to grab stuff might accomplish similar things as well as fuel the rest of the deck without requiring an attack. I like how Copter can help you if you're stumbling on lands, and also staves off early pressure, but I suspect the other effect is what'll be a little more helpful in more situations, though I am a little concerned with my limited lifegain effects, but we'll see how it goes.

[zoydraft]

June 28 🏳️‍🌈 Pride Draft 🏳️‍⚧️

cubecobra.com/c/pink | four player draft | 5 packs of 15, trash last 7 from each pack

ML graciously insisted that we have one last draft before I go back to work (even though it's children, not work stopping me from drafting freely). We did not buy a box of Final Fantasy, because that price point is abhorrent. Magic has never been selling better, and Cube has outlived it.

🏆 3-0 (6-2) Boros Parallax Bombardment drafted by SJ

DF: "Playing against your deck was fun and also frustrating."

Hallelujah, a trophy deck that isn't BGx! This deck won by setting up an aggressive board presence and then waiting for a tipping point where Parallax Wave, Goblin Bombardment, or Mirror Entity could end the game. Thalia, Heretic Cathar kept opportunities to attack open, and Arc Lightning is consistently a 2-for-1. Clarion Spirit was really easy to trigger with the low curve, and Hallowed Spiritkeeper put opponents into lose-lose situations.

Notably, multiple times Swords to Plowshares felt especially good for preventing death triggers or graveyard shenanigans, and I was never in a position where my opponent was going to gain much life off the most tempting target.

Parallax Wave is probably a power outlier, but it's been a fun, interesting one that people don't complain about. I think there's a class of cards like Memory Lapse that are very good, but feel like they're keeping the game close ("I just needed one more turn!"), and that's a good space for the vibes at the table.

2-1 (5-3) A Really Jund Deck drafted by DF

DF: "I enjoyed the Azra and Copter card draw silliness."

Playing against your deck was fun and also frustrating.

Bet on Smuggler's Copter with Azra Oddsmaker. It's a good bet!

In my games I felt like I absolutely had to answer Managorger Hydra immediately, and my loss was to Embercleave on a pumped up Electrostatic Infantry. Pest Infestation also seemed high-impact.

WUb Artifact Herder drafted by DR

DF: "DR pulled off a Living Death in our first game that completely shifted the course of the game and got him a win. Was very cool."

This is the most Artifact-y deck anyone has drafted in quite a while and it didn't end up with the best result. In my match it just didn't get going fast enough, except when I got stuck on two lands. There was a fun interaction with Scrap Trawler dying at the same time as another artifact creature which was fun (although there was some friction with figuring out exactly how it resolved), and it made me feel good about adding Myr Retriever on a whim the other day to add more artifact recursion nonsense.

UBw Snapcaster Restoration drafted by ML

ML: "Snapcaster Mage was my MVP, got a couple of Disfigures in with that, could have been even nastier with some flickering but never really got it to pop off. Amazing card though, I'd love to get better at drafting blue."

I love all the cantrips here, and Disfigure and Fatal Push were great at trading up in value. Mindwhisker with Threshold held me up for a minute; unfortunately for ML I was able to pump my way past it. Good reviews for Snapcaster Mage here, and lamentations that Soulherder didn't find its way into this pool.

Stray Thoughts

I tried uploading deck pics with the Snapdrafter app to CubeCobra. It worked, it was pretty low friction. It's here. I don't know if I get any value from this information. I'll probably keep trying it.

Special thanks to my mom for being in town, which lets me leave the house without children outnumbering my partner.

Happy Pride!

[horademagic]

Cóptero do Contrabandista/ Smuggler's Copter

Artefato - Veículo

Custo de mana: 2 incolores e/ou de qualquer cor

3/3 de poder e resistência 

Por que ela é interessante? Ele tem Tripular 1, você vai precisar virar qualquer número de criaturas que você controlar que o poder seja igual ou somado igual a 2, quando fizer isso, ele torna-se uma criatura e pode portanto defender e atacar como se fosse uma normalmente. Esse tem voar, então é vantagem sob oponentes sem voar ou alcance para se defender. Toda vez que ele atacar ou bloquear um ataque, você poderá escolher comprar uma carta, só que se escolher comprar, então precisa obrigatoriamente descartar uma carta da sua mão tamb��m. O legal é que só precisa usar esse veículo, não apenas para atacar, mas defender também.

Preço da carta: em torno de 38,00 até 75,00 

Disponível em Português

Link: https://www.ligamagic.com.br/?view=cards/card&card=Smuggler%27s%20Copter&aux=C%C3%B3ptero%20do%20Contrabandista

 Até a próxima postagem, Ulli e Thiago

[mtg-polls-cube]

[cyanlastride]

im not very good at this. self-motivation, i mean.

yaknow what i did do today? i went on a walk.

there were some people at the mysterious house again. there's always people there, acting as though they live there, but theyre always new different people. i will never figure out whats up with that house.

there were people skipping rope. i think the last time i used a skipping rope was in grade 5.

went into the movie theatre. dune 2 is still showing daily. havent watched barbie or oppenheimer yet. perhaps i never will. no, i doubt that.

got food at the food court.

walked to walmart to check out their mtg stock, not that i would ever buy mtg product from walmart. not that i ever plan on buying mtg product again.

i was tempted, though. they had four thunder junction commander precons, and on the face of one was a sultai cowboy gonti. of course gonti is a cool sultai cowboy. i love it. does it make any sense? i was too awestruck to care. i did not give in to temptation. but i was close.

when i got home, i looked up the decklist. gonti was the only aetherborn in the deck. one of two aetherborn in the entire set, as there was a nameless aetherborn reprint in a different precon. what a shame. you confirm that aetherborn, or at the very least, gonti, can travel the omenpaths, but you do nothing with it. the most flavour i could find product-wise was written on the back of the box, that he is "representing ghiraphur" on thunder junction. oh well. i suppose i should count myself lucky that gonti still even exists.

you know, if that deck was cool i wouldve gone to my lgs tomorrow to pick it up. i would broken my vow to never buy mtg again until they fix standard, or replace it with something that isnt uber-casual whale-hunt-y like commander. because cowboy gonti sounded cool as fuck. rrrrrrrhhhhh.

why do no card games scratch the itch for me anymore? standard is dead, commander is either too casual or just plain unfun, fab is too strictly typed, hearthstone has been powercrept to hell, lorcana is too simple and also disney, battle spirits saga nobody played to begin with, this new star wars unlimited game has no product, the most engaging card game i currently play is marvel fucking snap!! god.

it was a lot simpler when everyone just played standard. sure, it had problems, but at least we played. i enjoyed playing. i lost as much as i won, and i had fun trying to win as much as i could with my limited resources. i put unclaimed territory in my non-tribal deck and memorized the creature types of all my creatures to know the optimal creature type to name is ever scenario. i wasnt supposed to win against the guys who had bought smugglers copters and hydriod krasis, but i still tried my best, and sometimes i came pretty close. sometimes, rarely, i did win.

the thing that impressed me most about inscryption was po3. thats when i realized that the guy who made inscryption was a real card gamer. i have sat across the table from po3 on friday nights more times than i can count. i lost most of the games i played against them early on... but slowly, i got better, and i spent less time worrying about them and more time locked in on the game, and nowadays i win two games out of three. i miss the early days though, when po3 was scary. when i spent 10 seconds wandering around the tables looking for my number, and another 20 seconds steeling my nerves to sit down and shake hands with the nerd across from me. i miss those times. they were terrifying. i messed up, a lot. i learned.

someday ill make my own card game. ill make it accessible, and encourage proxying. ill make it flavour-focused, and competitive. ill make it worthy of the community it will build.

i hope i make it soon. i cant spend all my time going on walks.

[cabalt]

My big baby complaint is the use of Mechtitan Core and Peacewalker Colossus here. Like there are enough actual vehicles to choose from.

Especially because the actual Mechtitan token card isn't an amalgamation of the five designs they made for this.

I do love the smuggler's copter though

Look at the adorable style of these double sided magic the gathering cards, from the racing themed set that's out now

[dimestoretajic]

crewing looter scooter

[drmothmaam]

*pilots Smuggler's Copter with Emrakul the Promised End*

"Huh. I guess I just don't see why this combo was banned."

[inventors-fair]

Vroom for Improvement

Today I woke up feeling like going nowhere fast.

Vehicles were a type first introduced in the world of Kaladesh, and they've been deciduous ever since. They're an investment, but they've made quite an impact on the game, and we've seen them impact tournaments and steal hearts and minds—Smuggler's Copter comes to mind.

But, to be fair, Smuggler's Copter is a pretty standard vehicle... Ships and trains are one thing, but the "unicycle debate" has been argued in Maro's inbox for quite some time, and there are walkers, striders, farm equipment, and the Dermotaxi (which is my favorite vehicle visually) that have all made their own impacts. So this week...

Design a weird/unique/interesting vehicle.

What makes a unique vehicle? That's ultimately up to you, but we're looking at non-acorn versions of odd ways to get around. Mechanically, how is it crewed/animated? What about the in-world design means that it can't be crewed "normally" like a bike or car. What colors is it, and how would that impact who builds it, how it's built, how it can be crewed, what mechanics you can use to make it weird?

M.E.O.W.—

Mandatory: You must have a vehicle. No Transformers, please, and no DFCs this week. Just a single vehicle.

Encouraged: Find something that makes you smile. This is a week to get a tiny bit more "out there" than usual, provided your card has a good mechanical basis. You don't even have to get rare with it—what's a common and fun card to open, perhaps? Something where players would be happy to open it?

Optional: You don't need to fit conventional vehicle rules necessarily, not as long as the card type is Vehicle. If it works, it works, and don't feel you have to be based on a pun or a traditional vehicular way of getting around.

Warning: You can't just call an animal a vehicle. Maybe do some thought experiments. You're still designing for a standard-legal draftable set.

There may be some examples through the week, but this week we have some other announcements. Until then, be well, be good, and rev your engines!

[cardboard-crack]

[metabretsmagicblog-blog]

Modern Local - December 12, 2017

Tonight's event went much better than last Tuesday. I ended the 3-round event with a 2-1 record, taking 2nd in overall standings. I made adjustments to my deck, including a stronger sideboard and two Smuggler's Copters in the mainboard. I took out two copies of Master of Waves for the Copters (2 copies remaining in mainboard).

Round 1 brought me up against UB Faeries. Their game plan is essentially to out-tempo their opponent with counterspells, flash creatures, and a wide board. The deck manages to do so quite effectively, but game one went in my favor because Aether Vial bypasses counterspells and two thirds of my Lords give my board Islandwalk. Smuggler's Copter provided a 3/3 flying blocker that fixed my hand. I out-valued my opponent to a swift victory.

Game two went a little longer. My opponent had a clutch Spell Snare and made me fight for the board. Bitterblossom cranking out bodies for a few turns, then using Mistbind Clique to remove it and tap all your opponent's lands is a frightening strategy. Nevertheless, the fight was won, and I moved into round 2 with an X-0 record.

Round two was played against GW Eldrazi Hate Bears. Thought-Knot seer on turn 2-3 is strong, and Ghost Quarter against my Mutavault is strong. I couldn't keep up with his large creatures (including two copies of Reality Smasher). This match was brutal and I lost 0-2.

Round 3 brought me against a strong RW Prison deck. Wrath effects, Chalice of the Void, and Engineered Explosives in the mainboard meant I shouldn't have won this match, but win I did in a spectacular fashion. In game one, I spent a few turns hitting his face with Merfolk. When I had him down to one, my opponent used Nahiri to summon Emrakul, the Aeons Torn from his deck and made Gideon Jura a creature to alpha strike me. I tapped my last Island with Emrakul's Annihilator trigger on the stack, and cast Vapor Snag on Gideon, causing my opponent to lose his last 1 life.

Game two: turn 5 Emrakul (with haste)

Game 3 determined my shot at prizes. I had to keep up the pressure with my merfolk if I wanted to win. The game was ultimately decided by a Mutavault and a Smuggler's Copter. A particularly important clutch play was casting Vapor Snag on my own Mutavault in response to a Lightning Helix, simultaneously saving me from Lando and preventing my worthy opponent from gaining 3 life. In the end, I was able to out-pressure his Planeswalkers and avoid his destruction enough to get the W.

My next event will hopefully be this Friday, December 15, 2017. I may also be shifting to UG soon, but I'll definitely keep testing with Copter. I adore that card, and it provides a good amount of value. Definitely worth two slots in the mainboard.

[magicjudge]

Vehicles + Enchanted Evening If I crew my smugglers copter, will it still be an enchantment? Or will it it's cardtypes be overwritten to "artefakt creature" and nothing else?

Yes, it will be an Artifact Enchantment Creature - Vehicle.

Normally, effects that set a permanent’s types (or subtypes) without stating that it’s in addition to other types or subtypes will overwrite all those other types or subtypes.

However, “becomes an artifact creature” is an exception to this rule. When something “becomes an artifact creature” due a spell or ability resolving, it automatically retains all its other types and subtypes in addition to being an artifact and a creature. 

Why though? Because the first cards that turned things into artifact creatures worked this way or specifically called out when they didn’t. (See Ashnod’s Transmogrant, Xenic Poltergeist, and Titania’s Song.)