MTG

My favorites are Phil Foglio and Carly Mazur

Some favorite Foglios

(yes I like goblins)

And some favorite Mazurs

Before previews for Outlaws of Thunder Junction officially begin, I thought it would be fun to do another of my Duelist-style teasers where I give tiny hints of things to come. Note that I’m only giving you partial information.

First up, here are some things you can expect:

• A new batch of five related creature types
• A card capable of returning three different card types from the graveyard to the battlefield
• A mechanic players have been asking us to do for many years gets made as the setting was the perfect place to finally do it
• Dual lands with a land subtype that has never been on dual lands before
• A new modal mechanic that introduces something different to think about
• A card that can swap/exchange control of up to three different card types
• A new creature token that has an ability no creature token has ever had before
• A typal card for Skeletons and Zombies
• Creature tokens in the set: (some might have abilities) 1/1 white Sheep, 1/1 blue Bird, 1/1 black Vampire Rogue, 1/1 red Mercenary, 2/1 green Varmint, 2/2 white Ox, 2/2 white Spirit, 2/2 blue and black Zombie, 3/1 red Dinosaur, 3/3 white Angel, 3/3 green Elk, 4/4 red Scorpion Dragon, X/X green Elemental, / Blue Ox
• Some of the planes with legendary Villains in this set: Dominaria, Eldraine, Fiora, Innistrad, Ixalan, Kaladesh, Kaldheim, Kamigawa, New Capenna, and Ravnica

Next, here are some rules text that will be showing up on cards:

• “Then repeat this process X more times.”
• “if it wasn’t cast or no mana was spent to cast it.”
• “Plotting cards from your hand costs {2} less.”
• “You can’t cast this spell during your first, second, or third turns of the game.”
• “That card gains flashback {0}”
• “Target creature becomes a white Rabbit with a base power and toughness 0/1.”
• “When you win that flip, copy that spell.”
• “If a triggered ability of a legendary creature you control triggers, that ability triggers an additional time.”
• “you get that many additional upkeep steps after this phase.”
• “Oxen you control have double strike.”

Here are some creature type lines from the set:

• Creature – Armadillo
• Creature – Shark Rogue
• Creature – Plant Bard
• Creature – Coyote
• Creature – Homarid Mercenary
• Creature – Rhino Brawler
• Creature – Ox Angel
• Creature – Porcupine Mount
• Legendary Creature – Kor Advisor
• Legendary Creature – Giant Scout

Finally, here are some names in the set:

• Claim Jumper
• Form a Posse
• Gold Rush
• Great Train Heist
• High Noon
• Quick Draw
• Reach for the Sky
• Resilient Roadrunner
• Shoot the Sheriff
• This Town Ain’t Big Enough

Tune-in to our official YouTube and Twitch channels on 3/26 to see Oko and the gang in action with new card reveals. In preparation, catch-up on Outlaws of Thunder Junction’s story (https://magic.wizards.com/en/story) to bring yourself into the world.

Another prolific Magic artist that has a Kickstarter running, if you wanted a playmat with her art now's the time to grab it!

Johannes Voss, a rather prolific Magic artist has opened a Kickstarter for his latest batch of sparkly tokens. Usually given out as rewards on his Patreon, they can now be picked up in any amount or combination of tokens until the Kickstarter ends in April

Previews start March 26

Hey there! I'm new to paper MTG and play Commander with my playgroup. We've been having a debate about whether the total value of a deck really indicates how strong it is. One of my friends argues that value doesn't equal strength, but I can't help but wonder when I keep losing to a deck with a higher price tag than mine.

I've been playing 1v1 games with my friend for a few months now, so I know their deck almost as well as mine. It can be frustrating when I can predict their moves but still can't win with my basic deck. I understand the point that a couple of expensive cards in a deck won't guarantee a win, but when a deck is upgraded with so many pricey cards, it feels like a whole different ball game.

For reference, we both started with precons, and both upgraded. I spent $20, they spent $120+. Inputing my deck list in a deck value calculator returns $103, which is lower than their upgrade alone lol

I don't mind losing when the match is good. I hate losing when I'm always on the backfoot and can't do much besides hoping to survive another turn

What are your thoughts on this? I'd love to hear different perspectives on the relationship between deck value and strength in the game.

edit: I received more responses than I expected, so I'll need some time to go through them all and respond. Thank you in advance!