MTG

cross-posted from !limited@mtgzone.com: https://mtgzone.com/post/380788

Key points for RVR draft:

All the cards in the set are reprints from previous sets happening on Ravnica. If you’we been around for a while, you know what that plane is all about. If not, there’s a single most important thing to keep in mind: There are ten 2-color guilds, each with its own signature theme.

So, in the vast majority of drafts, you want to be drafting a 2-color deck. However, it’s perfectly reasonable to splash a bomb, from a adjacent guild. For example, say you’re playing Selesnya (green-white). You could easily play Assemble the Legion. That’s possible, as there’s plenty of mana fixing available.

Keep in mind, that each card in your deck should ideally met at least one of the following criteria:

• It works well with your guild’s theme, or;
• It’s just a strong card on its own.

Obviously, if both conditions are met, that’s especially great. So, let’s take a look at the archetypes and figure what each archetype is trying to do.

Source: Twitter

Dave Rapoza responds to Wizards' denial of their claimed use of AI for marketing materials: https://twitter.com/wizards_magic/status/1743014711820476536

Edit: context: https://mtgzone.com/post/376725

Full image:

People noticed artifacts in the art pretty quickly:

WotC is standing by its claim but it seems doubtful that these mistakes would have been made by a human unless the artist comes out and shows their process

Twitter link

Gavin Verhey, one of the lead designers at Wizards, posted an interesting question on Twitter:

"You get to pick one Magic keyword mechanic to return in 2024. What is it?"

What are we bringing back?!

Tl;dr: they're switching from print to demand to limited print runs for Secret Lairs

I can't see how this is good. The few times I've gotten a Secret Lair I found their shipping pretty quick, and limited print runs only encourage scalpers to buy out and jack up the prices. But I feel like Wizards is fine with that as long as it creates more FOMO.

Really fantastic write-up for anyone interested in Timeless!

Hey everyone! I’m really excited to bring you my very first Timeless tier list since I’ve been absolutely loving the format and playing a ton since its release.

I do want to preface this by saying that even though the format has been around for a few weeks at this point, data is still relatively scarce so this tier list will be slightly more subjective than usual because of that. I’ve looked at as much data as possible as well as gone through a ton of lists from the community that people have been doing well with, combined with my personal experience of the format too.

There will also be some archetypes not included here if refined versions have yet to emerge (for example Tainted Pact + Thassa's Oracle is an archetype that has a lot of potential but I haven’t been able to arrive at a refined version I’m happy with and I haven’t found versions online that look fully refined either yet), so I don’t feel I can correctly assess the power level of these decks until more optimal versions have been found, but I will be updating this list once they have and as more decks and archetypes emerge.

For 30 years, Magic: The Gathering has been built on the innovation, ingenuity, and hard work of talented people who sculpt a beautiful, creative game. That isn't changing. Our internal guidelines remain the same with regard to artificial intelligence tools: We require artists, writers, and creatives contributing to the Magic TCG to refrain from using AI generative tools to create final Magic products. We work with some of the most talented artists and creatives in the world, and we believe those people are what makes Magic great.

Story continues on January 8, 2024

Timeless is a new non-rotating, Constructed format where every card on MTG Arena is legal. This includes digital-only cards, the upcoming Khans of Tarkir set release, and any future set releases. Timeless will use the re-balanced versions of all digital-only cards, but the original tabletop printings of all non-digital cards.

Timeless will be the first format on MTG Arena to have a restricted list. If a card is on the restricted list, only a single copy of that card may be included in your deck and sideboard. Cards will have to earn their place on the banned and restricted list, and only those cards that have proven to be negative fun or far too powerful will be added.

The initial restricted list for Timeless includes only the following three cards:

• Channel
• Demonic Tutor
• Tibalt's Trickery

Announcement Date: December 4, 2023

Standard:

• No changes

Pioneer:

• Karn, the Great Creator is banned.

• Geological Appraiser is banned.

• Smuggler's Copter is unbanned.

Modern:

• Fury is banned.
• Up the Beanstalk is banned.

Legacy:

• No changes

Vintage:

• No changes

Explorer:

• Karn, the Great Creator is banned.
• Geological Appraiser is banned.

Pauper:

• Monastery Swiftspear is banned.

Effective Date:

• Tabletop and Magic Online: December 4, 2023
• MTG Arena: December 5, 2023

Adapt/ simplify MTG rules for Kids

Hi! I wrote an article on my blog about adapting MTG rules for kids and I thought it would be interesting for some parents with small kids who have yet to learn how to read.

To get in context, I have a 6-years-old daughter who wanted to play with me. I tried to teach her some rules but, given that she can’t read yet, was a little hard to explain everything. Then I also realized that she didn’t like some concepts (like graveyard), so I adapted the rules in a way that, I hope, will be easier for her to understand the real rules when she grows up (and that it will be easier for me to explain).

The result is that we have played many times since and we have had fun :)

If you have improvements to the article, such as other rules, I would be happy to read them.

Cheers, and happy game :)

FYI: I also posted this on Reddit

Previously, if you opened an alternate style in draft, you could change it to the regular card image. However today i opened the battle cry vamp with an alternate art but the button to change art style in the draft deck builder is gone. Does anyone know how to do this in your draft deck now or have they removed this option?

What do you think may or may not be getting banned?

I'm thinking Geological Appraiser definitely gets hit for Pioneer, the deck is singlehandedly warping the entire meta. Not sure about Quintorious combo. Low chance but maybe hits to Mono-G or Rakdos.

Modern could be anything. Grief, Fury, Bowmasters, Ring, Beanstalk, W&6?

MaRo on complaints about competitive Magic:

Here’s a good place to voice it. I should stress that we’re spending just as many resources as we always have (if not more) on competitive play. Yes, we added a casual play design team, but never shrunk the competitive ply design team. In fact, we added people to it.

in reply to:

Hi Mark. I hope you're having a nice Monday. I think it's great that you guys are focusing more on Commander and the casualty side of Magic, which has historically been more in the background. However, I think the health of competitive is formats is being neglected. Many of the formats I used to enjoy no longer have the same compelling and engaging gameplay that they used to. At first I though it was just me, but many people feel the same way. Is there anywhere I can voice this concern? Thanks.

TL;DR:

Standard has gotten less fun as players [via Arena] create solved formats at a breakneck pace unseen before in Magic history. Combine that with a shuttering of play due to a pandemic that led to players finding non-rotating formats they could invest in due to uncertainty for when Magic play would return and you get all-time lows in Standard play.

If you've played BO1 on Arena you've probably definitely seen this deck, but it's making some waves in BO3 as well.

It's pretty simple, mull until you get a hand with either of the discover cards, lands/ramp or filtering cards to find them. An ideal hand has one of the discard-for-a-treasure sorceries, 3 lands and an Appraiser to go off turn 3, but with several of the treasure ramp cards you can also go into a turn 4 Dinosaur. Either Consign or Bedeck serves as our interaction without getting in the way of Discover.

Once you've started the discover chain, with Appraiser you'll hit either a clone (Glasspool is preferred but you can use Mirror Image if you're light on wildcards) or Eldritch Evolution. Evolution gets us to our Carnosaur, which starts the chain again but we can hit Appraiser as well. Continue until you find the last Eldritch Evolution and grab a Doomskar Titan to give everything you control +1/+0 and Haste.

Between this and Quintorious combo I feel like there's a strong chance of something getting hit on the list. Given that it's all based around Discover, could we see an errata similar to Companion? I feel like it's unlikely, given that they could have just put "if this card was cast from your hand" and not had this issue

Piped Link: https://piped.video/watch?v=-tvj5LnoA2s

This weekend is the first Arena Open since the release of the new set, and it's all about The Lost Caverns of Ixalan! Over two days, play in Sealed and Draft matches using the new set. Prove your quick grasp of the new mechanics and card interactions to reach the top and claim as much as $2,000, plus an invitation to the December Qualifier Weekend!