Okay, before I start this, let me say that this is about Magic: The Gathering (for basic information, it's on Wikipedia), which is the original TCG, and is still the best. Because of the genius of the color wheel, it is probably the most balanced game ever made, in any medium or genre. On top of the color wheel, the game really is amazing in that there is pretty much infinite room for it to expand and grow, in terms of mechanics and otherwise.
The newest set Shadowmoor, takes that concept and really goes with it. There's a lot of really cool ingenuity in the set, and I want to take a little bit of time to take a look at this.
That out of the way, onto the cards. For those of you who follow the official (or unofficial) previews, these won't be anything new. But if you're not, prepare yourself. Your mind is about to be blown.
I'm going to start off with this badass. It doesn't need an introduction, its awesomeness speaks for itself.
More like the Godhead of Awesome. For the most part, this card could be in a lot of other sets. It's pretty straightforward. But wait- what's that? Indeed, the Ravnica dual-colors make a return. This is a little sooner than I expected, actually, but I'm glad to see it. It's a really amazing design mechanic and it's one of the reasons I loved Ravnica so much. The team really did a great job taking Magic to a whole new level without changing the game at all. And it works so well, and smoothly, it doesn't feel out of place.
That out of the way, the "Other creatures are 1/1." is an awesome ability on its own. But beyond that, it ties into another one of the block's themes: -1/-1 counters. Take a look at this bad boy:
Cool, he works well with blue and black creatures. A 2/2 with flying and persist for 3 isn't bad. ...persist? Take some time to read the reminder text on the card and let that sink in. It doesn't take very long, does it? This new keyword ability is probably one of the best one I have seen in a long time, in terms of pure grokkability (understandability). It's totally fluid, and has a lot of design potential. On top of that, it fits into a sub-theme of -1/-1 counters, which is a counter type that we really haven't seen much of.
Of course, -1/-1 counters can be more than a way of shrinking your own creatures.
This guy comes into play with -1/-1 counters and allows you to throw them onto your opponent's guys, and he certainly won't be the only card of this kind in the set. I really like the potential of -1/-1 counters, since they can he used as a resource of sorts as well as a tactic to eliminate threats. And combined with the Godhead of Awesome, they work as some really useful removal.
There's another thing puzzling about this card, though... That symbol. The reminder text on the card tells us that it's an untap symbol.
This card actually isn't as complex or fancy as the one before it, but I saw this one first, and it was really my holy shit card of the set, and the card that made me decide that I like Shadowmoor. As soon as I read those words "untap symbol", I pretty much creamed my pants. For the most part, I'll leave it to you to ponder upon the possibilities of untapping as an activation cost, but I just have to remark that, as a control player, and as a Johnny, I'm really excited to play with this.
I know that the idea of untapping has been used before, but seeing it as its own symbol is game-changing, like those dual-color symbols. Speaking of which, I have one last card to take a look at. It brings us back to where we started, but again expands on a mechanic in a way that seems both totally original and entirely natural.
Oh yeah, single-colored dual-mana icons. Mhmhmhmh, so tasty. So many possibilities...
So far, Shadowmoor is looking to be a great set. I'm actually really excited for it, and I might even go to a draft or two. There's a lot of room for creativity, it seems, and it's that sort of thing that really appeals to me in a set. There are clear themes and mechanics, but it looks like they're not being forced on us this time around, and we're being given a lot of room to just explore and have fun with them.
I lost a little faith after Lorwyn. But Shadowmoor is proof that no matter how hard Magic falls, it always manages to bring itself back.
The newest set Shadowmoor, takes that concept and really goes with it. There's a lot of really cool ingenuity in the set, and I want to take a little bit of time to take a look at this.
First off, a brief history of my own experience playing magic. For those of you familiar with the game, this will make sense. For those of you who aren't familiar, skip this paragraph since you'll just be confused. I started with the Weatherlight cycle, played for a while and eventually took a break from the game until high school, where I really started again with the Invasion block and that's when I really got into the game. I loved Odyssey, and starting with it, I bought a booster box of each set with its release (My stepdad was friendly with the owner of a local comic store, so I was usually able to get a box when it arrived, a few days before the official release. Naturally this made me the cool kid among my group of players at school). My last of these boxes was Mirrodin, which really killed the love I had for the game. Onslaught had started the trend, but it wasn't too bad. Mirrodin was overkill. It had a theme that was all-too-obvious and forced you to create decks based around it. Deckbuilding is my favorite aspect of the game, and the metal plane set didn't allow you any freedom if you didn't want to use artifacts. This coincided with the frame change, which isn't that big of a deal, but it caused a lot of the "Magic's dead" panic. I also graduated from high school around the same time, so I stopped playing for a couple of years. I started up again late in the Ravnica block, and really got back into the game with Time Spiral, two blocks that really brought back the spirit of the game for me. Lorwyn just killed it again, going a little overboard on the creature type theme. In fact, I often say that Lorwyn feels like a combination of Onslaught and Mirrodin. Going with that, I didn't have high hopes for Shadowmoor. The other day I couldn't help myself, and took a gander at the previews for the new set. And by golly, if Lorwyn is Onslaught and Mirrodin, Shadowmoor looks like Ravnica and Time Spiral. Hell, that sounds good to me.
That out of the way, onto the cards. For those of you who follow the official (or unofficial) previews, these won't be anything new. But if you're not, prepare yourself. Your mind is about to be blown.
I'm going to start off with this badass. It doesn't need an introduction, its awesomeness speaks for itself.
http://bb.xieke.com/files/godhdead_.jpg[/img]
More like the Godhead of Awesome. For the most part, this card could be in a lot of other sets. It's pretty straightforward. But wait- what's that? Indeed, the Ravnica dual-colors make a return. This is a little sooner than I expected, actually, but I'm glad to see it. It's a really amazing design mechanic and it's one of the reasons I loved Ravnica so much. The team really did a great job taking Magic to a whole new level without changing the game at all. And it works so well, and smoothly, it doesn't feel out of place.
That out of the way, the "Other creatures are 1/1." is an awesome ability on its own. But beyond that, it ties into another one of the block's themes: -1/-1 counters. Take a look at this bad boy:
http://bb.xieke.com/files/wingrattle_.jpg[/img]
Cool, he works well with blue and black creatures. A 2/2 with flying and persist for 3 isn't bad. ...persist? Take some time to read the reminder text on the card and let that sink in. It doesn't take very long, does it? This new keyword ability is probably one of the best one I have seen in a long time, in terms of pure grokkability (understandability). It's totally fluid, and has a lot of design potential. On top of that, it fits into a sub-theme of -1/-1 counters, which is a counter type that we really haven't seen much of.
Of course, -1/-1 counters can be more than a way of shrinking your own creatures.
http://bb.xieke.com/files/leech_.jpg[/img]
This guy comes into play with -1/-1 counters and allows you to throw them onto your opponent's guys, and he certainly won't be the only card of this kind in the set. I really like the potential of -1/-1 counters, since they can he used as a resource of sorts as well as a tactic to eliminate threats. And combined with the Godhead of Awesome, they work as some really useful removal.
There's another thing puzzling about this card, though... That symbol. The reminder text on the card tells us that it's an untap symbol.
http://bb.xieke.com/files/wavebreakers_.jpg[/img]
This card actually isn't as complex or fancy as the one before it, but I saw this one first, and it was really my holy shit card of the set, and the card that made me decide that I like Shadowmoor. As soon as I read those words "untap symbol", I pretty much creamed my pants. For the most part, I'll leave it to you to ponder upon the possibilities of untapping as an activation cost, but I just have to remark that, as a control player, and as a Johnny, I'm really excited to play with this.
I know that the idea of untapping has been used before, but seeing it as its own symbol is game-changing, like those dual-color symbols. Speaking of which, I have one last card to take a look at. It brings us back to where we started, but again expands on a mechanic in a way that seems both totally original and entirely natural.
http://bb.xieke.com/files/beseech_.jpg[/img]
Oh yeah, single-colored dual-mana icons. Mhmhmhmh, so tasty. So many possibilities...
So far, Shadowmoor is looking to be a great set. I'm actually really excited for it, and I might even go to a draft or two. There's a lot of room for creativity, it seems, and it's that sort of thing that really appeals to me in a set. There are clear themes and mechanics, but it looks like they're not being forced on us this time around, and we're being given a lot of room to just explore and have fun with them.
I lost a little faith after Lorwyn. But Shadowmoor is proof that no matter how hard Magic falls, it always manages to bring itself back.