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Well, that takes me back. I read a book in college, but I can't remember the name. The author used some concrete examples of how Modern observers had blatantly discounted certain ancient works and been wrong to do so. I can remember some of the examples from the book, but not the title or the...

Definitely. I think it's kind of a combination of Mark Rosewater's points 2 & 4. Some cards just won't ever appeal to one person, but are useful to another. And sometimes people just understimate a card. I remember at one point quietly objecting to a player dismissing Cloud of Faeries as a bad...

In my experience, Spiderman is merely forgetful, not retaliatory. :p

One of the earliest famous Necro decks was piloted by Graham Tatomer in the Junior Division of the Pro Tour. He won. There was speculation that his deck was stronger than any of the decks in the regular Pro Tour. It was also famous in part because some of the participants in the Junior Division...

About historical Necropotence decklists, and I'd have saved more of the ones I really liked over the years if I'd known I was going to start this thread, there are definitely some quirky issues to take note of. I'll try to do a little digging and provide some reasonable context for all of this...

Done. Spidey: 14 Hand: 7 Library: 51 Battlefield: (U) Azorius Guildgate (~ ETB tapped.; T: Add U or W to my mana pool) (T) Azorius Guildgate (~ ETB tapped.; T: Add U or W to my mana pool) Graveyard: Exile: ================================================================================...

UUD... Swamp, tap Necropolis for U, tap Swamp, use that and the mana from the scheme to cast Icefall Regent, attack Spidey with the Horror token, done. Nicol Bolas, God Emperor of Dune: 40 Command Zone: Hand: 6 Library: 51 Battlefield: (T) Swamp (T) Crumbling Necropolis (~ etb tapped...

I don't know how much you've been following the situation with their "leak" on this set, but most of the set has already been revealed at this point. I'm not just seeing the first few cards and making extrapolations about the whole set. I think like 60% of the set, in terms of card text (not...

Your post here includes a couple of cards that will be turning up in my "I Have No Memory" articles. So of course I'd be interested to try out something like this. I assume that the setup is too elaborate to compete in Modern tournament play, although I have a poor feel for that format. Of...

As much as the power of the card might get exaggerated, Necropotence really is three mana for an enchantment that can keep refilling your hand at the end of your turn. Sure, it costs life, but that's still a pretty big deal. Maybe some kind of aggressive black/red deck? Modern has a lot of cards...

Seems like they've kinda built these sagas up to be a big deal. They're different from what's come before and I don't know how to evaluate them. They seem kinda weak (because they're too slow) to me right now, but I'm hoping that I'm underestimating them...

Hm, I remember we discussed Mogg Squad in the Hall of Shame stuff, but the bulk of that discussion was on a broader topic. I do think that Mogg Squad is among the worst cards of all time and that people who think they see value in its efficiency for its mana cost are severely underestimating the...

Hm, I'm glad you point that out. I actually agree with that. It's true that someone, myself for instance, not being privy to the inside minutiae, can't really know the full significance of the motivations behind the various decisions going on when cards and sets are designed. On that point, we...

I hadn't even thought of the same principle being used in other games! I don't know if it's a coincidence or what... Right. And the point I want to emphasize there is that it's a very old card too. It came from a time when everyone, including WotC, knew less about the general consequences of...

Yeah, Necropotence can only be activated if you have at least 1 life to pay, but the card that does have a pretty good combo, er, aggro synergy with Angel's Grace is Ad Nauseam. It causes you to lose life, which isn't the same as having you pay life, so you can go ahead and bleed out all you...

The only loot that seems to be had up in the trees is this thing, which you spotted before you were so rudely interrupted by dryads... Cloak of Deception Attacks against the wearer are at -1 to hit. If the to-hit roll is a natural 6, the power of the cloak is exhausted for the rest of the...

It wasn't a phrase used in the rules! These days, Rule 514.1 has the first thing that happens in the cleanup step: "First, if the active player’s hand contains more cards than his or her maximum hand size (normally seven), he or she discards enough cards to reduce his or her hand size to that...

Fun fact: Spellbook with Necropotence was a giant nonbo back then. The core set reprints of Spellbook and the Oracle text say "You have no maximum hand size." But the original Exodus printing came out during Fifth Edition Rules, and "maximum hand size" wasn't part of the game rules yet. The card...

In context is where it's a problem. To start with, it's just awkward to have a wizard with no abilities. Something, even an only marginally useful ability, could indicate that yes, it's a wizard because it does magic and that ability represents the magic it does. So it's kind of an annoying...

In the Dominaria previews thread, the topic of Mark Rosewater's 2002 "When Cards to Bad" article came up. This topic has been revisited by Mark Rosewater in various media many times, and I can kind of see why. Our context was a bit muddled: I wasn't actually citing any cards as "bad cards."...