Fake Card: Fumigation, Colorless Instant!!

[evan d]

*Mirrodin*Cough*Mirrodin*Ravager affinity*Cough*

 

[DarthFerret]

Sorry...remember me, guy who has not bought cards since Planeshift!....LOL......

 

[Force of Will Smith]

protection from colorless.. nah.. cause there'd only be like 7 or 8 spells and theyd be global.

 

[Oversoul]

So yeah. As you can probably tell, Darthferret, they did the artifact-heavy block thing and made a lot of really good cards. Mirrodin was easly the most broken block since Urza's block. It wasn't so bad as Urza's for broken cards, but it has had quite the impact on every tournament format where it can be used, from my understanding. I guess it probably wasn't too bad for Extended (ask an Extended Player) and Type 1.5 was recently rearranged entirely (turned from a wannabe Type I format with few players into the best format for casual players--which is obviously an opinion, but I don't think the other formats can match up to it at all when it comes to access for casual players). But everywhere else, Mirrodin has been running rampant. The block has had nine cards banned in Standard and has changed pretty much every viable deck in Vintage...

No colorless instants in it though...

 

[Force of Will Smith]

yup cause it was about artifacts.. and not breaking barriers.. and having artifact instants could allow you to tutor for them... or do some really bizarre things..

 

[DarthFerret]

Ok, so I stand corrected (I am actually sitting). Thanks for that information. Maybe I should look into aquiring Mirrodin then. I have liked most of the cards I have seen from Urza's Block (albiet very few), and I thought Planeshift was pretty weak unless you base your whole deck around the set.

 

[Oversoul]

Just keep in mind that any set from Invasion to Fifth Dawn is going to me largely unsophisticated, with tons of cards focusing on the same particular thing (depending on the block).

However, as far as brokenness goes, Mirrodin block is certainly the best place to look since Urza's block.

 

[Spiderman]

And not long after that, we'll be seeing cards with "protection from colorless." Ugh...

Well, we got protection from lands and protection from Kavu (a specific creature type). Anything's possible.

DarthFerret: Did you get my cards yet? There's a lot of Mirrodin in them...

yup cause it was about artifacts.. and not breaking barriers.. and having artifact instants could allow you to tutor for them... or do some really bizarre things.

I think Mirrodin was more "broken" because of the affinity mechanic which cheapened a card's cc. Out of 9 cards, five are from the same vein, the Artifact Lands. And at least one, Skullclamp has to do with card-drawing, another area that always is prone to being broken.

 

[DarthFerret]

Spiderman: Yeah, got them just last week, but have not had a chance to more than glance at them. I have to go get a sales license, get my orientation out of the way for my new job, then I should be able to settle down into a routine and spend some time with my cards. By the way, a big huge thank you for that!

 

[Oversoul]

I think Mirrodin was more "broken" because of the affinity mechanic which cheapened a card's cc. Out of 9 cards, five are from the same vein, the Artifact Lands. And at least one, Skullclamp has to do with card-drawing, another area that always is prone to being broken.

While what you say definitely has merit, I think you might be overstating Affinity's role. The affinity mechanic played a huge role, but it wasn't the reason that Mirrodin block was broken.

Firstly, keep in mind the reason that eight of the nine cards banned in Standard were banned. It was not because they were dominant, but because they were not "fun." That may or may not mean that the cards are "broken."

Skullclamp and Arcbound Ravager. Also, the two cards were made for each other, even if it was not intended, the synergy is obvious (like Opalescence and Replenish in Urza's Destiny). don't really have much to do with Affinity--except that they were used in decks which also used Affinity. Skullclamp and Arcbound Ravager are just broken by themselves. Affinity made this worse. Time Spiral and Frantic Search made Tolarian Academy's brokenness more pronounced, but that doesn't mean that the "free" mechanic was primarily responsible for the brokenness in Urza's block.

And the Vintage version of Affinity has not had a great role in defining the environment. But Control Slavery is arguably the best deck in the format right now. It uses several cards from Mirrodin block. The first decklist I looked up for it uses: Mindslaver, Darksteel Citadel, Pentavus, Platinum Angel, Crucible of Worlds, and Thirst for Knowledge.

Sundering Titan is a favored bomb in Vintage and has completely changed the way dual lands and basic lands are used.

Darksteel Colossus is now a favorite card for use with Tinker--perhaps surpassing even Memory Jar in that regard.

The Trinket Mage Auriok Salvagers combo alongside the spellbombs have made some minor impact and stand to make more...

Night's Whisper is commonly seen card-drawing (note to self: get hands on a playset of them) that partially replaces the infamous Accumulated Knowledge.

Chalice of the Void is famous enough that I don't need to point out how annoying it is. Chrome Mox is even more famous.

Trinisphere is restricted in Vintage. Before that, it was in every Workshop deck worth using.

Glimmervoid is wonderful.

Eternal Witness is one of the best bombs for Survival decks.

Then there are the reprints like Triskelion, Ornithopter and Juggernaut.

Affinity has of course been ridiculous. But I think Mirrodin block is generally great as far as powerful cards go...

 

[Spiderman]

DarthFerret: No problem. Hope you enjoy them

Oversoul:

Firstly, keep in mind the reason that eight of the nine cards banned in Standard were banned. It was not because they were dominant, but because they were not "fun." That may or may not mean that the cards are "broken."

They were banned in Standard because that was the only option - there isn't a Restricted List.

I didn't mean to lump Skullclamp with Affinity - it kinda just happened to go in the same paragraph that talked about the Affinity lands. It was the card drawing that made it "broken" (and perhaps its cheap cc since cheap cc and card drawing usually equal close to breaking).

But I think Mirrodin block is generally great as far as powerful cards go...

I'm not arguing that. Didn't the designers and previews say that this block would have the greatest impact on all the formats in a while? There were some skeptics, but I think it's lived up to its hype. Rosewater and company as designers wanted to push the envelope a little more than it had been and as always, when you push the envelope, sometimes it breaks in certain case while in others it just bends very strongly.

 

[DarthFerret]

Plus keep in mind, that no matter how many times R & D playtest certain cards and abilities, there will always be someone out there that can warp and twist it to do something really nasty with something that seemed mild.

 

[Oversoul]

They were banned in Standard because that was the only option - there isn't a Restricted List.

I didn't mean to lump Skullclamp with Affinity - it kinda just happened to go in the same paragraph that talked about the Affinity lands. It was the card drawing that made it "broken" (and perhaps its cheap cc since cheap cc and card drawing usually equal close to breaking).

I didn't mean that they should have been restricted in Standard or something like that. I just meant that the fact that even though cards from the affinity deck were banned, eight of them were banned with the explanation that they were not fun. Without going into whether or not that was a good enough reason for banning them (I think it was, since they were losing money from affinity's presence), I was merely trying to point out that they were not banned for the normal reason--being too good (although one might still argue that they really are too good).

Yeah, I can see now from your post that you weren't trying to lump Skullclamp in with Affinity...

 

[Spiderman]

I just meant that the fact that even though cards from the affinity deck were banned, eight of them were banned with the explanation that they were not fun.

True, but as Aaron Forsythe explained and as you said it yourself, "fun" could mean broken or not. And I put my broken in quotes originally to sort of cover that whole gray area (of whether they were truly broken or not).

Fact is, they apparently pushed the boundaries too far with the current card pool.

 

[Oversoul]

Fact is, they apparently pushed the boundaries too far with the current card pool.

That's the best summation of it I've seen yet.

They did push a few individual cards (PSYCHATOG!) and mechanics (storm, madness) too far before Mirrodin (and after Urza's block, of course). But the sets themselves were mostly pretty tame...

 

[Spiderman]

I'm not sure if it matters, but just to be clear, when I said "they" in that statement, I meant the 9 cards that were banned, not WOTC or some other "they" In other words - Mirrodin was a cool block that pushed the boundaries and some certain cards went over the edge and were too "strong" for the current environment.

 

[DarthFerret]

Careful there Spidey, They are always watching and waiting.

 

[Spiderman]

Heh, not here. They figured out we were harmless long ago...

 

[evan d]

They keep talking to me even though i dont see any one.

 

[DarthFerret]

evan d, it doesn't matter how good it sounds at the time, doing what Theytell you is probably not a good idea!