Oath of the Gatewatch Card Image Gallery
Oath of the Gatewatch Card Image Gallery
- Thread starter Spiderman
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Oversoul
The Tentacled One
Am I the only one left feeling that this block is underwhelming? I've been buying a lot of cards and I'll be buying some of this set, but if this turns out to be a trend, I'll be leaving new sets alone and focusing on singles from better sets.
Incidentally, for those who don't know, some of this set's contents were leaked, which has happened before. This time, there's been some uproar because of the particulars, but I'm not really invested in any of that, and by now many of the cards have officially been spoiled anyway...
I've sort of been analyzing Mirrodin Block cards, partially for deckbuilding purposes. It struck me that not only was the block pretty cool, with a lot to offer, but that the spiritual sequel, Scars of Mirrodin Block, had even more to offer. Wizards of the Coast did a really good job of preserving what was good about the original block, adding new ideas to fit their theme of the Phyrexian invasion, and tying it all together to build sets that invoked what had come before while still providing something new. Of course, neither the original '03-'04 block, nor the '10-'11 reprise were perfect, but they both provided something new and interesting to the game. They had fun mechanics, a variety of options, and weren't too heavy on cards that were overpowered or underpowered. Yeah, the original Mirrodin Block, much like Urza's Block before it, had a few broken cards that stood out in people's minds and left people associating the sets with "mistake." But such cards were really the exception, not the norm, and some of the supposed mistakes were overstated or misattributed. I'm of the opinion that sets weighted more toward good cards rather than chaff are worth the price of a few broken cards. I might be in the minority on that, but I shouldn't be. And in any case, Scars of Mirrodin showed the improvement that WotC had made to their design and development over seven years, with fewer cards that were overpowered or underpowered and more good stuff across the board. If left me thinking, "Wow, WotC really learned how to make Magic."
Strictly speaking, I'm not a fan of what I've seen called the "World Tour" that we've been on for what is now most of Magic's history. You know, where each new block either finds some flimsy plot excuse to take us to a new plane or back to one we've already visited that is changing in some way. But as far as gameplay goes, I appreciated how WotC balanced new creations with existing concepts in cases like Scars of Mirrodin Block and Return to Ravnica Block, bringing things back, but different and generally better (I don't mean better in the sense of power necessarily, but in the sense of making for a fun game). And now we get the current block. It's another reprisal block or sequel block or return block or whatever you want to call it, and thematically, it makes some sense to use the mechanics they've made to emphasize the changing nature of the war against the Eldrazi. But these sets just seem to be full of bland, mediocre cards!
Incidentally, for those who don't know, some of this set's contents were leaked, which has happened before. This time, there's been some uproar because of the particulars, but I'm not really invested in any of that, and by now many of the cards have officially been spoiled anyway...
I've sort of been analyzing Mirrodin Block cards, partially for deckbuilding purposes. It struck me that not only was the block pretty cool, with a lot to offer, but that the spiritual sequel, Scars of Mirrodin Block, had even more to offer. Wizards of the Coast did a really good job of preserving what was good about the original block, adding new ideas to fit their theme of the Phyrexian invasion, and tying it all together to build sets that invoked what had come before while still providing something new. Of course, neither the original '03-'04 block, nor the '10-'11 reprise were perfect, but they both provided something new and interesting to the game. They had fun mechanics, a variety of options, and weren't too heavy on cards that were overpowered or underpowered. Yeah, the original Mirrodin Block, much like Urza's Block before it, had a few broken cards that stood out in people's minds and left people associating the sets with "mistake." But such cards were really the exception, not the norm, and some of the supposed mistakes were overstated or misattributed. I'm of the opinion that sets weighted more toward good cards rather than chaff are worth the price of a few broken cards. I might be in the minority on that, but I shouldn't be. And in any case, Scars of Mirrodin showed the improvement that WotC had made to their design and development over seven years, with fewer cards that were overpowered or underpowered and more good stuff across the board. If left me thinking, "Wow, WotC really learned how to make Magic."
Strictly speaking, I'm not a fan of what I've seen called the "World Tour" that we've been on for what is now most of Magic's history. You know, where each new block either finds some flimsy plot excuse to take us to a new plane or back to one we've already visited that is changing in some way. But as far as gameplay goes, I appreciated how WotC balanced new creations with existing concepts in cases like Scars of Mirrodin Block and Return to Ravnica Block, bringing things back, but different and generally better (I don't mean better in the sense of power necessarily, but in the sense of making for a fun game). And now we get the current block. It's another reprisal block or sequel block or return block or whatever you want to call it, and thematically, it makes some sense to use the mechanics they've made to emphasize the changing nature of the war against the Eldrazi. But these sets just seem to be full of bland, mediocre cards!
T
Terentius
Guest
I was out of the game from Ravnica through Innistrad blocks, and before that I was playing with sets long after their release. This topic, that is what all goes into a set/block and the impact it has on the various competitive constructed and limited formats, is way too broad for me to give an analysis on. But in short, yes I am underwhelmed by the set. Most of the sub-apex Eldrazi suck unless you actually have pieces of the triumvirate (which are incredibly hard to get), man-lands don't enthuse me because I hate getting 2-for-1'd, and the Planeswalkers are meh. Some of the creatures are pretty nifty. I think the best block since I came back in 2013 has been Return to Ravnica.