Selecting 8th: Blowing up the world

[Azreal the Soulmaster]

Sorry PJ, beat ya to it

Well Birds are in Elves are out.

We have a choice of Obliterate and Jokulhaups. I'm torn on this one. It comes down to: Do you want to blow up the world for 6 mana? or do you want assurance in your mass destruction?

Persecute: Real-World quotes Got any? I'd like to see what you guys can come up with. On a plus side they're going back to the D Alexander Gregory Persecute art.

And finally Steal Artifact art. I think that the piece where the person is running away, is better done. The other piece does focus more on the actually stealing of the artifact, as opposed to the escape.

 

[Chaos Turtle]

Here is the text I suggested:

"Of all the tyrannies on human kind
The worst is that which persecutes the mind."

-- John Dryden, The Hind and the Panther

 

[Istanbul]

CT's flavor text deserves to win.

I am SO disappointed in Magic players. The vote shouldn't have gone that way, and it DEFINITELY shouldn't have been such a big margin.

Obliterate. Definitely Obliterate. If you're gonna blow up the world, BLOW IT UP!

 

[rkoelsch]

I can really understand arguments for both sides but it should have been closer. I think too many were thinking with their wallet and not what would be best for the game. I will vote obliterate since they probably won't bring armaggedon back so soon.

 

[Spiderman]

This is a toughie. Both look pretty good. So going with my reasons behind voting and seeing what will fit in may decks (namely my Manabarbs deck), I usually lock down my opponent with Winter Orb/Armageddon and I don't need to take 2 extra damage with Obliterate, so Jokulhaups gets the nod.

 

[Mikeymike]

Obliterate for sure - untargetability on a mass destruction spell is one of the coolest things Wizards ever did. Its slow, but at 6 mana Jokulhaups is no jack rabbit either.

 

[Notepad]

Damn I hate those results from the last vote. But anyway, we have a nice vote this time around. Easy, but nice.

===Obliterate versus Jokulhaups===
Pretty easy choice: Obliterate. Anybody who'd ever played the great Obliterate decks or seen them in action knows how much that "can't be countered" claus helps out. Nothing to really argue about.

Unfortunately, neither of these cards matter much anymore. Not only have we lost the 6th Edition sac lands, but by the time 8th comes along, the Invasion sac lands will be gone, too.

The artwork vote is a little sad. Neither of them is really that good. They're equal if you take into account the lameness of each, and the relatively small coolness of each. Who even cares about the outcome of this? I certainly don't. I wish they'd let us vote out this p.o.s. card instead of vote for our choice of two bad artworks.

The quote text, now this rocks! Finally, more classic quotes in Magic! I'm looking forward to seeing the result of this one!

 

[Purple_jester]

Obliterate or Jokuhaups?

One can't be countered, but that horrendous 8 mana cost says that it will be used as an emergency reset button and nothing else.

The Haups suffers from the power of blue, but it can be used sooner and in conjuction with other spells. Of course, this all depends on the number of sacrificial mana sources they provide in 8th edition and Onslaught block.

I'll vote Jokuhaups. I don't play competetively, so none of my red decks need a reset sideboard.

PS. I'm sad to see the elves go. I guess I'll have to use Lyrists in my W/G instead of them once 8th comes swinging by. The vote was skewed from the start. Too bad.

PPS. I'll be happy to provide any orphaned Llanowars a home once they're no longer T2 legal.

 

[Azreal the Soulmaster]

Wow CT, thats a nice quote. This is what I came up with...but i like yours better.

A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.
Oscar Wilde from The Picture of Dorian Gray



And I think you're right SeFRo. This art choice, just like the last one, goblin chariot, is kinda lame. Personally I'd like to vote on Fallen Angel.....as I hate hate the 7th artwork

 

[EricBess]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and get additional oppinions before I actually vote. However, at this point, I'm tempted to vote Jokulhaups and I'll tell you why, but like I said, I want opinions before I actually vote.

It was mentioned with one of the first votes that Rewind would be a replacement to Counterspell. If this is the case, then it looks as if 2 mana counterspells are no longer going to be part of the standard (T2) environment. If that is the case, then control takes a serious hit.

Now, don't get me wrong, blue has been incredibly powerful for quite a while, but it will be relegated to more of a splash or a minor theme with the blue mage needing to be more creative to gain control than they previously were.

This vote comes down to how much blue hate do you want in the environment. 2 more mana buys you a guarentee, but it also means that the card is harder to put in a deck. If blue is getting significantly weaker by the removal of it's staple card, will that be enough on it's own?

Anyway, opinions please, but I'm leaning toward Jokulhaups.

 

[rkoelsch]

I don't think that rewind will replace counterspell. Randy might want that but I think it is too radical a move to do. A lot of pro tour players are control players. they love UU Counterspell. That being said I look as Obliterate as being sideboard blue hate. As was previously mentioned unless the environment slows down drastically or they put grim monolith in 8th these spells are too slow to see constructed play. so that being said I voted obliterate. When I want to reset, I want to reset!

 

[Thallid Ice Cream Man]

I like Ice Age better, so although I admit I don't really care one way or another about this vote, I voted for Jokulhaups.

As the two Steal Artifact art choices are not very good in my opinion, I voted for the older one for the sake of voting against 7th.

I'm scouring the copy of Crime and Punishment I read a year ago for a good quotation on Persecute...
Unfortunately as it's a recent translation there might be copyright problems (even though the Russian version is 136 years old)...

8th might well be interesting. We'll see...

 

[Chaos Turtle]

I wish I knew whether Counterspell was getting the boot. If it is, I really wish Dismiss had won over Rewind.

Hopefully Onslaught will have a mana elf in it (like Ice Age's Fyndhorn Elves) to make up for the travesty of the latest vote. Maybe they will wait until the following standalone though, just to see what the environment looks like.

I chose Obliterate despite it's high cost to play and the apparent speeding up of the environment. I just like cards that say "can't be countered" on them. Jokuhaups is probably the better card, though both may suffer if there are no lands that can produce two mana in the coming environment.

I'm glad some of you like the quote I picked. My two previous submisions were kind of lame.

 

[theorgg]

My flavor text:

Yet if hope has flown away/In a night, or in a day,/In a vision, or in none,/Is it therefore the less gone?
-Edgar Allan Poe, A Dream Within A Dream


I thought it was good due to the feather in the artwork... Y'know, Hope's flown away, and the last line seems to work very well with the effect of Persecute

I also went with Jolklehaups, because Obliterate causes two additional lands to be killed, and has many times JUST been out of my reach when I needed a reset in my red decks.

 

[Chaos Turtle]

That is one of my favorite poems of all time, Orgg! It would be a good choice too.

 

[Sammy Dead-O]

I voted Obliterate. I think those spells are coolest when used in decks designed around them (as opposed to sideboard reset, although I suppose Obliterate might be better there too). When you're depending on that spell for your deck's whole strategy, you really want it to resolve.

Also, in a somewhat related vein, I don't think we need to worry about blue and its ability to counter efficiently. I have a feeling it'll be a long time before the blue mage isn't treated quite nicely with the countermagic available among the base set and expansions.

The lack of sac lands once Invasion is gone is a concern, however. Does anyone think we'll get some sac lands (the mono ones or the Invasion ones) or the Masques depletion lands in Eighth? I like having suicide lands in the environment.

Oh, and the other stuff: I voted for the "escape" art for Steal Artifact, although it matters not much to me. And for the quote...haven't submitted anything yet, but you folks have come up with some great stuff!

 

[Notepad]

I think we'll see some sort of "suicidal lands" in Onslaught block. Mercadian brought the depletions. Invasion brough its "sac for friends" lands. Odyssey brought in the sac for any mana lands. Hopefully, they'lll return to the "get two for one" rather than "get anything" model. But surely, we should see suicidal lands again.

 

[Shiro, Time Devourer]

If you want to blow up the world, then be complete about it. I like Obliterate, but a card that says "destroy all permanents, including enchantments, no regeneration" would be perfect for 8.

 

[BigBlue]

Blowing up the world, Jok vs Ob?

No, they blew up the world of magic by pitting Tourney Combo vs Green goodness.

At any rate, Jok garnered my vote. And I love the way they've finally pitted two unlimited art pics, so one will definately win. Up til now its been all limited art winning.

 

[Notepad]

Hindsight is 20/20 eh?

Man, if only we knew countering would be neutered, we could have gone for the cost-friendly Jok.

>> Hopefully, they'lll return to the "get two for one" rather than "get anything" model. But surely, we should see suicidal lands again.

Man, was I right about sac lands or what? Of course, I was DEAD WRONG on what exactly they'd be sac'd for... DOH!