Mtg arena open beta

[Primarch]

Um...

Q3's Core 22 seems a bit odd?
And is the Q4 set going to be as schizophrenic (and as awesome) as it sounds?
And Time Spiral Remastered is dropping between the Viking Set and the 'Totally not Harry Potter' set. I am never going to get caught up on my Historic backlog at this rate.

[me_in_japan]

Q4: return to return to Innistrad! Yay! I’m very much looking forward to this, and would really like it if werewolves could actually, maybe, be a bit viable as an archetype for once. Because they’re cool. It’d be nice if there was a Gisa/Geralf card in there too.

As for the rest, the dnd set doesn’t really excite me all that much, but I’m sure it’ll be fine when it comes around.

Totally not HP is equally uninspiring to me, but it’ll likely be fine, too. I felt the same way about Ikoria, tbh.

Norseland, otoh, seems pretty cool. Snow lands and suchlike will be nice to see again. Also, I’m pretty sure that’s where Garruk comes from, so we’ll likely see him again. Interestingly, most of this was tin-foil-hat rumoured over on Alpha Investments (youtube) about a month or so ago. As were the Phyrexian lands from Jumpstart (way before JS was a thing.) int’restin...

Btw, is Time Spiral remastered going to be an actual set, or just on Arena? I’ve read conflicting reports.

Also, Modern Horizons 2 will be at the end of Q3, which will contain fetch lands. So, yeah...

(On which note, have you seen any hard and fast details about where fetches will be in Zendikar? So far as I can tell it’ll be one box topper per regular box and about 2-4 per box of Collector’s Boosters. But different people say different things. I’m not going to buy a box, but I’m hoping there’ll be sufficient supply to drop prices a bit.)

[Primarch]

No idea about the fetch lands thing, though I'm kind of interested in the flippable land cards coming in the set. While not quite as versatile as regular dual lands, the lack of ETB tapped is nice, so they should fit nicely into multi-coloured decks.

I had a brief look for Time Spiral, but I can't find a definite answer. As a Remastered set, it should be Arena only, but I saw one site saying that it was paper only. Guess we'll find out eventually.

[me_in_japan]

Hmmn.....

So, major thoughts time. I asked a few questions and it seems pretty reliable that there will be an expeditions rare as the box topper in every box of Zendikar 3: the zendikariest. I currently have on pre-order 24 packs of regular boosters (including a bundle box to keep em in) and 12 Set boosters, for a total of 36 packs. For abouuuuut the same price, I could get a regular booster box (including that sweet sweet Expedition.)

Do I stick with what I’ve ordered or swap em for the box o boosters?

[Primarch]

There are 30 different Expedition cards right? How many of those cards would be acceptable? Are you just hunting for 1 card, or will any be ok? If you're buying a booster box worth of cards anyway, go for it, unless the price is significantly different.

[Primarch]

Happy Yargle Day by the way.

[me_in_japan]

indeed. I've had rather a crappy run on Arena recently. Just cant seem to make decks work, even Yargle based ones. Can't bloody wait for that new Zendicard that lets black destroy enchantments for 2. Yes, it breaks the colour pie into tiny wee bits and dances on the tinkling wreckage, but dear god my grixis control is sick of getting hosed by enchantment based decks. That 9 lives one is duuuuuuull to play against...

[me_in_japan]

On an unrelated but rather more positive note, have you heard of SpellTable? I saw a review/how to video of it over on the Tolarian Community College Youtube page, and I was sufficiently intrigued to go over to the site (https://www.spelltable.com/) and set up an account. It's basically a website/service thingy that is specifically designed to facilitate online phonecam 4 player games of magic (or, y'know, 2 players if youre so inclined).I tried setting up a game and it went pretty darn smoothly. What impressed me was that it's not just a webpage/app that allows for 4 cameras to be onscreen at once, but if you click on the cards in the video feed, it pretty reliably IDs them and shows you a digital version at the side of the game. Even for Japanese cards, I might add (which it shows the English version of, which is nice.) It also allows for keeping note of stuff like commander damage, infect, and all that jazz. Basically, it is very much fit for purpose. Having spent the past few months playing DnD over Zoom/roll20, I can vouch for the doability of gaming over webcam. It even has some advantages over irl games, in terms of stuff like bookkeeping and managing info.

Would you be interested in giving it a shotty some time? It seems like it could genuinely be a viable (and painless) option for getting in some commander in the coming months. I might even see if I can get Jesse involved. Or hell, even my brother back in Scotland. Whaddya reckon?

[Primarch]

indeed. I've had rather a crappy run on Arena recently. Just cant seem to make decks work, even Yargle based ones. Can't bloody wait for that new Zendicard that lets black destroy enchantments for 2. Yes, it breaks the colour pie into tiny wee bits and dances on the tinkling wreckage, but dear god my grixis control is sick of getting hosed by enchantment based decks. That 9 lives one is duuuuuuull to play against...

A deck that hoses control? Tell me more!
Looking at options Vs. Nine Lives:
Urza's Ruinous Blast (W)
Rampage of the Clans (G)
Shadowspear (-) + Removal of your choice.
Kaya, Bane of the Dead (W/B) + Removal of your choice.

Of the bunch, Shadowspear seems like the cheapest option, provided you've got something else handy to bounce Nine Lives with.

The other option, assuming you're on the play and get the draws needed is simply Thought Erasure > Unmoored Ego.


As for the online thingie, my issue isn't with Software. I just have nowhere near the PC to lay out cards, no way to relocate my PC and only a phone as far as portable devices go. I think it's probably impractical to do Commander like that. I'm good with using Arena for my online fix until we can meet up and play paper in person.


I've been having fun in Play (Historic) with a deck I have titled Selesnyan nyan.
Deck
1 Adventurous Impulse (DAR) 153
2 Sunpetal Grove (XLN) 257
2 Unclaimed Territory (XLN) 258
1 Vanquisher's Banner (XLN) 251
4 Ajani's Pridemate (M19) 5
3 Leonin Warleader (M19) 23
2 Temple Garden (GRN) 258
2 Ajani, Strength of the Pride (M20) 2
2 Icon of Ancestry (M20) 229
1 Castle Ardenvale (ELD) 238
1 Banishing Light (THB) 4
2 Bronzehide Lion (THB) 210
2 Lurrus of the Dream Den (IKO) 226
2 Mirari's Wake (JUD) 139
4 Feline Sovereign (M21) 180
1 Irresistible Prey (JMP) 406
2 Herald's Horn (JMP) 469
9 Plains (JMP) 39
8 Forest (JMP) 74
1 Banishing Light (JMP) 4
3 Sacred Cat (AKR) 34
4 Feral Prowler (AKR) 191
1 Regal Caracal (AKR) 339

Companion
1 Kaheera, the Orphanguard (IKO) 224

So far it's been a fun pile of jank to play. It still gets hosed hard by good decks, but I've won a few games with it.

[me_in_japan]

A deck that hoses control? Tell me more!
Looking at options Vs. Nine Lives:
Urza's Ruinous Blast (W)
Rampage of the Clans (G)
Shadowspear (-) + Removal of your choice.
Kaya, Bane of the Dead (W/B) + Removal of your choice.

And therein lies the problem. Those colours are:
W
G
(Colourless, ill grant you, but the “removal of your choice” is an issue...)
W + removal

Anyway, all of the above poses a problem for Grixis, which is what I’m running just now If I did go down the Shadowspear route (which is a good idea, btw - I hadn’t thought of it) I’d need to use brazen borrower to flip it back to hand. That’s two cards required, but to be fair it’d be a game winner. I’ll give it some thought and see how it plays. Unmoored ego is always possible, I guess. It’s the combo of nine lives and Solemnity that screws me up. Solemnity even stops things like The Eldest Reborn, which is a pain in the arse.

It’s gotten so bad I’ve been brainstorming a Mardu Ultimatum deck (I seem to have 4 of em) just for pure “now all y’all diiiiieeeeeeeee” kicks. So far it’s been very unsuccessful, but I’ll see if I can tune it a bit. I need colour fixing and ramp in Mardu, and it’s pretty thin on the ground...