Honestly, as much as I like Magic's flavour, I have to say that if you like it solely because of it, then you're gonna be disappointed sooner rather than later. Especially if you expect it to be based on previous mythology and fantasy, as Maro himself has stated that his blocks and sets have to have a degree of autonomy and room for creativity, which I find much more fascinating than just playing with mythology-as-is. Stories are meant to be reinterpreted, anyway.
With that said, Ravnica has heavy eastern europe inspirations, from the Rusalkas to the Spirits of good people tied to the earth.
"It is a matter of grave importance that Fairy tales should be respected.... Whosoever alters them to suit his own opinions, whatever they are, is guilty, to our thinking, of an act of presumption, and appropriates to himself what does not belong to him." -- Charles Dickens
Oh, I enjoy the mechanics. Like... Primordial Hydra is more fun to play with that Protean even though the latter is the only Hydra with myth-accurate mechanics.
I want to know who was responsible for making Merieke Ri Berit.
I want him to suffer.
For those of you who don't know, imagine a commander that can steal creatures in a way much, much cheaper than Memnarch.
I haven't played anything in 4 or 5 turns because this guy's just going to steal whatever I play in seconds. My only hope right now is to get another land so I can play Storm Herd before he drains enough of my life away.
When building TCG sets from real-world anything you have two options
1) Be as close to the original whatever as possible. Removing all room for creativity and creating a horribly unbalanced game.
2) Throw everything but the name out the window, and make cool cards that have absolutely no connection to what they're named after, aka The Egyptian God Card approach.
neither is really anything I'd want to see. Though the latter is preferable to some degree since it at least leaves room for creativity.
I got back from playing Modern with Splinter Twin. I did reasonably well enough. I might go back the next couple weeks.
Someone made mention of it not being a creature deck, and I popped off a joke along the lines of "My deck makes more creatures than yours, so who's got the creature deck?"
When it was released (and to a lesser extent, even now), Lotus Cobra got a lot of flak for being what people perceived as a Mythic Rare "utility card". And perhaps, from that viewpoint, there's some sense to it. It's a creature that boosts your mana production without tapping, after all. However, from a flavour point of view, Lotus Cobra as a Mythic makes perfect sense.
You see, in the Magic multiverse, it has been shown time and again that the Black Lotus is one of the most valuable and coveted items that exists. And this makes sense, due to its (in-universe) beauty, and its exceptional power when used in magical rituals. It's such a item of wonder that artifacts are constructed purely to protect the fields they grow in (see: Lotus Guardian), and even a single petal is priceless. People have created facsimiles of the lotus, in an attempt to even remotely replicate it. From Lotus Bloom, we can also assume that a single Lotus takes a significant period of time to grow, and from the effect of Lotus Vale, that people would willing raze entire areas of land simply to grow them.
So, how does this tie into Lotus Cobra's rarity? Simple: The Cobra is a creature that personifies the Lotus' power perfectly. Unlike Birds of Paradise, it takes the mana directly from the lotuses themselves, and, in a way, is the very essence of the Lotus concept. To diverge into cryptozoology for a moment, the Lotus Cobra is like the tsuchinoko of the Magic world: A snake that nobody has proof even exists, a mere concept, and a creature that, even if you did see it, would probably get you dismissed as a liar or insane for saying so. It's not like legendaries, in the sense that most of those have left proof of their existence, and thus ends up as little more than what would be perceived to be a fanciful tale. In a way, it portrays the concept of "mythic" rare to a T.
In related news, I just typed up a massive spiel about a single piece of cardboard in a silly game!
It's the uber-powerful Goblin Lackey with double strike. That's flashy and impressive, even though it didn't end up actually seeing much play.
whyyyyyyy do people keep going on about Twilight regarding Innistrad? All the monsters in Innistrad (except some of the spirits) are, well, monsters. Bad. They're nothing like the watered-down heroic vampires and werewolves of Twilight.
@Juan: I couldn't tell you much. Out of three rounds, I only went up against two real Modern decks. Someone else was playing Twin, and he had been doing respectably there, too.
One was apparently WUB Gifts with artifact acceleration and an Iona reanimation combo. I barely won the game he got that combo off by casting an Exarch, untapping a land, forcing him to name red to prevent the combo, and casting Into the Roil when it resolved. That was pretty sweet. I won the next game, too, so I guess my control match-up wasn't bad.
The other was a sort of WGB aggro deck that kicked my ass with Steppe Lynxes. It also killed a Pestermite with a Zealous Persecution, which was funny, since I didn't even know the card existed.
From what they've told me, Twin is a solid deck, but people are very much prepared for it.
So in my (online) deck I was worried about my lack of responses to flying creatures. I have 3 Angelic Destinies, but I didn't want to rely on them since they require a high cost.
Anyone have a suggestion for reasonable cost flying creatures? I run a white-blue aggro deck. I currently use Serra Angels. Anything better?
Comments
But all else equal, I want real-world flavor.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
I want him to suffer.
For those of you who don't know, imagine a commander that can steal creatures in a way much, much cheaper than Memnarch.
I haven't played anything in 4 or 5 turns because this guy's just going to steal whatever I play in seconds. My only hope right now is to get another land so I can play Storm Herd before he drains enough of my life away.
When building TCG sets from real-world anything you have two options
1) Be as close to the original whatever as possible. Removing all room for creativity and creating a horribly unbalanced game.
2) Throw everything but the name out the window, and make cool cards that have absolutely no connection to what they're named after, aka The Egyptian God Card approach.
neither is really anything I'd want to see. Though the latter is preferable to some degree since it at least leaves room for creativity.
I'm not terribly familiar with Lorwyn.
I'd venture to guess it's an example of Type 2, or at least close to it. Though again, can't be sure.
☭
B̤̺͍̰͕̺̠̕u҉̖͙̝̮͕̲ͅm̟̼̦̠̹̙p͡s̹͖ ̻T́h̗̫͈̙̩r̮e̴̩̺̖̠̭̜ͅa̛̪̟͍̣͎͖̺d͉̦͠s͕̞͚̲͍ ̲̬̹̤Y̻̤̱o̭͠u̥͉̥̜͡ ̴̥̪D̳̲̳̤o̴͙̘͓̤̟̗͇n̰̗̞̼̳͙͖͢'҉͖t̳͓̣͍̗̰ ͉W̝̳͓̼͜a̗͉̳͖̘̮n͕ͅt͚̟͚ ̸̺T̜̖̖̺͎̱ͅo̭̪̰̼̥̜ ̼͍̟̝R̝̹̮̭ͅͅe̡̗͇a͍̘̤͉͘d̼̜ 
⚢
I loved that game.
Yeah, that sounds like a Type 2, just from the "loosely based".
☭
B̤̺͍̰͕̺̠̕u҉̖͙̝̮͕̲ͅm̟̼̦̠̹̙p͡s̹͖ ̻T́h̗̫͈̙̩r̮e̴̩̺̖̠̭̜ͅa̛̪̟͍̣͎͖̺d͉̦͠s͕̞͚̲͍ ̲̬̹̤Y̻̤̱o̭͠u̥͉̥̜͡ ̴̥̪D̳̲̳̤o̴͙̘͓̤̟̗͇n̰̗̞̼̳͙͖͢'҉͖t̳͓̣͍̗̰ ͉W̝̳͓̼͜a̗͉̳͖̘̮n͕ͅt͚̟͚ ̸̺T̜̖̖̺͎̱ͅo̭̪̰̼̥̜ ̼͍̟̝R̝̹̮̭ͅͅe̡̗͇a͍̘̤͉͘d̼̜ 
⚢
The giants were pretty cool, too.
Ok, now that's out of the way, down to business.
When it was released (and to a lesser extent, even now), Lotus Cobra got a lot of flak for being what people perceived as a Mythic Rare "utility card". And perhaps, from that viewpoint, there's some sense to it. It's a creature that boosts your mana production without tapping, after all. However, from a flavour point of view, Lotus Cobra as a Mythic makes perfect sense.
You see, in the Magic multiverse, it has been shown time and again that the Black Lotus is one of the most valuable and coveted items that exists. And this makes sense, due to its (in-universe) beauty, and its exceptional power when used in magical rituals. It's such a item of wonder that artifacts are constructed purely to protect the fields they grow in (see: Lotus Guardian), and even a single petal is priceless. People have created facsimiles of the lotus, in an attempt to even remotely replicate it. From Lotus Bloom, we can also assume that a single Lotus takes a significant period of time to grow, and from the effect of Lotus Vale, that people would willing raze entire areas of land simply to grow them.
So, how does this tie into Lotus Cobra's rarity? Simple: The Cobra is a creature that personifies the Lotus' power perfectly. Unlike Birds of Paradise, it takes the mana directly from the lotuses themselves, and, in a way, is the very essence of the Lotus concept. To diverge into cryptozoology for a moment, the Lotus Cobra is like the tsuchinoko of the Magic world: A snake that nobody has proof even exists, a mere concept, and a creature that, even if you did see it, would probably get you dismissed as a liar or insane for saying so. It's not like legendaries, in the sense that most of those have left proof of their existence, and thus ends up as little more than what would be perceived to be a fanciful tale. In a way, it portrays the concept of "mythic" rare to a T.
In related news, I just typed up a massive spiel about a single piece of cardboard in a silly game!
What about Warren Instigator?
whyyyyyyy do people keep going on about Twilight regarding Innistrad? All the monsters in Innistrad (except some of the spirits) are, well, monsters. Bad. They're nothing like the watered-down heroic vampires and werewolves of Twilight.
☭
B̤̺͍̰͕̺̠̕u҉̖͙̝̮͕̲ͅm̟̼̦̠̹̙p͡s̹͖ ̻T́h̗̫͈̙̩r̮e̴̩̺̖̠̭̜ͅa̛̪̟͍̣͎͖̺d͉̦͠s͕̞͚̲͍ ̲̬̹̤Y̻̤̱o̭͠u̥͉̥̜͡ ̴̥̪D̳̲̳̤o̴͙̘͓̤̟̗͇n̰̗̞̼̳͙͖͢'҉͖t̳͓̣͍̗̰ ͉W̝̳͓̼͜a̗͉̳͖̘̮n͕ͅt͚̟͚ ̸̺T̜̖̖̺͎̱ͅo̭̪̰̼̥̜ ̼͍̟̝R̝̹̮̭ͅͅe̡̗͇a͍̘̤͉͘d̼̜ 
⚢
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
^ That isn't actually that bad. You can declare blocker then tap.
WE MUST DO THIS
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
That hair.