Tom from MTGCast (that's me) is saying thank you in advance to Mike Turian taking time for an interview with us next week on April 1st (not a joke, we are really doing an interview) and I want your ideas for some questions! We have Zendikar on the list, but what else would you like to hear about?
Yeah, I think the whole Mana Burn rumour is something we should try and get cleared up. Personally, I'd like to hear more about M10, like how "complicated" they plan on making it, at least compared to Xth.
Also, I like design/development blurbs about cards that we already know (card X used to be this, card Y was a mistake, etc.).
Sure, stuff like Snapping Drake and Goblin Piker are for limited. But Null isn't even playable against a 5 year old whose hand consists of a 6 of Clubs, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Chimney Imp, and a very large cumquat.
If possible i'd like to hear about what room planeswalkers have to grow in magic. We've just recently seen two and three color planeswalkers, but I'd like to know if planeswalkers will diverge from the standard rubric of 2 minor effects and an "ultimate". Also, since planeswalkers have become such an important part of competitive play, I would like to know how R+D approaches printing removal for them. Though O-Ring seems to fit the bell best, aside from it and burn spells, there seems to be no way to directly remove planeswalkers.
i would love to hear anything he can say about the next big block Zendikar. i am sure he can not say much now, but i would be interested in anything he would be allowed to say
I am going to third the motion for getting the silly rumors regarding "no more mana burn", "battleground replaces in play", and "void / exile replaces removed from game" cleared up, because these rumors are driving people insane, and probably causing a great deal of strife amongst the community.
I would also appreciate it if he does confirm that mana burn is getting removed from the game, if you guys could ask what the logic for printing a card like silence was, seeing as how its primary purpose in a lot of games was to cause mana burn when people over cast their ritual spells to play storm based decks.
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"As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero." -- Varsuvius, Order of the Stick
I am going to third the motion for getting the silly rumors regarding "no more mana burn", "battleground replaces in play", and "void / exile replaces removed from game" cleared up, because these rumors are driving people insane, and probably causing a great deal of strife amongst the community.
I would also appreciate it if he does confirm that mana burn is getting removed from the game, if you guys could ask what the logic for printing a card like silence was, seeing as how its primary purpose in a lot of games was to cause mana burn when people over cast their ritual spells to play storm based decks.
I'm pretty sure they printed it cause they wanted a simple card that wasn't tied to any block mechanics that could stop people from playing spells for a turn as either a way to protect your borad position or combo(s) or interupt your opponent's combo. Last time I checked, that was also the primary purpose of Orim's Chant (the added "skip combat" kicker was pretty helpful too). Should you happen to catch your opponent with a bunch of unuseable mana in their mana pool, I'm sure the burn was a nice side bonus but you've got to be kidding yourself if you think that was the "primary" purpose of the card. Should mana burn actually leave the game, the usefulness of cards like Silence will see no significant decrease.
Should mana burn actually leave the game, the usefulness of cards like Silence will see no significant decrease.
You are JOKING, right? The main use of Orim's Chant in Legacy, is to stop Storm Combo when they have played their second Dark Ritual for the turn so that they take mana burn. Take away mana burn, and you effectively screw one of the best Anti-Storm tools in Legacy, as well as other formats.
Not to mention you effectively make Mana Drain into the single best Counterspell in Vintage.
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"As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero." -- Varsuvius, Order of the Stick
I would like to know why they felt it was necessary to have a new core set every year. Was standard getting too stale? Most of the time, the core set added only a handful of cards in every successful deck. Why isn't this just a cash grab?
As Mike was very well known for his love of shuffling his deck, could you ask how joining WotC has changed that habit. I'd guess that playing in a more casual environment would at least halve his shuffling time. Mike himself once stated that he would always shuffle untill his opponent stops and then pile shuffle some more, before starting to shuffle his opponents deck.
This was a sort of mind game, that also helped to get the deck nearly properly random, which helps a lot more than most palyers really think. I personally adopted partially this habit when I played more and managed to Q for a PT affinity (Kobe 2004). (Where I had the chance to talk to Mike and several other very nice and friendly players.)
Also Mikes relation to Nate Heiss is one thing that I think could lead to some good anectodes, as both have worked for WotC and played at PT-levels. Nate was known to trade with anybody and everybody before events to gauge what decks would be played and get the cards for decks he thought would do well, then after the event trade those cards at better prices back to the same players.
You are JOKING, right? The main use of Orim's Chant in Legacy, is to stop Storm Combo when they have played their second Dark Ritual for the turn so that they take mana burn. Take away mana burn, and you effectively screw one of the best Anti-Storm tools in Legacy, as well as other formats.
Not to mention you effectively make Mana Drain into the single best Counterspell in Vintage.
You still got them to waste 2+ rituals and you still stopped them from comboing off that turn and killing you. That was the point. The burn was a bonus. If your deck can't provide a fast enough clock to kill them afterwards, you need to retool and add better/more disruption and/or better/more kill conditions. With how stupid good creatures are getting nowadays, that should be quite doable. Also note that Vintage is the only other format Chant is legal in. Extended gets by fighting off Storm without chant just fine.
As for Mana Drain....*shrug*. Some counterspell has to be the best. I also have a had time seeing a reactive, unsplashable spell that always costs mana becoming degenerate. If WOTC sees a problem, they can restrict the card if need be. Because of the smaller player base and the potential of crazy combos with any new card they print because of the large card pool, older formats have to be given the least amount of consideration when making any new changes for the game going forward. As long as said older formats remain healthy, I don't think WOTC will care one bit if two counterspells swap positions in power level.
Oh and I apologize to Tom if I'm taking this too far off topic. Good luck with the interview.
Oh and I apologize to Tom if I'm taking this too far off topic.
Apology accepted. Now, everyone, please keep in mind the intent of this thread, which is to solicit questions for an upcoming interview. Anything else clutters up the thread and will be treated as spam from this point on.
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"...because without beer, things do not seem to go as well."
I am going to third the motion for getting the silly rumors regarding "no more mana burn", "battleground replaces in play", and "void / exile replaces removed from game" cleared up, because these rumors are driving people insane, and probably causing a great deal of strife amongst the community.
i second the above with most emphasis on manna burn and "battleground"/"battlefield" rumor.
also try to get him to say what reprints we will be seeing in M10 and what cards will be im FTV:E
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Current Fallen Angel (Anson Maddocks art) Count:449!!!
Well, I'd love to know whatever he can say about upcoming sets like what's going on with "play/cast", battlefield, exile, the kinds of new cards in M10, whether he feels like 50% new cards is the right amount for the core set, anything about the theme of Zendikar, whether any Future Sight cards will show up in Alara Reborn or Zendikar, etc.
If he can't say much about that kind of stuff, I'd like to know what he thinks about Sealed deck changing to six packs and when did R&D switch to playtesting Sealed with six packs. Does he think the Shards/Conflux Limited environment is well balanced? (I think Dragonsoul Knight and Paragon of the Amesha are overpowered in Sealed). How does he feel about the current Standard environment? Does he think Lorwyn was too strong? Was the Future Future League environment more balanced? Does he think the post-rotation environment with Zendikar will be more balanced?
It may be kind of old news, but I'm interested in the thought behind cards like Rhox War Monk and other cards within Alara where colors seem to have been just thrown in for the sake of having a third color. For the first real tri-color set, one would think that special care would be made to make them more special.
Tom from MTGCast (that's me) is saying thank you in advance to Mike Turian taking time for an interview with us next week on April 1st (not a joke, we are really doing an interview) and I want your ideas for some questions! We have Zendikar on the list, but what else would you like to hear about?
Cheers,
Tom
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Those are some of the bigger concerns in the magic world for me as of now.
Lates,
Dr.KnowMaD
Also, I like design/development blurbs about cards that we already know (card X used to be this, card Y was a mistake, etc.).
Have Fun!
I would also appreciate it if he does confirm that mana burn is getting removed from the game, if you guys could ask what the logic for printing a card like silence was, seeing as how its primary purpose in a lot of games was to cause mana burn when people over cast their ritual spells to play storm based decks.
I'm pretty sure they printed it cause they wanted a simple card that wasn't tied to any block mechanics that could stop people from playing spells for a turn as either a way to protect your borad position or combo(s) or interupt your opponent's combo. Last time I checked, that was also the primary purpose of Orim's Chant (the added "skip combat" kicker was pretty helpful too). Should you happen to catch your opponent with a bunch of unuseable mana in their mana pool, I'm sure the burn was a nice side bonus but you've got to be kidding yourself if you think that was the "primary" purpose of the card. Should mana burn actually leave the game, the usefulness of cards like Silence will see no significant decrease.
You are JOKING, right? The main use of Orim's Chant in Legacy, is to stop Storm Combo when they have played their second Dark Ritual for the turn so that they take mana burn. Take away mana burn, and you effectively screw one of the best Anti-Storm tools in Legacy, as well as other formats.
Not to mention you effectively make Mana Drain into the single best Counterspell in Vintage.
"Can you apply the penal code to demons?"
As Mike was very well known for his love of shuffling his deck, could you ask how joining WotC has changed that habit. I'd guess that playing in a more casual environment would at least halve his shuffling time. Mike himself once stated that he would always shuffle untill his opponent stops and then pile shuffle some more, before starting to shuffle his opponents deck.
This was a sort of mind game, that also helped to get the deck nearly properly random, which helps a lot more than most palyers really think. I personally adopted partially this habit when I played more and managed to Q for a PT affinity (Kobe 2004). (Where I had the chance to talk to Mike and several other very nice and friendly players.)
Also Mikes relation to Nate Heiss is one thing that I think could lead to some good anectodes, as both have worked for WotC and played at PT-levels. Nate was known to trade with anybody and everybody before events to gauge what decks would be played and get the cards for decks he thought would do well, then after the event trade those cards at better prices back to the same players.
Hope this helps,
Set to default
What do you do at WotC?
When did you join WotC?
Where do WotC employees get cards?
...and why Agricola?
You still got them to waste 2+ rituals and you still stopped them from comboing off that turn and killing you. That was the point. The burn was a bonus. If your deck can't provide a fast enough clock to kill them afterwards, you need to retool and add better/more disruption and/or better/more kill conditions. With how stupid good creatures are getting nowadays, that should be quite doable. Also note that Vintage is the only other format Chant is legal in. Extended gets by fighting off Storm without chant just fine.
As for Mana Drain....*shrug*. Some counterspell has to be the best. I also have a had time seeing a reactive, unsplashable spell that always costs mana becoming degenerate. If WOTC sees a problem, they can restrict the card if need be. Because of the smaller player base and the potential of crazy combos with any new card they print because of the large card pool, older formats have to be given the least amount of consideration when making any new changes for the game going forward. As long as said older formats remain healthy, I don't think WOTC will care one bit if two counterspells swap positions in power level.
Oh and I apologize to Tom if I'm taking this too far off topic. Good luck with the interview.
i second the above with most emphasis on manna burn and "battleground"/"battlefield" rumor.
also try to get him to say what reprints we will be seeing in M10 and what cards will be im FTV:E
If he can't say much about that kind of stuff, I'd like to know what he thinks about Sealed deck changing to six packs and when did R&D switch to playtesting Sealed with six packs. Does he think the Shards/Conflux Limited environment is well balanced? (I think Dragonsoul Knight and Paragon of the Amesha are overpowered in Sealed). How does he feel about the current Standard environment? Does he think Lorwyn was too strong? Was the Future Future League environment more balanced? Does he think the post-rotation environment with Zendikar will be more balanced?
I could probably think of more if you wanted ; )