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Has there ever been discussion of a set for alternate story timelines, like Planar Chaos but for the story instead of the mechanics? Like what if Gix had corrupted Urza instead of Mishra, what if Ugin didn't help imprison the Eldrazi and Sorin and Nahiri tried to kill them instead, what if the Blackblade actually was able to kill Bolas during War of the Spark, etc.?

It's a frequent ask on Blogatog. What "what if" scenario would you most like to see on a card?

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Took a moment to write about Marvel Champions, a living card game from Fantasy Flight Games.

Additionally, did a companion podcast.

Enjoy.

#marvel #marvel champions #podcast #articles #hero #villian #lcg #fantasy flight games

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Battle Basics

So, March of the Machine had its official set debut today on Wizards' youtube channel and we finally know enough about the new Battle card type for me to give you all a basic overview of it.

Disclaimer: We don't have any rules entries or the like for Battles yet, so I'm only going to be covering what I'm sure about so far. If anything I say here is incorrect, I'll be sure to let you all know.

So, what are battles?

Battle is a new card type, like Creature or Instant.

A battle is a permanent. When a battle you cast resolves, it enters the battlefield under your control.

All the battles in March of the Machines have the Siege subtype and are transforming double-faced cards. Future battles might not be Sieges and might not be DFCs, but for now there's only one style of battle.

A battle will enter the battlefield with a number of defense counters on it equal to the number in the square in its lower right corner. Whenever a battle is dealt damage, that many defense counters are removed from it as the result of that damage.

How do you damage a battle? One way is to attack the battle. As a battle resolves, its controller chooses one of their opponents to protect it. (The battle's protector doesn't control the battle, however.) Any player other than the battle's protector can attack it the same way they would a player or planeswalker, and its protector can block creatures that are attacking the battle.

You can also deal direct damage to the battle. Some spells and abilities can deal damage to a battle, and spells and abilities that deal damage to any target can target/damage a battle.

What happens when you win a battle? A battle is defeated when it has no defense counters on it. When a Siege battle is defeated, its controller exiles it and then casts it transformed. It doesn't matter who's responsible for this, and there's no direct benefit to attacking another player's battle.

That's about it for now. I'll add on a follow-up post with more technical details once I know them, but for now I hope this helps you assess the battles you see during spoiler season.

Happy battling!

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The Once and Present Shard Commanders

This week, we compare and contrast the shard color identity commanders of the old school class vs the most recent All-stars.

#mtg #edh #cmdr #magic #commander #white #black #blue #red #green #2020s #2010s #shard

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Watch "The History of the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour: Season 3 (1997-1998)" on YouTube

I always love these types of videos.

#mtg #magic #white #black #blue #red #green #1990s #magic the gathering #Youtube

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#mtg #edh #cmdr #magic #commander #black #red #green #blue #white #samurai #artifacts

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Shattered Expectations and the Eldrazi

#edh #cmdr #eldrazi #red #black #green #commander #devoid

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I think we can all agree, things don't always go as planned.

Based on true events.

#marvel #marvelsnap #card game #marvel comics #magik #wanda #limbo

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Krenko’s Guide to Creature Types: Noble

Art by  Dmitry Burmak

What is a Noble (flavorfully)?

Nobles are the people in charge who don’t deserve to be.  Though it’s not entirely consistent, the Noble type generally goes to leaders and members of the aristocracy who didn’t rise to the rank through combat prowess.  If a character became a ruler through violence, they’re usually listed as their violent class instead.

What is a Noble (mechanically)?

Noble’s lack of tribal identity is heavily a symptom of a creature type being inconsistently erattad in. You can see just a hint of Nobles being support for your other creatures, but cards like Lord of Atlantis and Goblin King are inexplicably not Nobles. Thus, the Noble identity is entirely random. They appear in all five colors with all sorts of abilities, and while there’s a hint of supporting creatures, it’s not wide enough to matter.

Merfolk Nobility includes Sovereigns, but not Masters, Lords, or Reejereys.

Can I make a Noble deck?

You can make a Vampire deck that’s full of Nobles. Nobles don’t have any shared mechanics overall or any real synergies, but there are well over a dozen Vampire Nobles, many of which are good enough to actually use. In theory, you could even use “choose a creature type” cards to add Noble support, but you’re just hobbling your Vampire deck if you do that. A third of all Nobles are Vampires, which isn’t that different from real life.

Is Noble a good creature type?

In the beginning, there was a creature type called Lord. Lord was a very clear and obvious creature type for people in charge, and almost universally went on creature cards that supported a tribe. Then they got rid of Lord, which was fine, because as a creature type it wasn’t doing anything.

But then they came out with Noble and erattad a lot of things to Noble, but while there’s some overlap between what a Noble is and what a Lord is, whether an individual creature is a Noble or not seems very strange and inconsistent. While I’m fine with the idea of Noble as a Class type (because what’s more of a Class than Noble?) the implementation is kind of a mess at the moment.

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Among the myriad of cards that release nowadays in various places, it’s easy to forget some. So let’s go back and catch up on some of those occasionally, starting with this gem from the Brothers’ War commander precons.

You’d be forgiven for having skipped over this one, it looks like a mana rock that costs FOUR. In practice though, it’s much, much better than that. It gets the best ability of any creature from any player on the battlefield, and unlike a Cursed Mirror, it keeps them forever while also ramping you. But it’s even better than even that, it also stays a noncreature, and while artifacts are more removeable than enchantments, that means you get the best ability of any creature on the board, permanently, that dodges board wipes. And also some blue mana. It can even copy your opponents’ commanders, though I would avoid copying your own since it would copy the name and legendary supertype and legend rule yourself.

This card currently retails for around a dollar and less than that in its extended, new border form. I would probably think about including this in any blue deck, whether it wants clones or not, maybe even over (but more likely alongside) something like Midnight Clock. Try it, outside of cEDH, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

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What happens if you flicker Urza, Planeswalker?

Say you use Aminatou, the Fateshifter’s -1 targeting Urza, Planeswalker. When it comes back, it will come back as it’s component parts, unmelted. You’ll be left with Urza, Lord Protector and The Mightstone and Weakstone, ready to meld again.

You ripped out Urza’s eyes, you monster.

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I was reading an old Daily MTG article ("The Magic Style Guide Part 1) and I found a quote from a 2005 style guide that I think you'll find interesting: "Magic is a head-to-head battle of wits in which two spellcasting warriors fight to the death with magic and armies of bad-ass creatures. Every card illustration should work in that context: active, aggressive, cool, wicked, “edgy.” The word “magepunk” works for us. Remember, your audience is BOYS 14 and up." Goes to show how MTG has evolved.

I remember those days. The brand team was worried Squirrels weren’t “bad-ass” enough, so I made this art description:

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The article in question.

I have been nominated for TWO MTG Content Creator Awards! I am up against intense competition, so it's just an honor to have been mentioned.

[legendaryedhplays]

I have been nominated for TWO MTG Content Creator Awards! I am up against intense competition, so it's just an honor to have been mentioned.

#mtg #cmdr #magic #commander #writing #awards #mtgcca #Youtube