tokenmancy

[tokenmancy]

Magic: the Gathering - Critter Collection

Some very lovely work by artist Andrea Radeck, here on Tumblr for StarCityGames.com Creature Collection based on well loved illustrations by Wizards of the Coast.

‘Pandra Nalaar’, based on the Aether Revolt key art featuring Chandra Nalaar

'Bengali Rai’, based on the Kaladesh key art featuring Saheeli Rai by Chase Stone

'Mole Warden’, based on the Soul Warden art by Randy Gallegos

'Hedgehogahog’, based on the Atogatog art by Ron Spears

[tokenmancy]

The FlavOracle ReBorn

Introduction 

What is The FlavOracle? 

The FlavOracle was an experiment launched back in 2002 on the original Magic: the Gathering official website. 

The objective of the experiment was relatively simple, but ambitious for its time. It would provide official flavor text for Magic cards that lacked space for flavor text on the physical card. 

To add an extra layer of both complexity and awesomeness, fans would be able to submit ideas for flavor text, and then vote on their favorites. 

This wasn’t just meant to be “honorary flavor text” either, it would be the real thing. Winning submissions would be included in Oracle, the official database of all Magic cards. 

So what happened to The FlavOracle? 

In brief, the experiment was a failure. 

Keep in mind that as stated earlier, The FlavOracle was incredibly ambitious for its time. It was launched at a time when a website was more a destination, rather than a place to interact. Early social media sites like MySpace existed, but they weren’t prevalent like today, and definitely not a tool used by respectable companies like Wizards of the Coast. 

Basically, the concept was fantastic, but it lacked the technology to succeed in its time. 

If The FlavOracle failed, why talk about it now? 

Because it is no longer 2002, and technology and internet culture have both advanced more than a decade since the original experiment concluded. 

It’s time to launch The FlavOracle again, and see if it can reach its true potential. 

The FlavOracle ReBorn 

OK, what’s the plan? 

To start off, let’s keep things simple. Each week this blog will post a card that lacks flavor text. Fans will be able to submit their flavor text suggestions as comments or (preferably) reblogs of the post. Submissions will be open for one week from the initial post. 

After that, a compilation post will be made with all submissions (excluding submissions with profanity or offensive content) for fans to vote on. Voting will be open for one week, and fans can vote for as many submissions as they choose, but should not vote more than once for a single submission. 

Votes will be tallied and a winner announced at the end of the week. 

So at the beginning of each week, there will be three posts to expect: 

A Magic card lacking flavor text, open for submissions 

A compilation of the submissions for the card from the previous week, open for voting 

Announcement of the winning flavor text from the card posted two weeks prior 

What happens to the winning flavor text?! 

At this point… not much besides a feeling of satisfaction and fun. This time the experiment is being started by fans, not official Wizards of the Coast staff, so there’s no current path to get the flavor text officially added to Oracle. 

If this whole thing is unofficial, then what’s the point? 

Well for starters, it’s meant to be fun. As with many projects among the fandom, the chance to be creative and engage with other fans is the real drive and motivation here. 

In addition to the fun, it’s also meant to illustrate to actual Wizards of the Coast employees that this IS something that fans want enough to engage this time around. After all, it’s one thing to ask for something, but actions speak louder than words. 

So instead of asking, let’s just work our own magic and bring The FlavOracle back to life!! 

[tokenmancy]

I actually go out of my way to mix-and-match my lands now...

[tokenmancy]

Why do people think that having more powerful cards in a format will make the format more fun? This seems like an obvious cognitive error.

People seem to think more about playing with something than having it played against them.

[tokenmancy]

"That's right, I'm a glorious beacon of mana and light, you bastards."

Chandra Nalaar

@dougbeyermtg writes the best Chandra

#chandra #mtg #official magic fiction

[tokenmancy]

Between tumblr and reddit, the site crashed :P

The link you posted to commander rules update isn't working. Any alternate sources?

That link is to the only official source. The site just keeps crashing for some reason. The entire forums went down shortly after I made the post.

[tokenmancy]

Yay Rule 4 is gone!

Commander Rules Updates 1-18-16

Rules Committee updated the Commander rules and ban list for Oath of the Gatewatch. Traffic broke the link (here), so I’ll just type the changes out for you folks.

Commander is officially adopting the Vancouver mulligan rules. After taking a mulligan, players will scry 1. This replaces the old Partial Paris rules. It’s still advised to take a free seven-card mulligan in multiplayer.

Rule 4, which governed the color of mana you can create, is stricken from the books. In the past, a Blue deck trying to create Black mana would result in getting colorless mana. This loophole could be used to pay for colorless costs, but the Rules Committee has determined that they don’t want a corner-case rule being used as a loophole by more dedicated players. So Darksteel Ingot can now tap for any color in a Blue deck. If your Blue deck steals an opponent’s creature with a non-Blue activated ability, you can use that ability if you can generate that color mana. Enjoy your converge and sunburst cards in any deck.

Prophet of Kruphix is banned.

[tokenmancy]

Sending Expedition Vibes out there to all the folks in the community that are prereleasing this weekend.

[tokenmancy]

Anyone who helped make Melek is cool in my book

Reblog this to high five Maree

[tokenmancy]

“Tales from the Pit” #1192

[tokenmancy]

My bad, youre right!

Why is this only 1.50$?? This can be super good in EDH! Plus its only 1cmc!

[tokenmancy]

It went over $200? Ugh, these spikes are disgusting... (The price spikes, not the players)

I’m seriously considering getting a modern event deck. Current TCG mid on the list is >$200…

[tokenmancy]

It only protects you if an effect makes you discard a card, though. If the discard is part of the cost (like retrace or desolate lighthouse), you still have to discard :(

I learned that one the hard way

Why is this only 1.50$?? This can be super good in EDH! Plus its only 1cmc!

[tokenmancy]

Ooooh I know what I’m watching tonight!

Sheila the Thief

By Robson Michel

[tokenmancy]

Kamigawa... I don’t think WotC is going to be sending any planeswalkers to rescue me anytime soon...

You’re now stranded on the plane you started playing MtG with, how screwed are you?

[tokenmancy]

This has really been the set of frustrating things that MaRo has to say again and again...

Yknow, an "oath" can also be an expression of anger. I think there was a real missed opportunity to print Oath of Ob with flavor text like, "Oh, for Pete's sake! Fine, then, I'll leave."

One last time. The Oaths represent not just any oath but the specific oath of joining the Gatewatch.

[tokenmancy]

Haha, ive been building Modern Pauper so long i forget to make the distinction :P

Nivix Pauper, here we come! Not only does it grant unblockability, but it replaced itself!

Full card gallery’s up, btw!