Locations
These past two weeks on Twitter have been relatively slow in comparison to the action we had been seeing leading up to the prerelease. With little Magic news, Twitter has turned to discussion of the metagame again and possible banning, with the still-dominating Jace leading the way. We have received a little tidbit of information on the new core set, M12, which is less than two months away from release. Some rumors have been put to rest finally, and some new ones have arisen; what will come of it is yet to be determined.
I have not personally looked at attendance numbers, but I can imagine no one wants to play The Caw-Blade mirror match all day, possibly causing people to stay away from events recently. With little opposition for now, it seems Caw-Blade in one form or another is still the deck to beat, with NPH only fueling the monster in the form of a new Sword and Batterskull.
This seems to be popular opinion, as even the up-and-coming Splinter Twin combo can’t put up even close to the numbers that the birds are still producing. Looking at Top 16s and seeing only three to four non-Caw decks is a bit discouraging for anyone looking to break through with another deck. I hope the brews keep coming until we can eventually find an answer to the winged menace.
Brian makes a very valid point when it comes to new formats, and frankly still leaves me with hope that this reign will not continue until rotation. Is there light at the end of the tunnel for this Standard format, or are these just mystically forged dreams? With luck, the next few weeks should shake things up as we approach the Star City Games Invitational in Indianapolis next weekend and PTQ season comes into full swing.
On a less competition-related note, Wizards has announced some minor changes with the upcoming core set. Along with the first spoilers of the season, we received news of a new evergreen ability that has always been dubbed “Troll Shroud” in reference to Troll Ascetic. “Hex-Proof” has gotten some mixed reviews; some find the name fairly displeasing in the #MTG community.
I imagine that with time, the new keyword will grow on people, just as many of the others have in the past. Not only do we have a new evergreen ability, we also have a throwback to Ravnica block in the form of Bloodthirst. The aggro mechanic is an interesting choice for a core set, but with the simplistic rules behind it, I can see why the choice was made.
With the keyword’s return, however, I have heard murmurs of a possible return to Ravnica in the next few blocks, which I think would be a welcome change! Ravnica, I have always felt, was a very flavorful block; given the elaborate guild system, we didn’t get to see much more than a glimpse into the interworkings.
On the topic of planeswalkers, some of the rumors have been confirmed for M12; it is certain we will be getting both Sorin Markov and Gideon Jura in their originally printed forms come M12. The other three have been neither confirmed nor denied, and anything at this point is pure speculation.
The last major change to the new core set is not so much a keyword as a change of wording on future cards. Instead of the lengthy text “When X is put into the
With the Community Cup approaching, we have seen the emergence of a new format called Modern. Modern has a larger card pool than Extended, reaching all the way back to Eighth Edition, when the new card borders came into use. With a new format in the online world, there is a lot of speculation about a possible transition to the paper Magic scene in the coming months/years, a welcome change for many with the popularity of Extended failing.
Aaron has been relatively quiet recently, and it’s good to see him on the subject of something other than stirring up controversy. No trolling involved this time; he is looking to take home the Cup, as so many others are.
Well, that’s about all we have for this week on the topic of paper Magic. In other news, it appears the Playstation network is finally back up and running after the major hack last month.
I haven’t heard much on the Magic weight-loss program lately, but I will see if I can dredge up some information this weekend while I am in Providence. It does, however, seem that many people are following suit and eating healthy in the past few months.
Well, that’s all we have for this week in the Twitterverse. Join me next week as I cover all the happenings on both Twitter and Grand Prix: Providence this weekend. As always, if you find something you feel should be included in the weekly column, feel free to message me on Twitter or e-mail me.
Until next week, keep on Tweeting!
Ryan Bushard
@CryppleCommand on Twitter
ryanbushard at hotmail dot com
