Bloomburrow not having a bonus sheet is especially weird because it litterally did. Yet, for some reason, they threw it in collector boosters only. You could argue it was for balance, but that hasnt stopped them before.
It is because they probably want to reduce the number of rares from play boosters. The chance of a wildcard being a rare was also reduced significantly with Bloomborrow.
6:19 also another reason we are seeing less rares is because they decrease the chances of wildcards being rares significantly without making an announcement, you can see this if you check the info on probabilities in the back of a Bloomborrow booster, vs an Outlaws of Thunder Junction for example.
@@lyndsaypeters5981chasing rares makes customer to buy packs. Harder chasings means more hunger for those rares, therefore more packs sold TL;DR Money
I'd argue this is where draft should be. The stats on things are a little too efficient, which is why games are over so quickly, but your big meatball creatures shouldn't be getting answered by generic 2-3 mana cards. There should be a combination of cards to bring them down, and that is what tricks are right now.
Magic's own fault. This is what happens though when you eliminate balance and even take out the concept of vanilla creatures. The only drawback in the game now is being able to cast something. Smallest hurdle to get over in playing.
Dominaria United defenders deck was something a lot of people enjoyed, build around but also quite powerful, due to that white uncommon that created a ton of birbs.
I was super pumped for BLB, I just loved the style and atmosphere, but also liked some of the ideas (typal decks, lower-statted creatures). However, I've never lost interest in a limited format faster - even though I had a better win rate than ever (trophied five times in ~12 drafts, for a ~65% overall win rate)! I'm really debating whether I'll just quit Arena entirely, what with aggro-only Standard being basically dead to me, and the last few limited formats not really doing it for me either. The best limited formats I recall while playing on Arena were Strixhaven and Neon Dynasty, maaaybe Dominaria United (didn't play Kaldheim). It's been a while.
Thanks for replying to my question! I used a specific example but I'm glad you took it to a more general place as well. I definitely noticed what you've said about most removal getting less efficient over time due to cards giving value without sitting on the board, and I think this conversation helped me contextualize newer limited formats.
I've played some Dominaria flashback draft and it's such a big adjustment. 4 mana sorcery destroy target creature would be so bad in Bloomburrow but it's great in Dominaria.
I would also add that green shouldnt have the best creatures and also hyper efficient removal. Green was usually balanced by not having the best removal. But now they get crazy good removal spells and lets be real the drawback of needing a creature is really not a problem. Also BLB showed that playboosters was just a greedmove by WotC. Monetary wise the set is so bad to open without a bonus sheet.
I'm sure you talk about it but Overprotect is one of the most egregious card designs we've had in a while. Outside of combat tricks and just current design in general, too many cards have this issue of "Why does this have so much text/so many keywords?"
Playing a combat trick is part of interaction though. Instant speed interaction makes the game much more cerebral rather than "play new thing, attack, pass" strats most decks have. Love those too but to say, "combat tricks make for less interaction" is just incorrect imo. Even if the fear of a trick keeps you from blocking, that is interaction. I have bluffed you or made you think there is a possibility it could go badly for you. Adding that layer to combat makes it not only more exciting but more realistic. Most battles are won by the element of surprise, Superior numbers you didn't know were there, or straight up sabotage and subterfuge. Being able to impact the board or influence a player without even playing a card or spending mana is extremely powerful...
@@AxlStrife0 right, but in the context of the video it refers to combat tricks giving hexproof like we haven’t spent decades bemoaning getting 2 for oned.
Izzet struggles because blue is lagging behind in the power creep. It's still bouncing stuff in an age where people wouldn't mind getting an additional etb trigger, and it's still doing stuff like "3 mana draw 2 cards don't affect the board get beat up next turn". Need to bring back real Counterspells and more Repulse type bounce spells that cantrips while affecting the board.
Shock and its variants are usually quite good, especially nowadays when its so cheap and small creatures are more relevant and being targeted by combat tricks more often. We usually see Izzet being bad when there isn't an instant speed shot variant. Red has lately been getting 3+ mana or sorcery speed damage effects which are not doing as well. Additionally, blue usually has been struggling due to its bad removal and less efficient creatures. Blue usually just has one good removal spell which tucks a creature or disables it while also giving value. They might also get a counter spell which lines up well. However, the rest of it usually doesn't work too well.
We miss Nizzahon History! We miss Nizzahon History! We miss Nizzahon History! This was a good video though. Instead of indestructibility, should it make it cost 1 more mana to target the creature?
4:45 one problem. WotC is now printing more UNCOMMONS in every set than COMMONS. so the rarity of a card is pretty meaningless nowadays. Besides some of these “commons” put rares from even 5 years ago to shame.
Each individual common shows up more than each individual uncommon, across multiple packs. That's what makes it common. And in fact, lowering the total number of commons allows this to be even more true (since there's less total unique commons, you need more of each individual common to fill the packs). Yes, you'll get more uncommons in each pack (usually), but that doesn't dictate rarity. If I gave you one McDonald's burger and 3 other burgers from mom'n'pop non-chain takeouts, that doesn't mean the McDonalds burger isn't the most common type of takeout burger.
Fully agree, getting real tired of getting put to 2 life or dead on my turn two by red decks because Wizards decided to staple card draw on one mana red tricks. Aggro is so unbalanced right now that even in B03 the top multiple decks by win rate are pure aggro decks. When Red/White aggro is the top Bo3 deck even with tons of anti-aggro sideboarding, you know your format's off the rails.
Eh it's just a pendulum. People were complaining a year or so ago that sets were too controlly and had such good removal that there wasn't much point in attacking normally in the first place unless you had an already overpriced-and-inefficient trick ready to use.
Going on from my last point, to me it makes perfect sense that a set focused on little animals that are fast moving and swarmy would be a set where quick attacking and combat tricks are key. It wouldn't feel like a set heavily featuring mice and rats and lizards if everything was held back and slow.
UR not having indestructable combat trick, and red having none at all (except rabid gnaw sorta) is a big reason why it was the lowest WR archetype. You're spot on that the big3 are busted (overprotect, crumb, scales)
that's the reason I don't play drafts anymore: I hate playing against combat trick! The opponent attacks, YOU KNOW they have a combat trick, but what you do? If you block you lose your board presence for nothing, if you don't block you die. Playing it's pointless! 😢
Ya know my best bloomburrow drafts have felt like i have too many removal cards so idk how true that part is ive been doing better with a solid 6ish removal peices
Seems like the sorcery card type is at an all-time low. Sorcery interaction, removal and pumps, are bad for all the reasons stated here. That only leaves early game ramp/card draw, which is slow compared to crept common creatures, or late game bombs that warp formats. Especially for removal in the face of the last couple years of pushed tricks, sorcery speed has never been more of a liability in magic.
If you want to see combat tricks, put damage back on the stack. All of the cards today are mere shadows of the real tricks you could pull back in the day.
God yes. I came back to magic after like 8 years and the single biggest adjustment was damage on the stack. I was super disappointed by it and it felt like a simplification of an in depth mechanic
You say you can't block in this set because combat tricks are too good, but isn't the same true with attacking? If you're attacking into open mana, you run the risk of getting beat by a combat trick as well.
I've become commander brained. I didn't even think about limited or draft when I saw this title, and I actually came here expecting to hard disagree, lol.
Oh wow MoMs bonus sheet being the worst and WoE being one of the best is a real hot take, I was under the impression the consensus was the other way around.
Yes. I found the WoE bonus sheet with the exception of a few always good cards to be fairly superfluous to the draft. Multiversal legends was fine. Nizzahon is correct that the retro frame artifacts were better than they look at first glance.
I'm sure you talk about it but Overprotect is one of the most egregious card designs we've had in a while. Outside of combat tricks and just current design in general, too many cards have this issue of "Why does this have so much text/so many keywords?"
This guy has one of the least annoying voices in all of magic content creatin. And for that I will always be his biggest fan
Also an OU fan? The goat
Like mtggoldfish? ;)
The bar isn't high lol
He's a little monotone but it's a natural speaking voice. People's voices are much more annoying when it's fake or overly dramatic.
The bar set to “not that annoying”😂
Thanks Saffron olive!
IT's also more that lower CMC creatures are just power crept in Modern Magic. It's very hard to have efficient removal when every 2-3 drop is a threat
Bloomburrow not having a bonus sheet is especially weird because it litterally did. Yet, for some reason, they threw it in collector boosters only. You could argue it was for balance, but that hasnt stopped them before.
It is because they probably want to reduce the number of rares from play boosters. The chance of a wildcard being a rare was also reduced significantly with Bloomborrow.
Was Bloomburrow balanced? I haven't touched its limited format at all.
@@bestaround3323 The problem with Bloomburrow is that you either open the synergy for your color combination otherwise you're screwed.
6:19 also another reason we are seeing less rares is because they decrease the chances of wildcards being rares significantly without making an announcement, you can see this if you check the info on probabilities in the back of a Bloomborrow booster, vs an Outlaws of Thunder Junction for example.
WHAT!!!!!!!!
@@lyndsaypeters5981 yep
@@lyndsaypeters5981chasing rares makes customer to buy packs. Harder chasings means more hunger for those rares, therefore more packs sold
TL;DR
Money
And of COURSE its still the same exact price. We pay set booster rates ever so slightly better draft packs
I really liked the Mystical Archives in Strixhaven. It felt very in line with the setting and the set cared about casting instants and sorceries.
I'd argue this is where draft should be. The stats on things are a little too efficient, which is why games are over so quickly, but your big meatball creatures shouldn't be getting answered by generic 2-3 mana cards. There should be a combination of cards to bring them down, and that is what tricks are right now.
Agree
Magic's own fault. This is what happens though when you eliminate balance and even take out the concept of vanilla creatures. The only drawback in the game now is being able to cast something. Smallest hurdle to get over in playing.
Dominaria United defenders deck was something a lot of people enjoyed, build around but also quite powerful, due to that white uncommon that created a ton of birbs.
I was super pumped for BLB, I just loved the style and atmosphere, but also liked some of the ideas (typal decks, lower-statted creatures). However, I've never lost interest in a limited format faster - even though I had a better win rate than ever (trophied five times in ~12 drafts, for a ~65% overall win rate)!
I'm really debating whether I'll just quit Arena entirely, what with aggro-only Standard being basically dead to me, and the last few limited formats not really doing it for me either. The best limited formats I recall while playing on Arena were Strixhaven and Neon Dynasty, maaaybe Dominaria United (didn't play Kaldheim). It's been a while.
I loved strixhaven. I had like an eighty five percent win rate over twenty drafts lol. Haven't done more than just a couple drafts per set since
Thanks for replying to my question! I used a specific example but I'm glad you took it to a more general place as well. I definitely noticed what you've said about most removal getting less efficient over time due to cards giving value without sitting on the board, and I think this conversation helped me contextualize newer limited formats.
I've played some Dominaria flashback draft and it's such a big adjustment. 4 mana sorcery destroy target creature would be so bad in Bloomburrow but it's great in Dominaria.
I would also add that green shouldnt have the best creatures and also hyper efficient removal. Green was usually balanced by not having the best removal. But now they get crazy good removal spells and lets be real the drawback of needing a creature is really not a problem. Also BLB showed that playboosters was just a greedmove by WotC. Monetary wise the set is so bad to open without a bonus sheet.
I'm sure you talk about it but Overprotect is one of the most egregious card designs we've had in a while.
Outside of combat tricks and just current design in general, too many cards have this issue of "Why does this have so much text/so many keywords?"
I think crumb and get it is better. Gives a healthy buff and protection for less mana.
WTF, Bloomborrow just released. Why is the next one coming out already?
Playing a combat trick is part of interaction though. Instant speed interaction makes the game much more cerebral rather than "play new thing, attack, pass" strats most decks have. Love those too but to say, "combat tricks make for less interaction" is just incorrect imo. Even if the fear of a trick keeps you from blocking, that is interaction. I have bluffed you or made you think there is a possibility it could go badly for you. Adding that layer to combat makes it not only more exciting but more realistic. Most battles are won by the element of surprise, Superior numbers you didn't know were there, or straight up sabotage and subterfuge. Being able to impact the board or influence a player without even playing a card or spending mana is extremely powerful...
People will saying hex proof is non interactive but revel in countering a removal spell
@ryanwhaley5041 Hexproof printed on a creature is inherently non-interactive.
@@AxlStrife0 right, but in the context of the video it refers to combat tricks giving hexproof like we haven’t spent decades bemoaning getting 2 for oned.
It's crazy to see his evolution from tricks are bad to tricks are too good
The tricks have evolved, Nizzahon has just recognized that.
@@empirate100 true, I suppose it's more accurate to say the tricks evolved
3:50 completely agree. You can't block anymore, ever.
Can't help but think this is one of the reasons izzet struggles - Shock type removals feel really bad
Izzet struggles because blue is lagging behind in the power creep.
It's still bouncing stuff in an age where people wouldn't mind getting an additional etb trigger, and it's still doing stuff like "3 mana draw 2 cards don't affect the board get beat up next turn".
Need to bring back real Counterspells and more Repulse type bounce spells that cantrips while affecting the board.
@@MrLimpWrist but it suffers more than other x/blue combo
Shock and its variants are usually quite good, especially nowadays when its so cheap and small creatures are more relevant and being targeted by combat tricks more often. We usually see Izzet being bad when there isn't an instant speed shot variant. Red has lately been getting 3+ mana or sorcery speed damage effects which are not doing as well. Additionally, blue usually has been struggling due to its bad removal and less efficient creatures. Blue usually just has one good removal spell which tucks a creature or disables it while also giving value. They might also get a counter spell which lines up well. However, the rest of it usually doesn't work too well.
We miss Nizzahon History! We miss Nizzahon History! We miss Nizzahon History!
This was a good video though. Instead of indestructibility, should it make it cost 1 more mana to target the creature?
4:45 one problem. WotC is now printing more UNCOMMONS in every set than COMMONS. so the rarity of a card is pretty meaningless nowadays. Besides some of these “commons” put rares from even 5 years ago to shame.
Each individual common shows up more than each individual uncommon, across multiple packs. That's what makes it common. And in fact, lowering the total number of commons allows this to be even more true (since there's less total unique commons, you need more of each individual common to fill the packs). Yes, you'll get more uncommons in each pack (usually), but that doesn't dictate rarity. If I gave you one McDonald's burger and 3 other burgers from mom'n'pop non-chain takeouts, that doesn't mean the McDonalds burger isn't the most common type of takeout burger.
I've been high on Savor since the beginning. Removal/combat trick/food maker seemed powerful from the beginning.
Fully agree, getting real tired of getting put to 2 life or dead on my turn two by red decks because Wizards decided to staple card draw on one mana red tricks. Aggro is so unbalanced right now that even in B03 the top multiple decks by win rate are pure aggro decks. When Red/White aggro is the top Bo3 deck even with tons of anti-aggro sideboarding, you know your format's off the rails.
I just dont want to play 1 hour games...
Eh it's just a pendulum. People were complaining a year or so ago that sets were too controlly and had such good removal that there wasn't much point in attacking normally in the first place unless you had an already overpriced-and-inefficient trick ready to use.
Going on from my last point, to me it makes perfect sense that a set focused on little animals that are fast moving and swarmy would be a set where quick attacking and combat tricks are key. It wouldn't feel like a set heavily featuring mice and rats and lizards if everything was held back and slow.
@@deaexmachina6534 Well good news then, because unless WotC prints three mana wipes in Duskmourne, four minute games are here to stay.
@@joeofthefallenyou won’t believe it
Another amazing video with insights!!!
UR not having indestructable combat trick, and red having none at all (except rabid gnaw sorta) is a big reason why it was the lowest WR archetype. You're spot on that the big3 are busted (overprotect, crumb, scales)
Parting Gust has been an absolute all-star for me
that's the reason I don't play drafts anymore: I hate playing against combat trick! The opponent attacks, YOU KNOW they have a combat trick, but what you do? If you block you lose your board presence for nothing, if you don't block you die. Playing it's pointless! 😢
Where are you posting the forum to ask questions about limited?
Great video as always!
Aggro decks run amok in standard after bloomburrow. At least on Arena
Ya know my best bloomburrow drafts have felt like i have too many removal cards so idk how true that part is ive been doing better with a solid 6ish removal peices
Did you play in New Pherixa, Infect + combat trick was nasty
Yes and that was awful, too
I think Khans of Tarkir also had a fuckton of combat tricks and many of them were disgustingly good too.
Prowess decks are also out of control right now in standard, you can remove everything and they still kill you on turn 4
I mean, combat tricks have been bad basically forever. Having 1 set where they are good seems fair
Seems like the sorcery card type is at an all-time low. Sorcery interaction, removal and pumps, are bad for all the reasons stated here. That only leaves early game ramp/card draw, which is slow compared to crept common creatures, or late game bombs that warp formats. Especially for removal in the face of the last couple years of pushed tricks, sorcery speed has never been more of a liability in magic.
If you want to see combat tricks, put damage back on the stack.
All of the cards today are mere shadows of the real tricks you could pull back in the day.
God yes. I came back to magic after like 8 years and the single biggest adjustment was damage on the stack. I was super disappointed by it and it felt like a simplification of an in depth mechanic
Im skipping and will keep skipping sets with rare/mythic bonus sheets, IMO they bring too much variance into the game.
These days if the card can't get 2v1, it's a bad card
You say you can't block in this set because combat tricks are too good, but isn't the same true with attacking? If you're attacking into open mana, you run the risk of getting beat by a combat trick as well.
I've become commander brained. I didn't even think about limited or draft when I saw this title, and I actually came here expecting to hard disagree, lol.
I feel these are intentional designs.
Oh wow MoMs bonus sheet being the worst and WoE being one of the best is a real hot take, I was under the impression the consensus was the other way around.
I have the Ragavan Multiverse Legends series AND the anime Smothering Tithe from Enchanted Tales series. Maybe it's just luck of the draw
Yes. I found the WoE bonus sheet with the exception of a few always good cards to be fairly superfluous to the draft. Multiversal legends was fine. Nizzahon is correct that the retro frame artifacts were better than they look at first glance.
aren't combat tricks always interactive, that's literally what they are= interaction
Here’s hoping the spam comments made from accounts created less than an hour ago I reported stay gone, keep up the amazing content 🫡
For every spam comment deleted, five take its place. TH-cam doesn't care.
Very interesting and relevant topic.
I'm sure you talk about it but Overprotect is one of the most egregious card designs we've had in a while.
Outside of combat tricks and just current design in general, too many cards have this issue of "Why does this have so much text/so many keywords?"