26:00 Covert is exactly right, but not for the extra turns so much as counterspells. The number of ways to actually counter spells in any capacity that any other color has is severely limited (although with MH3, that eldrazi counterspell is looking to change that). The ability to just shut off an opponents' spell without it doing anything for 2 mana cannot be overstated, and in higher power formats there are much more insane ways of countering spells than just spending 2 mana (mana drain, Pact of Negation, etc). That, in conjunction with instant speed card draw and flash creatures, means blue just has so much flexibility that no other color can match.
IIRC when they banned all the cards from the affinity deck the cards in the deck lost something like $300-400 in value, people were pissed but the deck was killing Magic so it had to be done.
36:46 There WAS a comment section, but it was on the Wizards of the Coast official forum thread for the announcement. I THINK someone has an archive of it somewhere, and you might be able to Wayback Machine it even if they don't.
just made my first commander deck, Grolnok, The Omnivore is my commander and I'm gonna try to mill myself and then use Laboratory Maniac or Jace, Wielder of Mysteries to win
I still cringed hard when he didnt go for that first Emperor with the mites, and im an Emperor simp! And its nothing to do with avengers level threat copium. Simply put the emperor was free, no tricks, no bamboozles, no downsides, just free, and any player of any skill level shouldve gone for her in that situation.
in a deck that wipes the board on turn 4/5 consistently, I feel like running eerie interference a better option than temp lockdown. Since it stays relevant later in the game and stops you from dying to a random uncounterable borderline untargetable haste.
Always learning watching you play blue white. I’ll be like why did he do that and 7 turns later it’s like oh that’s why. Ps loved the blue white vs blue white never didn’t have it
playing for ante was what made me frothy for magic, i loved the concept as a 14 year old (94) and i actually upheld it (i remember losing a beta granite gargoyle... and i was super duper puckered over it) but there was an honor in upholding it. that being said as i started playing into "whales" ante was no longer a thing with lotuses/moxes in decks and i was fine with that too. its hillarious that a hearthstone zoomer would be against it, but ante was something that made the game intense. its been said in the comments but ante wasnt necessary i remember lunch breaks where i didnt even play... i just traded trying to build concepts. also around 4th mono red really wasnt a thing... it was ALL black... and i mean ALL
The single point of life from Celestus has already saved many a control mage's skins. This is our Celestus now. No longer Legendary, no longer conditional life gain, but no longer filters our hand.
I walked away from Magic during Ravager winter. Didn't play again for a couple years. It was so toxic and the people who played it were even more toxic.
42:45 heres some skullclamp trivia: at first, the card was supposed to be a 1/1 increase, in which case it woudlve barely seen any play, and very likely not have been banned. The -1 is what makes it so broken, and that was an afterthought because wizard felt that...1/1 , draw 2 equip when dies, for 1, at 1, is too good so they gave it a downside ...of removing an Hp, giving you infinite draw.
