Mirrodin Besieged || Crack-A-Pack - May 14, 2024 

The way i was taught regeneration was "you regenerate like Wolverine, not like Jesus"

YAY! I'm glad the pack was full of anecdotal talking points. Also don't let the 2011 print date hurt you too much. It hurts me more. Fun fact: The Wilds of Eldraine pack you gave me in return at MagicCon Chicago had Ashiok, Wicked Manipulator in it. So we both got a cool double pip black card in our packs. High five!

I hadn't even realized how smart Phyrexian Crusader is, since it has protection from the colors that get first strike.

"Don't say bubble, don't say bubble" Graham: "B U B B L E"

Anyone curios, the Marauder was/is played in Pauper Tron

That story at the start reminds me that my first prerelease was Return to Ravnica, and I had no idea what the guilds were when i was asked to pick my prerelease pack. It was one of my worst performances at a prerelease, so i could only go up from there

Fangren Marauder is likely that expensive since it’s a decently common sideboard card in pauper

Aww, you can really see the happy joy in Graham's face when he was done reading Hexplate Golem. So proud, as if he won an award :D

Signal Pest: Wow, I never knew the 'head' was actually a claw... now it doesn't look so cute :p

Hearing Graham say "we didn't know what a pre-release was" when LRR is now THE pre-pre-release people is such a blast from the past

Everyone thinks they understand Regenerate until they have to explain Regenerate. Banding is simpler than Regenerate.

imo like 90% of what makes regenerate confusing is its name. Like if it was called protect or something like that, it'd be a lot more intuitive.

Master's Call was definitely 3 mana because of Metalcraft, as well as other effects that cared about artifacts. Also, Raise the Alarm was originally printed in Mirrodin, so it's kind of a callback for more than just being similar.

Talking about infect reminded me of one of my favorite Friday nights jokes where paul pumps a glistener elf into 10/10 to kill someone in one swing, and his opponent goes wow, that seems unlikely and paul goes ah but when it works.... imma go watch em all again get ready for the new season

Graham, Slivers aren't from Mirrodin, silly.

8:45 You actually can do it more than once with no issue. This example just made it seem more complicated to use than it is. Regeneration is a replacement effect, so even if you have multiple up, only one will be used each time the permanent would be destroyed, because the destruction is being replaced. It's not a trigger to save the permanent, where all instances go on the stack and can be wasted. For example, if I have regenerated a permanent 3 times this turn, and then you use Vindicate on that permanent (destroy target permanent). All the regeneration shields will see that destruction and initially want to replace it, so I have to choose one to apply first (they're all the same, but I still choose). Once that one has been applied, that permanent is no longer being destroyed (it's now being tapped, having damage removed, and being removed from combat). Now the other 2 regeneration shields don't apply and will continue to wait for the next time that permanent would be destroyed. I agree that regeneration can be complicated when you look at the comprehensive rules and how they fully interact, but the effect isn't that difficult to understand on the surface. A permanent is about to be destroyed, and now it isn't, but it's "exhausted" after the process.

Fangren Marauder was a big part of Pauper Tron.

Master's Call was part of a polymorph combo deck since making artifacts whilst not having any is actually difficult (before clues and treasures) and blightsteel exists

The only thing I remember from seeing yall at Magic Con Chicago, was drunken rambling to Kathleen about the M20 commanders, specifically Kykar, but others were mentioned. Seeing yall was a highlight of my trip, just wish I was more sober lol

I agree that shield counters seemed like Wizards attempting to "fix" regenerate. As much as I think regenerate is kinda cool and flavorful, I do agree that mechanically it's a bit awkward.

A lot of people finding out about Signal Pest face today (me included)

Signal Pest is so much less cute than I thought it was. Thanks Graham.

Mirrodin Besieged was also my first prerelease! I got a Glissa the Traitor as the promo that I still use and love.

I have been looking at Signal Pest the wrong way for 13 years.... Thank you for enlightening me.

It's kinda funny that Copper Carapace clearly looks like some sort of mecha, and it probably *would* be a vehicle today, but vehicles haven't been invented yet, so it's just an equipment instead

I have indeed been playing for as long as you have, what got me into the game was a lil video from a sketch comedy troupe called "It's magic!" maybe you've heard of it!

Thermal Navigator from original Mirrodin shows the same creature as Signal Pest from a similar but inverted angle.

10:31 I’ve been playing Signal Pest in a Graaz commander deck for a little while now, and I’ve suddenly been made SO uncomfortable by the new knowledge about its face 😂😂

El Spidro Infecto?!

Your prerelease story makes me feel old. My first one was Planeshift in 2001. Still have my Greek Questing Phelddagrif prerelease promo.

I know regeneration is complicated because I to this day forget that a creature that regenerates taps if it's not already.

I have good memories of this set. The whole "which set will it be?" gimmick was cool, but it definitely disappointed some people, so I can definitely see why they've never done that kind of thing again. Still have my pre-release deck box that was double sided with mirran stuff on one side and phyrexian on the other. Good times.

It's funny that you mistook the claw of Signal Pest for its head, I had a similar experience with the art of Dragonlord Dromoka thinking that it's chin was its entire face and it was just a cool faceless thorn dragon

Pretty sure Graham did a similar diatribe on Regenerate, but it's always fun to have a reminder. I can imagine if it was to ever be brought back, it could be on a one-off card as a throwback but with caveats. Like, the creature is phased out or exiles until the beginning of the next upkeep because it has a powerful or at least utilitarian ability that requires it staying in play, maybe? Or maybe it gains a bubble counter that provides ward 1 😆

"That is left claw?" WHAT?!?!?! Overall, this is giving me some fond flashbacks. I was at FWA one year and there was a 6-pack booster draft of Besieged and Scars for $17; I'd been out of the game for some time but realized how much of a bargain that was on price alone. I wound up pulling a Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas pack-one/pick-one, then had to asked how planeswalkers worked (the last set I bought into was Betrayers of Kamigawa). Didn't do the best but I did build a "neat" dimir control deck.

5th Dawn was the first prerelease I went to... and the last 'till Ixalan. lol I got a bye in the second round... and thought that meant "bye, you're outta here for losing the first round" lol Was late to round 3 because of it, luckily my friend was with me so I didn't just take off completely.

I enjoy the 'other version' of Regenerate, where something just becomes indestructible (and occasionally has to get tapped because of it)

I feel the sentiments regarding regeneration deeply.

Putting a Myr into a Copper Carapace doesn't make a Copper Myr. What a disappointment.

All the creatures that gain Indestructible, but tap themselves is the new way they do Regenerate now, IMO.

That isnt the head of Signal Pest?! Now the promo suddenly makes more sense..

Regenerate was hit hard by changes in how damage is calculated. The way it used to work (which you can check by playing Shandalar) was that damage used the stack - so if your creature was about to take lethal damage, you just activate regenerate in response. Simple. But then rules were changed, and damage now happens instantly - so Wizards had to basically change a reaction ability into proactive one, and... yeah, it all got weird Funniest result of that is that creatures with extra abilities tied to regenerating had to get extra ruling stating that their abilities works *only* when you successfully stop them from getting destroyed. So no, you can't pay bunch of blue mana and turn your Spiny Starfish into token generator, unfortunately

Fangren Marauder seems sweeeet in Commander as it also triggers from your opponents Treasures, Clues, Food, etc. Might need to put in some gruul "artifacts matter" deck.

Regenerate was always 'remove incoming lethal damage or a destroy effect' for me. Hillariously enough, my playgroup never used the actual regenerate rules until we went to a legitimate tournament (a pre-release somewhere around Invasion era), and even after it we went back to just our own way when playing amongst ourselves.

"specific sliver of memory lane" But there are no slivers in MBS

When me and my friends cracked our first batch of Magic cards and started playing, we had a pretty good sense of the rules thanks to stuff like Duals of the Planeswalkers. But when Regenerate came up we didn't know what the heck to do with it. I think it went through being a Raise Dead effect to a Feign Death effect to a kind of just counter target kill effect before we gave up and looked it up. I remember being pretty frustrated that not only did the reminder text not explain it well at all, but the actual rules text sounded like complete nonsense.

Crusader and Signal Pest in the pack, what a sweet limited boosty

Damn, seeing this right after watching Rhystic Studies' Phyrexia video.

The Scars block is likely my second favorite block overall. It's the one that got me out of retirement for the first time since... Invasion? Apocalypse maybe? Still keep meaning to build a Myr commander deck and cram a lot of metalcraft into it.

While I haven't seen Fangren Marauder in Commander, it did make me realize the block had a few similar effects in green, with the main highlight being Viridian Revel. Try running that one if your playgroup likes artifact tokens A Normal Amount.

achievment unlocked: open a card on the pack

I lost my Besieged Pre-release as a Mirran because my opponent in the finals was a Phyrexian who ran a [Fangren Marauder] which gained 15+ life over the course of one game. In spite of it having a Mirran watermark, that loss cemented it as a Phyrexian card to me.

... has Fangren Marauder ever made it into Treasure/Eggs decks? Feels like a missed opportunity if not...

I recognize that the artist gave Signal Pest an actual face. However, given it’s not the silly face I love, I am choosing to ignore it.

I feel like Regenerate, as an effect, has kind of been replaced by "...gains Indestructible until end of turn." Oftentimes accompanied by tapping the creature, I guess to remind people of Regenerate?

4:50 Señor Myr da best

I don't think the problem with Infect was necessarily the power level (talking about Limited here), but that you had to go all infect or no infect since creatures with and without infect attacked two different life totals.

2:18 Ah, yes, mobility, a well-known required trait for blockers. Such as, say... Walls. Which are well-known to be highly mobile. Which is what makes them such good blockers. (Not that I have a better explanation for why this card is the way that it is :P).

I liked the part where Graham talked about Regenerate for a looooooong time

That green card made me think of maybe making life gain feldhorn a thing

What would WotC have done if everyone had overwhelmingly wanted Mirrodin Pure and hated New Phyrexia at a conceptual level?

El Spidrego Infecto

I play fangren marauder in my treasure deck and it has given me easily hundreds of life in a game.

I miss regenerate (as much as you can while still playing it in commander). I think what I miss is the cost part, leaving mana open or not, so maybe more activated indestructible would fill the hole.

You know, based on some of the flavour of the cards, I always thought Wizards wanted artifact creatures to be immune from infect. There's a bunch of blue cards, and Silverskin Armor, that suggested being an artifact provided some sort of protection. Either they received infect as normal damage, or that infect creatures simply could not damage artifacts at all. I think it would've made infect slightly more balanced, as every deck could potentially play answers. However, I think the idea is a bit complex, and if regenerate confused people this would certainly cause even more confusion. It would be like saying that Red creatures are "immune" to first strike, it's just needlessly complex and a bit arbitrary.

If MtG was a simpler game over all then I would agree with you on Regenerate, but Regenerate really isn't any more complex that a lot of other things, even base game mechanics like blocking.

If they made Myr Sire today would they call it Myr Syr? Much like Banding, Regenerate is very easy to understand if you play Shandalar where the game operates the mechanics for you. I would disagree about the "bubble" theory; you activate Regenerate "after" the creature takes damage/eats a removal spell, and then, instead of going to the graveyard, it just gets tapped. (And is removed from combat and has damage removed from it.) I think the way it gets way too complicated it just if you study the exact rules, where anything sort-of-but-not-really moving between the battlefield and the graveyard is hilariously hard to define, viz. the amount of text Animate Dead needs to say "get a creature from the graveyard back to the battlefield as long as this enchantment sticks".

Is this video weirdly dark for anyone else? It's not the screen brightness, since everything else on screen is the normal brightness.

Gotta get me a copy of that green dude for my artifact deck, i crack at least 5 or 6 treasures a turn, dats a lot of life

That claw was quite strong with infect, iirc. Absolutely take the Marauder before it but oof first strike infect really messed up combat math

I agree completely. Regenerate was confusing. That's why I stopped playing with creatures with it.

Crack! A! Pack!

If Hexplate Golem is good enough for LSV, it's good enough for me.

I still have and cherish my MBS (or was it new pyrexia) Poison count-down d10.

Hey 2011 was when I graduated.

I miss when Mirrodin was extant and not depressing. It and Zendikar were my favorite planes of all time. Now they’re both basically dead.

How can Graham be part of the problem when All Will Be One?

I do wonder if they are going to find some way to make a Toxic version of Wither when we get back to Llorwyn next year. Not 100% sure how that would work mechanically, maybe similar to cards like Obelisk Spider where it deals combat damage then puts a number of -1/-1 counters on it. Or just give me back Wither with better creatures. I certainly won't complain.

Was anyone else low-key hoping for a Spine of Ish Shah?

The editing has me frothing at the mouth

Huh. I’ve owned a signal pest for 15 years and never noticed the stupid look on that lil guy’s face

Is the Phyrexian Crusader up for trade ? :D

B҉u҉b҉b҉l҉e҉

mirdirn :)

10:27 - Graham ruined the Signal Pest art for me.

Mirrodin pure woulda saved magic smh

bubble

Dying to -1/-1 from infect wouldn't be relevant that much for regenerate. Because it's removed from combat when you regenerate it.

No first pick?

White/Black Knight -> Mirran/Phyrexian Crusader

In fact/infect...!

wow i hate signal pest now

I love watching these after coming home from workout :)

7:30 "You, enfranchised player" fools! I haven't played magic the gathering in years i just like hearing the funny man say words

I don't really miss vanilla creatures, but wish there were more french vanilla creatures, and less text in general on creatures.

regeneration was a lot simpler before they simplified it

I think vanilla creatures should be used sparingly (ideally, to show the baseline of what a color can get... so don't obsolete it), and french vanilla creatures should make up a lot of (C)s; think about how much play (C) French vanilla Cycling 1 creatures see in constructed for an example of why this is good design. I'd also be interested in Spirit of the Night-style component creatures; IE cards that are good not because of their stats, but because their subtypes (and/or names) make them useful to other cards. (For example, imagine "Snake Oil 1B Sorcery Draw 2 cards, lose 2 life. Alternative cost: Exile a snake from your graveyard. If standard only has 1 or 2 snakes, suddenly those french vanilla losers are constructed winners!)