Magic: the Gathering goes hybrid fantasy! End of the world as we knew it?

[SnowFire]

Nah, you can't pay something you don't have. If the rules worked like that- and we temporarily went back to the original rules on "you only die at the end of a phase-" then Channel-Fireball would be even sicker. You don't even need to be up on life; you could have 1 life to your opponent's 20 and force a draw by paying 20 life you don't have (of course, under modern rules, you'd die anyway, but oh well).

Works the same way as a casting cost that requires you to sacrifice a creature (like, say, the flashback on Cabal Therapy). You can't cast it if you have no creature to sacrifice. Same with "no life to pay because I'm in the negatives."

[DinoDoc]

So what does everyone think of the equipment mechanic?

[Mr. President]

I think it's just fine. To me it seems sort of like a continuation of the Dragon parts from Scourge - you play a Fugitive Wizard on the first turn, and he goes on a quest for Equipment and turns himself into a world-beater! Hopefully they won't errata Tawnos's Weaponry (my favorite card!).

I'm a little ambivalent on the race-class thing. I think it's interesting, and it's good that both races and classes will count equally as creature types - but I wonder where they're going with it . . .

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
So what does everyone think of the equipment mechanic?

That doesn't seem to be new, at all

A number of artifacts worked in that general way already.

[Panda]

most people try and play with the oldest cards possible in tournaments already, to show off how long they've been playing

That has never been my experience, except maybe for cards such as a 4th edition Bird of Paradise or Shivan Dragon, which I have myself because they were simply less expensive to buy than the most recent reprint (then 7th edition). And because I don't have many of them it means I have to play with these older cards, not by choice but of necessity.

Also you will find that serious players will also tend to prefer the original cards from the expansion rather than the reprint (black bordered as opposed to white bordered). This also explains the price difference.

As for the quote, you will always find some jerk who takes the game too seriously and tries to intimidate the other player. Both in and outside of FNM I have find the majority are friendly and allow you to take back mistakes. Having said that I have yet to go a PTQ

[Mr. President]

[Unrelated]

Do you guys know why they stopped reprinting Dragon Engine and Radjan Spirit? Those were two of my favorite cards . . .


[Related]

Anybody going to read the Mirrodin book? I don't think I will, personally.

[Urban Ranger]

Have you read any of the M:tG spun-off books?

[Richard Bruns]

I read the last few pages of one of them in a hobby shop, to see what happened to the main characters. As far as I can tell, they are just hacked-out junk. I wouldn't buy them.

I generally only read things that some library has seen fit to purchase. I tell myself that I am letting them do quality control for me, but the real reason for this is that I'm just a miser.

[Ben Kenobi]

Same with "no life to pay because I'm in the negatives."

Okay, so the card would let you pay down to 0 but you would still live while the Platinum Angel stays in play.

Sounds like a souped up Ali from Cairo.

Have you read any of the M:tG spun-off books?

Some aren't bad. Just don't expect top notch fantasy writers to do these books.

[Mr. President]

The best spin-off book is, in my opinion, The Brothers' War by Jeff Grubb. I've only read a few of the others, and I wasn't very impressed.

[Ben Kenobi]

I tell myself that I am letting them do quality control for me, but the real reason for this is that I'm just a miser.

Considering that the best books I read come from the library, I concur with your sentiments.

I think that the best one of the Magic books I read was the Dragon book, with 6 different short stories all about Dragons. Most of the writers wrote well, but with uneven quality.

Of course, I got the book for Christmas.

[DinoDoc]

Do any of the books deal with the Slivers or the Riptide Project?

[Mr. President]

I hear that neither the Slivers nor the Riptide Project are mentioned at all in the Legions or Scourge books.

[Urban Ranger]

They probably have no idea what the Riptide Project is actuallly like

[Ben Kenobi]

For some reason books about Dragons appear popular.

I'm not sure why they have not done slivers, since the concept of a brood sharing qualities could be interesting to write.