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I wasn't actively drafting duringĀ Shards of AlaraĀ block, but I've heard enough about it to know that mana fixing was a major weakness of the format. It seems like Wizards of the Coast has learned its lesson, because the fixing inĀ Khans of TarkirĀ is looking sweet and plentiful.
Unless you've been actively avoiding spoilers or just started playing yesterday, you already knew about these:
As far as Limited is concerned, these will be nice, and you'll definitely take them for the monetary value, but rare fixing is not exactly what we're concerned about on a draft-to-draft basis.
We also know about these:
I understand that the tri-color lands were first-pick-worthy inĀ Shards,Ā so I have to assume this cycle of uncommons will have a similar power level inĀ Khans.
Uncommons are going to come up a lot more often than rares in Limited, but they still aren't going to be enough to support a three-color format. I've been waiting anxiously for the common fixing, and in the last 24 hours, it has been revealed. First, check out this ten-card cycle:
Wizards decided to not reprint theĀ ZendikarĀ refuges and instead give us new names for all of them. My first thought upon seeing this cycle was that the more-than 300 guildgates I drafted and stashed in my closet are likely never going to hit a dime on buylists now. Too bad. My second thought was that this is going to make Limited a much more pleasant experience. With these floating around to support solid three-color decks, the power of the format will be much higher. This pleases me.
And, yawn, we got a new cycle of tri-color cluestones, too.
In general, I am a fan of mana fixing, so I'm not necessarily upset about this cycle. Practically, though, these are not likely to make a huge impact on the format. TheĀ Dragon's MazeĀ cluestones were simply not very good, and this format has a whole lot of creatures at the three-slot (hint: morph is in this set). I suppose if the format is super slow, these might be a little better than they were in RTR block, but I'm not counting on them doing much.
I'm pretty thrilled about ten common dual lands, and I'm hoping we get a little more fixing to ensure gameplay is smooth. Perhaps panoramas will make a comeback, or even better: something new and unseen! I've been hearing some complaints in my local community about the amount of fixing in this set, but I, for one, welcome our new multicolored overlords. Long may they reign.
FACT CHECKING–ORIGINAL TRILANDS WERE IN ALARA BLOCK, NOT SCARS. That is all.
Thanks for this. A week later, I’ve updated the post. Scars and Shards are sonically similar enough that I wrote one while thinking the other.
If you’re allready sure about your clan during draft, I can see myself picking a banner over a ‘refuge’ to get the mana fixed !
The problem isn’t the amount of fixing, it’s that all of it is worse than what we were used to before NWO. Fixing for nearly five years is too slow for the metagame. These banners are comparable with one of the most despised card cycles in the game. It’s a shame that the fanboy echo chamber won’t demand a competently designed game.