MTG

Do permanents that are also a 4/4 creature because of [[Bello, Bard of the Brambles]] trigger creature ETB effects from things like [[Warstorm Surge]]?

The Professor gives us his thoughts on the recent Universes Beyond announcements.

[[Estrid's Invocation]] enters as a copy of another enchantment you control. At your upkeep, you may re-enter it, allowing you to choose a different target.

Note that casting it without an eligible target will void the second part. It will just stay and sit there, not triggering on upkeep.

I tried to build a deck around this card with lots of non-legendary enchantments. And found out, Sagas are particularly interesting. The crazy interaction is that Estrid's re-enter triggers before Sagas tick up.

An example match start:

• turn 2: [[Omen of the Sea]] (1U, flash, scry 2, then draw 1)
• turn 3: [[Estrid's Invocation]] (2U), gaining another scry 2 + draw 1
• turn 4: [[Binding the old Gods]] (2BG, destroy nonland), Estrid re-entered before on the Omen to get a 3rd scry2+d1
• turn 5: Estrid re-enters as the Binding, which immediately lets you destroy a second nonland. Next but still in your upkeep, both Sagas tick up, letting you fetch two ~~basic~~ forests.
• turn 6: Estrid re-enters as the Binding before it's saga counter can tick up, letting you destroy a 3rd nonland, and fetching a 3rd forest, before the original Binding finally expires.

If you managed to get a 2nd Estrid out by that point, you can have both Estrid Sagas copy each other infinitely, without ever expiring.

Also nice: [[Elspeth conquers Death]] (3WW, exile mana 3+) and [[The Eldest Reborn]] (4B, sac creature, discard, return creature/PW from any GY)

Other non-saga enchantments which I found useful:

• [[Omen of the Hunt]] (2G, flash, fetch basic land)
• [[Wingbright Thief]] (more on that later)
• [[Smothering Tithe]] (3W, opponent chooses wether they have less mana or you gain more)
• [[Revenge of Ravens]] (3B, drain 1 life for each creature attacking you)
• and of course [[Triumphant Getaway]] (1UBR, flash, heist twice, drain 2 on casting heisted cards)

Some are useful because of their on-enter effects, some are useful to stack up a beneficial ability. A Smothering Tithe times 2 makes a significant difference in speed, no matter wether they choose to have less mana for themselves or give you more treasures.

[[Wingbright Thief]] (1WU, creature, on enter reveals opponents nonland hand cards, choose one which perpetually gains "opponent draws 1 and gains 3 life" when you cast this) ... is the only enchantment creature I found worthwhile (maybe aside from [[Overlord of the Hauntwoods]]). But it's a crazy good target for Estrid! Not only does it give you intel on their hand each round for free, you can also burden their most valuable spells with an advantage for you.

For some spells, like untargeted discard, this outright renders it useless. Sure, you can cast it and make me discard a card, but before that happens, I get to draw one and gain 3 life. Similarly, red face damage can be neutralized by this.

For most other spells, the question becomes "how many stacks of Wingbright Thief can this card endure, before casting it becomes more beneficial to your opponent than to you?", which is quite an interesting game mechanic if you ask me. Both sides have to weigh options and estimate value.

Some spells remain useful regardless of how many stacks they have. When a [[Haze of Pollen]] (1G prevent all combat damage) would prevent you from dying, it's still worth casting, even if your opponent draws 10 cards and gains 30 life.

Another poweful aspect of Estrid's Invocation is the flexibility it provides. On each upkeep, you can re-spec your toolkit, choosing wether you want more creatures, more sagas, or more passive abilities this turn.

Sometimes I even use it on [[Utopia Sprawl]] (G, forest makes extra mana) to have 1 more mana this round of a missing color, or on [[Valgavoth's Lair]] (a hexproof land of any color) to have more mana next round, and to flee an expected nonland destroy.

The more I play with it (Magic Arena Historic), the more I wonder why I see it so rarely. Have you played with or against it already? What are your thoughts?

The announcement of this rule change with examples are at the bottom of the article. To summarize:

In the current rules, if you attack with a creature and it gets multi-blocked, once your opponent locks in their blocks, you choose the order of blockers immediately. During the combat damage step, you must assign enough (big asterisk on "enough") damage on the first creature before you can assign damage on the next.

Starting with Foundations, you don't choose an order for the blockers. During the combat damage step, you will just distribute damage however you want.

This weakens multi-blocking as a defensive option.

We will one day speak of blocker order like we do damage on the stack.

Now an update for @MTG_Arena! Pioneer Masters is coming December 10th 2024! Pioneer Masters brings many cards to MTG Arena for the first time as we work towards our goal of parity with competitive Pioneer in tabletop.

Chris Cocks confirms Spider-Man set will be first of multiple major sets WotC collaborates with Marvel on in coming years.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/21150387

Get 'em while they're hot!

This Thursday, October 24th, the first official Season of The Dynasty Cube begins!

What is The Dynasty Cube?

The Dynasty Cube is a collaborative, living draft format that combines a few concepts, none of which are required knowledge:

• Rotisserie Draft - Players making draft picks publicly, one at a time, often in an online, asynchronous format like a spreadsheet.
• Fantasy Sports - Teams are matched up against one other team per week, culminating in "playoffs" where the best teams play an elimination tournament to determine a champion for a season.
• Blaseball - an online horror-baseball-sim league that evolved as a result of collaborative efforts of the members of the different teams in the league.

To begin, the Draft Pool for The Dynasty Cube will contain almost all of the 500 or so oldest cards from Magic’s history, with the next oldest cards being added incrementally with each subsequent Season. Cards that go undrafted get removed from the next draft, and cards that get drafted repeatedly become more difficult to retain, resulting in an ever-changing pool of cards.

The current Draft Pool for The Dynasty Cube, as well as a more detailed explanation of the draft can be found on Cube Cobra.

In The Dynasty Cube, the decisions you make continue having an effect after each draft. Teams may trade their cards or even future draft picks with each other to improve their draft pool. After each Season, The Teams will vote on new rules and other changes that will take effect in the next Season.

Currently The League has about 30 regularly active members, with each of the 8 Teams having between 2 and 6 participants. Ideally, each Team would have at least 5 active members - the more members on each Team, the smoother The League operates!

What does Team participation look like?

Joining a Team primarily means providing another voice and perspective to help your Team to come to a decision - but you can claim more responsibility than this if you want it!

During a Draft, Team members will discuss in their own private channel their strategy for what kind of deck they want to try to draft, what cards to prioritize with their next pick, what cards may be under/over valued by the other Teams, etc.

They’ll determine one Team member to be responsible for playing out their Team’s matches for the Season, and if that Team does well enough, they’ll have the chance at winning the Championship for that Season!

After a Season finishes, Teams will be presented with changes to The League that they will have the power to vote on to decide whether these changes be enacted.

Who are the Teams?

Below are the current Teams with their logos, colors, and mottos.

Alara Shards

Logo: 🌟

Color: Rust

Motto: "Why not both?"

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Kamigawa Ninja

Logo: ⛩

Color: Dark Indigo

Motto: "Omae wa mou shindeiru."

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Innistrad Creeps

Logo: 🧟

Color: Blue-Grey

Motto: ”Braaaaaaiiiiins”

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Theros Demigods

Logo: 🌞

Color: Gold

Motto: ”The Fates will decide”

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Ravnica Guildpact

Logo: 🔗

Color: Royal Blue

Motto: “A Championship is won and lost before ever entering the battlefield”

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Lorwyn Changelings

Logo: 👽

Color: Green Apple

Motto: ”Expect the unexpected”

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Zendikar Hedrons

Logo: 💠

Color: Aquamarine

Motto: "Good Vibes, No Escape"

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Tarkir Dragons

Logo: 🐲

Color: Lavender

Motto: "No cost too great"

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Getting started with The League:

Join a Team on our Discord and start collaborating with your new teammates, or you can give yourself the "Spectator" role which gives you some extra access that you won't otherwise have without a Team affiliation.

If you're not sure which Team best suits you, we have a channel specifically for team recruitment where the Teams will try to win you over!

Additional details about The League as well as the Draft Pool for The Dynasty Cube can be found on Cube Cobra.

Join our Discord server!

In 2025, MagicCons return for a year filled with exciting activities, fan-favorite content, special guests, and high-level competitive play. We have three MagicCons planned for 2025, and each features an associated Pro Tour.

• February 21–23, 2025: MagicCon: Chicago, featuring the first Pro Tour of the 2025 season
• June 20–22, 2025: MagicCon: Las Vegas, featuring the second Pro Tour of the 2025 season
• September 26–28, 2025: MagicCon: Atlanta, featuring the third Pro Tour of the 2025 season