WHAT IS THE BEST MTG SET AND WHY IS IT LORWYN?

Because you did not play in the shitfest that was Fairies: the Meta

Times were better, funner, and SJW and politics as a whole were not devouring everything in sight.

Oh, and Scarecrows. My favorite deck is my all scarecrows army, God those little guys are so darn cute.

>Scarecrows
Bitch please. I got a Bear Deck.

How? Ixalan draft format is atrocious, the story is straight trash (as it has been since the gatewatch took over) and the flavor is “pirates + dinosaurs XD so funny”

Because it had kithkins. I like my tiny races who arent total bumbling fucks.

>had the old Shandalar PC game, but didn't actually get into the physical game for a while
>Time Spiral BW starter deck caught my eye one day
>played kitchen table Magic with friends and occasionally my dad pretty regularly
>didn't start playing at an LGS until Avacyn Restored
>only LGS in the area shortly went out of business
>didn't get to start playing locals again until Khans
>community was decent, modern was mostly casual-competitive players - the most competitive decks were budget burn, Eldraziless Tron, and BW tokens without Bitterblossom
>enjoyed it a lot (ran Esper midrange that focused on dumping/reanimating Titans and gaining advantage from their effects)
>one day, around Battle for Zendikar, I think, a bunch of morbidly obese faggots showed up
>they heard there was modern there
>between their bad hygiene, asshole personalities, and top tier decks, the prior community fell apart
>not even a Facebook group for meeting up somewhere else
>these guys leave to a new store
>practically no Magic community left in the area, aside from a store solely populated by people like that group
>old store dying
>pretty much all of my friends have cashed out of Magic
>sold off any expensive cards in my Modern decks, aside from the Grave Titans

Would things have been different if I got into the game earlier?

Funny, I was just looking at this card earlier today. Lorwyn may or may not be the best set, but it was definitely the last good one, and ABSOLUTELY the last one that had good fluff. Damn shame to think the game's been shit for a decade now.

>the only plane with good flavour, cards AND a "return to" set is mirrodin
Prove me wrong

Well, Mirrodin certainly does have a return to set.

If you're trying to claim Scars had good flavor, I'll be generous and assume you're a numagic babby who doesn't know any better.

>If you're trying to claim Scars had good flavor, I'll be generous and assume you're a numagic babby who doesn't know any better.
Scars had Phyrexia. That makes it have better flavor than 90% of everything since then.

>Implying New Phyrexia didn't ruin Mirrodin and Phyrexians in one fell swoop

Don't ruin it for other people.

Lorwyn/Morningtide seemed like such a comfy place

Not really.
Despite what people will tell you there have always been tryhard cunts that like to ruin the experience for everyone else.

Zendikar was pretty sweet.

>Old Phyrexia dead
>Glistening oil was rigged to win from the very start
>The only hope of the Mirrans explodes in a burst of glistening oil, because her immunity was actually just tolerance
>Red faction of Phyrexians implied to be wiped out completely
>Mirrans are all dead

Isn't Karn crazy powerful though? Like pre mending level?

Why didn't he just quarantine the plane the moment he woke up?

Joke's on you, I played Faeries.

There wasn't much mention of him, as far as I know. It's implied he's fucking up Phyrexians left and right, but the way glistening oil works makes it basically impossible to completely cleanse from Mirrodin.

Unless someone comes up with a way to remove every drop of oil, Phyrexia will keep coming back.

Feed new phyrexia to Eldrazi? Two great tastes, that taste great together

Couldn't he just destroy Mirrodin and then hibernate in a sun?

He isn't that strong anymore. If he was, the Phyrexians would have been dead ages ago.

Why wouldn't he be that strong?
The mending affected planeswalker sparks which Karn doesn't have.

But Karn does have a planeswalker spark.

Kamigawa was a perfectly self contained block you insufferable faggot cunt.

Rules wise and flavor wise it was perfect in itself

He's a golem. He's a planeswalker the same way Urza was. With the Might and Weakstone.

I'm telling you man, he got given a spark due to another planeswalker sacrificing himself to give it to him. Before that, he was being compleated and eaten from within by the glistening oil.

Oh, right. My bad. I forgot that the spark was transformed.
My point still stands though. They stones can't have possibly been altered by the mending, meaning Karn should still be full power.

I have no explanation, man. Maybe the Phyrexian oil completely ruined the Weak and Mightstones, resulting in Karn being pretty strong after getting the spark, but not pre-mending strong.

Honestly, I think the writers just fucked up and forgot that he was a powerhouse without a spark in the first place.

>would have been amazing as "Splice onto Instant" or "Splice onto Sorcery"
I think the risk with that is that you end up with very repetitive decks that plays the same spell turn after turn. Rather I think Splice would have worked very well is spell types had been a thing from the very beginning of the game. It wouldn't have been nearly as parasitic if some Arcane spells got printed in every set, and it would have been easier to return to in other forms like Splice onto Fire, Splice onto Lightning and so on.

Pirates are great, and the story of the Immortal Sun interests me. The Gatewatch's shenanigans also interest me. I like the Eldrazi, and I like the idea of the power of friendship defeating them. I like the way that Innistrad did creeping otherworldly horror, as well as the grudge between Nahiri and Sorin. I like the way Amonkhet sets up this fucked up world of zombies where the Gatewatch are trying to figure things out, and even white is straight up murdering people, only for Hour of Devastation to go full on disaster movie and end in a major loss for everyone.

I'm less interested in Jace and Vraska doing another amnesia plotline, but I like the shit with the vampire conquistadors and the Merfolk and the pirates and the dinosaur civilization. The people of Torrezon used to have the Immortal Sun before some winged creature took it across the ocean and gave it to the Empire of the Sun, only for the emperor to misuse it a couple hundred years ago and the winged beastie (that I suspect might be Liliana's last Demon or something) gave it to the Merfolk, who hid it away. The first vampire traveled to the continent years ago and made herself into a vampire, and now her religious acolytes are searching for both her and their treasure. The pirates are various bands of survivors from the time when the vampires took over the continent of Torrezon, and want the Immortal Sun to reclaim their homeland. The Sun Empire (the Dinosaur faction) want the Immortal Sun back to restore their empire to glory. And a group of Merfolk now want to use the Immortal Sun's power to defeat the Legion of Dusk (the vampire faction).

I like those sort of faction focused stories. I'm disappointed that they don't have watermark cards.

(I have no idea what the story of Kaladesh is, I skipped everything from basically RTR to Ixalan, and only kept up with Shadows' story)

You give me hope and I like you

Honestly I kind of hate the people who complain about the story, especially the people who wish it was more like Weatherlight or something like that (you know, the sets that were all about following the continuing story of a small band of heroes?)

That said I am sort of personally going "ugh" with the announcement of a return to Dominaria, though in all likelihood it will probably just annoy all the people who want to return to the plane that once dominated the whole game story.

Ice Age because fucking nostalgia glasses.

It was my first set.

>Lorwyn
>High fantasy

How is it not?

imagine if they didn't backpedal on things like Tribal spells and permanents just because they fear that your average player would get confused because of some older spells like goblin grenade aren't tribal spells. That's like scrappin auras because indestructible aura wasn't an aura.

>Ixalan draft format
My store literally missed a draft they are having every other week because there wasn' enough players

Well actually, if you really think about, behind all those cards that describe hobbits, thrown salmons and stolen pies, there are knights and giants and other high fantasy things

Hobbits are more high fantasy than knights.

I just preferred when the story was more about the plane itself and focused on world-building rather than some chumps I don't care about. When the new story actually talks about natives of the planes and the conflict within (without the gatewatch), its not that bad. But then the gatewatch gets shoved into the story and everything goes to shit. I also think that the weatherlight arc had better writing and characters than the current story, despite having similar themes and structure.

ironically the introduction of planeswalker cards

And they did absolutely nothing else than be a cycle that demostrates a new card type.
The real cancer didn't start until Alar and zendikar (most people don't remember it like that becasue the short comict they published were actually enjoyable).

user, the only blocks since, like, Ice Age that focused on the plane without any recurring characters where Mirrodin, Ravnica, and Lorwyn/Shadowmoor. And I'm being generous, since Mirrodin's entire schtick was being fall out from Karn.

Planeswalkers are high fantasy, and actually a return to the game's narrative roots.

Unpopular opinion:
I enjoy playing Magic: The Gathering in 2017

Cheers

Is that your mother?

OG ravnica best, incredibly fun and balanced limited format, great standard formats, powerful (and mostly balanced) cards that were fun to play with, no planeswalkers or mythics, great flavor/story, amazing art, and everyone was white.

recurring characters are fine, but they should just be the vessel through which we experience the different planes' stories, not the forefront of the plot.

>Retuurn to game's narrative roots
I don't see how team bland compares to a war fought artificiers who are also twin brothers

That's because you're a nostalgia driven dumbass who thinks superheroes are Mary Sues while you want a return to literal Gods taking center stage.

Have you actually read the old magic lore? It's a fucking garbage fire of mistakes and obscure characters that mean nothing to the larger narrative.

Me too user

Old characters were interesting and deep. Modern planeswalkers are lame Disney wannabe.
They were so afraid to design a black planeswalker that they hired a black consultant to avoid racist "sassy" tropes.

Serra and Urza >>>>>>>>>>>>> Jacetice League

how about the issue on how they print one off planeswalkers no one give a damn, and then proceeds to ignore them completely?

That sweet sweet Celtic flavor. Also taurean mauler best changeling.

The old lore was about worldbuilding. Now the whole plane is used to advertise the planeswalkers. Everything revolves around Jace and friends. If some peon on Ravnica takes a shit, Jace must have something to do with it. The results is that the planes look shallow and lifeless. Planes are props for magical teen drama.

Yeah? I build a ferret deck.

It wasn't very good.

I also built a deck based around Orcish Artillery (and it's two clone cards, Orcish Cannoneers and Goblin Artillery). It was kinda cool to play... mainly because they're terrible cards.

>Bunch of Latins and Slavs
>White

I'm howling.

>They didn't want to be racist, how terrible is that!
Go cry some more.

No one on Ravnica even knew who Jace was. Hell, I'm pretty sure most people don't know who he is even after he became the Living Guildpact.
The planes are more interesting than they've ever been, and the only time planes were ever anything BUT advertising the main characters was the three blocks I mentioned earlier.

Ravnica, Lorwyn, and Kamigawa.

Mercadia, Rath, Dominaria, none of them were anything but places for the main characters to go, and filled with fantasy tropes.

>Lets put the two biggest threats to the multiverse in the same place
>What could possibly go wrong?
Why not let Bolas oversee it, while we're at it?

>I'll take "Who is Teferi?" for 200$

What?

The writers being shithead that don't pay attention to the lore? Say it aint so.

What could go right, you mean

Best standard was Time Spiral + Lorwyn

:'( how is already ten years bros
what the fuck

Not the same user, but legendary matters was a theme in Kamigawa. You can't claim that there were too many legends, that's like saying there are too many energy cards in Kaladesh.

>Lorwyn: Primarily tribal-themed set
>"OMG BEST SET EVAAAHH!"

>Ixalan: Primarily tribal-themed set
>"Such shit! MTG sucks now!"

I like shadowmoor+eventide better

Ixalan is literally a plagiarized Veeky Forums setting. How new are you?

The best one? I don't know. What I do know, is that Amonkhet is in my top 3 worst story and block of alltime.

I'm a peasant and I agree 100%
I grew in countryside and Lorwyn reminds me lots of good memories (fishing, climbing trees, ect)

He propably wanted to articulate that WotC has had somewhat nuanced characters who had a swarthy complexion, and thus the need for a literal new paid clerk (needed to ensure that character who shows up in less than half dozen cards in a supplemental multiplayer draft side-product) speaks more about the flawed attitude to social media current day Wizards of the Coast has.

Also Innistrad (excluding Avacyn restored) was best modern bordered set.

They're both awful sets cause tribal sets are shit, does that work with you?

I like Ravnica just because I was autistically and unironically patriotic to my Guild: the Orzhov Syndicate

In my opinion, Embalm/Eternalize was the only kind of cool mechanic to come out of the Amonkhet block. Everything else was either taken from previous, better sets or kind of messy (I'm looking at you, Exert...)

As far as the story went, it was the epitome of the "Gatewatch goes to place, place goes to shit" formula that made the two-set block period so boring.

Although, you have to admit seeing Bolas push the B8watch's shit in was pretty satisfying.

>you have to admit seeing Bolas push the B8watch's shit in was pretty satisfying.
It was, and I like Bolas. He has good design with the evil symbolism in the horns and floating thing, although I forget what that means specifically. The Eternals themselves were also pretty cool. Elite zombies with Doomsday's backstory coated in magic metal is a pretty old lich idea too though, so the only credit there goes to the art and design team for doing it so beautifully.

It's not a flawed attitude to want to avoid making characters who conform to or perpetuate stereotypes. It's a flawed attitude for white dudes to think they can do everything.
Also I'm not even sure what incident you guys are talking about, and I'm pretty sure it either didn't happen or happened differently than you think it did.

Amonkhet's fucked up world and Hour of Devastation's whole apocalypse scenario storyline seem really cool, and I'm tempted to actually go and read through them, but if I recall the stories always sound cooler when not read, because the ideas are good and the writing is subpar.

I do too, there’s a lot of dumbass drama online about MtG but overall I’m really enjoying Standard and Modern, I’ve made like 6 decks in the past 4 months since getting back into it.

You aren't wrong.

The flavor was shit, and who cares if the rules worked self contained? Blocks exist as part of the wider game.

Yeah, the problem isn't that Ixalan is tribal, its that it is just a bad set. Like, have you drafted it? Its just not a very fun draft format, and that is all there is to it.

Do you have a source for this?

>It was bad, and you know it.

>Awesome draft format
>Best flavor of any MTG set/block by far
>Gigantic goldmine for EDH
>Jitte
>Kokusho
>Motherfuckin' EIght-and-a-Half-Tails

Shit's good, mate. It has aged very, very well.

Gonna have to go with innistrad. Might have to do with the fact i started during scars block, but still.
>tribes done well
>cool main plot with good diverging side plots
>before sjw bullshit
>flavor out the ass

>Best flavor
That's not Arabian Nights

>That's not Arabian Nights
I've never heard of that set...

do you mean ARRAAAABIANN NIIIIIIIGHTS?

Odyssey is what I'd consider the best mtg set, mechanically. That was a fucking fun type 2.

I started at the end of Innistrad but I felt like Khans was the high point from my experience

>Odyssey is what I'd consider the best mtg set, mechanically.

For me, its Alara