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weasel · Last edited by weasel on Thu Oct 02, 2008 9:09 am; edited 4 times in total

Paper-Gamer.com presents:

Talking Crap!
A magical podcast
Episode 3

Talking crap is a podcast starring Levi "Thinks-he-owns-the-place" Hinz, and Cameron "Controversial" Veigel, bringing you opinions and insights you can happily ignore, or pass on to your children's children.

Now with all new "Dual-Voice" mode!

(Right click, Save As.)

In this episode:

* More Shards of Alara
* Cube Draft Report
* Format of the Week: Winston Draft
* Shout-Outs

Credits:
Starring: Levi Hinz and Cameron Veigel
Recording Date: Monday 22nd September, 2008
Powered by Powerthirst
Title and end song: Air - Sexy Boy
Running time: Approx 29 mins.
File size: 6.5 MB
Unofficial Rating: PG. Mild coarse language.
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weasel · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 10:07 am Post subject:

Show notes:

Spoilers:

Angel's Herald (W)

Creature - Human Cleric
(2)

, (T), Sacrifice a green, a white and a blue creature: Search your library for a card named Empyrial Archangel and put it into play. Then shuffle your library.
1/1

Empyrial Archangel (4)

Creature - Angel
Flying, shroud
All damage that would be dealt to you is dealt to Empyrial Archangel instead.
5/8

Ethersworn Canonist (1)

Artifact Creature - Human Cleric
Each player who has played a nonartifact spell this turn can't play additional nonartifact spells.
2/2

Cruel Ultimatum (U)

Sorcery
Target opponent sacrifices a creature, discards three cards, and loses 5 life. Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. Draw three cards. You gain 5 life.

Brilliant Ultimatum (W)

Sorcery
Remove the top five cards of your library from the game. An opponent separates those cards into two piles. You may play any number of cards from one of those piles without paying their mana costs.

Sanctum Gargoyle (3)

Artifact Creature - Gargoyle
Flying
When Sanctum Gargoyle comes into play, return target artifact card from your graveyard to your hand.
2/3

Tidehollow Sculler (W)

Artifact Creature - Zombie
When Tidehollow Sculler comes into play, target opponent reveals his or her hand and you choose a nonland card from it. Remove that card from the game.
When Tidehollow Sculler leaves play, return the removed card to its owner's hand.
2/2

Grixis Charm (U)

Instant
Choose one - Return target permanent to its owner's hand; or target creature gets -4/-4 until end of turn; or creatures you control get +2/+0 until end of turn.

Bant Charm (G)

Instant
Choose one - Destroy target artifact; or put target creature on the bottom of its owner's library; or counter target instant spell.

Sharuum the Hegemon (3)

Legendary Artifact Creature - Sphinx
Flying
When Sharuum the Hegemon comes into play, return target artifact card from your graveyard to play.
5/5

(Spoiler is saying he is in fact legendary

Still good though!)

Winston Draft

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silensis · Comes into play tapped Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 698

won't download

weasel · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 10:37 am Post subject:

silensis · Comes into play tapped Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 698

I am glad that you guys knew what 'shards' were this time, and seemed to have a better idea of what you were talking about. I am only half way through but it seems like an improved podcast.

silensis · Comes into play tapped Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 698

I have done tons of winston drafts...but only with the cube!

BTW my feelings on cube drafting right now haven't changed.

71dion · Joined: 26 Feb 2007 Posts: 1672 Location: Sunny Gold Coast

Nice work again guys... very entertaining....
I am in the same boat as Sam with the Winston drafts ( heaps, but all pretty much only with a cube )..... and you never get tired of it ( or have weak decks... )..
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silensis · Comes into play tapped Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 698

by the way the whole set is spoiled(except for 3 cards) and it sucks, it sucks really bad, like...the worst set that has been released since I started playing, by far.

weasel · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 1:39 pm Post subject:

Lol what the? Did I accidentally load mtgsalvation forums? This set looks like heaps of fun, I'm really going to enjoy it. Of course I've said that before and a set has sucked, so I'll really have to wait until after the prerelease to decide, but I really do think I'm going to enjoy the set.
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badlittlemonkey · Monkey Magic Joined: 22 Jan 2007 Posts: 2769

Interested in what makes a bad set

Uninteresting, power level or the type of decks it promotes

I hated the idea of Lorwyn with all its tribal aggro decks and overall I still think Lorwyn was a bad block ...just not as bad as I thought it would be. I liked Shadowmoor a lot more since it was not so tribal themed but both Eventide and Morningtide struck me as bad sets...a lot of dross and then bam a must have Mutavualt and Figure of Destiny.

I hated Lorwyn draft yet I like Lorwyn plus Morningtide draft, the extra set seemed to make it less draft by numbers.

I really enjoyed Kamigawa but obviously it was heaps weaker than Mirrodin which meant for a lot of people it sucked. Mind you saviors definitely sucked...the epic spells were ok though

silensis · Comes into play tapped Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 698

ok, I think the set will be great fun in limited, I am really looking forward to it. What I don't look forward to is another yr of lorwyn block constructed. Hopefully I am wrong.

weasel · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 1:50 pm Post subject:

Ahh yeah I guess. Thats more of a problem with Faeries though. I think I look at new sets for Limited these days, as I don't really play any Type 2 any more.
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badlittlemonkey · Monkey Magic Joined: 22 Jan 2007 Posts: 2769

Take fairies out of Lorwyn and constructed gets worse......... 5 color is ok but after that there is no card advantage just hope you draw well.

I think the set could be a slow burner. Lorwyn sought of gave you the decks on a platter and while cards like Shriekmaw and Muldrifter are going to remain in heavy use I think Shard will be a good set.

badguy · Like Arnie, or like Nixon? Joined: 11 Feb 2008 Posts: 395

The forum on which they spoiled the (almost) last 60 or so cards is awash with people saying it's terrible/worst set ever/they hate it/mechanics are bad/ and so on. It's funny, I don't know if I look at the set differently, but I seem to assess it with it's relation to limited, and how the cards will inter relate. I really like the look of it I must say, I'm enjoying playing with all the different shards, and I like how each one has it's own mechanic.

While at the same time I can understand how having a grizzly bear in the set might seem terrible:
Cylian Elf (1)

2/2

Maybe it's just what the set needed to shore up green, as opposed to giving it a keyword just so it would be different.

And for constructed I love the charms, the aggro creatures, the devour mechanic, and it will be fun to see how it turns out.

In a way it's quite interesting, the way all the writers articles I've been reading (on Starcitygames) have been saying they love the set, and yet all these people are saying they absolutely hate it, without even playing.

Gfish · The 'G' is for Draco Joined: 26 Feb 2007 Posts: 913

The new set will be awesome for drafting especially, but I think the tribal mechanic will overshadow Type 2 for a while to come...

MulliAgain · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 2:59 pm Post subject:

badlittlemonkey · Monkey Magic Joined: 22 Jan 2007 Posts: 2769

Well unless a set reprints power nine its pretty hard for it to get good reviews.

When was the last set people liked on an internet forum??

Timespiral - People complained about slivers
Plan Chaos - Complaints about color pie.
Future Sight - Millions of Complaints about card face and what sets they think will be coming out now and how this is the end of magic
Cold Snap - Most hated set ever i think
Lorwn - Tribal _ Enough said
Morningtide - This really was a weak set with a few great cards but 80% unplayable in constructed

There is always hate, I remember thinking Lorwyn was the worst set of all time until Sam told me to get Cryptic Commands

Only Future Sight in recent memory was a set with a lot of good rares and only one big money card, I consider it the perfect rare distribution set as there was a much lower percentage of stinker rare. Stinker rares being the ones absolutely no one wants.

Time spiral was good because you got two

I also think people on that a particular forum are really really bad at seeing the big picture and how the cards come together. They tend to just focus on one point at let that blinker them i.e. no good card draw this set sucks.
People also tend to compare to the existing format and don't see that the Shards environment will be different.

weasel · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 3:11 pm Post subject:

Yeah, basically the majority of the internet is pretty dumb. But we all know this. They'll complain about everything even if there's nothing left to complain about.

Although we don't get much of that here really, if anyone's complaining about something they've usually actually thought about it.
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MulliAgain · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 3:20 pm Post subject:

Andrew, be sure to include your Pre-Release experience/s in your next weekly blog.

badlittlemonkey · Monkey Magic Joined: 22 Jan 2007 Posts: 2769

We should probably all put our experiences of the new set up

If we could get a mini review of each stores pre release that would be brilliant

Store Name
Location
How many players
Cost
Organization: Were they organised/disorganised
Judging quality
Any other issues: close to food, parking etc
Prize support
Potential: even if things didn't go smooth on the day do you think it will improve in the future, did they realize their mistakes?

silensis · Comes into play tapped Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 698

Yeah, I am generally not one to complain about sets, but this is the first time I have looked at the first set in a block and not seen a single card that excites me. Each block in t2 should have a close to even impact on the format. I don't see how any deck can come from this set that even comes close to being good enough. It also contributes almost nothing in terms of playable mon-coloured cards for T2. I was thinking about doing a set review..but now I think it would be really boring for me.

badlittlemonkey · Monkey Magic Joined: 22 Jan 2007 Posts: 2769

The blue white black shard looks pretty good to me.

weasel · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 4:54 pm Post subject:

Well the only issue I have with that comment is "nothing in terms of Mono-colored"... What is your opinion of the multicolored spells? I think that a few of them have a lot of potential.

I think its harder to have an impact on a format without having a linear mechanic such as tribal. Things such as multicolored sets, especially this one being tri-colored, will probably take another set for it to make new decks.

Still, I've seen new decks emerging as I said on the podcast, even before the set is completely spoiled. Sure the impact won't be great, but its still there.
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silensis · Comes into play tapped Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 698

A few of the multicolour creatures are pretty good provided a home can be found for them. The charms are all decent and maybe cruel ultimatum...I'm not seeing it though.

The plainswalkers are all ok, worse than most of the lorwyn ones though.

Peers · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:29 pm Post subject:

quasili ambusher? is defenately a card i would like to build a deck around probably in conjunction with doran
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mindfire · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:45 pm Post subject:

weasel · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:53 pm Post subject:

I'd sort that into rarity....Commons is mostly what you want to look at, and rares are generally irrelevant.
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AanAllein · Dave Who? Joined: 25 Jan 2007 Posts: 4383

evaluating a set from the spoiler is always tough, but there's certainly a chunk of playable cards here. the mana is just a touch more awkward than we are used to; whether that's an issue or not remains to be seen

still, the set looks exciting for limited, a lot of fun, has some great art, some great designs... complaining about it because only a few cards are going to see play in constructed seems like a really narrow way to look at things

besides, most sets appear weak for constructed at a glance. i remember people thinking lorwyn wasn't going to make much of an impact aside from a few cards...and that was mostly true, until suddenly a handful of extra cards arrived in eventide, and previously "ok" tribal decks became dominating. there's no reason to think some better 3-color fixers/support cards could turn some apparently marginal cards here into powerhouses.

anyway, who really cares about constructed anyway! limited is where it is at

MulliAgain · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 7:04 pm Post subject:

Magus of the Mindslicer · Joined: 22 Apr 2007 Posts: 418 Location: Brisbane

I've played a bit of cube too, my experiences were similar, I remember being on the receiving end of Panoptic_Mirror + Evacuation, when I finally got around it, I was on the receiving end of some nasty u/w enchantment control. What bugged me was my mass removal of Nev's Disc, Wrath, Kirtar's Wrath and Rout, weren't particularly effective because my opponent rarely played creatures, preferring to kill mine with my own Lieutenant_Kirtar then re-animate Kirtar with that Guildpact-Orzhov 7/8 drop enchantment, wash-rinse-repeat. I broke through on I think turn 25 when I Vengeanced, thus killing the enchantment and all the board, including the Ob-ring on my Exhalted Angel, and I got to come swinging in with my angel against an empty board. Good times.

I'll be saving some boosters from the PR for drafting. I'm with Weasel, I love the new set, though I am a bit of a "timmy" when it comes to card outlook.
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AanAllein · Dave Who? Joined: 25 Jan 2007 Posts: 4383

it's worth noting that the last few cards to fill out the spoiler are generally common. and every set looks light on removal, until you remember that 5 or so removal spells per limited deck is about normal

badlittlemonkey · Monkey Magic Joined: 22 Jan 2007 Posts: 2769

I have a complete set of Kamigawa, Betrayers and Saviors just sitting ina folder collecting dust.

I could make that into a cube. it wouldn't really feel like a traditional Kamigawa draft though because the ratio of commons to uncommons to rares is totally out of whack.

I think it would be something that is fun to draft...but only like once a year, which is more use than it is getting now

weasel · Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 9:26 am Post subject:

I think a Rotiserie draft would a be better use for it.
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mindfire · Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 9:27 am Post subject:

wtf is a "Rotiserie draft"? You stick 'em all on a big skewer and set fire to them??

badlittlemonkey · Monkey Magic Joined: 22 Jan 2007 Posts: 2769

weasel · Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 9:29 am Post subject:

I think we have something else already set up for next week, but we could do this the week after? Or maybe we could *PLAY* rotisserie before we talk about it, that way it will be a cool report on it.
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badlittlemonkey · Monkey Magic Joined: 22 Jan 2007 Posts: 2769

I pick Jitte your turn

weasel · Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 9:37 am Post subject:

Hmmm maybe we'll just use Champions then

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badlittlemonkey · Monkey Magic Joined: 22 Jan 2007 Posts: 2769

I want to use ninjas though

Maybe Betrayers minus Jitte. It's the only card in the set that I actually need for constructed so it suits me to take it out.

I have spares of most everything else

weasel · Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 9:55 am Post subject: