Innistrad would be the saving grace though, the reason to keep drafting through this boring set. A horror theme? COOL! A new printing of Liliana? SWEET!
Double-sided transforming cards...
...
...
WTF?
To me, the transforming cards are an extremely unpleasant thought. First off, who wants to telegraph their draft pick so much as to actually SHOW the other players exactly what card you drafted.
First, I am going to address the Werewolves, the crux of the mechanic. According to the article from the mother-ship, all the werewolves will transform on the same mechanic; it reads, "At the beginning of each upkeep, if no spells were cast last turn, transform [Card Name Here]"
Master of the Wild Hunt has a new BFF.
Why?
I guess I don't get the connection - how does the amount of spellcasting relate to Werewolves and Lycanthropy in general, or Night and Day? The idea that it may cause an opponent to over-develop to keep casting spells is semi-interesting, but I hate how it seems like it will intentionally slow down games.
Not all of the Transforming cards are Werewolves, we have Vampires and... other things, spoiled so far -
Meh.
OK the Test Subject seems pretty awesome.
If I am not mistaken, we have to constantly de-sleeve a card, multiple times in one game no doubt, and that sounds obnoxious. If you don't have sleeves, they have this to help -
Yet again, WTF?
The interesting thing to me about the checklist is the way it semi-spoils a portion of the set yet unspoiled. If you notice, there is a card on the list named 'Garruk Relentless.' I had heard mention of just about every Planeswalker besides Garruk showing up (though i guess it makes sense in the story) and since Garruk had a recent reprinting, and a hefty upgrade at that, I did not think it possible that Green would be that lucky.
Also, this explains the odd statement made by MaRo about a Planeswalker with FIVE abilities being printed in the set - my guess is Transformed Garruk will have one power in common with his un-transformed version and then two abilities on each of the faces. I am super excited about the card, but this is what i keep thinking in my head -
"Oh look, Cass got Garruk in his pack. Definitely not passing this good green card his way."
"Fucking Garruk."
The off-color duals in the set are going to be amazing, though I doubt they will take the pressure off the Ravnica Shockland market, which I was hoping Innistrad would address with a reprint. They are a great alternative to the Painlands in Modern, which have lost me a few games against Zoo Aggro.
Of course, as I write all this, the set is largely unspoiled and un-played, so it may all be in error. Somehow I doubt it though, as both the mechanic itself and the logistics of said mechanic are seemingly poorly conceived and executed.
I will still draft the set and Mythic-draft Garruk, but it feels like a poor sign of things to come. I enjoyed the story of the Scars saga so much - the Mirrodin Besieged Pre-release felt fucking epic - and I thought Innistrad would be as epic, if not more. On the otherhand, the Scars cycle had its own disapointing mechanics (cough Metalcraft cough.)
For the record, I placed Ninth out of 100+ players at the MBS pre-release, all because I drew on the last round after some Math snafu. No one is to blame but myself but its not a good idea to trust opponents when it comes to the Math winning. I had Sword of Feast and Famine and Spikeshot Elder. Yeah, PREEEEEETTTTYYY good. For anyone who didn't choose the Mirran packs, you missed out on super easy SoFaF picks.
I would have enjoyed drafting the cycle more if there wasn't a weird fad of drafting New Phyrexia first, the going backwards through MBS and Scars. I felt it was counter-intuitive and much lamer to draft, since the draft decks had such divisive builds.
Anyways, that's my rant on the spoiled cards. I feel like this rant is different from other rants because unlike other rants, it is completely and utterly infallible.
Just kidding. Still, WTF?
Peace out.
