New Magic Set - Planar Chaos - AKA White is getting shafted again?

[Kenryoku_Maxis]

Ok.....um. Magic as of late has been really good. Ravnica block threw us some rule-bending screwballs that ended up really fun and Coldsnap has some of the best indavidual creature cards I have seen since probably Scourge. And Timespiral has been going great.

But now....a new set, the Second set for Timespiral, is coming out and well...everything so far I know about is just....wtf worthy.

So far they have announced 2 cards. But at first glance, they are hardly new. One is a card called 'Damnation'. The picture looks rather familiar, a giant ball of energy destroying a ton of creatures. But you will do a double take looking at this card because from its cost and even its text, its an EXACT copy of Wrath of God...just for Black. Suddenly, one of the most famous White cards, really a staple of WHY people play white since oh...the games creation, has now gone to Black.

But its not the only thing that has been taken from white and given to another color (seems Magic has been doing that ever since 7th Edition). Now Akroma, argualy the strongest and most cost effective creature in the game, is no longer white. Now she has a clone as well....and its Red. And from what I hear, she has the same Power, Same Toughness and same cost, just Red and she comes WITH Firebreathing attached.

I'm a big fan of Magic and I've loved Timespiral so far but really....I'm getting skeptical and really hope Magic isn't suddenly just making a set where they change everything. And even worse, just take every good thing White has and transfer it to other colors. Can we say Disenchant? Swords to Plowshares? Land Tax? Balance? All famous white cards that have been removed from Core Sets and given to other colors...with very little swapping of other colors abilities in return.

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Edit: However, one good thing about Planar Chaos is the announcement that 'Premium' Rares, or Rares such as AKroma's Copy or the new Black Wrath of God, will be replacing common cards in packs they come in. Meaning if you get a Premium Rare now, you will also get a normal rare in the same pack. That's gonna help prices for Block players and probably help the sales of packs a little more.

[Demetrius]

Great, just what we need another FU! to people who like to play white. I've pretty much given up on MTG, I stillplay every now and then with my old tournament decks (dummied down so they are fun). The new sets don't interest me... well other than Coldsnap.

[xravi]

I hate white they deserve this. Maybe white might get something from another color someday. Just keep praying.

[Mirai Gen]

Akroma can't be countered, has Morph of 6, prop blue and white, pumps, flying and trample. So, yes, if you had laundry, she'd wash it, too.

I'm reluctant to be all crazy about this set. On one hand, it's interesting to see the "What if" scenarios play out. On the other hand, it's also completely reverting everything we've done with Magic (Angels are ALWAYS white, Wizards, what the fuck?) and putting it on it's head, and I'm not sure if it's for the better.

[Arhra]

Well, actually, there's been several multicoloured angels, some black angels and two artifact angels.

On the matter of Akroma, she's hardly the most cost effective creature in the game. Most decks playing her try to cheat her into play by doing things like turning her into a zombie. Oh those black mages and their necromancy! Although, technically, white can do that too nowadays, seeing how they reprinted Resurrection, the white Zombify.

Black has had mass kill spells for quite some time too. A black Wrath of God isn't that much of a stretch really.

As for white, I hear they're getting a counter spell in Planar Chaos. Counters spells that targets their permanents I believe.

That's not the end of the craziness though. There's also a total of 45 timeshifted cards which, in Planar Chaos are exact reprints, except shifted in colour. Damnation is one and there's another one that's been previewed - its a green Ball Lightning. Also, in addition to the red Akroma, there's a black Mirri, white Crovax, blue Braids and green Jedit.

Myself, I'm looking forwards to it.

[Demetrius]

Blue Braids already is giving me nightmares...*shiver*

[Kenryoku_Maxis]

As if Blue didn't have enough to worry about, now a Blue Braids...

And Akroma is one of the most cost effective cards because she's the most powerful Angel without even being the most expensive. Adding up all of her abilities and her power/toughness, she should cost anywhere between 12 and 14 mana to cast, ut instwad costs 8. And she doesn't have anything that limits you from just using reanimate on her to get her out for ONE mana. Also, Akroma is counterable...I don't know what you mean by this. But I'm not exactly mad Red now has Akroma because for the most part she's almost a Red creature to me as it is.

What I am mad at is that Magic has been 'fixing' itself for the last 4 blocks and their definition of fixing so far seems to have been 'Make green stronger, keep blue, red and black as it has been and take as much out of white as possible and distribute those effects into all the other colors, mostly green'. I'd say aside from a few big creatures and Ravnica block (Boros and Izuit or whatever), White has been the weakest set in every set since Onslaught block ended. Disenchant for Naturalize, Many life gain cards dissapeared while green got a TON of them, Wrath of God is now also a black card where before the best option was using Bane of the Living...hell, green and blue are even getting mass creature pumps, which is suppose to be white.

And so, while Black is the creature destruction color, it just feels like one of a long list of Magic wanting to 'bend' its established rules and things its famous for. So their mentality is 'oh, we'll just take something big from white and give it to another color'.

I hope they DO give white a counterspell. The one color I don't like to play is Blue and aside from a few creatures, the only thing I'd want out of blue is Counterspell and perhaps levitation for green. And if they gave levitation to green....then Magic has just gone bonkers. Its bad enough green took Mana Flare, half of whites life gain and Disenchant. What's next? Mirari's Wake reprint for 3GG?

[Mirai Gen]

They're giving White it's own Avoid Fate?

That sounds pretty nifty.

Otherwise I agree with Maxis - It really seems like the formula is "Green creatures get bigger, red does more damage, black kills things really well, blue counters spells, and white, well, I'm sure white is good for something." It's frustrating considering white is supposed to be about protection, and it's so obvious that if they just gave creatures some sort of damage reduction ability similar to DND it'd fit with white without giving it green's boosting or black's necromancy.