Tessera

So actual B&R thoughts -Phlage sucked and was a cap on how nice the format could get. -If Guide of Souls had to go in the future wouldnt be shocked. Same discussion as Nacatl 10-15 years ago, where a 1 drop obsoletes other creature decks on size and speed, but you cant just play a 4/4 to stop it

I had / have thoughts on the rest of the B&R that are quite positive, but they got derailed by reading the Alchemy ban as the result of Vivi Alchemy errata leading to a different combo kill.

Robert Taylor 🔥@fireshoes.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Llanowar Elves and a GB sweeper, just like 2002. Sheoldred is a hell of a Ravenous Baloth

Pioneer Challenge Top 8 decklists for Friday night, April 24 (42 players) #mtg #mtgPioneer Golgari Midrange gets the win! 🧌🏆 Selesnya Company in 2nd 🛡️ Izzet Prowess placed 3rd 🥋 Orzhov Greasefang finished 4th 🐀

The Arena kids are being properly educated by Top 5 uncommon in the set Mind Sludge 2026

I will simply have to spark joy by giving these Arena kids the full Mind Sludge/Voices of the Void experience, where "discard 4 cards" is tempo positive bc they have to discard all the stuff they could cast next turn.

Been noodling on this a lot, figured out the reasons. Turns out it's a few things at once. 1. Prepare is by default derivative of existing Magic, where Learn was just a weirdo. Not Prepare's fault, reads great 2. A lot of Opus is literal Prowess plus, kinda hate this.

The Converge stuff is the best of Strixhaven 2, the Charms are the worst. Original Strixhaven made its mark by being the Bizarro World anti-Ravnica. Central theme tying the schools, which are all mechanically "3BG Serra Angel"-adjacent. Making it more like Ravnica is a mistake.

Insane work here, split the text box and invented a whole new mechanic to get RedMage-mogged by a generic 2/2 Prowess.

Robert Taylor 🔥@fireshoes.bsky.social · 5mo ago

If you were wondering, this is the 7th Modern list posting for Abominable Treefolk. It also apparently sees notable amounts of play in Penny Dreadful

Living End takes 5th and 8th 🧟🧟 4-color Snow Control in 6th ❄️ Mono-Blue Fleshraker Affinity at 7th 🤖 www.mtgo.com/decklist/con...

My new favorite TMNT fact is a Scryfall search for "Don and Leo" pulls up Temple of Abandon

Got greedy and did one for Constructed, one for Limited. Constructed is secretly boring, I have a type and just extend the circle of what that type contains. Notable draft card Bolas, a card I never cast but caused of 10% of my total game losses in HOU draft. Not Scarab God, just the 7 drop.

An actual metrics example of this. Return to the Sewers is an interactive spell top 5 common. I think 50-60% of uncommons in TMNT are better than it. Most other sets for similar Top 10 common interaction, they are only worse than 20-33% of uncommons.

Some of the issue is also related to this being the worst set for commons that I can find. Over half the commons are D-tier cards The Legendary commons being unable to scale to match the higher rarity cards is some fraction of that.

The low rarity legends in TMNT are well designed in the abstract, lots of effects that are powerful but scale in unfun ways in multiples appropriately limited by the type. But in a small set, the consistent you are never supposed to trade for a Legend bc they have the 2nd in hand is not great.

Thinking about how one of the big issues with TMNT is the IP is a household name because it has been commercialized, so making a TMNT set blurs lines of making a set about a story vs making a set about a sticker you had on your skateboard when you were 8.

TMNT is just the 5th Un-set, released within the constraints of needing to make the cards Commander and Standard legal, and in that realm it is a clear winner even if the worldbuilding for Un-3 was top notch

yoman5@yoman5.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Great direct example of microstuff that the TMNT set is doing better than Spiderman. 1. Hot Dog Cart is not Spiderman, its NYC. This is NYC, but also explicitly TMNT 2. It tells a specific story, isn't just jarring name on generic object. Caught in the Brights legacy lives on.

Char throwback is neat but uh, why?

Figured out the joke here. The set opts out of prior Kindred set models where there was heavy common typal support and leans into Guild set setups where you get 1 good rate "gold" common then load up on power uncommons and rares.

Really impressed with how Lorwyn Eclipsed limited takes two F-tier sets of draft mechanics, basically just runs it all back, and produces a C+ outcome. Rivals Aetherdrift in biggest Limited format overperformers from their fundamentals.

Right before Gavin Verhey went to WotC, he wrote an article about topics he had started to write about but never finished. One of those stuck with me. Anyways, here it is 15 years later.

FWIW, I'm nitpicking Lorwyn in the context of it being a good return despite a lot of weird pitfalls. Lots of clear lessons learned from not just Lorwyn 1 and Ixalan, but recent adjacent failures like Zendikar Rising. Delivers what it advertises, minus maybe 2 Giant and Treefolk fan service hits.

Minor nitpick 2: I would bet at least 80% of people who cast Soul Immolation so far dont actually know what the card does. Also unsure if that number is over 50% within R&D for the card as printed. Easier to believe it was an Oko -1 error than the actual play was intentional, even if its fair.

My extremely nitpick complaint about Lorwyn Eclipsed: the Goblins needed to be 15% uglier, bc the art direction leaning into clean goat horns makes parsing Black common creature types worse.

My extremely nitpick complaint about Lorwyn Eclipsed: the Goblins needed to be 15% uglier, bc the art direction leaning into clean goat horns makes parsing Black common creature types worse.

yoman5@yoman5.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Thinking about how WorC can basically put whatever stat line they want on the Kithkin one of these, bc in the era of standalone sets and half being UB with Halflings or w/e this basically has Companion: Play our exact FFL decklist

Wait this shit is excellent Easily the best white 1 drop in standard yeah? Time to kith a lot of people