Eldritch Moon Spoiler Thread

Spoilers, Rumors, and Speculation forum

Posted on June 20, 2016, 11:36 a.m. by DarkLaw

I don't think there is one yet, at least not one posted recently. If there is, feel free to correct me.

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MagicalHacker says... #1

Harmless? Not according to your bandaged thumb... Lol

July 9, 2016 9:31 p.m.

tempest says... #2

That's exactly what I thought when I saw the picture haha

July 10, 2016 2:40 a.m.

AwezomePozzum says... #3

Lol I have this awesome comic that talks about Harmless Offering, but I can't post it for some reason.

July 10, 2016 8:41 a.m.

MagicalHacker says... #4

A common error I have is that the hyperlink or image won't post if it doesn't see "http://" in the url.

July 10, 2016 8:48 a.m.

AwezomePozzum says... #5

I'm using a iPad, and I have the image in photos. So I can't use a hyperlink :P

July 10, 2016 8:55 a.m.

wargodmogis says... #6

So something i noticed about Harmless Offering when putting the picture as the background to my phone is there are a few more tells that there is something wrong with the cute ball of fluff.

First the guys other hand has a little bit of blood on it, looks like he was bit. The cat also has he tiniest bit of blood around it's mouth as well.

Also the cat's back leg is less fluffy and more vicious looking.

July 10, 2016 2:55 p.m.

EmblemMan says... #7

the tail is also a tentacle

July 10, 2016 3:04 p.m.

wargodmogis says... #8

Yeah, but everyone knows of that one.XD

July 10, 2016 3:09 p.m.

ChiefBell says... #9

I mean yeah, the tail is like a snake/tentacle/thing so.....

Harmless Offering is irony.

July 10, 2016 3:10 p.m.

McKz says... #10

Stop ruining the kitty for me :P

July 10, 2016 3:18 p.m.

But dat face doe'.

July 10, 2016 3:36 p.m.

Wabbbit says... #12

Wait you guys didn't notice all that immediately...

July 10, 2016 4:16 p.m.

jchudz says... #13

Harmless Offering

  • Your opponent can't refuse your generous donation.
July 10, 2016 6:33 p.m.

Saturnity says... #14

Pff, that guy in the artwork of Harmless Offering has it lucky! I once rescued a kitten from a maintenance hole in the pool area at the hotel I work at. Oh I saved it, but my arm looked like it survived Jurassic Park...

July 10, 2016 6:38 p.m.

greyninja says... #15

My gf is a vet tech and they wear Kevlar gloves for some cats. They'll light you up!

Does Zedruu the Greathearted want Harmless Offering?? Do those decks play Donate...? I've never seen zedruu in acton but it sounds hilarious

July 10, 2016 10:45 p.m.

clayperce says... #16

AwezomePozzum,
Is this the comic you were talking about?

July 11, 2016 5:27 a.m.

AwezomePozzum says... #17

Yes, clayperce, Thank you.

July 11, 2016 9:36 a.m.

I really don't understand the hate for fetchlands with battlelands in the same period. That was, for me, one of the most fun standard "seasons" I had since new phyrexia. Sure it's was one of the most expensive but there was SO MANY decks of crazy designs that you could build anything, with a crazy 4-colour mana base and it was potent. It felt like playing modern on a standard level. I don't understand, from a pure playing aspect, that this standard is better than the last. All you see is boring two color midrange or aggro. Maybe ramp. Just trite really.

Plus your paying for a long-term investment, fetchlands are never going down, will always see play, will always be at a certain threshold in terms of profit and demands so you might as well have the best experience with them for 6 months in standard.

July 11, 2016 11:34 a.m.

DarkLaw says... #19

Standard shouldn't be a carbon copy of modern. That's how formats die. That, and Urza's block.

July 11, 2016 12:44 p.m.

Rayenous says... #20

Did anyone else see Nahiri's Wrath, and think... "Hmmm... I can discard 2x Blasphemous Act, and deal 18 damage to each of my 2 Boros Reckoner's and deal 36 to my opponent!"?


In general, it reward players for using 'expensive' cards that can be used with a lower 'alternate' cost... like Blasphemous Act, Rift Bolt, or Greater Gargadon (most suspend really). - The inability to target players makes it nearly unplayable... but I do like the design.

July 11, 2016 12:55 p.m. Edited.

AwezomePozzum says... #21

Rayenous: OH that is ruthless. Even more incentive for me to play boros.

July 11, 2016 1 p.m.

Wait...standard was MORE diverse with fetchlands + battlelands together? All I remember was an annoying format where everyone just played 3 (and sometimes 4) colored "goodstuff" decks where they crammed their best cards into a deck and made the mana work with the ridiculous land base.

I personally feel standard has become a lot better since the rotation because now people actually need to build synergistic decks instead of just playing all the good cards. I will admit though that I haven't been paying attention to standard since early-ish SOI so it may have changed as the set matured.

July 11, 2016 1:36 p.m.

AwezomePozzum says... #23

Rayenous: Made a deck out of the Nahiri's Wrath + Boros Reckoner + (any high cmc card) combo.



July 11, 2016 2:11 p.m.

PistonGolem says... #24

Personally, I do not think that standard is diverse with fetches. Standard is the most budget sanctioned format. Now add in the fact that just to compete, you have to spend 200 dollars on a manabase... Do you want that for standard?

July 11, 2016 3:50 p.m.

snotice says... #25

PistonGolem: but, you could say that now that value has shifted to planeswalkers.

July 11, 2016 10:26 p.m.

Rabid_Wombat says... #26

Watching my opponents shuffling for an average of 10 minutes per game due to Fetchlands got real boring, real quick.

July 12, 2016 12:28 a.m.

Rayenous says... #27

PistonGolem - Standard is certainly not the most budget format.

You can certainly get into it for a lower price than other formats, but the fact that it rotates makes it a much more expensive format.

When first getting into Standard, a player will have to invest anywhere from $400 to $600. This seems low compared to Modern, where you are likely going to spend $800 to $2000+ (Though some budget decks can be moderately competitive at $300)

However, in Standard, you will likely be paying $100+ each non-ratating release and $200 to $300 each rotation. - You can lower this cost by waiting 4-6 weeks after release to get the cards, but then you decrease your play value as you only get two thirds of the competitive play.

So within a year, you can easily spend $1200 - $1300 on Standard without even realizing it. And that's if you keep the same deck the whole time, which rotation usually makes impossible as a competitive deck often stops being competitive within a few rotations.

With any other Format, you may get an average of 1 card (playset) per year that needs to be replaced, so typically $20, $40... maybe $80. The deck never rotates (though bans can occur), so with the exception of 'bad match-ups' becoming common in your meta, there's rarely a need to make a new deck.

July 12, 2016 7:44 a.m. Edited.

ChiefBell says... #28

Modern is the cheapest format by a large margin. You don't even have to factor in rolling costs. Even upfront modern can be exceedingly cheap and still competitive. When you DO factor in rolling costs it becomes even more convincing.

July 12, 2016 7:52 a.m.

kengiczar says... #29

N b4 sum1 sez "Pauper",

(Not trying to be that guy.. but somebody is gonna say it. You left yourself wide open to that one.)

July 12, 2016 8:04 a.m. Edited.

ChiefBell says... #30

I guess pauper is sanctioned at fnm now. I think? Unsure.

July 12, 2016 8:08 a.m.

However you do need to take into consideration play fatigue, where playing the same deck week in and week out can become somewhat boring. The thing to remember is that you don't need to spend a lot very quickly on this game if you don't want to. If a standard player keeps the best cards from each new set that comes out, eventually that player will find that they have most of a certain modern deck built. I started playing back in Timespiral, so just by virtue of playing so long I've built a sizable collection of Modern cards and now have about a dozen modern decks at my disposal any given week. For some people, paying $100 every 3rd month to keep up with standard is easier to swallow than paying $1000 at once to jump into modern, even if the cost over time makes modern the 'better investment'.

July 12, 2016 8:13 a.m.

kengiczar says... #32

I don't know. I mean recognizing pauper as a format is sort of like calling popcorn food. I mean if you ask for food and somebody brings you popcorn you should just slap the black/white/brown/tan off their face.

July 12, 2016 8:18 a.m.

@kengiczar: Wow... that stung. Pauper is an online sanctioned format. The Pauper leagues have had, at some points, more players than Modern or Standard. It is also played in paper, Paper Pauper, across thousands of stores worldwide. Heck, Card Kingdom holds large Paper Pauper tournaments. The format even has a developing primer on this very site: Tappedout Official Pauper Primer. Hey Coca-Cola and SwaggyMcSwagglepants, back me up here.

July 12, 2016 8:47 a.m.

ChiefBell says... #34

The problem is that paupers top level competitive decks appear to be somewhat fixed whereas modern cycles fairly frequently.

GeminiSpartanX - that standard player will have had to payou an upfront cost at some point this for their deck. My point is that many modern decks have similar upfront costs to standard decks. $400 gets you a tier 1 or 1.5 deck. $200 can get you tier 2.

July 12, 2016 8:52 a.m.

Rayenous says... #35

I'll consider Pauper a competitive constructed format when it becomes a GP or PT format.

July 12, 2016 8:54 a.m.

@ChiefBell: True, but the printings of new commons and rarity shifts shake up the format. The new U/R Drake combo deck came out of the Cloud of Faeries ban and the rarity shift of Peregrine Drake in EMA.

July 12, 2016 8:56 a.m.

@Rayenous: Do you consider Vintage to be a competitive constructed format? I do realize that there is no Vintage GPs for a very good reason... but anyway all I'm trying to say is that Pauper is a real format, and not the popcorn of Magic.

July 12, 2016 9:01 a.m.

Boza says... #38

Pauper is by far the best in terms of cheapest and most competitive. Every set brings new cards that shake the meta. Very resilient with almost no bans.

Modern metagame changes mostly when there is a major ban.

July 12, 2016 9:22 a.m.

ChiefBell says... #39

....50% of paupers competitive meta is like 5 or 6 decks. That's the reason I've never been even remotely interested in the format.

In comparison top 5 decks in modern is like.... 33% of the meta or less?

I just favour the tier 1 variety.

July 12, 2016 9:32 a.m. Edited.

Boza says... #40

According to MTGTop8, Jund, Affinity, Infect, Zoo and Dredgevine comprise 38% of the meta. You do get to that percentage in MTGO leagues just by combining the Delver decks in Pauper.

However, archetypally, all 4 archetypes have presence, while combo and to a lesser extent control are woefully underrepresent in the meta of Modern.

July 12, 2016 9:51 a.m.

ChiefBell says... #41

That's not true. But this conversation is irrelevent. We're all excited about new cards for whichever format we play.

July 12, 2016 9:53 a.m.

MagicalHacker says... #42

Question to everyone: what deck of yours is undergoing the most changes due to EMN cards, what are those changes, and why are you making those changes? (This also applies to changing a deck due to anticipating a card in EMN being used effectively against you.)

I currently only have one deck, so Nahiri, the Lithomancer: You Won't BELIEVE Her Art is losing Blade of Selves and Eight-and-a-Half-Tails for Selfless Soul and Sigarda's Aid.

July 12, 2016 10:12 a.m.

I think Selfless Soul will make the cut into the SB of my Abzan Company deck replacing Burrenton Forge-Tender. Protecting against both red sweepers and Supreme Verdict for 1 mana less than Dauntless Escort seems good enough to make the cut. Other than that, I don't think that there will be many changes to my existing decks. However, I do think that new archtypes might come about in standard now that we have more zombies, vampires, and spirits to test.

Edit: Oh, Eldritch Evolution will be played in Abzan Company as well. I just don't know what to cut for it yet.

July 12, 2016 10:33 a.m. Edited.

Guftders says... #44

I was hoping to build a Zombie tribal deck- except with Cryptbreakers appearance that aim has changed from a creature focused deck to a noncreature focused deck now. So I'm off to build this deck for after rotation! Unleash the Undead Masses

July 12, 2016 10:33 a.m.

Pauper is my goddamn jam yet. I still haven't built a paper deck but it's the sweeeetest thing. I mean we even got a Splinter Twin deck in Izzet Drake!

July 12, 2016 10:40 a.m.

xcn says... #46

I'm tempted to build UW spirits + Dragonlord Ojutai, Archangel of Tithes, and Thunderclap Wyvern, although buying the two big boys that are also rotating when Kaladesh hits is a bit offputting when I don't play super often.

July 12, 2016 11:01 a.m.

Bandulf says... #47

The deckbuilder cant find Decimator of the Pronvinces. Is that not the correct name?

July 12, 2016 11:09 a.m.

_Delta_ says... #48

xcn don't bother as you won't get much time to use those cards.

Just build a deck excluding those 2 as if they were already gone.

I actually have been trying to make a Bant spirits deck and so feel free to give it a look. I'm still trying to decide on its number of creatures.

Bant Spirits

July 12, 2016 11:10 a.m.

_Delta_ says... #49

Bandulf some cards still have not been added as of yet and that's still one of them.

July 12, 2016 11:13 a.m.

Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor It really was though... on a comparative level, this season doesn't even come close to when they had fetches and battles together. Bring to Light decks being a prime example of the diversity through mana bases and design. Had 4 colour rally, 4 colour control, landfall decks, RDW, esper control, khans-shard(X) decks etc...

Standard's meta was so ridiculous at the time that you really couldn't prepare yourself for a certain matchup which was essentially modern-esq and fun. Sure the decks were horrendously expensive through fetches and Jace, Vryn's Prodigy  Flip but the skill level and technical approach was brought up to an another level which standard usually doesn't see.

July 12, 2016 11:17 a.m.

This discussion has been closed