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Mana Critics
Registrace 30. 11. 2023
Vorthos-leaning flavor talk about Magic the Gathering
The Bloomburrow Skele....er, Froggy Follies!
It *would* be time for The Bloomburrow Skeleton Update, were there any skeletons in Bloomburrow. Since there aren't, we found another creature type to fixate on...
zhlédnutí: 19
Video
Gen Con 2024 Post Mortem Review
zhlédnutí 38Před 16 hodinami
Half of the Mana Critics went to Gen Con for the first time. So, if *you're* a Magic player considering investing the time and money to go to the next one, this ought to give you a sense of what you can expect. Don't care about general Con stuff, and want to skip straight to the Magic content? 18:55 - Gavin Verhey's Unknown (including some new playtest cards) 32:50 - Amonkhet flashback draft
Bloomburrow Prerelease
zhlédnutí 67Před 14 dny
As is the custom, we attended a Two-Headed Giant prerelease for Bloomburrow, and it was glorious. It's far too soon to tell how the Limited format will shake out mechanically, but we talk about the ways it's already a worldbuilding success.
Bloomburrow's Cutest Tokens
zhlédnutí 69Před 21 dnem
What better way to celebrate Prerelease Weekend than ooo and awww over all those Offspring Tokens!
Dead Card Game Resurrection! Hecatomb, and how Nils Hamm led us to it...
zhlédnutí 185Před 28 dny
In a complete lack of self-restraint, we've basically taken a tangent about the art of Nils Hamm that didn't even make the cut on last week's episode, and spun it into a whole episode on a pentagonal card game that's been out of print for nearly 20 years! Doesn't that sound fun!? Also, Julie has a surprise object. Julie's specimen channel: @JujusSpecimens
Should Have Been a Black Card
zhlédnutí 777Před měsícem
Do you ever look at a card and think, "How on earth did THIS art get matched up with THIS card design?" We kept having this idea in relation to cards that seem like they should have been black...which probably says more about our color preferences than anything, but whatcha gonna do?
Humans (and the lack thereof) in Magic
zhlédnutí 618Před měsícem
Bloomburrow will be just the second plane without human-type creatures in Magic. We discuss the history of Humans, and what we might expect their absence to mean to worldbuilding of the new set. We also get really off on a Mass Effect tangent, if you're into that sort of thing.
Emperor Tinybones
zhlédnutí 383Před měsícem
We head back into the Skeleton Closet for a brief yet thorough (because he's so small!) look at the history of Tinybones. He occupies such a big place in our hearts, it's astounding to think he's only been in our lives for 4 years! We also have a look at the lone Skeleton of Modern Horizons 3, Emperor of Bones. Primary backing art: Dimitar Marinski's Swamp from Dominaria (2018)
Beyond the Hekma
zhlédnutí 130Před 2 měsíci
We revisit the world of Amonkhet, and how it felt at the time of prerelease. All we knew of the horrors that lurked outside the city of Naktamun, we had to learn from the cards themselves, as most of the stories were only released after the set had debuted. Thanks to @ChitsandCatsfor suggesting this topic, and for all their kind words! If you enjoy pack openings, check out their recent posts - ...
Emrakul's Vacation
zhlédnutí 60Před 2 měsíci
In Modern Horizons 3, noodly appendages are showing up in some inexplicable places. Join us as we explore the original cards referenced by some of these new Eldrazi broodlings, and try to figure out where Emrakul's been floating around the gene pool this Summer. It's hot outside, so stay EmraCool, friends.
Anxiety and Magic the Gathering
zhlédnutí 93Před 2 měsíci
Today, we talk about our own experiences with anxiety and nerves while playing Magic. While we have a few bits of advice in the second half of the video for those of you who might be working through this, we'd very much like to hear your recommendations as well. Link to a seminal Limited Resources episode (273: "Have a Plan"), referenced in the video: czcams.com/video/ZnW5TffthuI/video.html&pp=...
Skeleton Update - Outlaws of Thunder Junction
zhlédnutí 86Před 2 měsíci
What have the most bare-bones creature type in Magic been getting up to in Thunder Junction? We expand our scope a wee bit beyond the explicitly Skeleton-typed cards to look at Skeletons' presence in Standard (?!) and Commander, and the cards who clearly wish they could get in on the party.
Most Likely to Crime! Breaking News Superlatives
zhlédnutí 24Před 2 měsíci
Most Likely to Crime! Breaking News Superlatives
Basic Lands of Thunder Junction - Plus Train Talk!
zhlédnutí 81Před 3 měsíci
Basic Lands of Thunder Junction - Plus Train Talk!
Counterspells - The Art of Magic Not Happening
zhlédnutí 1,1KPřed 3 měsíci
Counterspells - The Art of Magic Not Happening
The Full Art Basics of Thunder Junction
zhlédnutí 102Před 3 měsíci
The Full Art Basics of Thunder Junction
The Skeleton Closet - The Original Bony Bois
zhlédnutí 136Před 4 měsíci
The Skeleton Closet - The Original Bony Bois
Who Wore It Better - Karlov Manor Paruns Edition
zhlédnutí 55Před 4 měsíci
Who Wore It Better - Karlov Manor Paruns Edition
Top 5 card art pieces from Karlov Manor
zhlédnutí 80Před 5 měsíci
Top 5 card art pieces from Karlov Manor
@17:50 You can say OG Glarb has BDE, it's okay Max.
Im building Glarb as a Delve deck. Very little attempt to include frogs specifically. lol
We should have an all-Frog, or even all-Glarb pod in Vegas
@@ManaCritics I got frogs
I don't go to cons, and it sounds like that's a good decision. This sounds like they're very overwhelming.
Skeletons and Oozes. Like the Skeletons are just trying to get their stuff back the whole time.
This past weekend was such a blast, miss you already! Vegas in 2 months!!!!
destroyed by frogs 🐸💀
Another great video! And an absolute yes to getting footage from GenCon. And I'm happy to hear that your first outing with Bloomburrow was so enchantingly fun!!!!!
Thanks! Have you got your hands (literal or metaphorical) on Bloomburrow yet? How are you liking the flavor?
Nevermind, just found your unboxing vids :)
1:01:41 they may as well be acon, bloomburrow have a forest with iron tree
Whoa, I had read something somewhere...maybe the planeswalkers guide...about mining metal from trees, but I was thinking there were, like, iron seams in the wood or something...didn't even consider they might be fully formed metallic components with physiological function! (not sure is "physiological" applies to plants, but I don't know a botanical equivalent)
13:14 Lor mentioned!!!
Such a great overview of the tokens. Now we know which ones we're missing. The hunt is on!
I need exactly 300 new Storm Crow tokens pretty please. Their little outfit!
1:02:39 I've written non-canonical MtG fanfiction too. I may just have to subscribe to your channel.
Is it published somewhere? Feel free to drop a link, if CZcams doesn't prevent it
The hecatomb concept seemed interesting, but after getting ahold of a few cards, i knew the game would die. The nonstandard shapes meant that it'd be difficult to keep game pieces in good condition
Can definitely see that - so far, they're just showing fingerprints, but that's only after a couple of games. Someone made a proxy print-n-play version on BoardGameGeek with standard card shape - you just leave the top of each card exposed - looks like that could have been a way to give it more simplicity/longevity, but that ship has obviously sailed.
I dont know who you guys are, but I started playing Hecatomb in 2012 as a middle school kid shortly after getting into magic officially. The concept of the game intrigued my young mind and its still a game I think about all the time. Kinda wish it hadn't died, but I understand why it only had three sets before getting discontinued. In retrospect, I hadn't known at the time that the cards I bought from my LGS were from a game that had been discontinued for 6 years already, but I don't feel scammed because I have very fond memories of the game.
Yeah, it doesn't seem to have an ongoing community the way Decipher's discontinued Star Wars CCG does (basically a fan-run coop with new sets and everything), but there are a couple of cool things people have posted on the BoardGameGeek page for it - most notably, the card file for what WOULD have been the next set, and a printable proxy set of the Base Set in rectangular form. May take some of these to GenCon in a few weeks, juuuust in case the opportunity presents itself to play...
Adore Hamm and now, Hecatomb! I have a copy of the MTG card in my art collection! Ben Templesmith did a favorite comic of mine, Wormwood Gentleman Corpse!
I didn't know Templesmith before this, but have been perusing his work this mornign - he's crazy prolific.
Another video, and another pleasant hour spent! So, first off: Did I enjoy it? Yes, immensely. But then again, you never disappoint and you are so entertaining you could literally read the phone book to me and I'd listen. Number two: I recall that you work with animals, now the centipede. So, now I'm wondering if you are a taxidermist, considering your penchant for black cards... Thirdly: I would love to hear more about how you liked this game once you've played it. Even better would be a match replay, although depending on your "studio" that may be difficult to do. Anyways as always: Thank you for an excellent time and a nice start into the weekend for me. Take care!
Thanks so much! We played two games after the video - the first seemed to be nearing a swift end after a few turns, but then started swinging back and forth in an interesting way, and actually lasted quite a while. Until Cthulu hit the board, at which point it ended swiftly. The second game was more of a legitimate snowball, less interesting back and forth. So, tiny sample size thus far, but we enjoyed it quite a bit! Unsure if that feeling will last as we play more games over time - we do not have a good setup for recording gameplay at present, but if Hecatomb in particular ends up being fun to come back to, we might invest a bit to make that possible. We've added it to the video description as well, but here's Julie's channel which she promptly created after recording this: www.youtube.com/@JujusSpecimens
Professionally, I work for a veterinarian! My "black" leaning taxidermy hobby is unpaid and only for myself. Primarily, I work with invertebrates and botanical specimens for that, which I will be covering on my personal channel 🖤
@@ManaCritics Perfect, I've subscribed to JuJu's channel! Thanks for sharing!
@@JujusSpecimens Thanks for sharing this. I'm looking forward to seeing more!!!
An hour-long video? I'll have to listen Monday at work.
Yeah, we are very bad at estimating how long a given topic is going take. We are even bad at estimating how long we've been talking *while* recording.
@@ManaCritics No problem here. I'm listening right now and up to the 38-minute mark. Longer stuff does fill up more of the 8-10 hours of audio I'm looking for each day. As a guy who's done something similar - my game, Clash of Elements, is also basically Magic with the parts I don't like cut out and stuff I wanted added - it's both entertaining and helpful to hear how someone else has done it. It's also helpful to hear y'all translate everything into Magic language, because I do the same thing explaining how my cards work to other people if I know they'll understand. Even though I'm only listening (as I'm at work) the art discussion was nice too, since I at least know most of the cards you mentioned and know what the artwork looks like.
Weird that Hand of Vecna is colorless but he is black
Odd, with Elder Scrolls I exclusively choose Imperials and very likely to pick human even if a game provides non human options. I am that guy that sees all of the vast options that a fantasy role play game has and picks human fighter/warrior/knight/etc.
In tabletop RPGs, I will absolutely go for a straightforward martial class like Fighter, but that's a different topic. When you say Imperials in Elder Scrolls, is it that you're dedicated to the Empire as a faction, or does it just line up with your perk preferences and such?
@ManaCritics little of both, the charisma buff is nice especially when not playing a charisma character and Oblivion was my first ES game.
13:00 is Memnarch.
Or, as I like to call him, Dark V'ger
I just released a vid on Mirrodin and read about the Slith during my research there. All I could find was that the Slith are incubate in, and are born from, The Great Furnace. And their ability(color identity) is dependent on the Sun they were born under.
I saw something like that, but I've also repeatedly read that NO lifeforms are native to Mirrodin, and they all came via soultraps. But, I don't have a primary source for that...AND, even if there is one, could be an unreliable narrator or a change in canon. I'd guess, if there's a specific, official answer, it would be "they started as something from another plane, but are sufficiently changed as to be categorically different now"
So they're slivers that don't buff each other got it 😆 Slithers!
@@ManaCritics Primary source is the Mirrodin book trilogy, and I can confirm its almost true. Golems and Blinkmoths are native to Mirrodin, nothing else. The narrator is Memnarch himself before going insane.
Squirrel dealer is a raccoon ,a lizard and a bird in a trenchcoat....
I didn't even think about Lorywn as having no humans, maybe cause we got human planeswalkers. Lorywn did feel like a bit of a fresh air though with it being so original, and new creature types and a focus on tribal synergies.
Yeah, I know Rosewater describes it as a commercial failure, and I honestly don't remember how I felt about it when it was new, but NOW I remember it as being incredibly flavorful and cool. I want to go back, but I want to see both aspects, and i don't know how that would/will work.
@@ManaCritics Well, Lorywn was when I came back to magic after having quit for years and had to start from scratch again, so it's kinda nostalgic for me for that sense. Also I really liked the merfolk of the block, and my 'lorywn era" merfolk deck/s is still probably my favorite deck. *I got two version of it, one is pure blue to be more aggro in 1 vs 1, and a blue white for multiplayer. Hell old Jace Beleren is still my favourite planeswalker. The original one.
Hostile investigator hides a dark milk white coloured secret. He’s got a skeleton within him.
That is applicable to so many...entities. I'm gonna say it a lot.
Its funny to hear about people who most often play fantasy races in RPGs. I almost never play anything OTHER than humans lol
Yeah, I find myself always playing characters who are physically unlike me, and trying (but abjectly failing) to play them with different philosophies/worldviews than my own. Do you have an easily stated reason WHY you prefer to play humans, or is it just a vibe?
@@ManaCritics That makes sense! Yeah if you wanted to go for something completely different, lizards are a good start. I play humans for a couple reasons. One, I feel like every character I play is "Me" to some degree, they've all got little touches of what I'm about. And two, I just think there's something fun about being the "normal" one. Elves and dwarves make sense in a fantasy setting, and they play by those rules. You kinda expect that an elf can shoot ice out of their hands, or at least its not surprising, but when a human can do it, that's a superhero. Whatever I do, it feels a bit more impressive cause its a theoretically normal person doing it. And also as a side-bonus, most other people want to play the weird and out-there races. You don't play a tiefling because you wanna blend in with a crowd, you wanna stand out. Having a regular person to compare to makes me feel more normal and makes them feel more unique.
@@kaleidoslug7777 That's a fantastic answer. I mean, "because I want to" is all anyone needs, but I really appreciate that you've considered it at this level.
@@ManaCritics Thank you!
My favourite Era of magic is Mirrodin/Kamigawa/Time Spiral/Ravnica/Lorwyn/Alara/Zendikar/Innistrad. Because it was the longest stretch where each set felt like it's own mostly self contained story. Once we hit Scars of Mirrodin, it felt like even the stand alone sets had to be tied to the bigger sets (or are years apart). Before that I was so tired of the Urza/Phyrexia stuff and after it I was bored of Nicol Bolas/Gatewatch/Eldrazi/Phyrexia. I hope this is another era of mostly stand alone sets that can set the stage for the next era of long form story telling.
I think I'd prefer that as well, but I'm not too hopeful. With the first two episodes of Bloomburrow story out, we are mostly focused on characters and issues of that plane, but we've got our first visit from an outsider (Ral) already...and they've outlined how this is the start of the DragonStorm arc, which is a part of a larger 3-part mega-arc. As long as the focus stays primarily on the stories WITHIN the planes, I think I'm happiest...it's when focus is on a bunch of established planeswalkers bouncing between missions that the story feels the worst to me...the most "designed by committee", like a heavy-handed comic book crossover.
@@ManaCritics Huh. That dragonstorm arc sounds like it could be neat. If it actually wraps up for the most part by the end of the 3rd set. That's basically them going back to the old style of 3 sets forming a block. If they break the story into 3 arc chunks, I'd be really happy for a few years. Then they can do the bigger arc for a few years again.
I'm still confused as to why they went the extra mile to say "non-human" for the Mutate ability
I'd guess that primarily a flavor thing for Ikoria, to separate mechanics into "Humans" vs "Monsters" abilities? It definitely makes it obnoxiously tricky to use...I've totally forgotten about it (and been called on it when trying to mutate onto an Doomed Necromancer or Eternal Witness) when playing Nethroi in EDH.
The next time mutate comes up, they'd better errata the past cards into saying "Mutate a non-Human" or something, so we CAN mutate Humans - or be otherwise selective - with future design.
I am beyond excited for Bloomburrow and exist, within my mind, in a world where the "Calamity Beasts" of the set is actually smog and pollution from the Humans we don't see in the set. Ferngully style,
I went all 3 days and my watch tracked that I had walked about 6.5 miles each day
I totally forgot my phone tracks that. Going to GenCon in a month, and Vegas in October, will have to keep an eye on it then.
All aboard the Bloomburrow hype train! I'm getting my first ever collector booster box for the set.
I've never been able to stomach buying more than a single Collector's Booster at a time, and I don't *think* this is going to push me over the edge, but...it's not a definite no - and absolutely getting at least a Play booster box, probably a couple of bundles, and hoping to draft it in paper like crazy.
@@ManaCritics yeah, it's a disgusting price. I've also known I wanted one and have been saving up. Don't expect it's a thing I'll ever do again. Maybe....MAYBE for an Amonkhet revisit (it's currently my favorite plane).
Gosh darnit I love skeleton lore.
They're shrimply the best
You made an Amonkhet-Video??!!!! How COOL is that! Thank you so much!!!!
Amonkhet = Dune GOD PHAROH - GOD EMPEROR Hekma - Shield Wall Wurms - WORMS Zombies in sand - Fremen in sand Naktamun - Arrakeen Death Cult - Fremen Fanaticism I've pushed up my glasses as far as they go, do I win?
Literally my favorite plane. Literally my favorite worldbuilding from WoTC to date.
Always wondered about the fate of this plane, but now i too shall ponder about its past. Also, something neat I noticed some years ago was that the archfiend of Ifnir ended up eternalized and ultimately beheaded by the Wanderer, as shown in a couple cards during War of the Spark!
Nice, I see it in Wanderer's Strike! Was on a break from the game during War of the Spark, so haven't looked at those cards much. In terms of "present day" Amonkhet, I know there was a two-paragraph blurb in the "Legends of March of the Machine," but it poses more questions than it asks! Particularly the last sentence, "In the aftermath, the inscrutable insect gods departed for the deep desert without a word." And there's the Naktamun Planechase Plane card from MOM Commander...no text, but does give a visual of the state of things.
Hell yeah
Making me all wom-BATTY for BLOOMBURROW
You're a national treasure
I wonder which one is the failed clone of Weird Al
A wumpalicious journey into Wumpus history!
If you want a story reason Emrakul's affecting all these various creatures, remember from Zendikar and Worldwake that the Eldrazi titans don't have to take physical form on a place to have an effect on it. Their presence is enough. As Emrakul traversed the Blind Eternities from Zendikar to Innistrad, her interplanar influence would have been enough on the planes she passed near to change the cards in question. In my opinion, this suggests something about the multiplanar geography, and oddly enough this harkens back to the days of the Gull and Greensleeves novels. Eldrazi titans might have to cross the Blind Eternities sequentially, the way pre-spark planeswalkers did, going from one to the next rather than being able to jump straight to any plane they want. If so, and if Emrakul passed directly from Zendikar to Innistrad, my hypothesis suggests that Alara, Dominaria, and Lorwyn, at least, are along that path and adjacent to it and each other.
Ohhh, I love this. Honestly, I suspect they ARE just doing "what if?" scenarios, but it would be incredibly cool if your explanation is established as cannon.
As an Emrakul stan, she can touch anything she wants with those tentacles. Everything discussed here has only been improved by her presence.
Finally something I can relate to on a personal level 😅
Yay! But also, sorry
Well sad to say that its a spirit, not elemental 😅
I...huh. Well, it's a good think I'm physiologically incapable of experiencing shame! I even had the folder on computer mislabeled "Dust Elemental" when I started working on this. My confusion runs deep. I stand by the conclusion re the art, though.
I am a Dust Animus and I acceppt your apology.
I find this surprisingly comforting
I think the "Corpses of the Lost" are supposed to be members of the Grim Captain's crew. At least that would fit with the pink glyph energy, which also appears on "Grim Captain's Locker" and "Grim Captain's Call". (No idea why the capibara has purple energy on it, though. 😅)
I have had to much fun with both Corpses of the Lost (in Standard) and Throne of the Grim Captain (in Curiosity in paper and the Standard Play queue on Arena) since this video. I really hope we get more cards/story around The Grim Captain in the future.
Lands are resources rather than settings, even in the part of the story you read out. The cards represent the memories of the lands available to the duelist. They don't represent the setting where they're fighting. I think I mentioned on a previous video, in the Arena novel, they're little sachets of dirt the duelists pull out of their satchels. That was why they got rid of Islandhome - it didn't fit with the idea that you and your opponent are each using memories of islands, not actually transporting islands and seas to the battle. Landwalk - I believe - works by having a creature that can infiltrate the enemy's energy lines rather than "sneaking through the terrain." It tends to feature on creatures that are so intrinsically linked to that type of land that they can manipulate the enemy's connection to that kind of land to evade their defenses. That dark interpretation of the beings fighting each other against their will is canon, at least early on. Apart from the start of the Whispering Woods novel, which you read, there's a story in one of the original anthology books of two beings who are friends with each other - a Black Knight and something else, I forget what - summoned to the same fight on opposite sides, and the Black Knight is forced to kill his friend in the fight. He comes back after to bury him.
Yeah, I just reread The Brothers War, and I had *thought* they'd abandoned this model of lands powered spells worked after they moved the novel publishing in-house, but was surprised to find the passages where Hurkyl is discovering Magic echo the same concept. Anyway, I agree that you've described what lands represent in the narrative correctly, but I now think my thesis statement should have "...and isn't that weird?" Or, perhaps not "weird," but "unique" or "interesting." I mean, this is a game full of land cards and creature cards, where the creatures never go to, encounter, reside on, defend, or attack the lands. There is indeed an explanation for that, but it still really stands out.
3:00 I doubt that this bat cleric is white and black. It has lightning wings and lightning and storms in the background. White cards don't normally involve lightning. It has to be partially red or partially blue. Birds are definitely going to be white and blue. The commander deck with a bird on it is white blue and red, we can easily eliminate the possibility of boros birds since the mice are already boros, and izzet is probably dedicated to otters, so that leaves azorius for birds, which works out since most of the existing bird tribal cards are white or blue. As for frogs, I'd personally like to see them in dimir. They might be mostly green in hue, but they're the first animal I think of when thinking about swamp creatures, and I imagine that finding a good creature type for simic is easier than finding a good one for dimir.
Magic the Gathering is truly a double edged sword for me when it comes to my anxiety. The joy of playing a fun game is relaxing, but the fear of failing or looking like a bad player(especially at limited events) really cripple my ability to fully enjoy myself. I loved this video, thank you for being vulnerable in a community that thrives on competition and a heavy amount of gatekeeping.
Thanks - I'm surprised you relate to it, I sort of assumed it just wasn't a thing for you since you've been willing to put yourself out there and stream a bunch. In that case, amazing work pushing through it!
@@ManaCritics oh no no no. I have to hype myself up everytime.
First! Feral for skeleton updates.
We owe you a cookie. Collect in Vegas.
@@ManaCritics Yo where's my cookie?
@@MtGCritical Yes, you may have one too
Claim Jumper is Cassidy from Overwatch, with bunny ears
I had to look up "Cassidy", seems like I last played right before his rename - but yes, he absolutely is ;)