As far as Avacyn is concerned, I’m not a fan and I’m normally a total homer for WotC. I only play Limited and again, IMO, this set is just not very fun. The blowout potential of Soulbond is absurd because true removal is very limited. Oh well, it’s only for a couple more months. Back to Ravnica this fall! GP Philly is going to be Sealed!!

Regarding the format: I don’t understand they hate for it at all. Some games are bomb oriented, and losing to a miracle off the top sucks – but top deck losses always suck. Many games in this format seem like they have lots of back and forth in them and I feel like I am rewarded for correct using my resources (and punished when I blow it) and thats how I like it. In contract to DII where it seems like I constantly lost to non-interactive niche decks just because I couldn’t draw the answers I had (and went out of my way to draft!). This doesn’t mean people who don’t like the format are wrong, just that I don’t understand them

@Merfolk Shooter – I do agree about Rav Revisited. I’m looking for ward to that with mixed anticipation and dread.

Sad to say it, but the most fun I’ve had drafting magic this past year has been online retro drafts like Ravnica and Future Sight. Playing these sets makes you realize how unbalanced the game has become. M12 was decent, but now that everyone goes hyper aggro it is too draw dependent. It feels like Hasbro is designing cards to make ten year olds go “Ooh!”, at the cost of the draft experience. Of course, ten year olds (like Maro) prefer big creatures and hexproof to removal and counterspells. The result is formats with little to no interactivity, essentially a more complicated game of War. Control and even midrange to an extent are losing their viability in the wake of unstoppable aggro hordes.

All this makes me look forward to Return to Ravnica with an unfortunate sense of dread. Ravnica was the freaking bee’s knees, but I can’t see WotC not botching the return, especially after the mediocrity of Scars of Mirrodin. It will break my heart if I find an Azorius without sweet counterspells or have to play against a Simic Sky Swallower with hexproof and lifelink.

@Joost With barter *and* terminus, you’re going to see one of your wraths most games. Green unquestionably offers a more aggressive set of openings, that just roll over some opponents, and that is sweet, particularly in an average to bad pool.

But this isn’t an average pool – this pool is incredible. Black offers the possibility of wrath blowouts most game 1s, and combined with white easily answers any bomb your opponents may have short of Tamiyo. In sealed I rate not being dead to any of the many opposing bombs that could exist much more highly than having strong openers.

In this particular format, there’s also the fact that most of the miracles are very powerful on creature heavy boards, while not interacting favourably with opposing removal.

TL:DR Green wins faster but Black wins more, IMO.

Here I’ll copy and paste it for you, it reads, “I win games in limited”

Not building a black/white deck with that many bombs makes me sad. You had a really great control deck there.

On Miracle: IRL its a little awkward but not too bad, haven’t played online yet. With the exception of Bonfire and Entreat(awful cards for limited, although I like them for constructed) I like the design of the miracle cards. Its often correct to just draw them without revealing them, which helps offset the number of miracle blowouts. Setting up a board state where drawing a miracle is blowout feels really satisfying.

Online Vs IRL: Put me in the online camp.(except for overpriced prerelease events) I’ll play IRL on occasion, but I hate how easy it is to cheat given the poor rules enforcement at most events. On the other hand I do like that I get to take advantage of making live reads and exploiting the inferior skills of my opps.(card values and prize structure also makes IRL higher EV), but those advantages just can’t offset the clean interface, convenience, and better competition of MTGO.(I know I just said I liked the inferior skills of IRL competition, but that’s for EV reasons, not enjoyment reasons)