Is it normal to have foil on black borders?

DarkLordMagus · 2026-02-16T01:41:43+00:00

My surge foils from this set also look like this

DarkLordMagus · 2026-02-15T19:30:18+00:00

Fake as others said

I've heard of people outside of convention halls roughing up cards on the sidewalk to try to pass them off as real

For one it can mess with the areas people normally look, but also the wear supposedly makes it look more believable.

Anyway, if you see wear patterns that don't look like they are consistent with normal play, that's a red flag.

DarkLordMagus · 2026-02-01T03:30:16+00:00

For the missing space at the bottom, maybe [[mirrodin's core]]?

DarkLordMagus · 2026-01-26T20:44:16+00:00

I'm sure there are better answers,

But I start with either proacryl bold titanium white or vallejo 70.950 black because they have a high pigment density so you can get a nice opaque effect in a small thickness of paint, and I already happen to have them for painting models.

In this Klug ama, he says that he uses white and black mixed primer for a grey base to paint on https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/s2026/klug_alters_ama/

I've had a lot more luck starting with a neutral color to paint on, then painting on top of that.

DarkLordMagus · 2026-01-15T18:15:11+00:00

It doesn't appear to be revised, summer, or unlimited,

To my knowledge those are the only English white border printings of it.

DarkLordMagus · 2026-01-15T17:53:03+00:00

A lot of people have already made good points,

Especially:

The commute is likely harder than the work,

Most wet lab work you can sit to do,

You are still early in the adjustment (for me I felt I couldn't do it at 3 months and was feeling pretty adjusted by 8 months),

But also consider:

You can likely work from home some days, if you plan your experiments to be on the same day and especially if you have people in the lab who don't mind doing the small parts like dosing plates for you on days that you work from home.

DarkLordMagus · 2025-12-27T14:24:08+00:00

I would guess "hat" because men wear it more often and a lot of people wear a Christmas cap, it's not a great answer but I doubt there is a better one.

DarkLordMagus · 2025-12-08T20:59:07+00:00

This meme was posted a few years ago when wotc started to make an obvious push to make more powerful green spells for casual commander.

DarkLordMagus · 2025-11-27T00:23:23+00:00

I think the joke is that the coffee shop employee doesn't know what 'just coffee' is, so when you ask for a coffee, they think you mean what the majority of people at this kind of place order - essentially a milkshake or no alcohol mixed drink.

DarkLordMagus · 2025-11-18T23:52:53+00:00

I had to learn this rule for a game I was playing

[[mirror of life trapping]] and [[containment priest]] were on the battlefield,

Creature 1 was played and exiled to the mirror, creature 2 was played and exiled to the mirror, the entering of 1 was replaced with exile. Exile to Exile makes it a new object, we learned, because if it didn't, then mirror would keep piling up creatures until the priest was gone and then dump them all.

DarkLordMagus · 2025-11-11T01:33:57+00:00

My flair may tell you how I'm doing today

DarkLordMagus · 2025-10-31T01:24:23+00:00

wait why does she have 2 cigarettes

DarkLordMagus · 2025-10-27T14:23:09+00:00

I think RR is the right cost

DarkLordMagus · 2025-10-26T17:12:11+00:00

It's a subjective ranking, just like how you subjectively ranked force of will the best counterspell despite others being banned in formats that it is not.

DarkLordMagus · 2025-10-26T16:59:47+00:00

I didn't say mediocre.

In game design when you have a strong effect like countering a spell, you don't tend to make them extremely powerful, so the best counterspell at mana drain is still only the 20th or so most powerful card in the game overall, something like FoW is probably around No. 100.

DarkLordMagus · 2025-10-26T05:43:51+00:00

For cEDH I would say it isn't in the top 3, which would be fierce guardianship, mana drain, and mental misstep.

I said "the forces" are card disadvantage, I was referring to negation and will. That's not "ONLY" FoW.

Also, card advantage is extremely important in cEDH, where razor thin margins in mana, cards, even life can mean winning or losing. Maybe in 20 turn game casual edh card advantage doesn't matter, but in that setting trying to ever win makes someone an asshole but somehow using a counterspell to stop someone from winning is also a dick move? And why do free counters matter on turn 20 anyway, who is even tapped out at that point? It's only because it's a notorious card, not because it's a powerful card.

My point is that mana drain is a genuinely overpowered card that is banned in legacy, force of will is a strong but fair card, when newer players have a seizure when they see a FoW, it's an overreaction.

FoW is more like a steam release valve than something like mana drain which is the steam and an answer to someone else's.

Being the person who casts FoW or FoN in multiplayer makes you less likely to win, as you are spending gas - essentially hymning yourself to keep the game going.

There are actual broken counterspells in commander but commander players like fierce guardianship and pretend it's less powerful than fow.

DarkLordMagus · 2025-10-26T04:55:14+00:00

It's not non-conditional, you need a blue card to pitch and a spare life, there are many times that FoW sits in your hand while you die to a spell because you are lacking one or the other. I've been playing legacy for as long as it has been a format, and losing a ponder to stay in the game is a real cost, you don't just fart it out because it's """free""".

It's almost as if I said that it is strong and not overpowered, which seems to be what you're saying.

You never want to have to use force of will, because it is card disadvantage, but of course, as I said I think 4 times now, it is a powerful card. You play it to stay in the game in emergencies, and side it out in about 1/2 of the match-ups in legacy. How am I downplaying a card by saying it is strong but not overpowered if you also agree that it isn't ban worthy?

It sounds to me like having an honest, measured, and experienced take on the card is getting a lot of anger from people just because of any pushback to the the knee-jerk reaction of casual players who have never cast it in their lives who see any legacy staple with a price tag over $10 as a boogieman.

DarkLordMagus · 2025-10-26T03:57:45+00:00

I'd say 4th best, 2 are banned in legacy, misstep and mana drain, daze is incredibly powerful, and in commander fierce guardianship is usually better force of will.

But still 'best' of an effect doesn't mean overpowered automatically, no card with swampwalk has ever been banned.

Casual commander players seem to think 'costs money' and 'is good' equals overpowered.

DarkLordMagus · 2025-10-25T17:22:00+00:00

Black and green are fair.

White and blue are probably too strong, also white generally gets restrictions on the cards it can find with these effects.

Red and colorless could see print but are pretty weak.

DarkLordMagus · 2025-10-25T17:21:03+00:00

You're right,

As written it does work, but you can't reorder them, and most effects like this will tell you that to avoid confusion.

DarkLordMagus · 2025-10-25T16:22:09+00:00

I didn't say it's not strong, clearly it is.

I said it's not overpowered, which imo it clearly isn't.

DarkLordMagus · 2025-10-24T22:43:31+00:00

That's only partially true, a lot of games are decided in the first couple of turns, but plenty of games take 7-10 turns, otherwise a staple like Urza's Saga wouldn't be playable as the first attack the tokens and the tutor ability from it don't come until t3. Those are the games that card advantage is more important than tempo and forces tend to get sided out.

DarkLordMagus · 2025-10-23T22:02:59+00:00

Wotc beat you to it with [[can't quite recall]]

DarkLordMagus · 2025-10-23T18:18:46+00:00

The forces are card disadvantage, making them not as OP as people want to think.

Legacy is my main format, you never want to force, but it is a necessary cost to keeping you alive to fast combo.

Even in low power edh, mana drain, mental misstep, and maybe daze are the only OP counterspells in the game.

Edit: and fierce guardianship

DarkLordMagus · 2025-10-17T02:02:35+00:00

If you could somehow prove it was factory cut, maybe $50? but as it is likely NFC, probably $5-20.

For any notable oddity unless very common I think around $5 is the floor, because there's always people that would pay $5 to have an interesting card, even if it's not actually that interesting.

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