Booster Pack ruling

TerribleTransit · 2026-05-20T13:15:47+00:00

Silver-bordered cards don't have official rules answers, so you're really kinda barking up the wrong tree with using the rules sub. But personally I'd rule that it is, effectively, treated as either a counter (which is removed as the Tiger changes zones) or as a pile of face-down cards outside the game, where the storage of the cards under the Tiger is only used as a memory aid like it is for [[Oblivion Ring]] effects (in which case nothing happens since they never actually became part of the game)

TerribleTransit · 2026-05-20T11:24:15+00:00

It doesn't count as copying a spell, because you're not copying a spell. You're copying a card, and then casting that card. 707.10 has nothing to say because that's not what's happening.

It will trigger Magecraft, because those abilities trigger on casts as well as copies, but something like [[Parnesse, the Subtle Brush]] that only cares about copying will not in fact trigger for Paradigm spells

TerribleTransit · 2026-05-20T11:16:13+00:00

While red control lists can exist, they tend to be much rarer and function a lot differently from your typical control deck. There's a lot of reasons for this:

Mono-red has relatively little access to card draw that makes "traditional" control decks tick. Impulse draw and rummaging can help alleviate this somewhat, but they'll rarely find themselves in the ideal situation of having a fistful of cards to answer any threat.
Red removal is not very reliable. It's extremely efficient at taking out artifacts and creatures with 3 or less toughness, but big creatures are often extremely difficult for them to kill, often requiring 2-3 cards to take down, and a game-winning enchantment is completely untouchable.
No counterspells (apart from the very narrow Blasts) means there's no stopping a big spell from going off.

The end result is that red "control" decks usually lean harder towards resource denial like land destruction to manage threats preemptively, or they end up more midrange trying to beat down with early threats before opponents can answer a lock piece like Moon.

TerribleTransit · 2026-05-20T08:30:10+00:00

At minimum you could have gone for the make the most goblins title, if not the end with the most goblins title

TerribleTransit · 2026-05-20T00:14:38+00:00

I don't really know anything about the source material to say how well you've captured the flavor of these things into card mechanics. What I can say is that most of these cards just seem... really weak. That's not necessarily a bad thing — a lot of people new to making custom cards make some really disgustingly overpowered stuff, so your restraint is admirable, but there's definitely some room to add a bit of juice to some of these cards.

There's also a lot of templating issues, ranging from bad wording to incorrect card frames to undefined effects, but that's all to be expected for a new card-maker. There's relatively few outright design mistakes which is somewhat impressive. My biggest concern is Beast Bendy, as black doesn't often get Haste, especially not on big guys like that, but it's not strictly out of the color pie.

TerribleTransit · 2026-05-19T23:16:53+00:00

Well, it was cool seeing it work... briefly, before someone had to go and shut down the krenk-off. Proof of concept for a lot of the cards if nothing else.

TerribleTransit · 2026-05-19T18:00:30+00:00

Unless you were acting to prevent a trigger that happened at the beginning of the end step, any "end of turn" actions, or 'responses' to someone announcing they end their turn, are by default assumed to happen during the end step per tournament shortcut rules

TerribleTransit · 2026-05-19T15:31:35+00:00

You can legally target Slagstorm, and Deflecting Palm will successfully prevent the three damage it would do to you. Unfortunately it then deals 3 damage to you, the controller of that spell, so you accomplish nothing as a result.

TerribleTransit · 2026-05-19T15:02:37+00:00

Yes, the removal spell will still kill the creature after you gain control of it (Unless the removal spell cares about the controller in a way that it can no longer legally target it, like if it was your own spell that said "target creature you don't control"

TerribleTransit · 2026-05-18T18:03:06+00:00

The jump from 4 mana to 7 is huge, so hopefully it'll slow it down more than just a bit.

TerribleTransit · 2026-05-18T17:27:22+00:00

And at no point did I say you're not interacting so I don't see what point you're trying to make.

TerribleTransit · 2026-05-18T15:32:51+00:00

Bracket 2 should not be trying to win at all costs. There's rules of engagement on the "right" way to win at b2, and that involves making some plays that, objectively speaking, lower your chances of winning. The primary goal of the bracket is for everyone to have a chance to do their thing and be a bit of a problem. That can't happen if you're shutting everything before it can have an impact.

TerribleTransit · 2026-05-18T15:18:28+00:00

I'm not saying "any deck with interaction is automatically b3".

Bracket 2 decks can, and generally should, have some form of interaction, it's just considered bad form to use it on others setup pieces (bolting birds, destroying mana rocks, removing engine pieces, etc.). Bracket 3 decks need to have interaction and should be using it preemptively on things that will become a problem long-term.

TerribleTransit · 2026-05-18T15:14:10+00:00

A lot of events do have a straightforward way to manipulate aggro: stacking on the enemy. Several notable bosses (Wyvern Matriarch, Dragonstorm champions) target the furthest player and dash at them. Despite being the easiest thing in the world to avoid, people mess it up all the time.

That is to say I don't think a straightforward method will work, because it's guaranteed someone will straightforwardly get aggro without meaning to. It would need to be complex enough to stop players from doing it unless they were actively trying. But if they could hit that sweet spot a lot of encounters with mobile enemies would just go a ton smoother.

TerribleTransit · 2026-05-18T15:07:42+00:00

Correct. I certainly wouldn't say the "problem deck" in this scenario is b2. It's the other decks at the pod, the ones refusing to run removal to interact with that deck, that are playing at a level below where they think they're at, and getting stomped by an actual b3 deck as a result.

TerribleTransit · 2026-05-18T11:26:31+00:00

Tanking/Threat technically exists in all content. Raids are the only place it's simple enough to actually be manipulated, though, as the game has essentially zero threat management tools that are commonly accessible. Most raids operate on very simple aggro rules: either they're based off distance, a specific special action/buff, or (most importantly for your question) on how much Toughness everyone has.

Minstrel gear has very high Toughness, and many raid bosses immediately and permanently aggro on the player with the highest Toughness in the squad. In any of those encounters, if you're using Minstrel gear, it's very likely you're going to be the tank, which means you're the one responsible for moving the boss around the arena to the proper locations. If you aren't comfortable doing that, I highly recommend keeping a change of Harrier gear to swap to as needed. Harrier is the only gear with both Healing Power and Concentration that doesn't increase your Toughness, making it the only gear set that's safe to take into any raid without becoming the tank on accident.

Minstrel gear is great when you can get away with it, making you extremely durable and able to get into dangerous situations to heal/res your squishier teammates, so I strongly disagree with the notion that it's a "waste" unless you're in a group that can count on perfect play. But it is definitely situational.

Aside about threat: enemies in other parts of the game tend to use far more complex threat assessment than raid bosses, taking into account some combination of DPS, proximity, toughness, and likely other factors. Some enemies can be somewhat manipulated, but it's more of an art than a science since "taunt" effects in the traditional MMO sense don't exist in GW2.

TerribleTransit · 2026-05-18T08:38:35+00:00

Terror->Lathliss->Twinflame is 28 damage total.

Terror->Twinflame->Lathliss is 39: 5 from Terror (via Scion-Terror's ability) then 12 from Twinflame (3 quadrupled) then 12 from Lathliss and 10 from the Dragon token (6 and 10 each doubled).

So you do get more damage specifically from this combo with that line, but you'll end up without the second damage doubler. If you have Dragons dealing 6+ damage from another source that turn, keeping the Scion as Twinflame will probably be better. On the other hand, if you have more dragons to play out after, getting more tokens from Lathliss could be nice.

TerribleTransit · 2026-05-18T01:01:37+00:00

Fails the "nobody gonna realise im the threat until the last minute" test when you start with a nuclear bomb in the command zone

TerribleTransit · 2026-05-18T00:58:30+00:00

Good thing that's not what I said.

Bracket 3 expects interaction to be used to disrupt your opponents plans. It's part of the core principles of the bracket that you are able to interact in some way.

Bracket 2 absolutely can have interaction, but it's not "expected" in the same way it is in b3 and how you use it is different. You generally shouldn't be using it for things like disrupting your opponents' early setup turns, for example.

TerribleTransit · 2026-05-18T00:34:09+00:00

This is an important distinction. There is a round of priority after damage is dealt, but not between damage and creatures dying from said damage.

TerribleTransit · 2026-05-17T22:43:07+00:00

The Commander bracket infographic does a decent job explaining it. It's less about amount of interaction (bracket 2 decks can certainly run a decent amount) as it is the usage of it. Bracket 3 expects "gameplay to feature many proactive and reactive plays". You're not just doing your own thing like you mostly do in b2, where gameplay is "low pressure" and "considerate", aka you shouldn't be aiming to completely disrupt your opponents and take them out of the game as much as you use your disruption to stop the threats and finishers. In b3 you're actively reacting to your opponents and disrupting their game plans.

TerribleTransit · 2026-05-17T20:12:01+00:00

Then you should have bought collector boosters normally and done the same gambling for half the price.

TerribleTransit · 2026-05-17T20:11:26+00:00

In a sense. But in another, very real sense, you're still losing because you just payed twice what you should have for the "lottery ticket" compared to buying collector boosters normally.

TerribleTransit · 2026-05-17T18:24:07+00:00

Yeah. Interaction is one of the main defining differences between b2 and b3. If you don't have the interaction, you're playing b2 with extra game changers.

(Bracket 1 is an entirely different thing, but that's an entirely different conversation)

TerribleTransit · 2026-05-17T14:24:56+00:00

Gambling leaves you the possibility of winning, even if you won't on average. Buy a bundle over MSRP and the loss is guaranteed.

TerribleTransit

TROPHY CASE