Sign in

armlx.bsky.social

@armlx.bsky.social
600 followers 58 following 483 posts
PostsRepliesMedia
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 13h
Biggest tip for early FRA draft: The big stuff in this format is so upsized, menaced, trampled etc that chump attacks with a 2/2 alongside your 6 drop are often great extra value. Either eating the blanked 2/2 costs them 4-6 life, or they make the obligated big trade and you get free chip.
041
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
While everyone is sitting in the Jace waiting room, I wrote a bit of defense and criticism of the prior draftable sets from 2026. If the concept of a good bad year for Limited exists, this is it. armlx.blogspot.com/2026/09/2026...
armlx.blogspot.com
2026 Limited: A Way Too Early Review
I'm slipping this right under the wire of Reality Fracture which likely changes the mood, but if you listen to the Limited enthusiasts abou...
1101
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Realizing the actual good part of flashback drafts is getting to reexamine a format after outsourcing card eval sweats to a well defined 17Lands chart OTJ sucks bc if both players are crime-ing, all their crime payoffs die and no one does shit, and that's half the format of mirrors that dont work.
290
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Wrote something new for the first time in forever about the best thing that 2026 design has done for Limited. Will have more about what lessons can be learned about the first sets of the year soon, but the highlight deserves a chance to shine first. armlx.blogspot.com/2026/09/2026...
armlx.blogspot.com
2026: The Decarcinization of Limited
I fucking love Wishcoin Crab. It is always the exact right size to stop everything. The second power means it brick walls multiple 2/2s, a...
091
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Lots of lore questions about the alternate Weatherlight saga timeline. What is Tolarian Traxos based off since dragon engines came from Phyrexian designs? What led Urza to make Karn, and did Jace unravel the Mirari existing too?
130
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Might write a longer piece, but the design story of 2026 draft has really been about navigating externalities. Really the first stress test where multiple of UB IP, set size, guild/kindred set constraints have required each set to handle multiple issues outside its card file control.
190
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Big fan of how the Reality Fracture story gives you a bunch of subtle reminders that every version of Jace is a giant moron who doesn't actually get it (and loves to drink PBR apparently)
141
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Didn't realize this cost 2 on first read, this is probably the best mana rock printed in decades. 2 cost, untapped, with value buyout
080
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Might be a Limited first: the Hobbit games are all pretty good, but I have zero desire to get through the draft and deck build loading screens to play them. Really an indictment on the premise of small sets.
0120
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Basically the optimal HoF result. Doesnt really matter if you think the 3rd inductee should have been Sam or Brad, just matters that anyone from that 2nd tier gets inducted to lower future vote splitting and avoid the Hall self-smalling.
170
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
The balance decision Im most interested in from Hobbit is Plate Mail. I get pushing a value edict (Bent Blade) in a set with 2 token mechanics and it coming in hot, I dont get hybrid 2 drop 2/1 menace with multiple upsides
060
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Uncommon Putrid Leech demolishing a format really puts Alara Reborn in context. Yea, totally normal for the optimal draft strat to be spend 2 packs taking fixing and play 12-15 cards from Pack 3.
0141
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
One subtle issue with MSH for Limited: the big name characters are involved in the least interesting games. In fixing the VS System "Superman is unplayable" issue, when you play The Hulk the game unilaterally ends or they kill your creature. Binary, non-dynamic, short lived.
170
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Interesting revealed voter prefs from this sample set. Clear splits between players and coverage in bias towards Worlds, Arena events effectively null to everyone. Issue of this year is there are 3-4 contenders for 3rd and 4th votes, and odds are none of them get in. TBD if that just repeats in 28
110
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Is Ironshell Beetle one of the biggest design traps ever? Probably a dozen equivalent printings, and the only time it was remotely good was SNC where any White 2 drop with half a pulse would play. Inspired by the Judgment Resleevables and the Lords of Limited Green-Black draft macros
180
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Three HoF takes, for old times posting sake, from mildest up 1. Not counting boomer Masters T4s or Invi wins is inconsistent with some of the top finish inclusions, but it basically only would matter if Pikula came back and T8ed to get to 4 under current rules.
180
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Fwiw this doesnt seem to be the case with most of the non-Marvel UB sets, even if Benedict Cumberbatch as a Khan skin as a Sheoldred skin is a new tier of artistic bankruptcy
150
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
I think extrapolating this to the larger UB space actually speaks to some of the categorical issues with that product line. A forum poster in 2002 makes a Hulk card. It reflects their understanding of the game and the external medium, and is a flawed thing in interesting ways.
180
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Magic has made good "slop-down design" sets with a pile of unrelated individual legends, but it's always on some backbone that actually impacts those independent designs and makes them feel cohesive. The consistent Final Fantasy structure of towns and monsters. Every world being invaded by Phyrexia
2225
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
2nd Moon Rabbit, weirdly $100-150 a person and I felt like it was underpriced. On the flip side of cheaper lunch, China Boy is great. Small lunch counter with some tables, great noodles. El Sol a good Mexican + margaritas option Supra (Georgian, the country) is unique, good kachapuri flatbread
120
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
So actual B&R thoughts -Phlage sucked and was a cap on how nice the format could get. -If Guide of Souls had to go in the future wouldnt be shocked. Same discussion as Nacatl 10-15 years ago, where a 1 drop obsoletes other creature decks on size and speed, but you cant just play a 4/4 to stop it
2120
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
I had / have thoughts on the rest of the B&R that are quite positive, but they got derailed by reading the Alchemy ban as the result of Vivi Alchemy errata leading to a different combo kill.
1102
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Llanowar Elves and a GB sweeper, just like 2002. Sheoldred is a hell of a Ravenous Baloth
050
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
0170
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
The Arena kids are being properly educated by Top 5 uncommon in the set Mind Sludge 2026
0111
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Been noodling on this a lot, figured out the reasons. Turns out it's a few things at once. 1. Prepare is by default derivative of existing Magic, where Learn was just a weirdo. Not Prepare's fault, reads great 2. A lot of Opus is literal Prowess plus, kinda hate this.
150
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
The Converge stuff is the best of Strixhaven 2, the Charms are the worst. Original Strixhaven made its mark by being the Bizarro World anti-Ravnica. Central theme tying the schools, which are all mechanically "3BG Serra Angel"-adjacent. Making it more like Ravnica is a mistake.
1120
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Insane work here, split the text box and invented a whole new mechanic to get RedMage-mogged by a generic 2/2 Prowess.
5100
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
If you were wondering, this is the 7th Modern list posting for Abominable Treefolk. It also apparently sees notable amounts of play in Penny Dreadful
281
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
My new favorite TMNT fact is a Scryfall search for "Don and Leo" pulls up Temple of Abandon
1273
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Got greedy and did one for Constructed, one for Limited. Constructed is secretly boring, I have a type and just extend the circle of what that type contains. Notable draft card Bolas, a card I never cast but caused of 10% of my total game losses in HOU draft. Not Scarab God, just the 7 drop.
160
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
An actual metrics example of this. Return to the Sewers is an interactive spell top 5 common. I think 50-60% of uncommons in TMNT are better than it. Most other sets for similar Top 10 common interaction, they are only worse than 20-33% of uncommons.
030
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
The low rarity legends in TMNT are well designed in the abstract, lots of effects that are powerful but scale in unfun ways in multiples appropriately limited by the type. But in a small set, the consistent you are never supposed to trade for a Legend bc they have the 2nd in hand is not great.
1110
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Thinking about how one of the big issues with TMNT is the IP is a household name because it has been commercialized, so making a TMNT set blurs lines of making a set about a story vs making a set about a sticker you had on your skateboard when you were 8.
1291
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
TMNT is just the 5th Un-set, released within the constraints of needing to make the cards Commander and Standard legal, and in that realm it is a clear winner even if the worldbuilding for Un-3 was top notch
081
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Great direct example of microstuff that the TMNT set is doing better than Spiderman. 1. Hot Dog Cart is not Spiderman, its NYC. This is NYC, but also explicitly TMNT 2. It tells a specific story, isn't just jarring name on generic object. Caught in the Brights legacy lives on.
1223
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Figured out the joke here. The set opts out of prior Kindred set models where there was heavy common typal support and leans into Guild set setups where you get 1 good rate "gold" common then load up on power uncommons and rares.
180
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Really impressed with how Lorwyn Eclipsed limited takes two F-tier sets of draft mechanics, basically just runs it all back, and produces a C+ outcome. Rivals Aetherdrift in biggest Limited format overperformers from their fundamentals.
080
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
Right before Gavin Verhey went to WotC, he wrote an article about topics he had started to write about but never finished. One of those stuck with me. Anyways, here it is 15 years later.
0170
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
FWIW, I'm nitpicking Lorwyn in the context of it being a good return despite a lot of weird pitfalls. Lots of clear lessons learned from not just Lorwyn 1 and Ixalan, but recent adjacent failures like Zendikar Rising. Delivers what it advertises, minus maybe 2 Giant and Treefolk fan service hits.
130
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Minor nitpick 2: I would bet at least 80% of people who cast Soul Immolation so far dont actually know what the card does. Also unsure if that number is over 50% within R&D for the card as printed. Easier to believe it was an Oko -1 error than the actual play was intentional, even if its fair.
370
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
My extremely nitpick complaint about Lorwyn Eclipsed: the Goblins needed to be 15% uglier, bc the art direction leaning into clean goat horns makes parsing Black common creature types worse.
0110
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
Thinking about how WorC can basically put whatever stat line they want on the Kithkin one of these, bc in the era of standalone sets and half being UB with Halflings or w/e this basically has Companion: Play our exact FFL decklist
0110
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Finally playing Standard and its just the deck builder experience in Magic form. All about engine output size and timing, little about baseline game resources Not sure this is bad at these rates, does directly stem from being 3 Red bans deep. Cant be faster, arent forced to play Cut Down variants
2120
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 25/12/2025
MODO Legacy league opponents having Counterbalance in their maindeck is definitely not in the Christmas spirit.
090
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
It's kinda insane how every other set these days has 20-30 A-grade bombs and feels rare dominated, then the best performing card is a random bonus sheet mythic from Kaladesh.
180
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
0141
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
Takeback stuff is a very reasonable thing to take issue with, if you acknowledge that the tournament rules have actually supported exactly what we saw on camera since 2018 and that it's a case where playing by the tournament rules as they exist is bad and should be fixed and not a player issue.
0171
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
In retrospect, shifting the release schedule and giving Steam Vents an entire extra rotation in Standard was probably a bad idea
080
armlx.bsky.social @armlx.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
Significantly less sold on the shape of Standard now that the 9-3 decks at Worlds are 8 Riverpyre Verge decks and 1 Ken Yukihiro
3180