ANARCHS UNBOUND released!

Funny how that claim Anthelios is strong, return cards to hand and can be reused , does sense..beyond the letter be overall effect , you can have 10 Pentex in your hand , or 20 DI , See you take a Deck B & S had died the same way , ban Anthelios was wanting to make excuses for simply having something to banish , look at the lists of champions deck if it is in 90% of decks deserved to be banned , I will make a
comparison with one of the cards most current games, if not the most played , the " MAGIC " is a letter in magic is considered strong , she and becomes " restricted " or " banned " , 90% of deck use "Dreams" , " DI , " Ashur " , " Pentex "which are strong cards , but no one bans , because prices now as" seeds and Anthelios are cheap there think right ban ...
"A lot of lack of what to do , that's what ."

I will gladly discuss theory around this in another thread. Our unique card pool changes this dynamic. In standard Pokemon, you have to have Shaymin EX to not suck. You play it, it fixes your hand, you pick it back up. Is $40. In MTG, you have to have a solid manabase, $14 wish a card still, x8. In vtes, you need about 10 cards per deck costing more than $2. Cog, monastery, summon history aren't needed to win in 90% of decks.bans in vtes are about total meta, not cost barriers or trying to make us all computer hack with base Hannibal.
I had a better reply, but I deleted it.....

Nice work on the release — the artwork looks great and the cards are well balanced. Like the vibrant feel of this set, makes it stand out without it being too out of place.

Happy with all the Bans; TOGP needed to go and the banning of Anthelios will go a long way in terms of bringing some balance to MMPA decks. Being able to retrieve any master card in your ash heap and play it on the same turn was waaaaaaay too powerful.

Looking forward to reworking those decks and seeing how they now play.

brettscho wrote:

Temptation of Greater Power is basically a card that my local play groups have made a gentleman's agreement about not playing. It simply wrecks one player's game experience. Imagine playing it on a big vampire controlled by a new player. Would you expect to ever see that player again? They think "I just spend 3 turns and 10 pool to bring that vampire out, and now it's gone." It's being banned for the same reasons that Protect Thine Own was banned (I really don't see how anybody could think that card is or was balanced. One dead vampire for one action. Sweet deal, dude!).

Anthelios may be a more controversial choice, although I personally support it (you should not get infinite recursion on things like DI or Sudden Reversal). One time recursion is so much different than permanent recursion. Finally, if half of your decks are dead because Anthelios is gone... well... your supply of decks is dramatically different than mine.

These two things.

I can remember when I was a new player and I built my first very own deck. My Hannibal got PTOed by Arika and I could not understand. As an experienced MtG player (at that time) I was shocked by the overpower of that card... unhappy memory.

Anthelios gone and good riddance. Seeing the same Pentex on the same vampire for several turns is frustrating even for the player who does not control the pentexed dude.

blackday wrote:

@blooded sand. Ill wait for the official reply by the rules guy.
But during playtesting, we were specifically told that Ian Forestal can only fake one discipline on these kind of cards. I think they just forgot to add that rule when they posted the new set.

Regarding the bans :

First of, there is a major point no-one has mentionned here. It's been 5 years since I am in charge, and in 5 years this is my second(*) list of banned cards. It does feel bad to do this, but I'll explain my reasoning. The decision I have taken is taken from the point of view of a person who has been a player for quite a long time, and also judges some events.


* Anthelios, The Red Star : This card uses a mechanism that also exists with other cards. Ashur's Tablets, Sudario Refraction, Gear Up, .. also allow recursion. To answer what was asked several times : no, there is absolutely no plan on changing or banning any of these.
The motivation for the Anthelios ban is triple :
a/ Anthelios is a non-interactive card. You can't block someone using Anthelios - which you can do with all other recursion cards : there is the Ashur's "race", you can block Sudario Refraction or any action that triggers this mechanism.
b/ (and this is double) When also using Parthenon / Anson / Cybele / Huitzilopochtli (/ ..), Anthelios becomes a free tutor for an immediate Master card. By "free" I mean that it costs no pool to use it, and it costs no card to use it (as in : your decksize remains the same). And by "immediate", I mean that the master card you've just fetched is very likely the one you'll be playing as your next master phase action, usually during the same master phase.
Now, should any of these points (realistic ways of burning events, cost to swap the cards, or usage during another phase) be changed in the future, I will gladly welcome back Anthelios in the game.


[will continue for the others tomorrow, but it's 3AM..]

I am against these bans. I see no reason to ban these letters. They have some restrictions. Requires a taumaturgia, another requires justicar and Anthelios can hurt those who put it into play.