The WORST Block In MTG | Pretty Deece

[@tcgplayercom]

we spelled prophecy wrong on purpose DEAL WITH IT

[@Icenri]

Your childhood was my childhood. I remember buying 50€ of Nemesis packs and the only thing I got to play from them was the Blastoderms. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the 3 Rising Waters I got.

[@chocolateking1143]

But I started playing in Mercadian masques and it was fun. This is lies.

[@wearealreadydeadfam8214]

“I was trolling all along guys.”

[@MrX-ny3jv]

just as it was fortold

[@manic5525]

don't dig the hole deeper now... *facepalm*

[@jeremybedard1052]

"Banning cards in standard is bad for buisness." 2020: *Hello*

[@666IDKWTF]

Every time I notice there are 10 cards banned in standard, I think of this video.

[@NoelNolNull]

I wish I could favorite comments

[@TheJcjonesacp]

I entered standard during kaladesh with amonkhet so…yeah it was not good to get into…got into EDH though, worth it

[@jamesmackes4531]

@@TheJcjonesacp EDH with Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation was *(Mwah, chef's kiss)*

[@TheJcjonesacp]

@@jamesmackes4531 Yeah, you had great picks, helped that C2017 came out, built my first two decks with the precons, Scion of the Ur-Dragon and Edgar

[@matthewsawczyn6592]

"My opponent moved a bunch of cards around really fast, and at some point I was informed that I had lost!" Man, ain't that the truth...

[@ПавелКарев-с8г]

Sounds like KCI

[@tobiaspause1775]

@@ПавелКарев-с8г Sounds like yugioh

[@simeonismyname]

Totally felt that pain.

[@Patrick_Andrews917]

@@tobiaspause1775 that's entirely yugioh...

[@Thanoric]

Modern in a nutshell.

[@JustAnotherPest]

"Wow, Design is easy, what are we even paying these guys for?" "WOW DESIGN YOU GUYS ARE TRASH WHAT ARE WE EVEN PAYING YOU GUYS FOR?" Yep, that's corporate management, all right.

[@clementsire4785]

Original comment don't steal pls

[@CardiacKatz]

"Hello opponent! Here is my 3/3 for four. It is a rare! You may pay three mana at any time to kill it dead, thereby firmly dunking me into the core of the earth!" I thoroughly enjoyed this.

[@nomatyx5789]

You either get crap or crap or rhystic study.

[@tcgplayercom]

it was crap back then, i promise! so trippy to see its pricetag now

[@AselliaRastanbul]

I bet it was crap because there was nothing good to draw.

[@fenixmeaney6170]

Don't forget that you could also get crap

[@ne_mkl]

Rhystic Study is only good in EDH.

[@fenixmeaney6170]

Mlk I only play edh My opinion is based on that format And I agree that it might not be a staple in one on one formats

[@atariscrytoomuch]

"This is about me, it's about me being mad at the stuff that happened to me as a kid that I wasn't old enough to know to be mad at yet" - Priceless

[@CRIMS0N_KING]

The greatest sin of Rhystic Cave is the waste of it's incredible art

[@tcgplayercom]

word

[@fieldy409]

Maybe I can play one in my Zedruu the greathearted for the lols. Give it to the guy at the table getting mana screwed.

[@fenixmeaney6170]

I have a kynaios and tiro deck that I designed to mana screw opponents with rhystic effects Things like manaleak

[@fenixmeaney6170]

Oh, and land destruction

[@alexanderpapadopoulos2383]

Rob Alexander is my favorite mtg artist

[@admanios]

You forgot the best* part about Rebels: Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero! The way the Legend rule worked back then was that the game could only allow one copy of a legendary permanent on the battlefield at once. If another player tried to play the same legendary, it would die as a state-based effect. In the Rebels mirror match, the game would literally be decided by who could play their Lin Sivvi first.

[@tcgplayercom]

had to cut a biiiig part about lin sivvi. just needed more time on this one, we left lots on the cutting room floor :)

[@couchpotatoe91]

wasn't the first legend rule that you couldn't cast another legend and had to remove the first one before?

[@Ixostea]

No, actually it said that whenever the second copy came into play, both copies died (as far as I remember).

[@MistaHoward]

Nah, when Lin Sivvi was in standard, the rule said that the last one to enter the battlefield dies, and the first one stays. That rule was changed specifically because of Lin Sivvi to having both of them die, which not only fixed that issue, but made more sense thematically (trying to summon an entity that there's only one of while that entity is already present breaks spacetime or something and causes a paradox). Then a long time later after several Standard runs where people would run overpowered legendary cards like Jitte in a deck that wouldn't even play them just as a removal spell for that specific card, they changed the rule again so that it only cares about one side of the field.

[@BuffaloEdward]

Mostly correct, except it wasn't Lin Sivvi that caused Wizard to finally change the rule, it was Akroma. Then they reprinted Clone in 8th edition, and for a while it read, "3U: Destroy Legendary creature of your choice." (Note that Clone doesn't target, so not even Hexproof (or Shroud, as it was back then) could save your guy.)

[@jamesstaggs4160]

Ah Skyshroud Behemoth, a 10/10 for 7 that can't even block the turn it comes in and if you don't save it in some way it dies really fast. Now we have Gigantosaurus, a 10/10 for 5. That's it. Just a 10/10 for 5. That set was the only set I've ever just straight up purchased a booster box for, do you see why it was the only time I ever did that?

[@tcgplayercom]

it's like we're the same person

[@stonerayven2455]

LoL. Now we have Gruun in Dominaria. Essentially a 20/20 for 9 Mana

[@billgober2]

Fling it lol

[@Prince_Smugarina]

Guess you really like your mono green... and m19 returned the Elven swarm.

[@RobertJW]

"Wow," I thought to myself, "Rhystic Cave turns any one of your opponent's lands into a Rishadan Port. That's terrible". And then I went and read Rishadan Port again, and realized that for Rishadan Port to tax you on mana, it at least costs 2. Rhystic Cave turns any one of your opponent's lands into a *cheaper* Rishadan Port. That might be the worst mana-producing land in Magic.

[@Kogan1911]

When I read this title, I thought it was referencing combat math...

[@tcgplayercom]

haha whoops sorry about that. kinda forgot blocks aren't a thing anymore

[@ardinhelme687]

It took me way too far into the video to realize this wasn't the case, I kept expecting all of this to be building up to a combat scenario with Ascendant Evincar, and then I looked at the time bar and realized the mistake I made.

[@blacklanner5795]

"Only 4 good cards with fading." Skips tangle wire ...

[@jonbrewer297]

I wondered that. I've been going over the cards I could see myself playing now. (Calming Verse, for instance, is now pretty busted, when you think about it.)

[@michaelmitchell338]

I wish there was a way to do a moderately good fading/proliferate deck.

[@jonbrewer297]

​@@michaelmitchell338 Saproling Burst and Coat of Arms, maybe?

[@MrSeam0nk3y]

@@michaelmitchell338 brago can do it, but then you're just playing stax at that point.

[@jamesmackes4531]

@@MrSeam0nk3y And now I want to dismantle my Brago deck, thanks for that reality check.

[@KalanzoHI]

What a great outro to the video, The reflection and the examples face to face with the viewer. I absolutely love your content and how well executed it is. Great job to you and your team.

[@tcgplayercom]

thanks so much, really appreciate it

[@marcmarc1967]

The worst block was actually Fallen Empires/Ice Age/Homelands. I know, I know, I know, it's not a block. But those were the three sets that came out after the first four sets (Arabian/Antiquities/Legends/The Dark), and the same thing basically happened. They were all very underpowered in an attempt to take control of the unbalanced power of the original four sets. For almost two years between The Dark and Alliances (summer 1994 to summer 1996), those were the only three booster packs you could buy. (Plus 4th and Chronicles).

[@smurphftw2008]

Agreed. Fallen Empires/Ice Age/Homelands was abysmal. Virtually no playable cards in any of them.

[@Banterbear]

Absolutely. Turds.

[@TreyVaswal]

Omg, I lived that. And even The Dark was way lower power. Alliances was like the light in the endless night.

[@HTYM]

I stopped playing MTG because of that "block". I hated FE/IA and Homelands (Daughter of Autumn for... the... win... 😕). The Dark wasn't great either, and Chronicles made me want to use antifreeze as eyedrops... ugh. When I decided to give the game another try during Khans, my mind was blown. Sure I hadn't discovered some of the awfulness of Masques and what not, but I found good, quality cards everywhere. I couldn't believe it was the same game. With that being said, if I didn't stop playing right after Alliances dropped and played into Masques, I would have most likely quit and never returned. Those cards are dog vomit. And that's saying something from someone who bought a lot of FE/IA/Homelands boosters...

[@Mewobiba]

Homelands was when I started as a dumb kid. Damn I loved my Baron Sengir and my Ihsan's Shade and my Eron the Relentless. Those where awesome cards in my world. Actually Eron is kinda playable I guess. But yeah. With that background Mercadia never felt *that* weak.

[@prodicalking]

I've been rewatching these recently, really missing paper Magic with my friends... I miss Jon too. These vids were always really insightful and fun, like sitting across from a friend who's really great at the game. Where is this guy?

[@The_Nerd_King]

I started playing in kaladesh We all know how that went *ENERGY Counters!* 👍

[@Zarbon000]

Yea but they were too good. Whereas this block was all bad. And I knew Energy would be broken!

[@dominiciancabatit6012]

I love the Avatar cycle in Prophecy though. Especially Avatar of Woe which is still one of my fave creatures in Magic.

[@nickfanzo]

Too much mana for what it does.

[@profo4544]

@@nickfanzo Yeah ur playing it wrong, play them with Belbes portals and some graveyard shenanigins, Avatar of discord for example. And it also has it alternate casting conditions. You should never really be hardcasting avatars, any of them.

[@mueezadam8438]

7:06 _"To this DAY I have no clue why I kept playing Magic after that, I think my skull was still soft"_ God tier narration holy hell my freaking sides are in tatters

[@larrylegend6124]

I quit MTG after MM dropped. It was such a disappointment after joining the game in it's hayday. I just started playing again in Feb after 18+ years. When I pulled out the few decks I had left, I quickly remembered how bad MM was and why I quit.

[@tcgplayercom]

i think tons of players did this

[@lgsaenz]

Same thing happen to me.

[@tragicslip]

I hung on until Nemesis. Too many pale moons. So glad I missed prophecy. Came back for mirrodin. Opened charbelched. Giggled.

[@HeyApples]

His story is mine as well. MM was a huge turd. Wizards was making tons of bad/controversial steps in that era. Need I say more than "damage on the stack."

[@mandykarevicius9746]

I have that similar experience. I remember when the game first came out and how cool the cards looked. And all of us dumb kids at school had no clue how to play this game. Then we matured, the game matured with us, things made more sense and game stores began to open. Then MM and Nemesis. Quit. And now recently I've picked up on MTG:Arena and I have a fun as hell Niv Mizzet 5-color deck, but I get beaten repeatedly by 5-year olds with Mono Red "Win on turn 3" decks that one of these dumbass KZbin buttholes taught them how to build with mommy's credit card. Getting ready to quit.

[@marshallmarcano6275]

As someone who just started magic and is going through the history of the game and leaning cards, you videos are a huge help

[@masterblasterT47]

Next time anyone in my gaming group complains about how bad the Kamigawa block was I can show them this and remind them of something really abysmal.

[@tcgplayercom]

kamigawa block was great, your gaming group is wrong

[@christophercombs7561]

TCGplayer no kamigawa was bad the spells were weak the key words that existed didnt synergize with any other spells the tribes that were added didnt synergize outside of the block just because that block had 2 retarded cards doesn't mean it was a good set

[@xaldrortenderofthevats8948]

TCGplayer i always thought arcane and splice were pretty interesting spells, and the spirit tribal of x happening when spirit or arcane was cast looked pretty epic. An entire board state of spirits, a lot of mana, and plenty of splice cards in one turn could be an explosive set of events. Soulshift also looked nice but tge creatures that had it were way underpowered. I think if there were a few tweaks to the cards such as lowering the mana cost of splicing and upping the P/T on some soulshift, the spirits could've been a tribe to remember.

[@christophercombs7561]

Xaldror Tender of the Vats if there were more arcane, splice, soulshift, and ninja cards the set could have been awesome either increasing the power of the soulshift or reducing the cost same for ninjas, samurai, and splice it would have been a great set wit awesome mechanics but they had just come off of mirrodin and they were terrified of makong good things because of tue sheer dominance of affinity

[@josht9518]

Honestly I want them to revisit Kamigawa. Focus on the tribes they had and updating the keywords to better bring them up to the power level of the current sets. Na... let's revisit the revisited Ravnica...

[@scottswanson3563]

Prophecy, man I have nostalgia bad for that set. Avatar of Woe was awesome.

[@joseph-yt2qk]

11 minutes of Jon Corpora ripping into bad cards. All of this please!

[@tcgplayercom]

we can arrange this

[@carlosspencer5369]

The video was great and that outro was one of a kind. It's a lesson we can all get behind and as magic players it's so awesome to look back at the cards we started playing with all that time ago. I started playing with some of my best friends in the summer before my senior year of high school, that year I made some of the best memories I cherish today as a junior in college. A great deal of those memories was playing great games of magic, hanging out until 4 am after fnm, and opening boosters to see what kind of sweet mythic we pulled (I'm still jealous of the foil Nissa my friend opened out of his very first booster back). All in all I think it's incredible that we weave our own little stories into the humble little cards in our decks and trade binders. Behind all the strategy and lore in this game, it's this that makes me love this game so much.

[@tcgplayercom]

hear hear. magic's great

[@brennanweiss4135]

Carlos Spencer your friend pulling Nissa reminds me of last week I finally got my brother hooked on magic. He opened three packs of M19 and pulled two Sarkhans and a Tezzeret... I feel like your first few packs are always your best ones

[@fenixmeaney6170]

I opened an expedition breeding pool on my first bfz pack My friend who taught me how to play bought the other three the store had (not an lgs) and was pissed

[@carlosspencer5369]

Brennan Weiss i agree, when you don't know what you'll get out of the pack and hardly understand what they do, especially if they're a big flashy mythic, it feels awesome. I remember opening a Nylea out of a theros pack and just trying to understand what the hell a 'legendary enchantment creature - god' was

[@carlosspencer5369]

Sionnach Meaney speaking of breeding pool, that same friend went to a bfz draft thr friday after the nissa and opened a bredding pool exp, he didn't even know what it was and he said 'it looked cool so i took it'

[@kanibalkow]

Rhystic Cave was the poor man's Rishadan Port. Your opponent had to leave up a mana every turn, it was quite effective. Since the other cards had you paying costs and tapping out for various reasons giving your opponent the opportunity to port you was pretty crafty imo.

[@drpibisback7680]

The Rhystic spells combined with a land sacrifice theme actually makes some sense. It forces you to chose between playing with more powerful effects or preventing your opponent from using them. The real problem is that none of the payoffs are worthwhile, so it just turns into a do-nothing slog. In R&D's Magical Christmasland, you might have to sacrifice too many lands to shut down your opponent's Rhystic Cave every turn. But none of the sacrifice land cards were strong enough to be worth the cost, and none of the Rhystic spells made up for the possibility of being blanked. So it was just a bunch of shit cards that everyone ignored while they figured out how to make new combo decks post-Rath Cycle.

[@thehamsarris6131]

I feel like the whole “anyone can pay this” would be interesting in commander, where politics kinda matter a bit more? Idk

[@chanogonzalez7980]

I got a lot of wins playing wild might

[@brendanmckee1846]

Ironically, this was my favourite block…mostly because it was my first, but also because it has amongst my favourite art and story

[@Snarklz]

This is the first video I discovered from your content, and I just wanted to share some dialogue that really spoke to me. "Reflecting is a gift, and looking back on who you used to be can be painful. But, I think it behooves all of us to have a sense of humor about it." Some really nice advice, and it spoke to me. Thank you. Now I'm off to binge your content.

[@mejestic_pie_flavor325]

I am only subscribed to this channel for Pretty Deece tbh. I love it

[@tcgplayercom]

screenshotting this comment to show to my boss brb

[@mejestic_pie_flavor325]

TCGplayer :)

[@pandoradoggle]

You're basically describing the time exactly when I started playing Magic! It's wild and quite the nostalgia trip. I should get back into the game at some point, but also I like having money.

[@dishwater63]

One of my favorite sets when I was a kid was Nemesis. Which shows you that I was a dumb child. I mainly loved Nemesis because it finally brought certain characters we've been reading about for years via flavor text to actual cards (Volrath and Crovax, specifically). It was so cool to me to play Volrath. Not his Curse, or on a Whim, or even his Stronghold, but Volrath himself. It was neat. I have a complete set of Nemesis. It's basically worthless, haha.

[@holdingpriority163]

Jon makes my day, his edh deck really made me reflect on what magic means to me and how I personally enjoy the game. Please make more pretty deece Jon always brings me a smile.

[@TheVideoman22]

So i'm gonna guess he didn't like this block

[@tcgplayercom]

excellent detective work

[@stonerayven2455]

I dont actually know any players that liked Masques. Except the Cheese masters

[@fenixmeaney6170]

I've seen some ok cards They might be more janky, but they are definitely cheaper

[@kobisjeruk]

I already knew what block hes referring to before diving into the clip. Started in Urza's Saga and trying to make G/R ponza work because I had Special Delivery precons as my first intro to magic. Combo winter made a lot of people quit magic but my budding play group of boarding school boys were happily isolated from all those nonsense. Then came MM. What a pile. Tried to make merc deck works but faced with replenish, sabre bargain and all the other degenerates makes for a really traumatizing experience for a teenager.

[@garrettr3644]

Just have to say that you are a very compelling person. I’ve never seen a vid of your’s, and I absolutely loved this. You are candid and personal, and I really enjoy that. I’m looking forward to watching more of your videos!

[@Da40kOrks]

"but nothing proved too broken" um, necropotence? Black summer? Hello mcfly?

[@aralornwolf3140]

@@kennethrawson3005, What did he kill you with?

[@mellowcorpsep6665]

@@aralornwolf3140 bottle gnomes

[@91aztecking]

Dont mind me just going back through all these vids a making sure i liked them to help convince who ever is in charge to bring this series back!

[@jordanburton9819]

I thought this would be like a tournament clip of a really bad misplay where someone blocked badly

[@djjmandos]

Of the fading enchantments, Saproling Burst was actually the most impactful in standard at the time. Yes the replenish decks had their time in the sun, but once invasion block was in the mix, SB/Fires was the deck that shaped the format around it.

[@angelojohnson9441]

I watched the video and made notes: -You seemed to leave out Spellshaping, the Avatars, and the other "free spells". -Hunted Wumpus has been reprinted and used for a reason, it is not as bad as it looks when you are not playing legacy/vintage. -You left out how, when manaburn still existed, Citadel of Pain was the soul crushing answer to control decks. -I too felt the sting of Parallax+Opalseance. -You left out the other great legends like Cho-Manno and Mageta, the Lion And then you punish yourself by making a mono-black Masques block commander?! I mean, I know you were more devastated by this block than I was, but this is looking almost like Stockholm Syndrome. I assume you are running conspiracy Mercs, but, geez! Forgive yourself and let the healing begin. You were young and you didn't know any better. It wasn't your fault, but even still I FORGIVE YOU!

[@DreamPen]

TBH, I like Fading (and Vanishing) as a negative ability. That little boost in speed it provided wasn't bad, and most of them were either aggressive or had utility. That they self-destructed *isn't* so much a penalty; the lifespan of an MtG creature *will* be short thanks to the ubiquity of creature control. Put together, an opponent facing Fading creatures would have to deal with them ASAP- killing a creature that's going to die anyway- or suck up the damage they do before they die to Fading. To be fair, you guys did point out Nemesis was the only good part of this block, and Fading creatures include Blastoderm. Around the time of the block, I bought the Fading-themed U/G preconstructed deck and built a deck using it and it was so fun and characterful.

[@beakidbjorn]

Great video, more of these please! ❤️ / Björn, who started playing Magic again during Masques after quitting after Ice Age

[@JazonHart]

Björn Andreasson super happy to see this resonating with people :)

[@tcgplayercom]

respect to a fellow magician who (re)started up during the worst block ever. cheers

[@DMofDMs]

The worst? I'd have to give me vote to Homelands. I started right before Prophecy came out, but my LGS still had Homelands packs on the shelf, and man. The look and feel of those older cards--they felt like *magic* cards, you know? That dusty, faded aesthetic just really did it for me. But wow! They were bad. I mean, WotC changed tournament rules to force people so they had to play at least some cards from the set. I think that says a lot. I'll never forget saving up a huge lump of money to buy up all of the LGS's loose cards. Two of those 5-row cardboard boxes, almost totally full, and almost all of those cards were Homelands. I walked out of there just sure I'd found a precious gem.

[@mateusviegas4553]

i've started playing in the odyssey block it was.. rough

[@Rorschachqp]

Mateus Viegas Odyssey block was excellent. Many of the concepts from that time are either still memorable today or are still in use today.

[@mateusviegas4553]

don't get me wrong. odyssey was amazing, what sucked was me playing back then

[@tcgplayercom]

i have fond memories of wanting my chainer to be good and just getting dunked on by psychatog. wheeeee

[@Rorschachqp]

Playing during that time was amazing. Tog was good during Invasion/Odyssey but there was also UG Madness...I played MBC. By the time Invasion rotated, Tog became not as good as it lost to RW Rift/Slide, which lost to MBC. Both limited and standard were great formats back then.

[@landgin3781]

Torment was a fantastic set. Actually the block was good.

[@tmon3y777]

The idea of the Flailing minions is actually a pretty cool one.... If they had good stats! Flailing Manticore would probably be cool in a land destruction or ramp deck or something if it was like a 4/5

[@alkalinetrio759]

Avatar of Woe was my favorite card from the set

[@86puffpuff86]

still my fav card now

[@moocowfat]

Wanted to get custom art on the art to make it a hot chic "Avatar of Whoooa"

[@AjedrezEnEspanol]

I started playing in mercadian masques, so this block has always been in my heart, and most of my basic lands nowadays are from those types. I play mostly legacy where some mercadian masques actually have an influence: Daze, Rishadan Port, Invigorate...

[@ameliagryffon7097]

It's interesting that a lot of what you said made an unfun card was denying you or your opponent options usually paying to stop cards. That's interesting because that's a concept that chess is founded on. The goal of chess is to put the opponent in a position where they have no more moves to protect their king. I wonder why these two games have such a different reaction to this.

[@razzal366]

I can only surmise that he just hates control elements, which are based on keeping your opponent from playing magic how they would like to

[@ameliagryffon7097]

Razzal well those control elements are usually against the opponent but in this case they attack the player so I dunno. I kinda like the mechanic but I would prefer if those cards went back to your hand if they payed the cost.

[@jlawsl]

Same thing happened when I started playing. I came in right at the end of The Dark. So I got, The Dark, Fallen Empires and Homelands as my starting sets with Ice Age being the newest set. They thought Arabian Nights through Legends were OP so decided to tone it down. A lot. The cheapest sets still. Masque block gives it a run for its money though.

[@DiogoVKersting]

hahah I bet on your commander table your opponents must make an effort to keep you alive.

[@tcgplayercom]

what actually happens is i attack someone for 2 with like rathi intimidator or some other such garbage and then they kill me because they know i can't put up any resistance. c'est la vie

[@KingBobXVI]

You should just sit there with the "any player may play this ability" cards and just give them free spells so they don't want to kill you.

[@ChaosRagorA]

You got a decklist for this commander deck...? Im curious about how bad you can make a deck you can make

[@86puffpuff86]

i wouldnt even let u sit at the table with that pointless deck wtf.... i hope u made the deck as a joke and dont actually try and play with it.

[@GodwynDi]

@@KingBobXVI I know! The mongers, that he hates and says are bad are hilariously fun in commander. It let's opponents spend resources against other opponents, and are great political tools. Wishmonger being the best for how hard it is to kill

[@Stray7]

My first new set was Homelands, so I feel your pain. And yeah, Masques block was the block that soured me on Magic for several years -- I didn't start playing again until 8th Edition.

[@w47765]

It sounds like rebels was the modern day Yugioh archetype deck that works.

[@fenixmeaney6170]

jaegamer I'm going to let that burn resolve

[@blightyfrogs]

isn't archetypes all that modern yugioh does? I got a pack this summer to see what the cards are like, and over half had to be played in a deck specifically built with them in mind. Another quarter needed really specific card typings, like lvl 3 light insect monsters.

[@w47765]

Timothy Bodette Yes and no. Yes the entire format is made up of certain archetypes excelling but this wasnt always the case. A format known as Teledad ( Which was roughly double the price of a good modern mtg ) the deck resembled a mono black reanimator deck that could chew through its deck with little to no effort. The decks win con was a card named Dark armed Dragon it was dumb.

[@The5lacker]

That is the most apt description I’ve ever read.

[@Fiftdkpminus]

Off the top of my head >> MM - Brainstorm, Dark Ritual, Unmask, Rishadan Port; Nemesis - Daze; Prophecy - Rhystic Study. This block definitely was not complete trash

[@darrinlohmeyer6640]

when those blocks hit I actually quit Playing for a few years...

[@nicolemay8526]

I started playing Magic around the time of Invasion block so I definitely bought a lot of Masque Block packs. Being reminded of Rhystic Cave gave me the chills. The pain is real!!!

[@tobiaspause1775]

Honestely i liked the old sets. Magic is about finding Combos and synergies. And even that masks deck you mentioned sounds Pretty fun. I really liked that much more than the modern Cards which has no drawbacks. 2 mana 2/3 or 2 mana 2/3 and a bunch of cool effects.... yeah you really Need to be a genious wizard to figure out which you Need to take. Building stupid beatdown decks every Monkey can figure as Long he knows where to buy Cards... I honestestly like weak and difficult sets. Because HERE YOU USE YOUR BRAIN. And dont Forget, your Oppoments had the same Problem. If you disliked theese complicated mechanics, you probably should´ve bought the Portal and beginner packs. Or sixth Edition. They had the beginner, advanced and profi difficulty Setup back than you know? PLUS there were good Cards too. What About the Avatars or City of Traitors for example? Even among the once you mentioned were some good ones. Mercenary were not that bad back than. And even the 4/4 Horror for 4 can be useful if you know what you´re doing. And loosing the very first Turnament is absolutely normal. It happened to me too. I I guess that Count for around 95% of the other People too.

[@kylesnuffleupagus8591]

The last part of the segment is a sentiment I feel a lot of older Magic players feel. The nostalgia of getting a mental beatdown from your peers and then slowly formulating a comeback to win is the draw for many of us. Memories.

[@atariscrytoomuch]

Were you the narrator for the Sandlot?

[@DomonKachu]

Wow this is the 1st video tcgplayer that i like. More of these please.

[@couchpotatoe91]

The mongers are pretty good when you have a training ground out though. Same for the flailing cycle. Overall I'd rate the Urza block as much worse than mercadian masques.

[@marcdedecker3400]

This brought back memories! I started playing Magic in '99 with my brother who bought a tempest/exodus pre con deck while I bought an Urza's Saga deck. Sounds like we dodged a bullet!

[@liemsolow3697]

Hey! Rhystic Study is actually a good card! Don't crap on the whole set when there's 1 good card!

[@Big_Dai]

That card is not fun for anyone on the other side of it. Games can end because of it. It's TOO MUCH advantage for too little.

[@davemartin8409]

Urza's Saga: at least the basic lands didn't suck.

[@zenmaster8826]

Lmao.. Reminds me of mirrodin, then kamigawa

[@Skywarp2099]

I was just thinking this too. I started at the tail end of Ice Age block, went to a Pro event during the Urza's Block, and then when Masque's came out I thought the format would be better without all the terrible Academy decks floating around. Nope. The block was terrible and I quit until Odyssey was released. Once Mirrodin was released, I took one look at it and said to myself, "this looks like Urza's block all over again, I guess it's time to sit this one out." I didn't come back until Ravnica, which I'm glad I did. Why does WotC do stupid crap like this?

[@zenmaster8826]

Skywarp2099 Standard bannings in mirrodin.. Then they played it safe in kamigawa with by lowering the power level like making overcosted creatures.. A few overpowered gems managed to sneak into kamigawa like jitte.. Maaan.. Too similar.. Haha

[@MarkAvo]

There was a time the common thought was, "this block is great so the next one is bound to be garbage."

[@docterfantazmo]

I think peeps are waaaaaay too hard on Kamigawa, especially if you're comparing it to this train wreck of a block. It was definitely strange and the overall power level wasn't particularly high but the cards didn't actively try to not be cast. Ninjutsu was neat, Busido allowed for complex (if clunky) board states, the Legendaries were cool and the art/setting was super funky. I'll admit I'm biased as I played during Kami as a kid but I had fun at least, unlike my friends who had many of these cards and despised them, I remember them tearing up copies of Coastal Hornclaw at a party once, genuine hate for this block.

[@tcgplayercom]

it really is uncanny

[@Ashaman556]

Great video, it was fun. The only thing is I had to pause it like 50 times bc the cards just flashed on the screen not giving the viewer time to read them, obviously I didn’t have any idea what any of these cards do lol.

[@pugmiretgp8083]

Some really great stuff come from this block I wish you knew what you where talking about

[@aralornwolf3140]

Entangler on Commander Eesha was good. Too good, lol.

[@yargh36]

Really great pacing, animation, and audio mixing. Earned my sub.

[@Borkybaby]

Yea right!!! Masque was legit :) plus nemesis showed us the power of rising waters :)

[@tcgplayercom]

funny you mention that... we had to cut a section on rising waters out of this video for time purposes. what a miserable deck lol

[@Borkybaby]

TCGplayer man what a time to be alive at that time. Rising waters, gush, counterspell, daze hahaha. And the kill condition was stinging barrier 🤣🤣🤣 20 turns of pinging. Hahaha. I played that against a 12 year old a couple weeks ago for legacy at my LGS,,, he started crying because he couldn’t play his spells. I would have felt bad if I didn’t start playing in urza. Haha. Getting combo is worse than the grind

[@Borkybaby]

TCGplayer I will say, I’m not salty, just had to push back for my waters. But liked this video. You did a good job on it. 👍👍💪💪. I’d buy you a burger if you were here haha

[@Borkybaby]

Deranged MTG playing goblins..... not everybody buys the top tier decks.

[@davidrivera9743]

Don't remind me. Squirrel prison is harsh.

[@U.Inferno]

Seeing Urza's Saga being discussed after reading Drestroy All Humankind really puts things in perspective. Watching them portray Urza's Saga from the perspective of a single LGS in Japan and the subsequent card bans, as I've said, really contextualized it as someone who wasn't even alive for it for one, and only truly got into MtG during Amonkhet.

[@ankhi3585]

And WotC learned from their mistake and never made Mirrodin followed by Kamigawa ever again. Oh wait, wrong blocks.

[@chesterstevens8870]

I've been getting this video recommended to me for weeks now. I don't even play magic anymore, but this was a fascination glimpse into the history of the game.

[@coooolibri]

(0), but tap all lands you control HAHAHAHA

[@Garl_Vinland]

Not bad if you already tapped your lands for something else

[@CanuckMonkey13]

Well, this explains a lot. I was a bit older (21 in 1998) but I too started playing MTG during the MM block. No wonder I didn't stick with it.

[@craigstuckey319]

Urza's block was the best block in MTG. Hands down.

[@jacoblyons540]

TCGplayer you are not dumb. Don't know why I found this video so surprisingly wholesome, thank you for the great content, please keep it up.

[@corriedebeer799]

Im sorry sir but you are not giving Flailing Manticore it's just dues. Any player my play those abilities but they still only start resolving after both players have passed priority. You can pump them in repsonse to your opponent shrinking. It is a much more interesting design that you give it credit for.

[@JuanAponte1]

Wow this video was so wholesome specially at the end. I wish we could see more videos like this on the channel

[@arekkrolak6320]

if the problem with a game is 11 years old beginner loses horribly to a pro then chess is a disaster game as well, and boxing should be illegal :)

[@dingding12321]

Those are both endurance games, which appeal literal nothing to 11 year olds. Magic should probably not be the same.

[@NaughtyShrink]

@@dingding12321 Yet virtually all school chess clubs have several children aged 11 and below who love the game. I still remember liking the game when I was 9. Most great players start very young. It is hard sure, but chess obviously has appeal to 11 year olds and younger.

[@VagabondTE]

I started playing around that time. Most of my cards were Nemesis because I liked the symbol. I was absolute garbage at playing. Losing with extreme consistency. Regardless, I fell in love with probably the worst creatures ever. Laccoliths. I made a terrible deck out of them but I still love them to death. Which happened a lot. I even paid what felt like a fortune for a Laccolith Titan, because a 6/6 seemed unbeatable to me. Yes, I was losing all the time, but I've always been okay with that as long as I got to play games. Having my little collection of laccoliths and playing was all I cared about. One day.. through extreme frustration, patience, and luck.. I actually managed to win a single solitary game. It felt amazing. That's when my opponent pulled out a different deck and told me that he was going to win in 3 moves. (And if you're paying attention, yes that's cheating. An adult cheated to beat a young kid.). He dealt over 260 damage to me and my only response was to tap a little goat man who could prevent 1 damage. It was crushing. My next game I lost to a card that simply said do such-and-such an you win the game. I couldn't believe that there was an "I win" card and I completely quit MTG cold turkey. I play as an adult now. But I had to go back and find every single laccolith card. It was weird paying only a pittance to have something I yearned for so much as a kid. I have several play sets of each. Anywho, there's my Nemesis Story.

[@crowe1]

Someone never played Homelands... But seriously this video cherry picks the bad cards and ignores most of the cool and/or still playable cards. Port is an Eternal staple to this day, as are Daze, Misdirection, and others. Dust bowl, the counter-Sol Lands (Sandstone Needle), SPELLSHAPERS, the various free spells were often good cards. The Winds and the Avatars and the Spellshaper Legends were cool cycles even if many weren’t competitive. Replenish and Rebels were unique decks, as were Fires, Machine Head, Merfolk Opposition. Sure there were some god-awful cards in Masques block but there are god-awful cards in every set. But even some of the ones the video says are bad were good. Chimeric Idol was a staple in the best deck in Masques/Invasion block (Fires) because it dodges board wipes. Rebels/Mercenaries were good cards. Denying Wind was a chase rare in casual circles. I do not understand the hate.

[@herpderp66]

Yup this is basically it. Like how he skipped that hunting wumpus. The Grenth and Megeta were such brutal cards. Often if you untapped with them you win the game. The Avatars saw a ton of play. Chemeric idol was one of the most busted cards for a very long time. This is too much of him looking through the eyes of his inexperienced 11 year old self. I played tournaments during that time and had a blast. You didn't have games end on turn 1 and 1 like urza's block. Drafting these sets is also amazing. I have been playing EDH since it started. I love the look on people's face when I play Keldon Firebombers. I've had people legit quit playing with me after I flicker it a few times.

[@jobhunter5090]

placing my bets it wasn't the fire bomber itself, but the fact that is a piece to some fat lock down and counter spell decks. Gotta love good old mtg.

[@psychomagi]

Yeah, lockdown combos that literally stop gameplay are so much fun... my group banned them if they are all within the same deck. If someone else plays a mana flare while you have palinchron, fine. But you can't have the cards together in your own deck. Games are far more fun that way.

[@herpderp66]

@@psychomagi I love when people complain about this but have 0 disruption and interaction in their decks. Stop building your decks poorly.

[@jobhunter5090]

Its a creature the only options are destruction or counter spells, both of which are part of the control meta. Even if you are slotting some control in your beat down deck (mystic snake or bane of progress) you are still trying to draw maybe 5 in 100 cards, odds are more likely they will get two combo pieces than you will get a control spell let alone the right control spell. In short if all decks have to slot a large amount of control to be casually viable, then something is wrong with the meta.

[@HouseProductionsOrg]

Awesome video! Looking back, the sets weren’t great but at the time I was the jerk playing Rising Waters, Thwart, Foil, Spiketail Drake’s, Gush, Daze and Ports, so I didn’t notice how bad everything else was. Really enjoy your series!

[@sonofsam2581]

I guess he is a home lands fan ...

[@tcgplayercom]

how dare you

[@stonerayven2455]

Homelands at least had a couple of useable cards. Some are still in print in other sets. But Empires/Alliances was the last great sets of that day

[@Doomxeen]

Most importantly, homelands isn't a block.

[@stonerayven2455]

Homelands was an Ice Age block set LOL

[@Doomxeen]

Yup. An out of place set in an otherwise pretty good block.

[@xenasBS]

I'd love to see another flailing manticore with something added on. Maybe flailing manticore is a 5/5 flyer for 4 with the same abilities but for 1 life instead of 1 mana, causing your opponent to have to either let you attack with a pretty big creature or play a dangerous game where they try to kill it while you try to keep it alive and maybe even make it bigger. It'd really make for an interesting turn 5 if your opponent doesn't have any flying creatures in play.

[@shawn6669]

Your opinion is weak. The worst set in magic history was Kamigawa by a long mile. As far as limited is concerned, Masques was a fine set. Super well balanced. Not bomb reliant and tons of good decks. As far as constructed was concerned, rebels was not well balanced but the standard environment (certainly after Tempest/Urza) was super fun and there were a ton of great decks to play. The 2c of someone who was playing in all those formats at the time.

[@jared1932]

I don't agree, too lazy to say why

[@arobot7426]

Opalescence with parallax wave and tide gives you infinite mana and etb effects and locks out your opponents lands and creatures. You can exile your own enchantments, and wave exiling itself brings it back essentially resetting it

[@stevsomeguy07]

Still think Kamigawa wins the worst overall block award. Saviors is so still hilariously even Dragon’s Maze looks good by comparison.

[@tcgplayercom]

the terribleness of saviors is worth its own video but tbh i loved champions and betrayers

[@utterlyj1277]

Kamigawa has nothing on Masques. Some of the cards in Kamigawa actually did something.

[@doktorwyvern2883]

Homelands exists...

[@mizzetv]

My parents have played since around '95. The earliest set we have a significant amount of cards from is Mirage, up until around 8th Edition. Conviently, instead of starting a set or two earlier and getting the chance to pick up some valuable cards, the bulk of our cards are from the Masques-Urza's period. Best of all, no Academies, Cradles, or anything of value; just Flailing Manticores and Warping Wurms. We did have a few 20 dollar cards but overall nothing exciting.

[@mutsuhanma7807]

you were complaining how one card made you tap one mana and cried about it, then disregarded that same effect on another card as it being not the highest bar to clear...make up your mind...

[@Big_Dai]

Are you really that dull?

[@off-courseroaming1809]

nice touch in the end of the video with the commander deck =) love it

[@Borkybaby]

Also, back when ya opened up boosters and the cards weren’t made of shit and warping already. Sorry hasbro and wizards. Love the game, but card quality is depressing to me.

[@mcwine18]

Ty for this video, I remember back when I actually was able to earn money to buy some packs. After buying from this block, I thought to myself, "These are either trash.. or I'm just trash at knowing how to make any use of these". I stopped buying after opening a few.. realizing why would anyone use these cards. Somewhat relieving to know I wasn't the only one who thought that.

[@Loomtoomslag]

Holy shit, I can't believe this guy has a job as a narrator. He literally is yelling and complaining about everything. I turned my volume down over 75%, and still couldn't make it passed two minutes of this video.

[@RyanSas]

This is the set that got me started. I remember reading those books and falling in love with the concept of magic. Of course, at the time I tried to make a deck that only had the leaders of the weatherlight. lol.

[@edwardgarcia5343]

Another salty mtg player....i enjoyed MM back in HS.....

[@GeneChiu]

Wow. I actually took a break after the Urza block. It wasn't because of Magic. Just my interest switched to D&D at the time. I'm glad I missed Masques. Came back when Ravnica was released.

[@christopherrue4752]

I cringe every time I see or hear Mark Rosewater.

[@IC-ei5ik]

Christopher Rue still ruining the game 20 years later but now he doesn't have a CEO to tell him to do his job so instead Mark vets to fight social injustices and misogyny

[@Baby_boodle]

Lol Isaac I'd enjoy seeing you take a crack at ruining the game as the head designer yourself.

[@BretasDoc]

I think that's the hole point of Mark Rosewater nowdays lolol

[@anonofyesterday4650]

Babyboodle But he has a point though. What's the point of bringing politics into magic cards? There's literally 0 upside.

[@Baby_boodle]

Filip Tryhuk - I'm fine with discussing it. However, I don't understand the downsides. What's your take on it?

[@ernieb9948]

I also started playing during this block. I bought a Fading precon deck called Breakdown complete with Blastoderms and fell in love with big green creatures. It was a rough time. I’ll admit I couldn’t win against anybody with those cards, but I wasn’t trying to win tournaments yet. I did eventually take an FNM with my Blastoderms, Hunted Wumpuses (Wumpi?) and used Haunted Crossroads and all the black kill spells available to bring my creatures back and kill theirs. Hunted Wumpus plays pretty well with a Seal of Doom on the table.

[@Nrdyco]

You sound so bitter.. i get MM was a bad set but you purposely made a bad EDH just to prove that MM was a bad set? Seems petty and i hope i never play against you bc you would probably bum me out by just being around you. Dude, its MTG. I hated og Mirroden but i dont make an EDH baed on its ridiculous OP so i can hate myself

[@Sky_Sovereign]

*eyerolls

[@mikechurchill1071]

Yeah 4 mana flier for 4 and it had to have a wrath or god for only your team or something. One thing for sure is that creatures were much worse then and spells and removal were insane. Look at all those draw spells that were broken in standard that got banned the format before the one in the video!!!! Nowadays you get a 4/3 flying for 4 with an ability that makes a free 0/1 bird token that can then be sacked at upkeep to bring the creature right back!!! Oh yeah and it has HASTE!!!!!!! That’s so insane it’s almost a 2 for 1 100% of the tine without exile spell it def is. Card is insane. Then I see some of the 4 drops you showed and I shuttered and remember why I played 4 masticore in like all my decks!!! Lol.... great video make another one I really enjoy it:)!!!

[@tcgplayercom]

it was SO crazy how good masticore was back in the day, esp considering it's basically unplayable now

[@mikechurchill1071]

It was almost unbeatable as a 4/4 regeneration for 4 and a crazy mana sink to shoot everything down and beat so quick was just great as a finisher after you took control of the game!!!