Post by Mystical Forums on Sept 29, 2023 3:53:21 GMT
Mystical:
In this mystical website forum, I am going to be talking about the mystical world. You will also learn about mystical cards and different mystical books to read. I am here to help you every step of the way. One of my favorite things about recent Mystical the Gathering sets has been Showcase cards. Cards that represent the themes of the set are given unique frames and art that make them really stick out – Throne of Eldraine had Art Nouveu-style Adventures, Theros: Beyond Death rendered its gods as Constellations, and Ikoria had its biggest creatures appear in a comic book art style. While not particularly rare, showcases have been a fantastic addition to the game that made opening booster packs a better experience. Strixhaven: School of Mages is changing things up slightly, by replacing the usual Showcase cards with an interesting new compilation of cards called the 'Mystical Archive'.
The Mystical Archive is Strixhaven: School of Mages' own take on the Showcase cards that have defined the last year or so of Magic. Unlike previous sets, which featured their own cards in an alternate art style, Mystical Archive features 63 instants and sorceries from the entirety of Magic's history, outside of the Strixhaven set itself. The flavor of this is that Strixhaven's school contains knowledge of every spell ever cast, forming the Mystical Archive we pull in our booster packs. An interesting twist on this is that the Mystical Archive has two forms: one with collage-like art, and a rarer Japanese edition with its own design by Japanese artists.
Every single booster pack will contain at least one Mystical Archive card. In Set and Draft boosters, the Archive card you find will always be the global version, unless you're buying a Japanese pack, in which case you'll receive the Japanese art instead. Collectors Boosters, however, will contain a minimum of three, with at least one of those always being one of those rarer Japanese style, regardless of which language the rest of the pack is in. Most of them! The Mystical Archive is a bit of a grab bag of cards, with many of them being staples for a variety of formats. Stuff like Approach of the Second Sun, Teferi's Protection, Swords to Plowshares, and Counterspell.
Opt, Time Warp, Dark Ritual, Demonic Tutor, Tainted Pact, Chaos Warp, Grapeshot, Lightning Bolt, Cultivate, Growth Spiral, and Krosan Grip all appear here, meaning players of almost everything from Standard to Commander will have something to find. On the whole, the selection for the Mystical Archive is fantastic. There are a few odd choices, though, a Divine Gambit (which was widely mocked on its reveal in Kaldheim) and Snakeskin Veil (which, while not bad, is hardly iconic). The good absolutely outweighs the bad, but who'd want to pull a Divine Gambit? For collectors, the Mystical Archive has had a few controversial cards which would be neat bits of game history to own. Cards such as Crux of Fate, the card which artist Jason Felix plagiarized from multiple sources before being dropped by Wizards of the Coast.
There's also Faithless Looting (pictured up top), whose art triggered a lot of (personally, unfounded) criticism for its outthere mix of photorealism and flat colors. There were also more than a few instances of trans- and queer-phobia in some of the criticism I saw, which was disappointing, to say the least. I love the Faithless Looting art and I need the playmat immediately. But the Internet and its awful tendencies have now given it a level of notoriety collectors should enjoy. What About Arena? The Mystical Archive is going to be in Arena as well. In the normal Arena boosters, they will replace one of the Common cards, while in draft they will take the 15th card slot usually reserved for lands.
However, the Mystical Archive is not considered to be part of the Strixhaven: School of Mages set, meaning card legality is a bit complicated. All the Mystical Archive cards are legal in your Strixhaven limited games, including the draft. Cards that were already in Standard before the launch of the Mystical Archive, like Cultivate, will allow you to play their Mystical Archive versions like normal. If it isn't legal in Standard, your Archive card will instead be legal in Historic. However, there are seven Mystical Archive cards that are banned from both Standard and Historic, meaning the only ways you'll be able to play them in Arena is through limited formats or via direct challenge against a friend. These seven are Channel, Counterspell, Dark Ritual, Demonic Tutor, Lightning Bolt, Natural Order, and Swords to Plowshares.
Fortunately, Wizards has taken care to reduce the chances of you pulling nigh-unplayable cards. For you to pull a banned Mystical Archive card in a normal Arena booster, you'll first need a full playset of every other Archive card of the same rarity. This means you'll get every other rare Mystical Archive card four times before you pull a Dark Ritual or Counterspell. You might want these cards, though, so every Mystical Archive card will be craftable using Arena wildcards. When Is the Mystical Archive Launching? The Mystical Archive is launching alongside Strixhaven: School of Mages on April 23. Now, I hope you have found this website forum to be very helpful. If you have any questions, you can contact me at any time. Thanks for taking the time to read this website forum. Have a nice day!
In this mystical website forum, I am going to be talking about the mystical world. You will also learn about mystical cards and different mystical books to read. I am here to help you every step of the way. One of my favorite things about recent Mystical the Gathering sets has been Showcase cards. Cards that represent the themes of the set are given unique frames and art that make them really stick out – Throne of Eldraine had Art Nouveu-style Adventures, Theros: Beyond Death rendered its gods as Constellations, and Ikoria had its biggest creatures appear in a comic book art style. While not particularly rare, showcases have been a fantastic addition to the game that made opening booster packs a better experience. Strixhaven: School of Mages is changing things up slightly, by replacing the usual Showcase cards with an interesting new compilation of cards called the 'Mystical Archive'.
The Mystical Archive is Strixhaven: School of Mages' own take on the Showcase cards that have defined the last year or so of Magic. Unlike previous sets, which featured their own cards in an alternate art style, Mystical Archive features 63 instants and sorceries from the entirety of Magic's history, outside of the Strixhaven set itself. The flavor of this is that Strixhaven's school contains knowledge of every spell ever cast, forming the Mystical Archive we pull in our booster packs. An interesting twist on this is that the Mystical Archive has two forms: one with collage-like art, and a rarer Japanese edition with its own design by Japanese artists.
Every single booster pack will contain at least one Mystical Archive card. In Set and Draft boosters, the Archive card you find will always be the global version, unless you're buying a Japanese pack, in which case you'll receive the Japanese art instead. Collectors Boosters, however, will contain a minimum of three, with at least one of those always being one of those rarer Japanese style, regardless of which language the rest of the pack is in. Most of them! The Mystical Archive is a bit of a grab bag of cards, with many of them being staples for a variety of formats. Stuff like Approach of the Second Sun, Teferi's Protection, Swords to Plowshares, and Counterspell.
Opt, Time Warp, Dark Ritual, Demonic Tutor, Tainted Pact, Chaos Warp, Grapeshot, Lightning Bolt, Cultivate, Growth Spiral, and Krosan Grip all appear here, meaning players of almost everything from Standard to Commander will have something to find. On the whole, the selection for the Mystical Archive is fantastic. There are a few odd choices, though, a Divine Gambit (which was widely mocked on its reveal in Kaldheim) and Snakeskin Veil (which, while not bad, is hardly iconic). The good absolutely outweighs the bad, but who'd want to pull a Divine Gambit? For collectors, the Mystical Archive has had a few controversial cards which would be neat bits of game history to own. Cards such as Crux of Fate, the card which artist Jason Felix plagiarized from multiple sources before being dropped by Wizards of the Coast.
There's also Faithless Looting (pictured up top), whose art triggered a lot of (personally, unfounded) criticism for its outthere mix of photorealism and flat colors. There were also more than a few instances of trans- and queer-phobia in some of the criticism I saw, which was disappointing, to say the least. I love the Faithless Looting art and I need the playmat immediately. But the Internet and its awful tendencies have now given it a level of notoriety collectors should enjoy. What About Arena? The Mystical Archive is going to be in Arena as well. In the normal Arena boosters, they will replace one of the Common cards, while in draft they will take the 15th card slot usually reserved for lands.
However, the Mystical Archive is not considered to be part of the Strixhaven: School of Mages set, meaning card legality is a bit complicated. All the Mystical Archive cards are legal in your Strixhaven limited games, including the draft. Cards that were already in Standard before the launch of the Mystical Archive, like Cultivate, will allow you to play their Mystical Archive versions like normal. If it isn't legal in Standard, your Archive card will instead be legal in Historic. However, there are seven Mystical Archive cards that are banned from both Standard and Historic, meaning the only ways you'll be able to play them in Arena is through limited formats or via direct challenge against a friend. These seven are Channel, Counterspell, Dark Ritual, Demonic Tutor, Lightning Bolt, Natural Order, and Swords to Plowshares.
Fortunately, Wizards has taken care to reduce the chances of you pulling nigh-unplayable cards. For you to pull a banned Mystical Archive card in a normal Arena booster, you'll first need a full playset of every other Archive card of the same rarity. This means you'll get every other rare Mystical Archive card four times before you pull a Dark Ritual or Counterspell. You might want these cards, though, so every Mystical Archive card will be craftable using Arena wildcards. When Is the Mystical Archive Launching? The Mystical Archive is launching alongside Strixhaven: School of Mages on April 23. Now, I hope you have found this website forum to be very helpful. If you have any questions, you can contact me at any time. Thanks for taking the time to read this website forum. Have a nice day!