Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Protection From Everything

(c) by Wizards of the Coast 2009"Progenitus" is a new card from the next Magic: the Gathering expansion "Conflux". This card is good example why I am probably never going to play Magic. OK, I played it twice when a friend of mine showed it to me back in 1995, but this was after I started playing VtES. But still .. what about the color pie, Black vs. White, Blue vs. Red, a creature that requires all five colors? And then "Protection from everthing" .. how can you top a card like this? For me Magic has jumped the shark. I'm only waiting for the Ted McGinley card.

In the world of Magic "Protection from everything" means the following:
  • Progenitus can't be blocked.
  • Progenitus can't be enchanted or equipped.
  • Progenitus can't be the target of spells or abilities.
  • All damage that would be dealt to Progenitus is prevented.
Progenitus can still be affected by effects that don't target it or deal damage to it.

If VtES was more like Magic this would result in Caine .. a vampire with capacity 20, he has 5 votes, +5 bleed and +5 stealth and (naturally) has all disciplines at superior. He's also immune to aggravated damage and doesn't need to heal non-aggravated damage. If Caine is moved to the ash heap (from anywhere), he would be moved to your crypt instead.

So this is why I probably never gonna play Magic. That and the release frequencey, and the set rotation, and the cost, and Mythic Rares, and ...

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Meh, by the time anyone has 10 mana and 5 colors lying around, the game's probably already won. This is not so different from Darksteel Colossus, Irridescent Angel, or Pristine Angel.

Jason said...

But he can still be Brainwashed, or Subverted by Pentex, or have his Senses Deprived. And a 20-cap vampire takes a long time to come out.

extrala said...

I must admit I my knowledge of MtG cards is rather incomplete (to say the least). For me, "Progentius" is that just sort of MtG that scares me away from the game. There maybe (and most likely are) more cards of that type, which have a similar effect on me.

xcver said...

sry to say this, but you seemingly have no clue of M:TG.

This card is super-crap. There are some decks which can chuck him out turn 2 (but only in Vintage where he's not a real threat) for all others this amount of mana is almost never reached. And what's even more important...any form of global kill spell like wrath of god etc. will kill him without a problem and he can be countered. So odds are any deck will either a) be able to dispose of him b) counter him c) kill the other wizard before he even comes out :)

He represents more of of a cap 25 which means you'll be dead by the time you get him out...

Greets,

Bernd

extrala said...

I never have claimed to have detailed knowledge of Magic. I know it's "Timmy"-card, I know today are often dead in turn 2 or 3 of Magic. I know it's rather weak, but that's not my point. When looking at "Progenitus", I have the feel that this is an embodiment of the reason I don't like Magic, everything is so blown out of proportions. Another examples is the above mentioned "Wrath of God" .. destroy every creature .. sheesh ..

I cannot remember who exactly said or wrote that VtES is a game of little effects. This is more to my liking.

extrala said...

P.S.: One post on Magic and one gets a ton of comments .. maybe I should do this more often ;)

xcver said...

It's just a different game and can be quite funny when you contain yourself to certain formats (even on a tournament level). I really like playing booster draft (especially with just one booster :).


And don't forget...there would be no V:TES if it weren't for M:TG :O

extrala said...

Bah, don't add insult to injury .. VtES is the better Magic! ;)

xcver said...

hehe :)

1 on 1 it ain't :)

Anonymous said...

Blogger xcver said...

hehe :)

1 on 1 it ain't :)


But 1 0n 2 it is.
And 1 on 3.
And 1 on 4.

:D

Jarieスイセン said...

"I won't play Magic because it has a few cards that I'll probably never face that are virtually all-powerful"... What a pathetic statement. Don't play any games if that's how you are, cause there's ALWAYS someone/thing that is at that level. And if there's not... the game's probably (Though, for benefit of the doubt) a dull constant replay of much the same thing every game. There needs to be SOMEthing to throw a wrench in the works, every now and then!

Oh, and I LOVE that comment about Darksteel Colossus. I have a friend that uses Darksteel Colossus + Worldslayer! It don't scare me, and I DON'T use/have any uber cards! Sure, it might hurt me in one game, but usually, I beat it. Plus, anyone who relies on such combos (and my friend doesn't, it's just fun to use) is in for reallly boring games of "Mine is bigger than yours!/You can't do anything!" So dull...

jcar said...

Frankly, I'm kinda pissed Mtg didn't give Progenitus some kind of loop hole to block flyers. Clearly its big enough pull down or just chomp out of the air any sort of flying beast, angel, dragon, (some of the most powerful cards in the gathering), something else big enchanted by Asha's favor, etc, etc. In my opinion "Reach" was necessary to make this card as tight as it should be.

I think that MTG is bastardizing a super tight mythic card by a simple technicality in the rules of flying and protection.
Thats my rant.

Anonymous said...

xcver I guess I play with morons because I got a fusion elemental out on the 4th turn and progenitus out on the 7th and subsequently won the game

Anonymous said...

I'm guessing not alot of people here know enough about magic. There's a pretty easy combo to get Progenitus ASAP. Oath of Druids lets you mill the top of your deck until you find a creature and you put it onto the battlefield. Say the only creatures you have in your deck are 4 Progenitus. Its pretty much good game in two-3 turns. And besides, Progenitus is with like 4 USD.

Anonymous said...

lol, i just polymorph it out on the 4th turn and win. all this "i never claimed to know anything" stuff yall are talking 'bout is totally true and too obvious to even post. lol again.

Anonymous said...

Oh, yeah...elvish piper. lets you put a creature card from your hand into play. the oath of druids isn't type 2, so I'd just blue/green deck with elvish piper, sage owls, ponders, polymorphs, progenitus. on a different train of thought...I also like playing a spellbound dragon combo with progenitus even if i don't intend to use him. lets you beef up the dragon as much as the discarded card's converted mana cost, then you could maybe rise him from the grave if you are playing grixis. what do you think?

DS said...

For those of you who don't know much about M:tG, let me explain. An average player in an average game gets 1 land per turn which can give them 1 mana. For a normal person to play this card, they would need 10 lands. It's common to be able to play 1 land per turn for the first 3-5 turns, although after that the production slows down as you have nonland cards in your deck, usually at an approximate 2:1 ratio to the lands. Not playing M:tG because of a card like Progenitus is foolish. In an average casual game, you will never see one hit play. Ever. There are lots of absolutely huge creatures in M:tG, and they usually come with the downside of costing extreme amounts of mana. Sure there are cards that can let you play them earlier, and that's what Magic is all about. Finding cards out of the over 9000 choices you have that work together.

PS. Whoever said the game is usually over by turn 2-3 is retarded. Casual games take anywhere from 5-15+ turns, and multiplayer games take even longer. The only time you'll see a game over by 2nd or 3rd turn is in competetive tournaments.

Anonymous said...

Easy to summon him if you have the right cards. Ex. Have malestorm archangel, kaleidostone, and progenitus. Use kaleidostone and sacrifice it. Summon maelstorm have her attack the next turn and if you have progenitus in your hand boom...There it is.

Anonymous said...

Um to say the least your wrong about this card. Protection in their def. Means he can't be targeted. However the rule of (everything) means he can't be killed by anything. Wipes damage ex. The rule protection no longer applies to single target anymore. Simply put anything that affects this creature in any way. He is protected from it. Read the dam dictionary. It can only be countered in magic. That's it.

xcver said...

erm I think you are wrong about the rules here. Protection from (xxx) will not protect form everything but per the rules from these things:

Damage
Enchant/Equip
Block
Target

So a Wrath of God neither Damages nor Enchants, Equips, Blocks or Targets Progenitus it kills it easy as pie. While an Eartquake for loads of damage would not kill it because it is protected from the damage.