ZW2007- wrote: I already commented on this in the Pre-Release notes thread but I'll sum it up better here. It's their new business model. First they started rotating what planeswalkers were available for purchase in the vault in order create a sense of urgency to purchase. This new approach is their way of making planeswalkers you already own 'rotate' by making them obsolete as time goes on and a new planeswalker can take it's place. In Saheeli's case, four sets down the road they might want to make a new Red Blue planeswalker. If that new one works way better with the cards in that set, you are more likely to buy the new one than just stick with using Saheeli.
Ampmp11 wrote: I get this perspective however limiting play styles to one optimal condition gets boring. Half the fun in this game is deck crafting which this eliminates completely. With the amount of time they want us to spend playing the game they shouldn't be limiting the limited options we already have. The last few planes walkers have felt like the same cookie cutter design. Have this type of card and make them bigger. None of the new pws are remotely interesting other than their color combinations. Sorin, arlinn, j2, l2 are eerily similar in play styles and really are only interesting because of mana gains and color combinations. Cookie cutter pws make them incredibly boring and uninteresting.
madwren wrote: Gideon2's abilities ensure he remains viable, however. You can play entire decks without allies and yet still use all of his abilities. The only facet that makes him slightly less viable is his mana gains, as generating only 5 mana a match is somewhat limiting in the current environment. He's still usable, though, regardless of whether or not they ever add any more allies to the game, because his abilities aren't dependent on them. By comparison, they want to reduce Saheeli's ultimate from being a fascinating creative opportunity--being able to summon [all supports]--to being able to summon Vehicles. Of which there are 11. Of which the vast majority are not worth playing (7 of them are 4/4 or 2/2), much less spending your ultimate ability on. Why wouldn't people be upset? I don't care what planeswalker you're talking about, anytime you reduce someone's options from hundreds to ones, it isn't going to play well. For the record, I don't mind the changes to the first two abilities.
Ohboy wrote: madwren wrote: Gideon2's abilities ensure he remains viable, however. You can play entire decks without allies and yet still use all of his abilities. The only facet that makes him slightly less viable is his mana gains, as generating only 5 mana a match is somewhat limiting in the current environment. He's still usable, though, regardless of whether or not they ever add any more allies to the game, because his abilities aren't dependent on them. By comparison, they want to reduce Saheeli's ultimate from being a fascinating creative opportunity--being able to summon [all supports]--to being able to summon Vehicles. Of which there are 11. Of which the vast majority are not worth playing (7 of them are 4/4 or 2/2), much less spending your ultimate ability on. Why wouldn't people be upset? I don't care what planeswalker you're talking about, anytime you reduce someone's options from hundreds to ones, it isn't going to play well. For the record, I don't mind the changes to the first two abilities. When was the last time anyone really saved up to use her third ability? I actually forsee her using her third ability more often now.
Ohboy wrote: When was the last time anyone really saved up to use her third ability?
Hibernum_JC wrote: I can guarantee to you guys that Saheeli Rai is still very strong. Energize 4 is very good on top of making Thopters, her 2nd ability is stronger (and there's a lot more Constructs in Kaladesh) and her third is absurd with the right vehicles (Sovereign Skyship being fetched to the battlefield 4 times is very, VERY strong). As an aside we decided to do some changes to Saheeli Rai because we wanted her to have more synergy with the Kaladesh set - when we initially did her limited release, the Kaladesh cards hadn't been designed, nor had the abilities, and we anticipated Vehicles to be something different than what the ended up being, so fetching 4 Supports made sense. Now that Vehicles are out and have a much simpler design than what we were initially thinking, and since the ability was designed for Vehicles in mind, repurposing it for Vehicles made sense. Energy is also a huge component of Kaladesh, and as such granting her abilities that create and consume energy was a no-brainer.