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MTGS Mini #7: When Good Cards Go BadBy Sean DeCoursey on December 28th, 2005 · Filed in General Magic · Comments not available just nowMTGS Mini is the format we'll be relying on for the next two weeks. People don't like to write much during the holidays, and as a result sites like mtg.com and... well... ours end up with less material for the front page. However, instead of giving you two weeks of MTGS Classics, you'll see two weeks of MTGS Mini, a far more easygoing format. So sit back and relax while we relax... our standards. If this isn't your thing, take a break and we'll see you in January! I'm not talking about the good vs. evil white hat/black hat spaghetti western cowboy "good going bad" here. I'm talking about when a popular and powerful card suddenly... isn't. This happens all the time. Juggernaut, for example, was banned at one point. Now he's lucky if he can even stand in line and beg for an autograph outside the Hall of Fame. Flametongue Kavu. There probably is not a better example of what I'm talking about in Extended magic right now than this little fella. I don't think anyone would argue with me if I said that FtK is an exceptionally strong card that provides card advantage, removal, a win condition, and a reasonable body for its casting cost. There is also no card in Extended today that says "bad player" quite so loudly as Flametongue Kavu [Though it has had some fleeting success in the format -Ed]. The Kavu however, is not alone in this ignominy of fallen power and shame. He is joined by such former staples of magic as Serra Angel, Terror, any Goblin (although I suspect the little fellows are about due to experience a resurrection), Royal Assassin, Spiritmonger, Roar of the Wurm, Blistering Firecat, Erhnam Djinn, Exalted Angel, Lightning Rift, Solemn Simulacrum, etc. etc.. The bias of this list to older cards and sets is due to the fact that there simply hasn't been enough time for many newer cards to become obsolete yet. Why do cards become obsolete? Unlike the auto and consumer electronics industries which thrive on planned obsolescence, in Magic there are a lot of different things that can happen to make a good card go bad. Most of them accidental. The metagame can shift (think Goblins). New cards that are flat out better can appear to replace old ones (think Grizzly Bears and Wild Mongrel). The deck adapts so that a former all-star becomes a big pile of doody (think Roar of the Wurm). There are other, more subtle reasons good cards can go bad as well. For example, a key element of the strategy which made a card good can go missing (think Erhnam Djinn minus his good buddy Armageddon), alternatively, you might see a former strength of a card turned into a weakness (Terror - can't target artifact creatures but who cares? Oh crap, reprinted in Mirrodin). Finally, sometimes the game simply advances beyond a given card's ability to remain relevant (think Spiritmonger - being big just isn't enough anymore). Of course, the converse of this is also true; the advent of Dredge has made Withered Wretch return to prominence, bringing to a lesser extent his good buddy Rotlung Reanimator along for the ride. Psychatog was saved from an Extended vacation by the banning of Aether Vial, and Orim's Chant suddenly became a whole lot more relevant when Isochron Scepter was printed. Always remember that today's .25 rare is one expansion, new deck idea, or meta shift away from being a $10 powerhouse (Necropotence anyone?) and that prize card you just traded your piggy bank for could very easily go very bad very soon. By Sean DeCoursey on December 28th, 2005 · Filed in General Magic · Comments not available just now About Sean DeCourseySean Decoursey is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom where he served with the 2/124th Infantry from 12/02 through 03/04. He attended Truman State University where he was a member of the rugby team which ranked in the top ten nationally three times. Sean graduated with a degree in Justice Systems and now lives in Kansas City, where he works as a Financial Advisor. |
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