A few mouth pieces on the internet, like terrorists, cannot be reasoned with. So ignore them, and move forward with the rest of humanity that got past other primitive views.
Anything you want to add to this conversation besides the same thing you posted two times already in the same thread? Sorry, but there is a massive gulf between "terrorists" and those that are coping with disabilities, mental illness, and other maladies and my patience with your inability to have a sane conversation is dwindling. The only thing you are doing with your posts is potentially making me want to figure out where you live and make you start talking the way you do strait to me face to face while I bring my friend who is dealing with said issues over there. Might I add he is wheelchair bound.
And if you are wondering where this is coming from, it's coming from the word "they" and how "oh they can't be reasoned with because they are just like terrorists." Yes, idSurge, the disabled and those who suffer from real life diagnosed issues are like terrorists. How about, communicating with them and saying real reason that the word "they" is being used is because they want to make the card text shorter and it's not a political thing? That is a much better way to diffuse something than ignore it.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
is because they want to make the card text shorter and it's not a political thing? That is a much better way to diffuse something than ignore it.
Technically speaking the shortest would be "he" as was commonly done in the tabletop rpg industry up until the 2000s.
But let's not get into an 'Internet tough guy' fight. I think it is political and dislike that, if you think it is not politically motivated, that might be the case and if so I am not bothered by it. What bothers me about the politics is the pandering; They should be fixing the game, but they spend energy on pronouns which gives me the impression WOTC doesn't have its priorities straight. Whether the Magic community is 'primitive', apolitical, or bigoted, matters little if the game dies.
When they do stuff like this it is a reflection of the people running the company and the company culture. That's why it was such a big deal with Marvel when they did basically the whole "we got to be inclusive" angle for ethnicity, nationality, gender identity and disposition, etc. Wizards of the Coast already demonstrated they don't listen very well to the fanbase and are not able to react very fast to external pressures, so the chances of them doing this in a way that doesn't hurt them is pretty low.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I always used "one" for singular gender ambiguous pronouns, as in "One must fall... 2097"
The funny thing aboug he, she, they is that when you have one guy, it is a he, one girl, it is a she, a group of guys, it is a they, a group of girls, it is a they, a mix of guys and girls, it is a they.
From what I learned in high school French, and had to look it up on Wikipedia because I forgot it all, they have il for male singular, elle for female singular, ils for a group of males, and elles for a group of females. If you have at least one male in the group, it is ils.
So how is "they" going to work in French? In French, they don't have a "they", or any gender ambiguous pronoun.
I don't think the French care about how ils is used as the main pronoun to refer to a group of people with at least one male. They just went with it.
At the end of the day The company needs to focus on the people that actually play the game and buy cards, not try to focus on appealing to people that may not even have an interest in the game at all or the company. Some of the things they've tried lately are just as bad as when homelands came around and they had the whole thing with all decks must include cards from every legal set. This resulted in people just tossing Ihsan's Shade and the like in the sideboard...
No way... is that why they put it in masters 25?! Why the heck would you do that? Oh man, now this makes way more sense why they threw what they did in the set. They probably had people with no idea why certain cards were being used at the time, looked at old deck lists, and just said "oh hey, this isn't reserved so in you go!"
People threw Ihsan's Shade in the sideboard because at least it wasn't dead to Swords to Plowshares. That still didn't make it very playable!
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Not sure what line you are reading between Colt, but how is your disabled friend, or anyone with legitimate issues, being offended by 'they' and how is that related to their actual diagnosed issues?
Thats not what 'mouth pieces on the internet' are complaining about. Mouth pieces on the internet are complaining about 'they' because of their own personal politics.
Like this post of yours your coming at things from a ton of angles, but I dont see how they line up.
'Disabled people are not terrorists' - True, fine, and never my intent to link the two. My family has multiple people who struggle with mental illness, so I am not sure how I was construed as making that point.
'How about, communicating with them and saying real reason that the word "they" is being used is because they want to make the card text shorter and it's not a political thing?' What? What does 'they' have to do with the disabled or ill?
To be crystal clear so neither of us have to read between the lines.
I feel people taking offense at 'they' for political, religious, or cultural reasons, are wrong to make an issue of it. I have no issues with the disabled, and have not seen anything where they are taking offense at the use of 'they'.
Not sure what line you are reading between Colt, but how is your disabled friend, or anyone with legitimate issues, being offended by 'they' and how is that related to their actual diagnosed issues?
Thats not what 'mouth pieces on the internet' are complaining about. Mouth pieces on the internet are complaining about 'they' because of their own personal politics.
Like this post of yours your coming at things from a ton of angles, but I dont see how they line up.
'Disabled people are not terrorists' - True, fine, and never my intent to link the two. My family has multiple people who struggle with mental illness, so I am not sure how I was construed as making that point.
'How about, communicating with them and saying real reason that the word "they" is being used is because they want to make the card text shorter and it's not a political thing?' What? What does 'they' have to do with the disabled or ill?
To be crystal clear so neither of us have to read between the lines.
I feel people taking offense at 'they' for political, religious, or cultural reasons, are wrong to make an issue of it. I have no issues with the disabled, and have not seen anything where they are taking offense at the use of 'they'.
The reason I've not stated anything involving the reasons why is because the persons I've talked to do not want me to share their reasons on this forum. If someone like the owner of the MagicalTableTopGirls channel or what not wants to make her reasons clear on her youtube channel fine, but that's her choice to do it.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Basically, a whole lot of stuff happened two years ago with gender diversity and the like, and given the typical round time on designing themes, commissioning artists, and building a new set in Magic the Gathering, that's about lining up with what we are seeing with Amonkhet -> Ixalan. Given Hasbro has enough sway over Wizards of the Coast to get them to make another masters set to promote Hascon, it's not too far of a stretch that a company mandate came down saying they had to make the game more ethnically diverse and be more women friendly. I'd actually wouldn't be surprised to find out that is why we had so many female pirates in Ixalan block along with the featuring of so many "not Caucasian" female characters as planeswalkers or characters of importance.
The issue with this is that lets say there is a really cool idea for a nordic setting, but the mandate is they need more ethnic diversity in the lead characters. If it's a nordic setting it's kind of hard to have characters that look like they are from Africa, China, South America, etc. So instead they have to come up with a new setting that fits more diversity such as a pirate themed Ixalan set (or a Hollywood take on Ancient Egypt). Given a lot of older cards are kind of locked to a specific plane or setting that does get in the way of reprinting certain land cycles, characters, and spells.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Oh wow I was right when I said several pages ago that Wizards is doing this to get money and not because of an sjw conspiracy what a shock
If it's a nordic setting it's kind of hard to have characters that look like they are from Africa, China, South America, etc. So instead they have to come up with a new setting that fits more diversity such as a pirate themed Ixalan set (or a Hollywood take on Ancient Egypt).
Irl vikings had a maximum expanse from like Africa to America, as far as trade is concerned, and that went both ways. Even Rome's reach spanned to north Africa in the south and to (trade with) China in the far east. It's not like people of colour got invented in the 1500s.
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“Tell me who you walk with, and I'll tell you who you are.” Esmeralda Santiago Art is life itself.
Oh wow I was right when I said several pages ago that Wizards is doing this to get money and not because of an sjw conspiracy what a shock
If it's a nordic setting it's kind of hard to have characters that look like they are from Africa, China, South America, etc. So instead they have to come up with a new setting that fits more diversity such as a pirate themed Ixalan set (or a Hollywood take on Ancient Egypt).
Irl vikings had a maximum expanse from like Africa to America, as far as trade is concerned, and that went both ways. Even Rome's reach spanned to north Africa in the south and to (trade with) China in the far east. It's not like people of colour got invented in the 1500s.
We just got done with Hollywood Ancient Egypt meets the hunger games. If WoTC did a nordic setting it would probably be more like what we saw in Ice Age and there's nothing really wrong with that. Also it's always been about money, even when it starts getting to be about inclusiveness and the like. The only reason the company would push inclusiveness is to increase the consumer base and hypothetically get more sales. Of course, that assumes they don't anger a bunch of people in the process of trying to be inclusive. Queue all the drama over it on social media because someone leaked a document the public wasn't supposed to see.
That's probably another thing wizards could do to improve the game: Work on building a more trustworthy network so information doesn't get out too soon.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Am I the only one who doesn't care about what the characters in the art look like? I care only about what a card does, mechanically, because the art is irrelevant.
Am I the only one who doesn't care about what the characters in the art look like? I care only about what a card does, mechanically, because the art is irrelevant.
Yes and no.
I actually had a much longer response, but it was turning into a wall of text more suitable for a different thread.
The short answer is, I think WotC can do with more varied art. If WotC wants to do an entire set or two or whatever depicting race X, have at it.
There have been many times I have deleted a wall-of-text response in this forum, usually because I figure that no one is that interested in my assessment of a card, an interaction of cards, or my assessment of a situation.
As far as the art itself is concerned, I presume that WotC gives the artist a rough idea of what they want--"a person in a town/village setting", for example--and then lets the artist do what they do best.
There have been many times I have deleted a wall-of-text response in this forum, usually because I figure that no one is that interested in my assessment of a card, an interaction of cards, or my assessment of a situation.
I tend to delete or avoid them because people like to take small snippets of what you write out of context, warp it, then make you look like the bad guy (or gal or whatever). Then I end up having to write at least three more WoTs just defending 3 incomplete sentences.
As far as the art itself is concerned, I presume that WotC gives the artist a rough idea of what they want--"a person in a town/village setting", for example--and then lets the artist do what they do best.
Based on what I've seen, I suspect WotC art is a lot more restrictive than that even. If you look at Goblin or Elf art from the same Vintage era set such as Goblin Chirurgeon, you can see three distinctly different goblins. A clear indication of the artist freedom.
However, a lot of people criticized this fact, IMHO, wrongly. So WotC reacted to that by "tightening" up their art. The recent Merfolk Vs. Goblin Duel Deck cards really show the homogenization of the art.
They need to review their product line. The Challenger decks are the first very solid product that will be released by them. I think they should be like Pokemon, because they actually reprint rares that are getting too expensive in Standard format because by doing this, they're bringing down the price and helping players on a budget such as me. Like reprint them in a box set, or holiday gift box even better, with 4-6 packs and a spindown die.
Make bundles come with more. Taking this from Pokemon again, they should come with at least a few dice, acrylic counters (+1/+1 or -1/-1). I don't care if it's just 2 each, it's still something worth appreciating. Also great if they came with sleeves. Even crappy sleeves, they're great for casual players. WoTC just needs to make players appreciate their products, not just throw some packs together and random promos and call it a gift box.
They need to review their product line. The Challenger decks are the first very solid product that will be released by them. I think they should be like Pokemon, because they actually reprint rares that are getting too expensive in Standard format because by doing this, they're bringing down the price and helping players on a budget such as me. Like reprint them in a box set, or holiday gift box even better, with 4-6 packs and a spindown die.
Make bundles come with more. Taking this from Pokemon again, they should come with at least a few dice, acrylic counters (+1/+1 or -1/-1). I don't care if it's just 2 each, it's still something worth appreciating. Also great if they came with sleeves. Even crappy sleeves, they're great for casual players. WoTC just needs to make players appreciate their products, not just throw some packs together and random promos and call it a gift box.
If they return Standard rotation back to the way it was before the Two-Block Paradigm and Three-and-One Model then I could see Challenger Decks being more profitable in the long run. As it stands they don't help the LGS move more product to help turn a profit when they're going to lose most of their value after they rotate. They can't just expect a rotated card from Standard to be profitable in Modern unless there's actual demand to meet the supply.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
All Standard decks lose most of their value after rotation. The difference here is Challenger Decks last only 6 months in Standard.
If this works out into bringing more people to play Standard, LGSs will profit from Challenger Decks sales, tournament entry payments, and other accessories, like sleeves and stuff.
Expecting this product to do all it's meant to do and on top of that to generate more profits for LGSs after rotation is asking way too much.
Let's just hope LGSs understand the big picture here and don't sell this product above MSRP.
'They' was used as a gender-neutral singular pronoun throughout most of the modern English language. It was the late 19th century when a group of English aristocrats created "prescriptive grammar" in attempt to rewrite the rules of the language (and make English more like Latin).
All Standard decks lose most of their value after rotation. The difference here is Challenger Decks last only 6 months in Standard.
If this works out into bringing more people to play Standard, LGSs will profit from Challenger Decks sales, tournament entry payments, and other accessories, like sleeves and stuff.
Expecting this product to do all it's meant to do and on top of that to generate more profits for LGSs after rotation is asking way too much.
Let's just hope LGSs understand the big picture here and don't sell this product above MSRP.
It is also WotC's first try at the concept. Better to test the waters close to a rotation to minimize any potentially impactful missteps.
All Standard decks lose most of their value after rotation. The difference here is Challenger Decks last only 6 months in Standard.
If this works out into bringing more people to play Standard, LGSs will profit from Challenger Decks sales, tournament entry payments, and other accessories, like sleeves and stuff.
Expecting this product to do all it's meant to do and on top of that to generate more profits for LGSs after rotation is asking way too much.
Let's just hope LGSs understand the big picture here and don't sell this product above MSRP.
It is also WotC's first try at the concept. Better to test the waters close to a rotation to minimize any potentially impactful missteps.
This is also an odd period where we have one block (Kaladesh) that has a much higher power level than the successive two blocks after it and most of the T1 strategies are based around it's mechanics or still rely heavily on cards from it. I wouldn't always expect such a large percentage of the strategies and/or individual cards to be near rotation on every Challenger deck release.
They need to review their product line. The Challenger decks are the first very solid product that will be released by them. I think they should be like Pokemon, ]because they actually reprint rares that are getting too expensive in Standard format because by doing this, they're bringing down the price and helping players on a budget such as me. Like reprint them in a box set, or holiday gift box even better, with 4-6 packs and a spindown die.
Do they? Tapu Lele GX and Shaymin EX (the version with the Setup ability) were the most expensive cards in Standard in the last few years by a considerable margin, being around $50. But Shaymin EX never got a reprint until after it had rotated out of Standard, by which time it had lost something like 2/3 of its value anyway. Tapu Lele GX hasn't gotten any kind of reprint either, though admittedly it's "only" been legal for 9 months in Standard.
All Standard decks lose most of their value after rotation. The difference here is Challenger Decks last only 6 months in Standard.
If this works out into bringing more people to play Standard, LGSs will profit from Challenger Decks sales, tournament entry payments, and other accessories, like sleeves and stuff.
Expecting this product to do all it's meant to do and on top of that to generate more profits for LGSs after rotation is asking way too much.
Let's just hope LGSs understand the big picture here and don't sell this product above MSRP.
It is also WotC's first try at the concept. Better to test the waters close to a rotation to minimize any potentially impactful missteps.
This is also an odd period where we have one block (Kaladesh) that has a much higher power level than the successive two blocks after it and most of the T1 strategies are based around it's mechanics or still rely heavily on cards from it. I wouldn't always expect such a large percentage of the strategies and/or individual cards to be near rotation on every Challenger deck release.
That’s Wizards for you. They promise to address the problems with the prices of cards/decks in Standard that are prohibiting people from playing the format and then they fall short. They always do. God forbids there’s a significant shake up in the secondary market. After all Wizards is cashing on it too, so they are not very interested in messing up with that.
Now, to be fair, Wizards is not the only one to blame here for the state of things. Before players get the chance to buy cards, the cards have to pass through a lot of intermediaries, and many of those are just scum bags who manipulate the market and jack up prices, among other things, in order to squeeze the very last penny from players’ wallets, even if ends up crippling the game beyond repair.
I keep reading the same disgusting argument that if people stop buying cards, the prices will start to drop, and that’s completely BS, and the proof of that is that no one is playing Standard right now, but still decks are $300+.
There have been many times I have deleted a wall-of-text response in this forum, usually because I figure that no one is that interested in my assessment of a card, an interaction of cards, or my assessment of a situation.
I tend to delete or avoid them because people like to take small snippets of what you write out of context, warp it, then make you look like the bad guy (or gal or whatever). Then I end up having to write at least three more WoTs just defending 3 incomplete sentences.
As far as the art itself is concerned, I presume that WotC gives the artist a rough idea of what they want--"a person in a town/village setting", for example--and then lets the artist do what they do best.
Based on what I've seen, I suspect WotC art is a lot more restrictive than that even. If you look at Goblin or Elf art from the same Vintage era set such as Goblin Chirurgeon, you can see three distinctly different goblins. A clear indication of the artist freedom.
However, a lot of people criticized this fact, IMHO, wrongly. So WotC reacted to that by "tightening" up their art. The recent Merfolk Vs. Goblin Duel Deck cards really show the homogenization of the art.
Setting: NOT SETTING SPECIFIC
Color: Blue spell
Location: your choice
Intention: This spell prevents another spell from taking place.
Action: A FEMALE HUMAN MAGE (I would like this to be a black woman please) stands with her front toward us (this is probably from the waist up) with her hands overlapped, palms toward us and fingers fully extended and tense, defensively in front of her chest (think of an open-hand CPR). Her chin is slightly upturned as if looking over the camera. Her face is almost expressionless with concentration. Her wide eyes glow a bright blue and bright blue sparks of overflowing energy are rushing out of them. A huge WAVE OF FIRE splits around her and DISPERSES as if it’s hitting an INVISIBLE SHIELD, leaving her unharmed. Maybe it turns into smoke on either side of her.
Focus: the scene of super-human concentration and power
Mood: “Nothing in this world or the next is stronger than my will.”
Notes: please make this iconic.
1. Make gameplay good
2. Stop catering to people who don't play the game, spend resources rewarding players who do play the game
3. Don't ban/unban cards to sell your product
4. Stop pursuing Family Friendly policies. Kids like things that seem adult.
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Anything you want to add to this conversation besides the same thing you posted two times already in the same thread? Sorry, but there is a massive gulf between "terrorists" and those that are coping with disabilities, mental illness, and other maladies and my patience with your inability to have a sane conversation is dwindling. The only thing you are doing with your posts is potentially making me want to figure out where you live and make you start talking the way you do strait to me face to face while I bring my friend who is dealing with said issues over there. Might I add he is wheelchair bound.
And if you are wondering where this is coming from, it's coming from the word "they" and how "oh they can't be reasoned with because they are just like terrorists." Yes, idSurge, the disabled and those who suffer from real life diagnosed issues are like terrorists. How about, communicating with them and saying real reason that the word "they" is being used is because they want to make the card text shorter and it's not a political thing? That is a much better way to diffuse something than ignore it.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
When they do stuff like this it is a reflection of the people running the company and the company culture. That's why it was such a big deal with Marvel when they did basically the whole "we got to be inclusive" angle for ethnicity, nationality, gender identity and disposition, etc. Wizards of the Coast already demonstrated they don't listen very well to the fanbase and are not able to react very fast to external pressures, so the chances of them doing this in a way that doesn't hurt them is pretty low.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
The funny thing aboug he, she, they is that when you have one guy, it is a he, one girl, it is a she, a group of guys, it is a they, a group of girls, it is a they, a mix of guys and girls, it is a they.
From what I learned in high school French, and had to look it up on Wikipedia because I forgot it all, they have il for male singular, elle for female singular, ils for a group of males, and elles for a group of females. If you have at least one male in the group, it is ils.
So how is "they" going to work in French? In French, they don't have a "they", or any gender ambiguous pronoun.
I don't think the French care about how ils is used as the main pronoun to refer to a group of people with at least one male. They just went with it.
No way... is that why they put it in masters 25?! Why the heck would you do that? Oh man, now this makes way more sense why they threw what they did in the set. They probably had people with no idea why certain cards were being used at the time, looked at old deck lists, and just said "oh hey, this isn't reserved so in you go!"
People threw Ihsan's Shade in the sideboard because at least it wasn't dead to Swords to Plowshares. That still didn't make it very playable!
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Thats not what 'mouth pieces on the internet' are complaining about. Mouth pieces on the internet are complaining about 'they' because of their own personal politics.
Like this post of yours your coming at things from a ton of angles, but I dont see how they line up.
'Disabled people are not terrorists' - True, fine, and never my intent to link the two. My family has multiple people who struggle with mental illness, so I am not sure how I was construed as making that point.
'How about, communicating with them and saying real reason that the word "they" is being used is because they want to make the card text shorter and it's not a political thing?' What? What does 'they' have to do with the disabled or ill?
To be crystal clear so neither of us have to read between the lines.
I feel people taking offense at 'they' for political, religious, or cultural reasons, are wrong to make an issue of it. I have no issues with the disabled, and have not seen anything where they are taking offense at the use of 'they'.
Spirits
The reason I've not stated anything involving the reasons why is because the persons I've talked to do not want me to share their reasons on this forum. If someone like the owner of the MagicalTableTopGirls channel or what not wants to make her reasons clear on her youtube channel fine, but that's her choice to do it.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I'm out of this thread.
Spirits
Basically, a whole lot of stuff happened two years ago with gender diversity and the like, and given the typical round time on designing themes, commissioning artists, and building a new set in Magic the Gathering, that's about lining up with what we are seeing with Amonkhet -> Ixalan. Given Hasbro has enough sway over Wizards of the Coast to get them to make another masters set to promote Hascon, it's not too far of a stretch that a company mandate came down saying they had to make the game more ethnically diverse and be more women friendly. I'd actually wouldn't be surprised to find out that is why we had so many female pirates in Ixalan block along with the featuring of so many "not Caucasian" female characters as planeswalkers or characters of importance.
The issue with this is that lets say there is a really cool idea for a nordic setting, but the mandate is they need more ethnic diversity in the lead characters. If it's a nordic setting it's kind of hard to have characters that look like they are from Africa, China, South America, etc. So instead they have to come up with a new setting that fits more diversity such as a pirate themed Ixalan set (or a Hollywood take on Ancient Egypt). Given a lot of older cards are kind of locked to a specific plane or setting that does get in the way of reprinting certain land cycles, characters, and spells.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Irl vikings had a maximum expanse from like Africa to America, as far as trade is concerned, and that went both ways. Even Rome's reach spanned to north Africa in the south and to (trade with) China in the far east. It's not like people of colour got invented in the 1500s.
Art is life itself.
We just got done with Hollywood Ancient Egypt meets the hunger games. If WoTC did a nordic setting it would probably be more like what we saw in Ice Age and there's nothing really wrong with that. Also it's always been about money, even when it starts getting to be about inclusiveness and the like. The only reason the company would push inclusiveness is to increase the consumer base and hypothetically get more sales. Of course, that assumes they don't anger a bunch of people in the process of trying to be inclusive. Queue all the drama over it on social media because someone leaked a document the public wasn't supposed to see.
That's probably another thing wizards could do to improve the game: Work on building a more trustworthy network so information doesn't get out too soon.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Yes and no.
I actually had a much longer response, but it was turning into a wall of text more suitable for a different thread.
The short answer is, I think WotC can do with more varied art. If WotC wants to do an entire set or two or whatever depicting race X, have at it.
As far as the art itself is concerned, I presume that WotC gives the artist a rough idea of what they want--"a person in a town/village setting", for example--and then lets the artist do what they do best.
I tend to delete or avoid them because people like to take small snippets of what you write out of context, warp it, then make you look like the bad guy (or gal or whatever). Then I end up having to write at least three more WoTs just defending 3 incomplete sentences.
Based on what I've seen, I suspect WotC art is a lot more restrictive than that even. If you look at Goblin or Elf art from the same Vintage era set such as Goblin Chirurgeon, you can see three distinctly different goblins. A clear indication of the artist freedom.
However, a lot of people criticized this fact, IMHO, wrongly. So WotC reacted to that by "tightening" up their art. The recent Merfolk Vs. Goblin Duel Deck cards really show the homogenization of the art.
Make bundles come with more. Taking this from Pokemon again, they should come with at least a few dice, acrylic counters (+1/+1 or -1/-1). I don't care if it's just 2 each, it's still something worth appreciating. Also great if they came with sleeves. Even crappy sleeves, they're great for casual players. WoTC just needs to make players appreciate their products, not just throw some packs together and random promos and call it a gift box.
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"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
If this works out into bringing more people to play Standard, LGSs will profit from Challenger Decks sales, tournament entry payments, and other accessories, like sleeves and stuff.
Expecting this product to do all it's meant to do and on top of that to generate more profits for LGSs after rotation is asking way too much.
Let's just hope LGSs understand the big picture here and don't sell this product above MSRP.
'They' was used as a gender-neutral singular pronoun throughout most of the modern English language. It was the late 19th century when a group of English aristocrats created "prescriptive grammar" in attempt to rewrite the rules of the language (and make English more like Latin).
https://www.jstor.org/stable/4166805
https://fieldmarshalshandbook.wordpress.com/
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It is also WotC's first try at the concept. Better to test the waters close to a rotation to minimize any potentially impactful missteps.
This is also an odd period where we have one block (Kaladesh) that has a much higher power level than the successive two blocks after it and most of the T1 strategies are based around it's mechanics or still rely heavily on cards from it. I wouldn't always expect such a large percentage of the strategies and/or individual cards to be near rotation on every Challenger deck release.
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That’s Wizards for you. They promise to address the problems with the prices of cards/decks in Standard that are prohibiting people from playing the format and then they fall short. They always do. God forbids there’s a significant shake up in the secondary market. After all Wizards is cashing on it too, so they are not very interested in messing up with that.
Now, to be fair, Wizards is not the only one to blame here for the state of things. Before players get the chance to buy cards, the cards have to pass through a lot of intermediaries, and many of those are just scum bags who manipulate the market and jack up prices, among other things, in order to squeeze the very last penny from players’ wallets, even if ends up crippling the game beyond repair.
I keep reading the same disgusting argument that if people stop buying cards, the prices will start to drop, and that’s completely BS, and the proof of that is that no one is playing Standard right now, but still decks are $300+.
2. Stop catering to people who don't play the game, spend resources rewarding players who do play the game
3. Don't ban/unban cards to sell your product
4. Stop pursuing Family Friendly policies. Kids like things that seem adult.