You're a tricky one, Skaterbruski, embedding a modest statement into an otherwise inflammatory post. I'm sure when Caranthir gives you an infraction for that one too you'll decry the injustice of not being allowed to state the one part of your post that was rational. Sorry if you think I'm trolling now, but I hate it when people try to push their extremist stance by hiding little grains of truth in an argument.
That's more like it! And you're right, they were better. I've been hoping for something more to flesh out Mirrodin since Scars was spoiled, but so far I've mostly been disappointed. Savor the Flavor was always something I looked forward to during Zendikar block where I feel like they had more world-centric articles. Nowadays it seems like all they talk about is design, art concepts and Mirrodin's jargon. I don't think I can blame Beyer for that since he wrote most of Zendikar's articles too, but we need to get back to the world building!
I know, I'm a bit extreme, but when I'm passionate about these things I try to make a strong stance. And as far as Car's infractions go, I collect them. I consider them the same as a summons.
The truth of the matter is that they don't put the same effort into everything that the old creative team did. Yea sure I'm a bit extreme about these things, but everyone else just rolls over and dies....
But, if we really must have a good argument.
Look at the post counts of every regular in the storyline forum. Sure this is their product, but why should fans of one aspect be treated as more important than fans of another aspect. I hate the fact that they treat us like second class citizens, it shows in their product.
They no longer produce maps of planes, (See Invasion Map). The latest thing we got was the guide to Alara. It was awesome. But then nothing, we got nothing.
So once the mending starts, it's all downhill from here. They kill off a bunch of old characters, and degrade the ones that survive. Then they introduce characters who are hardly flushed out.
Instead of a new full storyline, we get flavors of the month, in the form of Neowalkers that appear in sets. Only now, 4 years later, are we starting to see an actual storyline, and that's only because Bolas is behind everything. If you take Bolas out of the equation, we have no connection what so ever between anything.
Now, we have Phyrexians coming back. Cool. They're on Mirrodin, ok that's cool, it was bound to happen. Wait, what do you mean Mirrodin has life. Where did that come from. Karn's not a planeswalker anymore? So he didn't planeswalk away at the end of Planar chaos.
So creative, in their infinite wisdom, (see sarcasm) decides, hey, "We're pretty lazy, why should we justify anything when we can just ignore the people who complain, and do whatever we want."
So they decide to introduce Clockworking. Clockworking, which is basically a retcon tool. (Seriously, check your local hardware store, it fixes any canon problem.) Clockworking just seems like the ultimate cop out to me. It's their fail safe. Thje huge eraser. Hey Jace is dead. Bolas can pull a new one from another time line. Karn corrupted? Let's get a good Karn to fight him.
So Jace massacre's Tezz, and just like that he's Tezz's ***** again?
And was Bolas not powerful enough. He's a big Baddie, absorbed Alara's spare mana, and now he can do something URZA couldn't. Not to mention that other non walker could.
It's bull☺☺☺☺ at it's best. This is why I'm so annoyed. We get no respect.
why should fans of one aspect be treated as more important than fans of another aspect.
Because the cards are the actual product and the source of WotC's profit on Magic, while the storyline products are a promotional loss-leader that are only worthwhile (from a profitability standpoint) inasmuch as they drive sales of the real product (the cards.)
I don't think it's accurate at all that the current creative team "doesn't care" or "put the same effort" in, but I do think it's very true that they have a very different focus. For people like myself who considered Tempest a huge creative step down from the brilliant world-building in Mirage block, that's mostly been a positive step, but I understand that not everyone is going to agree.
What you're seeing is basically a combination of the shrinking budget for storyline support materials and the new (well, old) direction that (re)started in Mirrodin, where sets chronicle worldbuilding instead of linear stories.
Not to mention that within your lengthy diatribe you skip TWO entire sets (and I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt that you consider Mirrodin to be part of the extended Invasion storyline as well as closing the Otaria saga) of Kamigawa and Ravnica. RAVNICA, which more than a few players, a sizable majority in fact, believe to be the best set Magic has ever produced in flavor and mechanics.
They no longer produce maps of planes, (See Invasion Map). The latest thing we got was the guide to Alara. It was awesome. But then nothing, we got nothing.
So once the mending starts, it's all downhill from here. They kill off a bunch of old characters, and degrade the ones that survive. Then they introduce characters who are hardly flushed out.
Instead of a new full storyline, we get flavors of the month, in the form of Neowalkers that appear in sets. Only now, 4 years later, are we starting to see an actual storyline, and that's only because Bolas is behind everything. If you take Bolas out of the equation, we have no connection what so ever between anything.
Now, we have Phyrexians coming back. Cool. They're on Mirrodin, ok that's cool, it was bound to happen. Wait, what do you mean Mirrodin has life. Where did that come from. Karn's not a planeswalker anymore? So he didn't planeswalk away at the end of Planar chaos.
So they decide to introduce Clockworking. Clockworking, which is basically a retcon tool. (Seriously, check your local hardware store, it fixes any canon problem.) Clockworking just seems like the ultimate cop out to me. It's their fail safe. Thje huge eraser. Hey Jace is dead. Bolas can pull a new one from another time line. Karn corrupted? Let's get a good Karn to fight him.
So Jace massacre's Tezz, and just like that he's Tezz's ***** again?
And was Bolas not powerful enough. He's a big Baddie, absorbed Alara's spare mana, and now he can do something URZA couldn't. Not to mention that other non walker could.
Okay, really? You're giving Creative WAY more credit then they're due, and blowing minor issues FAR out of proportion. I'll agree with you on a couple points, but nothing in Test of Metal came from Creative. It's available to them, but NONE OF IT CAME FROM CREATIVE.
1) Yeah, I want maps too. I still wish we had gotten one for Zendikar, if only to see where major cities and/or continents were located.
2) I know I'm going to be unpopular for this, but I think the killing of several oldwalkers was actually a good thing (this is, of course, several years after the fact). See, one of the big problems I have with the modern stories is that EVERYONE LIVES IN EVERY STORY. It worked in Agents (though it wasn't adequately followed through in Test) but with a few new characters every year, I feel like we're just going to end up with more characters than we know what to do with, and I think that to make some stories more meaningful people need to die. Also, Agents says that characters (some of them) are fleshed out (Creative can't do that... but it's not Creative's job).
3) Sure, Bolas is the recurring theme (annoying only because stuff like Bolas-Releasing-Eldrazi doesn't make sense)
4) Vanishing = good retcon. Weaponized Glistening Oil inside Karn's heartstone =\= good retcon. Also he can still planeswalk without a spark because he has the Weatherlight's planeshifting engine in his chest.
5) As I said, Clockworking came from Matt Stover--who writes science fiction novels and thus would be more prone to deal with alternate realities than a fantasy writer. Nothing to do with Creative.
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I miss the time when the mothership site had a lot more columns and columnists that I found myself eager to read. They had MaRo, Matt, Frank Karsten (and I've never played MTGO, but I liked his articles way better than Flores'), Flores and Aaron (or Randy). Now the only articles I read entirely are MaRo's. Doug's and Tom's too, if I find the subject/theme appealing.
The quality definitely waxes and wanes. I love reading anything Flores has to say, but Frank's column was a much better way to keep up with the metagame on a weekly basis. Aaron is just a much better writer than most of the people in R&D (though Lapille is far better at this column than Devin Low or Randy Buehler was, IMO.)
I don't get the excitement people have for Cavotta's old articles. I disliked the vast majority of them, unless he was previewing a card or interviewing another artist. The whole 'Vorthos' thing came off so half-assed and trite that I cringe a little whenever I read it, and the day I actually hear it out loud I may collapse dead on the floor. I'm not saying I enjoy Beyer's column every week, but he put a lot of effort into that Guide to the Planes: Zendikar, and I liked that.
What I really loved was the weekly short stories they did during Kamigawa's release. If they did that every time an expansion came out, I'd... visit the website for something other than the Arcana?
Cavotta had a lot of energy. It wasn't always laser-focused, but it was there. He's also well-schooled in art technigues. His discussion of the painting style on Henchfiend of Ukor could have come from a college professor. Little bits like that.
It's interesting that people prefer Mirage and Ravnica flavor wise. To me Tempest felt more like a video game than a fantasy novel.
Mirage and Ravnica had conflict but it was not "enivornment altering." The whole world wasn't in peril Crisis on Infinite Earths style. Kaervek was off doing stuff and the Guildpact was threatened, but not everyone was involved. So bad thing were going to happen if the wicked plots were successful, but it wasn't Galactus or the Book of Revelations.
Little things like the poetry in Mirage (which was actually long and quite good) and the Tin Street toughs let you know there was a whole world there. These Sherwood Anderson, Studs Terkel bits are what can add great flavor without getting in the way.
It's interesting that people prefer Mirage and Ravnica flavor wise. To me Tempest felt more like a video game than a fantasy novel.
Mirage and Ravnica had conflict but it was not "enivornment altering." The whole world wasn't in peril Crisis on Infinite Earths style. Kaervek was off doing stuff and the Guildpact was threatened, but not everyone was involved. So bad thing were going to happen if the wicked plots were successful, but it wasn't Galactus or the Book of Revelations.
Little things like the poetry in Mirage (which was actually long and quite good) and the Tin Street toughs let you know there was a whole world there. These Sherwood Anderson, Studs Terkel bits are what can add great flavor without getting in the way.
Agreed. Mirage and Ravnica proves that not everything needs to be grandiose and with a couple of more additional well done details the experience would be more amazing.
The current sets now are just so bland and uncreative. The formula is getting stale it seems.
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Agreed, Moppi. It's always the same formula, these days. Introduction of locale - characters - characters find out a terrible truth - enemy appears - fight! - next set. Rinse and repeat.
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Agreed, Moppi. It's always the same formula, these days. Introduction of locale - characters - characters find out a terrible truth - enemy appears - fight! - next set. Rinse and repeat.
You forgot the bit where everything blows up and the world comes crashing down around them. Regardless of whether the good guys win or not, the world is trashed anyways. It's all just picking up the pieces from there.
I stand corrected. Introduction of locale - introduction of characters - characters find out a terrible truth - enemy appears - fight -Elspeth runs away - KABOOM!
Is that about it?
As I can tell you from experience, it's hard to stay original, but Wizards has access to so much flavor, certainly they can come up with something better?
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well, it's really disappointing to see sets like Shards of Alara go the way of Conflux and Alara Reborn. Flavorfully, Reborn was pretty good, but the problem there was that everything was gold, and since that was the case, artistically, the set was a flop. All the cards LOOKED the same, so cracking a pack was.... bland. Conflux was a flop all the way across. From the storyline perspective, technically we are only NOW getting Alara Reborn in the form of Test of Metal. Alara Unbroken was so much the story of the conflux that it suffered at least partially from the issues conflux had.
Zendikar was much the same way, with Rise and Worldwake being dull in comparison to the introduction of the locale. The lack of good Savor articles during that time really hurt too. We'd already seen the location, so it's like Doug had nothing more to say about it from a flavor perspective, and of course the book wasn't great. It wasn't BAD, but... it was exceptionally mediocre, as opposed to Test of Metal which has highs and lows so extreme that it hurts the book.
Ravnica is the last set that didn't rely on the apocalypse formula that I can think of, but even then, everything came apart into a Kaiju battle, which was really sort of a waste. Cory was at least good enough to play it off, even though the thing was remarkably silly.
Ah yes, one other thing about Beyer's writing that ticked me off: as pointed out in the STICKIED Planeswalkers thread above, he really should've gotten straight the fact that Ajani Vengeant is chronologically first in terms of existence in-world, then Ajani Goldmane comes next, in spite of the fact that HE. WROTE. AJANI'S. BOOK.
well, it's really disappointing to see sets like Shards of Alara go the way of Conflux and Alara Reborn. Flavorfully, Reborn was pretty good, but the problem there was that everything was gold, and since that was the case, artistically, the set was a flop. All the cards LOOKED the same, so cracking a pack was.... bland. Conflux was a flop all the way across. From the storyline perspective, technically we are only NOW getting Alara Reborn in the form of Test of Metal. Alara Unbroken was so much the story of the conflux that it suffered at least partially from the issues conflux had.
Zendikar was much the same way, with Rise and Worldwake being dull in comparison to the introduction of the locale. The lack of good Savor articles during that time really hurt too. We'd already seen the location, so it's like Doug had nothing more to say about it from a flavor perspective, and of course the book wasn't great. It wasn't BAD, but... it was exceptionally mediocre, as opposed to Test of Metal which has highs and lows so extreme that it hurts the book.
Ravnica is the last set that didn't rely on the apocalypse formula that I can think of, but even then, everything came apart into a Kaiju battle, which was really sort of a waste. Cory was at least good enough to play it off, even though the thing was remarkably silly.
I...really don't know what you're talking about. Worldwake and RotE were flavorfully dull? AR's cards all looked the same? Huh???
Worldwake did a very good job of heightening tension and giving an impression that the world itself is upset (more so than the BOOK), not to mention tons of tension as to what would come. Rise of the Eldrazi was a bit puzzling in parts of its flavor text, but the cards' flavor itself certainly stood out on its own...barring the lack of Allies.
Alara Reborn...huh? There was plenty of variety, especially when you consider the different ways the Shards' attributes combined. And...the gold part really didn't make it all blend together...given the way they have the colors of two-colored cards blend into the border, there's even more to stand out. You seriously need the differently colored borders of regular sets to distinguish flavor? I really hope you never go colorblind.
About any "subpar" mechanics or cards: Context is king.
If I make a templating or grammar error, let me know.
The franchise MtG most resembles is Battlestar Galactica. Why? Its players exist in, at most, a dozen different models at any given point in time, with perhaps up to 3% variation, 5% if you're lucky.
I...really don't know what you're talking about. Worldwake and RotE were flavorfully dull? AR's cards all looked the same? Huh???
Worldwake did a very good job of heightening tension and giving an impression that the world itself is upset (more so than the BOOK), not to mention tons of tension as to what would come. Rise of the Eldrazi was a bit puzzling in parts of its flavor text, but the cards' flavor itself certainly stood out on its own...barring the lack of Allies.
Alara Reborn...huh? There was plenty of variety, especially when you consider the different ways the Shards' attributes combined. And...the gold part really didn't make it all blend together...given the way they have the colors of two-colored cards blend into the border, there's even more to stand out. You seriously need the differently colored borders of regular sets to distinguish flavor? I really hope you never go colorblind.
yeah, I found Rise to a be a very very mechanical set. The defender subtheme was explained, but it felt very unoriginal and just sort of... there. It wasn't terribly creative and considering it was supposed to represent Zendikarans fighting back, it felt badly mismatched. The Eldrazi themselves were so large and face-punchy that they felt very stilted towards the game side of things as opposed to being interesting antagonists. On the one hand, these were issues that fit exactly with how to write a story (with the protagonists being horribly overmatched) but... the Eldrazi have no character. They don't even warrant the characters that inspired them (Galactus and Cthulhu). Leveling in Rise was... well, it was very flavorful, but it seemed out of place. If they had done Leveling from the start and done Allies differently, I think it would have been stronger. With Worldwake, we didn't get anything new. It was more of the same of Zendikar, except with angrier lands, and that's a bit dull. If something like Rebound had come about here it would have been stronger probably.
As for Alara Reborn, you failed reading what I wrote. I said it was a flop ARTISTICALLY and was pretty strong on flavor. Gold is best used with a light touch. An entire set loses a lot of its visual identity. Mechanically it was sound, except for cascade which was just... disconnected from what was supposed to be causing it. (Honestly, cascade might have represented the Roil better on Zendikar. The maelstrom was a collection of spent mana, I don't see how you get more spells from it.)
yeah, I found Rise to a be a very very mechanical set. The defender subtheme was explained, but it felt very unoriginal and just sort of... there. It wasn't terribly creative and considering it was supposed to represent Zendikarans fighting back, it felt badly mismatched. The Eldrazi themselves were so large and face-punchy that they felt very stilted towards the game side of things as opposed to being interesting antagonists. On the one hand, these were issues that fit exactly with how to write a story (with the protagonists being horribly overmatched) but... the Eldrazi have no character. They don't even warrant the characters that inspired them (Galactus and Cthulhu). Leveling in Rise was... well, it was very flavorful, but it seemed out of place. If they had done Leveling from the start and done Allies differently, I think it would have been stronger. With Worldwake, we didn't get anything new. It was more of the same of Zendikar, except with angrier lands, and that's a bit dull. If something like Rebound had come about here it would have been stronger probably.
As for Alara Reborn, you failed reading what I wrote. I said it was a flop ARTISTICALLY and was pretty strong on flavor. Gold is best used with a light touch. An entire set loses a lot of its visual identity. Mechanically it was sound, except for cascade which was just... disconnected from what was supposed to be causing it. (Honestly, cascade might have represented the Roil better on Zendikar. The maelstrom was a collection of spent mana, I don't see how you get more spells from it.)
Agreed with Barry on this one. Remember when we had cards in gold from Invasion or even farther back? They used to be the shiznitz. Even the worst cards were made cool by virtue of being golden. But come AR, it was EVERYWHERE.
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As for Alara Reborn, you failed reading what I wrote. I said it was a flop ARTISTICALLY and was pretty strong on flavor. Gold is best used with a light touch. An entire set loses a lot of its visual identity. Mechanically it was sound, except for cascade which was just... disconnected from what was supposed to be causing it. (Honestly, cascade might have represented the Roil better on Zendikar. The maelstrom was a collection of spent mana, I don't see how you get more spells from it.)
Not to march off-topic too far here, but if you're just looking at the borders, there are colored artifacts too, which are a distinctly different color. If you're refering to the actual art, what specific works are you refering to, because compared to Rise of the Eldrazi, for example, Alara Reborn was pretty damn diverse.
Back on track, I would be happier if instead of another column, Matt Cavotta was on the short list for Jarvis's position. I'm very happy with the artists Jeremy Jarvis has brought in, but it would be a perfect fit for Cavotta if and when they hire a new generalissimo for art direction.
Not to march off-topic too far here, but if you're just looking at the borders, there are colored artifacts too, which are a distinctly different color. If you're refering to the actual art, what specific works are you refering to, because compared to Rise of the Eldrazi, for example, Alara Reborn was pretty damn diverse.
A lot of them had the same color background, which blended poorly with the gold frames (or more precisely, blended too well.)
I'm talking about stuff like Kathari Bomber, Talon Trooper, Sangrite Surge and a host of others. Anything depicted in Jund had the requisite orange lava backdrop, and it just couldn't distinguish itself well enough.
I terms of a marketing peice, I think more people are interested in how cards are produced than storyline details. That's not to say wanting more details is a bad thing, just that one's personal expectations may not coincide with the article's intent.
But that's what Making Magic and Latest Developments are for, right? It doesn't leave a lot of room for Doug to work with if what they have him write has serious overlap with two other columns.
Would devoting one column to a niche market be a bad idea though? Since they have this column already, why not use it to appeal to the non-zero number of people who are interested in the storyline of Magic? It wouldn't deny the audience the anecdotes about cards in development-- there are two other columns for that. I can't help but see this redundancy as wasteful.
Not to mention...his articles on said production have been incredibly weak as of late. Telling us that time is a necessary ingredient for chronology (no, YOU THINK?! :mad:) and going through dozens of possible names for metalcraft while cracking weak humor isn't exactly interesting or useful. Even from that standpoint, ludd_gang, his column is still subpar. Also, in the most recent article, he didn't even have a proper Letter of the Week. That's about the only place on Wednesday we ever get proper story or world details...and he showed off a picture of a guy with a Platinum Angel tattoo. ...
Would devoting one column to a niche market be a bad idea though? Since they have this column already, why not use it to appeal to the non-zero number of people who are interested in the storyline of Magic? It wouldn't deny the audience the anecdotes about cards in development-- there are two other columns for that. I can't help but see this redundancy as wasteful.
Indeed. Why they don't throw us more of a bone, even if only a sketch or two from a style guide...the difficultly is nil, and ignoring it is just bewildering.
About any "subpar" mechanics or cards: Context is king.
If I make a templating or grammar error, let me know.
The franchise MtG most resembles is Battlestar Galactica. Why? Its players exist in, at most, a dozen different models at any given point in time, with perhaps up to 3% variation, 5% if you're lucky.
I know, I'm a bit extreme, but when I'm passionate about these things I try to make a strong stance. And as far as Car's infractions go, I collect them. I consider them the same as a summons.
The truth of the matter is that they don't put the same effort into everything that the old creative team did. Yea sure I'm a bit extreme about these things, but everyone else just rolls over and dies....
But, if we really must have a good argument.
Look at the post counts of every regular in the storyline forum. Sure this is their product, but why should fans of one aspect be treated as more important than fans of another aspect. I hate the fact that they treat us like second class citizens, it shows in their product.
They no longer produce maps of planes, (See Invasion Map). The latest thing we got was the guide to Alara. It was awesome. But then nothing, we got nothing.
So once the mending starts, it's all downhill from here. They kill off a bunch of old characters, and degrade the ones that survive. Then they introduce characters who are hardly flushed out.
Instead of a new full storyline, we get flavors of the month, in the form of Neowalkers that appear in sets. Only now, 4 years later, are we starting to see an actual storyline, and that's only because Bolas is behind everything. If you take Bolas out of the equation, we have no connection what so ever between anything.
Now, we have Phyrexians coming back. Cool. They're on Mirrodin, ok that's cool, it was bound to happen. Wait, what do you mean Mirrodin has life. Where did that come from. Karn's not a planeswalker anymore? So he didn't planeswalk away at the end of Planar chaos.
So creative, in their infinite wisdom, (see sarcasm) decides, hey, "We're pretty lazy, why should we justify anything when we can just ignore the people who complain, and do whatever we want."
So they decide to introduce Clockworking. Clockworking, which is basically a retcon tool. (Seriously, check your local hardware store, it fixes any canon problem.) Clockworking just seems like the ultimate cop out to me. It's their fail safe. Thje huge eraser. Hey Jace is dead. Bolas can pull a new one from another time line. Karn corrupted? Let's get a good Karn to fight him.
So Jace massacre's Tezz, and just like that he's Tezz's ***** again?
And was Bolas not powerful enough. He's a big Baddie, absorbed Alara's spare mana, and now he can do something URZA couldn't. Not to mention that other non walker could.
It's bull☺☺☺☺ at it's best. This is why I'm so annoyed. We get no respect.
Because the cards are the actual product and the source of WotC's profit on Magic, while the storyline products are a promotional loss-leader that are only worthwhile (from a profitability standpoint) inasmuch as they drive sales of the real product (the cards.)
I don't think it's accurate at all that the current creative team "doesn't care" or "put the same effort" in, but I do think it's very true that they have a very different focus. For people like myself who considered Tempest a huge creative step down from the brilliant world-building in Mirage block, that's mostly been a positive step, but I understand that not everyone is going to agree.
What you're seeing is basically a combination of the shrinking budget for storyline support materials and the new (well, old) direction that (re)started in Mirrodin, where sets chronicle worldbuilding instead of linear stories.
Of course Mirrodin counts as extended invasion, as well as otaria. But I still have a point.
Okay, really? You're giving Creative WAY more credit then they're due, and blowing minor issues FAR out of proportion. I'll agree with you on a couple points, but nothing in Test of Metal came from Creative. It's available to them, but NONE OF IT CAME FROM CREATIVE.
1) Yeah, I want maps too. I still wish we had gotten one for Zendikar, if only to see where major cities and/or continents were located.
2) I know I'm going to be unpopular for this, but I think the killing of several oldwalkers was actually a good thing (this is, of course, several years after the fact). See, one of the big problems I have with the modern stories is that EVERYONE LIVES IN EVERY STORY. It worked in Agents (though it wasn't adequately followed through in Test) but with a few new characters every year, I feel like we're just going to end up with more characters than we know what to do with, and I think that to make some stories more meaningful people need to die. Also, Agents says that characters (some of them) are fleshed out (Creative can't do that... but it's not Creative's job).
3) Sure, Bolas is the recurring theme (annoying only because stuff like Bolas-Releasing-Eldrazi doesn't make sense)
4) Vanishing = good retcon. Weaponized Glistening Oil inside Karn's heartstone =\= good retcon. Also he can still planeswalk without a spark because he has the Weatherlight's planeshifting engine in his chest.
5) As I said, Clockworking came from Matt Stover--who writes science fiction novels and thus would be more prone to deal with alternate realities than a fantasy writer. Nothing to do with Creative.
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The quality definitely waxes and wanes. I love reading anything Flores has to say, but Frank's column was a much better way to keep up with the metagame on a weekly basis. Aaron is just a much better writer than most of the people in R&D (though Lapille is far better at this column than Devin Low or Randy Buehler was, IMO.)
What I really loved was the weekly short stories they did during Kamigawa's release. If they did that every time an expansion came out, I'd... visit the website for something other than the Arcana?
It's interesting that people prefer Mirage and Ravnica flavor wise. To me Tempest felt more like a video game than a fantasy novel.
Mirage and Ravnica had conflict but it was not "enivornment altering." The whole world wasn't in peril Crisis on Infinite Earths style. Kaervek was off doing stuff and the Guildpact was threatened, but not everyone was involved. So bad thing were going to happen if the wicked plots were successful, but it wasn't Galactus or the Book of Revelations.
Little things like the poetry in Mirage (which was actually long and quite good) and the Tin Street toughs let you know there was a whole world there. These Sherwood Anderson, Studs Terkel bits are what can add great flavor without getting in the way.
Agreed. Mirage and Ravnica proves that not everything needs to be grandiose and with a couple of more additional well done details the experience would be more amazing.
The current sets now are just so bland and uncreative. The formula is getting stale it seems.
Serra Stan - Angel Enthusiast - Garruk and Tyvar thirsty follower - Flavor and Art Enthusiast
You forgot the bit where everything blows up and the world comes crashing down around them. Regardless of whether the good guys win or not, the world is trashed anyways. It's all just picking up the pieces from there.
Is that about it?
As I can tell you from experience, it's hard to stay original, but Wizards has access to so much flavor, certainly they can come up with something better?
Zendikar was much the same way, with Rise and Worldwake being dull in comparison to the introduction of the locale. The lack of good Savor articles during that time really hurt too. We'd already seen the location, so it's like Doug had nothing more to say about it from a flavor perspective, and of course the book wasn't great. It wasn't BAD, but... it was exceptionally mediocre, as opposed to Test of Metal which has highs and lows so extreme that it hurts the book.
Ravnica is the last set that didn't rely on the apocalypse formula that I can think of, but even then, everything came apart into a Kaiju battle, which was really sort of a waste. Cory was at least good enough to play it off, even though the thing was remarkably silly.
I...really don't know what you're talking about. Worldwake and RotE were flavorfully dull? AR's cards all looked the same? Huh???
Worldwake did a very good job of heightening tension and giving an impression that the world itself is upset (more so than the BOOK), not to mention tons of tension as to what would come. Rise of the Eldrazi was a bit puzzling in parts of its flavor text, but the cards' flavor itself certainly stood out on its own...barring the lack of Allies.
Alara Reborn...huh? There was plenty of variety, especially when you consider the different ways the Shards' attributes combined. And...the gold part really didn't make it all blend together...given the way they have the colors of two-colored cards blend into the border, there's even more to stand out. You seriously need the differently colored borders of regular sets to distinguish flavor? I really hope you never go colorblind.
About any "subpar" mechanics or cards: Context is king.
If I make a templating or grammar error, let me know.
The franchise MtG most resembles is Battlestar Galactica. Why? Its players exist in, at most, a dozen different models at any given point in time, with perhaps up to 3% variation, 5% if you're lucky.
yeah, I found Rise to a be a very very mechanical set. The defender subtheme was explained, but it felt very unoriginal and just sort of... there. It wasn't terribly creative and considering it was supposed to represent Zendikarans fighting back, it felt badly mismatched. The Eldrazi themselves were so large and face-punchy that they felt very stilted towards the game side of things as opposed to being interesting antagonists. On the one hand, these were issues that fit exactly with how to write a story (with the protagonists being horribly overmatched) but... the Eldrazi have no character. They don't even warrant the characters that inspired them (Galactus and Cthulhu). Leveling in Rise was... well, it was very flavorful, but it seemed out of place. If they had done Leveling from the start and done Allies differently, I think it would have been stronger. With Worldwake, we didn't get anything new. It was more of the same of Zendikar, except with angrier lands, and that's a bit dull. If something like Rebound had come about here it would have been stronger probably.
As for Alara Reborn, you failed reading what I wrote. I said it was a flop ARTISTICALLY and was pretty strong on flavor. Gold is best used with a light touch. An entire set loses a lot of its visual identity. Mechanically it was sound, except for cascade which was just... disconnected from what was supposed to be causing it. (Honestly, cascade might have represented the Roil better on Zendikar. The maelstrom was a collection of spent mana, I don't see how you get more spells from it.)
Think we can set up a petition?
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Agreed with Barry on this one. Remember when we had cards in gold from Invasion or even farther back? They used to be the shiznitz. Even the worst cards were made cool by virtue of being golden. But come AR, it was EVERYWHERE.
Not to march off-topic too far here, but if you're just looking at the borders, there are colored artifacts too, which are a distinctly different color. If you're refering to the actual art, what specific works are you refering to, because compared to Rise of the Eldrazi, for example, Alara Reborn was pretty damn diverse.
Back on track, I would be happier if instead of another column, Matt Cavotta was on the short list for Jarvis's position. I'm very happy with the artists Jeremy Jarvis has brought in, but it would be a perfect fit for Cavotta if and when they hire a new generalissimo for art direction.
A lot of them had the same color background, which blended poorly with the gold frames (or more precisely, blended too well.)
I'm talking about stuff like Kathari Bomber, Talon Trooper, Sangrite Surge and a host of others. Anything depicted in Jund had the requisite orange lava backdrop, and it just couldn't distinguish itself well enough.
But that's what Making Magic and Latest Developments are for, right? It doesn't leave a lot of room for Doug to work with if what they have him write has serious overlap with two other columns.
Indeed. Why they don't throw us more of a bone, even if only a sketch or two from a style guide...the difficultly is nil, and ignoring it is just bewildering.
About any "subpar" mechanics or cards: Context is king.
If I make a templating or grammar error, let me know.
The franchise MtG most resembles is Battlestar Galactica. Why? Its players exist in, at most, a dozen different models at any given point in time, with perhaps up to 3% variation, 5% if you're lucky.
*Yawgmoth didn't create phthisis...