It was an experiment. It was alright, and was one of Magic's first attempts at a story. Flavorwise, we are much better having it, then not. Though there were so many characters being relevant at once that by Invasion block, The Planeshift Novel was literally told through 7 different views at once.
And the Fourth wall breaking of Bo Levar in Apocalypse I could say made it worth it for me.
As I said, I only really had those three problems with it, the rest was alright.
And yes, I am still bitter about the completely pointless murder of Taysir.
I too found the Commodore Guff thing a little kooky. My problem is that Yawgmoth should not have become that powerful, at least in that form.
That was my point. They should never have made Yawgmoth that cloud thingie. It didn't make sense, and essentially made him unbeatable except by Deus Ex Author. Turning him into a massive mechanical eldritch abomination would have made much more sense due to the nature of Phyrexia than the cloud thingie, and would have made the ending both more satisfying, and more epic.
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It's about time for the reserved list to die, for the sake of Vintage and Legacy (And Commander).
learn how to play token and play rune-tail, kitsune ascendant and eldrazi monument over Emmara.
Also, Brady leaves and we see the new "slivers". Doug Beyer thinks they are perfectly fine. Not the best start. Actually, one of the worst start i could ever have imagined
The Sliver art had to be finished at least 5 months ago, when M14 was sent to the printers. So, it was actually something Brady approved too.
I was so shocked when I heard this news that I actually read each post in the past nine threads. I am completely flabbergasted that such a talent has left, and that the higher ups don't see how important lore and creative design is. The fact that there are ten pages mostly talking about disappointment in seeing Brady gone is clear testament to that.
Creativity and storytelling are important and this piece of news was ever bit as sad as learning that the novels were being cut from fatpacks and from the mtg line. While we know these don't bring direct profits to magic, they bring magic to the game. When I cast my first Kamahl, Fist of Krosa during a match, there were several, very enthusiastic fans telling me about his background and lore. It kept bringing me back to the game and the magic behind it. I never bought a book, but the story was nonetheless very important to me and my enjoyment in the game. It is indeed very sad that such a thing has happened and I really hope to see some of Brady's work in other future endeavors.
too bad i didn't hear Doug saying: "the new slivers? they were Brady's idea. i don't like them very much" or "new slivers are Brady's idea. Now i'll make you an good explanation for the change"
If he had said that, he would've been fired so fast you wouldn't even be able to respond with an Interrupt.
I might be in the minority on this, but to me Invasion was the last time the story was really interesting since it was so epic in scope. Maybe new blood could bring about new ideas, we'll see.
Personally, I saw Invasion as the last time the Story really got good, and also the beginning of what became a major trend across pretty much all WoTC story content: Awful endings.
Apocalypse was bad, and the plotline for the last set in every block since (except the original Ravnica, whose stories were nearly stand alone) has been just as bad, in my view. I found the same to be true in the D&D books I read. Concluding a plotline is really hard, but when you do it every year you need to be good at it. By the time the third set rolled around, in almost every case I was at the point where I simply didn't care anymore.
This isn't helped by how most sets seems to come down to "THE WORLD IS DOOOOOMMEED" and then ends with the plane exploding/undergoing a great change. MTG tries too hard to be epic and ends up falling flat. I'd love to some day see something more along the lines of older sets, where Politics and smaller conflicts were the focus instead of plane-wide war with clear good and evil.
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Cyme we inne frið, fram the grip of deaþ to lif inne ðis smylte land.
Personally, I saw Invasion as the last time the Story really got good, and also the beginning of what became a major trend across pretty much all WoTC story content: Awful endings.
Apocalypse was bad, and the plotline for the last set in every block since (except the original Ravnica, whose stories were nearly stand alone) has been just as bad, in my view. I found the same to be true in the D&D books I read. Concluding a plotline is really hard, but when you do it every year you need to be good at it. By the time the third set rolled around, in almost every case I was at the point where I simply didn't care anymore.
This isn't helped by how most sets seems to come down to "THE WORLD IS DOOOOOMMEED" and then ends with the plane exploding/undergoing a great change. MTG tries too hard to be epic and ends up falling flat. I'd love to some day see something more along the lines of older sets, where Politics and smaller conflicts were the focus instead of plane-wide war with clear good and evil.
I couldn't agree more. It also doesn't help when every conclusion that they come up with completely destroys what originally made the plane interesting or unique to begin with and tosses it out the window. I think maybe the problem is that wotc is trying really hard to avoid relying on sequels and using up too much design space at any one time, so they purposely destroy things so that they can't just use it as a fallback. Here's a list of what I remember happening since I started playing.
Return to Ravnica: I guess they did learn their lesson from the first time we visited Ravnica and decided that maybe dismantling the guilds on "the city of guilds" was a bad idea.
Innistrad: Transforming creatures? Nope all gone! I suppose they did say that Avacyn's power was will wax and wane over time to keep a balance between good and evil on the plane so that's a convenient reason for them to rely on if we ever go back there.
Scars of Mirrodin: I think this one is self explanatory. Farewell shiny metal plane and your unique inhabitants. Hello yet another grotesque zombie-like assimilating hoard.
Zendikar: I will admit that the story for this block was a fairly logical and there really wasn't anywhere for them to go other than to release the eldrazi. (Nissa... :facepalm:) But this completely falls in line with the "major event fundamentally changes the plane" storyline that's been used over and over again.
Shards of Alara: This story was literally, take 5 distinct worlds and then mix them altogether by the end. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing, but again, completely destroys the original premise of 5 worlds that have developed without the influence of 2 colors.
Lorwyn/Shadowmoor: Here lorwyn was changed so completely that they had 2 blocks put together to beat us over the head with it: "the bright happy plane is gone. No more tribal."
While I understand your points (and I am also a big fan of smaller political conflicts instead of ultimate collapses) some of the plotlines couldn't really made different.
Scars of Mirrodin: We got two big sets on this shiny metal planet. I wouldn't want to go back to it for a THIRD time. It was all too peaceful and boring imo. I hope the next artifact set is something totally different, like steam punk world or even Aladdins Treasure World or sth.
I also like Phyrexians as one of THE standout villains connected with this game.
Lorwyn: Glad its gone, was good for a change but got boring very fast.
Shards: Here I can agree with you, for the storyline part at least. While it would be really hard to develop the mechanics and multicolorness of this block without bringing the shards together, they could have used some characters that somehow interrupted into another zone and their little adventures there. Problem like I already mentioned: What should happen in Conflux and Reborn gameplay/mechanical wise if the shards were intact? Every set would be Shards then...
Avacyn was a mistake, yeah. But people begged for a storyline with a good ending
I don't think the problem was so much that there was a good ending, but rather the way the set was handled, it pretty much ignored the mechanical and flavor cues from the two earlier sets in the block, something that WotC has admitted was a mistake. Avacyn Restored just doesn't feel like it was part of the Innistrad block.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
It's about time for the reserved list to die, for the sake of Vintage and Legacy (And Commander).
I couldn't agree more. It also doesn't help when every conclusion that they come up with completely destroys what originally made the plane interesting or unique to begin with and tosses it out the window. I think maybe the problem is that wotc is trying really hard to avoid relying on sequels and using up too much design space at any one time, so they purposely destroy things so that they can't just use it as a fallback. Here's a list of what I remember happening since I started playing.
Return to Ravnica: I guess they did learn their lesson from the first time we visited Ravnica and decided that maybe dismantling the guilds on "the city of guilds" was a bad idea.
Innistrad: Transforming creatures? Nope all gone! I suppose they did say that Avacyn's power was will wax and wane over time to keep a balance between good and evil on the plane so that's a convenient reason for them to rely on if we ever go back there.
Scars of Mirrodin: I think this one is self explanatory. Farewell shiny metal plane and your unique inhabitants. Hello yet another grotesque zombie-like assimilating hoard.
Zendikar: I will admit that the story for this block was a fairly logical and there really wasn't anywhere for them to go other than to release the eldrazi. (Nissa... :facepalm:) But this completely falls in line with the "major event fundamentally changes the plane" storyline that's been used over and over again.
Shards of Alara: This story was literally, take 5 distinct worlds and then mix them altogether by the end. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing, but again, completely destroys the original premise of 5 worlds that have developed without the influence of 2 colors.
Lorwyn/Shadowmoor: Here lorwyn was changed so completely that they had 2 blocks put together to beat us over the head with it: "the bright happy plane is gone. No more tribal."
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.
Not realy. Or at least I don't understand the post you quoted. You quoted a post that summed up bad things (at least in the opinion of that poster) that happened when Brady still worked at Wizards and you react to that by saying that you want him back.
It's also patently untrue since Brady DID work on Theros. He worked on the next block as well. It won't be another TWO YEARS before we see things Brady didn't work on with creative.
Also, this is all skirting necro-ing by a few days.
I hope Brady found work; he made some pretty ballsy decisions with Time Spiral and the neo walkers. I have to applaud him for it, as it has been a change for the better.
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As I said, I only really had those three problems with it, the rest was alright.
And yes, I am still bitter about the completely pointless murder of Taysir.
That was my point. They should never have made Yawgmoth that cloud thingie. It didn't make sense, and essentially made him unbeatable except by Deus Ex Author. Turning him into a massive mechanical eldritch abomination would have made much more sense due to the nature of Phyrexia than the cloud thingie, and would have made the ending both more satisfying, and more epic.
---
Numquam evolutioni obstes. Solum conculceris.
Pascite draconem, evolvite aut morimini.
The Sliver art had to be finished at least 5 months ago, when M14 was sent to the printers. So, it was actually something Brady approved too.
Creativity and storytelling are important and this piece of news was ever bit as sad as learning that the novels were being cut from fatpacks and from the mtg line. While we know these don't bring direct profits to magic, they bring magic to the game. When I cast my first Kamahl, Fist of Krosa during a match, there were several, very enthusiastic fans telling me about his background and lore. It kept bringing me back to the game and the magic behind it. I never bought a book, but the story was nonetheless very important to me and my enjoyment in the game. It is indeed very sad that such a thing has happened and I really hope to see some of Brady's work in other future endeavors.
If he had said that, he would've been fired so fast you wouldn't even be able to respond with an Interrupt.
Why would he be fired for saying that?
“When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”-Thomas Jefferson
“A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of its user.”-Theodore Roosevelt
“Patriotism means to stand by one's country; it does not mean to stand by one's president.”-Theodore Roosevelt
Because Wizards of the Coast is a business, and their jobs are to sell product. If he said something like that, he'd be damaging the brand.
TerribleBad at Magic since 1998.A Vorthos Guide to Magic Story | Twitter | Tumblr
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I believe the term you're looking for is Split Second
Clearly, he's an old-school player. Interrupts were like old-school split second.
"Stoned players can't attack, block, or play spells or abilities."
Personally, I saw Invasion as the last time the Story really got good, and also the beginning of what became a major trend across pretty much all WoTC story content: Awful endings.
Apocalypse was bad, and the plotline for the last set in every block since (except the original Ravnica, whose stories were nearly stand alone) has been just as bad, in my view. I found the same to be true in the D&D books I read. Concluding a plotline is really hard, but when you do it every year you need to be good at it. By the time the third set rolled around, in almost every case I was at the point where I simply didn't care anymore.
This isn't helped by how most sets seems to come down to "THE WORLD IS DOOOOOMMEED" and then ends with the plane exploding/undergoing a great change. MTG tries too hard to be epic and ends up falling flat. I'd love to some day see something more along the lines of older sets, where Politics and smaller conflicts were the focus instead of plane-wide war with clear good and evil.
I couldn't agree more. It also doesn't help when every conclusion that they come up with completely destroys what originally made the plane interesting or unique to begin with and tosses it out the window. I think maybe the problem is that wotc is trying really hard to avoid relying on sequels and using up too much design space at any one time, so they purposely destroy things so that they can't just use it as a fallback. Here's a list of what I remember happening since I started playing.
Return to Ravnica: I guess they did learn their lesson from the first time we visited Ravnica and decided that maybe dismantling the guilds on "the city of guilds" was a bad idea.
Innistrad: Transforming creatures? Nope all gone! I suppose they did say that Avacyn's power was will wax and wane over time to keep a balance between good and evil on the plane so that's a convenient reason for them to rely on if we ever go back there.
Scars of Mirrodin: I think this one is self explanatory. Farewell shiny metal plane and your unique inhabitants. Hello yet another grotesque zombie-like assimilating hoard.
Zendikar: I will admit that the story for this block was a fairly logical and there really wasn't anywhere for them to go other than to release the eldrazi. (Nissa... :facepalm:) But this completely falls in line with the "major event fundamentally changes the plane" storyline that's been used over and over again.
Shards of Alara: This story was literally, take 5 distinct worlds and then mix them altogether by the end. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing, but again, completely destroys the original premise of 5 worlds that have developed without the influence of 2 colors.
Lorwyn/Shadowmoor: Here lorwyn was changed so completely that they had 2 blocks put together to beat us over the head with it: "the bright happy plane is gone. No more tribal."
I don't think the problem was so much that there was a good ending, but rather the way the set was handled, it pretty much ignored the mechanical and flavor cues from the two earlier sets in the block, something that WotC has admitted was a mistake. Avacyn Restored just doesn't feel like it was part of the Innistrad block.
---
Numquam evolutioni obstes. Solum conculceris.
Pascite draconem, evolvite aut morimini.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND MY ANGER?
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.
It's also patently untrue since Brady DID work on Theros. He worked on the next block as well. It won't be another TWO YEARS before we see things Brady didn't work on with creative.
Also, this is all skirting necro-ing by a few days.