This thread is for the discussion of my latest article, The Game that Wouldn't Die!. We would be grateful if you would let us know what you think, but please keep your comments on topic.
Well done! Interesting and informative for newer players who weren't around during the earlier turmoil. Enjoyable read, but be careful about shifting your tone too hard, the beginning seemed far more critical then the ending, and it didn't serve you well.
I found it funny that every thing you mentioned had a final result of Positive with a couple Neutral. So personally i dont see any of the changes they are making this year to be a problem. Mythic Rares, you cant really tell me that we already dont have those:
Other changes:
Basic lands in packs. it isnt a good change, but it isnt a huge one either. Core sets do this, i dont see a problem with it in others. I dont want to buy Tournament packs and so forth to get some of the basic land pictures that i want. I dont support this change but i dont condem it either.
Finally, everything that Wizards does gets some people to go "WTF?! F-You MaRo!".
"Members: 35,152" This site has that many people on it. What are the odds that all of them will be active? not much, only about 6000 are. But the second Wizards announces a change, guess what they do. get outraged, and of course have to post about it. Go look at posts for every set, for every change. There are a ton of people who hate it on these forums. But 90% of all the changes people have been pissed about have turn out to be a good one for the game.
Good writing, but i have to disagree with parts. But that is human nature, you can please everyone all the time.
"Sufficiently advanced experience is indistinguishable from clairvoyance." -Carsten
"Ah those eyes, those horrible creepy eyes!" -Chaosof99
DCI Level 3 Judge & TO "I do not consider myself a hero. I know only what the Vec teach:
justice must always be served and corruption must always be opposed."
Go read! I am one of the three authors of Cranial Insertion.
But seriously, if you can't remember "Woapalanne", just call me Eli.
I have lived through many of the above changes and hell yeah they were funny in retrospect. I'm quite sure the mythic rare would turn out either neutral or positive.
I found it funny that every thing you mentioned had a final result of Positive with a couple Neutral. So personally i dont see any of the changes they are making this year to be a problem. Mythic Rares, you cant really tell me that we already dont have those:
I doubt it. While Garruk would surely be in the mythic slot, the rest are more likely to appear as normal rares. We have seen a handful amount of Alara and WotC has yet to break its words (Only Planeswalkers, 4WUUB creatures and legends in the mythic slots so far)
@ShinyMan: I was actually referring to money value more than what actual rarity they would be. Because Garruk is the only one that seems to fit the "Epic Feel" that the mythics they put out in Shards really have.
Good article - I've come and gone from Magic over the years and missed a few of the moans. It's also good to know I'm not the only one who had difficulty getting used to the 6th Ed. rules changes - I first left Magic just after Urza's Saga and have come back only occasionally since, and it seems every time I have to learn again that the rules ain't what they used to be!
I mostly agree with the points you make, save that I'm one of those who doesn't like the storyline change or foil cards. As for the new changes, I hadn't heard of most of them, and having looked at the press release now, my thoughts are:
Set sizes: Good move - I've always been a collector, and somewhat discouraged by the difficulty in collecting sets as a whole. Making the big sets more manageable is welcome.
Mythic rares: Okay, don't like. Didn't like the rarity of Planar Chaos timeshifts either (never did get Damnation). Planeswalkers are rare enough at normal rarities, when thet come 4-5 per large set. It will probably become one of those changes that gets accepted for lack of an alternative but is rarely much liked (as foils have tended to be), and potentially a change with a negative impact. Outweighed by the overall positive changes with Alara, however.
Boosters: Didn't they do this anyway, or was that just with Core Sets? It will be annoying to have it in expansions. I wouldn't mind it if it were either an additional card or in place of the tip/token (although that would make tokens harder to come by, it would still be less annoying than opening a tip).
Intro pack: With no price change, this is a very good idea - shame one of the rares will always be a foil, though.
Books: Like the idea of both Planeswalker novels and replacing the novel trio with a single novel, especially if the Fat Pack cost remains the same. Doesn't it mean that the block novel will usually be in Fat Pack 2 of the year, though? That seems a little odd.
If i remember right, it wasn't a spell tree, rather a spell chain. Its basically the stack but once the chain "goes off", you can't add anymore until the chain is empty.
6th ed rules:
I target a 2/2 creature with shock. you cast Whispers of the muse that resolves, you draw a card. You mise a Giant growth, target your 2/2 with it, it lives.
Pre 6th ed:
I target a 2/2 creature with shock. you cast Whispers of the muse that resolves, you draw a card. Since the chain is still on going, the shock resolves, killing your 2/2 creature.
Even though I was playing since Mirage (with breaks in between), I can honestly say the 6th ed rules really made Magic more smooth and logical.
For the new players out there, try finding (or downloading) the game Shandalar.
As you show, the internet blows everything out of porpotion.
But I did quit the game after Apocalypse, mostly because I felt they were moving away from the storyline and "you are a planeswalker" feeling that the old game had. Llowryn has not helped matters with their planeswalker nerf (one of the more intersting parts of the games story reduced to cards very reminiscent of inferior card games of the past).
Things like the word summon on creature cards and the more cohesive flaour text made you feel more involved in the game back in Urza block.
I liked the 6th ed. rules, but I still felt that the game was being dumbed down.
I mean, if it says Summon Bear on your card, how dim do you have be to not understand that you are summoning a bear, this bear is a creature. And if it has flying, that rule is explained in the acctual rulebook of the game....which you are suposed to read (a skill that seem to be going out of fashion fast).
Also, reminder text removes my favourite part of the card, the flavour text.
PS: Why does it seem like Wizards feel the need to change their game to fit in with what other card games are doing. Magic is the dominant game in the industry, as well as the oldest, in fact it created the industry.
Why aren't the other games striving to do things more like Magic, not the other way around...
Good stuff as usual, but I think you're much too kind in this article...
The Chronicles and Reminder Text issues are a bit more subtle than you imply here... In both cases the ideas were solutions to problems which did need solving, but in both cases they were bad solutions.
My six year old daughter plays Pokemon. Do you know how often she needs reminder text for stuff like Poison, Confusion and Sleep? Never. Magic cards can't hope to be self-explanatory. If you want to make things easier for beginners, give them a rulebook with all the basic ideas in it and the keywords for the set it applies to.
Neo-Walkers - no, this was just a bad call. Sure, I love the cards and the characters and all that, but there was no good reason for calling these characters Planeswalkers and thereby trampling over all the old story stuff. Magic has planeswalkers, in the form of the players themselves.
Re: June 2008 - Again the outcry was broadly correct in several respects. OK, so it's unavoidable that a commercial entity like Hasbro will sometimes want to turn up the profit dial, but as customers we don't have to like it. The bottom line is: WotC now give us less for the same price. I reserve the right to make scowly faces when they do.
Still, there was one issue where I think WotC are due some extra credit: MtGO.
Nobody wanted this
Not so! None of the existing playerbase wanted it, perhaps. But speaking as a player who got back into Magic entirely because of MtGO: yes, I wanted it. It has one killer feature: you can still play it if you don't have access to opponents for paper Magic.
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My six year old daughter plays Pokemon. Do you know how often she needs reminder text for stuff like Poison, Confusion and Sleep? Never. Magic cards can't hope to be self-explanatory. If you want to make things easier for beginners, give them a rulebook with all the basic ideas in it and the keywords for the set it applies to.
Pokemon, if I recall, had visual indicators of whether something was poison, confused or asleep, and really not many other status effects after that. They also have self-explanatory effects, a creature that is confused may sometimes hurt itself, a creature that is asleep can't do anything... I can't remember what poison does.
You have flying and trample, and even with the reminder text and rules readily avaliable, at least 3-4 people a week will ask 'How does trample work' in the Magic Rule's forum.
Magic gives Rulebooks. All the FAQs for each set are there and released on the day, and a handly little leaflet is given out in most of the sealed tournament packs given on the day of the new sets release. Yet every time there are countless people who get everything wrong, even WITH the reminder text.
So maybe 'a rulebook' isn't the solution, but rather people learning how to read. Maybe we won't need reminder text /then/.
Neo-Walkers - no, this was just a bad call. Sure, I love the cards and the characters and all that, but there was no good reason for calling these characters Planeswalkers and thereby trampling over all the old story stuff. Magic has planeswalkers, in the form of the players themselves.
I love allies. Fellow NPC planeswalkers give that feel. I love a good storyline, but I never got that feel that /I/ am a planeswalker from the old storyline, perhaps because I'm a new player(More accurately, its an old story, I don't even /see/ the cards they printed back anymore, what does it have to do with me?). Urza and various others are immortalized by several cards... Teferi, Karn are creatures... playing them or with their cards don't really make me feel as if I'm a powerful mage exploring the multiverse.
I can't relate to Teferi. He's too powerful. He's a /creature/ card. I can relate to Garruk, because I can cast mana acceleration, or 3/3 beasts, or cast overrun. I can relate to Jace because I can cast draw spells. I can relate to Ajani because I cast life-gain or summon Serra Avatar. I now /know/ I'm a planeswalker, because I can do what all these cards can do themselves.
Bad Idea? Maybe. But this is my perspective.
The whole point of the article is that they know what they are doing (As evident by their Track record, you might wish to disbelieve it, but I suppose it only proves that /someone is going to moan/ :P)and whatever protest we mount up, its ultimately derived from less time thinking about the future of the game then they have put into consideration, considering to us, its only a hobby, and to them , its their /livelihood'
I'm still disappointed you can't read the storyline in the cards anymore. A lot of the cards look as if they could've been in any set. Nowadays I only look at what the card does, while I liked looking at all the cards just to piece together a story. But then again, most people don't care about flavor.
Magic almost DID die. Back when Fallen Empires and Homelands were released, these sets were so bad and made the players so sour, that a lot of them just quit. Hell, i remember when Fallen Empires packs were selling for 25 cents and people would STILL not buy them.
I've been playing since 95 and call me crazy but i still like the look of the old cards better. But then again, that's probably nostalgy. I agree with the poster who mentioned that brown artifacts are better than the "whiteish" ones. I really dont like those. Wish they were still brown.
About the basic lands...you know what wizards should of done? Put basic lands in their packs that were like the unglued/unhinged ones. That sure as hell would make me excited about pulling a basic land. I wonder if they thought about it at all...i mean that would of been an extra boost to want to buy the packs, for awesome textless basics!
@bateleur: It's nice to see that there's other people that remember Garfield's original concept - the player was the Planeswalker, summoning creatures and using spells he/she had learned in their travels.
On to the article -
My one big gripe with this article is that it makes the same mistake many others do when talking about a market where some of the items are worth money - confusing "collectors" with "investors." Releasing Chronicles did not lessen the collectible aspect of Magic at all. As a matter of fact, it helped the people that wanted to collect all the cards. Now the investment side, however, was hurt by it to an extent. You know what, though? Who cares? WotC shouldn't. This is a game. If someone wants to get into buying things that might be worth money someday, they should be looking somewhere other than a CCG for a place to invest.
I was around for the creation of Type 2 (and show my age by still calling it that instead of Standard), and I have to say that it was definitely needed. Today's player is so used to being able to go into the store and buy a pack of the latest set. Back in the pre-Fallen Empires days, you didn't do that. Our local store could only get in one box of The Dark each week, and they limited you to a pack. People would still line up for it. The store actually took your name down so that you couldn't sneak in and buy a second pack. Legends? Good god... it was on the shelf for 3 days, if that. The next set wasn't even out yet, and we were paying $15 per pack / $40 for 3 at conventions and thinking we were getting a great deal. The cards were THAT hard to come by, and needed to be removed from regular play as soon as possible.
I stopped playing during the Tempest block, after my box of money cards was stolen. Losing the 3 big blues and a playset of dual lands, along with about $1500 worth of other cards can sort of dampen your spirits. So I missed a lot of these changes, including 6th edition.
I have to say, I hate the 6th edition changes the most. I hate that Banding is gone, because it's easy to understand. I hate that trample / protection no longer works the way it "should." I hate that in the name of simplifying the game, they have made it a lot more complicated in some areas. Of course this is the same reaction that many had when the changes happened, as they had to re-learn a lot of the game. I took 10 years off, came back with Future Sight, and found a lot had changed.
Magic Online - although I was done with the physical game, I didn't mind beta-testing MtGO. My thought then is the same opinion I have now - I'm not paying full retail for packs, and for WotC to say they *have* to charge it is ridiculous. Personally, I feel that every MtG card starting with (whatever set is convenient enough for them to implement this) should have a scratch-off bar code where you can put the card into your online collection. Stores still make money selling packs, people can trade cards without having to be online, etc. I know, someone's going to go into the whole "but now cards that aren't scratched will be worth more than my card that I scratched" routine - well, refer back to what I said up top: WotC shouldn't care one bit about the investment potential of your cards. They're in it to make a game, not an investment for your future.
Which brings me to the current round of gripes... and I'm definitely in the haters club:
Mythic rares: While WotC shouldn't care about how much your cards are worth, they should care about everyone having decent access to all of the cards. Mythic rares stop that. Is anyone really going to say that none of these Planeswalkers will become a staple of a deck in the next 2 years? The secondary abilities look pretty solid, and I think the odds are that we'll see some top-level decks running 3 copies of a planeswalker in them. Playability and scarcity both factor into a card's value. Imagine if Kitchen Finks were rare instead of uncommon, they'd be in the $8-$10 range. So throw your BS of "Mythic rares are only as rare as a time shifted card or a 10th edition rare" at me all you like... the fact of the matter is that it's a new level of rarity and their values will be jacked up because of it. If a mythic becomes a staple part of a deck, then it'll be jacked up even more. Just as with the mistake that is Tarmogoyf, I don't believe that any player should be required to shell out $40+ or trade away a large number of his/her cards for ONE card in the standard environment.
Basic lands in booster packs - ANOTHER bad idea. Come on, what's the real reason behind this decision? It can't be "to help new players." The one thing new players always have is a surplus of basic lands. If for some reason they're not in an area where they can get a lot, then they can buy a pre-con or a tournament pack and get them. Adding basic land just screws over booster draft. Yes, yes, give your smartass answer of "well how often do you play the last card you draft anyway" answer - show your idiocy to the forum. We'll wait. Done? Good. How do you know the basic land replaced a worthless common? Maybe that land in your Alara pack replaced an Oblivion Ring. Or Wild Nactal. Or a Blightning. Or a Branching Bolt. All common Alara cards that could be pretty solid in booster draft.
The pre-con idea doesn't bother me, but I don't buy pre-cons. Players that do buy them aren't too thrilled by the change, but can't seem to really express why.
The removal of the second box and the novel from the fat packs is causing a lot of anger in my store, though. I didn't realize how much collectors loved that second box!
Wow, I didn't realize how long this had become... this is what happens when I start ranting and raving. Seriously, y'all should stop me when I get like this!
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MTGO & 6ed rules were very good changes for the game. You are downplaying how much people hated chronicles though and it's affect on the game. I think if not for chronicles the collectors would still be a big part of the audience, good or bad. Also I cannot agree with the stuff about the new card face. Still hate it, will always hate it. Doesn't convey a magical feel.
What is getting me is all the change at once...it has me worried about what they're going to do next. It just seems like they're always trying to outdo themselves now, and that's not good. The changes so far haven't been too bad, I'm still very bitter over mythic rares but you were exactly right, I have a wait and see attitude about it. But what's the next crazy change that they could make? I know a lot of people said this about the 8th edition card boarders, but if they change to the FS ones, I'm quitting. Period. End of story. I mean, what if they merge artifacts and enchantments, like MaRo was talking about awhile back...or god forbid, they ever introduce Purple? I don't know, we've had A LOT of changes in the last few years, now I want to see a few years where Magic just sticks to its current gameplan, makes sets that are NOT overpowered, and then, in 5-6 years we can have another Rav block or the likes
all of the changes they made in the article i have no problem with, except for the mythic rares.
I mean, how stupid do they think we are? That whole promise for "no-utility cards" at that slot is going to last about 2 seconds, and then staple 4-ofs are going to appear there.
One good change I hope that lasts is that they put the mana-fixing in SoA at uncommon, where it SHOULD HAVE FREAKIN BEEN DURING RAVNICA.
Its just so frustrating to open lots of cool, strong multicolor cards just to have them sit in a binder because you can't afford a $200-$300 mana base to support them.
(Heck, they should just give the basics away, it'll just make new players more eager to buy more cards.)
...this is borderline brilliant. Ship each tournament organizer a box with, say, 12 packs of 100 basic lands in it (20 of each). They can order more like they do DCI cards. Use 'em for Limited; hand 'em out to new players. Give the things away like ... ... ...like a weak analogy. Heck, I'll bet the shipping would be the most expensive part of the program.
Boom. New-player-no-land problem solved. New players get New Cards!, which for new players, even if the new cards are basic lands can be pretty exciting. Rotate which lands you use from set to set. And then you don't need them in boosters; maybe not even tournament packs.
...who does one email good ideas to?
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The earth-creature shows intelligence, turning our box over to expose the soft, fleshy underbelly.
Azerbaijan is strong in the Google-Fu. He is my hero!
I really liked this article, though I'm not sure I agree with everything. I posted some comments below. I didn't mention everything though.
Chronicles - I really liked this set when it came out, even the horrible elder dragons (which I thought were good then). Finally I could get some of the cards I really wanted. I can definitely see how and why the collectors hated it though. I think it was positive for new players, but terribly negative for the Collectors. My Rating: for players, for Collectors.
Type II - At the time this change occurred I wasn't playing sanctioned tourneys, but when I heard about it I thought the idea was dumb. Granted, all the tourneys I was in at the time were casual, most were multiplayer, and no one had a "money deck". Overall though, I think this change is positive for the reasons stated in the article. My Rating:
Foil Cards - I hated the old cardframe foils. Oh look, and bad foil job with that stupid swish; almost looks like the Nike logo on a magic card. In contrast, the new-cardframe foils look really nice. Final rating: for old cardframe foils. new cardframe foils.
Sixth Edition - I wasn't playing when this change happen, but when I found out about it I thought it was amazingly stupid. One of my friends didn't even know what an interrupt was. "What do you think Counterspell is?" I ask. The answer made me say "WTF, that's stupid!" a few times. I like the idea on interrupts, though turning them into instants did sorta downpower them slightly. I REALLY hated the "Creature -- " template, and still to this day. It took me a while before I would even use cards with that one the typeline. My Rating: 60% :thumbsdown:, 40%
Reduction of Storyline - I like flavor text. I don't read the Magic novels. I like story on the cards. My Rating:
Eigth Edition - I've come to accept the new frame, though I'm still not a fan. The funny thing is, I almost like it, but I don't like how the name and typelines look like bubbles...makes it look futuristic to me. I love the new backgrounds and always had. Overall I think wizards almost did it right, but not quite. My Rating: :thumbsdown:, but :thumbsup::thumbsup: for the new foils
Neo-Walkers - I was on the fence about the idea when I heard about it. I didn't think magic needed this as a new cardtype, but I do like how they were implemented. My Rating:
June 2008 - Meh...So much has been said about this, so I'll just give my ratings.
Smaller Card Pool:
Intro packs:
Basic Land in Expansion boosters:
Mythic Rare: :thumbsdown::thumbsdown:
What's interesting is none of these changes made me quit magic, though the 6e changes might have made me if I was around for them. Even with upcoming changes, I won't quit. I will be spending a lot less money on magic though. My LGS sells 500 count boxes with C/U cards in them for $6; I'll probably only buy those for a good while.
I really liked the 8th edition card frames when they first came out because the text on them is larger and is much easier to read. On the original frames, white cards have white text, which is really hard to read, especially on the foils.
I do agree that the artifacts should be brown and not gray. I think they made artifact frames gray because it has a more metallic feel to it. Brown has an old and rusted feel to it, which goes perfectly with the whole artifact vibe.
@ Jester's Tear: The second box is really nice for putting your cards in. I see a lot of players put things like EDH decks in them, because they're 100 cards and don't fit into some of the regular deck boxes. I use the boxes to store basic lands, foils, and tokens. Also, the boxes frequently have slick artwork. Not getting 2 boxes is going to make me sad, indeed.
I was also super-pissed about the whole mythic rare when it was first shown off, but it doesn't really sound so bad the more I think about it. There's only 22 mythics in Shards, I think, which is a really small subset. Basically it means this: There is going to be a lot less mythics than regular rares, but not much less Ajani Vengeants than Sedraxis Spectres, if you catch my drift.
The only major complaint I have about newer sets is the keywords. They need to stop printing so many god-forsaken keywords. I'd wish they would keep it to 2-3 new keywords a year. Time Spiral black had about 60 keywords, many which only appeared on 1 or 2 cards. Shadowmoor is much better, having only conspire, chroma, wither and persist. And chroma doesn't even really need to be there. It makes the rules needlessly complex and harder to introduce new players to the game.
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A card game about Presidents. Stabbing each other. With knives.
Those are absolutely where Mythics would be.
Other changes:
Basic lands in packs. it isnt a good change, but it isnt a huge one either. Core sets do this, i dont see a problem with it in others. I dont want to buy Tournament packs and so forth to get some of the basic land pictures that i want. I dont support this change but i dont condem it either.
Finally, everything that Wizards does gets some people to go "WTF?! F-You MaRo!".
"Members: 35,152" This site has that many people on it. What are the odds that all of them will be active? not much, only about 6000 are. But the second Wizards announces a change, guess what they do. get outraged, and of course have to post about it. Go look at posts for every set, for every change. There are a ton of people who hate it on these forums. But 90% of all the changes people have been pissed about have turn out to be a good one for the game.
Good writing, but i have to disagree with parts. But that is human nature, you can please everyone all the time.
Master of Arms (not the Decoy) was given errata to prevent damage, just like it did when printed under oooold rules.
"Sufficiently advanced experience is indistinguishable from clairvoyance." -Carsten
"Ah those eyes, those horrible creepy eyes!" -Chaosof99
DCI Level 3 Judge & TO
"I do not consider myself a hero. I know only what the Vec teach:
justice must always be served and corruption must always be opposed."
Go read! I am one of the three authors of Cranial Insertion.
But seriously, if you can't remember "Woapalanne", just call me Eli.
I doubt it. While Garruk would surely be in the mythic slot, the rest are more likely to appear as normal rares. We have seen a handful amount of Alara and WotC has yet to break its words (Only Planeswalkers, 4WUUB creatures and legends in the mythic slots so far)
If you understand that some rares could afford to be rarer while other rares should be more common, I doubt you would still say that.
Sorry to have that be confusing.
I mostly agree with the points you make, save that I'm one of those who doesn't like the storyline change or foil cards. As for the new changes, I hadn't heard of most of them, and having looked at the press release now, my thoughts are:
Set sizes: Good move - I've always been a collector, and somewhat discouraged by the difficulty in collecting sets as a whole. Making the big sets more manageable is welcome.
Mythic rares: Okay, don't like. Didn't like the rarity of Planar Chaos timeshifts either (never did get Damnation). Planeswalkers are rare enough at normal rarities, when thet come 4-5 per large set. It will probably become one of those changes that gets accepted for lack of an alternative but is rarely much liked (as foils have tended to be), and potentially a change with a negative impact. Outweighed by the overall positive changes with Alara, however.
Boosters: Didn't they do this anyway, or was that just with Core Sets? It will be annoying to have it in expansions. I wouldn't mind it if it were either an additional card or in place of the tip/token (although that would make tokens harder to come by, it would still be less annoying than opening a tip).
Intro pack: With no price change, this is a very good idea - shame one of the rares will always be a foil, though.
Books: Like the idea of both Planeswalker novels and replacing the novel trio with a single novel, especially if the Fat Pack cost remains the same. Doesn't it mean that the block novel will usually be in Fat Pack 2 of the year, though? That seems a little odd.
Phil
6th ed rules:
I target a 2/2 creature with shock. you cast Whispers of the muse that resolves, you draw a card. You mise a Giant growth, target your 2/2 with it, it lives.
Pre 6th ed:
I target a 2/2 creature with shock. you cast Whispers of the muse that resolves, you draw a card. Since the chain is still on going, the shock resolves, killing your 2/2 creature.
Even though I was playing since Mirage (with breaks in between), I can honestly say the 6th ed rules really made Magic more smooth and logical.
For the new players out there, try finding (or downloading) the game Shandalar.
But I did quit the game after Apocalypse, mostly because I felt they were moving away from the storyline and "you are a planeswalker" feeling that the old game had. Llowryn has not helped matters with their planeswalker nerf (one of the more intersting parts of the games story reduced to cards very reminiscent of inferior card games of the past).
Things like the word summon on creature cards and the more cohesive flaour text made you feel more involved in the game back in Urza block.
I liked the 6th ed. rules, but I still felt that the game was being dumbed down.
I mean, if it says Summon Bear on your card, how dim do you have be to not understand that you are summoning a bear, this bear is a creature. And if it has flying, that rule is explained in the acctual rulebook of the game....which you are suposed to read (a skill that seem to be going out of fashion fast).
Also, reminder text removes my favourite part of the card, the flavour text.
PS: Why does it seem like Wizards feel the need to change their game to fit in with what other card games are doing. Magic is the dominant game in the industry, as well as the oldest, in fact it created the industry.
Why aren't the other games striving to do things more like Magic, not the other way around...
The Chronicles and Reminder Text issues are a bit more subtle than you imply here... In both cases the ideas were solutions to problems which did need solving, but in both cases they were bad solutions.
My six year old daughter plays Pokemon. Do you know how often she needs reminder text for stuff like Poison, Confusion and Sleep? Never. Magic cards can't hope to be self-explanatory. If you want to make things easier for beginners, give them a rulebook with all the basic ideas in it and the keywords for the set it applies to.
Neo-Walkers - no, this was just a bad call. Sure, I love the cards and the characters and all that, but there was no good reason for calling these characters Planeswalkers and thereby trampling over all the old story stuff. Magic has planeswalkers, in the form of the players themselves.
Re: June 2008 - Again the outcry was broadly correct in several respects. OK, so it's unavoidable that a commercial entity like Hasbro will sometimes want to turn up the profit dial, but as customers we don't have to like it. The bottom line is: WotC now give us less for the same price. I reserve the right to make scowly faces when they do.
Still, there was one issue where I think WotC are due some extra credit: MtGO.
Nobody wanted this
Not so! None of the existing playerbase wanted it, perhaps. But speaking as a player who got back into Magic entirely because of MtGO: yes, I wanted it. It has one killer feature: you can still play it if you don't have access to opponents for paper Magic.
(I'm on on this site much anymore. If you want to get in touch it's probably best to email me: dom@heffalumps.org)
Forum Awards: Best Writer 2005, Best Limited Strategist 2005-2012
5CB PotM - June 2005, November 2005, February 2006, April 2008, May 2008, Feb 2009
MTGSalvation Articles: 1-20, plus guest appearance on MTGCast #86!
<Limited Clan>
Pokemon, if I recall, had visual indicators of whether something was poison, confused or asleep, and really not many other status effects after that. They also have self-explanatory effects, a creature that is confused may sometimes hurt itself, a creature that is asleep can't do anything... I can't remember what poison does.
You have flying and trample, and even with the reminder text and rules readily avaliable, at least 3-4 people a week will ask 'How does trample work' in the Magic Rule's forum.
Magic gives Rulebooks. All the FAQs for each set are there and released on the day, and a handly little leaflet is given out in most of the sealed tournament packs given on the day of the new sets release. Yet every time there are countless people who get everything wrong, even WITH the reminder text.
So maybe 'a rulebook' isn't the solution, but rather people learning how to read. Maybe we won't need reminder text /then/.
I love allies. Fellow NPC planeswalkers give that feel. I love a good storyline, but I never got that feel that /I/ am a planeswalker from the old storyline, perhaps because I'm a new player(More accurately, its an old story, I don't even /see/ the cards they printed back anymore, what does it have to do with me?). Urza and various others are immortalized by several cards... Teferi, Karn are creatures... playing them or with their cards don't really make me feel as if I'm a powerful mage exploring the multiverse.
I can't relate to Teferi. He's too powerful. He's a /creature/ card. I can relate to Garruk, because I can cast mana acceleration, or 3/3 beasts, or cast overrun. I can relate to Jace because I can cast draw spells. I can relate to Ajani because I cast life-gain or summon Serra Avatar. I now /know/ I'm a planeswalker, because I can do what all these cards can do themselves.
Bad Idea? Maybe. But this is my perspective.
The whole point of the article is that they know what they are doing (As evident by their Track record, you might wish to disbelieve it, but I suppose it only proves that /someone is going to moan/ :P)and whatever protest we mount up, its ultimately derived from less time thinking about the future of the game then they have put into consideration, considering to us, its only a hobby, and to them , its their /livelihood'
Magic almost DID die. Back when Fallen Empires and Homelands were released, these sets were so bad and made the players so sour, that a lot of them just quit. Hell, i remember when Fallen Empires packs were selling for 25 cents and people would STILL not buy them.
I've been playing since 95 and call me crazy but i still like the look of the old cards better. But then again, that's probably nostalgy. I agree with the poster who mentioned that brown artifacts are better than the "whiteish" ones. I really dont like those. Wish they were still brown.
About the basic lands...you know what wizards should of done? Put basic lands in their packs that were like the unglued/unhinged ones. That sure as hell would make me excited about pulling a basic land. I wonder if they thought about it at all...i mean that would of been an extra boost to want to buy the packs, for awesome textless basics!
I like Turtles
On to the article -
My one big gripe with this article is that it makes the same mistake many others do when talking about a market where some of the items are worth money - confusing "collectors" with "investors." Releasing Chronicles did not lessen the collectible aspect of Magic at all. As a matter of fact, it helped the people that wanted to collect all the cards. Now the investment side, however, was hurt by it to an extent. You know what, though? Who cares? WotC shouldn't. This is a game. If someone wants to get into buying things that might be worth money someday, they should be looking somewhere other than a CCG for a place to invest.
I was around for the creation of Type 2 (and show my age by still calling it that instead of Standard), and I have to say that it was definitely needed. Today's player is so used to being able to go into the store and buy a pack of the latest set. Back in the pre-Fallen Empires days, you didn't do that. Our local store could only get in one box of The Dark each week, and they limited you to a pack. People would still line up for it. The store actually took your name down so that you couldn't sneak in and buy a second pack. Legends? Good god... it was on the shelf for 3 days, if that. The next set wasn't even out yet, and we were paying $15 per pack / $40 for 3 at conventions and thinking we were getting a great deal. The cards were THAT hard to come by, and needed to be removed from regular play as soon as possible.
I stopped playing during the Tempest block, after my box of money cards was stolen. Losing the 3 big blues and a playset of dual lands, along with about $1500 worth of other cards can sort of dampen your spirits. So I missed a lot of these changes, including 6th edition.
I have to say, I hate the 6th edition changes the most. I hate that Banding is gone, because it's easy to understand. I hate that trample / protection no longer works the way it "should." I hate that in the name of simplifying the game, they have made it a lot more complicated in some areas. Of course this is the same reaction that many had when the changes happened, as they had to re-learn a lot of the game. I took 10 years off, came back with Future Sight, and found a lot had changed.
Magic Online - although I was done with the physical game, I didn't mind beta-testing MtGO. My thought then is the same opinion I have now - I'm not paying full retail for packs, and for WotC to say they *have* to charge it is ridiculous. Personally, I feel that every MtG card starting with (whatever set is convenient enough for them to implement this) should have a scratch-off bar code where you can put the card into your online collection. Stores still make money selling packs, people can trade cards without having to be online, etc. I know, someone's going to go into the whole "but now cards that aren't scratched will be worth more than my card that I scratched" routine - well, refer back to what I said up top: WotC shouldn't care one bit about the investment potential of your cards. They're in it to make a game, not an investment for your future.
Which brings me to the current round of gripes... and I'm definitely in the haters club:
Mythic rares: While WotC shouldn't care about how much your cards are worth, they should care about everyone having decent access to all of the cards. Mythic rares stop that. Is anyone really going to say that none of these Planeswalkers will become a staple of a deck in the next 2 years? The secondary abilities look pretty solid, and I think the odds are that we'll see some top-level decks running 3 copies of a planeswalker in them. Playability and scarcity both factor into a card's value. Imagine if Kitchen Finks were rare instead of uncommon, they'd be in the $8-$10 range. So throw your BS of "Mythic rares are only as rare as a time shifted card or a 10th edition rare" at me all you like... the fact of the matter is that it's a new level of rarity and their values will be jacked up because of it. If a mythic becomes a staple part of a deck, then it'll be jacked up even more. Just as with the mistake that is Tarmogoyf, I don't believe that any player should be required to shell out $40+ or trade away a large number of his/her cards for ONE card in the standard environment.
Basic lands in booster packs - ANOTHER bad idea. Come on, what's the real reason behind this decision? It can't be "to help new players." The one thing new players always have is a surplus of basic lands. If for some reason they're not in an area where they can get a lot, then they can buy a pre-con or a tournament pack and get them. Adding basic land just screws over booster draft. Yes, yes, give your smartass answer of "well how often do you play the last card you draft anyway" answer - show your idiocy to the forum. We'll wait. Done? Good. How do you know the basic land replaced a worthless common? Maybe that land in your Alara pack replaced an Oblivion Ring. Or Wild Nactal. Or a Blightning. Or a Branching Bolt. All common Alara cards that could be pretty solid in booster draft.
The pre-con idea doesn't bother me, but I don't buy pre-cons. Players that do buy them aren't too thrilled by the change, but can't seem to really express why.
The removal of the second box and the novel from the fat packs is causing a lot of anger in my store, though. I didn't realize how much collectors loved that second box!
Wow, I didn't realize how long this had become... this is what happens when I start ranting and raving. Seriously, y'all should stop me when I get like this!
Just my $.02
I mean, how stupid do they think we are? That whole promise for "no-utility cards" at that slot is going to last about 2 seconds, and then staple 4-ofs are going to appear there.
One good change I hope that lasts is that they put the mana-fixing in SoA at uncommon, where it SHOULD HAVE FREAKIN BEEN DURING RAVNICA.
Its just so frustrating to open lots of cool, strong multicolor cards just to have them sit in a binder because you can't afford a $200-$300 mana base to support them.
...this is borderline brilliant. Ship each tournament organizer a box with, say, 12 packs of 100 basic lands in it (20 of each). They can order more like they do DCI cards. Use 'em for Limited; hand 'em out to new players. Give the things away like ... ... ...like a weak analogy. Heck, I'll bet the shipping would be the most expensive part of the program.
Boom. New-player-no-land problem solved. New players get New Cards!, which for new players, even if the new cards are basic lands can be pretty exciting. Rotate which lands you use from set to set. And then you don't need them in boosters; maybe not even tournament packs.
...who does one email good ideas to?
Azerbaijan is strong in the Google-Fu. He is my hero!
Chronicles - I really liked this set when it came out, even the horrible elder dragons (which I thought were good then). Finally I could get some of the cards I really wanted. I can definitely see how and why the collectors hated it though. I think it was positive for new players, but terribly negative for the Collectors.
My Rating: for players, for Collectors.
Type II - At the time this change occurred I wasn't playing sanctioned tourneys, but when I heard about it I thought the idea was dumb. Granted, all the tourneys I was in at the time were casual, most were multiplayer, and no one had a "money deck". Overall though, I think this change is positive for the reasons stated in the article.
My Rating:
Foil Cards - I hated the old cardframe foils. Oh look, and bad foil job with that stupid swish; almost looks like the Nike logo on a magic card. In contrast, the new-cardframe foils look really nice.
Final rating: for old cardframe foils. new cardframe foils.
Sixth Edition - I wasn't playing when this change happen, but when I found out about it I thought it was amazingly stupid. One of my friends didn't even know what an interrupt was. "What do you think Counterspell is?" I ask. The answer made me say "WTF, that's stupid!" a few times. I like the idea on interrupts, though turning them into instants did sorta downpower them slightly. I REALLY hated the "Creature -- " template, and still to this day. It took me a while before I would even use cards with that one the typeline.
My Rating: 60% :thumbsdown:, 40%
Reduction of Storyline - I like flavor text. I don't read the Magic novels. I like story on the cards.
My Rating:
Eigth Edition - I've come to accept the new frame, though I'm still not a fan. The funny thing is, I almost like it, but I don't like how the name and typelines look like bubbles...makes it look futuristic to me. I love the new backgrounds and always had. Overall I think wizards almost did it right, but not quite.
My Rating: :thumbsdown:, but :thumbsup::thumbsup: for the new foils
Neo-Walkers - I was on the fence about the idea when I heard about it. I didn't think magic needed this as a new cardtype, but I do like how they were implemented.
My Rating:
June 2008 - Meh...So much has been said about this, so I'll just give my ratings.
Smaller Card Pool:
Intro packs:
Basic Land in Expansion boosters:
Mythic Rare: :thumbsdown::thumbsdown:
What's interesting is none of these changes made me quit magic, though the 6e changes might have made me if I was around for them. Even with upcoming changes, I won't quit. I will be spending a lot less money on magic though. My LGS sells 500 count boxes with C/U cards in them for $6; I'll probably only buy those for a good while.
I do agree that the artifacts should be brown and not gray. I think they made artifact frames gray because it has a more metallic feel to it. Brown has an old and rusted feel to it, which goes perfectly with the whole artifact vibe.
@ Jester's Tear: The second box is really nice for putting your cards in. I see a lot of players put things like EDH decks in them, because they're 100 cards and don't fit into some of the regular deck boxes. I use the boxes to store basic lands, foils, and tokens. Also, the boxes frequently have slick artwork. Not getting 2 boxes is going to make me sad, indeed.
I was also super-pissed about the whole mythic rare when it was first shown off, but it doesn't really sound so bad the more I think about it. There's only 22 mythics in Shards, I think, which is a really small subset. Basically it means this: There is going to be a lot less mythics than regular rares, but not much less Ajani Vengeants than Sedraxis Spectres, if you catch my drift.
The only major complaint I have about newer sets is the keywords. They need to stop printing so many god-forsaken keywords. I'd wish they would keep it to 2-3 new keywords a year. Time Spiral black had about 60 keywords, many which only appeared on 1 or 2 cards. Shadowmoor is much better, having only conspire, chroma, wither and persist. And chroma doesn't even really need to be there. It makes the rules needlessly complex and harder to introduce new players to the game.