I hope Teferi's in one of them so I can pick up some more. I got mine at $13 (lol!) and I'm not paying $50 for another.
In Gavin’s interview with the Professor, he was torn about saying the answer. He seemed to want to say yes, but obviously can’t. He also mentioned how the Chandra/Hazoret challenger deck was the ‘IT’ deck when they announced them. I don’t think he wanted to say yes that Teferi is one of the decks and over hype it and make it automatically the ‘IT’ deck. He probably wants the other decks to get a fair chance.
The other challenger deck got a fair chance since we didn’t know Chandra was in one ahead of time. If people did, nobody would have bothered to give the other decks a glance.
Lol u srs? It's clear he was about to say no.
I disagree. Why go through the effort of looking like you're excited to say something if what you're going to say is disappointing?
Excited? He was clearly nervous. Why? Because obviosuly the Prof and his fans wanted to hear that Teferi will be in the deck, and was stuck without anything to say that would not be disappointing. If he was really excited and if Teferi was going to be in a challenger deck, he would've immediately said something to the effect of "just wait and see", and not spend 30 seconds in awkward silence. He basically wanted to avoid a Wyatt Cheng.
Dunno about how applicable Wyatt Cheng thing is, but otherwise I fully agree with you.
Guys really hoping for Teferi are reading what they want in Gavin's expressions. I think Gavin was simply put on the spot and all sorts of PR disaster scenarios ran through his head with that question. Now I think I have a more neutral take. I don't care much about Challenger decks since I only buy Arena stuff now. In fact, once you take a step back from paper Magic enfranchisement like I have, you may see how silly some of the more extreme people read into things.
Then again, so far no one has said Gavin's expressions confirmed that we are returning to Kamigawa.
I just don't see how this doesn't blow up in a negative way the second they slip and print something competitive. Very disappointed.
My LGS sells boxes for $110 USD and dominaria can be had for sub $90 online. I get throwing the brick and motor guys a bone, but there has to be better ways of doing it.
Like what? People are so price sensitive that they expect something tangible to cover that $20 difference or else they wouldn't buy at the LGS. What promo would get you to spend that extra $20?
I predict we'll meet up with Weatherlight II early on since they'll need a means of conveyance. Plus when going up against a evil organization, having some backup would be nice.
I thought Jace planeswalked onto Weatherlight already, given he aimed for something traveling extremely fast and he's standing in the slime left by Slimefoot, the Stowaway when he boarded that vehicle and sees Gideon and Jaya.
You know, Magic players love to complain how expensive the _____ Masters boosters have become. I think it'll be hilarious if Wizards deals with this issue by printing Pauper Masters at $3 per pack. Ash Barrens is the face of the mythic in that set!
Love the direction you are taking with new frames. The scroll texture is something I'm been searching for to use on some cardtype-based frames I'm making. Can you share where you got the the jagged scroll image & the texture?
also, because of whats included as reprints in this, i feel its not aimed squarely at the board game market because they'll have no idea what those cards really are or what they do, or even what they're worth in most cases. this is a product that tries to merge two markets, but is really aimed at magic players because of the cards they chose to reprint, and that it incorporates the physical cards at all.
The price point of ~$50 is around what most board games are. It's something most board game buyers are used to. I don't think Wizards pulled this number out of nowhere. I mean, Wizards could have priced Explorers anywhere from the Commanders Anthologies level (over $100 for 4 commander-type decks) down to Welcome Decks level (free promo decks). The chosen product price point then makes me think the Board Game market is the target. All that's left of the pricing decision (to prevent Magic players from buying out Explorers for the singles) is then to fill the decks with key cards (any single worth $5 or more) that roughly equal the product MSRP.
I think what Magic players don't understand about Explorers is that they are looking at it primarily through the values of the individual cards (since they have marketable value outside of Explorers). Magic players are interested only if the sum of the value of the individual components (i.e., cards) is greater than what they can buy the whole game for. That view doesn't work with board games where components mostly don't have value individually or outside the game. Just look at the top selling Dominion boxed game.
I am convinced that WotC/Hasbro are completely delusional at this point if they think they can sell a half-assed board game at $65 just because it has a cool saproling token and a lightning helix. Bet you the tile pieces are crap too(like the warped cards).
Not all Magic products are meant for all Magic players. I think this game isn't meant for the Magic market as much as it is for the Board Games market. Most board games are priced $50, upwards if nice components are included. I don't know about the quality of the map hexes here, but valuewise they aren't zero. With discount Explorers is priced about right with the value of the included cards on top of the map components.
I like your frame a lot. The only thing I'd really do different is to somehow abbreviate like symbols. Like UUUU would become U4, as an example. I tried sketching out my frame design, and so far I'm not very happy.
That sounds like OspreyDawn's way of handling mana cost. It is good for displaying any standard mana cost (no special cases like phyrexian and hybrid mana) within a constant sized box without much dead space. In other words, the mana cost box will always look similarly full whether the card is a Lightning Bolt or Progenitus. Downside is removal of the "empty space" info. Empty space can communicate just as well. The emptiness of the standard Lightning Bolt mana cost area tells you the spell is easy and cheap while the packed Progenitus mana cost area tells you the spell is hard to cast. So again, this is the type of trade-off you consider to keep in line with the priorities set in the first step (what's important to you).
I suggest that instead of sketching out the frame all at once, you get a piece of transparency. Sketch out areas for card name & type, mana cost, rules text, etc. Cut these shapes out so now you can manipulate their relative placement easily. You may find an arrangement that you didn't see simply by playing around with the pieces. This is a manual way of doing things. I usually manipulate the pieces as layers in my graphics program. Whatever way you do it, I consider this a more of inductive (bottom up) approach to design, letting how each piece of the jigsaw fit together one at a time shape the arrangement of the whole. The benefit is it lets you tackle creativity one piece at a time instead of requiring you to be able to envision the whole thing from the start.
I've got the card type symbol in the top left corner. Then the name across the top still. Directly under the name, right aligned, is the card sub-type, if any. Along the left is mana cost, abbreviated like I mentioned above. And P/T is vertical, left aligned, similar to yours.
Once you get identified your priorities and arranged the card elements accordingly, may want to consider a theme to overlay on the arrangement. For example, the Masterpieces (eye candy) themes added much flavor even though the card elements are arranged mostly similar to the standard frame. The ancient treasure map theme from Ixalan gives a lot of flavor as well. Perhaps you want to try frame themes based on card type like what I like to do. I created a new planeswalker frame along the lines of what I saw in the Expedition frame for land, Inventions frame for artifacts, Theros' nix frame for enchantments. Now I'm stuck the on rendering details for the sorcery and instant frames (my rendering skills are still quite lacking). Noentheless, I think you get the idea.
Also, I'm toying with the idea of making symbols for "core" keyword abilities, such as flying, first strike, reach, trample, etc.
That's a facinating idea. I haven't really seen a frame focused on that. Imagine an Inca-style theme frame (in keeping with the Ixalan set) with those square icon symbols, but done in a stylized way like this.
I can't explain it, so I'll let Wikipedia do it for me:
"Information design is the practice of presenting information in a way that fosters efficient and effective understanding of it. The term has come to be used specifically for graphic design for displaying information effectively, rather than just attractively or for artistic expression."
The idea is, I want to design a custom template/layout/frame that communicates, more efficiently, the information you need to know about a card, and I'm not satisfied with anything I've produced. That's why I also asked what everyone's process is like, beginning with inspiration.
I'm just as lost as I was before I ask what it was.... But based off your second paragraph, the render below is the only thing I can think of that would efficiently display information removing everything except the color frame, border, text, and cost there would be no problems displaying information. Other than that, I don't think I'll be much help... sorry As for me I've always gone the for the more aesthetically pleasing and unique frames/templates. Wish you best of luck with your goal.
As I understand the question, I think it concerns rethinking the relative importance of various info as existing frames define them. For example, the standard frame places high importance on the rules text by defining a set space against a monotone background with a standard color font to make things readable. Some alternative frames flips the assumption of the rule text's importance by dropping it altogether. Compare standard Cryptic Command to full-art Magic Player Rewards version.
So to design an alternate frame, the first thing you want to figure out is the relative importance of various card info. For example, in my frame design, the most important thing I want to communicate is the art. So it gets the most card space and everything else is arranged around it. To give extra emphasis to the art, I reduced the frame eye candy textures to bare minimum of lines around the art. Ease of identification of cards in hand is second. So I rearranged the card name, type, cost and creature stats all on the left side for readability in a fanned hand.
Does this help? I can go further if this is what you're looking for.
Finally had some time to finish the all the original dual lands in the new land frame minus Underground Sea, as I've already done that.
I did 2 versions of each, 1 standard and 1 hybrid. Hope you guys enjoy.
Looks great! Works much better than the Expedition frame for my Pirate commander tribal deck.
However I can't find your standard Underground Sea. I could only find the hybrid Underground Sea here. Can you post a standard one for sake of completeness?
I like to see a foil to Ob Nixilis. The backstory would have this creature exposed to some celestial condition, which triggers the spark. So you could get an angelic planeswalker.
In duels you could get the whole new set at release day just by getting a little more than 100 coins per day starting from the release of the set before.
The boosters are limited so that you get all the cards and no extra useless duplicates.
So... How is that so frustrating?
This in-game econ model is basically a pyramid scheme. The early adopters likely will never need spend any real money once they get the full card set. The grind thereafter is easy enough to let you keep up with the releases. Then Wizards will have to depend on latecomers to spend real money to for them to have any non-frustrating experience against the enfranchised vets. Sooner or later such model always fail.
Look on magicduels subreddit to see the frustration vented.
Heartstone model is way worse.
You can buy all the boosters you want, but if you have poor luck you will never get what you want or need.
The exchange rate of coins to boosters is ridiculous.
The exchange rate of card to dust to card again is even worse.
I find THAT much more frustrating.
Blizzards certain doesn't. I suspect if Wizards made that kind of money it wouldn't either. In the end money will drive how Wizards designs Arena. Given how Duels' econ model turned out, I believe Wizards' interests is not necessarily parallel with old Duels players interests. Doubt it at risk of your own disappointment.
It was a gimmick for one set. And worse than that was the creation of a new Basic Land type...Wastes. That would be fine with me if it was a legitimate 6th color that would receive the same level of support as the original 5 colors. But it's not. It was just a pointless gimmick that they'll forget even exists.
We are returning to Dominaria next year. After the upheavals in the past, it would be interesting if Wastes is then included to reflect the devastation. It would be interesting if some kind of "colorless-matters" (without Eldrazis) theme then in woven in.
Dunno about how applicable Wyatt Cheng thing is, but otherwise I fully agree with you.
Guys really hoping for Teferi are reading what they want in Gavin's expressions. I think Gavin was simply put on the spot and all sorts of PR disaster scenarios ran through his head with that question. Now I think I have a more neutral take. I don't care much about Challenger decks since I only buy Arena stuff now. In fact, once you take a step back from paper Magic enfranchisement like I have, you may see how silly some of the more extreme people read into things.
Then again, so far no one has said Gavin's expressions confirmed that we are returning to Kamigawa.
Like what? People are so price sensitive that they expect something tangible to cover that $20 difference or else they wouldn't buy at the LGS. What promo would get you to spend that extra $20?
I thought Jace planeswalked onto Weatherlight already, given he aimed for something traveling extremely fast and he's standing in the slime left by Slimefoot, the Stowaway when he boarded that vehicle and sees Gideon and Jaya.
Love the direction you are taking with new frames. The scroll texture is something I'm been searching for to use on some cardtype-based frames I'm making. Can you share where you got the the jagged scroll image & the texture?
The price point of ~$50 is around what most board games are. It's something most board game buyers are used to. I don't think Wizards pulled this number out of nowhere. I mean, Wizards could have priced Explorers anywhere from the Commanders Anthologies level (over $100 for 4 commander-type decks) down to Welcome Decks level (free promo decks). The chosen product price point then makes me think the Board Game market is the target. All that's left of the pricing decision (to prevent Magic players from buying out Explorers for the singles) is then to fill the decks with key cards (any single worth $5 or more) that roughly equal the product MSRP.
I think what Magic players don't understand about Explorers is that they are looking at it primarily through the values of the individual cards (since they have marketable value outside of Explorers). Magic players are interested only if the sum of the value of the individual components (i.e., cards) is greater than what they can buy the whole game for. That view doesn't work with board games where components mostly don't have value individually or outside the game. Just look at the top selling Dominion boxed game.
Not all Magic products are meant for all Magic players. I think this game isn't meant for the Magic market as much as it is for the Board Games market. Most board games are priced $50, upwards if nice components are included. I don't know about the quality of the map hexes here, but valuewise they aren't zero. With discount Explorers is priced about right with the value of the included cards on top of the map components.
That sounds like OspreyDawn's way of handling mana cost. It is good for displaying any standard mana cost (no special cases like phyrexian and hybrid mana) within a constant sized box without much dead space. In other words, the mana cost box will always look similarly full whether the card is a Lightning Bolt or Progenitus. Downside is removal of the "empty space" info. Empty space can communicate just as well. The emptiness of the standard Lightning Bolt mana cost area tells you the spell is easy and cheap while the packed Progenitus mana cost area tells you the spell is hard to cast. So again, this is the type of trade-off you consider to keep in line with the priorities set in the first step (what's important to you).
I suggest that instead of sketching out the frame all at once, you get a piece of transparency. Sketch out areas for card name & type, mana cost, rules text, etc. Cut these shapes out so now you can manipulate their relative placement easily. You may find an arrangement that you didn't see simply by playing around with the pieces. This is a manual way of doing things. I usually manipulate the pieces as layers in my graphics program. Whatever way you do it, I consider this a more of inductive (bottom up) approach to design, letting how each piece of the jigsaw fit together one at a time shape the arrangement of the whole. The benefit is it lets you tackle creativity one piece at a time instead of requiring you to be able to envision the whole thing from the start.
Once you get identified your priorities and arranged the card elements accordingly, may want to consider a theme to overlay on the arrangement. For example, the Masterpieces (eye candy) themes added much flavor even though the card elements are arranged mostly similar to the standard frame. The ancient treasure map theme from Ixalan gives a lot of flavor as well. Perhaps you want to try frame themes based on card type like what I like to do. I created a new planeswalker frame along the lines of what I saw in the Expedition frame for land, Inventions frame for artifacts, Theros' nix frame for enchantments. Now I'm stuck the on rendering details for the sorcery and instant frames (my rendering skills are still quite lacking). Noentheless, I think you get the idea.
That's a facinating idea. I haven't really seen a frame focused on that. Imagine an Inca-style theme frame (in keeping with the Ixalan set) with those square icon symbols, but done in a stylized way like this.
It is definitely worth exploring.
Add another compliment Commander Clash Pack and you have enough for 2HD Duel Deck.
So 4+ power means something like the Ferocious kyeword?
As I understand the question, I think it concerns rethinking the relative importance of various info as existing frames define them. For example, the standard frame places high importance on the rules text by defining a set space against a monotone background with a standard color font to make things readable. Some alternative frames flips the assumption of the rule text's importance by dropping it altogether. Compare standard Cryptic Command to full-art Magic Player Rewards version.
So to design an alternate frame, the first thing you want to figure out is the relative importance of various card info. For example, in my frame design, the most important thing I want to communicate is the art. So it gets the most card space and everything else is arranged around it. To give extra emphasis to the art, I reduced the frame eye candy textures to bare minimum of lines around the art. Ease of identification of cards in hand is second. So I rearranged the card name, type, cost and creature stats all on the left side for readability in a fanned hand.
Does this help? I can go further if this is what you're looking for.
Looks great! Works much better than the Expedition frame for my Pirate commander tribal deck.
However I can't find your standard Underground Sea. I could only find the hybrid Underground Sea here. Can you post a standard one for sake of completeness?
This in-game econ model is basically a pyramid scheme. The early adopters likely will never need spend any real money once they get the full card set. The grind thereafter is easy enough to let you keep up with the releases. Then Wizards will have to depend on latecomers to spend real money to for them to have any non-frustrating experience against the enfranchised vets. Sooner or later such model always fail.
Look on magicduels subreddit to see the frustration vented.
Blizzards certain doesn't. I suspect if Wizards made that kind of money it wouldn't either. In the end money will drive how Wizards designs Arena. Given how Duels' econ model turned out, I believe Wizards' interests is not necessarily parallel with old Duels players interests. Doubt it at risk of your own disappointment.
We are returning to Dominaria next year. After the upheavals in the past, it would be interesting if Wastes is then included to reflect the devastation. It would be interesting if some kind of "colorless-matters" (without Eldrazis) theme then in woven in.