Ok, so here is Conflux, the second set of Alara block. We know like what? Like 21 card from 145 cards and, comparing to the older sets, 145 is not that much really. From this 21:
So 15 from 21 is like "been there, seen that". While it doesn't make set awful - got nothing against Time Spiral Timeshifted, for example - it just makes it somehow... Not exciting? Somewhere there.
Also, it screams "IPA block vol. 2" too much, which is not a good way to go, I think.
Given that we knew the name of all cards, keep in mind that the reprints will be the first cards to be 'spoiled'. I suppose that the other cards we will be getting will be mostly 'new'.
But now with Oblivion Ring and Naturalize already reprinted..... i could understand if they wanted to free up some space in 11th to reprint some 10th in the blocks like Unsummon. If it fits the flavor, then I say go for it, so maybe Unsummon goes with the theme of Conflux. Shards reverting back to one plane (Domain), creatures warping and being... unsummoned.
There's near-infinite design space and they're repackaging all the nostalgia (Invasion & Shocklands). But I'm a sucker so I'll keep buying it, seriously.
Reprint has been the name of the game since Ice Age, so this is hardly a surprise. I'd imagine that you guys were not playing back in 1995, but if you really think about it, only a minority of every expansion since then is devoted to "new" cards. All the rest are just rehashes under different names/types/minor tweaks or the same card with the block's mechanic tacked on. The only difference from what you've seen so far in the Conflux spoilers is that the reprints are glaringly obvious. Consider this to be you losing your MTG innocence.
Well, and there are at least two more disappointments to be found outside of the 15 you mention. Let us not forget:
1. Exotic Orchard: the Felwar land!
2. Fusion Elemental: a vanilla creature!
I know it's early, but this is easily the least excited I've been about a new set since I started back up again in Ravnica. I actually thought every set up until SoA was more or less knocked out of the park. Shards seemed to be doing stuff just for the sake of doing it, but at least it was splashy, exciting stuff.
This set, though, feels like a casualty of all the WotC business decisions that have been made recently. Reprints and reprinted themes are easier to design, and a LOT easier to develop -- which is a very good thing when you're, oh, I don't know, firing your lead developer and several others at the end of August and dealing with the introduction of a new rarity.
Like I said, I'm hoping our disappointment is all just a function of small sample size. But I think there's fair reason to worry that it isn't.
It is no surprise really why WotC reprints these cards. They always have why would they stop now? Plus, if you think about it, if they dont reprint cards almost every new set, would they have enough originality in the world to make new sets and keep the game growing?
Once you decide that the theme of a set is one already done ( multicolor with domain focus ), you need some tools that cannot be replaced.
For example, in all sets you need burn, bounce, removal.
In this set you need cheap guys protected from stuff. You can design them again, but the most elegant and simple version has been already done. Also, keep in mind that many of today's ( even semiprofessional ) players didn't play during Invasion block, nor did I. If they were great, why don't give me and the others the possibility to play with them?
Gaea's Might can't be the same because there's no Gaea on Alara.
The scepters are colored artifacts - how many of those have you seen lately?
Path of Exile is really innovative and a perfect fit in this set.
And Fusion Elemental has never been done before. It takes lots of skill to design a balanced vanilla creature. Blade of the Sixth Pride was played during Time Spiral block. Wooly Thoctar is a nightmare to see on turn 2. And Watchwolf was 4 of in any Ravnica zoo ( and one of the best cards, design-wise, ever - check the FCC ). Please, don't make me talk about Isamaru, Hound of Konda.
I agree that so far there seems to be way too many reprints. However I'd only really include the direct and function reprints(for a total of 10). I don't mind 3-5 reprints but 10(and maybe more) seems too many for a small set.
The Scepter trio are interesting homages to classic artifacts remade into cheaper colored artifacts, homages happen alot in magic(there are many many homages to Ball Lightning for example, Wild Nacatl is a homage to Kird Ape and everyone loves it). These ones are just more obvious than many others but since they are all nice for limited and the black and white ones might be constructed useful, i'm quite liking them.
Path to Exile and Sedraxis Alchemist, along with Exotic Orchard are also homages to older cards but they are done much more interestingly and creatively than the scepters and Path to Exile is a brilliant card that will likely be the money uncommon for the set.
As has already been mentioned a couple of times, magic has an immense history now(14 or so years and over 10,000 cards) and as such alot of the cards required for needed slots in a set have already been done and sometimes it's just best to copy the old than needlessly complicate a simple elegant design.
Well, it's not really as bad as it looks. Afterall, half of the reprints are a cycle. They're also obvious and powerful staples of a multicolor block.
Mana cylix, I'm certainly happier about than the obelisks. At least it's not obviously underpowered. We also really needed to reprint some mana fixing since Alara limited needs plenty of it. There's only limited design space for artifact mana fixing, though. Afterall, it really needs to cost 2-3 for accel type and 1 for color fixing only.
Unsummon is a strong staple that's always nice to have in limited. Besides, a good chunk of Magic's reprints are core set style cards.
Maniacal Rage is really the only one that I'm somewhat upset about. I like reprints, but this on is pretty weak compared to the others. If you're going to reprint something, at least make it something worthy. There's no limit to the design space for bad cards.
Reprints are good and useful, I usually prefer good reprint to bad new cards (a lot of eventide, a good part of alara). BUT they need to reprint good cards, not crap! Right now with the new sword, might, cylix they are doing a good job, but there should be some better card to reprint that would help the meta, firsts of all mortify or abolish, against BB.
i couldn't agree more, i mean r&d allready appoligised for bb and good anwers are definently neicary and if they are going to repring anything i think that would be good
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Ok, so here is Conflux, the second set of Alara block. We know like what? Like 21 card from 145 cards and, comparing to the older sets, 145 is not that much really. From this 21:
So 15 from 21 is like "been there, seen that". While it doesn't make set awful - got nothing against Time Spiral Timeshifted, for example - it just makes it somehow... Not exciting? Somewhere there.
Also, it screams "IPA block vol. 2" too much, which is not a good way to go, I think.
People are missing a couple facts. One, the Core set size has gotten smaller; and two, there's a balancing of complexity between Core sets and Advanced sets.
Wizards is taking some staple cards that might be missing in the Core set due to card choices more advanced than normal and constricted space and putting them in Conflux, and probably future sets.
Also, just because there's the same card with a different name doesn't mean it doesn't change things. Maybe being able to have more of the said card in a deck helps create or boosts an archetype. Like burn for example. Although they have slight differences, the good ones do the same thing; burn creatures and players efficiently. You wouldn't have sligh or burn decks without having so many cards with the same effect.
They could have spiced up the dual color pro guys though. Make them Shard colors and give them protection from the other two colors. Fills the bear slot I suppose...
EDIT:
Yeah, and for those who don't know: Magic is just a few good ideas reprinted with interesting twists.
Reprints are an amazing and fascinating part of this game. You get little bits of past sets, mixed together in new ways, along with all the new cards. It still creates an entirely new environment. Take the new Man-o-War, is there any way that this creature would be nearly as exciting if it didn't remind people of Man-o-War? Same with Path to Exile, most newer players are excited because it looks like good removal, older players are happy to see a Swords variant that might even rival the original. As far as the direct reprints of less exciting cards like Naturalize and Cancel, that's all part of making the game last. You may have your support network of guys with 5K boxes of commons laying around for you to plunder, but somewhere two guys are wandering into a Wal-Mart and buying Intro packs because they heard some friends say this game was fun and they should try it. 5 cards here, 5 cards next set (etc.), and as a bonus we get an 11th edition that is slimmed way down and serves the purpose it always had for experienced players anyhow; just adding interesting and popular reprints to the standard environment, not as a teaching tool.
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Ok, so here is Conflux, the second set of Alara block. We know like what? Like 21 card from 145 cards and, comparing to the older sets, 145 is not that much really. From this 21:
You can't count the last five. That is pulling at straws, trying to find things to complain about. Especially the Poe and Alchemist comment. Did people whine about Condemn? No, they loved it. The Alchemist is sometimes better than MoW, but balanced just the same.
The other 10 are commons, and some will probably see play in constructed, Alara's Might is certainly going to be. We could be getting Dreg Reavers and Tortoise Formations, instead we get some cards that are actually playable. Oh the humanity!
Well, and there are at least two more disappointments to be found outside of the 15 you mention. Let us not forget:
1. Exotic Orchard: the Felwar land!
2. Fusion Elemental: a vanilla creature!
I know it's early, but this is easily the least excited I've been about a new set since I started back up again in Ravnica. I actually thought every set up until SoA was more or less knocked out of the park. Shards seemed to be doing stuff just for the sake of doing it, but at least it was splashy, exciting stuff.
This set, though, feels like a casualty of all the WotC business decisions that have been made recently. Reprints and reprinted themes are easier to design, and a LOT easier to develop -- which is a very good thing when you're, oh, I don't know, firing your lead developer and several others at the end of August and dealing with the introduction of a new rarity.
Like I said, I'm hoping our disappointment is all just a function of small sample size. But I think there's fair reason to worry that it isn't.
Noone complained about Pool being reprinted...hrmm..
The Orchard is not 'unoriginal'. This is a 15 year old game, and they printed a simple land that had never been printed before. Original. It is the mirror of Pool, yes, but it is also an ability never tried on a land.
The vanilla dude is an uncommon. For limited and Timmy. I like what it brings to limited. Did people complain about the cycle of 1/1 sac searchers in ALA? They took up more packspace than anything people are complaining about thusfar.
The biggest problem I see with Full and Functional Reprints is that its another way to decrease the overall value of a pack. Shards of Alara with its Reprints, Filler commons, crappy Rares and the extra land never had such a low individual value. You're not getting out of the regular pack what you pay for. On other sets even if your pack or draft wasn't all that good you would be sure to at least get some money out of the money uncommons or rares. And in a smaller set that makes all the difference since you are most likely to not proffit.
Don't get me wrong, I am not against the decrease of the set size, its actually a good thing, since it lowers the price of the average rare... which is a good thing for constructed players, but having to get yet another version of Oblivion Ring, Naturalize or even Unsummon is probably not worth it.
So... in sum what i'm trying to say is:
Smaller Sets + (no value) Reprints + Weak Cards = Lower Average Prices (Good for Constructed, bad for Limited) and Smaller playable Pools (Bad for either cases).
Reprints are for Core Sets. Especially now where the sets are overall reducing in size. I do not want to see reprints in non core sets. If i really want more reprints outside of a Core I'd buy more Duel Decks.
The ratio of reprints in expansion sets have increased greatly compared to previous sets. I hope this will not become the trend for all future sets. This goes also for the intro packs using non expansion cards.
I don't mind card merging/balancing. Weak cards can get added effects and strong cards can get negative drawbacks. Those are interesting. Rampant Growth + Tribal Flame is a interesting twist, timespiral limited tribal flame was playable, will be even more since u can fetch your third/fourth color. Path to Exile is a sign of improvement.
The small the sets are the more i want to see quality over quantity. I consider reprints quantity.
If the functional reprints brought nothing new to the game environment, I'd be 100% in favor of complaining. However, a significant portion of the spoiled homages and functional reprints is bound to be important in Limited and Block Constructed, and even Constructed role-players.
2/2 white creatures for two mana with protection from black/red, in colors that allow for a turn-three aura is definitely nothing to sneeze at in Type 2. The UW one gets Lifelink against mono-red; the GW one gets Flying and Indestructible against Bitterblossom decks. The only scenario where neither of these combinations sees play is if Bitterblossom decks start to splash white for Path to Exile.
Homages or functional reprints aside, I'm really excited about the amount of power that is being injected on white, especially since none has to do with weenies so far. Scepter of Dominance is heavily underestimated right now, and I don't think I need to start with how Path to Exile will shake up constructed metagames left and right.
What's most exciting of all is that most of the spoiled cards so far are commons and uncommons. If this trend continues throughout the rest of the set, Conflux is bound to be the best set since Time Spiral, at least for me...
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People hiss and grunt at Mark Rosewater for the state of the game. Few realize, though, that it is Aaron Forsythe who is directly responsible of the current state of affairs due to negligence as head of Magic R&D and a completely skewed view of the game as a whole.
So next time you want to make an avvy with Rosewater pissing on something, take a deep breath and consider pasting Forsythe's face there instead...
I don't want to be polemic, but I think this thread shows, within it's right to express one's opinion, a little fault of the before-time spoiler system: the ones who actually made this decisions don't get to explain them.
In the meanwhile, people get 1-2 to feel angry without reason.
Why do things always go wrong in books? Because someone didn't explain. If he had explained, would things have gone better? Sure!
We all know someone is going to make an entire article about why they reprinted the outlanders - give them time. Maybe - who knows? - they didn't do it at random. If that's your job, and your family depends on it, I wouldn't screw it so easily.
I'm not saying what they did is right, I'm saying we still don't know why. Then, we can complain.
I don't want to be polemic, but I think this thread shows, within it's right to express one's opinion, a little fault of the before-time spoiler system: the ones who actually made this decisions don't get to explain them.
In the meanwhile, people get 1-2 to feel angry without reason.
Why do things always go wrong in books? Because someone didn't explain. If he had explained, would things have gone better? Sure!
We all know someone is going to make an entire article about why they reprinted the outlanders - give them time. Maybe - who knows? - they didn't do it at random. If that's your job, and your family depends on it, I wouldn't screw it so easily.
I'm not saying what they did is right, I'm saying we still don't know why. Then, we can complain.
People wouldn't listen if we did explain anyway...they complain no matter what.
Why were they reprinted? Here is why:
The shards are coming together, which means the shards are now aware of other colors of mana, and on the defensive/offensive. That means that they are making sure they can be protected against opposing shards, and that is reflected in the protection bears, as there was no protection in ALA.
The protection bears fill a wonderful spot in limited, as a two drop that is relevant even late game. Protection is fun like that.
They even might see play in standard, almost surely in block.
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There are in fact multiple very good reasons why they are likely making a point of reprinting a number of cards within shards/conflux.
First off, which no one seems to think a lot about is limited, drafting, sealed, and such. A lot of these cards help to balance these out quite well within the context of the block.
Reprints in some form or another, are just as important to the playability of the block as the usually much larger base of new cards or cards used in new ways that make up these blocks.
Another thing is, thus far we have had a whole 21 cards from the set, with only a few true full reprints. The rest that have been spoiled are varying kinds of functional or otherwise reprints, which if you look at EVERY block since Ice Age, are filled with them in some form or another.
That said there are still 100+ more cards that are still going to be spoiled, this is only a very small portion of the set that we have seen thus far, trying to determine that the set sucks somehow based on only 20 or so cards we have seen thus far is just rather silly and pointless.
There is also the small detail of the fact that 11th edition, which comes out in about 8 months or so to replace 10th, is going to have around 250 cards, whereas 10th had 383 cards, thats 133 cards less than the previous one. There is only so much cutting you can do out of a core set and still keep the basics and keep the core set special and interesting in and of itself.
Now then, back to the limited stuff, one thing Ive been hearing all over the place, even amid all the complaining about shards and how seemingly underpowered and such it is, is how utterly awesome limited (drafts, sealed, etc) is with the set. Seems to me like they obviously did something right with all those reprints from shards. So perhaps having these reprints isnt such a bad thing.
Some people will say this is just wizards being lazy. Personally I dont tend to judge people when I have so little information about the set, the process, and the future of the block/game to work off of as to why they may have chosen to make the choices they did.
In the end, I feel having a few specific reprints is fine, and neccessary in the current environment of magic. Also as Ive seen in the past, having functional reprints is a part of the game, has been, always will be. Now then, if the set ends up having a ton more of these sorts of cards than usual, then sure, maybe then there will be room to complain a bit, but only 20 or so cards in, is definitely not the time yet to be complaining as much as some are.
Have a little faith that wizards does in fact know what they are doing (most of the time) and that they want the game to continue to grow and prosper as much as all the rest of us, because otherwise they wont sell product and their business will fail (or at least the huge part that makes up MTG will).
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4 are direct reprints(Unsummon Wordly Counsel Maniacal Rage Mana Cylix).
6 are functional reprints(outlander cycle, neo-gaea's might).
3 are the same old cards with slightly different mana cost(scepter-cycle). Ok, maybe not slightly, but still.
2 are attempts to fix good old cards(path of exile versus swords to plowshares, sedraxis alchemist versus man-o'-war)
So 15 from 21 is like "been there, seen that". While it doesn't make set awful - got nothing against Time Spiral Timeshifted, for example - it just makes it somehow... Not exciting? Somewhere there.
Also, it screams "IPA block vol. 2" too much, which is not a good way to go, I think.
Yes, there could be no more reprints/remakes for the entire set but we still have like 10 too many as is.
Lazy Lazy Lazy.
I didn't mind Fertile Ground in Lorwyn because it fit for the flavor.
Reflecting Pool in Shadowmoor also works.
But now with Oblivion Ring and Naturalize already reprinted..... i could understand if they wanted to free up some space in 11th to reprint some 10th in the blocks like Unsummon. If it fits the flavor, then I say go for it, so maybe Unsummon goes with the theme of Conflux. Shards reverting back to one plane (Domain), creatures warping and being... unsummoned.
Magic is starting to seem like all the same crap with a different flavor. Momentary Blink & Turn To Mist are functionally the same. Thoughtseize and Distress are worded the exact same except for the bit about the 2 life. Rain of Tears & Stone Rain...
There's near-infinite design space and they're repackaging all the nostalgia (Invasion & Shocklands). But I'm a sucker so I'll keep buying it, seriously.
1. Exotic Orchard: the Felwar land!
2. Fusion Elemental: a vanilla creature!
I know it's early, but this is easily the least excited I've been about a new set since I started back up again in Ravnica. I actually thought every set up until SoA was more or less knocked out of the park. Shards seemed to be doing stuff just for the sake of doing it, but at least it was splashy, exciting stuff.
This set, though, feels like a casualty of all the WotC business decisions that have been made recently. Reprints and reprinted themes are easier to design, and a LOT easier to develop -- which is a very good thing when you're, oh, I don't know, firing your lead developer and several others at the end of August and dealing with the introduction of a new rarity.
Like I said, I'm hoping our disappointment is all just a function of small sample size. But I think there's fair reason to worry that it isn't.
For example, in all sets you need burn, bounce, removal.
In this set you need cheap guys protected from stuff. You can design them again, but the most elegant and simple version has been already done. Also, keep in mind that many of today's ( even semiprofessional ) players didn't play during Invasion block, nor did I. If they were great, why don't give me and the others the possibility to play with them?
Gaea's Might can't be the same because there's no Gaea on Alara.
The scepters are colored artifacts - how many of those have you seen lately?
Path of Exile is really innovative and a perfect fit in this set.
And Fusion Elemental has never been done before. It takes lots of skill to design a balanced vanilla creature. Blade of the Sixth Pride was played during Time Spiral block. Wooly Thoctar is a nightmare to see on turn 2. And Watchwolf was 4 of in any Ravnica zoo ( and one of the best cards, design-wise, ever - check the FCC ). Please, don't make me talk about Isamaru, Hound of Konda.
The Scepter trio are interesting homages to classic artifacts remade into cheaper colored artifacts, homages happen alot in magic(there are many many homages to Ball Lightning for example, Wild Nacatl is a homage to Kird Ape and everyone loves it). These ones are just more obvious than many others but since they are all nice for limited and the black and white ones might be constructed useful, i'm quite liking them.
Path to Exile and Sedraxis Alchemist, along with Exotic Orchard are also homages to older cards but they are done much more interestingly and creatively than the scepters and Path to Exile is a brilliant card that will likely be the money uncommon for the set.
As has already been mentioned a couple of times, magic has an immense history now(14 or so years and over 10,000 cards) and as such alot of the cards required for needed slots in a set have already been done and sometimes it's just best to copy the old than needlessly complicate a simple elegant design.
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Mana cylix, I'm certainly happier about than the obelisks. At least it's not obviously underpowered. We also really needed to reprint some mana fixing since Alara limited needs plenty of it. There's only limited design space for artifact mana fixing, though. Afterall, it really needs to cost 2-3 for accel type and 1 for color fixing only.
Unsummon is a strong staple that's always nice to have in limited. Besides, a good chunk of Magic's reprints are core set style cards.
Maniacal Rage is really the only one that I'm somewhat upset about. I like reprints, but this on is pretty weak compared to the others. If you're going to reprint something, at least make it something worthy. There's no limit to the design space for bad cards.
i couldn't agree more, i mean r&d allready appoligised for bb and good anwers are definently neicary and if they are going to repring anything i think that would be good
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Wizards is taking some staple cards that might be missing in the Core set due to card choices more advanced than normal and constricted space and putting them in Conflux, and probably future sets.
Also, just because there's the same card with a different name doesn't mean it doesn't change things. Maybe being able to have more of the said card in a deck helps create or boosts an archetype. Like burn for example. Although they have slight differences, the good ones do the same thing; burn creatures and players efficiently. You wouldn't have sligh or burn decks without having so many cards with the same effect.
They could have spiced up the dual color pro guys though. Make them Shard colors and give them protection from the other two colors. Fills the bear slot I suppose...
EDIT:
Yeah, and for those who don't know: Magic is just a few good ideas reprinted with interesting twists.
This thread is to discuss(complain) about reprints, and NOT the multi-coloredness of the current block.
I agree. 10% of the set is reprints? Yikes.
ET
You can't count the last five. That is pulling at straws, trying to find things to complain about. Especially the Poe and Alchemist comment. Did people whine about Condemn? No, they loved it. The Alchemist is sometimes better than MoW, but balanced just the same.
The other 10 are commons, and some will probably see play in constructed, Alara's Might is certainly going to be. We could be getting Dreg Reavers and Tortoise Formations, instead we get some cards that are actually playable. Oh the humanity!
Noone complained about Pool being reprinted...hrmm..
The Orchard is not 'unoriginal'. This is a 15 year old game, and they printed a simple land that had never been printed before. Original. It is the mirror of Pool, yes, but it is also an ability never tried on a land.
The vanilla dude is an uncommon. For limited and Timmy. I like what it brings to limited. Did people complain about the cycle of 1/1 sac searchers in ALA? They took up more packspace than anything people are complaining about thusfar.
Nope, never.
We have more commons than usual spoiled.
The complainers are never satisfied with the commons.
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Don't get me wrong, I am not against the decrease of the set size, its actually a good thing, since it lowers the price of the average rare... which is a good thing for constructed players, but having to get yet another version of Oblivion Ring, Naturalize or even Unsummon is probably not worth it.
So... in sum what i'm trying to say is:
Smaller Sets + (no value) Reprints + Weak Cards = Lower Average Prices (Good for Constructed, bad for Limited) and Smaller playable Pools (Bad for either cases).
Edit:
Complaining is the true essence of evolution
The ratio of reprints in expansion sets have increased greatly compared to previous sets. I hope this will not become the trend for all future sets. This goes also for the intro packs using non expansion cards.
I don't mind card merging/balancing. Weak cards can get added effects and strong cards can get negative drawbacks. Those are interesting. Rampant Growth + Tribal Flame is a interesting twist, timespiral limited tribal flame was playable, will be even more since u can fetch your third/fourth color. Path to Exile is a sign of improvement.
The small the sets are the more i want to see quality over quantity. I consider reprints quantity.
2/2 white creatures for two mana with protection from black/red, in colors that allow for a turn-three aura is definitely nothing to sneeze at in Type 2. The UW one gets Lifelink against mono-red; the GW one gets Flying and Indestructible against Bitterblossom decks. The only scenario where neither of these combinations sees play is if Bitterblossom decks start to splash white for Path to Exile.
Homages or functional reprints aside, I'm really excited about the amount of power that is being injected on white, especially since none has to do with weenies so far. Scepter of Dominance is heavily underestimated right now, and I don't think I need to start with how Path to Exile will shake up constructed metagames left and right.
What's most exciting of all is that most of the spoiled cards so far are commons and uncommons. If this trend continues throughout the rest of the set, Conflux is bound to be the best set since Time Spiral, at least for me...
So next time you want to make an avvy with Rosewater pissing on something, take a deep breath and consider pasting Forsythe's face there instead...
In the meanwhile, people get 1-2 to feel angry without reason.
Why do things always go wrong in books? Because someone didn't explain. If he had explained, would things have gone better? Sure!
We all know someone is going to make an entire article about why they reprinted the outlanders - give them time. Maybe - who knows? - they didn't do it at random. If that's your job, and your family depends on it, I wouldn't screw it so easily.
I'm not saying what they did is right, I'm saying we still don't know why. Then, we can complain.
People wouldn't listen if we did explain anyway...they complain no matter what.
Why were they reprinted? Here is why:
The shards are coming together, which means the shards are now aware of other colors of mana, and on the defensive/offensive. That means that they are making sure they can be protected against opposing shards, and that is reflected in the protection bears, as there was no protection in ALA.
The protection bears fill a wonderful spot in limited, as a two drop that is relevant even late game. Protection is fun like that.
They even might see play in standard, almost surely in block.
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First off, which no one seems to think a lot about is limited, drafting, sealed, and such. A lot of these cards help to balance these out quite well within the context of the block.
Reprints in some form or another, are just as important to the playability of the block as the usually much larger base of new cards or cards used in new ways that make up these blocks.
Another thing is, thus far we have had a whole 21 cards from the set, with only a few true full reprints. The rest that have been spoiled are varying kinds of functional or otherwise reprints, which if you look at EVERY block since Ice Age, are filled with them in some form or another.
That said there are still 100+ more cards that are still going to be spoiled, this is only a very small portion of the set that we have seen thus far, trying to determine that the set sucks somehow based on only 20 or so cards we have seen thus far is just rather silly and pointless.
There is also the small detail of the fact that 11th edition, which comes out in about 8 months or so to replace 10th, is going to have around 250 cards, whereas 10th had 383 cards, thats 133 cards less than the previous one. There is only so much cutting you can do out of a core set and still keep the basics and keep the core set special and interesting in and of itself.
Now then, back to the limited stuff, one thing Ive been hearing all over the place, even amid all the complaining about shards and how seemingly underpowered and such it is, is how utterly awesome limited (drafts, sealed, etc) is with the set. Seems to me like they obviously did something right with all those reprints from shards. So perhaps having these reprints isnt such a bad thing.
Some people will say this is just wizards being lazy. Personally I dont tend to judge people when I have so little information about the set, the process, and the future of the block/game to work off of as to why they may have chosen to make the choices they did.
In the end, I feel having a few specific reprints is fine, and neccessary in the current environment of magic. Also as Ive seen in the past, having functional reprints is a part of the game, has been, always will be. Now then, if the set ends up having a ton more of these sorts of cards than usual, then sure, maybe then there will be room to complain a bit, but only 20 or so cards in, is definitely not the time yet to be complaining as much as some are.
Have a little faith that wizards does in fact know what they are doing (most of the time) and that they want the game to continue to grow and prosper as much as all the rest of us, because otherwise they wont sell product and their business will fail (or at least the huge part that makes up MTG will).