It's not like me to gripe at people for doing their job, but the more I consider his work on the subject, Doug Beyer just...
This most recent article irked me. It irked me badly. I mean really now. We have to involve time to get a sense of chronology? ... Chrono-logy?! Talking about what pieces of art might be portraying, suggesting there could be a story there...and then saying nothing specific of what said story could be, just the usual vague details. Each of three sets in a block can show change over time? Gee, I would never have guessed!
Between these consistently lackluster articles that say nothing new except for maybe a flavor blurb in a letter of the week answer, and the travesty that is AU (no, Beyer, until you admit that was a mistake, I will not let this go), Doug Beyer just consistently seems to do the storytelling aspects of MtG a massive disservice with this part of his job. I'll admit he does a good job with world-building - when he discusses his work on that I have less of an issue - but his column and writing work is unbelievably disappointing, getting more so each time I read it.
What do you all think? Am I overreacting? Is there some purpose for this lack of story in his work that could actually be seen as a good thing? Or do the rest of you see some of what I'm talking about?
And yes, I'm aware that with the nature of a game, the flavor and story of it is to be somewhat interactive, to be in-keeping with the "play" aspect of it, but this is just getting sad. We're all aware of the general details, and I have nothing against reiterating an explanation for newcomers or for revisiting a concept to explore it more, but Beyer just doesn't seem interested. Whoever is making decisions on what should be a fairly straightforward column is doing it a major disservice.
About any "subpar" mechanics or cards: Context is king.
If I make a templating or grammar error, let me know.
The franchise MtG most resembles is Battlestar Galactica. Why? Its players exist in, at most, a dozen different models at any given point in time, with perhaps up to 3% variation, 5% if you're lucky.
Honestly, I miss Matt Cavotta a lot.
Doug is... okay. The problem that stems from both him and Brady is that they don't see Savor the Flavor the same way as we do. We're used to Matt's Taste the Magic, but Savor the Flavor has been sort of relegated to telling about the flavorful aspect of designing the cards.... which leaves so much to be desired. We really don't care as much about the cards as we do the WORLD they are showing us. However, creative sees Savor the Flavor as a means to expand the card game, not the storyline.
It's disappointing, but not completely Doug's fault, and what he writes is good. We just don't want them to talk about what they think they need to.
It's not like me to gripe at people for doing their job, but the more I consider his work on the subject, Doug Beyer just...
This most recent article irked me. It irked me badly. I mean really now. We have to involve time to get a sense of chronology? ... Chrono-logy?! Talking about what pieces of art might be portraying, suggesting there could be a story there...and then saying nothing specific of what said story could be, just the usual vague details. Each of three sets in a block can show change over time? Gee, I would never have guessed!
Between these consistently lackluster articles that say nothing new except for maybe a flavor blurb in a letter of the week answer, and the travesty that is AU (no, Beyer, until you admit that was a mistake, I will not let this go), Doug Beyer just consistently seems to do the storytelling aspects of MtG a massive disservice with this part of his job. I'll admit he does a good job with world-building - when he discusses his work on that I have less of an issue - but his column and writing work is unbelievably disappointing, getting more so each time I read it.
What do you all think? Am I overreacting? Is there some purpose for this lack of story in his work that could actually be seen as a good thing? Or do the rest of you see some of what I'm talking about?
And yes, I'm aware that with the nature of a game, the flavor and story of it is to be somewhat interactive, to be in-keeping with the "play" aspect of it, but this is just getting sad. We're all aware of the general details, and I have nothing against reiterating an explanation for newcomers or for revisiting a concept to explore it more, but Beyer just doesn't seem interested. Whoever is making decisions on what should be a fairly straightforward column is doing it a major disservice.
Bless you. Maybe someone will take this seriously when it doesn't come from me. Watch out though, Big Brother Caranthir usually gets touchy at any Brady criticism.
Skaterbruski, I have explained myself (even explicitly to YOU) about that topic several (and enough) times. Now you are just trolling. Infraction issued.
-Car.
Isn't that whole Mark Rosewater article series about the creation of the cards? Because that's how I remember it. As such, there's two of such columns. Redundancy!
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Not really. Mark's column covers a wide range of different aspects of Magic design, from the actual process of designing X card or Y set, to design principles in general. Savor the Flavor is about the creative process for designing the setting for the block, when it does talk about the Creative department in connection with card design (which is doesn't always). Design and Creative are two different sections of Wizards with different people working in them, though they are of course closely connected.
Making Magic talks about Design, Savor the Flavor talks about Creative, and Latest Developments talks about Development. Those are the three biggest teams that, together, design Magic. Each does something very different, though there are often overlaps. Each column is different as well, between the different styles of the authors and how each gives a different window into a different area of that whole design process.
One has to remember that Doug is also a designer and worked on Zendikar. So his perspective is going to be different than Matt's who was an artist.
I think the problem is that Matt was very enthusiastic about writing, while i feel like Doug was has to write a colum because "they need a flavor column". Ideally i'd like to see Savor the flavor take on a rotating authorship.
This is in no way part of my secret desire to see more articles by Brady...
I would love to see more stuff by Jenna Helland as well.
i do like that they occasionally hand off the column to guest spots, even if it is the same handful. The variety of styles and perspectives can be refreshing; if there's one thing that's always true about Making Magic, for example, it's that MaRo always gets things mixed up and different on a pretty regular basis. And he's been writing that column for... how many years now? Like him or not, he's dedicated.
I think the problem is that Matt was very enthusiastic about writing, while i feel like Doug was has to write a colum because "they need a flavor column".
This is actually a consistent problem they have filling the WotC columns. Rosewater's column is very popular because of exactly this enthusiasm -- Mark was a writer before he was a designer and it shows in his column. On the other hand, half of the Latest Developments authors (Buehler and Low) weren't ever writers and clearly didn't really care as much about the column specifically.
Beyer's in the same boat. He's writing the column because someone needs to and he's probably the best choice, but he isn't as enthusiastic as Matt was and it does show through.
Personally, I only care about the world-building aspects anyway so I'm quite happy to see them focus on those elements in the Creative column to the exclusion of all else, but yeah, there's definitely other members of the team that I'd like to hear from more often: Jeremy Jarvis, Jenna Helland, Cavotta now that he works at Wizards again...
How is that Trolling? I'm not allowed to state that I agree, and to warn a fellow forum member that the moderator is a Brady fanboy. Don't get touchy Car Car. You've given me two infractions in as many days because I will repeatedly stand by my beliefs that the current creative sucks.
Guess what. They do.
Savor the Flavor was much better before when we got actual information about the worlds they're selling.
I hope that comment doesn't deserve an infraction.
This is actually a consistent problem they have filling the WotC columns. Rosewater's column is very popular because of exactly this enthusiasm -- Mark was a writer before he was a designer and it shows in his column. On the other hand, half of the Latest Developments authors (Buehler and Low) weren't ever writers and clearly didn't really care as much about the column specifically.
Beyer's in the same boat. He's writing the column because someone needs to and he's probably the best choice, but he isn't as enthusiastic as Matt was and it does show through.
Personally, I only care about the world-building aspects anyway so I'm quite happy to see them focus on those elements in the Creative column to the exclusion of all else, but yeah, there's definitely other members of the team that I'd like to hear from more often: Jeremy Jarvis, Jenna Helland, Cavotta now that he works at Wizards again...
So is it presentation? I used to be a big story fanboy and now it just doesn't interest me. I haven't really enjoyed a world since Ravnica. Of course I like worlds that don't change too much. I know the guildpact got challenged and all but I didn't feel like Ravnica was about to get destroyed because of it.
Zendikar was a cool world they could have stayed with for a while, It was almost like Tessaire w/ a Kick, but they were so "hit it and quit it" that the whole story thing has really lost a lot of appeal to me.
So do you think it's just presentation that has lost my interest (I do enjoy the webcomics), or is the story lackluster for the amount of time they put into the worlds?
Today's article talked about not telling the story through the cards anymore so that they interact better togeather, but I think the sets that told the story the best were the most memorable flavor wise.
Fallen Empires, Tempest, Homelands et were awesome at that. I honestly don't think I would have ever made Joven's Ferrets into a centerpiece of a deck if they were "Joven's Acolyte - Human Rogue" instead.
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Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
How is that Trolling? I'm not allowed to state that I agree, and to warn a fellow forum member that the moderator is a Brady fanboy. Don't get touchy Car Car. You've given me two infractions in as many days because I will repeatedly stand by my beliefs that the current creative sucks.
.
No matter how much you want to believe the bolded sentence, we both know it is not true.
Yes, personal attack on a forum member classifies as flaming/trolling. Please read the rules.
Finally, if you have a problem, my helpdesk is the right place to discuss it, not here.
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100% Vorthos Spike and Storyline Expert
Former Fact Prospector of the Greek Alliance.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
How is that Trolling? I'm not allowed to state that I agree, and to warn a fellow forum member that the moderator is a Brady fanboy. Don't get touchy Car Car. You've given me two infractions in as many days because I will repeatedly stand by my beliefs that the current creative sucks.
Guess what. They do.
Savor the Flavor was much better before when we got actual information about the worlds they're selling.
I hope that comment doesn't deserve an infraction.
You're a tricky one, Skaterbruski, embedding a modest statement into an otherwise inflammatory post. I'm sure when Caranthir gives you an infraction for that one too you'll decry the injustice of not being allowed to state the one part of your post that was rational. Sorry if you think I'm trolling now, but I hate it when people try to push their extremist stance by hiding little grains of truth in an argument.
Savor the Flavor was much better before when we got actual information about the worlds they're selling.
That's more like it! And you're right, they were better. I've been hoping for something more to flesh out Mirrodin since Scars was spoiled, but so far I've mostly been disappointed. Savor the Flavor was always something I looked forward to during Zendikar block where I feel like they had more world-centric articles. Nowadays it seems like all they talk about is design, art concepts and Mirrodin's jargon. I don't think I can blame Beyer for that since he wrote most of Zendikar's articles too, but we need to get back to the world building!
I'm guessing world-building gets less of a focus in this block so far because A) it's a setting that isn't brand-new, and B) a lot of the relevant info may spoil events that happen later in the block or won't be relevant until those events occur.
I do want more things like the tidbit at the end of todays article, about the name for the area where the Mephidross reaches the Tangle. But it's still awfully soon to complain that there's nothing; it's been less than a month since the set was released. How quickly before/after Zendikar came out did we get a lot of detailed worldbuilding stuff?
So is it presentation? I used to be a big story fanboy and now it just doesn't interest me. I haven't really enjoyed a world since Ravnica. Of course I like worlds that don't change too much. I know the guildpact got challenged and all but I didn't feel like Ravnica was about to get destroyed because of it.
Zendikar was a cool world they could have stayed with for a while, It was almost like Tessaire w/ a Kick, but they were so "hit it and quit it" that the whole story thing has really lost a lot of appeal to me.
Yes, I know. I really wish that as long as we're jumping to from world to world with no rhyme or reason, even from the 'walkers' perspective, we don't destroy everything in the world, and render everything interesting about it moot. It's been happening constantly and it's frankly pointless, when you can still have epic conflicts raging across an entire kingdom or continent without having to engage the entire planet.
I keep telling people, the set/block can showcase a world, give the players windows into its structure and character, as well as cool stuff to work with and do, and leave the actual stories up to the books. Gods forbid the stories have character or depth, that might make them...?...interesting.
About any "subpar" mechanics or cards: Context is king.
If I make a templating or grammar error, let me know.
The franchise MtG most resembles is Battlestar Galactica. Why? Its players exist in, at most, a dozen different models at any given point in time, with perhaps up to 3% variation, 5% if you're lucky.
I'm not sure if this is in any way derailing from the topic, but as i have seen it, since, i dont know, id say Shadowmoor sub-block, each and every story in set, as dictated by depictions from the flavor of the cards, has been extremely focused, faction-wise, on color wheel philosophy in all sense of the term.
SHM - we have our hybrid-color races, mostly exclusive to such a combination
EVE - more of that but with newer, lesser-used races in the block just so they could make a new use for the unused combinations not utilized in SHM
ALA - the shards. nuff said.
CFX - more of that.
REB - EVEN MORE of that.
ZEN - pseudo-tribal factions. (W kor/U mer/B vamps/R goblins/G elves) The whole thing still reeks of color segregation (in the sense that nothing truly mingled as much or as well as it should have)
WWK - still at it.
ROE - eldrazi bring a sort of wrench to the works but outside of that theme you still have tribal factions dictated by color belief.
SCR - the neurok v sylvok, the auriok v. vulshok, (and faction-wise w/r mirrans always against some u/b/g phyrexians or what have you). To this extent the races (TRIBES AGAIN!) are warring over ideology, as we may surmise.
With this in tow I mean to state that all in all we cannot blame our current creative's columnists for writing what we deem to be crummy articles. We can, however, blame the world-builders, who in my own opinion (as i know of nobody else's around here), have very limited resources to work with, being terribly restricted by color pie philosophy. Perhaps it is the fault of the director - we cannot say for we are (id think) not in the creative department, trying to painstakingly build a world for the enjoyment of the gamers.
After all, what would this game be like without a focal story point to tie sets together? I'd think something along the lines of a yu-gi-oh set without the context of the manga/cartoon... Heaven forbid!
So how would the game/story be better if the color pie was removed/reduced? That structure is part of the game's core identity. You can't take that away without significant repercussions.
How have sets before Shadowmoor not followed the exact same principles and patterns you outlined there? Lorwyn block, each tribe is represented in very distinct colors. Time Spiral, different returning keywords divvied up by color, and very distinct environments for each as well. Ravnica, don't even need to say it. Kamigawa, also has some tribal interactions (as do most blocks in general, mind you), and certain keywords like bushido and soulshift are divided by color. Mirrodin, distinct races and human tribes separated by color, and the different colors' interactions with artifacts. Onslaught, also tribes divided by color. Odyssey, separate groups for different colors. Invasion, also don't need to say it. Masques block, each set has very different factions in each color. Urza's, each color shows very distinct locations and environments, sometimes separated by being on completely different planes. This has been the case for all of Magic's history, so I don't see how the continued trend could be seen as the fault of any new Creative direction or constraints.
If you don't like the Color Wheel, I don't know why you would ever have liked Magic in the first place. It is as inseparable from the game and the setting as mana and the multiverse itself.
I like the earlier articles that had short stories as opposed to blatantly telling the general public about the flavor of each world we visit. I want to see through the eyes of the individuals in the world and their thoughts and views of what's happening around them.
I like the earlier articles that had short stories as opposed to blatantly telling the general public about the flavor of each world we visit. I want to see through the eyes of the individuals in the world and their thoughts and views of what's happening around them.
I agree with this comment. I really liked the Battle of Fort Keff, which told the story behind Near-Death Experience. I much prefer the story aspects to savor the flavor, and although I enjoy seeing some of the world building, today's article was iffy. While I appreciate the direction flavor has taken in the cards, it's extremely obvious to anyone who played back when Gerard was on every third card.
The only saving grace is that the Scars site actually has little story snippets, which serves to tide me over until we get some new stories.
Edit: I have a major exception when talking about the typos in the current series of books. Spell check is not an adequate substitute for a good editor.
Voodoo basically said it for me.
The thing is, back when Jace took over the consortium, Brady came in and basically outright stated that they weren't sure what to show and what not to, and at that point, he implied that they see Savor the Flavor in a totally different way than we do.
They want to tell behind the scenes stories as opposed to stories about the world. Or explore principle/design on a world... which the world design articles aren't terribly bad, even if they AREN'T told from in world perspective. At least we get to see style guide illustrations we would never see otherwise. Man, I'd love to see all of those...
I also really wish they hadn't just completely jumped ship on the walker guides after a single printing. The Alara guide was just SO MUCH COOLER than the Zendikar one. And it didn't take 4 months to finish.
I think the problem isn't Doug Beyer, but rather the subjects he's forced to cover. His job is to tell us why the cards feel the way they do, which is usually a fruitless endeavour. Logical explaination of emotional responses really don't capture the essence of the experience; if I tried to explain to you why you were laughing at a scene in a movie would it really help you appreciate the humor in the film? Would I even be telling you anything you care about, or would you just say "Yeah, I got it; I laughed"? We get a feeling from the cards (and the story behind them), and that's enough. It's interesting (to me, at least) to hear about how Wizards adjust cards for power level or other considerations. But talk about how they tried to make a card evoke emotion is much less appealing.
I'd also like StF to return to telling stories from the world, no matter who is writing the column. I don't read the books, so I'm completely dependent on the all-too-infrequent webcomics (and lurking on these boards) to get my information about what goes on off screen. I suppose they don't want to step on the toes of the block novels, but there has to be some room for a compromise.
Oh there is plenty of untapped room alright. You only have to say the view is from Peasant Joe for instance to get that fictional man's thoughts and what Peasant Joe saw across to the readers.
In alara there could have been a short story from the eyes of a Tidehollow Sculler and what (s)he thought about the shortage happening in esper. That certainly wouldn't be stepping on any toes.
I would love those types of stories as well. They make sense as part of a weekly column, since the big players get their stories reserved for novels and webcomics. The kinds of stories that used to be in those anthology novels, like The Monsters of Magic, The Dragons of Magic, etc. are pretty sweet.
That said, I understand why they can't show up too much more often than they do. I don't know about you, but to me cranking out a good short story every week might be a little too much, considering the people contributing are already doing plenty of work in the course of their normal work at Wizards. I suppose they could have a rotation, between Beyer, Helland, and the freelance guy, maybe some others as well, but even that may be too much, I honestly don't know. It depends on what the usual workload is like for the creative department each week. Writing a column takes a lot less effort than writing a good-quality short story, generally speaking.
Nobody's asking for a story every week. We're just asking for stories, period. Webcomics and books are few and far between, and there's no anthology or anything else of the like. Not to mention, the flavor column keeps going on an on about design and constant lectures on narrative that anyone who took high school+ language arts classes should at least be aware of. In terms of explaining the process, Beyer does his job well. But in terms of elaborating upon extant flavor or in telling it as a story, he is...well, abysmal.
About any "subpar" mechanics or cards: Context is king.
If I make a templating or grammar error, let me know.
The franchise MtG most resembles is Battlestar Galactica. Why? Its players exist in, at most, a dozen different models at any given point in time, with perhaps up to 3% variation, 5% if you're lucky.
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This most recent article irked me. It irked me badly. I mean really now. We have to involve time to get a sense of chronology? ... Chrono-logy?! Talking about what pieces of art might be portraying, suggesting there could be a story there...and then saying nothing specific of what said story could be, just the usual vague details. Each of three sets in a block can show change over time? Gee, I would never have guessed!
Between these consistently lackluster articles that say nothing new except for maybe a flavor blurb in a letter of the week answer, and the travesty that is AU (no, Beyer, until you admit that was a mistake, I will not let this go), Doug Beyer just consistently seems to do the storytelling aspects of MtG a massive disservice with this part of his job. I'll admit he does a good job with world-building - when he discusses his work on that I have less of an issue - but his column and writing work is unbelievably disappointing, getting more so each time I read it.
What do you all think? Am I overreacting? Is there some purpose for this lack of story in his work that could actually be seen as a good thing? Or do the rest of you see some of what I'm talking about?
And yes, I'm aware that with the nature of a game, the flavor and story of it is to be somewhat interactive, to be in-keeping with the "play" aspect of it, but this is just getting sad. We're all aware of the general details, and I have nothing against reiterating an explanation for newcomers or for revisiting a concept to explore it more, but Beyer just doesn't seem interested. Whoever is making decisions on what should be a fairly straightforward column is doing it a major disservice.
About any "subpar" mechanics or cards: Context is king.
If I make a templating or grammar error, let me know.
The franchise MtG most resembles is Battlestar Galactica. Why? Its players exist in, at most, a dozen different models at any given point in time, with perhaps up to 3% variation, 5% if you're lucky.
Doug is... okay. The problem that stems from both him and Brady is that they don't see Savor the Flavor the same way as we do. We're used to Matt's Taste the Magic, but Savor the Flavor has been sort of relegated to telling about the flavorful aspect of designing the cards.... which leaves so much to be desired. We really don't care as much about the cards as we do the WORLD they are showing us. However, creative sees Savor the Flavor as a means to expand the card game, not the storyline.
It's disappointing, but not completely Doug's fault, and what he writes is good. We just don't want them to talk about what they think they need to.
Bless you. Maybe someone will take this seriously when it doesn't come from me. Watch out though, Big Brother Caranthir usually gets touchy at any Brady criticism.
Skaterbruski, I have explained myself (even explicitly to YOU) about that topic several (and enough) times. Now you are just trolling. Infraction issued.
-Car.
R Citizen Cane (Feldon of the Third Path)
Making Magic talks about Design, Savor the Flavor talks about Creative, and Latest Developments talks about Development. Those are the three biggest teams that, together, design Magic. Each does something very different, though there are often overlaps. Each column is different as well, between the different styles of the authors and how each gives a different window into a different area of that whole design process.
R Citizen Cane (Feldon of the Third Path)
I think the problem is that Matt was very enthusiastic about writing, while i feel like Doug was has to write a colum because "they need a flavor column". Ideally i'd like to see Savor the flavor take on a rotating authorship.
This is in no way part of my secret desire to see more articles by Brady...
i do like that they occasionally hand off the column to guest spots, even if it is the same handful. The variety of styles and perspectives can be refreshing; if there's one thing that's always true about Making Magic, for example, it's that MaRo always gets things mixed up and different on a pretty regular basis. And he's been writing that column for... how many years now? Like him or not, he's dedicated.
R Citizen Cane (Feldon of the Third Path)
Edit: I said 2 to poke fun of him, but I just checked and it turns out that he really did write only 2!
This is actually a consistent problem they have filling the WotC columns. Rosewater's column is very popular because of exactly this enthusiasm -- Mark was a writer before he was a designer and it shows in his column. On the other hand, half of the Latest Developments authors (Buehler and Low) weren't ever writers and clearly didn't really care as much about the column specifically.
Beyer's in the same boat. He's writing the column because someone needs to and he's probably the best choice, but he isn't as enthusiastic as Matt was and it does show through.
Personally, I only care about the world-building aspects anyway so I'm quite happy to see them focus on those elements in the Creative column to the exclusion of all else, but yeah, there's definitely other members of the team that I'd like to hear from more often: Jeremy Jarvis, Jenna Helland, Cavotta now that he works at Wizards again...
Guess what. They do.
Savor the Flavor was much better before when we got actual information about the worlds they're selling.
I hope that comment doesn't deserve an infraction.
So is it presentation? I used to be a big story fanboy and now it just doesn't interest me. I haven't really enjoyed a world since Ravnica. Of course I like worlds that don't change too much. I know the guildpact got challenged and all but I didn't feel like Ravnica was about to get destroyed because of it.
Zendikar was a cool world they could have stayed with for a while, It was almost like Tessaire w/ a Kick, but they were so "hit it and quit it" that the whole story thing has really lost a lot of appeal to me.
So do you think it's just presentation that has lost my interest (I do enjoy the webcomics), or is the story lackluster for the amount of time they put into the worlds?
Today's article talked about not telling the story through the cards anymore so that they interact better togeather, but I think the sets that told the story the best were the most memorable flavor wise.
Fallen Empires, Tempest, Homelands et were awesome at that. I honestly don't think I would have ever made Joven's Ferrets into a centerpiece of a deck if they were "Joven's Acolyte - Human Rogue" instead.
No matter how much you want to believe the bolded sentence, we both know it is not true.
Yes, personal attack on a forum member classifies as flaming/trolling. Please read the rules.
Finally, if you have a problem, my helpdesk is the right place to discuss it, not here.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
You're a tricky one, Skaterbruski, embedding a modest statement into an otherwise inflammatory post. I'm sure when Caranthir gives you an infraction for that one too you'll decry the injustice of not being allowed to state the one part of your post that was rational. Sorry if you think I'm trolling now, but I hate it when people try to push their extremist stance by hiding little grains of truth in an argument.
That's more like it! And you're right, they were better. I've been hoping for something more to flesh out Mirrodin since Scars was spoiled, but so far I've mostly been disappointed. Savor the Flavor was always something I looked forward to during Zendikar block where I feel like they had more world-centric articles. Nowadays it seems like all they talk about is design, art concepts and Mirrodin's jargon. I don't think I can blame Beyer for that since he wrote most of Zendikar's articles too, but we need to get back to the world building!
I do want more things like the tidbit at the end of todays article, about the name for the area where the Mephidross reaches the Tangle. But it's still awfully soon to complain that there's nothing; it's been less than a month since the set was released. How quickly before/after Zendikar came out did we get a lot of detailed worldbuilding stuff?
R Citizen Cane (Feldon of the Third Path)
Yes, I know. I really wish that as long as we're jumping to from world to world with no rhyme or reason, even from the 'walkers' perspective, we don't destroy everything in the world, and render everything interesting about it moot. It's been happening constantly and it's frankly pointless, when you can still have epic conflicts raging across an entire kingdom or continent without having to engage the entire planet.
I keep telling people, the set/block can showcase a world, give the players windows into its structure and character, as well as cool stuff to work with and do, and leave the actual stories up to the books. Gods forbid the stories have character or depth, that might make them...?...interesting.
About any "subpar" mechanics or cards: Context is king.
If I make a templating or grammar error, let me know.
The franchise MtG most resembles is Battlestar Galactica. Why? Its players exist in, at most, a dozen different models at any given point in time, with perhaps up to 3% variation, 5% if you're lucky.
SHM - we have our hybrid-color races, mostly exclusive to such a combination
EVE - more of that but with newer, lesser-used races in the block just so they could make a new use for the unused combinations not utilized in SHM
ALA - the shards. nuff said.
CFX - more of that.
REB - EVEN MORE of that.
ZEN - pseudo-tribal factions. (W kor/U mer/B vamps/R goblins/G elves) The whole thing still reeks of color segregation (in the sense that nothing truly mingled as much or as well as it should have)
WWK - still at it.
ROE - eldrazi bring a sort of wrench to the works but outside of that theme you still have tribal factions dictated by color belief.
SCR - the neurok v sylvok, the auriok v. vulshok, (and faction-wise w/r mirrans always against some u/b/g phyrexians or what have you). To this extent the races (TRIBES AGAIN!) are warring over ideology, as we may surmise.
With this in tow I mean to state that all in all we cannot blame our current creative's columnists for writing what we deem to be crummy articles. We can, however, blame the world-builders, who in my own opinion (as i know of nobody else's around here), have very limited resources to work with, being terribly restricted by color pie philosophy. Perhaps it is the fault of the director - we cannot say for we are (id think) not in the creative department, trying to painstakingly build a world for the enjoyment of the gamers.
After all, what would this game be like without a focal story point to tie sets together? I'd think something along the lines of a yu-gi-oh set without the context of the manga/cartoon... Heaven forbid!
~Lil Kalki
Proud Disciple of the Church of the Wary
How have sets before Shadowmoor not followed the exact same principles and patterns you outlined there? Lorwyn block, each tribe is represented in very distinct colors. Time Spiral, different returning keywords divvied up by color, and very distinct environments for each as well. Ravnica, don't even need to say it. Kamigawa, also has some tribal interactions (as do most blocks in general, mind you), and certain keywords like bushido and soulshift are divided by color. Mirrodin, distinct races and human tribes separated by color, and the different colors' interactions with artifacts. Onslaught, also tribes divided by color. Odyssey, separate groups for different colors. Invasion, also don't need to say it. Masques block, each set has very different factions in each color. Urza's, each color shows very distinct locations and environments, sometimes separated by being on completely different planes. This has been the case for all of Magic's history, so I don't see how the continued trend could be seen as the fault of any new Creative direction or constraints.
If you don't like the Color Wheel, I don't know why you would ever have liked Magic in the first place. It is as inseparable from the game and the setting as mana and the multiverse itself.
R Citizen Cane (Feldon of the Third Path)
I agree with this comment. I really liked the Battle of Fort Keff, which told the story behind Near-Death Experience. I much prefer the story aspects to savor the flavor, and although I enjoy seeing some of the world building, today's article was iffy. While I appreciate the direction flavor has taken in the cards, it's extremely obvious to anyone who played back when Gerard was on every third card.
The only saving grace is that the Scars site actually has little story snippets, which serves to tide me over until we get some new stories.
Edit: I have a major exception when talking about the typos in the current series of books. Spell check is not an adequate substitute for a good editor.
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The thing is, back when Jace took over the consortium, Brady came in and basically outright stated that they weren't sure what to show and what not to, and at that point, he implied that they see Savor the Flavor in a totally different way than we do.
They want to tell behind the scenes stories as opposed to stories about the world. Or explore principle/design on a world... which the world design articles aren't terribly bad, even if they AREN'T told from in world perspective. At least we get to see style guide illustrations we would never see otherwise. Man, I'd love to see all of those...
I also really wish they hadn't just completely jumped ship on the walker guides after a single printing. The Alara guide was just SO MUCH COOLER than the Zendikar one. And it didn't take 4 months to finish.
I'd also like StF to return to telling stories from the world, no matter who is writing the column. I don't read the books, so I'm completely dependent on the all-too-infrequent webcomics (and lurking on these boards) to get my information about what goes on off screen. I suppose they don't want to step on the toes of the block novels, but there has to be some room for a compromise.
In alara there could have been a short story from the eyes of a Tidehollow Sculler and what (s)he thought about the shortage happening in esper. That certainly wouldn't be stepping on any toes.
That said, I understand why they can't show up too much more often than they do. I don't know about you, but to me cranking out a good short story every week might be a little too much, considering the people contributing are already doing plenty of work in the course of their normal work at Wizards. I suppose they could have a rotation, between Beyer, Helland, and the freelance guy, maybe some others as well, but even that may be too much, I honestly don't know. It depends on what the usual workload is like for the creative department each week. Writing a column takes a lot less effort than writing a good-quality short story, generally speaking.
R Citizen Cane (Feldon of the Third Path)
About any "subpar" mechanics or cards: Context is king.
If I make a templating or grammar error, let me know.
The franchise MtG most resembles is Battlestar Galactica. Why? Its players exist in, at most, a dozen different models at any given point in time, with perhaps up to 3% variation, 5% if you're lucky.