Why would the will of the gods be so ... imbalanced? Seems like the White god gets its way a lot (6 monowhite cards), as does blue (10 monoblue cards!) and black (5), but then red only has 2 and green doesn't have ANY?
Or did they just line up all the reprints in WUBRG order and put the first 25 in this set (including the BG and WB ones), and the reprints next set will be the rest of the reds and all the greens?
Why would the will of the gods be so ... imbalanced? Seems like the White god gets its way a lot (6 monowhite cards), as does blue (10 monoblue cards!) and black (5), but then red only has 2 and green doesn't have ANY?
Or did they just line up all the reprints in WUBRG order and put the first 25 in this set (including the BG and WB ones), and the reprints next set will be the rest of the reds and all the greens?
It's because green doesn't have that many oppressive (or, as Maro called them, "mean") cards.
There's only upside to this and I'm surprised by the number of people who look past that in disfavor of how it looks.
All the upsides you are refering to were true for Zendikar Expeditions and Kaladesh Inventions. Expedition got some complains about illustrations on a case-by-case basis, but were generally well-received and Inventions were almost universally praised. There is a difference in quality - and as you seem to acknowledge earlier in the post some people will have looked forward to owning some of these cards before seeing their design. To them getting a card they would have liked to own with a better graphical design, but will dislike having with this design will not be recompensated with money.
For comparisson: Wizards could make an entirely blank white card face with a font that looks like squiggly lines approximately resembling a cardname plus copyright notice etc. and declare it legal. Then they release sought-after cards in this design as a Masterpiece series instead of releasing them in the Modern Masters right before it which contained nice new art for multiple of them. Would people have reason to complain? Would people have reason to complain if every single card of a series was printed with the illustration in a big black box? Or just playtest cards?
This is a product which in parts is sold on the quality of its design - graphical and otherwise - not just as an official barely functional game piece so you can play your deck with a terrible looking card produced by Wizards rather than a terrible looking card made by yourself scribbling "FoW" on a 7th Edition Flight. The complains obviously don't come from people who just seek to cash out, but from people for which these cards could have been "the cards [they] actually want" as you put it. And instead of cards they want they get cards they don't want.
And the monetary value cannot compensate for the loss of the card that they would have wanted since they apparently were willing to give up on the selling value to keep the card or actually go out and buy it if it looked better. Can you understand how looks would be something to complain about for people who wanted nice looking cards?
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Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
The choice of promotional frame for invocations is definitely going to rank among some of the worst work they have done in a while, though I'm going to point out that the design had good intentions. They clearly wanted to make something egyptian themed, came up with a concept, and tried exceptionally hard to realize that concept into a finalized design. The issue is that they probably tried a little too hard and lost track of the basic card design people are used to in magic.
Take something like the mana symbol and the power and toughness. There is a reason they have the color identity along with a drop shadow under the symbols: It makes the casting costs clear to the player and increases legibility. Also, the positioning is just as important as when the future sight cards were revealed that was one of the big issues that design had. Another problem with the new cards is the power and toughness. The lack of drop shadow and bold, dark colors against the back make them hard to read, and the change of orientation will confuse anyone new to the game as to what the numbers mean.
Next, we got the color identity and the artwork. The artwork is fantastic as always, but due to the chunky design of the pillars and border they had to reduce the space for the artwork to what appears to be 3/4 or 5/6 the area of the inventions (if anyone wants to get the exact shrinkage please feel free). The color identity as printed on the card can easily be mistaken as a printing mishap when dealing with blue, as cyan is one of the four printing colors that show up when running out of ink. Also, the fact it doesn't take up a more identifiable area of the card amplifies the issue with the mana symbols not having enough contrast.
As for typography: I don't care what MaRo or any WoTC designer says their intent was. This is a card game and people need to be able to legibly read the card name whether it is a promotional lottery card or not. They had options at their disposal for better fonts and there are ways to work standard highly legible fonts into the design. My graphic design instructor for the Typography class would have failed the student trying to present this card design because it fails even the basic requirements.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I think these cards are lovely looking at a glance. Certainly more artistic than functional, but as extremely rare reprints that are targeted for veteran players and collectors, I think that's fine. If anything I think they went a step too far with the hieroglyph-like writing for the name and typing of each card, but regardless they are quite a good stylization. It reminds me of the idea they had for original magic card layouts, looking like old pages of spell books and otherwise feeling very archaic. These feel like a stone memorial at the height of bolas-egyptian grandeur. I'm excited to pull some.
Why would the will of the gods be so ... imbalanced? Seems like the White god gets its way a lot (6 monowhite cards), as does blue (10 monoblue cards!) and black (5), but then red only has 2 and green doesn't have ANY?
Or did they just line up all the reprints in WUBRG order and put the first 25 in this set (including the BG and WB ones), and the reprints next set will be the rest of the reds and all the greens?
It's because green doesn't have that many oppressive (or, as Maro called them, "mean") cards.
Or did they just line up all the reprints in WUBRG order and put the first 25 in this set (including the BG and WB ones), and the reprints next set will be the rest of the reds and all the greens?
It's because green doesn't have that many oppressive (or, as Maro called them, "mean") cards.
All the upsides you are refering to were true for Zendikar Expeditions and Kaladesh Inventions. Expedition got some complains about illustrations on a case-by-case basis, but were generally well-received and Inventions were almost universally praised. There is a difference in quality - and as you seem to acknowledge earlier in the post some people will have looked forward to owning some of these cards before seeing their design. To them getting a card they would have liked to own with a better graphical design, but will dislike having with this design will not be recompensated with money.
For comparisson: Wizards could make an entirely blank white card face with a font that looks like squiggly lines approximately resembling a cardname plus copyright notice etc. and declare it legal. Then they release sought-after cards in this design as a Masterpiece series instead of releasing them in the Modern Masters right before it which contained nice new art for multiple of them. Would people have reason to complain? Would people have reason to complain if every single card of a series was printed with the illustration in a big black box? Or just playtest cards?
This is a product which in parts is sold on the quality of its design - graphical and otherwise - not just as an official barely functional game piece so you can play your deck with a terrible looking card produced by Wizards rather than a terrible looking card made by yourself scribbling "FoW" on a 7th Edition Flight. The complains obviously don't come from people who just seek to cash out, but from people for which these cards could have been "the cards [they] actually want" as you put it. And instead of cards they want they get cards they don't want.
And the monetary value cannot compensate for the loss of the card that they would have wanted since they apparently were willing to give up on the selling value to keep the card or actually go out and buy it if it looked better. Can you understand how looks would be something to complain about for people who wanted nice looking cards?
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
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Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
Take something like the mana symbol and the power and toughness. There is a reason they have the color identity along with a drop shadow under the symbols: It makes the casting costs clear to the player and increases legibility. Also, the positioning is just as important as when the future sight cards were revealed that was one of the big issues that design had. Another problem with the new cards is the power and toughness. The lack of drop shadow and bold, dark colors against the back make them hard to read, and the change of orientation will confuse anyone new to the game as to what the numbers mean.
Next, we got the color identity and the artwork. The artwork is fantastic as always, but due to the chunky design of the pillars and border they had to reduce the space for the artwork to what appears to be 3/4 or 5/6 the area of the inventions (if anyone wants to get the exact shrinkage please feel free). The color identity as printed on the card can easily be mistaken as a printing mishap when dealing with blue, as cyan is one of the four printing colors that show up when running out of ink. Also, the fact it doesn't take up a more identifiable area of the card amplifies the issue with the mana symbols not having enough contrast.
As for typography: I don't care what MaRo or any WoTC designer says their intent was. This is a card game and people need to be able to legibly read the card name whether it is a promotional lottery card or not. They had options at their disposal for better fonts and there are ways to work standard highly legible fonts into the design. My graphic design instructor for the Typography class would have failed the student trying to present this card design because it fails even the basic requirements.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Plow Under and Choke are pretty "mean."
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.