The dislike of the Kamigawa setting goes beyond the power level. We’ve had worlds of blocks of equal or lower power level test much better than Kamigawa did.
We tested the creative as well as the cards and the world (once again, not just the cards) didn’t test well. It didn’t quite jell with a majority of the players.
We test both the mechanics and creative elements for sets. Kamigawa did poorly on it’s mechanics. It did even worse on its world (I believe it holds the record for the worst results for any world since we did market research on them - Ulgrotha predates the market research). The idea that it was successful creative married to bad mechanics is false. At the time, both were strongly disliked.
As much as a majority of Magic players disliked the mechanics, they also disliked the world, independent of the mechanics. Mechanics were not "the contributing factor" to disliking the world.
Calling it now: Lukka will be the villain of Kamigawa 2.0 and he'll be the one to bring Kaijus into the plane. No idea why he would do that, but then again it's Lukka. Dude couldn't even keep a consistent personality and motivation on a single set, nevermind a year.
It's not the plane aesthetic and atmosphere that failed Kamigawa. It was most of the printed cards being played was underwhelming and boring after mirrodin and before ravnica.
Not entirely true, at least based on what MaRo told us. In their attempt to make Kamigawa accurate to Japanese myths and properly portray it in Magic lore, they "dug too deep" into Japanese mythology and showcased every part of the least resonant aspects of it.
FALSE
Can you link an article were MARO said that and also were he claimed it was too accurate that cause the failure?
because that is impossible, I'm speaking of Game Design STANDPOINT?
It's not even too ACCURATE Japanese myths. It's not the Japanese myth that makes a card game fail it was how they delivered how they would play.
Your main point is the Kamigawa being the failure because of the Japanese Myth in it.
It's like Japanese mythology isn't compatible to MTG
Saying Kamigawa was too Accurate to Japanese myth that made it fail is a terrible analogy to game design specially when it's as flexible like MTG.
Are familiar with the other Japanese TCG back then.
This only took me a few minutes to compile; there are many more posts on his blog where he elaborates. Some highlights include: non-resonant tropes and setting (as a comparison to newer top-down sets: too many Hundred-Handed Ones and Serpopards, not enough minotaurs and pyramids); confusing/hard-to-remember legendary creature names; spirits that didn't look like spirits. I'm sure there were many more. Fact is the setting was too esoteric to translate well for mass audiences. And yes, anime has become more popular over the last decade and a half, but not popular enough that the setting would work today, at least not without majorly overhauling the creative (which is what they seem to have done, assuming the original post is correct).
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Except that's not true. The world was poorly received independent of the mechanics:
https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/21427203784/i-think-you-may-be-underestimating-your-audience-a
https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/77834619992/kamigawa-may-have-been-a-legitimate-design-flaw
https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/154559419028/i-can-see-where-people-who-dont-like-kamigawa
https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/171535849908/do-you-believe-the-admittedly-bad-mechanics-of
As much as a majority of Magic players disliked the mechanics, they also disliked the world, independent of the mechanics. Mechanics were not "the contributing factor" to disliking the world.
TRUE!
https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/21427203784/i-think-you-may-be-underestimating-your-audience-a
https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/36328178334/can-we-not-see-a-return-to-kamigawa-to-do-the
https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/36412404636/what-was-wrong-with-the-kamigawa-creative
https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/36492003310/what-didnt-people-like-about-kamigawa-creative
https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/77834619992/kamigawa-may-have-been-a-legitimate-design-flaw
https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/111056883813/okay-so-youve-established-that-kamigawas
https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/154559419028/i-can-see-where-people-who-dont-like-kamigawa
https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/171535849908/do-you-believe-the-admittedly-bad-mechanics-of
https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/175499625718/could-you-explain-what-a-lot-of-players-didnt
This only took me a few minutes to compile; there are many more posts on his blog where he elaborates. Some highlights include: non-resonant tropes and setting (as a comparison to newer top-down sets: too many Hundred-Handed Ones and Serpopards, not enough minotaurs and pyramids); confusing/hard-to-remember legendary creature names; spirits that didn't look like spirits. I'm sure there were many more. Fact is the setting was too esoteric to translate well for mass audiences. And yes, anime has become more popular over the last decade and a half, but not popular enough that the setting would work today, at least not without majorly overhauling the creative (which is what they seem to have done, assuming the original post is correct).