What issues do you have with how MTGS is currently run?
Not too much so. As Kijin has been what appears to be de-modded, I side with him based on the assumption that the rest of the staff didn't like something he was doing. Because I think he was a pretty good mod, I can only think that he was doing something right. Since the staff disagrees with that, they are wrong for demodding him, IMO. I don't know the whole series of events though, so as I said, these are just assumptions. They are valid, but they are not proof of anything.
On your latter point, here is hardly the place to expound on these, however they include but are not limited to:
-Lack of transparency on internal affairs
-Outdated forum software
-Lack of "simple" action (ie, creating a "Modern Magic" forum on the basis that it is not yet sanctioned)
-Defending the hsperson but only in some cases (ie, playing favorites?)
-Going along with my 3rd point, creating secret groups throughout the forum to decide things for the rest of the users, without considering all the options (ie, employing "mob rule" to help the hsperson when banning words/phrases, but not listening to the mob when a new forum is needed, and doing something else instead)
-Lack of forum updates (the standard forum for example has "closed forums" but they still exist with no purpose)
-Enforcing rules inconsistently (EX: no backseat mod warning here, yet the thread is closed)
-Closing threads when no rules have been broken (see CI)
I assure you that this is precisely the last thing that needs to happen right now. The situation will proceed more smoothly if calmer heads prevail.
Please trust that the staff are handling this appropriately and that whatever decision is reached will have carefully and thoughtfully considered the relevant arguments, facts, and circumstances.
Though the former statement is debateably true, the latter has no evidence backing it, and as I have already said, I only see more and more poor decisions by the staff (in general) being made. I was mostly trying to say, the time for inaction is over; something needs to be done.
Anyone that knows me knows I think I am anything but holy/great.
I don't understand what this means at all.
But I can say if you're trying to using my statements to glean info about this event, you're doing it wrong.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you seem to be implying as much by making your point about "championing someone's cause when not needed" shortly after I begin posting in the thread.
What I meant by my latter statement is that the lack of information will get people riled up. The fact that Harkius is defending the losing position with "there's no evidence of wrongdoing" when all signs point to wrongdoing, is only compounding people's a) interest in this topic and b) lack of faith in the staff.
I think to clarify, what I should've said was "I'm not going to deny that the lack of information is part of the reason an interest is garnered in this thread, but the other reason is exactly what Taylor stated:" <insert quote>.
Do you know what I hate? I hate people that try to champion causes for other people.
Allow me to refine that statement of mine. You see, there are people in the world that are weak or hapless. That legitimately need other, stronger, prosperous, people to help them out. When the strong stand up for the weak it's heroic.
However, when people start fighting other people's battles when those people don't need or want help, it's idiotic. No one can make a bigger stink than someone fighting an injustice that they imagine happened to someone else.
Kijin is not weak or hapless. He does not strike me as the type that needs other people to fight his battles for him. He is an outspoken individual. If something happened and it was this great terrible injustice that people seem to think or claim it is, I am sure he would speak out about it. Either here or elsewhere.
I have faith in Kijin's strength. I am sorry those people professing to be his friends seem not to.
Because you will be unable to back up statements like this, Harkius, they are only going to make it worse.
You're not going to get the doubters to trust you into believing nothing despicable is going on behind doors you can't open. Claiming otherwise will just bring all that ahead.
You know what I hate? People that are holier than thou. But that's neither here nor there; as far as I can tell we are on the same side (that being Kijin's).
Harkius, what happened to keeping my privacy? When did I give you permission to speak for me? I am deeply disappointed with you and other staff members that feel the need to speak publicly for me on an issue that I, personally, have not cared to comment on.
Everyone else, I'll comment on the issue when I need to comment on the issue. I'm hoping for a positive change for everyone to come out of a discussion that needs to be had -- one way or the other -- between myself, the staff at large, and eventually with the rest of the userbase of MTGS. There are a lot of things everyone (I am included in everyone) could be doing a lot better. Until I am ready to have that conversation and once I am able to determine the best venue to have it in, please leave this issue -- and my privacy related to it -- be. This includes staff, users, friends, gimmick accounts, gutterites, and twitter followers. If I have something you need to know, you will know it when you need to.
I appreciate your clarity on this, and will wait as patiently as I can to hear this story.
^ Actually NVM, I'm jumping the gun. I think Kijin's response is probably all anyone needs to know right now...
I think that the major problem here is that the less people know the more interested they are.
Little information is, like mtg, something people will wildly speculate about. What is going on? Often when people don't know they assume the worst. And as much as I hate to admit it that's what's going on right now: I'm assuming the worst.
Honestly I always thought that things here on mtgs were pretty good, I'm not hoping for any crazy changes. Maybe it would be best if someone could clear the air or take this thread down. I hate to have a witch-hunt but a lot of strange things have been going on lately.
Perhaps it's all just by convenient coincidence, I hope so.
I'm not going to deny that the lack of information is the cause of all the hubbub, but it is certainly compounded by Taylor's statement.
Quote from Taylor »
Because you will be unable to back up statements like this, Harkius, they are only going to make it worse.
You're not going to get the doubters to trust you into believing nothing despicable is going on behind doors you can't open. Claiming otherwise will just bring all that ahead.
You all know me, I could write a thesis about the information I've seen already, but I'll save it for Kijin's topic at a later time hopefully.
I haven't said that, and I know little about it. What I do know I am not at liberty to share, sorry.
That said, I think that the Staff probably deserves the benefit of the doubt, and random accusations are hardly doing that. There's effectively zero evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of the Staff here, but people assume that's the issue, anyway.
Harkius
That's probably due to the increased dissent from actions that the staff has been taking - or lack of action that needs to be taken. I'll be the first to admit I am probably not the least of these.
However, for people who essentially feel the same way as what I just stated, it's understandable that they would give someone who they feel was a pretty decent mod the benefit of the doubt, rather than the staff who appears to have "kicked him out" so to say.
If it wasn't that big of a deal, then why do you have something to hide? If it's because Kijin requested that you not say anything, you could at least make a comment on that. If that's not the case, I've already invited him to comment on the issue.
Depends how you define wrongdoing the staff is quite obviously wrong in this situation and if you don't see that then you probably don't understand enough about what happened.
EDIT: Then again no use causing a ☺☺☺☺storm so I am going to stop posting.
Actually, I think a ☺☺☺☺storm is exactly what needs to happen.
While I personally welcome questions about the Moderation of the site, since it is for the community, after all, your statements are not questions. They are accusations. They come from an account with 4 posts (which could easily be a gimmick created to stir up trouble, particularly given the fact that you've claimed to spend hundreds of hours talking with Kijin on IM, but your first post here doesn't come until nearly the time that he was demodded) and they are based on claims of a conversation that Kijin hasn't even verified has existed.
I am aware that Kijin has had...objections to the way that the site has been run for some time. As a Moderator, I can fully say that dissenting opinions (both among the staff and among the members of the site) are welcome. What signs of favoritism that I've seen have been exhibited on the part of a very small number of staff, and the situations have been resolved, largely.
So, unless you have specific accusations and some kind of evidence backing it up by PMs or posts, I'd like to see claims like this stop.
Harkius
Well, given the fact that I have been agreeing less and less with the way things have been around here (surprise), I have to take the side of Kijin.
Maybe if you don't want people to accuse the staff of MTGS of being conspirators and playing favorites, you should simply elaborate on what happened. You say he will not like that, but I don't think anyone has directly asked him publicly.
We don't have to have the specific creature in mind, do we? We just have to kill them/slow them? If yes...
Cerebral TorrentXUUBB
Sorcery (R)
Draw X cards then destroy up to Y target creatures, where Y is the number of cards in your hand. "I've learned a great many things while traveling the Blind Eternities... The least of these is how to kill you."
Culling Illithid 2UBB
Creature - Horror (U)
When Culling Illithid enters the battlefield, target opponent discards a card for each card named Culling Illithid you control and you draw a card for each card named Culling Illithid you control.
Phaaze, Ethereal Sage
Planeswalker - Phaaze (M) /+1\: Draw a card. You lose 1 life. |0|: Target creature gets -X/-X until end of turn, where X is Phaaze's loyalty. \-1/: Search target player's library for a card and exile it. Then that player shuffles their library. \-4/: Take an extra turn after this one.
Ah... Touche... though this was just an example. What I was really trying to say though is I think it would be nice to have some sort of bulletin, even if it's just monthly, as to what sort of changes are being discussed for MTGS behind the scenes. Hannes also said he has made some changes to the software, but they are "probably too small to be noticed by most". What are these changes?
Basically imagine your local town's newspaper, but then apply it to the site here in general.
We are certainly open to suggestions that improve the experience for all users. We are in fact constantly changing small things, but they are probably too small to be noticed by most.
I don't really see a point in upgrading to a completely different/new forum software, since it will require everyone to re-learn what they can easily do now. Lots of forums have developed their own way of doing things, and making them adjust to something new doesn't seem like a particular good way of introducing change.
As for a "Thank You" button, I'll follow this discussion. Might look interesting.
Maybe a post every once in awhile in CI detailing any major changes would be a good idea then? For instance, we just had moderator app's close, and I haven't seen anything about who is going where... :/
As for the forum software, bringing in more functionality by upgrading I believe far outweighs the tweaks done to the system... Maybe that's partially because I don't know the details about that, but I do know a bit out vBulletin, Invision, etc. Some of the changes I do see are not difficult to implement as far as I'm aware.
As far as being used to the way things are, that might be true, but change is happening IRL all the time. I think the forum software changing would not be that big a deal.
Again, the main drawback to that method is that it forces people reading the thread to sift through "thank you" posts while looking for actual content. It amounts to polite spam. The nice thing about a little "I like this" button is that it is easily ignored if you don't care about it.
I'm not saying this is something that definitely should happen, but it's something I think would be pretty nice if it's feasible. I'm not going to be terribly upset if we stay without it either.
I don't think that's any different than sifting through 5-10 different opinions on a newly spoiled card that are repeated for pages and pages and pages. /shrug
Even if it people do agree it is a good idea, there's been the sentiment for some time now that improvements in the forum software are not in sight.
This idea reminds me of a thread about a post rating system... Basically, I see this as a sort of devolved form of that, since it only has the "thumbs up" option, not any downrating option. People will see "oh, x number of people like this", and possibly begin to ignore other content. This more than likely already occurs when people observe post counts for threads; there doesn't need to be 2 ways to essentially view the same number.
Just take the 30 seconds to type out a short paragraph. If a users efforts take longer than that length of time, you can take a fraction of it to say thanks.
Ring of Ice2
Artifact – Equipment (Uncommon)
Equipped creature has ",T: Tap target artifact, creature, or land." U: Attach Ring of Ice to target creature you control.
Equip 2(2: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery.)
Just thought I would let you know ahead of time, this is extremely impressive. Well done sir.
As for me...
Heedless Exhumer4
Artifact - Fortification
Fortified land has "T, Sacrifice this land: Draw a card."
Fortify 2 The Dalic failed to realize that their discoveries were just as fleeting as the land they were buried in.
Jedraht the Austere2RW
Planeswalker - Jedraht {M}
{+2}: Jedraht the Austere deals 3 damage to target creature and 3 damage to you.
{-2}: Exile target creature. At the beginning of your next combat step, return that creature to the battlefield under your control tapped and attacking.
{-6}: You get an emblem with "sources you control have lifelink".
{3}
Battleswath Hellion4RRRR
Creature - Hellion {R}
As long as Battleswath Hellion is attacking, other attacking creatures have "if this creature would deal combat damage to a creature or player, it deals double that damage to that creature or player instead." The best way not to get torched is to run the same way it's going.
6/5
Solid card. Though, for 2R more, you are basically getting a worse Gratuitous Violence that can die (GV can count for any type of damage), meaning you probably want to run that instead of this (unless you are running both I suppose). I don't mind the obvious nod to the other card, but I don't see any reason to run this over that. :/
Temosh, the Lifeweaver :2mana::symg::symg: {MR}
Planeswalker - Temosh
(+1) Put a basic land from your hand onto the battlefield. Then, search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, and put it into your hand.
(-3) Put X 1/1 green Saproling tokens onto the battlefield, where X is the number of basic lands you control.
(-7) You get an emblem with, "Basic lands you control have ":symtap:: Put a 1/1 green Saproling token onto the battlefield.
[3]
Sporeloam Ancient :3mana::symbg::symgb::symbg: {R}
Creature - Fungus
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a 1/1 green saproling token onto the battlefield for each fungus you control.
:2mana::symbg::symbg:, :symtap:: Put a 2/2 green and black fungus token onto the battlefield. "They seed the land for what is yet to come, and birth others to do the same." - Temosh
6/5
I get the creating tokens bit, but why is it black when it doesn't really have any "black" abilities? Should've added something that makes use of the Saprolings or Fungus tokens that involved sacrificing, flinging them for life loss, etc. :/
Omu the Summoner3RG
Planeswalker - Omu (M)
/+1\ Put a 3/3 green and red Beast creature token with trample onto the battlefield.
\-X/ Put an X/X green and red Elemental creature token with haste and trample onto the battlefield.
\-7/ Put a 10/10 green and red Avatar creature token with "Creatures you control have haste, hexproof, and trample." onto the battlefield.
[5]
Sprawling HydraRRGG
Creature - Hydra (R)
Sprawling Hydra enters the battlefield with five +1/+1 counters on it. 1, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Sprawling Hydra: Put a +1/+1 counter on another creature. If that creature is named Sprawling Hydra, instead put two +1/+1 counters on it. Most hydras just regrow their own lost heads, but some are more generous than others.
0/0
Hm. Interesting. I definitely like a 5/5 for 4CMC that can grow, or be gained from even when spot removal is aimed squarely at it. However, I'm not really sure how it can give its heads to other creatures... Flavorwise this puzzles me, but I think the art could make it work somehow, so good job.
Torgadon, Bringer of the Blind Eternities9
Planeswalker - Torgadon (M)
[+1]: Add 3 to your mana pool.
[+2]: Put 2 colorless 0/1 Eldrazi Spawn tokens into play. They have "Sacrifice this creature: Add 1 to your mana pool."
[-4]: Target player sacrifices 2 nontoken permanents.
[-16]: You get an emblem with "Creatures you control have Annihilator 3."
Loyalty: 8
Creature:
Spawnscale Wurm2GG
Creature - Wurm (R)
Spawnscale Wurm doesn’t untap during your untap step.
Sacrifice 2 Eldrazi Spawn: Untap any number of Spawnscale Wurms you control and put 2 Spawn counters on each of them.
Blocking creatures you control get +0/+X, where X is the number of Spawn counters on Spawnscale Wurm.
6/6
Eh... I'm not sold. You're almost there, but the fact that it gives all blocking creatures the bonus makes me wonder.
Tundra Seeker4WW
Creature - Human Scout [R] t, tap an untapped Plains you control: Scouts you control get +0/+1 for each other Scout on the battlefield. t, tap an untapped Island you control: Scouts you control get +1/+0 for each other Scout on the battlefield.
5/5
EDIT: Wait, is the next round starting on 7/6? Cause that means it's starting on my birthday!
Very odd ability wording... Why not just "W,T:" for the activation cost? Not to mention, most scout creatures are at a low CMC, and have a low P/T. Tundra Seeker here kind of sticks out as a sore thumb among them. I like the direction you were headed, but the requirements of this round hindered what this should've been though.
+2: Each player sacrifices a permanent.
-3: Destroy target creature. It can't be regenerated.
-10: Each of your opponents sacrifices half the permanents they control, rounded down, then loses life equal to the number of permanents they sacrificed this way.
[5]
Creature Card: Mountaintop Behemoth
Mountaintop Behemoth 4RRR
Creature – Giant Warrior [R]
Other creatures you control are unblockable. "I lost half a century dealing with just one."
-Soano, Legion Field Commander
6/5
Mountaintop Behemoth eh? Hm. Well, flavorwise I don't think I really like this, and as anything else, I feel it should just make all your creatures unblockable. Look at Deepchannel Mentor for instance. In reds colors the ability makes a bit more sense, so I'm almost ok with the P/T, but the aforementioned problem causes it to miss the mark just barely (not the flavor, but that it doesn't make itself unblockable as well).
Korlash, the Tyrant :2mana::symb::symb:
Planeswalker- Korlash
+3: Put target creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control. You lose life equal to its converted mana cost.
-3: All creatures get -1/-1 until end of turn for each Swamp you control.
-7: Search your library for any number for Swamps and put them onto the battlefield. Shuffle your library.
[3]
Your creature is Rare. Your creature's power and toughness must be 5/5, 5/6, 6/5 or 6/6. Your creature cannot have any keyword ability in it.
My other color is Blue:
Mindwrap Serpent2U
Creature Serpent R Derange- If Mindwrap Serpent would deal damage to a player, instead that player puts that many cards from the top of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
When you control no Islands, sacrifice Mindwrap Serpent. To control these creatures, Korlash would have to make the first exception to a lifetime of dogma.
5/5
Ouch... 2U for a 5/5 wall, with a sometimes relevant ability? I don't think so Tim. Not to mention, this shouldn't be a pseudo ability, it should be a keyword, which doesn't fit your challenge. :/
Team Sapphire
Pearlmane Herd3WWW Creature — Unicorn (R)
If damage would be dealt to Pearlmane Herd, prevent that damage. Put a -1/-1 counter on Pearlmane Herd.
Other Unicorn creatures you control get +1/+1 for each -1/-1 counter on Pearlmane Herd. The loss of one kindles the wrath of all.
[6/6]
Second Color:G
Everia, Minstrel of Peace :1mana::symw::symw: Planeswalker — Everia
+1: Put a 0/3 white Spirit creature token with defender onto the battlefield. It has "When this creature leaves the battlefield, you gain 3 life."
-2: Prevent all damage that would be dealt during target player's next turn.
-5: Exile all creatures.
[3]
Interesting, but not really all that playable. How many unicorns are in Magic? Out of those, how many of them have seen any constructed play? I also tend to see Unicorns as more peaceful creatures, so I don't think this quite fits flavorwise...
Team Sapphire. Sorry for the delay, completely forgot about this.
Seht, Court Mage 2WB
Planeswalker - Seht
+1: Exile a card in your graveyard: Exile up to two cards in target opponent's graveyard. You gain 3 life.
-2: You gain 1 life for each exiled creature card.
-10: For each exiled card you own, return a creature card from a graveyard to the battlefield under your control. They gain haste. Exile them at the end of turn.
Loyalty = 6
Avatar of Vengeance 4BW
Creature - Avatar
Whenever a creature you control dies, put a +1/+1 counter on each other creature you control. "The cries of the lost will echo through us for all eternity." - Seht, Courtmage
5/5
Now this, I like. Counters are certainly in these colors, and it reminds me of Grave Pact in a way; basically, you retain some value from your creatures dying. However, I think you should've added the clause that if itself dies, you still get the benefit.
While it looks amazing, please don't get offended, but I would hate to see the pauper cards with this frame. I'm a little... conservative, and this looks a little too... modern? Also, as an alterer artist, it doesn't leaves much space to work on (specially for extended art.)
Anyway, it was a very clever way to save space for expanding the possibilities about name & subtypes.
It would be really cool if you work that design to look more traditional without loosing that diagram.
Just my two cents.
EDIT: What I really like is to have the text in a larger space, so it looks more appealing and also avoids microtext.
I don't get offended easily lol, especially when I'm looking for honesty. I'm not quite sure what you mean by pauper cards... Like, paper magic you mean? I'm aware that it is very modern and even though you don't like it, that was actually what I was going for, so I suppose I'll take it as a compliment. :D. Yes, as an alterer it doesn't leave much workspace, but it's a way for players who enjoy the art of MtG to see more of it, hence the reduction of the frame padding. There's always the ability to work in the "pop out" onto the cards though ;).
The most controversial of my changes was the edit of the typeline to include symbols as representations of supertypes. The argument "players already have enough to memorize" came up in my last template. However, the supertypes are already very easy to understand, and have already been associated with some sort of symbol thanks to Future Sight. For newer players, it's not hard to associate the images with the text in my opinion.
Yes, the idea was basically to remove the "fluff" which makes better alters possible, in order to gain more practical benefits. While somewhat detrimental to artists, keep in mind there is also a 30px border all the way around the actual card.
Releasing this as a "throwback" (retaining the practical improvements, but keeping the current textures etc on cards) would not be difficult at all... In fact I rather like that idea. I think I'll make that my next project ;).
On your latter point, here is hardly the place to expound on these, however they include but are not limited to:
-Lack of transparency on internal affairs
-Outdated forum software
-Lack of "simple" action (ie, creating a "Modern Magic" forum on the basis that it is not yet sanctioned)
-Defending the hsperson but only in some cases (ie, playing favorites?)
-Going along with my 3rd point, creating secret groups throughout the forum to decide things for the rest of the users, without considering all the options (ie, employing "mob rule" to help the hsperson when banning words/phrases, but not listening to the mob when a new forum is needed, and doing something else instead)
-Lack of forum updates (the standard forum for example has "closed forums" but they still exist with no purpose)
-Enforcing rules inconsistently (EX: no backseat mod warning here, yet the thread is closed)
-Closing threads when no rules have been broken (see CI)
Though the former statement is debateably true, the latter has no evidence backing it, and as I have already said, I only see more and more poor decisions by the staff (in general) being made. I was mostly trying to say, the time for inaction is over; something needs to be done.
What I meant by my latter statement is that the lack of information will get people riled up. The fact that Harkius is defending the losing position with "there's no evidence of wrongdoing" when all signs point to wrongdoing, is only compounding people's a) interest in this topic and b) lack of faith in the staff.
I think to clarify, what I should've said was "I'm not going to deny that the lack of information is part of the reason an interest is garnered in this thread, but the other reason is exactly what Taylor stated:" <insert quote>.
I appreciate your clarity on this, and will wait as patiently as I can to hear this story.
I'm not going to deny that the lack of information is the cause of all the hubbub, but it is certainly compounded by Taylor's statement.You all know me, I could write a thesis about the information I've seen already, but I'll save it for Kijin's topic at a later time hopefully.
However, for people who essentially feel the same way as what I just stated, it's understandable that they would give someone who they feel was a pretty decent mod the benefit of the doubt, rather than the staff who appears to have "kicked him out" so to say.
If it wasn't that big of a deal, then why do you have something to hide? If it's because Kijin requested that you not say anything, you could at least make a comment on that. If that's not the case, I've already invited him to comment on the issue.
Actually, I think a ☺☺☺☺storm is exactly what needs to happen.
Maybe if you don't want people to accuse the staff of MTGS of being conspirators and playing favorites, you should simply elaborate on what happened. You say he will not like that, but I don't think anyone has directly asked him publicly.
So Kijin, what exactly happened?
Sorcery (R)
Draw X cards then destroy up to Y target creatures, where Y is the number of cards in your hand.
"I've learned a great many things while traveling the Blind Eternities... The least of these is how to kill you."
Creature - Horror (U)
When Culling Illithid enters the battlefield, target opponent discards a card for each card named Culling Illithid you control and you draw a card for each card named Culling Illithid you control.
Planeswalker - Phaaze (M)
/+1\: Draw a card. You lose 1 life.
|0|: Target creature gets -X/-X until end of turn, where X is Phaaze's loyalty.
\-1/: Search target player's library for a card and exile it. Then that player shuffles their library.
\-4/: Take an extra turn after this one.
Basically imagine your local town's newspaper, but then apply it to the site here in general.
I'd probably read it.
As for the forum software, bringing in more functionality by upgrading I believe far outweighs the tweaks done to the system... Maybe that's partially because I don't know the details about that, but I do know a bit out vBulletin, Invision, etc. Some of the changes I do see are not difficult to implement as far as I'm aware.
As far as being used to the way things are, that might be true, but change is happening IRL all the time. I think the forum software changing would not be that big a deal.
Even if it people do agree it is a good idea, there's been the sentiment for some time now that improvements in the forum software are not in sight.
Just take the 30 seconds to type out a short paragraph. If a users efforts take longer than that length of time, you can take a fraction of it to say thanks.
As for me...
Heedless Exhumer 4
Artifact - Fortification
Fortified land has "T, Sacrifice this land: Draw a card."
Fortify 2
The Dalic failed to realize that their discoveries were just as fleeting as the land they were buried in.
I don't get offended easily lol, especially when I'm looking for honesty. I'm not quite sure what you mean by pauper cards... Like, paper magic you mean? I'm aware that it is very modern and even though you don't like it, that was actually what I was going for, so I suppose I'll take it as a compliment. :D. Yes, as an alterer it doesn't leave much workspace, but it's a way for players who enjoy the art of MtG to see more of it, hence the reduction of the frame padding. There's always the ability to work in the "pop out" onto the cards though ;).
The most controversial of my changes was the edit of the typeline to include symbols as representations of supertypes. The argument "players already have enough to memorize" came up in my last template. However, the supertypes are already very easy to understand, and have already been associated with some sort of symbol thanks to Future Sight. For newer players, it's not hard to associate the images with the text in my opinion.
Yes, the idea was basically to remove the "fluff" which makes better alters possible, in order to gain more practical benefits. While somewhat detrimental to artists, keep in mind there is also a 30px border all the way around the actual card.
Releasing this as a "throwback" (retaining the practical improvements, but keeping the current textures etc on cards) would not be difficult at all... In fact I rather like that idea. I think I'll make that my next project ;).