Magic: The Baseballing just feels as though Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro are REALLY desperate to outdo the Sports Card Industry which is very reflective of what they're doing with Magic: The Gathering right now. Too bad these won't be in wrappers with chewing gum like in the good ole' days.
As you may have already heard, several competitors at the 2023 Pokémon World Championships were disqualified due to using hacked Pokémon for the VGC event for Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet yet there were no disqualifications for competitors running Pokémon that were bred from a 6 31 IV Ditto that was either modded or hacked due to how super rare they are to get a hold of let alone the fact that there's no real way to trace the data of the offspring back to the 6 31 IV Ditto because Nintendo / Game Freak never coded the Mainline games in a way where it was possible. Chris Brown (@4Chris_Brown on X formerly known as Twitter no thanks to Elon Musk) whose the Director and Global eSports & Events Producer is turning a blind eye over this situation because he knows there's nothing he can do about it. Meanwhile Pokémon Company International is covering for the cheaters and hiding all of the cheating problems outside of Japan from the Pokémon Company and Game Freak to where when it finally goes into Japan we're now seeing disqualifications like we've never seen before while the cheaters themselves complain on Social Media claiming they aren't at fault when they actually are.
It should also be noted that people who mod and hack their own Pokémon are sophisticated enough nowadays to where they've found loop holes to bypass the security checks of Pokémon Bank on the Nintendo 3DS and Pokémon HOME on the Nintendo Switch for being able to detect Pokémon that are modded or hacked to where it's almost impossible to tell If a certain Pokémon is legitimate and the sad part is that most competitive Pokémon are 99% illegal because of Ditto. Ever wonder why Ditto is the most traded Pokémon in the Mainline Pokémon games even on Pokémon GO! since it's actually backwards compatible with Pokémon Sword & Shield, Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, and Scarlet & Violet? Because of breeding. Even If you breed with a 6 31 IV Ditto for a competitive Pokémon team despite all the tools and resources available in the Mainline games it's still considered cheating If the Ditto is illegitimate even If the offspring is hatched within the official game and the fact that Nintendo / Game Freak have made the odds of legitimately catching a 6 31 IV Ditto through 6 star raids in Pokémon Sword & Shield and Pokémon Scarlet & Violet to be almost impossible.
Jasco Games has rebranded as UVS Games and announced new IPs for the UniVersus CCG system.
The rebranding occurs as Jasco tries to open up a new chapter in their company's history. Jasco Games has been around since 1998 and had primarily been known for their UniVersus Collectible Card Games. About a year and a half after being bought by POW! Interactive Holdings Corp. (see "POW!"), Jasco will now rebrand as UVS Games, which synergizes with the branding of the UniVersus CCG line of games. The rebrand will also come with a new logo and card back for UniVersus CCG games (old card backs can be used in the same decks as new ones, as long as the deck is sleeved).
Along with a new name, a new logo, and new card backs, UVS Games announced a new product type for their IPs, the Challenger Series. The Challenger Series is a new UniVersus CCG preconstructed deck and collector's booster product type designed to carry different IPs. The first two products for this series will be Challenger Series: Cowboy Bebop and Challenger Series: Trigun Stampede. Trigun Stampede is an entirely new IP to the UniVersus CCG product line.
“Our recent rebrand to UVS Games with a new logo and card back will have players buzzing with anticipation," said Paul Wharshavsky, co-founder UVS Games. "Cowboy Bebop, Trigun Stampede, and My Hero Academia franchises coming to the UniVersus card-collecting franchise marks the beginning of our new brand UVS Games.”
My Hero Academia will also get a new CCG set with the UVS Games branding upgrade. My Hero Academia: Jet Burn will feature the character Hawks as well as a new type of UniVersus card: alternate art character cards. Jet Burn will also be the first release to feature the new UniVersus card logo and card frame. This set will hit stores in time for the holiday season.
I did read a review of Disney's Lorcana over on ICv2 from an article by Scott Thorne of his Rolling for Initiative series and his assessment on Lorcana is this:
Players exert cards in order to use them rather than by tapping or exhausting them like in other card games. The game's design allows any card to be put in the Inkwell to put more cards into play. This generally avoids the problem of not having enough resources early in the game to get cards out of the player's hand and onto the table.
The biggest major problem with Lorcana's gameplay is the lack of interaction between players. Much like KeyForge, the focus is on each player taking actions, in the case of Lorcana, Questing to generate Lore, which a player can do all on their own. Unless a player wants to do so, they could win the game by exerting cards each turn to accumulate Lore, not attacking the other player at all, unless they wish to hinder their opponent's gaining on Lore.
Assuming younger players are the target for Lorcana, I could see not wanting to encourage attacking and even when a player attacks another player’s characters, a defeated character is not defeated or destroyed but Banished from the game. We have seen a decent amount of interest in the game, but I think most of it comes from people who want to buy the cards for the art not for the gameplay. Long term, Lorcana will appeal more to Disney fans than game players.
My personal opinion on Lorcana on the other hand based on gameplay on YouTube videos, decks are mostly aggro and mid-range with no aspect of control whatsoever though they do have a form of ramp and resource acceleration like we've seen in other card games. A friend of mine told me that the game encourages more slow play which I don't necessarily see as a bad thing especially when that used to be more widely accepted in the Pokémon TCG.
The last time we saw leaks was from spoilers for Lord of the Rings and Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro didn't bother to call the Pinkertons to handle the situation and now I'm wondering If they'll take initiative this time around with Wilds of Eldraine unless the situation with March of the Machine: Aftermath was an attempt to chase clout in order to draw attention to themselves.
Back when I first got into Magic: The Gathering when the latest release was 8th Edition and Onslaught I didn't care for the story or lore of Magic: The Gathering until Planeswalkers were first introduced in Lorwyn and it was akin to the impact The Avengers had in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) but before then I didn't care about the story and lore of Magic: The Gathering other than thinking that Urza was a hero when in actuality he was a villain and the Weatherlight were a swashbuckling crew of heroes out to save the multiverse that was once known as Dominia now renamed Dominaria to defeat Yawgmoth the leader of the Phyrexians only to repeat the story again with the Planeswalkers leading up to defeating Nicol Bolas.
The mechanical identity of Magic: The Gathering was what really brought me into the game during a time when Yu-Gi-Oh! was going through it's own renaissance period in the late 90's and early 2000's that would eventually peter out until it found it's own identity so to speak. It's that same mechanical identity of Magic: The Gathering that despite lacking religious neutrality especially for Christian gamers like myself I still enjoy the intricacies, enigma, and genius behind this design by Richard Garfield that ushered in and pioneered a gaming genre that most gamers nowadays take for granted compared to video games where it doesn't have the kind of fellowship and in-person social interaction with other players outside of online play that I enjoy.
If they do cover Final Fantasy VII for Universes Beyond then expect Tifa Lockhart to be censored unlike Chun-Li for the Street Fighter II crossover. I get why Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro didn't want to touch Power Rangers for Magic: The Gathering due to the tight grip Saban has on the IP let alone the late Jason David Frank's fallout with Hasbro. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would've been a better choice than Fallout IMO and actually breathe more life to the Ninjutsu mechanic. With Jurassic Park already confirmed I'm expecting Owen Brady and Ian Malcolm cards. That being said, people need to remember that these Universes Beyond IP crossovers are nothing more than a money grab. Universes Beyond has been a very good product for Magic: The Gathering but it has diluted the rest of the sets as they're far weaker than Lord of the Rings for example. Of course they have to make it powerful otherwise why buy the IP? IP's are not cheap. When Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro are buying out IP's in the quantity that they're buying them then they'll cost more and more money.
While Universes Beyond will bring new players to Magic: The Gathering the old players will leave. The quality will go down as there will be more gimmicks involved. They have to make up the money that they pay the companies behind these IP's. These are very expensive franchises especially Final Fantasy to buy the license for. If your Paper Trading Card Game / Collectible Card Game isn't strong enough creatively to stand on it's own then the easiest solution is to just get a popular video game series, movie franchise, comic, anime / manga, or TV show and just go with it. Is this sustainable? I don't think so. Eventually you're going to run out of good licenses before you start bringing in the bad licenses that people hate. Often times we see this in other Paper Trading Card Games / Collectible Card Games where the games get discontinued due to running out of source material and the players are set back to square one again losing all the money they've spent on them. At least companies are getting smarter on how to keep their games going without running out of source material by following the Weiss Schwarz business model by Bushiroad.
American Actor Paul Reubens most famously known as Pee-Wee Herman has sadly passed away at the age of 70 from Cancer. He had the diagnosis for six years but didn't reveal it. He began his acting career in the 1970's as an improvisational comedian and stage actor with the Groundlings comedy troupe in Los Angeles, California. However it was his role as Pee-Wee Herman where he hit mainstream success.
Reubens then eventually starred as Pee-Wee Herman in the hit 1980's TV series Pee-Wee's Playhouse, The Pee-Wee Herman Show, and the Pee-Wee's Big Adventure and Pee-Wee's Big Holiday films. He stopped playing as Pee-Wee back in 1991, when he was arrested for indecent exposure at an adult movie theater. He eventually returned to the role in 2010 with the revival of the Pee-Wee Herman Show.
The recent passing of Paul Reubens really hit home for me since I remember growing up as a kid in the 1980's watching Pee-Wee's Playhouse on Saturday Mornings on TV and even had the old wind-up toy which I also got of Steve Urkel from Family Matters a decade later. Pee-Wee's Big Adventure was a real blast to watch and very nostalgic where the chase scene in Hollywood was very reminiscent of the chase scene from Michael Jackson's music video for "Speed Demon" with the Claymation characters that were HUGELY popular at the time.
I also got around to watching Pee-Wee's Big Holiday on Netflix before he passed away with Joe Manganiello guest starring in it and it was just as good as Pee-Wee's Big Adventure decades before it. I just hope that Paul accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior before he passed away so that he can continue to bring joy and laughter to people in Heaven the same way he did for us as Pee-Wee Herman here on Earth. This man is a precious treasure that will be greatly missed. He was America's answer to the United Kingdom's Mr. Bean played by Rowan Atkinson.
The most interesting card here is River Song--drawing cards from the bottom of your deck rather than the top.
I'm honestly surprised it took the game THIS long for us to finally get cards that allow us to draw from the bottom of our library instead of from the top of our library. We don't see effects like this often in most Paper Trading Card Games / Collectible Card Games with the classic Marvel/DC Vs. System TCG being the main exception with a card known as, Thinking Outside the Box. It was an Ongoing Plot Twist that allows you to draw from the bottom of your deck instead of from the top of your deck.
The United States Congress has resurrected the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), a bill that would increase surveillance and restrict access to information in the name of protecting children online. KOSA was introduced in 2022 but failed to gain traction, and today its authors, Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), have reintroduced it with slight modifications. Though some of these changes were made in response to over 100 civil society organizations and LGBTQ+ rights groups’ criticisms of the bill, its latest version is still troubling. Today’s version of KOSA would still require surveillance of anyone sixteen and under. It would put the tools of censorship in the hands of state attorneys general, and would greatly endanger the rights, and safety, of young people online. And KOSA’s burdens will affect adults, too, who will likely face hurdles to accessing legal content online as a result of the bill.
KOSA Still Requires Filtering and Blocking of Legal Speech
Online child safety is a complex issue, but KOSA attempts to boil it down to a single solution. The bill holds platforms liable if their designs and services do not “prevent and mitigate” a list of societal ills: anxiety, depression, eating disorders, substance use disorders, physical violence, online bullying and harassment, sexual exploitation and abuse, and suicidal behaviors. Additionally, platforms would be responsible for patterns of use that indicate or encourage addiction-like behaviors.
Deciding what designs or services lead to these problems would primarily be left up to the Federal Trade Commission and 50 individual state attorneys general to decide. Ultimately, this puts platforms that serve young people in an impossible situation: without clear guidance regarding what sort of design or content might lead to these harms, they would likely censor any discussions that could make them liable. To be clear: though the bill’s language is about “designs and services,” the designs of a platform are not causing eating disorders. As a result, KOSA would make platforms liable for the content they show minors, full stop. It will be based on vague requirements that any Attorney General could, more or less, make up.
Attorneys General Would Decide What Content is Dangerous To Young People
KOSA’s co-author, Sen. Blackburn of Tennessee, has referred to education about race discrimination as “dangerous for kids.” Many states have agreed, and recently moved to limit public education about the history of race, gender, and sexuality discrimination. If KOSA passes, platforms are likely to preemptively block conversations that discuss these topics, as well as discussions about substance use, suicide, and eating disorders. As we’ve written in our previous commentary on the bill, KOSA could result in loss of access to information that a majority of people would agree is not dangerous. Again, issues like substance abuse, eating disorders, and depression are complex societal issues, and there is not clear agreement on their causes or their solutions. To pick just one example: in some communities, safe injection sites are seen as part of a solution to substance abuse; in others, they are seen as part of the problem. Under KOSA, could a platform be sued for displaying content about them—or about needle exchanges, naloxone, or other harm reduction techniques?
The latest version of KOSA tries, but ultimately fails, to address this problem in two ways: first, by clarifying that the bill shouldn’t stop a platform or its users from “providing resources for the prevention or mitigation” of its listed harms; and second, by adding that claims under the law should be consistent with evidence-informed medical information.
Unfortunately, were an Attorney General to claim that content about trans healthcare (for example) poses risks to minors’ health, they would have no shortage of ‘evidence-informed' medical information on which to base their assertion. Numerous states have laws on the books claiming that gender-affirming care for trans youth is child abuse. In an article for the American Conservative titled “How Big Tech Turns Kids Trans,” the authors point to numerous studies that indicate gender-affirming care is dangerous, despite leading medical groups recognizing the medical necessity of treatments for gender dysphoria. In the same article, the authors laud KOSA, which would prohibit “content that poses risks to minors’ physical and mental health.”
The same issue exists on both sides of the political spectrum. KOSA is ambiguous enough that an Attorney General who wanted to censor content regarding gun ownership, or Christianity, could argue that it has harmful effects on young people.
KOSA Would Still Lead to Age Verification On Platforms
Another change to KOSA comes in response to concerns that the law would lead to age verification requirements for platforms. For a platform to know whether or not it is liable for its impact on minors, it must, of course, know whether or not minors use its platform, and who they are. Age verification mandates create many issues — in particular, they undermine anonymity by requiring all users to upload identity verification documentation and share private data, no matter their age. Other types of “age assurance” tools such as age estimation also require users to upload biometric information such as their photos, and have accuracy issues. Ultimately, no method is sufficiently reliable, offers complete coverage of the population, and has respect for the protection of individuals' data and privacy and their security. France’s National Commission on Informatics and Liberty, CNIL, reached this conclusion in a recent analysis of current age verification methods.
In response to these concerns, KOSA’s authors have made two small changes, but they’re unlikely to stop platforms from implementing age verification. Earlier versions would have held platforms liable if they “knew or should have known” that an impacted user was sixteen years of age or younger. The latest version of KOSA adds “reasonableness” to this requirement, holding platforms liable if they “know or reasonably should know” a user is a minor. But legally speaking, this doesn't result in giving platforms any better guidance.
The second change is to add explicit language that age verification is not required under the “Privacy Protections” section of the bill. The bill now states that a covered platform is not required to implement an age gating or age verification functionality. But there is essentially no outcome where sites don’t implement age verification. There’s no way for platforms to block nebulous categories of content for minors without explicitly requiring age verification. If a 16-year-old user truthfully identifies herself, the law will hold platforms liable, unless they filter and block content. If a 16-year-old user identifies herself as an adult, and the platform does not use age verification, then it will still be held liable, because it should have “reasonably known” the user’s age.
A platform could, alternatively, skip age verification and simply institute blocking and filtering of certain types of content for all users regardless of age—which would be a terrible blow for speech online for everyone. So despite these bandaids on the bill, it still leaves platforms with no choices except to institute heavy-handed censorship and age verification requirements. These impacts would affect not just young people, but every user of the platform.
There Are Better Ways To Fix The Internet
While we appreciate that lawmakers have responded to concerns raised about the bill, its main requirements—that platforms must “prevent and mitigate” complex issues that researchers don’t even agree the platforms are responsible for in the first place—will lead to a more siloed, and more censored, internet. We also stand by our previous criticisms of KOSA—that it unreasonably buckets all young people into a single category, and that it requires surveillance of minors by parents. They remain troubling aspects of the law.
There is no question that some elements of social media today are toxic to users. Companies want users to spend as much time on their platforms as possible, because they make money from targeted ad sales, and these ad sales are fueled by invasive data collection. EFF has long supported stronger competition laws and comprehensive data privacy legislation in part because they can open the field to competitors to today’s social media options, and force platforms to innovate, offering more user choice. If users are unhappy with the content or design of current platforms, they should be able to move to other options that offer different forms of content moderation, better privacy protections, and other features that improve the experience for everyone, including young people.
KOSA would not enhance the ability of users to choose where they spend their time. Instead, it would shrink the number of options, by making strict requirements that only today’s largest, most profitable platforms could follow. It would solidify today’s Big Tech giants, while forcing them to collect more private data on all users. It would force them to spy on young people, and it would hand government the power to limit what topics they can see and discuss online.
It is not a safety bill—it is a surveillance and censorship bill. Please tell your Senators and representatives not to pass it.
What really surprises me the most behind this article from GameStop is that the ESRB spokesperson makes no mention of the young adults they're supposedly planning on trying to authorize the use of this technology on. If a young adult is wanting to play a video game that's rated E for everyone by the ESRB then why should they be subject to this facial recognition technology while the children are exempt from this? Makes absolutely no sense to me.
Video Games that are rated T for Teen and M for Mature is where this gets fuzzy. They're obviously doing this due to the effect that Video Games might have on people committing mass shootings. The Columbine High School massacre back in 1999 was one of the very few cases where id Software's Doom was a direct influence to the shooting that took place. There hasn't been another case where a particular Video Game influenced an act of violence.
The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for approval to use facial scanning technology to help determine how old a user is. Using something called Privacy-Protective Facial Estimation, a person's age would be estimated based on live scan to verify they are old enough to pass an age gate--though it would not determine who the specific person is.
According to an ESRB letter submitted to the FTC (via GameIndustry.biz), the ESRB will partner with Yoti, a digital identity firm, and SuperAwesome, an Epic Games subsidiary.
One major concern this may have is storing photos--particularly those of minors--but according to the filing, "Images are immediately, permanently deleted, and not used by Yoti for training purposes." The ESRB confirmed this with GameSpot, as well. Additionally, the scans are meant to be done by the parents or guardians, rather than the minor who was presented with an age gate. Attempting to sign up for a service using this tool will result a message asking for the parent or guardian to consent.
An ESRB spokesperson told GameSpot the following:
"First and foremost, this application is not to authorize the use of this technology with children. Full stop. Nor does this software take and store 'selfies' of users or attempt to confirm the identity of users. Furthermore, this application makes no mention of using age estimation to prevent children from purchasing and/or downloading restrictively rated video games, nor do we intend to recommend its use in that way."
Facial age tech uses "computer vision and machine learning technology" to estimate one's age by looking at the "patterns in an image of their face," the ESRB told the FTC in its letter. Once the picture is taken, it's converted "into numbers, and compares those numbers to patterns in its training dataset that are associated with known ages."
This is just a gross violation of the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. If this does get approved there would be a federal injunction. I can't realistically see most video game companies forcing their customers to facially scan themselves to play Triple A video games as they would having to pay for DLC and microtransactions. Sony and Microsoft I could probably see themselves getting away with this sort of practice but Nintendo? Hell no! This is also an invasion of privacy as well as 1st Amendment rights. Does the ESRB think that by trying to get the FTC to sway to their demands that facial recognition through Triple A Video Games will cause a significant drop in mass shootings supposedly caused by violent video games?
This company is bleeding for money right now, they know that the boycott against Magic: The Gathering is working and are now purposefully exploiting Magic players and collectors who enjoy cracking booster packs and Whales who see an investment opportunity hoarding sealed product with these serialized cards only to chase after something that they may never profit in their lifetime.
Dude, you make some valid points and bring up valuable topics. But when you say stuff like this the only option available to me is to chuckle to myself and dismiss your entire argument as not worth getting into. I'm ignoring that impulse for now. When you use such absurdly wrong hyperbole it diminishes your entire argument. You can't say a company making money hand over fist is bleeding for money or that a boycott is working. It's too easy to check this kind of information and it's so overwhelmingly wrong that it calls into question every other point you make. The same thing with the doomsaying and fear-mongering about 1:1 cards one day being mechanically unique.
True. I think you and I can both agree that Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro actively engaging in getting people to gamble through purchasing tons of sealed product to pull lottery tickets instead of actual game pieces to play in decks is unhealthy for Paper Magic going forward. You're right. We don't really know If a boycott against Paper Magic is actually working yet when I hear reports of more people selling off their old Magic collections to Rudy on YouTube or other buyers outside of Local Game Stores (LGSs) you have to really wonder If this is just business as usual or If there's something much deeper going on that nobody else is talking about. Apparently a lot of buyers and stores are no longer handing out cash for old Magic collections expecting these sellers to spend their store credit buying other products at their store when they have zero interest to because they want to spend the money how they want to instead of it being used as store credit.
The U.S. economy isn't what it was before the pandemic and now we've been thrust into high inflation and rising interest rates making it much harder for people to buy and hold onto anything collectible and tangible so it makes sense that they'd be looking to sell in order to make ends meet. The Mainstream Media won't say that we're in a recession right now but that's because they don't want to scare Wall Street into panic buying and selling crypto, bitcoin, and stocks like they did back in 2008. With the way Magic: The Gathering is going right now I'm not the least bit surprised that a lot of buyers and stores would have so much inventory of people selling off their collections that they simply wouldn't have the money to pay out all these sellers causing other people looking to sell be forced to accept store credit instead of cash. They invested so much into the game itself that they lack the consumer confidence with other card games that might potentially die out.
It should also be noted that people who mod and hack their own Pokémon are sophisticated enough nowadays to where they've found loop holes to bypass the security checks of Pokémon Bank on the Nintendo 3DS and Pokémon HOME on the Nintendo Switch for being able to detect Pokémon that are modded or hacked to where it's almost impossible to tell If a certain Pokémon is legitimate and the sad part is that most competitive Pokémon are 99% illegal because of Ditto. Ever wonder why Ditto is the most traded Pokémon in the Mainline Pokémon games even on Pokémon GO! since it's actually backwards compatible with Pokémon Sword & Shield, Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, and Scarlet & Violet? Because of breeding. Even If you breed with a 6 31 IV Ditto for a competitive Pokémon team despite all the tools and resources available in the Mainline games it's still considered cheating If the Ditto is illegitimate even If the offspring is hatched within the official game and the fact that Nintendo / Game Freak have made the odds of legitimately catching a 6 31 IV Ditto through 6 star raids in Pokémon Sword & Shield and Pokémon Scarlet & Violet to be almost impossible.
My personal opinion on Lorcana on the other hand based on gameplay on YouTube videos, decks are mostly aggro and mid-range with no aspect of control whatsoever though they do have a form of ramp and resource acceleration like we've seen in other card games. A friend of mine told me that the game encourages more slow play which I don't necessarily see as a bad thing especially when that used to be more widely accepted in the Pokémon TCG.
The mechanical identity of Magic: The Gathering was what really brought me into the game during a time when Yu-Gi-Oh! was going through it's own renaissance period in the late 90's and early 2000's that would eventually peter out until it found it's own identity so to speak. It's that same mechanical identity of Magic: The Gathering that despite lacking religious neutrality especially for Christian gamers like myself I still enjoy the intricacies, enigma, and genius behind this design by Richard Garfield that ushered in and pioneered a gaming genre that most gamers nowadays take for granted compared to video games where it doesn't have the kind of fellowship and in-person social interaction with other players outside of online play that I enjoy.
While Universes Beyond will bring new players to Magic: The Gathering the old players will leave. The quality will go down as there will be more gimmicks involved. They have to make up the money that they pay the companies behind these IP's. These are very expensive franchises especially Final Fantasy to buy the license for. If your Paper Trading Card Game / Collectible Card Game isn't strong enough creatively to stand on it's own then the easiest solution is to just get a popular video game series, movie franchise, comic, anime / manga, or TV show and just go with it. Is this sustainable? I don't think so. Eventually you're going to run out of good licenses before you start bringing in the bad licenses that people hate. Often times we see this in other Paper Trading Card Games / Collectible Card Games where the games get discontinued due to running out of source material and the players are set back to square one again losing all the money they've spent on them. At least companies are getting smarter on how to keep their games going without running out of source material by following the Weiss Schwarz business model by Bushiroad.
American Actor Paul Reubens most famously known as Pee-Wee Herman has sadly passed away at the age of 70 from Cancer. He had the diagnosis for six years but didn't reveal it. He began his acting career in the 1970's as an improvisational comedian and stage actor with the Groundlings comedy troupe in Los Angeles, California. However it was his role as Pee-Wee Herman where he hit mainstream success.
Reubens then eventually starred as Pee-Wee Herman in the hit 1980's TV series Pee-Wee's Playhouse, The Pee-Wee Herman Show, and the Pee-Wee's Big Adventure and Pee-Wee's Big Holiday films. He stopped playing as Pee-Wee back in 1991, when he was arrested for indecent exposure at an adult movie theater. He eventually returned to the role in 2010 with the revival of the Pee-Wee Herman Show.
The recent passing of Paul Reubens really hit home for me since I remember growing up as a kid in the 1980's watching Pee-Wee's Playhouse on Saturday Mornings on TV and even had the old wind-up toy which I also got of Steve Urkel from Family Matters a decade later. Pee-Wee's Big Adventure was a real blast to watch and very nostalgic where the chase scene in Hollywood was very reminiscent of the chase scene from Michael Jackson's music video for "Speed Demon" with the Claymation characters that were HUGELY popular at the time.
I also got around to watching Pee-Wee's Big Holiday on Netflix before he passed away with Joe Manganiello guest starring in it and it was just as good as Pee-Wee's Big Adventure decades before it. I just hope that Paul accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior before he passed away so that he can continue to bring joy and laughter to people in Heaven the same way he did for us as Pee-Wee Herman here on Earth. This man is a precious treasure that will be greatly missed. He was America's answer to the United Kingdom's Mr. Bean played by Rowan Atkinson.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/kids-online-safety-act-still-huge-danger-our-rights-online
https://act.eff.org/action/tell-congress-kosa-will-censor-the-internet-but-won-t-help-kids
Discuss.
Video Games that are rated T for Teen and M for Mature is where this gets fuzzy. They're obviously doing this due to the effect that Video Games might have on people committing mass shootings. The Columbine High School massacre back in 1999 was one of the very few cases where id Software's Doom was a direct influence to the shooting that took place. There hasn't been another case where a particular Video Game influenced an act of violence.
Why make it work for Slivers when it's really just a 5 color "Creature Types Matter" Commander?
I was also about to mention Leeches earlier due to how big Poison and Infect are right now but then realized it's actually on the Reserve List.
The U.S. economy isn't what it was before the pandemic and now we've been thrust into high inflation and rising interest rates making it much harder for people to buy and hold onto anything collectible and tangible so it makes sense that they'd be looking to sell in order to make ends meet. The Mainstream Media won't say that we're in a recession right now but that's because they don't want to scare Wall Street into panic buying and selling crypto, bitcoin, and stocks like they did back in 2008. With the way Magic: The Gathering is going right now I'm not the least bit surprised that a lot of buyers and stores would have so much inventory of people selling off their collections that they simply wouldn't have the money to pay out all these sellers causing other people looking to sell be forced to accept store credit instead of cash. They invested so much into the game itself that they lack the consumer confidence with other card games that might potentially die out.