Are you really suggesting that casual players don't buy boxes? I'm really not sure that's correct. By definition, we have no idea what people are doing in their own houses/cafeterias/whatever.
And besides, Wizards of the Coast let slip a statistic a couple of years ago to the effect that less than 15% of Magic players have ever been to a tournament. That's ever, in their entire life.
Didn't meant to imply that casual players don't buy boxes, although admittedly it does blow my mind that anyone would spend $100s on boxes of intrinsically worthless cardboard just to play casual kitchen table magic with. Then again I'm not exactly the arbiter of reality, and people are free to spend their money however they want, so it is what it is I guess. I still think this game would cease to exist without a competitive scene and WOTC needs to do a better job of nurturing that, but I'd be fine with you disagreeing with me on that topic since I don't have any strong data either way.
Thanks for the WOTC data, I wasn't aware of that. That number seems surprisingly low to me, I would have expected it to be more in the 30-40% range. I'll try to use that to adjust my opinion on future matters.
The reason this set is an EDH set is because the majority of players play the game casually. They don't play this game like spikes or even competitive players and they tend to look at sets for flavor and abilities. CMC doesn't matter: What matters is if the cards themselves are matching a theme or flavor that the casual players of today who just kitchen table have been missing. The god cards, the desert theme, etc, are all unique and the artwork has been fantastic on all of the cards in the set. In a multiplayer match up it's very likely players will get to see and use a lot of the cards in HOU if they are playing a slower game format. That is why this is an EDH set.
I think your definition of EDH set sounds a bit silly. Competitive cards aren't limited from seeing play casually (the opposite is not true). Every set has casual appeal, so literally every set could be labelled an EDH set, rendering the definition worthless.
Furthermore, I think you're making the same mistake as the above poster by implicitly claiming that EDH is either inherently a casual or a competitive format. It's a mixture of both, you can choose to play it casually or you can choose to play it competitively (whether that be competitive multiplayer, Commander 1v1, or French EDH). There's no reason to call EDH a casual format, it's just a format. You can play any format casually. A better term might just be "casual set".
Also worth noting that I more or less agree with Xcric on this topic. I'm not particularly interested in letting WOTC off the hook for bland sets with a poor limited environment and minimal-to-no play in competitive formats (standard, modern, edh, whatever). Kitchen table magic is fine, but it's not what sells boxes, it's not what drives attendance at LGS events. It's not what keeps eternal formats from stagnating. I think competitive play is a much bigger part of this game than you give it credit for, and I'd rather be overly critical and be pleasantly surprised that I was wrong later than be complacent and risk the community giving up on the game because of mediocre set after mediocre set (not saying that's where we're at, but also not saying that that's NOT where we're at either).
You seem to have missed the entire second half of the post and just cherry picked. I said you may have a different way of looking at it and even admitted that there is more than one way of playing the game. You just cut and pasted the first half of the post without the second half.
Here it is for reference since you didn't seem to read it...
Now if you primarily play one vs one or are more of a Johnny / Competitive EDH player, this set may not be an EDH set to you and that is the feeling I'm getting from your posts. On that front, however, you're basically constrained by the same limitations modern and other non-rotating competitive players are so Atlus kind of shrugs.
I left off the second part because it felt superfluous to your main point, but if you're telling me it's relevant then it must be. I'm a little confused, because it reads to me as if you're saying "EDH set means whatever you want it to mean" which doesn't jive with your previous paragraph, and (again) is a bit of a non-definition. Could you elaborate on your point a bit more, because I feel like I'm missing something and mischaracterizing your stance.
I guess I can take solace in the fact that this will probably be insta-banned as commander in French EDH and I will never have to play against it.
Other than that it seems like a pretty mediocre card in multiplayer, but tribal has always been a mediocre strategy in multiplayer anyways so can't expect much.
Didn't meant to imply that casual players don't buy boxes, although admittedly it does blow my mind that anyone would spend $100s on boxes of intrinsically worthless cardboard just to play casual kitchen table magic with. Then again I'm not exactly the arbiter of reality, and people are free to spend their money however they want, so it is what it is I guess. I still think this game would cease to exist without a competitive scene and WOTC needs to do a better job of nurturing that, but I'd be fine with you disagreeing with me on that topic since I don't have any strong data either way.
Thanks for the WOTC data, I wasn't aware of that. That number seems surprisingly low to me, I would have expected it to be more in the 30-40% range. I'll try to use that to adjust my opinion on future matters.
I left off the second part because it felt superfluous to your main point, but if you're telling me it's relevant then it must be. I'm a little confused, because it reads to me as if you're saying "EDH set means whatever you want it to mean" which doesn't jive with your previous paragraph, and (again) is a bit of a non-definition. Could you elaborate on your point a bit more, because I feel like I'm missing something and mischaracterizing your stance.
Other than that it seems like a pretty mediocre card in multiplayer, but tribal has always been a mediocre strategy in multiplayer anyways so can't expect much.