That is pretty much how I envisioned Urza to look like when I first read the books...
Wow, looking back through some of the old Urza artwork, I can see a lot of similarities between the two now that you mention it. I doubt wizards is that clever, but it's almost like he's a reincarnation of Urza or something. Again, probably not - it's all blatant Izzet styles in many places. But boy, if you swap the pink colors for red when used in Urza art (like the newer Urza's Rage), it'd be easy to say "oh, it's an older version of Ral Zarek".
I can confirm that Chris Rahn has prints of the time walk art at his booth this week/weekend at gencon. And they are sexy. Sadly no FoW at Matt stewarts' though
Oh nice! I usually toss those smaller boxes, but I think you might have just sold me on a good way to get some use out of them. And many thanks for the template, sir.
I actually do something similar with the rigid UltraPro deckboxes, since the normal way of storing these things really sets it so you only see a lackluster side of the box without much decoration or much image at all. I play kitchen table casually for the most part, so I apologize in advance for corny pun deck names and absurd themes.
I know it's a super-long shot, but I'm REALLY hoping Chris Rahn and/or Matt Stewart has prints of this at GenCon on Thursday. I would donate a few organs to get it hanging on my wall.
Also, speaking of, Matt Stewart updated his blog showing some sketches/studies of his work on the FoW piece.
Ah, sorry about the TGA format. Here's a JPG, and yeah, the artist name is a part of the screenshot but I would be willing to shop it out if you/someone would like.
Here's a screenshot of the Jason Chan one above. I captured it from the loading screen of DOTP2012 just in case I wanted to use it later (also for a digital alter, heh).
I'm working on finishing up a ZEN land template. I've been putting off making one due to real life work, and finally have the time. My goal was to make a template that supports a dual land type, such as Marsh Flats, Cascade Bluffs, etc. Anywho, while typing out the texts, I've discovered something interesting that may be my printer's fault, or perhaps some export setting I have in InDesign. Or, with luck (and hence my post) someone here knows exactly what is going on.
When I send anything to print with a blue mana symbol (be it small hybrid or normal sized) it will print as transparent and not black or the chosen color.
I've tried many 'cheats', but anything that prints the font results in the same problem (so something like a color overlay is still a bust) whether it be direct from PDF, PSD, or even right from InDesign. I suppose there's the option of creating a symbol for blue mana as a separate object or creating a vector piece in another software, but that destroys a lot of the intuitive process of creating a template for others to use.
Alternatively, I'm willing to try another font, so if someone(s) can suggest a font that meets good standards with hybrid mana options, please let me know.
Thanks in advance, and here's a screenshot of early progress as a reward for reading my walls of text. I shopped in the borders real quick (hence the jagged edges and red showing through in places) just to illustrate what I'm going for as the end product.
The point of those book previews it to get people to promote more Wizards product so they can make more money. If they were to give us dividers, there's nothing to cross-promote. Now, whether or not people actually buy the books afterward is another story, but the business logic behind it is understandable.
No no, I love the book previews and I understand and agree with why they preview them, I'm just saying they should cut some cost and put it on the site as a PDF or something and spend the costs in the fat pack more wisely.
Because, really, after the book officially comes out you're left with trash, sadly (even though I keep mine for no good reason, personally) - whereas a website based-PDF doesn't waste anything and is accessable long after the fatpacks are gone from most stores, allowing people late to the novels or getting back into the game/storyline to still see if they want to read it.
Hey Wizards, if you want to jack up the price of fat packs, do it for something with real value that is unique to the fat packs. Say, bring back the dividers and second box. I can get lands and buy an extra pack any time I want. A second die would even be nice.
This. A Million times this.
You know, if the lands were the awesome full-art type like Zendikar, I wouldn't be too upset with the changes. Heck, I bought 3 Zendikar and 3 WW fatpacks just for the extra boost in full-art lands - given the crazy pricehikes at most of my local stores on those lands, it was worth the price.
If they want to hike to 39.99 bucks, here's a quick thought on how they could/should do it:
-8 packs
-2 boxes
-dividers
--Alternatively, how about some fold up deckboxes like we get from the Duel Decks? Or those plastic life counter cards?
-player's guide
-100 ct. land pack
I think 5 bucks more for another box and dividers is reasonable. They can keep the d20--I'm sorry, "spin down life counter" -- and the waste of paper and print they call a book preview (seriously, make it a PDF on the website if you really want to preview it; the money spent printing those things, especially that full color comic one, probably could have covered that second box or the dividers - which are actually useful in some form).
This is a perfectly fine card, and i'll definately get the Intro Pack a few times. It might not become a money rare immediately, but eventually it will.|
I doubt it'll break more than six or so dollars considering it's the intro pack foil, but either way I agree and I'll grab a few of these as well simply because it's pretty darn good, Chris Rahn artwork, AND a sphinx (yay sphinx!).
Yeah, let's compare Magic to Star Wars for a second.
Star Wars is one of the largest "geek" franchises in the world with tons of hardcore fans. It's got dozens of cool characters, races, vehicles, and other elements that are recognizable across multiple generations. Your mom knows who Darth Vader is. Your kids know who he is. Yet despite this tremendously strong brand and character recognition, the card game failed. Not only the first one, but every card game based on Star Wars failed, as far as I know.
--
The success of early Magic was not due to a story or to its characters. Instead, its success was due to the strength of its game play, its customization options, its fantasy flavor, and its collectibility.
In order to remain successful, Magic must continue to rely on the things that made it successful in the first place. New elements can be added, but they must not overshadow the pieces that have been proven to work over the past 17 years. Star Wars has shown us that cool characters, great stories, and a rich fantasy setting cannot sustain a game. I understand that planeswalkers can draw in a certain audience, and that might be beneficial to the game. However, Magic should never seek to emulate a strategy that has already been proved to fail.
WotC, please keep the focus on the cards and the game, not the characters and the story.
Not to derail the topic, but your comparison is a bit ironic, considering Decipher lost the license to produce the SW:CCG when lucasfilm thought that WotC would make them more money (and wanted to pool their card game, miniature, and roleplaying all into one company) and jumped ship to them instead. Then less than a couple of years later, the new card game under WotC folded. So, funny enough, the game only failed once WotC got a hold of it.
Anyway, I suppose you're right in the end, since WotC no longer has any new Star Wars materials being produced anymore. Heh.
But in my group of friends when someone has a terrible deck, we just tell them straight up "dude, this deck is horrible, you should be ashamed".
No one ever takes it personally. In fact, in our group of friends, it's more of a "lol you suck, I dare you to make it better" thing. The next week we usually come back and - lo' and behold - it is better, all is good, and we have some fun/laughs.
My friends and I have been playing since Mirage and Tempest era and have played only casual kitchen table magic. We have around 6-10 people on any given "let's get together and play magic" day.
We've drafted a box of M10 last year for fun, EDH really isn't in the vocabulary of these guys and girls, and only one of us has ever played in a pre-release event. Other than that, we've never even been to a FNM (unless we went somewhere to buy cards on a Friday night and coincidentally saw all the people playing).
I think there's a lot of groups out there like us. Casual is strong. And awesome.
Wow, looking back through some of the old Urza artwork, I can see a lot of similarities between the two now that you mention it. I doubt wizards is that clever, but it's almost like he's a reincarnation of Urza or something. Again, probably not - it's all blatant Izzet styles in many places. But boy, if you swap the pink colors for red when used in Urza art (like the newer Urza's Rage), it'd be easy to say "oh, it's an older version of Ral Zarek".
I actually do something similar with the rigid UltraPro deckboxes, since the normal way of storing these things really sets it so you only see a lackluster side of the box without much decoration or much image at all. I play kitchen table casually for the most part, so I apologize in advance for corny pun deck names and absurd themes.
Also, speaking of, Matt Stewart updated his blog showing some sketches/studies of his work on the FoW piece.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2706419/screenshots/chandr_d2012.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2706419/screenshots/chandr_d2012.tga
I'm working on finishing up a ZEN land template. I've been putting off making one due to real life work, and finally have the time. My goal was to make a template that supports a dual land type, such as Marsh Flats, Cascade Bluffs, etc. Anywho, while typing out the texts, I've discovered something interesting that may be my printer's fault, or perhaps some export setting I have in InDesign. Or, with luck (and hence my post) someone here knows exactly what is going on.
When I send anything to print with a blue mana symbol (be it small hybrid or normal sized) it will print as transparent and not black or the chosen color.
I've tried many 'cheats', but anything that prints the font results in the same problem (so something like a color overlay is still a bust) whether it be direct from PDF, PSD, or even right from InDesign. I suppose there's the option of creating a symbol for blue mana as a separate object or creating a vector piece in another software, but that destroys a lot of the intuitive process of creating a template for others to use.
Alternatively, I'm willing to try another font, so if someone(s) can suggest a font that meets good standards with hybrid mana options, please let me know.
Thanks in advance, and here's a screenshot of early progress as a reward for reading my walls of text. I shopped in the borders real quick (hence the jagged edges and red showing through in places) just to illustrate what I'm going for as the end product.
Right now I think he's just backed up since he's the new Art Director for Legend of the Five Rings.
No no, I love the book previews and I understand and agree with why they preview them, I'm just saying they should cut some cost and put it on the site as a PDF or something and spend the costs in the fat pack more wisely.
Because, really, after the book officially comes out you're left with trash, sadly (even though I keep mine for no good reason, personally) - whereas a website based-PDF doesn't waste anything and is accessable long after the fatpacks are gone from most stores, allowing people late to the novels or getting back into the game/storyline to still see if they want to read it.
This. A Million times this.
You know, if the lands were the awesome full-art type like Zendikar, I wouldn't be too upset with the changes. Heck, I bought 3 Zendikar and 3 WW fatpacks just for the extra boost in full-art lands - given the crazy pricehikes at most of my local stores on those lands, it was worth the price.
If they want to hike to 39.99 bucks, here's a quick thought on how they could/should do it:
-8 packs
-2 boxes
-dividers
--Alternatively, how about some fold up deckboxes like we get from the Duel Decks? Or those plastic life counter cards?
-player's guide
-100 ct. land pack
I think 5 bucks more for another box and dividers is reasonable. They can keep the d20--I'm sorry, "spin down life counter" -- and the waste of paper and print they call a book preview (seriously, make it a PDF on the website if you really want to preview it; the money spent printing those things, especially that full color comic one, probably could have covered that second box or the dividers - which are actually useful in some form).
I doubt it'll break more than six or so dollars considering it's the intro pack foil, but either way I agree and I'll grab a few of these as well simply because it's pretty darn good, Chris Rahn artwork, AND a sphinx (yay sphinx!).
Not to derail the topic, but your comparison is a bit ironic, considering Decipher lost the license to produce the SW:CCG when lucasfilm thought that WotC would make them more money (and wanted to pool their card game, miniature, and roleplaying all into one company) and jumped ship to them instead. Then less than a couple of years later, the new card game under WotC folded. So, funny enough, the game only failed once WotC got a hold of it.
Anyway, I suppose you're right in the end, since WotC no longer has any new Star Wars materials being produced anymore. Heh.
But in my group of friends when someone has a terrible deck, we just tell them straight up "dude, this deck is horrible, you should be ashamed".
No one ever takes it personally. In fact, in our group of friends, it's more of a "lol you suck, I dare you to make it better" thing. The next week we usually come back and - lo' and behold - it is better, all is good, and we have some fun/laughs.
We've drafted a box of M10 last year for fun, EDH really isn't in the vocabulary of these guys and girls, and only one of us has ever played in a pre-release event. Other than that, we've never even been to a FNM (unless we went somewhere to buy cards on a Friday night and coincidentally saw all the people playing).
I think there's a lot of groups out there like us. Casual is strong. And awesome.