Wall of Heat, or None Like it Hot!

"At a distance, we mistook the sound for a waterfall..."

For those of you not currently in the United States, we've been gripped by a massive heat wave, and to put it bluntly, it sucks. Which came as the inspiration for todays article. While I was going to do something written about Baron Sengir, or about War Mammoth, I ultimately decided that Wall of Heat was the most appropriate decision for this.

Which brings up an interesting question? How do I judge walls? They actually have some unique qualities about them in OS (such as being able to block Basilisk without fear of death), tribal support, and under costed value, with the various infamous drawback of not being able to attack. I was surprised when I realized, despite my general love of them, I never actually reviewed a wall.

 



Card: Wall of Heat is a 2/6, for 3. If not for its wall status, it'd be a powerful, but uninteresting vanilla. However, since it's a wall, it losses one point for that drawback. It has 6 toughness for three, which isn't that unique in the color, since Ywden Efreet has the same thing, with an additional point of power, Wall of Stone is tougher, and Wall of Dust, while weaker, comes with a more useful ability. Sure, 6 toughness is pretty good, after all, who wants to fight the heat, but there are just better options. 2/5

Art: I always loved Richard Thomas wall art. This one is no exception. His images of a wizard (or maybe a planeswalker) standing behind a wall of their creation, are often rather ingenious and fascinating. This one's contains a woman, holding a sun like orb, and radiation heat around her. The constant changes in color, though is the best part of the art is the constant changes in color, particularly where the color's fail to appear, hinting at the appearance of the woman.

Art 3/5


Flavor: There are so much strange about the flavor of this. It's power and toughness makes sense, but why doesn't it fly, is it that localized of a spell? Why can some drunk dwarves blow up an abstract. Finally, I never, once, understood the flavor text of the card. I'm giving the flavor on this one 2/5.


There we have it, 7/15, rounded down, makes it a 2/5. Another one from Legends I suppose. I guess, just like the Heat itself, none like Wall of Heat.

The controversial history of mulligans.

Recently I got into a discussion over random variance,  and card games with a colleague of mine. His argument insisted that bad players like variance, because it allows them to occasionally beat good players. He insisted on the fact that the most skill intensive,  least variant formats, tournament attendance is down. 

I double backed, saying if the choices are me playing.a deck that I dislike, or not playing, I (like many) have other hobbies outside Magic, and variance is the spice that makes Magic enjoyable.

As many of you know, Magic is introducing a new Mulligan rule "London Mulligan", in an attempt to attack mana screw/flood, as well as making the lay lines more consistent. While many a magic players have shown this to be a terrible idea (who's ready for the next combo winter?), WotC has insisted no such thing will happen, and we will continue to get the amazing tournament experience we crave, with more casting spells, and less mana screw. 

However, as everyone knows, the idea of mulligans isn't new, in fact, it's as old as revised edition, and possibly unlimited edition. So if random variance is important,  why create a way to subvert it, well for fun of course, but it should always come with a draw back.

Ante Mulligan: Something I know exists only in theory. Though not an official mulligan rule, there was once a ante rule, where youd shuffle your hand in, draw seven, then ante an additional card. I've personally never seen it, but a few have told me it once existed, and I felt it interesting enough to include. The faults of this rule is obvious,  since it only works with ante, which was always technically optional anyway.

Original Mulligan (Seattle Mulligan/no lands&all lands): One of the most remembered rules of pre-6th. Introduced in Revised edition, the mulligan worked if you had a land of all lands or no lands, you would reveal your hand, shuffle it into your deck, and draw seven new cards. For tournament play, you could only do this once. In my opinion, this is the best rule particularly for 93/94. Library, Maze, and Strip wouldn't be nearly as broken if they forced you to keep a bad hand.  Sure they kick the storage lands in the nad even more, but hey, that's they way the game works sometime.

Paris Mulligan: Originally conceptualized by Pro Tour player Matt Hyra, it was accidentally put into the rules for Pro Tour Paris in 97, and the name stuck. In this, it's simple, you shuffle your hand into your deck, and draw one fewer card. It was formally introduced with Classic 6th edition, and became a major component of the design process. Most famously, a Darksteel card called Serum Powder directly interacted with the mechanic, which is important, remember that.

Vancouver Mulligan: Introduced with the expansion Magic Origins, Vancouver worked similar to the Paris Mulligan, except before you drop lay lines, anyone with a lower hand size then 7 can scry 1. Some interesting rule questions come up with this and Karn liberated, but it's for it's worth, is functional and gets the job 

London Mulligan: Tested in Arena and Mtg:O. London Mulligan allows you to draw 7, then pick and choose which cards you wish to put on the bottom of your deck. For example, you are on you second mulligan, you got that Leyline to kill dredge, you simply put two cards on the bottom, thus having a hand of 5. 

Magic_Aids has abused this with Serum Powder to consistently win on turn 3. You can look up the video on YouTube.

A similar issue has come up with OS, allowing a player to drop numerous free/cheap spells on turn 1, just to timetwister, guaranteed a 7 card hand regardless. 

"Magic the way Garfield intended"--Magic_Aids.

However the biggest crime of this isn't the fact it hyper powers hate cards and combo players, but instead removes the most important aspect of the game, the variance.

Tonight I was in a booster draft, and while sitting I could overhear another (much experienced) player talking to one wet behind his ears about how mana screw is bullshit. He states only Pokemon and MtG have this problem, and its complete shit, and then he starts listing off other games "that have solved this" like Vanguard and Vs System, and Duel Masters.  I yell at him "the difference is all those games are dead", but he didn't respond. 

It's something I truly stand on, Magic reliance on luck, and Garfield's open embrace of it in his design, is Magics biggest gift for its longevity.  It's been the cause for David and Goliath outcomes, amazing comebacks, and bad beat stories. 

I later spoke to him while he was lighting a smoke and said "Dont listen to them, mana screw is part of Garfield's mathematical perfection". He laughed, said he almost never gets screwed, because he knows how to build decks, and went on to win first. 

I guess in conclusion: Magic needs variance, both in decks being played, and in luck of the draw. If I wanted to play a game where everyone had the same cards, I would play poker, if I want to play a game with a foregone conclusion, and a guaranteed set of rules, Chess certainly has more prestige then MtG.

Chandra: The importance of consistent character design.

 

 

While a good chunk of my readers pay little to no attention to spoilers, and spoiler season, it's something I've yet been able to give up on, and while the chances of me playing with these cards slowly but consistently diminish, it's still something I check out.

Recently, spoilers of Chandra Nalaar, one of the original Lorwyn 5, and magic's premier pyromancer, has come out, with a set largely set on her past. This included, not one, but three Planeswalker cards, each around her, before her debut in Lorwyn, however, there was something, off about these cards, mainly the way she looked.

(Art: Anna Steinbauer)

This came with many questions on 'why does she look Asian?' After all, Chandra was always depicted with red hair, occasionally freckles, and largely Caucasian features. Now I understand different artists will have different styles, and occasionally styles don't mesh. However, if this was the only case of this, it would probably not have been noticed, or became something of a joke, instead it was followed with this:

(art: same as above)

Both Chandra's clearly have Asian features, which don't fit the decade and a half of art other cards depicting her show.

 

All these different arts, all drawn over the course of a decade, all have a few telling things in common (even child Chandra), Chandra has pale skin, bright red hair (sometimes that is on fire), she typically wears armor (but isn't a must for the character), and she has goggles (with this being absent on child Chandra).

To further this inconsistency, the box art for the set (Magic 2020) has Chandra looking like a man.






However, this isn't a recent trend, in fact, its the opposite. Gideon's general appearance and skin tone has changed so much, he's basically a meme at this point.




However with the recent inclusion into digging deep into MtG's past, for content, many characters have gotten cards, with effects that don't make sense to the character (Xantcha was a terrible sleeper agent, that was the point), have effects that defeat the point of cards they are based on  (General Varchild), or literally seem like different characters they simply attached names and art to (Tawnos, Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist).

For a company that claims so much about wanting Magic to evolve beyond a TCG, and become a multimedia franchise, they sure don't understand the importance of consistency in character design. Well, at least now, I think for the best example, look at Gerrard Capashen. Despite numerous cards featuring his name, his likeness, and quotes by him, his depiction is ALWAYS consistent, even with the reference to him in Dominaria. In fact, most of the weatherlight crew is depicted accurately, even two decades after their story has ended (Mirri being the one current exception).

However, none of this is as bad as what they did to my favorite coward walker, Serra.

Artist: Matthew Wilson

 

Artist: Rebecca Guay

Serra had two consistent designs, one from the vanguard, which also appears on the card art for Humble, and the Rebeeca Guay's depiction of Serra, which appears on numerous cards, as well as the Homelands comic. Instead, we get a depiction of Serra, from the Urza Saga card Worship, granted not the Serra as it looks two images above, which is the statue of her, but instead the person worshipping in front of it, assuming Serra is her. Now I have no issue with shit talking Serra, it's like a hobby of mine, but I still like her, and the depiction, showing her as a character who literally worships herself, is a bastardization of probably the most famous female character in MtG.

Character consistency is the most important part of any IP. No one ever depicted Darth Vader with a katana, no one ever made Optimus Prime a a Volkswagon Bus. The only time a character is changed, is the time it shows the fan base to move on (look at Harry Potter). WotC, please get your art department together and consistent.

Tl;dr: Get your IP together wotc.

Farmstead: Home Sweet Home

"When father bought the farm we sold the farm.

Mistook his blood for rustic charm

Sold his ghost as an antique to the city"

 

 

There is very few agreements in OS Magic. Most people say power is good, so is Library. Then they say Farmstead is one of the worst cards in the game. With it being two mana for one life, being an enchant land, costing literally 3 white mana to cast, and having a very restrictive ability, it's no wonder Farmstead hasn't been seen since Revised edition, and why it's often labeled as one of the worst cards in the game.

 

 

"Kids today can't hold a spade

Rest In peace your weary trade

In the world there is no place, such a pity..."

 

 

Is farmstead honestly as bad a card as they say? Especially in this format, where consistent repeatable life gain is difficult? Where Lich can turn it into a draw engine? I, for many reasons, shall look into it to find out.

 

 

"Well the barman shakes his head, and fills my glass

says 'we're living in the past, why preserve a dying craft and it's misery?'"

 

 

 

Playability: At 3 mana and a local enchantment, Farmstead has a lot going against it. Enchant lands are particularly the worst, whether your format has a playset of Strip Mine or not. It also doesn't guarantee anything the turn it comes out (unlike many local enchantments), and it's effect is one life. While I did say repeatable life gain is nice (it is). I know life gain gets a lot of hate in modern magic, but one of the most important things about winning is not losing, and this card excels in that department. I'd say sadly, the biggest hurdle for farmstead is, not one, but two cards have done this better, Fountain of Youth, and Caribou Range (if you're playing 95). In it's defense, mono-white often needs mana dumps in the late game, and while I may enjoy it, I can't honestly give it a higher rating then 1/5.

 

 

"Come sit down we are lamenting, about yesterdays sad ending.

About the water in my whiskey, the brass passed off as gold/

/of a day when wood was wood, silver was silver, gold was gold,

sweet home was home"

 

 

 

Art: One of my favorite Poole pieces, Farmstead is probably the most 'American' piece of art in the game. It wouldn't look out of place as the set to a 50's/60's American rural television show like Little House on the Prairie or Bonanza. While the piece doesn't show any humans, it does show numerous things that would be seen on a Farmstead. Most prominent are the axe, which rests on a stump, and the house itself, a simple stone cabin with a hey roof. Whats easy to miss is the anvil, which is necessary, even today, for the use of making horse shoes, but in a setting like projected, could be used to make almost anything necessary. It's just a small detail that's easy to miss. Then you have the 'road', naturally worn from the surrounding grass, which suggests frequent passing of feet, free range chickens, as well as cattle (assumable cows). However, the best detail, is the tree in the corner of the image, with a shadow it's given over the 'road'. It's easily my personal favorite part of the piece, and also shows the light source fairly well. The background, which is pines, a lightly cloudy sky, and a few wild birds, fill  in the blanks extremely well. Art gets a 5/5 from me.

 

 

"'Son these tools are artifacts, endangered species left it's tracks.

So wrap me up in plastic wrap in the city.

There is no going back for me, this antiques rustic eulogy

shall be sold as folk on the street', such a pity..."

 

 

Flavor: Living in old country isn't for the faint of heart. You work day and night, however the results, can be great. This represented well in the idea of gaining a life, but having to spend to get it. The two white mana represents upkeep, strained labor, and risks, it takes to maintain such an operation.

 

Some of the things you can plop a farmstead on it also notable, for both being strange and hilarious. You can open shop next to the Library of Alexandria, in a Desert, on a Strip Mine (really any lands from Antiquities is hilarious), in the City (of Shadows or Brass), on a Quay, in some dirty ruins, and even an Ice Floe. However, just as flavor would suggest, it's most effective if you enchant it on a plains.

 

 

Flavor 4/5.

 

 

Final rating 3/5: Sure it might blow, but is it memorable and oddly strange. It's art is easily its strongest selling point, with everything else being mediocre in comp.

 

 

"Well I'll never understand, why they long to use those hands, to build a stand that would always stand in old time country,

but settle on white rooms, and hollow doors

paper ceilings, padded floors

luxury boxes where your stored, in old time country"--Erik Petersen, Olde Tyme M'mery

 

RIP the NYStyle Ranch (2006-2018)



Ashnod's Transmogrant: The Second Twiddle.

Many months ago, I described Twiddle as the swiss army knife of Old School. It's a versatile thinking mans car, with the ability to surprise even the most convincing foe. It can be used, both aggressively, and defensively, and is as versatile.

Sure, it doesn't have the surprise appeal, being forced to be in play, and it can only target creatures, but outside of these, it's a close second for the most versatile card in the format.



Offensive Uses: Powering up the power of a beater (obvious).
                           Turning an opponents creature into an artifact to disenchant/shatter/Detonate/Divine Offering them. (Divine Offering can also become an amazing life gain spell if you hit the right fatty).
                           Making your Guardian Beast nearly invincible (as long as it remains untapped).
                          Allowing it to be thrown by any of those two amazing two drops from Antiquities.
                          Stealing a creature with Scarwood Bandits/Alladin/Steal artifact
                          Getting a two mana clone in the form of Copy Artifact


Defensive Uses: Keeping a creature tapped with a relic barrier/Phyrexian Gremlins
                           Protection one of your creatures from Terror (since it turns into an artifact)
                           Protection from The Abyss (since it's an artifact).
                           Allowing your Pixies/Treefolk of Argothian variety to block a creature all day.
                           Saving that one point of damage from Bolt for your 3 toughness (or Efreet in response to an ill fated psionic blast).
                           Finally, the mind game of bluffing so your opponent's game is off.


While short, I hope this encourages a few people to try this odd ball card from 4th in their deck.

Mana Batteries: Rating them

The mana batteries were a casual popular table card. I've known more then a few old school players (including my older brother) who swore to them. Last years, while most of my cards were in storage I threw together a EDH around Garna, the Bloodflame. Built out of foreign cards I had an what I was willing to buy out of common boxes, it included a consume spirit and drain life, and as a result, a Italian Black Mana Battery.


In this article, I will rate each mana battery, both in the form of playability, and in the form of art. However the flavor is always the same:


Flavor: They are batteries. The rules of conservation states it takes more energy to charge a battery, then a battery can release. In this regard, two mana to generate one mana at a later time makes sense. In fact, the only issue is they can always supply a single mana without charging. For this, they get a universal 4/5.

Art

 

Blue Mana Battery (#5)

 



The blue mana battery shows what appears to be rocks in the ocean. The idea is they work like energy collectors. The idea is they sit in the ocean, and collect mana. Amy's piece isn't bad, her work is always very well for larger promotional stuff, but it always falls shy in the cardboard. I largely blame the nature of the small shapes of cardboard. I'll give it a solid 3/5.

Green Mana Battery (#4)

 

 



Rush never disappoints, this is no different. His staff had some nice touches on it, like the same symbol as the mana symbol on the staff itself, with the simple background of emerald green. It's a nice piece, but doesn't look much like a mana battery, so much as art piece of another card. While a good piece, it's not good for the card it was on. 3/5.

White Mana Battery (#3)



The white mana battery actually showed up in the old Armada comics, being utilized by a white planeswalkers I can't exactly remember the name of. It based off this art, a large literal battery attached to the land. In a smiliar way to Webers blue battery above. This one, has atmosphere, not usually seen on white related cards. An unusual light/darkness composition, with a single light source, and a dark stormy sky above. 3/5

Plus it's drawn by Anthony Waters, my eventual VAC deck.

Black Mana Battery (#2)



Anson Maddocks is the king of Magic horror art, and this piece show cases it perfectly. A skull, mutilated, with various poisonous berries, bones, a voodoo doll, and even a snake. The whole piece has so much going on for it, that it encompasses everything that is black. Honestly, I could sit here all day talking about all the little details on this simple piece. 4/5

Red Mana Battery (#1)

 

 



The relic of Jared Carthilion (the Shadow Mage), the Red Mana Battery was an heirloom. This shows the powerful relic as a relic, it's atmosphere is it. It looks to be sitting on a shelf, with candlelight in the back. If Tedin is good at one thing, it's details and atmosphere. Especially for artifacts, as he has drawn most of the classics.  This is no exception, showing the glow of the mana battery. 5/5

Jarad being burned by the 'mana well'. I couldn't find a proper image.

Playability

 

 

Green Mana Battery (#5)

 

 

 





Easily the worst mana battery. Green has more than enough ramp, to make this useless. Combine with a lack of X costs and mana dumps, and Green Mana Battery comes at the bottom of the list. 2/5.

White Mana Battery (#4)

 

 

In a similar vein to Green Mana Battery, white is usually cheap spells, or easily splashable. However, white often has a need for mana dumps, and with Alabaster Potion and Guardian Angel, there is at least some interesting X white spells in the format. Still not enough to put it past 4.
2/5

Blue Mana Battery (#3)

 

 



Blue is the most powerful color in the format. While better four mana drops exists, especially in blue, the ability to spend unusued mana into storing mana makes for an interesting tech, and blue can always use more open mana. This being said, Braingeyser, Spell Blast, and Power Sink all make for good X blue spells. Further more, a single charge counter, allows for you to tap out while leaving mana open for a counterspell/mana drain. I will admit, it sits less on the merit of itself, and more on the merit of others, but don't all cards? 3/5.

Red Mana Battery (#2)



The color of X spells, Red Mana Battery is one of the most useful. In a color with little/no ramp outside of artifacts, RMB is the most useful, whether boosting a fireball, a catapult, or an Earthquake, RMB is easily one of the most useful. Further, it can be used for reds other effects, like Bloodlust and firebreathing. 4/5.

Black Mana Battery (#1)

 

 



Drain Life, Howl from Beyond, Shade Effects, Regeneration, Word of Binding. That's just off the top of my head. BMB is easily the most powerful card of the cycle. It's only draw back is it costs 4, and expensive commitment, but it's powerful. Just once, kill someone from a charged Black Mana Battery with Drain Life and you'll understand. 5/5


So combining the two, the list goes like this, white (9/15), Green (9/15), Blue (10/15), Black (13/15),  Red (13/15).

Do you agree with my list? Do you disagree? What's your favorite mana battery.

An Open Letter to Wizards of the Coast.

 

 

"Her name is Serra Angel honey...."

 

 

 

It was Gen Con 2008, it was Friday afternoon, and I sat on the top hallway, admiring the above art piece and statue sitting in the hallway, with an image of the card in front. There, a star-y eyed little girl no older then 8 stared up at it, when I heard the mother say those words. I had built a deck for the Standard grand melee event, a red/white vigilance deck, designed for the long haul. I was entering to win, and naturally, the deck graced two Serra Angels, who I hoped would be able to help end possible ground stalls.  Due to a personal issue (a sick horse) I was too late to enter the melee, and had no intention of playing the deck elsewhere (I actually played it for the welcome event that year, challenge people who were brand new to Magic with it). I dug into my pocket, and gave that little girl two foil Serra Angels (remember, Tenth was brand new, and foil Serra's weren't exactly common), with that current art. The mother thanked me, and they walked together into the hotel.

It was a minor kind gesture at the time, but upon further thought, realized she would probably get into Magic, and play it for life, and I smiled. In my 20+ years of playing Magic, I've played against legends (I own a deck box signed by Johnny Magic himself), I've taught and mentored future tournament winners, rubbed elbows with designers, lived through some of the best formats I've ever had, as well as some of the worst tournament experiences ever. I invested in mono-black control during the reign of Caw-blade, seen Raffinity/faeries/even rebels. I was at one of the very first modern events, and played it loyally until 2014, when other commitments kept me from enjoying it (I did miss all of Eldrazi Winter).

I never toured the PT, never entered a GP proper. Either due to cost, or enthusiasm, I'm a local Magic junky. I'm the guy everyone knows the face of. I never wanted to be in the camera, but instead be the man next to it. I wanted to be the legend, the guy the community knew, for his merits, for his commitment to the community itself. I've always believed that Magic needs to survive on a local level, as well as a global one. Me, I'm one of the components that allow it to survive locally. I introduce people to stores (and their owners), I go from circle to circle connecting people, passing gossip, giving idea's. It's what I do, and it leaves a mark. I've lived the last seven years of my life in a small city in the Midwest, before that, I was from Upstate. Some friends occasionally tell me that tall tales of me irritating judges and winning with jank is told among judges and store owners alike, and while I can't verify these claims, I do have one story I can tell.

I was entering a modern event, originally with goblin beatdown, when after lending the deck to a friend, signed up last minute with a Tron brew designed around the proliferate mechanic. It was a pet project that I started before modern even existed, and is at the time of typing this, the longest deck together I currently own. Well a deck check error that required me to go to the back happened (I wrote x2 Everflowing Chalice twice), and while that was being sorted, I overheard 'X? He's here?'. There, a level one ran up, and enthusiastically shook my hand. "I've heard so many stories I can't believe about you, I didn't think you existed". In a gaze of awe and confusion I ensured him I existed and went on with my business. Later that night, someone sent me a screencap from the local judge FB page that said his highlight of the day was explaining to my opponent how Timestop worked, and why he wasn't getting his free turn, or his Emrakul back.

What I'm saying is, I've been in this game a long time, and while I certainly wasn't opening backs in the fall of '93, I've certainly spent the majority of my life playing Magic: the Gathering, in one form or another, and can claim, at one point, I've played every sanctioned format available. I've taught more people to play then I can count, and spent a small fortune on sealed product, as many before and after me have.

While tournament Magic and the scene around it has always been on some level seedy, it's always had a veneer of merit to it. Sure, sometimes people cheat, but the best, earned their position in that station. They've grinded harder, learned the ropes, learned the cards. I believed that, for many years. While fame wasn't what I was after, respect was, and if I played hard enough, I'd end up being just as good as the best. I studied the rules, and discovered corner cases, I learned about layers, the stack, corner cases and glitches involving the stack. I studied cards, memorizing thousands of relevant cards simply by the name/art. Even mundane details like Flavortext and Artists name. WotC, you slapped me in the face today.


Sometime last year, WotC decided to change the tournament racket, and make it less of a game about prestige, and more like a con. If I was more well versed in tournament Magic as a whole, I could probably write a long winded wordy article about that, but I know it went from events held in Hotels and con floors, to large stand alone events that could take up entire convention halls, to well, Magicfest (how's that lawsuit coming by the way?). You marketed for two decades how they wanted Magic to be a game about intellectual skill and merit, to be on the likes of Go and Chess, just for them to decide to change that.

Instead you sign shady contracts with a number of 'pro-players', and set up the MPL (Magic Pro League), which is honestly just a new version of the pro-players club. However, it is considerably more restrictive then it ever was before, and according to a one Gerry Thompson "sign or walk".

"Our contract “negotiations” involved WotC officials purposefully not answering our questions and telling us to either sign or walk. Overall, not the best way to start a new business relationship."--Gerry Thompson, Why I quit the Magic Pro League.

 

 

There was already a well known fact that you picked up invitations for the Mythic Championships not based on merit, but on popularity. The argument from some fans was 'it's not a real tournament, it's an advertisement, they naturally pick up popular online streamers to showcase the new platform'. Yet, you didn't pick up Pewdiepie, which throws that narrative into the toilet (you know, having the largest YouTube channel in history and all).

 

Now I won't go into conspiracy theories (did Autumn win the event because Duke threw the game? I don't care, I didn't watch it). I will go with the fact numerous people, many whom's skill in the game is questionable, was invited to this event, with the grand prize being a million dollaridoos. Fucking hell, you had this big fucking commercial over it, and everything, and changed your entire marketing strategy for it.

 

Now combined this with the fact you've kicked not one, but two players out of the MPL, one for nothing more than a chinese whisper, and the other, for obviously cheating, but unpersoning him as well, I guess I shouldn't be that surprised about that after what you did to Za....

 

Whoa, almost got my 10 DCI numbers deleted, didn't I? Don't want that to happen, now do I?

 

 

"To further this goal, the MPL is adding sixteen discretionary slots to each of the MTG Arena Mythic Championships for the 2019 season. These discretionary slots will be used to invite a broader representation of the Magic competitive community to high-level play. These sixteen slots are in addition to the existing MPL, prior performance, and direct qualification slots."--Elaine Chase, MPL adds Janne "Savjz" Mikkonen and Jessica Estephan

 

 

Wait a minute, WotC, are you saying you are willing to give out special treatment to someone based on factors beyond their control? Ten years ago, I was pretty sure this was called racism, however, in this brave new world, I'm sure it's just the cost of business isn't it? So much for those ethics you preach so much.

 

I'm not even sure why I'm typing this, I don't play digital MtG (and never will, outside Shandalar). I never was dumb enough to buy e-credits for MtG:O, and I don't have any interest in dabbling with Arena either (which all the local hang outs are starting to feel the burn over, even if they don't realize it).

 

Look, either the tournaments are an elaborate marketing scheme, to sell a product, in which case, that's what it exists for, or they are an intellectual game of bluff and skill, which that's what it is. It can't be both, because it will not succeed at either.

 

You can say what you want about Konami, but they have the integrity to laugh in the face of grinders and say 'good for work, here's shiny card' when they win with a 4 digit deck. They openly call the game nothing more than that, and treat it as such. They have the business smarts to unannounced the reprint of a 50 dollar card as a common in pre-constructed deck, and send that deck to every box store in the western hemisphere, leaving speculators and investors high and dry. Hell, for all their short comings, backwords ass game rules, and split second ruling changes, they have a decently functioning tournament structure, and while they might have the worst player base in the world, their is some broken sense of unity among the often maligned and ridiculed YGO players. It's sort of like being in the mafia, they will invite you to dinner, make sure you don't get shaked down, and grab your wallet the moment you let your guard down. I wish I could say the same for the Magic player base, which has become so fractured, I can't even walk into a new shop without carry a dozen different decks, of an equal amount of formats, because I'm not sure what's going to be thrown down infront of me, at any given moment.

 

Ok it's EDH, is it cEDH, RC, or French? Wait, I was wrong, you're playing brawl? Oh just kidding, no one's played brawl. It's pauper, yeah sure, I have a dec... wait you're playing modern pauper? Why? Old School, awesome! Is it Sweden, EC, CF, or Atlantic? I could go on, but you get the idea. It wasn't always like this though.

 

Magic can no longer survive on the integrity of it's design. It's clear packs exist to be sold, and low value, but high reward packs are the most profitable. It can no longer survive on it's 'complexity'. Despite that recent article, Magic is more streamlined and simplified than ever, it will get only worse from here. Magic only has it's tournament scene left, and the recent banning of the Tron player almost gives it some credibility, but it's always been not about accomplishment, not about prestige, not even about the integrity of the game, but about profit, and the moment you saw a more profitable avenue, you dropped the previous system like an unwanted puppy.

 

It's been a long twenty years of Magic. I've changed a lot, I went from a older child buying packs from the local emporium, hobby shops, and flea markets, to a young man building a house. I've played through four major relationships, seven cars, and my entire educational career. In that time, I've written you two open letters, one on a site that no longer exists (about the 8th edition card frames), and one on your own website about the change in the Legends rule, and how it would snowball into a mess of a game ('muh edh' isn't a response, though that wasn't from you). I never got a proper response from either, after all, I'm just a voice in a sea of voices. I never expected a response. However, I need to ask this, why should I continue buying this product? Why should I continue to play outside of drunk nights at kitchen tables? It can't be for integrity of the higher functions of the game, you showed that isn't in the equation. It can't be for the small hope of one day being on the pro-tour, that soon  won't exist in any form in analog (for better or worse).

 

I recently helped my twin alphabetize and pack away his YGO cards, a game of pride and joy to him. He told me he won't sell them, now, instead, he doesn't need to play anymore (and honestly, with links and other cancer, who can blame him?), but he doesn't have the heart to peddle them off for pennies on the dollar. I imagine doing the same thing with Magic wouldn't be that much more difficult, at least for the formats you support.

 

 

---Gunnarson.