elitearcanist

[elitearcanist]

"Why, for example, is Universes Beyond so popular? Because the people who play the most Magic really adore it." and how exactly is this being verified? the once per set surveys? while surveys are one of the best ways to get this kind of data (opinions being abstract constructs of the mind and all), being that they are on a volunteer basis these surveys are likely to miss a good portion of the people that are against universes beyond.

I know I personally didn't fill out the survey for LOTR seeing as how, prior to the announcement of the legality changes, I did not care much about UB because other than the largely minor annoyance of being given a bunch of digital cards I didn't want and never use (aka: the "rewards" for playing during the LOTR mastery season on arena), I was able to continue on as normal.

But, now I am being forced to care about universes beyond because it is actually affecting parts of magic I regularly engage with in ways that cannot easily be avoided: standard (because the cards are going into that format) and the lore (because universes beyond taking the place of in-universe sets in the release schedule means potentially less story per year (unless we're just getting a longer story for each set, and even then there will be fewer opportunities to explore different planes other than maybe through "travelogue" sets)). so, I suppose if nothing else I will most likely be filling out the Final Fantasy survey whether I buy any of the cards or not.

"That’s the nature of Magic. It adapts to the needs of the collective whole. It used to upset me, but I came to realize it is one of the game’s greatest strengths. It becomes the game its players need/want it to be." Is to me, a market-friendly way to say "sloughs emotionally invested players in pursuit of the unremarkable, but widely palatable middle"

Many players like to assume the core of the people making the changes aren’t enfranchised players, but it’s exactly the opposite. Why, for example, is Universes Beyond so popular? Because the people who play the most Magic really adore it.

We’re not ignoring the hard-core Magic players, we’re doing what they say they most want through their actions and in market research.

Magic is a business. Ignoring our core customers would just be bad business.

We make changes because Magic players, and especially our hard-core enfranchised players, want it. Maybe in this particular case it’s not you in particular (or maybe it is, I don’t know), but it’s not us ignoring “emotionally invested players”.

[elitearcanist]

To me, what makes UB different from something like Duskmourn or Aetherdrift is not merely a shift in genre.

For non-UB sets, the creative team clearly has mostly free reign to do what they need to to make sure that the flavor makes sense as part of the larger multiverse and still has enough of a distinct fantasy spin on it to still "feel like Magic" regardless of the genre of the specific plane.

With UB on the other hand, being faithful to the source material of the IP being adapted takes priority. especially since, depending on what kind of licensing agreements are in play, it might not even be possible for creative to deviate at all from it.

As a result, unless it's an IP (such as Dungeons and Dragons, Lord of the Rings, or probably Final Fantasy (I don't know enough about that to confidently say for sure)) that already within the original source material has a lot that is in line with what is commonly seen in Magic (ex: elves, goblins, wizards, dragons, etc.) it's inevitably going to feel a bit out of place and make the game feel less cohesive overall. to put it simply, UB feels most natural when it seems like something the Magic creative team could have come up with for the game if it wasn't something that already exists.

But, this is just my thinking on the matter and others will no doubt have their own reasons for supporting or not supporting UB that differ from mine (one of which can be seen in the question above).

And word in favor of things-

Truthfully for me, the Magic "purity test" ended many years, Kaladesh or maybe earlier, and assassin's Creed is more fantasy speed than Duskmourn was, regardless of what IP it's from. There's a lot like that, so... Whatever. I love limited, and I love casual, and I love the game itself above all, so... Play what makes you happy. I really don't understand the handwringing. I do get wanting Magic IP, but again, Magic has pushed so, so far away from core fantasy, and again, I like THE GAME OF MAGIC. So while yes, I'll be very selective of which sets I purchase (UB or Magic properties), it's nothing for me to see a UB card from my opponent. I hated ninjas when they released (and rather like them now), and I can't stand most of New Capenna flavor, and I still don't love vehicles (which means I'll opt out of most of Aetherdrift barring something drastic to change my mind). But like... You do you.

Play your tommy guns and getaway cars and motorbikes and spies and flash drives and aliens and spidermen and Chris Pines and unsettling twins and Jekyll/ Hyde and frog monsters and frog ninjas and pirates and dinosaurs and gingerbread men and bat folk and elder dragons and little girls and haunted plate mail and gilder bairns and cowboys and detectives and Phrexians and Gandalfs and Tyranids and fireballs and take a minute to appreciate that someone else loves those things and it sort of slaps that you can do all of that in one game.

Keep up the great work!

Thanks for writing in.

[elitearcanist]

I personally use kindred for both because I like the way kindred feels in the context of the game a lot better. typal feels really clinical and technical to me, although I suppose the same could be said for terms like "aggro", "control", and "midrange". perhaps part of why it feels different with "typal" is because it is:

1. a word that sounds more like its used for referring to collections of items (which, a deck of cards is a collection of objects so I suppose it fits on that technical level) than groups of creatures and is replacing a word that is used to refer to groups of people (albeit, in a way that is neither respectful nor flattering)

2. kindred is farther removed from the sound of the word it's replacing, thus providing a greater feeling of differentiation

but, this is just my thoughts on the topic and I'm not about to quit the game or make a long winded rant video like some people just because official wording doesn't 100% reflect my personal preferences.

Hi Mark, I wanted to ask about "typal" vs. "kindred." As far as I can tell, "typal" refers to things that care about a specific creature type, whereas "kindred" is the card type that used to be Tribal. So Altar of the Goyf is a Kindred card, but a deck with lots of Lhurgoyfs and the Altar could be described as Lhurgoyf typal. Is this correct? I believe that since the messaging around the two new terms was separate, some players think "kindred" was intended to replace "tribal" in both senses.

You are correct.

Once we had to change the term, R&D chose two different words as replacements because having one term mean two different things caused confusion.

[elitearcanist]

while it’s not specifically a competitive format (although some do play it competitively), at least one set of UB cards is going to be legal in Commander  and that format does matter to a lot of people. additionally, do you have a source on exactly which formats they plan on making these cards legal in? the only thing the announcement article mentions in terms of legality is that they won’t be in standard.

As for the quote from Mark Rosewater, the professor of Tolarian Community College pointed out a major flaw in that argument in one of his recent videos. to paraphrase, the Greek-style God, mummy, two Squirrels, and animated gingerbread cookie with a ninja sword all share one thing; they are all distinctly from worlds designed for Magic: The Gathering. By using settings designed for the game, Magic has managed to maintain a much greater measure of cohesion across all its worlds than Mark Rosewater’s comment implies.

for example:

here is one of the “Greek style gods” Mark Rosewater alluded to

and here is the gingerbread man

both, at least in my eyes, maintain a certain feel and aesthetic that says “yes, these are both not only from a fantasy setting, but are clearly designed for the same game” because they are, in fact, both designed for the same game.

and then you have Rick. Rick has a distinctly different feel. he is clearly not even within the same genre as the previous two examples, much less designed to fit within the same game. because he wasn’t designed to fit in. he was made by a completely different company. a company that I doubt had a future crossover with Magic: The Gathering in mind when working on the designs for their franchise.

But honestly, I don’t think aesthetics should even be the biggest concern. my big concern with this product, and the reason I haven’t played magic since the announcement of Secret Lair X The Walking Dead, is availability. While they have said that the Universes Beyond line will “typically be as available as any other Magic product”, they also said that “ There will also be the occasional standalone product like The Walking Dead” which makes me concerned that there will be more functionally unique Secret Lair cards, which carry the same potential for problems as the functionally unique box toppers of the past (only this time, not effecting standard. you know, the one format with an automatic, built-in way of dealing with problematic cards and thus the one that arguably gets hurt the least by hard-to-get, pushed cards.). and sure, they’ve said they can make Magic IP versions of UB cards, but I’m not sure how much I trust WOTC to actually do that, with how unreliable the reprintings of in demand cards can be even without the need to scrub another company’s IP off of them to avoid licensing issues.

Magic The Gathering players are so weird. Wizards of the Coast recently announced that they're making products of MTG with different IPs to see them through the Magic lens, and everyone is going ape for some reason? The cards aren't legal (in any competitive format that matters), and it's literally just,, more cards, not less, not taking anything away

But tons of fans are just "hrrbdurr but spock creature shoot dinosaur crew nautilus" calm down maybe?

[elitearcanist]

Well this is interesting.

Honestly, I’ll be fine with this on the condition that they put all the functionally unique cards in releases that are more widely available than Secret Lairs. Regardless of your opinion on crossover products, I think we can all agree that functionally-unique, extremely limited-run cards are bad for the game. I also have some concerns for the format legality of the cards, but as long as they’re widely available the only problem I can see is some people might not like seeing tournament decks that have non-MTG IPs in them.

UPDATE 5/3/21:

Reading through it again, the wording of this line concerns me:

hopefully they’re going to lean more towards the Godzilla lands than The Walking Dead in terms of card design for these secret lairs, and their just brining up The Walking Dead because its the only example of a standalone crossover secret lair.

[elitearcanist]

Ashiok talking to themself: it needs to be bigger. I can't have people come around and be like "where's the trap? I sprung it but nothing happened" because they somehow just don't get it. My artistic credibility is on the line here.

[elitearcanist]

Leaked card names from upcoming MTG products:

Godzilla, Destroyer of Cities

Batman, Dark Knight

Shaq, Martial Arts Master

Aaron Carter, Rhymemaster

Abraham Lincoln, Eternal President

Optimus Prime, Autobot Leader

Scruff McGruff, Crimefighter

Jackie Chan, Master of Martial Arts

Indiana Jones, Seasoned Explorer

Chuck Norris, Heaven Sent

Gandalf the Grey

Gandalf the White

Monty Python, Comedians of the Surreal

Black Knight (Reprint)

Benito Mussolini, Arisen Dictator

The Blue Meanie

Curtis, The Cowboy

Jambi, The Genie

Robocop, Automated Officer

T-800, Returned

Kirk, Starfleet Captain

Darth Vader, Sith Lord

Lo-Pan, Sorcerer

Superman, The Last Kryptonian

Bill and Ted, Travelers in Space and Time

Spock, Starfleet Science Officer

Doctor Octopus, Multilimbed Mad Scientist

Hulk Hogan, America’s Champion

Mr. Rogers, The Last Survivor

[elitearcanist]

Elite Arcanist

Artist: James Zapata TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

[elitearcanist]

if it’s heroes, why is Heliod there?

Awesome art depicting spear-wielding heroes from the Magic multiverse!

Artworks in order (links to cards on gatherer):

1. Spear of Heliod by Yeong Hao-Han || Heliod, God of the Sun by Jaime Jones

2. Monastery Swiftspear by Steve Argyle

3. Moonsilver Spear by James Paick || Avacyn, Angel of Hope by Jason Chan

4. Battlewise Hoplite by Willian Murai

[elitearcanist]

same.

You’re now stranded on the plane you started playing MtG with, how screwed are you?

[elitearcanist]

simic forge insanity: the return

[elitearcanist]

Reblog if you’re #teamzendikar

or reblog this post if you’re #teameldrazi!

[elitearcanist]

Magic: The Gathering Themed Planar Asks- Put a Word in my Ask Box

Mirrodin: Your favorite win condition

Bant: Your favorite starting creature (1 mana cost or lower)

Esper: Your favorite artifact

Grixis: Your favorite sorcery or instant

Naya: Your favorite enchantment

Jund: Your favorite "big creature"

Alara: Your favorite set-specific mechanic

Dominaria: Your favorite evergreen mechanic

Kamigawa: Your favorite Legendary Creature/EDH general.

Innistrad: A deck you hate/are scared to play.

Theros: A plane you want to see next

Zendikar: A plane you want to see again

Lorwyn: Your favorite color of mana

Shadowmoor: Your least favorite color of mana

[elitearcanist]

more random cards

[elitearcanist]

mtggoldfish is having a fat pack giveaway for magic origins!

[elitearcanist]

apparently i’m a Red-Green-Blue Artificer from Esper, who first planeswalked to Dominaria. pretty ironic that i’m an Artificer wielding two of the least artifact loving colors.

Chart made by VoicesOfChaos and everything else is owned by Wizards Of the Coast.

Been working on this for a week and finally got it done right in time! So please reblog and put what you are in the hashtags so please have fun.

 For example I am Kevin Ross born October 11th so I am a White-Blue mage who specializes in the graveyard that was born on Ravnica and first planeswalked to Kamigawa.

[elitearcanist]

Innistrad? More like InnistRAD