elitearcanist - Tumblr blog

[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

[elitearcanist]

random daily cards day 9

[elitearcanist]

here’s renders of todays daily designs.

Links to the Artists:

Indiron

da-G3