Archive for Simon Tan
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Simon Tan
Philippines
Quezon City
Metro Manila
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With so much to do, it's nice to have a holiday to give you time to write... Nice try on Xira Airen, Kingmanzoo, but I am much more likely to write about Xiahou Dun first...
For most of us "old pros," when you talk about spells with X in its cost, the first spell to come to mind is this...
At the time there much more powerful cards like Braingeyser, Mind Twist, Earthquake, and Hurricane, but the red burn spell is, nine times out of ten, the one that we associate X with the most. It seems that nothing was more satisfying than going for the dome, especially when you combined Fireball with...
The high-risk, high-reward combo of "Channel - Fireball" was probably the most popular next to "Dark Ritual - Hypnotic Specter" and "draw - go." To have a professional team named after the combo is testament to that.
The combo is still as potent as ever. While Fireball didn't quite make the cut in the recent MTGO cube, the red X spell that did, Banefire, is still making turn-3 or so kills to this day.
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X isn't just for instants and sorceries. Without the benefit of modern templating, here's the first instance of X on the casting cost of a creature...
... the first instance as the activation cost of a permanent...
... and, in the case of poor templating in the early days, here's X on the power and toughness where we would use *'s today...
The first reference to X in the text box, referencing the attribute of another permanent or value, would come much later...
... just like the use of just X...
... and the use of XX...
One trick I used with this card was just to cast it for R (X=0) to ping away 1-toughness creatures. Sometimes, algebra is tech...
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So far, there are no XXX costs... however, we have used, from time to time, another letter for a variable...
Okay, that was one letter too many. Z would only be used on this card and this card only... As for Y...
It is commonly used today when there needs to be a distinction between the power bonus and toughness bonus. Older cards like Aspect of Wolf were errata'd to make use of this new piece of wording tech, but the experiment was also extended to casting costs. Coming full circle...
The quirky "add 1 for each additional target" was apparently enough cause to justify adding an additional variable to casting costs. However, this version of Fireball would be the only one to do so. Better wording would eventually obsolete it. There is apparently a limit to how variable things can be in a card.
However, with the temptation to abuse the X in casting costs, there is no limit. I've previously mentioned the faulty Nether Shadow - Ashnod's Altar nonbo, and we know of Channel - Fireball, but every other Standard and Extended environment had their "infinite mana" or "tons of mana" combos.
For a comprehensive list, check this forum post here...
RANDOM CARD THAT FITS THE TOPIC
Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Speaking of X-spells and means of abusing them, I remember this one for being "fair" in its abuse. The combo is more akin to a storm combo, where you still have to 'work' to go off. There were plenty of ramp and tutor elements, but the key cards in that combo were Heartbeat of Spring and Early Harvest to amass enough mana to go off. While there were enough red X-spells that could finish the opponent off, the rationale behind Maga was the ability to tutor him up with Weird Harvest.
Why do I say it is "fair?" Aside from really having to work for it, it was one of the few combo decks in a post-Mirrodin Standard, and one that you were not as unhappy to lose to, unlike Affinity...
OUT OF CURIOSITY
What is your favorite X-spell?
Do you remember any other "infinite" or "sort-of-infinite" combo that involves an X-spell?
The letter "Y" is up for debate, but I'm sure you can figure out what it's about...
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Simon Tan
Philippines
Quezon City
Metro Manila
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Cyrus the Great posted up a lot of good suggestions, the ones I actually considered being winning, Weatherlight, and Worlds. We'll be starting with the one subject that is of importance to most people who play Magic...
Also, thanks to howdyhamster for suggesting photobucket. We'll see how it goes...
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Let's face it... people play Magic to win. The genesis of Magic put emphasis on this, with one additional prize...
Alpha Rulebook wrote: When you play the game, you pit your deck against your opponent's deck in an arcane duel, and the winner takes one random card to keep from the loser's deck.
Granted, ante has gone the way of the Chaos Orb; the object of the game is still the same whether you are playing casually or competitively, regular or Commander or Cube. Whatever combo or aggro setup a deck had, it had one goal... knock your opponent down from his or her starting 20 life.
Unless you were playing with one of these...
While naturally derided for being slower than attacking with a 1/1, actual math would make the matchup pretty close...
60-card deck
- 7 starting hand
- 2 draws (regardless of who starts; back then starting player also drew)
__________________
51 cards left
/
(2 cards milled a turn + 1 card drawn a turn)
__________________
17 turns to 0 cards... vs 18 to 19 damage a 1/1 would deal within that time.
Now, what if that 1/1, or even a 0/1, had a special ability...
That would be the third way a player could defeat an opponent during the early days of Magic. It would also be one of the most underwhelming when the creatures that gave poison counters were 1/1s and 1/2s when you could get 2/2s and 3/3s for that cost.
And yet there was an even worse way to lose...
Sure, you don't have to worry about your life anymore, but if your board position isn't exactly a winning position, the damage you took would make it harder to win as it would come out of your lands and other permanents. And then there is Disenchant...
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Over time, there would be other cards that would simply say "you win the game" or "target opponent loses the game" or, worse, "you lose the game." The following is a sort-of comprehensive list of them...
(Note it covers cards that actually win you the game, not cards that make your opponent scoop and give you the win.)
OTHER WAYS TO WIN THE GAME...
+ Win the flip of the activated ability of Amulet of Quoz.
+ Have no cards in hand and no permanents other than Barren Glory at the beginning of your upkeep.
+ Have 200 or more cards in your library and Battle of Wits at the beginning of your upkeep.
... I can still remember looking at articles that would chronicle the adaptation of the deck for Standard and Extended, though it's a shame it hasn't caught on in Modern...
+ Have more life than anyone else when Celestial Convergence runs out of omen counters.
+ Have ten or more luck counters on Chance Encounter at the beginning of your upkeep, which needs you to win ten or more coin flips.
+ Resolve Coalition Victory with a land of each basic land type and a creature of each color under your control.
+ Have 20 or more charge counters on Darksteel Reactor.
+ Have twenty or more creatures and Epic Struggle under your control at the beginning of your upkeep.
+ Have 40 or more life and Felidar Sovereign under your control at the beginning of your upkeep.
+ Have 100 or more tower counters on Helix Pinnacle at the beginning of your upkeep.
+ Be unable to draw a card from your empty library... while you have Laboratory Maniac under your control.
+ Control a creature with 20 power or greater and Mayael's Aria at the beginning of your upkeep.
+ Have 20 or more creature cards in your graveyard, and control Mortal Combat, at the beginning of your upkeep.
+ Have exactly 1 life and Near-Death Experience at the beginning of your upkeep.
+ Have 50 or more life and Test of Endurance at the beginning of your upkeep.
Not included are Now I Know My ABCs and The Cheese Stands Alone...
WAYS TO MAKE AN OPPONENT LOSE THE GAME...
Believe it or not, there are just two that don't involve poison... Door to Nothingness and Phage the Untouchable.
I suppose Hidetsugu's Second Rite counts as a third way...
There are actually a myriad of ways that allow you to lose the game, but let's not get ahead of ourselves...
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It is one thing to talk about the ways to win a game of Magic, but it is another entirely to talk about the way a game is won.
The first mise I saw would be Olivier Ruel vs. Craig Jones in 2006 PT Honolulu (video here). It was the semifinals and both players are at 2-2 and playing the deciding game. Ruel has just cast Ravenous Rats, stripping the last card, a land, from Jones' hand. Craig Jones has just been reduced to chump block mode. and the last attack of Olivier Ruel leaves Craig at 3 life to Ruel's 7. Craig casts a topdecked Char at end of turn, bringing Ruel to 3 and Craig to 1.
For reference, Craig's decklist had 4 Char, 4 Lightning Helix, 3 Flames of the Blood Hand and 3 Shock, with 3 Guerrilla Tactics and 1 more Flames on the sideboard. Coming to the fifth game, I believe Flames has been sided out in favor of Guerrilla Tactics, so the only card that can deal 3 damage and not kill Craig would be...
Image from magicthegathering.com, Topdeck of the Ages, PT Honolulu 2006 coverage
... the card that Craig Jones has just happened to draw. In reality, this would be two topdecks in a row; regardless, it would be billed as the "Topdeck of the Century."
There would be a repeat of that three years later in the 2009 Pro Tour Kobe, the quarterfinals between Gabriel Nassif and Matteo Orsini Jones (video here). Again, it is the deciding fifth game, and Nassif's board position is much worse, with only eight life, only lands on the board, and a Thoughtseize from Orsini Jones revealing that Nassif's lone card in hand is a Reflecting Pool. The following attack reduces Nassif's life total to four.
Unlike Craig Jones slamming the top card of his deck in a Yu-Gi-Oh!-esque manner, Nassif simply pulls the top card and keeps it face down in front of him. He then plays his Pool and arranges his lands, quote:
“I’m preparing my Cruel Ultimatum mana.”
If you pay close attention to the card, it isn't as easy to cast as a Lightning Helix. You would need to have exactly two blue, three black, and two red mana. Even with all the mana fixing available in that Standard, a lot can still go wrong...
... and yet he calls it, casting the game-changing spell with only one word that can describe it: "Ridiculous."
Someday, someone is going to have to make a comic series about Magic...
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RANDOM CARD THAT SOMEHOW FITS THE TOPIC
Lost in the Woods
You're probably wondering how does this junk rare make it into a topic that talks about winning, and I am equally surprised to see it. And yet it has seen play in Limited... in a Pro Tour, no less.
The decklist is just simple...
1x Lost in the Woods
44x Forest
...
...
...
If you think about it, the concept is very simple: if an opponent had no way to destroy the enchantment, strip it from your hand, mill you, or outright beat you in five turns, you could sideboard into the new deck game two and make your opponent play in vain. No creature attack would ever get in, and you would have a few more cards that your opponent, keeping you from losing to mill.
Alas, the card that beat this strategy was one that Jeremy Neeman didn't foresee...
A homage to the days of Feldon's Cane, and yet it is enough to discourage us from using such an evil strategy...
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OUT OF CURIOSITY
What is the most memorable way you've won the game?
What is your favorite strategy of winning? For that matter, what is your favorite card in that regard?
The letter X is pretty obvious. Stay tuned...
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Simon Tan
Philippines
Quezon City
Metro Manila
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So much for writing often... from once a week, to twice, to now once a month...
Aaaaugh!
*ahem*
My original plan was to write about Vanguard, and my plan B was to write about Variants. Turns out that the former I know too little of and the latter I know too much to cover it in one sitting... I then read a forum thread lamenting the different kinds of creatures with only a subtype, power, and toughness... and lo, this is born.
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Apologies to the many who have sent in suggestions for the letter V; I have tried, but I guess we will have to make do with a very plain subject...
Amidst the powerful Serra Angels, Sengir Vampires, Shivan Dragons, and creatures with abilities like flying, first strike, banding, and trample, the first sets of Magic had a handful of regular creatures that have nothing more than a cost and P/T...
Of the early "vanilla" creatures, we remember these three the most because they defined future creatures in relation to their mana costs. While no one will willingly pay three mana for a 2/2 unless they got something out of it, it defined the expectations that players had for their mana's worth.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: For reasons unknown, Gray Ogre would supplant Pearled Unicorn and Scathe Zombies for the title. Perhaps it's just easier to say...
At the very least, we looked for anything that was "strictly better" than a bear, ogre, or giant. In limited formats, when worse comes to worse, at the very least we looked for the P/T to match the mana cost. We would have to be in dire straits to play a creature like this...
and, definitely, we wouldn't pay the mana to play creatures like this...
(We wouldn't even pay one mana for the same creature... perhaps if the power and toughness were reversed?)
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Over time, sets would come up with multiple versions of vanilla creatures to fit the set. Thankfully, there are some functional differences that give some variety these days, or we would be swamped with multiple versions of the exact same vanilla creature with just a different name...
While the world likes vanilla for their ice cream the most (29% versus second-place chocolate with 8.9%), some players have complained that we have way too many vanilla creatures that are just the same thing. That's not true...
For instance, how many 1G 2/2 Bears (with the creature type of "Bear") with no ability are there in Magic?
...
...
...
Not that many, actually... just five. (Balduvian Bears, Bear Cub, Forest Bear, Grizzly Bears, and the most recent Runeclaw Bear) Note that the art would range from grizzly to Yogi... check out Forest Bear.
However, if we allowed for other creature types, we would have...
...
...
...
Three more, for a total of eight. Just add Barbary Apes, Cylian Elf, and Woodland Changeling. (Okay, the last one is debatable.)
Now let's drop the color requirement...
...
...
...
White : 4 (Fresh Volunteers, Glory Seeker, Knight Errant, Silvercoat Lion)
Blue : 0!
Black : 1 (Walking Corpse)
Red : 0!
Artifact / Colorless : 0!
Multicolored : 0!
Thirteen creatures... versus the remaining 201 2cc 2/2 creatures that have an ability! That's not a lot... If you want to see it for yourself, check out this list of every vanilla creature printed... ever.
On closer inspection, it doesn't take a lot of words to create a different creature. For black, they usually add "This creature can't block," while red would add "This creature attacks each turn if able." A simple addition of an evergreen mechanic like vigilance or first strike creates something a little more than vanilla, but still feels like vanilla. The terminology used? French Vanilla...
PS. There's nothing French about the vanilla... (they just use a French recipe in making the ice cream)
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The addition of abilities is enough to create plenty of variety without overtly increasing power to unsustainable levels over time. However, the addition of the vanilla to a unique ability is enough to create a sub-genre of its own...
For the 2cc 2/2, we have a subset of creatures that, with the right abilities, sound like bizarro Care Bears... the Hate Bears!
Ironically, they would mostly appear in the white!
Then there are creatures that have an enter-the-battlefield ability and nothing else... virtual vanillas. Here are the ones that happen to also be Gray Ogres...
(I tried to go with a recent Core Set theme, but it kinda failed. White's is a reprint in Auramancer, while black is yet to have one... perhaps something to look for in M13?)
However, vanilla and French vanilla creatures are still playable today... albeit in a different form...
Eventually, it's really all about efficiency, and it need not be in the form of abilities. Sometimes all it takes is a way to make bears the king over 1/1s...
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RANDOM CARD THAT FITS THE TOPIC
Isamaru, Hound of Konda
I didn't cover legendary vanilla creatures because, as you can see in the ones printed in Legends, they all suck. Even the mono-colored, non-legendary creatures of the same cost tend to be much better at times...
It is therefore to my surprise to see a 2/2 vanilla creature for the low price of W, with the legendary supertype added to keep if from being overpowered.
Turns out that this card would be one of the few gems of Kamigawa block, even if it enabled White Weenie decks as Savannah Lions' #5-7...
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OUT OF CURIOSITY
Do you have a favorite vanilla, French vanilla, or virtual vanilla creature? Or do you think they all just waste cardboard and ink?
As for the next letter, I'm already writing it as I speak. However, feel free to guess what it is...
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Another question: I have just recently found out that Imageshack is limiting free accounts to a max of 500 pictures... While I'll probably won't lose anything linked to the blog or some of the preview threads, I'll eventually lose them as time passes. Does anyone know of a good photo hosting service that's free?
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Simon Tan
Philippines
Quezon City
Metro Manila
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The first time I tried to write this, I managed to write halfway when my Internet connection blinked... before I could save it.
Anyhow, here's take two... and I need to remember to save this time.
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Kingmanzoo called it again with the UN sets, then I realized that it wasn't an easy subject to talk about for two reasons. The first reason is that the most valuable card you could get is... a basic land?
Image taken from Making Magic, Timeshift After Timeshift, magicthegathering.com
Since Ravnica, I have complained about the existence of dual lands more expensive than most rares (and today, even certain mythics), but to think that the Unglued basic lands are about 150% the standard retail price of a booster and Unhinged basic lands are about the same price as an M12 dual... and don't get me started about a foil basic land. Guess how high it can go for...?
...
...
...
About $42.00, or the price of up to two Ravnica shocklands.
Money talk aside, the appearance of those basic lands foreshadowed the following...
- Full art Magic Player Rewards cards, some better candidates than others...
- Full art vanilla creatures in Future Sight.
- ... and the presence of a basic land in every booster instead of a 15th pick.
***
Speaking of foils, the Unhinged team decided to do some crazy things with the foil versions of their cards. You may or may not remember the 10th Edition foils having no reminder text, but how about actually seeing the box a Goblin Mime is bounded in?
Where we are used to seeing a guild or faction watermark, how about a bunny?
Wanna get Richard Garfield's signature? The foil comes with it... in foil?!
And how powerful is the almighty Gleemax?
...
...
...
I guess the only recourse really is the flavor text...
***
The second reason in the questionable appeal of the UN sets is that you have to be well-versed in the culture to get the good jokes. While there are enough neutral puns to make it fun for casual users, there are many back stories that can sometimes get lost in the shuffle...
Of the many back stories, here are some of my favorites...
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Why is there a colander there instead of a calendar? It is a reference to how sometimes the artist just gets it wrong. For example, take the lemure, a malignant spirit in Roman mythology...
... and a misunderstanding turns it into a furry mammal, in black of all colors. Time Spiral would make use of the gag in spades with the flavor text of Viscid Lemures. That wouldn't be the only one in Magic history...
While you ask yourself "What does some dead guy's burial mound have to do with color changing?", imagine that the card is Alchor's Tome instead... that was what the card originally was, as an insider tribute to then Wizards CEO Peter Adkison's wizard in D&D sessions, Alchor. The tribute was made, albeit not in the intended manner.
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This is more of a front story than a back story, but you probably would've recognized the effects of these two cards from somewhere...
... oh, yeah. The designers eventually felt that they were good enough to actually make it into legal tournament play. Whether they are actually good is another story altogether...
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As these cards were common, some players have actually used these three instead of dice to decide who plays first... To date, the highest they would cost is about $0.50 each, so it would make for an interesting change...
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Okay, this one doesn't take too much of a stretch, but you really have to have played in the early days to know how bad Arabian Nights or, if you have the Arena league promo, Homelands is.
Arabian Nights had the flavor going, at least; but Homelands was so bad that I almost gave up on this blog thinking about "H is for..."
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If you're wondering... that really is his head. Sometime near the end of the Weatherlight saga, Urza would be decapitated, but as that was not enough to kill a planeswalker, we see him (or rather what is left of him) lounging in peace...
As for the link on the card, it still works... click here to check it out.
Speaking of Urza's decapitation...
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The art (kinda) references the event. The two pool loungers are Captain Sisay and Gerrard Capashen, and after Gerrard's journey into and out of Phyrexia, Sisay would save Gerrard (and Urza's still-living head) and then-...
Whoops, almost got carried away there...
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Only the really old players would remember the time when there was no such thing as the 4-copies rule. Plague Rats then would scoff at the needed additional text of Relentless Rats.
As for how you got 20 copies of Black Lotus, there is no way to verify. You might as well add 20 copies of Ancestral Recall while you're at it.
And no, don't ask me how to stack all those abilities... You can check the discussion of the card for them, though...
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Friends don't talk about politics if they want to stay friends. For Magic players, they don't talk about Rebecca Guay-Mitchell. Her art style is, in a word, unique. In the world of Magic, it is so unique that you pretty much liked it or hated it.
As for the persecution, there was controversy when Rebecca http://www.mtgnews.com/F/Topic/1078456129399_WotC_Fires_Arti..." target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow">sent an e-mail regarding her exclusion from Legions. The text reads as follows...
Quote: Sadly, the new art director, Jeremy Cranford, thinks my work is too feminine for the vision he has for the game. I would love to continue with Magic but it is not in my hands.
You can write Wizards if you like:
Jeremy Cranford
Wizards of the Coast
1801 Lind Ave SW
Renton Wa 98055
USA
I'm not sure he can be swayed - seeing as his decision is not very popular even at WOTC - and that does not effect him.
(I crossed out the address as Wizards has since moved to a different office building, still in Renton.)
Then art director Jeremy Cranford responded to this issue in the Ask Wizards column...
Quote: "To clear up some of the confusion, Rebecca Guay was not fired by Wizards of the Coast; she is a freelance artist who works with us from time to time. In fact, Rebecca is currently working with WotC on other projects in our Dungeons and Dragons line.
"In the Legions set, the creative team had to think of a way to show what happened to Otaria after Kamahl destroyed the Mirari. We decided we would show the effect of this magic by making really intense exaggerated versions of all of the creatures. We would have 'super versions' and 'hyper versions' of Soldiers, Clerics, Wizards, Zombies, Goblins, Elves, etc. Even the land would evolve over the course of Onslaught block. When selecting artists, the creative team selected artists that we felt would fit precisely within this vision of what Otaria was becoming.
"Even though Rebecca was not selected for work in the Legions set, Rebecca continues to be a highly valued part of our art team. Rebecca and I have discussed this and I have assured her that her art will appear in future Magic expansions.
"This decision for the Legions set does not mean that I personally do not like watercolor. You should see the beautiful watercolor mural that Rob Alexander did for the recent special Arena promo land cards. It doesn't mean I favor gauche, oil, acrylic or mixed media. What it does mean is that I use my best judgment to select the best artist for the job of helping to create the truly unique 'Mage-Punk' fantasy settings that can only exist within the universe of Magic: The Gathering.
"Anything else is pure speculation and is also incorrect."
... but by then there were campaigns and petitions to bring her back, hence her return (with a vengeance) in later blocks, especially Kamigawa and Lorwyn-Shadowmoor.
Even then, there is always speculation about the presence or absence of Rebecca whenever a new set comes along. These days, the question is more about the presence of her art as the last time she made new art for a Magic card was in M10's Regenerate.
***
As a final note on the UN-cards, if you put all the cards together in order, you would be able to make use of that odd word right after the collector's number.
For Unglued, we have this message:
"Here are some cards that didn't make it to print: Socks of Garfield, Hot Monkey Love, Colonel's Secret Recipe, Squee's Play, Banned in France, Spoon, Disrobing Scepter, Butt Wolf, Lotus Roach, Sesame Efreet, Needless Reminder Text, Chicken Choker, Clockwork Doppelganger, Henway, HELP I'M TRAPPED IN CARTA MUNDI, Mad Cow, Poke, Lord of Wombats, Gratuitous Babe Art, Brothers' War Bonds, Dwarven Kickboxer, Mickey's Drunk, Pact with the Wastes, CoP:BO, Urza's Chia Pet, Thallid Shooter, Shoelace, When Chihuahuas Attack, Wall of Cookies, Kobold Ninja, Mucusaur, Kjeldoran Outhouse, Bear in the Woods, Dental Thrull, Flavatog, Cereal Killer."
For Unhinged, we have this longer message:
"Here are some more cards that didn't make it: Moronic Tutor; Lint Golem; Wave of Incontinence; I'm Quitting Magic; Bob from Accounting; Castrate; Mishra's Bling Bling; Dead Bunny Isle; Circle of Protection: Pants; Time Fart; Sliver and Onions; Kobold Ass Master; Thanks, Barn; Mild Mongrel; Robo-Samurai; Obligitory Angel; Chump-Blocking Orphan; Wrath of Dog; Celery Stalker; Hugs-a-lot Demon; Assticore; Codpiece of the Chosen; Hurl; What the Cluck?!; Nachomancer; Scrubotomy; Arcbound Noah; Darksteel Spork; Look at Me, I'm Accounts Receivable; Hydro Djinn; Bad Stone Rain Variant; S.O.B.F.M.; Pinko Kami; Purple Nurple; Form of Uncle Istvan; Them's Fightin' Wards; Spleen of Ramos; Fifteenth Pick; Squizzle, Goblin Nabizzle; Zombie Cheerleading Squad; Two-Way Myr; Bone Flute 2: Electric Boogaloo; Magic Offline; Nutclamp; Bwahahahaaa!; Dragon Ass; Phyrexian Sno-Cone Machine; Chimney Pimp; R.T.F.C.; Greased Weasel; Flame War; We Don't Need No Stinkin' Merfolk; Ting!; Timmy Power Gamer; and Disrobing Scepter (again!).
What's up with the fascination about the Disrobing Scepter? Don't the guys at Wizards realize that the Magic gaming population is mostly male?
...
...
I think I just threw up.
***
RANDOM CARD THAT FITS THE TOPIC
Super Secret Tech
With a card number of 141/140, this card could be considered the progenitor of mythics. Available only in foil, the card was so hard to find especially if you didn't know about it. Allegedly, customer service denied the existence of the card when asked over the phone, and you wouldn't be able to find it on Gatherer until recently.
The card is so rare that there is no price on it. Could it be the next Black Lotus?... Unlikely, unless there is a revival of Magic after the apocalypse.
***
OUT OF CURIOSITY
Do you have any of the basic lands from these sets? Did you actually crack boosters to get them?
Any stories and/or urban legends that you want to hear about?
I went to the Dark Ascension prerelease a few days ago, and I'm wondering if you guys are interested in hearing about it... It's not a great story, but there's a lot that can be said about it.
Also, what is a good idea for V?
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Simon Tan
Philippines
Quezon City
Metro Manila
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I guess for the first time T showed up, tap was simply too obvious. Kudos to Vollick1979 to calling it out...
However, as I started to write this, I didn't realize how much research was needed to cover the beginning of Magic from a technical view. Looking over the litigious history behind Magic was enough to give me the creeps, hence the slight delay...
***
And, without further ado, here is the first embodiment of United States Patent 5662332... (Warning: The patent itself has lots of verbose and technical words, sufficient to induce headaches, nausea, nosebleeds, and migraines.)
For purposes of the topic, here's Claim #1...
Quote:
United States Patent 5662332
1. A method of playing games involving two or more players, the method being suitable for games having rules for game play that include instructions on drawing, playing, and discarding game components, and a reservoir of multiple copies of a plurality of game components, the method comprising the steps of:
each player constructing their own library of a predetermined number of game components by examining and selecting game components from the reservoir of game components;
each player obtaining an initial hand of a predetermined number of game components by shuffling the library of game components and drawing at random game components from the player's library of game components; and
each player executing turns in sequence with other players by drawing, playing, and discarding game components in accordance with the rules until the game ends, said step of executing a turn comprises:
(a) making one or more game components from the player's hand of game components available for play by taking the one or more game components from the player's hand and placing the one or more game components on a playing surface; and
(b) bringing into play one or more of the available game components by:
(i) selecting one or more game components; and
(ii) designating the one or more game components being brought into play by rotating the one or more game components from an original orientation to a second orientation.
The bolded part is the heart of tapping. Claim #2 would give the act of "rotating game components from an original orientation to a second orientation" the name tapping. Further sections of the patent describe it further, including...
Quote:
United States Patent 5662332
4. The method of claim 3, wherein said step of designating one or more of the cards comprises rotating the one or more cards on the playing surface from an original orientation to a second orientation.
5. The method of claim 3, wherein said second orientation is 90 degrees from the first orientation.
6. The method of claim 3, wherein said step of executing a turn comprises the initial step of rotating the player's cards previously designated in a prior turn from the second orientation to the original orientation.
I don't think you can circumvent the patent by having cards turn 89 degrees or even 45 degrees; the wording is about changing from one orientation to another.) Even if you manage to bypass the tap mechanic itself like VS or Yu-Gi-Oh! has, it is still held by Claim #2 of the patent, which does not pertain to tapping.
The litigation between Wizards of the Coast and Nintendo over the publishing of the Pokemon TCG has very little to do with challenging the patent, as The Pokemon Company initially asked WotC to create the game. The litigation does have its share of drama, including claims of "patent infringement, breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets, tortuous interference with a business relationship, and unjust enrichment," among others. The last three items may have something to do with the pirating of former Wizards employees...
As it is, you pretty much have to pony up to Wizards if you want to get into the CCG market.
***
Enough about law and order...
While we may not turn our creatures sideways and push them forward in the exaggerated manner that the pros do on video, it is completely unlikely that you can win a game without turning a single card sideways.
The tap symbol, however, would not exist until Revised. For anything that tapped, it would have to be written out...
The turned T would be obsoleted come 4th Edition in favor of an arrow, complete with turn direction.
Basic lands would lose the written text in favor of the huge mana symbol come 6th Edition, but everything else would keep the tap symbol. A cleaner tap symbol emerged with the change of the card frames, but the tap symbol will remain unchanged after that. Below are the three symbols over the years, courtesy of an Arcana article from magicthegathering.com...
Image from The Changing Tap Symbol, July 12, 2004, Magic Arcana, magicthegathering.com
***
While the patent, and eventually the rules of tournament play, covered how to tap, players didn't always tap 90 degrees.
Some players would keep all their cards in one orientation, and use beads or counters to keep track of what is tapped and what is untapped. This is patently true if you played on any unpolished surface and had cards, like say a Mox Ruby, that you tapped on a regular basis. Of course, this was before card sleeves became a must-have product, and thankfully the practice died out. Imagine the shenanigans when playing with the levelers of Rise of the Eldrazi block, or Lorwyn-Shadowmoor block with their +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters...
As for direction, it is a reflection of our handedness. According to a survey, 80% tap clockwise, 14.5% counterclockwise, and 5.5% taps any which way they can.
***
In the early days of playing Magic, we played with tap based on the following (mis)conceptions...
- Creatures dealt damage, tapped or untapped, attacker or blocker. (Ironically, this would become the correct way to play come Sixth Edition.)
- You can attack with a land-turned-creature on the same turn it comes into play; this made Mishra's Factory even better than it needed to be. (Of course, the rules of "summoning sickness" became clearer over time.)
- You can tap someone's land before he could use the mana to cast the spell, in a kind of "I shouted it first" means of gaining priority...
For our playgroup, that last bit applied to just one card...
... and it would not be until I returned to Magic after a long hiatus that I learned that the last bit was wrong.
***
As for things being tapped, we tend to take it for granted as we always got to untap them at the start of our turn. It was when players started getting serious that we saw these two cards...
(On a side note, I'm surprised PETA didn't have a field day over Winter Orb...)
And it is this that catapulted this card from good to great...
Of course, it was probably the number of counterspells that supported this lock, especially this one counter...
What used to be the best way to force an opponent empty and set up a back-breaking Stasis has now been nerfed by the rules. Where you couldn't respond to this by casting anything other than another interrupt, you could now just cast any other instant or activated ability. How the mighty have fallen...
***
RANDOM CARD THAT FITS THE TOPIC
Gigadrowse
We used to Twiddle stuff in the old days, but the ability to tap wholesale defined the Ravnica - Time Spiral Standard, especially with the http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiver... deck, and it was Gigadrowse that defined the last two games of the 2006 Worlds Final blowout.
These days, we don't see so much tapping except on creatures as activated abilities.
***
OUT OF CURIOSITY
Which tap symbol do you like best?
How do you tap? For that matter, do you play with lands in front of permanents or permanents in front of lands?
Do you think Richard Garfield should've been able to patent what is today the CCG concept? Should it extend to tapping as a mechanic?
The letter "U" is probably going to be Urza, but after talking about him a bit earlier in "P", could there be another topic? (Except Untap... for obvious reasons.)
-
Simon Tan
Philippines
Quezon City
Metro Manila
-
After long weeks of work and get-togethers with friends and relatives, I figured it is high time to write one more to cap the year. With plans submitted and blue-printed, I should have more time to go back to the regular writing schedule, and hopefully be able to write D is for Dark Ascension.
***
As suggested by Kingmanzoo and Renaissance Man, today's topic is sleeves. Usually, when I talk about PVC and plastic, it is in the context of sanitary piping and sealants, which would make sleeves an awkward subject for me. However, true to what some have said, they are very integral to any player who is more than casual.
***
Personally, the number one reason to use sleeves is very much related to this card...
The card is perhaps an official acknowledgement of an important aspect in any card battle game. We didn't really worry about proper shuffling then, and would even mana weave (the practice of alternating spell-spell-land in the deck as a shuffle) as part of avoiding mana screw. However, as games got more serious, so did the demand for true randomness as a means of fair play. There was the original official "all-land or no-land mulligan", which was a one shot deal so if you had the same problem again you're screwed. Likewise, if your opening seven included a Maze of Ith or other no-mana land, you're screwed.
It was fixed into the Paris mulligan (aka mulligan with one card less), which created an interesting quirk when you watch the videos of any PT top 8 match: shuffling downtime. For regular players, this translated into more shuffling before the game even begins, which turned sleeves from card protection into shuffling aid. For pros, it means that they can advertise their respective teams with their card sleeves.
With the impressive finish of team channelfireball.com in this year's Worlds, that would be a lot of time seeing that screaming logo.
***
There are at least a dozen brands of sleeves, so instead of brand I'll focus on type...
The beloved penny sleeves were the earliest card sleeves I've used, mostly because I'm so cheap and so are the sleeves, but also because they avoid the issue of sleeve count per package. The most common complaint is the need to purchase two packs of fifty just to sleeve a constructed deck of sixty... Thankfully, 80 seems to be the de facto count for made-for-Magic sleeves these days...
The first sleeves I've used after that are the metallic Japanese sleeves by KMC. I liked these sleeves, but my complaint with these is that the corners would fray over time, especially if you tend to weave the deck a lot as part of shuffling.
Before Ultra-Pro started to join the art sleeve bandwagon, MAX printed many fantasy-themed (and a few sort-of NSFW) art sleeves. These came in packs of 50, so the Ultra-Pro 80s are a slightly better deal. However, the art is much more... unique. I've bought a total of four packs of these for two sets of 100, and they are fine for casual play, but I find them kinda messy and easy to stick dirt on.
The full art sleeves are prohibited by judges during higher REL tournaments as it is easy to conceal any marks on sleeves. While there is no ban against any specific brand or product, you can check the judge article here as a guide...
Then there's the kind that tries to take advantage of the raging hormones of opposing players. If you expect to play against any female players, it's probably better to pick something less... *ahem*... but still cute. For male players, there are some that border on the NSFW.
Then there's the thick, rigid, card protectors for those who obsess about the mint condition of cards and yet want to play with them. With practice, it is possible to shuffle, and I have seen a friend play with a Rock deck packed with fetchlands to prove this. They are admittedly heavy and difficult to move around; when you move on to the true baseball-card protectors, then you are talking about a deck that better be worth its weight in gold.
I did not cover reflective or holographic sleeves here because they are technically banned for tournament use. See this article here for more details...
***
The recent release of Innistrad, and the subset of these cards in particular, have raised the question of sleeve quality...
Even within a certain brand and product line, some colors were more "see-through" than others. I have not seen a single card group generate so much talk about people being too lazy to desleeve, certain sleeves being worth ****, or talk of what makes a legal/illegal proxy or what not.
With that said, people started becoming more conscious about their sleeve choices. Come pre-release time, most werewolves didn't flip and unflip madly, and the issue became just one of nitpicking...
I do remember some people who nitpick about people not playing with sleeves, though. I had a friend who decided to give Magic a try again, and he played with really old (not expensive, though) cards without sleeves. The sight of him tapping his cards on a concrete floor were enough to make others cringe, so I gave him a pack of penny sleeves to keep his friends from getting heart attacks.
***
RANDOM CARD THAT (sort of) FITS THE TOPIC
Sensei's Divining Top
If there is anything that torture-tests a deck's sleeves, it is shuffling. Anyone who has played with fetchlands, Rampant Growth, Ponder, and the like can attest to the necessity of being able to shuffle efficiently and quickly. However, efficient shuffling (especially at higher-level tournaments) have been a necessary yet time consuming exercise, and the one card that encouraged it the most was banned as a result.
My first days of being on the forums here included a heated discussion on how much shuffling is necessary, but to keep it simple, the answer is "enough to not be called out by a judge."
As for me, the practice in shuffling has been enough to turn me off games like Dominion, but has been good practice for when I play Chinese Poker.
***
OUT OF CURIOSITY
What kind of sleeves do you use? How many have you used up?
Do you sleeve just the cards you play with, or do you sleeve everything?
I already have an idea on what to write for the letter "T", so it'll probably just be a matter of time, I guess.
And in case I don't write again this year, I'm wishing everyone a prosperous and fruitful New Year.
-
Simon Tan
Philippines
Quezon City
Metro Manila
-
Apologies for the very long delay. The nature of my field of work (architecture) is long periods of regular work with intervals of tons of work; that delay was a result of one of those intervals.
While delirimouse suggested "Reserve List" for R, I figured that we could make it a bit more general and discuss reprints in general. However, as I started writing about the reserve list, I realized that there was a lot of ground to cover. I guess you made a really good call there...
***
Ultimately, each individual card has an attached $$$ value to it. Within a set, some cards are more valuable than others due to rarity, and within the same rarity some cards are more valuable than others. As time passes, cards gain value over time. (Sure, they also lose value over time if not kept in pristine condition, but that's a different point.)
POP QUIZ: Which card is more expensive -- A Magic 2010 Glacial Fortress, or a Magic 2012 Glacial Fortress?
...
...
...
...
The older card is more expensive, by 19 cents. However, most buyers won't care which edition they come from, especially if they are both black-bordered and both have the same art. This means that card value drops each time cards get reprinted.
This leads me to the one set that brought tears to those who held on to expensive collections: Chronicles. To somewhat appreciate what the problem was, lets imagine you own a copy of this card...
Not exactly a great rare, but in the secondary market, it is worth as high as $5.50. Sure, it's a bit faded and the templating is a mess...
Oh, this is a nicer-looking version. The gold looks so much better, and I can understand the card's ability better. Now my copy is worth... LESS THAN A DOLLAR at best?!
It also hurts that you have to be knowledgeable about the differences between a card edition to identify one from the other; one quirk about Chronicles is that they retained the symbol of the expansion set it came from instead of having its own expansion. Aside from the border and the card text, it's pretty much up to you not to get scammed.
As it was, a lot of people collected these cards for value in those days. Part of the appeal of a CCG as big as Magic is that there will always be someone who would appreciate the value of your $750 Mox [insert name of gem here], and you could probably pawn it if you need to make a car payment or get a new i[insert product here]. Chronicles was enough to create an uproar by those who wanted to protect their investments. Hence, the guys at Wizards made the concession known as the Reserve List, a list of cards written in blood that would never be reprinted at the cost of the life of a Wizards employee. The list contained every conceivable card that wasn't reprinted to that day.
However, something happened over time... With sets being printed over time, different formats started to be released. A card's value then started being focused on its playability in a format. When Serra Angel was reprinted after a long hiatus, its value both in 7th and older editions went up. The same is true for Sengir Vampire when it saw the darkness again in Torment.
Since then, the list of cards on reserve has decreased. A lot of uncommons and commons found life again, most notable being Juggernaut. (Yes, it was on reserve once.) Even some rare cards, like Clone, got to see life in regular print again.
And then there are the promos, either from special duel decks or from the vault packages...
... as well as the judge promos...
In a case of coming full circle, collectors are complaining about these promos as well. As of this year, the promo loophole is now being closed, which makes the only place to get cards on reserve Magic Online...
For those interested in seeing which cards are still on the Reserve List, click here... If you want to see which cards used to be on the Reserve List, click here...
***
So how does Wizards circumvent the Reserve List without abolishing it? Let us count the ways...
1. You could "fix" the card and make it less broken...
2. You could give it a body...
3. ... or remove the body for a while...
4. You could print it in a different color...
5. You could make a better mechanic out of it...
6. You could change the name (a little bit) and what it does (a lot)...
7. ... or just change a few words...
8. And my favorite... banish it to UN-land!
***
RANDOM CARD THAT FITS THE TOPIC
Feroz's Ban
In what may be a premonition of how successful the Reserve List would be, the original list included today's random card for a few days. In a quirk of timing, they attempted to reserve Feroz's Ban, except that it was already reprinted in Fifth Edition...
Feroz's Ban, and other escapees such as Juggernaut and Clone, stand as a beacon of hope for other cards that someday may escape the Reserve List...
***
OUT OF CURIOSITY...
What is your opinion on the Reserve List?
Any cards that you wish are or are not there?
What would you like for the letter "S"? I'll be pretty busy even as the year winds down, so I kinda need help in thinking about what to write next...
-
Simon Tan
Philippines
Quezon City
Metro Manila
-
As per reader request, more specifically reader joefain's request, this blog will be about card quality. While he specifically mentioned the limited format, I figured that we can stretch the quality of the topic a bit and cover quality in general as well...
***
Firstly, not every card is created equal...
Sure, not every card can be of the level of Baneslayer Angel or Snapcaster Mage, but for most players, there is an expectation of what a card at a certain cost and rarity can do. For example, if we look at creatures, we would say that this 3cc creature is either better or worse than a Gray Ogre, or that this 4cc creature is at least a Hill Giant. These days, the expectations of 6cc creatures have risen out of reach of most creatures, no thanks to these guys (and Wurmcoil Engine)...
Image taken from magicthegathering.com article, On Repeat.
Another way to look at creature quality, albeit with more than a few grains of salt, is the "it dies to [INSERT REMOVAL SPELL HERE]" test. The first time I saw it had this card featured where the brackets are...
I would see this test often in articles analyzing newly-released sets, and sometimes it would irk people when they are overused. I can understand why the creature needs to be able to stick on the battlefield to be worth the mana, but this is still painful to hear for many not-so-pro players. They do make the good point that you want the creature to be able to stay long enough or to give an advantage of sorts that it doesn't matter if they die.
Today, it would be the "It dies to Dismember" test, and that one is a reflection on how influential that spell is... or how badly the guys at Wizards misjudged that particular card.
***
Card quality in Limited is another story. Unlike seeing a bunch of 1/5s and a few 3/5s and 4/5s in constructed, the value of cards differs when you don't have full control over the cards in your deck.
Personally, I'm not that great of a Limited player; I am still yet to go 4-0 at a prerelease or finish with prize at a Limited GPT. There are a few key things to look at a particular format, especially if you have access to the spoilers...
* Removal vs. creatures. The effectiveness of removal on creatures helps determine their quality. In Rise of the Eldrazi, removal wasn't ranked that highly given how big creatures were. In fact, you could argue that white had much better removal (Oust, Puncturing Light Smite) than red (Flame Slash, Forked Bolt, Heat Ray, Staggershock) for once, even though red still has more in terms of volume... The type of creatures prevalent also determined the efficacy of certain abilities; for instance, Bala Ged Scorpion was more likely to give you a 2-for-1 because of the prevalence of defenders, whereas Akoum Boulderfoot wasn't likely to cause much of a splash on its own because of the prevalence of big butts.
* Speed of the format. In Zendikar, a lot of people were caught by surprise by landfall. Aggressive starts by Steppe Lynx and Plated Geopede or creatures assisted by cheap equipment (Adventuring Gear, Trusty Machete) were able to eat out chunks of life before the opponent could deploy a defense. The low cost of vampires also encouraged a sort of Sui-Black method. To get a rough estimate of the speed, look at how much power low casting cost creatures are packing. When it came time for RoE, the reverse became true; most creatures had high toughness, so it was possible to buy time.
* Density of a particular strategy. As cards are revealed, certain "suggested" strategies come to light. You need to determine the method of the strategy to get an estimate on card quality compared to that strategy...
- How many relevant cards did you need to make it viable?
- Do you have to go "all-in," or could you go hybrid?
- How many things need to go right to win? (This is especially true for combo strategies...)
For example, Scars of Mirrodin block has a "poison by infect/proliferate" strategy. When it was just Scars, you needed to have a certain number of the cheaper creatures with infect and preferably enough removal or copies of Untamed Might and/or Trigon of Rage to be effective. With the addition of Mirrodin Besieged, and later New Phyrexia, the strategy became less linear, less fixed to black and green, and less all-in; it was even possible to go hybrid and just win with whatever's more convenient.
Truth be told, a lot more can be said about the topic, but I am not the best one to ask about that... Perhaps in a few years time, I could probably get better at it. (Wishful thinking, but hey, a man can dream...)
***
How about a game of spot-the-difference?
Images taken from magicthegathering.com article, Buyer Beware.
With knock-offs being more prevalent and trading over the Internet much more common, it pays to be extra cautious when buying from some random trader. We take the production of cards for granted, assuming that they all come from one big factory a-la Willy Wonka. Well, they actually do come from one big factory, but that's a different point...
It takes a lot of effort to spot a fake. Even the article from Wizards regarding this gives a few suggestions that inevitably destroys the card, so they're not great options for checking that Mox.
However, sometimes we just want to be fooled. How would you have reacted to seeing this picture of a poster...
... or, more specifically, these cards?
A lot of people went bonkers over this "announcement," but after some time, cooler heads noticed that Mox Diamond was on the Reserve List, which means reprinting is supposedly not possible. More excited people suggested this meant the abolition of the Reserve List. A poll was put up, and a lot of people said they believed the poster is genuine.
Well, it is genuine -- genuine in the sense that it was the poster for Eight Edition. Eventually, the believers had their hopes crushed when the "artist" stepped forward and admitted to the Photoshop shenanigans. The discussion did last for one post after 1337...
Ironically, Mox Diamond would be reprinted, albeit From the Vault: Relics. A case of the fake becoming real...?
***
RANDOM CARD THAT FITS THE TOPIC
Word of Command
The early prints of Magic had many production problems. There was Serendib Efreet with color identity issues, Juzam Djinn that cost 50% less unless you looked more closely, and Cyclopean Tomb, the first no-cost card.
In the case of Word of Command, it was a failure of design. The concept is simple: you force an opponent to cast a spell against his will. Looking at the updated wording shows that it isn't that simple, and it took a lot more words to make it right. There's also an art issue: there's nothing about two eyes that says "word of command" anywhere on it.
***
OUT OF CURIOSITY
Do you think the quality of cards has gone up or down over the years?
How do you approach Limited, be it draft or sealed?
What do you think I should cover for the letter "R"? I can think of a few things, but I'm thinking at the back of my head that something better could be discussed...
-
Simon Tan
Philippines
Quezon City
Metro Manila
-
If you started playing Magic recently, it most likely started with some variation of these four words:
You are a planeswalker...
This concept has been hammered in recently, as in the release of the planeswalker card type. Originally, players are just referred to as players, most likely guys waiting for the missing member of their D&D group to show up, who fought over a plane of the multiverse. The term "planeswalker" would only first come from the creator himself from the Pocket Player's Guide of Arabian Nights Planeswalkers would receive more description a year later by the Duelist. You can check the actual quotes from the article above, and it is a long yet insightful read.
***
The original planeswalkers can be regarded as immortal beings with the power to shape magic and travel the multiverse. In other words: Pug, also known as Milamber.
The Magic: the Gathering equivalent would be this old guy...
Urza would be the first planeswalker to appear, albeit in name only. (His brother, Mishra, was sadly retconned to never having been a planeswalker.) Like Raymond E. Feist's uber main character, Urza's story would drive the majority of sets until the end of the Weatherlight Saga, about three or four millennia worth of Dominarian history. The fact that he has survived this long, or at least his head has, is a testament to the old man.
Not every planeswalker gets to live very long lives. Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer can be regarded as the planeswalker with the shortest term, having given his power to return every casualty of the Mirrodin storyline to life. Neither is being a planeswalker a cakewalk. Of the ways a planeswalker can die...
Dyfed - The planeswalker responsible for making Yawgmoth who he is. Mercifully euthanized by another planeswalker after Yawgmoth vivisected her alive.
Feroz - Husband of fellow planeswalker Serra and protector of Homelands' plane Ulgrotha. Died in a "lab accident."
Leshrac - One main villain of the Time Spiral storyline, and one of Bolas' many victims. Thrown into a planar rift by Nicol Bolas and annihilated.
Manatarqua - A young planeswalker. Consumed by a huge fireball.
Tevesh Szat - One of Urza's Nine Titans. After betraying the group and killing two of them, Urza reveals that the armor he was using was rigged. His life force was consumed to operate weapons of mass destruction.
And, most recently...
Venser - Nearing total corruption from Phyrexian oil, Venser transported his still-pure heart into fellow planeswalker Karn, restorting Karn at the cost of his own life.
***
Unlike Highlander (cue "Princes of the Universe"), it would be boring if it was just immortals spellslinging away at different planes, so there was one big bad guy that planeswalkers had to contend with. That the Phyrexians also start with the letter "P" is either coincidental or subliminal, but it could not be denied that they are the biggest villain the multiverse has faced. (Personally, I would put Nicol Bolas and the Eldrazi at second and third.)
It is one thing for humans to develop a "skyship" to face the Borg-like enemy, but it is another thing if planeswalkers needed their own weapons...
FASA has called; they want their Vulture back. And, no, Urza did not design these for the masses; they were meant for the "power nine" planeswalkers, himself included.
Again, it is one thing for humans to resort to firearms in Magic, but for the greatest beings to need mechs? No wonder the Phyrexians were able to make a comeback...
***
The events of Time Spiral brought an end to the era of old planeswalkers and their immortality. With many old memorable characters dead or depowered, something similar to how the animated Transformer movie wiped out the entire Hasbro line, it was time for a new era of planeswalker...
The beauty of this card type, whatever the naysayers may say, is that it represents how a planeswalker may fight if somehow drawn into a duel a-la X-Men vs Street Fighter. Depending on how you handle your mana, you can call for the appropriate tag buddy.
Some of them were pretty bad-ass, like one planeswalker who survived the Time Spiral storyline...
... and then there's the one that went too far...
Despite that last setback, there's no indication that we will ever see the last of the planeswalker card type. Just as equipment have become a mainstay since Mirrodin, planeswalkers will be one card that we have to learn to use. After all, aren't we all planeswalkers?
***
RANDOM CARD THAT FITS THE TOPIC
Drake Stone
Wait... what?! I can't find him in Gatherer...
This would've been the one planeswalker to come from our plane, courtesy of the remake of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice.". Frankly, this and four other cards are gimmicks of mixed results; Wizards did better with the anime versions of Jace and Chandra.
As for Drake, at least they didn't make a card out of Nicholas Cage...
Okay, I stand corrected...
***
OUT OF CURIOSITY
Which did you like better: old planeswalkers or new planeswalkers?
Which planeswalker, old or new, did you like the most?
If you could be a planeswalker, what would you be?
Also...
What would you like to see for the letter Q? I'm actually clueless in this case...
-
Simon Tan
Philippines
Quezon City
Metro Manila
-
While we are pretty satisfied with one card answers to one card problems, advantage in numbers, either in cards, creatures, life, or intangible effects, is what wins the game. There can never be too much of a good thing, even if it is overkill...
At a time when we lived and died either by creatures or by spells, this sorcery combined Wrath of God, Armageddon, and Shatterstorm at half the price of all three. While the natural question was "What do I do after?", it is still a very powerful reset button. White will get its upgraded version in Akroma's Vengeance, but red would get it much earlier and much better...
The no-counter clause adds certainty for 2 mana, but the flavor text of the Eight Edition print sums it all up. Poor dog...
***
Those who have a passing or active interest in tennis may have remembered the longest tennis match in history last year. It was so long that the scoreboard couldn't handle the relatively high final score of 70-68.
The Magic: the Gathering equivalent would be the 2006 World Championships, and these two cards are to blame...
The peculiar thing about Gabriel Nassif's Martyr-Tron deck, as opposed to "infinite" life decks, is that there is a chance to fight the life gain. If Gabe doesn't draw a Wrath, or if there's only one Proclamation being forecast every upkeep, then it can be beaten. Hence the willingness to try to win despite three-digit life totals.
You would have to download the video of the quarterfinals to get the full impact, but how does Tiago Chan break a 124-point life wall that grows faster than weeds? That was just game one, and on the fifth, deciding match, after a total of three hours of play, two slow play warnings and the search for a calculator, Tiago conceded on the face of 341 life, even after assembling an army of close to fifty token creatures... Granted, he was able to keep Gabriel from going out of hand twice, but it is that kind of hope that is more painful than utter hopelessness.
***
It is one thing to try and blast a big creature away by sinking all your mana into a Fireball, or hope you have enough Swamps to make Tendrils of Corruption a big swing, but certain spells seem to deal only a certain amount of damage. Electricity-based spells like Lightning Bolt or Lightning Blast range from 2-4, while fire-based spells like Firebolt tend to range from 1-5, sometimes get X, and can either hit single targets or multiple creatures. But what does a huge damage spell look like?
A falling meteor. How appropriate, though Meteor Shower feels like it is the bum end of the deal. Thirteen damage is enough to kill almost every creature, excepting some with variable toughness like Sutured Ghoul, or something with equally-overkill toughness like Autochthon Wurm or the deity of overkill, Emrakul, the Aeons Torn.
One random discussion about the excessive amount of damage the Meteor dealt soon evolved into a "how much damage can you deal in a combo?" game. BGG User jonnylawless noticed the thread, and while the post he quoted turned out to be a bombo due to one caveat of wording, smaller combos are able to come up with impressive numbers.
Here one version of a "reasonable" combo...
1 Shivan Meteor + 4 Spitemares + 4 Furnaces of Rath + 1 Mogg Maniac = 218103808 damage to target opponent.
You could substitute Mogg Maniac with Stuffy Doll to keep it closer to a Standard, but by the time Spitemare came out, Ravnica block, and with it Proclamation of Rebirth and the deck that ended Tiago's run in 2006, rotated out. It would've been the perfect foil...
As for big numbered spells, Innistrad came up with equivalents to the big meteor,...
... a land rupture and the poor soul being pulled in straight to hell.
... and the multi-target equivalent: mass murder. Poor choice of imagery considering two months before was the incident at Norway, but Wizards could not have predicted the actions of that madman.
***
RANDOM CARD THAT FITS THE TOPIC
Mistform Ultimus
On occasion, Wizards would release an updated segment on the many creature types of Mistform Ultimus whenever a new block would come out with new creature types. The last time they checked was during New Phyrexia, and the total number of types is 216.
You can forget trying to fit those in the type line, but if we were to use the text box to spell it out, how badly must you squint? According to one Card of the Day issue, you would be looking at .40 point text.
I used to have 20/20 vision, but I don't want to test what's left of it looking at that version of the card... (Sadly, though I remembered saving it to my computer, I couldn't find it.)
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OUT OF CURIOSITY
What's the biggest "overkill" moment you can remember in playing Magic?
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