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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...?
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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.
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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?
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I guess the only recourse really is the flavor text...
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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.
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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?
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I think I just threw up.
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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.
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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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Great read, nice job!
