Hello everybody and welcome to The Magic Show. In this, our 29th outing – can you believe we’re almost the big 3-0? In today’s episode we look into the future of Magic, beginning with new blocks, new cards, and new strategies.
Let’s take a look:
[The following is a transcript of the show, which you really should check out.]
The Next Magic Block
Oh boy, this is going to be fun. The next block is going to be called…wait for it… Lorwyn. Let that roll around your mouth a bit. Think about Lorwyn and what that could mean, as a name. Now, if you are half as geeky as I am, this should be setting off alarm bells.
Did you watch Lord of the Rings? Doesn’t Lorwyn sound, I dunno… elfy? Because I’m getting an elf vibe there.
But moreso than just elfy, it sounds downright Dungeons and Dragonsy, don’t it? Oh yes my fellow geeks, I believe there will be a Dungeons & Dragons block and that it’s coming in October. Now, because I’m only half as geeky as the average Dungeon Master, I don’t know the “planes” of the D&D universe, or what this could entail exactly. What kind of lore-ridden universe are we stumbling onto?
However, Rosewater mentioned that they were going to be breaking the rules with Peanut… oh, you don’t know what Peanut is? That’s Lorwyn. It’s a codename.
You see, each set has a codename. Champions of Kamigawa block, for example, had the blocks Earth, Wind and Fire. Ravnica Block was Ctrl Alt Del, and Time Spiral is Snap, Crackle and Pop, with Pop being Future Sight that’s to be released in three more months or so.
But Peanut, what we now know as Lorwyn, is breaking the rules. How? Well, the latest posts say that we’ll have Peanut, Butter, Jelly and Sandwich. What is Sandwich? Allow me to first delve into Bad Set Design.
Why Sets Suck
It’s well known I’m no fan of Coldsnap. And my complete condolences and understanding goes out to the designers and developers with what could only be best intentions.
But while the set fails on many levels, let’s look at what was probably its worst sin: Drafting. Coldsnap was designed and developed with the ability to draft it as a small set. This was, as we all now realize was… not a good idea. Now some have professed that Coldsnap drafting was not the godawful bowel-crushing experience some found it be. But as for the rest of us, the drafting probably hurt the most. We really wanted to like it, honest. But it wasn’t meant to be. Ripple and the not-so-subtle “Collect Me” theme made the set ridiculously swingy, and with only one small set the draft archetypes were extremely limited.
But look, we got a good writer out of it, didn’t we? (Zac Hill) That’s saying something, isn’t it?
Anyway, Lorwyn will destroy the idea that a block may only have three sets. This alleviates the pain and anguish of trying to stomach one-shot expansion sets.
Back when Magic first began, blocks were still a twinkle in a Rosewater’s eye. Now they’re here and they’re three a year. But no longer. And while this decision is exciting for the Magic alum like you and I, it is also economic: Wizards (or, more specifically, Hasbro) likes the idea of selling four sets a year. It keeps the “suits”, as we may refer to them, at bay.
For many years Wizards has been offsetting the summer absence of a non-core set by releasing the Unhinged and Unglued series. This funky offshoot is only cool and interesting if given enough time between releases. So last year instead of another Un set we got Coldsnap, and in 2008, a year after Tenth edition, comes Sandwich.
Now when you think of Dungeons & Dragons, I can’t really imagine a world I’d rather like to spend four sets in. I’m sure it’s cool and the dragons will undoubtedly be badass.
At least, there better be friggin dragons. Huge dragons. With fangs. And swords. And a fanclub. I’m not kidding.
Planar Shiftin’
No post-set release article is complete without a rundown of its favorite sons. And this one is no different. Now, because Sean McKeown is a dirty hack who steals all my great ideas a week before I get them, he did much of the same thing. But I’ll look over it. This time.
So instead of Standard highlights I’ll do something I consider much more interesting: I’ll focus on the cards that are currently being underrated. This is always fun and hey, gives more ammunition to my critics. Not that they need it.
White has the following big hitters:
Heroes Remembered. Oh, I’m sorry, what deck wants to wait ten turns for a spell? That’s right, U/W Control. Particularly, U/W Tron is a-okay with playing nine mana spells. Particularly those that will kick stuff like the new Mono-Green Aggro in the nuts.
You: “Man, I’m at three. Better draw something good. Tap some Urza lands, signets, and these solid gold Hallowed Fountains. Gain 20.”
Aggro Player: “I hate myself.”
Up next is Saltblast. A very interesting card that seems to fit a few different archetypes. One is what will probably be the new Glare archetype if U/B Dralnu doesn’t crush us under the waves of Mystical Teachings. Another is of course W/x Control, but virtually ever W/x Control deck just sounds better when it’s B/x Control and features Damnation. Either way, this card destroys virtually any permanent on the board. One of the bonuses of this card is, and I say this with a straight face, that since White will probably suck pretty badly in the new metagame, this is basically an expensive Vindicate.
Blue gets a big slice of Venarian Glimmer. How awesome is this card? I’m pretty sure it’ll be making its way at least into blue control decks, if not some fish builds. Oh, did I say Fish? You betcha. Gossamer Phantasm and Mana Tithe combine together to form some sort of new delicious beatdown dish never before seen, and the drizzling syrup of disruption on top is Venarian Glimmer. It pulls stuff like Mana Leak and Condemn out of their hand, along with showing you their whole grip, at the end of their turn for three and two mana respectively.
This card will eventually make it into Vintage. Two mana to see their hand and strip a random fantastic card on turn one (anything from a Lotus to Ancestral to Brainstorm and up) sounds too good not to make an impact in that format. But then again, I’m no Menendian.
Also, snap up those Riptide Pilferers in foil while they’re cheap. This guy on Turn 2 in both Control mirrors and Fish can cause headaches that last all game long. Don’t worry about morphing this guy—he’s ridonk all on his own. Do note I didn’t get to spend any time with Onslaught block, so Headhunter may suck for all I know. But Pilferer certainly seems strong in today’s control-drenched environment.
In Black, snap up a set of Imp’s Mischief on the cheap. Those Dralnu people, the kind who just love a long, drawn out match of card advantage and Teferi droppin’, would like nothing better than to have this awesome Misdirection. What’s four life in a control mirror? Just another spell, that’s what.
Imagine you’re grinding your way through the Top 8 in Yet Another Control Mirror. Your opponent plays three mana and Compulsive Researches. Wouldn’t it be worth three life to make that target you instead? Or to change the target of a crucial spell in a counter war? This two mana spell can’t stop a lethal Demonfire, but it can stop a hell of a lot more than you think.
Speaking of neato, soon-to-be-in-demand foils, grab those Shrouded Lores before people realize how incredible they’re going to be in Mono-Black Control.
In Red, Brute Force just made Boros Swiftblade playable in Standard. Go ahead, throw that deck you have in your head right now. You’d be surprised.
In Green we have two oddities: The first, as pointed out by none other than Talen of the Lee, is Fungal Behemoth. Yes, the only art Mark Tedin provided for the set could actually make Cytoplast Root-Kin see top tier play again. Simic beats FTW!
The other oddity is Uktabi Drake. In my silly Time Spiral Standard Primal Forcemage deck I couldn’t find two things: One, enough creatures with Haste. Solves that problem. Secondly I needed card draw in Green/Red. Thanks to Harmonize, we’re a-okay there. Again, throw it together and see what sticks. I believe the best part of any post-release in my opinion is the fun-filled deckbuilding sessions that arrive afterwards.
As for multicolor, I don’t know how long it’s going to take for Numot, the Devastator to show up in Blink Riders, but it probably won’t be long. Ugh.
Purple Haze
What the freak ladies and gentlemen, did we really have a big feature article on MagictheGathering.com that said they seriously considered bringing in a sixth color?
And did they really list Mana Drain as one of the cards to give to the new color?
Mana Drain. People. The card which Randy Buehler himself said they would never ever reprint. This would’ve been killed faster than Ichorid in Extended in development, but still: It’s hard to fully explain how busted this card is. To even think about bringing it back into the world…
Shudders, people. Shudders.
Six colors sounds sexy for all the wrong reasons: Because it’s different. Don’t people fear what they don’t understand? We don’t fear a sixth color, we’d embrace it. Then…then we’d hate it. We’d despise it. For all the things that it’s not. For all the colors it’s not. You think Green gets a lot of rants on how bad it sucks? Just wait until we get a whole new color to bitch about!
Maybe that’s why it was killed. Or maybe it’s because the color pie we know and love, which, I’d like to point out is a complete figment of Magic design’s imagination, is fine where it is.
Magic is a lot of things and it can go a lot of places. Within five colors you can do almost anything you want, and Magic has done quite a bit of it. Just look at other card games and see the rip-offs (or “homages” if you prefer) yourself.
Each new leap of ingenuity we’ve had lately—hybrid mana, time and Planeshifted cards—has secured another six months where Magic R&D can do their best to hone the next great idea. But what if we run out of ideas?
Rosewater says there is no running out of ideas. And I believe him. But it’s not easy. And while I would love for a sixth color to emerge, I don’t think it should be done willy-nilly. In fact, it should take a huge shift in how the game is seen and played. It would take a growth of immense proportions, a whole other world of fantasy and danger…
… like Lorwyn?
That’s all I’m saying people. All I’m saying.
Thanks for watching.
Evan “misterorange” Erwin
dubya dubya dubya dot misterorange dot com
eerwin +at+ gmail +dot+ com
Title Song Credit: “Emily Jean Stock” by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah