MTG Color Pie

A Magic: The Gathering blog about card design, humor and culture


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Fun Fun Fun Now That WotC Took the Legend Rule Away

Sakashima the Impostorhttp://wp.me/p5VSx-1yF

Prerequisite reading:

Magic 2014 Core Set Rules Changes – Matt Tabak
Legendary Rule Change – Sam Stoddard

Let’s say you didn’t read those articles, what has happened in the past 24 hours has shook up the Magic community. Here’s what it boils down to:

The “Legend Rule” used to “say”:

There can be only one copy of a Legend with a unique name on the battlefield at a time. If there were ever more than one Legend with the same name, they are all put into the graveyard due to state based effects.

Now, the “Planeswalker Rule” was almost the same thing, except it checked to see the Planeswalker type, not just the name. So this meant that If I have any copy of Jace on the battlefield, and you cast any Jace, they both go to the graveyard. This was the same with Legends; if I have a Rafiq of the Many and you reanimate one from your graveyard, they both go to the graveyard.

This played a huge role for two reasons: One, it would keep the “power” of Legends in check because you could just play yours and get rid of your opponents; and two: it solved the issue flavor wise of both of us are trying to use the same character and, just like in any time travel movie, the character would just disappear because it couldn’t be in two places at the same time.

There was one added part to the “Legend Rule”: if you were to copy a Legend, using Clone or another variant, than the copy and the Legend went to the graveyard.

This is all how the game has played for a good number of years. Now it all changes. (Cue Dramatic Music)

Each player now gets to control a copy of a Legend with a Unique name, and if you cast one you already had you get to choose which one goes to the graveyard. Planeswalkers now work like that as well, meaning everyone can have a Jace on the battlefield. Oh, and Clones can’t kill Legends anymore.

Of course, this isn’t the only change with M14 (the sideboarding part will get some discussion once this initial rules shock wears off), but you can see a shifting of the way Magic is being handled. And we’re going to discuss that.

It will be okay. Continue Reading →


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Uncle’s Games Summer Invitational Announcement

UnclesGamesLogo

http://wp.me/p5VSx-1yu

We’ll get to the YMTC and the updates to Slivers in future posts.

I walked into my local game store, Uncle’s Games, and was asked if I wanted to be part of something cool. Of course, I do, doesn’t everybody? I was told that the game store is announcing its first ever Summer Invitational. This was cool.

It looks like at the moment that it will semi-represent the old Invitationals that WotC used to do with the pro players (here’s coverage of the 2005 Invitational). Uncle’s decided that it would be a tournament of 16 people, where everyone would get an invite through different means. Some of the people would be invited from their Bellevue (Washington) store, others from their Redmond (Washington) store.

It would all culminate on August 17th where the winner gets 4 copies of From the Vault: Exiled. You know FtV: Exiled, right? Balance, Beserk, Channel, Gifts Ungiven, Goblin Lackey, Kird Ape, Lotus Petal, Mystical Tutor, Necropotence, Sensei’s Divining Top, Serendib Efreet, Skullclamp, Strip Mine, Tinker, and Trinisphere. Basically a nice Vintage/Legacy/Commander/Cube starter pack of awesome cards. A playset of them (for those of you keeping track at home). Plus more prizes will be announced as we get closer to the event.

I nodded my head, “Yeah, I like this. How do people get an invite?” Continue Reading →


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You Make the Card 4 – Round 5 (Submit the Mechanic)

YMTC - Black

http://wp.me/p5VSx-1xU

So it all comes down to this.

I knew that non-arua would win the vote, but I didn’t expect it to be by that much. That’s all fine and good.

Now it comes down to those of us in America and Canada submit our designs. I feel bad for the rest of the world, since obviously the community is larger than just these two countries. I’m sure it has to do with something on the legal side of things, but I have no knowledge of what it could be. Hopefully one day we can live in a world without lawyers. But back to the good part.

If you haven’t submitted your design yet, stop and take a breath. You only get one design so you better make it a good one. Already I’ve seen hundreds of submissions that people have sent in and I’m noticing a huge pattern here:

You’re rushing things.

I was going to spend some time about what Black can and can’t do, but I feel like we need to take a step back and look at card design in general. Most everyone is getting the idea of what Black is, so that’s good. And I think the benefit of submitting a top down design is fantastic since we can convey the flavor easier. However, everyone’s so excited to submit their card they’re losing perspective on several things. I tweeted out this link to one of Maro’s posts on basic design but I feel like people need to see it again, and again.

And again.

Before we get to that review, I want you to look at your design and ask yourself some honest questions:

  • Is it fun?
  • Would you put it in a deck?
  • Would you be happy to see it when you draw it?
  • Would you be happy to see it played against you?

While the 4th question is a little awkward, let me explain. There comes a point in every card’s life that you just don’t want to see it played against you. Either because it’s too powerful, you see it all of the time, or a combination of both. Primeval Titan is a fun card that you play, but you get tired of seeing your opponents play it. What about Black Enchantments? Recurring Nightmare is a hugely fun card for you to play, but when your opponent has it, you’re just groaning and complaining about why would WotC print such a broken card? Cards that create repetitive gameplay gets tiresome. Cards that create repetitive gameplay gets tiresome. Cards that create repetitive gameplay gets tiresome.

Listen, I’m not saying your card can’t be good; balancing cards that are fun for the person using them while not completely ruining the game for your opponents is very hard to do. But saying “I’ve got an idea for a Black enchantment”, scribbling down your first idea then submitting it doesn’t give this contest justice. You can come up with a ton of different Black enchantments but if they don’t follow the first three questions, while maybe touching on the fourth, then why are you submitting it? Continue Reading →


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You Make the Card 4 – Round 4 (Aura or Non-Aura)

YMTC - Blackhttp://wp.me/p5VSx-1xv
(Note: That link is this page’s address so it’s easier to share this page.)

And Black won the vote. Fine, I’ll just crumple up all my Red enchantment designs and throw them in the drawer of “stuff I’ll use sometime”.

Hopefully this vote also dispels the rumors that A) WotC is trying to control the vote by linking my articles (though I’m very grateful) and 2) that I have supreme power over the voting process.

I am not surprised that Black won the vote as I figured it would be Red or Black since the players want to complete cycles. They were the top two colors because that’s what people wanted to see. And now we’re in the all “important” phase of choosing if we want the aura card or not.

What we’re deciding here is if the card type line will read “Enchantment” or “Enchantment – Aura”. That’s it.

This might be one of the more lopsided votes that we’ll have throughout the whole contest but it’s not one to take lightly. By ignoring the vote, we could get stuck with a choice few of us want.

Vote for “Global Enchantment.”

Yeah, we don’t use the term “Global” anymore, but we did at one time. So, no, we’re not voting on “Enchant Worlds” either and that would be an aura anyway using modern templating. But there are two main reasons why you shouldn’t vote for Auras. Continue Reading →


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You Make the Card 4 – Round 3 (Choose the Color)

YMTC - Enchantmenthttp://wp.me/p5VSx-1wT

And enchantments won that exciting runoff.

First, let me say that it was fun debating the people of “Team Land”; or those that wanted to debate rather than just yell. I hope that those of you who were on that side stay with the rest of us until the end of the contest. You’re not out of voting by any means, but I’ve seen a number of you get upset that your choice didn’t win. Yeah, my first choice didn’t win either (it was creatures). The key to this contest is to think of this as more than just an “I want” thing, because then you’ll always be disappointed. We’re a team here, and we all get a vote. If you feel like you don’t care anymore because one choice didn’t go your way, then that’s the wrong attitude. While this might be my Selesnya side talking, but let’s work together to build the best, and most fun, card that we can.

Basically this contest is what WotC has to do plenty of times. Following their design skeletons, there are several holes in a set that they are creating. Instead of trying to fill it internally, they have decided to let the fans choose which hole they want to participate in finding an answer to. We, as a group, has decided to go after the Enchantment hole, and are now deciding on which color. Then, I imagine, we will decide if it’s going to be an aura or not, then finally pitch our ideas about what should be sorted through to fill that hole. I’ve seen plenty of people complain about just telling us pitch mechanics now and let the color be decided by the mechanic, but it doesn’t go that way. We’re using their process, we have to play by their rules.

At the moment, our decision is actually pretty hard: what color should the enchantment be? Continue Reading →


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You Make the Card 4 – Round 2 (Run Off)

YMTC - Blankhttp://wp.me/p5VSx-1wq

Well, that happened.

26 votes? That’s a margin of error in almost any poll (Though electronic voting does make recounting so much easier). Because the voting was so close, WotC has decided that it’s going to do a run off between the top two card choices:

Enchantment vs. Land

Yes, they reran close voting in previous YMTC, so this was expected. I mentioned that it was possible that people were going to vote for a card type that hadn’t been done before (Creature, artifact and instant). This is really not a surprise. But some of you seem to think that we can “force” WotC to do whatever we want. That’s not the case with this contest. They are letting us create a card together. After we submit ideas, R&D are going to go through them and pick out 10 or so of the ideas they like. The ideas could be whatever the focus of the block is, a truly unique idea, or just something that’s really cool (Subjectively speaking). We get to choose an idea that WotC approves of.

Listen, I know that a good portion of you really like the idea of designing a land, but for this contest I think that choosing to go the land type is the wrong way to go. I can guess what a majority of the land designs are going to be:

  • A Strip Mine or a Dust Bowl effect.
  • A fetchland (ala Polluted Delta).
  • A “Man-Land” (ala Mishra’s Factory).
  • Something that taps for more than one mana.
  • Something that taps for every color of mana.

None of those choices are sexy. You really want the card that the community makes to be a utility land? How exciting. Yawn.

I’m telling you again: don’t vote for land. And here’s why. Continue Reading →


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You Get What You Give

The Gathering“Wake up kids//We’ve got the dreamers disease” - You Get What You Give by New Radicals.

http://wp.me/p5VSx-1vV

Is there anything more late ’90′s than the musical styling of New Radicals? One hit wonder, we salute you.

One of the larger media news stories this week has been about the resurgence of a Veronica Mars movie. This was a show on the WB and UPN that had a rabid fan base. After its cancellation, the fans wanted a movie. Like anything in business: it’s all about money. Warner Brothers (who own the rights to Veronica Mars) knew there was a loyal fanbase, but didn’t think it was large enough to support more seasons or even a movie. But with Firefly and Arrested Development both getting second lives through the push of its fans, it might be worth a shot for Veronica Mars.

For a project that big and that risky (if they’ll make the money back), you have to count on if there’s enough interest that will pay for something like that. The internet is fickle with its obsessions. The love of Snakes on a Plane didn’t transfer to so well on the big screen. Hollywood has this love/hate relationship with the internet and doesn’t know how to react to it just yet. Luckily, there’s a website where people can propose a project and if there’s enough interested parties willing to pay for it, the project will get funded and made: Kickstarter.com. If, by the end of 30 days the project doesn’t reach its goal, it doesn’t get made.

Warner Brothers told Rob Thomas (the creator of Veronica Mars and not the Matchbox 20 lead singer), that if they could raise $2 million, they would green-light a Veronica Mars picture. It would meet the demand that the studio wants and pay for part of the movie (a win/win for Warner Brothers). Now, $2 million is a lot of money; never had a Kickstarter project had a goal that large. If it failed, there would be no more talk of a Veronica Mars movie and it would only be part of a feverish fan’s dream.

They met their goal in 24 hours.

It was the fastest Kickstarter to $1 million and obviously the fastest to $2 million. As of this writing, with 29 days left in the Kickstarter, it has made almost $2.8 million.

What does this mean to Magic?

We can start getting new projects. Continue Reading →

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