Category: Magic: The Gathering

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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 “Fun Fun Fun Now That WotC Took the Legend Rule Away”

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

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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 “You Get What You Give”

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Ever since Magic was first created, White has had a split personality. It’s been separated into two distinct camps:

• White Weenie
• White Control

Now, every color has aspects of both, but with White it was never so prevalent. What White was trying to accomplish the idea of the “army” and righteousness with “fairness” at the same time. However, it’s the only color that makes you feel bad for trying to cram everything that the color can do in one deck.

• Blue – Steal, Counter, Bounce, Draw
• Black – Discard, Kill, Reanimate
• Red – Burn, Swing, Burn again
• Green – Mana Ramp, Play Big Creatures, Pump Big Creatures

But with White, you couldn’t do that. You can’t play a bunch of creatures, then Wrath of God or Balance. That defeated the whole purpose of playing all those creatures in the first place (With Wrath of God, and Balance both being reset buttons of “righteousness” and “fairness” (One player can’t get ahead of the other player)). Sure, there was Banding to help the small White army deal with the larger creatures of the other colors (and we know how well that turned out), but you couldn’t play an all encompassing White deck. Unless you played a traditional White Weenie deck that relied on a control element. The only reason that White Weenie was able to survive as an archetype was because of one card: What should be a “fairness” card (one player can’t have more land than another) suddenly turned into an aggressive’s deck best friend. By playing your threats early then blowing up lands so the other player couldn’t stabilize, White Weenie became a favorite and power style of play. As long as White had its army of one and two drops that were “better” than the other colors as well as a way to “destabilize” the board after a few turns, it continued to see play.

But White has shifted away from “unfair” global reset buttons. Except for Wrath of God variants, the most recently printed Armageddon style disruption spell was Global Ruin in Invasion. That is almost 13 years old and not a legal set in Modern. Guess how long White Weenie has been mostly irrelevant? At the same time, creatures of all casting costs were getting better so White’s weenie rush just wasn’t viable anymore.

Elsewhere in the color pie, there was a deck that was picking up steam that followed similar style of play: Sligh. If you’re unfamiliar with the deck type, here’s a quick run down. Basically, it was a Red weenie deck that relied on tempo and a mana curve rather than just small creatures with a way to stop the opponent from doing anything. The deck was quick, and really, because of Red’s love of direct damage, didn’t need an Armageddon style spell to disrupt the opponent. The deck had finishers (Fireblast, Scroll Rack, Ball Lightning), it was just more damage to push the opponent below 20.

But the point of this isn’t to talk about bringing back Armageddon, it’s for something else entirely.

See, White is all about the Army feeling: their troops are better (and more numerous), than our troops. White’s creatures are going to work together to defeat you. And you know what the best two White army decks have been? Rebels in Marcadian Masques block (using smaller creatures to bring out bigger creatures). Goblins in Onslaught block. What, wait?

It’s time for White and Red to examine their place in the weenie aspect of the Color Pie. Continue reading “Breaking Down Boros’ Weenie Problem”