Lotus Cobra is Evil – Clash of the Titans

That’s right everyone! Your favorite Magic webcomic is back! Sixten has been busy working on a non-MTG comic book (which you can pre-order right here), but has started to draw LCiE again. Some more great news after the comic.

Non-Paid Advertisement: Buy Duels of the Planeswalkers, it’s fun and it’s a great learning tool for newer players.

I’m dubbing this week: “Return of Content” Week. It’s like Shark week, but most likely not as cool (Come on, Sharks are way badass). As you might have read from my last post, I’ve been a little distracted as of late. But I haven’t stepped away from Magic, just my writing time as been shrunk while we get ready for our new addition. I’ve got a ton of new content I want to get to.

The goal is a new post everyday this week between here, 99EDHProblems.com and GatheringMagic.com. That’s the goal and I’ll do my best to get it to work. On Friday, I’ll debut a new project that I’ve been working on for several months that will…

…well, let’s wait until then.

So Lotus Cobra is Evil starts Return of Content Week. I’d say that’s always a good thing.

Quick Thoughts About Design in Modern

Currently $50. We'll see how long that lasts.

Quick Thoughts About Design in Modern

In case you didn’t hear, Wizards announced a new format aptly named Modern. It’s a non-rotating format from expansions and core sets 8th Edition and Mirrodin forward (No Commander, no Duel Decks unless those cards have been printed in sets since 8th Edition). Everywhere in the MTG Internetsphere is buzzing with excitement; though to be fair, they did the same buzz for Extended and see how that played out?

When “Overextended” was rumored last year, I did a whole write up about my thoughts about porting stuff over and what it generally means if the format is created. That format wasn’t, though this one is. Today, I just quickly want to address some ideas about Modern, and what it means for us:

Continue reading “Quick Thoughts About Design in Modern”

Design Class – Combating Into the Future

You want to attack with her, don't you?

http://wp.me/p5VSx-1f8

It’s easy to tell when a plane is at war in the Magic Multiverse: there’s a combat mechanic in the block.

Combat related mechanics always get a bad wrap. They have several things going against them: the creature has to be alive, you have to be willing to attack/block with it, and they mostly stick to three colors. Now each of these can be spun into a positive, but for the most part players are still kinda lukewarm about the idea of a combat mechanic.

For the sake of argument, we’re only going to be looking at non-evergreen keywords. We’re going to let Firebreathing, First Strike, Flying, and the like slide this time. Unless something like “Slow Strike” gets invented, there’s not going to be too many areas of increased development (And don’t get me started on Shadow).

The reason most of this discussion will be focused on keywords is because that’s what players first think of when they hear “Mechanic”.  That’s not always the case but we’ll run with it. And to start out at why combat mechanics are important, and to get to their future, we’re going to hit the way back machine to Legends.

Continue reading “Design Class – Combating Into the Future”

Magically Hacked

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

[Editor’s Note: After much deliberation, two websites passed on this because this was more of a personal issue. In the abstract, this is clearly a community one at whole, but I respect their decisions.]

Sometimes, all you have is your identity.

It can be stolen, changed, or mistaken, but the one you have is your own. We, as humans, do everything we can to differentiate ourselves from each other. This is the reason we give our offspring names and why we sign up for forums and Magic Online accounts with a name. No one remembers 2019384. That’s just a number, a faceless being in a faceless world. People remember names.

Quiet Speculation.

Gathering Magic.

Star City Games.

MTGColorPie.

It’s with these names that others remember personalities, styles, and brands. It makes them stick in your head.

The thing I contribute most to the Magic community is my writing. No one looks at me for creating the next format-breaking deck or what cards they should invest in. My writing is something I’m passionate about as I always love to try out new and different ideas. Sometimes I’m the court jester, other times I’m the storyteller. There are times where I’m the kid at the front of the class raising my hand after every question the teacher asks. I feel like an ambassador to this game that we play because of my writing; it’s part of my responsibility to help people understand this game. There are so many doors opened and opportunities given to me because of my written word. I feel like a writer first, and a Magic player second.

I’m very comfortable with that.

As a writer, you’re told that you need to develop a brand. That’s why you see MTGColorPie as my brand everywhere I go. MTGColorPie on Twitter, MTGColorPie.com as my personal Magic blog, MTGColorPie on Magic Online. It’s more than just a name, though that’s a large part of it. Readers want to know what to expect when they click on that link to read your words. I tend to have honest and researched writing, broken up in more prose-like passages and disjointed paragraphs that I’m sure my editors (when I have them) hate. I’ve branched out to talk about several areas of Magic including design, humor, culture, and, most prominently, Commander.

We’ll get back to that in a moment.

I don’t write the controversial articles. I’m not Dr. Jeebus, Geordie Tait, or Ted Knutson. I’ve disagreed with all of them multiple times, but they’re the one getting hits because people like controversy. My brand that people have come to expect is one where I don’t rock the boat. I have tried to follow Knutson’s Open Letter to MTG Pros and Writers (an actual must read for those groups). Lately this has created a huge existential dilemma.

What happens when your brand suddenly becomes someone else’s?

Continue reading “Magically Hacked”