MTG Color Pie

Fixing Broken Mechanics – Evan Erwin’s Fate

With all of the GDS2 running around on the internet today, sometimes it’s nice to go around and see what needs fixing. In this new column (hopefully), I take a look at someone’s completed/semi completed set and try and fix what I believe to be a major problem with it. At the moment, I’m going to stay away from the GDS2 Top 8’s entries until they are eliminated if I want to cover that.

I won’t be looking at individual cards, but a mechanic as a whole. I’ve been talking about theory on here for a while (though not enough theory in my opinion, but that’s my fault), and I want to have some real evidence here to show you what as a designer can do better. This is not to poke fun at the designer, but to show case different things they may not have thought of before since many of the amateur designers on the internet create a whole set by themselves. It’s to help you learn how you can see what Wizards does and how you can avoid common pitfalls.

Today’s mechanic, I take from Evan “The Magic Show” Erwin’s set: Rise of the Titans. Created in 2007, it’s not the most recent creation in the block, but I think the mechanic that needs fixing is a great place to start.

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Not With a Bang, But a Whimper – Ending My Run in GDS2

Sycophantic Bond - Fry — It's the official MTGCP hat

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As you know by now, I didn’t make the Top 8. I want to wish them all good luck and I’m willing to help them out anyway I can (you can find me on twitter (@mtgcolorpie) or e-mail me mtgcolorpieATgmailDOTcom). I am bias towards Jon Loucks only because I’ve met him before, we live in the same area and he’s a really nice guy. We gotta not let our jobs here in Washington go to someone out of state. Keep them in state!

But enough about them.

Yes, I’m disappointed that I didn’t make it. My dream job, one that I coveted, is beyond my grasp for now. It’s fitting that yesterday was Election Day (wait, it was yesterday? I gotta fill out my ballot), and all I can say to the numerous people who supported me is thank you. If feels as if I want to give a concession speech, and I think that this will most likely be it.

There isn’t any reason to be mad that I didn’t make it. I tried. Looking back, it wasn’t my best effort (hindsight is always 20/20). I’m not going to lash out and complain, “They don’t even know what they’s talkin’ ’bout, ’cause I’s gonna be huge.” The powers that decided this didn’t think my work was Top 8 material and I do honestly respect their opinion. I was worried my world idea was too close to what’s currently happening on Mirrodin (I’ll explain that in a minute), my cards not be powerful enough, whatever. I don’t know if I was the last one cut or the first one cut. I don’t care.

It doesn’t matter because I didn’t make it.

That only makes me more determined for next time. You’re delusional if you don’t think it’s going to happen again. I mean, since Wizards started You Make the Card which started in Onslaught block, we’ve enjoyed a steady stream of having cards the Magic community has voted on and created appear once per a block.

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So It Goes

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So it goes.

That line is repeated 106 times in Kurt Vonnegut’s anti-war masterpiece Slaughterhouse Five. It’s used as a thematic device to signal death. Whenever someone, or something dies, it’s followed by that phrase; it’s the death rattle for us all.

That phrase is absurd; it doesn’t show compassion and completely distasteful when it comes to death. You can ponder “Every life is precious, why would he ever trivialize something like that?” If you weren’t required to read the book in school, do it and you’ll find out.

Certain life events make you look back over your existence and you question everything you’ve done or should’ve done. In this existential moment, you’re faced with hard questions and even harder answers. Have I done enough? Am I happy enough? Have I made an impact in someone’s life? And you do one of three things: You don’t change, you decide to change, or you freak out.

If you haven’t experienced this feeling yet, don’t worry, you will. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day it will hit you hard between idle thoughts and you’ll wonder why you didn’t have this feeling before. Soon, it’ll engulf your entire subconscious and that’s all you can think about. It’s this concept that many forms stories in entertainment are based off of since it’s such a universal concept. I bet there’s even been a Roseanne script or two if you dig hard enough.

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Design Class – You Win Some, You Infuse Some

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I feel bad for using a MaRo-type puny title; it must be all the designing I did this weekend.

Yes, with GDS2 now at a pause between rounds 3 and 4 where the final 101 will cut to the Top 8, we can go back and take a look at what we did and over-analyze and complain that we should’ve had more time. Let me make this clear: I doubt any one of us who entered is a professional card designer. Our entries were as polished as they were going to get with the time constraint and knowledge we all had.

I want to thank everyone for helping me out. Hopefully Team Color Pie will continue on and a Top 8 will be in sights and I’ll need even more of your help. But for now, let’s talk about design since I learned quite a bit this weekend. If you didn’t see any of the wiki or discussions, this will help you understand at least the process of the whole situation.

And no, this isn’t going to score me more points on the GDS2, this is just a cathartic release after a few intense days. I don’t know how MaRo can keep it bottled up for 18 months, but I’m willing to learn.

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