MTG Color Pie

After MaRo – Meeting the Man Himself

: Actual photo of me and MaRo

If you follow me on Twitter (twitter.com/mtgcolorpie), you knew that I was at the Zendikar pre-release in Seattle. And you also know I met Mark Rosewater (or MaRo for the uninitiated) who is kind of a big deal (he smells of rich mahogany). Let me say that (mono-tone voice) Mark Rosewater is the smartest man alive. He can do no wrong. You are unable to stop him and his tyrannical reign upon Magic. (Yelling, shaking head violently) Ah, free from that mind control serum he gave me. I’m on to you sir.

We were having a conversation with Brian Tinsman (another high-profile R&D member) and another player (sorry, I forgot your name). And out of this conversation, I learned some things about Mr. “I’m the face of Magic to the internet crowd.” I’m willing to share these things with you, out of the goodness of my heart. Plus, if you ever meet him either at an event or somewhere else, you can have a hand up on him.

1. He reads all his tweets, e-mails and threads. This isn’t something he says, he actually does it. He really wants to know what you’re thinking. Sometimes when there’s a controversial topic he’s going to talk about (Mythic Rares) he knows he’s going to get people pissed off. Thinking that there’s a certain group of players out there who hates everything he does, MaRo knows he’s going to get that mail. He has yet to name said demographic (may I suggest a Jason, who created the much beloved Web Comic “UGMadness” and his character Fanboy). If you want to tell him how you’re feeling about something, do e-mail or tweet him (twitter.com/maro254).

2. Four young children walk ahead of MaRo ripping up Power 9 cards so his feet never touch the ground. After he walks by two more children walk after him to clean up the ripped up cards so that no one can use them again. Continue reading “After MaRo – Meeting the Man Himself”

What Just Happened? – Scooby Dooing the Evidence

“I was there.”

You read things like that online all the time.

“Dude, my friend said he saw that happen.”

“I know that guy, why would he make things up? Why does no one believe him?”

Because that’s the internet. No one believes anything on the internet. You can’t believe everything you read on the internet; that’s how WWI got started.

In case you haven’t heard, Wizards of the Coast is putting old Vintage cards into packs of Zendikar. Yes, seriously. Yes, this is really awesome. At the moment, we don’t know what cards they are (Someone has pulled an Ancestral Recall), and I’m not here to talk about the rules. I’m here to say Wizards were telling us all along this was happening.

Wait, back up. Wizards told us this was coming? I didn’t read any rumors until like two days ago. This was clearly a well kept secret.

Sure, they kept the fact that this was happening a secret, but they dropped hints in plain sight for everyone to read. It’s called marketing. They why they haven’t hired the guys who keep trying to create their commercials. Wizards is a gaming company, and this was a really big game. Like Ace Ventura, I’m going to unravel the whole thing that no one saw coming…

(Deep Breath) Continue reading “What Just Happened? – Scooby Dooing the Evidence”

Too Rare or Not Too Rare, That is the Question

Alas poor Darksteel, I knew him Horatio...

As we begin the second block with the Mythic Rarity included into the game of Magic, it’s time to take a look and see how’s it been so far and how’s it going into Zendikar block. It’s been a source of controversy and a source of tension between developers and players.

MaRo first announced the Mythic rarity June 02, 2008. What most players remember is this quote:

This now leads us to the next question: How are cards split between rare and mythic rare? Or more to the point, what kind of cards are going to become mythic rares? We want the flavor of mythic rare to be something that feels very special and unique. Generally speaking we expect that to mean cards like Planeswalkers, most legends, and epic-feeling creatures and spells. They will not just be a list of each set’s most powerful tournament-level cards.

And from Aaron Forsythe’s Twitter account in the past few weeks here:

My definition of mythic rare: cards that are jaw-dropping to some part of the audience.

And here:

The mythic definition should be broad, not “planeswalkers + cards that aren’t very good.”

By taking these two definitions (Epic-feeling creatures/spells, non-staples/most powerful tournament, jaw-dropping), let’s take a look back at what’s been printed so far and how they fair to these definitions. But to make one more definition of our own: What is a staple card? Cards that are staples can be used in a variety of decks, not a very narrow deck that is very good. Staple cards include: Cryptic Command, Tarmogoyf, Bitterblossom, Reflecting Pool. Non-staple cards are Mistblind Clique, Doran the Siege Tower, Arcbound Ravager. Continue reading “Too Rare or Not Too Rare, That is the Question”

Magic Celebrity Commercials – SAY WHAT AGAIN!

This is the second best idea that we've ever had.

Editor’s Note: This Magic Celebrity Commercial will contain NSFW language. I don’t do many posts with profanity because it’s not all that professional. Not that I’m getting paid, but I don’t need to use course language in my blog. But on the other hand since this is a Celebrity Commercial, and if I use this celebrity without language then it wouldn’t work (“Fighting a stranger in the Alps” aside). If anything might offend you, this is your warning and come back for the next post. Thank you.

INT – WIZARDS OF THE COAST MEETING ROOM – MORNING

TIM and CARL are talking to themselves as three Wizards of the Coast employees people enter the room, Mark Rosewater, known as MaRo, Mark Purvis, known as Purvis, and Aaron Forsythe, who obviously goes by Aaron. As they sit down, both Purvis and Aaron look at MaRo.

PURVIS
Are these the ad agency guys who keep coming in with horrible ideas for commercials.

MARO
One and the same.

AARON
But why are they here?

MARO
Do you know what a running joke is?

PURVIS
What is it with you and Roseanne?

MARO
Excatly.

Standing up, Tim straightens out his tie.

TIM
Welcome gentlemen to today’s pitch. As you know, I’m Tim and this is my business partner, Carl.

Carl waves and smiles. Tim picks up a pack of Planechase.

TIM
(Cont’d)
What we’ve come here to do today is to talk to you about advertising your new product, Planechase. As you know, we get famous celebrities to pitch your product to have your fans love the ad and buy it.

PURVIS
Shouldn’t that be the point of any advertising?

CARL
Yes, but we do it with flair!

AARON
Planechase is selling out all over the place, stores aren’t keeping them in stock. Why do we need to waste money by advertising it.

Carl stands up and joins Tim in the front of the room. Grabbing another pack of Planechase, Carl walks over and sit on the table right infront of the trio.

CARL
What a handsome-looking question, sir. What you’ll get is geek cred.

MARO
But that’s what you’ve been saying the past couple of times.

TIM
(Pointing at MaRo)
You sir, remember pretty well. Yes, that’s what we do. We create viral videos that get clicked, tens maybe hundreds of times on FewTube.

PURVIS
YouTube.

CARL
(Throws his hands up)
Hey mister techno-babble guy, we just give it to our nerds locked on our basement to put it on the interweb and bam!, there it is.

MARO
(Sighing)
What do you have for us this time?

TIM
After opening up these packs and playing around with it…

He puts his hand up next to his mouth like he’s telling them a secret.

TIM
(Cont’d)
…but it was hard to understand with all of the words and the pictures…

Carl fake laughs as to go along with the joke.

TIM
(Cont’d)
…we heard the name and after a few brainstorm sessions we got the celebrity and the script. One celebrity who would be perfect for this product of yours.

MARO
And can this commerical be shown on TV?

CARL
Well, the FCC doesn’t like some of the words we’re using so we’re using this as one of those virus video type of things.

PURVIS
Viral.

AARON
What? Have you already shot this thing?

MARO
Yes, it’s something they do. Luckily we don’t have to pay them unless we buy it.

TIM
So you’ve got that going for you, which is nice.

The room is silent for a moment.

PURVIS
So, do I dare ask that we see this thing?

CARL
We’d love to.

He picks up a remote, points it at the projector and the room goes dark. (Seriously, NSFW language after here. This is your last chance.) Continue reading “Magic Celebrity Commercials – SAY WHAT AGAIN!”

Four Color Magic – No White

Oblivion Ring Welcome to the first in a series of posts where I look at what Magic might look like if it only had four colors. Today, we look at a world without the color White. What would happen if order and “good” were not in the game of Magic? How about “fairness” and taxing effects? Are we really going to miss White if it leaves?

No, your eyes don’t deceive you; that’s a Blue Oblivion Ring you see to the Right. It’s in a colorshift frame because how often do we get to use those awesome frames? If we’re going to take a look at a world missing a color, how are the other four colors going to come in and cannibalize that make sense with the Color Pie? If you saw this card staring up at you from a new pack, would you scream no way or accept it as normal?

Color Wheel

If White wasn’t made, let’s look at how the allied and enemy colors now:

Blue – Friends with Black, hates Red/Green
Black – Friends with Blue/Red, hates Green
Red – Friends with Black/Green, hates Blue
Green – Friends with Red, hates Blue/Black

Obviously it’s not uniform, Black and Red both like each other. Let’s remove that bond so each color has two enemies and one Ally.

Blue – Friends with Black, hates Red/Green
Black – Friends with Blue hates Red/Green
Red – Friends with Green, hates Blue/Black
Green – Friends with Red, hates Blue/Black

There we go, Blue and Black team up against Red and Green. The control colors versus the aggro colors. And you’ll see that as White’s themes get brushed out to the other colors. The main ideals that each color plays off against is Blue’s illusion/knowledge versus Green’s reality with Red’s emotion and Black’s Death/Selfishness versus Green’s Life with Red’s Community (taken from White). While the Red flavor may seem a little off, if you think of Red now being the “Army” color that used to be shared with White, it can make sense. Continue reading “Four Color Magic – No White”