How to Make Your Own Magic: The Gathering Set January 13, 2012
Posted by James in : all, random, design , add a commentI have discussed how to make your own Magic cards, and now I will discuss how to create your own Magic set. It can be a daunting task to create an entire Magic set (including 150 or more cards), but what I have to say might make it a lot easier. In particular, I suggest that you can make a Magic set one step at a time. Some steps are larger than others. There are five major steps required during the game design process: (more…)
Scars of Mirrodin Critique January 24, 2011
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Ravnica, Time Spiral, Lorwyn, and Eventide are my four favorite sets — I think they were well designed and well balanced (for draft and sealed events in particular). Scars of Mirrodin doesn’t quite live up to them, but it’s a well made set. I like it better than Shards of Alara and perhaps even Zendikar. I like the synergy found in Scars of Mirrodin, but I dislike (a) that there are only two major themes and (b) I don’t like how bombs affect the game. (more…)
A Missed Opportunity for Poison? (Scars of Mirrodin) September 29, 2010
Posted by James in : all, random, design , 8commentsMark Rosewater explained why poison became the “infect ability” in his article, Something Wicked This Way Comes Part 3. R&D decided to make poison as different from a separate life total as possible: (more…)
Predicting the Future Part 1: Magic 2011 to 2019 June 16, 2010
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The power creep continues to make Magic cards more powerful. I will be suggesting what cards I think we could be seeing any time now due to the fact that cards are getting more powerful and will continue to do so. These cards could appear in Magic 2011, and I expect to see them before Magic 2020. (more…)
Critique of “New” Magic the Gathering & Rise of Eldrazi April 16, 2010
Posted by James in : all, random, theory, reviews, previews, design , 6comments
From Onslaught to Eventide was a golden age for Magic. The sets were extraordinarily very well balanced and fun for drafting and other limited events. Shards of Alara, Magic 2010, and Zendikar missed the mark. What about Rise of Eldrazi? I will examine the design flaws of each of these sets and give my first impressions for Rise of Eldrazi. (more…)
Historical Progress of Magic November 16, 2009
Posted by James in : all, random, reviews, design , add a commentWe experience a lot of progress in our personal lives. We evolve from someone willing to touch fire and walk into traffic into a much more reasonable kind of person. Society also has progress when it comes to technological improvements. What about Magic? Is Magic better now than it used to be? Consider the following points: (more…)
Why I hate Fetch Lands November 3, 2009
Posted by James in : all, random, reviews, design , 13comments
When Revised was around, I decided that I should sell my dual lands for $5 each. They were worth too much money. Then when Ravnica came out the shock duals were worth around $20. That was pure insanity, and we had little choice but get them to play Magic because Ravnica was all about multicolor decks! (more…)
Wizards of the Coast Tried October 30, 2009
Posted by James in : all, random, fake cards, game rules, theory, design, speculation , 3comments
Zendikar has proven to have inadequate mana fixing. The inevitable advice for us is, “Play 18 or 19 lands in a 40 card deck!” Yes, that helps, but then you often end up drawing all lands the whole game. However, Wizards did try. They designed cards that would help with mana fixing, but those cards were rejected… and apparently they were never replaced with appropriate mana fixing. (more…)
Zendikar Review Part 1: Mana Fixing September 25, 2009
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The Zendikar Spoiler is complete, so I will now begin my Zendikar reviews, starting with mana fixing. Mana fixing comes in three forms. Color fixing, help with not enough mana, and help with too much mana. (more…)
Zendikar: The New Mechanic & The Returning Mechanic September 1, 2009
Posted by James in : all, random, reviews, previews, design , 1 comment so farWe now know what mechanic has returned in Zendikar and we know what makes Zendikar such a dangerous place.
Warning: This article contains spoilers. (more…)
Infinity: A Future Magic Set Part 2 June 26, 2009
Posted by James in : all, random, fake cards, design , 3commentsBefore reading this, you should take a look at Part 1.
What exactly will Magic look like 50 years from now? I’m not going to show my entire Infinity set here, but I will show enough cards that can give you a pretty good idea what the game will look like. (The rule of thumb: Four casting cost cards will have one casting cost instead.) (more…)
Why Aggro Decks Are Terrible June 23, 2009
Posted by James in : all, random, reviews, strategy, constructed, design , 1 comment so far
I have made great creature-based aggro (aggressive) decks for years, but it has become increasingly more difficult to make a good aggro deck. You’d think Lorwyn would have been the ultimate savior of aggro with the huge power creep for creatures, but Wizards has simply not realized something: They can make creatures with almost unlimited power, and it won’t make a difference. The problem isn’t that creatures aren’t good enough. The problem is that anti-control is nonexistent. (more…)
Infinity: A Future Magic Set June 19, 2009
Posted by James in : all, random, fake cards, theory, reviews, previews, design, speculation , 6comments
In October 2008 I decided to make a satirical article series, The Power Creep, about what Magic will be like 50 years in to the future.
Then around February 2009 I started making an entire Magic set based on the Power Creep articles. I was very curious and perhaps a bit power hungry. What would Magic be like 50 years from now if my predictions were correct? What if moxes and Black Lotus were no longer over-powered? I wanted to know. (more…)
More Rules Updates that We Need June 14, 2009
Posted by James in : all, random, game rules, theory, complecated rules, design , 1 comment so farThere are more rules updates starting with M10 (Magic 2010) that haven’t been mentioned yet, and I will mention some of the rules that I wanted changed. Here is what Mark L. Gottlieb had to say concerning the M10 rule updates: (more…)
Will Beta Dual Lands Come Back? April 17, 2009
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Yes. This may sound absurd because of the reprint policy. No problem, they will be printed again but slightly differently. Without land types, for example. Why will this happen? For at least two reasons. One, because it will guarantee that lots of sales will be made. It will do exactly what Magic exists to do: Make money. Two, some day Revised dual lands will be too hard to get and players will demand that they get a chance to play with them. (more…)
Predicting Alara Reborn Part 4 March 20, 2009
Posted by James in : all, random, fake cards, design, speculation , 9comments
We know that Alara Reborn will be all gold (multicolor). It appears confirmed that every card in the whole set will be gold, so there won’t be any colorless lands or artifacts. One problem remains: What will the one drops look like? Gold cards require you to pay at least two mana, so one drops probably won’t have one mana in the casting cost. (more…)
Predicting Alara Reborn Part 3 March 17, 2009
Posted by James in : all, random, fake cards, theory, design, speculation , 4commentsWe know two things about Alara Reborn. One, it will probably take place after the shards unite and become a new world. (Hence the name “Alara Reborn.”) Two, it is supposed to be very unusual. I will take a look at how it might be unusual. We believe that it will be unusual because of hints given by the design team of Wizards of the Coast. Aaron Forsythe gave a hint about Alara Reborn being a bit different when he said: (more…)
Shards of Alara & Conflux Critique March 10, 2009
Posted by James in : all, random, theory, design , 5commentsShards of Alara has a clunky design for playing in limited tournament events (draft and sealed deck). Consider the different themes and how they interact: (more…)
Conflux: First Impressions January 11, 2009
Posted by James in : all, random, fake cards, theory, reviews, previews, design , 3comments
The next set of Alara block is Conflux and we already have a partial spoiler that is quickly growing. Prereleases will be held on January 31 - February 1, 2009., and it will be officially released on February 6, 2009. Although some people speculated that there would be “new” three color shards introduced in each set, this was already denied by Wizards of the Coast. So I thought every set of Shards block was going to be permanently about the same 3-color shards. However, there was a twist. The block is transforming into a 5-color theme. We still have the same shards, but we have a lot of “5 color deck” stuff as well. (more…)
Shards of Alara Critique January 9, 2009
Posted by James in : all, random, theory, reviews, constructed, shards of alara block, limited, draft, sealed, design , add a commentWhether you are playing in a Shards of Alara Sealed tournament, Draft tournament, or block constructed tournament, there are some serious unprecedented problems that we face. (more…)