The new set information for Magic the Gathering 2010 has me feeling nostalgic.  As hard as it is to believe, there was a time when I did not play Magic.  For me that time was not really a choice.  The cousins that had introduced me to the game had moved away, and my brothers had lost interest.  In addition, I was nineteen and off to college.  Now there are times when I look back, misty-eyed, at what life could have brought if I continued to follow the game.  What reaction would I have to each set as it came out, and after when my games were complimented with those cards?  Equally important, how have the cards from these sets influenced my current gaming.  This is a review of the cards I missed, and what they meant to Magic.

can you feel the power?

Tempest, the core set of the Rath block, was released on October 14th, 1997.  About two weeks after I had checked into my college dorm.  Right, I missed out on Magic’s first foray into slivers.  Slivers!  The most controversial tribe in MTG history.  Love them or hate them, slivers had a massive impact on how creature decks were built.  One my favorite blue spells of all time, Capsize, was also released in Tempest.  What makes Capsize so potent is the buyback mechanic introduced in Tempest.  The first expansion, Stronghold, reinforced the original sliver theme with the Queen.  Mox Diamond, and Ensnaring Bridge were not so bad either.  Exodus ended the block, and changed forever the way we see card rarity.

Of all these ‘lost’ sets, perhaps the ones I am most upset about missing are the Urza’s.  Wizards of the Coast even admitted to watering down the next block because of the overpowered Urza’s cards.  Although released in 1998-99, cards like Morphling, Duress and Tolarian Academy,  still dominate casual games today.  My personal favorite from the block is Glorious Anthem, maybe the best creature deck throw-in ever.  Exhaustion is a close second.  Saga also introduced cycling to Magic.  The earliest ancestor of Conflux’s basic landcycling.  No longer did players dread top-decking land at crucial times, it was a powerful addition to the block.  The followup sets included Memory Jar, a card banned before it was released, and Donate, one of the most powerful combo cards ever.

not good enough to save an awful set

By comparison, Mercadian Masques must have been a let down.  Instead of dueling with powerful spells and infinite combos, you were dealing with rebel and mercenary decks.  Not a lot to say about this set, only Bribery really excites me.  Builders of white weenie decks may have rejoiced, but other that that? . . . <crickets>. . .  Not a great way for Magic the Gathering to ring in a new century.

Invasion brought about a number of fun cards and card types that had been missing since the Tempest block.  Gold cards came back into play, including the gold dragon set.  A shout-out to the original Legends dragons.  Tribal cards like Beasts, Kavu, wizards and birds also saturated the set.  The Invasion block features more cards I play with or against than any other ‘lost set’.  Released in October of 2000, Invasion was followed by Planeshift and Apocalypse.  My only issues with this block are it’s heavy reliance on five-colored cards.  Cards like Coalition Victory, and Cromat are too mana intensive for me.  However, the Domain ability used in Conflux got it’s start here.  For reasons I don’t have the time or energy to explain, my favorite card from this block is Meddling Mage.

Kamahl Pitfighter and friends ushered in the Odyssey block, as well as the first original storyline in nearly five years.  Odyssey focused on standard color wheel assignments.  Giant green creatures and lots of red direct damage make me smile.  Black seems to be using the graveyard more than ever, thanks in part to the new flashback, and threshold.  Heavy involvement of legendary creatures is a nice touch, including Kamahl himself.  This is a theme Kamigawa would perfect, but still nice to see.  Cards like Golden Wish, and Nefarious Lich offer exceptional power to round out the block.

tournament staples

The last block of my Magic dark age was not so long ago.  Released in October of 2002, the Onslaught Cycle is still legal in Extended formats.  The most famous cards in the block are without a doubt the ‘fetch’ lands. Cards like Wooded Foothills, and Flooded Strand are tournament staples.  Morph, my least favorite ability was released with the Onslaught core set.  The idea of putting a card face down after so many years of relying on card text would have been very jarring.  Maybe I need to trust my fellow wizards more.  However, there is still much to love here.  Visara the Dreadful is a fantastic multiplayer card and  Grand Coliseum is the king of pain-lands.  All around goodness.

During the release of the Mirrorden set in 2003, my interest in Magic was reborn.  Maybe it was the new card design, maybe it was graduating and moving back to Seattle.  Whatever the reason, I yearned to recapture my former MTG glory. Much to my relief,  I was able to find my own group eventually and started dueling again.  If this proves anything, it is that you are never away long enough not to be welcomed back.  Each new block is like another invitation to join.  If you ever find yourself in a situation similar to my own, I suggest you accept.

Finally, it is a great idea to look back at some of the sets, or cards you may have missed.  My Magic dark age cost me years of fun and healthy competition.  There is so much I missed, but that is part of the beauty.  No matter how long we are gone, the cards stay waiting for us.

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Dear Wizards of the Coast,
If you would kindly stop reading my mind for a few moments I would like to take this opportunity to thank you.  Thank you for your recent changes to Magic the Gathering’s core sets.  This shift in focus and resources is much appreciated and will surely lure the endless hordes of fantasy fans to the game.  In this time of economic uncertainty it is good to know that the game is still ready and willing to cater to a larger audience.  Much like Nintendo’s Wii has done.  I speak for the entire GatheringMagic.com staff (2 guys) when I wish you godspeed and good luck as you work to better the game of Magic.

Your newly invigorated fan,
Reinhart

As I see it there are 3 main changes to the game with the release of Magic 2010.

A decisive shift towards classic fantasy likeness and player/color identity

Wizards has been slowly moving the game in this direction since 10th edition.  If you’ll recall, the promotional items launched with that set were all about “finding your color” and choosing your destiny.  While most core sets attempt something similar this push was harder than usual.   With the eventual introduction of planeswalkers and the renewed focus on the player actually being a planeswalker, Wizard’s strategy began to take shape.  Unfortunately, I think that strategy was lost in the complex “rainbow theme” of the last few expansions.  With Magic 2010, the game is taking one giant leap towards establishing the individual “player identity” that has launched World of Warcraft and its MMO cousins into the mainstream.

A card everyone can appreciate

In the official announcement,  we learn that a core set will no longer be exclusively reprints of old cards.  Nearly half the set will contain new cards that use universally identifiable terms.   For example the term “Counterspell” or “Disenchant” feel and play naturally for any lover of the fantasy genre in the world.  While cards such as Nantuko Husk are a mystery to anyone not physically holding the card in their hand.   It will feel less like a “rehash” or as the article puts it “a list of cards still playable in standard” and more like a rejuvenation of the color wheel and player identity.  In the Alara block, it was difficult to identify who you were or what your motives were as the player.  The concept of being a planeswalker was pushed heavily but I never really felt like a “Necromancer” or a “Druid” while I was building or playing with my decks.  With new cards like Silence in a white deck you can really become a White Knight for 20 minutes.  Isn’t that what fantasy games are all about?  The success of programs like Second Life and Facebook prove that building a personal avatar is essential to keeping players interested.

Keep it simple, stupid -  The new rotation calendar

There is much to be said for keeping a game with 10,000 different pieces as simple as possible.  Its no wonder new players feel overwhelmed when they enter the game.  Some cards and sets are legal, some aren’t.  Dealing with new card types, rotation schedules, rules etc.  But with a “refresh” every year a player can walk into a store, buy a box of 2010 and be  ready to go!  You’re more than able to play a casual game with your buddies, but you also have a great base for a tournament playable collection!  Buying the core set has always been the way to start playing but now more than ever the core set is the train station where new and returning players  hop on.

With the core sets now consisting of 50% new cards and new expansions hitting every 3 months, players can look forward to something fresh more frequently.  While newer players can easily catch up with the now smaller set sizes.  The shorter cycle also allows the game to refresh itself each year as opposed to every two.  Magic 2010 simply does a better job of refreshing the game than say, 9th edition did because it brings with it original cards that are focused on giving new and old players distinctive identities.  It allows players to try different things each year.  Too often with the old format players would establish “the deck” after the first expansion and players would simply augment that strategy with new cards throughout the entire two years that set was legal.  It makes the game feel stale and tired.  A reset every 365 days is just what this game needs to keep the excitement and freshness factor at peak.

Magic the Gathering for Everyone – Come one, come all!

The recent trend in gaming is to try and appeal to the more “casual gamer”.  With the monster success of Wii Fit, The Sims and more, gaming companies have been tapping into the previously unreachable demographic of women, parents and casual gamers.  A complex, CCG-type game like MTG will never be as big of a success story as the Wii regarding those demos, but with this recent shift in priorities WotC is looking to take their share of that market.  The core set’s new “train station” approach is appealing to both new players and returning players.  Returning players will now be looking at a game that not only includes cards they grew up playing, but cards they instantly relate to with their established knowledge of Tolkien-esque lore.  It will give older Magic collections a breath of life they desperatly need.  The simplicity and familiarity of the new set will also bring in brand new players who might be looking for something new yet familiar to dive into.

If other gaming companies can capture this demographic so convincingly then surely there is a little room for a card game or two, right?

The great thing about core sets is that they appeal to everyone for different reasons.  Older players love the throwback cards and power of mono-colored classics while newer players are excited by the prospect of getting into a game at the beginning.  No one wants to start playing World of Warcraft on an established server after 3 expansions have been released.  You’d much rather start on a fresh server where everyone is in the same boat and starting from scratch.

I, for one, have not been so excited about a company’s decision for as long as I can remember.  When Blizzard, Nintendo, Apple or even Wizard’s of the Coast announce their latest product, or upgrade, it always comes with a bit of good and a bit of bad.  But for me, these changes represent everything I love about Magic the Gathering and where I’d like to see the game go.   The only possible pitfall is the  dumbing down of the game in an attempt to lure in “non-gamers”.  Fortunately, what we’ve seen so far shows no indication of such and I can only assume Wizards will continue to please the hardcore gamer as well as their new fans.

So, thank you Wizards of the Coast.  I haven’t been this excited about Magic since Ice Age.

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