Pokemoners love Pokemon
Magic is different from other CCGs in that, with a game like Pokemon, literally everyone who plays Pokemon, is familiar with, and loves the Pokemon universe. The intellectual property brings players to the card game, with Magic, it is the other way around. With Magic, there’s a large number of players (dare I say the majority) who play the game for the game itself. They simply do not care (or think they do not care) about Liliana and her demonic dealings. This is a problem for everyone because flavor and story add stickiness to the game. Flavor and context add value to cards that are otherwise not playable in competitive magic. Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker is a good example of a card that, while very powerful, wasn’t really worth the $30 dollars it was going for when it came out because it isn’t used by most hardcore circles. Flavor was the reason that card was coveted. And even the most hardcore Spike would have a big smile on their face if they cracked the Elder Dragon in a booster pack.
Flavor can also enhance your game in subtle ways. To this day I remember things about Star Wars (learned through the card game) that I couldn’t have possibly committed to memory any other way. These conscious and subconscious connections are helpful when mentally perusing through tens of thousands of cards in search of a new combo or diamond in the rough. Often times I feel myself looking for a card with the same “feeling” as another card from the past. Flavor helps categorize, and commit to memory the endless amount of information you’re taking in while playing with and building Magic the Gathering decks. Malcom Gladwell’s Blink goes into great detail about how our minds take in millions of bits of information a second and only subconsciously can we organize and make subconscious sense of it all.
Stickiness is key to keeping them coming back for more.
Stickiness is a word that both webmasters and game designers throw around a lot. Stickiness is a product’s ability to “stick” to a customer resulting in return visits to the same product. Flavor is one of the easiest yet most effective ways to keep players in the game. Back when Star Wars CCG was still kicking, everyone was hanging on the edge of their seat when a new set released wondering: “What will the new Leia do?” Speculation was especially fun because you could take educated guesses about the cards based on the storyline we all know and love. We’re only now starting to factor Magical flavor into our speculation on future cards. Will the new Garruk have an evil tinge to him as he is possessed in the comics? These sorts of questions are crucial to building stickiness. It also gets people excited about otherwise mundane cards. Would an outside observer be excited about “Phyrexia vs. The Coalition“? No. It excites us because of the the flavor it carries with it. Which card intrigues you more? A Magic card with the name “Magic Staff” or “Staff of Beleren“? All sexual connotations aside, I’ll be looking forward to the unique artifact much more than the generic one.
Which leads me to my major complaint about the current state of Magical flavor- Why aren’t the novels, comics, and other flavor items released closer to the actual release of the cards? At this point, I have owned a few copies of Sorin Markov for over two months and while he is very attractive (for a Vampire) I still have no idea what his story is. Is he good? Evil? Is he Edward 500 years in the future? These questions need answering and it looks as though we won’t know those answers until (wait for it) April 2010. So, six months later (if I still care about Zendikar flavor at that point) I’ll be graced with an explanation of everything I’d done half a year prior. Wouldn’t it make more sense to release the book just before, or concurrent with the block they’re supposed to be flavoring?
If Markov's origins are not explained soon I'm going to have to make something up.. (Original Image from Power9Pro.com)
The only explanations I can think of for releasing crucial content so far away from the set’s release is that they do not want to compete with their own products. I find this argument faulty for several reasons. Do you really think players who both play the game and actually take time to read the books will stop doing either? These people are obviously your most loyal customers. No one says to themselves “Well, I’ve already read the books so I guess I don’t need the cards..” And it’s not like I won’t be buying Rise of the Eldrazi at the same time this book is released anyhow. You’ll always be competing with something. I understand the urge to want to keep the cards in the spotlight but I would argue that spotlight is that much brighter when the cards have weight and meaning to them. Perhaps they’re just behind schedule with their signed authors? Either way, pushing up the release date for flavor installments is essential to the game.
The stories in the latest novels are so compelling that they have the potential to bring random fantasy readers into the Magic the Gathering family. Regardless of how you feel about MTG flavor, that’s something all of us should hope for. The game is at it’s strongest (and we’ll see more product) when a diverse, large number of people are interested in it. Mainstreaming of the game is a tough pill for some of us to swallow but it’s completely necessary. The game is dead when it’s just a bunch of Spikes waiting to see if Lightning Bolt +1 is ever printed. Fantasy novels aren’t for everyone and 1000 page tomes are not something many modern adults have time for. But take the time to blow through one or two of the 300 page planeswalker novels. Your personal enjoyment of Magic the Gathering will never be the same and you might just improve your game.
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You have some valid points, but the reason why current book release dates are set this way originated last year with Alara. They tried something new in releasing the flavor guide(that they use to create much of the plane in the cards and story) at the same time as the large set. It didn’t work out so well, with only minimal sellings, so they didn’t do it this year. My guess would be that by the time they realized they weren’t doing it, it was too late to contract an author to wrie a book.(i.e The Style Guide is published in Oct. They wait at least 3-4 months to see if it’s selling well, now Jan. or Feb. Then, by the time you contract an author it’s another month or two, Feb. or March. And now they have just over 6 months to write an entirely new story, edit it, make it fit with R&D’s designs, and publish it.) Give them another year before we make a serious judgement on the timing.
I like most of your arguements, they just happen to be invalid at the moment.
Well, at least there is SOME sort of explaination.. I was racking my brain while writing trying to think of a valid reason.
I do have to take issue with the comprisson of the “Guide to Alara” to an actual Planeswalker novel. I think it would be a bit different today if it featured characters we all know and love, and wasn’t just a “guide” with a bunch of random facts about a universe they haven’t played in yet. A novel would work much better for establishing characters and attachment. Think about it.. how many of you would pay 20 bucks for a “guide” to Zendikar…? But how many would pay the same for a novel featuring Jace, Sorin and Nissa? In all honesty I’d take the latter 100 times over.
I would agree also I noticed towards the end about the cards aesthetic value and their weight reminded me of a conversation I had with arix a few days ago, It started as a rant of mine in complaint of the many unoriginal and un-needed reprints like cancel and the 4 chandra’s.
And more by each set MTG is showing they dont want flavor they want Gold as you would. Why look at the newest cancel they removed its flavor text? is that realy necessary? Also along with fewer cards that could have flavor dont and its not outve laziness since they went out of their way to remove cancel’s flavor.
I had quit Magic for years, then just this summer I stumbled across an old Goblin Medics card, and read the flavor text. Just the quote “First, do some harm” made me miss goblins so much. Now I’m back, and I’m hooked.
Flavor is very important to me, it’s probably also the reason I keep trying to build a deck around Uril, the Miststalker… -_-
Your Spike comment at the end was brilliant. I don’t care for Spikes. Playing against Spikes ruins the game for me as the artwork, flavor text, color pie, and story are meaningless. To them, the game may as well be played on poker cards.
Maybe I’m wrong, but it’s a mentality I just can’t grasp. If the only reason you play is to win, then every time you lose you wasted time. Yes, you could throw in the whole, “I learned from my mistakes,” argument, but a game is a hobby, not a life necessity. Feel free to rebut. I admit that my opinions of Spike play are because of lack of understanding.
For anybody who wonders why I make the kind of comments that I do, look at the top paragraph of this column.
This comment stirred something deep within me and ended up too big to post here:
http://eponymousrexrules.blogspot.com/2009/12/i-hate-spikes.html
PS: This article is dope. I miss getting books with fat-packs.
its not even that they learn from their mistakes, you cant learn anything if all you play is a jund deck you stole from some’one else. Im finding more and more people playing like that, its a bit sad but w/e.
Ima go play my Thalid deck even if it’s only won like 3 times ha ha it only uses thallids and crazy old cards dealing with spore counters AND I DONT play mycoloth yay spore cloud+ Venom+ multiblockers
“its not even that they learn from their mistakes, you cant learn anything if all you play is a jund deck you stole from some’one else.”
I don’t understand the logic behind this statement. You may not learn as much about deck-building as going through the process yourself, but you can learn a lot from its example, and you can learn how to successfully pilot a powerful deck.
In a standard metagame, particularly one with as few cards as this one, there’s only so much room at the top of the heap. As much as we’d all like to win with an original deck, unless you’re Wafo-Tapa it doesn’t happen that often. I’m all for experimenting at low elevations with fun stuff, but are you really gonna try to climb Everest with entirely homemade equipment?
Do you actually show up to a tournament and get peeved at the guy who brought a competitive deck, or is your casual playgroup full of dinks who refuse to do anything but netdeck?
Props on the oldschool thallid deck. I loves me a Feral Thallid.
the reason wizards waits till after a whole block is released is because if they released the book atthe start, it gives away the whole plot,
the flavor of shadowmoor would be lost if we knew at lorywns release that the sunny days were going to be fliped on their head,
Same with alara block, i remember me and my firends spending ages looking through conflux arts at the prerelese to see the scenes of the shards at war, could you imagine what the reaction would have been if wotc had of been able to keep nicol bolas under wraps unitll preview weeks?
There are a few options here: One would be to say “Yes, we are going to “spoil” the plot because that doesn’t seem to hinder other games like Star Wars, Pokemon etc.” The products are related, they are all part of the same family of products. That’s a lot like saying “We’re not going to release Terminator 2 because it would spoil the plot for the card game we’re planning…” What?! Make Magic a universe I want to play in, live in and come back to and I’ll buy cards with pictures of those places and characters on them. The other option is to release a Zendikar part one book with Zendikar and a RotE book later on. I guess my point with this whole thing is.. why isn’t Wizards using their intellectual properties the same way almost every other big name does? I’m sorry but it is impossible to figure out the story of a set simply by looking at the cards. Thats just nonsense. The Zendikar/Worldwake book could have been released a month ago and everyone would have been fine. I can see waiting a bit but cmon, 6 months?! I dont know about you guys but I doubt I’ll open another pack of ZEN outside of sealed by this April. The flavor needs to be there to back up the products. Right now, it’s not.
They used to do exactly what you said. Every book came out right when the set came out, and there was a book for every set. I think there simply wasn’t enough money in it, so they’ve stopped now and focus more on their planeswalker specific books.
It’s a shame, though. I own every book up until the most recent ones, and I liked the old way a lot. I miss the old fat packs that had like 6 packs of cards, the book, and a life counter of some sort. I’d buy one every new set that came out.
I agree. I actually stopped reading the books after they stopped including them with the fat packs. The last one was Lorwyn. I don’t believe the books are worth buying on their own. If I have an extra $6 to $8 dollars to spend on a book I’m getting the latest Pratchett paperback or something recommended by people of similar interest. Shame, Lorwyn’s story was the first one I actually liked. The characters were too loveable.
Honestly, I’ve pretty much avoided all of the novels/comics/etc because, like most things in that sub-genre (eg, Resident Evil comics, World of Warcraft novels), the writing and overall quality is often sub-par compared to what I’d expect out of their respective mediums. At best, they’re guilty pleasures. At worst, they’re nearly impossible to trudge through.
That said, flavor is actually a large part of what I enjoy about Magic. But I think it works best when it’s interwoven with the cards themselves. I never read the 1 or 2 novels that came out during the Rath cycle, but I absolute loved that set for all the flavor it managed to work into the cards themselves.
To this day, Cmdr Greven il-Vec is kept in a sleeve in the box of cards that I will never, ever sell or trade. I was genuinely interested in all the flavor text of those sets, trying to discern the difference between en-Vec and il-Vec. And after a lengthy hiatus from the game, I was filled with a combination of nerdy glee and curiosity when I discovered cards like “Mirri the Cursed”, “Ertai the Corrupted” and “Crovax, Ascendant Hero”. What had happened to all these characters I had followed so closely?
Well,I guess you could say you’ve put a bribery counter on me. I sort of want to read the books now more than I ever did. Seeing as how I’m trying to get a job at Borders, I’ll see if they have it in their library. Still though, nice article, and kudos on Count Micheal Markov XD
were do you live? is borders a corporation? their is one near me awell books-amillion is better ha its awsome
I totally agree with your articel. I started as a spike after a time with no games. And i am still searching for the one that will give me the entertainent and enjoyment that i used to get from star treak ccg. When i made a deck and played it was like making my own epic story. Like reading a book. I made very strong decks. All thanks to the flavor. If decipher had not quit nor would the fans.
Is it hypocritical for me to admit that I love flavor and yet don’t read the books? I love the webcomics, though. Oh, and contrary to Reinhart’s statement, I actually do try to put stories together from the cards. Perhaps I’m an outlier in that respect.
…..
Alright, not JUST from the cards; I also pick up tidbits from articles and advertising. But anyway, most of my flavor enjoyment is on the card level. My favorite flavor text is probably this:
“Finding themselves in a vast, unexplored world, they immediately set it on fire.”
Yeah, I didn’t want to downplay the flavor on the cards. Some of my favorite quotes such as “I have seen the future, and it does not include you.” will always be part of my MTG experience. Its just.. after becoming hooked on the books, and also having experience with OTHER card games that DO have a coherent, consistent storyling.. I really think Magic is missing out on a marketing opportunity by not maximizing their franchise and building up fan favorite people and locations.
“If I wanted to know your opinion I wouldve told you what it was.”
“It wasn’t really expected to fly. Of course, it wasn’t expected to move, either.”
“Weeeeeeeeee!”
“The pyromancer summoned up her mightiest onslaught of fire and rage. Jace feined interest.” Counterspell, Jace vs Chandra
“If you’re smaller than the anaconda you’re considered food, if you’re bigger than the anaconda you’re considered lots of food.”
“When the task spilled into death, he stopped calling it hi life’s work.”
“Everybody but me-CHARGE!”
I’ll start caring about WotC releasing the novels “on time” when they hire better writers. Besides, wasn’t one of the common complaints about the trilogies that they had “too much filler”? My suspicion is that most of the storyline of Zendikar revolves around the return of the spoilerrific Eldrazi, anyhow.
I don’t like to consider flavor and gameplay appreciation as being mutually exclusive. There are Vorthos Spikes, after all. I personally prefer to keep them separate. There are cards whose art and flavor text I would hang on my walls, but I’ll build a deck full of boring but superior cards any day. When I’m in a game, I don’t visualize spells flying around; mostly I’m focused on crunching numbers and confirming priority passes. Whether I’m weird or this is the way most people enjoy Magic, I’m not sure.
How, exactly, does flavor “enhance [...] your gameplay” again? Saying “you might get a vague subconscious feeling from time to time” doesn’t really cut it.
You don’t picture your spells when you play? I know every time I went “turn 1 Tundra Wolves, turn 2 Bonesplitter for three”, I snickered out loud. I pictured myself holding out a giant axe, having the wolf grip the handle in his teeth, and then sending him snarling and waving his head at the enemy. Seriously, you’re missing out.
OK, there was this one time.
Once in Zendikar draft: I had a River Boa (2/1), equipped with a Trusty Machete (+2/+1), then sent on a Quest for the Gemblades (+4/+4). So I had an 8/6 that couldn’t even be killed by a Day of Judgment.
…wait, what?
So you had this giant snake with five glistening blades sticking out of its mouth, jumping out of the water at people? And you claim you don’t visualize your cards? That mofo prolly had a hockey mask on, too.
Yea My first fave characters weres Urza and Gerrard but w/e their long dead or head in a golem xD old P/W raged an were epic unlike todays walkers.
The lore of Magic is something that I hold very, very dear. As someone who read all of the books up until Shadowmoor, the best ones did not come out when the set did.
The Ice Age trilogy of Gathering Dark, The Eternal Ice and Shattered Alliance are beyond excellent. If you haven’t read them, track them down and give them a try. Brother’s War is the only Magic book I’ve ever given to a non-Magic player.
These new walkers, I have little interest in them because I spent a decade with Urza and the Weatherlight crew. I found the Time Spiral block fascinating because I knew the characters.
Bring back Karn, who is currently lost in the time stream, and I’ll come back.
hey with all the planeswalking they might head to Mirroden and see a certain golem with a head xD yea Urza was amazing the newer walkers are rediculouse, A PMS’er, an Emo, a Lie’ing woman(Whats new)
Also is it just me or did it remind you a lil of the power rangers when the planes walkers united to take down Nicol Bolas xD
Go Go Mighty Planes Walkersssss
Wizard’s recently got copywrights on the titles “Mirrodin Pure” and “Scars of Mirrodin”, so there’s hope for Karn returning.
woh thats cool a return to mirrodin
I’m reading my first Magic novel, the reprint of the Artifact cycle books (now with The Thran and The Brothers War in one book). I’m glad that I am, and finally understanding much of the background to the game “way back when.” I do think it’s odd that so many of Magic’s “good guys” (Glacian and Urza in this case) are kind of jerks.
I do think if they contracted some serious talent writers, though, it could be a huge boon for their novel market. Maybe get R.A. Salvatore (since he writes for Wizards anyway!) to take a break from Forgotten Realms Drizzt novels. His name alone, along with his writing, would bring interest into Magic novels, and thus Magic as a whole.
Someone above mentioned the webcomics, and I do like them as well. I can’t wait for the print compendium of them that is coming out. I would also like to see more Magic comics, like the ones they used to make (Ice Age, Homelands, etc.), and would really love to see graphic novel rereleases of those issues from the 90s. Plus, if they were to start giving out promo cards in comics again (how I remember getting Baron Sengir in the Homelands comic!) it would be fantastic!
One complaint, and this isn’t necessarily about the books, but about Magic flavor in general. Lately blocks seem to all have similar stories anyway, usually with some cataclysm bringing parts of things together (Mirrodin suns, Alara’s shards) or otherwise affecting the plane (Kamigawa, Lorwyn/Shadowmoor). Something I do miss is the long-running flavor of say everything from Antiquities through Invasion, where many generations of storyline unfold via the cards (and the novels). Flavorwise, I think Wizards need to really develop some brand new concepts for the planes blocks take part in. Perhaps it’s time for a more futuristic world (I really want Riggers and Contraptions, people), or a really prehistoric world, but in either case, just a world that isn’t all about some great cataclysm. If the Planeswalkers are supposed to be the new focus of Magic flavor, they need to make their travels important. What worked about the entirety of the Dominaria/Urza storyline was that the characters (and we couldn’t even play the major ones like Yawgmoth or Urza) were a source of continuity that propelled the overarching story forward. There wasn’t this idea that bam! in three sets we’re leaving this plane so here’s your catastrophe, and its over. Sure, Ajani was there, and he was also in Lorwyn, but did it matter much?
Wow I agree with what you say especialy twards flavor and I think it would be nice if the focus of the novels was not the planeswalkers like jace or chandra Itd be nice to see those guys in cards besides flavor text, realy besides Jace Beleran planeswalker you dont see him in any other cards besides Flavore text
Also as a side note thats getting gay that the majority of all flavor text is just being said by the PW of that coresponding color… Jace IDC I like the old flavor text for Phantom Warrior now leave me alone and go home and be emo.
Also WOTC has lost their aesthetic value and seek only to make money creating everything around PW’ers wich everyone Just Loves! Along with making sure each exansion has everything Everybody wants to spend hundreds even thousands on (my best friend >_>) such as
Planeswalkers
So Called Flavor cards (Legendary Squid, land continues to burn)
Full art lands
A catastrophe
GOLD!! EVERYONE LOVES GOLDDDDD!!!!
First, I just want to say the only thing more awesome than the articles on this blog are the comments. Everybody has such good insight, and there’s hardly any angry disputes. I find it fascinating to read everyone’s opinions & experiences and I like the positive atmosphere.
Second, check out this rockin’ flavor text I noticed the other day:
Grizzled Leotau
“There is no glory in a death of age, as even the leotau know. As winter steals into their coats, they seek the deadliest lands, that they may die as they lived.”
—Aarsil the Blessed
Isn’t that so hardcore? I love it.
But down to business – I totally agree that flavor should play a bigger part in selling each set. I also agree that spoilers would make the cards less exciting when they come out though, so how to balance the two approaches is quite a puzzle.
Maybe people will think this is the worst idea ever, but what about movies? I mean, I know it’d probably be way too much money to actually do, but in an ideal world, releasing a movie preview before the cards are out would entice people to buy the cards, then showing the movie shortly after the cards are out would give all the flavor without the spoilers. Plus, for people who barely have time to read 2 pages let alone 300 or 1000, movies are a lot easier.
And lastly, supposing I wanted to read every Magic book ever written, can someone recommend where to start? What’s the very first book? Does reading them in order matter?
Time to go to FNM now. :3 Yay!
This list is pretty accurate, I would read them in close to chronological order:
http://www.amazon.com/Magic-The-Gathering-Chronological-List/lm/1EAGUA6WXCHG7
After you get out of Dominaria, being chronological doesn’t matter quite as much.
If you pick and choose though, make sure to grab the Brother’s War, it’s my favorite by far.
There are also some out of print ones that were out before these. They are fun to read too, but much harder to find.
I agree with CJ. “The Brother’s War” is pretty much the standing stone of Magic even having a continous storyline. The second card expansion, “Antiquities”, is about the aftermath of that war.
For a smaller block read find the books for the Kamigawa, Ravnica, and Lorwyn blocks. These are pretty much there own stories and have little, if any, involvement in the timeline.
Oh, and you should probably ignore any book printed before 1996. The stories are very bland and have little to do with Magic other than a couple spell names here and there.
CJ & sweetestsadist – Thanks for the info! Maybe I’ll pick up a book some time.
Read the Brother’s War FIRST. Treat the Thran as a prequel to the Invasion block. Oh, and you can skip Prophecy, it doesn’t matter. There’s one plot point in the entire novel.
Nemesis is also absolutely fantastic.
earthbenders own
Aren’t they making a Magic movie (along with a Monopoly movie and other Hasbro product licensed movies)?
http://twurl.nl/m518tt
http://tinyurl.com/yatadw3
It’s sad to see that those books are so cheap
I liked this article, and I do agree somewhat. I suppose I just think that the game is appealing by itself. You don’t really have to know background information in order to “understand” the cards.
I’m also going to disagree about the part about other CCGs with people having knowledge of the storyline. Sure, the backstory is a huge selling point of the games, but I’m sure there are some hardcore nerds like me who are interested in gameplay and gameplay only. That’s why people get a bad rap for things like playing Magic and Pokemon (competitive battling over a simulator like Shoddy Battle, not the card game or the actual games). We’re interested in gameplay more than backstory, whereas most people assume that you’re into the latter. It’s rather silly, imo.
I completely agree with you. in fact, just a few days ago I was wondering about the same thing. I’m very new to Magic, and for now I only play ZEN block. I was looking for a novel to read that takes place in Zendikar, but I was surprised when I found out there won’t be a Zendikar novel till April! What?!…
After research, I discovered a “flavor guide” for Zendikar in the form of web posts at the MTG site, but it’s hardly the same thing, now is it. I’m not a hardcore fantasy fan, I’m very “mainstream”, and I definitely don’t enjoy reading a travel guide about a place that doesn’t even exist (even though the guy who writes it is an excellent narrator). But I’d love to read a Zendikar novel, and there’s no such thing. Want to introduce someone to a new plane? Tell them a story. Don’t give them a travel guide!
I mean, if watching the “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” trailer psyches me up to play a Magic game, how more would reading a story that shares the same elements with the cards I’m currently using in my games?! April is just too late, and it’s frustrating. The novel should be released along with the first set, in order to introduce people to Zendikar and excite them about the new block.
As for the web comics, some have a decent level of quality and are enjoyable, but some are very poorly written. I don’t think Wizards realize the importance of telling people a story that engages them emotionally.