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Great Magic Writing of the Week, September 14

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A staggering amount of Magic content is published each day each day on a plethora of content sites, blogs, podcasts, and discussion forums. No matter how honest an effort you make, it's easy to fall behind and miss incredible articles because there just isn't enough time to read everything.

To that end, we've collected some of the best articles of the week covering a broad range of topics. If you're looking for articles, these are the ones you don't want to miss!


On Magical Music

As Abe was following along with Ant Tessitore's We Make the Plane Project he was wondering one thing. Where's the music? This week Abe shares a fun story about one of his most memorable decks. Join Abe as he explores the crazy space where music an Magic meet.

GatheringMagic.com: Abe Sargent - The Chorus

Music. From dubstep to doo-wop, and from alternative to world, music is our life. It refines it—defines it.

I hope you’ve been following Ant Tessitore’s We Make the Plane feature here at Gathering Magic. The community is collectively making decisions about the nature of a plane with all of the suggestions coming from us.

The original successful idea was one that married a dreaming Planeswalker with music and song. Eventually, the community decided to focus on the dreaming ’Walker and reduce the emphasis of the musical aspect. As a result, we’ve a different spin on the plane than what was voted for. That’s fine—that’s the community’s vote!

But I miss the music. Sure, musical elements could come in later. But it was nice to see music take center stage, especially given how important it has been in many different human cultures for years.

The musical nature of Magic reminded me of a deck project I created long ago . . . 


On Whimsy

How has Magic art changed over the years? Mike Linnemann talks about some of the most common complaints and criticisms he hears about the direction of Magic art and uses specific examples throughout Magic's history to explore how the art of the game has evolved. This time Mike looks at tri-land cycles.

GatheringMagic.com: Mike Linnemann (@VorthosMike) - Magnifying Glass: Tri-Lands

There are two arguments—gripes really—I’m asked at every Grand Prix:

  • Why is all the art digital?
  • Why don’t we see fun art anymore?

The first relates to the shifts that sway back and forth in Magic. Digital art was, roughly around the time of New Phyrexia, so dominant that only a handful of traditional artists were used. This was a full pendulum swing from the Lorwyn block, with a ton of traditional artists. We are now seeing traditional artists again, and with original art fetching potentially thousands of dollars, artists are dabbling in traditional painting.

The other is bit more complex. What players mean in wanting “fun” art is the whimsy.

Tens of thousands of players have been coming back from the 1990s and early 2000s, a time when the game’s visual style was quite literally all over the damn place. It had space for digital works, comic line-work experts, and even photographed still lifes! They’re coming back to the game, and it just looks so different. The percentages of serious works are clear, and most importantly, the art on lands and environments are very mechanical; they looked manicured like a Bonsai tree: too perfect and obvious. While conceptual spells still exist, lands simply no longer are able to portray a conceptual environment. They’re obvious as hell.


On Modern

Have you ever looked at Sword of the Meek and wondered if it really needed to be banned in Modern? Caleb Durward is the man you want to talk to. Over the last several weeks, Caleb Durward and Larry Swasey have been building decks with banned cards and running them against the Modern gauntlet to see which are truly degenerate and which are more fair. This week, Caleb documents his results and impressions of the cards after several weeks of testing. So just how busted are Chrome Mox, Hypergenesis, Sensei's Divining Top, and the rest of the banned list? Join Caleb to find out.

ChannelFireball.com: Caleb Durward (@CalebDMTG) - Wrapping Up The Modern Banned Series

The Legacy Banned Series started on the idea that some of the cards have been banned so long that time has passed them by. Rather than theorycraft the pros and cons of unbanning, we went the extra mile and did some testing, brewing decks in an attempt to fight through current disruption and race modern combo.

In that context, there was less reason to do a Modern series. The cards are all newer, and most players remember playing with them in other formats. While a small percentage of the Magic community were around to experience Worldgorger Dragon in Vintage, many more have played with Jace, the Mind Sculptor because it wasn't that long ago when it was in Standard.

Modern is so young that many of the bannings are fresh on our minds. We remember when Rite of Flame, Blazing Shoal, and Punishing Fire got banned, and we remember why.

That said, there were a few great reasons to do a series:


On Creatures in Khans

What does it take for a creature to be worthwhile in contemporary Magic? For a long time, creatures in general were bad because spells were so good. In recent years, creatures have become the primary focus of the game. Is that changing again? Reid Duke takes this lull in competitive events to share his thoughts on the role of creatures in Magic 2015 Standard, and how that may shift with Khans of Tarkir.

ChannelFireball.com: Reid Duke - Creatures in Standard - Today and Tomorrow

Creatures suck.

It's a controversial claim that has drawn a lot of debate over the years. Generally speaking, you'd get different responses depending on who you asked, and when you asked them.

Personally, I've never before subscribed to such a claim. I love to attack, I love to block, and I've done well for myself by attacking and blocking in a wide range of formats. But today I have to change my tune. Creatures suck.

Sometimes I can be a slow learner. It took hundreds and hundreds of sound beatings across a huge range of matchups, but I finally understand why trying to win with creatures is a flawed strategy in Standard. I understand why Jund Monsters has evolved into Jund Planeswalkers and I see why Burn and control players choose to sidestep creature battles altogether.


On Durdling with Sarkhan

Durdling Around is an awesome Magic culture comic written and illustrated by Dave Lee. The characters and humor are charming and the quips and in-jokes about Magic players are priceless. This week Dave pokes fun at circumstances under which Sarkhan Vol as returned to his home plane.

ManaDeprived.com: Dave Lee (@derfington)- The Four Stages of Sarkhan


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