The new version of Jace Beleren is slowly being revealed on spoilers sites across the web (including ours).  There is a buzz regarding his apparent four abilities, and exactly what they are, and cost.  Today those are the big issues surrounding WotC newest planeswalker.  But that was not always the case.  For weeks after the original buzz surrounding a possible evolutionary Jace in an upcoming set the biggest question was this: what color(s) would the casting cost be.  Of course players wanted to know the CMC like they would of any card, but the most interesting and controversial debate was about a possible second color required to cast the new Jace.  Speculation had arose before Chandra Ablaze as well, and was put to rest with her release.  Still, that did not sway many from claiming that Jace would be black/blue in the latest incarnation.  There were reasons given.  Jace had seemed more manipulative in the web-comics and might finally be embracing his dark side.  True as that argument may be the real reason for multi-colored speculation was simply that is what WotC does now.  If something lacks interest, just paint it gold.

conflicted yes, but entirely blue

The original Lorwyn planeswalkers are testaments to each color. They represent the five separate but equal parts of MTG, and the characteristics that make the game so special.  Jace allows blue wizards someone to identify with.  This is not the first time a connection has been drawn between players of a certain color and the planeswalker that coincides with them.  For that reason alone it seems ridiculous that a planeswalker would be more than one color.  Chandra is out of control?  Isn’t that what red is for?  No need for a splash of black.  Jace is embracing his mind-manipulating powers?  That is part of blue’s constant struggle between good and evil.  Of course both Jace and Chandra turned out to be mono-colored again, but that is not the issue.  The point is that we (the hardcore MTG player) are at a point where multi-colored feels immanent.  Even after an entire block based on it.  So the question remains, why is WotC so obsessed with mixing the color-pie?

its still important.... still

Above all else these cards are easy to design and produce.  It is difficult to surprise the fairly jaded MTG audience with new cards and new ideas.  For example, we all know an Unsummon costs one blue mana, and a Giant Growth needs one green mana.  They are base costs and effects.  Every other card that produces a similar result is judged by mana-cost.  Gold cards allow WotC to bend our expectations.  Is a 2/2 unblockable for one green and one blue a good deal, or fairly priced?  Because we don’t have a base expectation it is harder to figure, therefore making it easier to release within a set.  Creating gold cards is also easier because the casting cost can change instead of the card.  In the previous example the Jhessian Infiltrator is a Phantom Warrior.  Exactly the same card, but with a unique casting cost different from any previous creatures with similar abilities.  This is not to say the R&D team at Wizards is lazy.  But it must be tempting to include a few gold cards due to their relative ease.

a little more separation please

The other reason gold cards so easily make their way into expansion after expansion?  The subtle power-creep allowed by creative casting costs.  Power-creep (if it does indeed exist) is something that deserves an entire column to itself, but the effects of multi-colors on creatures especially has been significant.  Take for example the cycle of uncommon shard creatures from Alara.  Suddenly it was of to print a 5/4 for three, or a 3/4 lifelink for the same.  The the notch up in power makes cards like Sprouting Thrinax uber-desirable.  There you have it, two reasons for the gold rush in recent MTG expansions.  But that doesn’t explain why it is a problem.  Not entirely.

A few issues make this influx of multi-color a problem, but one rises above all others.  Deck making has turned into a paint by numbers affair.  Time was (I realize as I write this what an old codger I sound like) making a deck was challenging.  Net-decking has been an issue for a decade, but duelists could still at least pick their own cards.  If they wanted to splash a second or third color the decision was based on utility or a needed combo piece.  With two or three colored cards in the mix the pieces have been chosen for them like a puzzle.  That means good luck throwing a Terminate into your Rafiq of the Many deck.  Creativity has been bumped down a notch in exchange of more unique cards.

creativity is a good thing

What does all of this mean for Worldwake and Rize of the Eldrazi?  So far not much but consider this.  First of all, every new planeswalker is assumed to be multi-color.  Every set contains the threat (if that is the right word) of another gold rush.  Even if Worldwake is completely bare of multi-colored cards there will always be its two stepsons: second color kicker costs, and land type bonuses like Wild Nacatl.  Either way the choices of what decks each card can go in is already limited.  Hyper-productive mana producing lands don’t exactly make playing these cards difficult, however it is more expensive.  This is a minor slight to the buyer.  Also the sense of true freedom on deck building is lost.  Most of all to those players who would dare attempt a mono-colored deck.

In the end that is all the matters is that loss of freedom.  Magic the Gathering has built a foundation on being a completely open-ended.  Unlike video games or movies its an activity that changes with each experience, each game.  The biggest part of that?  Each card dynamically fit into any deck a duelist chose.  Recently however some of that aspect has been taken away.  A Jund deck can only fit cards with those three colors unless four or five colors seems like a good plan (this happened with the Jund Specter deck to some mild success so it can’t be entirely ruled out).  Builds featuring both Baneslayer Angel with cards like Swerve or Countersquall require an entirely new mana-base.  So hopefully WotC will slow the multi-color train down long enough to put out a new planeswalker without golden hued speculation.  Keep your fingers crossed.

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(Update) Speaking of Jace…

2nd ZERO Cost ability is: Brainstorm

And also… Worldwake Booster packs released:

Other than Jace no card names, but stay tuned in to the Gathering Magic Worldwake spoiler page for updated info.

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I used to be like you.  Approaching the game of Magic from a strictly analytical, almost sterile perspective with absolutely no personal connection to the game’s mythos.  From time to time I would find myself wondering how a character like Nicol Bolas or Ink Eyes, Servant of Oni could exist in the same, twisted universe but for the most part, my love for Magic was purely functional rather than flavorful.  Until one day when I happened to win a copy of “Agents of Artifice” as a local tournament prize.  On the bus ride home, I read the first few pages.  The characters I had previously only maintained a functional relationship with, suddenly came to life.  Liliana’s abilities and flavor all started to make sense.  Jace’s attitude was relatable and it suddenly seemed criminal to keep my foil Tezzeret, the Seeker locked away in my trade binder.  For anyone who’s experienced something similar and to all of those people who’ve never spent an evening with an archmage Dragon, I contend that flavor will always enhance not only your overall enjoyment of Magic, but your gameplay as well.

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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Let us begin with a point of reference.  Here is the WotC definition of red mages: “Red mages have no patience for talk or subtlety. They act quickly and recklessly…. At their best, red mages are dynamic, passionate, and unbound. At their worst, they are shortsighted, temperamental, and destructive.” About what you would expect and true for the most part.  Now here is Aaron Forsythe’s admittedly broad explanation of ‘control’: “Your plan is to prevent your opponent from achieving his plan. When he is stifled at every turn, when his deck can’t gain any sort of positional advantage, then you will win the game.” See the connection?  Of course not, these are totally conflicting ideals.

has red settled down?

Not any more.  Red has quickly become a favorite splash color for control Wizards everywhere.  Due to a laundry list of red control cards currently legal in Standard, a new crop of rose-colored control builds have begun sprouting up out of the soil.   M10 and Zendikar are littered with spot removal and sweeps, while Alara has one key sweep (Volcanic Fallout) and several potent control spells with a dash of crimson. Certainly red has always offered duelists the option to clear the board, Pyroclasm isn’t a new print.  But a plethora of non-sweep control cards have facilitated a marriage of calm control with red burn.

During the recent Zendikar Game Day players showed up with two types of decks: Jund and decks they hoped could beat Jund.  Creativity, and a sense of desperation has caused players to build outside their color-pie comfort zone. At this point Cruel Control is considered old school in comparison to most standard builds, since it has been around in various forms since Shards of Alara.  Red is used in CC builds for more than providing mana for that final spell, including creature sweeps and spot removal.  The most red-dominated current archetype is Red-White control, a build that uses red planeswalkers (like Ajani Vengeant, and Chandra Nalaar) or Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle as finishers instead of Cruel Ultimatum.  Red-Blue control is a slightly altered version of Cruel Control using Chandra and counterspells like Swerve.  Typical RU control is an anti-Jund focused deck that uses counter-magic and spot removal to deny Jund the card advantage it normally creates.  Pyromancers Ascension,  a combo deck with subtle control, uses red to sweep and for spot removal to allow enough time for PA to go off, then cards like Time Warp as win conditions.  Finally, the elephant in the MTG room, Jund uses red for most of its control elements.  Specifically for Blightning, Bituminous Blast and Terminate.

chandra in control

Because it is so versatile red has more cards being used in as control elements or in control archetypes than any other color.  Take a look:

• Sweep – There are currently four effective sweeps (five if you count an anti-token Maelstrom Pulse) in Standard and three of them are red.  Pyroclasm is the classic standby that can stunt an opposing army early for only two mana.  The revolutionary Pyroclasm, Volcanic Fallout, has seen extended life after faeries for its instant speed and direct player damage.  The grand-daddy of red sweep is Earthquake, both in age and power.  Easily capable of wiping the board for four mana, or providing that last jab at an opponent’s life total.

• Spot Removal – Magic 2010 is the set most responsible for red’s emergence as a control color and the best red card in M10 is Lightning Bolt.  It saw immediate tournament action when fae players began splashing it to take out Great Sable Stag.  Lightning Bolt remains the most efficient creature/planeswalker killer out there.  Now Burst Lightning offers players another removal/burn option to pair with LB or terminate.  Also, red has the market cornered on land destruction, and Goblin Ruinblaster carries the torch in that category as a sideboard in almost any deck that runs the color.

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  blightning this!

  Countermagic – Perhaps the most surprising element of red’s game right now is the fact there are two red counterspells.  Yes, they are more blue than red (to keep our color pie sanity) but Swerve and Double Negative still need red to cast.  Double Negative is basically a Cancel that can stymie Cascade mechanics, thus making it perfect against Jund.

• Finishers – Planeswalkers have been popular since their inception, but Chandra Nalaar is making more Top 8 lists that ever before.  As a cheaper alternative to Cruel Ultimatum or as two-for-one creature removal Chandra is winning over duelists who used to considered her unplayable.  Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle can be ran in combo decks, but can lock down an opponent in the late game when you might otherwise play Cruel Ultimatum.  Of course lets not forget that CU takes red mana to cast as well.

Post-Zendikar control is tainted heavily with red, that has been established.  But what does that mean and how did we get here?  We got here because there are so few solid permission spells in Standard.  WotC has gone on record saying that counter/bounce decks ‘aren’t any fun’ which may explain the recent dirge. Even with the counter-magic available players are timid to rely to heavily on blue without a backup plan.  Sleep is a tragically poor replacement for Evacuation, leaving blue without any form of sweep.  White is the king of sweep, but with Cascade and Blightning decks so popular, poor white can’t keep up in card advantage.  That leaves green (green is not a control color and may never be), black (same pitfalls as white, without the sweep) and red.  What does this mean?  This means that ‘control’ as a style is changing.  Decks are aggressive and fast in every other facet, why not in control?  Call it ‘aggressive control’ or using a color known for being “shortsighted and destructive” to “prevent your opponent from achieving his plan.” As players our job is to understand this shift and embrace the new face of control: Red!

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