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Wizardly Greed

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This week I was planning on showcasing a budget-friendly version of a popular standard deck. The newest rotation has changed the meta significantly, and I often spend some time on Arena after a new set releases. One of the ways I challenge myself is to build Arena decks with paper prices as a guide. I was excited to show off a janky control deck in my favorite colors, but that will have to wait. I feel it’s necessary to instead comment on the abhorrence of greed from the sole supplier of Magic: The Gathering™ products. Unfortunately, I don’t have very many positive things to say right now about greed in Magic.

If you haven’t heard about WOTC’s newest Secret Lair product, it’s an advertisement partnership with AMC to deliver eternal format legal cards that are only available for 8 days in a premium product. Some other content creators in the Magic space have provided excellent discussions about this and other similar situations. If you have the time, you might find their contributions interesting to review. Please click through to their platforms of choice and provide them the support they deserve.

Not the first and won’t be the last

Michonne, Ruthless Survivor: When Michonne enters the battlefield, create two Walker tokens. As long as Michonne is equipped, she must be blocked if able. Whenever Michonne and at least two Zombies attack, she gains indestructible until end of turn.

Negan, the Cold-Blooded: When Negan enters the battlefield, you and target opponent each secretly choose a creature that player controls. Then those choices are revealed, and that player sacrifices those creatures. Whenever an opponent sacrifices a creature, you create a Treasure token.

Glenn, the Voice of Calm: Skulk (This creature can’t be blocked by creatures with greater power.) Whenever Glenn deals combat damage to a player, draw cards equal to his power.

Daryl, Hunter of Walkers: At the beginning of your upkeep, target opponent creates three Walker tokens. Tap Daryl, Hunter of Walkers: Daryl deals 2 damage to target creature. Whenever a Zombie an opponent controls dies, draw a card.

These are black-bordered, eternal, legendary creatures that are printed in a premium product, that cannot be purchased outside of an 8-day window, directly through WOTC. It doesn’t matter if their abilities are good, or if they’ll be reprinted later. These cards are a precedent that has been set and reaffirmed with this product. This isn’t the first, or the last time, that WOTC will test the waters to increase their profitability at the detriment to the players who support their game.

Nexus of Fate: Take an extra turn after this one. If Nexus of Fate would be put into a graveyard from anywhere, reveal Nexus of Fate and shuffle it into its owner’s library instead.

Yes, when I talk about WOTC testing the waters previously, I am talking about Nexus of Fate, but not just. Nexus of Fate was released as a limited box-topper reward for players who purchased sealed boxes of Core Set 2019. When Nexus of Fate was released, it too was released as a black-bordered card and as a legal and powerful option in both Standard and Pioneer. The choice to release this product was immediately met with criticism, but the impact it left was limited. Extra turn effects are some of the best spells in this game, but there are so many better options than Nexus of Fate in eternal formats. Outside of Standard, which is a rotating format with a short memory, and Pioneer, which is a non-rotating format with cards from Return to Ravnica and forward, Nexus of Fate just isn’t unique. After the bans, the general understanding was that this promotion was a mistake, it had been corrected, WOTC had learned their lesson, and it wouldn’t happen again.

In truth, Nexus of Fate was just another test to see what they could get away with, and they were incredibly successful with Rin and Seri, Inseparable.

Rin and Seri, Inseparable: Whenever you cast a Dog spell, create a 1/1 green Cat creature token. Whenever you cast a Cat spell, create a 1/1 white Dog creature token. 1 Red Mana + 1 Green Mana + 1 White Mana + Tap Rin and Seri: Rin and Seri, Inseparable deals damage to any target equal to the number of Dogs you control. You gain life equal to the number of Cats you control.

Like Nexus of Fate, Rin and Seri received backlash, but it was diminished because it was primarily a card for Tribal commander; where purchasing a single card is less impactful financially, and because the card itself isn’t particularly effective outside of commander formats. Tribal decks in Standard, and other eternal formats, have a long history of being less effective over decks that take advantage of cohesive game plans centered around value engines and momentum. Like four-color Omnath. Ultimately WOTC got away with this because they printed something that was only interesting to a select few Commander players, and outside of that, had little impact. The outrage wasn’t quite there, but this only emboldened WOTC to push harder.

What about black and white borders?

Rarity: Rare and mythic rare spells you cast cost 1 Colorless Mana less to cast. 1 Colorless Mana + Tap Rarity, Reveal a My Little Pony® toy you own: Until end of turn, another target creature gains protection from each color in that toy’s coat, mane, and outfit.

There is a legitimate claim that WOTC partnering with other franchises, like My Little Pony, Transformers, Dungeons and Dragons, and Godzilla, diminish the overall Magic story and dilute suspension of disbelief. I wholeheartedly agree, but honestly, it’s been dealt with appropriately in the past. In order to exist in this capitalistic world, WOTC needs to be constantly profitable quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year. The only way to do that is to encourage people outside of the game to join, and encourage existing players to purchase and collect sealed product.

With the My Little Pony release, WOTC ensured that the cards they printed wouldn’t affect the game by releasing them with a silver border. Traditionally, gold and silver bordered cards are not legal outside of specific circumstances. This was also the case with their Transformer and DND releases. Utilizing silver and gold borders is an appropriate way to deal with partnerships, because the cards can remain premium product that only appeals to collectors, without affecting the game at large.

For Godzilla, WOTC released their Godzilla-themed cards as alternate arts. This appealed to Magic players and was an overall success. WOTC preserved the game through Ikoria, which did not require an investment in the Godzilla franchise to play. They also provided Godzilla fans, and collectors, a way to seek out premium product and pad WOTC’s coffers. That’s a win-win.

Releasing premium product in silver and gold-bordered cards, and alternate arts, tells players that even if they can’t afford premium product, they are not required to be whales to play; that they can still explore their hobby at their own financial pace.

Releasing unique premium product cards with limited print runs in black or white borders completely diminishes these brilliant strategies to preserve player freedom, and instead, punishes players who fail to meet the barriers of entry that WOTC is pushing today.

Just because Mark says that they might print the cards later on if they become popular, does not detract from the fact that today they are only available in this print run.

This has been ongoing for quite some time, hasn’t it?

I’ve talked about it before, but this kind of behavior only reminds me of the costs of lands, the most crucial element to any deck, and the reserved list. Admittedly, I am not super familiar with the reserved list and all of the arguments for and against its creation, but anything that creates a barrier of entry for players to become interested in this hobby is not acceptable. I am, however, very familiar with more modern lands, and their prices.

Polluted Delta: Tap Polluted Delta, Pay 1 life, Sacrifice Polluted Delta: Search your library for an Island or Swamp card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library.

Fetchlands allow players to search their deck for any of two land types from the pool of five: island, swamp, forest, mountain, and plains. Because fetchlands pair the land types in two, they are incredibly effective at providing mana fixing in multi-color decks. Furthermore, since they do not specify the basic land type, a large number of dual lands become available as targets for retrieval.

Breeding Pool: As Breeding Pool enters the battlefield, you may pay 2 life. If you don’t, it enters the battlefield tapped.

With this knowledge on hand, we now understand that Polluted Delta could search up a blue/black shockland, like Watery Grave, or a battleland, like Sunken Hollow, but it could also search up Breeding Pool, because of the island land type. Introducing: one of the most important aspects of deck building. This interaction allows the player to both include additional fetchlands outside of their expected colors to increase efficiency, and to be able to search for numerous color combinations which can allow a three, four, or even five color deck to become more viable. Truthfully, because of this advantage and the nature of the game, fetchlands, and cards like them, as well as the dual lands they search for, become not only helpful, but a necessity when it comes to fast and efficient mana fixing.

As you can imagine, fetchlands can get pricey. They go anywhere from $16 to $75 or more for a single card, and most dual lands, excluding true duals, hover around $20-40. That means that for a given semi-competitive Modern deck, players are looking at hundreds of dollars investing in just lands. In fact, even the top burn deck at the time of this article’s writing, spends more on lands than spells. Almost every sanctioned format in Magic requires a heavy investment in lands, and even at the kitchen table, a top tier casual deck can be stomped if it doesn’t have the lands necessary to compete.

But what does WOTC do when their players are faced with such a higher barrier of entry? They exploit the situation and ensure that sealed product gets sold above all else.

  • All semi-efficient lands are printed at rare, including comparatively mediocre lands such as Fabled Passage, or Prismatic Vista.
  • Fetchlands and powerful typed dual lands, like shocklands, will not be printed in the same standard rotation.
  • When fetchlands are reprinted, they are done so as premium product.
  • If dual lands are printed (as we’ve seen with this last rotation) because of their rarity and price memory, they maintain the barrier of entry.

Taking advantage of players in this way doesn’t make the game better, it makes it harder to find new players and support the local community. As we’ve seen with the continuous bans in Standard as of late, lands aren’t the problem with game design.

This situation expands beyond lands, and affects all cards of value. It’s just more apparent with lands, which are almost always a necessity no matter the deck archetype or format. This problem has been going on longer than I’ve been playing regularly, but it’s certainly coming to a head.

Protest

There are numerous solutions WOTC could employ to eliminate this barrier of entry completely. Off the top of my head, they could simply print highly sought after lands at a lower rarity without affecting formats like Pauper. Or, they could simply sell land-only sets for people to bolster their collections. I’m sure there are better ideas from more qualified individuals, but the fact that WOTC continues to maintain this barrier shows their true intentions.

The secondary market allows WOTC to see what is going to make them the most amount of money when they devise product. As long as they can fulfill player expectations enough to justify the appearance of action, while simultaneously ensuring that the market keeps their price levels intact, they can market and sell additional product.

So WOTC isn’t going to fix this problem, what exactly can we do to mitigate this level of greed?

Some content contributors are saying that WOTC is dead to them, or that the game is no longer justifiable to support. This is a dangerous slope to start on, because abandoning a game that we love harms not only the greedy party but ourselves and our relationships built from it. Ignoring WOTC doesn’t force them to reflect on their actions so much as it begs them to dangle distractions instead.

It’s not feasible to introduce competition directly into this game, because it’s a corporate intellectual property owned by a single organization and allowing others to contribute to the space would ultimately undermine the overall design of the game (potentially worse than what is being done by WOTC on their own.)

Contributing to other direct competitors of Magic is appropriate, but taking this outside of the game doesn’t really deal with the problem at hand; it only encourages WOTC to figure it out on their own, and I just don’t see that happening.

Personally, I believe a targeted protest is the only solution to this problem.

First, we should collectively signal boost content creators that call out this type of behavior and reinforce their message directly to WOTC. As long as media is reporting on these unscrupulous decisions, and we are vocal in our dissent, WOTC is pressured to act accordingly.

Second, we should no longer purchase sealed product directly from WOTC. They should not be rewarded for behavior we disagree with. We can’t abandon our local game stores, so we should continue to purchase resold singles from them in support. I am well aware and understand that WOTC controls the fate of various game stores. As long as they continue to sell sealed product, they can acquire that product, and in turn, stay afloat. We must find and maintain the balance that allows our local game stores to succeed without allowing WOTC to profit too heavily off of the decisions we disagree with. There are other ways to support our local game stores in the interim.

Finally, instead of spending with our dollar, we should depend on our communities. Trading liberally with other players eliminates the financial burden placed on this game, and if players are more willing to make trades simply to help each other, we may find that everyone is able to play the game with less financial resources available to them.

I know this article was a little bit more serious than the usual fare, but I believe it is necessary for a hobby I truly adore.

 

 

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Zendikar Rising

Every new set brings a plethora of giddy feelings known as spoiler season, and I can’t help but want to participate in looking at all the new shiny cards. I thought I would mix things up a bit and give you my personal thoughts on a handful of hand-picked spoilers from Zendikar Rising, the newest set soon to be released for Magic: The Gathering™. Traditionally, the Zendikar plane has been a favorite among players because it’s so story driven. Personally, I’ve never been a huge fan of Zendikar, but I am excited to see wizards, vampires, and traditional blue/black mechanics resurface. Let’s find out if that’s the case!

Usually I look at spoilers through two lenses. In the first, I look at cards that I aesthetically or mechanically want to collect. I usually don’t have a deck in mind for these cards, so I’ll be looking at low power cards that I think have some use to my collection. More than likely, I’m fond of these cards because of the art or flavor they provide. In the second, I look at cards that I think are functionally powerful enough that I want to build around immediately, drop into an existing deck, or that I think will become staples on Arena.

New flip lands

Clearwater Pathway: Tap Clearwater Pathway: Add 1 Blue Mana. // Murkwater Pathway: Tap Murkwater Pathway: Add 1 Black Mana.

Cragcrown Pathway: Tap Cragcrown Pathway: Add 1 Red Mana. // Timbercrown Pathway: Tap Timbercrown Pathway: Add 1 Green Mana.

Hagra Mauling: This spell costs 1 Colorless Mana less to cast if an opponent controls no basic lands. Destroy target creature. // Hagra Broodpit: Hagra Broodpit enters the battlefield tapped. Tap Hagra Broodpit: Add 1 Black Mana.

Glasspool Mimic: You may have Glasspool Mimic enter the battlefield as a copy of a creature you control, except it’s a Shapeshifter Rogue in addition to its other types. // Glasspool Shore: Glasspool Shore enters the battlefield tapped. Tap Glasspool Shore: Add 1 Blue Mana.

I often can’t afford powerful staple lands, like fetchlands, shocklands, Prismatic Vista, or even Fabled Passage. But I can evaluate how effective they will be. Anyone who gets the colors they need when they need them, or ends up with a tapland in the wrong color at the wrong time, understands just how important mana fixing is in this game. There’s nothing more powerful in this game than a smooth mana experience. That’s why I’m always excited to see new imaginative ways to implement mana fixing.

I have to say, these new lands that enter the battlefield as either/or are going to be very useful options in multi-colored decks, especially in EDH. We saw in Jumpstart that ETB taplands that can be either/or could be very useful in budget decks, but these lands come into the battlefield untapped. They’ll easily be in demand during the standard format, and I can see them being in demand in EDH decks too. They can’t be fetched easily without subtypes, but they can provide some much needed immediate color fixing.

I will also mention that these utility flip lands, like Hagra Mauling, or Glasspool Mimic, are absolutely powerful. They’re over costed for the ability, sure, but the fact that they can provide early game color fixing with late game utility is well worth the extra cost (and in Hagra Mauling’s case, potential cost.) Not all of these utility flips are going to be good enough to warrant use, but if we look toward Eldraine, we can see that plenty of adventures were had. I can see a lot of these cards being EDH staples, I just hope they won’t be too expensive once the set is released.

My only grievance is that these cards are rare. WOTC is well aware that lands are the most important part of any deck and they’re already working so hard to ensure that they feed the secondary market. That kind of greed is unconscionable to sell sealed product. I say this because the game is already very expensive and those kinds of barriers of entry only push people away. It’s very difficult to justify dropping a hundred dollars on lands, just to be even casually competitive. I don’t blame people for being apprehensive toward investing in the game.

Big fat crabe

 

Charix, the Raging Isle: Spells your opponents cast that target Charix, the Raging Isle cost 2 Colorless Mana more to cast. 3 Colorless Mana: Charix gets +X/-X until end of turn, where X is the number of Islands you control.

That’s no spelling mistake. Truly this leviathan crab is a big boy with 17 toughness, but I suspect he’s going to be a monster with chonky decks, like those that employ Assault Formation, Huatli, the Sun’s Heart, or High Alert. Here’s a list of cards in that same vein. I think Charix will be an affordable budget option that does impressive things in the right deck.

In a way, this card reminds me of Arixmethes.

This reminds me of something…

Legion Angel: Flying. When Legion Angel enters the battlefield, you may reveal a card you own named Legion Angel from outside the game and put it into your hand.

Almost everything about this card reminds me of Emeria Angel, but the ability here is totally unique and hard to gauge effectiveness. Generally when oracle text references cards that you own outside of the game, they mean your sideboard, or your collection on hand if a sideboard is not part of the format. Sideboards are effective because in best-of-x games, you can sideboard in the right answers to various decks you come across. Being that sideboards are traditionally fifteen cards, it’s a tough call to justify putting a bunch of angels that you will never sideboard in to deal with potential issues. That being said, allowing your sideboard to function as a second library during a game is powerful. Spells like Karn or Granted have shown that to be true.

I personally think the best combination of Legion Angels is two in the deck, and two in the sideboard. That way you don’t over saturate your deck with angels that do not trigger, but you also don’t constrict your options too much in the sideboard. I also believe that Legion Angel is a worthy card in flying decks, or standard white control or stax decks that need a win condition that can’t splash for Dream Trawler.

Solid removal

Bloodchief’s Thirst: Kicker 2 Colorless Mana + 1 Black Mana (You may pay an additional 2 Colorless Mana + 1 Black Mana as you cast this spell.) Destroy target creature or planeswalker with converted mana cost 2 or less. If this spell was kicked, instead destroy target creature or planeswalker.

It’s not an instant, which is why it won’t be as beloved as Fatal Push. For 1 Black Mana though, I think this card is going to be a big player. Plus, with the kicker, which in total is only one more mana than Murder, you can also take out any creature or planeswalker. It’s no Vraska’s Contempt, but it’s still a sleeper hit in my opinion.

This or that?

Deliberate: Scry 2, then draw a card.

Deliberate is the instant version of Omen of the Sea. Personally I think this card, and Omen, are both great budget cards. Compared to Preordain or Serum Visions, the instant casting speed is well worth the extra colorless mana. This is especially true with decks where leaving mana up allows for better control. I can see this being a pauper staple, used heavily in standard, and even see it being played in a variety of other formats. I know I’ll be picking up a few.

Too slow?

 

Relic Robber: Haste. Whenever Relic Robber deals combat damage to a player, that player creates a 0/1 colorless Goblin Construct artifact creature token with “This creature can’t block” and “At the beginning of your upkeep, this creature deals 1 damage to you.”

Three mana for a hasty 2/2 might seem like it’s too slow for red. Red is all about gotta go fast when it comes to doing damage as quickly as possible and counting up to 20 life. However, Relic Robber seems to combine Chandra, Awakened Inferno and Captain Lannery Storm. Personally, I think this card is an all-star. One trigger is good, but two triggers is amazing. True, it has to deal combat damage in order to trigger, but the construct it creates can’t block, which means it’s staying around unless your opponent can sacrifice it. Burning removal on the construct seems like a waste, even if it introduces a clock.

New York’s hottest club is shambles

Swarm Shambler: Swarm Shambler enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it. Whenever a creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it becomes the target of a spell an opponent controls, create a 1/1 green Insect creature token. 1 Colorless Mana + Tap Swarm Shambler: Put a +1/+1 counter on Swarm Shambler.

This card is meow. This card has everything. It:

  • Is low costed at only one mana.
  • Comes into the battlefield with a counter on it, so it can affected by proliferate.
  • Protects your board by providing value for removal of your creatures, including itself.
  • Has an ability that can permanently boost its power when being used as a blocker.

I realize it’s only great, and fully taken advantage of, in decks that leverage +1/+1 counters, but that’s such a widespread mechanic that this card is easily an all-star.

Burn it down

Cleansing Wildfire: Destroy target land. Its controller may search their library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle their library. Draw a card.

Land destruction is the type of mechanic that really makes people rage. It’s bad enough having games where you can’t draw into the lands you need, but it’s much worse when you’re in a multi-color deck and you can’t get the color you need. This card is low costed because it lets your opponent replace the land you destroyed with a basic land, which is definitely antithetical to land destruction, but what if your opponent is playing three colors? They might only have access to various non-basic lands to help them fix mana. I think this card has serious power when playing against more competitive decks that rely on fetching into a shockland. Plus, it replaces itself with a draw effect. I think this is a powerful card that forces your opponents to make tough decisions, and that’s always fun.

Squid boy

Skyclave Squid: Defender. Landfall — Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, Skyclave Squid can attack this turn as though it didn’t have defender.

Bear with both an upside and a downside. Call me crazy, but I think Skyclave Squid has some serious chops. The defender is definitely a downside, but only if you’re playing aggro. As a blocker, 3 power and 2 toughness is more than enough to push back aggro decks on turn 2. I could also see Skyclave Squid having value in a landfall deck, which I’m sure will be prevalent once this set releases.

Mill returns

Soaring Thought-Thief: Flash. Flying.  As long as an opponent has eight or more cards in their graveyard, Rogues you control get +1/+0. Whenever one or more Rogues you control attack, each opponent mills two cards.

I get that rogues are getting a huge push this set, and this rogue lord is certainly worth it for the tribe, but I’m more interested in how this will affect multiplayer mill. Combining rogues and mill seems like a really fun way to make mill more powerful. This would be perfect for a casual deck that primarily goes off with a mill combo. Typically mill decks don’t value creatures, but they could benefit from having some bodies on the field that offer an alternative damage-oriented win condition. Flash and flying is a nice touch too, which makes it pretty easy to slot into a blue deck that values instant-speed effects.

Thoughts on Zendikar Rising

I’m not super impressed with this set. The flavor seems lacking, and I was expecting some more interesting vampires and maybe some blue/black vampires like we’ve seen in the past. Nevertheless, there are some cards that are getting my attention. Most of the decent cards that would slot into my EDH decks are already out of my budget, but I am taking a hard look at the various flip lands, because I believe those are going to be the best options to come from this set.

Speaking of, excluding some of the more financially affordable flip lands, I feel like there is a stark divide between cards that are both powerful and unique, and cards that are effectively draft chaff. I fear that for a while now, WOTC has been pumping their sets full of draft chaff to manipulate the secondary market, and this set reminds me of that fear.