Where is Magic Heading?
Darn good question, that. Clearly, WotC is seeking to broaden its appeal and make it an enjoyable game for non-tournament players as well as a competitive game for money players. That means doing a couple of things:
1. Bring in multi-color decks. This is a way to get people using lots of cards they buy in different ways as well as demonstrating some themes within Magic. Too many wasted cards in casual play is not good for overall sales.
2. Slow down the environment. Yep, Urza just about killed non-tournament buying of Magic cards and turned off a large number of people. WotC saw the sales data and where the sales were coming from. Slowing down the environment wasn't rocket science. It's simply no fun to be on the losing side of a turn 2 or 3 kill. Wakefield had that one correct from the beginning.
3. Bring in some new mechanisms and hope they don't break too many cards. Always. This keeps Magic fresh. Gating is quite interesting and Fleetwood Panther will see play in casual decks.
4. Trigger abilities without tapping, letting some cards produce multiple effects per turn. Masticore was a real problem and Rosewater indicated that they just didn't understand the power of it with the accelerated artifact mana. So, they use Flowstone Overseer now. Armored Guardian can bestow multiple tidings a turn without tapping. Don't like that card, too expensive? Well, wait. There will be others. (btw, in casual play, Armored Guardian is a fun card and the 5 toughness and lack of tapping offsets the additional mana cost for the ability).
5. Fantastic Creatures -- The five new dragons are really just the start. Magic wants to be able to advertise showing great artwork and creatures that will fire the imagination of new players. This is typical Hasbro strategy, and they are calling the shots.
6. Break Cheesy, abusive combos. About a year ago I recommended WotC print a card called Covetous Thief. OK, it was ridiculously powerful in breaking combos. But the trend at WotC was clearly there. Reprinting Lobotomy, Rootwater Thief, Anti-Rishadan Port cards . . . WotC has decided that instead of getting cards banned as too powerful in T2, they are going to print antidotes.
So, next time you find a Buh-roken card in Invasion Block, just wait a bit. The response card will be coming.
7. Um... I don't know. What do you think?
[Edited by Crackdown on 01-04-01 at 12:05 PM]