Marveling at the Madness

Skeletal Grimace card art. Yes, it's gross.

Magic players were greeted with an interesting announcement earlier this week: Wizards is teaming with Marvel to produce a Magic: the Gathering expansion. Though no other details were revealed, that alone was enough to elicit strong reactions.

I initially wrote "shocking" in place of "interesting" above, but as I reflect on this, it shouldn't come as a surprise. Back in June, I wrote about Magic 'colliding' with The Lord of the Rings. Since 2021, we have now had Magic sets (or commander decks) focusing on:

- Dungeons & Dragons (both Adventures in Forgotten Realms and Baldur's Gate)

- The Lord of the Rings

- Warhammer 40K (Commander decks only)

- Dr. Who (just released; Commander decks and collector booster packs only)

And soon to come are:

- Fallout (March 2024)

- Assassin's Creed (July 2024)

- Final Fantasy (2025)

- Marvel (unknown release date)

Wowza. That Universes Beyond announcement in 2021 was no joke.

How do we react to all of this? 

On the one hand, it feels fun. Magic's well-established rules and structure should be able to 'port over' to many franchises. There are many board games today that do something similar; they have an initial release, then do variants based on various Intellectual Properities (IPs). In that sense, Magic is simply continuing a trend.

On the other hand, it feels weird. Marvel in particular strays far from the game's high fantasy roots. A Spider-man deck? Hmmmm.

I'm still processing the news, but I have a slight feeling of dread. Any energy Magic pours into Universes Beyond means less energy spent on new original worlds and sets. And, of course, I would expect the product cost to keep rising, as leveraging other IPs are not cheap. We shall see how this goes.

For now, happy Halloween, and enjoy one person's thoughts on creepy Magic cards.

Card Talk 8

Arni Metalbrow card art

Today is the eigth post in my Card Talk series.

Reminder how Card Talk works:

• I go to Scryfall and select 'Random Card'
• I present and blog about the card. I could discuss any aspect: the art, abilities, cost, set, impact on the game, and so on. Stream of consciousness.

Card Talk is a fun, uncurated way to look at Magic's cards, mechanics, history, art, sets, and so on. And of course it exposes some of my own preferences, biases, and memories of the game. 

Today's card is . . .

Toymaker

Hmmmm . . . Toymaker. A colorless uncommon artifact from Mercadian Masques.

Card Talk 6 also featured an artifact, so I won't repeat observations about that card type here.

Spellshapers are a creature type that first appeared in this set. In fact, this set contains a full third (19/57) of all spellshapers printed, with 13 more coming in the rest of the block. This tribe shows up across all colors and have a common ability format: {mana cost}, tap, Discard a card from your hand: [ability]. Toymaker's ability enables you to make your noncreature artifacts into artifact creatures for a turn. Mercadian Masques had 27 noncreature artifact cards, seven of which had mana value of five or greater, providing some interesting targets for this ability.

The spellshapers' "discard" mechanic would pair well with madness, which enables you to cast a card for a reduced cost if you are discarding it.

Mercadian Masques was released in October 1999 and was the first set of the block of the same name. Blocks typically had 3 sets: the first (and largest) release followed by two smaller ones, all centered on a common theme, plane, and so on. Blocks stopped in 2018, though some subsequent expansions (like Guilds of Ravnica, Ravnica Allegiance, and War of the Spark) had a block-like feel to them due to their common themes/etc.

This set followed the overpowered Urza's Saga block, and tried to compensate by being overly weak. The most expensive card in it, Rishadan Port ($33), is followed by just seven other cards valued at $10 or more. Compare that to Urza's Saga, where its most expensive card (Gaea's Cradle, $826) is followed by 20 cards valued at $10 or more.

Card Talk 7

Arni Metalbrow card art

Today is the seventh post in my Card Talk series.

Reminder how Card Talk works:

• I go to Scryfall and select 'Random Card'
• I present and blog about the card. I could discuss any aspect: the art, abilities, cost, set, impact on the game, and so on. Stream of consciousness.

Card Talk is a fun, uncurated way to look at Magic's cards, mechanics, history, art, sets, and so on. And of course it exposes some of my own preferences, biases, and memories of the game. 

Today's card is . . .

Arctic Wolves

Hmmmm . . . Arctic Wolves. A green creature from Weatherlight.

Green! Finally. Green is my favorite color in this game. I was drawn to this the first time I played Magic (in 1995) for its large creatures.

The wording in this printing (Weatherlight came out in 1997) is dated: now, it would read "When Arctic Wolves enters the battlefield, draw a card."

Cumulative upkeep is an obsolete mechanic that appeared for only a short time (1995-97, in Ice Age, Alliances, Mirage, Visions, and Weatherlight). Only 88 cards have it. Cumulative upkeep's ability isn't always explained on the cards. It is: "at the beginning of your upkeep. put an age counter on this card. Then sacrifice it unless you play its upkeep cost for each age counter on it." Since the turn order in Magic starts "untap, upkeep, draw," that means you have to pay upkeep before you have a chance to draw or play lands or spells. Arctic Wolves' upkeep is pretty steep: an extra 2 mana each turn. It won't stay in play long.

Arctic Wolves' "Enter The Battlefield" ability, draw a card, means it 'replaces itself' (in other words, you'll have the same amount of cards in your hand before and after you play it). For that reason alone, it bears consideration in casual deck builds. It can be especially potent if you combine it with green enchantments/artifacts like Up the Beanstalk or The Great Henge; in these cases, playing Arctic Wolves would net you two cards. Nice.

Arctic Wolves has been printed only once, presumably due to the upkeep aspect:

- Weatherlight (1997)

Other card observations

• Though I didn't play Magic at this time, I appreciate the artwork and general flavor of the cards of this era. I miss it.

Card Talk 6

Arni Metalbrow card art

Today is the sixth post in my Card Talk series.

Reminder how Card Talk works:

• I go to Scryfall and select 'Random Card'
• I present and blog about the card. I could discuss any aspect: the art, abilities, cost, set, impact on the game, and so on. Stream of consciousness.

Card Talk is a fun, uncurated way to look at Magic's cards, mechanics, history, art, sets, and so on. And of course it exposes some of my own preferences, biases, and memories of the game. 

Today's card is . . .

Erratic Portal

Hmmmm . . . Erratic Portal. A colorless artifact from Exodus.

It is fun to get an artifact on here. Since most (this one included) are colorless and have generic mana costs, many artifacts can slot into any deck with ease. Artifacts, I recall, started out as uncommons or rares only, but shortly after, they made common ones.

Artifacts can be "just" artifacts or artifact creatures. Many (2918) artifact cards have been made over the years; 980 of them are artifact creatures. Subtle rules point: artifacts can tap the turn they come into play, but artifact creatures are subject to creature rules, too, so they cannot (unless they have haste).

Erratic Portal has been printed twice in paper:

- Exodus (1998)

- The List (2020)

The List was a concept introduced in 2020. A card from this 'set' is included in 25% of set booster packs. It is a way to get cards long out of print (but they remain legal only in the format(s) of the original cards). They have a Magic symbol in the bottom left corner so you know they are not the original printing:

From the official site, "The cards can be pulled from anywhere in Magic's 27-year history. The plan is for The List to change subtly from set to set, bringing in cards that might make sense with the set we're in, but it will mostly stay intact from set to set, meaning you will all get to learn what cards are in The List." I was surprised to find that cards from The List can sell for prices nearing the original versions.

Other card observations

• Erratic Portal's ability doesn't seem that amazing, since it can be negated by just one generic mana, but the card's cost ($3.50) indicates that the ability may be better than I think. That is one way to gauge a card's power in the game: how much does it cost to buy?
• The lore (italicized text in the text box) mentions legendary creatures or planeswalkers that appeared throughout Magic's history. There is an underlying story in this game. You don't need to know it or follow it to enjoy the game itself, but it does add some depth to the experience.

Card Talk 5

Arni Metalbrow card art

Today is the fifth post in my Card Talk series.

Reminder how Card Talk works:

• I go to Scryfall and select 'Random Card'
• I present and blog about the card. I could discuss any aspect: the art, abilities, cost, set, impact on the game, and so on. Stream of consciousness.

Card Talk is a fun, uncurated way to look at Magic's cards, mechanics, history, art, sets, and so on. And of course it exposes some of my own preferences, biases, and memories of the game. 

Today's card is . . .

Standing Troops

Hmmmm . . . Standing Troops. A white human soldier. This version is from the Welcome Deck 2017.

I love tribal decks, and I discussed white soldiers specifically in January. They are the most prevalent tribe in white. Standing Troops doesn't feature in any of my constructed decks, though. It is certainly a nice defender, with 4 defense keeping it out of reach from most red damage spells. And vigilance is nice. But with only 1 attack, and a mana value = 3, there are better options out there if you are playing soldiers.

Standing Troops has been printed six times in paper:

- Exodus (1998)

- Classic Sixth Edition (1999)

- Seventh Edition (2001)

- Eighth Edition (2003)

- Duel Decks: Elspeth vs. Kiora (2015)

- Welcome Deck 2017 (2017)

After the initial printing in an expansion, it featured in three consecutive core sets, then dropped out of sight for 12 years until coming back for two special releases. This is a good reminder that many cards (not on the reserved list) may get reprints even after years of being ignored.

Other card observations:

• Welcome Deck 2017 was a set of 30 reprinted cards that showed up in several products (booster battle packs and deckbuilder's toolkits) from the Amonkhet and Ixalan block sets. You can read more about that here.
• Vigilance didn't become a keyword until 2004, so the first four printings of this card spelled out the ability: "Attacking doesn't cause Standing Troops to tap."
• The vigilance keyword shows up on 744 cards as of this writing. Not surprisingly, 350 of them are mono-white and 500 of them have white in the casting cost. Different keywords feature in different colors; it is clear that vigilance is largely in white in Magic.