Welcome back to another edition of Ideas Unbound. I haven't been playing very much Magic lately, so I haven't had a whole lot to write about. So instead, I've decided to do a Mailbag edition where I answer questions from my friends and local players. As you will see, I got a lot of really good questions, so I plan on doing more of these from time to time.

Why do you think Magic has lasted this long?

This is an excellent question with many answers. For this, I'm going to break it down into the top 3 reasons in my opinion: flavor, rotation, and player feedback.

1) Flavor: For those unfamiliar with the term in the context of Magic, by flavor, I mean what does the game represents and how well does it represent it. I think Richard Garfield hit it out of the park with this one when he created the game. The original concept of the game was essentially two wizards fighting a duel. Since then, that general flavor has remained, while Wizards of the Coast has expanded upon the idea of that flavor. They've given us characters we have come to love and hate. They give us new worlds we want to explore. The flavor of this game has expanded well beyond it's humble beginnings and it keeps many of us coming back for more.

2) Rotation: To me, the invention of the Standard format with a constantly rotating card pool is the biggest reason why this game is still here today. I have seen many games that do not have a rotation system, and the games become stale quickly becuase new sets have to print more powerful cards to keep things fresh and exciting for the players. This is called power creep and eventually it gets to the point where the game will crack under these powerful cards.

Rotation helps prevent this from occurring. WotC can continue to print cards on the same power level and just limit which cards can be used in specfic formats. This means the format stays fresh and exciting without having to deviate from the normal power level.

3) Player Feedback: WotC is very open to player/customer feedback: moreso than many other companies I've seen. Mark Rosewater, the lead designer of Magic, has a Tumblr account where he directly answers questions from the community and gets their feedback. Helene Bergeot, the head of Organized Player, has is very active on Twitter and listens to all of the players concerns. They do a great job of making sure that we are heard, and while change may not happen immediately, they are always willing to listen to our suggestions.

Is there a common denominator found in all Magic players?

This is a difficult question to answer, because there are so many different types of Magic players. There are players who play with their friends at the kitchen table and have never enrolled in a single tournament. There are players who play at the their local game shop every weekend, but have no desire to do anything more competitive. Then there are the players who grinding major events every weekend trying to highest achievements in the game. Magic, more acurately, is many games in one. The game you are playing depends on what you want to do.

Because of this, the true common denomiator between all Magic players is a desire for self expression. The game is just a means for them to achieve this. It doesn't matter whether they want to show off their crazy new combo deck or show the world they are the best by being the world champion. They just want to prove something.

Is there a common denominator found in all "good" Magic players?

First of all, I took good here to mean players who have done well on the competitive circuit. It is certainly possible to be a good player and never play in a tournament.

Good players tend to have several things in common, but most importantly is a dedication to the game. These are players who play several hours of Magic a week trying to get better. They are people who write strategy articles and read those written by others. They have lengthy discussions with other players about specific cards and decks. To them, this game is a passion. Much like a kid who plays football all the way from elementary school to the NFL, they do it because they love it and want to achieve all the game can offer them.

What are some effective ways to grow a player base?

I am the Tournament Organizer for my LGS, so this question is very near and dear to my heart. The key to maintaining a successful player base is catering to the players and making sure there is a reason for everyone to be there.

One of the most successful ways I've found to do this is the create an incentive for players to come to tournaments, even if they don't win. For example, our shop keeps track of how many events a player attends and after every 4 events they are given a free booster pack. This way, even if they don't do well in an event, they are still getting prizes over time.

Also, at our shop and along the same lines, FNM attendance awards points to our players. After a new set comes out we have a special tournament for the highest point finishers. Then each player who didn't get to play in that tournament is entered into a random drawing for free packs based on the number of points they earned.

It's also important to offer a variety in the types of events you run. At our shop we always do at least one limited FNM each month (usually draft or 2HG sealed) and we offer at least one Modern FNM every other month. This means players who's favorite format might not be Standard get the opportunity to play something else every once in a while.

What is the most difficult knowledge base to develop as a judge?

I also have a Level 1 Judge status, that I don't use that often, because I'd rather be playing. I think this question actually depends on the judge. Some judges pick up the rules very easily but have a difficult time learning the tournmanet policy and penalties. Other judges can quote you policy and rules without a problem, but have a hard time interacting with the players.

Being a judge is more than just knowing the rules. It's about being a representative of the game and your local community. This is the most important knowledge that a judge needs to develop.

What are some of the major issues you find within the community that we could all take small steps to fix?

The biggest issue I see in a local community is when veteran players take advantage of newer players. I've seen players "explain" rules to newer players that don't work that way or don't actually exist because it benefits the veteran player. This kind of behavior cannot be tolerated and is damaging to the community because the new players may not want to stick around if that's the case.

This doesn't apply to just gameplay either. A huge portion of this game is built on its social aspects, especially in the form of trading. This is how a lot of newer players get better cards. It is a huge disappointment to me when I hear veteran players brag about some "sick trade" they got off a new player because the new player doesn't actually realize what their cards are worth. Trading a new player an uncommon they find cool for several rares from their limited trade stock doesn't make you awesome. It makes you an asshole.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing to come out ahead in a trade. There is nothing wrong with that, so long as both parties are reasonably aware of what the cards are worth. I have no problem interrupting a trade in progress if I feel one of the people is being taken advantage of. And I will gladly look up the value of any card for anyone at my local shop so they know when they are getting a fair deal.

I apologize for the mini-rant there, but I feel it is very important to keep this kind of behavior in check.

Why did they change combat damage assignments to lethal first?

I'll let the experts handle this one. This is a direct quote from Aaron Forsythe explaining why the change was made when M10 came out:

Combat Damage No Longer Uses the Stack
The Reality: The intricate system via which combat is currently handled creates many unintuitive gameplay moments. For starters, "the stack" is a difficult concept, even after all these years, so it is no wonder that many players go about combat without invoking it at all. Second, creatures disappearing after damage has been put on the stack leads to a ton of confusion and disbelief: How is that Mogg Fanatic killing two creatures? How did that creature kill mine but make your Nantuko Husk big enough to survive? How can you Unsummon your creature and have it still deal damage? While many of us may be used to the way things are now, it makes no sense in terms of a game metaphor and only a bit more sense as a rule.

The Fix: As soon as damage is assigned in the combat damage step, it is dealt. There is no time to cast spells and activate abilities in between; the last time to do so prior to damage being dealt is during the declare blockers step.

This was a particularly tricky change to implement, as it had the potential to create bad experiences in situations where double blocking occurs and the defending player has access to a damage prevention ability (or anything similar). If damage was prevented to one creature, the attacker would just kill the other, which is unintuitive. Players expect to be able to use their healing spells to save creatures that are actually going to die. To solve problems like these, during the declare blockers step, if a creature is blocked by multiple creatures, the attacker immediately announces an order in which that attacking creature will be assigning damage to the blockers. When it comes time to actually deal the damage, lethal damage must be assigned to the first blocker before any can be assigned to the second, and so on. Now, in complex combat situations there will be some foreknowledge of which creatures are in the most danger before damage is dealt.

Is True-Name Nemesis good for Legacy?

In the first question, I explained why I think rotation is very important to this game. Unfortunately, not all formats in Magic have rotation. However, it is still important to keep these formats fresh and exciting. Cards printed in standard sets have to be balanced according to current Magic power levels so it's hard for them to impact a format containing the most powerful cards in Magic's history. There have been some, but not many, to break that barrier. In that case, its important to still find a way to make cards that can shake up the format, and I think True-Name Nemesis is one of those cards.

There are plenty of cards in the history of Magic that can deal with this card. Players will have to adapt their way of thinking to include this card and those potential answers and I think that's a good thing. It keeps things from becoming stale. Caleb Durward, a noted Legacy player, recently wrote an article on ChannelFireball going into this in much more detail. In the end, I agree with him in that True-Name Nemesis is good for Legacy.

Will/should Deathrite Shaman be banned before Modern PTQ season?

I don't see Deathrite Shaman being banned in Modern, especially not before the next PTQ season. Admittedly, Deathrite Shaman is a very good card in the format, but it is not unbeatable. It just means players have to address it when preparing for that particular format, just like Thragtusk in the last Standard format and just like True-Name Nemesis in Legacy.

Why are Dark Ritual and Counterspell no longer printed in Core sets?

Because they are too powerful under current Magic design Standards.

Do you think they will ever make a new color?

At this point, I don't think it will ever happen. This has been discussed throughout the history of Magic, and they almost added a 6th color (purple) during Planar Chaos design. The set Planar Chaos was designed to take an alternate look at Magic's history, at cards that might have been. That alternate history could have included a 6th color and they attempted to highlight that, but they eventually decided against it.

Who is your favorite artist? and What is your favorite card of all time?

I've decided to combine these two questions together. First of all, I don't really have a favorite artist. I know there are people out there who are fans of Richard Kane Ferguson or Terese Nielsen or other popular Magic artists, but I don't have a specific artist like that. I tend to like Magic's art as a whole. However, if I had to pick one, I would stay Steve Argyle. And that's only because he drew the art for my favorite card, Liliana of the Veil.

Liliana of the Veil is a powerful card that saw a great deal of play in Standard while she was legal and continues to see play in both Modern and Legacy. On top of that, though, Liliana is my favorite character in the game from a flavor standpoint. Plus, the artwork for this card is just fantastic and really captures the essence of Liliana for me.

A close second for favorite art though is the Time Walk art in the MTGO Cube. I don't know what it is about this art, but I really love it.

Favorite set specific mechanic?

I took this question to mean favorite non-evergreen mechanic, meaning one that is not used in every set like flying or trample. I say this, because my choice has been used a couple of times across Magic's history, including being present right now in Standard. The answer is Scry. Scry is such a wonderful mechanic, because it is simple in its execution but provides so much depth to gameplay. While I appreciate the variance that exists in Magic, it is nice to sometimes be able to reduce that variance, which is what Scry does.

What is the most overrated (or overvalued) "power" card in the history of Magic?

While I have not had a lot of experience with some of the most powerful cards in Magic's history, I think my answer here is Tarmogoyf. I understand the significance of the card, being a creature that is typically above the curve in terms of power and toughness. But when you really look at it, that's all it really is: a creature with power and toughness. It is easily handled by so many spells in the history of Magic. It's hard to replace cards like Jace, the Mind Sculptor or Force of Will, because the effects are so unique. But there are many creatures that could almost resemble Tarmogoyf in the right light.

What mechanic would you like reprinted? What mechanic idea would you like to see print?

My choice for mechanic to be reprented, and I am certain this will happen at some point, is Landfall. Landfall is another ability that is simple in its execution, like Scry. And it helps reduce variance by giving you an advantage when you flood out.

I have a mechanic that I would like to see in print, but it's sort of complicated so I'm not sure it would ever happen. It's similar to a mechanic that exists in another card game. Essentially the mechanic would create a second declare attackers step after blockers are declared where only creatures with the mechanic could be declared as attackers. Then the opponent would get a chance to declare new blockers for those creatures only. This means when you attack, your opponent has to choose to use his blockers now or save them in case you attack with the other creatures. However, if you then choose not to attack with the second set of creatures, the first set of creatures would get through unblocked. It would create an interesting dynamic in combat that I think would be fun to explore.

How old is too old to play?

I have seen people in their 60's playing this game. Because this is a game that requires very little physical exertion, I can imagine being able to play it well into old age, similar to games like Bridge or Chess.



That's it for this edition of the Mailbag. I will definitely do another one of these in 2014. I should be back to regular strategy content soon since I will have more time to start playing again. As always, feel free to contact me with questions or feedback. Look for more news about the new website and name early next year.

Eddie Walker
praethus on MTGO
@praethus on Twitter
praethus at gmail dot com