What Happened to MTG?

[Fightgarr]

I've been a collector of Magic the Gathering since I was about 5 years old. My first pack of cards was from Chronicles and I collected right up until just past Invasion. I still play Magic but I don't collect anymore. Why? Because Magic has changed.

When I see a Magic card now I see at least 3 new rules at every turn that I've neither heard of nor have any interest in. Cards nowadays are a medium strength card if they can deal 6 damage. After reading a few cards since the beginning of the new formatting I can safely say that they've made Magic the Gathering into an insane power battle, which each card more overpowered than the next.

I'm going to sound like an incredibly cranky old man here for a minute recalling the old days. I remember when a 3/3 was still a decent creature. I remember when if you had a 7/7, they had some crippling disability. I remember when a "Legend" wasn't always 12 to a set. I remember when artifacts weren't always the best things ever, but could provide you with some little useful tricks.

Now some people may throw the nostalgia card at me and say "Well you just haven't played with the new cards yet". But the thing is I've played with and against them. They strike me as taking what used to be a much more strategic game and saturating it with new rules and overpowered creatures. This has nothing to do with nostalgia. It has to do with distorting the game into something entirely different. In this case, for me at least, different is not better.

So I ask you who have been collecting Magic the Gathering for as long or longer than I (I've been collecting since, I think, '95) what you think of the current state of the game? Or even people who have noticed this change in the game, do you like the way things are going?

 

[Laura.]

It sucks nowadays. (I think it started sucking somewhere after the Ravnica cycle).
But hey, I haven't played in quite a while, and maybe just reading the cards in the Gatherer isn't enough to realize the true potential of... nah, I can't lie: they are horribly overpowered and boring.

 

[Fightgarr]

It sucks nowadays. (I think it started sucking somewhere after the Ravnica cycle).

I always thought that it got broken right around Judgment.

 

[GothmogII]

Problem is, I can't really empathise with your plight, I started at 10th ED so I don't really know how it was before, needless to say I enjoy the game as it is, though I did notice some changes and addition I didn't really like in the Lorwyn/Shadowmoor series, which promptly disappeared when Alara, and then Conflux came out. (Though Conflux has some freakishly powerful multicolor cards in it.)

Edit: Just noticed you asked those who'd been playing for a long time, so ignore the above if you may

 

[Fightgarr]

Edit: Just noticed you asked those who'd been playing for a long time, so ignore the above if you may

I said that, but that's a really small demographic. I'd be interested to hear what everyone has to say about the current state of the game. However if you're starting at 10th ed. its hard to see the change the game went through.

 

[Virgil]

I've been a collector of Magic the Gathering since I was about 5 years old. My first pack of cards was from Chronicles and I collected right up until just past Invasion. I still play Magic but I don't collect anymore. Why? Because Magic has changed.

I was in a similar place, except I started earlier than you did and ended shortly after you started. I ended up giving my cards away years ago, and haven't bought any in a really long time.

I did, on the other hand, buy Duels of the Planeswalkers [http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/m/magicthegatheringdobxbla/default.htm] on Xbox Live a few weeks ago, and for my purposes it's fantastic. It really reminded me of when I started playing. If you have an Xbox 360, I suggest grabbing the demo and giving it a shot.

 

[Crimsane]

Power creep, really. They invent more and more powerful cards, then have to place new rules to keep a semblance of balance. Eventually it becomes a confusing mess tied down by too many mechanics that's only a fraction of how fun it used to be.

 

[Ultrajoe]

Really? In my opinion the game just gets better and better (then again, I joined for Ravnica) every set, even though I haven't played in about a year. How did you not love the simplicity and charm of Lorwyn? The cunning and interection of Shadowmoor? I've skipped this whole Alara shards thing, in fact i'm not even sure if it's gone past Alara yet (???), but I have only fond memories of the game improving.

Change, yes. Fail? I think not.

 

[Fightgarr]

Really? In my opinion the game just gets better and better (then again, I joined for Ravnica) every set, even though I haven't played in about a year. How did you not love the simplicity and charm of Lorwyn? The cunning and interection of Shadowmoor? I've skipped this whole Alara shards thing, in fact i'm not even sure if it's gone past Alara yet (???), but I have only fond memories of the game improving.

Change, yes. Fail? I think not.

You see, I think is is probably one of those things where people who start later and play later love it as is, not because they didn't know the days "way back when, back when things were better", but because that's the game they know and they have fun with it. People who were there from the start get grumpy and distraught through a combination of things. Chiefly among them is the fact that all their old favorites have become obsolete when compared with the powerful cards of today's sets.

I guess I don't really think Magic is a failure. I just think its got too many bells and whistles for old hands like me. I stick to playing with almost exclusively with my close friends, all of whom refuse to play with cards from after Scourge. It sounds sort of elitist, but it works. It means we're on a level playing field to each other and we have fun.

I never wrote this with the intention to say "new cards are terrible and no one should play with them", although that's sort of what came out. Let me be clear then: New cards are not for me. The game has changed too much for me to keep collecting.

 

[lostclause]

I agree with the OP. There are too many new rules and such which makes the game confusing unless you keep up to date. Whilst I don't object to innovation sometimes it gets a bit overwhelming.

 

[Spacelord]

I started around the end of the Urza block, then quit around Invasion or Prophecy. Had a brief stint with Mirrodin, played through Darksteel, then quit again. Recently bought a box of Shards of Alara with a buddy of mine, haven't bought since. Though I occasionally play a round or two with my totally overpowered Affinity deck.

I completely understand your plight, especially since aforementioned Affinity deck rests solely on me having acquired a single card four times on time before everyone else caught on to its grossly imbalanced strength. (I am of course referring to Skullclamp [http://www.nedermagic.nl/meerinfo.asp?cardid=49050], read the card and feel the imba.)

I have similar feelings regarding my quite recently developed Monoblue control deck. It works now, but to improve it I have to make an exponential investment. Something I just can't commit to. After all, it's frickin' pieces of cardboard we're talking about.

So my answer to the question posed in the topic title is: commercial viability. They have to create more superpowerful cards (for instance: according to one of the R&D dudes at Wizards, the Skullclamp was a mistake. They only happened to own up to said mistake after an entire tournament season. I guess they're just really, really slow... right?) to keep players buying their overpriced playing cards. Right now I can look at a preview, and can almost exactly predict which cards are going to grow exponentially in value, and which are worthless. This isn't coincidence, or a fuck-up by the R&D department: it's business.

A business I am now forced to neglect, in lieu of cheaper nerditry. Have you tried the boardgame Arkham Horror, or the relatively cheap Munchkin card game?

 

[Fightgarr]

A business I am now forced to neglect, in lieu of cheaper nerditry. Have you tried the boardgame Arkham Horror, or the relatively cheap Munchkin card game?

I have not. I've never been one for horror and while I've never really given the Munchkin products much of a chance. I guess I should.

 

[Jinx_Dragon]

I agree...

I used to be a fan of this game but I have seen it go the same way as a great deal of things in this day and age: Over marketing! It is quite simple, someone out there realized how much money MtG was bringing in and decided to milk the whole franchize for every cent it is worth. There is no better way to do this then to release newer and newer versions filled with over powering cards.

Why?

Well to force people to have to shelve the old deck and create new ones of course! Just so they don't get their arse handed to them by someone now using cards able to one shot any of the older cards and then some. You can only do so much though before you end up with a 'slaughter all the opponents cards and take the rest of his health' sort of deal. This means more and more complex rules designed to invalidate the older cards in favor of the new.

The new rules don't add anything to the game, which is the problem, they just make it so you have to buy the new cards to protect yourself from the now overly powerful rules designed to negate your old deck. Nothing more, nothing less. This has eliminated all the tactics involved, cause why bother with them when you can play a single card that can't be blocked by anything but another identical card the opponent is unlikely to have in their deck?

 

[Altorin]

Magic has been streamlined over the years, and power creep has led to the cards getting progressively stronger over the years..

That being said, there are old cards so powerful they refuse to reprint them as they were back then, so it isn't like all the cards have gotten more powerful, it's just that they're designed and developed a lot better.

Back in the day, magic design and development was almost all Top Down.. when Richard Garfield first made Magic, all of his cards started with an idea of the character or spell, and then he tried to build the mechanics around it. Now, very very very few cards are built that way, they're all started with the mechanics built and tested.. So there are a lot less crazy cards like Ice Cauldron, and that's good. It makes the game a lot more easy to understand

If you don't like how it is now, you're not alone, and you're welcome to lament, but that's largely the reason it's changed... it's been made to be a lot easier to teach to new players, and the design and development has been streamlined.

 

[Zacharine]

I stopped playing magic around the time Urza came out. Made a few decks from those and saw the direction the game was heading: Overpowered. It was starting to get ridiculous. Then when i saw they were beginning to change the rules to fit the new sets, I was glad I'd stopped.

Yeah, I agree with the OP. Commercial viability ruined a good game. Sure, they've now managed to regain some of it, but I know I won't be getting back into it again. Let the new players enjoy it. That's just the way of capitalism. We've seen it before, we will see it again. They didn't want to bury their MTG cow, so they gave it a nice new coat of paint to attract new customers. Too bad the existing players (like me) got f*cked in the process.

 

[Altorin]

I stopped playing magic around the time Urza came out. Made a few decks from those and saw the direction the game was heading: Overpowered. It was starting to get ridiculous. Then when i saw they were beginning to change the rules to fit the new sets, I was glad I'd stopped.

Yeah, I agree with the OP. Commercial viability ruined a good game. Sure, they've now managed to regain some of it, but I know I won't be getting back into it again. Let the new players enjoy it. That's just the way of capitalism. We've seen it before, we will see it again. They didn't want to bury their MTG cow, so they gave it a nice new coat of paint to attract new customers. Too bad the existing players (like me) got f*cked in the process.

ruined is a pretty odd word to use.

Magic is more successful after the changes then it ever was before. It's still not something you see being played on every street corner, but they're still making major bank on it.

 

[Ranooth]

I've been collecting for more then 10 years now (joined in at Tempest) and i completely agree. Ever since Lowryn the cards seem to be getting more and more overpowered for less. The shards of Alara set is just insanely powerful for nothing.

Wizards have kinda shot themselves in the foot with appealing to new people, i am 100% against the new 40 card and 1 booster "decks" and the fat packs have changed (I WANT MY BOOK!).

Its a shame because i was hoping to start playing proffesionaly due to me winning a couple of Friday Night magics and being told by an ex Grand Prix winner that i have potential but from what i've seen people just seem to use 1 out of 5 MEGA decks and the luck of the draw determines the winner. Its a far cry from the days i used to know and it really annoys me.

 

[AroLombardi]

I dislike any card games. It's the same thing over and over again. Bakugan got somewhat new, but since it was part of an anime, it was ruined.

 

[Plinglebob]

I started playing MtG around the Invasion block/7th edition and my interest slowly dropped for a number of reasons. The 1st was the only time I ever really got to play was at the pre-release tournaments, but that stopped because the shop that used to run one shut down, couldn't find another and even if I did, they changed the rules and prizes which meant you couldn't do drafts if you dropped out.
The 2nd if because they changed the books and fat packs. For a while the books wern't bad. Never going to win prizes, but they were entertaining enough and buying a fat pack every release meant I got a few new cards, the new rules and a book for my collection. They then changed the fat packs so it wasn't worth the money.
The final reason is they became more and more forcused on tourny play which meant the articles on their website became less interesting. That, and the fact they changed the website to make it a ***** and a half to navigate meant I stopped keeping track with whats going on.

I did, on the other hand, buy Duels of the Planeswalkers [http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/m/magicthegatheringdobxbla/default.htm] on Xbox Live a few weeks ago, and for my purposes it's fantastic. It really reminded me of when I started playing. If you have an Xbox 360, I suggest grabbing the demo and giving it a shot.

I've tried the demo and I'd get the full game if it wasn't for the fact the controls are annoying and it seems to take ages to try and do anything. May have a check of the options tonight to see if I can speed things up a bit.

 

[cobra_ky]

I've been a collector of Magic the Gathering since I was about 5 years old. My first pack of cards was from Chronicles and I collected right up until just past Invasion. I still play Magic but I don't collect anymore. Why? Because Magic has changed.

When I see a Magic card now I see at least 3 new rules at every turn that I've neither heard of nor have any interest in. Cards nowadays are a medium strength card if they can deal 6 damage. After reading a few cards since the beginning of the new formatting I can safely say that they've made Magic the Gathering into an insane power battle, which each card more overpowered than the next.

I'm going to sound like an incredibly cranky old man here for a minute recalling the old days. I remember when a 3/3 was still a decent creature. I remember when if you had a 7/7, they had some crippling disability. I remember when a "Legend" wasn't always 12 to a set. I remember when artifacts weren't always the best things ever, but could provide you with some little useful tricks.

Now some people may throw the nostalgia card at me and say "Well you just haven't played with the new cards yet". But the thing is I've played with and against them. They strike me as taking what used to be a much more strategic game and saturating it with new rules and overpowered creatures. This has nothing to do with nostalgia. It has to do with distorting the game into something entirely different. In this case, for me at least, different is not better.

if you've been playing since chronicles, then i'm sure you remember the fuss over sixth edition and everyone running around screaming that "they've ruined the game". we're going through a similar period now.

Power creep, really. They invent more and more powerful cards, then have to place new rules to keep a semblance of balance. Eventually it becomes a confusing mess tied down by too many mechanics that's only a fraction of how fun it used to be.

tournament formats rotate sets out, in order to avoid this exact problem. thegame may be swinging back towards power, but cards today aren't nearly as overpowered as they were in Urza's Saga or Alpha. the only real exceptions i can think of in recent years are Affinity and Umezawa's Jitte. (i haven't been paying much attention to Lorwyn or Alara, admittedly.)

Yeah, I agree with the OP. Commercial viability ruined a good game. Sure, they've now managed to regain some of it, but I know I won't be getting back into it again. Let the new players enjoy it. That's just the way of capitalism. We've seen it before, we will see it again. They didn't want to bury their MTG cow, so they gave it a nice new coat of paint to attract new customers. Too bad the existing players (like me) got f*cked in the process.

how do you think they stayed commercially viable for this long in the first place? maintaining the existing customer base without any growth is an unsustainable marketing strategy.

The final reason is they became more and more forcused on tourny play which meant the articles on their website became less interesting. That, and the fact they changed the website to make it a ***** and a half to navigate meant I stopped keeping track with whats going on.

too true. i used to read Mark Rosewater religiously. i still say that any prospective game designer should read both him and Richard Garfield. M:tG is one the most successful designs ever concieved; D&D is the only other real precedent.