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2 years ago ::
Jun 03, 2008 - 3:25PM
#1
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This thread is for discussion of this week's Taste the Magic, which goes live Wednesday morning on magicthegathering.com.
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2 years ago ::
Jun 03, 2008 - 9:09PM
#2
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 I look forward to your book, Doug.
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2 years ago ::
Jun 03, 2008 - 9:09PM
#3
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Whew! Good thing somebody finally addressed the big changes everybody is talking about! You know, the novels. 
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2 years ago ::
Jun 03, 2008 - 9:18PM
#4
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Style guides spiffied up and published: HELL YES.
Planeswalker novels: Good.
Block novels: ...mm, I don't know. Somehow I always felt like the novels have never quite gone into as much depth with the settings as I would have liked. And that was with one per expansion! Then again, it would be a lot of novels to publish...
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2 years ago ::
Jun 03, 2008 - 9:22PM
#5
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Now that this has been explained, I'm quite happy at these particular changes, though I do hope that the concept art and such hasn't been entirely removed from the Planeswalker's Guide. Finished art is beautiful, but a fair portion of the appeal of the Style Guide Arcanas is the way it gives you a glimpse "behind the curtain", so I would love to see things like these kinds of Arcanas still in the Guide, maybe presented as though they were sketches made by actual planeswalkers visiting the plane. Since reading this, the only novel-related thing I'm not happy about is the novels no longer being included in the Fat Packs. The novels were the biggest reason I bought the things in the first place, and without them, it seems unlikely that I will continue to purchase them. (An excerpt does not constitute a sufficient replacement.)
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real.
--Erin McKean, Redefining the DictionaryBlaze
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2 years ago ::
Jun 03, 2008 - 9:27PM
#6
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I would appreciate it if Doug, Brady, or someone else at WotC could provide more information on the following topics:
1. Why won't the new novels be included in the new Fat Packs?
2. Will the new Fat Packs include other items to compensate for the lost value of the missing novel? If not, will the MSRP of the Fat Packs be reduced?
3. Will the new Fat Packs still contain the player's guide that contains color images of every card in the set? How about the Spindown life counter?
4. How much of an excerpt of the new novels will be included in the new Fat Packs?
5. As someone who used to and currently buys Fat Packs to get the block novels, what incentive will there be for me to continue buying these new Fat Packs if the novel is no longer included? Will I still have to spend $30-35 for a Fat Pack, plus $7-8 for the various block and planeswalker novels? If so, does WotC realize how unappealing this new change is to someone like me?
6. How alike will the Planeswalker's Guide series be to previously released, seemingly similar products like "The Art of Magic: the Gathering - The Rath Cycle"? Will they be roughly the same size and have the same scope of content? Will it be the same physical size? What kind of publication will it be (trade paperback, regular paperback, hardback)? What is the MSRP for the Planeswalker's Guide?
7. What was the decision-making process behind condensing the block story from three novels to one novel? What obstacles to writing the novel will this create and how will they be dealt with? What opportunities does this new approach offer?
Thanks for any additional information you can provide!
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2 years ago ::
Jun 03, 2008 - 9:43PM
#7
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The Fat Pack issue has to be officially addressed.
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2 years ago ::
Jun 03, 2008 - 9:44PM
#8
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The Planeswalker's Guides sound great, I like Doug Beyer's writing, and the planeswalker cards are actually going to be relevant to the sets in which they appear. Sounds good so far, though I'll withhold judgment on whether or not I'm satisfied after they appear.
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2 years ago ::
Jun 03, 2008 - 9:48PM
#9
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I for one am very glad the novels are being reduced from 3 to 1. Three novels was perfectly fine in "breathing life" to the world, and I will miss the "waiting on the edge of my seat" I got once (maybe twice) from the trilogies.
More times than not, the trilogies failed in my eyes. It's hard for an author to continue the story started by another author, but it is harder on the readers. I would get used to, and maybe grow to love, an author's style of writing before the next book, which has a different author. Sometimes, ideas from one book aren't carried over, and there are a couple plot bunnies. This is something that I'm glad will be (hopefully) gone with the one book per block deal.
I will miss having the book out in the fall, but the style guide will keep me satisfied...hopefully.
Congrats on writing the book, I hope it is going good for you.
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2 years ago ::
Jun 03, 2008 - 9:51PM
#10
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The Fat Pack issue has to be officially addressed.
This.
Although I'm really beginning to wonder if it will.
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