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2 years ago ::
Jul 06, 2011 - 5:40PM
#41
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The people saying that Goblin Grenade's new art is disturbing are missing the point. The reason why the art is disturbing is because the concept is disturbing- it's a suicide bombing.
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2 years ago ::
Jul 06, 2011 - 5:42PM
#42
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- Under your GLEEMAX!GLEEMAX!GLEEMAX!GLEEMAX!
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The people saying that Goblin Grenade's new art is disturbing are missing the point. The reason why the art is disturbing is because the concept is disturbing- it's a suicide bombing.
The purpose of the art isn't relevant. I don't care whether it matches the card's mechanics or not, it's disturbing.
You'll forget you ever read this the minute you look away. Veslfen's House of Bone-Dry Sarcasm
Show
there is nothing "epic" about a turn one victory. ever.
or really any magic game, for that matter.
So this one time, I wanted to play a game of Magic with my friend, but he was in another country and neither of us had Magic Online. I hitchhiked my way to the coast, barely fending off hungry wildlife when I couldn't get a ride, nearly dying of thirst crossing deserts, and posoning myself half to death foraging for food. At one point, I was taken hostage by a group of kidnappers, only managing to escape after a week of careful planning thanks to careful application of a rusty spoon.
Once I reached the coast, I had no money to buy a ticket across the ocean, so I built a boat using my own two hands, and spent months sailing across the waves, nearly losing my deck as I swam to the shore of a desert island in a storm after being capsized by an enormous wave. Nearly delusional after so long with no human contact (the notches I cut in the single tree to tell time had long since felled the thing) I was eventually rescued by a passing ship, where I was taken aboard as a crew member.
We sailed around the world, seeing many exotic places and having great adventures, before we finally arrived at my friend's country. Once more I stumbled across a desolate landscape, riding on train or car when I could, and going on foot when I could not. Eventually, weary to the bone, seven years after I started my journey, I arrived at my friend's house, clutching my well-worn and weathered deck to my chest. We shuffled up our decks, I won the roll. Gleefully, I laid down my cards.
Black Lotus  . My friend looked quizzically at me, wondering what I was about to do. After so long, he no longer knew what deck I had brought with me to this game.
Flash  . A knowing smile appears on my friend's face as the knowledge slowly returns to him.
Protean Hulk  .
My friend extends his hand, knowing the game is over before it even started. And finally, after so many trials, the sweet taste of victory is mine.
So no one else is upset with the stunt Wizards just pulled to drive sales?
Drive sales of what? Non-Jace, non-Mystic cards? I'm pretty sure people already own more than eight Magic cards. If you don't, I feel for you. Maybe you can trade those Stoneforge Mystics, which are still quite valuable, for some.
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2 years ago ::
Jul 06, 2011 - 5:44PM
#43
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So- what? It was intended to be a completely context-free comment?
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2 years ago ::
Jul 06, 2011 - 5:52PM
#44
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- Under your GLEEMAX!GLEEMAX!GLEEMAX!GLEEMAX!
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So- what? It was intended to be a completely context-free comment?
Yes. It is in every way completely irrelevant to how well Goblin Grenade's art syncs up with the card's effect, whether or not I find it disgusting. In much the same way, a photograph of a multi-car pileup on top of a newspaper article about the crash which caused it can be a depressing image regardless of how well it corresponds to its text. They're on completely different axes.
You'll forget you ever read this the minute you look away. Veslfen's House of Bone-Dry Sarcasm
Show
there is nothing "epic" about a turn one victory. ever.
or really any magic game, for that matter.
So this one time, I wanted to play a game of Magic with my friend, but he was in another country and neither of us had Magic Online. I hitchhiked my way to the coast, barely fending off hungry wildlife when I couldn't get a ride, nearly dying of thirst crossing deserts, and posoning myself half to death foraging for food. At one point, I was taken hostage by a group of kidnappers, only managing to escape after a week of careful planning thanks to careful application of a rusty spoon.
Once I reached the coast, I had no money to buy a ticket across the ocean, so I built a boat using my own two hands, and spent months sailing across the waves, nearly losing my deck as I swam to the shore of a desert island in a storm after being capsized by an enormous wave. Nearly delusional after so long with no human contact (the notches I cut in the single tree to tell time had long since felled the thing) I was eventually rescued by a passing ship, where I was taken aboard as a crew member.
We sailed around the world, seeing many exotic places and having great adventures, before we finally arrived at my friend's country. Once more I stumbled across a desolate landscape, riding on train or car when I could, and going on foot when I could not. Eventually, weary to the bone, seven years after I started my journey, I arrived at my friend's house, clutching my well-worn and weathered deck to my chest. We shuffled up our decks, I won the roll. Gleefully, I laid down my cards.
Black Lotus . My friend looked quizzically at me, wondering what I was about to do. After so long, he no longer knew what deck I had brought with me to this game.
Flash . A knowing smile appears on my friend's face as the knowledge slowly returns to him.
Protean Hulk .
My friend extends his hand, knowing the game is over before it even started. And finally, after so many trials, the sweet taste of victory is mine.
So no one else is upset with the stunt Wizards just pulled to drive sales?
Drive sales of what? Non-Jace, non-Mystic cards? I'm pretty sure people already own more than eight Magic cards. If you don't, I feel for you. Maybe you can trade those Stoneforge Mystics, which are still quite valuable, for some.
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2 years ago ::
Jul 06, 2011 - 5:55PM
#45
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"Road accident kills multiple reincarnations of Hitler"?
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2 years ago ::
Jul 06, 2011 - 7:45PM
#46
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About the planeswalker signature spells, as flavorful as they can be in exploring the way that other planeswalkers use magic, for me, Magic, the game, is ultimately about my own experience as a planeswalker and about the spells that I'm casting when I play that role. Because of that, whenever I come across a spell which is clearly labeled with someone else's name (I never picture myself as playing one of the core planeswalkers, they're not me) I always find it a little jarring and it shakes my immersion some.
I do appreciate the signature spells, a little, because they flesh out the nature of these allied planeswalkers whom we can join forces with, but they always make me question how I'm casting someone else's spell. Did they teach it to me? If so, why am I still calling it theirs when I would probably try to find a way to put my own personal touches on it? Are they, somehow, casting it for me, even though they're not on the battlefield? I just don't really know where they fit into the storytelling of the duel that I'm participating in and it makes those particular spells less satisfying to me because, for me, Magic's all about the Vorthosian narrative.
Obviously lots of other people really like them, and I respect them for what they can reveal to us about the personalities of other planeswalkers, but I, personally, would prefer only two or three to exist for each planeswalker. Maybe one could be a creature familiar or a follower of some sort and the other(s), a noncreature spell that reflects their particular style of magic or, even better, if it would be possible to convey, a spell that shows what it means to be a planeswalker to them, some sort of nod to their quest or what brings meaning to an endless life of deadly challenges and wandering across the multiverse. I know this is kind of what design has been doing so far, and it's been okay, but I definitely want throw my vote in for not adding signature spells at a rate faster than what we have right now.
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2 years ago ::
Jul 07, 2011 - 1:07AM
#47
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Date Joined:
Jun 28, 2006
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I find Goblin Grenade's new art funny. I imagine some hilarious Looney Tunes showtune playing while the goblin is being tossed. You should try it if you find the art somehow unsettling.
Also Veslfen, I can't believe you find Goblin Grenade unsettling and your favorite piece is Distress. If anything, I find Distress unsettling and disturbing. Goblin Grenade's art would be much more haunting if it were a human depicted. To me - and to themselves, probably - Goblins are disposable. You need look no further than Shards-block for proof.
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2 years ago ::
Jul 07, 2011 - 4:41AM
#48
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The people saying that Goblin Grenade's new art is disturbing are missing the point. The reason why the art is disturbing is because the concept is disturbing- it's a suicide bombing.
The purpose of the art isn't relevant. I don't care whether it matches the card's mechanics or not, it's disturbing.
I believe that because it's disturbing, it is successful as a piece of art. I feel that not all Art is supposed to be pretty to look at; it should evoke a personal response from the viewer! Whether that be disgust, contempt, sorrow or a warm, snuggly feeling inside of you, the fact that it can DO that is what's important. Moreover, because it means wildly different things to different people, I think it just adds to the art! Yeah, on the surface it's "Oh look, it's a goblin grenade! Literally! Lololololololol!!!!11111oneoneone", but then, you start thinking a bit and say "But WHY is he a goblin grenade...?" and that's when you get creeped out. Multidirectional art is an amazing thing!
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2 years ago ::
Jul 07, 2011 - 9:10AM
#49
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Date Joined:
Dec 17, 2008
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The people saying that Goblin Grenade's new art is disturbing are missing the point. The reason why the art is disturbing is because the concept is disturbing- it's a suicide bombing.
The way the new art depicts it, I don't think this goblin chose to end his own life.
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2 years ago ::
Jul 07, 2011 - 9:23AM
#50
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Date Joined:
Jun 21, 2010
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Increasingly, we're doing this sort of speculative commissioning for illustrations we know will find homes in time... Because they're commissioned "out of context," they tend to be destined for core sets.
Aegis Angel  having no context makes me wonder about the non-existent context of Core Sets :P.
I understand the imagination it takes to think of how I, as a planeswalker, got from Zendikar to Mirrodin. I use Elf spells from (the Eldrazi overran) Zendikar because maybe I befriended a tribe there and gained copies of them into my spellbook/library of memories. I then got out of there and hopped to Mirrodin for refuge. There I sympathized with Ezuri, Renegade Leader  and gained his caricature and put into spell form on my travels as the land corroded.
However, I don't understand how I went to an imaginary fantasy land the core set represents, and how I took an imaginary Dungrove Elder  from there and now suddenly know as a spell. Any thoughts?
Core sets aren't a self-contained setting, but that doesn't mean they are imaginary. Just a smattering of random spells from various planes that have either been detailed in the past or are not important enough to dedicate an entire set to fleshing out (yet).
But a Planeswalker on New Phyrexia, where in the world does he suddenly come up with a Dungrove Elder? What's a possible story? They're so common in the multiverse that it's possible to encounter one even on New Phyrexia?
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