Community

Oct 14, 2011 -- 7:42PM, Throgan wrote:

Why I'm fine with Defensive Stance ...

1. Card Processing

I've been playing Magic for a long time, but when I draft a set the first time, I am still very happy that there are several cards I can toss aside as clearly underpowered so I can focus on the tougher decision between 3-4 of them.

And then I think back to the days when I first started playing Magic, when I liked playing Sacred Nectar , Holy Strength , and Reclaim , and had Accursed Centaur s filling out my barely 60-card zombie deck. I can't imagine being 12 or 13, and looking at a flat curve first pick like Tom's Cube without being totally overwhelmed. I wouldn't say I wasn't a smart 12 year old, I was just new and inexperienced. Having cards like Elvish Pathcutter to remain unimpressive even to me in all my lack of wisdom is a great way to get players to think more carefully about their card evaluations.

Basically, I'd much rather choose a good card over Defensive Stance than spend 60 crippling seconds choosing blindly between (from my POV) 15 equally powerful cards.
2. Card relativity

You cannot have your cake and eat it too. You cannot demand a slow power creep, demand new exciting cards, and demand they also raise the chaff to a respectable level. Pick 2.
If they got rid of the "1 card per pack" that's useless, then one of those other cards is going to filter to the bottom. I don't care how playable you think Grizzly Bears or Demistify is now, when they are surrounded by more interesting and versatile cards, they would gradually become the Defensive Stance you are currently complaining about: barely making it out of sideboards.
It is absolutely possible to balance out power level as close as possible, but as illustrated in this forum, even when such great cards as in Tom's cube get mashed together, one clearly rise to the top while the others are considered just plain bad. The games might still be fun since the power is so balanced, but then you're completely eliminating point #1.

Having 5 cards that you would rather not play but might play in order to fulfill a specific need in your deck is not the same thing as having 15 equally powerful cards.  It is possible to flatten the bottom of the power curve without flattening the top.

Oct 14, 2011 -- 5:07PM, Baconradar wrote:

But that's not what I'm talking about at all. I'm just saying don't print cards that 99.9% of people are going to regard as way too weak. There is no need for a card like zephyr spirit and it actually kinda offends me that wizards will routinely try to explain it away with reference to 'bad' cards like serra angel and big garruk (both of which are well, well above the average power level) or talk of how there must 'always be bad cards'. Obviously there will always be variance in how good cards are, but why would you willingly create situations where the variance is so vast that one card is junk to basically everyone?

Because those cards are memorable. Squire and Mindless Null create buzz. I have a soft spots for black 6-drops like Dripping Dead , Deathcurse Ogre and Bog Hoodlums . Those cards keep the game fresher than removal variant #264 does.

Oct 15, 2011 -- 6:53PM, NeoMint wrote:

Oct 15, 2011 -- 12:32PM, Magic_Pancake wrote:

Oct 15, 2011 -- 9:11AM, SkyknightXi wrote:

How much flashiness do we NEED, though? (How flashy are, say, Mystic Snake and Blood Knight ?) I'd rather see cards based on subtlety and adaptability than raw power/over-immersion in the Timmy/Spike overlap. Of course, this is coming from someone who thinks the average length of a game should be at least 10-11 turns per side...

Still, I can't bring myself to believe there's THAT big a demographic that isn't interested in subtlety, only in power...

You'd be suprised. While I may love me a good two for one or efficient red beater, a whole game of that would be mind-numbingly boring. Flashy effects help break up board stalls, as well as give you a reason to delay until the end game. No flashy cards means the entire game is defined by mid-range mirrors, with aggro being strangled by all the two for ones and control not getting anything special for delaying the game.

Also, I think you will find that Mystic Snake is quite flashy :p.

I don't like big flashy timmy cards. They break up a good board stall that was worked hard to obtain. They are ham-fisted and stupid.

How else are you to encourage an end to the game then? A board stall is one which by definition nothing is happening, so either you wait until one player draws lands for several turns in a row while their opponent draws gas, or you have to have one player go over the top of the other.