Subject: Re: 6E will kill MTG
Date: Wed, 02 Dec 1998 20:43:53 +0000
From: Laurence Parsons <laurence.parsons@virgin.net>
To: Frank Kusumoto <fkusumot@ix.netcom.com>

Frank,
sorry, but it's yet another post on this subject.

In case Peter Adkinson reads the Dojo, which by now seems doubtful, I
wonder if
he considered the following ideas:

1) Phase out Interrupts from type two by just not making them anymore.
Replace Counterspell with 'Counterblast. BB. Instant. Target spell
fizzles'
This would have the effect of keeping Interrupts for those who can
understand them (ie,
all of us) legal for Type 1, 1.5 etc. but gradually removing them from
Type 2. If his
argument is that Counterspell is a basic spell in the game, well then
Interrupts are a basic
rule of the game. I know of no player who does not understand them.

2) Don't change the rule for tapped artifacts. Print new ones that don't
turn off - with
different names, of course. Again, I don't see the problem here. Unless
the card says
otherwise, tapped = off, untapped = on. Easy.

3) Damage Prevention. It is difficult to comment on the removal of this
(perfectly understandable) part of the game, until we know how they will
replace it.
Typically, they are not going to tell us. Maybe because they haven't
worked it all out yet.

If WOTC make cards that confuse these rules, (Mana Vault vs Mana Crypt
?), they
should not 'fix' the basic rules, but the cards instead. They seem to
have lost the plot a
little. Making sweeping changes to the basic nature of the game will not
win them friends.
Neither will it win them new customers. A prospective new player will
make a desicion on
whether to play the game, based on whether they want to play 'D&D on
cards'. To the
uninitiated, this is what Magic is. Abolishing Interrupts won't change
that perception, but
it may lose players.

Thanks for reading this. I just hope that someone in WOTC is paying
attention
to the way the players have responded to this news.

Laurence Parsons