Subject: Re: How 6ed will kill MTG
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 06:48:06 PST
From: "Jeff Phitch" <phitch@hotmail.com>
To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com

     A while back I wrote an article, the name was Magic: the Dumbening.
It was about the fact that Wizards of the Coast had been making cards
excessively dumb.
     It was meant as a warning to players and to Wizards of the Coast.
No one, or very few people, seemed to take notice. They probably thought
me a lunatic, but why?
     Was I stupid for mentioning the fact that the Skyshroud Falcon was
a summon bird and not a summon falcon? Was I wrong for saying that
anyone with half a brain could read the rulebook and realize wall can't
attack? Well I don't think so.
     Now we begin to see a trend in Magic that is completely backwards
of the direction we should be going. More and more creatures are
becoming Portalesque, Creature - Cat. Wow instead we have Summon Cat.
Not summon jaguar, lion, tiger just summon cat. Not quite as ferocious
as summon Lion, but it brings us closer to portal and makes it easier
for Portal players to make the leap between Portal and the basic set and
from the basic set to the advanced sets.
     Now we get into 6th edition and we see another trend towards dumber
cards. No more interrupts, no more damage prevention stage, no more mana
pool, and artifacts don't shut off when tapped.
     I am a self-taught Magic player; I read a lot of rules and try to
keep up on them. Well this completely screws up a lot of things I've
learned. No more mana pool, no more mana burn either. So what happens
when you tap land for mana does go immediately towards a spell? No more
damage prevention stage, well this isn't helpful, now I'll probably have
to prevent damage as it occurs, and it probably means that damage occurs
immediately as opposed to at the end of a phase. No more shutting of
artifacts, well Winter Orb(Static Orb also)/Mind Over Matter decks will
be pointless to play with.
     I warned about this, I said that Magic was getting dumber and
dumber and the trend was going more towards portal. No one listened, no
one said anything about it and now we will all have to sit back and
relax because when 6th edition arrives Magic will finally be the one
thing I feared most, Portal.

Jeff Fitch

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