Subject: Requiem for the best game ever... Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1998 03:48:05 +0100 From: Nestor Rodriguez To: MTG-STRATEGY-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Hallo dearest list members! Probably you no longer remember me. I used to write on this list frequently a few months ago or so. I'm not complitely here to write about pure strategic issues, but a combination of my feelings and my thoughts on this game, Magic. So if you are not interested at all, don't keep reading, just delete and forget... One of the hardest decitions in my whole life was quiting my semiprofessional magic career. It was a bit sudden, I have to admit it, but I felt that Magic did not push in the right direction anymore (as it used to do not long time ago). As a cybernetics student (system analisis is one of the most important things for my career) the regarding of magic not just a a game but as a complex theoretical system was pretty much justified, which helped me a lot in understanding the inner mechanics of the game, thus why deck analysis and construction became easier and easier for me with the time. Game theory is a quite interesting topic by the way. In short, after all the thinking about magic these past 4 years, I felt like the cycle would start to repeat itself. The balance between skills and luck was not that defined as I used to think. I remember in the past, the enviroment (generally speaking) was mostly made of rouge decks, constructed by each players, which few archetypes, like Discard, LD, Counters, or WW. Then just when I came here to germany, and funny enough at the same time I saw franks link to his page on the dojo (I'm speaking of the true beginnings here...) everything started to change and move into another direction, with an end in the current situation. The game became more and more popular. Expansions bloomed (and T2 was filled with lots of cards). The DCI decided to rotate expansions to keep the game fresh in that sense (which I found and still find a good and lucrative idea), which developed new strategies with the resources availiable (counterpost, necro...). Unluckily I have the impression that this game is not advancing anymore. Like the actors change, but the movie remains the same. Sure cards come and go, but you still have to either kill reducing the opponent's lifepoints to 0 (with direct damage or creatures usually) or running him out of cards. Particularly since the last expansions (especially rath cycle) I get the idea that it is all repeating again (Fisrt ist was counterpost, then counterhammer, Big Blue, Draw Go, Counter Phoenix...) all the same decks, which play ecually with other names. As it is very unlikely that wizards would change its policy, and turn magic into a complitely other direction, I decided not to invest any more time and open to new things, games and concepts, more dynamic... Another problem which I was regardingg at this time was the 'professionalisation' this game is going to. It all started with mark Justice and other famous name, got bigger with the creation of the pro Tour, and has it's maximum with Finkel (currently). People just don't play for fun anymore as they used to, and cards are only used if the pros use them, or if it looks as it could make it into a tournament winning deck. Just sad that things turned this way, people just don't play for fun anymore, and actually fun is tournament. Without them the whole scene would collapse, and the people would loose their 'creative' engine, though I still believe that most of the original ideas come from the fun play and multiplayers. I hope this developement ends some day, and things would turn into what it used to be and what it's all about, fun. No blame here for anyone. I myself was one of the most strictly tournament playing gamers. One other good example of history repeating is the appeareance of Tolarian bleue (bloom deja vue). I understand that Wizards of the coast has to bring interesting and powerfull cards to make people buy their game, but this is getting a bit ridiculous. When the spoiler of US came out I realized that the last glipse of fun was over, and it would be again the same boring rock paper metagame we have since rath cycle and earlier. I hope this madness ends for the best of magic. When I linked all this points togeather, i came to the conclusion, that magic is a genial deck, true, and it is probably the best game ever, but its going to come to and end soon if things don't change drastically. People would not be willing to spend hundreds every 2 months, for making the same things over and over again... I hope I'm wrong, I really do. By the way, as the metagame will be split into 3 types of decks (Tolarian, anti tolarian, and anti-anti Tolarian) I think the time has come for new decks to come and change it. The cards that best work against Tolarian, as you all probably know, are Pursuit of Knowledge, Abundance, Contamination, Root Maze, Arcane Laboratory, and and and... I think it could be viable to play a stasis deck again. really good, when making TU slowlier, and as fireblast is gone, and most of the decks are quite mana intensive, it could be viable to start a turbo Stasis like deck, and (repeat the whole story again...:) ). It is just a thought from a lineman to the strategist out there. If wotc does not change something, I wish you good luck on tournaments... These where just some thoughts to the state of the game, not really strategic, but still I thought interesting in some way. Best regards to all of you! Read'ya! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nestor Rodriguez Vilanova Sympatisant of Team: UPS United Pipistrelli Syndicate "Magic is like life, many people play, few get to master it" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------