On Magic Origins: The Mourning of the last Core Set

Well, I finally got caught up with Magic news.

Reading Mark Rosewater's articles are always entertaining. His enthusiastic tone has never changed, even if he keeps changing his mind about.. well pretty much everything. As the man who has been handling development of the card pool for the past 15-odd years, its amazing at how bad he is at it.

From the constantly broken mechanics, overpowered cards, completely useless cards, ever shifting colour pie, weird rules changes and so on - All of these can be laid as his feet. He may not be responsible for all of it, but he certainly is accountable. Being the public face of the game does come with its drawbacks after all.

I'll be honest: I always cringe when Rosewater speaks. All too often, its an attempt to try and sell some mistake as 'not a mistake', or to spin some new marketing directive as 'integral' (Mythic Rarity anyone?) to the game. Or, my personal favourite, to subtly mock critics of the last mistake that was made. After all, Magic continues to sell well regardless right? Of course - so does EA's Madden series....

This brings me of course now to Magic: Origins the last core set that will ever be printed. Or, as it really is, the cash grab that keeps on giving.

Let me explain.

For years, Magic operated on the idea that there would be a 'Base' slow rotational card pool, with more rapidly shifting 'Expansion' sets to keep things fresh. Another factor was that the 'Base' would consist of reprints from previous sets, which aided players in getting access to fun cards and also let the it gradually evolve over time - and let cards that were unlikely to see play at the time, actually see play.

From a design standpoint, its really a great idea. The game stays fresh enough, while remaining stable enough, to allow strategies and decks to develop without forcing players to have to play a constant guessing game. Likewise, it increases accessibility by keeping most pricing down on common stuff, while letting the more rare things hold a solid (but not unreasonable) value. Is card too powerful or too dominant? Just ban it, the let it rotate out. A card too weak or useless? Don't reprint it and let it rotate.

The real advantage is that it creates a stable metagame, where change can be moderated and new opportunities can be tested in real-time.

Of course that is the ideal, as R&D has never implemented that design. Base sets ended up being wildly different, often with completely arbitrary changes. Power-levels were adjusted constantly in a hap-hazard fashion. And heaven help R&D should actually BAN a card that was harming play in rotational format, over the fear that players would be angry if they should lose their investment in a card or pull it in a pack. (Ignoring the fact, they never seem to have any issue with players pulling crap rares no one would play anyway, and the fact rotations tended to kill card value.)

8th & 9th Edition were the worst base sets ever released. Dull, tedious, and boring - they were barely playable except in the weirdest of ways. Even worse, they reprinted cards ALREADY in rotation in 9th. 10th Edition was a redemption, as it was finally a playable base set, but offered nothing all that interesting to the discussion.

Then came Magic 2010...

Yeah, I get it. The Base Sets were terribly stale at that point, and adding new cards allowed there to be some freshness to offset that. But here is the problem: The state of the base sets was completely self-inflicted. There were plenty of already printed cards that could have returned to add that interest and let some players dust off their old cards and jump back in. Unfortunately, that does not drive sales.

Reprints have always been a sore point with Magic for lots of reasons. The more a card is printed, the easier it is to get, For collector's it's a bane as it drives the 'value' of their collection down (Magic as a collectible is a debate for a different article). For most players though, Reprints can bring previously unobtainable cards to their hands for considerably less cost then the secondary market.

Wizard's has a unique problem with it however. Reprints can certainly drive sales if demand is high and costs are high. But if many cards are widely available, there is much less reason to buy a base set with few interesting things in it that are cheap to get everywhere else. This was the 10th Edition problem in a nutshell.

So Magic 2010 and its successors added new cards - forcing players to buy new packs. And all was well in the Wizard's bank accounts, which had successfully found a new way to squeeze their players for more cash. But it wasn't good enough.

Fast forward to Magic Origins, and new coming set rotation strategy. The changes to the previous base sets had rendered them pointless from their original intent. They were just another set that had to be worked on and designed. But there were still reprints in there, and the last vestiges of card re-usability had to be squashed once and for all.

So everything is going to be an 'Expansion' Set now - all with mostly fresh cards unavailable on any secondary market. Add to this the shortened card viability thanks to a sped up rotation from 24 to 18 months. With Extended dead, and Modern hopelessly broken beyond repair, the only format that will be remotely playable for new players is Standard.

Can you say 'CHA-CHING!' - I know you could.

Wizards has succeeded in its overall goal: Make you pay to play forever. Forget the past, its just junk. Its all about THE FUTURE. Just like Rosewater said in his article, just the thing his overlords told him he had to sell. R&D does not operate in some vacuum - and delivery dates are likely out of their hands.

Of course, this says nothing about the complete bat-shit instability the Standard format will now enjoy. Constantly changing card pools, no real stability at all - No guarantee or any card replay-ability. There is no way to design for that - period. You can't build something in utter chaos. So more broken crap will be made, bad mechanics will come, and they will be doing the usual half-apology for those mistakes down the road. And somehow we will forget that the same guy has been doing this over and over again, for over 10 years, in an abusive relationship that keeps on taking.

Will we ever learn? Probably not.

After all, its just a game.

Playing like its 2004

"You're still playing like its 2004."

A good friend of mine and I had been playing several rounds of Magic, and I was losing badly. I'd thrown together an old school combo deck that had looked neat and worked it enough to have a decent idea how to play it. Even with my rough knowledge of the deck, I'd supposed I would be able to put up a decent struggle even with a few play errors on my part. Instead, matters had become a slaughter.

It wasn't that the deck wasn't working. Even with my inexperience in playing it, it wasn't the most difficult of decks to play. Nor was it the fact the cards were bad or slow, it was loaded with known highly effective plays. But none of that mattered, because the deck just couldn't handle what it was up against - a modfied current Standard Deck.

He looked up at me after the last match and said: "You're still playing like its 2004."

I thought about it and realized he was right.

The early 2000's were my golden years for Magic. I had been playing Vintage, and had managed to build up a decent card pool. Back then Dual lands were around $10, Force of Wills $4 and Power 9 could still be gotten for around $100 is you were lucky - Yeah, it was a different era. The big thing was that most formats were not terribly fast (except Extended - at that time was the most degenerate format in Magic), and while Vintage could have some incredibly powerful combo's - there were plenty of options to control them.

The biggest difference back then was Standard. In those days, Wizards had been reducing the power sharply of new cards, largely thanks to the insanity of the Urza's Block which had led to so many bans that the Standard banned list had been at the longest it would ever be. The power differential between old and new was at its sharpest.

I make no secret I really dislike Standard. Part of the reason was the resentment over being unable to play with the cards I already had and the wildly shifting play styles. But a larger part at it was the cost to keep up. Having to spend $3 per pack for maybe one useful card, had little appeal. I'd watched others spends hundreds of dollars on packs, only to toss out about 90 percent of the cards. Heaven help you trying to pick stuff up on the secondary market, since the prices would be immense - only for the cards to plummet like a rock after rotation.

So I stopped playing competitively.

Honestly, I don't regret this decision. It wasn't like I'd stopped playing magic at all, so moving over the casual sphere didn't bother me in the least. The downside was that I would miss out on the some of the new stuff coming out, but historically - a lot of the new stuff had just been under-powered junk in the overall game. So I figured I'd just keep playing how I liked to play and keep an eye for any new thing that might help.

Of course, I was dead wrong about the power level. The last few sets have been stupid powerful, with some of the most idiotic cards ever printed. Devotion, Prowess, Miracle - just a few mechanics transformed into complete ridiculousness. Undercosted multicoloured creatures with so much colour fixing available as to hardly be a disadvantage, Planeswalkers with overpowered abilities, and the virtual elimination of land destruction, have created a game where if you go past turn 5 - you probably did something horribly wrong.

And so my old school deck, chock full of the victors of yesteryear, lost badly to a deck just fresh out of Standard. All because, I just wasn't playing the same game anymore.

In retrospect, beating that deck was not terribly challenging. I could build several combo or control decks that certainly would have dominated it with very little hope of recovery. But in my post game analysis something else really bothered me. It was 'how' I could go about winning, and almost how easy it really was to do.

See, modern Magic is basically dominated by creatures and planeswalkers. A few good Instants & Sorceries will creep in, but largely Magic is a creatures game now and those creatures are amazing. But this also means that creature control is really what matters now. If you can go anti-creature, you'll win.

It was this realization that brought me to another problem - how boring and lacking in strategy and versatility Magic has become. Now, Magic has gone through these phases before - the infamous Draw-Go strategies being among the most repetitive for a time - and I had often scoffed at those who said Magic was getting dumbed down and more boring.

But now I'm not so sure - because all the top 8 Standard decks look to operate basically the same. Sure the cards can be different, and there are a few variations, but all in all they share a lot of the same cards - and most run an incredibly high number of creatures. Now do a Google search for the decks to beat back in 2000, with the almost 12 different decks all with different styles and approaches. Some of those actually require you to play them a few times before you can really get your head wrapped around them.

Magic has certainly gotten a lot less diverse and in many ways a lot less interesting. Decks like Tinker and Trix were absolutely brilliant in their design and ingenuity. The Deck and Counterpost were defining strategies for how to control the board. But each of those was different, and while they shared similarities in ideas and maybe a few cards, they were interesting and diverse. Modern Magic just isn't that anymore.

This is not say the old days were always great - Academy was terrible for the game, Draw-Go was dull to play against, and Storm.. The less said about Storm the better. But is it better to have a game with diverse strong strategies, or a game with the same tired over and over repetitive plays just with a different name?

So I guess I'll keep on playing like its 2004, since while its not perfect - its certainly a lot more fun.

The Art of Control: Counterpost.

So as most people who've played magic with me over the years (You KNOW who you are) - know the horrible truth: I'm a Blue Mage.

Yeah - yeah.. I know what you're thinking, but to cut you off right there - I want to share this simple message:

You will go to cardboard-crack.com. It is your Destiny!

I love the sweet sweet rush of a card draw, and of saying 'No.' See, the whole reason the Blue symbol is a drop of water is because we blue mages love drinking your tears.. *DERANGED CACKLING*

Anyway..

Recently it occurred to me that I haven't actually built a 'solid' classic Blue control deck in a long while. Oh sure, I usually have maybe one or two floating around every so often, but for a long while the decks I was playing the most were (and thus actually had built): a B/G Event Deck (the one with Birthing Pod - the deck is an utter bastard), ProsBloom (I drain life you for a million!), and a crazy Artifact Deck (Tangle Wire, Tangle Wire, Tangle Wire!).

While those decks are loaded with delicious fun, nothing can quite compare to the majesty of Blue at its height of saying 'You'll play that spell when I say you can!' Such good times... For me anyway.

Of course in the current formats, the traditional Counterspell control decks are pretty much a done deal. Vintage/Legacy are too fast for them, while Modern/Standard control is an entirely different animal focused on creatures/planeswalkers.

So we need to step back a few years... Deep into Magic's past...

Back when Force of Will was new, and people were not entirely sure about it - (WHAT?! Card disadvantage?!) and the game was waaaaaay slower.

To the era of a deck that some people called 'Unbeatable' - The Counterpost Deck!

Counterpost was a true descendant of the "The Deck" Classic Control school (A deck style I will cover later) flowing into a U/W shell.

Basically it's combing the old classic ideas: One-to-Many card exchanges, massive Card Advantage, and complete board domination with a strong "kill".

This "kill" card is incredibly strong, and affectionately known as "The Dude Ranch" and which gives "Counterpost" its name:

View Card

Blue normally has a massive problem with actually 'killing' an opponent. While it's deck manipulation, draw, and counter abilities are 2nd to none - the actual 'kill' cards are few and far between.

White, on the other hand, has some excellent creature strength - but it's solid creatures are rarely splash-able and tend to offer more problems for a control deck then solutions. Take for example that old White classic Serra Angel and it's modern Timeshifted Blue counterpart Serra Sphinx:

 

These are both the exact same card - but the Sphinx is in many ways superior to to Angel for the Blue player, because it requires no double white mana investment and is pitch-able to cards like Force of Will. On the other hand, it is more vulnerable to Anti-Blue strategies and the Sphinx can be the victim of such hate like Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast. Yet, if you are playing the control deck properly, this should rarely be an issue.

The major problem of course with both of those cards is that for the control player, they are late game plays and, if drawn too early, a dead draw.

Meanwhile, Kjeldoran Outpost can be played either early or late and has serious utility advantage either way. First off, token generation (even of mere 1/1's) is incredibly strong. It can be used equalize vs. weenie decks, and can with enough token advantage even bring massive beasties to heel. Since the token generation is a measly 2 mana at instant speed, it's almost guaranteed to generate one taken a turn as soon as it hits the table.

Add to this the fact that it's a land and thus immune to huge swathes of removal and doesn't have to be cast. It doesn't get much better then that.

Add to this the classic Blue Counter magic of the day (and some of White's insane plays) and you get something that looks like this:

Finkle-Post (Played by John Finkle at 1997 US Nationals, not designed by him)

(pulled from wizards.com)

Lands

4x Adarkar Wastes

8x Island

2x Kjeldoran Outpost

4x Plains

4x Thawing Glaciers

Instands & Sorceries

4x Abeyance

4x Brainstorm

4x Counterspell

3x Disenchant

2x Dissipate

2x Force of Will

1x Gerrard's Wisdom

4x Impulse

1x Political Trickery

4x Swords to Plowshares

4x Wrath of God

Enchantments & Artifacts

3x Browse

1x Circle of Protection: Black

1x Soldevi Digger

As you can no doubt see, this deck is a serious control machine. Strong counter magic, excellent permanent control, the ability to dig through itself for answers via Browse/Impulse - All hallmarks of a deadly and incredibly effective deck.

Some decisions may strike you as a touch odd of course by our modern sense of play. Only 2 Force of Will, which was pretty normal amount to run back then. A main deck CoP: Black, for dealing with the infamous Necro Deck's powered by that twisted and dark accelerator from which it gets its name.

Less obvious is the Soldevi Digger/Browse combo. Browse let you find bombs, and thin your deck at lightning speed - while Soldevi Digger let you restock your deck with spells in the graveyard for some solid recursion. It's slow of course - but deadly powerful and all at instant speed.

Political Trickery probably feels the oddest of all the choices - but it was usually used in the mirror match - to steal an opponents Outpost. It could be mixed with the return to hand effect of Thawing Glaciers as well (thus being complete land theft), but that was generally less effective.

Let's talk about Thawing Glaciers - because that card is one of the reason's this deck is just so incredibly effective and why it can afford a low land of count of merely 22.

Here is that land of absolute amazing-ness:

What this card means is that every other turn, you are going to get a land - once again at instant speed. But from ANYWHERE in your deck. Play two, and you can alternate them getting one land a turn guaranteed.

This is both colour fixer and deck thinner, and combined with the power of Browse - eliminates the risk you pulling land when you don't need it and getting to the stronger cards faster. It's effectiveness can not be stated any more highly: It defined an era of Magic.

Now unlike a lot of old decks - this one remains surprisingly playable as is. It's creature and artifact/enchantment removal, combined with it's strong counter power, give it a pretty good shot. Unfortunately, it's speed is incredibly slow - meaning that unless you can build up a decent mana base relatively quickly, any aggro deck will eat you alive. Lightning fast combo likewise will do much the same, while in the control match-up the deck's glacial speed (See what I did there?) requires you to try and out counter the other deck - and there are better draw spells out there then Browse,

So what to do? Let this ancient classic moulder in the recesses of Magic's history? Or modernize it?

You already know the answer...

New Counterpost by Mythrian (Casual only sadly)

Lands

4x Tundra/Hallowed Fountain

2x Flooded Strand

7x Island

2x Kjeldoran Outpost

5x Plains

2x Thawing Glaciers

Instands & Sorceries

4x Brainstorm

4x Counterspell

3x Forbid

2x Foil

1x Gerrard's Wisdom

3x Gush

3x Impulse

4x Mystical Tutor

3x Oblivion Ring

1x Recall

4x Swords to Plowshares

2x Terminus

Planeswalkers

3x Jace Beleren

Artifacts

1x Grindstone

This deck went through numerous variations and testing - and even this version is not yet perfect. But it is very effective and surprisingly strong.

It sticks true to many of its classic roots: Kjeldoran Outpost remains incredible, while good Counter magic (Including the Buyback counter Forbid) makes a strong showing. Gush provides free draw - while also letting you feed either Forbid or Foil.

The two MVP's of this deck are of course: Jace Beleren & Mystical Tutor.

Jace is one of the most efficient draw engines I have ever used to power a deck. Play 3 mana, you get a potential 6-to-1 draw acceleration vs your opponent. A single use of his mutual draw ability, turns into 5 additional personal draws.

Since you are playing the strong control side, defending him is surprisingly easy. He's best to play after you've eliminated the initial creature rush vs aggro, while against control if you can resolve him you will easily outdraw your opponent with better and better spells.

His last ability is not ignored either - combined with Grindstone it turns into a potent alternate kill, if Outpost just can't get enough of a board advantage for you.

Mystical Tutor's power is a more subtle, but no less obvious. Almost every spell in the deck is fetch-able with it - and it lets you get an incredibly diverse series of setups. Too many creatures? Terminus! Need more life? Gerrard's Wisdom! Want to get a couple of cards back from the graveyard? Recall!

It turns into the ultimate 'I win' spell - letting you just play what you want, usually while holding on to a few counters to boot. Don't worry about your opponent knowing what's coming - In most cases there is nothing they can do about it.

Mystical Tutor truly shines however in its synergy with Terminus thanks to the incredibly broken mechanic: Miracle.

Take a look here:

Terminus is without any doubt the best mass creature removal spell in the game right now. It completely bypasses graveyard effects, and prevents reanimation style recursion. The obvious downside is it's 6cc mana investment (double-white too), which is harsh for many a deck.

But Miracle changes all that - reducing the casting cost to a measely one.

Combine that with Mystical Tutor... well I think you can figure the rest out for yourself.

It is a good thing Wizard's didn't print a draw spell with Miracle.... The horror of such an abomination 's raw power would have been too much for words. (Treasure Cruise was bad enough!)

Strategy Time!

Alright, so you've seen it - now how do you play? Actually, on the surface this deck seems fairly straightforward. Stop creatures and counter spells. Easy right? This is assuming you know what you are up against. Knowing what to counter and when, vs what to neutralize later with other spells is crucial. This is a thinking player's deck - and you should not just run right into an empty hand.

Versus aggro decks, it's okay to sit back and take damage and build your mana base, When you start getting low, drop Mystical Tutor for Terminus and clear the board. Terminus in your hand? Play Brainstorm and put it on top! Then if you can: drop Jace, or Mystical Tutor again for a Gush and draw draw draw!

Control is a little trickier. Impulsing for Jace is pretty crucial, since he can win you the game mostly on his own merit. An early Outpost can put the Control deck on defensive, while Oblivion Ring removes any obnoxious permanents from the field. Grindstone becomes an 'I win' as well, since you will eat their tasty spells for lunch.

If you are playing with a sideboard: You can remove the aggro stuff for a stronger mix of control cards and just overpower your opponent outright.

The Deck's Weaknesses

This is not a fast deck. It relies on being able to play an initially loose control style before establishing a firm counter lock. Because of this, an early mis-play can spell complete disaster for you. Every spell has to count - making it hard to play well. 

Also, there are a few key cards that if neutralized mean an uphill battle. Pithing Needle is an absolute bastard and can wreck your mana acceleration with Glacier's or your draw acceleration via Jace. Losing Outpost to the Needle can draw the game out way too long given your opponent the chance to recover.

 There will be times when you have a hand full of counters and an empty board ripe for flooding with tokens, but Outpost is unavailable. While this deck can play the old 'Draw-Go', the counter base really isn't up to it in the long game leaving you vulnerable to clever late game play. Fortunately, this situation tends to be fairly rare most times - but it certainly can happen.

Final Observation's and Thoughts

I will be honest and say that this deck has not yet reached it's apex and I am going to continue to work on it. There are times when it's plays feel 'off'' and it can temporarily stall with massive card advantage in hand but no way to actually win.

On the other hand, it's really hard to beat. If you try and bait out cards and play slow - you end up dragging the game on, which gives the deck a strong advantage. Letting it get off a Jace or a Gush means in many cases you are going to lose - since thanks to Flooded Strand and Glaciers it's been thinning itself the entire time.

There is simply so much to try and disrupt - and while you're trying that it is working to disrupt you as well.

Thoughts Comments? Let's here them! (I will be following up on this one.)

Enter the New Year - New Column: What the F%*$ was Wizards thinkings?!

So, its been almost a YEAR since my last post on this thing. Hell, I've been neglecting my job informing random people about silly things about the oldest Collectible card game.. Have I really been playing this stupid game since 1997?! Maybe its time for a vacation...

Oh wait that was most of the last year!

So I am back, and with it comes a new thing.. or column. Or whatever. And its going to be fun, because its:

What the F%*$ was Wizards thinkings?!

So the whole point of this little post is to take a look at some of the things that have raised my eyebrows and/or made me shake my head sadly about the game of Magic. Ultimately, this IS an opinion piece and I'm sure quite a few people will disagree with my assessment of some of the cards & mechanics that will be brought up. Nevertheless, I will strive to be as objective as I can be - but given the abject stupidity of some of the stuff here, I make no promises.

First item on the list:

Plainswalkers PLANESWALKERS

Lets see, the game has been out for about nearly 15 years or so.. Let us go ahead and add a new card type! Oh, and lets create some half-assed rules to sandwich it in so it doesn't completely break the entire game - oh, so it still works oddly? Eh, the players will love it!

And don't get me wrong, they certainly do! Planewalker's have become the go to card of the current Standard scene, hell they have been nudged into almost every deck across all formats because they are simply too damned good not to!

Even I have dropped them into decks, creating dangerous combinations and kills. And unfortunately, that is part of the problem: In many cases, you absolutely need them to win at all.

There is an old truth in Magic: The more a card can do - the better it tends to be. 

Take a look at one of Wizard's most classic mistakes, a card that was nicknamed 'Superman' because he was so good:

This guy could do it all - Fly, Untap, Become Untargetable, Adjust his Power and Toughness.

Give it Hermatic Study - and he can ping things for one for as much mana as you have. You bolt him? I'll make him untargetable.

Killing a Morphling was a massive effort, and in general when he hit the board you were pretty much done.

Now Planeswalkers are not 'quite' as versatile as Morphling. After all, they are not creatures - so they can't attack. Their abilities operate at Sorcery speed, and you can only use one a turn, so they require multiple turns to be effective.

Yet, I'd play a Planewalker over Morphling every time.  (Or better: TOGETHER)

Why? Well here is a list of reasons:

1. The Rules for Planeswalkers are a hack.

As mentioned above humourously, the rules for Planeswalkers are not exactly a 'clean' part of the game.

Basically: If a creature could attack, it has the option to attack the planeswalker instead of the player - and if you target a player with a direct damage spell you can apply the damage to the planeswalker instead.

Sounds pretty clear right? Except think about what this actually does to the game - You are forced to effectively 'split' your attacks.

Lets say I have a couple of creatures out and my opponent plays a planeswalker. My deck relies on hitting hard and fast and I need to keep my opponent on the rails. Now, normally I would strike him directly because killing him means I win the game. But now I have effectively another 'player' to attack, that if I ignore it may very well kill me. Since my opponent retains the ability to decide blockers and can block my creatures regardless of their target, I'm at a strategic disadvantage. My efforts have to be effectively divided towards another target on the field.

Now, you may be thinking: "This doesn't make any sense - after all creatures require you to take account for them too." And certainly you are right, except that we are talking both creature combat & effects that target a 'player'.

Creature combat is traditionally a direct attack on the player. This it one of the principal paths to victory - reducing a player's life to 0 via combat damage. But lets imagine a multiplayer game for a moment and you have two opponents on the field - meaning you have to split your attack. Even if you damage them, the overall effectiveness of your attack has been reduced. Instead of applying 5 damage to one player, its going to another. The opponents also have the option to block, meaning that they can reduce and control the amount of damage they take.

So with planeswalkers it's a similar situation - I have to make an effort to try and kill you or go after your planeswalker. If I go after both, I'm going to be less effective over all. If I go after the player, the planeswalker has the ability to became more dangerous. If I go after the planeswalker, the player has bought an entire extra turn.

Now lets look at the 'target' damage redirection rules - If my opponent would be damaged, you can apply that damage to a planeswalker. Great right? Except what happens if damage to that player is prevented? Or that player is untargetable? Or the damage to a player is reduced?

And what happens with life loss? Its not damage and so the planeswalker is immune to it.

Lets not forget also the multitude of cards that can impact a players decisions in attacking. Suddenly, all cards that protect the player also now protect the Planeswalker as well, giving you a defacto 2-for-1 edge.

This is certainly NOT an example of good mechanics here.

2. Planeswalker are powerful and game warping.

Okay, I won't mince words: Planeswalkers are GOOD. Really GOOD. And they have to be, since they are Mythic Rares and their unique mechanics are basically a freebie to activate. Once casted, they require no further investment of any of the usual mana or card resources that most other cards require. In fact, each one has at least one ability which charges them (by adding loyalty counters) AND lets you get a strong effect. So not only can they get stronger and harder to kill, but you get a bonus out of the deal.

Take a look at this version of Jace here - one of the less powerful ones (purely relative).

Hes cheap, he has decent loyalty, and he has several good to very good effects. The symmetrical card draw adds 2 loyalty counters, which can then feed the personal card draw for up to 4 turns at that point.

Sure, you can only use one of his abilities a turn and some remove loyalty counters. But in a heavy blue control deck, Jace is potentially both kill and card advantage. He by himself takes the place of a number of other cards  - and while not as good as those individual cards - his versatility can not be ignored.

Now consider that ALL planeswalkers are like this - A combination of Win & Advantage. If one sticks around, you win - It's as simple as that.

3. Planeswalkers have limited removal

Now, of all the issues out there - this one will probably be self-correcting over time. But currently, direct planeswalker removal only exists on a bare handful of cards - limited to a few colours. Now since, Planeswalkers are permanents they are plenty of other cards that can effect them - ie. bounce or destroy, or what have you. But let me be blunt: There are much much fewer of these cards around, then there are of straight up creature, artifact, and enchantment removal.

While this may be less of an issue in formats with smaller card pools (ie. Standard) - in the larger formats, expect this to be much more problematic as defence options become far more prevalent.

5. Planeswalker's ultimately warp the formats - making them required.

I mentioned this above but I will reiterate: You will need them to win.

Your deck may be different, but it will likely be using the same planeswalker within it.if it matches your colours. Their ability to cover a group of differing concerns just makes it foolish not to use them.

And humourously this actually should make them a matter of consideration for banning based upon Wizard's OWN BANNING POLICY - As quoted:

"Cards are usually banned from play if they enable a deck or play style that heavily skews the play environment. What does that mean? If the card were legal, a competitive player either must be playing it, or must be specifically targeting it with his or her own strategies."

How do you deal with an entire card TYPE that fundamentally WARPS the environments they are played in to slowly becoming strictly Planeswalker centric?
Take a look at the recent Standard GP's going on right now: ALL of the Winners so far have run some number of planeswalkers, with some being more dependent then others. And almost ALL the decks ran Heroes Downfall, a Planeswalker removal card thus edging decks to support black for its inclusion.

Final Thoughts

Now before I get the rage of the Planeswalker fanboys, I do understand something: Not every deck currently runs planeswalkers. But I say to you: Yet.

In Standard, the slowly warping effect is most obvious. There are fewer cards, and fewer choices, but there are only 13 planeswalkers, and they are commonly played. In Modern, Legacy, and Vintage the play of planeswalker's is very low in the current major top 8s. Part of this has to do with the current status of abject brokeness of each of these formats, Planeswalkers may be broken, but there are FAR worse cards out there.

But here is the thing: If Wizards ever seriously started trying to reign in any of the eternal formats, you would start to see the utility of planeswalkers begin to creep in. The game just isn't built to handle them, and was never intended to. Ultimately, only time will tell.

Tarmogoyf

Of all the stupidity that could be out there, this one takes the cake. How could ANYONE not have seen how broken this card is?

By the simple virtue of 'playing a card' (any card for that matter of a particular type), I make my critter bigger! HOORAY!

Oh and if I play another one, it's just as big as the one I currently have. 

Now Tarmogoyf is the spiritual successor of this bad boy: 

Now Lhurgoyf is a great and fun card (with fantastic and now famous flavour text), and while strong is not broken. His 4 cc, and creature dependence tend to make him more of a late game style card - a fantastic finisher, but not necessarily speed heavy.

Tarmogoyf gets bigger off you using a fetchland.

Let me give a very simple example:

Turn 1 - Play Fetchland, search for Tropical Island, play Ponder.

Turn 2 - Play land, Cast Goyf (2/3)

Turn 3 - Play land, Cast lightning bolt, swing with 3/4 - and Play another Goyf (3/4)

This doesn't count of course that maybe my opponent played an instant, or what have you.

There are plenty of other creatures with similar effects - Like Cognivore, or Cantivore but like the Lhurgoyf, that are all finishers dependent on a single card type.

But Tarmogoyf simply wins because you are not dependent on any particular card type, and makes ANY spell played and put into the graveyard a potential creature boost. Hell, the act of counterspelling something can give it a double boost!

Should you really have a card that gets stronger just by virtue of playing the game?

Lets not ignore the fact that its 2cc with only one G mana investment, making it splashable into decks with other colours easily.

Final Thoughts

Ugh. Goyf never should have been printed, its overpowered, overpriced ($$$), and silly. There really is no excuse.

Storm

With Magic's complex card interactions, there are a plethora of decks built around the idea of Combo. Combo decks can be a lot of fun to pilot (if not always fun to play against), and demonstrate the incredible versatility of the game.

Of course when it comes to the 'kill' (ie. the Win Condition of the deck) - therein lies a dilemma. What kind of 'kill' will my combo allow me to pull off? Not every combo necessarily is easy to pull off, limiting the options and requiring some creativity in application.

ProsBloom used a massive Drain Life.

Trix used Illusions of Grandeur combined with Donate.

Academy used Stroke of Genius.

Dragon used Ancestral Recall with Eternal Witness.

Turboland used Sickening Dreams.

Flash used... Flash.

But of course most of those decks 'kill's are ancient history - all thanks to the following two cards:

Ahh... Storm. You magnificent bastard! Play more spells, win the game - Damn! Who would have thought it possible?

Storm acted as the big combo changer when Scourge was released and everyone realized: "Huh. This is actually pretty easy to break."

Vintage & Extended were where the madness hit hardest first as they had the largest of card pools (Legacy, or Type 1.5 as it was known, was an entirely different animal in those days and not heavily played), and damn the combo decks!

Play 10 spells and you win with Tendrils. Or play about 12-15 spells and you win with Brain Freeze.

It was easy - since many low cost spells were available to build a quick storm count. It was cheap - since Storm required far less mana then many alternatives might. And above all it was simple - Just play the spell and win instead of having to worry about other more complex card combinations. Also, since it creates 'copies' of itself - good luck stopping it. When storm hits, ye lose.

Now all hope is not lost of course: Since Storm is a triggered ability, a few cards like Stifle can stop them. But since there are exactly 3 cards that let you do that (and they all involve blue) - good luck with that. Also if you can play something like Rule of Law, or Arcane Laboratory, you can stop storm dead.

Unfortunately, its all too easy for a decent storm deck to handle that.

Final Thoughts

I've played a lot of storm, and at the end of the day it is cheap and stupid. Even in the times when it wasn't super-broken, its was still too damned powerful.

Next Time: Split Second & Miracle!