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.
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.
"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.
