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| Thread: 25 Years of Magic: The Gathering |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 3 4 5 · NEXT» |
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blob2
Undefeatable Hero
Blob-Ohmos the Second
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posted May 13, 2018 04:52 PM |
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Edited by blob2 at 17:22, 13 May 2018.
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25 Years of Magic: The Gathering
My recent discovery of "The Art of Magic: the Gathering" book series led me to rekindle my interest in this daddy of all Collectible Card Games.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of this worldwide phenomenon, and I suppose there are many people on this forum that at least had some expierience with the franchise? Even if only in the sense that they know it inspired so many other works they enjoy like digital card games or other fantasy settings.
My story with the franchise is not a "glorious" venture (like professional playing etc), but through the years MtG has always been there with me.
Probably my first contact with the CCG was when my cousin from USA visited me in the 90s and brought some of the said cards from the Mercadian Masques set. I don't remember exactly if my aunt bought a set for me afterwards, or I was simply given my cousins cards when he got bored with it, but I got my hands on two decks and a couple of booster packs (I still have them  ). My favourite card from back then: Mageta the Lion.
The game was practically non-existant in Poland, so my only other contact with it came with 1997 Microprose PC game called simply Magic The Gathering, which was added to a gaming magazine as a freebie. I played it a lot even though it was pretty crude.
My most serious time with playing the physical game started with a circle of nerd-friends I met in Highschool. We played the game between lessons. There was this geek shop which sold all kinds of board game and CCG stuff, so we went there frequently. At that time the newest block was Mirrodin. It's still one of my favourite sets/planes flavor-wise even now. There's simply something really unique in this eerie and grotesque sci-fi setting, even if it's not exactly your traditional MtG fantasy setting. I also remember one of my friends being really into MtG at that time: he had this whole albums full of cards which was the envy of others, but the amount of money which was needed for such a collection was simply out of reach for most of us. I only bought two Mirrodin pre-made decks plus some booster stuff (and had that early stuff I got from my aunt). But it was fun times nevertheless, we were really into it, we even played a few local tournaments.
Highschool ended, and I dropped playing physical MtG. While in College I played MtG: Duels of Planeswalkers on PC in my free time, which was quite enjoyable as the game had good mechanics and pretty polished UI.
What got me hooked totally yet again was the release of Innistrad block. Well, I didn't play the game physically by then anymore, but the setting was so spot-on for me that I've read every piece of lore that was out there. Imo it's one of the best iterations/settings of Gothic horror in history of pop-culture, one to which everything else should aspire to imo (movies, games etc, here's hoping Greedfall will be a good game btw). I'm probably not the only one who thinks that as it's a popular set.
Innistrad aside I was still keeping track of the happenings in the franchise only to loose interest in the recent years (with a small activity in my previous job when we played board games, and because some of us still had MtG cards we played it a bit from time to time). After Tarkir block I didn't know what was happening in the game.
I belive I was browsing some artbooks when it hit me that there's actually a series of official artbooks, each built around one of the so-called planes of MtG "Multi-verse". This is simply something I can't miss, cause whatever interaction I had with the game, it was always the art, the lore, the flavor of the game which got me hooked in the first place. This year there's also a 25th Anniversary artbook coming: link.
Now I plan to collect all the artbooks, I'm knee-deep reading the lore (this post is a direct effect of this), past and present. I can't belive how much nostalgia I'm getting from this. It's nice to see Wizards of the Coast is still going strong (probably because "nerdy" stuff is becoming ever-so popular), and that for instance they are close to releasing MtG: Arena, which might be a big contender against Hearthstone (which wouldn't exist without MtG in the first place). I mean Magic is a harder game then Hearthstone (and a lot more expensive), but they're targeting for a more streamlined expierience and a f2p model, which is a novelty for this franchise actually, so this might be good...
So, reading my story, are there any people here who like to share their expieriences with Magic: the Gathering?
PS: Here's a little round-up of the past 25 years:https://magic.wizards.com/en/content/magics-25th-anniversary-25-year-timeline
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Minion
Legendary Hero
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posted May 13, 2018 07:22 PM |
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Edited by Minion at 19:24, 13 May 2018.
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I remember very vividly what first got me into the game. It was the 7th grade which means I was 13 years old or so. We were just walking around the school talking during recess, as we usually did. Suddenly we started noticing some random cards in the ground. After picking up a few I realized these were MtG cards, we had heard about it but never seen before. The set was Mirage, and I can still to this day remember my very first card - Bone Harvest.
It was the art on the cards that really drew me into the game more than anything. The rules were pretty hard to learn but I studied them extensively so we could play. Yet we played it very wrong in the beginning, starting to correct things along the way. Oh yeah and where those cards on the ground came from? This a few years older dude who owned a massive collection was walking ahead of us and throwing all the commons and uncommons away that he had +10 already. Lucky for us!
Anyways the color black was my thing, I gave all my white cards to my friend and he gave all his black cards to me so we could make better decks. One day I got a Catacomb Dragon from a pack and I would just stare at the card for whole evening lol. Dragons were my thing as I guess for many fantasy geeks ;P
I actually wrote fantasy stories of MtG world back in the day lol. Not sure if have them anymore though, would be fun to read.
We played for 6 years back then, so it really took over our nerd group like a storm. It eventually dropped when I went to university. A few years ago I got back into it a little bit, but now it is so different. My brain is more wired to puzzle solving or optimizing instead of immersing myself into the world. I like it but bow for a different reason.
That's about it, the game had a huge impact on me growing up. Learning complex rules comes like breathing to me nowadays thanks to MtG, it helps with my board game hobby a lot.
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blob2
Undefeatable Hero
Blob-Ohmos the Second
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posted May 13, 2018 08:36 PM |
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Edited by blob2 at 11:34, 14 May 2018.
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I'm also all about Dragons, but my color was Green: putting big beasts on the board and overwhelming the opponent was my thing. I actually like most of the colors, with Black being the second one, and my least fav is Blue: I'm just not into illusions and mind-games.
One of the most interesting aspect of MtG is watching how the art evolved over the years. Art is something that probably brought us to the game in the first place, but things that were awe-inspiring few years back, are even more incredible now (they started to use computer-enchanced art):
Oh, I didn't mention this, but because of the 25 years anniversary, the newest set is called Dominaria (it's like the "mother" plane of MtG historically) and is about going back to the realm and continiuing its story. Not only it's a nice nod to players as it's chock-full of nostalgic references, but the art is simply marvelous...
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blob2
Undefeatable Hero
Blob-Ohmos the Second
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posted May 19, 2018 12:44 AM |
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Edited by blob2 at 10:28, 13 Nov 2018.
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Dang.
I couldn't resist the urge to play the game... so I went and bought two Commander 2017 decks and currently am in the process of teaching my brother how to play MtG 
I know, Commander is not the best format for 1v1 (although this variant is even officialy recognized by Wizards), but the decks are probably the best out-of-the-box value you can get. Plus the format is unique and fun. I've bought Draconic Domination for instance, which has like 29 Dragons that are mostly Legendaries. I couldn't even dream of such a collection through normal, booster means.
Commander is said to be a format for casual and irregular play, so I think it's cool for me and my brother.
EDIT: So I've read through whole of "The Art of Magic: the Gathering - Innistrad" (yes, I took my time enjoying it ) book, and I'm fully content with the lecture. These books are great, and I'm really glad WotC decided to finally create such a thing. Although releasing these seem like a no-brainer, looking on how rich of a universe MtG has, I must still say it took them long enough.
The book is written in a clear but flavorish and conscise style. I like Wyatts style of writing, maybe it feels a bit like he was describing a game at times, but I never even once had an issue with how it was presented. The art is spot-on when it comes to giving the additional flavor. The book doesn't cover all the happenings, misses on a few characters or mentions them briefly, but it's understandable when taking into account the scope of each MtG Plane. You just can't pack the whole rich lore of a setting that was created with a plethora of story articles, cards and art pieces in 240 pages. But it is a good point of entry. I was also surprised by the short yet compact appendix at the end. It sheds some light on the creative process that went behind the set, and can even be used as a point of reference for some people in their own creative processes. Great addition and complements the book well.
To anyone even remotely interested in fantasy settings (or Gothic/Lovecraftian Horror in this case), not to mention people who had expierience with MtG: I encourage you to give Innistrad, or other books in the series, a try. At this point there are 5 (+1 coming soon) books in the series, but I really hope they will give me more of this stuff, or at least Tarkir, Theros and Mirrodin. Shut up and take my money!
EDIT 2: Today I will receive my copy of MtG: Legends & Concept. The best way to celebrate 25 years of MtG is a book that tries to capture, well, its magic 
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Doomforge
Admirable
Undefeatable Hero
Retired Hero
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posted November 13, 2018 11:10 AM |
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What I never liked about MTG was how they would introduce overpowered cards and then attempt to make things better by banning them, like Black Lotus or Lightning bolt.
And after a while a whole generation of cards would be assumed obsolete and you'd have to get a new deck just to keep up.
Meh.
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Galatea
Supreme Hero
Well, I'm Ceres!
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posted November 13, 2018 11:33 AM |
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Doomforge said:
What I never liked about MTG was how they would introduce overpowered cards and then attempt to make things better by banning them, like Black Lotus or Lightning bolt.
And after a while a whole generation of cards would be assumed obsolete and you'd have to get a new deck just to keep up.
Meh.
Depends on the format.
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And she told you, laughing down to her core, so she would not cry, as she lay on your lap,
"Nobody here can live forever, quiet in the grasp of dusk and summer."
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blob2
Undefeatable Hero
Blob-Ohmos the Second
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posted November 13, 2018 12:02 PM |
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Edited by blob2 at 12:10, 13 Nov 2018.
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Doomforge said:
What I never liked about MTG was how they would introduce overpowered cards and then attempt to make things better by banning them, like Black Lotus or Lightning bolt.
And after a while a whole generation of cards would be assumed obsolete and you'd have to get a new deck just to keep up.
Let's remember they are making money first and foremost. They need to introduce new stuff for players to buy. This is how TCG have always worked. Magic at least has a lot of formats, most cards can be played. Some other games purposely leave out old stuff for it to "fall out of grace". And OP cards are usually an object of cult
To tell you the truth, as any big franchise, MtG is criticized for many aspects: it's too pricey, unbalanced or the meta-story/main characters are poorly written etc. Nowadays there seems to be some dangerous direction into political correctness even. But outside of all this stuff, outside of actually playing the game which I do rarely nowadays, I really enjoy the creativity of people at MtG. So many talented people, such interesting places to discover etc. For someone who enjoys fantasy or its derivatives like me there's so much to enjoy here. 25 years of MtG was something that pointed me to Viz Media MtG Artbooks. I don't remember if I ever enjoyed artbooks as much as with these series. It's something that perfectly captures the richness of their creative work.
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NimoStar
Responsible
Legendary Hero
Modding the Unmoddable
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posted November 13, 2018 10:34 PM |
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Edited by NimoStar at 22:36, 13 Nov 2018.
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I make custom MTG sets, the fact that my family refused to give me any of my MTG cards when I moved and to this day prevents me from playing "for real" plus its incredibly expensive now.
A small sample from one of my sets:
 
 
picture upload
BTW, my color is probably Green, but I admit Black is objectively the coolest flavor and designwise.
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blob2
Undefeatable Hero
Blob-Ohmos the Second
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posted November 13, 2018 10:40 PM |
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I don't quite understand what you mean by "my family prevents me from playing for real", but creating custom cards is one way of enjoying the game.
Btw did you try MtG: Arena? It's F2P.
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friendofgunnar
Honorable
Legendary Hero
able to speed up time
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posted November 13, 2018 10:45 PM |
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I'm curious how much rules lawyering goes on in modern Magic. For example how often does a card come up where people dispute its meaning and then have to consult rule books, online, judges, etc...
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blob2
Undefeatable Hero
Blob-Ohmos the Second
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posted November 13, 2018 11:28 PM |
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Edited by blob2 at 23:35, 13 Nov 2018.
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The game became pretty complicated over the years. Each time a new set is released a comprehensive 'release notes' and rule clarifications are presented.
While even the most complex rules might be understendable the hard part comes when you need to apply them in an actual game, with all its phases and interrupts.
I suppose it was a bit easier back when I played it and Mirrodin block was around.
On a side note, regarding Mirrodin. I'm reading my fresh copy of the MtG Concepts & Legends book and it made me realize that Mirrodin block, one of my favourites btw, was the first ever new plane other then Dominaria and it started the 'introduce a new plane each fall' (or go back to an earlier introduced one) card sets design philosophy for MtG.
PS: I wonder what happened to those cool web pages they made for each new card set back in the day. Those were really colorful, full of art and even interactive to some extent. I really enjoyed browsing them. Now the look of the MtG page is pretty bland...
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Galatea
Supreme Hero
Well, I'm Ceres!
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posted November 14, 2018 12:34 AM |
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Edited by Galatea at 03:07, 14 Nov 2018.
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If you play frequently, these rules will be like a normal thing to you. The new abilities are quite understandable by just reading them. The only thing that slips through me are those with errata. I might be holding an old printed card with an obsolete writing. But it rarely happens.
Key is always PLAY!
EDIT:
At NimoStar, your custom made cards are IMBA! WotC won't approve! 
Aaannd after 25 years of playing Magic: the Gathering, I just wanted to share some of my tournament loots that I won from my LGS.
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And she told you, laughing down to her core, so she would not cry, as she lay on your lap,
"Nobody here can live forever, quiet in the grasp of dusk and summer."
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Warmonger
Promising
Legendary Hero
fallen artist
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posted November 14, 2018 09:29 PM |
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I think I played MTG more than 7 years. Don't regret a thing Have great memories, and still get ideas of new cards every now and then.
But, well, now I have a little less nerdy and more constructive hobby.
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The future of Heroes 3 is here!
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blob2
Undefeatable Hero
Blob-Ohmos the Second
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posted November 17, 2018 09:52 PM |
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Edited by blob2 at 21:54, 17 Nov 2018.
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MtG: Legends & Concept is a great book.
Shame it's shorter then other artbooks in the series (200p vs 240p), but in return you get 4 double-sided art prints which are of very good quality (I've already framed them and will hang them on the wall ). Breathtaking art pieces aside, there's a lot of concept art here and bit of insight on the process of creating various elements of the multiverse. Those are short but really well written. Holding so much on-point info in such short sentences is an art in itself. Some really nice tidbits, even if it's something you can probably find around the web.
Next is Ravnica, and I really hope they will make more of them (seems to be the case, they are selling pretty well). There's at least 4 potential books to be made: Theros (I think it's the most likely candidate cus some teasers show that MtG might be going back to this plane), Mirrodin, Tarkir and Alara (could be more, but for less popular planes like Kamigawa or Lorwyn it's less likely).
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Blizzardboy
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Nerf Herder
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posted November 23, 2018 08:44 PM |
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I wonder if my Fallen Empire cards are worth anything.
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"Folks, I don't trust children. They're here to replace us."
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NimoStar
Responsible
Legendary Hero
Modding the Unmoddable
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posted November 23, 2018 10:11 PM |
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Edited by NimoStar at 22:20, 23 Nov 2018.
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Quote:
I don't quite understand what you mean by "my family prevents me from playing for real"
Because they kept all of my actual cards and while I live alone they won't return them to me :'(
***
Fallen Empires is considered one of the most underpowered expansions along with Homelands :V
***
As for the balance of my custom cards... I think the official ones are "imba" :_/
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blob2
Undefeatable Hero
Blob-Ohmos the Second
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posted November 24, 2018 01:34 PM |
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Edited by blob2 at 13:37, 24 Nov 2018.
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There are more powerful ones Not even counting the original ten
But like with every tcg it's constantly evolving, so it's more about "meta decks" and bans rather then cards themselves.
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blob2
Undefeatable Hero
Blob-Ohmos the Second
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posted March 02, 2019 11:59 PM |
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Edited by blob2 at 18:19, 23 Apr 2019.
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I finished reading Art of Magic the Gathering: Ravnica.
I think it's the weakest of the books so far. The series as a whole tends to lean towards new sets which is understandable, but it feels like the Ravnica book almost discared everything that came before the newest sets. Describing each of the Guilds, one paragraph at a time part is ok, but the "story" synopsis part is a miss. It describes only a few characters and their part in Nicol Bolas scheme without even telling what it's all about. And what about the original Ravnica story (Jace ascension to being the living Guildpact) or the Dragons Maze storyline? The appendix is also scarce on the usual interesting tidbits, it only scarcely describes a few artistic directions that ware taken across the sets. Not to mention the fact it's left the story unfinished as it was still unraveling with the release of the newest Ravnica set.
I hope the next entry in the series will be similar to the earlier books, and covers a plane in it's entirety, not as some sort of a high-end advertising brochure.
EDIT: So, "War of the Spark" is the finale of a storyline that was MtG main focal point for a couple of years now (Gatewatch vs Nicol Bolas). People were starting to get a bit tired with it. They even released quite a remarkable and highly praised trailer. From what I've seen it's quite an epic conclusion, with cool cards (almost whole set literally tells the storyline) and many Planeswalker cards (36 to be precise), with some fan favorites making an appearance (Ashiok, Tibalt or Sarkhan Vol for example). Seems only Garruk is missing lel There is even a novel that commemorates this event.
At this point I wonder what's next for MtG? Phyrexxia? Back to the roots? Or some annoying SJW cr*p. Another thing I'm wondering about is if Viz Media will continue releasing the Artbooks, I dig those very much and there has been radio silence since Ravnica was released...
PS: A cool bonus for Japanese market: Anime style Planeswalker cards.
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Minion
Legendary Hero
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posted April 24, 2019 01:39 PM |
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The cinematic trailer is amazingly epic, there are sparks flying constantly to Bolas from dying planeswalkers... Dear god what a massacre. Not to mention Liliana, my favorite charater... rip.... Whyyyyy
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Blizzardboy
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Nerf Herder
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posted April 25, 2019 08:22 AM |
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Counterspell.
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"Folks, I don't trust children. They're here to replace us."
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