Framing the issue
May 14th 2012 05:40
Mythologies take longer to die than people believe.
-- Neil Gaiman, Dream Country
I was combing through a large, unsorted batch of Magic cards the other day when it hit me: I like the old card face.
This might seem like it shouldn’t be a surprise or a point of dispute. After all, I started playing in 1995, long before it ever occurred to anyone that there could even be a different card face. But when you follow the new sets intensively, you might do the opposite: forget that there was once a different one. And forget that a good deal of what is now said about that old card face is . . . how can I put this delicately? . . . a lie.
Readability was ostensibly one of the main reasons why the card face was changed in the Eighth Edition. White cards were singled out as being difficult to read in the old face. This was true for certain white cards and for certain sets more than others, and improvement was perhaps needed. Does that mean there are no readability issues now?
Similarly, the blanket assertion (notably by Mark Rosewater on his Tumblr a few weeks ago) that the art is (always) more prominent in the new frame doesn’t hold up to analysis, or to us remembering our own lives. I doubt many of us would have taken up Magic back in the 90s if we hadn’t been able to scan amazing iconic pieces like Douglas Shuler’s Serra Angel or Ron Spencer’s Terror.
Running down Magic's past and acting like its present is perfect and the height of design, ever, seem to be one element of current marketing tactics. But nothing that’s good has no bad elements. Nothing that’s bad has no good elements. And it’s truly short-sighted to say something along the lines of “we changed this in Eighth Edition, now it’s fixed forever,” especially in the context of a game where everything else is supposedly changing from set to set (which, as long as we're on the topic, may be a point not actually in evidence). The card face is probably fine, more or less, as things stand now. That may not always be the case, and it would probably be a good idea to remain open to that possibility starting from now.
-- Neil Gaiman, Dream Country
I was combing through a large, unsorted batch of Magic cards the other day when it hit me: I like the old card face.
This might seem like it shouldn’t be a surprise or a point of dispute. After all, I started playing in 1995, long before it ever occurred to anyone that there could even be a different card face. But when you follow the new sets intensively, you might do the opposite: forget that there was once a different one. And forget that a good deal of what is now said about that old card face is . . . how can I put this delicately? . . . a lie.
Readability was ostensibly one of the main reasons why the card face was changed in the Eighth Edition. White cards were singled out as being difficult to read in the old face. This was true for certain white cards and for certain sets more than others, and improvement was perhaps needed. Does that mean there are no readability issues now?
Whose bright idea was it to make recent red cards (M10 forward) have a dark red border with black stone or ash-like flecks, and then print the artist credit in black type?
Similarly, the blanket assertion (notably by Mark Rosewater on his Tumblr a few weeks ago) that the art is (always) more prominent in the new frame doesn’t hold up to analysis, or to us remembering our own lives. I doubt many of us would have taken up Magic back in the 90s if we hadn’t been able to scan amazing iconic pieces like Douglas Shuler’s Serra Angel or Ron Spencer’s Terror.
Running down Magic's past and acting like its present is perfect and the height of design, ever, seem to be one element of current marketing tactics. But nothing that’s good has no bad elements. Nothing that’s bad has no good elements. And it’s truly short-sighted to say something along the lines of “we changed this in Eighth Edition, now it’s fixed forever,” especially in the context of a game where everything else is supposedly changing from set to set (which, as long as we're on the topic, may be a point not actually in evidence). The card face is probably fine, more or less, as things stand now. That may not always be the case, and it would probably be a good idea to remain open to that possibility starting from now.
Pro tip: softer shades make it easier for people to believe you when you say that red’s dominion includes all emotions and not just anger.
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