Not much sense, part 3
June 2nd 2010 04:31
Everything you think you know, baby, is wrong,
And everything you think you had, baby, is gone.
-- Garbage, “All Over but the Crying”
Check out part 1 and part 2 for the previous editions of deconstructive criticism of Time Spiral’s timeshifted subset.
When Crystalline Sliver was first printed, it was good enough to help make Slivers both the first competitive “tribal” deck (where all the creatures had the same type line) and the prototypical hybrid aggressive/control deck, where you rely on early creatures which you defend with blue spells that prevent the opponent from dealing with them.
Do you hear that sound? It’s the sound of everyone who played Standard during the Lorwyn-Shadowmoor era jumping up and down and shouting about how there was a deck just like this in their time.
I have played with Crystalline Sliver and against it, and it is every bit as powerful as Aaron Forsythe says it is. It also relies on other Slivers being just as aggressively designed as it is – back in Tempest, all the Slivers were cheap to cast and had abilities, making their deck a threat even before they became untargetable. Time Spiral’s Slivers were much more diverse in their abilities, and not all were actually suited to the kind of play that Crystalline Sliver enables.
I have seen Bitterblossom and Scion of Oona in action, and they are much more powerful than Crystalline Sliver. Not only does the Scion replicate Crystalline Sliver’s ability for Faeries, but almost every creature in the Faerie deck had the flash keyword, meaning that it could play its entire game during its opponent’s turn, giving them a chance to react to every action they took and denying the opponent the chance to do the same.
We’re supposed to believe that “I guess all your Slivers are untargetable now” is a buzzkill . . . but “at the end of your turn, I effectively win the game, and you can’t stop me because Bitterblossom is a triggered ability and I have Scion of Oona in case you find a way through” is fine?
Oh, and as long as we’re on this subject, let’s talk about
Another card axed from the set for being non-interactive and unfun, it also pales on these regards compared to the Faerie deck. Capsize can be devastating, but it also requires some actual setup – lots of mana, Seedborn Muse or another way to ensure you can use it as often as possible, a way to survive until you have all of those things. Bitterblossom just requires that you get it into play on your second turn or so and wait another one or two turns, and if your opponent hasn’t answered it by then, you will generally be so far ahead that you can’t lose.
One of the most important principles of corporate communication is consistency of message. This is why most companies assign different people to each message, and keep them on it until the message is finished or no longer needed. Not only does this give you a consistent voice, it increases the chance of internal consistency of content – unlike what happened with Meddling Mage.
This fan favourite was considered too effective at defeating the suspend mechanic, one of Time Spiral’s signature mechanics. But compare:
Meddling Mage requires that you know which one suspend card you need to defeat most, and must be used proactively, making it vulnerable to various countermeasures (ie. being removed from play by other cards in the other deck). Teferi stops all suspend cards pre-emptively, protects himself from countermeasures, and can be used reactively as needed.
If you wanted to give suspend a chance to be good, which of these cards would you have cut from the set?
Like Erhnam Djinn, Serendib Efreet is a very elegant and flavorful design. Like Erhnam Djinn, it is an old-school powerhouse overshadowed by modern creatures, designed for players who demand all power all the time.
Unlike Erhnam Djinn, it was cut because it was believed to be too powerful.
It’s not just Faeries. It’s not just Teferi. It’s not just Chameleon Colossus and Kitchen Finks and Plumeveil and all the other creatures that would have made Serendib Efreet, by comparison, not only one of the worst blue creatures in Standard but also one of the worst creatures in any color in Standard. It’s Aaron Forsythe’s failure to comprehend not only the extent of the power creep he presided over but also the radical change in players’ attitudes, especially competitive players. If anything, competitive players are even more afraid of creatures with drawbacks now than they were in 1993. That’s why so few are printed any more.
Conclusion
This is a difficult series of articles to conclude. The fact is, I don’t hate Time Spiral – I love the fact that it brought back old-school ideas and characters in a thoroughly modern way, I love the fact that it stood up proudly for everything that made Magic great over the last decade, and I love the way it reminded younger players that the game existed before they did.
But I hate that it could have been even better than it was.
And I cannot abide Aaron Forsythe’s Swiss-cheese explanations for why it was not even better than it was, nor the apparent lack of self-reflection and criticism on the flaws of Wizards of the Coast’s internal playtesting process.
The question of why I spent three whole articles on the Orb of Insight taking an axe to a four-year-old development article is a fair one. I do not believe that Time Spiral was their worst mistake, and I do not believe it was their last mistake. I do believe that every mistake is a lesson, and I am not certain that Aaron Forsythe and his colleagues have learned the right things from Time Spiral. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Magic has done so much for us, shown us so many things we never would have seen otherwise. Over the last month in this series of articles, I have tried, from my outside perspective of imperfect information but complete devotion to the game, to return the favor.
Baby, we’re done.
-- Garbage, “All Over but the Crying”
And everything you think you had, baby, is gone.
-- Garbage, “All Over but the Crying”
Check out part 1 and part 2 for the previous editions of deconstructive criticism of Time Spiral’s timeshifted subset.
When Crystalline Sliver was first printed, it was good enough to help make Slivers both the first competitive “tribal” deck (where all the creatures had the same type line) and the prototypical hybrid aggressive/control deck, where you rely on early creatures which you defend with blue spells that prevent the opponent from dealing with them.
Do you hear that sound? It’s the sound of everyone who played Standard during the Lorwyn-Shadowmoor era jumping up and down and shouting about how there was a deck just like this in their time.
I have played with Crystalline Sliver and against it, and it is every bit as powerful as Aaron Forsythe says it is. It also relies on other Slivers being just as aggressively designed as it is – back in Tempest, all the Slivers were cheap to cast and had abilities, making their deck a threat even before they became untargetable. Time Spiral’s Slivers were much more diverse in their abilities, and not all were actually suited to the kind of play that Crystalline Sliver enables.
I have seen Bitterblossom and Scion of Oona in action, and they are much more powerful than Crystalline Sliver. Not only does the Scion replicate Crystalline Sliver’s ability for Faeries, but almost every creature in the Faerie deck had the flash keyword, meaning that it could play its entire game during its opponent’s turn, giving them a chance to react to every action they took and denying the opponent the chance to do the same.
We’re supposed to believe that “I guess all your Slivers are untargetable now” is a buzzkill . . . but “at the end of your turn, I effectively win the game, and you can’t stop me because Bitterblossom is a triggered ability and I have Scion of Oona in case you find a way through” is fine?
Oh, and as long as we’re on this subject, let’s talk about
Another card axed from the set for being non-interactive and unfun, it also pales on these regards compared to the Faerie deck. Capsize can be devastating, but it also requires some actual setup – lots of mana, Seedborn Muse or another way to ensure you can use it as often as possible, a way to survive until you have all of those things. Bitterblossom just requires that you get it into play on your second turn or so and wait another one or two turns, and if your opponent hasn’t answered it by then, you will generally be so far ahead that you can’t lose.
We may never know how Faeries survived development, but that doesn’t mean we should stop asking.
One of the most important principles of corporate communication is consistency of message. This is why most companies assign different people to each message, and keep them on it until the message is finished or no longer needed. Not only does this give you a consistent voice, it increases the chance of internal consistency of content – unlike what happened with Meddling Mage.
This fan favourite was considered too effective at defeating the suspend mechanic, one of Time Spiral’s signature mechanics. But compare:
Meddling Mage requires that you know which one suspend card you need to defeat most, and must be used proactively, making it vulnerable to various countermeasures (ie. being removed from play by other cards in the other deck). Teferi stops all suspend cards pre-emptively, protects himself from countermeasures, and can be used reactively as needed.
If you wanted to give suspend a chance to be good, which of these cards would you have cut from the set?
Like Erhnam Djinn, Serendib Efreet is a very elegant and flavorful design. Like Erhnam Djinn, it is an old-school powerhouse overshadowed by modern creatures, designed for players who demand all power all the time.
Unlike Erhnam Djinn, it was cut because it was believed to be too powerful.
It’s not just Faeries. It’s not just Teferi. It’s not just Chameleon Colossus and Kitchen Finks and Plumeveil and all the other creatures that would have made Serendib Efreet, by comparison, not only one of the worst blue creatures in Standard but also one of the worst creatures in any color in Standard. It’s Aaron Forsythe’s failure to comprehend not only the extent of the power creep he presided over but also the radical change in players’ attitudes, especially competitive players. If anything, competitive players are even more afraid of creatures with drawbacks now than they were in 1993. That’s why so few are printed any more.
By any measure, Hypnotic Specter is all upside – yet they managed to find a drawback of “dies too easily.”
Conclusion
This is a difficult series of articles to conclude. The fact is, I don’t hate Time Spiral – I love the fact that it brought back old-school ideas and characters in a thoroughly modern way, I love the fact that it stood up proudly for everything that made Magic great over the last decade, and I love the way it reminded younger players that the game existed before they did.
But I hate that it could have been even better than it was.
And I cannot abide Aaron Forsythe’s Swiss-cheese explanations for why it was not even better than it was, nor the apparent lack of self-reflection and criticism on the flaws of Wizards of the Coast’s internal playtesting process.
The question of why I spent three whole articles on the Orb of Insight taking an axe to a four-year-old development article is a fair one. I do not believe that Time Spiral was their worst mistake, and I do not believe it was their last mistake. I do believe that every mistake is a lesson, and I am not certain that Aaron Forsythe and his colleagues have learned the right things from Time Spiral. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Magic has done so much for us, shown us so many things we never would have seen otherwise. Over the last month in this series of articles, I have tried, from my outside perspective of imperfect information but complete devotion to the game, to return the favor.
Baby, we’re done.
-- Garbage, “All Over but the Crying”
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