Retrospectives, part 5: Judgment
April 14th 2010 02:07
Magic is on the eve of another brave new world, which brings a great deal of promise and opportunity, but, in all likelihood, a lot of things we’ll consider mistakes in another eight years. It is the perfect time for another Retrospectives article (at freakin’ last!), because we cannot know where we are going unless we know where we have been. Judgment is an excellent set to look at today, because in many ways it was the dividing line between the past and the present.
The significance of Judgment can be symbolized with just one card image.
One of the set’s major selling points was a new version of Erhnam Djinn, a mainstay from Arabian Nights that had been out of print since 1995. To players from Magic’s first decade, this card needs no introduction. The original version is still a collector’s item that people sell organs to get, and it was also once the centerpiece of an absurdly powerful tournament deck.
Times change. Nobody expects decks to remain the same in the face of the 600 or so new cards released every year. The deck Erhnam Djinn was once part of no longer existed in any competitive tournament format, and that, in and of itself, was no problem. However, there are people who do expect the marquee card for a new set (for every new set) to be competitive or even format-defining.
In 2002, Erhnam Djinn was neither, and the competitive scene rumbled with discontent. To constructed-playing pros, marketing any card that is “bad” in Standard is a waste of time – the company’s time, and their own precious time which they spent reading the ad and can never get back. The incident cast a cloud over the expansion’s release events and, indeed, much of its time in the Standard spotlight.
Never mind that Judgment also contains some of the most powerful cards ever printed.
Never mind that even a brand-new player could still open an Erhnam Djinn in a booster, and think of the rumors they’d heard about Arabian Nights and the untold ages that passed before them.
Never mind that the set’s art and flavor were so absorbing and involving that you could almost feel the heartbeat of Krosa.
And Wizards of the Coast listened to the anonymous forum dwellers who flocked to their cybernetic soapboxes to proclaim that “people like good cards” (and nothing else). They listened to the people who thought pro players’ opinions mattered more than theirs. They listened to fear, the fear that without a game there would be no trading cards, in spite of the fact that constructed and draft tournaments were invented not by Richard Garfield in his basement in 1992 but by bureaucrats in Renton in 1994.
This is why Onslaught’s creatures and Mirrodin’s combos redefined Vintage and led to a banned list as long as my arm. This is why Ravnica’s dual lands obsoleted at least three other cycles of cards and have removed the economic principle of opportunity cost from competitive Extended. This is why every set since Champions of Kamigawa contains creatures stronger than creatures that were once banned.
Modern Magic’s art, lore, and flavor have not suffered noticeably in those years. Other things have changed significantly. The competitive scene now gets constant attention and praise from most of the online community, including Wizards of the Coast itself. It is able to play with decks that Mike Flores refers to approvingly as “haymaker Magic” and which I like to call “Indian burn Magic.” If your ambition is to win money, there are countless forums to post on, Twitter feeds to read, online clients for you to practice 24/7.
But what place is there in such a world for people who still like Erhnam Djinn?
The significance of Judgment can be symbolized with just one card image.
One of the set’s major selling points was a new version of Erhnam Djinn, a mainstay from Arabian Nights that had been out of print since 1995. To players from Magic’s first decade, this card needs no introduction. The original version is still a collector’s item that people sell organs to get, and it was also once the centerpiece of an absurdly powerful tournament deck.
Times change. Nobody expects decks to remain the same in the face of the 600 or so new cards released every year. The deck Erhnam Djinn was once part of no longer existed in any competitive tournament format, and that, in and of itself, was no problem. However, there are people who do expect the marquee card for a new set (for every new set) to be competitive or even format-defining.
In 2002, Erhnam Djinn was neither, and the competitive scene rumbled with discontent. To constructed-playing pros, marketing any card that is “bad” in Standard is a waste of time – the company’s time, and their own precious time which they spent reading the ad and can never get back. The incident cast a cloud over the expansion’s release events and, indeed, much of its time in the Standard spotlight.
Never mind that Judgment also contains some of the most powerful cards ever printed.
Never mind that even a brand-new player could still open an Erhnam Djinn in a booster, and think of the rumors they’d heard about Arabian Nights and the untold ages that passed before them.
Never mind that the set’s art and flavor were so absorbing and involving that you could almost feel the heartbeat of Krosa.
And Wizards of the Coast listened to the anonymous forum dwellers who flocked to their cybernetic soapboxes to proclaim that “people like good cards” (and nothing else). They listened to the people who thought pro players’ opinions mattered more than theirs. They listened to fear, the fear that without a game there would be no trading cards, in spite of the fact that constructed and draft tournaments were invented not by Richard Garfield in his basement in 1992 but by bureaucrats in Renton in 1994.
This is why Onslaught’s creatures and Mirrodin’s combos redefined Vintage and led to a banned list as long as my arm. This is why Ravnica’s dual lands obsoleted at least three other cycles of cards and have removed the economic principle of opportunity cost from competitive Extended. This is why every set since Champions of Kamigawa contains creatures stronger than creatures that were once banned.
If this were in M11, nobody would play with it.
Modern Magic’s art, lore, and flavor have not suffered noticeably in those years. Other things have changed significantly. The competitive scene now gets constant attention and praise from most of the online community, including Wizards of the Coast itself. It is able to play with decks that Mike Flores refers to approvingly as “haymaker Magic” and which I like to call “Indian burn Magic.” If your ambition is to win money, there are countless forums to post on, Twitter feeds to read, online clients for you to practice 24/7.
But what place is there in such a world for people who still like Erhnam Djinn?
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