Second wind
August 30th 2011 00:02
Can a man live two lives?
-- Harvey Dent, in Batman: The Long Halloween
I present for your interest some archived decklists from a Magic Online event referred to as “Old School Constructed.” This is essentially the opposite of Standard: only the very oldest Magic sets were used. They don’t exist on Magic Online per se, but enough of their cards have been reissued in various other sets or promotional expansions like Masters Edition to allow these decks to be made.
As a veteran, reading those decklists gave me a fun feeling, as I still remember when many of the cards in them were new. You can see, though, that the decks were very much constructed with modern competitive sensibilities in mind – here’s your “control” deck, here’s your aggressive red deck; each uses four of each of its best cards, each deck has a range of cards intended as specific answers. That’s not how I started playing, and it’s not how some people I know did; as such, the fun is tempered by an unsettling feeling that they’re not using the cards the way they were intended.
But then again, that’s kind of the story of Magic, isn’t it? Dr. Garfield himself never realized that people would buy four of every dual land or other powerful cards. Even in my isolated little playgroup back in 1995, it only took a few months for a particular member to discover what were considered “efficient” deckbuilding practices at the time, and start making decks that weren’t fun to play against and hocking everyone else to play the same way as him. (Remind me to tell you more about that guy someday.)
The second thing Wizards of the Coast did wrong was to give in and cater to competitive players. The first thing was much simpler and more profound: emerging twenty years too late, in an era when many of its potential players were not inclined to participate in the spirit it was intended. As such, there is nothing inherent in Magic that says it has to devolve to the kind of close-minded, conservative competitive play that is ubiquitous now. The early tournament players were corrupting, in a sense, cards intended for another purpose. Similarly, we can and should corrupt and misuse modern cards and sets designed with competitive play in mind. Competitive players don’t use any communication and publication mediums that aren’t open to everyone - they don't have any weapons, so to speak, that the rest of us don't. Who’s to say it won’t catch on?
-- Harvey Dent, in Batman: The Long Halloween
I present for your interest some archived decklists from a Magic Online event referred to as “Old School Constructed.” This is essentially the opposite of Standard: only the very oldest Magic sets were used. They don’t exist on Magic Online per se, but enough of their cards have been reissued in various other sets or promotional expansions like Masters Edition to allow these decks to be made.
As a veteran, reading those decklists gave me a fun feeling, as I still remember when many of the cards in them were new. You can see, though, that the decks were very much constructed with modern competitive sensibilities in mind – here’s your “control” deck, here’s your aggressive red deck; each uses four of each of its best cards, each deck has a range of cards intended as specific answers. That’s not how I started playing, and it’s not how some people I know did; as such, the fun is tempered by an unsettling feeling that they’re not using the cards the way they were intended.
Her expression suggests freedom and bliss, the opposite of the way you feel playing against the sort of tournament decks that used her in 1995.
But then again, that’s kind of the story of Magic, isn’t it? Dr. Garfield himself never realized that people would buy four of every dual land or other powerful cards. Even in my isolated little playgroup back in 1995, it only took a few months for a particular member to discover what were considered “efficient” deckbuilding practices at the time, and start making decks that weren’t fun to play against and hocking everyone else to play the same way as him. (Remind me to tell you more about that guy someday.)
The second thing Wizards of the Coast did wrong was to give in and cater to competitive players. The first thing was much simpler and more profound: emerging twenty years too late, in an era when many of its potential players were not inclined to participate in the spirit it was intended. As such, there is nothing inherent in Magic that says it has to devolve to the kind of close-minded, conservative competitive play that is ubiquitous now. The early tournament players were corrupting, in a sense, cards intended for another purpose. Similarly, we can and should corrupt and misuse modern cards and sets designed with competitive play in mind. Competitive players don’t use any communication and publication mediums that aren’t open to everyone - they don't have any weapons, so to speak, that the rest of us don't. Who’s to say it won’t catch on?
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