'Tis distance lends enchantment
May 10th 2010 06:49
You know what piece of stupid Magic jargon I haven’t heard for a long time? “Fail duals.”
Granted, that was at the tail end of the multicolor-friendly Lorwyn-Shadowmoor environment, and the M10 lands were brand new and slightly less multicolor-friendly than Reflecting Pool. But people have come to realize that they’re actually very good in gameplay, and just very appealing besides. They’re also a much less overpowered design than they look: they require you to make your deck in a certain way if you want them to be powerful.
Either way, it highlights to me just how strange our paradigm for assessment of new cards can be. I have observed a very strong tendency to only recognize overpowered cards when they are not lands. Ravnica’s dual lands are to lands what Arcbound Ravager is to artifacts, but a lot of people still want to see them in a core set. The unfair aspects of the Lorwyn-Shadowmoor Standard environment can largely be attributed to the astronomical power of its color-fixing lands, but this is completely unrecognized. Apologists for the insanity of Vintage and Legacy downplay the contribution of the original dual lands, glossing over the fact that part of the problem is that any deck ends up able to do absolutely anything. Fortunately, Wizards of the Coast clearly recognizes the issue, and once we get used to playing with the Temple of Ormazd, and matchups that rely on strategy rather than who has all his colors and who doesn't, I think we will come to understand as well.
There's the Temple. Where's Elika and the Prince?
Granted, that was at the tail end of the multicolor-friendly Lorwyn-Shadowmoor environment, and the M10 lands were brand new and slightly less multicolor-friendly than Reflecting Pool. But people have come to realize that they’re actually very good in gameplay, and just very appealing besides. They’re also a much less overpowered design than they look: they require you to make your deck in a certain way if you want them to be powerful.
Either way, it highlights to me just how strange our paradigm for assessment of new cards can be. I have observed a very strong tendency to only recognize overpowered cards when they are not lands. Ravnica’s dual lands are to lands what Arcbound Ravager is to artifacts, but a lot of people still want to see them in a core set. The unfair aspects of the Lorwyn-Shadowmoor Standard environment can largely be attributed to the astronomical power of its color-fixing lands, but this is completely unrecognized. Apologists for the insanity of Vintage and Legacy downplay the contribution of the original dual lands, glossing over the fact that part of the problem is that any deck ends up able to do absolutely anything. Fortunately, Wizards of the Coast clearly recognizes the issue, and once we get used to playing with the Temple of Ormazd, and matchups that rely on strategy rather than who has all his colors and who doesn't, I think we will come to understand as well.
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