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by Da Sarge Magic: The Portal Problem Before we begin, I have three things I want to say. First, Happy Anniversary to Beyond Dominia. I cannot express how much I appreciate them letting me write articles every month. I truly enjoy it: It is fun and it challenges me every month. While I have never met the bosses face to face, I want to thank them again for giving me the chance to write. You have also given me my own choice as to what to write every month. I hope I will never let you down. Thank you very much. Secondly, I would like to thank the people who write to me. I really did not think that I would get as much e-mail as I did. I have received e-mail not only from the USA, but from Spain, Israel, Holland, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. These are all Magic fans. Some agree with me, and some don't. I thank you for taking the time to write and to take the time to grace Beyond Dominia with your presence. Beyond Dominia cannot function without you. Sometimes we don't get a chance to thank you as much as we should. I would just like to take the time to say thank you once again. Third, I must eat some humble pie. As hard as it is to believe, Da Sarge made a mistake. I know, I know, it is hard to believe and I have shattered the faith of many. But, I must admit my mistake. There is no expansion for Portals, it is only some stupid gift set special for Portals. I got the Tempest expansion set for Magic confused with Portals. I am really sorry about the confusion. It was all my fault. Now on to the article.... Boy did I make some people mad about Portals. I have never received as much e-mail about an article as I did this month about how I feel about Portals. So, as I was sitting next to the computer getting ready to write this month's article, I said to myself, "Sarge, you must talk about Portals once again." So that's what I am doing... First things first, Portals in its most basic concept is a good idea. Make the game of Magic so simple that anyone can pick up a deck and play. "Sounds good, so what's the problem?" you say? Glad you asked.... I have what you might call a few beefs with Portals. Number one: Why make a card set without a major portion of Magic? Namely, instants and artifacts. At first, I thought they were bringing out an expansion set in October, but I got that confused with the new expansion set called Tempest. So now I am even more confused. You make a set, without half of the action, just to make it simple to pick up? OK, I'll bite, when do you show them the rest of the game? This sounds silly to me. Granted, I have not played Portals, and I'm not interested in the cards. But then again this game is not designed for "seasoned" players. I firmly believe that you can use current cards to learn how to play. In fact, I can't see why you would not want it any other way. I've done it, people who write to me have done it, it takes time, but it can be done. But when do the new players start to learn the instants and the artifacts? Do they pick the rest of the game up if they want to stick with it? What's the deal, WOTC? Don't get me wrong, instants are the very heart of Magic, it's also the very heart of many problems with Magic. If WOTC can't get all the rules straight in Magic, how are you going to make a starter kit for it? It seems to me that WOTC has the answer: Don't include instants or fast effects. Number two: Why can't you use cards from Portals in tournaments? Here's another thing I can't understand about the set. Granted, the front of the card is different, making some things easier for the new player. Also, some of the wording is different, but so what? I would think that if this is a Magic game you would want to make the Portals cards so that you can use them with regular cards. I don't understand why you can't use them in tournaments. Sure, not every new person is going to want to play in a tournament right away, but at the same time, why make the new guy buy a whole new set of cards? If the new guy is used to using certain cards from Portals, then let them use them. It seems to me that you are trying to alienate the new guy. I just don't understand. To sum it all up. I'm not impressed with Portals. To be honest, I think it is a good idea to have a starter kit, but before you have a starter kit I think that WOTC should clean their own house first. The timing problem is there because WOTC tends to change the rules a lot. In my mind, how can you have a starter kit but not have all the bugs worked out in the regular game first? There is something else that has cropped up about Portals that may, or may not be a problem, but has an adverse affect on the way we play Magic. A lot of my e-mail has indicated that Portals is much more of a chilling then Magic because of the lack of instants. I find this most interesting. I had said last month that I thought that it would not be long before there are Portals only tournaments. I have to ask myself, am I that far off the mark? Is it possible that there will be two separate forms of Magic? To be honest, maybe that's not such a bad idea. Unless, of course, WOTC forgets all about the real Magic game.......
That's My View And I'm.......
NOTE 1: For those who asked to be put on the Letter Of Protest List. Thank you very much. I'm in the process of writing the letter now and I want to wait another month before I send it in. Right now we have 20 people on the list and to be honest I was hoping for more. I hope to send a copy of the letter to each person on the list by the end of next month for your opinion. Please spread the word around so we can get more people on the list. NOTE 2: I could not reply to the following E-mail addresses:
Ji***m@l***l.com Sorry I could not reply, my server would not recognize your address for some reason. NOTE 3: Some of my e-mail has indicated that there are some of you that feel that Magic is a CCG first. You could not be farther from the truth. I will make this short. It is a players game first, CCG second. If you don't believe me, think of it like this. If we didn't play it, how collectable would it be? Once again, Happy Anniversary to Beyond Dominia. All commentaries are the opinions of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of Beyond Dominia
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