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by Da Sarge Magic: Da Sarge As I was reading my e-mail the other day I had a reader say, "While I may not agree with everything you say, I enjoy reading your viewpoints a great deal. One question: What do you have against WOTC?" At first, I thought this to be a silly question. Then I thought about it for a moment. I re-read the articles I had written for this great e-zine site. I could then see where this question came about. So let me give you an idea about how I feel about WOTC. I think my problem with WOTC lies in the fact that now, with WOTC so big, they seemed to have forgotten the basic player at times. Why do I say this? In order to make Magic even more successful, WOTC has made some really bad judgments about the game Magic. Case in Point: rulings on timing. If I am correct, it used to work in this order, from slowest to fastest: Sorcery, Instant, Interrupt, fast effect. To me, that was pretty simple. Just use the Last In First Out (LIFO) rule and it was kind of simple. Now you tell me, how many times has this changed? Why? How is it that WOTC, who makes the cards and should know what the rules are, seem to screw up the rulings so that there are so many questions? Granted, there will always be questions from the players, but the questions should come from the players confused about how a card works, not because WOTC has confused the players so much that they must ask for the rulings. Here's another one: Variations of the same kind of cards. Hey WOTC, just how many counterspells can you come up with? Or, for that matter, Prodigal Sorcerers? Just by using those two types of cards you can make a great deck. Let's see, 20 counterspells, 12 Prods, a few Unsummons and Word of Undoings (OOPS, there's another one) and that's a great deck. A little slow, but real effective. I hate it when WOTC runs out of ideas, because then the players get short-changed. How about this: How many types of play can you come up with? Let's see...we have DCI Classic, Extended, Type 1.5 & Type 2. Not to mention sealed deck, Arena leagues and such. For the new players, this has to be real confusing. I mean, you need a check list just to see which sets you can play with! Look at Type 2 and then tell me that it has not been real confusing of late. Throw in the banned / restricted list and you don't know which way is up. What happened to the days where it was just Type 1 or 2 ?????? Sealed decks are great because it just doesn't get any more even. Or, for that matter draft leagues. I like the Arena leagues, but this last one with the oversized cards from Weatherlight are a joke. Who came up with this idea?? If you're a new player, you don't have a chance. A person who has a great deal of cards can chose to be Mirri (sp?) and really kick some butt. WOTC, where are you coming from?? With the Arena league I can see changing different sets, but isn't this going a bit to far?? In some cases you can start with 10 cards in your hand, or, all of your basic lands are dual lands. I like the challenge in Magic, not the joke, and lately WOTC has been making a joke of Magic. What really kills me lately about WOTC is this: MONEY. I have no problem with WOTC making more than their fair share of the green stuff. Let's be honest, I would not be writing this if I didn't love the game. And a great game it is. Far and away it is the best game on the market in any platform. But lately, I think that money and a lack of imagination on the part of WOTC is taking over. Someone wants to make a lot of money at WOTC at the expense of the players. Look at Portal. I don't have the figures, but I am betting it bombed. I say this not because I have misgivings about Portal, but because of the push it is being given. For example, I have never seen any ads for Magic: the Game on TV, except those who say it is a demonic game. But in my area, they are giving packs away by the dozens. HMMMMMM, I would have given the push to a different set other than Portal. It seems to me that someone at WOTC is trying to save their job, because Portal is not doing as well as they thought it would. Portal is another good idea gone really bad. To the point: it was doomed before it came out. I guess it boils down to this. Magic is a great game. I think the ideas of phasing and flanking were great. It added a new dimension without changing the game. At the same time WOTC makes a lot of really stupid decisions about the game without really asking the players (not just tournament players) how they feel. To be honest, WOTC does not have to ask us anything. But if I was a big company making tons of money I would want to keep the players happy, not have them saying how bad I'm doing or how I am ruining the game. This is something I find very frustrating in such a big company. WOTC also needs to get their thinking caps on too. The gravy train only goes so far. I wonder if WOTC really wants to test how far.....................................
That's My View And I'm.......
PS: I could not answer the following e-mail message scsud.ctsteu.edu Mail was undeliverable PSS: The letter of protest should be sent to those on the list by around the middle of this month to those who signed up All commentaries are the opinions of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of Beyond Dominia
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