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by Da Sarge Magic: The Letter of Protest
Publisher's Note - We'd like to again remind everyone that this all commentaries are the opinions of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of Beyond Dominia What's up Magic Players, Let me start off by saying that I made a mistake (oh my God, two in one year) in last month's article. I said that a Timewalk was an instant, when in fact it is a sorcery. I would like to thank all those who were MORE then happy to let me know my mistake. While we are on that, let me say this - just because I made a mistake does not mean I don't know the game. To be honest, I am quite good. I just plain screwed up and missed my mistake. No big deal. But ask yourself this. The Timewalk was a mistake (a really stupid one while I am thinking about it) but that does not mean the article was wrong. One more thing before I get with this month's article. Someone sent the editor of this fine website a letter saying that my articles degrade Beyond Dominia. If that is your opinion, I have no problem with it. I write my opinions every month. If you still want to write the editor, that is your choice, but at least have the guts to tell me. You don't have to be scared of me. I don't bite... well not much really. This month's article is going to be a little different. I have been talking about a Letter of Protest for a few months. It is just about done. What I wanted to do is print the letter as this month's article to see what you think of it. This letter will be going to WOTC. (Editor's Note : no editing was done to the Letter of Protest, since we did not want to accidentally change anything. Please excuse the spelling and grammatical mistakes)
Dear Sirs, My name is Michael "Da Sarge" Harney". I write for a website called Beyond Dominia. This site is devoted to your creation, Magic: The Gathering. On this website I have been able express my opinions on MTG. Of late, some readers have written me about my opinions, while some disagree with me, there are more that do agree with me. The most suprising thing is that a lot of the readers say the same thing, and they have never met or wrote to each other. Some as far away as Malaysia and Israel. In one of my articles I wrote that since we all feel the same way about certain subjects, perhaps we should write Wizards of the Coast a Letter of Protest on how we feel. I said I would put it together as long as those involved would give there e-mail address. They did, thus this letter was born. Before we begin, please understand that while we do have some gripes, we understand that you are a company that has to make money to survive. We also agree that you made a brilliant game unlike any before. Our concern is where the game is going... with that said, on to our views. THE PROBLEM:
Who makes the decisions as to what goes on the Banned / Restricted List? It seems like all of a sudden decisions are made about the Banned / Restricted List, and we, the player, have to live with your decisions without having an active part in the game play. To the outsider, it seems like those that play in the major tournaments have the most say on the Banned / Restricted List. WHAT WE WOULD DO: Currently the Banned / Restricted List comes out at certain times of the year. When it comes out again, add a note saying that the RANKED DCI members (and only RANKED DCI members) are invited to send an opinion on what cards they feel should be Banned / Restricted within a certain time period. Put that list in the Duelist and say that all Ranked DCI members have a given time period to vote on the cards they feel should be Banned / Restricted. Give each card a number from 1 -110 (1 being it has to be Banned / Restricted now and 10 being Does NOT have to be Banned / Restricted now). Take the top five cards (for example) and now you have a Banned / Restricted list. This should be how it works. Let the players decide what should be on the list. THE PROBLEM:
We just can't understand this one. It's bad enough that you reprint the cards like Drain Life, Regeneration, Boomerang, and Giant Growth. But, to add insult to injury, you bring out sets like Chronicles, Revised, 4th and 5th Edition to flood the market with yet more reprint cards. Now, you are going to come out with cards that are simply reprints of earlier cards with different tricks. WHAT WE WOULD DO: It's great that you want to bring back certain types of cards, but since you are reprinting cards, bring back the real thing. Don't waste time on a cheap copy-cat card. And don't say the old "We would never reprint that card" or "That would change the game too much". You have reprinted Ball Lightning, Will O Wisp, even City of Brass. Yet in Tempest you reprint Timewalk with two extra Mana and call it a different name. Why? If you are going to reprint a good card, just call it for what it is. As for game play, WOTC had changed it so much, maybe going back to the "Good Ole Days" isn't so bad. THE PROBLEM:
What's the deal? How hard can it be to figure out what should go in Type II and what shouldn't? It seems like every time you turn around the cards are different. WHAT WE WOULD DO: In a way ou are trying to fix that now. Why not just do this: make three types of play: Types 1, 2, and 3. Type 3 would consist of the FOUR latest releases, Type 2 would consist of the SIX sets released before Type 3, Type 1 would be everything else. When a new set is released it goes into Type 3, the oldest of Type 3 goes into Type 2, the oldest of Type 2 goes into Type 1. THE PROBLEM:
This is the biggest complaint from everyone. Even those who don't agree with my opinions, all say you have gone way overboard with this. You are just plain hitting the markets with too any cards too fast. The dates of the new sets that are released are around 2 or 3 times a year. But if you add Chronicles, 4th Edition, 5th Edition, Revised and Portals. All of a sudden you have a ton of cards on the market. People want to be competitive, people want to win. The problem is how much does a person want to spend to get to that point of being competitive enough to win? WHAT WE WOULD DO: The big problem here, and what WOTC is going to have to face, is that people are starting to get fed up. Granted, they are still buying sets fast. That's great for everyone involved, but how long will they keep buying? People are starting to get frustrated about how much they want to spend. Some are even saying it's not worth buying a box because of the cards you get in the box. It's easier to buy singles. The answer is to just release ONLY two sets a year. Not two sets / expensions and then say a 6th edition or something else. TWO SETS PERIOD. This will let people play with the new cards they have before you change the whole playing field again. The trick you guys will have to pull off is by making two sets a year that the players feel are worth buying. THE PROBLEM:
This goes hand in hand with the last problem. Are boxes worth buying? It comes down to this. You spend $70 and $80 bucks on a box, and what do you get for your money? Not much really. The reason for this is that when you buy a box you get a ton of commons and maybe one or two GOOD rares that you can use in a game. For example, when I bought a box of Mirage, I received 1 (one) Daring Apprentice as opposed to a ton of Bay Falcons. Not to mention the amount of Boomerangs I received which were also released in ANOTHER set I know I don't have to mention!!!!!!. Where did I get my money's worth? By the way how do you determine what is a rare, uncommon and common? WHAT WE WOULD DO: You have a bunch of choices really. First would be to even out the ratios between Rares, Uncommons and Commons. Using a ratio of 2 / 5 / 8 for Rares, Uncommons, and Commons would be a good way to start. This way the players get there money's worth. Using the example above, I have to pay an additional 5 - 8 bucks per Daring Apprentice to get a set of four. It's not worth it, even if I did want to use it. Another choice would be to make an even amount of all cards in the set, but make rare cards really special. Make the design really different and have the artist sign the card. Using the example with the Daring Apprentice put four in a box, but make one of them rare by having the artist sign the one card. This way the collectors hae there special cards and the players have a chance to be competitive without having to spend a ton of money. Well there you have it. That's how we feel. I know that these are things you have heard before, and we doubt that anything will really change. But this is how we feel and we had to say something. I wish you would get the players involved with the making of the cards for a new set. Heck, put me in charge of that area. We would come uyp with one great set. The bottom line is we love the game, but where it's heading is uncertain. Other CCG's are trying to challange your top spot. Your making the changes, but whether it's good or bad is unknown as of yet. We just want to play and help to ensure the game will always be there.
Thank You For Your Time
Everyone who asked will be added to this list under Concerned Players of Magic. That's the letter I'm going to send. I know the grammer is very bad. In fact I'm have an English teacher who is helping me fix that right now. In fact, the letter will have been sent out when this article is on the web. So what do you think?
Dem'd My Views and I'm....... All commentaries are the opinions of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of Beyond Dominia
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