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by Da Sarge Magic: The Rating System I received a ton of mail last month about my version of a "Power Rating" system and I would like to thank the people who wanted to answer the questions I posed. I received so much mail in fact that between the Army, and my umpiring baseball, I have not had a chance to answer all the mail yet. I don't say it often enough but I want to thank everyone who takes the time surf over to Beyond Dominia. Read the articles and then take more time to give us your views. Thanks it means a lot... Ok, I've got a ton of things to get off my mind. Let's start with WOTC and their new rating systems. I have been staying away from this one because I thought it was a joke, but last month, a few people wrote and said that WOTC was trying to make the game easier for the new player because of the rating system they are putting on the new releases that come out. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about you I will try and sum it up. WOTC has decided that a ratings system is needed so that new players know there level of play. They are STARTER, ADVANCED, and EXPERT. Now a Starter is defined as all releases from Portal, to include preconstructed decks, booster packs and a gift box. Advanced are for players who want more options. This includes all versions of the base M:TG such as 4th & 5th edition and future editions. Expert is for those players who want to explore the highest level of strategy. This includes most Magic expansions past, present, and future. An example of this would be Alliances, Mirage, Visions, Stronghold and the upcoming Exodus and Urza's Saga. These definitions came from the WOTC web site at www.wizards.com. Now, exactly why do we need this?? I'm truly lost on this one. Let's break it down. Starter will only be used by those who want to buy Portal. I can't see why anyone would want Portal, but hey if you want to waste your bucks go for it. It's the Advanced and Expert that have me curious. The biggest differences between the two are the sets involved. If you buy ANY expansion you're playing expert level. If you buy any version of the basic set your playing Advanced. My friends, this is a joke. Think about it for a minute. If all of a sudden I have the money to buy a set of Alpha's. I am considered an advanced player and can play only in type 1 all day long. But, If I buy a preconstructed deck from Stronghold, I am now considered an Expert and can play in ANY type of tournament. Tell me where this makes sense??? Better yet, I'll tell ya. It doesn't. First off we didn't need a ratings system. Never did, Never will. What good does it do really? As far as I can see nothing. Think of it like this, in 1998 WOTC will release four sets of Magic cards. They are Stronghold, Portal Second Age (ha ha ha ha ha ), Exodus and Urza's Saga. Based on this, the advanced player has to wait towards the end of the year to buy Urza's Saga. Now I am assuming that Urza's saga will be considered an advanced set because it will be a stand-alone (unless I misunderstood the profile on it). This means it will include a ton of reprints. That means Exodus is considered an expert because it is an expansion set. Here is where it get's confusing. Now the ratings system is based not only on what set you buy, but also on a phrase that also defines the Advanced and Expert. Advanced is also defined as "…more game options", and Expert: "…highest level of strategy". What is the difference between more game options and highest level of strategy? I really can't tell ya because what I may consider a high level of strategy could be considered a just more game options to another. So once again WOTC has created more confusion than come up with something solid. So this is what will happen. Not that it might happen, it will happen. In fact it will happen when Urza's Saga comes out. As I said earlier, Urza's Saga will have a ton of reprints. But what if some of those reprints come from Alliances or Mirage. Could happen. What if some of those cards come from 4th or 5th Edition? I'll tell you right now that while I don't know what Urza's will contain, my money says that Urza's will contain cards that are considered from the Advanced set and cards that are considered Expert. So tell me, will Urza's be considered an expert or advanced? No matter which one it's called it could easily be called the other. If you go based on the fact that it is a stand-alone, then I think that is silly and you are defeating the purpose of creating a ratings system to begin with. If you are going to mix together cards that are considered Advanced and Expert then making ratings system is a waste of time. A ratings system is supposed to clearly define the difference between certain skills. This ratings system does just the opposite. This was clearly a decision based on the fact that it was once again 5pm Friday decision and everyone just wanted to go home. Here is another example. Thundermare was released in both Portal and Weatherlight I believe. Which means that we now have a card that is both a starter (thought I forgot about them huh) and an Expert. Suppose that same card is released in a later stand-alone set. Now we have a card that is in all three areas of the ratings system. Don't laugh, you know it's going to happen. Maybe not with this card, but it will happen. So now tell me how this ratings system makes sense. Once again WOTC will confuse the very player it is trying to get into the game. WOTC should worry more about coming out with more creative, exciting and playable cards, than the reprints and watered down cards that have long dominated the game. It amazes me how a corporation like WOTC which created such a fantastic game like M:TG, continues to miss the point. The ratings system is a waste of the time money and talent that WOTC has working for them. I bet those very same people who created the ratings system could have been better off creating cards they would like to see in the game. Cards we the players would want to see too I would bet. In fact with a few changes to the WOTC ratings system, I bet that my version of the "Power Ratings" I wrote about last month would fit in better then what WOTC came up with.       Dem'd My Views and I'm.......       DA’ SARGE       Email: n***s@r***p.com   Hey, Last month I asked five questions and here are the results: 1) Does a Mox Diamond belong in the same category as the other Moxes? With the exception of only one person we all agree that the Diamond Mox is not in the same class as the others   2) Should WOTC define what a Power Card is? This was a big surprise to me. 80% feel that no definition is needed. But the rest feel that if your just talking about the Power 9 then no definition is needed. But they also feel that there are new "Power Cards" out there that while they are not in the category of the Power 9, deserve their own category. I found this quite interesting   3) Is the way I define a power card fair? About 60% disagreed with me but 35% did while 5% did not care. The big difference of opinion in this question was how would I define a power rating for a spell. A fair question really but I can do it.   4) Should the tournament types (1,1.5,2) be turned into Power Types as I defined them? This surprised me. A majority said that they would rather see WOTC go back to both types 1 and 2 instead of have two types of type 1.5. Like I said it surprised me.   5) Should color mixing be used with two colors instead of one? 85% of the people would rather have more gold border cards like energy bolt. They believe that this still keeps the colors in the tradition they were designed for. I think I agree after thinking about. WotC are you reading this? The players have spoken…… All commentaries are the opinions of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of Beyond Dominia [ Back to May 1998 Table of Contents ] [ Back to Beyond Dominia ] Magic: the Gathering is a Registered Trademark of Wizards of the Coast