I've been lurking for a while, but I finally have a topic to talk about.
Recently, Mtg has been burning down for the past couple of days due to the new Secret Lair. Usually it was just reprints with a new wacky twist, but is now actually new cards that are NOT from Mtg, but from The Walking Dead. Everyone's pissed, from it being new cards in a limited product to the addition of non-Mtg properties to Magic. This isn't the first time there were non-Mtg cards made, but those were silver-border(non legal cards made for fun times).
That sucked, but what really made me post was reading a post about how some PlayEDH group banned the Negan card not for its stupid concept, but because it depicted a rapist in the artwork. A fictional rapist in the artwork. They were near on the mark and they missed it by a mile. Considering this is Mtg, there are plenty of characters that have done way worse things than rape that are depicted on cards. This reminds of when WOTC did the "racist" card bans in June.
Here's the post I saw: https://archive.vn/LVTYV
What I'm trying to say is that everything is boring and broken now. I've played this game for 7 years now, and the first 6 were pretty alright. Now it feels like the game sucks, the story sucks, and the players sucks. Maybe I spent too much time on the subreddit, maybe I though that I could weather WOTC being woke, maybe I got too attached to a bad portion of the game. All this seems like something fun just got ruined, even if the ruin started years ago.
What I came here for is to look for an avenue to talk to other people about something I cherish, or cherished, very deep in my heart. What are other Mtg players' thoughts about all this? If there are no players here, then what are the general observances of the people here?
As someone who played M:tG back in the mid-late '90s, I can't imagine why it would have a story now, or what would possibly compel someone to care about it if it does.
If ever there was an unnecessary job, it would have to be "writer" for M:tG.
Writers for most geek media are painfully/hilariously incompetent. Probably why my favorite games are dark souls and bloodborne - because minimalist story (bordering on no story) 100% trumps shit writing.
One of the most glaring examples is pillars of eternity. People actually like the writing in that game. It’s crap lol
Agreed, if I play Magic: The Gathering, it is not about story, couldn't care less about it and I suspect many people don't care beyond funny and interesting quotes and images.
I remember I played back when they were first doing Mirrodin and you had all the little robot dudes, artifact creatures, and that whole little world.
It was basically just a collection of cool shit loosely thrown together and made to work in a card game. Nobody gave a shit about the overall lore because the thematics of the world was cool and the game was fun to play.
Now it's a massive jumble of writers pet projects that all clash and don't mesh together at all. It makes no fucking sense and they retcon everything constantly.
It takes a lot of effort to fuck up something so simple but they did it.