Mtg arena open beta

[me_in_japan]

Thing is, neither the regular nor Japanese ones are particularly rare. You buy a pack, you get one. That simple. It's not a question of "can". Every pack has one. I was always going to get a few packs, so I may get them in Japanese. Meh, havent decided yet, and these spoilers are crazy far out from release, so I guess I have time to think on it.

[Grantholomeu]

Not as far out as you might think though. Strixhaven is coming out April 23rd. We JUST had Kaldheim come out it feels like.
But assuming when they are in print the Japanese showcase spells aren't extremely expensive I think I'll probably pick them up.

[Primarch]

Um...

Warhammer is the world’s biggest name in tabletop gaming. Magic: The Gathering is the number one fantasy card game. So, what happens when you smush them both together?

The answer can be found in Universes Beyond, a new premium card set for Magic: The Gathering which sees the game’s creators teaming up with some of the world’s biggest storytelling brands – including Warhammer 40,000.

It’s the latest in an illustrious line of recent partnerships that have seen Games Workshop collaborate with the likes of Bandai, McFarlane Toys, and Marvel Comics to bring the worlds and characters of Warhammer to life like never before.

Universes Beyond will bring the mighty heroes, twisted villains, and fearsome xenos races of the 41st Millennium to glossy cardstock. For Warhammer 40,000 fans, it’s a chance to command the forces you know and love in an entirely fresh way – while cooing over some lavish new art, too.

And for Magic: The Gathering fans, it’s an opportunity to discover a rich universe of galactic conquest and betrayal that’s been shaped by decades of games, novels, and media.

When can you get your mitts on these cards, we hear you cry? Well, they’re a little way off yet, but you can rest assured that Warhammer Community will bring you all the latest news on this card-based collaboration.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. Abaddon Vs. Ulamog? Necrons Vs. Llanowar Elves? Um, no. If it's a 40K TCG made by Wizards, ok. If it's an expansion that drops 40K into MtG, it sounds way worse than the Godzilla cards ever were.

#edit#

And Wizards official announcement:
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/a ... 2021-02-25

Is it just me or does the logo look like a pair of underpants?
So Universes Beyond won't be Standard Legal. How about Brawl and Historic on Arena, Commander in paper? They specifically mention 40K Commander decks.

[me_in_japan]

My thoughts on this stretch for many, many paragraphs. And hey! Today I have no lessons (because: term tests), so let's get cracking!

Roooooight. First of all, I should address the most important issue: Yes. That watermark does look like a pair of pants. What the hell were they thinking? Brrr.

Moving on...

On that note, Universes Beyond products will generally be sold in all Magic channels—these will not be strictly Secret Lair products. The Warhammer 40,000 Commander decks, for example, will be available everywhere we currently sell Commander decks, as will The Lord of the Rings product. We may occasionally do associated Secret Lair products related to the main release, like the Secret Lair Godzilla lands when Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths came out. There will also be the occasional standalone product like The Walking Dead, but the intention is to typically make Universes Beyond as available as any other Magic product.

"these will not be strictly Secret Lair products" is a nice way of saying "some of these will definitely be Secret Lair products", which is a concern. See The Walking Dead for reasons. If they were to keep it as reskins of existing cards a la Godzilla, then sure, no problem, but putting mechanically unique cards in a limited release window/aesthetic-you-may-not-like batch of cards is just such a bad idea.

That said, Universes Beyond cards will not be Standard legal.

I dont care, I dont play standard. And neither does most of the magic player base. The fact they mention this is actually a worry, too, as it suggests theyre aware of potential issues in constructed formats and are trying to hand wave away criticism by saying "well, it's not legal in our flagship format (that most people dont play)"

Finally, fans who have seen us try out a variety of treatments for cards featuring characters from other universes might wonder if we're utilizing the treatment from the Ikoria Godzilla cards—existing Magic cards skinned with the alternate universe—or the treatment used for The Walking Dead—alternate universe cards that stand on their own. The answer is "both," but often we'll default to letting these cards stand on their own. We may find charming opportunities to do the reskinned versions of existing cards and will continue to balance between the two as we move forward.

bugger

I havent even checked the facebook groups yet, but I'm guessing the bile will already be spewing, accusations thrown, and dummies will have been spat so hard that they ricochet off the side of the pram and lodge in the offendee's ear, leading to further bouts of yelling, wailing and gnashing of teeth.

*le sigh*

I listened to a youtube thing this morning on the way to work (Pleasant Kenobi), who was talking about this, and he suggested a few ideas for how it might work that I quite liked (this was before the official announcement you linked.) He said something like a reskinned Masters set would work well for LoTR, and I really like that idea. Fans of LotR could buy it, Wizards could safely put good reprints in without pissing people off, it could be black border, and everybody would be happy. Why Wizards didnt go down that route is beyond me, as it would avoid pretty much every issue that gets raised with these out-of-universe cards, as well as being a powerful marketing opportunity.

But anyway, I suppose there's nowt to be done but wait and see. Regardless of how the entrenched player base feels, these will almost certainly sell like hot cakes. The LotR stuff in particular has the potential to be quite nice. Some John Howe art would look lovely on a magic card, and there are already a bajillion alters of Sol Ring on the hand of Sauron, Tolkein's map of erebor on Mountains, and Barad-dur on Command Towers. The 40k stuff is far more troublesome.

Eh, I suppose time will tell. Time will tell...

[Primarch]

How long until Lorwyn Elves really are a part of AoS?

I'm just looking forward to Codex: Phyrexians.

[me_in_japan]

eh, lorwyn elves appearing in AoS wouldnt bother me, as I dont play AoS (and tbh it'd be a reasonable fit, aesthetically speaking. even fluff-wise it wouldnt be too bad, aside from the necessary trans-planar shenanigans)

Codex: Phyrexians (and, y'know, Magic-y stuff appearing in 40k in general) would be more of an issue for me. It just feels...lazy? rude? corporate? to me to mix and match settings. Phyrexians are cool, though

I dunno, maybe I'm just a grumpy old man shouting at clouds, but back in my day writers and game designers were proud of their work, and wanted to keep it that way. Priestley et al made 40k as they saw fit, and people either liked it or didnt. The game evolved, and became the lovable corporate juggernaut we all know today. Players came and went. But it was still very much 40k, and it lived or died on its own merits.

This kind of crossover isn't being done to enrichen the setting of either game, or to provide interesting gameplay options, or to do anything at all that relates to the games themselves. It's only to entice fans of the other franchise into the other franchise and have them spend their money. Yes, I realise that money is a thing, and that companies exist to make it, but just because something is good for the company doesnt mean it's good for the game, or the players. It feels like the players are being taken advantage of for the short term gain of the company. Essentially, if Hasbro makes X percent profit from these crossovers this year (and they will), and probably for the next couple of years, then the board says "yay! Do it again". Following the money, they do it again. But the more they do it, the less of an identity MtG has. Players get bored and bugger off to other games. It becomes a cycle of losing established players and needing a new one trick pony to draw in new ones to make up for them. Eventually after 5-6 years the game collapses, and the Hasbro board says "good job, lads - we sucked every last penny out of that one before the ship went down. Right! Moving on to our other properties..." The company makes its record profits, but the players who spent their time and money on the game are left with nothing but bad feeling and stacks of cards for a now unsupported game. I'm not saying that this definitely will happen, but it's a possibility. MtG is having a very profitable time right now, and the game is very popular. But, this kind of evil-corporate-money-grab type of attitude is the one thing that could scupper it, even at a time like this.

Looking at the 40k groups and the MtG groups on facebook is very interesting, actually. The 40k groups are maybe 90% in favour. There's a lot of "hey, I used to play MtG, now I can have spess mareenz on my cards. Awesome!" There's very little actual analysis of how the IPs might be affected, and it's being taken on surface value only. There are a few dissenting voices, but theyre all coming from the MtG background, and make reference to TWD. I dont see any only-40k players complaining about it.

The MtG groups have a smattering of "Waaaaaagh! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!!!!!!!" comments, usually followed by a prompt "F**k off" response from the MtG crowd. It's hard to tell if the BFTBG crowd are trolling or genuinely enthused, though. There's also a lot more commentary on The Lord of The Rings than 40k, but that kinda makes sense. While 40k is a pretty well known property, it aint Middle Earth, so more people have opinions on the better known property. Critically, though, the approval rating is much closer to 50/50, and the phrase that comes up again and again is "but if it's like The Walking Dead I'm quitting Magic." or similar melodrama. People are much more concerned about the effect it will have on the game overall, as well as concern for watering down the IP.

This is all fair enough, as having MtG cards with 40k on them has exactly zero effect on 40k as a whole, whereas having MtG cards with 40k on them has serious long lasting repercussions for how MtG will look and play long into the future. Also, obvs, MtG has been burned hard by this before, while it's 40k's first rodeo. I wonder how the 40k crowd would react to MtG characters turning up in 40k, whether they were canon or not. That said, 40k is far more resilient in terms of fluff. Someone as powerful as Liliana or even Nicol Bolas would barely make a ripple in 40k. Raise an undead army? Pretend to be a god and take over the world? Meh, that kind of character is ten a penny in 40k. (Which raises a further question. If, say, Emrakul, or Nicol Bolas or whoever is represented by a very, very powerful card, how in the hell do you represent someone like an imperial inquisitor? Or Exterminatus?

Exterminatus: 4WW - Destroy all permanents. Exile all cards from all players' hands, libraries and graveyards. You win/lose the game.



On second thoughts, let's not go to Camelot, for it is a silly place.

[Primarch]

I seem to have missed this.
https://mtgazone.com/historic-anthology ... formation/
Some interesting card choices in there. I notice that a couple of the cards are from Commander decks, which I think is a first?

[me_in_japan]

Aye - the new batch of historic cards are a tad meh, but I dunno if that’s a truly terrible thing. If every historic drop was a meta-warping power bomb, it’d make the format a bit hard to keep up with. Personally, I’m happy to see Ammit Eternal, as it’s a great Hapatra enabler. It does raise the question of : why was it not just in the Amonkhet remastered set? Same goes for any other Amonkhetian cards that didn’t show up first time around. Smacks of lazy money-grabbing, although I suppose if they were serious about it they’d have done it with more significant cards.

Marit Lage’s Slumber and Death’s Shadow are significant, and could have some effect on the meta. Other cards (including the commander legend ones) are mostly just...fine? And some are straight up “eh?”. Thraben Inspector, for example. Maybe useful in an artifacs-matter deck or something? I dunno

Also: Blinkmoth Nexus. I’m aware that it’s a thing, but how, exactly, is it a thing? I mean, a 1/1 isn’t exactly terrifying, so what does it do that makes it good?

Still, I’ll proooobably get this drop. I have the gems and they ain’t doing much else, cos I’m a tight-fisted miser and never use them for drafting or stuff like that.

[Primarch]

I have the gold and the gems for this, but I think I may just wildcard the playsets I want.

I thought the nexus might work with the Ikoria Mothra card, but that's an Insect, not a blinkmoth. Maybe it's good in an artifacts deck, but I'm not really seeing it. I guess it can't be countered if your opponents have a habit of playing control decks.

[me_in_japan]

well, I got the historic anthology, and so far...meh?

I believe that Thraben Inspector is better than I supposed, although I've yet to see it in a deck. Apparently it's a very efficient 1drop, for those who like their white weenies. Declaration in Stone is, to be fair, also a good card, and one which I've put into commander decks in the past. It'll do nasty things to token generating decks, to be sure. But I still havent seen it used.

The one thing I have tried is building a Death's Shadow deck. It's...a funny beast. I had to kind of unlearn a lot of play patterns, which I suppose is a good thing. It's certainly a unique way of winning the game. I still havent ironed out the kinks in the deck, although I think I've settled on Grixis as my colour identity. I realise that Grixis is the standard colours for Modern Death's Shadow, but Arena lacks a lot of the necessary cards (quite evidently so, in fact. At one point I was building/testing the deck and thought to myself "yknow what this deck really needs is a card that gives a creature double strike and haste". I go look at the modern build, and lo and behold, theres a card that does those things. Not in Arena, mind, but at least I'm thinking about it the right way, I guess?)

Anyway, I got my first Bo3 win with it today. I think Bo3 is the way forward, as it has a kind of controlly way of playing at the moment, simply due to the fact that Arena lacks the cards to go proper aggro with it. I'd recommend giving it a wee shotty, though, if you're so inclined. It's fun when it works