Oversoul
The Tentacled One
One of the topics that's been on my mind, but which I haven't gone into at great length (yet), is the tendency in "new" sets to sacrifice potential gameplay elements on the altar of fine-tuning the booster draft experience. I have some trepidation on this matter because I don't want to hate on Limited players or Limited gameplay. Even though I don't play booster drafts myself, I think it's a good format to have. It is the preferred way to play Magic for a lot of very active players, it helps move a lot of product, and it provides a fun alternative approach to the game. I could totally get behind the notion of making some minor concessions in set design to better accommodate booster draft gameplay.
For the past few years, sets have not been making a few minor concessions to accommodate booster draft gameplay. They've been so singularly focused on it that any other consideration gets sidelined. I think it's severe. I don't want to overstate this, as there are other issues. Not every problem in Magic can be attributed to this pattern. But it does seem to be a significant, recurring influence on the game.
The presence in Rivals of Ixalan of cards that were previously printed in Ixalan could practically serve as the avatar of this phenomenon. Those reprints serve no other purpose. It's disappointing because I really like Rivals of Ixalan for the most part. And I guess it's a bit tempered by the fact that this is, apparently, going to be the last "small set." But I still think it's pretty egregious.
Looking back 15 or 20 years ago, sets had their fair share of issues and players had various complaints, some of which were overblown and some of which were reasonable. But this would have been the subject of outrage. "I just bought those cards in the first set and now you want to sell me the same cards again in the second set?" Yeah, that wouldn't have gone over very well at all...
For the past few years, sets have not been making a few minor concessions to accommodate booster draft gameplay. They've been so singularly focused on it that any other consideration gets sidelined. I think it's severe. I don't want to overstate this, as there are other issues. Not every problem in Magic can be attributed to this pattern. But it does seem to be a significant, recurring influence on the game.
The presence in Rivals of Ixalan of cards that were previously printed in Ixalan could practically serve as the avatar of this phenomenon. Those reprints serve no other purpose. It's disappointing because I really like Rivals of Ixalan for the most part. And I guess it's a bit tempered by the fact that this is, apparently, going to be the last "small set." But I still think it's pretty egregious.
Looking back 15 or 20 years ago, sets had their fair share of issues and players had various complaints, some of which were overblown and some of which were reasonable. But this would have been the subject of outrage. "I just bought those cards in the first set and now you want to sell me the same cards again in the second set?" Yeah, that wouldn't have gone over very well at all...