I spoke to Mark Poole at an event last year. He told me that while artists used to have a great deal of leeway with the direction they took a piece, these days every single detail is dictated by Wizards, and they are extremely specific with what they want the final artwork to include.
I spoke to Mark Poole at an event last year. He told me that while artists used to have a great deal of leeway with the direction they took a piece, these days every single detail is dictated by Wizards, and they are extremely specific with what they want the final artwork to include.
I spoke to Mark Poole at an event last year. He told me that while artists used to have a great deal of leeway with the direction they took a piece, these days every single detail is dictated by Wizards, and they are extremely specific with what they want the final artwork to include.
I wanna say Steve Argyle expressed a similar sentiment years ago, and that Karla Ortiz went so far as to stop working with them for similar reasons. A lot of people back around the Origins era blamed it on Dawn Murin, an AD/diversity commissar that had allegedly been transferred over from D&D because the D&D guys desperately wanted to get rid of her.
We've known that they were commissioning race specific cards for a while. The whole nigger Aragorn from Lord of the Rings was the point of no return for Hasbro and Wizard of the Coast. They hired a team of PR workers to specifically have the big "news" sites run stories like "Racists are getting owned by these new MTG cards".
Mark Rosewater claims that Lorwyn Eclipsed and Secrets of Strixhaven both had ten draft archetypes, not five. But if you've played either of these sets, you would know that that really wasn't the case. In Lorwyn Eclipsed, there were a handful of cards in the unsupported color pairs, such as Reaping Willow and Voracious Tome-Skimmer, but these off-color pairs were far from supported, and you had to actively work against the design of the set to play them. So, while yes, there were cards that did not fit into the supported color pairs, that does not mean that there were ten archetypes as much as five archetypes and several trap cards.
But at least with Lorwyn Eclipsed there is an argument to be made in Mark Rosewater's defense.
The same cannot be said about Secrets of Strixhaven. I would like to know which set he is playing with, because it's certainly not this one. There are only five supported color pairs in this set–there are no multi-color cards in the unrepresented color pairs at all. If you want to be generous, you could say that there are six archetypes in the format if you want to include converge strategies, but those often feel more like variations on Prismari or Quandrix decks rather than their own separate entity.
Well, this seems like a decent spot to post my thoughts...
I confess, I've been having some trouble getting more into MTG as a whole. Not that I'm having trouble where to start - you guys gave me a TON of useful ideas - but... more because all of the wokeshit that WOTC has forced into the game. While I'm not quite the most emotionally attached to the lore compared to the vets, I am still very much interested in getting into it all regardless; problem is, WOTC decided to cater to gendercultists, and it's a pain trying to figure out what I can even enjoy. As the lore guy for my group of friends, I want to enjoy stuff that wasn't bastardized by faggotry, but it's gotten to the point where I genuinely struggle to find anything to enjoy.
For instance: Bloomburrow. I asked about it previously, and I was told that it was apparently "fine" in terms of lore and such, it's just... after dealing with similar settings like Small Saga over the past few years, I feel like I have to approach everything asking whether or not it's "woke" these days. I want to enjoy the lighterhearted Redwall-esqe setting, was planning on building a Commander deck around it, but I've heard enough comments about "no gender issues" and "everyone being equal" that it makes me hesitant. It's shit, I know, but after dealing with the Radiant Citadel in DND...
Aside from that, I've been having trouble figuring out which specific settings to get into, both for lore and gameplay. I was considering Innistrad, as playing as a werewolf sounds fun on paper, but the whole Day/Night mechanic sounds like an absolute pain in the ass to deal with. Aside from that... if anyone has any suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them. Assuming half my response doesn't get deleted again and I have to type everything out...
If you go by what the faggots on Reddit, Twitter and Bluesky say you won't like any of the lore because they twist everything to fit into their Tranny Logic Narrative anyways.
WOTC doesn't help by being a bunch of Soy Filled cucks themselves but even without the Wokification the Lore has been trash forever.
If you go by what the faggots on Reddit, Twitter and Bluesky say you won't like any of the lore because they twist everything to fit into their Tranny Logic Narrative anyways.
Can't disagree with that; Redditards in particular have to try and corrupt everything. It's just... difficult, to figure out what's actually part of the lore or not, when you have faggots everywhere trying to rewrite everything to fit their cult.
The problem I have with the lore being crap is that it makes it a bit more difficult for lore guys like myself to get invested. Granted, I appreciate a challenge sometimes, but it's still annoying.
That's your problem. You care a bit too much. This is, first and foremost, a game. Lore was never stellar, and it's mostly needed to make it so that spellslinging happens somewhere. So don't let it bother you, if you like the game part.
Can't disagree with that; Redditards in particular have to try and corrupt everything. It's just... difficult, to figure out what's actually part of the lore or not, when you have faggots everywhere trying to rewrite everything to fit their cult.
The problem I have with the lore being crap is that it makes it a bit more difficult for lore guys like myself to get invested. Granted, I appreciate a challenge sometimes, but it's still annoying.
That's your problem. You care a bit too much. This is, first and foremost, a game. Lore was never stellar, and it's mostly needed to make it so that spellslinging happens somewhere. So don't let it bother you, if you like the game part.
I think you're both right tbh - at the end of the day, Magic is still a fun game and the lore is supremely ignorable these days, but at the same time, the art direction alone genuinely does suck some enjoyment out of the game, so I don't blame Scream Aim Fire for being leery. "Human" as a creature type is all-but-explicitly "non-white human", unless the creature is intended to be evil (or gay). And any humans depicted on non-creature cards are rarely white, unless the art depicts them dying (or being mean to a minority).
It's less about the art itself in a vacuum, and more about how forced and obvious it all is. Like... come on, look at this shit. No artist would have ever depicted a creepy leech collecting warlock as a fat black chick, or a magical teacher as a fruity nigga in a fucking wheelchair, without being told to by corporate. It doesn't make me not want to play Magic, but it does make me roll my eyes and avoid new product.
Sorry for delurking only to complain about woke bullshit I'm an oldhead and I actually like reading everyone's thoughts and feedback beyond just "fuck gays, fuck trannies, fuck niggers". Sounds like the SOS prerelease was fun and I'm a bit bummed I didn't prioritize going when I had the chance!
I have been doing Godzilla treatments for basically every commander deck I have, its clear that MTG as an IP is never going to grow beyond a fucking joke so I am just going to take the game mechanics and attach them to things I like.
Strixhaven was lame and gay the first time we went but I'm honestly impressed they found a way to make it lamer and gayer when we went back. I'd assume it was some kind of parody if I didn't know the company behind it.
I played yeeeears ago, and this was my fave card for a green/black deck -
Get the game going, then use one of those cards that nukes all creatures and roll this fucker out. I think there may have been spells to make him flying too, using plains?
I'm an oldhead and I actually like reading everyone's thoughts and feedback beyond just "fuck gays, fuck trannies, fuck niggers". Sounds like the SOS prerelease was fun and I'm a bit bummed I didn't prioritize going when I had the chance!
