An Invitation to Help Magic
General forum
Posted on Oct. 3, 2020, 7:35 p.m. by Mindlessbuilder
If you have been anywhere on the internet lately and are in anyway interested in MTG, you might have noticed that Wizards of the Coast isn't really popular with the community. These grievances are not baseless: the predatory tactics seen in products like Secret Lair and Collector Boosters, the breaking of beloved formats by Wizard's lackadaisical design, and allegations of racist work environment by former employees such as Zaiem Beg. Looking at all this, it would not be unreasonable if players are unhappy with Wizards of the Coast. So what should we do about this ? Usually we as a community will just say that wizard is shity, but I don't think that's is enough. I think now we need to say that Wizard is shity and actually do something about it. (And no, I don't think harassing employees at Wizards count as a solution) This is why I am writing this post. I want it to be starting point where we could discuss what we as a community can do.
-Solution 1,Help employees to unionize :
right now the people who have any power at Wizard's care about one thing profit. Meanwhile the employees who actually care about the game have little say in hoe they do there jobs. If the employees at Wizards Unionize not only cant they bargain for a better work environment, they can also be given the freedom to make a better game.
-Solution 2,A Modding Community
For a long time Wizards of the coast has been the only source of MTG Game Content.Now this may sound obvious, Wizards first made the game so of course they should be the only producer. But for me the idea that Wizards is the only source of game content to be rather odd. In some digital games for example, once a company releases a game the fanbase can mod it.These modders make communities that produce mod that are enjoyed by the fanbase; some might even prefer these mods to the base game. Yet in the magic community I see no group that share the role that modders do in digital game. Cube might be the closest thing we have to mods in MTG, But I think what MTG needs is cube made up of fully custom cards. This way there is source of MTG Game Content that is entirely controlled by the community.
So these are some solutions that I think may help MTG. What do you think ? What are some solutions that you would propose ?
VampDemigod says... #3
Thank you Cae. I was trying to find a polite way to say that and couldn’t figure out how to. I’m glad someone was able to respond to this.
I will also say, I don’t think that WotC is unpopular in the community. There’s pushback against all the fat-cat products, and against power creep, but I think you’ll find that MORE people are enjoying the game than ever before.
October 3, 2020 10:35 p.m.
VampDemigod says... #4
Also, your second suggestion is literally THEFT OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND COPYRIGHT VIOLATION.
Also, I will always support idea of making custom cards, despite the fact that it technically violates the copyright of the MTG card frame. But don’t trash WotC and say your custom cards are better until YOU start releasing 4-8 sets of 100-400 cards for 25 years.
October 3, 2020 10:40 p.m.
EleshNornsFs says... #6
user:DeinoStinkus and WotC thinking their designs are good. Pfft. Check out my new Captain.
Bigger Ass Dragon
Legendary Creaature - Ass Dragon
Haste
Whenever Bigger Ass Dragon attacks, eliminate target player.
1/17
October 3, 2020 11:38 p.m.
EleshNornsFs says... #7
Also VampDemigod as far as I understand WotC's policy, as long as you are not using custom cards to generate income, they are protected under the Fan Content policy, and not considered theft of IP.
October 3, 2020 11:48 p.m.
VampDemigod says... #8
Oh yeah!? New Omnath! Omnath, Locus of Life! CMC: 5 mana, (1 of each color, phyrexian) Landfall: Search your deck for two lands and/or elementals, and put them onto the battlefield. When the landfall ability of another elemental triggers, you win the game. 5/5
Yeah, fan cards aren’t illegal if $ isn’t involved. Thanks for bringing that up.
October 3, 2020 11:53 p.m.
VampDemigod says... #9
Btw, I’m sorry if I’m coming off as toxic, I’m tired and had a bad day. I’m sorry if I’ve insulted anyone.
October 3, 2020 11:54 p.m.
defamagraphy1 says... #10
While I feel some honest stagnation within the production and creation of cards by WotC, I don't feel as though Wizards is using predatory tactics. Their Secret Lair cards are (for the most part) fairly priced before they reach the secondary market.
I feel like Secret Lair was and is an honest marketing tool. What players are failing to grasp as the outside of wholesale sealed package purchases, ie. Commander sets and booster boxes, Wizards isn't making "big" money.
First, Due to Covid, Arena, and other factors, paper Magic took a huge hit.
Second, due to the secondary markets and netdecking, Wizards is not getting the (abstract) value out of the cards they print.
The secondary markets have sadly been dictated by players for a long time and has taken on a life of it's own far out of Wizard's reach. Naturally as if I were a business owner and sold a product, and someone else made more money off of my product than for what I sold it for, I would feel absolutely cheated and would want a slice of the profit I'm missing out of.
If you don't believe that it's dictated by players, then simply look at how the market waxes and wanes. With Omnath for example, I purchased four on a preorder with alternate art at 16.99 each. They jumped at a market price of 34.99, and as the deck has been repeatedly beaten, it's settled at 21 each. If the deck grows in other formats, the demand will increase and the price will jump, and with complaining players and potential bans on the horizon, it can decrease as the deck falls out of favor and there's less demand.
This could be stopped IF players were to be innovative and create their own decks. However, misguided conceptions, like "Pro players will automatically know the best deck to play" or just simply playing the top deck because it's winning or "This card is too powerful BAN IT!!!" Causes tons of market fluctuation.
What's all this mean to Wizards? It means, if they print a card strong enough, that can be utilized in lots of decks, it becomes a highly sought after card. Let's say, you spend 130 on a box, and open a $50 mythic that you don't want. So you go to a secondary market to sell it. Then lets say over the varying prices each other rare in the box is $5 dollars averaged. (This is not counting uncommons, and commons) that's 35x5 that's $175 worth out of the one box, PLUS the $50 mythic, and you made more than what it was purchased for and Wizards technically lost money. Yes it's printed cardboard, yes they have mark ups that make them money but as above, paper Magic is on a downhill slope, and WotC can't acknowledge the secondary market or the fact that its practically an economy.
Mostly all players have been inherently trained for years to determined how good a cards is by price. You may not realize it, but we do it all the time through trading. This cards worth 20, so trade me 3 or 4 rares for it. Even though in reality, those worth exactly the same.
So things like Secret Lair and collector boosters were of course a natural shift to put new sought after prints into the market to keep players interested. They had to do it or Magic would get dull and they'd go under eventually as a company, and it was done it such a way that they won't damage the integrity of drafting which is where they make a majority of their money.
October 4, 2020 3:43 a.m.
defamagraphy1 says... #11
On to "breaking" beloved formats. WotC cannot determine if a card will or will not break a format.
I know this is such a very hard thing for players to grasp BUT They have printed tens of thousands of individual unqiue cards. That is a lot of cards to go through individually to make sure that one doesnt interact in a negative way with other cards through 6 or more different formats. If you're referring to Uro or even Omanth, yes they're powerful, BUT you CAN interact with them. The difference that a lot of players miss these days is how well you can interact with your opponents combo. Omanth CAN be interacted with. Hulkflash however was a combo that could be done and kill you on turn 0 which at the time there was only 1 card that could stop it. So you couldn't interact with it.
That brings me to different play styles, there's Aggro, Midrange, Combo, and Control and believe it or not their are players who WANT to play a combo deck. They take a whole different skill set and way of playing than any other deck. I want to win in one turn and not take 12 turns to pull it off. To me, that's not fun. Now for the longest time Wizards has not made a good combo, and due to things like Social media and the internet the public outcry of "this is broken, ban it" has stopped them from doing so and has literally bored me and others.
So I guess now I need to discuss the last couple of Standard decks. Wilderness Reclamation, Fires of Invention, Teferi and Oko. Why were these decks broken and why did they need to be banned? Truth is, Fires decks were powerful but NOT broken. Players just chose not to pack enchanment hate within their decks. Secondly Fires derived a ton of its power from planeswalkers and Wizards did not print a ton of viable options to rid of planewalkers. Making them less interactive. The card that carried its weight was Teferi and not Fires of Invention, but since players were doing a lot with their post Fires turns other felt like the card was too good. Fires literally made it to where you could not play spells at instant speed. The opposing player could respond to it, Teferi was the problem making it to where you couldn't. It was Wizard's fault in ignoring Teferi's static ability as a problem and somehow the community didn't see it either. I literally sat across a table against a guy with a black white deck and I was playing Fires. He won the die roll, turn 1 Duress. Discard Fires, it was gg from there. But people only wanted to net deck instead of trying possibilities and answer them.
Now on to Wilderness Rec. This deck did something similar to Fires in being able to tap into large amounts of mana to play big things sooner. What's the difference though? Wilderness Rec enabled players to counterspell their way through games until a big finish while Fires couldn't. It was the control element that went so well with the enchantment that made the deck hard to interact with. Yes. Wilderness Rec needed a ban. No Fires did not. BUT since the community complained over both, they both got the axe.
So Oko and Teferi. Wizards did not forsee the impact of Oko blanking a creature and it being +1. It was a stupid ability. Even when it was spoiled I thought, is this a misprint? It was definitely a design flaw that Wizards thought would not break a format, but as it did, it was banned pretty fast and thank god for that cause it did need to go. Teferi, as mentioned above was just too hard to interact with being the best planeswalker and not enough kill options, and not being able to do it at instant speed. Giving your opponent the ability to counter. Once again, I don't think they saw it as format breaking, but they didn't print enough answer cards to it so there you go.
This is why we have so many cards now that can target a creature or Planeswalker and do it for cheap. Like Bloodchief's thirst.
So now to Omnath and company. The deck is so beatable, it's being beaten now. Less players are playing it because other players started packing removal and it's hard to put protection into your Omnath deck. That brings me to 1 of 2 things. If you couldn't beat Omnath, you either A. Kept a bad hand or B. Didn't pack removal. And there's removal for Omnath in every color. EVERY ONE. So there's no excuse to not beat the deck. If you lose, it's ok it happens sometimes, but it isn't all powerful.
I truly wish people would stop jumping on bandwagon mentalities and start looking for ways to fix it. Saying ban Omnath means you're just not playing Magic. Not meaning to be rude but its the truth. Losing is a part of the game whether its turn 5 or turn 20. The thing is if you've had the opportunity to stop it, and you have.
October 4, 2020 4:31 a.m.
defamagraphy1 says... #12
As for the racism thing. I really hate when people jump on a social injustice bandwagon. Especially without a very true understanding of what racism means or is. Hatred of another person for whatever reason is sadly within all of us. For whatever reason. I'm honestly not a fan of rednecks. Sad but true. Now, I want you all to look at that sentence, most of you will believe that their isn't a problem with that, however what I'm actually doing is categorizing a group of people by the way they talk, dress, act, things they do, and yes, even skin color. I assume that rednecks are dumb, of low socioeconomic status, enjoy hunting fishing football etc, the second amendment and Donald Trumpand fir the most part are white. So what is that doing? By categorizing people into a group to be belittled or made fun of is in fact a form of racism or bigotry.
If a white person gets in an arguement with a black person, and the black person called them a racist. That in fact would make the black person a racist by categorizing a white person as such.
Any categorizing of people by any of their choices for whatever put us into that category of bigotry or hatred just for not liking or making fun of another person's being. It's ALL wrong. Not just wrong for a small few. I realize this is a truly uneasy topic but this is an honest truth about people. Disliking something about someone is inherent and categorizing people by that dislike is natural. It's a difficult task for anyone to step back and tell themselves what they are doing is wrong, because the bottom line is that people are who they want to be, they love what they love, and judging or making fun of or looking down of them then categorizing them into a for any of those things is wrong.
So, in all this explanation this bring me to the allegations with Wizards and jumping on bandwagons to protest.
The employees at Wizards are not Wizards of the Coast. When they go home at night, they are an individual. They don't answer to the name of Wizards, they answer to their own. These people have individual thoughts and feeling as all people do. If one or more people were being disparaging towards another person through this categorization, it doesn't make the entirety of people at Wizards racist. It doesn't make Wizards accountable. It makes only the indivdual accountable.
This mindset, of attacking the entirety is like saying all police are racist. When they are not, and in the end and forgive me if I offend in saying this might make you more a part of the problem than you realize, but that is truly a part of soul searching since we as a people have a narrowed vision of seeing everyone as a group rather than the individual.
You have to see a person as an individual and not as the group. You have see every person in this way, including those we want held accountable. Only then will we start make a movement towards true equality.
October 4, 2020 5:05 a.m.
defamagraphy1 says... #13
I'm sorry for the long winded responses and typos, and if I offend anyone, but I think taking a step back from certain things and making a different approach is what should be done and I mean this in regards to all three points.
October 4, 2020 5:12 a.m.
When they invented Elder Dragon Highlander as a format it was literally modding MtG.
October 4, 2020 12:59 p.m.
EleshNornsFs says... #16
I disagree with you defamagraphy1 on many points, however that is the most clear, respectful, and logical debate that I have seen from that side of things. I disagree with you on the Omnath situation. I only see two decks right now. Omnath, and Removal for Omnath (with Omnath as a wincon). I think that is the definition of broken. Even if there is a way to deal with a deck, when the two viable decks are Deck A and the Anti Deck A, the card is busted. I also don't think that everything can be chalked up to bandwagon mentality.
October 4, 2020 2:09 p.m.
defamagraphy1 says... #17
Haha no worries man.
And no, not everyone has bandwagon mentality. Some of these are individual views from individual experiences. But the state of standard comes from quite a few factors here.
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Everyone has not tried everything. Cards have quite literally been shelved as a new set releases and players only play in that set outside of just really good cards that carry on.
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Net decking is an actual problem. It is quite possible to build an off the cuff deck to beat Omnath decks outright without playing straight forward hate.
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Omnath is the best mechanic design available in the set. The second is Rogues. If you've attempted to play any of the other mechanics they feel terrible.
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There will always be a deck at the top that other decks have a tough time beating. This is how meta games are formed. If you're always playing aggro or mono red, you either need to diversify your build and adapt or die. That's always been a concept of Magic.
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Omanth was built straight out of the set pretty easily. It took no time in thinking of a way to break the card, and most of the other cards follow suit to go with it. Other decks outside of Rogues had a plethora of choices to make so Omnath was online faster than many many other decks.
Even though the deck is fast it doesn't mean it can't be stopped. Reclamation decks were far worse to deal with than Omnath
October 4, 2020 3:12 p.m.
defamagraphy1 says... #18
Determining just how broken a card is depends on how well it can be interacted with. Omanth is very easy to interact with. However I do believe Genesis Ultimatum or Escape to the Wilds should have seen the axe
The other problem is that so many players are playing it just to win.
I think the bigger problem is that it forces a player to interact with it so early which throws off an opponents game plan, that and players don't want to put more removal in their decks.
Bloodchief's Thirst, Giant Killer, Mutual Destruction, Feed the Swarm Heartless Act Legion's Judgment Murderous Rider Mythos of Nethroi Dirge Bat Hagra Mauling Flip Drag to the Underworld Smite the Monstrous Triumphant Surge Angelic Ascension Dire Tactics Epic Downfall Necromentia Deny the Divine Eat to Extinction Banishing Light Skyclave Apparition Redcap Melee Thundering Rebuke Charge of the Forever-Beast Flame Spill Soul Sear Channeled Force Mythos of Vadrok Rumbling Rockslide The Akroan War Concerted Defense Anticognition Essence Scatter Jwari Disruption Flip Lofty Denial Cancel Convolute Deny the Divine Didn't Say Please Mystical Dispute Mystical Dispute Memory Drain Rewind Agonizing Remorse Memory Theft Pelakka Predation Flip Shatter the Sky Storm's Wrath Extinction Event
That's a whole lot of cards that can deal with Omnath decks. So its not so broken that it can't be dealt with. Does it mean you have to add more than 4 removal cards or change colors? You might have to. Does it mean you might have to change some strategy? Possibly.
Mono White has at least 12 solid answer cards for Omnath and you can still play aggro. Blue has counterspells though you might have to pair it with another color. Red has a few options as well, and the only color that is lacking is if you play mono green. With that many cards you really can't say it's so broken it's unbeatable. You have to play around it. You have to anticipate the strategy. These cards can easily be maindecked, and if youre a player that goes 38 creatures and only 22 lands then I'm sorry for you.
But I wholey disagree with the term Broken. Ive often seen Omnath players quit when they lose Cobra and Omnath. I've also seen a lot of them pass the turn and pass several turns. If you cannot answer it, its out of lack of trying, preparedness, or just a bad game which happens. Also, its not Omnath doing broken things. Omnath only produces the mana to do really really good things. IF Wizards bans Escape and Ultimatum players will have to switch to Lithoforming and while it won't kill the deck it will slow it down and I think that's a more fair approach. But yeah... as above, you don't have to limit yourself to just what's being played. Think outside the box.
October 4, 2020 4:08 p.m.
Yeah barely any of those cards are playable though. Situational. Go 2 for 1. Just bad. Slow. Easily played around. Etc.
There needs to be answers and shells for the answers that rival Omnath.
October 4, 2020 4:58 p.m.
defamagraphy1 says... #20
Hmm.
I'm wondering if your reply was to be purely argumentative or maybe I'm not understanding your intent here.
There are several cards out of that list that are used in the current meta.
Some are situational. Sure. Some will depend on if you're the play or draw, but a large majority will deal with the problem.
The fastest Omnath can come down is on turn three and they have to pass the turn after doing so. They won't be able to go off on turn three at all AND they will be tapped out in doing so. So no responses, no counters. No negate which is in sideboard. No Mystical Dispute. Which is the only way to protect what they have.
If you're on the play you have should access to 4 lands to respond.
If you're on the draw three.
If they wait a turn to play Omnath they still will not have enough mana to deal with your answer unless you're responding in blue.
This leaves them to wait until turn 5 before they can protect Omnath or go for the Ultimatum and that's if you haven't killed the Cobra.
Don't wait to kill the Cobra if you can help it.
If they end up passing to turn 5 to protect Omnath, and you go for the Cobra, they will Dispute your kill if you're on the draw but will be unable to protect Omanth.
If you allow them to play Omnath and then respond to kill it, they have to dispute and pass the turn.
This automatically puts decks using White Blue and Blue Black in a position to stop Omnath decks.
Containment Priest is a card that shuts down Genesis Ultimatum and you can use it in a party build alongside Skyclave Apparition and Banishing Light
Don't want to play a party aggro deck? Then hit up Rogues, add Heartless Act and Feed the Swarm and Bloodchief's Thirst or Agonizing Remorse
Don't want to play aggro? Go control. White Blue, Esper, Blue Black, Sultai,
Want to play Red Green? Primal Might on an Akoum Hellhound after dropping a land for two will kill it, or Charge of the Forever-Beast revealing Klothys, Bonecrusher or Questing Beast..
Oh and there's Thundering Rebuke.
Which is a card the Omnath players are using to kill other Omnath's, but surely Omnath players wouldn't know how to kill an Omnath
But wait. None of those cards are playable right? Even though standard players are currently using them?
So, maybe there was another intent for your comment? Because the bigger problem with this deck is post Ultimatum and players have cast it without Omnath even on the table. Or the insane value gained post Escape
October 4, 2020 7:58 p.m.
defamagraphy1 says... #21
And I don't know if you've looked into the current meta for standard, but Omnath decks have dropped in numbers of people playing the deck and barely placing in top 8 within the last week.
October 4, 2020 8:06 p.m.
dingusdingo says... #22
Uhhhhhhhh
1. Wizards needs to print SL to make money to stay afloat
Wizards is owned by Hasbro. I urge you to take a look at the investor informational publicly available.
https://investor.hasbro.com/financial-information/quarterly-results
Hasbro is not struggling with money, and Magic is a big name brand and moneymaker for Hasbro. Here is a quote from their 2019 Q2 earnings
"We delivered a high-quality second quarter, with positive consumer trends at retail and profitable growth led by several geographies and brand categories,” said Brian Goldner, Hasbro’s chairman and chief executive officer. “Our investments are differentiating Hasbro’s portfolio and delivering profitable revenue streams, including continued MAGIC: THE GATHERING revenue growth in tabletop and digital. We grew revenues in the U.S. and Europe, and we believe we are well positioned to deliver against our target of profitable growth for the full-year 2019."
To say that Magic or WotC or Hasbro need Secret Lair to stay afloat financially is, uhhhhhhh, completely wrong.
To address the secondary market concerns, Wizards actually wants a thriving secondary market because it keeps local game stores in business (Good for Wizards) and keeps players interested and invested (also good for Wizards). Your assertions that Wizards needs to make direct to consumer printings to stay afloat because of the secondary market is incorrect. Wizards has stayed afloat with Magic for 25 years without a direct to consumer product, and Magic is more popular now than ever.
2. Wizards can't determine if a card will break a format
Hasbro is a billion dollar company. Sets are designed 2+ years in advance. There is plenty of time and plenty of resources to catch these glaring problem cards. There is statistical information on multiple websites about the exact decks winning tournaments and the % of the meta they occupy. You're acting like Wizards is 5 happy neckbeards in a basement, who are making a big oopsie because they are too enthusiastic about their ideas for new cards. The frequency and the egregious level of mistakes point to these format warping printings being intentional rather than accidental.
3. Wizards of the Coast shouldn't be held responsible for discrimination in their work place
I'm assuming that your long-winded and interesting paragraphs on race are about the discrimination by Wizards detailed by Zaiem Beg. I suggest you educated yourself on hiring practices and workplace harassment laws, and revisit the account detailed by Beg. If things happened as detailed in the account, Wizards has definitely broken the law.
4. Omnath isn't broken because removal and counterspells exist
This is an extremely bad take. As already pointed out in this very thread, most removal available is 2-for-1'ing yourself off the Omnath cantrip, and that doesn't even touch on the abilities a resolved Omnath brings to the table.
Your posts reek of high schooler, and they reek of corporate bootlicker. Also come on bud, you are peppering "literally" all over the place and every sentence you use works exactly the same without it.
October 5, 2020 4:31 a.m.
defamagraphy1 says... #23
I didn't state that Wizards needed to print Secret Lair to stay afloat. I merely stated the involvement of cost. Wizards has to net a profit to stay open. If those share holders aren't happy, then they close Wizards and I truly hate to put it this way, but if you don't like it then don't play.
I'm sure you're well aware that Wizards does other things besides solely printing Magic Cards, and if you've worked in any industry you know that there's a lot of other needs besides making product. That leaves a small group of people to play test future set cards, and some cards they want to "break" a format to reach a target audience but they have to do it in such a way that achieves a balance. Not every player wants to play just another aggro deck.
If the entirety of the company is responsible then they should be held accountable, but some how I truly doubt that.
When Omnath hit's the table, prioty is passed, if you respond at instant speed, they can't play a land because lands aren't played at instant speed. Secondly as stated above, Omnath players typically have to pass the turn. If you're waiting it's just as I said you have a bad hand or didn't prepare for the match up. You can watch several matchups with a large variety of other players versus an Omanth deck. Omnath hits the table, and it gets countered or dies.
October 5, 2020 5:44 a.m.
I think my favorite part of any "x-card isn't broken because there are answers" argument is that in every single one the interaction goes exactly as detailed above. Turn 2 Cobra, Turn 3 Omnath, Opponent removes Omnath, Game over because it's not like I have 58 other cards in my deck and hand to play. The Omnath deck I built for arena is not Omnath or Cobra dependent. They sure make playing it nasty, but I'm certainly not going to scoop because someone killed my Omnath on turn 3. The other combos I have built into the deck can, and have, carried me to wins without Omnath ever hitting the table.
Ashaya, Soul of the Wild, Ancient Greenwarden, Scute Swarm, Phylath, World Sculptor and Dryad of the Ilysian Grove are all pretty bonkers cards to have out for me and not much fun for my opponent. Sure there is removal for Omnath but short of playing an "Oops, All Removal" deck, I'm going to overwhelm most decks I play against. The deck giving me the most trouble right now is the Azorious flyers build but even that is still like a 65/35 advantage my way.
October 5, 2020 1:05 p.m.
defamagraphy1 says... #25
Ugh. I really can't stand this arguement of "What you're saying doesn't work Omnath is busted, BAN IT!"
So I'll go by tournament standings.
Last week 4c Omnath presented a staggering 34% of the standard meta game.
This week (prior to recently) it represented 3.3% of the metagame.
It currently sits at 11.4 percent of the meta.
What currently sits on top? Dimir Control. Followed by Omnath Adventures (Omnath Adventures mind you doesn't have the same explosive potential as 4C) and Dimir Rogues
Last week 4c Omnath was placing in mutiples of top 8's in multiple events.
This week, it 4c Omnath only represented one Top 8 in Second place from two days ago.
It's now placing in 15th and lower.
With decks like Grixis Control and Rakdos in first
Why is that?
Could it be the removal I mentioned above?
Oh. It is. Smh.
October 5, 2020 3:39 p.m.
defamagraphy1 says... #26
And before you say "Omnath Adventures still is using Omanth!"
Omnath Adventures is also not taking top slots, although they are doing much better than the 4c Ramp version.
October 5, 2020 3:44 p.m.
defamagraphy1 says... #27
FSims81 and what you're mentioning with Lotus Cobra into Omnath is the 4c build. Omnath Adventures doesnt use Cobras.
October 5, 2020 3:47 p.m.
defamagraphy1 people built Omnath and it dominated, people are now building to combat Omnath and it's slowing down. People will revamp Omnath to deal with the countermeasures. It will be a recurring cycle but the tie that binds will be Omnath.
I wasn't actually disagreeing with you about whether this is a bannable card, just that saying "hey removal exists" shouldn't be a reason that goes into determining whether or not a card should be banned.
Removal or not, if the entire meta is either an Omnath variation or decks designed to specifically combat Omnath decks this is something that will be looked at and a possible ban levied.
October 5, 2020 5:08 p.m.
defamagraphy1 says... #29
Many people prior to your comment stated what I had said above. Now what you're saying is possible, however there's not a whole lot of room for Omnath decks to provide countermeasures for removal. In order for the deck to do what it does, it has to dedicate a lot of spots to the "combo" even I have struggled in building a list that keeps that combo going all the time.
The problem is, you have to safely lay down Cobra and Omnath leaving no extra mana and pass the turn. If you end up protecting Omnath the turn you go off, you will pass several turns to do so as you will need an additional mana or more. You can't protect Cobra at all without playing Selfless Savior turn 1 the going into Cobra turn 2. Otherwise, you play Cobra on turn 3 and start falling behind. Savior is the only card that does without passing turns
Omnath in any other form other than a ramp landfall build just won't produce the scary "boogeyman" like effects that most players say is too powerful and unbeatable.
And actually, the meta didn't change to do an "anti-Omnath" plan. Just added more removal which in a way, has always been a thing. Dimir Control just happened to be better suited and only gained more leeway once Uro left the format
October 5, 2020 5:39 p.m.
Mindlessbuilder says... #30
I am sorry for causing a fuss. I will try to be more informed when discussing these issues.
Caerwyn says... #2
With respect, your two solutions both seem like they are based in misguided idealism, not practicality.
Unionizing would not actually solve the problems. Wizards' Magic department is not large enough to have any real power against Hasbro, and the kind of grievances you want to solve are not the kind a union would deal with in the first place.
Of course Wizards is the only creator of Magic content. Ensuring they have exclusive control over Magic is the entire purpose of Intellectual Property law. Players can make fun content on their own, but, the second it starts harming Wizards' brand or profits, then it becomes a problem. Plus, take a look at the custom cards page--Wizards has some problems making fair, balanced cards, but they do a whole lot better than 99% of the custom cards players create.
You want to solve problems? Make your position clear on social media and with your wallet. Those are pretty much the only options you actually have at your disposal.
October 3, 2020 8:14 p.m.