#unity is doing a wotc

[jk-xyz]

Unity more like Eulogy

[dravidious]

You're more amazing than functionally no rares

Made some Duskmourn cards and also thought about the upcoming set currently known as "Death Race" and got in a vehicle mood

[vonbaghager]

Unity saw WotC trying to copyright the concept of playing DND and watched dozens of big name content creators and companies immediately jump ship alongside a huge chunk of goodwill turning to ash in just days and thought to themselves "Ah, but we'll do it better. We'll do it right." before immediately dropping a lit match and a gas can at their own feet

[vexwerewolf]

Unity: WotC? WotC?! You think WotC deserves "Worst PR Fuckup of the Year?" They're NOTHING! We can do so much worse than them!

[ttrpg-smash-pass-vs]

Yeah, honestly the new hobgoblin lore (at least the playable version) feels very underdeveloped. Like, they couldn’t have added SOMETHING that explains why Maglubiyet or any other evil being typically uses them as foot soldiers? Even just an explanation as to why most are warriors that you find? It really feels like they had no idea how to connect the new and old lore, even though there very much is a way they could (guess what skills would be really useful for a close knit army?).

Yes! Like they do mention that they're famed for thier unity, but that doesn't explain the heel turn in every other aspect of personality. Like becoming obsessed with order and tyranny. The lore we have for the playable kind and the monster kind just clashes. I guess the idea of "you're actively breaking of your species's culture" is just too lofty for them, have to make the PC species the good guys as a baseline.

But "remove all the lore and replace it with 2-5 sentences" was the point of the MPMM it seems. I mean look at the harengon. Small or Medium size (so 2-8 feet doesn't specify), a sentence mentioning they were originally fey, and then a description of the picture. I had to derive all other info from the monster statblocks. And that other info? "They have no usual personality, they just kinda morph into the type of person who would hang around who they're currently hanging around." I guess WotC just doesn't like giving information anymore. Not sure if it's cutting out writing staff or just "you can't be mad about racism in the lore if there's no lore!"

[jeremy-ken-anderson]

Unity

Unity just pulled a WotC and acted like they were the only game in town - changing their payment/service structure in a way that suggests they think they've got a monopoly - and much like WotC they've been politely informed by the game development community and Reality At Large that no, actually, they are a business with competitors who are only too happy to snap up the free market share and show off their own development engines to anyone who is suddenly looking for a new one For Reasons.

Like, the announcement about Unity's pricing change hit the news blogs a day or two ago and as of today every blog I follow that does game development is like, "Let's do a quick comparison of Godot and Unreal Engine to see which would be the better dev environment for switching your game to!"

[whatwhatwotter]

A selection of @rosencrypt 's opinions on the Tolarian Community College video about the new Doctor Who MtG decks:

- "Romana 2?! Would you call the Queen Elizabeth 2?!"

- "Trial of a Time Lord should have FOURTEEN chapters, and The War Games should have ten! Flavour fail." :(

- "Nobody calls him Alistair except his wife or people who are dunking on him. Which includes all of WotC, apparently."

- "Of course, Talisman of Unity doesn't have room for the next few lines, which are..."

- *continues to add extra lines to most of the quotes*

- "I'm glad some things from Survival got in, but they should have added the lesbian furries. Those would have done a number with this playerbase!"

- ["Someone still is running merfolk-"] "It's you!" (She's right, I have at least three merfolk decks)

- "... Do you mind if I watch an episode of Doctor Who?"

[tallgreenlady]

The freemium game Genshin Impact is built in Unity, for context to all of this kerfuffle. Charging a fee per install is so obviously targeting them.

This is exactly like what WotC tried to pull with DnD, clearly coveting CritRole money and shooting themselves in the foot doing it.

[blackratbighat]

It's shocking, but the $0.20 fee doesn't hold a candle to what Hasbro/WotC tried to do with D&D's licence recently. (That one was 25% and they get to use anything that you published or just take it off the shelves if they don't like it. The backlash was *pretty strong*.)

Hoping it goes the same way: Unity backs off, rewrites the deals to make it clear that they *can't* do that, and all their competitors get more market share.

I was honestly incapable of even conceiving of anything as evil as Unity is pulling today. Like holy shit. Will we let these fuckheads take our hands and arms when we give them a finger!?

Game developer unionisation is more imperative than ever fucking before now.

I'm very worried about my close friends using the engine. Some of them say they likely won't be affected, but can you really know? With the wordy, shoddy and vague FAQ they posted, they have all the room and us developers none. Fucking barf

[tigerkirby215]

My worries for Tasha's Subclasses

(Artwork by Wizards of the Coast)

It seems pretty much confirmed that every Unearthed Arcana that’s still considered “relevant” (IE the ones that are a year old and haven’t been officially deconfirmed by WoTC) (IE IE the ones on D&D Beyond) is going to be coming to Tasha’s Cauldron. The only thing that has been confirmed otherwise is that the Psionic Talent Die is going to be changed, which is why I’m not going to comment on any of the psionics subclasses.

However I do have some worries about the subclasses that received a poorer reception. So I guess as a way to document my thoughts, or because I don’t want this account to just be D&D builds I want to give my thoughts and worries on all the current Unearthed Arcana subclasses.

ARTIFICER

The only Artificer we’ll be getting is the Armorer, but we’re also getting a full reprint of the Artificer to “de-Eberron” the class. We’re also confirmed to have new Infusions which makes me extremely hopeful. (I hope they’re not just the infusions from the Artificer UA.)

Regardless I may as well talk about the infusions as well as the Armorer subclass:

ARMORER

The only problem I really have with the subclass is, ironically enough, right on the tin of the subclass. Giving Artificer heavy armor proficiency makes an already extremely tanky class even tankier. I think being able to wear Heavy Armor while dumping Strength is a little much, especially since the weapons also use your Intelligence modifier. It just reeks of min-maxing, and while thankfully Intelligence isn’t as broken as Charisma for the sake of multiclassing shenanigans (no Paladins with a 1 level Hexblade dip) I still think Artificer is going to be extremely strong for Intelligence subclasses like Eldritch Knight, Rune Knight, and ironically enough Arcane Trickster.

Yeah that’s another big problem with the class: the Infiltrator armor. Rogues in Heavy Armor without stealth disadvantage? My favorite. It’s a cool visual but again I don’t want to deal with a 20 AC Rogue. Everything else with the subclass is honestly fine but my problems start and end with Heavy Armor that doesn’t require Strength.

INFUSIONS

Armor of Magical Strength - Similar problems that I have with Armorer subclass, but it’s conceptually fine since it’s limited by level and charges.

Armor of Tools - It sucks but it’s fine.

Helm of Awareness - I honestly think “Alert on a stick” is fine. Infusion slot and Attunement slot for a Feat is fair.

Mind Sharpener - Just… no. Should not be printed. You shouldn’t be able to fail concentration twice.

Spell-Refueling Ring - Just let us build a Spell Storing Ring (IE the magic item.) And not at level 6. Level 10 maybe; level 14 most likely.

BARBARIAN

PATH OF THE BEAST

Thank god for alphabetical order. I honestly think Path of the Beast is fine and I could see the subclass printed without any changes. It’s a little underwhelming but conceptually fine, and it fulfills a good fantasy. I even think the healing ability of the Bite is fine; Battlerager could get Temp HP every turn and that was fine. The ability to heal is balanced out by the weaknesses of the class when compared to the likes of Totem Barbarian.

PATH OF THE WILD SOUL

Ooooh boy now here’s where my problems lie. This entire subclass is bonkers and should not be printed.

WILD SURGE

Oh cool a massive damage nuke plus temp HP for a tank class.

Oh cool unlimited teleportation for a melee class.

Arguably the worst one but still a massive damage nuke for free.

Oh cool more AC and damage reflection for a tank.

Okay the actual worst one and arguably the only “bad” one.

Oh cool making it harder to hit a tank.

Oh cool dual wielding with a Greataxe, and giving a melee character ranged options.

Oh cool an Iron Man laser at the start of a fight that bursts enemies and sets them up for you to attack them.

This ability should have more negative options. The entire point of Wild Magic is to have a chance to screw you over or a chance to majorly help. The class also doesn’t need three different damage nukes at the start of rage. (Equaling a 3/8 chance to just nuke the enemy.)

MAGIC RESERVES

The single dumbest ability ever printed on a class in 5e. I honestly see no way to make this balanced, even if it was limited to once per long rest. Also how the hell is this balanced for 6th level? This should be the 10th level ability at least.

ARCANE REBUKE

Free damage as a reaction. This ability is simultaneously super underwhelming and way too powerful.

CHAOTIC FURY

Makes your stupidly OP level 3 ability even more “reliable.” And unlike WM Sorcerers you have a 2/8 chance to get something good; not a 2/50 chance.

BARD

I honestly have no problems with the College of Creation beyond the level 3 Bardic Inspiration feature, which is underwhelming.

I doubt College of Spirits is going to come out. It’s way too early for that subclass since it hasn’t been tested enough.

CLERIC

TWILIGHT DOMAIN

Honestly I remember thinking this subclass was really overpowered but looking it over again… It’s fine? Other than the fact that the level 17 ability is poopy it’s fine.

UNITY DOMAIN

Also got no major problems with this subclass. A bit on the strong end but no worse than some of the existing Clerics.

DRUID

They’re both great and I have no complaints.

FIGHTER

Rune Knight is a very mixed bag for me. On one hand I love the growth ability and I think it makes Rune Knight a great universal damage class while also having a great mental fantasy to it.

On the other hand this class is almost entirely based on the runes? And what I find especially confusing is that the runes seem way more powerful than “doing an extra d6 of damage.” Yet Giant’s Might is limited to long rests and the runes come back on a short rest?

I’d personally like to see Giant’s Might have only one or at most 2 charges, but have the ability come back on a short rest. But to compensate I think the runes should be limited by long rests, since they’re so powerful as is. This would also make the ability to unlock more runes as you level up more useful, as it would give you more options throughout the day instead of being overloaded with actions that aren’t fighting as a fighter.

Oh and let’s talk about those runes, hm?

Hill - So Barbarian’s Rage is limited by long rests, but the rune that literally recreates Rage’s damage absorption is short rest reliant? Kk.

Fire - Cool worse Hold Person that they can save against every turn. Arguably the weakest rune, though probably the coolest mental image. I’d actually be okay with this one remaining short rest reliant.

Frost - I honestly don’t think getting +1 to Strength-based stuff is that OP. The dumb thing is that this gives you advantage on skill checks with two skills passively. Animal Handling and Intimidation aren’t amazing but they aren’t useless either.

Cloud - Again two skills you get Advantage on, but Slight of Hand and Deception are more situational. Redirecting an attack is also situational; can be strong but you need a target to redirect it to among other things. Also one of the more balanced runes.

Stone - By far the best passive boost combined with by far the worst active ability, but that isn’t to say that a 1 minute pseudo-banish is useless.

Storm - Alert on a stick? Advantage on a skill you’re probably going to be making a lot of skill checks for (as an Intelligence character)? TEN CHARGES OF THE LUCKY FEAT? Excluding the zillion and one other synergies with this rune (hey do you want your Rogue to sneak attack completely for free) being able to screw with hit percentages is a quick way to break encounters in 5e.

IMO the Fire, Frost, and Cloud runes are fine. The Stone rune is a bit too strong passively but I think it would be balanced if it gave advantage to something other than Insight. Hill and Storm are way too strong though: Hill should be limited to Long Rests and Storm should be outright reworked.

Other than that Defensive Runes is OP but it’s probably going to be limited to a number of times equal to your Intelligence mod (akin to Artificer.)

MONK

Woo boy here we go.

WAY OF MERCY

The big problem with this subclass is that it’s extremely weak early but insanely strong late. A melee range Healing Word (d4 + WIS) is insanely underwhelming but 20 charges of Cure Wounds that you can use while also attacking 3 times is ridiculous.

Oh and you know what’s especially ridiculous? Doing 4d10 damage to an enemy that’s incapacitated or poisoned! Hands of Harm is conceptually meh but with the triple damage to incapacitated enemies this suddenly lets a Monk pump out 16d10 damage for 5 Ki points (which they get back on a Short Rest!) To put this into perspective Psychic Scream does 14d6 damage - less die rolled and a smaller die size! Yeah yeah “but Psychic Scream is AoE and stuns!” doesn’t stop the fact that this subclass is doing a 9th level spell’s worth of damage.

Noxus Aura is conceptually stupid and makes a class that’s already hard to kill with ranged attacks near-impossible to kill with ranged attacks. Healing Technique lets you cast a second level spell along with your first level spell every turn but I suppose it’s situational. And Hand of Mercy? Oh okay 20 days of being unable to move and being damage immune.

This subclass is a complete mess and while I’m fine with a healer Monk it shouldn’t also double as one of the strongest DPS classes in the game. “It uses a lot of Ki points” yes but Ki points come back on a short rest. You shouldn’t have four 9th level spells per short rest.

WAY OF THE ASTRAL SELF

Honestly I think this subclass is fine with the exception of how many attacks it gets, which completely screws with action economy, average hit percentages, and just general DPS. No class should be able to outright ignore one of its earlier features because a new feature it gets is just objectively better, and Astral Self gets to ignore Flurry of Blows because it has it 24/7. I get that they wanted to recreate the JoJo Stand Rush but Monks already attack 4 times, which is more than enough.

PALADIN

Oath of the Watchers is honestly fine if a little weak. My only problem with the subclass is that it has a very Ranger-esque problem of being way too good at what it’s meant to do. (IE fight Extraplaner Threats.)

“But you said Wild Soul doing damage with its reaction was OP!” The difference is that Oath of the Watchers has limited range and is limited to spells, so unlike Wild Soul you can’t do free damage to the giant who just tried to smash you with his club.

RANGER

I’ve given my complaints about Fey Wanderer before. Basically I think the subclass is way too weak, but if they buff it up I think it would be fine. As for Swarmkeeper it’s conceptually weird but in terms of balance it’s fine.

ROGUE

I remember really disliking the Phantom Rogue but looking at it again… it’s fine? I still think the major problem with the subclass is its flavor, and while you can reflavor it decently well (I still really like the concept of a Transdimensional Trickster, playing as a foil to the Horizon Walker Ranger) I think the core concept is far too edgy for most people.

I’ve actually personally played a low level Phantom Rogue for a one shot and I think Wails from the Grave are fine if a little weak overall. I think Ghost Walk is a little OP (as you can give enemies essentially permanent disadvantage to hit you every fight, along with the ability to ignore terrain) but everything else is honestly fair.

SORCERER

I still don’t like Clockwork Soul. I think XP to Level 3 sums it up best (6:33):

Basically the early level abilities are fine but at late level you get:

An insanely high guarantee to hit your attacks (not everything at level 14 is going to have 20 AC, but if the enemy you’re fighting has 20 AC or lower you have a 100% guarantee to hit them) + a massive defensive boost (on top of your already massive defensive capabilities.)

A 9TH LEVEL HEAL SPELL FOR 7 SORCERY POINTS???

“But it’s a high level ability!” Yeah high level abilities shouldn’t be completely ass-blast bonkers. The high levels exist to be played and you can’t defend broken high level abilities with “well you won’t get to high level anyways.”

WARLOCK

My sweet darling baby Warlock. Probably doesn’t come as a surprise to people that I think both the Warlock subclasses are great, and it also probably doesn’t come as a surprise that I have personally played both of them!

Undead probably isn’t going to get in (good because I really don’t like that subclass) so let’s talk about the others:

GENIE

Currently playing a mid tier (level 8) full Genie Warlock in a campaign. First of all I want to say that I love the versatility built into this class with the four different sub-subclasses you can pick.

Anyways this subclass ironically feels like the “Warlock+” class akin to Champion Fighter (Fighter+), Open Hand Monk (Monk+), and Eloquence Bard. (Bard+) At level 3 you get a safe place to short rest (Bottled Respite) and a mini Agonizing Blast (Genie’s Wrath.) Level 6 you get three charges of non-concentration flight which is huge for a class that doesn’t get a lot of spells. Level 10 you can now get a safe short rest for your whole party. And level 14 gives you another spell slot once ever 1d4 days.

I think the roleplay opportunity with this subclass is great given the versatility between sub-subclasses and the ability to essentially carry a house with you. My only major problem with the Genie Warlock is that I find it hard to create a character who isn’t just Aladdin. I found it a lot easier to play this subclass when I started thinking of the patron as just an elemental instead of a genie specifically, but I hope Tasha’s Cauldron will come with some lore inspiration for people who want to play the Genie Warlock, because I think the subclass is very fun and well designed!

Still a little salty that my Yuumi build is outdated because of the rework to Genie, but who knows I might make a Unity Domain Yuumi when Tasha’s Cauldron comes out.

LURKER IN THE DEEP

I took a 6 level dip in this subclass for a Bardlock awhile ago. I will say I love this subclass but again ironically my only major complaint with the subclass is that it focuses too much on its theme. I would’ve much rather preferred a general “summoner” Warlock, but I acknowledge that Warlock subclasses don’t really work like that. So a Kraken Patron is honestly fine for this concept, and I can tolerate all the strange fish-related abilities while reflavoring the subclass.

WIZARD

I’m not a big fan of the Order of the Scribes, since I personally feel that it doesn’t really fulfill the “living spellbook” theme.

I have a few small complaints about the class’ features: I don’t like that the subclass is able to replace the damage type of a spell completely liberally. (Sorcerers have to use Sorcery Points and Metamagic to do that?) I also think the level 14 ability is rather underwhelming, but that can be fixed.

Other than that I think the subclass is conceptually fine? But I still feel like there’s more you can do with the theme.

TL;DR

I’m very worried about the following classes:

Mind Sharpener Artificer Infusion (You shouldn’t be able to lose concentration twice.)

Wild Soul Barbarian (Every single ability that this subclass gets is overpowered and I’m really worried about this Wild Magic Spellslot Battery Clown Fiesta subclass.)

Way of Mercy Monk (Comedically overpowered with the highest DPS of any Monk subclass along with massive healing output and a TWENTY DAY LONG PARALYSIS?!)

Clockwork Soul Sorcerer (Late game abilities are OP.)

I am mildly worried about the following classes:

Armorer Artificer (Having such liberal access to Heavy Armor is a bit too strong imo.)

Rune Knight Fighter (I think some of the runes need a major rework, and I’d like more of a focus to be put on the Giant’s Might ability.)

Way of the Astral Self Monk (Too many attacks.)

Oath of the Watchers Paladin (It’s a little too good at fighting extraplanar threats.)

I am disappointed with the following classes:

Fey Wanderer Ranger (I think the abilities are really weak compared to existing Rangers, and considering we’re talking about Ranger that’s saying a lot.)

Order of the Scribes Wizard (I think there’s more you can do with the concept.)

And everything else is fine.

[intrepidguardian]

How Design Miscues are Failing Portrayals of Relationships in MTG

Discourse? Discourse. 

Love is a difficult topic to discuss because it can encompass so many things that aren’t “love” - you know what I mean, the kind of stuff that would get a fanfic tagged as “fluff.” My wife’s and my third anniversary is coming up, and more and more I find myself still learning about what love is. I love the study, but I know that I could fill hundreds of external hard drives with epitaphs and musings about every interaction my wife and I have had, each exemplifying a different aspect of our love and still not get the point across of just how much I love her.

(Btw I love you Ash and thank you for helping me edit this)

So how could you get an idea as complex as love across in the 25 words you’re allowed on your average Magic card? More to the point, why bother portraying love in Magic: The Gathering?

"Players won’t care until they are cards.” - Matt Cavotta, Senior Art Director for Wizards of the Coast, discussing the motivation for implementing Planeswalkers as a card type. 

A few years back, and I’m sorry that I can’t find the actual post, someone asked Mark Rosewater something to the effect of “Red is supposed to be the ‘emotional color,’ yet the only emotion we tend to see out of Red is anger. WTF?”

Mark responded that R&D was working towards showing different aspects of the emotional spectrum in Red, but was hampered by the fact that Magic: The Gathering is a game about fighting and it was difficult to portray anything other than MAD RED in a game about fighting.

“No, my battlefield only has room for more Goblin Chainwhirlers.” - Solid Snake, probably. 

A little while later, they apparently cracked the love code and printed Cathartic Reunion in Kaladesh, which was meant to portray Chandra finally reuniting with her mother Pia Nalaar, when both thought that the other had died years ago. 

Shoutout to all my Dredge opponents that keep beating me with four-card hands thanks to this card.

Like yeah, it’s a nice moment and a nice piece of art. It’s not romantic love, but it’s familial love. You can see the love between Chandra and Pia in their embrace, and I think this might be one of the first portrayals of a hug in Magic: The Gathering [someone prove me wrong]. When you only have 25 words to explain love, the art and flavor text can pick up the slack. But mechanically, what is this saying about maternal love, or love in general? Is love just more inherent deck consistency? Is drawing cards the greatest display of love in Magic: The Gathering? Artistically and flavorfully, this card is trying to say a lot. Mechanically, this card could have easily been called “Super Rummage” or “Elicit the Dredge” and no one would be able to tell the difference. This card is trying to show what love is, but without any sort of mechanical tie-in, Cathartic Reunion just tells you what love is. 

Wow, my opponent loves me A WHOLE LOT!

I would say that the best way to explain love is to show love. And I think the best way to show love is to show people who love each other interact positively with one another. Like, love is hard to explain but is easy to see. When you see two people who love each other interact, you can just tell. Maybe it’s small physical gestures or communication purely through facial expressions, but when love is there, it’s obvious. Yes, the art of Cathartic Reunion clearly shows a tender love between Chandra and Pia, but both Chandra and Pia Nalaar were given cards in Kaladesh! Show us how they interact where we are most likely to see both of them: on the battlefield!

What are these cards doing for one another when both are on the battlefield? Not a lot. Chandra’s second +1 makes enough mana to use Pia’s first activated ability one additional time. 

That’s cool, I guess.

Pia has a tag-along flying creature that can block for Chandra once, so Pia is essentially two blockers for a planeswalkers.

Yeah, but Whirler Rogue can make a bunch of Thopters to block for Chandra, so what does that mean? There’s no love between Chandra and some random Vedalken just because the three-drop blocks real good. 

</3

There isn’t any mechanical unity here. Chandra doesn’t care about artifacts, and Pia doesn’t care about card advantage or incidental damage. They can do some things for each other, yes, but there isn’t anything for a deck builder to go “Hmm, how can I maximize this?” It’s the mechanical equivalent of Pia and Chandra getting Amazon gift cards for each other for their birthday - a display of love, but not a particularly meaningful one. 

Well, here you go. -Chandra

But maybe this isn’t fair. Pia Nalaar’s card maybe wasn’t supposed to work well with Chandra, it was supposed to convey a sense of emptiness from missing Kiran, her husband who had actually been killed. They had been shown on their own card in Magic Origins, which is powerful enough that it hovers around Modern whenever Jund or Grixis are good. Pia’s card is cheaper, but comparatively weaker, and even when you look at the art, Pia Nalaar is significantly dimmer and emptier than the card Pia and Kiran Nalaar.

“What does Kiran bring to this relationship? DO THE MATH!” -My Grandmother-in-Law, maybe

Maybe before we can show a good example of familial love in card mechanics, we need to show people in love working together on the battlefield! 

So let’s grab some examples. Three couples right now in Magic that people are really talking about are Jace x Vraska, Tomik x Ral Zarek, and Chandra x Nissa. If you wanted to show some cozy couples, what’s cozier than being in a deckbox with your significant other?

Jace x Vraska

Well, these cards could maybe work together? Not a lot of decks can make two blue mana on turn three and then turn around and make black and green mana on turn six.  

Mana problems aside, they kind of work well together. Jace is looking for creatures to get through combat damage and Vraska makes difficult to block creature tokens thanks to Menace. However, there’s also a cost problem here, which is that Jace wants to come down turn three and Vraska, the muscle of this relationship with all the free blockers, doesn’t come down for another three turns, so Jace has to try and hide behind a Bird that goes away if you look at it too long while Vraska’s trying to get mana together. If you can find a way to get both on the battlefield in the same deck, maybe it works, but it’s a lot of work without a lot of payoff.

Okay, what about a more recent example? Chandra and Nissa both got new cards in War of the Spark and they’re supposed to be canon, so they probably have something going on between their two cards. 

Chandra x Nissa 

This is a pretty symbiotic relationship - Chandra finds extra cards to cast, and Nissa makes a lot of mana to cast those extra cards and creates blockers so the player has time to do so. It’s the RG formula we see in a lot of ramp decks in this color combination - Green makes the mana, red makes the otherwise-unwieldy payoffs. But much like Chandra’s mechanical relationship with Pia, this doesn’t feel special or unique. Yeah, Chandra finds extra cards, but she also comes into play before Nissa, so there’s a turn of vulnerability where Nissa might arrive too late to actually help Chandra. And anyone could  do that “find extra cards” job. See, look:

It’s like the dating game, but for really, really sad people

They all can do the same “get extra cards” thing for the player the way Chandra can, and all benefit from the blockers and extra mana that Nissa produces.. Mechanically, there is some synergy between Chandra and Nissa, but there’s nothing that speaks to the relationship between the two characters - it feels more like a convenient coincidence that these two cards work together rather than two people who finally came together when it mattered most. 

Maybe what we need is a mix-up - people represented on different card types could have more design space for synergistic effects. 

Tomik x Ral

So the last pairing is Tomik x Ral. I don’t know if any of you have bought a “Planeswalker Deck,” but a big selling point to those cards for beginners is that there is usually a creature in the deck that benefits from having that deck’s planeswalker in play. They’re flavorful and fun to get out ahead when when you find your planeswalker, but they’ve never been really viable for tournament play. A planeswalker like Ral being in a relationship with a non-planeswalker seems like the perfect fit for creating a competitive-level combination of creature and planeswalker and could really highlight the relationship between Tomik and Ral. 

Yeah, they didn’t even try with this one. Double white on turn 2 into Red and Blue on turn 4 is already a tall order, but these two cards have entirely separate goals. Tomik, a card designed for Legacy, really wants to hate on his opponents trying to manipulate their lands. 

Ral doesn’t have the word “land” on his card, and is a card designed with card advantage and maybe some combos in mind. 

They’re two totally different cards designed for two totally different decks. I get that. My point is that they shouldn’t be. Wizards clearly knows how to design “planeswalkers matter” creatures, had an opportunity to do so, and instead opted to design a Legacy card to hate out cards that don’t exist in Legacy anymore. 

You barely even deserve this, WotC.

That last bit was a little dense. I get it, it’s hard to read without caring a lot about flavorful mechanics, but I am trying to get my point across that Wizards had so many opportunities to make cards that could work together and mechanically create a sense of a relationship between characters and repeatedly chose not to, instead prioritizing other design goals. If I’m coming on a little strongly, it is because I know Wizards knows how to do this. In fact, Wizards had the opposite problem to the Chandra x Nissa issue, waaaay back in Battle for Zendikar. 

“...and the Lord of the Multiverse said to Gideon, “It is not good for a planeswalker to be alone,” and so the Lord created Nissa and brought her to Gideon who jubilantly exclaimed: ‘Voice of my voice! Planeswalker of my heart! I shall call you Nissa, Voice of Zendikar! Together we shall grow plants and make Ally offspring and they shall have dominion over the entire plane of Zendikar!’ And the Lord of the Multiverse saw that it was very good...” -A very tongue-in-cheek quote by Craig Wescoe discussing Nissa, Voice of Zendikar in the upcoming Oath of the Gatewatch set. 

Do you see this? Do you get it? 

These two cards were made for each other. 

There are a lot of similarities between these cards, and because they’re similar, they work well together in a lot of ways, all of which scream “PLAY US IN THE SAME DECK.”

1. Both Planeswalkers make tokens without losing loyalty. 2. Both Planeswalkers have an ability that gets better with more tokens, and can boost each other’s tokens.  3. Nissa curves into Gideon and can help make a safe battlefield for him. 4. Nissa coming down late is still good for Gideon, and she can even boost him with a +1/+1 counter when he’s a creature.  5. Both Planeswalkers have the same naming convention: Planeswalker, Whatever of Zendikar. We’re battling for Zendikar, of course I want Zendikar’s Ally and Zendikar’s Voice!

“But wait!” somebody wanting to say something said. “Two green mana on Turn 3 could be tough, and needing two white mana on turn 4 is even tougher!”

Well, hold on there buckaroo, because have I got the love note in a Magic card for you:

We didn’t see it, but Gideon planeswalked to a high school on Theros and had a popular girl fold this card up into a little triangle before giving it to Nissa.

This card is the perfect mechanical tie-in for a Nissa x Gideon deck. Card selection has rarely ever been afforded to white decks, and GW token decks have often struggled with getting their mana right to cast their white payoff cards without making room for superfluous mana decks, and even then that might not fix it (just ask Richard Bland about his GW Tokens deck in the Worlds 2011 finals). And as a little bonus, this card can get either Nissa or Gideon or, you know, whatever creatures you wanted, and what color combination was going to have more efficient creatures AND planeswalkers than Green and White Mechanically, these cards work so well together and they look like they’re supposed to work together. 

In fact, this was the core of an incredibly powerful GW Tokens deck that won Pro Tour Shadows over Innistrad in the hands of Steve Rubin. 

And when I was younger and looking at this deck for the first time, I thought Wizards would leap at the opportunity to pair these two up. Two reasonably popular planeswalkers paired up together to save a plane and worked really well together when I sleeved them up together? For a time, I was locked in - I thought Nissa x Gideon was going to be canon, and the lead-up to Kaladesh was where we’d see a little fluff between the two, or at the very least some genuine bonding between the flagship planeswalkers of the two colors most-interested in community. Instead, we got this:

Nissa: You’re being a little extra for me.

Gideon: My bad lol. 

I was a little salty about that interaction (mostly because it felt like every color combination in the Gatewatch has had a good or at least interesting interaction, except green and white), but I was down with Nissa x Chandra. It seemed like they had some chemistry in the story, and I was excited to see that chemistry reflected in the cards. Instead, we got a whole lot of nothing, which is infuriating because Wizards knows how to mechanically tie-in planeswalkers. 

Okay Wizards, here’s your second fifth chance...

So why is all this important? Why go into this deep dive about card mechanics trying to convey something that is decidedly not a mechanic in Magic: the Gathering? 

It’s because love can be expressed in this game’s mechanics, which is really hard in a game about fighting, but also a very unique opportunity. A card can care about what another card is doing, can subtly emulate what another card is doing or how it is presenting, and other cards can tie the two together. That kind of mechanical interlinking has a real-world analogue: a genuine, deep love for another person. Wizards has clearly struggled with the problem of portraying relationships in a way that its multiple player bases will care about and want to play with. The solution to that problem is creating powerful cards that mechanically care about one other and attributing those cards and mechanics to characters that emotionally care about each other in its stories.

Wizards, you clearly know how to do that, so...

[zwoelffarben]

I don't know what philosophy is causing the exact same (thus far) sequence of events to play out (other than capitalism obvs but we can get more specific, surely)

Okay, so I'll get to what the phenomenon is called in a minute, but let's talk first about why this type of behavior happens.

Capitalism as a system seeks infinite growth within a finite world. If you're selling a widget, and it's a never before seen widget that everyone will want, you'll experience massive growth as you start selling the things to early adopters, and you'll continue growing for quite a while, but, as the laggards by your product, everyone whose ever gonna want a widget is going to have one. This is called market saturation and when it happens, you either have to switch your company from growth mode to stable mode (which typically involves downsizing, especially if you don't make the switch soon enough) or find new areas to grow into.

Now, there's nothing wrong with shifting from a growing business to a stable business: it's actually really good for businesses that manage to pull it off. The problem is that investors really don't appreciate when it happens, and they'll say doing so goes against the corporations feduciary responsibilities to do so, and it'll be a whole fucking ordeal for everybody involved.

If everyone has a netflix subscription, netflix needs to find new ways of making MORE profit to grow or its' investors will start freaking out.

And, the first few times 'the grow into new areas' thing happens, its typically fine, because there's some other area which the company can naturally expand into without being overtly evil. Buti repeat the process enough times, and any company will grow to the point where it has nothing new to offer: where there is no way for it to continue growing. When it becomes a monopoly–horizontally, vertically, or both– and cannot meaningfully increase its revenue through 'fair' methods.

Whenever a company reaches this point, it'll start engaging in a lot of bullshit behavior in pursuit of perpetual growth in our finite world, and one of those bullshit behaviors, and the one being observed here, is Rent Seeking. From wikipedia:

Rent-seeking is the act of growing one's existing wealth by manipulating the social or political environment without creating new wealth. Rent-seeking activities have negative effects on the rest of society. They result in reduced economic efficiency through misallocation of resources, reduced wealth creation, lost government revenue, heightened income inequality, risk of growing political bribery, and potential national decline.

Wotc said, we've reached market saturation: to continue growing, we need to use the power we've accrued in the tabletop gaming market (by allowing third party publishers to publish materials compatable to our system) to charge the people who have come to depend upon our system being available at the current price (free) rent to access that system.

Unity said, we've reached market saturation: to continue growing, we need to use the power we've accrued in the video game development market (by allowing developers to publish games using our engine at an affordable price) to charge the people who have come to depend upon our system being available at the current price (varies depending on liscense and subscription, ranging from free to $5000 bucks a year) increased rent to access that system.

They are trying to increase their existing wealth without creating new wealth by increasing how much they charge to access their system which many people are locked into.

They are rent seeking.

aaand they're tripling down. beyond ghoulish.

[theceaselesshunger]

Tentacles on the Brain

Ok so yesterday’s magic story gave us some fun images with Emrakul seemingly guiding Nissa from the astral plane. I’ve had a lot of different ideas about what this could mean and where it could go so let’s get into that.

So two blocks after EMN, I’m sure we all thought we’ve seen the last of Emrakul for a while, but apparently WotC has other ideas in mind. It seems she’s still skulking around in Nissa’s (and potentially others) brain. It’s very ambiguous if this is indeed the true Emrakul calling out to her, or just Nissa hallucinating the thing which frightens her the most, but I think the former is more interesting so let’s run with that line of thought.

First, I think it’s worth mentioning that Nissa and other members of the GW did not experience the same hallucination Jace did during EMN. She did not interact with the vision of Emeria, and so it’d be odd for a trick of her mind to create such an accurate depiction. Maybe it’s just the after-effects of Emrakul’s mental attacks, but I like to think there is in fact a little sliver of everyone’s favorite Titan in there. Perhaps it was planted even before SOI. For all we know, Emrakul’s been rattling around inside her head since that first encounter all those years ago; on the day Nissa sparked.

So the big question to be asked is, if this is indeed the real Emrakul, why is she helping Nissa out? I mean this one of the people who’s zealously worked to destroy her. Personally, I speculate that Emrakul has chosen Nissa for a greater purpose.

Ever since she was little, Nissa has held a connection with the world around her and the creatures in it. It’s why Zendikar gravitated towards her when it needed to be saved from the Eldrazi. As she’s matured and gained mastery of her power, she has started to see the connection between all living things. Who else’s existence centers around the unity of life? Emrakul. Just as Zendikar chose Nissa for her gifts, so has the Titan.

By now, I’m pretty sure we’re all on board with the “Eldrazi as plane recyclers” theory. There’s a massive pile of evidence to support it, which I won’t go into detail about since tons of others already have. Point is, if it’s true, then the Eldrazi serve a vital function in the Multiverse. A function that has been twisted due to the meddling of planeswalkers.

First there was the Three (Ugin, Sorin, Nahiri) who sealed the Eldrazi without really understanding what it is they do. Then there was Gatewatch who outright killed two of the Titans. The end of EMN heavily implied that Emrakul is aware that something is wrong, and that she should not have been on Innistrad, nor that it was “ready” for her. Thus, she assisted the Gatewatch in sealing her so that she could no longer cause further damage to the plane.

This is where Nissa comes in. Emrakul needs help in setting right what has gone wrong. Nissa is a perfect candidate due to her beliefs that all things are connected and that nature must be preserved. Assisting Nissa in realizing her own strength and passing Kefnet’s trial was just the first step. If we wanted to take it a step further, and go with the idea that Emrakul has been with Nissa since she sparked, then perhaps Emrakul even manipulated her into destroying the core hedron that kept the Titans trapped on Zendikar. 

 I believe that in future instances, Emrakul is going to slowly guide Nissa, revealing more knowledge about herself and the Eldrazi as time passes. For what reason, though? Why, to help Nissa realize the greater destiny hinted at in the story. That destiny being to assist Emrakul in her effort to rejuvenate the Multiverse and fight off entropy.

With her power over leylines and the ability to connect with the souls of planes, she’d be a vital asset in repairing the damage done during the Eldrazi’s absence. Maybe she’ll even free Emrakul and travel with her when the time is right. It’s hard to say if Nissa can ever forgive the Eldrazi for what they did to Zendikar (even though they were manipulated into going there), but I believe that she’ll be able to look past it in light of their true purpose. They are simply apart of nature, and Nissa embraces all things natural. Thus, she too, will embrace the power of creation that Emrakul embodies, and correct the mistakes that she and others have made in trying to fight the Eldrazi.

[ripmyoldblog]

Fair point, i am just very tired and only really read the titles, between the unity game engine/WoTC shenanigans recently im staring down ivestors with one hell of a side eye, expetially when i think stocks and bonds i think of people who are incredibly engosed in that business and have already made an ungodly amount of money haha

ALSO, was not saying 'fuck you' to you, ti was more towards my own general percieved bias of a situation that i feel is going on, i am tired and struggling lol

Also plse link the articles! I feel itd be good for me/anyone else who wants to read through then fully.

Also also i do not know much if anything about Argentina.

[placid-platypus]

To me one obvious question here is, how often do corporations make moves that from a corporate perspective look pretty equivalent to what Unity and WotC did, and get basically no attention or backlash and it works great for them? It could be that it happens pretty often since by definition e wouldn't hear much about it.

when it comes to corporate pr missteps like wizards of the coast's thing with D&D and now Unity's pricing debacle, i am very curious about what the people who plan these policy changes think is going to happen when they announce them. it would be one thing if they expected a backlash that they could weather, but mis-estimated just how severe it was; but it's possible from what little i can surmise that they simply didn't anticipate the backlash at all--they certainly seemed ill-prepared to handle it in both cases. i find that surprising. i think you have to be pretty out of touch with your customer base to not foresee that kind of response.