Jumpstart: Historic Horizons + Arena-Only Cards

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Mookie
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Post by Mookie » 2 years ago

Article
While a majority of the cards in Historic Horizons will be reprints – most of which are new to Arena, including many cards from both the first and second Modern Horizons sets – the 31 brand new cards will be exclusive to Arena's digital platform. These cards will include three new mechanics with "digital-first" designs that cannot not be replicated in paper Magic.

The first of these mechanics is called "Seek," which is a digital twist on a tutor effect. Certain cards (like Manor Guardian, visible in the gallery above) will allow you to seek a card with specific criteria, randomly pulling one from your library that meets that criteria without shuffling afterward – something that couldn't happen at the tabletop without a player manually looking through their deck.

The next mechanic is called "Perpetually," which modifies a specific card permanently, even as it enters other zones of play. That could be a card like Davriel's Withering, which perpetually gives a creature -1/-2 – if that card reduces a creature to 0 toughness or less and sends it to the graveyard, for example, the debuff will remain in effect even if a player is able to bring it back to battlefield (causing it to immediately die again)...

The third digital-only mechanic is called "Conjure," which creates a card for you to use out of nowhere – not a token or a copy, but an actual card that can sit in your hand until you are ready to use it. This can include cards that aren't otherwise in a set or format, with a few examples of this in the gallery above being Ponder, Stormfront Pegasus, and Tropical Island (none of which are collectible in Historic Horizons on their own).
Interesting to see Magic Arena continue diverging from paper. I've played with these digital mechanics in other games - they're pretty tame as mechanics go, but they all play well. Digital-only mechanics have an extremely large design space, so I expect to see more of them at some point.

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Krishnath
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Post by Krishnath » 2 years ago

Arena diverged from Paper the minute it went out of Beta when they released five cards on it (one in each color) that do not exist in paper form. But it is nothing new, the old Microprose game had about a dozen or so cards that worked well in the digital space but that would never work in paper form.
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Post by BeneTleilax » 2 years ago

I think this will completely decouple Historic from paper magic, which should be good for Historic and Pioneer. The appeal of paper Historic was that you could sleeve up your Arena deck and bring it to the store; once the virtual meta diverges even slightly from the paper meta, this will no longer be the case.

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Post by motleyslayer » 2 years ago

I think this set pretty much fully separates historic's chances of ever being a paper format, as it's getting cards that only really work online. That being said I'm excited to see what they do with the set

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Post by folding_music » 2 years ago

I like that they're recognising the potential of a card game not tied to paper, and I liked their tremulant steps towards hot rebalancing earlier in the year and it kinda makes me wanna put away all my actual cards and grab a laptop that can comfortably run Arena. (what stops me is the queue-based game finding; I want dedicated casual rather than unranked versions of ladder matches and I want Brawl 24/7.)

2. the art for the new Kiora is stunning, but I knew I had picked the right fave planeswalker already =P

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Post by The N82O Molecule » 2 years ago

the more I think about this the more I don't like it.

paper magic IS magic. paper magic the gathering IS what makes magic the gathering. talking with people, face to face, with or with out masks as long as you can understand the person. having the compromise of interaction that makes "the table"

what I see here is a fiscal ascension with what is it that's the nature of "online commerce" and "online commerce" is gross

its not just this game its a lot of games, and you have nfts and maybe that's another thing. . .

I have a few other games that. . .well I don't understand. . .ok. . .like why a game would limit a players ability to play. . .maybe my "full throttle" notion is "whack". but limiting a players ability to play seems so lost to me, and money as a barrier? sheesh (its a fair assessment that I may not know exactly the "money" of online mtg)

so ok people have to make money but how much a lot? a lot a lot? google plexor? im thinking like a Bernoulli crossed with a matrix that has a kid and that kid dates a kid that understands the space under curves?

lol

I don't online. mainly cause I don't like the fiscal nature of it and well I pay for magic cards in paper til well I can't buy paper any more.

ok ok honestly im just mad davriel is getting a card and im sour butte about it

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Krishnath
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Post by Krishnath » 2 years ago

As I mentioned earlier, people are getting up in arms over nothing. Digital only cards is nothing new, the old Microprose game literally had a dozen cards that would never be able to get printed in paper form because they would not work in paper magic, at all (personal favorite: Aswan Jaguar, but Whimsy is a much better example.)

And it is not like they haven't made exclusive cards that 99,9% of players won't ever be able to get their hands on either. (Splendid Genesis for example, which was only ever printed five copies of and can only be played by Richard Garfield.)

People are quite literally being stupid for nothing. Just like they were stupid over the Secret Lairs (there is really no difference between them and convention exclusive versions of cards, except they are actually easier to get.) and Universes Beyond.
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Post by clariwench » 2 years ago

The only mechanic I have a major issue with is Perpetually. It's going to wreck Historic Brawl and I don't know if they're going to have the guts to ban all of the problematic cards. Basically the only thing I had to look forward to in ages was getting to play Dav in Historic Brawl and then they absolutely ruined everything two days later by telling us he's getting day-1 banned because their mechanic sucks. It should say "non-commander creatures." Ethereal Grasp is going to kill an entire archetype but that's allowed, I guess. The buffs are going to be equally as unfun.

That being said, maybe like two of these 31 digital only cards are going to see competitive play and the sky is not falling, contrary to what Facebook comments say on posts about it lol. Universes Beyond is the only thing I very genuinely see as the beginning of the end because they're making LITERAL ADVERTISEMENTS as game pieces. It's cheap and distracting (like during season 3 of Fringe when the product placements went into high gear - the world is ending, here's Sprint's new video calling feature!). These are just some mechanics that would be mildly difficult to do in paper - but still actually very feasible in a casual setting. The DnD set is far more egregious with its random mechanics than these cards but people ate that up without question.
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Post by RxPhantom » 2 years ago

I share @clariwench's concerns over the perpetual stuff's interactions with Brawl. First though, I want Historic Brawl available all the time, but anyway Davriel's Withering can permanently remove any X/2 commander for a single black mana. That's dumb. Like, super dumb.
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Post by Guardman » 2 years ago

RxPhantom wrote:
2 years ago
I share @clariwench's concerns over the perpetual stuff's interactions with Brawl. First though, I want Historic Brawl available all the time, but anyway Davriel's Withering can permanently remove any X/2 commander for a single black mana. That's dumb. Like, super dumb.
Actually, both Davriel's Withering and Davriel, Soul Broker will be day-1 bans in Historic Brawl because of this fact.

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/a ... -07-29/?ub
Locking out a commander is why Meddling Mage and Sorcerous Spyglass are banned in Brawl, so we'll be taking a similar approach with some perpetual cards. We're starting with banning both Davriel's Withering and Davriel, Soul Broker in Historic Brawl, and we'll be keeping an eye on the rest of the effects in Historic Brawl.

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RxPhantom
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Post by RxPhantom » 2 years ago

Guardman wrote:
2 years ago
RxPhantom wrote:
2 years ago
I share @clariwench's concerns over the perpetual stuff's interactions with Brawl. First though, I want Historic Brawl available all the time, but anyway Davriel's Withering can permanently remove any X/2 commander for a single black mana. That's dumb. Like, super dumb.
Actually, both Davriel's Withering and Davriel, Soul Broker will be day-1 bans in Historic Brawl because of this fact.

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/a ... -07-29/?ub
Locking out a commander is why Meddling Mage and Sorcerous Spyglass are banned in Brawl, so we'll be taking a similar approach with some perpetual cards. We're starting with banning both Davriel's Withering and Davriel, Soul Broker in Historic Brawl, and we'll be keeping an eye on the rest of the effects in Historic Brawl.
Oh. Well, ok then. At least they had the foresight to do that. What do I do with all of that rage I had built up, though?
Can you name all of the creature types with at least 20 cards? Try my Sporcle Quiz! Last Updated: 2/18/22 (Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty)

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Guardman
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Post by Guardman » 2 years ago

RxPhantom wrote:
2 years ago
Guardman wrote:
2 years ago
RxPhantom wrote:
2 years ago
I share @clariwench's concerns over the perpetual stuff's interactions with Brawl. First though, I want Historic Brawl available all the time, but anyway Davriel's Withering can permanently remove any X/2 commander for a single black mana. That's dumb. Like, super dumb.
Actually, both Davriel's Withering and Davriel, Soul Broker will be day-1 bans in Historic Brawl because of this fact.

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/a ... -07-29/?ub
Locking out a commander is why Meddling Mage and Sorcerous Spyglass are banned in Brawl, so we'll be taking a similar approach with some perpetual cards. We're starting with banning both Davriel's Withering and Davriel, Soul Broker in Historic Brawl, and we'll be keeping an eye on the rest of the effects in Historic Brawl.
Oh. Well, ok then. At least they had the foresight to do that. What do I do with all of that rage I had built up, though?
Have you thought about investing in a punching bag?

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