[Off-Topic] Community Chat Thread

[Colby814225]

I am making a new Thanksgiving unserious holiday promo set and it's going to be released in October 2024 and I will be doing new projects for mtg nexus after that.

[RxPhantom]

I don't like UB, but I think I have to be content with just not playing the cards in my decks. A new splinter format would be more trouble than it's worth. For instance, can I play the Fallout or Doctor Who versions of Farewell? Rules would be too granular and when you finally have them nailed down, the whole thing goes all Tiny Leaders on you.

On a simpler note, I'll never turn down a game because someone playing UB cards. I'm an adult ffs.

I also don't think they can replicate LotR's success. Marvel will come close, but what other franchises are available, deep enough for a full set, and popular enough to make the licensing fees worth it? Very few, if any.

[cheonice]

I also don't think they can replicate LotR's success. Marvel will come close, but what other franchises are available, deep enough for a full set, and popular enough to make the licensing fees worth it? Very few, if any.

Harry Potter. A collaboration with Pokemon.

[Venedrex]

I don't like UB, but I think I have to be content with just not playing the cards in my decks. A new splinter format would be more trouble than it's worth. For instance, can I play the Fallout or Doctor Who versions of Farewell? Rules would be too granular and when you finally have them nailed down, the whole thing goes all Tiny Leaders on you.

On a simpler note, I'll never turn down a game because someone playing UB cards. I'm an adult ffs.

I also don't think they can replicate LotR's success. Marvel will come close, but what other franchises are available, deep enough for a full set, and popular enough to make the licensing fees worth it? Very few, if any.

Final Fantasy is getting a full set.

Marvel will have multiple sets.

And if you don't think Star Wars and Star Trek are going to have multiple sets than I have a bridge to sell your adult self. UB has made so much money the executives are going to hunt down every last profitable collaboration I can guarantee you. Maro literally just had a Blogatog post gathering potential ideas for the next batch of products, and I'm sure they have several in the works right now.

Besides, what's different about not playing with UB and not playing with Modern legal cards, or Pioneer legal cards? They are mechanically unique, so what's the difference between not wanting to play Pioneer because of a group of cards in the format or not wanting to play Commander because of a group of cards in the format?

As far as rules regarding what cards are restricted, I'd just say if it has a Universes Beyond stamp on the card it is banned. Doesn't seem that hard to me.

[Hermes_]

players should start a format without Universes Beyond.

It's called PrEDH

EDIT: Based on the last earnings call in which they said UB was losing them money, I think once they are done with the current deals they have in place they may either drop or slow down the UB stuff.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Jesus Christ, I make too much money to consider quitting, but sometimes I HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE my job.

[RxPhantom]

I don't like UB, but I think I have to be content with just not playing the cards in my decks. A new splinter format would be more trouble than it's worth. For instance, can I play the Fallout or Doctor Who versions of Farewell? Rules would be too granular and when you finally have them nailed down, the whole thing goes all Tiny Leaders on you.

On a simpler note, I'll never turn down a game because someone playing UB cards. I'm an adult ffs.

I also don't think they can replicate LotR's success. Marvel will come close, but what other franchises are available, deep enough for a full set, and popular enough to make the licensing fees worth it? Very few, if any.

Final Fantasy is getting a full set.

Marvel will have multiple sets.

And if you don't think Star Wars and Star Trek are going to have multiple sets than I have a bridge to sell your adult self. UB has made so much money the executives are going to hunt down every last profitable collaboration I can guarantee you. Maro literally just had a Blogatog post gathering potential ideas for the next batch of products, and I'm sure they have several in the works right now.

Besides, what's different about not playing with UB and not playing with Modern legal cards, or Pioneer legal cards? They are mechanically unique, so what's the difference between not wanting to play Pioneer because of a group of cards in the format or not wanting to play Commander because of a group of cards in the format?

As far as rules regarding what cards are restricted, I'd just say if it has a Universes Beyond stamp on the card it is banned. Doesn't seem that hard to me.

Nothing you said refutes any points I made. Final Fantasy will not put up LotR numbers. Marvel will be a surefire hit, but with interest in the MCU waning, I think it'll be more Guardians of the Galaxy than Endgame. Beyond that, what's left? Star Wars? If you think Star Wars is coming anytime soon when its new TCG launches in four days, then I've got...ummm...an albino bantha to sell you. Star Trek will likely be commander decks, as I can't fathom how much you can Magic-ify space combat. I may be wrong on that one though.

To rephrase my previous post, how many properties have the breadth and popularity to warrant a full set? TMNT? Mortal Kombat? Is DC comics even on the table given Marvel's involvement?

(these are from my daughter)

As for any new format, I doubt there are enough players who care enough to sequester themselves. I also don't want to police other people's cards, nor would I expect them to keep alternate cards on hand so they conform to the gatekeep-y standards being proposed here. "Oh the store only had Dr. John Seward and not Torens, Fist of the Angels? Too bad. Find another table."

Barf.

[RxPhantom]

players should start a format without Universes Beyond.

It's called PrEDH

EDIT: Based on the last earnings call in which they said UB was losing them money, I think once they are done with the current deals they have in place they may either drop or slow down the UB stuff.

They may change their approach, but nothing makes the money line go up like UB.

Jesus Christ, I make too much money to consider quitting, but sometimes I HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE my job.

That sucks, man. What's going on at work?

[Venedrex]

I don't like UB, but I think I have to be content with just not playing the cards in my decks. A new splinter format would be more trouble than it's worth. For instance, can I play the Fallout or Doctor Who versions of Farewell? Rules would be too granular and when you finally have them nailed down, the whole thing goes all Tiny Leaders on you.

On a simpler note, I'll never turn down a game because someone playing UB cards. I'm an adult ffs.

I also don't think they can replicate LotR's success. Marvel will come close, but what other franchises are available, deep enough for a full set, and popular enough to make the licensing fees worth it? Very few, if any.

Final Fantasy is getting a full set.

Marvel will have multiple sets.

And if you don't think Star Wars and Star Trek are going to have multiple sets than I have a bridge to sell your adult self. UB has made so much money the executives are going to hunt down every last profitable collaboration I can guarantee you. Maro literally just had a Blogatog post gathering potential ideas for the next batch of products, and I'm sure they have several in the works right now.

Besides, what's different about not playing with UB and not playing with Modern legal cards, or Pioneer legal cards? They are mechanically unique, so what's the difference between not wanting to play Pioneer because of a group of cards in the format or not wanting to play Commander because of a group of cards in the format?

As far as rules regarding what cards are restricted, I'd just say if it has a Universes Beyond stamp on the card it is banned. Doesn't seem that hard to me.

Nothing you said refutes any points I made. Final Fantasy will not put up LotR numbers. Marvel will be a surefire hit, but with interest in the MCU waning, I think it'll be more Guardians of the Galaxy than Endgame. Beyond that, what's left? Star Wars? If you think Star Wars is coming anytime soon when its new TCG launches in four days, then I've got...ummm...an albino bantha to sell you. Star Trek will likely be commander decks, as I can't fathom how much you can Magic-ify space combat. I may be wrong on that one though.

To rephrase my previous post, how many properties have the breadth and popularity to warrant a full set? TMNT? Mortal Kombat? Is DC comics even on the table given Marvel's involvement?

(these are from my daughter)

As for any new format, I doubt there are enough players who care enough to sequester themselves. I also don't want to police other people's cards, nor would I expect them to keep alternate cards on hand so they conform to the gatekeep-y standards being proposed here. "Oh the store only had Dr. John Seward and not Torens, Fist of the Angels? Too bad. Find another table."

Barf.

My point is exactly that, I don't want to "gatekeep or individually police people". If a format like this existed I woundnt go to someone's table and say "SIR ARE YOU PLAYING UB, GET DOWN ON THE GROUND RIGHT NOW!" I'd just politely ask if anyone wants to play it and if not I'd do something else or play a game with UB cards if I had to. Kind of of like I said in my post... I just think having an unofficial format like Predh is a cool way of being able to find games with people who want to play the game with the cards that I do.

I'm not really worried or concerned, I just stated that I'd like a separate format. And know I know that some people are interested in predh, which sounds cool. Also, if UB stops making full sets, that's great. We are in agreement there, I'd love it if we just went back to less UB like secret lairs. But at the end of the day I'm not judging anyone who likes UB. I get it, its fun to come up with UB cards. UB is like candy, it tastes good but I suspect it might be bad for the long term health of the game and I never really liked it, outside of custom cards where I goofed off making them.

All that said, I don't think its nauseating to want to play a Magic the gathering game with cards from just the Magic IP. I never thought I'd make that statement lol. I guess what I'm confused by is, why is it fair for me to have to play with Iron Man (And again, I'm a huge marvel fan) but a bad idea to have a format where I don't have to play vs Iron Man. Why UB for all but not Magic for all?

To me, its like watching Star Wars and Gandalf shows up. I love Gandalf, like every other nerd. But I don't really wanna see him in the next Star Wars movie. If someone wants to still play UB they can play them in Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Commander.

I don't have a daughter but here are some olive branch emojjis

Also at the risk of being rude I kinda feel like my holofoil point did answer your point about where we draw the line.

Oh and as far as how you magicfy space combat, you use vehicles. And I think Wizards has cracked the code on Space sets because they are making one right now. They announced it a while back.

I also worked on making a custom Star Wars set out of curiosity, turns out, even with just the first three movies (by release date) you easily have enough cards for a full set. Squad works well for creatures, vehicles are in abundance, couple of battles, use the force is a cheap knockoff of the ring tempts you (I hate it too but I'm pretty sure that's what Wotc will do) and the draft themes correspond to Planets visited in the OT, i.e Tatooine is RB Treasure criminal underworld, Bespin is UW artifacts, Dagobah is BG lifegain, etc etc. It works pretty well I think, and that was a rough pass by a clown of an amateur designer.

If you don't believe me I can link you the cards. Its only halfway done because I got angry trying to find good rebel trooper art but it gives a idea of the possibilities. Oh and I really like the Dimir archetype flavor wise, its Surveil matters, representing the ISB/the Imperials spying on you with probe droids and stuff. I think it fits really well. RW is Rebel Typal but that's a given of course. Oh and Hoth is UG Snow matters.

But I think Star Trek might be more likely, and while I agree with you that there will be 4 commander decks I think they will correspond to a set.

[duducrash]

Jesus Christ, I make too much money to consider quitting, but sometimes I HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE my job.

Hey man, I've always told myself two things to keep me going.

I do whatever I have to do to be happy whenever i'm outside work and that the only thing I hate more than working is not having a job. We will make it.




About the UB format... I see, the only reasonable thing to be done is ban farewelll all together.

I dislike a lot of UB, I really like some and really dont mess with a lot. LOTR was a gem, every deck I brew I end up finding new gems. I even got Gimli, Counter of Kills in a deck and it does work!!But I'm not into guns or modern settings, so I usually don't approach Doctor or W40k for example but the other day I saw some who cards that are amazing. Past in Flames from that set is beautiful. Sarah Jane Smith I actually think I could play it and not break my "immersion" or whatever. I'll do my best to be bothered by things I can actually change, so yeah, they are doing UB so I'll act on my decks and be the player I would want to face or something like that.

one side thing that I wish had happened was, I wish LOTR commander decks were a little cheaper, but they also had a super foil version avaliable, like the w40 one.

I wonder if they'll ever get to anime/manga

[Venedrex]

How about a bad meme as way of apology for stirring the pot

[Hermes_]

Also four years ago on this day I came very very very close to dying. This was the day I got air lifted to another hospital because of a collapsed lung.

EDIT: If i had died I would have missed the UB sets but on the other hand I would have missed the drama from the UB sets

[DirkGently]

Since it seems like I spawned another UB discourse I figured maybe I should clarify my argument a bit.

I'm not saying that I dislike UB because of the cross promotion or the flavor - those are both also true, but not the thing that Fallout brought to my mind. What Fallout made me think about was what the point of UB is as an adaptation of an existing piece of media.

I think you could break it down going either direction. How does the other media (Fallout) benefit from being adapted into cards? And, how do the cards benefit from being designed around the other media?

To the first, watching Dune this week (excellent movie btw) after reading the books I think was a great example of adaptation bringing something new and worthwhile. Besides some general improvements to the story (imo), the visual grandeur of the movie is something that would be impossible to capture as a book. So what does being adapted to a card add to the existing franchise? Any adaptation lets the new creators put their own spin on the characters - movie Chani is more skeptical than book Chani for example - but that ability is very limited in the medium of cardboard rectangles, especially when the goal is to replicate the characters as closely as possible. I think the main selling point has been that you get to play with the characters you know from the franchise, but in this case, Fallout is already a game. You can already do that.

So, okay, how do the cards benefit from adapting an existing piece of media? They get to use a possibly-beloved character to build off, which has I think always been the main selling point for UB. Imagining characters as magic cards has always been a fun activity. But at this point, it just feels like too much. I'm not really that interested any more, even if it was a franchise I cared about. What makes a character interesting in a movie or a tv show or a video game is not the same thing that makes them interesting in cardboard. I barely remember Fallout 3 at this point, but from what I recall, James, Wandering Dad is a pretty faithful recreation of the character. But...the card is boring. I have no interest in playing it. I think the requirement that cards are depicting existing characters faithfully can be a serious limitation (also in terms of the art, which I think is pretty bad in this set, but that's a side conversation). I'm happy to look at a card and go "huh, yeah, that's a reasonable take on that character" but that does very little to make me actually want to play it if the design isn't interesting on its own merits. And most of the Fallout designs are not interesting.

[duducrash]

Also four years ago on this day I came very very very close to dying. This was the day I got air lifted to another hospital because of a collapsed lung.

happy rebirthday

[RxPhantom]

@Venedrex: no apology needed. We both stirred quite vigorously.

@DirkGently's point about the uninteresting designs are also on the mark. Oh great, Chun-Li has multikicker. Get it? Because she has that move where she kicks a lot.

[ISBPathfinder]

I see a lot of references to UB in posts here. I assume we aren't talking the colors of magic decks here or are we?

[Venedrex]

Dimir is pretty cool.

Some neat options for Commanders too.

If he wasn't so mean I'd build Jon Irenicus, Shattered One. But the Lazav's are cool and Phenax seems like a goofy fun deck to try and mill people with.

[Dunadain]

I still confuse UB and UW for Dimir and Azorious, then need to reread the sentence.

[Venedrex]

You know what deck I really want to build as a joke?

The Jace Deck

Just as many cards as humanly possible that refer to Jace in someway led by Jace, Vryn's Prodigy // Jace, Telepath Unbound.

Not because I particularly like Jace but because I know so many people can't stand him lol. Maybe I am a troll lol. With Jace, Cunning Castaway sleeves for maximum mental damage.

To complete the effect, I could show up in a bad cosplay and endlessly talk about how Jace singlehandedly saved the multiverse with his incredible skills /s

The only issue is I doubt anyone would realize that's not my true personality.

I checked scryfall and I think if you include cards with Jace in the name or flavor text you pretty much get there for how many cards you'd need.

[RxPhantom]

You could also try to use some awful Jace puns. Like, if someone attacks a Jace, you can say "right in the Jace!" and stuff ad nauseam.

[Guardman]

How many of you have been personal victimized by Universe's Beyond?

[Venedrex]

Well I have been drafting Wilds of Eldraine a ton on arena lately, and while it isn't a perfect set by any means I've had a lot of fun playing it.

High Fae Negotiator is top tier don't @ me. (OK, maybe its just a decent uncommon but still, it blocks all the things like a champ.)

[BlackbirdPlaysMTG]

Dimir is pretty cool.

Some neat options for Commanders too.

If he wasn't so mean I'd build Jon Irenicus, Shattered One. But the Lazav's are cool and Phenax seems like a goofy fun deck to try and mill people with.

Agreed, I have been toying around with Dimir quite a lot lately even though I never really considered building a blue-black deck before. Bought the Fae Dominion precon a few months ago and I brewed up a list for all of the three legendaries: Alela, Cunning Conqueror (currently built), Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor and Nymris, Oona's Trickster.

The playstyle of all three is fun. Quite a bit of interaction, counterspells, tricks and black for the tutors .

[pokken]

man Nymris, Oona's Trickster really appeals to me but figuring out how to structure that deck is so weird :D She wants to be ramped into, but the amount of ramp to support 5 cmc commanders really dilutes a control shell.

[Venedrex]

Dimir is pretty cool.

Some neat options for Commanders too.

If he wasn't so mean I'd build Jon Irenicus, Shattered One. But the Lazav's are cool and Phenax seems like a goofy fun deck to try and mill people with.

Agreed, I have been toying around with Dimir quite a lot lately even though I never really considered building a blue-black deck before. Bought the Fae Dominion precon a few months ago and I brewed up a list for all of the three legendaries: Alela, Cunning Conqueror (currently built), Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor and Nymris, Oona's Trickster.

The playstyle of all three is fun. Quite a bit of interaction, counterspells, tricks and black for the tutors .

Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor Yeah he looks fun to build, I could see myself putting together a nice faerie deck to play, a little bitterblossom, Glen Elendra Archmage. Yep, I like it.