In 1974 a small game called Dungeons and Dragons was first published. This gave rise to what we can consider contemporary nerd culture- people who really like gaming, particularly with a fantastic element to it. Wizards, fuck yeah, dragons, fuck yeah. Previous to this, “nerds” as such tended to stereotypically be young men who were good at school and enjoyed comic books and/or pulp science fiction, or fat bearded dudes with intricately assembled and painted historical armies that could be battled against each other using dizzyingly complex rules. The creator of D&D, Gary Gygax, was conveniently both of these things. He wanted intricately assembled and painted armies with dizzyingly complex rules that also included wizards and dragons and knights with magic swords. And thus the RPG genre was born.

D&D was overwhelmingly sold to and bought by young dudes. Although popular feminism was hitting the mainstream by the mid-70′s, society at the time was still influenced by strong enforcement of gender roles. Comic books and pulp novels were marketed exclusively to boys, so this new game was too. There simply weren’t nearly enough girls within the subculture to target the product to them. This didn’t impede the success of D&D however. The game exploded and almost immediately created its own subculture, supported by conventions and organizations that began to provide formal shape and structure to what was once a loose network connected largely by magazines and gaming groups. This brings us to the 1980′s and what I’ll call the apex of the “historical nerd” era. This is what a nerd looked like then:

Limp-wristed javelin-throwing rapists.

The popularity of D&D, Star Trek and the growing convention circuit introduced the nerd stereotype into pop culture. Without exception, these Hollywood nerds were male, sexually frustrated and obsessed with minutae and arcana that other people found boring or useless. Although usually fundamentally decent, most were condemned to the fate of Ducky- never to get the girl. John Hughes and other movie directors got a lot of grist out of milking this stereotype, and virtually every movie set in a high school from this period has one of these characters. In many ways, it was these movies that introduced this new subculture to the rest of America, and the overwhelming message of this introduction was that nerds were male, and that girls should avoid them. And so they did.

This was the environment in which Magic was created and released. By 1993, the convention circuit was well established, RPG’s of all kinds were enjoying a large amount of commercial success, and large sci-fi and fantasy franchises had fanatic devoted fanbases. Historical nerd culture was at its apex. This was the richest man in America:

Restrain yourselves ladies, he's taken.

However, a number of enormously powerful tidal shifts were taking place in the fabric of pop culture and within the transition from Gen X to the Millenials. The feminists who marched in the 70′s were raising families now, and many of the preconceived gender notions that isolated subcultures were beginning to be exploded. On top of this generational movement, there was a popular cultural meme of the worst kind of nerds becoming millionaires and billionaires. A perfect storm was brewing, and the outcome would be geek chic.

Access to the internet tied once isolated people with niche interests together, and being a nerd about something became very, very easy. Now you didn’t need to go to a convention to talk about your favorite TV show, you could just hop on your computer and find a community of people with the same interest. Computers and consoles also facilitated the rise of the “gamer” stereotype, and the vast sales of Playstation and Nintendo consoles ensured widespread market penetration and the development and growth of an enormous new subculture. Nerds were once mostly a select community that was isolated from the rest of the American public, but the explosive success of communications technology brought the ability for anyone in the country to easily be a complete nerd about something.

A typical nerd today.

However, much like Tsar Nicholas confronted with the teeming masses outside his palace, the people who had been previously bearing the nerd moniker attempted to stage a backlash. The worst attributes of the community- casual sexism, slovenly hygiene and cliquish condescension- found a new life on the internet and amongst the “hardcore”, the people still playing pen and paper RPG’s and going to gaming conventions. This was the environment in which Magic was growing. Amongst people intent on forging their identity as being apart from society at large, a game with high complexity and a direct lineage to historic nerd culture was an ideal vector. RPG’s found a measure of cross-gender acceptance as a way to connect with a group of friends and work together to tell a story. Conventions grew to accept the anime fandom, with its large female contingent and a variety of girl-centric shows and strong female characters. Magic however, remained firmly rooted in a high-paying tournament structure and competition driven by one-on-one duels, a style of gaming that has traditionally been disproportionately male. Magic became one of the last bastions of the classic nerd, a male dominated world adrift in a community that has become tolerant of everyone. I’m thinking its revolution time.

There have been a couple strong indicators that suggest change is coming in a big way. The success of Duels of the Planeswalkers on the Xbox has introduced Magic to the enormous gamer market, giving it a chance to make an impression on a more demographically diverse subset of the population. This coincides with the meteoric growth of EDH/Commander as the casual format du jour. Magic is becoming more and more of a social, multiplayer experience rather than a cutthroat fight to the death, and as it grows in this manner it has a greater inherent appeal to a much broader number of people. Factor in the fact that it’s become cool to be a nerd, and I think we’re getting to the point where it’s time to start asking some of our numbers to take a damn shower and shut up already with the horrible misogyny. That’s something long overdue anyway. It was never cool to tolerate the sexism of some of our players, but now it’s become imperative to make it stop.

Addendum: As I was thinking over/researching this topic a little bit, I wanted to touch on Star Wars but couldn’t get it to fit in this narrative. It’s always been a mainstream piece of pop culture, and confessing your love for it is generally a way to get a little nerd cred without seeming like a huge dweeb. However, as far as sexism goes, it’s actually gotten worse rather than better. Princess Leia was a badass who could fight stormtroopers and lead the troops, Queen Amidala was basically ornamental for the first movie and basically always in need of saving. Also, no girl Jedi are on the council, what the FUCK?!

It could be a couple things. Another tidbit is that people who play a “faction aligned” deck at the Scars of Mirrodin game day will get a special preview card for Mirrodin Besieged. A faction aligned deck has at least 10 maindeck cards from one of the factions of Mirrodin and none of the other. We don’t know what the factions are yet, but with “Mirrodin Pure” and “New Phyrexia” in our vocabulary there are some pretty obvious guesses out there.

What does this mean for the split set rumors? I’m calling it unlikely. The use of faction watermarks on cards definitely implies a mechanical incentive to encourage players to take a side, but I don’t think we’ll be getting the rumored “two sets in one” expansion. More updates to follow as rumors start getting confirmed- we have to be pretty close to a Week Zero preview, and once that happens these posts will start getting more detailed.

When this guy was spoiled, it was pretty patently obvious that it was intended to be the all-time most obscene piece of fat ever to see cardboard. Jam packed with abilities, Emrakul is every Timmy’s wet dream, an unstoppable annihilating mass of fat that’s extraordinarily hard to deal with and wildly expensive. However, I’m of the opinion that it’s just too damn much and ultimately limiting for the long term growth of the game. 15 mana is about the theoretical limit of what a card can cost. Sure, it’s fairly easy to generate that much mana in one explosive turn or over the course of a long developing casual or multiplayer game, but the fact that CMC is often used as space for card abilities means that if it gets too high there exists the potential for degenerate combo. Anyone remember Draco-explosion? It’s entirely possible we’re seeing the upper limit of what a fatty can look like.

In this sense Emrakul represents the absolute apex of what we can see on a creature. You’re certainly getting your money’s worth on this guy- hardcasting it usually means game over in a 2 person game, as 15 to the face and losing 6 permanents is an absolutely crushing swing. It’s evasive, has solid protection, and in a fun tweak that people often forget, it’s uncounterable. Emrakul is really a terror. However, it’s also convoluted and busy, sporting a crowded text box and denying the opponent basically any chance at interactivity. When you cast Emrakul, you’ll almost certainly be able to swing in and knock them out of the game, barring truly exceptional circumstances. This is a card that has very few outs when it’s hardcast. Kozilek is completely naked to spot removal, and Ulamog is resilient but still vulnerable to exile effects. Since neither of them give you the extra turn that Emrakul represents, it also gives your opponents a chance to dig for an out. Where the other mythic Eldrazi still can produce much of the tempo insanity that hitting with Emrakul represents, the fact your opponent gets a few valuable windows to remain in the game makes all the difference in my mind.

Casting Emrakul is often going to be a simple game over button in a two person game. In multiplayer, the dynamic is shifted and I really don’t think it’s much better. Whoever gets hit with Emrakul will probably be pushed so far behind that they become irrelevant, and then everyone else dogpiles on the person who cast the Eldrazi, shutting them out. It’s a suicide attack that creates horrible social situations when it comes time to decide who to swing at; if no one is clearly dominating the game and an obvious target to take the hit, people will feel like they got knocked out for no reason. Again, the other Eldrazi largely avoid this- smaller bodies and annihilator numbers dampen the amount of damage they can do, and a full turn for people to figure out ways to deal with them gives everyone the feeling of still being in the game. 15 mana should obviously buy you a lot, I just don’t think it should shut out interactivity.

How can Emrakul be fixed? It seems fitting that a set about giant cosmic monsters ought to have the biggest fatties ever, however Emrakul feels particularly degenerate for casual play. Personally, I think the problem lies in the synergy between its abilities and the general un-fun-ness of annihilator as a mechanic. Annihilator 6 is an ass kicking, and in formats where people aren’t cranking out a million Eldrazi spawn to soak up the blow means it’s either clearing out the board or ripping into a mana base. I’d prefer to see Eldrazi sporting activated abilities along the lines of Spawnsire of Ulamog. That way, your big fatty remains interactive and doesn’t put your opponent so far behind that they don’t even feel like playing it out. Casting your big dude and not getting a chance to use it kind of ruins things for everybody.

In the meantime, I think Max McCall had the article of the week. Interesting stuff and definitely a topic I want to explore a little bit in the future.

Now, this card is a pretty clear variation on a theme, offering a cracked-out expansion on the original. However, this expansion does a couple of things. First to note, it only works on your guys. Now, the original Polymorph always worked best when it was turning your junk into big scary monsters, but to a new player, it probably reads as a goofy removal spell. By eliminating that language in this update, Wizards has made the card a little more newbie friendly, which is great because it’s in a core set. There really isn’t any mistaking the intent behind casting a Mass Polymorph.

The next big change from the original is in the language of how it’s cast. The original Polymorph functioned as a removal spell that did something wacky, so in order for it to work it had to have a legal target upon resolution. This offers a pretty big out to a player looking to disrupt it; if you can kill whatever’s being targeted before Polymorph resolves, it gets countered by the rules and nothing happens. Not so much with the new version. Presumably you can come up with an instant-speed wrath in response to it getting casted, but that feels a fair amount more unlikely then running into a spot removal piece. Again, this feels like Wizards fixing the card to be a bit more friendly to new players. It’s almost always safe to run out a Mass Polymorph without having to worry about a canny player finding a way to make it fizzle.

Finally, Mass Polymorph is oodles more swingy than the original. I mean, your whole army becomes something totally different! If you crank out a million tokens and cast this, odds are you’ll end up hitting plenty of fat. With Rise of the Eldrazi so recently behind us, there have never been more good polymorph targets (and subjects) in the environment. Awakening Zone is a premier piece of token generation that doesn’t take up a creature slot. Let it accumulate enough bugs before pushing the “transmogrify” button and you could end up with a board full of mythic Eldrazi titans. Rad.

Looking at all of these collective changes from a more holistic perspective, it becomes pretty clear that Wizards wanted to take a fairly beloved rare and make it fit the core set philosophy better. Magic has become a game of splashy flavor, big roundhouse punches, and easy accessibility. Mass Polymorph improves on the original in all of these metrics. From a design standpoint, it seems like a pretty clear indicator towards the direction the game is headed.

The current theory du jour concerning Scars of Mirrodin is that the second set of the block will be split up into two sub sets- Mirrodin Pure and New Phyrexia. Mirrodin Pure/New Phyrexia boosters will be in the same box, and whenever you draft or play sealed with the format, you “choose a side” and are only given access to the cards from one set. Thanks to the SDCC spoilers, we know that faction watermarks will be a significant element of Scars of Mirrodin. If the faction element gets built up further, this could be a logical outcome.

However, that feels like a bit of an extreme departure from sets previous. If one of the sets is objectively less powerful than the other, either by virtue of chase rares or limited playability, dealers will find themselves sold out of one product and overstocked in the other. It’s been a recent trend for sets to have a single high-value chase mythic- Jace, Primeval Titan, Gideon. Whichever sub set gets that mythic will automatically sell more than the other set. Although this would seem to be an interesting piece of speculation, I would be extremely surprised to see it actually play out.

However, it IS true that card quality has gotten much better across the board in recent sets. Particularly, from Lorwyn onwards we’ve seen the dawn of the Creature Era- 2 power beaters for 1 have cropped up consistently in white and red, occasionally making an appearance in green. The two mana spot has also seen some spectacular threats as well as an influx of powerful utility creatures. And the 4 drop has gotten obscene. Bloodbraid Elf, Vengevine, Ranger of Eos, Obstinate Baloth, Conundrum Sphinx. All of these are ridiculously efficient compared to the 4 drop creatures of the past- Ravenous Baloth used to be one of the most cost efficient creatures of all time. Clearly this means that Wizards has decided to bring up sales by stepping on the gas pedal.

Except it doesn’t.

The explosion of good creatures in general and high end creatures in particular isn’t a sign the game’s on it’s last legs. It’s a sign that R&D finally came to its senses. I had a good conversation with a Magic designer a couple weeks ago who basically explained that the “old guard” of Wizards R&D just had a massive aversion to printing high quality fat. (Back in the day, Yawgmoth Demon was deemed unprintably powerful without its drawback by Bill Rose, current head of Wizards R&D.) The reason we kept getting cards like all of Onslaught block minus Goblins Warchief and Piledriver and the aforementioned Ravenous Baloth is simply because the development teams of that era thought that large, efficient creatures were inherently dangerous to the balance of the game. Somehow Spiritmonger slipped through the cracks, and even that wasn’t enough to make them realize that creatures in general were vastly overcosted.

What we say today is power creep is actually just power adjustment. Spells are basically fairly costed- Cryptic Command, Lightning Bolt and Maelstrom Pulse are all on the high end of the power curve, but haven’t caused too much grief and sorrow. However, until very recently, creatures were simply not at that same degree of efficiency. It’s a subtle issue to notice, but now R&D has committed to changing it. What people have decried as the end of Magic is actually it’s revitalization. Current sales figures would indicate it’s the right direction, and I have to say I’ve had a ton of fun playing both Standard and limited with sets that have followed the new design philosophy. The explosion of effective midrange decks in Standard has finally broken the endless cycle of small-guy aggro vs. grind-it-out control, and it would seem to me that Magic has never been healthier. End of the game indeed.

The article in question talks about the design of Donkey Kong Country 2, which was a much beloved platformer game. In breaking down the design of the game, the author of the column isolates a few elements that contribute to its success:

1. The game has a variability of play- you can rush through and attempt to just get through the story, or you can dawdle and look for secrets. Both styles of play are rewarded.
2. The design of the levels supports the two styles of play. Specifically discussed in the article, the placement of bananas and the timing of obstacles allows for an intuitive flow to the game, regardless of how fast you’re playing through the level. If you’re just looking to complete, going as fast as possible will let you get through the obstacles which appear to need precise timing. If you’re looking for secrets, out-of-place bananas will indicate where you should look.
3. As a corollary to point 2, the design of the game follows a consistent internal logic. If you’re jumping after oddly placed bananas looking for a secret, they’re not going to lead you into a trap some of the time . Likewise, there aren’t parts of the game where the timing for obstacles is different and you’ll die if you blaze through at top speed. This consistency is what gives the controls their intuitive nature.
4. There’s obvious motivation for either style of play. People looking to get through the game get the traditional motivating factors in a video game- new levels, boss fights, and the progression of a story. Secret hunters get taunts from Cranky Kong telling them they suck and they’ll never find all the bonus material.
5. Finally, the rewards for both styles of play are well-measured. Each level has a single giant hidden DK coin. Unlike other platformers that have multiple “big secrets” per level, by keeping DK coins scarce they have a high intrinsic value and keep the objective very clear- if you’ve found the DK coin in the level, you can move on to the next one. Players just looking to get through the game are rewarded with new worlds to play in.

What’s the takeaway message from all of this? The reason Donkey Kong 2 is successful is because the designers isolated the potential play experiences for the game, then built mechanics to support them. Design, in many ways, is intellectualizing what people do intuitively. When we play games or use appliances or drive cars or write notes, we instinctively approach these various experiences with a set of expectations, tactile and mental. Writing with a ballpoint penfeels a certain way that we expect to remain consistent. When Mario jumps, we know intuitively how he behaves in the air. Magic is the same way.

Much has been made of the Magic psychographic profiles: Timmy, Johnny, and Spike. Wizards R&D often talks about designing cards for the specific psychographic profiles, but I wonder how much of the user experience could be improved by reinventing how mechanics are designed. Timmy wants to experience something, Johnny wants to accomplish something, and Spike wants to prove something. Let’s start making mechanics that do these things too. In recent sets, I can think of a couple mechanics that already fit this bill:

• Cascade is a Timmy mechanic. It generates a game state that is unexpected and rewarding, presumably pushing all of Timmy’s buttons in the right places.
• Leveler is a Johnny mechanic. It sets out a clear objective to accomplish and rewards the player for doing so. Lighthouse Chronologist is archetypical here.

What does a Spike mechanic look like? Hard to say, but I think whichever designer unlocks that secret will do wonders for the future of the game.

Poor Frost Titan. When we all saw the spoilers come out for a new mythic cycle of fatty-boom-batties, I think everyone knew in their heart of hearts that one of them had to be bad. It’s a shame that the blue titan copped that label so soon though, because I think it’s actually a pretty interesting card that highlights some of the changes that have taken place in the fundamentals of Magic design.

Since Lorwyn block onwards, the average creature in Magic has gotten staggeringly efficient. Does anyone remember when Watchwolf first came out? It was bananas. The dog just ran over everything else at its place on the curve, and it really wasn’t that hard to have it trade up with a 3 or even 4 drop. It was like driving a Lambo when everyone else is rockin’ their Geo Metros.

Watchwolf looks like complete dogshit when you put it next to Garruk’s Companion.

Same power and converted mana cost, monocolored, trample and common. WHAT. There’s a general murmur from the chattering classes that Wizards has gone off the deep end, printing spectacular creatures that are pound for pound the best the game has ever seen. In fact, general card quality feels like it’s never been better. A contemporary Jund deck runs an all-star array of threats that generate card advantage at every point on the mana curve. Sovereign Mythic has a rock-solid foundation of cheap mana accelerating creatures that lead into some of the most dangerous threats ever printed. Remember when we all had to collectively decide if we wanted Birds of Paradise or Llanowar Elves in the core set? Mythic doesn’t even bother with the Elves, since we also get Lotus Cobra and Noble Hierarch. It’s not like the control decks are lacking for quality either. Jace, anyone? Couple that with awesome sweepers, manlands, walls and high-quality spot removal and this is the point where the Kool-Aid man busts through the wall and goes “Oh yeeeeeeeeah!”

It’s like the people at Wizards woke up one morning and suddenly realized that cards didn’t have to suck to keep the game in check. In the past, the most degenerate formats have come as the result of the strength of one or two broken cards, not the general power level of everything else. If you make the average card better, you’re not hurting anything at all.

This is why Frost Titan is the sad titan. Imagine if this guy had been printed by himself in Ravnica block. Remember, Watchwolf was a high quality threat. People played Skeletal Vampire as an ultra-resilient finisher. Frost Titan would have been a premiere card and possibly the starting point for deck construction. Today, it’s merely average, and has the misfortune of being part of a cycle that’s packed with all-stars. It’s hard to be Scotty Pippen when you’re in the same lineup as MJ.

Fortunately for my purposes though, I think Frost Titan is very illustrative of the blue threat of the future. Since blue has been the traditional “worst creature” color, it’s been pretty clear that Wizards has been doing what they can to give blue fat some teeth as they pull the game towards more creature interactivity. We’ve seen the introduction of the Sphinx as the iconic large blue creature, and there have been a variety of experiments in large-creature abilities; we’ve seen shroud, card draw, and islandwalk all show up on blue finishers. The “lock down” ability on Frost Titan is a repeat- it turned up previously on Lorthos. Coupled with Stormtide Leviathan’s ability, it seems like the trend for large blue finishers in M11 is to have some sort of effect that cripples opposing creatures. Sure, other colors get more efficient options, but blue gets a way to keep your biggest stuff out of the fight entirely. Seems very fitting, and it’s a good way to give blue some action while keeping the actual power and toughness of its end game threats at a level lower than the rest of the field. I wouldn’t be surprised if Frost Titan is an archetypical model for the new blue high-end, and I’m looking forward to seeing if that prediction holds true in the future.

Sword of Body and Mind (3)

Artifact- Equipment

Equipped creature gets +2/+2 and has protection from blue and from green.

Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, put a 2/2 green Wolf creature token onto the battlefield and that player puts the top 10 cards from his or her library into the graveyard.

Equip (2)

Niiiiiiice. My favorite part is how it makes more guys to equip with, so if you can keep sneaking beats in they’ll get run out of removal. Milling for 10 is kind of tricky- in multiples it’s obscene but if you only get a beat or two in before the sword dies then you really haven’t done anything. Definitely a great piece of equipment though.

Next up is some info on the new duel deck, Elspeth vs. Tezzeret. We’ve got some new art for the featured planeswalkers, and two pieces of art that are presumably for reprinted cards. The Elspeth art looks like it ought to go on a pump spell of some kind (Honor of the Pure, anyone?), while the Tezz art could either be an artifact or a tutor or something else entirely. Sculpting Steel, Serum Powder, and AEther Vial could all be plausible.

There’s also a bunch of inconclusive new tidbits about Scars of Mirrodin from SDCC.

• Elspeth is there, along with a new planeswalker named Koth
• We got to see art for a card that looks suspiciously like Etched Oracle
• Lots of cards have a “guildlike” watermark on their text box.
• There’s vampires.

Just enough to whet everyone’s appetites, really. Scars is looking like it could be about anything really, but I’m sure it’s gonna be pretty exciting. However, I’m reasonably sure it won’t feature purple mana, despite the insanity going on over in this discussion.