Then we can post a cute picture of what our quiz result is on our LiveJou- er, Twitters? Face...books? I'm a Seifer Almasy cube designer, obviously. You can just tell from my palms.
General On this forum, how many schools of thought are there?
- Thread starter spicewitch
- Start date
With the option to share the results on Facebook.
I count on CML to make the poll, complete with Cosmo style labels at the end. "The Rosewater: You blah blah blah".
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Presuming you build or are building a cube, did or do you:
1. Acquire (or used already owned) expensive cards for your cube (i.e. Force of Will, Dark Confidant, Mana Drain, Wasteland, etc.)?
2. Acquire (or used already owned) pieces of Power 9 (Mox Pearl, Black Lotus, Ancestral Recall, etc.)?
3. Use proxied cards?
If you could build your dream cube:
4. Would it be singleton?
5. Would it run (very near) functional reprints (i.e. both Incinerate and Lightning Strike, etc.)?
6. Would it run blisteringly fast artifact mana (i.e. Sol Ring, Grim Monolith, Mana Crypt, etc.)?
7. Would it run artifact mana that empowers midrange and control strategies (i.e. Coalition Relic, Worn Powerstone, Basalt Monolith, etc.)?
8. Would it run the Power 9?
9. Would it run a dedicated storm theme (i.e. fast mana, Mind's Desire, Tendrils of Agony, Grapeshot, etc.)?
10. Would it run made up (i.e. custom, i.e. not printed by Wizards of the Coast) cards?
Oh, the restrictions breeding creativity thing. Yeah that's okay.
The trouble with him is, you have to read everything he says keeping one fundamental thing in mind: he wants you to buy product.
That means that in 2008, you will see several posts explaining why the Untap symbol in Shadowmoor is the most brilliant, innovative thing. It's hip, it's hot, it's hopping! It's gonna save your games and slice your bread. You're going to experience the BEST GAMES OF MAGIC EVER now because of their cool new creative mechanic!
2 years later (about the amount of time it takes Shadowmoor to rotate out of Standard, coincidentally), WotC finally admits that Untap was a terrible failure. Players figured this out much sooner, of course, but official channels couldn't admit their mistake until SHM was mostly finished up. But you should buy their new set because it's brilliant and fantastic and solves all the mistakes they've ever made in the past!
There's a lot to be gained from reading MaRo posts, but you have to sift through the hyperbole and keep in mind that whatever he says about mechanics that aren't yet 2 years old might be all fanfare and hype.
I like reading MaRo's articles and I definitely agree that the hyperbole can be overbearing sometimes. However, his Drive to Work podcasts are fantastic. There is a ton of games design info there and I love the stories behind the development and creation of the various cards/sets. It also gives a great glimpse into the going-ons behind the scenes and why certain things happened in certain sets. When he goes over old sets, especially, he's very quick at pointing out what went right and wrong for them, what they should have done better and what was great.
He's a great designer, it's really difficult to build a new game up from the ground up and that's essentially what WOTC does with every new block; from worlds to mechanics to individual cards. A brand new Limited format is brought out every year, essentially a new way to play the same game every time. That's just amazing. Sure, WOTC can be annoying at times with some of the cards they power down and those they push, but they've done an awesome job keeping the game fresh and exciting for so long.
He's a great designer, it's really difficult to build a new game up from the ground up and that's essentially what WOTC does with every new block; from worlds to mechanics to individual cards. A brand new Limited format is brought out every year, essentially a new way to play the same game every time. That's just amazing. Sure, WOTC can be annoying at times with some of the cards they power down and those they push, but they've done an awesome job keeping the game fresh and exciting for so long.
I'm something just short of a Maro fanboy - I think I've read his column every week for nearly ten years, even when I was out of Magic, and am almost caught up on his 180+ podcasts - and I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt in that he's just a very optimistic person. He tends to get more excited about unusual or quirky new mechanics than we as players might get, but I chalk that up to him loving Magic and being genuinely enthusiastic about the product his team is trying to create. For someone a little more realistic and level-headed about Magic's ups and downs, I look to Aaron Forsythe, who tends to have a better read on both the pulse of the community, and on what succeeded and failed within Wizards' walls. He was the first person in R&D to admit that the Vivid lands were a mistake, right at the peak of the five-colour control craze, with decks featuring all three of Cruel Ultimatum, Wrath of God, and Cloudthresher (!). You can take most of his statements at face value, whereas with Maro, you sometimes have to pretend that his words are coming from the mouth of a yappy, bouncy ten-year-old.
http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/75916794281/drive-to-work-94-emotional-connection
imo this is the best maro podcast
imo this is the best maro podcast
CML
Contributor
I support the creation of a survery to find out what type of cube designer you are, but the questions should be less obvious.
What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
- Vanilla
- Chocolate chip
- Love it all
- Hate it all
- Other
- Yes
- No
- Blood parents
- Other relatives
- Adoptive parents
- Foster parents
- Wolves
- White/Caucasian
- Black/African
- Black/Other
- Redskin/Redneck
- Unknown
CML
Contributor
everyone knows i'm pretty cantankerous, but i should clarify that i draw as much upon NWO constructed formats as i do old-school draft formats for my cube. it's just that everyone plays and enjoys NWO constructed formats (for the most part -- obviously there are some stupid ones) and there is no one left who has drafted old sets. i was so desperate for a hymn to old-school sets the other day, for example, that i read an article by eric froehlich, who is a slug. currently i am trying to crack my copy of parallels so i can play an otj draft.
i find retail limited very difficult and am not good at it at all. i am also known for being bad at my own cube.
i find retail limited very difficult and am not good at it at all. i am also known for being bad at my own cube.
I think this really depends on what sort of format you want to design! They inform a lot of the position you take when discussing your project.
I also think a lot of the stuff that applies to general magic design doesn't necessarily apply to your cube because you can treat it more like a lil boardgame. It's like how R&D doesn't keep too close an eye on formats that aren't standard and limited.
I have to say I can rail against just about any personality in cubeworld but I can relate and have respect for most of them. Like whenever I talk about formats that want to have shitty removal now, I'm talking about it seriously, I'm not trying to deride them and if I can get into their shoes I usually respect what they are trying to achieve even if I'm not sure if it couldn't be done better or if their plan is even particularly effective they're definitely learning and cultivating something interesting. Magic is a pretty deep game.
I also think a lot of the stuff that applies to general magic design doesn't necessarily apply to your cube because you can treat it more like a lil boardgame. It's like how R&D doesn't keep too close an eye on formats that aren't standard and limited.
I have to say I can rail against just about any personality in cubeworld but I can relate and have respect for most of them. Like whenever I talk about formats that want to have shitty removal now, I'm talking about it seriously, I'm not trying to deride them and if I can get into their shoes I usually respect what they are trying to achieve even if I'm not sure if it couldn't be done better or if their plan is even particularly effective they're definitely learning and cultivating something interesting. Magic is a pretty deep game.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Some of this can be written off as the benifit of hindsight and the intentions vs execution idea, but anything any corperate face says can basically be underlined with that statement. He's just less subtle about it
On the other hand, I doubt we'd all be here if he was bereft of good ideas, given how involved he's been with the development of the game, and so many of the cards we use