Subject: Comments on the current conversation Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 16:55:59 -0400 From: Gabriel N Perdue Howdy. (This won't look like a strategy posting the first time you read it, but with a good spin team, I think I've got a shot at calling it just that.) One of the recent trends of convesation, started I believe by Karsten, is one regarding the relatively low count of tournament quality cards in the environment and the subsequent effects on deck construction. The conversation managed to eventually be cross referenced to The Dojo, sealed play, and even different tournament formats. I thought I might add my own thoughts to "the pool". First, in regards to the relatively low number of very strong cards in a set, I believe Karsten's observation is correct: about ten to twenty percent of the cards in the "environment" are tournament viable. This should be obvious to everyone for a couple reasons: 1) WotC wants to make MONEY. If every single card in a set were as strong as Tradewind Rider or Cursed Scroll (or Time Walk for that matter), then people wouldn't need to buy as many packs to build a very strong deck, no? 2) Tournament Magic is just like any other very high level game: only the best and strongest survive. There are only five colors, and everyone has to play with sixty cards (with only four of each card allowed). To simplify things, we'll assume monochrome decks for a moment. If we then say people will play the strongest deck they possibly can, then we're looking at 200 "real cards" (I'm not counting land), that people will use. Even if we raise the power level of every card in the set to near equality, people will still play the 200 best in the environment. If we allow for multi-color decks, due to crossover, at most we allow another 100 truly powerful cards. The human mind will take any pursuit it fancy's to the highest level. Even a set full of Tradewinds and Scrolls would have to show some differentiation and then someone would capatalize on it. All this said though, I believe WotC has done an absolutley phenomenal job of balancing the sets, raising the median power level of the cards, and addressing the concerns and needs of both Sealed and Constructed players. Constructed environments are easy to maintain, but the true quality of a set is revealed in the Sealed play one can get out of it. Can you imagine playing sealed with anything older than Ice Age? Complaints about unbalanced modern sets are unfair. People should consider the amazing progress WotC is making on this front (and all of this from an avid Type I player). I find it interesting that *anyone* with a brain can criticize The Dojo for having an adverse effect on magic. Of course, I believe that people aren't necessarily criticizing The Dojo, but rather the entire web for dispersing "deck tech" so thoroughly. This seems like a rather childish complaint. We live in a world which is a free market for ideas. As soon as one person has an idea, the "genie is out of the bottle" so to speak, and the world is forever changed. People complaining about Dojo drones and a lack of creativity are misplacing their energies. The Dojo just happens to be the best of many web sites devoted to magic, all of which print decklists. The MCO-14 (Modern Chess Openings, vol. 14) prints every single chess opening seen in tournament play up through the twenthieth move in many variants. But do Grandmasters complain about the publishing of the MCO and how it allows "scrubs" to beat them? No. If someone plays a copy of a "Dojo Deck", all they have done is their homework. If they tweak the deck, or find some hidden tech which gives them an edge, and they win because of it, then good. They have been rewarded for being a superior Magic player (or at least lucky enough to avoid manascrew). If someone plays a net deck and wins because of it, then good; they have been rewarded for being resourceful and a skilled player (or at least lucky enough to avoid manascrew). As for another tournament format...I don't believe one is really necessary. The same problem will exist that I discussed above. It doesn't matter how big the environment is, you're still going to have no more than 300 cards worth playing with, because you'll play with the 300 BEST CARDS! Look at Type I...there are more cards available in Type I than any other format, but people only play with about 100 of them (the most powerful 100 in the game...). Type II is interesting because it changes so often. If you want to play with a different card base than what's popular in those two (or Extended or Classic-Restricted) then make up your own format and play with your friends; but we don't need to confuse the "tournament scene" anymore than it already is. If people really want to change the scene, form a union and crucify cheaters publicly...that'll change the scene. pax Gabe