2001)

Draft. Draft. Draft. I wanted out of magic, but drafting kept me in the
game. After I sold everything (except for my few common decks), I
played in some drafts and accumulated some cards. Sell-able
rares, questionable uncommons, and a pile of commons were filling
my empty trade binders and storage boxes. I got rid of everything
around Masques block, and I started drafting heavily during Invasion
block.

I found with Card-Shark’s excellent system, I could unload a pile of
cards. However, during this mass unloading I made a disturbing
revelation; Wizards of the Coast has made the most marketable set
ever! My Apocalypse cards are flying off the site! My Invasrion and
Planeshift cards are collecting dust, but they have at least moved
more than the random Nemesis and Mercadian Masques cards that I
still have in my collection. Let’s not even talk about Prophecy! Those
cards aren’t moving at all!

Could it be that Wizards is doing something right by making a set that
people want? Or is it that Wizards is looking at what would sell the
most, and then they market a set to have the cards available. The
results are not conclusive, but I feel there may be some unethical
hands at work to make you spend your hard-earned money!

First off, I want to rant on the state of some of the staple cards in the
current type 2 environment. Wizards has always treated good
removal as an uncommon or rare. Take Hurricane or Desert twister,
for example. Those cards were good utility, but too powerful for the
common slot. Both were made uncommon, and Hurricane is now a
rare card in Seventh Edition. Now look at every set in general, where
is all of the good removal? They are all in the uncommon slot (with
the exception of Terminate which I will address later). So why did
Vindicate get into the rare slot?

My answer to that question: to sell packs! This card is very good for
decks that can use it. I wish I knew if the R&D team had originally
slated this card for the rare slot, or if WOTC decided to push it into the
rare slot! It doesn’t make sense that Terminate is a common, and
Vindicate is a rare. Technically speaking, red and black are more
kindred than white and black. Therefore, Terminate is much more
viable and useful. What other cards can white and black decks use?

Let’s look at the list of white and black cards that are really useful.
Desolation Angel, Spectral Lynx, Death Grasp, Gerrard’s Verdict, and
Vindicate. Wow! Those are all great cards, and they have amazing
synergy! If you get four of each and put them in the same deck, they
would be pretty good, right? You betcha! Invasion Block
Constructed is full of these decks. Gee, it sure was nice to have
almost all of them rare! Have the prices gone up on the above
mentioned cards? Most definitely.

Let’s continue looking at the black and white deck. What else goes
really well in that deck? Phyrexian Arena and the Caves of Koilos are
really nice additions. Guess what? More rares to collect and buy. Is
Apocalypse a giant pre-constructed deck in the disguise of a booster
pack?

Step 1: Open a box of Apocalypse boosters
Step 2: Put all of the card combinations together
Step 3: Throw out all of the chaff

Presto! You have an amazing deck in the making. Has this ever
happened before? Say it with me, ´´Replenish´´. No shots against
Mark Rosewater, I met him during the Unglued tournaments at Gen
Con and he was super cool. Unfortunately, it was another period in
my Magic life when a pile of rares were making the best deck. Sadly,
outside of the deck itself, the cards were not very playable. Parallax
cards had some outside uses in Ankh of Mishra decks, but for the
most part, everyone was scrambling for the rare cards to use and
abuse.

This brings me back to my point. The latest set shows a disturbing
trend towards marketing. Look at all of the rares in Apocalypse. Not
too many stinker cards in rare slots (well, the volvers aren’t that
great). I understand the Desolation Angel and the Spiritmonger rare
cards, but couldn’t the rest be uncommon as in the Invasion set?

Let’s look at Invasion. The new dual lands are uncommon. That’s a
surprising move. However, the counterspells are rare! When were
counterspells ever rare? Mana Drain and Force of Will are arguably
the most powerful counter-magic in the game. Were they rare?
Nope. UNCOMMON! The trend of the current counter-wars in magic
are reserved to the wealthy that can afford the Absorb and
Undermine.

Why was Sligh so popular? It was easier to play, and cheap! Kids
could raid their common boxes, grab all of the burn and goblins, and
make a great deck. I remember kids winning tournaments without
Cursed Scrolls. What did they use instead? Fireblast! The Tempest
era was so fun because the most expensive decks weren’t the most
consistent. Hatred and Suicide Black were as cheap as Sligh, and
the decks depended on the player, not the wallet.

So what does the new Sligh player need? Well, mono-red isn’t that
great, so you need to play Fires. It is easy to play, and has a lot of
game winning situations. Is it cheap to build? No way! Better save
up for those Urza’s Rage (rare burn? Whatever), Ghitu Fire (more
rare burn), Shivan Wurm, Saproling Burst, Skizzik, and Birds of
Paradise. In addition a good fires deck will run four Rishadan Ports.
Now they have us buying four $15 rare lands not to mention all those
red/green pain lands and City of Brass. It is pretty sad that most all
type two decks are well over $100 in retail price. That’s a lot to the
casual player.

I guess that’s why I draft. If I built a $250 deck, I would want that
sucker to win every game! Don’t try to give me the mumbo jumbo
about luck and random nature. I JUST SPENT $250 AND I WANT TO
WIN, DARNIT! Well, that may be an unhealthy attitude, but can you
see that it can be frustrating to people who want a casual, but
competitive game?

Well, the damage is done, and IBC is a great format (if you can afford
it). Type 2 would be fun if they banned Fires! I hope in the future that
they balance marketing considerations with the playability and
affordability of the game. Even though I may have ruffled some
feathers in the WOTC world, I am just a casual player wanting to
spend a little less money on my tournament decks.

I guess I’ll get back to the drafting table…

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