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LongDarkNight posted:The recognizable IP is a great initial draw to build your player base. After Decipher lost the license for Star Wars they tried to make their own IP with fiction written by Michael Stackpole. The Wars TCG, besides Decipher immediately started recapitulating all their design mistakes of Star Wars, had no draw. No recognizable characters be invested in. I'm glad to see the Decipher run of unbelievably terrible CCGs is downright legendary.
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Feb 20, 2021 18:14
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It's impressive how quickly it went from 'don't be silly they won't just asset strip FFG and abandon it' to them asset stripping and abandoning it.
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Feb 20, 2021 18:15
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IMO, part of Magic’s success was that it didn’t try to setup original IP at the start. It was just generic high fantasy with hints of some characters in the background.
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Feb 20, 2021 18:28
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whydirt posted:IMO, part of Magic’s success was that it didn’t try to setup original IP at the start. It was just generic high fantasy with hints of some characters in the background. Magic generally took a very long time before decided it should make its main characters actual playable cards. In the earliest days they just basically didn't do it, and once they started (predating planeswalker cards so those characters were all out) the standard practice was only to print a character once they were basically out of the story. That meant that even though he was functionally the main character in the story line, they didn't print a card for Gerard for something like six years. And you are totally correct that MTG's earliest bundle of sets were largely D&D adjacent generic high fantasy, but at the same time it's also somewhat worth mentioning that the very first expansion for Magic: The Gathering was Arabian Nights (which is definitely an established IP, even if it predates the words "Intellectual Property") and that in general that was the game starting as it meant to go on. Magic over the years has also gotten a lot of mileage out of other media/mythologies and their respective milieus. I mean no particular disrespect to Magic as its many takeoffs are all pretty interesting in their own right, but they are all unabashedly takeoffs and riffs on other properties.
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Feb 20, 2021 19:32
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The main character in early Magic was the memorable and often nonsensical art, which modern Magic has stripped away outside of various promo and Seb McKinnon pieces.
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Feb 20, 2021 19:42
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GrandpaPants posted:The main character in early Magic was the memorable and often nonsensical art, which modern Magic has stripped away outside of various promo and Seb McKinnon pieces. Current Magic art is just so boring. I don’t know why they insist on a pseudo photorealistic style, it makes so much of the art really unmemorable
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Feb 20, 2021 21:38
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Realistic art makes mediocre art directors feel smart.
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Feb 20, 2021 22:29
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The thing I don’t like about Magic art is that they deliberately emphasize the color that the card will be. So, blue cards look very blue, red very red, etc.
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Feb 20, 2021 23:36
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thetoughestbean posted:Current Magic art is just so boring. I don’t know why they insist on a pseudo photorealistic style, it makes so much of the art really unmemorable it's almost certainly like a Brand Identity thing. artists have talked in the past that WotC gives a lot of notes about what artists need to do or change for their submissions, so at some point it's probably easier to just say "make it look realistic" because people generally agree on what that means. it'd be much cooler if you got stuff like with the Pokemon TCG where there's a huge mix of styles and even formats including photography
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Feb 20, 2021 23:42
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Countblanc posted:it's almost certainly like a Brand Identity thing. artists have talked in the past that WotC gives a lot of notes about what artists need to do or change for their submissions, so at some point it's probably easier to just say "make it look realistic" because people generally agree on what that means. it'd be much cooler if you got stuff like with the Pokemon TCG where there's a huge mix of styles and even formats including photography Hey, look on the bright side, there's at least one step worse it could be. My favorite example for "too weirdly uniform art" - Degenesis (which, don't get me wrong on either count here; Degenesis does have great art, and it's also still written by loving creeps so I sadly can't recommend it anyway even as an art reference). Something like 800 pages of core book and several 250+ pg expansions. Every bloody piece of art looks like the same guy drew it. Originally just found it idly amusing, eventually went to the various Artstation pages for credited artists and got a big ol' "huh". Looks that way because SMV lead figure Marko Djurdjevic has equal or higher credit on their own portfolios for every piece of art, and I'd put money down he's actively involved in them considering his background with Marvel and the impression I got of him from personal interaction. Plus, yknow, the sole credit given to him on every "iconic" art in the core book. At least MtG has different spins on "realistic"!
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Feb 21, 2021 00:25
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LongDarkNight posted:The recognizable IP is a great initial draw to build your player base. After Decipher lost the license for Star Wars they tried to make their own IP with fiction written by Michael Stackpole. The Wars TCG, besides Decipher immediately started recapitulating all their design mistakes of Star Wars, had no draw. No recognizable characters be invested in. Decipher did that same thing with their DC deckbuilder when they wanted to make a digital version. They couldn't use the actual dc characters in a digital version of the exact same game for some reason, so they reskinned everything with some generic high fantasy stuff and, shockingly, nobody cared. Actually, the same thing happened to Upper Deck when they did the Legendary mobile app now that I think of it. It's very telling how the games stop being popular when they're removed from their properties.
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Feb 21, 2021 01:25
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Evil Mastermind posted:Decipher did that same thing with their DC deckbuilder when they wanted to make a digital version. They couldn't use the actual dc characters in a digital version of the exact same game for some reason, so they reskinned everything with some generic high fantasy stuff and, shockingly, nobody cared. Physical games and video games are usually separate licenses, and so they would've needed both to make a digital version of their card game.
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Feb 21, 2021 01:53
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Magic has huge art variety, if you specifically seek out the variant art options, most of which (if you play paper magic) cost more to obtain, of course.
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Feb 21, 2021 02:06
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How many of these were secret lairs? (The Japanese art for Opt looks really cool though, look at this thing 
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Feb 21, 2021 02:25
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I dunno probably all of them, I'm not good enough at reading set symbols. Point is though that it's not that all the Magic art looks the same, it's that the company intentionally puts the art that varies more from the typical house styles, into cards that their customers are willing to pay extra money to chase after. It's mercenary, absolutely, but also very very effective.
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Feb 21, 2021 02:38
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thetoughestbean posted:How many of these were secret lairs? (The Japanese art for Opt looks really cool though, look at this thing 4 or 5? i'm not sure about the opt pictured, but the spell pierce is an amonkhet-block masterpiece, and the mechagodzilla was from ikoria collector packs. rick is secret lair, assassin's trophy is secret lair, the island and the pathway look to be secret lair too
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Feb 21, 2021 02:41
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Arivia posted:4 or 5? i'm not sure about the opt pictured, but the spell pierce is an amonkhet-block masterpiece, and the mechagodzilla was from ikoria collector packs. Opt is the masterpiece for the next set, apparently it will be a lot more available, something like one per pack
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Feb 21, 2021 02:52
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thetoughestbean posted:Opt is the masterpiece for the next set, apparently it will be a lot more available, something like one per pack There's going to be one spellbook card per pack, Collectors boosters will have a chance of having the japanese alt art spellbooks. Also that mechagodzilla, battle fortress was an in store promo from Ikoria before they realized that nerds were disgusting and couldn't play the game safely even if you forced them to. Kurieg fucked around with this message at 04:02 on Feb 21, 2021 |
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Feb 21, 2021 04:00
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thetoughestbean posted:Opt is the masterpiece for the next set, apparently it will be a lot more available, something like one per pack no, i mean the one in the tweet
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Feb 21, 2021 04:17
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Arivia posted:no, i mean the one in the tweet Yes, the opt in the tweet is the normal promo version of the opt for Strixhaven, the one in the post you quoted is like.. double-promo, somtimes japanese packs will have the alt-japanese-art version rather than the one in the Tweet.
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Feb 21, 2021 04:36
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Kurieg posted:Yes, the opt in the tweet is the normal promo version of the opt for Strixhaven, the one in the post you quoted is like.. double-promo, somtimes japanese packs will have the alt-japanese-art version rather than the one in the Tweet. Which I think you can get in the US if you buy Collector boxes or something?
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Feb 21, 2021 05:17
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Sorry, double post
thetoughestbean fucked around with this message at 05:30 on Feb 21, 2021 |
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Feb 21, 2021 05:23
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thetoughestbean posted:Which I think you can get in the US if you buy Collector boxes or something? Basically, regular Strixhaven packs come with one old staple spell with fancy art like Opt or Swords to Plowshares. They aren't standard-legal, but you can use them in drafts and they're a decent way to get a bunch of old cards everyone wants into the economy. If you buy a collectors' pack, you get three of them and one of them will (probably?) be one of the Japanese alt-art versions.
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Feb 21, 2021 05:28
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Also somehow a triple post. Don’t know what’s going on with Awful App tonight The alt arts for the Armageddemon and Omnimon cards from the latest Digimon set are super cool: https://twitter.com/digimon_tcg/status/1363284803181666309?s=21 thetoughestbean fucked around with this message at 06:33 on Feb 21, 2021 |
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Feb 21, 2021 05:29
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Kestral posted:I would unironically enjoy reading this if it’s still around. I think it was on their community forum, which according to the link on this page has inexplicably turned into BET's website.
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Feb 21, 2021 08:40
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Kurieg posted:There's going to be one spellbook card per pack, Collectors boosters will have a chance of having the japanese alt art spellbooks. It was one of the promos for the Love Your Local Games Store mailing, which was originally designed to help support stores when they could open their doors again, but was just a purchase incentive in order to allow people to do curbside with it or whatever if their region made it required/correct. By they time they arrived, it was already clear that wasn't going to work, but it was less about Magic players being worse than expected and more about the disease/government response being what it was. In either case it never required in-store play and was just a bonus buy-a-box card (with the promo Reliquary Tower being a bonus any-purchase card through the same program).
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Feb 22, 2021 03:33
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homullus posted:Has anyone here played NISEI Netrunner? They have a starter set coming out soon, and so many people rave about Netrunner that I was thinking of trying it. Yes. Most of the card base is still FFG cards. Come to the netrunner thread, there are still a few of us there.
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Feb 23, 2021 02:13
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Midjack posted:Yes. Most of the card base is still FFG cards. Come to the netrunner thread, there are still a few of us there. oh wow, thanks for the referral -- I will do that.
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Feb 23, 2021 04:18
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Hasbro to reorg WotC into division instead of subsidiary. https://www.wsj.com/articles/dungeons-dragons-gets-a-bigger-role-at-hasbro-11614254403 https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=wsj%20Dungeons%20%26%20Dragons%20Gets%20a%20Bigger%20Role%20at%20Hasbro
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Feb 25, 2021 16:05
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Magic is also apparently going to do LOTR and 40k crossovers but I haven't seen anything directly from WOTC on that yet.
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Feb 25, 2021 16:14
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loving MASSIVE GROGS.TXT ALERT: ZAK PUT OUT AN OSR THING ABOUT AFRICA. IT'S ON HIS PLAYING D&D BLOG. DON'T GO LOOK AT IT. ETA: actual good advice sasha_d3ath fucked around with this message at 17:44 on Feb 25, 2021 |
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Feb 25, 2021 17:25
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TK_Nyarlathotep posted:loving MASSIVE GROGS.TXT ALERT:
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Feb 25, 2021 17:26
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TK_Nyarlathotep posted:loving MASSIVE GROGS.TXT ALERT:
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Feb 25, 2021 17:29
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TK_Nyarlathotep posted:loving MASSIVE GROGS.TXT ALERT:
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Feb 25, 2021 17:32
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90s Cringe Rock posted:I'll wait for the F&F you just volunteered to do. Probably only skim that though.
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Feb 25, 2021 17:34
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I should bring my hard time in the F&F mines on the Discord doing that "gay smut banned by WotC" Curse of Hearts thing, but that's soooo much copy and paaaaaasting
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Feb 25, 2021 17:38
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also I can't find his blog by googling because all the google results are just "HEY THIS GUY'S loving TERRIBLE!" so.. you know, thanks google?
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Feb 25, 2021 17:41
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Like, dunking on Zak is cool and all, but at the end of the day he's a content creator, which means he gets his money and influence and clout through clicks, which means the best way to fight against him and his brand is via deplatforming, which means not reading or paying attention to whatever poo poo he puts out on his lovely blog is the way to go. A rapist and serial harasser with a history of putting out problematic content putting out content that's guaranteed to be racist sounds like clickbait, and if anyone wants to bite the bullet and read it and summarize it in a way that's entertaining in a "look at this horrible travesty", go for it. But gently caress Zak S and gently caress his opinions and gently caress his content.
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Feb 25, 2021 17:46
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I don’t know why, but the part that upset me the most is him still taking ownership over the god that Mandy created for her cleric character 
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Feb 25, 2021 17:47
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WOTC "looking at moving beyond game stores" https://twitter.com/HipstersMTG/status/1364966892713181192 This is...not a good thing I think.
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Feb 25, 2021 17:47
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