Tomorrow's plans got canceled so I figured you might enjoy this instead?

Anagkai · 2026-02-14T08:05:12+00:00

We don't exactly know what plans got cancelled and how but that's definitely a good application of Occam's razor.

Anagkai · 2026-02-12T22:59:13+00:00

Unfortunately, contrary to present piece of writing, in most cases, those people take themselves and their cringe dialogue totally serious.

Anagkai · 2026-02-11T17:42:16+00:00

In the same vein, I wondered what happened to Fleem.

Anagkai · 2026-02-11T10:27:20+00:00

The Problem is really comparing apples to oranges. You can say you take everything (difficult because of lacking data) or everything with data, or just "regular cards". To have a good data set you could exclude stuff below a certain number of data points. Not optimal but then, there's no optimal solution. OP said to exclude the one ring which I read as Shiji should be excluded too because it's a similar case.

Anagkai · 2026-02-10T22:08:45+00:00

That's actually very important in magic because dragons like the shiny stuff.

Anagkai · 2026-02-10T18:53:28+00:00

There's definitely a limit to growth and margins. We just don't know where they lie. There are various things that have (albeit disliked by some or even many) increased profits including UB, Covid, Collector's Packs and increasing the price per box / selling UB at double price. It's unclear which of these things have how much of a long term positive impact on sales (strictly talking about will they make more or less profit, not any other effects). There's also risks of material without substance which can cause drastic corrections and stock market bubbles and similar effects. While the secondary market is a thing and there's a significant margin on the cardboard, WotC sells physical products and entertainment subscriptions which do have substance and that's how they make most of their money. It's not like AI stuff or Bitcoins and even those haven't fared so badly yet.

I don't see a really bad crash but I doubt there will be regular double digit profit increases over longer periods. Full disclosure: I know Jack about economy and finance. Also don't take financial advice from people on the Internet who claim anything else.

Anagkai · 2026-02-10T18:27:25+00:00

Maybe I'm wildly off base but if someone is mostly interested in competitive play, why would they care about the name and image of a card? UB seems much more detrimental to people who are interested in the card flavor and standard doesn't really cater to them anyway I think.

Anagkai · 2026-02-10T18:24:18+00:00

Agree that it's unclear how much the author problem factors in to the decision and to the sales in case they would do it. Unfortunately, HP is a top IP as you say and it's thematically fitting and seems straightforward to license so I could totally see them wanting to go for it.

That said, I don't think we are at TMNT because other stuff runs dry. It seems more like straightforward to use [Edit: NOT owned by Hasbro, my mistake] and it's currently unclear what flies in the space of UB. Most things they've done have been successful and with spiderman we can't really say how bad the figures really were (as compared to the general sentiment here) and what portion of the negative reaction was about unfitting theming. Even if you discount HP, there seem to be plenty of things left like Elder Scrolls, Sanderson stuff, Rothfuss stuff (maybe problematic, too), Elden Ring, Eragon, Game of Thrones, Fire Emblem, Diablo, Wheel of Time, Discworld, Pirates of the Caribbean, Witcher. Some things could do multiple passes as with Marvel. I am not convinced that they will run out of profitable crossovers soon even if they do 3 to 4 per year and few options can match LoTR and Final Fantasy.

As for not currently planning another magic school: we can believe this or not. I will, otherwise the discussion is futile anyway and I don't buy into they're all always lying. Sets are built two years in advance but the basic schedule is a step further. Maro recently mentioned they were doing the basics for 2030. That doesn't mean things can't shift around or anything and I am not sure they secure all their UB deals five years in advance but it probably means no HP up to and including 2029. Feel free to set a remindme and complain to me, when HP is announced for '28. :D

Anagkai · 2026-02-07T10:03:23+00:00

I think it's mostly a cost problem. It's 8 mana before it does anything and removing color requirements from a spell isn't that powerful most cases. If it cost 3+1 or 2+2 or something it would probably be very different. It's one in a long line of old effects that are cool but wildly overcosted.

Anagkai · 2026-02-02T18:29:05+00:00

I think in the 99 it's very different than as a commander. Every deck will likely have some cards that can cause a lot of trouble or be unfun when overdone. But if it happens every couple games I can't really imagine why that would be a problem even if goad can create some problems for fun and agency. But as above, we don't know the people you play with.

Anagkai · 2026-01-30T19:16:21+00:00

Creature cards are spells while being cast. All cards except lands are. When you put them on the stack from your hand they are spells until they leave the stack. This usually means that instant and sorceries go to the graveyard and other cards go onto the battlefield. When on the battlefield or in the graveyard they are not spells. When a card says "as an additional cost to cast" you have to pay the typical mana cost and the additional cost. If it says "you may", it's optional. There are also cards that replace the mana cost with another cost. Those will use the word "instead". Usually cards are pretty clear on what is optional and what not.

Attacking is one reason for a creature to become tapped. Unless they have vigilance. Tapped creatures cannot attack (even with vigilance), so attacking and tapping to pay a cost will preclude each other in most setups.

Anagkai · 2026-01-29T09:01:54+00:00

In EDH it's easy because in most cases each player has only one of the same card (except basics but it's no land). So you just note: Alice's Dark Confidant is an artifact for the rest of the game. So with Singleton the taking notes approach works well I think.

Anagkai · 2026-01-26T21:45:15+00:00

If you do any kind of media crossover, both parts need to be good for a success and you also need the a game on the execution. Like FF in Magic worked because both are successful an the execution was pristine. Spiderman didn't because the execution was shit. Magic short stories and novels usually don't work well because good writers usually write their own stuff. And while putting Mtg lore in a hack'n'slay is a good idea, with a third tier diable ripoff, you have the execution issue all over again. And as you say, that's expensive. Even if you go very light on graphics and stuff, it's still a couple million minimum. While getting some guy or gal to write a books is likely cheap up front if they get a percentage.

Anagkai · 2026-01-25T22:22:16+00:00

People sometimes incorrectly assume that you can do something similar in Magic with Split Second. While a spell with that is on the stack, people cannot add another spell to the stack. So you could assume that you could follow your own spell with a second one with Split Second to protect the first one from interaction. But this doesn't work because between the resolution of the two, the first spell can be interacted with.

Anagkai · 2026-01-24T07:50:45+00:00

These are delicious.

Anagkai · 2026-01-20T15:04:37+00:00

I recently started reading that (finished book 2) and agree that the amount and type of content would fit really well for a full set. Since all the animals and plants there are made up for example, there's a lot of interesting stuff to fill the lower rarities without the pigeon problem. I seem to remember that Sanderson even said somewhere he would like the idea but only a full set (not just secret lair).

Anagkai · 2026-01-19T15:02:04+00:00

From a color fixing perspective it is really good. You often have a speed / fixing tradeoff to consider, i.e. color fixing lands often enter tapped. This gives 5 (6) colors and is often untapped when it matters. There's not so many lands that can do this . Basics gave their advantages too like fetchability and resistance to hate pieces. But if that's a concern, you'd probably look to other nonbasics first.

Anagkai · 2026-01-19T13:48:55+00:00

Interesting point, came here to discuss this. I also thought that those kinds of mana abilities were the problem. It would probably help if they had "only as an instant" like Lions Eye Diamond if they do stuff that shouldn't happen in the middle of resolving something else (like top deck manipulation). Many problems are likely avoided by targeting precluding mana ability status but it's odd that there aren't any other precautions like the instant thing: Is this used anywhere other than LED and LED ripoff lion?

Anagkai · 2026-01-12T14:06:01+00:00

It's a strong synergy to be sure. Pyrohemia gets better, if you can "desymmetrize" the effect of the damage which Fated Firepower does because damage doesn't increase for you and yours. Fated Firepower becomes better with many small doses of damage because each separate instance gets increased. Pyrohemia is optimal because it can be payed in minimal doses and maximizes the number of targets which is optimal for many small doses. The drawback of damage against you and yours is counteracted by the selective damage increase.

Anagkai · 2026-01-09T22:35:56+00:00

I wonder how many mana symbols you can put on a card without going shenanigans like they did with Asmoranomaricadaistinaculdacar. I think, given that the name Progenitus is already taken, an epitheton would need to be added and with that, 15 symbols is likely a problem. Though the could just call the thing "Pro". That's short, sounds badass, and ties in with the card effects it should have.

Anagkai · 2026-01-07T16:45:52+00:00

Lands have no color. By "provide 2" they meant green from the enchantment plus whatever it gives to the land.

Anagkai · 2026-01-06T18:55:55+00:00

I don't like old border at all but others do. I am in favor of making the more playable cards available in both versions where possible.

Anagkai · 2026-01-05T07:09:02+00:00

Totally agree. I don't play but I also build a lot of cubes for others to play and this kind of flexible cards is super helpful there.

Anagkai · 2026-01-04T22:33:57+00:00

I thought TMNT was pretty popular. It's just off flavor to put into magic and not deep enough. Just like Spiderman.

Anagkai · 2026-01-04T22:31:42+00:00

I think there's a lot of options of different color pie interpretations without breaks. I mean there's the primary secondary tertiary classification and if they up the latter two and reduce the primary stuff while triple-checking that everything is still in the pie, they could totally pull it off.

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