Now that the full spoiler is out, how does everyone feel about this set? I thought it was strange that some cards like Dragon Turtle and Wight had to give italicized writing to point out what the flavor they were aiming for was.
I was a little put off by the italicized abilities. I know that they were meant to reference specific D&D abilities/attacks/spells/etc., but it felt weird since that's not how mtg typically represents things like that. It would make sense for an instant to be called "Drag Below" and then have the
Dragon Turtle text, but when it's italicized in the text box, my mind reads it as a set mechanic that will appear on multiple cards, not a unique named one-off. Same for "Life Drain". Magic has a history of adapting references and abilities from other things to its own mechanics, and it's usually a lot more elegant/confident than this. (And if MTG ever did gain a mechanic called "Life Drain", it wouldn't be this.) I understand the reference, but I don't want my mtg product to be written using the conventions of a different game. I have a Monster Manual I can look at for that if I need.
I also feel some dissonance between this set and Zendikar Rising. My understanding was Zendikar was already their D&D homage plane, using a lot of the tropes and terminology, even down to the
party mechanic. To then turn around and release an actual D&D crossover feels like whiplash, especially since it didn't even use the
party . When you do an homage and then a literal crossover, it kind of throws your homage under the bus. Are we going to follow Strixhaven with an actually Harry Potter crossover? I already felt the party mechanic to be a forced reference (what, Zendikari don't let barbarians, rangers, and paladins into their adventuring parties?), and now it feels like a bad imitation of what they really wanted. They even named an ability "Form a Party" on
You Meet in a Tavern that does not relate to parties in a mechanical sense. I don't think they would call an ability "
Draw a card" or "
Untap" without it doing those things because its confusing, and doing it with party in the D&D set just after
party was introduced as a D&D reference seems on the same level of laziness as the named abilities. The set just feels really slapped together, with all the effort going into making D&D references and very little into adapting it to the MTG rules environment.
Is it petty of me to complain about planeswalkers in Faerun? Since that setting already has planar travel and it is emphatically NOT planeswalking? And gods are a creature type, so... what's with that?
This feels like not only a bunch of whining, but not even original whining. Complaining about this game not hitting the flavor right or printing a set that doesn't match expectations or even doing something that will RUIN MAGIC FOREVER(tm) is part of the package. You take a break for a little while and come back later to see all the new cards you missed. I just feel like they are playing a dangerous game with
brand integrity, and I'm becoming frustrated out of engaging. I guess it's just my turn now.
I like D&D. I've been playing it and reading FG books since the 90s. I also like MTG, and have been playing it for almost exactly as long. I'm already buying products from both lines. I
wish Hasbro would just let me keep paying them for two games instead of compressing me into a generic consumer bloc of "plays that wizards and dragons fantasy crap" so they can market each in the other.