What do we think of Sieges?

[fire5167]

you seem to have forgotten about Riot and Provoke and Affinity and Retrace and Suspend and Bushido and Dredge and Delve and Scry and Flying and Goad and Channel and Haste and Ward and Trample and Prowess and Adapt and Exert and Manifest and Unearth and Madness and dozens more.

I totally get your point. I don’t want my argument to come across as some trite “new = bad” harping. I am more in agreement with Landale in that:

These types of cards are just obnoxious in general, and from what I can see with the people I play with is that people just do not want to deal with that sort of hassle.

When I play Seasoned Dungeoneer, I need to get out two extra cards… it’s just a pain. Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge fan of the initiative, but my opponents do not like playing against it.

[stuffnsuch]

I agree that the initial batch was underwhelming and not nearly strong enough to influence eternal competitive formats.  That being said, I still say the design space was 100% filling a real need.  Yes, it hasn't shown it's ability to do it, but the potential is definitely there, and it can still fill a need, despite not being successful in really meeting that need on the first go around.  I believe that Battles are a good thing overall for the game and that it would have been much more problematic if they had been even somewhat impactful on their first outing.  I remember the mass exodus of players when the planeswalker card type not only got their start, but also immediately impacted formats that really weren't ready for a new card type.  I remember playing games and saying something along the lines of, "Yeah, I don't play planeswalkers.  They aren't part of my game," for like a year or two after meeting my first planeswalker card.  I believe it was 2013 when I first ran a planewalker in a deck, six years after Lorwyn block.

Having Battles come in and be quirky fun cards for limited and casual magic for the first set or two seems way better.  When we do get Battles that affect standard and pioneer and modern and whatever else, we'll be familiar with them, gotten over our initial aversion, have a little better handle on how to deal with them, and be ready to incorporate them with far less grumbling.  So, I guess, if I were to say what need Battles fill, it would be the need to address the acceleration of the game by adding a step to the game that can slow it down and provide a little more flexibility, variety, and variance to the game, but if I was asked to describe the role that the ONE Siege Battles filled, it would be to introduce a new card type in a way that was fun, but not impactful, which I think they did a great job of doing.

It's hard to change.  It's harder when it feels like it's being forced upon you.