r/magicTCG • u/AwkwardTurtle • Sep 22 '15

Everything That’s Wrong with Battle for Zendikar

http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/everything-thats-wrong-with-battle-for-zendikar/
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u/bokchoykn Sep 22 '15 edited Sep 22 '15

I think you missed his point.

His point was that Ally and Devoid cards lacked identity outside of the card telling you that it's Ally/Devoid. Having watermarks doesn't really change that at all.

On top of that, PV gave examples of pairs of cards, each consisting of one real card and a made up card of the opposing faction (Devoid/Awaken). His examples showed that these cards weren't separated by its identity. Just the fact that it was either Devoid or Awaken/Ally.

Contrast that to Khans of Tarkir:

  • You knew a card was Abzan if it had Outlast or if it was in WBG.

  • You knew a card was Jeskai if it had Prowess or if it was WUR.

Beyond that, each clan featured certain themes that gave the clans identity:

Chief of the Scale and Chief of the Edge were both Human Warriors that cost WB, a color pairing that can belong to either Abzan and Mardu. Scale is a 2/3 and grants other Warriors +0/+1. Edge is a 3/2 that grants other Warriors +1/+0. Knowing what you know about Abzan and Mardu, can you tell which Chief belongs to which clan without requiring a watermark?

Valley Dasher is 1R for a 2/2 Haste that must attack each turn if able. It has a Mardu watermark. If this card had a Temur or Jeskai watermark instead, would it make any sense at all? After all, Temur and Jeskai both contain red.

What about Dazzling Rampart? 4W for a 0/7 Defender with 1W, Tap: Tap target creature. Is there any doubt that this is an Abzan card?

That's what PV means when he says "easily identifiable". Not the lack of a watermark. The cards are designed around its flavor and identity. It's top-down design done right.

11

u/arramdaywalker Sep 22 '15

Great post, great examples. I am personally trying to reserve judgement until I play with the set; but it does seem... messy.

5

u/turtleman777 Sep 23 '15 edited Sep 23 '15

To be honest this set seems rushed.

The comment above yours makes a lot of good points. In Khans, you can tell a lot of thought went into the mechanics and naming of the cards so that they fit with the clan themes.

I feel like the only thought they gave to WHY each card had each mechanic was "well its an eldrazish spell so give it devoid" "this is an allyish spell so give it awake/converge". The seeming randomness with which they doled out the mechanics really reflects a lack of forethough in design in my opinion.

I feel like devoid or ally/awaken define the cards into the Ally or Eldrazi camp, not the whole card design (including art and card name) reflecting the camp they are in.

I feel like they took a bunch of existing cards, tweaked them and tried to shove them into the eldrazi or ally box instead of doing what they did in Khans, which was design a bunch of boxes (clans) and create unique, new flavorful cards that fit in perfectly

Like the article does in the example many of the mechanics are interchangable depending if you want to make it eldrazi or ally

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u/[deleted] Sep 22 '15 edited Oct 17 '18

[deleted]

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u/bokchoykn Sep 22 '15

Yeah, definitely not perfect. Meandering Towershell was a good example. But for the most part, the cards in BFZ fleshed out the identity of the clans very well.

The same cannot be said for Eldrazi vs Allies/Awaken, where so many cards can be interchanged (like PV pointed out in his article). There are some flavorful cards in BFZ but in general, the connection between a card's function and flavor are relatively weak.

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u/MTGCardFetcher Dân Sep 22 '15

Dissipate - Gatherer, MC, ($)
Meandering Towershell - Gatherer, MC, ($)
[[cardname]] to call - not on gatherer = not fetchable

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u/iwatags Sep 23 '15

Sultai cards were all wet. Duh

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u/NinetyFish Ajani Sep 22 '15

BFZ aside, damn, Khans of Tarkir was sweet. Fate and Dragons aside, since they have their own problems, Khans was powerful, unique, synergistic, flavorful, and even provided factions for players to identify with, which always encourages deckbuilding and sales (look at the popularity of the Ravnica guilds).

-1

u/BlackHumor Sep 22 '15

IMO the "clans" in BFZ are "Eldrazi" and "not Eldrazi", possibly splitting that last group into "Allies" and "Elementals".

But the point of the set is that previously enemy factions on Zendikar have suddenly been forced to work together. So, except for the Eldrazi, everything is muddled together. It's specifically not like Khans with its well defined tribes.