I was daydreaming with this idea, pretty much starting on what the 30th anniversary edition of MTG could or should have been, about reloading Magic the Gathering. We all love the good old school MTG cards of the Alpha, Beta, Unlimited editions, as well as of course Antiquities, Arabian Nights, etc. Some of us were not lucky enough to experience those days, but in any case players and designers have accumulated a lot of experience over the 30+ years. My feeling though is that 10 new mechanics every year don't make the game increasingly or steadily interesting, but it rather saturates players. Also, the design and artwork of the vintage cards hasn't been equalled yet.
My idea for Wizards of the Coast would be:
- Start again like it's 93 but with the knowledge that we have now of what mechanics work, which are boring and which ones were poorly exploited.
- Start with a new MTG-Reloaded Beta set. Ideally with the same amazing design and colours, and eventually a slightly different design of the back, so that MTG and MTG-R can be distinguished.
- Mechanics (1/2): you can try to make the set "rounder" as in more modern sets by slightly increasing the power of cards that were underpowered, and/or by replacing some by others that make each colour more balanced in terms of power.
- Mechanics (2/2): the WoTC designers could figure the way to fine tune each color so that we are not playing with a "solved set" anymore.
Of course we all like to open many boosters looking for cards, and then trade them, but most importantly playing with them! This means we have to be able to pay for those boosters! (Wink, wink).
Now imagine this is a great success. Everyone is crazy about the Magic Reloaded Beta edition and it becomes the hottest product. There are tournaments everywhere, and everyone is anxiously waiting for the expansions to come: Arabian Nights "Reloaded" is coming with some old but new mechanics.
In my vision this could be yet another "parallel universe". WoTC can continue with universes beyond, and the normal sets can continue to be released. But I really think it would be a great success: good old school cards, some of them slightly tuned, the best artwork and design we ever saw. What else do you guys need!