Well, it's been a few days since it happened, but our club had a draft tournament last week. New Phyrexia. Those words make me want to spit. Apologies for not getting it posted Friday, kinda had a hectic weekend here!
I want to say a little something about this block that has really bothered me, but no one else on the web has said anything like what I have been feeling.
The return of Phyrexia IS NOT WELCOME. Not that it would be from a Mirran's perspective, but I'm talking about a design standpoint. Why are we retreading this? Almost half the game expansions have to do with Phyrexia, and remember how refreshing it was when Yawgmoth was slain and we could explore other worlds?
It's pretty much an egregious insult to anyone who fought and helped destroy Yawgmoth himself.
Well, I think it's high-minded hack that they brought this enemy back from the dead. Phyrexia is OVER man. Now they apparently have run out of ideas and brought back an enemy we already defeated. This entire block, I've had this feeling that they are literally scraping the bottom of the idea barrel. Couldn't anyone have thought up something novel?? Something like Kamigawa, Ravnica, Zendikar or any of the others? Couldn't something else have been lurking on Mirrodin?
Before you start saying "it's a neat story arc that will allow us to bring back a seminal Magic enemy and will reach out into the Multiverse, sparking new conflicts".
Shut your mouth. Nicol Bolas is doing great as the main Magic enemy, and that storyline is MUCH BETTER than what has happened on Mirrodin.
Phyrexia is OVER. It was OVER years ago. By bringing it back in the fashion that they have, the designers have literally told us that they have run out of ideas and must begin to retread material.
I have a few of my own. How about a Native American block? Or a Persian block? Or something weirder, like the original Mirrodin block?? How about a return to Ravnica or Kamigawa, maybe with a new enemy??
The mechanics and design of New Phyrexia (and the entire block in general) are complete idiocy, and a step backwards for all planeswalkers this side of Dominaria. From Infect to Phyrexian Mana, this insult to our intelligence will not go unpunished.
The designers have blogged about how the feel of the new block is basically forcing you to feel raped. This is infuriating, and no game should make you feel that way - but when a 10/10 Infect creature that your opponent paid for with Phyrexian mana (when you thought it was tapped out) wins the game on turn 4, something has gone wrong.
Not to mention the fact that our confidence in the designers has recently been shaken by the announced bans in Standard on July 1. I'll blog about that in a few days. For now, I'll just say...
I want Phyrexia UTTERLY DESTROYED. All the designers whose idea this was need to be fired. That includes Mark Rosewater, who has proven once and for all that we need to change out Magic designers faster than D&D designers.
I hope you are listening, Wizards of the Coast.
Phyrexia needs to be FORGOTTEN. Something new, please - or this particular club will playing Legend of the Five Rings on card game nights. When Magic 2012 and Innistad are released, if I see even one "Phyrexian" card I'll be super-enraged.
We already did this. Yawgmoth is dead - unless the designers really need to resurrect him and rehash the whole first decade of the game with more ridiculous mechanics.
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| A vision of "compleation". |
White was a huge draft color, and Bignutt took home most of the packs with a Phyrexian life gain deck. Dirty Greg drafted nearly the same deck and both of them took a long time to die. Everyone else won two matches, save for myself and Skim (1 each) and Big Matt, who is a novice at Magic. He would have done better, I think, if the mechanics for this new expansion weren't so counter intuitive.
The number of questions that popped up during the tournament was higher than average even among experienced players. Some of the star cards were Karn Liberated, Suture Priest, Thundering Tanadon, Shrine of Endless Rage. The other shrines were also present and contributed a lot to the battles.
Personally - I'm seriously glad this block is over. I'm also glad our club got to fight in the war for Mirrodin.
I'll be even happier if I don't ever see another Phyrexian - but I know there will be at least one more block where we must destroy them once and for all.
I'll allow that, Wizards of the Coast. However, when we destroy them this time, you're not allowed to resurrect them even if you run out of ideas.
