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Magic: the Gathering |OT13| Ixalan - Port to Sideboard

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Not gonna lie, I think those are hideous. I'll stick with my Zendikar forests.
 

noquarter

Member
Like the Un lands, kind if weird having the holofoil on them though.

Curious how much foil are going to be. Probably won't be using these to foil out any monocolor decks.
 

Santiako

Member
I'm going to need some better pictures before I judge them, right now they look kind of weird.

That mountain is TOO simplistic. It's just two different shades and some fog lol

Looks a lot like this one:
Image.ashx
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
They have the same problem I had with Invocations: they don't look like Magic cards.
 
That mountain is TOO simplistic. It's just two different shades and some fog lol
A lot mountains are like that, way too many are in fact are just shades of ochre. Instead of the cold grey or the scarce greens growing on top of mountains.

forest swamp and plains are very pretty otoh.
They have the same problem I had with Invocations: they don't look like Magic cards.
at least these are readable.
 

noquarter

Member
Hope the Dominaria lands or M25 lands have "Tap to add ~ to your mana pool." Really hated when they took the big symbol from Portal and started using it on all cards, though I've gotten used to it.
 

Wulfric

Member
John Avon confirmed that the lands were done traditionally in acrylic. In other words, the auctions are gonna be a sight to see.

Tthe art scene is gonna be completely spent by Christmas if Unstable has more heavy hitters like this.
 

aidan

Hugo Award Winning Author and Editor
I like the Unstable lands—though I'll echo those who don't think they look like Magic cards. I like that WotC is experimenting with card frames and designs, but it does feel like some attempts (these lands, Invocations) stray too far from some of the traditional visual elements that make a Magic card feel like a Magic card. Centre-aligned text is the big one. Like, why? 20 years of (superior) left-aligned text, and suddenly they're moving away from that? I also feel like semi-transparent elements (though used on Planeswalkers and some other cards for a long time now), doesn't necessarily fit the Fantasy stylings that the game is going for. They're moving away from skeuomorphic design in some ways (these lands) and doubling-down on it in others (DFC lands, Invocations, etc.). It's a weird place to be, and makes the game feel like it's losing some of its strong visual identity.
 

Wulfric

Member
This isn't the first time for center-aligned text, but it does look strange on the transparent border. The art is great, but I'll need to see the cards in person to make the final call.

It looks perfectly acceptable and Magic-ish on the Unhinged lands.


zhifvaD.jpg
 

Yeef

Member
I like the Unstable lands—though I'll echo those who don't think they look like Magic cards. I like that WotC is experimenting with card frames and designs, but it does feel like some attempts (these lands, Invocations) stray too far from some of the traditional visual elements that make a Magic card feel like a Magic card. Centre-aligned text is the big one. Like, why? 20 years of (superior) left-aligned text, and suddenly they're moving away from that?
Unhinged lands also had center-aligned text. Left or right aligned text, when there's only a single word on the card, looks terrible.
 
This isn't the first time for center-aligned text, but it does look strange on the transparent border. The art is great, but I'll need to see the cards in person to make the final call.

It looks perfectly acceptable and Magic-ish on the Unhinged lands.
Because there's still the poop looking modern frame around it.

These lands would probably look totally fine if the top was a translucent traditional nameplate.
 

aidan

Hugo Award Winning Author and Editor
Unhinged lands also had center-aligned text. Left or right aligned text, when there's only a single word on the card, looks terrible.

Um. All Basic lands since the beginning of the game have had single-word, left-aligned titles and they look fine. And, the Unhinged lands don't really make a case for it being a good idea, though I think that the box around the card name helps a bit. Additionally, the Unhinged lands incorporate visual elements (the frame in particular) that maintain the skeuomorphic fantasy design that people heavily identify with Magic cards.

I'm not saying that there aren't design/usability benefits to centre-aligned text—instead, I'm saying that breaking 25 years of tradition for no tangible benefit (and, one could argue, challenging player's muscle memory after spending the life of the game teaching them that the name of the card to be in the top left corner) is bad design.
 

Yeef

Member
Um. All Basic lands since the beginning of the game have had single-word, left-aligned titles and they look fine.
They look fine because they also have a type line and a set symbol. If you get rid of those elements (like in these lands and the unhinged lands) line just have "Forest" over to the left, it's hideous.

Here's a quick and dirty mock up. Look how awful it is:

PnMbLjI.png
 

Violet_0

Banned
Arena is pretty much exactly what I thought it would be (taking into consideration the leaks)

it supports normal deck building, full standard, draft, it's not the ugly montrosity that is MTGO, free to play, it's detached from the secondary market, of course it's gonna be popular what are you smoking
 

DashReindeer

Lead Community Manager, Outpost Games
For those just joining us, here are the confirmed Rares and Mythics (like Ashodin, obviously):

Rares:

DJOSo04XgAAVdKf.jpg


Mythics:

DJOLABTXcAEIZvp.jpg


EDIT: Archangel of Thune is rare, not mythic.

Courtesy of this guy on Twitter.

Seriously? What do I have to do to get them to lower the price on Rishadan Port with some damn reprints? Super not into this set at the moment with that card list. Just doesn't really do what I hoped it would do (though potentially Legends Mana Drain will finally be within reach).
 

aidan

Hugo Award Winning Author and Editor
They look fine because they also have a type line and a set symbol. If you get rid of those elements (like in these lands and the unhinged lands) line just have "Forest" over to the left, it's hideous.

Here's a quick and dirty mock up. Look how awful it is:

PnMbLjI.png

I mean, yeah, if you take a template that was designed around a centre-aligned title and alter it like that it's going to look bad.

This, however, looks a lot better (imho):

WtPUQzR.png


If they start using sans-serif fonts then it'll be time to panic.

Developing a custom font (Beleren) was one of the best branding ideas they've ever had.
 

Yeef

Member
This, however, looks a lot better (imho):
WtPUQzR.png
That looks fine, but not nearly ass good as the center aligned one.

A big part of it is the art though; if you know what the frame is going to be, making the art draw the eye properly from the tile is a big part of making the frame look better. THe left-aligned text looks better on the Unstable island than it would on, say the swamp or mountain.
 

aidan

Hugo Award Winning Author and Editor
That looks fine, but not nearly ass good as the center aligned one.

A big part of it is the art though; if you know what the frame is going to be, making the art draw the eye properly from the tile is a big part of making the frame look better. THe left-aligned text looks better on the Unstable island than it would on, say the swamp or mountain.

It's about more than subjective visual appeal, though. It's about adhering to 25 years of ingrained design methodology and straying away from that for absolutely no tangible benefits. I don't necessarily think the centre-aligned text looks bad (in the case of these lands, it works; on the Invocations it didn't), but when 15,000 Magic cards have their title in the top left corner, and 50 have their title in the top centre, you're creating unnecessary cognitive conflicts in players. Centre-aligned text doesn't even work when cards are fanned out in a players hands. There's a reason all (good) playing cards have their suit and number in the top left corner.

Changing layout elements should be done because it makes the game easier for players to play and understand. Changing layout elements just because it looks better with the art is bad design.
 
In other news I'm a bit clueless how I should adjust my UR deck against UW Approach.

I have way too much removal and their sideboard options are better than mine.

I'm considering going heavier black (helps with Scarab God) and putting lost legacy into my sideboard.
If I could get delirium I'd play Invasive Surgery.
 

aidan

Hugo Award Winning Author and Editor
It works on the Land DFCs for a simple reason: It makes it clear they're not to be played on that side.

This is a great point. The centred text is used *specifically* to tell the player that this is not a Magic card that you play in the traditional sense.
 

Joba62x

Neo Member
Forest and Mountain are ok but hoped for better, definitely mentally shifting funds to the Guay foils in the buy a box packs.
 

DrArchon

Member
I wish the top bars weren't there/100% transparent. The Island looks a bit better in this regard because the top bit blends in with the sky, but they really stand out on the other 4.

I wish it was just the names of the cards over the art. No bar.
 

Farside

Unconfirmed Member
Depends on the LGS.

Mine said new players only, which probably means they will be selling them after the event. It seems my local is a bit shady...

I'm not a huge fan of the Ultimate Guard matte sleeves. They are really slick, so they slide all over, even after playing like 30 matches with them. I would imagine for an EDH deck they would slide all over the table anytime someone bumped the table. The pack also had some kind of moisture in it when I opened it, which was really weird, about a third of the sleeves had a splotch on them that I had to wipe off while sleeping up my deck.

They have been holding up pretty well though. Haven't had one bust on me yet and still look clean.

Nope. It looks like my problem is that I bought Dragon Shield Clear Non-Matte. Though it looks like the Matte Clear suck, too.
 
This set owns. But the most important part is THEY DIDN'T REPRINT CHALICE BOOYAH

I'm with Angry Grimace - this is just Eternal Masters 2 with a wacky marketing scheme attached

Really confused by stuff like this. We knew it was a Masters set and that after MM2 they weren't gonna make the same kind of mistake in terms of just printing crap. They explained that there would be a major theme of the five iconic creature types (which there is) and also "iconic" spells (which is a much vaguer proposition but Mana Drain and Necropotence certainly qualify.) The list of exciting stuff that's not on the Reserved List is pretty short and it's easy to see it's not just gonna be a wall of big rare fatties; also, literally every reprintable card was a possible choice for either Modern or Eternal Masters so by definition this was going to be an overlap of the two.

So whats in Masters 25????

Once everyone goes through these one more time and we have a pretty settled checklist for IMA I'll pull together the plausible options.

I thought they excluded Noble Heirach from a Core Set because Exalted was in W/B and not Green in the set? Which of us is remembering this correctly?

These are two different things that both happened.
 

aidan

Hugo Award Winning Author and Editor
This set owns. But the most important part is THEY DIDN'T REPRINT CHALICE BOOYAH

Really confused by stuff like this. We knew it was a Masters set and that after MM2 they weren't gonna make the same kind of mistake in terms of just printing crap. They explained that there would be a major theme of the five iconic creature types (which there is) and also "iconic" spells (which is a much vaguer proposition but Mana Drain and Necropotence certainly qualify.) The list of exciting stuff that's not on the Reserved List is pretty short and it's easy to see it's not just gonna be a wall of big rare fatties; also, literally every reprintable card was a possible choice for either Modern or Eternal Masters so by definition this was going to be an overlap of the two.

Iconic Masters is much, much better than I was expecting. (Still not quite on the level of EMA or MM2017, though.)
 

Justin

Member
Mine said new players only, which probably means they will be selling them after the event. It seems my local is a bit shady...
o.

One of the LGS in my area does a free tournament where they hand out the starter decks randomly. I went last time and it was really fun.
 

noquarter

Member
Mine said new players only, which probably means they will be selling them after the event. It seems my local is a bit shady...



Nope. It looks like my problem is that I bought Dragon Shield Clear Non-Matte. Though it looks like the Matte Clear suck, too.

My whole post was about the Ultimate Guard Matte sleeves, those are slick and would slide if used for an EDH deck.

My Dragon shield sleeves are sort of tacky, so the deck doesn't slide at all. They also get dirty a little quicker than most other sleeves I use though.
 
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