This video summarizes why I quit the game better than anything else I have ever read or watched on the subject. Absolutely jaw-dropping scripting at play here, and incredible execution in tying it into larger themes. This video is one of the few that makes this website worth it.
@@maestro3947-b9g of course he is, he's obviously a very learned man of high culture and value, just as Spice is a person of great culture and value. I just wanna see a commander game between Huggbees, Wubby, Spice, and Prof, uncensored lmao. The jabs and jokes flying at that table would be priceless.
This has to be so painful for a lot of the employees too. Imagine landing your dream job as an artist or designer at R&D, thrilled to be expanding a world you've partaken of since your childhood, only to be told that you're working on the Spiderman expansion.
I feel the same way mate. I don't want to hate just to hate buuuuut this feels like a cash grab. But at the same time I like final fantasy so I'm kind of hype for the
Why depend on your own identity if you can patchwork it together with multiple other ones. We clearly need even more universes beyond, ip´s and sci-fi themes pushed into a fantasy card game to finally play corporate multiple personality disorder
I will say as a Native Canadian who lives in the Yukon; it was nice to see Native people depicted on art and NOT have their entire backstory be about colonization. Why in a fantasy world should my Peoples be disenfranchised? There is TONS to our history and culture to explore and I for one would rather have a card like ‘Raven, Who Stole the Sun’ than a card depicting the horrors that happened to Native Peoples.
I wholeheartedly agree, and I'm so sorry if this video came across as an insistence that solely tragedy ought to be depicted for fantasy allagories of native people. I'd much prefer a set exclusively exploring indigenous stories without any colonial impositions whatsoever.
With the right team of culture consultants, there is so much out there that has gone untold. When I was planning out a deliberately multicultural Pokemon fangame (that has been drastically lowered in scope), I was completely unaware of the fact that Jamaica, a place I had selected due to a formative mission trip when I was young and disillusioned with a bunch of my fellow white people harassing people on the street, had anything at all to pull from besides wildlife. I was wrong. I was so wrong. I have been alive for over two decades, surrounded by furries, and not once heard of La Diablesse before that point.
@@shatteredteethofgod Epic Rap Battles of History: White Guilt versus Cultural Appropriation I am firmly on team Let Other People Tell Stories, but as much as I want to point and laugh at people who think depression is a political position, we all gotta agree that doing this tastefully is hard
@@Spice8Rack I don't know. it kinda smells like having an ancient Greek set without having North Africans being there. And I was there for OG Theros and people being salty that it had clearly Black coded characters.
@@Durgenheimcuz the game went to shit lmao, powercreep still hapens dispite of the scam that is set rotation so no one plays standard or even any non commander format now, funny how people make fun of yugioh but the powercreep in mtg is ironically worse, there is now more text in magic cards than yugioh
Bloomburrow is legally distinct Redwall. THAT is what I wish they would do more of. Redwall is what got me into reading and is a very formative memory that strengthened my bond with my mother. I haven't bought a booster pack since Lorwyn. I will almost DEFINITELY be buying a number of things for Bloomburrow.
It wasn't til I read this that I realized I'm in the same boat. I played standard during lorwynn block but stopped shortly after, and stopped buying packs and boxes.. but I plan on buying a box of bloomburrow. On a second note.. I get what spice is saying, but I'm a sl*t for old and retro frame cards.
Bloomburrow is to Redwall as Eldraine was to fairy tales and Strixhaven was to Harry Potter. I never mind when things are referenced with their own unique twists and style of the universe the game takes place in. Me and my wife are really excited for Bloomburrow but all these jarring UB sets can kick rocks. This may legit be our LAST set we buy.
Calling a cyberpunk setting, "the most hopeful representation of the future," I feel like drives your point in the section about wanting the future the best. It's literally a dystopia, it just has a bunch of bright lights and technology all over the place.
it's a dystopia but at least it's kinda cool. we live in a dystopia but it's so lame, like holy shit can we have a dark lord or cool robot slaves that will overthrow us. instead we get braindead pseudofascists and AI which is mostly used to make aggressively mediocre art and by school students too lazy to write their essays and homework.
I think part of the reason the tournament winner cards are so beloved is that they depict and give love to the only other thing that is as important to the health and well-being of Magic the Gathering as the cards themselves; the players
The heroes of Magic: The Gathering are not the fictional characters depicted on the cards, they are the people that have attained the highest mastery of the game we all love, the people we all wish we could be.
The artist for the Magic Foundations reprint of Solemn Simulacrum just revealed that Wizards made him change his original version of the art for the new printing. The original painting was of Jens. The new one is an iron man. The Reddit post that expresses this is filled with people saying that the new art fits better. Portraits of real people have no place in Magic. I don't want to be so angry at new players who are genuinely enjoying a game that I no longer can, but god damn it all, I am. It was fun to learn Magic's history when I first joined in Theros. There were about 20 years of stories within the lore and within the community, but that's a potential hurdle. Magic can be ground into a slurry and fed to anyone now. God forbid you have to chew.
What really sticks out to me about the fact that Epic and WotC collaborated to make that Fortnite-themed Secret Lair is that they did _not_ also agree to add anything MtG-based to Fortnite. No Jace skin, no emote of an iconic spell, not even so much as a planeswalker symbol back bling. I think if MtG was even half as willing to do collaboration in the other direction and put itself in front of other audiences rather than just trying to draw other audiences to it, it would suddenly find it's own original ideas and properties catching on more, becoming more worth the development and upkeep just as D&D has been getting as of late.
Yeah, that was what actually angered me - the only times Magic actually put itself out there for a crossover were a mobile gacha game and Smite - Smite, which itself is a crossover bargain bin box. Slipknot, Nickelodeon properties (including specifically Avatar and specifically TMNT, plus a selection of others), Transformers and GODDAMN OLD SCHOOL RUNESCAPE. But, yeah, Magic definitely aren't good enough to ever feature in Fortnite, or, screw it, League of Legends (it wouldn't even clash aesthetically). It felt as if Magic was disregarded as a lesser being - peddle our marketing and if you're lucky we might remember you exist.
Because Wizards couldn't possibly care less about their own original ideas and properties catching on. They just want to sell more cards, regardless of what's on them.
Your going on the premise that Chris Cox in his azz is a smart man and makes good choices for the health of the game 😂😂😂😂 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 Ok I'm done laughing. I wish wotgreed would get new management that thought like that. I miss old mtg.
Your comment about how saccharine the "Wild West" set is makes me think about something from Caverns of Ixalan that has been bothering me for a while. As a Spaniard* who loves languages, both fictional and real, I liked the first two sets we got on Ixalan. I knew WotC wouldn't be able to tackle the issues behind the Spaniard colonization of America, as this had to be a marketable product after all, but I thought that all the "real world-inspired" names and words, specifically the faux-Spanish ones that the Legion of Dusk had (which looked and sounded like Spanish but were not real Spanish words) was an acceptable compromise to make a nod towards real history while keeping it cartoonish enough that the lack of real world issues wouldn't feel too weird. The fact that the faux-Spanish words were also kept only for the Legion of Dusk was a nice touch, reinforcing the fantasy that in Ixalan, the Maya empire successfully fought back. Then they just straight up gave full on Spanish names to everyone in Caverns. It would already be weird enough if they only did it for the Legion of Dusk, although that would be mostly on the "breaks immersion" department. However, they also decided to make up a whole ancient culture that predated any other faction from Ixalan, who had no previous contact with the Legion of Dusk, but also somehow spoke Spanish too? Why is Abuelo called _that_? Isn't his faction supposed to be inspired on the Olmec, whose reign ended much earlier than the Spanish conquest started? What? They can hire all these culture consultants but they can't hire a single linguist? I get not being able to use the Olmec word for grandfather, but to not even use the Yucatec Maya word for that? ...The Spaniard occupation and extermination of native American people and languages is so pervasive that it reached Ixalan's most ancient culture. It's a bit gut-wrenching. Edit: I have been made aware, by the same video I paused mid-way to comment, that I really should watch your videos in order lmao
I have some disagreements to throw out there. I can definitely appreciate that they have Spanishish names in the original Ixalan sets and didn't go full Spanish, wanting to just elicit certain ideas instead of present them on the nose like Spanish conquest...but I feel as though the argument loses some teeth when we have cards form the older Ixalan sets literally called conquistadors and showcase caravels and what-not. Nobody in the English-speaking western world says conquistadors to means anything outside of the Spanish soldiers in the Americas. Fundamentally I disagree with any kind of idea that showing things obviously inspired by human history need to be any sort of statement about that aspect of human history. It almost feels as if the Maya analogues in ixalan are required to win, otherwise it would be uncomfortably similar to real life history - but this erodes the identity of the fictional setting to me. I don't really respect the ideas that a fictional setting taking inspiration from a historical event needs to cater to people who MAY be offended by it...ESPECIALLY when we have giant dinosaurs and sun magic fighting vampires all over the place. Mayan iconography is unique and cool, so many fictional IPs draw inspiration from them. Spanish conquistadors look cool, or at least unique compared to many of soldiers in history - people who buy into these things already place them together in their heads because historically these entities met in real life. In my opinion, after you dress up the setting in a certain costume it doesn't really matter what actually happens. I think its silly to be mad that the vampire conquistadors defeated the mayan dinosaurs, because its a silly fiction, not some guys racist tirade about something that happened 500 years ago. Unfortunately we can't have that timeline, because people will insist that the racist thing is the reason it happened, not just that the story happens to have that happen in it. And to look into the names specifically, I think that volume plays a much bigger role than anything else. There were 16 legendary creatures in the old Ixalan sets. That's 16 total, for BOTH sets. There were 31 in Lost Caverns, almost twice as many. Wait sorry....there were *70!!* if you include the commander set alongside the Lost Caverns set. They went from 16 legendary creatures across 2 sets to 70 in a single set - so I feel as though that explains why they gave up on inventing Spanishish names and simply went back to using Spanish names period. And to be honest even in the old set their names were supposed to be Spanish like, but there are a LOT of languages out there in the world and they can run into stuff that means something in real life very easily. According to google, Elenda is an Agbo name that means 'good road'. Evidently its also a Scottish last name (belonging to a single family). I find it hard to criticize them for going full Spanish when in reality most magic names can be attributed to some real life human language somewhere, even if not intentional.
@@eewweeppkk Okay. So do you know? Why is Abuelo called that? I get pulling from real life names as their imagination runs dry, with the "advantage" that proper person names have their meanings and origins muddled through centuries of use. And I'm also aware of the exploitation of exoticism that is pulling common words from language with fewer speakers. But "abuelo" is definitely not a real person's name. Which is my main complain. And also Spanish isn't exactly a language with few speakers. If the card is in English, why isn't he "Grandpa"? Why is he very specifically "Abuelo"? And why is he not the translation of "Grandpa" into any of the pre-columbian languages? It's not even his name from when he was alive either, it was given to him after death iirc.
@@rescuerex7031he’s definitely more than a rad lib he proliferated the concept of socialism. Just because we have the language now to envision other forms of economic systems doesn’t change that when you read what he was writing he was a socialist
I knew it was an ad (although I had hope it was subliminal product placement in a larger work, rather than a 30 second [I assume] monument to the brand) the first moment a Chobani bottle appeared on the screen - which happened in one of the VCR segments a bit before the reveal.
Side note in reference to the story, I was convinced "Murder at Karlov Manor" was set in Innistrad solely because of the mechanics being detective themed, and innistrad being the most obvious place for a noir detective flick style set. I've only recently after rewatching the video found out it was a Ravnica set.
Having read the first old-school Ravnica book (starring Boros detective Agrus Kos; would recommend), the setting made sense to me, but they still could've done a better job with it.
@@ADudeWhoExperiences1393 you're not the only one. There are videos out there that discuss the set that frequently mix the names up without anyone ever missing a beat.
Future Sight as a set perfectly captures the nostalgia I feel for the early 2000s, a memory of a time when we were excited for the future instead of terrified by it.
Damn, ain't that the truth. Future Sight represents a time where the philosophy was "fuck the business statistics, we're doing something new and fun." Would never see something like that from a major IP in 2024.
As someone that bought my first deck during Mirrodin (Onslaught era) in the last few years MTG has felt very different. I haven't bought any crossover anything. I actually haven't bought any boosters since Gatecrash. This video summed up why I've been drifting to the fringes in the last decade. I hope they can recover in a way that invigorates what the game began as.
They really took the teeth away from Eldrazi and Phrexians. I remember thinking of both of those things in lore as being nearly untouchable, unbeatable forces of destruction. The tiniest bit of their influence enough to destroy and corrupt entire planes. Now they're just thrown in like a DM reading the monster manual and picking whatever sounds cool regardless of setting. We see so many phyrexians and Eldrazi in plane-ambiguous locations, but like, that's kinda guts what makes them scary. Nulldrifter flying over infinite water is just like "Well, okay, is it corrupting fish? Are there merfolk on this plane that are undergoing horrible eldritch transformations?"
The only plane that fell to Phyrexia because of a tiny influence was Mirrodin because it was a Metal plane perfectly set up for corruption. That Phyrexia was able to cause such widespread destruction and permanent scars across so many other planes in MOM is impressive.
@@Mordalon And, you know, Dominaria which only survived due to the efforts of 9 oldwalkers and Urza's multi millennial eugenics program and even then they barely survived.
@@daxindal8502 I wouldn't call the Phyrexian invasion of Dominaria just a little bit of Phyrexia being so corrupting lol it lasts thousands of years and was a literal war
@Mordalon the point was, in old lore, a single drop of phyrexian oil could cause the downfall of a plane across a long enough timeline; and result in a multiverse threatening apocalypse. A single drop. Now, the entire multiverse has been bathed in the stuff, but because of PhantomMenace/TheAvengers-style plot convenience, destroying the Tree de-activated ALLLLLLLL the oil. Suddenly, the actual threat of Phyrexia, the long and insidious corruption of a plane, is rendered moot because "Oh, oil doesn't actually work like that anymore". It's just bad, flat writing. Easy fixes for complex problems, just write poorly!
The biggest problem with Universe's Beyond isn't that it exists, It's that they decided to shove it down everyone's throat. Is it bad that we get expansions with Sponge Bob, Transformers, Spiderman, or Stranger Things? Not really...... Is it bad that they now force everyone to HAVE to buy this to stay competitive in the only format they pretend to care about? Kind of..... Is it overwhelming that they decided that there needs to be a several hundred card expansion every other month? Yes, effing yes.. Who the hell wants to buy this many cards every other month?
The funny part about gift-giving in a capitalist world, my dad was a veterinarian and the only one in town who... I think the way he worded it was "accepted grey-market substitutions for services". If a mechanic's dog needed surgery, he'd bring his car in for work even if it just needed an oil change. It worked out pretty well, since the town he worked in was fairly low-income, and the next nearest vet that took emergency calls was at least an hour's drive away.
That is so lovely. I remember viscerally the heartbreak when my ex-fiancee's beloved cat - an old, scraggly, affectionate Maine Coon - needed care which was far too expensive for either of us to justify on our hourly jobs which were barely enough to scrape by, and rather than leave him to suffer, we still paid an exorbitant amount to have him put out of his misery. Losing Kip so abruptly was of course more emotionally jarring than losing the money to prevent him from suffering, but if we could have offered labor services like computer repair or music or one of the many things my ex was great at in exchange, it would have allowed us to grieve without also feeling the crushing despair of wondering if we'd be able to handle our rent that month - or even allowed us to spend some cherished final days with Kip before saying goodbye.
For as much of a "good old boys" club as many towns can be, knowing people and being able to provide mutual assistance is almost vital. I was able to get first dibs to a timber farm's yield back in a South Carolina town because I helped the farm's crew members with their decks, furniture, and repairs. In turn, I was able to pick up some of the best timber, so I could do the same for others and do side work. I'm back in Virginia now, but I still keep in touch with the folks there. Apparently, I inspired one of the farm owner's daughters there to get into woodworking, and she's been sending me pictures of sculptures she makes. Even when I did carptentry work for people, even making monetary gain off selling my work, the most valuable thing I got out of it was a message from that girl saying "I want to be as pretty and strong as you someday" under a picture of her smiling and holding up the most jank-ass looking wooden bird. Maybe the real treasure _was_ the friends we made along the way :)
Ill be honest, the pitch of thunder junction being a post apocalyptic world putting itself back together suddenly invaded my multi-universal villians each claiming a chunk of the wasteland sounds lile a much cooler set than the cowboy cosplay set we actually got. Much like the rumors that MKM was supposed to take place on New Capenna suggests a much better story there. I cant wait to see what future first drafts hint at good (possible) content!
right, bc as we all know, regular magic has perfectly consistent and sensible internal narratives. now excuse us while we send our rat with an ancient sword of destiny to fight a pumpkin carriage driven by eels.
The rad counter mechanic could also be implemented in an old-school dominarian/Thran setting, where powerstones and their radiation could be important. We never really saw the Thran before the start of their demise, after all, much less at the start of their empire. It could easily be an important mechanic in a storyline documenting the rise of the Thran and the challenges faced by a culture so dependent on a toxic source of energy.
When the comments get a slam dunk so solid, you wonder how the creator missed it. (I know the video's two hours long, so it was probably about four times as much time recording, ten times as much editing, and a few more hours in other areas though :P)
Amazing take, I’ve also considered the shattering of the Ozolith on Ikoria causing a pollution of “radiation” in the world. Glad we can see It can be done!
It is genuinely wild that the best universes beyond release by a country mile was the first, the godzilla tie-in with ikoria. Godzilla perfectly fits the theme of the plane, and none of the cards were mechanically unique/in premium products. Sometimes you opened a reskin of the existing magic card with a different name and art, with the "true" card name just underneath.
Magic the Gathering *is* my childhood joy that changed how I viewed the world around me. I remember how exciting each new block was; a whole new magical world that found a way of innovating on the fantasy tropes we’d all seen before. Even if I like a franchise like Fallout, a set visiting that setting will never come close to being as exciting as something like the original Ravniva or Zendikar blocks just because it’s not new. When people have asked me about what I’d like as UB, it’s never a matter of what would excite me, I just have to think about what’s the least obtrusive to the worlds and game I love.
I am not kidding when I say this video made me cry. Maybe it's the 1:30 AM talking, but I'm suddenly considering going on a long vacation to the mountains to clear my head. This genuinely is making me think more about how I can work to build the future I've always dreamed of, not just for myself but for the world at large, and whether or not that is a fleeting endeavor to consider in the first place. And all wrapped up in a coating of discussion about the effects of Universes Beyond. Thank you, screw you, and thank you again, Spice
here's hoping that feeling has carried on in the days since. videos like spice's and philosophy tube's tend to leave me contemplative like so, only to fall back to the norm a couple days after, forgetful of the spark i had just experiences not long ago. I write this comment as a reminder, for one of us, whichever one it might be
I like The Princess Bride and I like MtG, but it's horrible seeing them fused together like that. It's like if you love your dog and you love your daughter so you decide to fuse them in an ever-suffering unholy abomination.
Jfc, no matter which social media site I'm on I can't escape this horrid episode. On another note, I like MtG and I like FMA, but seeing them referenced together like this-
Before 56:56 I was literally just thinking about how much more ballsy the story the design team was when they made literal coldblooded conquistador vampires, native merfolk defending their home, plus pirates, plunderers and opportunists taking advantage of the resulting chaos. And then? inoffensive cowboy world and goofy cactus bois happily stepping aside to make way for the new arrivals to their home.
Don't forget folks, a vital story scene and part of *OFFICIAL* Star Wars canon premiered in Fortnite. Not on DisneyPlus. Not on an official Star Wars TH-cam account. *IN* Fortnite.
I have a gremlin in my brain. He likes to shake his fist at clouds and get angry at new things. Now he wants to type out a long screed that features the words "nanoangströms" at least once and the word "hate" many times. I acknowledge this gremlin but will elect to placate him by passively referring to his wishes rather than outright giving in to the urge of mouthless screaming. It's also an excuse to use a TH-cam comment as a creative writing prompt of sorts. Consider it a gift freely given, for what it's worth :). Courtesy of Das Gremlin.
Only if you consider the bullshit Disney cuts off the necrotized corpse of Star Wars to be "OFFICIAL Star Wars canon". Which I do not, because the EU despite ALL its flaws is far better.
Not gonna lie, you got me with the Chobani commercial bait. I was thinking " Man, what movie is that from...I gotta watch it. " Then I saw the ad, and it did in fact rob me of the enjoyment of the art.
I've rewatched this over and over for the last couple of months. Honestly might be Spice's best video ever, and after the announcements this week, Cassandra-nudgingly prescient. Damn.
One place where ive seen a lot of the "giving players everything they want as soon as possible" is typal decks. Feels like every set has to shoehorn in a commander specifically for a new creature type for no reason other than some people built a janky deck around it once and might be excited to have a new commander. Doesn't help that it also adds to the increasing prescriptivism in design. You pick a mechanic, and then theres a creature specifically designed to be the commander for a deck about that mechanic. And if there isnt now, there will be next set
Salubrious Snail's video on the cycling commander really crystallized my thoughts on the current "engine+payoff" design of commanders and how fucking boring they are
@@al8188 one of the last times I played magic was at my lgs commander night. I played against sauron, the dark lord. Functionally hexproof, generates card advantage, gives you free bodies, and automatically synergizes with any "tempted by the ring" cards to such a degree that all you do is run all of them. It's a not insignificant part of why I haven't played since
@@ratbaby3107 yeah, I'm not enough of a barking, clapping seal to go "cool reference" 6 times a year right up until shit like the One Ring is ubiquitous
Im so fucking thankful my table is mostly just trying to build cool concepts. From my attempt at elemental tribal to my beamtown bullies deck we each try to do something new with each deck.@ratbaby3107
I just randomly clicked on this video again and i realized you hit on something that was wrong with the desparkfication compared to the Mending. The mending was an EVENT. it gave us Time Spiral full of all the weird art and themes. It had both story and setting that was new and fanilar. Compared to the desparking which you wouldnt even know of unless you bought Aftermath, a mini set expicitly built as a money grab where desparked planeswalkers could easily be overlooked as a game choice unless you specifically knew its in game reason. Basically what im saying is The Mending vs The Desparking when?
This made me think about how great and creative Lego's original sets were and how overshadowed they've become by licensed sets. Nobody buys Lego for creativity anymore, they buy really expensive model kits to sit on a shelf.
That reminds me of how Lego made a whole movie in 2014 all about that concept and about being original rather than following pre-existing ideas that the audience will recognize, yet even that feels like it eventually got drilled down by marketing to "lol Star Wars and DC stuff in the same movie" (especially as a standalone film became a franchise and the market was oversaturated with multiple similar animated movies)
Idk the dreamzzz sets are dope original sets. Plus Ninjago as an original IP. Feel like it's only an AFOL thing to get the stuff that sits on the shelf
9:50 when you said "Everyone has that one thing that they make the exception for" I immediately thought of how many booster boxes I'd buy of Discworld and how many commander decks I'd make for every single legendary creature in it. ANd I don't even fucking PLAY magic anymore.
@@deezboyeed6764 I'm really glad I'm far out of it, but seeing some of my favorite fallout goofballs on cards and seeing how they were adapted was really fun at least at arm's length.
"..contrary to the neoliberal locic which insists that people are best motivated by fear and money, it is that cushioning which facilitates a certain kind of cultural enterpreneurialism." -M. Fisher, K-Punk, pg. 201 1:48:08 This quote and Spice's words about how everyone should have opportunity to creatively experiment brought me to tears i didnt know i had. A mourning of a past writer who had to put down a pen they could not monetize, now working at a warehouse doing menial tasks just to pay rent. Thank you Spice for a more hopeful out look i didnt know i needed. ❤
If you haven't read Fisher's "Capitalist Realism" I really, *really* recommend it. It's short, fairly accessible, and absolutely _brimming_ with important insights. I also second the other commentor. Love & Solidarity
@@voland6846 oh thank you for the recommendation! I suppose the only way to really make this hopeful out really work is through action, but it does help to hear kind words from strangers. Thank you much love ❤️
28:40 One of my favorite stories about orks and how their abilities work is about how their might-is-right mentality can fuel it. I can't remember if it was official or not, but it goes like this: A group of orks are driving in one of their trukks when it runs out of fuel. Two of the boyz get out and start arguing over whether or not the trukk was refueled. The boy that claims to have refueled the trukk knocks out the boy claiming otherwise. The rest of the boyz, seeing that boy who claims to have fueled up the trukk was victorious, conclude that he must be telling the truth. Upon restarting the trukk, it runs without issue.
I hadn't heard about any of this but that's just incredible, I want to play a DnD character who operates on this system of dull mind over complex matter. I imagine a monk artificer character would work well, where their inventions keep working as long as they can fight for the superiority to say they are.
@boppertron4929 orks psychically manipulate reality based on group belief. Red Ones Go Faster. Every ork believes that so Red Ones really do go faster. In one of the books, they did a test even on a dead ork and their makeshift weapons do not function separated from the ork. They literally emit a field of BS to make things function
I love your take on the subject, the video was lovely to watch. I felt something similar and very weird when drafting OTJ. I pulled the mythic rare "simulacrum synthesizer". Everything about that card felt like a meta-commentary about the state of MTG. A giant autonomous artifact printing simulacre after simulacre, gloriously feeding the power creep, hidden in the vault bonus sheet (amidst bills and goldbars). All of this being part of a "universe beyondy" plane inspired by north america felt almost too real to be intended
Coup also has the definition of "a notable or successful stroke or move" which is a more uncommon use, but not completely niche. So it's another example of Hero's Downfall where the context tweaks the meaning. Which is fantastic wordplay.
Yeah, Spice's definition is of the phrase "coup d'etat" which, being fair to them, is probably the most common phrase that gets shortened to just "coup". The word "coup" literally just means "stroke".
37:00 oh my god I'm obsessed with the universe within characters, the first innistrad ones all gave such specific windows into the world outside of all the other things we have seen on that plane. They are strangely compelling to me.
It's funny how in Arabian Nights, they printed city in a bottle because they were afraid players wouldn't want to play with AR cards. Why isn't there an UB city in a bottle? I don't want to play against Captain Marvel and Spongebob in my MTG.
I like the idea that future sight just gave a glimpse into the future, and we saw something as scary as a tarmogoyf. Flash forward to that future, and the incredibly terrifying tarmogoyf turned out to just be a smaller fish in a huge pond.
1:26:47 You hit the nail right on the head there. As a game designer, I have seen the power that a game studio can have in dictating casual play space and how reluctant players can be in challenging it. Be they home banlists, silver border cards, or 3rd-party D&D/Pathfinder books, players seem to instinctively balk at anything that lacks official sanction.
It's because using the intended balance from the game company makes switching between casual groups seamless, even when it sucks the life out of the whole experience.
2:21 This all depressingly sounds like the movie version of _Ready Player One._ As Cody Johnston over at _Some More News_ pointed out, they cheapened _The Iron Giant's_ entire story just to score nostalgia points, ending up completely ignoring the entire character's arc and motivation of refusing to be a weapon, and reducing him to a literal gun.
The Iron Giant is there mainly because the film couldn’t use Ultraman, who originally filled that role in the book… who EQUALLY is a horrible fit to casually turn into a weapon in that manner.
One thing I found funny about Thunder Junction, is that to me it did the exact same thing as Karlov Manor did, but it was receptioned infinitely better. The only difference being that OTJ places your favorite characters in costume on a previously unexisting place, while MKM places your favorite characters in costume on Ravnica, overriding people's expectations of what Ravnica should be. All of a sudden, it doesn't matter how or why all of these characters are here, much less what they're actually doing. They're here, they got new cards, and that's all that matters. That to me is also a sign of the death of the future. Why make up new, interesting settings with flavorful worldbuilding and characters, when you can just stimulate the nostalgia of past sets effortlessly.
My other idea is that even when they make new worlds, characters. Sets, etc they spend so little time on them that it's hard to get to know any of the characters, so why bother trying.
There are so many parts of this problem that it's hard to just single one out. Part of it is a "coming of age" thing, you reach a point in your life where you realize your favorite things are often elaborate marketing schemes. Part of it is that every part of the game has been watered down, and not just by crossovers. The card variations, the deluge of keywords. The whole question of "what is a magic card?" is now harder to answer than ever. And of course, the more other brands leak into magic the more it ceases to have its own identity. A "metaverse" isn't a thing, it's a mishmash of *other things*. An empty toybox defined by its contents. Oh, and The Infinite and the Divine is a pretty good book. What a weird combination of comedy and horror. Just like modern ma-
1:33:18 Holy shit, have I been feeling this lately. I hadn't been able to put it into words, and I'm glad you shared Fisher and Berardi's work here. My work completely destroys my mental capacity on a near-daily basis. When I get home, I look at new video games that seem fun and engaging. I start them, play through about half of the tutorial level of it, and immediately stop playing it because I feel tired with trying to learn yet something else new. I end up replaying some video game that I played from 10 to 30 years ago. My wife has asked me why I was doing that and had been doing that now for a couple of years. I keep telling her that I couldn't really explain it. The games were familiar and comforting, but that's not everything I was seeking. It's that they don't challenge me in any way. It's really the only place where I can find that anymore. Everything has a conditional demand of me, now; except for Civilization Revolution on King, Pokemon TCG on Game Boy, or Final Fantasy IV.
I can't help but think of how my main hobby is making maps for an old 90s FPS. There's definitely a sense of accolade and gratification in getting your work recognized by the wider community, but the clout-chasers are often weeded out before too long and all that keeps you around at the end of the day is the fact that you enjoy making things for others and experiencing what others have made in turn. Even with all of the twists and turns that my life has taken over the years, I'm still there making my vaguely befuddling maps. It's the giving that makes it worth it, being able to shape something with your own two hands and then watch as someone else's eyes light up when they receive it. Thank you for giving us this video, Spice.
While I'm not 100% sure you mean Doom here, I've been in the mapping community for a very long time and find myself in a similar situation. Every now and again I find myself being drawn back in to make new content I guess as a gift to myself almost? It's hard to describe fully.
@@Spice8Rack Two hours is not enough to finish painting my Tyranid models Spice! Tyranids who are from the wargame whose name will not be invoked on your channel, of course!
@@SnowFoxWithAGasMask better call them legally distinct Zerg just to infuriate Warhammer Fans and not to entice Spice to do a video on a hobby that shall not be mentioned.
@@philippr.9870 you forget, I am a fan of the hobby that must not be named, and calling the nids legally distinct zerg hurts my soul. Maybe I should just call them the space bugs from the hobby that must not be named
Of the several things I take delight in with your work Spice, my favorite is a hard to describe feeling of releif when a point is expressed in words I couldn't find myself. (Alongside the accidential reinvention of existing philosophy because I have read none of the literature, but have been radicalized by the enviroment around me.)
16:58 correction Shahradaz also has the text magic. Shahradaz mana value: {w}{w} sorcery text: Players must leave game in progress as it is and use the cards left in their libraries as decks with which to play a subgame of Magic. When subgame is over, players shuffle these cards, return them to libraries, and resume game in progress, with any loser of subgame halving his or her remaining life points, rounding down. Effects that prevent damage may not be used to counter this loss of life. The subgame has no ante; using less than forty cards may be necessary.
You know, this is a complicated thing for me. I'm someone who very recently fell in love with MTG. What hooked me? The crossover stuff. Mainly the 40k and Assassins Creed packs. Mainly it was nice to see things I fully enjoyed potrayed really well with legitimate understanding on the designers part. And it proved to be a really nice way to learn MTG in a more easy to jump in format. I know what Necrons are, I can more easily assume how they play. But I say that, and it does still show a pretty dark path. I very recently paged through all the crossover cards. All the Fortnite, Stranger Things, Walking Dead, ect ect. It felt... dystopian? Like direct throw IP at the wall lets make money. But also I feel hypocritical thinking that. Somebody probably got into mtg due to the Transformer cards. Not saying this isnt something to criticise. It is. I think the reality that crossover events killing off original releases for Magic is sad. Even if they are from a series I fully enjoy. I might not have been pulled into the game because of that original identity. But a lot of people where. And that original flavor is genuinely cool. To lose that will be sad. My favorite deck I have is a commander Frank Horrigan deck with 40k and Fallout cards. I keep it contained. Thats my crossover deck. The other decks I made since I do my best to limit the universe beyond stuff. I like having my one "things I enjoy deck."
I've been playing since I was five, and my view of the game has shifted a lot in that time. Even if the secret lairs really 'kill' MTG, it won't really be a death, just a transformation. It will fundamentally change the context and mode of play for the game forever, but that just means that those who remain will get the opportunity to shape what's left with their own hands. Formats like Dandan will pop up like weeds, and people will finally realize just how much we have to work with. In some ways, I feel excited for a time beyond company controll, and I don't think that accidentally contributing to that is a bad thing.
The hypocritical feeling is you being won over by the gimmick. that is what it was for. to "sucker" you in. And that is also part of the insidious evil behind it. Sacrificing the core beauty of the game to bring in new players... but to what... if eventually everything is just fortnite.
@@silentslade I'll be honest, I think describing Universe Beyond as "insidious evil" is a bit hyperbolic. I left my comment before fully finishing the video. After finishing it now I am happy that my opinions do mirror a lot of what was said. I think there are a lot of positives to it, but its important to call out the clear shitty aspects. The actual mechanics are amazing. The Fallout 40k, and LoTR packs are so fun to play with. (I play using tabletop sim so I have had a chance to play a wide range of stuff lol. I have yet to give WotC a single cent.) A lot of people have gotten a chance to try out this game they normally wouldn't have played. Like myself for instance. Then this last one is a weird niche one, but unlike Spice8rack I *do* actually make 40k lore videos. So the MTG crossover finally gave a lot of neglected characters official art. I'm looking at you, basically every Necron ever. I think there's an elegant way to slot this in still without hurting the game. Keeping this supplementary is ideal. Problem is, its clear its making a lot of money. Thats where my concern lies. Where also the video went too. Its an issue with MTG as a product. That day where unique stuff is axed in favor of the hot new crossover is gonna be a sad one. I also hope it honestly never happens. Sure, it might not be stuff I fully understand or even care about. I cant tell the difference between an Ixilan or a Ravinca or wherever. But for the countless Magic fans out there? I will be sad for them, it always sucks to miss out on stuff you love.
I think they are using the very human desire to remix and reinterpret the art we experience in new ways as a soulless cash grab, and that dissonance is as jarring as the core motivation-- the remix, however, remains appealling
@@glueboy That is the evil right there. Its about getting you in the door with what YOU like but at the expense of what longtime fans love. It is short sighted and selfish. (If you are into the color pie.. that equals amorality BLACK... which can be seen as evil.. tho to the color pie there is no such thing as evil really) The game lore and worlds have taken a HUGE toll in design due to Universe's Beyond crossovers. Its already too late.. the decisions to make these cards legal eternally has destroyed the games longevity. Fans of what magic will become won't need to know what Ravnica or Ixalan are... because they won't really matter anymore. As it shows with you.. already not caring.
THANK YOU! I was losing my mind trying to figure out where I'd seen those cutaways from but I couldn't remember because I'd never interacted with Solarpunk outside of seeing the trailer once. Now back to the video for me! (Edit from the future: I completely forgot that that fucking animation was a goddamned Chobani advert! 8rack literally mentioned it after I made this comment.)
I think you really captured the good and the bad of the expansion of IP in MTG. It’s fantastic to see new players coming into the game and to see old players getting interested in other IP because of it being introduced to the game. I’ve been playing for 30 years, and I’m still loving the game. My only criticism is id like to see product release slowed down and I miss multi set blocks that allowed for lore exploration.
I knew that too but it was because I read specifically the niv mizzet parts of the story. I don't know anything about the murder. Best of both worlds, I both know and don't know the lore at the same time
This doesn’t feel like a MtG video. This feels like a prediction and exploration of how we think about the future through the lens of MtG. Which, I suppose is the point - well done Spice8Rack!
I think you hit the nail on the head on why I like several of the universes beyond cards - it’s not about being able to have characters, settings and events from other media that I like as magic cards, it’s seeing how that media is transposed into Magic’s gameplay design, that “aha” moment realizing that, “of course they would give yes man a humble defector ability to move around the board”, or “huh, I didn’t expect them to represent Edward Kenway with vehicle synergy, but that makes sense since his game really emphasized ship combat.” Its the “deadliest warrior” effect of the magic table, where all those card ideas that my friends and I would throw around for “well how would you do X character’s ability in magic mechanics?” or “what colors would character Y be?” in the same way we used to say around the lunch table, “well who would win in a fight, a knight or a ninja?” Now we get to see how the professional game designers handle these hypotheticals, and can appreciate all the nuances and game design genius that goes into the final product.
I'm angry that anyone made exceptions for any UB products. I don't really care how well Lord of the Rings or D&D fit. I can appreciate the history and that including antecedents to Magic is better than including things that are nothing to do with it, or that only stole it's loot box model, but I never like this. I'd be interested to see how a lot of media looked interested through Magic's robust ruleset, but the moment an MtG card back is on it, I've lost all interest.
Imagine if someone got their likeness put on Snapcaster Mage because they slipped WotC $1000. I don't think we needed to whip out the French philosphers just yet to explain the difference.
When I learned that the answer for how Thunder Junction would address the indigenous genocide intrinsic to Wild West media was "it was uninhibited so that's not a problem :)" I was kind of appalled. When I then learned that that wasn't even true and their was clearly an extant sapient presence (the cactus people) that I guess WotC just didn't count, I could only lmao.
"How are you going to handle the deliberate disappearance of indigenous people in your Wold West set, WotC?" "Oh that's easy we're going to deliberately disappear them." "..." "Can I interest you in a Loot, Key to Everything plushie?"
I know it doesn't make it better but apparently the cactus people only became people with the opening of the omenpaths. So they "weren't" there prior to the omenpaths, although they were still there before the first extraplanar explorer. Still handled very poorly by Wotc
I suspect another contributing factor to the lack of discourse around real-world references in early Magic is the lack of pedigree at that time. As the game unified its art direction and focused on taking itself seriously, the fanbase began taking it more seriously and get upset by breaks in that seriousness because the company has trained us to take them seriously.
Another one if you missed it; "Ruhan of the Fomori" too. You can also see Ruhan's horns in the standard art for "sword of Wealth and Power"; but they're the... mandibles/jaw of an alien. Looking forward to what they've cooked up honestly.
4:20 "Hello, this is my favorite channel referencing one of my favorite adaptations of literary media. You killed my reference, prepare to die." **leans in, blood afill in mouth** *sounds of swords clinking together*
some day in the future there will be a moment at a world tournament when someone has to play a buzz lightyear card to win 1st and only then will we all realize the depths of our failure.
1:01:24 Aside from Flash getting finally keyworded: They intended to go further. For this set, they also _considered_ getting rid of the Instant supertype and errata Sorceries accordingly. A shame that never happened. Although this would have probably changed the fate of one of this set's most infamous creatures considerably.
...this video appeared yesterday in my feed and I was like damn, it's been like 30 seconds since the announcement that all outer IP cards are playable in Standard, this man cranks up content like cr- oh. Oh. Published four months ago. Oh no. Shit hadn't hit the fan yet
I can’t believe I just found you from shuffle up and play! Your channel is extremely entertaining! You aren’t afraid to use words and have a unique sense of humor that is just so fresh and honest but yet ridiculous and hilarious lol.
I put on this video to have something long to watch while I held a mug I was gluing together. A few hours later I continued to watch it as I used a razor knife to cut the excess epoxy off of the now repaired lines in the mug. When I got to the section about gifts I sort of remembered that fixing this mug is a gift, it's not my mug, it's my friend's. They broke it when they were moving and were sad about it because it was their favorite, and I know how to fix a lot of things, so I asked if I could take it home and try to fix it. It's not really in exchange, they didn't give me anything for me to do it. We just give eachother things, ask for favors, offer little kindnesses, and fuck occasionally. It's the kind of friend relationship I want to cultivate with all my friends. I'm aromatic, but I think I feel everything I can of love for them. this is rambly and has no point, but it was a moment of realization while watching this video.
I wish this video were longer!
Great to see you here professor!
Careful now x
Wouldn't be the first time The Prof goads Spice into doing unwise things...
Me too :o
100%
Only two hours? Spice, what am i supposed to do with the rest of my day? Hang out with my children?? That's what you want me to do???
watch the video again then go watch the tarkir one again
Be alone with my thoughts?! Oh hell no!
"f*ck them kids" -michael jordan, probably
Play a game of Commander with them.
Naturally, watch Spiceman's videos again.
Just got here after the MtG announcements today. This video is as real as ever.
This video summarizes why I quit the game better than anything else I have ever read or watched on the subject. Absolutely jaw-dropping scripting at play here, and incredible execution in tying it into larger themes. This video is one of the few that makes this website worth it.
Holy crap! What a lovely thing to read from someone whose work I appreciate so much! Bless you
I would love to see you two in a video together. Maybe playing a game together, or debating meaningful, yet stupid things.
Wow! I never thought Hughbees was this kind of mtg fan! But i like it!
@@maestro3947-b9g of course he is, he's obviously a very learned man of high culture and value, just as Spice is a person of great culture and value.
I just wanna see a commander game between Huggbees, Wubby, Spice, and Prof, uncensored lmao. The jabs and jokes flying at that table would be priceless.
@@VCV95tbf this comment acknowledges his having quit the game...
This has to be so painful for a lot of the employees too. Imagine landing your dream job as an artist or designer at R&D, thrilled to be expanding a world you've partaken of since your childhood, only to be told that you're working on the Spiderman expansion.
NGL when ppl first talked about MTG losing its identity, I thought it was an overreaction. But lately I've understood and came around
it was inevitable. "[company] would never..." must always be followed with "...unless it makes a lot of money"
We’ve gone from “golly those Fortnite cards are a bad idea” to “looks like I’m not listening to Hatsune Miku now”
I feel the same way mate. I don't want to hate just to hate buuuuut this feels like a cash grab. But at the same time I like final fantasy so I'm kind of hype for the
Why depend on your own identity if you can patchwork it together with multiple other ones. We clearly need even more universes beyond, ip´s and sci-fi themes pushed into a fantasy card game to finally play corporate multiple personality disorder
@@ChopSueyyyamen
I will say as a Native Canadian who lives in the Yukon; it was nice to see Native people depicted on art and NOT have their entire backstory be about colonization. Why in a fantasy world should my Peoples be disenfranchised?
There is TONS to our history and culture to explore and I for one would rather have a card like ‘Raven, Who Stole the Sun’ than a card depicting the horrors that happened to Native Peoples.
I wholeheartedly agree, and I'm so sorry if this video came across as an insistence that solely tragedy ought to be depicted for fantasy allagories of native people. I'd much prefer a set exclusively exploring indigenous stories without any colonial impositions whatsoever.
With the right team of culture consultants, there is so much out there that has gone untold. When I was planning out a deliberately multicultural Pokemon fangame (that has been drastically lowered in scope), I was completely unaware of the fact that Jamaica, a place I had selected due to a formative mission trip when I was young and disillusioned with a bunch of my fellow white people harassing people on the street, had anything at all to pull from besides wildlife.
I was wrong. I was so wrong. I have been alive for over two decades, surrounded by furries, and not once heard of La Diablesse before that point.
@@shatteredteethofgod Epic Rap Battles of History: White Guilt versus Cultural Appropriation
I am firmly on team Let Other People Tell Stories, but as much as I want to point and laugh at people who think depression is a political position, we all gotta agree that doing this tastefully is hard
When Metazoo had a better Native set than MtG, you know that something was very wrong
@@Spice8Rack
I don't know. it kinda smells like having an ancient Greek set without having North Africans being there.
And I was there for OG Theros and people being salty that it had clearly Black coded characters.
this video aged so well, we are doomed guys
It's so over
Yup. The target audience for Magic: The Gathering is no longer Magic players.
It’s people who don’t play Magic.
😵💫
Did someone say 'doom guy? "
@@Durgenheimcuz the game went to shit lmao, powercreep still hapens dispite of the scam that is set rotation so no one plays standard or even any non commander format now, funny how people make fun of yugioh but the powercreep in mtg is ironically worse, there is now more text in magic cards than yugioh
Bloomburrow is legally distinct Redwall. THAT is what I wish they would do more of. Redwall is what got me into reading and is a very formative memory that strengthened my bond with my mother. I haven't bought a booster pack since Lorwyn. I will almost DEFINITELY be buying a number of things for Bloomburrow.
It wasn't til I read this that I realized I'm in the same boat. I played standard during lorwynn block but stopped shortly after, and stopped buying packs and boxes.. but I plan on buying a box of bloomburrow.
On a second note.. I get what spice is saying, but I'm a sl*t for old and retro frame cards.
Bloomburrow is to Redwall as Eldraine was to fairy tales and Strixhaven was to Harry Potter. I never mind when things are referenced with their own unique twists and style of the universe the game takes place in. Me and my wife are really excited for Bloomburrow but all these jarring UB sets can kick rocks. This may legit be our LAST set we buy.
Arabian nights was ... Arabian nights
Calling a cyberpunk setting, "the most hopeful representation of the future," I feel like drives your point in the section about wanting the future the best. It's literally a dystopia, it just has a bunch of bright lights and technology all over the place.
it's a dystopia but at least it's kinda cool. we live in a dystopia but it's so lame, like holy shit can we have a dark lord or cool robot slaves that will overthrow us. instead we get braindead pseudofascists and AI which is mostly used to make aggressively mediocre art and by school students too lazy to write their essays and homework.
I think part of the reason the tournament winner cards are so beloved is that they depict and give love to the only other thing that is as important to the health and well-being of Magic the Gathering as the cards themselves; the players
The heroes of Magic: The Gathering are not the fictional characters depicted on the cards, they are the people that have attained the highest mastery of the game we all love, the people we all wish we could be.
I also think it’s a bit of an aspirational thing too, the idea that one day your face could be on a card too if you can reach their level.
The artist for the Magic Foundations reprint of Solemn Simulacrum just revealed that Wizards made him change his original version of the art for the new printing. The original painting was of Jens. The new one is an iron man.
The Reddit post that expresses this is filled with people saying that the new art fits better. Portraits of real people have no place in Magic. I don't want to be so angry at new players who are genuinely enjoying a game that I no longer can, but god damn it all, I am. It was fun to learn Magic's history when I first joined in Theros. There were about 20 years of stories within the lore and within the community, but that's a potential hurdle. Magic can be ground into a slurry and fed to anyone now. God forbid you have to chew.
What really sticks out to me about the fact that Epic and WotC collaborated to make that Fortnite-themed Secret Lair is that they did _not_ also agree to add anything MtG-based to Fortnite. No Jace skin, no emote of an iconic spell, not even so much as a planeswalker symbol back bling. I think if MtG was even half as willing to do collaboration in the other direction and put itself in front of other audiences rather than just trying to draw other audiences to it, it would suddenly find it's own original ideas and properties catching on more, becoming more worth the development and upkeep just as D&D has been getting as of late.
Yeah, that was what actually angered me - the only times Magic actually put itself out there for a crossover were a mobile gacha game and Smite - Smite, which itself is a crossover bargain bin box. Slipknot, Nickelodeon properties (including specifically Avatar and specifically TMNT, plus a selection of others), Transformers and GODDAMN OLD SCHOOL RUNESCAPE. But, yeah, Magic definitely aren't good enough to ever feature in Fortnite, or, screw it, League of Legends (it wouldn't even clash aesthetically). It felt as if Magic was disregarded as a lesser being - peddle our marketing and if you're lucky we might remember you exist.
@@TymofiiLisovychenko Hey, that's not fair. Magic is good enough for hotpockets.
Amen 🙌
Because Wizards couldn't possibly care less about their own original ideas and properties catching on. They just want to sell more cards, regardless of what's on them.
Your going on the premise that Chris Cox in his azz is a smart man and makes good choices for the health of the game 😂😂😂😂 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Ok I'm done laughing. I wish wotgreed would get new management that thought like that. I miss old mtg.
My favorite Planar Chaos colorshifted TH-camr would be a hypothetical Spice8Rack who only talks about Warhammer but occasionally mentions Magic.
UnseasonedInfinityBox?
Pleasantkenobi?
Poorhammer podcasters?
@@auirex4557holy fuck that’s perfect
Unfortunately, this video has aged very well
Your comment about how saccharine the "Wild West" set is makes me think about something from Caverns of Ixalan that has been bothering me for a while.
As a Spaniard* who loves languages, both fictional and real, I liked the first two sets we got on Ixalan. I knew WotC wouldn't be able to tackle the issues behind the Spaniard colonization of America, as this had to be a marketable product after all, but I thought that all the "real world-inspired" names and words, specifically the faux-Spanish ones that the Legion of Dusk had (which looked and sounded like Spanish but were not real Spanish words) was an acceptable compromise to make a nod towards real history while keeping it cartoonish enough that the lack of real world issues wouldn't feel too weird. The fact that the faux-Spanish words were also kept only for the Legion of Dusk was a nice touch, reinforcing the fantasy that in Ixalan, the Maya empire successfully fought back.
Then they just straight up gave full on Spanish names to everyone in Caverns. It would already be weird enough if they only did it for the Legion of Dusk, although that would be mostly on the "breaks immersion" department. However, they also decided to make up a whole ancient culture that predated any other faction from Ixalan, who had no previous contact with the Legion of Dusk, but also somehow spoke Spanish too? Why is Abuelo called _that_? Isn't his faction supposed to be inspired on the Olmec, whose reign ended much earlier than the Spanish conquest started? What? They can hire all these culture consultants but they can't hire a single linguist? I get not being able to use the Olmec word for grandfather, but to not even use the Yucatec Maya word for that? ...The Spaniard occupation and extermination of native American people and languages is so pervasive that it reached Ixalan's most ancient culture. It's a bit gut-wrenching.
Edit: I have been made aware, by the same video I paused mid-way to comment, that I really should watch your videos in order lmao
Pretty sure Amalia Benevides Aguirre was a girl in my 2nd grade class.
I have some disagreements to throw out there.
I can definitely appreciate that they have Spanishish names in the original Ixalan sets and didn't go full Spanish, wanting to just elicit certain ideas instead of present them on the nose like Spanish conquest...but I feel as though the argument loses some teeth when we have cards form the older Ixalan sets literally called conquistadors and showcase caravels and what-not. Nobody in the English-speaking western world says conquistadors to means anything outside of the Spanish soldiers in the Americas.
Fundamentally I disagree with any kind of idea that showing things obviously inspired by human history need to be any sort of statement about that aspect of human history. It almost feels as if the Maya analogues in ixalan are required to win, otherwise it would be uncomfortably similar to real life history - but this erodes the identity of the fictional setting to me. I don't really respect the ideas that a fictional setting taking inspiration from a historical event needs to cater to people who MAY be offended by it...ESPECIALLY when we have giant dinosaurs and sun magic fighting vampires all over the place. Mayan iconography is unique and cool, so many fictional IPs draw inspiration from them. Spanish conquistadors look cool, or at least unique compared to many of soldiers in history - people who buy into these things already place them together in their heads because historically these entities met in real life. In my opinion, after you dress up the setting in a certain costume it doesn't really matter what actually happens. I think its silly to be mad that the vampire conquistadors defeated the mayan dinosaurs, because its a silly fiction, not some guys racist tirade about something that happened 500 years ago. Unfortunately we can't have that timeline, because people will insist that the racist thing is the reason it happened, not just that the story happens to have that happen in it.
And to look into the names specifically, I think that volume plays a much bigger role than anything else. There were 16 legendary creatures in the old Ixalan sets. That's 16 total, for BOTH sets. There were 31 in Lost Caverns, almost twice as many.
Wait sorry....there were *70!!* if you include the commander set alongside the Lost Caverns set.
They went from 16 legendary creatures across 2 sets to 70 in a single set - so I feel as though that explains why they gave up on inventing Spanishish names and simply went back to using Spanish names period. And to be honest even in the old set their names were supposed to be Spanish like, but there are a LOT of languages out there in the world and they can run into stuff that means something in real life very easily. According to google, Elenda is an Agbo name that means 'good road'. Evidently its also a Scottish last name (belonging to a single family). I find it hard to criticize them for going full Spanish when in reality most magic names can be attributed to some real life human language somewhere, even if not intentional.
@@eewweeppkk Okay. So do you know? Why is Abuelo called that? I get pulling from real life names as their imagination runs dry, with the "advantage" that proper person names have their meanings and origins muddled through centuries of use. And I'm also aware of the exploitation of exoticism that is pulling common words from language with fewer speakers. But "abuelo" is definitely not a real person's name. Which is my main complain. And also Spanish isn't exactly a language with few speakers. If the card is in English, why isn't he "Grandpa"? Why is he very specifically "Abuelo"? And why is he not the translation of "Grandpa" into any of the pre-columbian languages? It's not even his name from when he was alive either, it was given to him after death iirc.
one of the assassin's creed games features karl marx so there is a non-zero chance that there will be a karl marx magic the gathering card
I mean that Karl Marx is mostly a Rad Lib rather than a Communist
Monster Hunter crossover is coming
@@rescuerex7031he’s definitely more than a rad lib he proliferated the concept of socialism. Just because we have the language now to envision other forms of economic systems doesn’t change that when you read what he was writing he was a socialist
@@rescuerex7031 ...you realise that liberalism and communism are literally opposites?
@@Cringeboy69420i think they meant the karl marx from assassins creed was presented as more of a rad lib
The yogurt ad reveal was on the level of cosmic horror for me
I knew it was an ad (although I had hope it was subliminal product placement in a larger work, rather than a 30 second [I assume] monument to the brand) the first moment a Chobani bottle appeared on the screen - which happened in one of the VCR segments a bit before the reveal.
I actually didn't know this at all before seeing this video and it really hit me hard
@@hugmonger Same here. I was left with my jaw literally hanging open at the sheer audacity.
I felt something sinister about it but I didn't know what. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
What makes it worse is Greek yogurt is apparently bad for the environment
Ah, I wanted some lightweight quick, shorts-style content and this video seems right up my alley.
Too Short for my taste but I agree.
Side note in reference to the story, I was convinced "Murder at Karlov Manor" was set in Innistrad solely because of the mechanics being detective themed, and innistrad being the most obvious place for a noir detective flick style set. I've only recently after rewatching the video found out it was a Ravnica set.
Having read the first old-school Ravnica book (starring Boros detective Agrus Kos; would recommend), the setting made sense to me, but they still could've done a better job with it.
See, I figured it'd be on New Capenna. It fits that plane like a glove. Intrigue, gangs, 1940's Manhatten aesthetic, it was built for that story line.
I kept mixing up Karlov and Markov in my head and was therefore confusing the planes before release
@@ADudeWhoExperiences1393 you're not the only one. There are videos out there that discuss the set that frequently mix the names up without anyone ever missing a beat.
Actually the 1920-30s noir set is New Capenna. That is where it should have been set.
Guess what, Spice
Lets not forget earliest OG of a universe beyond,
Forest Bear
*nodding sagely*
help what does this mean
@@KnighTiggles Forest bears are apparently real, who knew?
what about Savanah Lion ?
@@jadienofgamera the lion does exist in Dominaria, hence not an Universe Beyond
Future Sight as a set perfectly captures the nostalgia I feel for the early 2000s, a memory of a time when we were excited for the future instead of terrified by it.
I miss old mtg bad
Damn, ain't that the truth. Future Sight represents a time where the philosophy was "fuck the business statistics, we're doing something new and fun." Would never see something like that from a major IP in 2024.
As someone that bought my first deck during Mirrodin (Onslaught era) in the last few years MTG has felt very different. I haven't bought any crossover anything. I actually haven't bought any boosters since Gatecrash. This video summed up why I've been drifting to the fringes in the last decade. I hope they can recover in a way that invigorates what the game began as.
They really took the teeth away from Eldrazi and Phrexians. I remember thinking of both of those things in lore as being nearly untouchable, unbeatable forces of destruction. The tiniest bit of their influence enough to destroy and corrupt entire planes. Now they're just thrown in like a DM reading the monster manual and picking whatever sounds cool regardless of setting. We see so many phyrexians and Eldrazi in plane-ambiguous locations, but like, that's kinda guts what makes them scary. Nulldrifter flying over infinite water is just like "Well, okay, is it corrupting fish? Are there merfolk on this plane that are undergoing horrible eldritch transformations?"
The only plane that fell to Phyrexia because of a tiny influence was Mirrodin because it was a Metal plane perfectly set up for corruption. That Phyrexia was able to cause such widespread destruction and permanent scars across so many other planes in MOM is impressive.
@@Mordalon And, you know, Dominaria which only survived due to the efforts of 9 oldwalkers and Urza's multi millennial eugenics program and even then they barely survived.
@@daxindal8502 Don't forget Urza's ''Jaeger'' mechs! LOL
@@daxindal8502
I wouldn't call the Phyrexian invasion of Dominaria just a little bit of Phyrexia being so corrupting lol it lasts thousands of years and was a literal war
@Mordalon the point was, in old lore, a single drop of phyrexian oil could cause the downfall of a plane across a long enough timeline; and result in a multiverse threatening apocalypse. A single drop.
Now, the entire multiverse has been bathed in the stuff, but because of PhantomMenace/TheAvengers-style plot convenience, destroying the Tree de-activated ALLLLLLLL the oil.
Suddenly, the actual threat of Phyrexia, the long and insidious corruption of a plane, is rendered moot because "Oh, oil doesn't actually work like that anymore". It's just bad, flat writing. Easy fixes for complex problems, just write poorly!
This video aged like wine and it's only been 4 months.
The biggest problem with Universe's Beyond isn't that it exists, It's that they decided to shove it down everyone's throat.
Is it bad that we get expansions with Sponge Bob, Transformers, Spiderman, or Stranger Things? Not really......
Is it bad that they now force everyone to HAVE to buy this to stay competitive in the only format they pretend to care about? Kind of.....
Is it overwhelming that they decided that there needs to be a several hundred card expansion every other month? Yes, effing yes.. Who the hell wants to buy this many cards every other month?
The funny part about gift-giving in a capitalist world, my dad was a veterinarian and the only one in town who... I think the way he worded it was "accepted grey-market substitutions for services". If a mechanic's dog needed surgery, he'd bring his car in for work even if it just needed an oil change. It worked out pretty well, since the town he worked in was fairly low-income, and the next nearest vet that took emergency calls was at least an hour's drive away.
Gray Veterinarian of Asphodel
That is so lovely. I remember viscerally the heartbreak when my ex-fiancee's beloved cat - an old, scraggly, affectionate Maine Coon - needed care which was far too expensive for either of us to justify on our hourly jobs which were barely enough to scrape by, and rather than leave him to suffer, we still paid an exorbitant amount to have him put out of his misery. Losing Kip so abruptly was of course more emotionally jarring than losing the money to prevent him from suffering, but if we could have offered labor services like computer repair or music or one of the many things my ex was great at in exchange, it would have allowed us to grieve without also feeling the crushing despair of wondering if we'd be able to handle our rent that month - or even allowed us to spend some cherished final days with Kip before saying goodbye.
@@doylerudolph7965yiiiikes I feel tou
For as much of a "good old boys" club as many towns can be, knowing people and being able to provide mutual assistance is almost vital. I was able to get first dibs to a timber farm's yield back in a South Carolina town because I helped the farm's crew members with their decks, furniture, and repairs. In turn, I was able to pick up some of the best timber, so I could do the same for others and do side work.
I'm back in Virginia now, but I still keep in touch with the folks there. Apparently, I inspired one of the farm owner's daughters there to get into woodworking, and she's been sending me pictures of sculptures she makes. Even when I did carptentry work for people, even making monetary gain off selling my work, the most valuable thing I got out of it was a message from that girl saying "I want to be as pretty and strong as you someday" under a picture of her smiling and holding up the most jank-ass looking wooden bird.
Maybe the real treasure _was_ the friends we made along the way :)
Im still waiting for the planes walker political compass video.
I think spice is waiting to see if they make George Washington or Ben Franklin into a planeswalker in Assassins Creed
I mean, NOW I am
NOW I want this. Thanks for that I guess.
@@Spice8Rack I asked you on tik tok and then you blocked me you coward
@@Spice8Rack Oh yeaaahh
As a french listener, I must applaud Spice in their absolutely perfect pronunciation. Music to my ears.
Also, I love the Mets.
do you prefer the theory of bo drill hard or the theory of mikey full coat ? =p
Cubbies suck
Crying
1:07 And that set being pushed back ended up being return to Lorwyn in favor of Spiderman and other sets like that
They've come for standard.
The gameplay is now completely detached from the game's fiction.
It's over fr
Ill be honest, the pitch of thunder junction being a post apocalyptic world putting itself back together suddenly invaded my multi-universal villians each claiming a chunk of the wasteland sounds lile a much cooler set than the cowboy cosplay set we actually got. Much like the rumors that MKM was supposed to take place on New Capenna suggests a much better story there. I cant wait to see what future first drafts hint at good (possible) content!
Me and the boys riding the battle bus to stop ugin with the help of lara croft and matt smith 🔥
Incomprehensible. Thanks I hate it.
i target your battle bus with pokeball, taking control of it then i sacrifice it to shrek's swamp to create a 2/1 dragon horse token with flying
@@ymmijx6061 >dragon horse token
jesus christ
Rizz Rizz Gyatt Ohio or something
right, bc as we all know, regular magic has perfectly consistent and sensible internal narratives. now excuse us while we send our rat with an ancient sword of destiny to fight a pumpkin carriage driven by eels.
The rad counter mechanic could also be implemented in an old-school dominarian/Thran setting, where powerstones and their radiation could be important. We never really saw the Thran before the start of their demise, after all, much less at the start of their empire. It could easily be an important mechanic in a storyline documenting the rise of the Thran and the challenges faced by a culture so dependent on a toxic source of energy.
Holy shit absolutely
Now that we've already gone back for The Brothers' War, we might go back for Rise of the Thran. Maybe Fall of the Thran.
When the comments get a slam dunk so solid, you wonder how the creator missed it.
(I know the video's two hours long, so it was probably about four times as much time recording, ten times as much editing, and a few more hours in other areas though :P)
Amazing take, I’ve also considered the shattering of the Ozolith on Ikoria causing a pollution of “radiation” in the world. Glad we can see It can be done!
It is genuinely wild that the best universes beyond release by a country mile was the first, the godzilla tie-in with ikoria. Godzilla perfectly fits the theme of the plane, and none of the cards were mechanically unique/in premium products. Sometimes you opened a reskin of the existing magic card with a different name and art, with the "true" card name just underneath.
Cube will outlive Magic
Magic the Gathering *is* my childhood joy that changed how I viewed the world around me. I remember how exciting each new block was; a whole new magical world that found a way of innovating on the fantasy tropes we’d all seen before.
Even if I like a franchise like Fallout, a set visiting that setting will never come close to being as exciting as something like the original Ravniva or Zendikar blocks just because it’s not new. When people have asked me about what I’d like as UB, it’s never a matter of what would excite me, I just have to think about what’s the least obtrusive to the worlds and game I love.
Sorry guys, I can’t hang out. I have a 2 hour appointment today. (This video)
Understandable, good luck
Bahahahaha!
I am not kidding when I say this video made me cry. Maybe it's the 1:30 AM talking, but I'm suddenly considering going on a long vacation to the mountains to clear my head. This genuinely is making me think more about how I can work to build the future I've always dreamed of, not just for myself but for the world at large, and whether or not that is a fleeting endeavor to consider in the first place. And all wrapped up in a coating of discussion about the effects of Universes Beyond. Thank you, screw you, and thank you again, Spice
Please apply for Chris Cox in his azz job title. We need someone who thinks ALOT better than that fool. ❤
here's hoping that feeling has carried on in the days since. videos like spice's and philosophy tube's tend to leave me contemplative like so, only to fall back to the norm a couple days after, forgetful of the spark i had just experiences not long ago. I write this comment as a reminder, for one of us, whichever one it might be
Get a grip dude it's literally just a card game.
I'm glad there are still people out there seeking true future. And not just over stimulation negative-comfort
@@oreofudgeman _lol_ i mean the card game on its own is certainly distinctly _not_ the source of them feeling hopeless about the future to begin with
I like The Princess Bride and I like MtG, but it's horrible seeing them fused together like that. It's like if you love your dog and you love your daughter so you decide to fuse them in an ever-suffering unholy abomination.
Jfc, no matter which social media site I'm on I can't escape this horrid episode. On another note, I like MtG and I like FMA, but seeing them referenced together like this-
Before 56:56 I was literally just thinking about how much more ballsy the story the design team was when they made literal coldblooded conquistador vampires, native merfolk defending their home, plus pirates, plunderers and opportunists taking advantage of the resulting chaos.
And then? inoffensive cowboy world and goofy cactus bois happily stepping aside to make way for the new arrivals to their home.
Don't forget folks, a vital story scene and part of *OFFICIAL* Star Wars canon premiered in Fortnite. Not on DisneyPlus. Not on an official Star Wars TH-cam account. *IN* Fortnite.
I have a gremlin in my brain. He likes to shake his fist at clouds and get angry at new things.
Now he wants to type out a long screed that features the words "nanoangströms" at least once and the word "hate" many times.
I acknowledge this gremlin but will elect to placate him by passively referring to his wishes rather than outright giving in to the urge of mouthless screaming.
It's also an excuse to use a TH-cam comment as a creative writing prompt of sorts. Consider it a gift freely given, for what it's worth :). Courtesy of Das Gremlin.
Only if you consider the bullshit Disney cuts off the necrotized corpse of Star Wars to be "OFFICIAL Star Wars canon".
Which I do not, because the EU despite ALL its flaws is far better.
A discworld MTG set would probably drive me into immediate bankruptcy as I bought it instead of food
Same tbh. Give me Susan as a legendary creature or Planeswalker, please and thank you!
Not gonna lie, you got me with the Chobani commercial bait. I was thinking " Man, what movie is that from...I gotta watch it. " Then I saw the ad, and it did in fact rob me of the enjoyment of the art.
Actually, the card's name is "Chains of Memphis Tennessee", and I'll have your respect that.
I've rewatched this over and over for the last couple of months. Honestly might be Spice's best video ever, and after the announcements this week, Cassandra-nudgingly prescient. Damn.
NOT A MR. BLOBBY SECRET LAIR!
I refuse to provide even a modicum of safety on the topic of Mr. Blobby
@@Spice8RackI typed this when you made the first reference. I hadn’t even gotten to the direct address of that pink phallic shaped monstrosity!
Cavern of Souls reprinted as Crinkley Bottom please
TH-cam wants to know if I'd like to translate this into English.
He wants to stay, he wants to play
The patron names on the "get spice to say weird things" train never fail to get me
The I think about emrakul into in response I bolt myself all the time
I think the best gag of the whole list was whoever paid enough money to write in “and last but certainly not least,” halfway down the list
Anyone else feel that it took a curiously long while in this video to hear the word ludonarrative?
There’s just so much torment to look at in the Hasbro torment vortex that the game itself is less engaging than everything about its production
"Ludonarrative" is the signal word. If they don't use it in a video, we'll know they've been taken by the CIA.
One place where ive seen a lot of the "giving players everything they want as soon as possible" is typal decks. Feels like every set has to shoehorn in a commander specifically for a new creature type for no reason other than some people built a janky deck around it once and might be excited to have a new commander. Doesn't help that it also adds to the increasing prescriptivism in design. You pick a mechanic, and then theres a creature specifically designed to be the commander for a deck about that mechanic. And if there isnt now, there will be next set
Salubrious Snail's video on the cycling commander really crystallized my thoughts on the current "engine+payoff" design of commanders and how fucking boring they are
@@al8188 one of the last times I played magic was at my lgs commander night. I played against sauron, the dark lord. Functionally hexproof, generates card advantage, gives you free bodies, and automatically synergizes with any "tempted by the ring" cards to such a degree that all you do is run all of them. It's a not insignificant part of why I haven't played since
@@ratbaby3107 yeah, I'm not enough of a barking, clapping seal to go "cool reference" 6 times a year right up until shit like the One Ring is ubiquitous
Im so fucking thankful my table is mostly just trying to build cool concepts. From my attempt at elemental tribal to my beamtown bullies deck we each try to do something new with each deck.@ratbaby3107
I just randomly clicked on this video again and i realized you hit on something that was wrong with the desparkfication compared to the Mending. The mending was an EVENT. it gave us Time Spiral full of all the weird art and themes. It had both story and setting that was new and fanilar. Compared to the desparking which you wouldnt even know of unless you bought Aftermath, a mini set expicitly built as a money grab where desparked planeswalkers could easily be overlooked as a game choice unless you specifically knew its in game reason.
Basically what im saying is The Mending vs The Desparking when?
This made me think about how great and creative Lego's original sets were and how overshadowed they've become by licensed sets. Nobody buys Lego for creativity anymore, they buy really expensive model kits to sit on a shelf.
That reminds me of how Lego made a whole movie in 2014 all about that concept and about being original rather than following pre-existing ideas that the audience will recognize, yet even that feels like it eventually got drilled down by marketing to "lol Star Wars and DC stuff in the same movie" (especially as a standalone film became a franchise and the market was oversaturated with multiple similar animated movies)
Idk the dreamzzz sets are dope original sets. Plus Ninjago as an original IP. Feel like it's only an AFOL thing to get the stuff that sits on the shelf
bionicle was the last thing they made that was their own that was successful. Then starwars took over and that was it.
@xDukii this reads like you haven't had Lego since 2008. Ninjago is one of the most successful themes they've ever made.
Ninjago and Monkie Kid are in the right direction
9:50
when you said "Everyone has that one thing that they make the exception for" I immediately thought of how many booster boxes I'd buy of Discworld and how many commander decks I'd make for every single legendary creature in it.
ANd I don't even fucking PLAY magic anymore.
Hard same on all points lol
If they partner up for The Elder Scrolls...
Mine was the fallout set. I bought all four decks and keep them as they came, its alot of fun to just play a commander fallout game.
@@deezboyeed6764 I'm really glad I'm far out of it, but seeing some of my favorite fallout goofballs on cards and seeing how they were adapted was really fun at least at arm's length.
@modstin thats true. They did a stella job with the fallout, especially how they took from all games and not just 4.
"..contrary to the neoliberal locic which insists that people are best motivated by fear and money, it is that cushioning which facilitates a certain kind of cultural enterpreneurialism." -M. Fisher, K-Punk, pg. 201 1:48:08
This quote and Spice's words about how everyone should have opportunity to creatively experiment brought me to tears i didnt know i had. A mourning of a past writer who had to put down a pen they could not monetize, now working at a warehouse doing menial tasks just to pay rent. Thank you Spice for a more hopeful out look i didnt know i needed. ❤
I love you guy
If you haven't read Fisher's "Capitalist Realism" I really, *really* recommend it. It's short, fairly accessible, and absolutely _brimming_ with important insights.
I also second the other commentor. Love & Solidarity
@@voland6846 oh thank you for the recommendation! I suppose the only way to really make this hopeful out really work is through action, but it does help to hear kind words from strangers. Thank you much love ❤️
@@TheThundercow thank you 😊
28:40 One of my favorite stories about orks and how their abilities work is about how their might-is-right mentality can fuel it. I can't remember if it was official or not, but it goes like this:
A group of orks are driving in one of their trukks when it runs out of fuel. Two of the boyz get out and start arguing over whether or not the trukk was refueled. The boy that claims to have refueled the trukk knocks out the boy claiming otherwise. The rest of the boyz, seeing that boy who claims to have fueled up the trukk was victorious, conclude that he must be telling the truth. Upon restarting the trukk, it runs without issue.
I hadn't heard about any of this but that's just incredible, I want to play a DnD character who operates on this system of dull mind over complex matter. I imagine a monk artificer character would work well, where their inventions keep working as long as they can fight for the superiority to say they are.
@boppertron4929 orks psychically manipulate reality based on group belief. Red Ones Go Faster. Every ork believes that so Red Ones really do go faster. In one of the books, they did a test even on a dead ork and their makeshift weapons do not function separated from the ork. They literally emit a field of BS to make things function
@@boppertron4929they believe that red things go faster, so they paint all their vehicles red, which magically makes them faster
I love your take on the subject, the video was lovely to watch.
I felt something similar and very weird when drafting OTJ. I pulled the mythic rare "simulacrum synthesizer". Everything about that card felt like a meta-commentary about the state of MTG. A giant autonomous artifact printing simulacre after simulacre, gloriously feeding the power creep, hidden in the vault bonus sheet (amidst bills and goldbars). All of this being part of a "universe beyondy" plane inspired by north america felt almost too real to be intended
Coup also has the definition of "a notable or successful stroke or move" which is a more uncommon use, but not completely niche. So it's another example of Hero's Downfall where the context tweaks the meaning. Which is fantastic wordplay.
Yeah, Spice's definition is of the phrase "coup d'etat" which, being fair to them, is probably the most common phrase that gets shortened to just "coup".
The word "coup" literally just means "stroke".
I was wondering why the mustache looked a bit out of place until you made the princess bride joke.
37:00 oh my god I'm obsessed with the universe within characters, the first innistrad ones all gave such specific windows into the world outside of all the other things we have seen on that plane. They are strangely compelling to me.
UB was a huge factor in why I quit magic a few years ago.
It's funny how in Arabian Nights, they printed city in a bottle because they were afraid players wouldn't want to play with AR cards.
Why isn't there an UB city in a bottle? I don't want to play against Captain Marvel and Spongebob in my MTG.
The moment I saw the walking dead I saw the writing on the wall and I am now haunted by my foresight I wish wasn’t true.
capitalist zombie fortnite apocalypse mtg secret lair collector booster fun limited edition
I like the idea that future sight just gave a glimpse into the future, and we saw something as scary as a tarmogoyf. Flash forward to that future, and the incredibly terrifying tarmogoyf turned out to just be a smaller fish in a huge pond.
Spice: "...in 1996, the year I was born by the way..."
Me: *crumbles into dust*
Me literally only 3 years older than spice: "It's been 84 years"
Somehow my first reaction was "oh he's basically still a child".
I'm the same age as Spice! But the Beforetimes never existed.
Hearing that Spice was born the year I graduated high school was so startling I think I broke a hip.
1:26:47 You hit the nail right on the head there. As a game designer, I have seen the power that a game studio can have in dictating casual play space and how reluctant players can be in challenging it. Be they home banlists, silver border cards, or 3rd-party D&D/Pathfinder books, players seem to instinctively balk at anything that lacks official sanction.
It's because using the intended balance from the game company makes switching between casual groups seamless, even when it sucks the life out of the whole experience.
Except silver border cards do have official sanction, since they are literally made by the same company, just without TOURNAMENT sanction.
The Gift of Prophecy
the few paragraphs starting at 24:46 were perfect
I seriously thought to myself "this sounds like part of a Rhystic Studies video with the Spice8Sass" lol
2:21 This all depressingly sounds like the movie version of _Ready Player One._ As Cody Johnston over at _Some More News_ pointed out, they cheapened _The Iron Giant's_ entire story just to score nostalgia points, ending up completely ignoring the entire character's arc and motivation of refusing to be a weapon, and reducing him to a literal gun.
The Iron Giant is there mainly because the film couldn’t use Ultraman, who originally filled that role in the book… who EQUALLY is a horrible fit to casually turn into a weapon in that manner.
Everything in Ready Player One in the book is cheapened to be nostalgia bait...
One thing I found funny about Thunder Junction, is that to me it did the exact same thing as Karlov Manor did, but it was receptioned infinitely better.
The only difference being that OTJ places your favorite characters in costume on a previously unexisting place, while MKM places your favorite characters in costume on Ravnica, overriding people's expectations of what Ravnica should be.
All of a sudden, it doesn't matter how or why all of these characters are here, much less what they're actually doing. They're here, they got new cards, and that's all that matters.
That to me is also a sign of the death of the future. Why make up new, interesting settings with flavorful worldbuilding and characters, when you can just stimulate the nostalgia of past sets effortlessly.
My other idea is that even when they make new worlds, characters. Sets, etc they spend so little time on them that it's hard to get to know any of the characters, so why bother trying.
Fedora caps,
Cow boy hats.
I’m calling it Next set, Do rags. Magic the Gathering. Gangs of South Capenna.
The one character I kind of accept going full cowboy is Rakdos because he's supposed to be on vacation. He's a tourist lol.
Man.. they went back to Ravnica TWICE, and I was disappointed TWICE. Just let the plane die, wotc :(
@@Goldy01 Twice? Nah, Three times - We have the Return To Ravnica Block, the Return to Return to Ravnica block (aka GRN/RNA/WAR) and now murders
Always lovely to see Nettunner referred to in the wild.
There are so many parts of this problem that it's hard to just single one out. Part of it is a "coming of age" thing, you reach a point in your life where you realize your favorite things are often elaborate marketing schemes. Part of it is that every part of the game has been watered down, and not just by crossovers. The card variations, the deluge of keywords. The whole question of "what is a magic card?" is now harder to answer than ever. And of course, the more other brands leak into magic the more it ceases to have its own identity. A "metaverse" isn't a thing, it's a mishmash of *other things*. An empty toybox defined by its contents.
Oh, and The Infinite and the Divine is a pretty good book. What a weird combination of comedy and horror. Just like modern ma-
1:33:18 Holy shit, have I been feeling this lately. I hadn't been able to put it into words, and I'm glad you shared Fisher and Berardi's work here.
My work completely destroys my mental capacity on a near-daily basis. When I get home, I look at new video games that seem fun and engaging. I start them, play through about half of the tutorial level of it, and immediately stop playing it because I feel tired with trying to learn yet something else new. I end up replaying some video game that I played from 10 to 30 years ago.
My wife has asked me why I was doing that and had been doing that now for a couple of years. I keep telling her that I couldn't really explain it. The games were familiar and comforting, but that's not everything I was seeking. It's that they don't challenge me in any way. It's really the only place where I can find that anymore. Everything has a conditional demand of me, now; except for Civilization Revolution on King, Pokemon TCG on Game Boy, or Final Fantasy IV.
I can't help but think of how my main hobby is making maps for an old 90s FPS. There's definitely a sense of accolade and gratification in getting your work recognized by the wider community, but the clout-chasers are often weeded out before too long and all that keeps you around at the end of the day is the fact that you enjoy making things for others and experiencing what others have made in turn. Even with all of the twists and turns that my life has taken over the years, I'm still there making my vaguely befuddling maps.
It's the giving that makes it worth it, being able to shape something with your own two hands and then watch as someone else's eyes light up when they receive it. Thank you for giving us this video, Spice.
Oh yeah, and the eyelash fluttering gag at the start was excellent, haha.
While I'm not 100% sure you mean Doom here, I've been in the mapping community for a very long time and find myself in a similar situation. Every now and again I find myself being drawn back in to make new content I guess as a gift to myself almost? It's hard to describe fully.
@@lordsauron8546 Heh, it is indeed Doom that I'm talking about. If you frequent Doomworld at all you might see my name float by from time to time.
Only two hours? Phoning it in I see. 😉
I'm so sorry and I will do better.
@@Spice8Rack Two hours is not enough to finish painting my Tyranid models Spice! Tyranids who are from the wargame whose name will not be invoked on your channel, of course!
@@SnowFoxWithAGasMask better call them legally distinct Zerg just to infuriate Warhammer Fans and not to entice Spice to do a video on a hobby that shall not be mentioned.
@@philippr.9870 you forget, I am a fan of the hobby that must not be named, and calling the nids legally distinct zerg hurts my soul. Maybe I should just call them the space bugs from the hobby that must not be named
Of the several things I take delight in with your work Spice, my favorite is a hard to describe feeling of releif when a point is expressed in words I couldn't find myself.
(Alongside the accidential reinvention of existing philosophy because I have read none of the literature, but have been radicalized by the enviroment around me.)
16:58 correction Shahradaz also has the text magic. Shahradaz mana value: {w}{w} sorcery text: Players must leave game in progress as it is and use the cards left in their libraries as decks with which to play a subgame of Magic. When subgame is over, players shuffle these cards, return them to libraries, and resume game in progress, with any loser of subgame halving his or her remaining life points, rounding down. Effects that prevent damage may not be used to counter this loss of life. The subgame has no ante; using less than forty cards may be necessary.
21:03 this Hot Pockets promotion is what got me to finally start playing Magic and I will be forever thankful for that
You know, this is a complicated thing for me. I'm someone who very recently fell in love with MTG. What hooked me? The crossover stuff. Mainly the 40k and Assassins Creed packs. Mainly it was nice to see things I fully enjoyed potrayed really well with legitimate understanding on the designers part. And it proved to be a really nice way to learn MTG in a more easy to jump in format. I know what Necrons are, I can more easily assume how they play.
But I say that, and it does still show a pretty dark path. I very recently paged through all the crossover cards. All the Fortnite, Stranger Things, Walking Dead, ect ect. It felt... dystopian? Like direct throw IP at the wall lets make money. But also I feel hypocritical thinking that. Somebody probably got into mtg due to the Transformer cards.
Not saying this isnt something to criticise. It is. I think the reality that crossover events killing off original releases for Magic is sad. Even if they are from a series I fully enjoy. I might not have been pulled into the game because of that original identity. But a lot of people where. And that original flavor is genuinely cool. To lose that will be sad.
My favorite deck I have is a commander Frank Horrigan deck with 40k and Fallout cards. I keep it contained. Thats my crossover deck. The other decks I made since I do my best to limit the universe beyond stuff. I like having my one "things I enjoy deck."
I've been playing since I was five, and my view of the game has shifted a lot in that time. Even if the secret lairs really 'kill' MTG, it won't really be a death, just a transformation. It will fundamentally change the context and mode of play for the game forever, but that just means that those who remain will get the opportunity to shape what's left with their own hands. Formats like Dandan will pop up like weeds, and people will finally realize just how much we have to work with. In some ways, I feel excited for a time beyond company controll, and I don't think that accidentally contributing to that is a bad thing.
The hypocritical feeling is you being won over by the gimmick. that is what it was for. to "sucker" you in. And that is also part of the insidious evil behind it. Sacrificing the core beauty of the game to bring in new players... but to what... if eventually everything is just fortnite.
@@silentslade I'll be honest, I think describing Universe Beyond as "insidious evil" is a bit hyperbolic. I left my comment before fully finishing the video. After finishing it now I am happy that my opinions do mirror a lot of what was said. I think there are a lot of positives to it, but its important to call out the clear shitty aspects. The actual mechanics are amazing. The Fallout 40k, and LoTR packs are so fun to play with. (I play using tabletop sim so I have had a chance to play a wide range of stuff lol. I have yet to give WotC a single cent.) A lot of people have gotten a chance to try out this game they normally wouldn't have played. Like myself for instance. Then this last one is a weird niche one, but unlike Spice8rack I *do* actually make 40k lore videos. So the MTG crossover finally gave a lot of neglected characters official art. I'm looking at you, basically every Necron ever.
I think there's an elegant way to slot this in still without hurting the game. Keeping this supplementary is ideal. Problem is, its clear its making a lot of money. Thats where my concern lies. Where also the video went too. Its an issue with MTG as a product. That day where unique stuff is axed in favor of the hot new crossover is gonna be a sad one. I also hope it honestly never happens. Sure, it might not be stuff I fully understand or even care about. I cant tell the difference between an Ixilan or a Ravinca or wherever. But for the countless Magic fans out there? I will be sad for them, it always sucks to miss out on stuff you love.
I think they are using the very human desire to remix and reinterpret the art we experience in new ways as a soulless cash grab, and that dissonance is as jarring as the core motivation-- the remix, however, remains appealling
@@glueboy That is the evil right there. Its about getting you in the door with what YOU like but at the expense of what longtime fans love. It is short sighted and selfish. (If you are into the color pie.. that equals amorality BLACK... which can be seen as evil.. tho to the color pie there is no such thing as evil really) The game lore and worlds have taken a HUGE toll in design due to Universe's Beyond crossovers. Its already too late.. the decisions to make these cards legal eternally has destroyed the games longevity. Fans of what magic will become won't need to know what Ravnica or Ixalan are... because they won't really matter anymore. As it shows with you.. already not caring.
The bookend cutaways to that "solarpunk" add were so ominous.
THANK YOU! I was losing my mind trying to figure out where I'd seen those cutaways from but I couldn't remember because I'd never interacted with Solarpunk outside of seeing the trailer once. Now back to the video for me! (Edit from the future: I completely forgot that that fucking animation was a goddamned Chobani advert! 8rack literally mentioned it after I made this comment.)
I think you really captured the good and the bad of the expansion of IP in MTG. It’s fantastic to see new players coming into the game and to see old players getting interested in other IP because of it being introduced to the game. I’ve been playing for 30 years, and I’m still loving the game. My only criticism is id like to see product release slowed down and I miss multi set blocks that allowed for lore exploration.
Can't lie, Spice, saying you won't sully Warhammer with commodification is like saying you won't degrade a Reeses cup by adding chocolate.
This is why I started playing Premodern.
Almost spat out my water at "inigo montoya if the Wokes(tm) got to him"
That's how you know it's gonna be a good video
Tbh, Spice looks like a complete badass avenging swordfighter with that scar over the eyebrow
@@ZexionII most people who have that, shave it. idk if this guy has said that's a scar, but usually its a fashion choice
@@rolandfischer931 ah, figured it was intentional, but as an intentionally created scar so it wouldn't have upkeep, not shaving
I knew that Niv-Mizzet was trying to corner interplanar trade because I read the bloody story :P
congrats, you're stronger than most of us
@@ravenjoker254 lol sorry if I came off as bragging or anything :)
I knew that too but it was because I read specifically the niv mizzet parts of the story. I don't know anything about the murder. Best of both worlds, I both know and don't know the lore at the same time
So you're the other person.
This doesn’t feel like a MtG video. This feels like a prediction and exploration of how we think about the future through the lens of MtG. Which, I suppose is the point - well done Spice8Rack!
I think you hit the nail on the head on why I like several of the universes beyond cards - it’s not about being able to have characters, settings and events from other media that I like as magic cards, it’s seeing how that media is transposed into Magic’s gameplay design, that “aha” moment realizing that, “of course they would give yes man a humble defector ability to move around the board”, or “huh, I didn’t expect them to represent Edward Kenway with vehicle synergy, but that makes sense since his game really emphasized ship combat.”
Its the “deadliest warrior” effect of the magic table, where all those card ideas that my friends and I would throw around for “well how would you do X character’s ability in magic mechanics?” or “what colors would character Y be?” in the same way we used to say around the lunch table, “well who would win in a fight, a knight or a ninja?” Now we get to see how the professional game designers handle these hypotheticals, and can appreciate all the nuances and game design genius that goes into the final product.
I'm angry that anyone made exceptions for any UB products. I don't really care how well Lord of the Rings or D&D fit. I can appreciate the history and that including antecedents to Magic is better than including things that are nothing to do with it, or that only stole it's loot box model, but I never like this. I'd be interested to see how a lot of media looked interested through Magic's robust ruleset, but the moment an MtG card back is on it, I've lost all interest.
Imagine if someone got their likeness put on Snapcaster Mage because they slipped WotC $1000. I don't think we needed to whip out the French philosphers just yet to explain the difference.
under no circumstances should mr blobby be put to print
I have already sent your IP address to the BBC for enforced Blobby time
When I learned that the answer for how Thunder Junction would address the indigenous genocide intrinsic to Wild West media was "it was uninhibited so that's not a problem :)" I was kind of appalled.
When I then learned that that wasn't even true and their was clearly an extant sapient presence (the cactus people) that I guess WotC just didn't count, I could only lmao.
@@shatteredteethofgodI’d ask the same of you if you weren’t just here to pick fights
"How are you going to handle the deliberate disappearance of indigenous people in your Wold West set, WotC?"
"Oh that's easy we're going to deliberately disappear them."
"..."
"Can I interest you in a Loot, Key to Everything plushie?"
Why would they address anything? It's a game, not your history thesis
I know it doesn't make it better but apparently the cactus people only became people with the opening of the omenpaths. So they "weren't" there prior to the omenpaths, although they were still there before the first extraplanar explorer. Still handled very poorly by Wotc
@shatteredteethofgod it's okay honey you can consoom as much as you like, feel free to buy more expensive cardboard free of my judgement 👍
Okay but Thomas the Tank Engine commander deck would go crazy
Question is would Thomas need to be crewed or would he have living metal 🤔
@@BossybillI would make it double sided. One side is Thomas while the other is the nice conductor man
I DO need an extremely stupid commander for a deck I'm toying around with.
Bringing a train whistle to pod
I suspect another contributing factor to the lack of discourse around real-world references in early Magic is the lack of pedigree at that time. As the game unified its art direction and focused on taking itself seriously, the fanbase began taking it more seriously and get upset by breaks in that seriousness because the company has trained us to take them seriously.
Sees Spice reference 40k more than once: "COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE WARHAMMER SETTING IN 90 MINUTES" WHEN!?!?!?!
More like ten 4 hour videos.
@@NinjamanhammerThat would barely display all the characters.
Just realized in the Fomori Vault is finally a link to the future sight Fomori Nomad.
Also Ruhan of the Femori
Another one if you missed it; "Ruhan of the Fomori" too.
You can also see Ruhan's horns in the standard art for "sword of Wealth and Power"; but they're the... mandibles/jaw of an alien.
Looking forward to what they've cooked up honestly.
4:20 "Hello, this is my favorite channel referencing one of my favorite adaptations of literary media. You killed my reference, prepare to die."
**leans in, blood afill in mouth**
*sounds of swords clinking together*
Possibly my favorite introduction of his to date, A+ content
some day in the future there will be a moment at a world tournament when someone has to play a buzz lightyear card to win 1st and only then will we all realize the depths of our failure.
1:27:24 “the inaccurately named borderless treatment” that is the accurately named extended art treatment
This video led me to research and connect with my local Netrunner scene. I can't wait to get playing again. Cheers Spice xx
1:01:24 Aside from Flash getting finally keyworded: They intended to go further. For this set, they also _considered_ getting rid of the Instant supertype and errata Sorceries accordingly.
A shame that never happened.
Although this would have probably changed the fate of one of this set's most infamous creatures considerably.
...this video appeared yesterday in my feed and I was like damn, it's been like 30 seconds since the announcement that all outer IP cards are playable in Standard, this man cranks up content like cr- oh. Oh. Published four months ago. Oh no. Shit hadn't hit the fan yet
I can’t believe I just found you from shuffle up and play! Your channel is extremely entertaining! You aren’t afraid to use words and have a unique sense of humor that is just so fresh and honest but yet ridiculous and hilarious lol.
That's an absolutely lovely thing to read. Thank you!
I put on this video to have something long to watch while I held a mug I was gluing together. A few hours later I continued to watch it as I used a razor knife to cut the excess epoxy off of the now repaired lines in the mug. When I got to the section about gifts I sort of remembered that fixing this mug is a gift, it's not my mug, it's my friend's. They broke it when they were moving and were sad about it because it was their favorite, and I know how to fix a lot of things, so I asked if I could take it home and try to fix it. It's not really in exchange, they didn't give me anything for me to do it. We just give eachother things, ask for favors, offer little kindnesses, and fuck occasionally. It's the kind of friend relationship I want to cultivate with all my friends. I'm aromatic, but I think I feel everything I can of love for them.
this is rambly and has no point, but it was a moment of realization while watching this video.