Here I sit with my Invasion Block Binder in front of me on the kitchen Table. It's late, the kids are in bed, and my wife is upstairs watching one of those damn home shopping channels. My eyes start to well up and I have to fight back tears; my wife may be spending us into the poor house on that home shopping channel. However, that is not what has bought me to the verge of crying.
It's these little pieces of cardboard that have bought me to tears.
The thought of all these great cards leaving Type II in less thantwo months makes me sad. Invasion Block was truly a great block - not stupid broken like Urza's Block, not lame like Masques Block; Invasion Block gave us the most diverse Block Constructed season ever, and gave us a pretty diverse Type II for the most part.
Gosh I'm going to miss some of these little pieces of cardboard.
But wait! 8th Edition is just around the corner. Surely many of these great cards will soon be reprinted. My sad mood changes to happy; no need to weep, I'll just wait for 8th Edition. The wait won't be a long.
As I wipe my tears away, my glad mood quickly changes to a mood of anger. Gold cards have never been reprinted in a basic set! Cards with block mechanics, like kicker, won't be reprinted in a basic set! No legends, no trample, no protection - none of these mechanics will be included in 8th Edition! I guess split cards are right out as well. There is no chance in hell that I am going to see more than a handful of my Invasion block favorites in 8th Edition.
Suddenly it hits me, a stroke of pure genius. There is an answer and I am a friggin' genius: What about a Chronicles II? Now I have to confess that I am one of those whining old farts who likes to complain about everything that is wrong with Wizards of the Coast: I have certainly bitched that sets are released way too frequently. Wizards of the Coast have a lot of my hard-earned money (almost as much as those damn home shopping channels); I shouldn't be helping those greedy folks come up with ways to get more of my precious dollars!
Oh, but I do love the idea of a Chronicles II. I would certainly buy boxes and boxes of Chronicles II if it were done right.
For those of you who may not be familiar with Chronicles, it was a set that was released in 1995. It was made up of cards reprinted from early sets like Arabian Nights, Antiquities, Legends, and the Dark. Chronicles was a Type II legal set until 5th Edition replaced fourth Edition in Standard.
I think in many ways, Wizards viewed Chronicles as an extension of 4th Edition: This was back in the days before the basic set was dummied down in 6th edition to remove confusing mechanics like trample and protection. The beauty to a Chronicles II is that it would not have to be an extension of the basic set and could include"expert" mechanics like trample. Chronicles II could include gold cards and legends, for that matter - neither of which has been included in any basic set. A handful of cards with block mechanics might also be included. Chronicles II could be Type II legal for some reasonable length of time. Genius, pure genius, if I do say so myself.
Think about it; since the original Chronicles, we have had six complete blocks. Ice Age Block, Mirage Block, The Rath Cycle, Urza Block, Masques Block, and the soon-to-depart-Type-II Invasion Block. That's six entire blocks, with over six hundred cards in each block. The potential card pool for a Chronicles II is well over 3,500 cards, even after you eliminate cards that have already been reprinted.
I would be in favor of a relatively small set. The original Chronicles set was 125 cards. Compare that to the 350 cards in both 6th and 7th Editions. If the folks at R&D do a decent job, Chronicles II could be an awesome set: I mean, picking 120 to 150 cards from a potential pool of over 3,500 cards should give us a very solid set. This is especially true when the concerns of a basic set are removed so that gold cards, legends, cards with block mechanics, or creatures with trample or protection can be chosen.
So now that I have had this sudden brainstorm what can I do? I'll put all together in an article - and I'll send that article to StarCity. The Ferret will work his Magic and edit my inane ramblings into something legible. The whole Magic community will read my article! I will become famous! The folks at Wizards will read my article. They will call me genius and Chronicles II will be born.
By the way, I think you guys at R&D are great.
All kidding and false bravado aside, lets take a quick look at some stuff that can go into Chronicles II. Keep in mind that none of these things will go into 8th Edition.
Trample, Protection, and the like
Most of us love big fat creatures but let's be honest: Big fatties that don't have trample (or some other form of evasion) just aren't very good. 7th Edition's Trained Orgg and Vizzerdrix are proof of that... Well, actually, those cards are overcosted and would only be marginal even if they had trample. A better example would be, say, Craw Wurm. There are a whole host of green trampling fatties that could be reprinted in Chronicles II: Weatherseed Treefolk leap to mind (or is it hand?). There are also some nice choices in other colors: Orgg (The original untrained one) and Phyrexian Negator are both undercosted fatties with trample, yet they both come with significant drawbacks. I would certainly buy an argument that Negator is perhaps a little too good. That Negator comes with a steep drawback, and we no longer have Dark Ritual in Type II.
A debate about specific cards like Phyrexian Negator can wait for another day: The point is that in the time it took me to type the last paragraph, I have already come up with three very playable cards that could be included in a Chronicles II. Cards that won't be included in base sets... And we've only looked at trample!
How about Protection? I've never been a big fan of protection, because protection has been a predominantly white feature and I don't like to play white. Nonetheless there have been some neat protection cards - and not all of them are white. Since white doesn't have any big trampling creatures a couple of white dudes with protection would help balance Chronicles II; Mother of Runes was too cheap at one mana, but I do like Voice of All.
Gold Cards
You only need to take a look at Invasion Block to get a pretty good list of quality gold cards for inclusion in Chronicles II. The original Chronicles reprinted the elder dragon legends from the Legends set. Why not start Chronicles II with the dragon legends from Invasion? These were pretty good cards, yet I never heard anyone scream"Rith is broken - they should ban the dragon legends!" Dragon legends, very cool and very popular cards, trust me Wizards, I think I'm on to something! How about Meddling Mage, Prophetic Bolt, or Vindicate?
In Invasion Block, we're not just talking great rares. I really liked the two casting cost gold creatures from Invasion and Apocalypse like Gaea's Skyfolk. While there were no gold cards in the two block expansions before Invasion there were a number in the sets from Ice Age through the Stronghold. How about Storm Bind or the original Phelddagrif? Anyway, there's a bunch of gold cards available for reprint. Chronicles II is waiting!
Legends
Legends and Legendary permanents have been a part of Magic for some time. I think that Legends are not included in the current base set because they come with their own set of rules, much like trample and protection. No legends were ever part of the base sets even before the 6th Edition changes. Legends were a big part of Chronicles and should be part of Chronicles II.
I've already touched on the dragon legends. There are some other legends that saw some play and might see play again Ihsan's Shade was a legend, as was Maraxus of Keld, Ertai, Wizard Adept and Rofellos. In addition to legendary creatures, we've had some legendary lands and legendary artifacts as well. I am not in favor of a reprint of Tolarian Academy or Gaea's Cradle, and I'm not sure that Rofellos should be reprinted, or that any of the other three legends I mentioned would see play. The point here is that there have been some reasonably good Legends and Legendary permanents. They are not going to be part of a basic set. Most if not all will never be reprinted and Type II legal again, unless there is something like a Chronicles II.
Block Mechanics
In looking at block mechanics I am going to try to hit on the major ones. I will try to hit them in chronological order. I'm not going to repeat what the mechanic did. If you don't know or don't remember you can look 'em up, or go back to reading those boring tournament reports.
I don't think every block mechanic has to be (or should be) represented in Chronicles II. I never cared a great deal for flanking or phasing. I loved shadow, but as a mechanic that was only present in three of the five colors shadow can probably be left out.
So we come to buyback. Buyback would be a great candidate for reprint. Buyback was well represented in all five colors. Most of the cards were commons or uncommons, so many good buyback spells could be reprinted even if Wizards sticks to the reprint policy. With the benefit of hindsight unplayable buyback cards can be avoided, as can overpowered ones (like Forbid). I have some picks (Lab Rats was such a fun card), but will save them for another article.
Cycling is rumored to be returning in Onslaught so I will leave it out of this discussion except to say that I am glad to learn of its return. The other large Urza Block mechanic was echo. I think echo was a very cool mechanic. Urza's Legacy had at least one reasonably good comes into play creature in each color. My personal favorites were Avalanche Rider and Raven Familiar, but some of the Urza's Saga echo creatures could also bring back a little of what's missing from Magic. Among the old Stompy deck's best"dorks" were Pouncing Jaguar and Albino Troll. While Goblin Patrol may not be Jackal Pup, it's still a lot better than any two mana two power red guy that Wizards has offered up lately. I say bring 'em back in Chronicles II!
Masques Block offered us spellshapers and fading; fading is probably the better remembered of the two mechanics. There were some high-profile cards with fading like Blastoderm and Saproling Burst, along with Parallax Tide and Wave. I really don't want to see any of those four cards reprinted. There are some other decent fading cards that could be reprinted: Skyshroud Ridgeback and Cloudskate got some play, and I always liked Tangle Wire. Still, I think fading could be left out.
The spellshaper mechanic would make a better reprint candidate: Between the three sets that made up Masque Block there were well over thirty spellshapers. They were about equally well represented in all five colors (at least in terms of number of spellshapers). Selecting, say, five or ten quality spellshapers for Chronicles II should be a piece of cake - like some of the more actively-played spellshapers, such as Kris Mage and Waterfront Bouncer.
Masques Block also gave us Rhystic spells, -mongers, and of course rebels and mercenaries. The Chronicles II that I envision won't have room for enough Rebels or Mercenaries to make it worth the effort, and there aren't enough quality Rhystic spells or -Mongers to bother.
Finally we come to Invasion Block, with kicker as the block's main mechanic. Kicker was very cool and actually came in a lot of different flavors. Some simply offered an improved version of the card if the kicker was paid. Creatures like Kavu Titan and Phyrexian Scuta jump to mind (and are both very reprintable in Chronicles II). I would put cards like Rushing River and Magma Burst into this category as well as they allowed for multiple targets if the kicker was paid. Other cards like Jilt or Orim's Thunder produced a second different effect if their kickers were paid. Some critters from Invasion could be kicked to produce a comes into play effect. The Planeshift Battlemages could be kicked or double kicked to produce one or two comes into play effects. Gating never quite lived up to expectations - but kicker, come here! Chronicles II is waiting.
Wizards reprint policy is an issue; the current policy won't allow for the reprinting of rares from the various blocks if they weren't reprinted in the first eligible basic set. I think this policy needs to be revisited. The policy is designed to protect the value of cards for collectors. I am a collector, and I certainly don't want to see the value of my Unlimited Black Lotus plummet because Black Lotus has been reprinted in Chronicles II.
I think the value of most of the cards we're talking about are more likely to go up in value if they are reprinted and become Type II legal. Take a look at the Ice Age Pain Lands: These cards have been reprinted in 5th, 6th and 7th edition not to mention that Deck Masters thing - yet the value of Ice Age Painlands is almost certainly higher because they are Type II legal. I'm willing to bet that my Ice Age Stormbind would increase in value if Stormbind was reprinted in Chronicles II, and thus became Type II legal. I don't want to speak for all collectors, but as far as I'm concerned you can reprint any card from 1995 on.
Come on, Wizards, give the cards we want! Give us a Chronicles II!
Rich Ary
arymr@email.msn.com
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