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When the spoilers for a new set inevitably begin creeping over the horizon, there is always the outcry from web forums everywhere: Oh my God, that's so broken! This sucks! This is the best card ever! This set is the new Homelands!
To the people who cry these things in the agony of their beloved game's power level swinging one way or the other, I say:"Think about it for a minute." If they actually thought, these folk would realize one of the fundamental truths about modern Magic: It is very hard for cards to be either broken or absolute junk.
If you stop and look for a minute, you will see that there hasn't been a banned card since Masques Block. You will also notice that there are many cards from every set (yes, even Legions) that get played in Standard. Yes, power levels are certainly going to change, and some cards are much more powerful than others - and yes, there are junk cards. But you might forget that Magic has always had its rubbish cards, and had more of them in previous sets. Although sets like Alpha and Arabian Nights may be remembered for their Black Lotuses and Libraries of Alexandria, it conveniently slips the memory of most that they also contained Camels and Celestial Prisms.
Now, going to the opposite end of the spectrum, when the Legions spoilers began showing up everywhere, people hailed it as one of the worst sets ever - the successor to Homelands. If you were to look in the StarCityGames forums, the discussion is still going on today! Legions is not Homelands, nor is it anything close. Homelands was a barely tested, made-off-the-top-of-their-heads set. Off course, Legions does not have the power of Torment... But not all sets are going to have that kind of power. Would you really want it? The thrill would get old after a while, with the cut-in-stone better decks like Mono Black Control and U/G Madness, as most of the Odyssey Block-inspired decks dominate most of those from Onslaught Block (with a few exceptions). We need to have low-powered sets to balance out the high-powered ones.
As one yay-sayer in a sea of nays, I would like to say that I think that R&D does a fine job balancing the power levels of our game. The way they have it set up, I believe that Magic will always find its natural balance. For a long time, there hasn't been a"Best Deck." Decks rise to the top - as Wake, 'Tog, and R/G have - and then the metagame will shift around them and a new top deck will emerge. Of course, some cards are mistakes that push a deck to the top for too long, (like Psychatog) - but the beauty of how our tournaments work, the way sets rotate in and out, means that if something is too good, it will be gone with the tide within two years.
I always think of two R&Ds: The Pre-Urza R&D and the Post-Urza R&D. Of course, we all know the tale of how Urza's Block was broken out the wazoo and how Wizards brought in a rash of fresh pro players to keep this from ever happening again. Well, it hasn't! Many think of Randy Buehler as the killer of all things good and powerful in Magic - the murderer of blue. But if you look at the records, there hasn't been a banned card since Invasion - the first block he worked on. Does that tell us something? I have never seen this connection truly made... And yet I feel it is a major point that is missing when people bash R&D. Nobody ever says,"Hey, R&D is doing a great job. They haven't had to ban a card in years! They make sets so the metagame is alive and well."
Of course, a few things that currently mar R&D's performance must be mentioned. The card face revamp was unnecessary and Magic Online is a disaster right now; these things are inexcusable. But we must remember that R&D's job is to make the cards so they are fun to play with, not to design software or make them pretty. It's not their fault.
There is a fine line between too good and not good enough - but as soon as a card crosses that line in either direction, the masses howl with outrage. And yet, when taken as a whole, Magic, in all its grandeur, lightly treads the line with a grace that is amazing.
The next time you see a card that you think is broken or sucks, think about what they do right. Think about the good things for a change.
Benjamin Reinhardt
Fangedhorror@mindspring.com
Fangedhorror on the forums
