Just realized this also works off of Treasure tokens so you can equip Tarrian's Soulcleaver to Dockside Extortionist and potentially one shot somebody. Also vigilance is very relevant in an Aristocrat deck. Sram, Senior Edificer seems pretty solid with it as well especially for Equip Voltron with Sword of Hours in Commander. Zoetic Glyph seems decent though I've recently noticed that the new discover mechanic works just like cascade.
The Marvel Partnership was only just announced. It's been in the works for a while, likely even longer than the reveal of Lorcana (which was only announced last year).
WotC wouldn't make money from the sale of Lorcana.
Disney didn't pay WotC to use the Marvel license.
It would be some sort of mutually beneficial contract where MtG profits for the set are split, and maybe a base fee from WotC.
Universe Beyond is built with the idea that "This will bring more people into magic, justifying a small cut to profit."
It's not trying to punish boycotters. They don't give a *****. Boycotters can play One Piece, or Flesh & Blood, or Legends of Runeterra, or Hearthstone, or Yu-Gi-Oh, or Pokemon, or the new Star Wars TCG coming out or any of the thousands of card games that have or will exist. For now, MtG is King of the Castle, and not a single one has managed to dethrone it.
MTG still King of the Castle? Maybe If Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro cared as much about the Competitive aspect of the game as much as the Casual aspect with Commander. Paper Standard is too far gone to save at this point to inject new blood at Local Game Stores (LGSs). Arena is killing Local Game Stores (LGSs). Paper Magic can't survive on Commander alone. Wizards of the Coast HAS to do something to make the game appealing without having to rely on popular IP crossovers to boost sales whether it be a new TV show, anime, movie, etc. based on the original Magic: The Gathering story line. Hasbro should give Wizards of the Coast the budget to make this happen but they won't because they only care about maximizing their profit margins and shareholders.
So instead of investing resources on their own IP with Magic: The Gathering, Wizards of the Coast would rather let the companies behind the IP's they crossover with do the talking for them without putting in their own effort BECAUSE of how Hasbro won't give them any breathing room to do what they want to do with Magic: The Gathering as a brand. That is why Universes Beyond exists as it does right now. Hasbro has got Wizards of the Coast in a position to where they have little to no control over Magic: The Gathering in terms of marketing their own brand other than designing new cards and releasing product for Hasbro. There actually is a demographic of Magic players that exist who enjoy the original Magic: The Gathering story line.
I don't want to hate Carol Danvers but it's hard to like a fictional character that's become extremely polarizing. If there was a comic book character that you found polarizing that would cause you to be disengaged with that character correct? People liked Peter Parker as Spider-Man and Bruce Wayne as Batman because they could actually relate to their circumstances and apply it in real life. Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel? What's there to relate to? Did she struggle to get where she's at now? How is struggling in life a bad thing when overcoming it is a sign of growth?
I think having a series of disastrous relationships or watching the woman who stole your memories and powers and almost killed you become beloved and forgiven by everyone around her are relatable struggles. Heck, even in the movie she was repeatedly being turned into a tool by various organizations lying to her and decided to strike out on her own instead, which is a relatable struggle. Certainly more relatable than being an incredibly rich white man who decides to beat up strangers as a confusing form of revenge.
Y'alls real beef is that she didn't do a lot of MCU "he's right behind me isn't he" jokes and now y'all can't stop going on about how she doesn't deserve her powers or whatever.
Well I know my analogy from earlier wasn't the best way to convey how the reader can connect with fictional comic book characters but it's something yet it's also a testament to just how much culture and society has changed since the inception of comic books in general. Yesterdays heroes are todays villains depending on how you look at it while others like most of you guys on here don't really see it that way and that's fine everybody has their own personal perspective. Even the established villains are more glorified than the established heroes but that's something I've mostly noticed from DC Comics due to how interesting the villains of Gotham City are. Heck, Harley Quinn got her own hit TV series after all and it's actually pretty good especially with how she's arguably the best portrayal of a female Deadpool that DC Comics has to offer.
Going back on topic, I think the biggest reason why Magic: The Gathering is collaborating with Marvel Comics is fairly obvious. Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro knows that there's players leaving Magic: The Gathering for Lorcana in order to boycott it and since Disney owns Marvel they basically made it so that If you support Lorcana you're also supporting Magic: The Gathering since Disney and Marvel are one in the same unless Disney has little control over Lorcana outside of the illustrations and is mostly a Ravensburger project which it is. See corporations have figured out ways to punish people who boycott their products who vote with their wallets to where it essentially becomes a Catch-22 situation so If you try to boycott a specific product from a company and that same company owns the rights to another company's product then you're essentially still supporting the company you're trying to boycott from.
I was going to go on a long tirade, but I've changed my mind.
Stop confusing relatability with what you personally like, and instead of getting your talking points from chuds, just read some more comics. There's almost 60 years of Carol Danvers out there, you'll find something you like.
Sure it's easy to look back on the classic issues but when it comes to the more modern issues it needs to be fun and engaging instead of just being preachy while making readers feel guilty about themselves for not being geared toward a specific target audience.
Great. Can't wait for Carol 'Mary Sue' Danvers in Magic: The Gathering.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue" still getting me milage it seems.
So you're telling me that I'm a dumbass for not liking a hero that's being purposefully written as a villain in both the comics and the films? How is it my fault that Captain Marvel is written to be an unlikable character like she was in Civil War II in the comics or when she's portrayed by Brie Larson in the MCU? How am I wrong that Captain Marvel unrealistically lacks in flaws or weaknesses when flaws and weaknesses would actually help make her more relatable to people and connect with them more? Why the lack of human empathy and emotion?
I just hope that the marvel set includes my favorite character, Captain Marvel, the girl Captain Marvel. Carol Danvers. The one played by alison brie in the movies. Love her.
I don't want to hate Carol Danvers but it's hard to like a fictional character that's become extremely polarizing. If there was a comic book character that you found polarizing that would cause you to be disengaged with that character correct? People liked Peter Parker as Spider-Man and Bruce Wayne as Batman because they could actually relate to their circumstances and apply it in real life. Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel? What's there to relate to? Did she struggle to get where she's at now? How is struggling in life a bad thing when overcoming it is a sign of growth?
WotC thought that with superhero fatigue, Marvel's movies not doing as well as they used to (Thor 4 is so bad), and so much more that now would be the time to strike while the iron is luke warm?
Seems like the only crossover that they've done while it's popular is D&D, and even they screwed that up a bit with Baldur's Gate.
Makes me wonder what everyone's reaction would've been If Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro had Magic: The Gathering collaborate with DC Comics instead of Marvel. It wouldn't have caused as much stigma and negative publicity as to what they've chosen instead by trying to capitalize more on extremely polarizing characters as opposed to DC Comics where there's hardly any as it also would've been less of a blow to Stan Lee's legacy.
I'd much rather have Wonder Woman over Captain Marvel in Magic: The Gathering simply because she's not a Mary Sue and people can actually relate to her as a character especially Batman whose arguably the most relatable character in DC Comics. Superman is too basic but I can see how he's an inspiration to some people out there where as my favorite quote about Superman was from David Carradine in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004).
Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro partially lied about their Paper Magic release schedule at Gen Con this year so they could sneak in a few IP crossovers like Marvel JUST to appease the Hasbro shareholders? At least they still have to be honest about the Reserve List.
There have been recent rumors that Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro has run out of reprint equity with cards outside of the Reserve List to reprint after Commander Masters and If the company is still dead set on long term losses for short term gains like they have in the last few years since Cynthia Williams took over as CEO of Wizards of the Coast then reprinting the Reserve List wouldn't be out of the question. That also depends on the value of their stock shares on Wall Street because If it goes below $50 a share depending on whether they run out of popular IP's to print for their Universes Beyond crossovers in Magic: The Gathering then that would spell MAJOR trouble for the game itself.
Like it or not, Universes Beyond is Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro's new golden goose for Magic: The Gathering so that they won't need to tap into the Reserve List to turn a profit and still keep their promise of not reprinting the Reserve List. However they only seemed to have struck gold ONCE with The One Ring ($45 non-foil) in LOTR and they haven't really replicated that success in Secondary Market value with the new Doctor Who cards outside of Everybody Lives! which currently goes for $20 non-foil. The reason why this is the case is because most of these IP crossover cards are just reprints of older cards but with different art and flavor text or they're underpowered mechanically unique cards to offset what happened with The Walking Dead.
For those who don't know back when we had The Walking Dead crossover in Magic: The Gathering, Rick, Steadfast Leader (now reprinted as Greymond, Avacyn's Stalwart) was a super busted card in Tribal Humans for Legacy as Greg Orange went undefeated with it. Because the supply of The Walking Dead cards were severely low it made it hard for players to actually obtain the card let alone trying to get a playset of them to run in that deck at the time. Unfortunately the actual reprint of the card was released as another promo and not in a Standard / Modern legal set at Common, Uncommon, Rare, or Mythic for easier access which bumped his price to $41 a pop but If he was more accessible the price would've been lower.
Great. Can't wait for Carol 'Mary Sue' Danvers in Magic: The Gathering.
This really feels so out of left field especially when Marvel years ago was already showcased in a Paper Trading Card Game / Collectible Card Game called Vs. System back in the early 2000's ran by Upper Deck at the time which is now owned by Fantasy Flight Games. The main source material for the upcoming Marvel and Magic: The Gathering crossover will most likely involve The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy thanks to the MCU, not that it's a bad thing. In fact I enjoyed the early parts of the MCU until it fell off a cliff where all the good writing vanished due to the Hollywood Writers Strike where as the Actors are still on strike waiting for a deal they can agree on.
Marvel's already killed off X-Men thanks to Scarlet Witch, still refuses to officially retire Peter Parker as Spider-Man, but hey at least we still have Deadpool so it's not too bad plus Ryan Reynolds is more likeable as Deadpool than Brie Larson as Captain Marvel. Not really looking forward to this crossover due to how Marvel actively killed their own company over their bitter hatred toward the late Stan Lee because according to the current people working at Marvel, he represents EVERYTHING that's wrong with the Comic Book Industry. No joke. I even remember hearing that someone hacked one of Stan Lee's social media accounts to sell NFTs but that was two years ago:
That still doesn't change the fact that Draft Boosters were purposefully designed with an extremely low Expected Value (EV) to get Local Game Stores (LGSs) in financial debt and potential bankruptcy. Why do you think Set Boosters and Collector Boosters sold more? Because they had better pull rates for getting the best cards. If the Local Game Store (LGS) can pull the best cards then they can sell them as singles or actually turn a profit selling sealed product without being forced to dump it on Amazon at half the price.
Wait, so they choose not to get rid of Collector Boosters so that Local Game Stores (LGSs) would still be required to order both Play Boosters and Collector Boosters with the prospect of losing money on Play Boosters not having as much Expected Value (EV) to recoup as much money as they would with Collector Boosters? This changes nothing.
Oh but Collector Boosters are a premium product where as Play Boosters aren't. Why not just go back to Singular Boosters like they've done in the past?
Wait, so if my opponent is ahead of me, they get to *checks notes* draw cards and get further ahead? And for that, I get a Trained Armodon that can turn my permanent mana into temporary mana?
Is there a two-card combo or something I'm not seeing?
Jenson is meant to combo with Smothering Tithe which is why I designed it so that my opponents can draw cards or pay mana for me to make Treasures alongside sacrificing lands to trigger abilities like Land Tax, Gift of Estates, Keeper of the Accord etc. for more Treasures which are doubled with Anointed Procession. Temporary mana is something you'd normally see in Red but I wanted to see If I could push those boundaries in Mono White without designing this card to be in Boros.
As for the life gaining part of Jenson's ability you can use Well of Lost Dreams to draw cards or pump up Jensen with Field-Tested Frying Pan for Voltron silliness. Unfortunately there's not a whole lot of Mono White or Colorless cards that trigger off of gaining life aside from the Soul Sisters. This is one of those cards that doesn't look good on paper but when it sees action it should perform well based on what a Mono-White Commander deck has to offer at least from my experience playing it.
Just realized this also works off of Treasure tokens so you can equip Tarrian's Soulcleaver to Dockside Extortionist and potentially one shot somebody. Also vigilance is very relevant in an Aristocrat deck. Sram, Senior Edificer seems pretty solid with it as well especially for Equip Voltron with Sword of Hours in Commander. Zoetic Glyph seems decent though I've recently noticed that the new discover mechanic works just like cascade.
Enchantment
Whenever you sacrifice a Food token, draw a card.
Discuss.
So instead of investing resources on their own IP with Magic: The Gathering, Wizards of the Coast would rather let the companies behind the IP's they crossover with do the talking for them without putting in their own effort BECAUSE of how Hasbro won't give them any breathing room to do what they want to do with Magic: The Gathering as a brand. That is why Universes Beyond exists as it does right now. Hasbro has got Wizards of the Coast in a position to where they have little to no control over Magic: The Gathering in terms of marketing their own brand other than designing new cards and releasing product for Hasbro. There actually is a demographic of Magic players that exist who enjoy the original Magic: The Gathering story line.
Going back on topic, I think the biggest reason why Magic: The Gathering is collaborating with Marvel Comics is fairly obvious. Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro knows that there's players leaving Magic: The Gathering for Lorcana in order to boycott it and since Disney owns Marvel they basically made it so that If you support Lorcana you're also supporting Magic: The Gathering since Disney and Marvel are one in the same unless Disney has little control over Lorcana outside of the illustrations and is mostly a Ravensburger project which it is. See corporations have figured out ways to punish people who boycott their products who vote with their wallets to where it essentially becomes a Catch-22 situation so If you try to boycott a specific product from a company and that same company owns the rights to another company's product then you're essentially still supporting the company you're trying to boycott from.
I don't want to hate Carol Danvers but it's hard to like a fictional character that's become extremely polarizing. If there was a comic book character that you found polarizing that would cause you to be disengaged with that character correct? People liked Peter Parker as Spider-Man and Bruce Wayne as Batman because they could actually relate to their circumstances and apply it in real life. Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel? What's there to relate to? Did she struggle to get where she's at now? How is struggling in life a bad thing when overcoming it is a sign of growth?
I'd much rather have Wonder Woman over Captain Marvel in Magic: The Gathering simply because she's not a Mary Sue and people can actually relate to her as a character especially Batman whose arguably the most relatable character in DC Comics. Superman is too basic but I can see how he's an inspiration to some people out there where as my favorite quote about Superman was from David Carradine in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004).
Like it or not, Universes Beyond is Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro's new golden goose for Magic: The Gathering so that they won't need to tap into the Reserve List to turn a profit and still keep their promise of not reprinting the Reserve List. However they only seemed to have struck gold ONCE with The One Ring ($45 non-foil) in LOTR and they haven't really replicated that success in Secondary Market value with the new Doctor Who cards outside of Everybody Lives! which currently goes for $20 non-foil. The reason why this is the case is because most of these IP crossover cards are just reprints of older cards but with different art and flavor text or they're underpowered mechanically unique cards to offset what happened with The Walking Dead.
For those who don't know back when we had The Walking Dead crossover in Magic: The Gathering, Rick, Steadfast Leader (now reprinted as Greymond, Avacyn's Stalwart) was a super busted card in Tribal Humans for Legacy as Greg Orange went undefeated with it. Because the supply of The Walking Dead cards were severely low it made it hard for players to actually obtain the card let alone trying to get a playset of them to run in that deck at the time. Unfortunately the actual reprint of the card was released as another promo and not in a Standard / Modern legal set at Common, Uncommon, Rare, or Mythic for easier access which bumped his price to $41 a pop but If he was more accessible the price would've been lower.
This really feels so out of left field especially when Marvel years ago was already showcased in a Paper Trading Card Game / Collectible Card Game called Vs. System back in the early 2000's ran by Upper Deck at the time which is now owned by Fantasy Flight Games. The main source material for the upcoming Marvel and Magic: The Gathering crossover will most likely involve The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy thanks to the MCU, not that it's a bad thing. In fact I enjoyed the early parts of the MCU until it fell off a cliff where all the good writing vanished due to the Hollywood Writers Strike where as the Actors are still on strike waiting for a deal they can agree on.
Marvel's already killed off X-Men thanks to Scarlet Witch, still refuses to officially retire Peter Parker as Spider-Man, but hey at least we still have Deadpool so it's not too bad plus Ryan Reynolds is more likeable as Deadpool than Brie Larson as Captain Marvel. Not really looking forward to this crossover due to how Marvel actively killed their own company over their bitter hatred toward the late Stan Lee because according to the current people working at Marvel, he represents EVERYTHING that's wrong with the Comic Book Industry. No joke. I even remember hearing that someone hacked one of Stan Lee's social media accounts to sell NFTs but that was two years ago:
Oh but Collector Boosters are a premium product where as Play Boosters aren't. Why not just go back to Singular Boosters like they've done in the past?
As for the life gaining part of Jenson's ability you can use Well of Lost Dreams to draw cards or pump up Jensen with Field-Tested Frying Pan for Voltron silliness. Unfortunately there's not a whole lot of Mono White or Colorless cards that trigger off of gaining life aside from the Soul Sisters. This is one of those cards that doesn't look good on paper but when it sees action it should perform well based on what a Mono-White Commander deck has to offer at least from my experience playing it.