Magic is SpongeBob now. Deal with it. | Secret Lair

[@lotrloreman]

This man boldly saying out loud what's been on my mind for a while. MTG lore is dull, the mechanics are what make MTG and what keeps people coming back. Also I really feel people comparing MTG to Fortnite is a poor comparison. Real care is put into the sets to craft cards and mechanics that truly represent the characters and the IP that goes with them. That takes more love and care for the IP than just slapping a skin on them.

[@TheAetherDrop]

YES. literally this. Exactly. Way better said than me.

[@evanthesquirrel]

Nope. It's been a shameless cash grab for over a decade now. They're creatively bankrupt, mechanically bankrupt, and probably morally bankrupt.

[@JerryS-zb2lf]

Its selling out due to wizards wanting more cash, you can be complicit and pay in or not, but don't drag the lore to a game you're too young to even know through the mud.

[@TheAetherDrop]

@@JerryS-zb2lf lmao ok.

[@JerryS-zb2lf]

​@@TheAetherDrop sometimes you just gotta be on the level with people, you can like it or not but its clearly nothing else but a lil bit of cash grab. Having said that, its silly to blame urza for making spongebob look out of place.

[@tristangabrielo]

I thought this would be either or a video about a new magic system introduced on the SBs series or some Mystic saying how Sponge Bob is a magical system itself

[@TheAetherDrop]

Sorry for the confusion 😅

[@star_seraph]

Can't wait to hear your take on UB in competitive!

[@TheAetherDrop]

It's not a positive one haha 🫠

[@star_seraph]

@@TheAetherDrop I figured lol... mine aren't really either.

[@TheAetherDrop]

It's kinda hard to be positive about it

[@firebat36]

Every set should be one of these, MTG should be a vehicle of promotion, it will make the most money. Stop making up original characters and just throw Goku on there.

[@Salty010]

we gonna get DBZ collab with MTG for sure.

[@TheAetherDrop]

Would be dope af

[@TheMasterShogun]

This feels like the result of two business men getting drunk at the same bar in Vegas, having a chat about synergizing their products, then getting off to finance talk.

[@firebat36]

Fortnite: The Gathering.

[@frosty980]

Well put together video, enjoyed hearing your insight as a UB enjoyer. I’m a UB skeptic (though I won’t ever judge others for playing with whatever cards) mainly for the reason that when faced with the complaint that Magic’s lore had become weak by being passed around between so many different authors and obviously just ticking off bullet points to draw vague connections to the next set, WOTC opted to bring in other stronger IPs rather than invest more in itself. I get that the reason for this is that most Magic players just historically haven’t cared at all for the stories behind the cards, but that’s because there’s been no huge tent pole effort to bring them in to caring about the lore. Pokemon, Yugioh, etc. have enjoyed success largely off the back of extremely popular shows and video games bringing people in, and as a result are strongly protective of their own continuity and visual representation. Can we imagine SpongeBob in yugioh? How about the pokemon or one piece TCG? If those companies saw how successful UB was for Magic and decided to go down the same path, would their players be justified in feeling upset about the dilution of their respective IPs? I’ve more to say but this comment is too long already, just wanted to say that while I do respect your opinion and can’t argue that these crossovers are successful, there is a legitimate point to concerns about Magic’s identity being lost. When the UB sets that bring new players in rotate and are out of print, what will be left to keep them engaged?

[@TheAetherDrop]

You make a solid point. I would argue the thing that gets people hooked is the UB crossovers and the thing that's keeps them coming back is the really solid gameplay of MTG. If pokemon or yugioh did these crossovers I think their fan base would have more right to be mad but the caveat to that is that those fan bases actually seem to engage and care about their stories more often than not. They also seem to actually care about how their product is represented in more than a superficial way. Everyone talks about how they want magic cards to look like magic cards but we buy collector boosters waaay more than play/draft/set boosters. Collector booster filled with every off the wall art. All I'm saying in this comment we (MTG players) never vote with our wallet. I would love to see a push to bolster the story and prestige behind the cards, but where in the lore would you even begin? Urza block? The lorywn 5? War of the spark? Would you make a movie? Video game? Webseries? And would the MTG player base care? I also respect your opinion though, you make good points

[@frosty980]

@ agreed on the “look of a magic card” point having largely gone out the window in the current flashy collector’s era. I know your last question may have been rhetorical but there can be an interesting discussion to be had about where to launch a well-funded movie or TV series in Magic’s canon. There are a slew of good options over the game’s 30 year history, and a lot of it hinges on what WOTC wants to do strategically moving forward, but I’ve always thought the Legends 2 cycle featuring Tor Wauki and Tetsuo Umezawa would make a fantastic anime or game of thrones style HBO series. Shows an interesting side of Dominaria, hits on a lot of aspects of Magic’s world building that is fairly unique in terms of Ayesha’s connection to the world soul, features many extremely powerful magic users, and leaves the door open to the rest of the story through Bolas and the meditation realm. Other than that, a movie or series about the Brother’s War is a solid option, would absolutely love to see a prologue of “The Thran” done in live action. Or something new and bespoke for the modern era with new characters could be interesting if they bring on quality writers and have a structure in mind for the story rather than just always leading into whatever the next set demands. What would be a mistake in my opinion is another rehash of the Gatewatch, we’ve seen them go through so much and they never get satisfying end to their story arc. Nowadays they’re just playing dress up in whatever the trope of the day is and there never feels like there’s any stakes because they are clearly unwilling to kill off any characters.

[@Auron3991]

I never see it as a good thing when a company feels it needs to jangle a bunch of shiny (and often highly pushed) keys to get people to buy its products. And it's one thing when it's a side set, meant for play at casual tables. It's an entirely different thing when it's being used in mainline competition sets (which is going to be a thing now). Not to mention the licensing vs reprint issue further down the line. And Magic lore has absolutely become worse over the years. But to go into detail: Ixalan is absolutely high fantasy (set in the tropics). High fantasy isn't just medieval Europe. Kamigawa (first set) is high fantasy with a Japanese setting. And somehow, despite being considered a dud of a block mechanically, Kamigawa was popular enough with the community to warrant a revisit set (one I wasn't perfectly happy with despite the original being my favorite, but it kept just enough). And if Zendikar isn't high fantasy, I don't know what is. Much of Khans can fairly easily map to parts of Dominaria. Unlike most of the recent sets (Bloomburrow excluded), which feel like a bunch of amusement park attractions. Planeswalkers didn't lose their identity when Time Spiral happened, just a lot of power. The idea and character of them remained the same. Unlike the Gatewatch saga, where their status became like that of Super Sayan in Dragonball Z. Not that it was handled with anywhere near the grace of that (or the Weatherlight Saga, it's closest in-universe match). But as far as why I care? It's the same reason the IP holder should: because it is distinct. I've seen this song and dance in the video game industry: a company tries to bring in new customers by changing a game into something it isn't, they get a short-term boost (if they're lucky) and then the bottom drops out from under them when people realize its nothing but the shiny toy. More TCGs are starting to make it past the 2-year wall, and that is not the time to become another thing just like everything else. Especially when the game is experiencing a level of power-creep which competes with even Japanese games that have legal reasons why it happens. I don't want this game to die, and I'm worried it's sacrificing the ability to survive for short-term effects. This is coming from someone who's been playing since 7th edition, who's gained many friends through this game, who's actively sought out the novels to read. I want Magic to be around long after I'm gone.

[@sev1120]

The thing I dislike is that these products are being limited to Secret Lair Drops, which always sell out within 3 hours because they heavily limit the supply. And because it launches based on US time, some countries never even get to buy the deops

[@FelixReulare]

sure are alot of poser consoomers out there

[@aris.7564]

You make some good points. I'm still not really onboard with the idea of UB, but this helped me reframe what actually bothers me about it. I'm a competitive player and mostly interact with the game through tournaments. There are some UBs that have been announced for properties I like, and some UBs for properties I really would rather not interact with. I'm frustrated that playing my favorite competitive deck at its best may soon require me to start slotting in cards from properties I dislike, since I can't really ignore a set that's coming to my favorite format in the same way I could ignore Commander decks for properties I didn't care about.

[@TrentOrTreat]

The fortnitification of Magic is something I think people are able to complain about but honestly it’ll be something that brings in tons of people, which I look forward to. Honestly SpongeBob with a Krusty Krab command tower would be delicious. It’ll just be fun and that’s what we’re here for I love Sorin though. He’s my Boy - literally my first card.

[@TheAetherDrop]

Yeah, I love that UB gets new players into the game. And hey you're allowed to like Sorin. He's got a cool design 😎

[@silenteffect755]

Its even worse than fortnight cause these are unique playable game pieces and not just skins. If they fit well into your deck youre basically made to use these stupid advertisements for IP's you couldnt care less about, especially with just how insanely pushed UB cards are. It brings people in short term, but they dont stay for long once they realize their favorite IP will only be a one off set never to be seen again. If anything UB has just caused a startling amount of old enfranchised players to quit. When half the sets are UB stuff you dont care about and the other half are MTG sets but 30% of the quality they used to be in order to make room for more UB sets its no wonder.

[@robertcarlsson9720]

Wotc really going for the plebs that want to dress up as cats in public. Im out.

[@TheAetherDrop]

what are you talking about??

[@Sessorous]

I got into Magic for the gameplay because it's a game. It's silly hearing this internet echo chamber of people saying the game is being ruined because they're adding more game to it. You want lore. Go read lore about it. The lore does not affect the gameplay. If you think the gameplay is unbearable because you can't pretend you're in an isolated fantasy world, go play D&D. It's not that complicated.

[@TheAetherDrop]

LITERALLY THIS

[@sev1120]

And hell, they act as if High Fantasy is all Magic can be. Innistrad is a low magic world Kaladesh is steampunk Kamigawa went from relatively low magic feudal japan to cyberpunk It's nice to see different genres implemented, especially because they'll be going to more scientifically advanced planes, and with Duskmourne the world is both a horror world and a magicpunk World

[@firebat36]

How about stick to fucking fortnite and not dilute MTG because they wanted to chase the funkopop crowd.

[@Sessorous]

@ If you don’t like it, don’t buy it. It’s plain and simple. If the idea of playing against UB collectors bothers you that much then drop the game. It’s not for you anymore and you’re not where the money is at. Your opinion will not change anything and you’re in the minority. They already have the sales figures to prove it. Time to go touch some grass and reflect on why a card game makes you so upset.

[@TheAetherDrop]

Exactly. These people really just want the same Tolkien type world over and over again and nothing else will suffice.