Stickers: Magic The Gathering's New UN-Apeeling Mechanic | Tolarian Winds

Did you miss the new episode of Shuffle Up & Play yesterday? Watch as we go toe to toe with Rionya, Hofri, Atraxa (but Merfolk), and Gishath here: • Chef PK’s Commander De...
#mtg #Magicthegathering #unfinity
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[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

Did you miss the new episode of Shuffle Up & Play yesterday? Watch as we go toe to toe with Rionya, Hofri, Atraxa (but Merfolk), and Gishath here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n4S1gnuartFmarc

[@Greg501-]

Silver border was done away with because ART VARIANTS. We need our borderless art crack

[@limputtaja]

No, I didn't miss it. It was good episode.

[@Nozdormu1982]

I feel this is thematic. WOTC is sticking it to the players.

[@zerorequiem42]

Just want to say this series of magic games you are doing might be my favorite content you've ever done... And I love your other content. It reminds me of the good old days of spellslingers with day9.... Omg, get day9 on there for a magic game! It would be awesome 😎

[@IceSki117]

Another change that was probably driven by money is the change from a preset box of cards to a booster pack system.

[@RhysticStudies]

definitely agree that the silver borders were a fundamental dividing line and a key part of the charm of these sets. i think stickers are a fun gimmick, but i also agree with you in hoping they don't show up in sanctioned play (honestly can't imagine they will).

[@GraemeGunn]

They will, but people will just use dice to count the stickers.

[@Walter-fc3uq]

Hahaha showing up to a tournament to play a card that allows you to rip an opponents card literally in half.

[@ButzPuff]

Does that mean there might be a chance of a Rhystic Studies Silver Bordered video in the future?

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

OMG it Rhystic Studies!

[@Alex_Gol]

If any individual stickers will be at least decent (in terms of effect (and possibly their ticket cost)), and there are indeed 48 individual sticker cards, the potential for variation, and by extension mistakes, will be far, far greater than we have with Partner mechanic currently. People will most likely find a way to break them even taking the fact that only 3 random sticker cards out of the pool of 10 are accessible at the start of each game.

[@CHEFPKR]

The sticker mechanic seems pretty fun... For unset. It's meant to play while drinking heavily.

[@matthewsanchez7953]

Ayyyyyy

[@vmcampos]

Proposal: include alcohol in sanctioned play. And make MtG 21+ 😅

[@GodwynDi]

@@vmcampos Best game shop near me is also a bar. Its great

[@jordanaraujo2579]

I think some heavy drinking and or crack cocaine was going on when this set was designed.

[@gusty7153]

@@GodwynDi almost had a similar situation, when i still lived in a big city, the game shop was next to a bar

[@Hildegardvonblingin]

I only play kitchen table commander, so this hopefully won’t affect my group too much, but I really feel for the more serious players who will have to suffer the added humiliation of getting killed by a Blightsteel Colossus in a beanie.

[@DoABarrelRol1l]

That sounds amazing I can't wait. My friends often make 'dank mlg' alt arts for my commanders as-is.

[@DackKija]

Holy crap it's angel voice herself.

[@Dairalir32]

Not a creator I expected to find in the comments. Awesome!

[@Elvalley]

I only play kitchen table commander with other people's decks, so I'm not even going to complain if they want to put beanies on their blightsteel colossus (es? colossuses?)

[@MJVelascoSalvador]

Hildegard! I love your work!

[@goblintechies4396]

Opponent: "First I play a werewolf card to make it Day." Me: "Okay." Opponent: "Then I phase out your vampire." My brain slowly starting to melt: "Uhuh." Opponent: "Then I take the initative with this card and enter the underdark city which allows me to explore the first room." Me: "..." Opponent: "Then I pay 7 tickets to give my creature shadow and infect with these two stickers" Me: "..." Opponent: "Then I cast this creature which allow me to claim the Monarch crown." Me: "..." Opponent: "Then because I have 10 permanents in play I ascend and gain the City's Blessing." Me: "..." Opponent: "Then I activate Sarkhan's ability to make him into a creature, so Ican then place this card on him to mutate him which then allows me to destroy a noncreature permanent you control." My brain that is basically soup now: "..." Gives opponent thumbs up.

[@DoABarrelRol1l]

8th Place Dave made a video skit like this recently. The good thing with Magic is you'll probably never have all of those mechanics in a game, let alone a single deck. So playing catch-up really isn't that hard assuming you only run into 1 new mechanic at a time. But looking at Yu-Gi-Oh I always despised it because reading the card does not tell you the full story. 'Summon a Dark Magician? What's that? I have to Google the card database to see what Fuses with my card?' and Magic is slooowwly getting to the point of absurdity like other card games. Like if i'm trying to get a friend or family member into magic my selling point is usually that it's very very simple to play assuming the Stack, Declare Attackers, etc doesn't come up for the first few games. But if they watched a game like you mentioned... pretty sure they'd call me a liar and run xD

[@Ahab2710]

@@DoABarrelRol1l about the Yu-Gi-Oh thing, it's really not that complex lmao

[@mrosskne]

was that supposed to be hard to follow? magic probably isn't for you. maybe snakes and ladders would be more your speed.

[@JohnnyYeTaecanUktena]

@@DoABarrelRol1l honestly i think i would rather play against a chaos deck than a deck with all of those mechanics

[@Potheadmcgee14]

@@DoABarrelRol1l I used to play Yugioh and Magic growing up and jts the opposite. Yugioh always explains the abilities in adequate detail I never had to look it up. Magic only does half the time so it was harder to get into as a kid. Vigilance, Trample, Haste, Flying, Coniving etc aren't always explained. Lot of unexplained mechanics in MTG.

[@Reckl3ssGring0]

When you were explaining the sticker mechanic it felt like a fever dream

[@acbeaumo]

Everything about this game now feels like a fever dream. What the fuck happened? It's all so demented now.

[@Collisto2435]

This entire video feels like a fever dream

[@ACertainGuy0]

Fever dream? This felt like the prof consumed ALL THE DRUGS, then filmed that section, specifically.

[@Sestze]

i thought it was a joke. what the hell?

[@joeyberg5765]

@@Sestze This entire concept tastes like a stale april fool's joke and the fact that Wizards of the Coast genuinely expect people to try and engage with this system highlights how comically out of touch with their audience they are. The sticker system is equal parts convoluted, impractical AND tone deaf. The moment I lose to a Kozilek, Butcher of Truth because it had a little hot pink beanie sticker on it is the moment I drop the game for the foreseeable future. This is an abominable choice in direction; if I hadn't seen this video and somebody told me about the sticker system I would've thought they were trolling me.

[@HarrymanGR]

I foresee a big increase in house rules in any format saying "no stickers" for a while

[@Trip2280]

All ready in place for our group. This just seems bad... all around bad.

[@Deebofreebo]

Forever.

[@ryanteichmann3211]

we will try it first to see how it works before putting a rule in. it may not even affect us and nothing changes

[@TheDylls]

@@ryanteichmann3211 NGL, I WANT to agree with you here, and I suppose I'll likely start the same way, but I DO wanna hear back after the first game a Sticker cones up for you lmao Like, for the info... I'm gonna try and remember to do the same ;)

[@funnylaughingmexicanguy8746]

My entire group just created a group text to immediately all vote this down hard. Unanimous, nobody wants this garbage.

[@daxillion]

My biggest concern with this stickers is that they can stop being sticky and they can tear off parts of cards.

[@KnakuanaRka]

Yeah. Especially since they only stay on in public zones; since you can't shuffle them into the deck, etc, they could have just been normal counters instead of fragile stickers.

[@wohdinhel]

I honestly feel like the recent “convoluted” mechanics are their attempts to emulate mechanics from online games that can only reasonably be made to work on a computerized card game where forced RNG is possible)

[@andrejdamis7263]

they fucked up arena by making it a separate online game, now they are doing something similar to the original.

[@LinkEX]

@@andrejdamis7263 It wasn't a bad idea to explore mechanics that could only work within the digital medium. So I don't mind them creating cards exclusive to Arena. But I agree that the way they are trying to carry these ideas over to the physical medium is ill-advised.

[@andrejdamis7263]

@@LinkEX for me it just made me stop playing. i thought of arena as a place to play magic that i could also on the table. basically what historic was before the fuck-you to the players. but in any case, i'm not their customer and i'm glad i never spednt any cash on arena. I feel like the whole making mtg more like other games is a very weak thing to do. mtg is the game that others emulate. watering it down with elements that don't build on the strengths that are there, is just...watering it down.

[@wohdinhel]

@@andrejdamis7263 MTG from like 1998 is the game that others emulate. it evolving into a convoluted mess was inevitable because no game that relies on constantly adding new features is sustainable forever. it’s a shame that it has happened, but frankly, i felt that it had gotten too convoluted before even planeswalkers were implemented, when mill-control basically became the permanent top tier meta, when you had to essentially give up on playing the actual game in favor of a stupid and unfun metagame. at least the all-digital format of games like Runeterra allows for fine tuned realtime balancing and mechanics that feel genuinely fresh and creative. physical card games have unfortunately hit a wall, and i think it’s just a matter of time before they all crumble, MTG included.

[@LinkEX]

@@wohdinhel Complexity creep definitely is a thing. That said, Wizards actually seems to have it under better control than other long-running TCGs. At least regarding the limited format, they do keep track of most aspects that make it harder to keep track of everything (or get started at all). Like having a limited number of evergreen mechanics, combined with the set mechanics, and finally the complexity of the average card based on rarity.

[@TravisPilgrim]

honestly, stickers sound like a really fun silver border mechanic that pushes the customizability aspect of tcgs to its limit. However, to have them legal in regular magic is absolutely demented.

[@reidyo5404]

I don’t understand why they don’t keep unsets silverboarder. Isn’t that the whole point of them?

[@nexinex6049]

@@reidyo5404 makes them more money, much more people will buy this unset because some cards are legal for more games

[@haroldsandahl6408]

​@@reidyo5404 spice8rack has a video about it. they were meant to be fun things used in casual play but people don't do that because of the silver border. This is their solution

[@acbeaumo]

@@reidyo5404 Because money. They want to sell more Un-Set products to Commander players.

[@fernandobanda5734]

They're just counters.

[@AutumnReel4444]

My son put it nicely, "So Magic is being run by Mr Krabs now?"

[@Radiodragonofdoom]

That's a burn so harsh only a kid could've come up with it.

[@zacharyenglish2904]

And then everybody clapped

[@hauntedsunsets]

I haven't heard about any of this, so I clicked on this video expecting a funny parody skit about the idea of putting stickers on your cards to make fun of how difficult it can be to keep track of different types of counters and then I would've loved to see this feature in a new regular un set, just so goofy and fun to use but then I realized the reality of un sets being partially legal tournament... oh god

[@cethapplegate594]

You know I would love a commander deck tech that is built around having as many extra mechanics as possible just shove monarch, day night, dungeon, and all the other features that need to be tracked in one deck.

[@drakegrandx5914]

A deck whose win condition is to make your opponents concede? That's brilliant!

[@waltercardcollector]

You probably have seen this, but Prof made a video about that exact type of deck! The video was called "The Commander Deck Of The Future, Today!"

[@PedroFigs]

A year from now: the new Legacy banlist includes sticker sheets 😂

[@BramLastname]

All this could've been avoided if they just made Silver Border an official format. Since that would've achieved the same thing in a much less annoying way.

[@feritperliare2890]

@@BramLastname but than how could they force the commander players to play their shity cards if the spike player can’t bring his deck everywhere with the reasonable expectation that it’s allowed cause the cards are legal?

[@BramLastname]

@@feritperliare2890 I wasn't the one who designed these formats, The silver border is as legit as you (the company) give them credit for, The fact that they were marketed as "too weird for standard" instead of "the zany new format" makes them much more unappealing to play with than necessary.

[@feritperliare2890]

@@BramLastname anyone who will be willing to play the cards knows what they are all about no reason to force people to accept them in game for wotc wallet

[@BramLastname]

@@feritperliare2890 oh yeah 100% agree, But if they wanted silver border to be legit, They made a lot of bad decisions. Granted I don't actually play the game, But I play D&D and Duel Masters (not to be confused with (YuGiOh) Master Duel) So it's interesting to see how they've influenced each other.

[@joeferreti9442]

Let's introduce another mechanic, I call it "adhesive tape". It will be so popular with MTG players and collectors that already triple-sleeve their cards to protect them.

[@killerwolfpack]

This is immediately what I thought. Like my $150 commander deck might not be a huge deal. Someone has like 900 bucks in that bitch. You can get bent with your stickers.

[@scooterthefrog]

@@killerwolfpack if anybody attempts to put a sticker on my cards they are coming back with less fingers. Use a bead or a die and we're cool but you try to put sticky goop on my sleeves you'll be getting called nine fingers for rest of your life.

[@michaelsorensen7567]

Surprised we're not going straight to super glue

[@Hyxtrem]

@@ilikepeople1795 That's exactly what i thought at first when they said "hey it's legal !". I just have 350-600€ decks but oh my god, theses stickers won't approach my cards AT ALL; I can't even imagine for you. Like HELL will you allow a stickers to be put on a timeswalk or something like this.

[@thepenguin9]

Gotta dunk it in flex glue after triple sleeving for that maximum protection

[@blazzin42]

Definitely agree with you on the silver border, it's nostalgic for myself and friends to see them and play with them even built commander decks with them so we can have a game outside of the box 😄 ... I Definitely hope we don't see stickers in sanctioned play 🤞🤞

[@doemagic]

A lot of people at my LGS were saying they might start playing "Classic" EDH, which is every card pre-D&D Forgotten Realms. I definitely feel like stickers will call even more tension between them and casual players

[@otto2853]

B-but why exclude the best set ever specifically? Forgotten Realms? :(

[@doemagic]

@@otto2853 I think a lot of them don't like the dungeon mechanics and some of them definitely see dice rolling as an "un" mechanic

[@otto2853]

@@doemagic both mechanics were either too random (dice) or not fleshed out enough (dungeons) to be included in my playgroup on a serious level anyway- I was talking about great cards like Volo or Tiamat

[@XDezibellX]

@@otto2853 Some people don't like the power creep. The next DnD set will have "Dragon Queen: 6U, When this creature attacks, roll a d20. Win that many games. Ward 10"

[@JohnnyYeTaecanUktena]

Just rule 0 those mechanics out no need to call it a different name as it gets confusing

[@LucasTheDrgn]

Straight up did the padme meme when i first saw stickers like "Oh, these'll be fun since they'll only be legal in unfinity!" "... They'll only be legal in unfinity, right?"

[@sobertillnoon]

This feels like wizards is trying to intentionally torpedo every constructed format

[@inferno1217]

except for standard

[@polishhockeyfan]

100%. Formats like Modern, Legacy, and Commander are absolutely terribly for business. Theyre doing everything they can to mess with your cardboard so they can sell it to you all over again.

[@Iris_Spring]

i feel like all of this could have been avoided if the sticker sheets just, HAD the acron on it. like i do love the idea of un sets having some legal cards in them, after all, there have always been SOME cards that were in silver border sets, that were banned simply because they were in those sets, dispite the fact that they would have been fine in regular play (Krarks Other Thumb is an example of this)

[@dondon4720]

yup, just put the acorn on the freaking stickers

[@sc149]

it would be so fun if they were silver bordered. then they can see how they work and maybe introduce something like token enchantments and infinite enchantments that last between zones. but this is an UN finished mechanic

[@nathanwarzecha2943]

Makes me miss the days of Alara and how simple and beautiful that set was

[@mchillywinters]

I needed the Professor to say “Alexander Clamilton” at least 10 more times. As it is now, this video sadly gets a “D” for “Did not say Alexander Clamilton enough.”

[@daverapp]

Alexander Clamilton

[@katherinec4360]

Alexander Clamilton

[@collinbeal]

Alexander Clamilton

[@angelowentzler9961]

Alexander Clamilton

[@tarasoneill]

I would love to see a shuffle up and play episode where you play with silver boarderd cards

[@melek_the_weird]

Someone else mentioned Alchemy & I think that's where MtG is generally heading is Arena. I feel like there's no coincidence that at the same time Arena started to pick up steam, so did the complexity of mechanics because on there, since everything is automated, no rules confusion.

[@amysakalov6915]

I love how every time I think "you know, maybe I should go back to magic" Wizards pulls something again and I'm just like "you know what, I'll just stick to not trying to find ways to spend hundreds of dollars on really paper board art".

[@dassaprime5019]

I mean it's their April fools sets lol

[@mb2776]

my thoughts!

[@kza6648]

And thats why im printing my decks now :p

[@mrosskne]

you can just play arena for free

[@kza6648]

@@mrosskne Arena is neither free or solves any problem

[@jessherselfable]

I’m a casual player who loves unsets. The stickers seem hilarious and amazing for unset play, but I hate it for regular play. I miss a lot of triggers in paper as it is.

[@Romulux]

After playing Arena for the last few years and seeing how insane the triggers have gotten, I refuse to touch paper magic anymore because I know I'd forget half of them and just lose to my own ineptitude.

[@michaelh.1484]

@@batsumoto This is magic the gathering not dark souls. Reading the card explains the card. The thing is when you introduce so many mechanics with sets over time it creates the crowding out effect. Simply git gud is not enough

[@BramLastname]

@@batsumoto sorry, but that's objectively wrong, No amount of reading cards is gonna explain a keyword without reminder text. So regardless of how you play, git gud, is not applicable to paper MtG.

[@JohnnyYeTaecanUktena]

@@BramLastname git gud in magic is learning how to play your deck

[@BramLastname]

@@JohnnyYeTaecanUktena again, Learning your deck is not gonna explain what other cards do, Because there's no correlation between the words Trample, Haste and Dash. You're just expected to memorise it, Instead of other card games, most notably Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon and Weiss Schwartz, Where the rules are printed on the cards, Which doesn't make them less complex (just look at Yu-Gi-Oh's Damage step rulings) Just makes it so you can actually play the game without needing a dictionary. The fact that I don't know how certain cards work isn't a skill issue It's because the cards don't do what they say, I'm not memorising 155 keywords for a game I have no interest in playing competitively. To give you an idea how much this hinders the quality of life in MtG, I've played a few games of the Japanese spin-off Duel Masters And I can now better explain a bunch of those cards than explain MtG cards, Since Duel Masters uses less than 50 keywords, Despite the fact that they have just as many different card types as MtG.

[@BurningLotuz]

Nailed it. I hate the path Magic is on and I am accepting, slowly, that the game will leave me behind. Never would've thought that could happen 5 years ago. Been playing for over 20 years.

[@Loki-]

Having been introduced to it early '00s as a young teenager and barely able to keep track then. It made it really hard coming back being overwhelmed by the countless mechanics introduced by 2015. I'm back again and seeing this continue is making it harder. My point being... I'm not even a brand new player and I'm overwhelmed by the number of sets and mechanics! How do they expect to bring in NEW players??

[@codymetz8689]

Same. You should try flesh and blood, ive had a great experience with it so far.

[@jkwi8024]

@@codymetz8689 sadly the cards are boring and generic and the art is boring and ugly

[@profanemagic5671]

I left shortly after eldraine released. Back then, they started putting 2 cards onto 1 cardboard. At this point, they have to print on both sides of the cardboard because there's not enough space for all the words. Cards just do too much. Magic got boring af. (and no, it's not me getting older, I still enjoy the game if you remove all cards printed past 2018)

[@meeperator]

I started playing around 2012 with a deckbuilders kit that went back to m10. I was getting lost with new mechanics around the time Khans block dropped, so I feel your pain.

[@missmeeper]

There will always be people like me, new mechanic comes out, time to make a themed commander deck around it.

[@KnakuanaRka]

Altefore below put it perfectly. MtG already has a precedent of adapting some Un-set cards into normal cards, like The Cheese Stands Alone becoming Barren Glory; this did well at letting the freedom of design in Un-sets contribute to normal play without the Un-sets’ tone clashing with everything else. Plus the new card design isn’t that good; they could have just left non-legal cards with the silver border while legal cards could get a silver-and-black border design or something like that, to keep the iconic look and make them easier to see. However, the bigger issue seems not to be the design clash but the piling on of new mechanics. Something like Stickers are just fine in Un-sets, but not only do they have a huge tonal clash with standard MtG, they also have serious practical issues (imagine how long these stickers would last, or how easily you could damage your cards with them), and put yet another layer of complicated things to keep track of on top of an already complicated game that has already been saddled with layers of further complication, plus they set a precedent that makes them hard to avoid. In particular, if these were made similar to normal counters instead of stickers, it might reduce some of these issues, especially since the stickers only stay with the cards between public zones; however, as others have mentioned, it seems like MtG might be trying to implement something similar to the online game’s “perpetually” mechanics.

[@ironhorn17]

Theres an alternate universe out there where the commander format bans stickers before they are released saving us all the trouble

[@thomascampagna6663]

I honestly feel like with all their preaching about the "Spirit of the game" that they without a doubt should ban them preemptively. It's my opinion that all those cards should have been considered "silver border" or I guess "acorn" cards now.

[@JohnnyYeTaecanUktena]

@@thomascampagna6663 Personally i don't think any card should be banned in commander since it is a sign post ban list but people take it literally

[@kaibowman4803]

We currently live in a world where stickers are eternal legal, yet the commander RC refuses to unban a decades old Eldrazi card, while Comet and Oko exist and are legal.

[@feltzdog]

I was excited to stickers until I realized that it was eternal and not just part of the Un-set exclusive(acorn) mechanic.

[@AutumnReel4444]

Exactly. If Wizards did it without greed no one would mind. Making them eternal legal is such a massive issue. As if the Secret Lair mechanically unique debacle just never happened!

[@fernandobanda5734]

@@AutumnReel4444 What does greed have to do with anything? Stickers will never ever be played competitively.

[@nolanpearson211]

@@fernandobanda5734 you say that until your opponent gives his Death’s Shadow an infect sticker 🤣

[@fernandobanda5734]

@@nolanpearson211 Tainted Strike already gives infect (and +1/+0) for one mana. That's a million times better than playing suboptimal ticket cards to have a 3/10 chance to even start the game with the infect sticker sheet.

[@vilecreature8640]

@@fernandobanda5734 you can bring UP TO ten, meaning you could bring only the three you want to use. And how can you know there won’t be a single ticket enabler that sees play, to say that means you not only know every card in this set (idk if full spoilers are out I don’t care about unsets till now I guess), but every single card that will ever be printed from here on out. All it takes is one card being too good to warp formats and with wizards track record it seems silly to give them the benefit of a doubt. To be honest the stickers are just one of the issues that comes from unsets having eternal legal cards, no one wanted this.

[@tylerrobinson4390]

I truly find your commentary on this mechanic and your other content to be so well thought out. A MTG veteran for sure! As you’ve said, This game is about the gathering ❤️ and I won’t be surprised if after test play and feedback after release the stickers will be nerfed or outright banned. It’s pushing the fabric of what paper play can keep up with imo

[@nickwhiting1230]

All this greed aside, great thumbnail and great opening! Was legitimately sad by the end of the video but seeing that great thumbnail and watching that opening again made me feel so much better! Thank you so much for the laughs when they're needed most.

[@Nootlest]

It's kinda funny, I'm so used to feeling like I'll miss out on something. But I haven't played magic in a few months and I don't feel like I'm losing out on anything

[@benjaminmiddaugh2729]

Amazing how little you can miss something once you get a bit of distance from it, isn't it?

[@splatypus7142]

Same. The more news I happen to see about the game, the more it makes me glad I don't play anymore. I'll still do cubes when friends come over, but buying any of the new sets just feels like a joke at this point. It gives me a weird reverse FOMO. I'm glad I'm not worrying about updating an eternal deck with this kind of stuff

[@nyarlathotep3334]

Same here. I've collected every Un-set so far but this one I'm skipping out on. It feels more like just another product and less like a fun MtG set if that makes sense.

[@justinb2824]

can you say abusive relationship?

[@Joshua-no3vh]

The idea of Progenitus wearing a tophat is hilarious, or sticking Urza's on, urza, lord high artificer. Do i want this as a mechanic? No, god no.

[@Hhhhhh-sz9ud]

It’s the perfect mechanic for an unset, it’s just a shame that it’s legacy legal.

[@pacattack2586]

I'm pretty sure you can't make progenitus wear a tophat unfortunately (Prot everything)

[@MrNbkelly]

@@pacattack2586 Protection from Top Hats

[@gabrote42]

From Barren Glory to this. We have come so far. Always loved the casual scene of Magic. One of the few popular ones that are always taken into account

[@JudgingFtW]

Albert Einstein once said something like, "No matter what your difficulties in mathematics, I assure you mine are still greater." As a judge, this quote does a great job encapsulating how I feel about stickers.

[@aceundead4750]

I wish they'd kept alchemy as an online only thing

[@user-et3xn2jm1u]

Online, we wish they'd kept alchemy, full stop. Plenty of players left when we got Alchemy and not Pioneer.

[@another_loser6976]

The idea that stickers cost tickets might be what saves us from them, to play a sticker you need a way to produce tickets and so while the effects might be great you will end up having to add multiple ticket producers which hurt stickers chances

[@PhiKehr]

From what ive seen name stickers dont cost tickets. And maybe this can lead to a cheap way of ignoring the legendary rule or something like that? I don't know

[@TheLuckySpades]

@@PhiKehr I think you still need to play cards that let you attach stickers to stuff, which probably still costs tickets hopefully

[@PhiKehr]

@@TheLuckySpades I don't really know about Legacy or Vintage. But "Wicker Picker" may be strong? Paying one extra to have it enter with a name sticker on it could maaaaaybe be good? As i said, i don't really know.

[@another_loser6976]

@@PhiKehr Only name stickers and hat stickers dont cost tickets, ability and power/toughness stickers cost tickets.

[@WillisPtheone]

@@PhiKehr I run a names matter deck with spy kit and the like this is still dumb. I would have perhaps stuck a couple un-legal cards in the box incase people wanted to play silver border edh. Now I am skipping the set all togeather

[@jpVari]

the endless need not just for success but for growth, for more success than last time, damn whatever gets trampled on the way. great video, I tend towards being open to change but this seems like a bummer. I'm very new to magic but the reason I've respected it for decades is the flavor is so consistent and brilliant. beautiful, truly.

[@ominousmist960]

That intro was absolutely clever to drive your point in just a little skit. I appreciate that.

[@0urher0nik0]

I'm excited to see how much this mechanic causes headaches

[@DefaultMii]

I am also excited

[@Hydrogen101]

Headache? I’ve got a hangover after learning about them

[@Grimmfairytail]

@@Hydrogen101 I don't even play but I can tell this is going to be a shitshow.

[@darkgaara787]

I'm willing to guess that most people will ignore stickers and players who do use them will be frown upon

[@eviloatmeal]

@@darkgaara787 Yes, but if they're tournament legal, then you can't ignore them if your opponent brings them to the tournament. And if a card that uses them happens to be useful in one of the eternal formats, where cards from the entirety of Magic's history are used, and they don't "rotate" out any card sets over time, then using the stickers could be a matter of winning or losing money when you participate.

[@danringdahl6369]

WoTC must have really loved the Alchemy- "perpetual" mechanic so much they had to introduce something similar to paper with stickers.

[@tinyguy8326]

I've had a similar thought. Alchemy has been poorly received. Why try to replicate it in paper?

[@danringdahl6369]

@@tinyguy8326 Agreed. Also, for a casual Magic player, it is about suspending your belief and putting yourself into the fantasy. Ripping the player out of that and tossing them into a child's arts and crafts box feels terrible. Conversely, for a serious player who spends a lot of time and money, these stickers are insulting.

[@derrickpaulson3093]

I feel they are trying so many sublet ways to make players want to play online where such mechanics function better. Let’s see what else works better online and force paper players to adapt…

[@zbaschtian]

Stand by for paper version of Specialize. Grab your vomit bags now while they're cheaper than gas.

[@Weaver_Games]

It's time to admit that Mark Rosewater should no longer be considered a darling game designer. The last few years of this game have just been crazy.

[@Szznt]

Holy crap, I've been out of magic for about 5 years now and every time I pop my head in to see what's happening it just makes me glad I'm out. At this point I just wish I'd managed to get out sooner than I did.

[@strelochk1n721]

It’s still great, by it’s hard to Deny the amount of new cancerous mechanics

[@shoopoop21]

This is precisely my issue. I feel my time, money, and sanity are better spent elsewhere, almost anywhere else, to be honest.

[@finnray9792]

At least we have you to guide us through these "sticky" times.

[@volatilesky]

Vastly underrated comment

[@veizour]

"We're playing commander, no stickers" - 2022 new commonly used phrase precedent probably

[@liznakleonhardt4406]

I'll be trying out this mechanic soon, looking into it, it really isn't that confusing or difficult. Managing the sticker sheets in long term use may require slight ingenuity on my part, but that's on me for playing stickers. It's a fun mechanic that won't burden anyone who doesn't choose to use it since the responsibility falls strictly on the user. Some of these sticker abilities are pretty cool too c:.

[@daniduc]

7:37 "you know all it takes is one or two to slip thru and BAM it's companions all over again. STICKERS IN EVERY DECK!" That aged very well...

[@tmbocheeko]

Notable to mention that the number of sticker sheets you choose before a game isn't "up to 10", it's actually a MINIMUM of 10. If someone doesn't choose any sticker sheets before a game begins, it's most likely going to be assumed that they simply chose all of the possible sheets. Then, if it ever comes up in a game, they'll choose three sticker sheets at random from all the possible options using the tool WOTC is going to have available online, and proceed.

[@clayxros576]

Oh good, "Fail to find" now applying to an Ability-Keyword extra deck. As if the stickers aren't a competitive nightmare already

[@MrSeanfish]

That's good news, at least. This way, stickers are way less competitively viable since you don't have a good chance of going into games with the stickers you need. I was concerned that players would just take 3 sheets and use the same stickers every game, which would have made them viable.

[@clayxros576]

@@MrSeanfish Another game called Force of Will tried something similar, using a flat extra deck with randomized summons rather than stickers (which are basically mix n match perminent effects). That only happened after the OG designer and financial backer left. For design/monetization reasons. It's rather startling for me watching Magic seem to walk the path of dying MMOs and card games of the past.

[@DevineAbyss]

Can't you just select the same sticker-sheet 10 times? That would do wonders against randomness.... Even picking 3 sheets, and putting them in 4, 4 and 2 times and selecting sheets that are similar would make it very predictable.

[@bissomitch]

@@DevineAbyss No.

[@matatigre36]

Yeah, this is where MTG jumps the shark for me. I'll just happily continue to play with the collection I already have. No (further) purchase necessary.

[@josiahclarke3535]

Just play an eternal format and buy singles to support your LGS. Can play without giving WotC your money

[@michaellooks8397]

@@josiahclarke3535 That's still giving them money. Any singles purchase is a support of WOTC.

[@josiahclarke3535]

@@michaellooks8397 If you say so. Guess we should all just quit then.

[@fomori2]

@@josiahclarke3535 "If you say so. Guess we should all just quit then."- I think you were being sarcastic, but the proper answer to your question is... YES.

[@mrosskne]

@@josiahclarke3535 Yes, obviously.

[@GregFeir]

The pun in the title is actually hilarious. Great take!

[@natanoj16]

That intro was amazing

[@kurowasanabe]

You have to love how Wizards claims people's issues with the acorn being confusing and easily missable are unfounded and how organic and easy it is, and then proceeding to show a wrong printing with acorns on two of the two times they spoiled cards from it.

[@StarkMaximum]

"The acorn is easy to spot! It's right there on the card, you'll see it when you finish reading the text box!" "Oh, yeah, that card will have an acorn. No one noticed the card had the wrong stamp because it's so easy to miss. We're human, we make mistakes!"

[@myplaylist2468]

I have a double-sleeved cube that I play with my friends. I'm happy to use these stickers on the inner sleeve of cards as a sort of.. footprint. It also makes putting vanilla cards into a cube much more viable.

[@Tera_GX]

My circle (commander players) felt a sense of relief when we heard that Unfinity cards were going to be "legal". We missed out on past Un- sets but have admired them (though we've been playing for about 20 years). But really, that "legal" status doesn't really mean as much as we give it credit for. If there was a new Un- set and still silver bordered, we'd probably still be on board with getting them and playing them in our circle. We don't even play outside our circle.

[@fleamarketkeanu]

Agreed silver boarder should've stayed. The thing I keep thinking of though is that Mark wanted the un-sets to playable in commander due to it being casual, as he had mentioned in an interview with Spice. No doubt money had something to do with their decision, but I'm left wondering if players who followed the RC too closely also attributed to this design decision.

[@QuantumJump451]

I was away from magic for years. Fell off after Kaladesh, but was excited to get back into the game when I found a new playgroup with Streets of New Capenna. At this point I think I might just stop playing the game again. I don't think Wizards have made a single decision since I came back to the game that hasn't disappointed me in some major way.

[@iamthetable8131]

Why would you leave over this bruh, just don't buy this lmao

[@Highstar7331]

hear hear

[@QuantumJump451]

@@iamthetable8131 it's not this, it's this, plus the ridiculously expensive double masters boosters, plus the weird bloated new rules (day/night, dungeon), plus the diluting of the setting with weird crossovers that makes MTG feel more like Fortnite as a card game, plus the lack of RRP allowing them to just sliiiide the price up like boiling a frog, plus the overload of so many sets coming out so frequently, plus the fact that there's only one set per plane means there's no time to have a compelling story on any plane we visit. And I'm not saying I'm even leaving yet, just that it's getting close to the straw that broke the camel's back - at some point I need to accept that the game I once loved has been butchered for short sighted profit

[@robc4399]

I hope everyone working at wizard of the coast is watching this. Well done explaining everything and the problem.

[@BramLastname]

I heard that two of the main complaints people had about Un sets was 1 You can't assess the quality of the set by the promotional material. 2 The impression that silver border cards weren't meant to be played at all by anyone. These are obviously minor complaints for people who already played with silver border cards, But if you only play tournament legal decks or are on a budget, These factors make it really difficult to justify investing in these sets. The first is an issue inherent to the nature of the product But the second could've been solved by Recognising as its own format and promoting it accordingly, instead of marketing it as "cards too wacky to be allowed in official play". (Because while it's a format on paper they only slightly promoted it once, To sell more of a set they weren't sure about.) (Or just allowing Silver Border to be reprinted as Black Border, But that's something they said they'll never to do.)

[@xChikyx]

Nice to see the professor and the instructor playing together... and to think people thought it was the same person 🤦🏼‍♀️

[@Sekshun789]

I was so excited when unfinity was announced, but after the stickers, removal of silver border, and eternal legal cards being just mixed in for money sake, I am so legitimately disappointed and don’t even want to buy into it anymore.

[@EmperorsTeeth]

I'm not alone, then. I was so excited but the loss of silver bordering really killed my excitement for the set. I hate the idea of having to peel stickers off cards (even off just the sleeves) after each game. I had 3 boxes in my sights but I'm doubtful I'll go ahead with the purchase.

[@RayearthIX]

Same with me. I was excited for some random sillyness, then disappointed by the removal of the silver border and eternal legal cards, then... well, disgusted really, by the stickers. I will not be purchasing any of this product now, but for perhaps some singles of the dual lands. It's a shame, cause this could have been a fun unset.

[@Turntwobounceland]

Yep. I was looking forward to another goofy un-set, but this blending of eternal-legal and illegal cards with the whole sticker nonsense is dumb. I'm not excited for this set anymore.

[@BouncingTribbles]

I won't even be looking at spoilers or buying anything. At the very least they could have kept the silver border for the uncards, the acorn and fully removing the silver border was my line

[@Bmacthesage]

yea its going to be so damn annoying with this stuff. personally if they still kept in stuff like the shock land reprints and basic land artworks (because they do look incredible), that would be fine by me if they kept the silver border for the non legal cards.

[@zeusalternative1270]

Well, they did it stickers and attractions are banned in Legacy, Vintage and Pauper. They did what they didn't with companions but it was fun while bringing an sticker deck to a play to bluff you're playing Mind Goblin lasted.

[@Perichoresis777]

The intro to this video alone is worth the price of admission.

[@mathewevans9706]

Prof, I feel you're dancing around the answer when it comes to the increasingly complex mechanics coming to the game: Wizards is moving towards designing for Arena first vs. designing for paper when it comes to making mechanics. Companion, Day and Night, Counters, and even Stickers are mechanics that are trivial to track in Arena, but are pains in paper.

[@gordon7700]

thats what i was thinking. annoy paper players with difficult to track mechanics and force them to arena. im curious how alchemy is working for them

[@goldcreeper7376]

This 100%. This garbage has little place in paper

[@Zaketh_]

What? Day/Night was literally in the game since Innistrad, just not keyworded. Even if Wizards was moving towards designing for Arena first (which, I argue, they aren’t), why wouldn’t they just put all this stuff in an Alchemy set or something? It’s hard to see the argument that “Wizards is designing for Arena over paper!” When this mechanic is literally ONLY going to be available in paper magic.

[@brandandixon3943]

@@Zaketh_ did you play with the dog werewolves? It was tracked on a card. When the card died. It didnt matter anymore, day/night is tracked for the entire game once its introduced. Its annoying

[@mathewevans9706]

You don't think they won't make an Unfinity Alchemy set for Arena when it's already got Perpetual-Esque mechanics and historic legal cards in it? Nah, they're gonna milk the cash machine for all it's worth. Only way to stop it is to not buy the product, but that's going to happen realistically. And the reason Day and Night feels 'designed for Arena' is specifically because of the perpetual tracking clause that prof calls out in this video, which the previous werewolf cards didn't do. keywords or not. Yes, you can do it in paper, but it's annoying to do when cards using those mechanics aren't on the field; but very easy for the Arena client to run in the background. Even if Wizards isn't deliberately designing mechanics for Arena, this is a trend towards mechanics that coincidentally work better/smoother on there vs. paper in the more recent sets.

[@InuyashaJenny]

next level: Unimaginable - each booster will contain one crayon; collector booster will contain one neon/metallic/shiny marker/brush; instead of boxtopper there will be two potato stamp templates (but you have to bring your own potatoes to the tournament!)😆

[@charliescheirmann2926]

I think a sticker being a permanent addition to your commander so long as the game goes on is interesting

[@PallyChan]

I can tell you 100% the motivation for stickers! Look at MTG Arena's digital exclusive cards that have effects on cards in public and private zones! They want to see if they can bring some of these legitimately really fun and awesome card effects and make them possible in real paper magic. Maybe this is a miss, but it 100% is in the experimental spirit of Unsets. I'm not defending dropping the silver border though. Almost indefensible in my opinion...

[@SpartanOfLuxon]

Just the thought of a seasoned veteran mid life adult playing against a 12 year old who puts a beanie sticker on his 30 year old Sol Ring makes me laugh

[@ktayna.]

I've been playing Magic for little more than 11 months now, after some 5+ years of yearningly watching people play at college. You see, I'm severely visually impaired, and couldn't read the cards fast enough to make a game feasible, if I could read them at all. Then I found Arena, and I was thrilled; I could finally learn and play at my own pace, and maybe if I played enough matches, I could memorize enough cards and know my decks well enough to actually play in person at my LGS, college and such. And it happenned, and it was blissful; it wasn't all formats and I still rely a lot on my opponnent's goodwill, but I can play some decks, and I was happy. As long as I could train on Arena, I could eventually feel comfortable playing with actual people. Unifinity would be my first Unexperience, and even though I wouldn't be able to train on Arena, I was planning to memorize at least most of the cards as they were revealed, so I could draft it at my LGS. And then there's this. Honestly, it makes me feel like the game doesn't want people like me.

[@KP-us9iy]

We want you! Even those of us without your circumstances still struggle to remember what certain cards do or how they interact. It’s a tough game but still very rewarding. I hope you can continue enjoying it in the future, hopefully without needing to interact with acorn stamps or stickers too much!

[@chrismanuel9768]

@@KP-us9iy The players might, but that doesn't mean the game does.

[@eldonerc2524]

humm, why do a feel that a braille cards in an un-set would be awesome. 🤔

[@ktayna.]

@@KP-us9iy thank you my dude! ❤️ This game has become such an important part in my life, it's so heartwarming to hear understanding players like you

[@gravitymonkey9300]

that intro was glorious

[@thespider7898]

Its basically perpetual but in paper, which could be fun

[@bethpitblado1588]

What WOTC seems to have done to increase sales has had the opposite effect on me. I loved drafting Unstable. I don't mind a few silver-bordered cards appearing (with permission) at the commander table. But as soon as I found out that Unfinity wasn't going to have silver borders, I opted out. Decided I wasn't buying any acorn or other cards and that was before this sticker nonsense was announced. As for your arguments about mixing flavour and humour, we are long past that one. As soon as Rick equipped Lucille in a 5-colour humans deck, the world of magic was forever changed.

[@lokiwiFruit]

WotC is just branching out with stickers. Card collecting, sticker/stamp collecting etc. Personally, i can't wait for the collectible coins in triple master 2023 draft boosters.

[@gordon7700]

"MTG Coins mechanic will introduce a new crypto currency that players may invest in order to purchase more cards to upgrade their decks."

[@ariatolouei5908]

Funny enough wizards has actually made collectable coins, limited to 9,999 ... I own two They also made collectible coasters 🤦‍♂️

[@WillisPtheone]

Im excited for Wotc to announce a POGS mechanic. Hasbro owns them so why not?

[@lokiwiFruit]

@@WillisPtheone POGs and those slappy wristband things

[@PeterTvonK]

"I am going to play this card. It enters game with a sticker on it. I will put the sticker over the acorn." :D

[@sweetiebun5271]

i have been around MTG since Amonkhet, my first Mythic Rare was a very rare egyptian gold version of Bontu the Glorified

[@Loki-]

Having been introduced to MTG early '00s as a young teenager and barely able to keep track then. It made it really hard coming back being overwhelmed by the countless mechanics introduced by 2015. I'm back again and seeing this continue is making it harder. My point being... I'm not even a brand new player and I'm overwhelmed by the number of sets and mechanics! How do they expect to bring in NEW players??

[@BramLastname]

I started playing Duel Masters about 2 years ago, it's an official Japanese MtG spin-off in case you don't know, And was delighted to see how simple the rules were. No tracking toughness or calculating life totals, No lands and no converting mana costs. It made the game so much more accessible And as a result so much more fun. Tho over 90% of the cards are only in Japanese, So if you wanna play with English cards you're restricted to playing the first few sets, But if you're willing to either trial and error or read the wiki a lot, You can play the official mobile version.

[@gurrekurre1726]

Having legal and not legal cards in unsets is not only bad for constructed formats for the reasons mentioned, it also makes unset experiences less "whackier"...

[@tlblitz42]

No, actually. Unfinity was designed under the silver-border paradigm, and only retroactively examined for eternal legality. Unfinity is exactly as wacky as it would have been in silver border, WotC has simply decided that “normal” Magic can stand to be more wacky, rather than saying Un-sets must be less wacky

[@MrContinuityError]

@@tlblitz42 What is the source for this? Seems hopeful but Id like to know where you got this info.

[@violetlazuli3998]

@@MrContinuityError I believe this was in the initial details article from last November or December where they announced the acorn change

[@tlblitz42]

@@MrContinuityError From To Unfinity and Beyond (11/29/2021): “I should stress that all the cards in this set were designed before this distinction existed, so cards weren't made to be one or the other. We just made cool cards for the set and later divided them into categories. We tweaked a small number of cards that were close to being non-acorn, but mostly things stayed as originally designed.” I tried to link the article, but I think it got auto-detected as spam

[@gurrekurre1726]

@@tlblitz42 oh i did not know that

[@MakeVarahHappen]

Looking back a year later the problem with stickers wasn't the mechanics. People over explain it when it's basically just skullbriar tokens. It's the power level and a literal technology of the stickers. It should have been canned when the reusable stickers clearly wouldn't work out. They play wonderfully though.

[@hosshydraa1181]

That intro was too good lmao

[@OverTheShoulderGaming]

I’m a returning palyer to MtG and I was just overwhelmed by the sheer unnecessary complexity of new mechanics. I’m playing commander mostly but I’ve been compelled to move away from it again. Now, I play Pokémon TCG, with its own synegies and strategies plus online code with the physical products work really well for me. 😁

[@putonghua73]

I tried to briefly play Pokemon during lockdown due to a friend's influence, and even bought a trainer set and singles to construct my own deck. In terms of value - both online and offline - Pokemon is a better value proposition than Magic in every single conceivable way, and online play and production is so smooth, and the online codes with physical products provide so much value (no double-dipping). Except in the most important aspect: gameplay. I then sold my Pokemon physical products to my friend. The PL creep (looking at you MH2) and Wotc's desire to milk MtG until they suck lint from the wallets of their players, led me to sell out of Magic back in April.

[@ItsDangerousGoAlone]

I remember once telling a friend about silver border sets when walking dead came out and how they did my little pony and transformers silver cards before. It was such a safe assumption at the time, just like how i had the assumption that this unset was silver bordered even though i have already seen all the previews so far. My eyes and mind was not looking for what border color this is, this is the first i realized they are legal cards.

[@MichaelMoore99]

Not all of them. Only cards that WotC deems work within black-bordered rules are legal. Space Family Goblinson is one of those. It's fairly normal except for the name. I could see it in a normal Magic game. Acorn cards, like Angelic Harold or Killer Cosplay, are the old silver-bordered cards and still aren't legal. Unfortunately, WotC says that some sticker cards, like Wicker Picker and Carnival Carnivore, work in black-bordered rules, even though they could've just made all sticker cards Acorn and saved us.

[@TriangleChloros]

@@MichaelMoore99 The issue is that there are cards that *can't* be legal in black border, then there are cards that technically *can* be legal, but probably shouldn't be. From everything they've said, the acorn pretty much only covers the former. Wicker Picker *does* work fine within the rules, with fewer rules changes than Mutate. It just shouldn't be there.

[@MichaelMoore99]

@@TriangleChloros Yeah, if you read my other comment, I was saying they can work, but WotC should've just kept stickers in Acorn and there wouldn't've been so much fuss.

[@Endymion0021]

Most stickers by nature of their production are not made for constant applying and peeling off of plastic foils or god forbid the cardboard, without tearing (the card or the sticker itself), stretching color pigments rubbing off and slowly loosing its capability to stick to the object of interest. Stickers are simply not made to last in a function counters already fill, they just could have made splitt cards that could be slid under x card to attach the effect, like auras, but the effect matters on which side is visible, like for example: top gives the name, left gives the art/type altering, right gives the effect alteration, bottom the power toughness. The center of the card would have the space for any reminder text needed for the keyword or rules implication or simply other silly stuff and the art of who ever thought of Stickers being needed.

[@gusty7153]

i just realized that, if we're lucky, there's a chance that most of the ticket generating cards will be acorn stamped thus removing the stickers by proxy of no dependencies

[@Narrified]

Even if Keyword and P/T Stickers don't end up being competitively playable, Name stickers have the possibility to have a huge impact on interaction with the Legend rule, with a much lower opportunity cost of not requiring spending Tickets in order to be placed on your permanents. I've got a clone tribal EDH deck that tries to get around the Legend rule however it can, and I'm planning on running [[Wicker Picker]] as a super cheap way to change the name of my Legendary creatures, as copies of modified cards only care about the printed text. A copy of my

[@leptonsoup337]

What we really need are scratch and sniff stickers.

[@CranberryGraves]

Stickers are awesome, I'm picking up some to play at a local tourney.

[@BluWoolify]

Imagine; WotC announce Sticker sheet 3 is banned from all formats and sticker sheet 10 is banned from pauper

[@ashburn6139]

You have a good point there about adding too much convoluted layers of evolving tracking outside of the game like dungeon, undercity, day night, energy. Experience counter is nice and simple. 1on1 format and on a Standard 2 year rotation would not be a big problem, but on a 4 person eternal format, that's lot to track. I seen players missing day/night flips because of complex board state and same for combo-ing off night flips. I hope Gavin Verhey read about that in my post in one of his videos.

[@CarterCat60]

I’m sorry, I have a whole legal attraction deck

[@blakemoody5866]

People need to calm down. Dualcaster mage already goes infinite with multiple spells, and if saw in half was printed in a regular set, you wouldnt be complaining. Stickers will just function like counters and likely wont be that big of a deal.

[@baricsaruc1493]

Flesh and blood just keeps looking better and better for my game nights

[@krekkaking]

Un-set cards were often villified and ostracized from any casual table as well, because they aren't considered even casual legal

[@BramLastname]

This is where companies should use their influence to add legitimacy, Instead of printing them in black border, Recognise silver border as an official format And make sure this decision is heard by the player base.

[@krekkaking]

@@BramLastname since when has wizards ever made an announcement of something and the playerbase stick to it?

[@BramLastname]

@@krekkaking surprisingly often But the problem is that while on paper this format existed, WotC didn't promote it as a format, As such the majority of the player base considered it not worth playing.

[@RusticHighman]

we let my sister run a few in her deck for a while, after about 5 games that crap had to go. permanently.

[@smjsuperscott]

My Old Buzzbark dice roll deck is one of my favorite decks. It has very average power and just a lot of dice rolling mechanics, not legal. I was so mad at the decision to not make any un cards commander legal when it was teased they might be, it became the straw breaking the camel's back and I walked away from the game for years. Now that there are themed commander decks from 40k and un cards from this new set will actually be legal, it's like they're doing everything I wanted in order to come back... funny that this video expressed the exact opposite opinion to this viewpoint.

[@bananajoe9951]

My friend owns an LGS and said customers are already asking about banning "unsets", specifically unfinity, from "set" tournament nights.

[@timberwolfbrother]

I'm. . . not really a MtG player, but I've liked the cards and their art. I don't have the luck, legitimately I have witnesses to my hands, even with mulligans, starting out and drawing into either all lands or all creatures or similar scenarios where I'm unable to do anything, even when other people shuffle my deck for me. But I've always appreciated that the cards were easy to understand. Even the silver borders, the D&D Dungeon mechanics, Day and Night, crossovers, and how wild chaos decks can get, I actually do love it all. I have a friend who tells me about the insane and absolutely brutal decks he makes, and despite not really touching MtG, I can understand what he's talking about, the implications of his cards' effects. I like how, for the most part, Magic is pretty simple to understand. The sticker mechanic seems like a new semi-permanent token mechanic, but then they added way too much, and sticker sheets, and extra rules for it away from the source of the mechanic? I could understand them creating the "Sticker" cards as just a new token that stays, and even having it with its own resource cost, but the more you've explained it and the more I actually look at the example card, the less I understand what it's even trying to do. If I can play MtG, I'd want a chaos deck that baffles people and changes the rules almost every turn, but I still can't wrap my head around what stickers do and how they're supposed to be used. I can understand Unset. I can understand Day/Night, Dungeons, dice rolls, crossovers, changing the rules, ignoring the rules, redefining what it means to win, doing insane combos, but I still can't understand stickers as a gameplay mechanic as they've designed it. It's like an AI-generated mechanic, desperately trying to make something that resembles mechanics, but not understanding the logical consistency it requires.

[@ItsIntelligentDesign]

I’m so worried about these stickers being way too fiddly to use in the moment. Attaching them, having to remember when they stay on a card vs getting removed, longevity (does the adhesive hold up to heat? to cold? how do they adhere to different types of card sleeve made of different plastics?) It seems they were trying to add a toyetic component to the game, and while that is a popular trend in the industry right now I don’t think this was the right implementation

[@zbaschtian]

Not to mention the immense potential for marking your cards/sleeves with glue residue in competitive paper play. (Yes, I'm aware you can proxy your stickers with paper notes, but let's face it, MtG players are not exactly known for their common sense)

[@ilind__]

This is a great point. I hadn't considered stickers from the perspective of dexterity, which... Uh... I think wizards figured out shouldn't be tournament legal in 1995...

[@_Moralle]

I think something along the lines of a clip would've been way better for a mechanic like this. Sure, it still has a chance of damaging your card, but fiddling and repairing a paperclip is much easier than replacing the glue on a sticker. AND you can just put a clip on the card without actually attaching it. But I guess it might've been more expensive than just making regular stickers. Maybe they could allow people to "transform" stickers into clips or something else while still keeping them legal, as long as the contents of the sticker remain the same.

[@alexraszeja9266]

Another keenly articulated and chronological account of silver border and multiverse cards and their legality. Prof. Is also spot on as far as player sentiment, we want consistency!

[@thegreatr8932]

I don't like the idea of stickers very much but in my silver border commander, I have Blacker Lotus, Chaos Confetti, and the Fallen Apart. Those cards require you to rip them and since Blacker Lotus sits at $25, I'm fine with printing a proxy and ripping that to pieces. I will do the same for the stickers I will soon have!

[@teddyinjapan]

Watching the intro reminds me of arrested development “same-same”

[@megabubfish]

That sketch at the beginning is pure gold! Perfectly encapsulates the mess that not keeping such things silver bordered will bring.

[@craig1287]

Oh my, will stickers have their own layer? I'm guessing they will just fall into the layer that handles adding and removing abilities, but if they do their own sublayer that will be strange.

[@markmason2216]

Couldn't be that simple, name changing stickers would be in the Text layer, as an example. Power/Toughtness stickers in the ...uh... Power/Toughness layers/sublayers :)

[@StarkMaximum]

I mean if you think about it, a sticker on a card is in fact its own physical layer...

[@macmusial3644]

This is a good question, I assume they'll just function like keyword and power/toughness counters and apply at the same time as abilities/spells that grant those things based on timestamp order, but there might be weird issues with the fact that they can stay on cards as they move through zones so I'm not sure

[@Moersfreak]

Man, I am so glad that I'm not a judge anymore.

[@bissomitch]

How are stickers different from any other characteristic modifying game element? Keyword counters, mutate, P/T defining abilities, etc.? This is not as complex as the anti-sticker faction is making it out to be.