The Story Behind the Worst Set in Magic: the Gathering

[@Stonehorn]

As someone who drafted this set in tournaments when it was new, this video doesn’t do justice just how bad homelands was in its entirety. There was a good chance you were going to draft a deck that just doesn’t work. Ice Age was one of my favourite draft sets of all time. We had so much fun in IA block.

[@nooneofconsequence1251]

Yeah the suckage of this set was truly epic... but... to be fair (and I am also one of those geezers who played with these cards in limited when they were new)... Wizards did not start even considering things like booster drafting until Mirage. However... this set (and to an extent, other sets around the same time) was so bad that even games using constructed decks at the time often ended up devolving into both players just sitting there staring at each other because there was no way to punch through damage or do anything to impact the board, and with more than a couple creatures out combat would favor the defender. Not a great time in Magic history. Ice Age was a decent set and there was some good stuff in Tempest and Urza's block but IMO the game didn't really get its footing, especially re: limited play, until Invasion block.

[@Stonehorn]

@ absolutely. IA wasn’t peak magic, it’s just the set I have the most fun, nostalgic memories for.

[@MuchachoC]

I remember people running out of cards in their decks, because the creatures and spells were so weak that neither player could finish the match 😂😂😂

[@JD-gk7eh]

The wildest part of this story is that two random guys at WotC said "Hey, can we make a set too?" and management was like "Yeah, sure, that sounds like a fine idea." Like, imagine the head of HR and the head of department of records at Ford or Toyota being like "We've always wanted to make a car, can we? Pweeeaaaasssee!" and the CEO is like "Oh alright, but just this once!"

[@Dadutta]

If the cards were purely mechanical, I guess, but they simply aren't. Homelands and Fallen Empires have great art, flavor, and the flavor text is objectively better than almost anything written the last decade. Many of the fictive quotes from the "Sarpadian Empires" history are up there with the "Song"/poem quoted by some Mirage cards.

[@downloadableskills]

@@Dadutta Back then I used to quote flavor text. So few cards compared to now, it was almost easy to learn the flavor on the card too. Sometimes when someone said a card name, like will o the whisp, I would immediately think, " about about in reel and rout..." Good times

[@Firevine]

The flavor text in Fallen Empires intrigues me to this day. Modern flavor text makes me cringe. WotC employees are NOT funny and they try so hard with the jokes.

[@JD-gk7eh]

Fallen Empires issues are: (1) overprinted to the nines, so nothing is worth anything (Ice Age also had this issue to an extent). (2) There's no chase rare. Or heck, even a very good rare. The best cards, all of them, are commons. (3) Multiple arts on said commons ruin the pack opening experience. There's 187 cards in the set but only 102 of them are unique!! (4) Two of the best cards, the pump knights, got functional reprints in Ice Age. For a set of 102 cards, there's actually a good portion of solid, playable cards, maybe around 8-10 or so. There's more than the Dark and as a percentage of the set, Legends (of which 10-15 cards of the 300 are good and the rest quite bad). You can see the set make a major difference in what decks work when you see the difference between EC/ATL Old School 93/94, which allow FE, and Swedish OS, which doesn't. The impact of the set on a 1994 card pool is significant.

[@stefbot88]

I grew up reading the homelands comic book. It was filled with absolutely gorgeous artwork from Rebecca Guay.

[@KumanoMTG]

Dwarven Trader has nothing to do with Homelands' power level, it's being played because it's a one mana dwarf for Magda.

[@JD-gk7eh]

Ok, playing into your "old heads will convince you that Serrated Arrows is good." It's not bad for its time. The game was very very slow then, so the 4 mana and one kill per turn isn't as big a deal. And it has a very, very important use: it kills Order of Stromgald and Order of the White Shield. If you're an opposing monocolor deck, you can't remove those and they just crush you, blocking everything you have and just running through your defense and pumping to kill you in a few strikes. Serrated Arrows being able to take those down as a colorless card is a really useful sideboard card because those cards were prevalent in Standard.

[@TheWolverineDoll]

I would guess that they're trying to type all mustelids as Weasels or Badgers as a way to keep the number of creature types somewhat condensed. The Infamous Cruelclaw is marked a lot like a ferret, and Brightblade Stoat is a stoat, but they're both typed as Weasels. It's like how coatimundis are typed as Raccoons and prairie dogs are typed as Squirrels. Maybe we'll see Joven's Ferrets retyped as a Weasel the next time someone remembers them in a creature type update.

[@Bleached_Skull]

I can't decide if my next commander should be Joven or Chandler

[@jamesgasik3424]

Not a single mention of Ihsan's Shade? It's terrible now, but a 6 mana 5/5 was a reasonable deal in early magic. Further, being both black and protection from white allowed it to avoid a lot of common removal at the time (Terror, Dark Banishing, Swords to Plowshares).

[@jamesgasik3424]

Also, when talking about bad sets, everyone points to Homelands and Fallen Empires...but rarely do I hear anyone mention The Dark, which definitely belongs in the conversation. I mean, it has SORROW'S PATH in it!

[@miketravis4242]

That whole set outside of ice age was… not great.

[@dustinfindsrocks]

Woop woop 🙌 this is when I first started playing. Been away since about 06 just getting back into it. Power creep on creatures is WILD!

[@Firevine]

I started during Fallen Empires. It greatly saddens me that Serendib Efreet would not be standard playable if it were released today.

[@dustinfindsrocks]

@@Firevine Comparing Bloodthirsty Conqueror to Sengir Vampire is disgusting lol

[@musicalcacti]

Hello! Your funny shorts were a good preview for this lol

[@HarrisontheManaDork]

Thanks! I'm trying to experiment more with making shorts that work with my videos!

[@felipebras7044]

Sharing how Homelands impacted MtG in Brazil: I was a kid playing Magic in 1996 and when the set hit stores it seemed like a great deal. A booster pack back then would cost double what it did in the US. Bottom line: I might have about 10 Abbey Matrons somewhere in my parents house. Homelands sucked, but I have fond memories!

[@BlUsKrEEm]

As a player at the time, I assumed it was Fallen Empires, Ice Age Alliances for the block, just for thematic reasons. We didn't really play Block in my area until Visions.

[@nooneofconsequence1251]

I've been playing this game since 1994. One thing that has never changed: there are ALWAYS dorks complaining and whining about *everything* in the game. Something else that hasn't changed: most of these complaints are dumb and most of these people are wrong. Anyway I also lived through Homelands and, yes, it did absolutely suck. It was as apparent then as it is today. And you know a big reason WHY it sucked? Was these dumb complainers... people complained even back in '94 and '95 about certain cards being too strong... as they ALWAYS do... as they STILL are... and WotC, after releasing Alpha and other early sets, seeing some truly broken combos quickly emerge, and realizing their playtesting was a bit lacking, became afraid of putting out cards that were "too strong"... so... for one of only two times in the history of Magic, in stead of sets having power creep there was a deliberate move in the opposite direction and Revised, 4th Edition, 5th Edition, Fallen Empires, and Homelands all had a very deliberate and intentional power *decrease* compared to the sets that had come out before. Most notably in Homelands, which was a set so weak that there is maybe only two playable cards in the entire set. People are always going to make stupid complaints. People are stupid. It is what it is. People are always going to whine about certain cards (that they don't play, usually) being "too strong" or "broken" or "unbalanced"... especially if they beat the combo or strategy that their current favorite deck uses. But you know what? People also don't like shitty cards. If you put out cards that are good.... people buy packs... people stay interested in playing... the game stays fresh. If you put out crap.... nobody wants to buy it or play with it. Yeah, the older cards stay relevant and powerful.... but the game stagnates. And you end up with a meme set like Homelands that, 30 years after it was released, you can still get a new pack of for like 10 bucks.

[@danacoleman4007]

what?

[@downloadableskills]

I remember seeing packs of fallen for 39 cents at a lgs. Sadly the follow up with Homelands was enough to kill the love of the game for a lot of my friends. Ice age was amazing and much needed, alliances was meh to me at the time... As a player base, we were in a pretty abusive relationship with WoTC

[@miketravis4242]

I played starting with the release of unlimited/legends in middle school and played off and on through ~ 2000/01. There were some horrible sets during that time to compensate for the power creep & crazy imbalance that was going on through the legends release. After legends, you had three sets in pretty quick succession that were all pretty bad - the dark, homelands, and fallen empires were all bad. Ice age really was the only decent set to come out in that series.

[@lepuke6854]

Ive been playing since 1995. IMO Magic peaked at the Lorwyn Block (Im talking all 4 sets, not just the first 2). First set to have Planeswalkers, and they were balanced, fun, and didn't ruin the game.

[@LucasTigy2]

as bad as serrated arrows seems, using it in a commander deck that does a lot of proliferating could probably be kinda fun

[@OrbGoblin]

Fucking homelands... first set I was able to buy a box of. Saved up allowance for months, screw this set!

[@rainbowcrash6990]

I appreciate that tidbit about ferrets 😂 great video! Omg they gave us memory lapse??

[@mavrickindigo]

6:02 "nowadays?" Not for long. UB will be standard legal soon

[@skarloey1214]

Great video not Harrison. 👍 Also, this explains your recent shorts Edit: to be clear the "not" part is just a joke about your name not actually being Harrison.

[@imperialcitizen4811]

Return to Homelands, you cowards.

[@slayerofthebuzz1]

Modern Horizons 4 can be Return to Homelands: the most broken set of all time. With cards like: Joven's Favorite Ferret G Uncommon Creature - weasel Skulk, Haste, Ward 4 Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, create two treasure tokens for each land that player controls. Dash 0 1/2 and Veldrane, Enraged 1WBR Legendary Creature - Vampire Rogue Noble Mythic Flying, Haste, Bloodthirst 3, Menace When Veldrane enters, draw a card for each vampire you control. Then each opponent loses life equal to the number of cards in your hand and you gain twice that much life. 6/7 or Abbott's Protection Instant WWWWWWW Rare You may buy one share of Hasbro stock instead of paying this card's mana cost. Buyback - buy one share of Hasbro Stock. Gain 20 life. Your opponent may cancel this effect by buying one share of Hasbro stock.

[@imperialcitizen4811]

@slayerofthebuzz1 I am Mark Rosewater and I approve this set design.

[@alexbrown128]

As a certified Homelands lore enjoyer, even I can attest to the fact that this set is mechanically worse than even bad r/custommagic cards

[@munnypantz]

Time well spent on this vid

[@coprographia]

Please keep in mind, while listening to any of Rosewater’s inside baseball, that as Magic’s brand manager anything he tells you is essentially propaganda in service of the brand. No one is accusing him of lying (I think?). Just take his stories with a grain of salt.

[@TiroDvD]

"Never let the truth get in the way of a good story." --Mark Twain

[@chayadol]

I prefer 20 Homeland, 10 Fallen Empire and 5 Kamigawa, than whatever this try-hard UB standard set pushers anyday. Homeland maybe weak power level, but I would argue their story and setting is pretty good same way that people love Kamigawa regarding of how weak of the set is.

[@RealSickduck]

Imagine asking someone if they play "magics." Wild.

[@slayerofthebuzz1]

Homelands was the first booster box I ever bought. . .

[@curtmantle6554]

Hi man, dont mean to be a shitter but I think you can probably skip the whole "Richard Garfield did this and this and created magic" bit in the future. I clicked onto a video about a 20yo mtg set, I know the basics. Not my video, and I didnt put any effort into it, so by all means ignore me though.

[@zenorum]

Is that Spice8rack?

[@Firevine]

Is new Magic bad? Yes. Is some old Magic bad? Also yes. There are a TON of boring or forgettable sets. Prophecy is ass. Mercadian Masques ain't great. Weatherlight and the following saga is bad. I don't even remember half of what is legal in Premodern, and it seems the format doesn't either. Is Homelands bad? Yeah, mechanically. Is Homelands _awesome_ thematically? HELL YES.

[@DarthMetool]

I still unironically consider Homelands to be my favorite set.

[@bryanunruh3174]

Didgeridoo is a good card too

[@metal--babble346]

SpongeBob cards will be super strong & powerful

[@prufrock1977]

The fact that he is directly related to a president. It just…saddens me. No wonder.

[@darth-umbrex]

I'd argue that fallen empires was worse.

[@nooneofconsequence1251]

Fallen Empires was terrible but in no way was it worse. Not even close, honestly.

[@nooneofconsequence1251]

Fallen Empires was the first set to really explore the tribal theme and there was some cool stuff you could do with Thrulls and Goblins... it had some powerful cards like Hymn to Tourach and High Tide... the thematics and artwork were better... you had your first permanent that produced tokens every turn in the form of Breeding Pit and also lots of ways to use tokens for the first time like Hand of Justice which everyone loved combo'ing with Icatian Town... literally NOBODY liked Homelands or anything in it. It was just a terrible, terrible set. Also... after months going by where Revised and every expansion set was sold out in every card and game and comic shop across the country and consumers being unable to find new Magic product anywhere, they so overprinted FEM that after a while you could pick up a brand new booster box for like $7 or $8, so... that was neat...