Press Pause

I played a few games against Fuz on Monday and...boy did Weapon of Choice just eat dirt. And it did so in the worst sort of way: the kind that didn't teach me anything about why it didn't work. Did I draw too many lands again? Yes. Did I get some draw spells to fix this? Also yes. 

So; now what? 

Because I'm not having any fun with this deck. It's not the losing, it's the frustration at not seeing what is wrong. This really sucks, because I have loved this deck for so long. However, when you're butting your head against a wall, it's time to stop. 

I can find a wall I can climb instead. 

So let's keep the deck in rotation but find something else to play for a moment. 

In the meantime, I'm going on vacation for the holiday so this is the last post until next week. Have a happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Remnant 2: Prism Edition

The final DLC for Remnant 2  (The Dark Horizon) came out and boy, is it good.

Not flawless, but damn good.

The good: An excellent, huge final level to explore. Boss Rush mode is a great bite-sized way to play. 

The bad: Prisms. 

For those who haven't played; Remnant 2 used to give you three slots for "shards" that you could use to give a small boost to your stats. The shards had an in-game currency you could use to level them up, so the bonus would get bigger. There were a ton of different shards to use so you could adapt them to whatever build or playstyle you enjoyed. 

The prisms are a drag. 

Prisms are a new item you can slot that give characters preset bonuses, which you can change by adding in the previous use of shards. Every time you level up the prism, you get a set of mixed new shards from what you already own to choose from. Then you can pick one and keep going, until you have 5 slots full.

I think that's how it works.

Which is the first problem: I don't understand how it works and they don't tell you. Are there videos online to explain them? Yes. But why do I need those now? Why should I need them?

The second problem: It's randomized. So I could be doing all this work to tilt the prism towards a build I enjoy and not get the shards I want. Which means I have to restart the whole thing over. But apparently when you make choices, you lose the shards forever, merged into the new one?

I think that's how it works. Please see the first problem.

I've seen enough videos to know that you can tilt the odds in your favor but this is just more bookkeeping.

The third problem: The benefits aren't measurable for the work you put in. I am playing this game to have fun: is stat keeping fun? Is getting a +5% bonus to critical hit fun? What if I spend time to grind things out and make it 10? 15%? Do I get to have fun then? What about all the time I spent before I finally got 15% bonus? Is that fun? 

What if I don't get the Critical Hit stat, and instead have to start over because I got Skill Bonus? Is disappointment fun? 

So it's a lot of time into an opaque system to give me outcomes I cannot control for benefits that are unnecessary to my enjoyment.

Because what I want to note is that all of this stuff? This isn't playing the game or even part of the primary gameplay loop! It's just busywork.  

Which is a bummer of an ending to what has been one of the best games of 2024. 

Reconsidering

 This video from Rhystic Studies goes into the house of Duskmourn and the inspirations involved in the creation of the plane.

Now, I said a LOT about my perspective on the existence of Baseball Bat in Duskmourn and I stand by it all. It still feels lazy. 

I really like the video: I like the added context that is provided for this plane! I wish that it had been communicated better to the players. I also appreciated the reminder that for a great many Magic players, the 1980's is shrouded in myth-a time they have no memory of, as I do. For them, the appearance of a rotary phone is as odd as a cigarette holders are to me; symbols of eras gone before I was born. 

Context matters: items can become strange quickly and the next thing you know the world is unfamiliar. Maybe even a baseball bat takes on strange significance. 

Dancing Around

 My friend Fuz ended up talking to me about this post, saying (effectively) 'I think we are past the point of (Universes Beyond) making Magic just a skin to put other IP in. It's done.'

Not long after that I came across The Professor's take on the Universes Beyond announcement. He specifically references a Rhystic Studies post to help explain how he's feeling.

I'll even include links to other essays the Prof talks about: The Twitter thread by Gavin Bull, and the essay by Gareth Edwards, for your reference. 

Because with the support of the essays I can se what Rhystic Studies and The Professor want to but can't say because they don't want to get demonitized and/or want to maintain good relationships with the people who work at WotC.  

I don't judge them for that, but I don't have that problem.

They are trying to speak out against the enshittification of Magic. 

How do I know for certain that Magic is being enshittified? It isn't because I think WotC doesn't have talented people who care about the game. The opposite is true-but it is very difficult to get someone to believe something when their paycheck relies on the opposite. 

No. I am confident the game is being enshittified because the parent company of Hasbro has been losing money except for Magic. 

Hasbro doesn't know how to make or run games. They (seemingly) have ONE arm of the company that does, and they are milking it for all it's worth. They don't care about players. They don't care about what games mean to people. 

They care about money. And when what you care about is money, everything else gets burned to the ground for money. 

I still love Magic and I will probably always love playing Magic. But Magic has meaning and I am not OK with that becoming watered down into nothing. Like all art, it isn't just the object any more. 

It's something bigger, and it's a goddamn shame to see that being pissed away for mammon. 

Now Peasant Kenobi has a different perspective on this and while I appreciate his optimism and agree that Magic from a story perspective has always been an amalgam and pastiche of other work. But I feel like he's got some rose colored glasses on. Yes, Magic will change and yes, some people won't like that while others will and no, Magic isn't going to die.

Until it does, because that's how enshittification works (if you did the reading). Nevertheless, I feel the perspective is worth considering.