Write a blog, he says. Before midnight Thursday he says. Oh, and make it good or this will be your first and last TCGpprentice piece, he says. And so this is the start of the competition officially for me. Though it looks like Riki is going to keep us all honest based on the initial email he sent out.
I'm not going to go through lengthy introductions here because, assuming I get through this round, Riki will be posting a short piece on each of the competition writers giving you an idea of what we're about. And if you have been following my stuff over here in my.tcgplayer.com so far, you should have a good idea of where I am coming from. I've also decided that my blog needs a title. On the way home from M-Fest, Marco Orsini-Jones mentioned that for much of the main event he was 'on the bubble' meaning that he had to win-out from where he was in the standings to have any hope of making top 8. It just kind of struck a chord with me, not least as it's a common predicament I find myself in, and so it will be my new blog title.
My initial thought was to make this blog 'Planeswalkers (What are they Good For?), going for a full-frontal parody of Riki's piece on why white is so weak in Magic at the moment. Then I realised I wasn't narcissistic enough. I find it difficult to constantly rip other writers to pieces. No matter how hard I try I just can't be overly verbose all of the time. And my conscious trembles at the thought of constantly telling my readers in my article threads that they are wrong. Cheap shot 
Down to business. At the moment you just can't escape the discussion of Planeswalkers in MtG messageboards, threads and chat rooms throughout the known world. A lot of the conversation has been reflected in these forums to the point of banal repetition. There's a few things that haven't been talked about in the debate so far which I feel the need to share with you. Before we get there, have a good look at the latest one to be revealed to us. In all her glory...
Got it? Right, there's a couple of important things we need to discuss about her and her brethren.
Firstly, a wise man said if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Magic had a rough patch a couple of years back. Mirrodin block had been disgustingly linear and over-powered with several outright mistakes from R&D. CoK block tried to rectify this by being boring and weak. At least they didn't make any obvious mistakes. Ignoring Jitte. Which is really easy to do seeing as it seen bugger all play.
/sarcasm
But the boys in Renton turned it around. Ravnica was dynamic and open-ended spawning a multitude of decks and arguably the greatest draft experience ever in RGD. Time Spiral continued the theme, putting the real power with the innovative deck builders out there. It looks like Wizards have once again discovered the art of creating beautiful, balanced sets without building the decks for us. Good times.
The result of all of this is that Magic is currently thriving. Playing numbers are up, people are returning to the game in droves and Wizards of the Coast are coining it in. Hellfire, I played Magic in the Louvre last year. The frickin Louvre! Over two thousand, five hundred players took part in sanctioned events at Worlds last year. Magic is not a VS System; Magic is currently in the ascendancy. It most certainly isn't broke anyway...
And while I wouldn't put a new card type alongside something as huge as, say, a sixth colour (yes, that is how you spell it you damned colonials, you), there is no doubt that it should be a big occasion. Planeswalkers feel gimmicky to me - something no more significant than a new keyword in a new set. So why do they feel so contrived and downright desperate? Why do I feel like R&D are trying to repair something that doesn't need repairing? The whole thing just doesn't feel 'special' to me. It should.
Secondly, if you are doing a new card type, at least try and innovate. It's not like you haven't managed it successfully over the past couple of years. Now I'm guessing you, my faithful and trustworthy readers, are getting a bit confused. 'Planeswalkers are like nothing we've ever seen before!' I hear you cry. Wrong. Go back and have a good read of the card. Go on...
Now consider the following card of my own creation;
Chandra's Revenge (Rare)
No casting cost
Sorcery
Chandra's Revenge is red.
Suspend 2 - 3RR
Deal 10 damage to target player and each creature he or she controls.
Whenever a time counter is removed from Chandra's Revenge, deal one damage to target player.
Right, before we go any further, let's get this out the way. Yes, the above card ignores the 'middle' ability of the Chandra. You aren't going to play Chandra wanting to use her middle ability if you can help it anyway. Sure, its nice to have but any time you use that -X ability, you're going to be a bit disappointed with yourself. And yes, I realise that you can't attack Chandra's Revenge with creatures and you can't point Lava Axe at it. You can however 'attack' it with the likes of Pull from Eternity and Riftsweeper and you have the knowledge that keeping Cancel in hand might be a good idea so it shakes out in the wash. There are a few other differences in how the cards would play but they are minor. Glad we got that out the way.
Ask yourself, how different is the Planeswalker from the sorcery I described above? How innovative is it? It would appear that all the Planeswalkers have a minor ability that increases loyalty a wee bit, a major ability that takes a massive chuck of loyalty away and something inbetween. And yet to me, all these cards have done is taken a keyword, Suspend, which we have seen used extensively for the last year, the last 12 months and three sets, and tweaked it a bit to fit.
The new card type. We waited years for it. Man, its going to be something that shakes the way we view and play Magic to the very core of the game! Oh wait, no it isn't. It's going to be a rehash of a keyword we've seen before. Lots. In the last block. Go team!
Before I go, I want to take this opportunity to wish my fellow TCGpprentice contestants the very best of luck. This is a competition but I don't feel like I am competing against these guys directly. This competition for me is about Dave Whitelaw vs. Dave Whitelaw. At the end of the day, if I do the best writing I possibly can over the next few months then I have a shot. If I do my best and don't win then the better man gets the job. There's no shame in being beaten by a better man. If I don't give this my all, then I don't deserve to win anyway. Either way, you guys are in for one helluva ride.
-Flame on-
Dave
