Magic the Gathering: WOTC Now Runs Commander Rules Committee

 

After the former Commander Rules Committee banned infamous cards like Mana Crypt and Gilded Lotus (which as the latter card was made for the commander format made it practically useless) harbored responses from online screams of indignation to death threats, Wizards of the Coast, makers of the Magic the Gathering collectible card game took over the committee for its most current popular format: 

"The past week has been tumultuous for Commander fans, members of the Commander Rules Committee, and the Magic community as a whole. Along the way, we've seen players and fans share a diverse range of passionate opinions—far too many of which were harmful or malicious.

Over the past week, the conversation has escalated, culminating with unacceptable personal threats to the safety of members of the Commander Rules Committee. This is something we will not tolerate. No matter how you feel about something in Magic, it is never appropriate to threaten somebody. Everyone at Wizards of the Coast is united on this front—we will not hesitate to take action against individuals who threaten to harm community members or employees.

This week has also demonstrated the truly monumental task that faced the Commander Rules Committee.

The Commander RC is made up of five talented, caring individuals, all with other jobs and lives which they must balance with managing the most popular format in Magic. It results in incredible amounts of work, time spent deliberating, and exposure to the public.

Nobody deserves to feel unsafe for supporting the game they love. Unfortunately, the task of managing Commander has far outgrown the scope and safety of being attached to any five people.

So today, in partnership with members of the existing Rules Committee, we are announcing that the Rules Committee is giving management of the Commander format to the game design team of Wizards of the Coast."

They also touched on the future of the format going forward, in particular, the 'power level' of any MTG Commander deck:

"Here's the idea: There are four power brackets, and every Commander deck can be placed in one of those brackets by examining the cards and combinations in your deck and comparing them to lists we'll need community help to create.

 You can imagine bracket one is the baseline of an average preconstructed deck or below and bracket four is high power. For the lower tiers, we may lean on a mixture of cards and a description of how the deck functions and the higher tiers are likely defined by more explicit lists of cards.

For example, you could imagine bracket one has cards that easily can go in any deck, like Swords to Plowshares, Grave Titan, and Cultivate, whereas bracket four would have cards like Vampiric Tutor, Armageddon, and Grim Monolith, cards that make games too much more consistent, lopsided, or fast than the average deck can engage with.

In this system, your deck would be defined by its highest-bracket card or cards. This makes it clear what cards go where and what kinds of cards you can expect people to be playing."

Seems interesting and time will tell (it always does) if this is a good move or not for Magic the Gathering as a whole and commander as a format. 

-Thomas Spychalski

(Via Wizards of the Coast)

Five Insane Pieces of Star Trek Merchendise.

 
The world of Star Trek merchandise can be a strange one. If you’re like me – a fan of all science fiction, from Andromedia to Quantum Leap, Doctor Who to Red Dwarf, Star Wars to Star Trek – then you might recall Yogurt from Mel Brooks’ uproariously funny Star Wars spoof film Spaceballs when he said: “Merchandising! Merchandising! Where the real money… is made.”

Yogurt might have been a spoof version of Yoda, and hawking Spaceballs branded flamethrowers to children, but he has a point. When a television series or film gets popular, the merchandising deals are sure to follow.

This trend got out of control in the post-Star Wars days of the early eighties, and although some branded items have excellent real-world uses some merchandise for our beloved franchises – including Star Trek – should have been left in the cargo bay. Or better yet, blown out the nearest airlock…

Here are five examples of strange, hilarious, and totally collectible goodies from the last 40 plus years of Star Trek merchandise…

Audio Review: Doctor Who- Legend of the Cybermen

 It is often said that truth is stranger than fiction and perhaps it is, but if we were weighing the weirdness factor of settings in Doctor Who, none would be stranger than the Land of Fiction, first introduced in the classic Patrick Troughton episode The Mind Robber in the television series sixth season. The Big Finish audio Legend of the Cybermen returns the Sixth Doctor and Jamie to the strange realm where they not only get reunited with an old friend in Zoe Harriet but also an old enemy in the Cybermen, who ended up in the Land of Fiction and are converting fictional characters to further the Cyber race.

Film Review: Thunderball

Thunderball is everything one would expect from classic James Bond as there are enough beautiful women, gadgets, and action for everyone. However, the film as it stands today is a bit drawn out and lacks the intensity of some other Bond films, such as Goldfinger or Dr. No.

While these points are certainly the heart and soul of any classic James Bond adventure there are holes in this particular boat which sometimes make it feel a but dead in the water.

The film was one of Sean Connery's favorite Bond films to work on as well as being a critical success, with Thunderball easily overtaking the worldwide cinema totals of the first two James Bond films.

Film Review: Casino Royale (2006)

“Is America ready for a British James Bond?”

So spoke the wise and learned critic, Homer Simpson, at about the time that Daniel Craig was announced as the actor to replace Pierce Brosnan as Bond. Ironic post modern humor aside, this quote demonstrates the impact that Craig had on Bond fans when he donned the iconic tuxedo. Brosnan had been a popular choice for the role* and so the newcomer, then a relative unknown with naught but a few Guy Ritchie films under his belt, had a lot to live up to.

Book Review: Baker Street Beat

Baker Street Beat is an entertaining collection of short essays, stories and screenplays by Dan Andriacco, a self confessed Sherlock Holmes aficionado (he admits as much in his introduction so it hardly takes a Sherlockian level of genius to work this out) and covering the author’s own experiences and knowledge of the world of Holmes.

When faced with the term ‘essay’ one is put instantly in dread of dry, academic tracts with no inherent entertainment. 

However, in this case the fear is unfounded. 

Book Review: Watson's Afghan Adventure

One of the enduring mysteries of the Sherlock Holmes canon is how Dr. Watson came to become injured. Anyone who reads the original tales is aware that he was an army Doctor, that he served in Afghanistan* and that he took bullets from a jezail to the leg and shoulder. 

The specifics of his service are not covered in any more detail than that, mainly because Watson’s narrative is focussed on the current exploits of Holmes rather than his own past.

The concept behind this book was therefore intriguing to me as, in whatever medium Holmes is seen, I have always had a soft spot for good old Doctor Watson and always wondered about the story behind his wounds. This book delivers that tale as Watson, following a mysterious visit from an old army buddy, is called upon to relate it to Holmes in order to explain some discrepancies noted in the previous telling.