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There have been so many crossovers in Magic: The Gathering of late, it's getting hard to keep up. First you had Warhammer 40k and The Lord of the Rings, then Doctor Who, now Final Fantasy is in the mix. That’s not forgetting Spider-Man or Jurassic Park. Wizards of the Coast is rivaling LEGO at this stage.
The Universes Beyond initiative has brought lots of attention and new players to the game, but with such growth comes certain drawbacks, particularly in what could be seen as a dilution of the brand. Jeffrey White, a multi-time Magic: The Gathering tournament winner, has penned a scathing open letter to the card game's community about the state of the scene at present.
He starts by comparing Magic to a restaurant now selling slop. "One day, you notice a new item on the menu. Slop. Over time, a second flavor of slop shows up on the menu. Then a third," he writes. "Then you notice that some of the old menu items you used to love now come with a non-optional side of slop. All menu items are now designed with the pigs in mind, on the chance that one of them might try their hand at human food."
It goes on like that, before he describes complaining about such an establishment, and the responses you'd get on a platform like Twitter. "You get two types of replies," he states. "1. I am a pig and I eat slop. 2. The restaurant is doing so well and has so many patrons. How can you be upset?"
Then he explains frustration at the latter, because it lumps all the community's desires together. The response generally assumes he's talking about Universes Beyond pumping out licensed sets, bringing in more casual players who treat Magic like something fun for a tabletop session.
White clarifies he's actually commenting on the emphasis on the Commander format from Wizards, asserting his belief the Final Fantasy and Lord of the Rings cards are merely an extension of that problem. "I would consider UB to be a manifestation of people wanting Magic to be a board game they play with friends," he adds in a follow-up post. "When you're just pulling singletons from throughout Magic's card file to build an engine/around a theme, tone and cohesiveness have already broken down."
Somewhat gatekeep-y his comments may be, there’s some validity to discussing what Jurassic Park cards bring to the overall Magic: The Gathering hobby. What's being done to keep the collectors and players coming for these sets in the community? Does Wizards even care about that at all?
Bigger questions that are worth pondering. For now, at least we can settle Aragorn versus the Spectacular Spider-Man via the forum of mana and spell cards.
