Memories of an Old Magic Player... A Special Perspective. - by Chris Newton

[Streetz]

This thread is reserved for the dicussion of the following article:

http://www.magicdeckvortex.com/mdvarticle0478.htm

Please read it, enjoy it and discuss it here.

What did you like about the article? Was it inspiring, informational, ingenius? Was it inappropriate? Was there anything you really liked or didn't like about it?

Let the author know here!

Thanks!

**NOTE: This thread is posted before the article goes live. If the article isn't up yet, please check back later.

[EvilBernd]

Hi

Nice interview.

One thing bugs me, though, it's the stuff with the cycles. I am not a big fan of them, because they make the sets to "straight" and they only surprise you one time for the whole cycle and not three or five times for each individual card.

Regards
EB

[death by aggro]

Wow, that's a fairly impressive feat. Tynion, how did you think the article went? Personally, I've always enjoyed Rosewater's discussions on Design (in particular articles on colors), and I must say this interview does not dissapoint.

That being said, if you're reading this Mr. Rosewater, you better not mess up your article on Jund's Red next week, as I'm very much looking forward to it.

[Streetz]

Thank you Chris Newton. Thank you Mark Rosewater. Thank you Magic Deck Vortex.

This marks a special day for Magic Deck Vortex and for me.

[Eldros]

Although I like very much to read his point of view in his own column, the response we got from this interview came to me as very bland. (Tho' I have to concede that it is quite a feat to have been able to interview the man in question).

To sum it up, it's pretty much a commercial facade that we received from MaRo. That said I don't know why I waited much more from him.

[Mogg]

I agree with Eldros. I was very interested in the subject, a chance to ask someone directly involved in the process what's going on and why. What bothered me was the lack of follow-up questions. Eldros calls the answers bland, and I would also call them evasive. What would have made me really love this article is if there would have been some follow-up on the questions.

The issue of lands in packs is an interesting one, and Rosewater really dodged it, giving his standard noncommittal response that it upset a "subset" of players. While it is entirely possible that opponents are just a lot more vocal and supporters, I have yet to find someone who says, "Yeah, land in a booster, great idea. (without sarcasm)" Most controversial ideas have at least some support from the player base.

A simple follow-up question, like "What other methods did you consider?" could have done much to clarify the issue. This is but one example. There were many times when I had my hopes raised for a real conversation with the head of design, only to receive a generic answer.

We are presented as people who care about the game, but are not totally absorbed in it. From MR's perspective, it may make sense to give the basic answer, because if we don't really follow his articles much, any deeper conversation may be alienating. The use of follow-up questions would demonstrate more awareness and make giving a more insightful response more interesting for MR.

Essentially, the article reads like a wasted opportunity. We had an interview with Mark Rosewater, but the information we got was the same stuff he writes in his articles.

I applaud you for the idea, and the questions you asked are interesting ones. The lack of follow-up questions, though, made the article less than it could be.

[hamsandwich]

thanks, chris. i am sure this was not an easy interview to get. everyone has brought up good points, however, and i think a follow up interview sometime next year may be a great idea. MaRo's annual casual update or something. he definitely dodged the basic land question. if you rely on older players to kick them down, why bother puttin one in a pack? so as a new player i have to buy 20 packs($90 USD) in order to build a deck? sorry, most kids don't have that kind of money...

one reason for no follow up questions is that this was done via e-mail, not im, so its no fault of chris'.

all in all, MaRo deserves a bit of thanks for at least acknowledging all of us. maybe we can stream some questions to him via e-mail and see what he has to say...

[guest1234]

I'll ditto Eldros and Mogg. The whole interview just seemed like Mark saying "well this is how things are" and not a bit of really interesting or uplifting or anything.

[Streetz]

Coming from the perspective of "I don't mind the changes with exception to the precons**" and also from the perspective of "Wow, MaRo's words are featured on MDV" I thought MaRo's answers were good and likewise CPN's questions were appropriate.

With regard to the dodging of the land issue and any other issues, I feel you have to understand that there are some questions he just cannot answer fully and as a longtime player and website owner, I can respect that. We all should.

Probably the most amazing thing here is that Mark agreed to respond to CPN's questions. While we may not like or agree with all of his answers, this opens the door for possible future Q&A sessions with MaRo and WotC. As a few have suggested, perhaps we should gather some additional follow up questions for a future interview. Or perhaps we should all email MaRo with our thoughts on the interview individually.

Regardless of what happens after this, this was an amazing accomplishment for Chris and for Magic Deck Vortex. One of my dreams in the beginning of MDV was to be featured on www.wizards.com (my website that is). And last year it was. But I never thought I would have the reverse... with MaRo's words featured on MDV!

I'm still a little bit in awe.

However, next time can we ask him some more intimate questions about Magic Deck Vortex? Like have they ever visited MDV, how often and what their thoughts on MDV are? Do they use any part of MDV for reference or would they like to see MDV do something different?

**My biggest concern with the precons may have been fixed. I recently bought the Jace vs. Chandra duel deck package and it came with a box to put the cards in. My biggest gripe with the change of the precons was that it no longer came with a deck box. These deck boxes are what I've been using to stores my umpteen decks in since I started playing Magic and not having new deck boxes, tailored with art from the set, upset me a little.

That's all for now.

[Mogg]

Originally Posted by Streetz

Coming from the perspective of "I don't mind the changes with exception to the precons**" and also from the perspective of "Wow, MaRo's words are featured on MDV" I thought MaRo's answers were good and likewise CPN's questions were appropriate.

With regard to the dodging of the land issue and any other issues, I feel you have to understand that there are some questions he just cannot answer fully and as a longtime player and website owner, I can respect that. We all should.

It is a great accomplishment, no doubt. I also acknowledge that MaRo can't answer everything. He mentioned this in part of his response to the land question. What makes me leave the article unsatisfied is that there is no follow-up to some very generic and answers, and no sign that a follow-up was even attempted. If Tynion tried a follow-up and MaRo said he couldn't go into more detail, I'd like to see that in the article, because then I wouldn't be left frustrated that MaRo's evasion to some issues was ignored.

Regarding, hamsandwich's comment, why would it be possible to ask follow-up questions in IM but not e-mail?

[hamsandwich]

Originally Posted by Mogg

Regarding, hamsandwich's comment, why would it be possible to ask follow-up questions in IM but not e-mail?

my understanding was that chris mailed the question to MaRo's people and recieved answers back. if it was done differently then i am not sure, but my understanding is that getting some of the big cheese's time was monumental in itself, so to e-mail him back with, "well, that is not satisfying." may have been pushing it. like streetz said, this now opens up an avenue of communication between wotc and mdv. it is a good start. if the interview was im then chris could have simply asked follow up questions, but with MaRo's availability comes the issue of time. sending the interview back with follow up questions may have come off as disrespectful, not too mention it then may have been shuffled to the bottom of MaRo's "to-do" list and it may have been published by march of '09. however, chris can probably give you a better answer...

p.s. you know there was another article up this week, delusions of something or other. i don't know. you guys should check it out. it hasn't quite fallen off the map yet.

[Mogg]

Common courtesy suggests emailing back simply to thank MaRo for his responses. In the email, one can quite tactfully say, "Thank you for your responses. Your answers made me realize some other things I was interested in (insert a couple points here, such as what other ideas did they have for land). If you'd like to elaborate on your earlier answers, that would be awesome. If not, thank you so much for your time and for clarifying some issues that many players are curious about. The people of the MDV community will be happy to hear that their thoughts are acknowledged by the people in charge of making this great game."

That email would, of course, be written more elegantly than that, but it should give you the sense of what I'm saying. If he gets a response, great. If not, or if MaRo says he'll respond later, mention that in the article. I felt like the article was an amazing concept, but that it did not even address the desire for a follow-up to questions that clearly needed one, made it feel incomplete.

Also, thanks for mentioning the Delusions article. When I came back, I looked at the Memories articles because they have always been one of my favorite series. I haven't gotten to the other articles yet, and I'd rather not forget them.

[Tekkactus]

C'mon, am I the first one to say it?

Up yours, MTGS.

[FuDaWg45]

Not a bad interview, but not really super in depth - as Mogg already pointed out. Mark just repeated all the stuff he's been saying.

Very cool that MDV landed an interview with him though.

[Tynion]

Fellas,

First, thank you for the kind words.

@ Tekk: Is that MDV Pride I sense coming from you?

@ Mogg: I think I need to be the voice of reason here. You understand that before Mr. Rosewater has to answer to you or any fan, that he has to answer to his boss right? He has a loyalty to Wizards first, then to us. There is nothing wrong with this, as this is the way of the world. Yea, he needs us to purchase product to be able to keep his job, but he must be politically correct when he answers questions, especially ones that involve Wizards decision making policies. We don't know that it was his decision to make these changes. How do you know that his boss didn't decide to do this? Are you expecting him to talk negatively about his boss in this scenario? (See quote below, focusing on the liberties portion)

As it regards to the follow-up questions: Come on, do you know how long it would take ME to get back to answering your questions, let alone someone in his position? How many emails do you think he gets a day? Not to mention that I had to go thought PR in order to get to him.

NOTE: Marcella at Wizards PR is awesome though. She answered my questions, routed my interview questions and brought them back for me. I had no problems with the entire process.

Also, I sent an email to both PR and Rosewater thanking them for their time and efforts and included a link to the article.

Rosewater replied to me with the following email:

Originally Posted by Mark Rosewater

Chris,

You can tell everyone that I went and read the comments. I'm sorry if some
of the readers thought I was giving bland answers. I was trying to answer
them as directly as I could. Obviously, I am not at liberty to always
explain everything but I do try as best I can to let our players know why we
make the decisions we do.

Here's the land issue in a short blurb. Land packs won't work economically
for two reasons. One, it cost us just as much to print a land card as any
other card but players don't put the same value on lands (aka they won't pay
as much). Two, in order for land packs to work we have to be able to get
them into stores. Land packs are not going to be a good seller (not on par
with what other packs will sell) and as such it will be very hard to keep
them in stock in stores that don't understand the point of them (aka most
mass market stores).

I'd be more than happy to do interviews in the future. I always enjoy
getting the chance to reach different types of players.

Thanks for the opportunity,

Mark Rosewater

Just so it is said, I read in his Wiki page (take that for what it is worth) that he is from Cleveland, Ohio originally. How about that? Both Wizards and MDV and overseen by Clevelanders (see my location to left). Oh and Ferret from Wizards and Star City Games webmaster is from Cleveland too.

Yea....