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I'd like to address the readership here for just a second. I need to apologize in advance. I'm sorry you have to see this. It's going to be as awkward as a bigoted joke in a room full of women. I'm about to tear someone a new one. Someone you may know. It can't be helped though, as public humiliation is my last resort. That person is Goldilocks, of the Brothers Grimm tale.
Off and on, I'm going to have to address Goldilocks directly and I don't want you to be offended by my remarks. Hope you don't feel too awkward...it's as embarrassing for me as it is for you. Just wanted to let you know that I'll be addressing someone besides you from time to time.
I'm sure you're familiar with the tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. If not, allow me to remind you. It's a story about a self-centered little vandal that breaks into a house and takes what isn't hers, yet complains every step of the way about how extreme one situation is, only to then encounter the opposite extreme before finally settling for something somewhere in the middle that is, "just right." At the end, she grows complacent and falls asleep, whereupon she is savagely ripped limb-from-limb by a pack of pissed off bears (rightfully so).
Your memory of how this story goes may be a bit different than mine...but the moral is still the same: It's rare that you get something, "just right," on the first, or even second try; and your version of, "too hot," might be someone else's, "just right."
Core is experiencing this fairy tale right now, and there are plenty of Goldilockses on the forums complaining about how their play experience is either too hot, or too cold. Even if the temperature was just right, I'm convinced they'd find something else to complain about simply for the sake of complaining. "It needs more salt," or, "It's not right that Cryptozoic doesn't provide a vegan-friendly Class Deck. We're people too!"
Hey, Goldilocks...yeah, I'm talking to you, you little blond-haired sociopath!
You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else, and we are all part of the same compost pile. (~Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club, Chapter 17)
Any attempt you make to climb your way to the top of the pile where it's nice and comfy will inevitably leave someone below you unhappy. Thus, our game and the cards that are designed for it are in a constant state of flux and change. The very moment where everything becomes, "just right," is the moment when complacency will lead to the demise of the game. Whether or not it's a band of rabid bears turning your spleen into a Jacob's ladder finger-puzzle, or the boredom that sets in from lack of a perceived advantage and the challenge to overcome it, the game will be doomed.
There is and always will be cards that are superior. There will be [Broderick Langforth]s, [Myriam Starcaller]s, [Dethvir the Malignant]s, [Sava'gin the Reckless]es, and Stash-able Cairne/Magni cards that have so much utility value that you had better have a damn good reason for excluding them from your deck. There will be fringe cards like [Alana the Woebringer] and [Xi'ri] that see extremely limited play, but give a specific advantage in a specific type of deck. Lastly, there will be the cards that have ZERO purpose outside of Limited play, such as all of the allies with absolutely no printed powers at all. Each card is designed for a purpose, interaction or counter to a known interaction.
What you seemingly fail to realize, little-miss-entitlement, is that this is actually what keeps the game healthy, alive, and talked about. If all cards were created equal, all classes were always well-balanced, and each match-up had a 50-50 chance of winning, you'd be playing a glorified game of flip the coin. That's about as fun as a taser to the face.
Remember back before the Sad Keanu memes when the Matrix movies were still considered cool? Remember this little bit of the Matrix world's history?
The Architect created the first Matrix as a utopia for the humans whose minds inhabited it. However, the human minds rejected this first attempt as a perfect world and beta 1 of the Matrix crashed.
Yeah, this is why we can't have nice things. We humans want what we can't have, but once we have it, we disregard it because we HAVE it and now want something else. At the very least, the guys in R&D of pretty much every card game out there understand the need for flux, change and imbalance amongst the colors/classes/pokemons/thingies. That's the whole beauty of it. Make one thing really powerful for a while, then nerf the ever-loving crap out of it later.
It happened all the time when I played the WoW MMO and actually helped make it interesting. Nobody liked it when their class got nerfed, but not many complained when it was their class that got the buff. The reason I eventually stopped playing: Everything became the same. Daily quests, raid boss battles, dungeons. The window dressing was different, but it was all still, "Kill 10 Rats," and, "Don't stand in the fire." There's only so much of that that can be tolerated before the mind eventually begins to want something different. We crave change. You're getting that change with each new set that's released.
You are allowed to remark about about how badly the Paladin [Grand Crusader] decks are beating the rest of the meta right now. It's your right as a participant in the game to make these sorts of observations. I bet you were also part of the group that spoke up about how crappy Paladin was this time last year. Remember when Hunter was grounds for a good belly-laugh in Constructed? Yeah, who's laughing at them now? I'm just as apt to have these sorts of opinions as everyone else. I recognize it for what it is though—change. Change, in our game, is never ever, EVER a bad thing. It keeps that Matrix-like utopia from ever being formed and ruining the game for us all.
It's one thing to recognize the imbalance and perhaps even complain about how it's too hot or too cold. When you cross over from making an observation to outright bitching about how the designers obviously don't know what they're doing and obviously you could do better, that's when things go too far.
Patrick's recent interview on A Question of Gluttony podcast acknowledged that Horde is certainly dominant at the moment, but in case you didn't catch the implication, that will change. Maybe the needle will swing back towards the even mark, or maybe it'll swing so far into the Blue side that [Mazu'kon] becomes unplayable due to the new tech. We. Don't. Know. And that's the beauty of it. That's what keeps me interested in the game. No matter what the meta looks like right now, it will change.
Hey, Goldilocks! Stop gobbling my frickin' porridge and pay attention to someone besides yourself for a second! Do you REALLY think R&D was too blind to see the Girdle/Citadel interaction? Really? Well of COURSE it's a powerful combo. Life ain't fair, but at least you have the option of using the same cards as everyone else you degenerate little hipster-wannabe. If you'd prefer not to, it's your decision. Don't take it out on the people who made the cards because you feel you're too good for the best designs of the set.
Goldy, every time you shout ,"OMG, Edwin is too powerful!" I want to shout back, "Then get a play-set and reap the benefits!"
Can't afford to buy the singles? Not my problem, nor is it Cryptozoic's. The game is not designed to be compatible with all people's income levels. That's an external factor that is irrelevant to how a card functions. The guys who design card games like ours aren't paid on commission. They have absolutely zero incentive to make a card that can fetch a premium on the secondary market. They are paid to make the game engaging and fresh. They succeed and suddenly you're up in arms about it? What the hell is wrong with you? If scientists were to find a cure for cancer tomorrow, you'd be, "That Guy," who's complaining about how long the line is to get the vaccine.
The new Class Starter heroes get previewed, and your idiot self is immediately up in arms about how the, "On Your Turn," restriction is stifling your play experience. Hate to break it to you, Sugarbear, but these heroes are no less dynamic than 75% (this is the official, made-up-on-the-spot statistic) of the rest of the heroes ever printed. I'm glad you're excited enough to gripe about them though. At least you're still paying attention. Nevermind how useful their actual printed powers may or may not be, let's just focus on the clause at the start of the text, fly into a blind rage, and post on the forums before we've even finished reading the effect. Ohhh...geez...they're all pretty good. Hmm...a mage that totes around his own personal copy of [Rise and Be Recognized]? A Shaman that heals? A Rogue that can sneak past protectors and STAB things to death? These all seem pretty flavorful and appropriate. New players won't have a hard time understanding their utility. Veteran players now have another option to choose from when deck-building.
That's about it. I've made my point as clear as I possibly can. Goldilocks, I hope you are devoured by a gang of grizzlies. And I hope they heap on extra salt, just for a change from their normal, bland porridge. Remember: You are the star in a fairy tale because it’s supposed to impart a lesson on to others. That doesn’t mean you’re the one that did the right thing.
Tripp Allen
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