We’re living in interesting, exciting times. The World Championship has crowned Brian Braun-Duin as our world champion. Collected Company‘s reign of terror nears its end. Kaladesh spoilers have begun early. Conspiracy 2 is just over a week old. Commander spoilers will begin next month. We already know that we’ll be traveling to the Egyptian-themed Amonkhet in the April, and that Modern Masters 2017 releases the month before.
I know that these are all wonderful things, but I feel nothing.
I should be excited. Kaladesh looks amazing. It’s a beautiful, optimistic plane the likes of which we’ve never seen. If its design and Limited environment are as strong as its worldbuilding and theming, we may have an instant classic on our hands, one that joins Ravnica and Innistrad as most-beloved planes. The story team has been knocking it out of the park this year, and its side-story leading directly into the return of Nicol Bolas (Kaladesh features Tezzeret, after all) looks to continue this trend. And there’s a Modern Masters, to boot! MMA Limited tends to be amazing, and MMA2017 hearkens back to 2010, when I return to the game and began playing competitively.
Despite all of this promise and exciting news, I feel no excitement. I’m numb from the constant influx of newness. Since Eternal Masters spoilers began in June, we’ve been in an almost-unending spoiler season. A set is teased, spoiled, and released . . . and the cycle begins again the following week. I feel like I did when New Phyrexia was spoiled weeks early—I’ve eaten all of my Halloween candy on November first and I’m anesthetized to sugar.
I fully expect this bizarre lack of excitement to pass. Normally, September heralds the return to exciting Magic after a Core Set-filled summer that’s generally lackluster. The two set paradigm eliminates the summer as a lame-duck time, but also eliminates the easiest time for players to recuperate and for the fall set to gain momentum. That’s a good thing, though I fear that this summer has been so overfilled (particularly with two short-lived summer sets) that it sets a bad precedent for the future. That Modern Masters 2017 is coming out in March seems to be a reaction to this trend; perhaps we’ll now see supplemental sets twice a year, just before a new large expansion comes out. That seems like a good cure for the doldrums and sporadic enough to prevent overstimulation.
All that said, I hope that few of you are feeling the way I do. I hope that you’re all thoroughly excited for the wondrous Inventors’ Fair and that I join you in your eager anticipation. We’ll just have to see what this week brings.
And as always, thanks for reading.
—Zachary Barash
Zachary Barash is a New York City-based game designer. He’s played Magic since 1994, he loves Limited and drafts every available format (including several that aren’t entirely meant to be drafted). He loves Ulvenwald Mysteries, as it’s both a strong Limited card and tells a fantastic story entirely through its mechanics.