Lorwyn block was so full of tribal, which I find boring. It is only useful if you have a lot of that kind of card, and it’s a linear mechanic, that cant be used for much else. It need certain cards to run well, and then, it is almost unbeatable. But maybe I would like it more in peasant or pauper format (no rares/no uncommons).

And the -1/-1 in the shadowmoor/eventide block seemed to me to be just a mechaninic to have a new mechanic. Kind of linear, and removing interactivity, as you write in another post (oh, i wont block, then).

And a hybrid cost spell should be more costed, as it can go into either deck. Some cards were overpowered. I can use a g/r spell in my r/b deck if i’d want to. Huge usability.

As for the shards block, there is the phony tribe of artifact creatures; R&D: NOW lets make up a lot of artifact creatures that can be good together. Man, in 2 of five games I play against decks with master transmuter or Sphinx summmoner etc. They are building our decks for us! etc. I played such a deck once, and it wasn’t fun. So fixed strategy.

Since we’ve been playing Channeling Land (which has been great!), there is absolutely zero reason for us to buy more basic land cards. With Wizards placing fewer spells in each pack it’s a little obnoxious to buy the newer packs.

Fortunately there’s a wealth of good stuff in the “back catalog” to take advantage of, if you’re like me and just play friendly games.

You might think so at first, as challenging as it seems to keep introducing new Magic cards. Yet Mark Rosewater and co. keep fresh faces rotating in to the Magic R&D teams, which helps bring new ideas, and I’m sure there are tons more top players with ideas about cards that haven’t been printed yet.

Of course development is another matter, keeping from breaking any of the thousands of existing cards with the introduction of new abilities has got to be tough, not to mention trying to balance everything. And also leaving out the “acquisition” strategy, which is likely to be good for gaming but perhaps less good for us enjoying Magic.