Jordan Kravitz, a self-described "former Magic addict" who has recently returned to the game after a five-year hiatus, expressed sadness over the current state of the game. Kravitz stated his wish to return to Magic's golden age, when the rules were complicated, the most popular cards were overpriced, and every card was either insanely powerful or completely unusable.

Kravitz, who began playing with Arabian Nights and quit shortly after Alliances was released in 1996, reserved his greatest grief for the Sixth Edition rules changes.

"When I heard that the rulebook had been simplified since the last time I played, I was furious because Wizards was dumbing down the game I loved," said Kravitz. "They took out a lot of weird details and streamlined the whole system about when you can play spells. Under the Fourth Edition rules, I could Giant Growth my 1/1 and you could respond to that with Lightning Bolt, and my creature would actually survive, against all common logic. It was counter-intuitive absurdities like that which made the old rules so perfect. Any 11-year-old can understand how 'the stack' works. But it took a truly devoted gamer to remember that a batch of effects would be interrupted by a regeneration window whenever a land was destroyed."

Last fall, Kravitz, in need of cash, sold his beloved complete set of Legends, which he called "without a doubt the best expansion ever."

"Nowadays, of course, a set like Legends could never get released, because Wizards R&D actually tests the power level of the cards before they print them. Isn't that crazy? People keep saying Odyssey is a great set, because it's so well-balanced. Well, did Odyssey have a card like The Abyss, which singlehandedly shuts down any creature deck as long as it remains in play? Did Odyssey reprint Shelkin Brownie, a 1/1 for two mana with an entirely useless ability? Of course not, because now all the design and development team cares about is 'balancing the set for Constructed and Limited play' and 'constantly coming up with new ideas to surprise and challenge both casual and tournament players.' Who the hell wants that?"

Flipping through a 1995-era issues of Inquest magazine, Kravitz reminisced about the days when in-demand power cards cost $30 to $200 each, and only the richest gamers could afford to build top-quality decks.

"Check out the prices on the Moxes. Man, how things changed. Today a regular working guy or a kid with an allowance can actually afford the best cards in Type II. I remember the days when no matter how good a player you were, you couldn't beat a rich guy with a full set of power nine and all the dual lands unless you owned all the expensive cards he did. To win at Magic nowadays, a full wallet only gets you so far; you actually need to put effort into improving your skill. That is just so lame.

"Don't even get me started on the way tournaments are run today, with official judges and an appeals process and all that," continued Kravitz. "Ryan Fuller keeps cheating and acting unsportsmanlike, and he gets kicked out of the game for a year. In my day, a guy like him would never have been treated that harshly; he'd be free to show up at the store every week and be as big a prick as he wanted. And having a head judge at each sanctioned tournament sucks. I remember once when I got into a big argument with Greg, the store owner, over whether Wrath of God could kill a Black Knight. What a blast that was."

Kravitz says he may stop playing the game again, because he is so repulsed by what Magic had become: An easy-to-learn, affordable, well-regulated shell of its former self.

"It's a real shame, I gotta tell you," concluded Kravitz. "Oh, how I wish they'd bring back the rule that said you can't use sleeves in tournaments."

Discuss this article in the Magic: the Gathering Forums!

Jordan Kravitz, a self-described "former Magic addict" who has recently returned to the game after a five-year hiatus, expressed sadness over the current state of the game. Kravitz stated his wish to return to Magic's golden age, when the rules were complicated, the most popular cards were overpriced, and every card was either insanely powerful or completely unusable.

Kravitz, who began playing with Arabian Nights and quit shortly after Alliances was released in 1996, reserved his greatest grief for the Sixth Edition rules changes.

"When I heard that the rulebook had been simplified since the last time I played, I was furious because Wizards was dumbing down the game I loved," said Kravitz. "They took out a lot of weird details and streamlined the whole system about when you can play spells. Under the Fourth Edition rules, I could Giant Growth my 1/1 and you could respond to that with Lightning Bolt, and my creature would actually survive, against all common logic. It was counter-intuitive absurdities like that which made the old rules so perfect. Any 11-year-old can understand how 'the stack' works. But it took a truly devoted gamer to remember that a batch of effects would be interrupted by a regeneration window whenever a land was destroyed."

Last fall, Kravitz, in need of cash, sold his beloved complete set of Legends, which he called "without a doubt the best expansion ever."

"Nowadays, of course, a set like Legends could never get released, because Wizards R&D actually tests the power level of the cards before they print them. Isn't that crazy? People keep saying Odyssey is a great set, because it's so well-balanced. Well, did Odyssey have a card like The Abyss, which singlehandedly shuts down any creature deck as long as it remains in play? Did Odyssey reprint Shelkin Brownie, a 1/1 for two mana with an entirely useless ability? Of course not, because now all the design and development team cares about is 'balancing the set for Constructed and Limited play' and 'constantly coming up with new ideas to surprise and challenge both casual and tournament players.' Who the hell wants that?"

Flipping through a 1995-era issues of Inquest magazine, Kravitz reminisced about the days when in-demand power cards cost $30 to $200 each, and only the richest gamers could afford to build top-quality decks.

"Check out the prices on the Moxes. Man, how things changed. Today a regular working guy or a kid with an allowance can actually afford the best cards in Type II. I remember the days when no matter how good a player you were, you couldn't beat a rich guy with a full set of power nine and all the dual lands unless you owned all the expensive cards he did. To win at Magic nowadays, a full wallet only gets you so far; you actually need to put effort into improving your skill. That is just so lame.

"Don't even get me started on the way tournaments are run today, with official judges and an appeals process and all that," continued Kravitz. "Ryan Fuller keeps cheating and acting unsportsmanlike, and he gets kicked out of the game for a year. In my day, a guy like him would never have been treated that harshly; he'd be free to show up at the store every week and be as big a prick as he wanted. And having a head judge at each sanctioned tournament sucks. I remember once when I got into a big argument with Greg, the store owner, over whether Wrath of God could kill a Black Knight. What a blast that was."

Kravitz says he may stop playing the game again, because he is so repulsed by what Magic had become: An easy-to-learn, affordable, well-regulated shell of its former self.

"It's a real shame, I gotta tell you," concluded Kravitz. "Oh, how I wish they'd bring back the rule that said you can't use sleeves in tournaments."

Discuss this article in the Magic: the Gathering Forums!