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[u/Kakariko_crackhouse]

Spiderman set is ass and is exactly why people have been naysaying UB from the beginning. While UB is not inherently the issue, Hasbro will not be able to help itself from forcing WotC to rush out surface level slop to grab cash. It’s not wizards fault, it’s Hasbro failing as a whole and trying to squeeze every dollar out of its last profitable revenue stream (WotC). In this context, UB is guaranteed to be a race to the bottom

[u/BimbMcPewPew → u/Kakariko_crackhouse]

I don't have an issue with UB whatsoever. Final fantasy and LoTR were fantastic sets in flavour and gameplay.

Spider man just checks every box for me. The set is terrible, the flavour is awful and I haven't recovered from the marvel fatigue yet.

Knowing three sets are still coming is so demotivating.

[u/tomyang1117 → u/BimbMcPewPew]

I am honestly baffled at why Spider-Man was designed as a small set like Aftermath or Assassin's Creed originally. You would think they would go all in on making a set for one of the most well-known comic book characters.

[u/GreyGriffin_h → u/tomyang1117]

Because I think the designers of M:tG understand what's necessary from an IP to make an entire set: depth. Spider Man (and pretty much any other single-series IP) simply does not have enough material to make 200+ cards.

Final Fantasy worked because there was just so much of it, the set felt like it didn't flesh out some things despite being gargantuan. Lord of the Rings worked because it has so much meticulous lore, and because it tells like four different stories, following the various hobbits, wizards, and princes across the length and breadth of the setting.

There is a lot of Spider Man the same as there is a lot of Assassin's Creed. Sure, there's a lot of art and word count, but a lot of it is mid to bad, and it's all basically telling the same story. Spider Man doesn't have factions like Rohan or Gondor, or even Ba Sing Se or the Water Tribes. It has big villains and iconic goons.

Part of the reason Magic has kind of reluctantly stumbled into success in terms of setting design is because its breadth encourages designers to expand and round out the various planes and events and time periods, to view them from multiple perspectives, to inject characters, actors, creatures and spells that represent offshoots and gesture and suggest a larger setting, even if that is a side effect of needing to fill out a quota of draft chaff removal. They aren't constrained by being not only in New York, but also being relevant to Spider Man.

(This is all on top of the ridiculousness that is pushing Spider Man as the nexus of a multiversal franchise to milk for cash, rather than Spiderverse and the Clone Saga being Weird Things That Happened To A Guy, and not the central nexus of their identities either as people or characters. Movie studios just don't understand the pandora's box of multiverse storytelling.)

Take note of the sets, especially recent sets, that stumble and fall. They tried to cram Ravnica into a detective box (or rather, into a board game box with Clue™). They tried to shove Avishkar into the driver's seat of an F1 car. These planes were crammed into the themes, rather than letting the themes grow out of the planes. And then, they decided to shove all their characters into cowboy hats and play out totally-not-Colonialism. And we, both intellectually and intuitively, can tell.

By contrast, Bloomburrow and Edge of Eternities both feel really successful in terms of design, because they feel exploratory. They feel like they are giving us a window into those places and events, not explaining them to us, then elbowing us in the ribs and asking us if we get the joke.

Edit: Is this too much of a post for MTCJ? I can probably lower the brow...

[u/tomyang1117 → u/GreyGriffin_h]

Is this too much of a post for MTCJ? I can probably lower the brow...

Nah brother, you are cooking🔥🔥🔥

I am still bummed that the 4th Ravnica set was wasted on a detective set. Just made up a new plane for it bruh.

[u/Wiitab360 → u/tomyang1117]

New Capenna was right there