New players, and the late summer blues

First, I apologize for not having drafts at the house lately. I've been pretty busy on Fridays. If you are jonesing for EDH action, apparently Thursday is Elder Dragon Highlander Night at the store now. That sounds like a fun thing to check out and Thursdays might be good for me. Of course, I always say that and yet, my time always seems to be rather limited.

Second, we have a new dude in the playgroup, at least marginally attached. Swizz-Dizzle has sucked another person into the vortex that is Magic:the Gathering and he is hoovering up knowledge and cards at a phenomenal pace. Like most new players, he is totally into his not exactly standard legal casual constructed deck that does completely broken things for the casual table. It's fun to watch someone go through basically the same process I did three years ago and a little humbling. I am much more jaded about the game now and it's fun to see that wide eyed wonder. I don't know if I am ever going to get that back. Of course, every time I think I am out they keep sucking me back in. I am already on the hook for at least two boxes of Shards but I don't know. That might be the last hurrah for me for a while. The pace of cards is too much for me. I feel like I have barely played with Shadowmoor and it's not even going to be the newest set by the end of next month. Eventide is tremendously uninteresting to me for some reason. I am beginning to think they really had shit wired when they released three sets to a block and one block a year. It really allows your brain some rest time in between before you have to hit the feeder bar again.

Maybe the problem is that Wizards is trying to do some contradictory things that aren't necessarily conducive to 100% enjoyment. Their number one goal is to sell cards. It has to be. Magic is by far the biggest property Wizards owned and is probably only approached on that front by D&D. Hell, Magic is one of Hasbro's top 10 properties and they fucking own My Little Pony. Anyway, their basic sales tactic is to generate an addiction (or at least addictive behaviors) in their clientele. One part of hooking people is fun, but anyone who has been addicted to drugs, gambling or anything else will tell you that the pleasure of the activity is not the promary motivator after a while. Magic is very carefully calibrated to keep people hitting the feeder bar, keep them wanting more new stuff and keep them cracking packs. All the things they do have other motives, but ultimately they want to get you addicted and keep you addicted. Frankly, I wish Wizards would quit trying to sell us other shit (Dreamblade, Hecatomb, etc). Magic players spend all their gaming budget on Magic. If only they'd realize this and focus all their resources, they'd print even more money than they already do. Anyway, my point is, fun is going the way of the dodo bird for me right now and I am losing my addiction. Who knows though? Maybe they wil come up with something sick that I will just have to have in the fall. A new format, a new card type, a new color. Something like that.