Magic, and it's roundabouts.

Playing Magic in Australia is TOUGH. Capital T, tough. You don't have a PTQ everywhere, you don't have an unswimable amount of players, and you don't have infinite chances to get there.

You get a few groups around the place, and top players who do very well amongst themselves, and the same small circle of rotating greats. They all have their own personalitiy, and you love them or you hate them. For the most part I love them, because they're hilarious, there's always a case where you wish the person never played Magic. It makes players from your area look bad, simply by association. HE'S repping Australian Magic right now? For shame, why not X?

Regardless, having the chance to play regular Magic (weekly FNM is as close as I've gotten to regular playing) and then having that taken away (work puts me on friday and saturday) I find I can't really play this game I love. So it's hard to obtain particular cards, build the decks, test a lot and play FNM to crush. I find I gravitate towards a deck that speaks to my style of play, which is Wrathing then bashing with tons of guys anyway. Good times, right?

So to say I'm happy with Magic at the moment isn't correct, nor is it Magic's fault. I just haven't had the time. Plus Return to Ravnica has been a big disappointment. I thought we'd get the guilds we fell in love with, but we've more or less gotten their immature younger cousin, who's too excited and all they want to do is bash. Seriously, all the mechanics of all the guilds just want you to bash, it seems.

Battalion, bloodrush, DEFINITELY Cyper, scavange wants to you trade in combat for +1/+1 counter fun, Evolve wants you to play more creatures (usually to bash, some to draw cards), detain allows you to easily dawdle across the red zone, and Unleash? Did anyone need that one explained?

Compare the mechanics (I'm sure I forgot one) to the first lot we were given. They definitely had "hit and miss" to them as well. Forecast? How the hell is that Azorious at all? But then again, Dredge was such a huge mechanic, it's spawned it's own deck and no has a name amongst all the decks in any format that use the graveyard. Sure, nurf it, but not this much!

Also the colour fixing was very different this time around. Any artifact or land will give you EITHER colour, not both. Last time we had Signets, which we were cheaper, and Bouncelands, which we stronger. So they've slowed down the colour fixing while ramping up the creatures. So don't worry about colour fixing, just player creatures, that all want to bash, and kill your opponent before they establish anything.

What if your opponent is on the same plan? Just be the more aggressive guilds. To whit: Orzhoz, Boros, Gruul.

It also feels like it's missing a lot of flavour, too. Maybe it's because the world of Ravnica only allows for one real story: ten guilds having a fight. You couldn't make it that only "six of Ravnica's guilds are pissed off," that's just stupid. Or if they teamed up, you've already got Shards of Alara, which was also another cool set (giving friend triangle colours a proper name, but enemy wedges are left wanting) but straight after another multi colour set (Shadowmoor and friends).

I'm thinking in particular cards that stood on their own, and just happened to be a guilds colours. Things like Tin Street Hooligan (a naughty red Goblin who'd run along the sales stalls and knock things over, breaking them!) or Rumbling Slum (the Gruul were so damn angry their magic made the very buildings and ground itself rise up amongst them, an ally!)

I think that's missing, and we're simply expected to "buy into" all that stuff again, without it really being here. Everybody knew how good Mirrodin was (every time it's been in Standard, cards have been banned. It's also got the most entries on Moderns Banned list) but it was much easier to communicate "a plane filled with Artifacts." Half of every booster pack was Artifacts, and there was oodles are Common! This compares favourably to reproducing Ravnica, because you can just make every booster pack shares colours, because there is TEN minute worlds to describe within the bigger ultra-megopolis that is Ravnica. You've got 11 things to tell the audience there, as opposed to 1 Major thing.

So I don't blame them, but I do feel like we haven't really been given Ravnica 2. It was a bit like the 3D revolution in video games. Some games transfered very well (Mario64, Zelda Ocarina of Time) while others just didn't do anything like they used to (Sonic on the Sega Dreamcast).

It's all just left me without much inspiration to play Magic lately, although I do read the odd article. Not being able to play, and seeing an old friend who was best unvisited.

Ironically we're about to be treated to ANOTHER friend, we're all VERY FAMILIAR with: The Core set! There is nothing like a nip of coffee between drinks, because it's a most wonderful thing. A palette cleanser. Didn't like Avacyn? No worries! Upset with Ravnica 2? Boo hoo, go play the core set!!

I'm especially happy that Slivers are returning. The last time I had a chance was Time Spiral block, when EVERY mechanic was something you could take or leave as you desired. This time? They're something to address, oh my.