Friday, October 12, 2012

To the Window, To the Wall: Sexism in Sports and an Analysis of Skeet Shooting at the London Olympics

I remember a beach towel my sister had when we were little. On it was a picture, resembling a child's crayon doodle, of a girl with baseball cap, bat, and glove, and the message "Anything you can do I can do better!"


Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Ieuan, the Baneslayer, or Why Nicol Bolas Sacs a Shinewend Every Time You Make Another Win Con, Part 3

(← Part 2)

At long last it's time to apply all that tedious analysis to designing (or redesigning, as the case may be) some actual cards. In addition to the cards I broke down in the previous section, I'll take a brief look at some amateur designs from an alternate win condition design contest over at the Goblin Artisans blog.

Ieuan, the Baneslayer, or Why Nicol Bolas Sacs a Shinewend Every Time You Make Another Win Con, Part 2

(← Part 1)



Ieuan, the Baneslayer, or Why Nicol Bolas Sacs a Shinewend Every Time You Make Another Win Con, Part 1

Magic designers often go through an extended period where they struggle to acquire a reasonable and consistent framework with which to evaluate potential designs, whether their own or those of others. In truth, as with any pursuit, most will never make the leap from deluded mediocrity to the zen enlightenment of honest and informed appraisal. Very few communities exist where honesty is tolerated, so it's hard to get into the habit of telling (and hearing) the truth. To make matters worse, the world abounds with people who dip their toes, enjoy, love, and then fervently believe their passion and interest alone make them peerless experts. But how often do any of us sincerely ask ourselves if we're one of them?

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Blue Creature Keywords

On his tumblr a few months ago, Mark Rosewater mentioned a desperate need for creature keywords in blue, and over the course of many questions and answers, he revealed an increasingly stringent set of requirements for any candidate keyword: