Thoughts I would like to share and debate
I've seen a lot of takes, swinging both ways about UB over the time, but getting FF spoilers and ATLA announcement is obviously setting some things off.
**Disclaimer : I'd buy a Street Fighter/Guilty Gear, Dark Souls/FS games or X-Men mtg Set.**
We all have IPs we'd like to see in the game. That's the whole point. That's why UB is such a difficult thing to discuss and to actually fight back if you want to. Even if you're 100% anti UB, there's probably one singular IP that could sway you.
And Hasbro knows it. There's no *other* FF card game, no *other* ATLA card game and so on.
The things you really like, that stay with you a whole part of your life are not products. At the very least, you don't engage with them as products. It speaks to us on a deeper level, from an emotional connection, what we typically describe as art. But on the other hand, you most likely need products to be able to engage with it at all : a TV show, a movie, a book, a video game, some action figures... That's a tough balancing act, not drowning your own universe in plastic garbage and yet allow people to connect with it through some means.
No one likes Neon Genesis Evangelion just because "it's a fun show". Rather because of how it made you think about your own relationships, your sense of self-worth and love through a really different and intriguing aesthetic.
No one likes Mass Effect just because "it's a fun game". Rather because you were able to approach NPCs as real people, maybe for the first time. Because it's maybe the first video game to truly approach the writings of Asimov and the likes and made you truly think about life beyond our gaze.
No one likes The Lord of The Rings just because "it's a fun book". Rather because of how universal and authentic this struggle between good and evil is depicted and how we can all relate and connect through it. Because of how desperate and how epic it can be at the same time, like our own lives. Because it helps us see what's beautiful in life and what matters to us.
If MTG is what it is today, it's because it was art we were able to approach through a particular product. A product capable of doing what a lot of other can't, for example how flavor can be so satisfying to experience, when a card and its usage go perfectly hand in hand. MTG has fans, probably most of us, people who like what it's telling, how it's telling it, who were touched, profoundly maybe by some artwork, by a character or a plane.
My point is : if EVA, LOTR, ME, ATLA or any work of fiction you hold dear in your heart was a cesspool of endless crossovers for the sole purpose of turning a profit, you would not like it today. The things that are "just fun", we enjoy and forget. If ATLA is your favorite IP, it's probably because of the message it conveyed, its teachings to your own life and If ATLA had DBZ crossovers, if One Piece had Berserk crossovers, if Harry Potter had a LOTR crossover, you would have felt it, your own culture, weaponized against you. How is anyone gonna become a fan of MTG, if MTG only exists in the void between those IPs? Look at how Innistrad, Tarkir and Aetherdrift are handled right now.
That's what I think is happening. We have constructed meaning and togetherness through some IPs that helped us being better humans and corporations will use it as a weapon for their own gain. I personally almost bought the Storm Secret Lair. Almost. What stopped me is when I saw what it meant to WotC/Hasbro. No protection from scalpers, no printing on demand, not a way for me to connect with my culture, but a way to extort my money through it.
And now, fucking Spongebob cards. If you come to my pod with a counterspell tribal helmed by your custom Patrick Star and just yell "NO IT'S PATRICK" every counter, you're a genius and I love you. If you just buy it for 300 dollars off of ebay, I'm gonna think you suck. We don't need corporations to "allow" us to connect with our culture, we can make alters, and customs and anything else, what is WotC gonna do? How do we stay fans of MTG, if it's only some connecting tissue for monetized nostalgia?