Sorry for the thread resurrection, but I wanted to drag up the poll results along with this reply. I finally got around to sending an email to Mark Rosewater. Here's what I wrote:
Dear Mark Rosewater,
Before I begin criticizing Unhinged, I wanted to praise the set briefly. I don't want you to get the impression that there was nothing about it that I liked. Many of the cards are absolutely fascinating. The Fallen Apart, Six-y Beast, the unnamed Shapeshifter, Frankie Peanuts, and the competition cycle (Head to Head, et al.) to name a few, really excited me. And now that I think about it, does Heartless Hidetsugu in silver-bordered land mean that life must now be measured in increments of 1/4, or does Hidetsugu's rounding floor life totals to the next lowest half?
On the other hand, some of the other cards just seem to foster environments in which it is not fun to play. The biggest offender is Gotcha! I conducted a brief poll consisting of the eight permutations of well balanced (yes/no?) fun to play with (yes/no?) fun to play against (yes/no?) and found the following: 30% of respondants found it well balanced and fun from either side of the table. 22% thought it was fun to play with, but not against, and 48% thought that it was not fun at all.
I happen to like playing with it, but the widespread frustration that comes with playing against it means that I seldom have an opportunity. Therein lies the kicker. Gotcha! is a Spike mechanic in a set dedicated to Johnnies and Timmies. As far as I know, there is really only one outlet for Spikes who like Unhinged cards -- Peasant Magic -- and that really only affects the commons.
I have heard many stories from people who tried Unhinged drafts, tournaments, etc. that Gotcha! often resulted in people simply not talking. After all, even casual players have incentive not to give that away games. One of the big draws of Magic, though, is the social aspect, and Gotcha! tends to encourage antisocial behaviour.
A handful of other cards also fall into the Unfun trap. To the best of my knowledge, Mana Screw for example, does exactly one thing: combo with Krark's Thumb -- dull both in result and in execution.
Even with the restrictions that have been laid on him, Cheatyface is one of the most irritating, rude cards ever. (I'll tap three Islands and add UUU to my mana pool. / Okay. / I'll put Cheatyface into play. / Okay. / Now I'll use the UUU to cast... / Then I catch you playing Cheatyface. / No way, you approved of me sneaking him into play. It's too late.) It becomes less about being sneaky and more about lying to get one's opponent to approve Cheatyface.
On the whole, I think that Unhinged is a fine piece of work. I really think that R&D dropped the ball with Gotcha! and a couple of other cards, though. I'm aware that R&D is only human and that mistakes do occur -- so I'm not even asking for any sort of explanation for Cheatyface or Mana Screw. I just thought I'd throw those out there, while I was in rant mode. I would, however, really appreciate it if you could comment on Gotcha! some time in the future. Letting individual cards slip through is reasonable, but I don't understand how an entire mechanic can slip through. I'm not asking for a reply or a column or anything. Maybe next time you dip into your mailbag, if you could address it, I would be grateful.
Thank you,
Z. Ephraim Glass
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