Magic the Gathering Cardface- Good or Bad?

[jcb193]

Well, it's been more than 2 years since the Cardface of Magic has changed.  Almost [edit] everyone hated it when it came out, but have you now come around to love it?  It sure makes templating and typeface easier, but does it hurt your enjoyment of the game?

Thoughts?

[This was obviously stimulated by the new artwork for Ancestral Recall]

[The Atog Lord]

hate hate hate hate hate

[crazedpenguinman]

I think some of the cards look alot better with the new face, while some would look MUCH better with the old face, this is especially true with foils. Generaly black and red cards look better, while blue and white look worse, the change in green is not that signifigant.

[Ephraim]

Obviously everyone hated it when it came out...

Wrong. I like the card face now and I liked it then. I had a little bit of trouble accustoming myself to the new artifact border, but that hasn't been a problem for more than a year. I am glad that the new card face makes important text more readable. I like that it leaves a little bit more room on the card for artwork. I like that name lines and type lines are still colour-coded, but also tinted so that black text will contrast well with them.

[Matt]

They did a good job fixing the artifact border in Fifth Dawn.

[Sgt. Pepper]

While I have gotten used to it by now, I still think that the new layout is/was a completely useless change that just made the new card look ugly with the old ones.

[jcb193]

While I have gotten used to it by now, I still think that the new layout is/was a completely useless change that just made the new card look ugly with the old ones.

Do you think you would appreciate the new cardface more if you strictly played Type 2.  As T1 players, we are obviously going to mix old cards with new ones forever, so i'm wondering if T2 players are much more forgiving of the new look, as they don't have to see a deck of half and half every time they play?

Thoughts?

I'd be especially curious to see whether our opinons of the new cardface mirror those of magicthegathering.com research?

[Ivantheterrible]

 I guess i have adapted to it but come to think of it

Do you think you would appreciate the new cardface more if you strictly played Type 2.  As T1 players, we are obviously going to mix old cards with new ones forever, so i'm wondering if T2 players are much more forgiving of the new look, as they don't have to see a deck of half and half every time they play?

It is kind of obnoxious that the first block the had given us a bunch of playable stuff since Urza's (well MM had a few) was the first block to have the new face.

[Matt]

Yeah Odyssey block totally did nothing for Vintage.

[Jacob Orlove]

hate hate hate hate hate

Although I have to admit that one of the worst parts of it (black and white mana symbols in the text boxes, ugh) is now gone, which is nice. I still prefer the old cardface, though, and I'm looking forward to that September 1994 tournament eagerly.

[Necrologia]

In a deck where every card has the new card face (ie Standard) I don't really mind it. In vintage, however, it irks the crap out of me to drop an AN City of Brass, a UL Mox then follow it up with a Chrome Mox Imprinting IA Brainstorm. The Chrome Mox just seems out of place.

The new cardface is technically cleaner in so many ways, but there's something to be said for ascetics. Sure, it's hard to read Beta's Grey text on Brown background artifacts, but in my opinion it's more pleasing to the eye in many ways than Pithing Needle or the like.

[Godder]

In a deck where every card has the new card face (ie Standard) I don't really mind it. In vintage, however, it irks the crap out of me to drop an AN City of Brass, a UL Mox then follow it up with a Chrome Mox Imprinting IA Brainstorm. The Chrome Mox just seems out of place.

That's about it for me, too. Extended is even worse because decks are often about half-and-half.

Yeah Odyssey block totally did nothing for Vintage.

Since everyone loves a wiseacre, I'll also point out that Onslaught block was pretty terrible for Vintage as well...

[forests failed you]

I despise the new cardface.

Just imagine how hot all of the sweet artifacts from Mirrodin block would look in foil if they hadn't changed the card face.  Foil Mindslaver with old cardface would look HOT.

[Bram]

Loathe it still.

[prosbloom225]

I don't mind the new face, it fits the theme of the newer cards, and its a change of pace.  Just fix the artifacts and by god don't put t1 power cards in it(even for promo's) and we can all be happy.

[dandan]

I didn't vote "Hate it" because that is too strong but I still dislike it. However the textless cards are cool.

[orgcandman]

Wow, I'm gonna have to disagree with most of the people on here. I didn't like the old card borders as much as I like the new ones. Sure, I grew up with them as a young card-flopper. However, the new card face is clean, provides more artwork, AND has the advantage of making text readable.

I think a lot of the people that hated the cardface at first just didn't want change (ref: Any of MaRo's articles about people fearing change) and a lot of them either came around, or continued hating it on principle (note: I said a lot, not all). I think it's a good thing that Wizards is will to "shake things up" every now and then and look forward to what they have in store for the 20th or 25th anniversary.

[Revvik]

Some things about the new face are nice, like a few of the Blue foils (and come on, this is Vintage - that's really all that should matter).
Highlights include the Thirst for Knowledge, 8th Mana Leak, and FNM Brainstorm (while nowhere near the MM Brainstorm foil, the red in the background picture still clashes quite nicely with the pale blue of the character's face and the textured color of the border).

The artifacts now look much better and are probably the only other thing I like about the new face (especially foiled).  Gives it a much more 'steeled' look, post-Fifth Dawn anyways.

[Jacob Orlove]

Actually, looking back at my cards, Onslaught and Odessey block stuff is ugly too. I think my problem may be at least as much with the style guides for the art as it is with the cardface itself.

[Matt]

Actually, looking back at my cards, Onslaught and Odessey block stuff is ugly too. I think my problem may be at least as much with the style guides for the art as it is with the cardface itself.

Agreed. I hadn't liked the look cards of cards since...oh about Urza's Legacy. But I liked Mirrodin.

[Meddling Mike]

I really dislike the new cardface, too cold and sterile, where's the love?

But then again I don't like alot of the asthetic changes taking place in magic. Ed Beard was really the last hold out of the old school artists. Some of the new artwork is good, but alot of it sucks in a big way. I really hope Wizards comes to it's senses and hands the current art director his walking papers.

[Green Knight]

I don't like the new card face, if they changed back to the old or did something different (i.e textless, Unglued lands etc...) I would be very happy. As far as the new card face being easier to read, that is agreed, but how often do you really need to read the card?
Take a look at the promo Juggernaut vs. the Beta. Beta looks so much better (at least in my mind). I suppose it is all subjective, but I do love the old frame.
Now since they are doing the Ancestral Artwork for Vintage and added the new card face, why couldn't they just indulge us and at leased give it the old border? Yeah I'm old school.

[Dr. Sylvan]

I dislike the new cardface, but not that strongly. The worst change was going to "silver" for artifacts; I always thought that cards like Tangle Wire looked absolutely badass. (Imagine Karn on the new face! Tragic.) Would it have been so hard for them to keep the brown background and use a beige box in the middle for their black text? ::weep::

There are some cards that look fine with it, and the darkening for 5D was an improvement over the bleach-white "silver" variant that was used in Mirrodin. Mostly, I'm not gonna get upset about it, but I'm sure someone's going to hell for making so many cards unnecessarily ugly. That person's only hope for salvation is that maybe someday they'll release so many textless cards that Type One players can win despite being illiterate.

[dandan]

Vintage players could be persuaded by reprinting good Vintage cards in the new style and offering them as prizes/Judge rewards etc. New Balance looked very good and I'm pretty sure 5MLS would look pretty impressive too.

Regarding art, I'd agree that style guides have led to some cards with artwork that is hard to recognise or is plain ugly. The new dragons are good though. The new cards somehow lack 'warmth', and the power of simplicity and elegance seems to have been ignored.

Even though I personally dislike the look of many of the cards in the last block, I applaud Wizards for having such a strongly themed block, something underused since Visions.

[TracerBullet]

The way I illustrate to people why I hate the new cardface is simple- Turn the card over.  What do you see?  It's a tome, a classical text with mystic items held within, where wonderous things can happen and a world of rich colors and fantastical creatures await.

Now flip back to the front.  It's Windows XP.  With a crit error.  It will soon be a good, ol-fashioned blue screen of death.




I hate the new cardface.

[Revvik]

Vintage players could be persuaded by reprinting good Vintage cards in the new style and offering them as prizes/Judge rewards etc. New Balance looked very good and I'm pretty sure 5MLS would look pretty impressive too.

OMG love my foil Balance.  And whoever paid that much money for a foil Sol Ring had better be loving it, too.
In fact, that's pretty good evidence towards a love for the new face (even though Kamigawa Block did look really dull).

[Guardian]

Ed Beard was really the last hold out of the old school artists.

Rob Alexander is still there and his art still rocks. Man I love landscapes and natural stuff. The New Will-O-the-Wisp is as good as the original. Put on the old card face and it rocks.

In fact, the art of magic is sterile lately except for lands. It's too much flashy. Simple is better IMHO.

[Klep]

It's still hideous, especially the gold borders which look essentially like urine.  The only good change they made was in foiling the entire card instead of just the border, but accomplishing that doesn't require beating the card face with an ugly stick.  The old card face had a soul to it.  More than just a green card being green, you could TELL it was green because the border was reminiscent of a forest canopy and the text box was a natural wood grain.  You had similar effects for all of the other colors, including artifacts.  You just don't get the same feel with the new card face.  There's no emotion to it.

[Matt]

I think messing with the text boxes was their biggest mistake (not counting the B&W mana symbopls because they fixed that).

I saw a foil Mindslaver yesterday, it was pretty hot. I think the old card face looked good on old cards, but from about Mercadian Masques onward, the cards just started getting ugly. Find a box of Onslaught block commons and compare to a box of Mirrodin commons; the new face looks way the hell better.

[Anusien]

I was fiddling around with MWS and I got a new card face theme and damn does that look ugly!  I hacked the theme to bits and made it old face again.  It's the worst when you get the old cards in the new face (especially with the old art).

At any rate, I don't mind the new frame, especially because it makes sorting the collection easier.  I disagree with some of the old foils because sometimes you couldn't even tell, so in that respect, once they fixed artifacts, I was fine with it.