It would be an understatement to say that the recent changes to the Extended format have been controversial. Forums, blogs and tweets have been lit ablaze with fervent opinions ranging anywhere from support, to apathy, to hopelessness. Indeed, with any evolving, complex game there comes the inevitable tweak from on-high that alters, for better or worse, the very foundation of that pastime. Even the American shrine of baseball has been given a makeover once or twice.  This explosion of words has inspired more than one argument.  Much like the changes made in M10, most of the anger about this decision is coming from the veteran planeswalkers.  I spoke with Bo Levar over the weekend to get his opinion on these recent developments.

"I really can't believe it.  What is Wizards thinking?!   First, they remove damage from the stack, forever dumbing down the game.  Fine.  I can almost handle that.  But now they're forever altering an entire format?!  Honestly, Reinhart, what are veteran players supposed to think?  Are we no longer important to the mothership?

"I think you're looking at it the wrong way, my friend.  This change is going to make the "extended" format a lot more accessible to players lacking already established collections.  It's rare to walk into a local card shop and find reasonably priced packs of Mirrodin sitting on the shelves.  When I first started, Mirrodin was as foreign as an unspoiled expansion to me and the only packs I could find were at least five dollars a piece!  A format that requires cards from seven years ago pretty much requires you to have been playing for that long to be competitive. With the recent success of Magic the Gathering, it just doesn't make sense to hold Grands Prix or Pro Tours that are discouraging and unfair to anyone who started playing post-2003.  I consider myself to be a fairly hardcore Magic player (I do run this blog after all!) and even I don't have the cards necessary to make a competitive deck that includes the Mirrodin block... let alone the experience to use those cards competitively.  Call me a "noob" all you'd like but asking seven years of commitment from a player is asking three years too many, in my opinion."

"Great.  Another bone for the "new guy".  Magic the Gathering wouldn't even exist without players like me. It seems like all of the decisions coming down from Wizards of the Coast are pro-new player and anti-oldschooler. When are we going to see a little love?   You're whining about a seven year requirement?-  I've been playing Magic almost twice as long!  And I know I'm not alone out there.  If Wizards went ahead and made a Super-Standard then why not create a Super-Extended?  As far as we know, We only have the obscure formats of Legacy and Vintage to play around with.  Extended was the oldschooler's chance to dig into their binder and bust out some great, classic cards from Magic the Gathering's history without having to deal with Mox Emerald' and Time Walks in Vintage or Force of Will backed up by Pact of Negation in Extended.  There are rumors about big changes to these formats as well..."

"And I believe those rumors to be true.  Something is going to happen to Legacy in the near future.  The new gap between what you call Super-Standard and what we now know as Legacy is too great.  The format relies heavily on cards that have been out of print for seven years and games usually come down to one outrageous combo or another.  This is the reason why most players avoid Legacy.  What about all of the cards moin between Alpha and Lorwyn?  On this point, I concede, Wizards needs to communicate more openly with the players.  In a lot of ways, this is much more important than the minor rules changes in M10 because this isn't just going to affect Mogg Fanatic or "the stacking of lifelink";  format changes single-handedly "ban/legalize" entire swaths of cards."

"EXACTLY!  How are more people not upset about this?  When four or five entire blocks are cut from one of the most popular formats, doesn't that raise an eyebrow anymore? Think about all of the decks and cards that will simply never see play again- Thopter Foundry, Hypergenessis, Dark Depths, Tarmogoyf etc.  Why tell players that the cards they've collected and love over the years are no longer legal in any serious format? "

"Try not to focus on the individual cards and decks you've come to enjoy.  Cards rotate in and rotate out; they always have.  This is the nature of our system regardless of where they put the cutoff lines.  Think about it- was Dark Depths even a viable card before Vampire Hexmage was released in late 2009?  Some of these cards that people say are so near and dear to them have only recently cropped up!  My point is that there will be new decks and new viable cards in the new extended. As Mirrodin rotates out, think about what Scars of Mirrodin might bring!  These formats have always been, and should be, fluid.  I just can't understand these people who feel entitled to decks that "live forever" in their collection.  Cards come and cards go; decks come and thankfully my friend, decks go- you know that better than anyone."

"Sure, they come and go but there are now less opportunities for me to get to use any of those cards.  As you say, Legacy and Vintage are great for players like me but they're mostly a gauge of how many of the P-9 or Force of Wills you've been able to gather.  I want to use my older cards in a format where they're actually viable!   And how is this new Super-Standard that much different from say... Standard?  Won't we just see a replay of what happened a couple years before in normal standard?  Why wouldn't Fae make a comeback if we're just talking about LOR/ALA/ZEN/SoM in a given format?  Or Jund?  Do you want to keep playing Jund or what, Reinhart?  People want something truly different from each format."

"Well, I don't particularly want to play Jund or Fae again but you have to admit.. Jund VS Fae would be pretty entertaining.  Look, I think there should be another format in between this new extended and Legacy.  You're right, it leaves a lot of cards hanging to just lump everything before Lorwyn into Vintage/Legacy.. that isn't fair to those cards or players who love those cards.  I'm hoping to hear an announcement very soon about what is going to happen to Legacy and Vintage.  I predict that you'll see Legacy turn into something like "Everything newer than Mercadian Masques"  while vintage will remain "anything and everything."

"I just can't help but feel as though, we, the players who stuck with the game all these years are being set on the back burner. I've spent literally thousands of dollars on Magic over the years and now, not only are many of the cards I own completely worthless, I feel like casual players who haven't spent a dime or minute on this game yet are being favored over people like us.

"Like most things, Bo, it all comes down to money.  The secondary market is hugely important to players and Wizards understands this. But at some point, particularly as the number of players interested in the game grows, cards from Mirrodin, let alone Arabian Nights, are going to be nearly impossible to acquire.  Wizards doesn't make any money on cards that are out of print so why not make another format that includes mostly sets that are still in print?  I think they see it as a win/win for everyone because now, we have two formats available for people who have been playing less than five years.  I also imagine that it was getting nearly impossible to actually design for the old extended.  Look at Dark Depths!  They admitted that it had slipped through the system when they printed Vampire Hexmage and it completely took over the format.  Do you really need to play any more Affinity or Storm decks?  At some point, it's just impossible to keep the game new and interesting with the recent sets while still balancing it with seven + years of Magic history.  I'm sure this takes a huge load off of R&D's back."

"This is just more dumbinig down of the game.  What's the matter, Reinhart.. can't handle a little Affinity-Storm now and then?  If wizards didn't want me to play Storm and Affinity and Dark Depths then why did they print those cards?  I get it, they want more customers and they want more people to be able to play Magic, but I think they forget about the die-hard, O.G, Sol Ringing badasses who made this game great in the first place!  We are the tournament organizers.  We are the judges.  We are the bloggers, writers and we are the backbone of this mystical operation.  And all we ask for is to be able to play with the cards we've collected over the years.  Is that too much to ask, Reinhart?"

"Not at all, and as far as we know right now you can still play anything you want in the Legacy and Vintage formats.  But for the reasons mentioned above, I understand the need for a format in between Legacy and Super-Standard.  I too hope for such a format.  Would an announcement of "Super Extended" with an outline similar to what I mentioned earlier please you?"

"Yeah, I could probably live with that.  In fact, that would give me more options to work with.  I might even try my hand at Super-Standard if the mood strikes me.  I just wish they'd be more careful with their announcements in the future.  You cant just jump out and say "Extended is dead and we're replacing it with Super Standard" and expect older players to jump for joy.  If these rumors of a new Legacy are true, why didn't they put our minds at ease with an announcement at the same time as the extended announcement?   I guess we'll just have to wait and see, Reinhart."

"I'm glad you're going to stick around, Bo. I do so love our lively conversations. Your concern for the game and it's future is shared by many and I hope you continue to voice your opinions. The game needs players like you if it hopes to weather the gathering storms of economy, change and apathy."

*Editor's note:

Reinhart's spark was triggered 10 years ago, he has been planeswalking off and on since that time. He currently resides in Seattle, WA with his fiance and two (non-magical) cats.

Bo Levar was a smuggler whose latent planeswalker's spark was triggered by the Sylex Blast on Argoth. Before he ascended he was known as Crucias. He was recruited by Urza as one of the Nine Titans and placed one of the soul bombs on Phyrexia. After their return to Dominaria he discovered that Commodore Guff already knew how the Phyrexian Invasion would end and convinced him to change destiny. Levar died protecting a small colony of merfolk from Yawgmoth's death cloud.

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