One of the biggest issues facing any long-term card game is power creep. Players naturally love cards that push the boundaries in terms of power. Trying to add more of these in each successive expansion results in the bar slowly rising, however. This pushes older cards out of contention, as new ones offer so much more bang for the player’s buck. In MTG we see power creep constantly, in every new set that comes out.
The issue was thrown into particularly sharp focus by a recent Reddit thread. Players were discussing the cards they considered unbeatable bombs back in the day, which now look like Limited pack filler in today’s game.
The Shadows Of The Past
The thread was started by Booster6, who kicked things off with his personal childhood boogeyman, Avatar of Woe. A 6/5 that can tap to destroy any creature was apparently terrifying for the time. Circumstances likely helped this card a lot, however. Casual tables typically didn’t pack enough removal to answer threats like this and hosted games that went long enough to satisfy that 10 creature discount condition. Other players in the thread mentioned Royal Assassin, which provided a very similar effect. Clearly, repeatable removal was powerful on classic kitchen tables.
The thread quickly developed into a trip down MTG memory lane. A lot of mostly-vanilla creatures were featured, such as Mahamoti Djinn and Tarmogoyf. Big stats were often enough to carry a creature to playability back in the day, after all.
“Spiritmonger made a huge splash and was even featured in the pro tour of it’s time. Now it’s outclassed by commons.”
Coldarc
Spiritmonger is an excellent example of a classic MTG bomb. It’s overstatted for its cost, can grow over time, and can protect itself in two ways. As Coldarc noted, however, it simply hasn’t kept up with the pace of the game. As we’ll get into later, creatures are largely vessels for busted abilities in modern Magic.
The rest of the thread was packed with other nostalgic has-beens. Baneslayer Angel, Stuffy Doll, Aetherling: all great on the casual tables of the time, all fodder for bulk binders now. Even some of the more powerful cards mentioned, like Flametongue Kavu and Siege Rhino, look tame compared to what we see in Standard now.
How Far We’ve Come
Just glancing at the most played creatures in Standard right now makes the power creep in MTG blindingly obvious. Not only are the bombs of today much cheaper than before, but they affect the game in more ways too. Just look at Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. Four mana for a well-statted body, a relevant keyword, and an ability that puts the game further out of your opponent’s reach with every turn that passes. A creature like this probably wouldn’t have existed at all in classic Magic, never mind for four mana.
Other modern big hitters follow a similar pattern. For two less mana than Spiritmonger, Glissa Sunslayer is unbeatable in combat and can affect the board in three distinct ways upon dealing damage. A bit better than a +1/+1 counter, I’m sure you’d agree. Beza, the Bounding Spring is one of the best examples of this trend, featuring a frankly absurd text box on top of an acceptable vanilla body. The boogeymen of today are a far cry from those of yesteryear.
The power line isn’t purely going up, however. Looking purely at the examples above, you’ll notice that all of the modern picks are legendary, while none of the older ones are. Wizards has been using the legendary supertype to push creatures harder over time, and that’s incredibly clear here. Being legendary is technically a downside, though in practice it doesn’t matter enough to prevent these powerhouses from seeing play.
Whether you’re for or against it, power creep is an undeniable part of MTG as a card game. It’s exciting to see just how far the designers are willing to push things, even if they do take it too far sometimes.
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