We all know that Wizards has, perhaps not the best writing or design team on board for magic right now. It has led me to remember fondly the set I started with, Mirrodin, and that got me thinking.
When do all of you think magic hit its peak, or peaks. In terms of good story, in terms of interesting settings and flavor, And of course in terms of good game mechanics?
I'm sure for a lot of people that will be three completely different answers, and I'm also sure there is a lot of nostalgia in this but I hold that mirrodin is the best magic has been, at least while i have played.
Ice Age
>>46270824
Peaked in Urza's Block, Mirrodin Block and then again in New Phyrexia
It always peaks when they do an artifact block because then they have to decrease power in the next one
>>46270824
>In terms of good story, in terms of interesting settings and flavor, And of course in terms of good game mechanics?
Story: The entire Rath Cycle, from its beginnings during Weatherlight to the conclusion in Apocalypse. I loved the entire saga. If I had to pick my favorite piece, I'd take Urza Block.
Flavor/Setting: Kamigawa, actually. It was daring, unique, generally tried to be faithful to the source, and I honestly just liked it.
Mechanics? Time Spiral. In fact, Ravnica/TS/Coldsnap was Magic's high point for me. Everything else has been, at best, a sidegrade or, at worst, fucking terrible.
R8/H8/B8/M8
>>46270995
Yeah Rath cycle had the best story and characters
>>46270824
Tempest.
>best story
never, none of them have been groundbreaking
>best setting
Kamigawa or Lorwyn
>best gameplay
Time Spiral
any other answers are correct in their own way
Invasion.
>>46271052
I mean i could say the best gameplay came from homeworlds...
I lost most of my interest in Kamigawa. Then I stopped playing entirely when it seemed like EDH started being the only format played.
Tarkir
Gameplay: Tarkir
Story: BfZ
Fifth Dawn
Ice Age/Coldsnap
Planar Chaos
>>46270824
Lorewise, I really like Ravnica just for the combination of less heard of (slavic) mythology, and the books, which are basically law & order, MtG unit.
That said, I liked the mechanics of the original zendikar a lot, though really that was just traps and quests. Had a nice, adventure-y feel that made the early zendikar's stand out to me.
Story wise, I'm also a huge sucker for kamigawa, partiall for having the only black mana protagonist for a long time, and also for managing to make it's card feel like they were part of the story as the sets went on.
Story: I've been playing since Revised, so when I say "the story has usually been shit," know that it is not an argument from ignorance. I would say Lorwyn/Shadowmoor had the best story of a set that wasn't "about" Dominaria (as close to a recurring character as you got in the early days), the Weatherlight crew, or the neo-walkers.
Setting:Innistrad, ignoring Avacyn Restored. That's because they made me wait 20 damn years for "MtG does Halloween", but they nailed it.
Gameplay: actually, INN/INN/INN was the most fun I had drafting (or even INN 2HG), so I'm leaning that way.
Best game play was Time Spiral/Lorwyn standard. 9 sets in the format.
> Spiral
> Chaos
> Future Sight
> 9th
> Cold Snap
> Lorwyn
> Morningtide
> Shadowmoor
>Eventide
>>46270995
legit choices, even if Invasion felt rushed as all hell
I'll add in that Odyssey/Torment/Judgement was probably the best limited environment I've seen since starting in Mirage.
>>46271696
I'd say that nuMagic (everything from Lorwyn forward, in my eyes; the Planeswalker era really has felt different than anything that came before) actually has had the best limited environment ever: Innistrad/Innistrad/Dark Ascension was just about as good as it got. Conspiracy and Modern Masters 1 were both pretty great as well.
Otherwise, Time Spiral was the golden age. The last 2-3 years especially have been disappointing as hell. I remember a WotC that really cared and really seemed to try to make a great game, not a high-selling pandering product. I suspect that there has been a sea change in Wizards: those who viewed Magic as a product to make money were lauded, while those who viewed it as a game to be improved upon and grown were marginalized. Really, I'm disappointed. The je ne sais quoi is gone from Magic after the last 3ish years.
>>46271859
modern masters would have been wonderful if it wasn't arbitrarily more expensive and limited
>>46272085
needed better rares and less shit mythics
Why the mythic dragons? They could have been just rares
if the packs are $10+ none of the rares should have been trash cards
They blew their chance to reprint better cards
>>46270824
Time spiral, anyone who says otherwise is either lying or stupid
>>46272255
oy vey, muh secondary market needs protecting
>>46270824
Ravnica through Zendikar.
Time Spiral is the biggest highlight in there, of course, but it did a lot of desconstructive stuff that would be terrible if you tried to do it every block. The others were more workmanlike, though not without miss-steps.
