Pointed Discussion

First power I ever owned. Gotta love free mana!

what was wotc thinking. without the four of rule, (when this was first printed) why would you ever play a land?

haha, there was no four-of rule then? WHAAAAAT

They never expected people to have infinite resources, money allowing, like competitive players have these days. Back in the day overpowered cards like this were balanced by people not having enough cards for it to matter too much. They quickly learned better.

"what was wotc thinking. without the four of rule, (when this was first printed) why would you ever play a land? "

They were thinking that players wouldn't collect the cards so seriously. They knew some cards were much better than the others, but figured that it wouldn't matter because nobody would go out of their way to obtain dozens of them.

I doubt Richard Garfield would have believed it that the game would still be going strong after nearly twenty years.

Hmh, well. This card is great now, but it was needed in Alpha and Beta because the creatures sucked...

No superfrasse. Alpha and Beta didn't need Moxen or Lotus or Sol Ring. The creatures may have sucked, but not that badly. The spells were so good that 'The Weissman deck' could run on Serra Angel, and probably didn't need the Moxen.

From a Design perspective, they're bad for the Game at large. Good for decks obv., but still bad for the Game.

From an Indiana Jones perspective?

However, as a 'First Set Ever', Alpha and Beta did need something for the history buffs to drop their jaws in awe over. This does nicely. :)

The older the card is, the more potent the magic behind it.

Such a plain design for one of the most powerful pieces of jewelry ever.

wish i played in alpha...