Strip Magic: The Gathering
December 24, 2015 3:20 PM Subscribe
Mark Rosewater, the head designer of card game Magic: The Gathering posted to tumblr about a rejected card.
Magic: The Gathering is a complex card game where each card has rules that affect the outcome of the game. The card in question:
Disrobing Scepter. Artifact. Activate: Target player either discards a card or removes a piece of clothing.
Again, this is not a card that will be seen in play.
Rosewater's tumblr post was submitted to reddit. Magic enthusiasts started an earnest discussion on the rules and protocols of Strip Magic.
The discussion is focused on Magic rules, useful cards and is surprisingly mature.
Gross and offensive replies to the reddit thread are appropriately downvoted.
The discussion is ongoing. Enjoy.
The surprising thing for me is that there are not already existing and well-known consensus rules for Strip MTG.
posted by tobascodagama at 3:36 PM on December 24, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by tobascodagama at 3:36 PM on December 24, 2015 [5 favorites]
It seems pretty straightforward to me. MTG is based around each player having hit points, replace hit points with articles of clothing. No need for additional cards or rules.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 3:39 PM on December 24, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 3:39 PM on December 24, 2015 [6 favorites]
At this point of my Adulting, Magic now involves beer. When we did not have kids to get back to, we had a pretty intricate Magic Drinking Game going:
1) Play a land, drink.
2) Win a Combat involving 3 or more Creatures, drink.
3) Counter a spell, drink.
4) Be rightfully pegged as netdecking, drink.
5) Akroma? Drink.
6) Be named Drew and be playing that goddamned Tax Deck again, bring beer to next game.
7) Declare Blood Feud, drink rest of bottle/glass while staring at Blood Foe.
8) Lose, drink rest of glass/bottle.
9) Lose and complain, get the rest of the players more beer.
10) If this is the fifth game or later, DRINK AS MUCH AS YOU LIKE WE HAVE A GODDAMN HALL PASS FOR FIVE HOURS GO GO GO GO
posted by robocop is bleeding at 4:03 PM on December 24, 2015 [6 favorites]
1) Play a land, drink.
2) Win a Combat involving 3 or more Creatures, drink.
3) Counter a spell, drink.
4) Be rightfully pegged as netdecking, drink.
5) Akroma? Drink.
6) Be named Drew and be playing that goddamned Tax Deck again, bring beer to next game.
7) Declare Blood Feud, drink rest of bottle/glass while staring at Blood Foe.
8) Lose, drink rest of glass/bottle.
9) Lose and complain, get the rest of the players more beer.
10) If this is the fifth game or later, DRINK AS MUCH AS YOU LIKE WE HAVE A GODDAMN HALL PASS FOR FIVE HOURS GO GO GO GO
posted by robocop is bleeding at 4:03 PM on December 24, 2015 [6 favorites]
The problem with strip Magic is that anyone willing to play, you probably don't want to see naked.
posted by Talez at 4:07 PM on December 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Talez at 4:07 PM on December 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
Disrobing Scepter is deadly when paired with Urza's Inquisitive Tentacle.
Art by Phil Foglio, naturally.
posted by delfin at 4:08 PM on December 24, 2015 [10 favorites]
Art by Phil Foglio, naturally.
posted by delfin at 4:08 PM on December 24, 2015 [10 favorites]
Yeah! Nerds don't look good naked! Strip poker is only a thing because poker players are naturally so athletic! :/
posted by elr at 4:17 PM on December 24, 2015 [59 favorites]
posted by elr at 4:17 PM on December 24, 2015 [59 favorites]
The discussion is focused on Magic rules, useful cards and is surprisingly mature.
This is because any time you propose a house rule or an alternate rule-set to a bunch of hardcore Magic players, they will immediately forget about everything else that is going on and completely devote themselves to the task of figuring out which cards would be the most utterly broken under the proposed rule(s). As that discussion perfectly illustrates, it makes absolutely no difference what the proposed rule is actually about. Every true Magic nerd's secret dream is to concoct a deck so gamebreakingly powerful that, the first time they demonstrate its power, they infuriate everyone else in the room, are kicked out of the tournament immediately, cause key components of the deck to be officially banned or restricted forever, and live on in infamy for eternity.
In Strip Magic, however, this dream has problematic results, as one comment in that thread notes:
Sure, but then you're the jerk who overloaded cyclonic rift and everyone else is naked. You won't get invited to the orgy.
posted by mstokes650 at 4:24 PM on December 24, 2015 [36 favorites]
This is because any time you propose a house rule or an alternate rule-set to a bunch of hardcore Magic players, they will immediately forget about everything else that is going on and completely devote themselves to the task of figuring out which cards would be the most utterly broken under the proposed rule(s). As that discussion perfectly illustrates, it makes absolutely no difference what the proposed rule is actually about. Every true Magic nerd's secret dream is to concoct a deck so gamebreakingly powerful that, the first time they demonstrate its power, they infuriate everyone else in the room, are kicked out of the tournament immediately, cause key components of the deck to be officially banned or restricted forever, and live on in infamy for eternity.
In Strip Magic, however, this dream has problematic results, as one comment in that thread notes:
Sure, but then you're the jerk who overloaded cyclonic rift and everyone else is naked. You won't get invited to the orgy.
posted by mstokes650 at 4:24 PM on December 24, 2015 [36 favorites]
> Does a fedora count as an article?
No, it counts as a comment section.
posted by boo_radley at 4:45 PM on December 24, 2015 [30 favorites]
No, it counts as a comment section.
posted by boo_radley at 4:45 PM on December 24, 2015 [30 favorites]
The problem with strip Magic is that anyone willing to play, you probably don't want to see naked.
vin diesel
posted by poffin boffin at 4:48 PM on December 24, 2015 [27 favorites]
vin diesel
posted by poffin boffin at 4:48 PM on December 24, 2015 [27 favorites]
Mod note: The only way this thread is going to live is if I don't have to spend my Christmas Eve deleting gross and/or offensive remarks about people and their bodies. Capisce?
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 5:17 PM on December 24, 2015 [81 favorites]
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 5:17 PM on December 24, 2015 [81 favorites]
The problem with strip Magic is that anyone willing to play, you probably don't want to see naked.
I feel like the problem with a strip variant of any game is that it's approaching it from a weird direction. Asking people who are ready to get naked to play magic is just qualitatively different from asking people who are ready to play magic to get naked. You don't go to your Magic buddies and suggest you all play Strip Magic, because that's really creepy! Strip Magic is something you take to your sex party friends as a way to open things up, and if you don't have such friends, trying to turn existing friends into such is also really creepy.
And that's probably where half the sentiment behind such quotes is*. Yeah, the people you know who play Magic with you probably aren't people you want to see naked, because that's really just not the context of your relationship.
*the other half is just being kinda shitty
posted by kafziel at 5:25 PM on December 24, 2015 [6 favorites]
I feel like the problem with a strip variant of any game is that it's approaching it from a weird direction. Asking people who are ready to get naked to play magic is just qualitatively different from asking people who are ready to play magic to get naked. You don't go to your Magic buddies and suggest you all play Strip Magic, because that's really creepy! Strip Magic is something you take to your sex party friends as a way to open things up, and if you don't have such friends, trying to turn existing friends into such is also really creepy.
And that's probably where half the sentiment behind such quotes is*. Yeah, the people you know who play Magic with you probably aren't people you want to see naked, because that's really just not the context of your relationship.
*the other half is just being kinda shitty
posted by kafziel at 5:25 PM on December 24, 2015 [6 favorites]
funny, a lot of the folks I knew as Magic players were also the folks who were real big into casual nudity, generally around one another
that may have just been all the college talking though
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:35 PM on December 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
that may have just been all the college talking though
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:35 PM on December 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
This reminds me of a story I read about another card that references clothing, Hurloon Wrangler, from one of the Un-sets. Apparently, at a tournament celebrating the release of the set, a player asked if they could take their pants off to negate the effects of denimwalk, which led to the following ruling from Mark Rosewater:
http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/77391516239/since-youre-the-official-authority-on-un-sets-is
I've never seen this actually happen, but it makes for an amusing story.
posted by isauteikisa at 5:46 PM on December 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/77391516239/since-youre-the-official-authority-on-un-sets-is
I've never seen this actually happen, but it makes for an amusing story.
posted by isauteikisa at 5:46 PM on December 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
Its a 2/2, surely there are more effective ways of dealing with it than taking the time to disrobe.
posted by Slackermagee at 5:53 PM on December 24, 2015
posted by Slackermagee at 5:53 PM on December 24, 2015
Or just letting the game be on a nine turn clock.
posted by Slackermagee at 5:54 PM on December 24, 2015
posted by Slackermagee at 5:54 PM on December 24, 2015
Strip Magic is something you take to your sex party friends as a way to open things up
I think you are conflating cards with something else entirely.
posted by marienbad at 6:07 PM on December 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
I think you are conflating cards with something else entirely.
posted by marienbad at 6:07 PM on December 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
Not to contribute to an ugly derail, but in refutation of same my most recent post coital discussion involved hardcasting Emrakul and it was awesome. Much like hardcasting Emrakul which I also did this week in Vintage Cube. Been a good week.
posted by yellowbinder at 6:08 PM on December 24, 2015
posted by yellowbinder at 6:08 PM on December 24, 2015
infinitewindow: "Once removing clothes is part of a game, I play to lose... so these rules will be helpful, thx"
I just skip the game, default to loser and show up naked.
posted by Samizdata at 6:16 PM on December 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
I just skip the game, default to loser and show up naked.
posted by Samizdata at 6:16 PM on December 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
That is a very interesting thread written in a language quite similar to English.
posted by procrastination at 6:36 PM on December 24, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by procrastination at 6:36 PM on December 24, 2015 [8 favorites]
> Does a fedora count as an article?
M'agic. *tip*
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 7:01 PM on December 24, 2015 [20 favorites]
M'agic. *tip*
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 7:01 PM on December 24, 2015 [20 favorites]
The nerds I know are also the people I'd feel most comfortable being casually naked around so I feel like this would have a niche but solid audience.
posted by solarion at 7:18 PM on December 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by solarion at 7:18 PM on December 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
I can say from experience that hardcore nerds and mass nudity are not mutually exclusive.
posted by grumpybear69 at 8:45 PM on December 24, 2015
posted by grumpybear69 at 8:45 PM on December 24, 2015
There has never been a legitimate game of strip anything played by any couple or group of people who were not already going to bone anyway, with or without the game.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:54 PM on December 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:54 PM on December 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
Mr. Bad Example: "> Does a fedora count as an article?
M'agic. *tip*"
What's your wallet so I can send you some satoshi?
posted by Samizdata at 11:56 AM on December 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
M'agic. *tip*"
What's your wallet so I can send you some satoshi?
posted by Samizdata at 11:56 AM on December 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
And that's probably where half the sentiment behind such quotes is*. Yeah, the people you know who play Magic with you probably aren't people you want to see naked, because that's really just not the context of your relationship.
I would say way less than half. Like, maybe 10%. The other 40% you may have seen or thought of would be people trying to shield their shitty "jokes".
This is meant as a crappy lol ugly nerds joke upwards of 90% of the time it's said. I'm a gigantic nerd, and I've done a lot of very nerdy things(convention panelist, big chiptune shows, developer parties, game/card release campouts, LANs, tournaments, etc etc) and hung out with a lot of serious nerds.
It's a classic reddit shitpost of a sentiment that doesn't need any "half" defense. It needs to die arguably as much as the idea of the "fake geek girl".
posted by emptythought at 9:02 PM on December 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
I would say way less than half. Like, maybe 10%. The other 40% you may have seen or thought of would be people trying to shield their shitty "jokes".
This is meant as a crappy lol ugly nerds joke upwards of 90% of the time it's said. I'm a gigantic nerd, and I've done a lot of very nerdy things(convention panelist, big chiptune shows, developer parties, game/card release campouts, LANs, tournaments, etc etc) and hung out with a lot of serious nerds.
It's a classic reddit shitpost of a sentiment that doesn't need any "half" defense. It needs to die arguably as much as the idea of the "fake geek girl".
posted by emptythought at 9:02 PM on December 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
funny, a lot of the folks I knew as Magic players were also the folks who were real big into casual nudity, generally around one another
posted by DoctorFedora at 1:35 AM on December 25 [2 favorites +] [!]
Is there a moratorium on posting the single word 'E' comment now?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 1:37 PM on December 26, 2015
posted by DoctorFedora at 1:35 AM on December 25 [2 favorites +] [!]
Is there a moratorium on posting the single word 'E' comment now?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 1:37 PM on December 26, 2015
go nuts
posted by DoctorFedora at 3:43 PM on December 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by DoctorFedora at 3:43 PM on December 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
It seems pretty straightforward to me. MTG is based around each player having hit points, replace hit points with articles of clothing. No need for additional cards or rules.
The game is balanced around 20 hp, though. You'd either have to wear 20 articles of clothing (cumbersome!) or deal with a game whose meta has shifted dramatically (and frankly to a pretty un-fun set of circumstances privileging burn decks (for non-players: decks designed to quickly reduce the opponent to 0 life with little to no concern for long-game viability, for strategic breadth to be able to answer other strategies, or for other ways to win.
At that point, you might as well just flip a coin.
posted by shoe at 7:28 AM on December 28, 2015
The game is balanced around 20 hp, though. You'd either have to wear 20 articles of clothing (cumbersome!) or deal with a game whose meta has shifted dramatically (and frankly to a pretty un-fun set of circumstances privileging burn decks (for non-players: decks designed to quickly reduce the opponent to 0 life with little to no concern for long-game viability, for strategic breadth to be able to answer other strategies, or for other ways to win.
At that point, you might as well just flip a coin.
posted by shoe at 7:28 AM on December 28, 2015
The game is balanced around 20 hp, though. You'd either have to wear 20 articles of clothing (cumbersome!) or deal with a game whose meta has shifted dramatically (and frankly to a pretty un-fun set of circumstances privileging burn decks (for non-players: decks designed to quickly reduce the opponent to 0 life with little to no concern for long-game viability, for strategic breadth to be able to answer other strategies, or for other ways to win.
... the link addresses this exact point, and how it would work. Burn decks are privileged only in so far as the game is about reducing people to 0 HP.
Treat each piece of worn clothing as an indestructible planeswalker permanent with shroud that is exiled once it loses all loyalty. It cannot be sacrificed. If it would leave the battlefield and it still has a loyalty counter, it remains on the battlefield instead.
Each player is given 20 loyalty counters to distribute to their clothing how they see fit. For example, I could put 1 on each sock and 4 on my pants, then 10 on my undergarments if I don't want to lose those. The other 5 on my shirt and we're good to go.
Clothing cannot be attacked unless it is uncovered (so no going straight for the underwear).
Otherwise, play Magic as normal. These rules stop lifegain decks from being absurd and prevent a [[Wrath of God]] from stripping everyone naked. Obviously they are not perfect and should be adjusted for your playstyle and level of inebriation.
posted by kafziel at 11:32 PM on December 28, 2015
... the link addresses this exact point, and how it would work. Burn decks are privileged only in so far as the game is about reducing people to 0 HP.
Treat each piece of worn clothing as an indestructible planeswalker permanent with shroud that is exiled once it loses all loyalty. It cannot be sacrificed. If it would leave the battlefield and it still has a loyalty counter, it remains on the battlefield instead.
Each player is given 20 loyalty counters to distribute to their clothing how they see fit. For example, I could put 1 on each sock and 4 on my pants, then 10 on my undergarments if I don't want to lose those. The other 5 on my shirt and we're good to go.
Clothing cannot be attacked unless it is uncovered (so no going straight for the underwear).
Otherwise, play Magic as normal. These rules stop lifegain decks from being absurd and prevent a [[Wrath of God]] from stripping everyone naked. Obviously they are not perfect and should be adjusted for your playstyle and level of inebriation.
posted by kafziel at 11:32 PM on December 28, 2015
« Older Bonus points for a towel on exercise equipment | Richard Wright: "The soul of Pink Floyd" Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by infinitewindow at 3:23 PM on December 24, 2015 [6 favorites]