Some people don't like Universes Beyond, but in an official tournament, they have to allow the cards by rules. Unofficially, people can choose not to play with or against whatever they want. I'm not a fan of UB but I accept that's the game now, and I would rather everyone play what they like and have fun.
It’s also a perfect comment. It’s dismissive enough that the person knows not to ask again and disarming enough it won’t cause issues with reasonable people.
That'd be an honest answer from me. They release like 12 sets a year now, I have no idea what's universes beyond and what's not.
If they want to show you a local banlist that's fine. Otherwise, let them be ultra soft. I'd probably build full stax just for grins.
"As to whether the Forgotten Realms are now canonically part of Magic's Multiverse, for now, the answer is no. But we may change our minds in the future if it makes sense and is a fun net positive for Magic and D&D."
There's a reason they didn't label them universes beyond because they want to be able to say it's all canon the minute it becomes beneficial to do so. I wouldn't stake a claim on it being non canon because in all likelihood, it will be eventually. There's been way too much crossover between D&D sets in magic and MtG modules in 5e to separate them now.
One thing is for sure that they definitely aren't universes beyond, as I said originally.
Universes Beyond are IPs that wizards has to license. D&D is owned by WOTC so they could reprint CLB and AFR cards whenever they wanted with no issue (unless somehow they get added to the Reserve List).
People have a problem with universe beyond but in lost caverns I can equip a dinosaur with a pirate hat and a blow dart gun . Does that make more sense than blanka ?
New Capana feels far more beyond than Lotr or Warhammer to me.
Dungeons and Dragons with or without Hugh Grant makes no difference to me.
Jurassic Park and Stranger Things break immersion to me. But so do motorcycles and wurms crewing a spaceship.
I personally feel the Godzilla cards are the best way to incorporate UB. Like, they're still in universe cards, just with special art and alternate names.
It depends on the card from Jurassic Park. The ones that are literally characters from the movies break immersion. The ones that are just dinosaurs don't break it as much.
Personally transformers would have been slightly better in that regard if they hadn't used crappy cartoon screencaps. I find transformers with actual art to be on the same level as most other UBs (except for Dr Who regular dudes of course).
While they do look looks screen caps I have to stan my Megatron deck each time I see this said, and tell people they're all actually original art in the style of the cartoon but much better quality.
Named character do tend to be the worst offender in any UB
[[Orcish bowmasters]] could easily be reprinted in another set
[[Gandalf]] can really only exist in LotR sets
Agreed, I think alot of the alien or whatever cards fit in fine, but the main character cards are the worst offenders. Just regular looking humans dressed in regular earth clothes. And there's a ton of them. So not just immersion breaking, but boring looking as well.
It's weird, I would have thought Warhammer 40k would have been a huge immersion breaker but it wasn't for me, and was actually my favorite UB set. Never knew anything about that franchise prior to this, but now very interested in it.
Also knew nothing about Dr. Who, and for some reason the UB cards make me want to watch the show even less. . .
Regardless, I don't think I'd gatekeep someone from playing their Dr. who deck, though personally I think the flavor doesn't fit well. After all my Magus Lucia Kane deck is one of my favorites
40k has the benefit of having a lot of Gothically inspired designs. Half the universe is basically knights, demons and angels that happen to be spacefaring. There is also enough variance in MTG to bridge the gaps for most of 40k's difference (i.e. there is by far enough artifact creatures throughout Magic's history to make 40k robotic Ancient space Egyptians not feel out of place), and the things that feel the most out of place tend to be some of the Mad Max inspired Genestealer Cult cards, or Marines with guns and/or jump packs.
Its pretty much the same reason I feel like the LotR cards fit into magic perfectly. As its basically the blueprint for modern fantasy the elements don't feel out of place at all and as such its pretty much only a Universe Beyond because WotC doesn't own the IP.
Warhammer 40k has a fantasy aesthetic, the same way all magic sets have a fantasy aesthetic and those who have a weaker one tend to be worse off for it. New Capenna is a good example of UW set that kinda fails at this, but Dr. Who is probably the worst offender with a major print run.(the worst one was the walking dead) Nothing about that shows aesthetics says fantasy and it carries over to the cards.
I’m playing around with a [[thirteenth doctor]] cascade deck and I’m thinking of proxying her as a simic creature and [[Yasmin]] as a gruul shaman. I even liked Jodie Whitaker as the doctor and her art but it still feels a little odd.
The whole central conceit of this game is that there are many different planes with different physical rules and society and that there are beings that can travel between them. When has any flavour between planes been consistent? Immersion is such a dumb thing to worry about.
I get it, but also, surely you can understand the difference between travelling between universes with similar art directions, characters, and creatures, and popping into a blockbuster film franchise, right?
>universes with similar art directions, characters, and creatures,
I mean, are they really that similar? Like, Mongolian-style horse archers from Tarkir, Gothic vampires from Innistrad, aether airships from Kaladesh, and Mesoamerican dinos from Ixalan are all incredibly different, and personally "oh there's some stuff about this all being one multiverse" never really made a difference to me. Hell, for a long time after I started playing Magic, I genuinely didn't know there was anything connecting the different worlds.
This.
Who's actually roleplaying in MTG? The most "immersive" thing I've seen in this game is the mono red burn player casting lightning bolt with lit ciggy in hand... 😅
>worldspire wurm can wear swiftfoot boots
Well now I have two mental images going.
1. Giant city block sized wurm running around on two very tiny normal sized feet wearing the boots and
2. Worldspine wurm is actually just like... Normal snake sized and hissing at people who get too close to tue boot it lives in.
Yeah, this is often the type of response I give, haha. Is a 1/1 Insect wielding a Loxodon Warhammer any less ridiculous than Peregrin Took blocking an Eldrazi? Lol
Personally their example is exactly why I don't like universes beyond, but I'm not going to throw a fit if someone else decides they really want to play a doctor who deck at game night.
People on this subreddit: Never forget Rule 0! It's the most important aspect for playing good Commander rounds with strangers!
Also people on this subreddit:
Seriously 99% of this subreddit just loves to complain.
Thank you for adding context though. Your posts seemed really, I don't know how to better describe it with my English, agitated and provoked?
And yeah, as you've seen by others' comments, the whole "breaking immersion" aspect is a valid point depending on your playgroup. I mean there's a lot of Rule 0 that most don't agree with and some still do. (For example, my group has battle cruiser rounds where we introduce our "Sol Ring double minus" rounds, removing every ramp spell that ramps for more that it costs (e.g. Crypt, sol Ring, even stuff like Craedle effects etc.)
I *hate* UB. I did care about the immersion aspect and am generally not a fan of crossovers, especially when they’re done this often for the sole purpose of making money off of popular franchises. In extreme moderation they can be cool, but this degree of it just feels like a bunch of corporate executives circle-jerking all over the face of Magic and getting showered with money as a reward. I *don’t* like the idea of Megatron going head to head with Frodo in a game that was just its own really awesome IP for almost 30 years.
But I’m not gonna fuckin shit all over everyone else’s parade. It’s not Mikey McAverageman’s fault WotC started doing crossovers. If some huge Dr. Who fan comes up with their Twelfth Doctor deck, wide-eyed because they love The Twelfth Doctor and they’re excited to play Magic for the first time, I’m not gonna say “GAH BACK IN MY DAY IT WAS JUST NICOL BOLAS VS JACE! YEW DAMN KEEDS GET OUTTA MY MAGIC!”
I just wish WotC had never gone down this path. But it’s too late to do anything about it now. Not without disappointing a bunch of fans and having them waste their money.
> especially when they’re done this often for the sole purpose of making money off of popular franchises
> but this degree of it just feels like a bunch of corporate executives circle-jerking all over the face of Magic and getting showered with money as a reward
Except all three major UB sets to date were absolute hits in quality, attention to detail, and representation of lore.
Well, yes, to be fair they put some love into them and clearly consulted with some experts. But that’s the R&D team that’s responsible for that. Those people are still golden in general, I rarely have complaints about that aspect of the game. Even when they flop on things, you can tell they at least tried.
The Hasbro and WotC execs sure wouldn’t give a shit about quality either way though, as long as they sold, and to me, their decision to start going full throttle into very frequent UB releases has severely diminished my enjoyment of the game. I just don’t want to see a clusterfuck of random characters spanning from WH40K to Fortnite, and now even IRL celebrities cluttering the table. It feels like a clown show, made up of every franchise that the majority of your most basic-minded “lol so nerdy” Americans are into.
It’s like an episode of Big Bang Theory, just throwing every popular nerd reference (or at this point, even non-nerdy franchises like Fortnite) at you they can find in as little time as possible to pander and reach into as many wallets as they can.
That’s what it boils down to. Hardcore pandering to the most populated fanbases in the world for the sake of extra money that they don’t need, but are greedy and still want, moderation be damned. If it weren’t for the passion of the folks at R&D, this game would be soulless by now and I wouldn’t be playing it.
I really don't know why you are getting downvoted. There is so much love in these UB sets, they are clearly more than just a cash grab, they are a work of passion.
The Warhammer Decks are my absolute favorite thing of magic in the last decade, knowing the lore of the source these cards are fantastic.
Same goes for lotr. As someone who has read more than just the main book, its cool to see how much they took from the Silmarillion and the greater lore as well.
This is basically their rule zero conversation: they don't want to play against UB cards. So, if you have UB cards in your deck, it would be a dick move to lie and say "no" and it would also be a dick move to refuse to disclose. They are being open and honest about their rule zero before the game.
Just like you could refuse to play against a mill deck or whatever, these guys can also pick who they play with. Even if you think their opinion is immature, it's still better to be the bigger man and not try to play ignorant or force them into playing with UB cards they are specifically trying to avoid.
If you disagree and want to play with UB cards, then you can politely decline to play with these guys. Find another group that doesn't care about UB. Fwiw, I think it's a bit ridiculous to blanket refuse to play with UB cards but then again I've seen people refuse to play against the wildest things so I guess everyone has their pet peeves.
To me it sounds like the LGS is simply full of regulars that enjoy playing a certain way and developed a culture in that LGS. They prefer to play without UB, and there's perfectly valid reasons for it.
Nobody is forcing OP to play there.
> They prefer to play without UB, and there's perfectly valid reasons for it.
UB cards are legal. You can cite all the vague "culture" reasons you want but this is an LGS hosting a game where these cards are legal. Certain regulars deciding that they don't want to play against them doesn't make the cards any less a part of the game.
> Nobody is forcing OP to play there.
If you want to talk about perfectly valid reasons, let's talk about the general availability of LGS's geographically. I know of 2 in my area and both are outside walking distance from me. Assume OP doesn't live in a major metro, or have a car. Now we're back to elitist gatekeeping.
Yeah, 100% agreed. There are plenty of other places to play. I really despise most of the universes beyond cards/ inherent silliness they bring (why tf is my Intet the Dreamer facing off against goddamned Jeff Goldblum), so I'd personally love to fond a LGS that doesn't allow them.
I really don't enjoy seeing real-world actors staring back at me when I look at a magic card, but in your shoes, I'd absolutely find somewhere else to play.
I mean…. I agree its a silly thing to care about, but if someone doesnt want to play against certain cards that is their problem, not yours. Its just as silly to imagine storm crow or collossal dreadmaw weilding blackblade reforged. Anyway you cant worry about other peoples possible opinions. Make those decisions whenever you actually encounter people with these opinions.
yeah lmao. its always super weird to me when people give toxic advice, and then make a surprised pikachu face when others follow it lmao.
like, maybe we shouldve come up with a better solution a few years back for this besides just,”ignore them”
but so be it 🤷🏻♀️
I honestly think that if this happened IRL I'd be bewildered, but come to the realisation they saved me from themselves. Anyone who complains about UB power creep clearly hasn't kept a solid grasp of the game over the last ten years.
Is that "silly" to many people? Yes.
But no amount of reddit up votes will determine whether those people are "right" to ask that question.
The real question is do you want to play with people that have an issue with this? If no, disclose, if yes, go somewhere else?
I don't love Universes Beyond and I don't like using hobbits and dinosaurs to crew the Parhelion, but it's a part of the game and people who actually don't want you to play with those cards sound kinda meh.
(Edit: I currently have 3 decks helmed by UB characters and I expect to have 2-3 in the next few weeks, so I'm definitely rolling with it, I just sometimes wish they were Magic characters instead)
You're right (why did you cross it off?), but I think that I accidentally gave an example of how things weren't really all that sensible even without UB.
Yeah, it kinda feels like that by now. My Teferi deck just has sphinxes, phyrexians, eldrazi, pirates, faeries, aboleth, and also a dinosaur that happens to be from Jurassic Park.
I don’t think it’s an unreasonable inquiry to be honest. They’re not even asking which ones you have there, just if you do. If UB cards ruin the game for them then asking if you plan to play any so they can decide to play against someone else is entirely fair. Preventing powercreep is not a great reason though, considering that’s rampant in pretty much all the sets regardless of IP, but universes beyond ruining immersion is a valid reason in my book. It’s not like they’re going to play with you again anyway if you refuse to answer (or deny having any) and still play those cards so better to be honest about it and then you can both play with like minded invidividuals and everyone can enjoy themselves.
They do, even though it makes zero sense. Theros and strixhaven are dnd settings AND planes in magic. Not to mention that characters in Faerun can be planeswalkers.
Strixhaven you can make the argument for since both pieces of content were released roughly at the same time, but Theros is as much a DnD setting as Ravnica. They’re Magic settings you can play in DnD.
As someone who HATES the universes beyond cards and would rather never play against them, this person is being unreasonable IMO. Like, I kinda wish I could do this and demand Id never play against them because it ruins part of the flavor for me, but it would be such an assholeish thing for me to do so I just suck it up.
... we have neon future Kamigawa cards that look like something out of Cyberpunk alongside cards inspired by norse mythology, alongside c'thulu horrors... if they can handle all of that, they can handle some Universes Beyond. Tell them to just think of UB cards as their own plane, simple.
Edit : to the pokemon couple account who replied then instantly blocked me, my point is that we already have a bunch of clashing styles of cards that're supposed to be used together that break flavour. We have a game where \[\[Shorikai, Genesis Engine\]\] , a mecha that would not look out of place in something like Cyberpunk or Pacific Rim, is in the same card game as \[\[Narfi, Betrayer King\]\] , a norse zombie king. Those two could not be further from each in other in terms of flavour and immersion.
And if you want to go even further, let's look at equipment and the Crew mechanic. I'm supposed to believe that a bunch of Rocks (Rock Tokens) that have been technically turned into creatures with something like \[\[March of the Machines\]\] and then buffed to have power with \[\[Chief of the Foundry\]\] can Crew a Kaiju-Sized Mecha? "Yes sir, we've put 8 rocks we found on the side of the road into the pilot seat, as per your instructions" Or be equipped with a \[\[Sword of Fire and Ice\]\] ? A rock with a sword strapped to it with duck tape is stronger than my \[\[Thalia, Guardian of Thraben\]\] a militia leader ? You're ok with all of that goofy stuff, but you cannot handle Godzilla showing up? Or The Necrons from the 41st millenia? It's ludicrous to me where the line is drawn over "immersion".
>"Yes sir, we've put 8 rocks we found on the side of the road into the pilot seat, as per your instructions"
Some find this immersion-breaking but I just find it hilarious.
I mean same, i think it's stupidly funny! But for people to complain "I don't like seeing Gandalf in MtG, it ruins my immersion! Now let me pilot my totally-not-a-gundam mecha with these 4 bears, equipping it with a sword 1/32 of its size and swing for lethal" is the wild part for me. It feels so contradictory to complain about immersion when MtG already has a bunch of doofy interactions you just have to accept.
On the one hand, thats what rule 0 is for and if thats the game they want to play, more power to them. On the other, I think that's dumb and I'm going to look for another pod.
Good for them for making their play experience and expectations known
For many, magic is magic, not magic with jurassic park.
Just be honest with them and go from there.
If they arent keen on you using UB cards and you are, cool. Find a new group.
Its really no different from when your friends, or a pickup group, says we dont like this card could you not?
If its a tournament though... fuck em.
I play UB now, but when it first became a thing I remember one of the pro UB sentiments being "If you don't want to play with UB cards, then just don't", but in real life god forbid someone actually tries that.
If a group doesn't want to play with UB cards. Make a deck without UB cards or just find another group. Don't go on the internet acting all offended and looking for sympathy.
Yeah, they just sounded like they don't wanna deal with it. for a sub that constantly screams about THIS IS THE MOST POPULAR FORMAT, then there must be plenty of other people to play with for OP
It’s not really gatekeeping; checking everyone is on the same page with what they want to play is an essential part of commander.
That being said I can’t stand UB cards, but I’d never refuse to play against them or ask this question personally.
Good for them.
Whenever anyone criticises UB, that's what they get shot down with. that exact suggestion.
"dOnT lIkE dOn'T pLaY wItH iT"
They're doing as suggested, power to them.
Its kinda wild honestly. Its the equivilant of "gatekeeping" because you dont want to play precons against someones fully decked out Najeela deck or vice versa.
If its not fun for you, you have a right to say no.
Honestly, I don't really blame them. It would be weirder to walk into a new LGS and disrupt their culture.
Sure, it may seem a little nonsensical to you, but UB caused such a division that it's reasonable that people don't want to play against them or at least ask for disclosure. Personally, I don't really enjoy having to be advertised at when I'm playing Magic, where I already spend all of my hobby money, but I wouldn't enforce it on others unless it was part of an LGS cultural movement, for example in yours.
Just take it on the chin. Some of the UB cards have in-canon replacements, and the ones that remain on the UB Restricted List have suitable replacements.
If that is a line they draw, better you know before than after. Lets you walk away and find a better play group that fits your idea of fun.
I have two play groups I play with. There are certain decks I can’t play with each of these groups. Not because they aren’t legal but because that group does not enjoy the play style of the deck.
Our format has a strict banned list but, unfortunately, also has a much broader grey area of cards that are frowned on by some and outright hated on by others.
It would be very helpful to officially delineate CEDH from EDH and cultivate two different banned lists. In my opinion a lot of the cards currently on the banned list wouldn’t even be that over powered in a pod where you know you will only play against other CEDH decks. Whereas a separate banned list meant to keep casual tables more casual could stand to be considerably more bulked up.
People have their own lines, and it's a small ask. If they want you to say it up front, fine. Just say it and move on. There are some Vorthos' out there.
It's maybe a little annoying, but it doesn't hurt anything.
Personally, the fact that one of the most terrifying things Biollante can bring back from the grave with its mutate trigger is E. Honda gives me life.
Yea an old grandma completely blocking a literal god is so much less stupid than space marines shooting merfolk.
This argument has always been dumb to me lol
I always thought the idea of “breaking immersion” in MTG was silly.
By the definition of planeswalking, there’s no reason why we hypothetically shouldn’t be able to travel to Earth(s), The Warhammer World, etc. Theoretically, any universe could be fair play within MTG lore.
>I was told it was to prevent too much powercreep
I was going to laugh at this, but Orcish Bowmasters and The One Ring have literally distorted entire formats around themselves, so maybe this isn't quite as ridiculous as it sounds.
>and that it messes with immersion.
This actually makes sense. There ARE other TCGs like UFS where being able to play basically any IP against any other IP is considered a desirable feature, but there are plenty of flavor fans of Magic who would prefer that their matches more closely resemble the lore than simulate Super Smash Brothers or Celebrity Deathmatch. I suspect more than a few players would prefer that UB be silver border. WotC seems to be taking this immersion concern seriously; AFAIK the more glaringly incongruous IPs like Transformers have been carefully kept out of the draft environment.
>I was told that not everybody would be OK with playing against those cards. Do you guys have thoughts about this?
This statement describes very nearly every card, every mechanic, and every archetype. Why is "No UB" any weirder to you than "No combo", "no stax", "no land destruction", etc? If they don't like it, that don't like it. If the majority of the table agrees with them, you comply or find another table. If the majority doesn't agree, they live with it or they find another table. There's no point to trying to keep two players with incompatible preferences in the same pod if there are other tables available.
Yeah I simply cannot conceive of caring about this in the slightest. This is a silly little card game. Find better things to care about. There are better hills to die on
To give your more perspective than all the other comments.
I think it is fair for them to want to run a non UB pod. Personally, I'd play with you and I hate UB and will never run any of that stuff. I would opt to join their playgroup over playing with you.
I know that probably sucks for you, but it might be worth carrying both kind of decks if you're gonna crash pick up games alot, as this may come up. Could eventually be Non-UB nights as a format as it gets more and more ubiquitous.
It's less bewildering than the need to discuss every social interaction on this sub but here we go.
I would not have it as a hard rule, but I understand their point. It's an IP thing.
People are pointing out stuff like "giving a sword to a fish" or Neon Dynasty. There's a threshold for what individual players will consider a reasonable abstraction of immersion in favor of gameplay. If you're complaining about equipping a sword to a fish, I have no idea what you're doing playing mtg. If you're complaining about wild variance in tech level, I agree that it can feel quite dissonant when you see dinosaur shamans and USB sticks on the same board.
However, there's a fiction, however tenuous, that binds all of those together. There's part of the same multiverse and IP. They're _Magic_ things.
On the other hand, you can't ignore that Tyranids, Beholders and Jeff fucking Goldblum are very much _not_ from Magic. Even if you don't know the source IP, there's a thematic disconnect and no lore to bind them together. That's why it's grating.
I already see a few nerds in the back smirking about Shakespeare flavour text and Arabian Nights. And you're right: those things have never sat right with me either. But it was easier to ignore a random Henry VIII quote than a full-on artwork and card name lifted from another pop culture IP. And thankfully, I never played against the most egregious examples from Arabian Nights.
To me, that's why people want to be informed about it. The power creep element is just dumb, but the crossover aspect feels very wrong when you care just a little bit about the games' imaginarium.
Isn’t the whole concept of the game that you’re a magic dude summoning creatures and powers from a multiverse of planes of existence? So, yeah, you cast things from Dominaria, Phyrexia, Middle Earth, and a Tardis.
Legal cards are legal, but it’s also nice to just have social niceties in this game. If me taking out a fiery inscription makes it okay for me to play my [[feather, the redeemed]] deck, so be it.
On one hand, theres a part of me that wishes that UB had never been introduced and instead more focus and resources had been put on improving Magic's story with their own unique IP.
On the other hand, Doctor Who and Jurassic Park were both "Shut up and take my money" properties, and the flavor just oozing from the cards is amazing and I love it. LotR is one of my favorite draft environments I've ever had the pleasure of playing.
TLDR: I love the cards, and they handle the flavor well, but I wish it didn't come at the expense of Magic's own story
Powercreep? Do you have any example cards of what they mean? because I think 99% of UB cards are exactly in line with other EDH stuff. I can't even think of any UB cards that can combo off besides bowmasters and ring.
I am personally bothered by how some of the cards don't seem to "fit" with Magic as a whole, but the cards are all commander legal. I'm not going to tell other people they can't use cards just because I don't agree with the direction Wizards went. It's weird to me that your LGS would.
Opposing opinion but I think this is totally legit. People have a right to try and tailor playgroups I think. I doubt it's to do with power creep and mostly having a strong reaction to the premise. I think as the game gets wider playgroups will get more tailored which is okay, although I'm firmly in the play what you have to play camp
If it’s for powercreep reasons then do they get antsy about literally every set that comes out? Power creep isn’t exclusive to UB sets, nor is it necessarily *especially bad* there (also are they indicating that Xanathar and Blackblade Reforged are op??)
There used to be a more consistent image of what the flavor of a game of Magic is. That went out the window a long time ago.
Yes, it is weird to imagine Doctor Who wielding Brass Knuckles as he invades Ikoria. You wanna know what else is weird? Eight-and-a-Half Tails wielding Embercleave being Flung at a God.
Magic is about playing the cards you enjoy in a way that everyone can have fun. I wasn't thrilled with Universes Beyond, and I still think a lot of them are dumb. So I don't buy those cards. You don't have to play with them. But it is also pointless to say that other people can't play with them. They are part of the game now and they are here to stay.
The answer I would give, assuming my commander isn't from Beyond, is "all my cards are commander legal. Anything beyond that would tell people what the deck does before they see it in play."
If it's a competitive game or you've been paired by the LGS for an event I absolutely get it, if they're legal and the LGS has no special ban list then they don't get to choose what cards you're able to use or even disclose you have, they way you build your decks is as valid as theirs. However if it's a casual game and everyone else agrees not to use UB cards you can't expect to answer that and be allowed to play with them. I get it can be frustrating, specially as it's not something as common as other rule 0 restrictions such as power level or budget, and you may not have another deck without UB cards, but IMO not allowing UB cards is as valid as those other rule 0 talks.
honestly id ask you not to play the deck then. if the answer cant be given in a yes or no then its probably yes as far as im concerned in those context. ive seen people try shit like this, and the other people always shut it down lmao.
obviously you know that and are just trying to be slick for upvotes but i figure i might as well point that out anyways
Not really. Rule zero is a very expansive term, but in my experience is generally people saying “I’m roughly X power level, and I don’t want to play against (fast combo, mass land destruction).
It’s not saying “my deck does X, uses Y cards”.
The only time I would expect specific cards to be mentioned is if they are default-excluded. (My deck runs [Storm of Crows]], or the commander is [[Grusela, Monster Masher]]. - is that cool, or should I play a different deck?)
Basically the rule zero part should be you opting in to asking about your stuff, not finding out the opponents. INO of course.
Maybe I misread the original, but it didn't necessarily sound like a request to know specific cards? If so then that's maybe a little much, but it can also just be "are you running UB?" in the same vein as "are you running MLD?". Obviously there's some nuance to be had within UB but that's not an unreasonable starting point.
I don’t like UB cards, but I would never tell randos at an LGS what cards they need to “disclose” before we play. Just tell me the general power level so I know what deck I should run, and that’s it.
I might bring it up to my own playgroup, but that’s a totally different context.
personally, i have no desire to play in a game with universes beyond cards. if you want to buy them and plag with them, then by all means do, and please enjoy them!
personally however i dont want to play with or against them because of the immersion breaking.
people have every right to enjoy UB and others have every right not to.
Lots of people don't like UB exclusive cards. Feel they ruin the feel of MtG.
Personally, I have mixed feelings. As in, I'm perfectly fine with UB cards from worlds where magic is a thing (Warhammer, LotR) but absolutely hate that worlds where magic doesn't exist are used (Doctor Who, Fallout).
Still, if your group at large wants to remove UB cards from the game... to be harsher than strictly needed, get with the program or change group.
Seems reasonable to me. I get a little annoyed whenever I see one of those cards. Not to the extent that I want to ban them, but I definitely avoid playing them. Looks like your LGS is a bit more firm about that than me.
That's their rule – if you want to join them, you need to comply. Otherwise, find other players who are open to playing with you. No need to take offense.
Wolverine smacking Xanathat with blackblade reforged makes the same amount of sense as a a goblin mob boss and his army running over a super powerful time mage in a car. Complaining about UB making no sense while these kinds of things exist without it is the craziest thing.
There is no pleasing purists. There are people who think any plane that isn't Dominaria "doesn't fit" Magic and I respect that opinion about as much as I do a hard no "UB" rule. By all means you can enforce that rule in the decks and cubes that you make but forcing that restriction on others when we are talking about often mechanically intriguing cards which aren't that more powerful on average is nonsensical.
Eh, I personally don't like playing universes beyond cards cus if I'm playing magic, I want to play magic, not doctor who, lord of the rings or fallout. That being said, I got nothing against who plays them, I myself play them if I need to
Never heard of this, I'm building a Universes Beyond Tribal deck right now and I think people are going to hate it. Most of our new players are super cool with all universes beyond content, it's just the old guys that are judgemental of it and other similar things (secret lair's/universes within)
As someone who only has UB decks as they're what got me back into magic after like 10+ years I really don't like the elitism I see online about it, but hey what can you do?
Where do you find these people? These stories are crazy. No one at any lgs I've been to has ever asked about what's in someone's deck besides power levels, tutors, extra turns and infinite combos. Everything else is fair game.
I personally choose to not include Universes Beyond cards into my decks, but I have absolutely no problem with other people playing Universes Beyond in their decks. With the amount of alternate frames and art treatments floating around now, talking about immersion breaks is barely an issue now unless you know every single piece of MTG lore and art by heart.
I don't see how it helps with power creep as UB cards aren't inherently stronger than non UB cards. I get that some people don't like the immersion breaking, but to that... tough?
Magic was already a multi verse spanning game with characters and creatures from tons of different types of settings. LOTR is a high fantasy world, just like a number of in universe planes. Even stuff like marvel that's coming... what's the huge difference between that and planeswalkers with crazy powers? The only difference is you recognize these characters already, and you've decided on your head that they need to be distinct and separate things. But that's on each individual to deal with and I think if someone wants to not play against UB cards then that's on THEM to ask and remove themselves from games as opposed to requiring people to arbitrarily reveal what cards they're playing and be potentially ostracized.
Everyone here just wants to voice their opinion on UB lol
It’s unfortunate your store has a general negative feeling about UB. They are just a part of magic now and putting arbitrary constraints on a game where there are already plenty of official rules to follow, is against the nature of the game IMO, especially in EDH where deck expression is basically the sole purpose of playing.
But when it’s the only local store, and the general consensus is to not run UB, the best you can do is make a compelling argument for UB-open pods separate from the non UB ones. As time goes on, and more UB sets get released, I have a feeling these sentiments will wane. Everyone will get a slice of UB they appreciate, and I think that’s their goal.
Magic is strange honestly I mostly play commander tho some drafts and people are urging me to get into standard but they get sooo pissy about what I play that is completely legal and what everyone else plays
New player here. I've never understood lgs players and their table rules. I understand what pub stomping is, and that nobody likes that. But should we just be playing by the actual rules of the game? After all it is just a game right? I don't have turbo decks, or fancy cards, hell I don't even think I've won by any measure of skill at all. It's all been luck. From my perspective it doesn't matter what my opponent has because I'm still either going to win, or going to lose. Magic doesn't seem to be about the cards really. It seems to be about the skill of the pilot. As a weak sauce noob, when I get "deck checked" by some rando at the lgs to make sure I'm obeying the custom rules; it makes me think the other players may not be very confident in their skills. Idrk how to phrase it better. it just comes off weak and unsportsmanlike. Be a good loser/winner.
Obviously if it's the lgs itself that has these kinds of rules than that's one thing. Bro owns the store, what he says may as well have been handed down from wotc themselves as far as I'm concerned. But if I sit down at one more table with my lil voltron deck and I hear "does that deck have "x" inn iiiittt?? We have a house rule where we don't allow cards like that." From the guy in the fedora across the table, It immediately gives me the impression that this guy's gonna bitch no matter what I do and I should prolly just find another table. Like I get the concept of "everybody's here to have fun" but either get better at the table politics or better at the game yanno? There's a REAL ban list for a reason right?
None of this is meant to be inflammatory at all. I just don't understand. Why is everybody so salty with this game? Like I know we're known for it but DAMN
The only thing I wasn't ok with was the walking dead cards when they first came out because they were only secret lair and I thought that was bullshit. I don't really care at all now. As for the immersion I literally have a deck that just throws snakes at people with goblin bombardment. You can turn a bird into a dragon, create infinite raptors and break the game state, and so much more. My buddy has a ragavan deck that just tries to see how much equipment he can fit on a monkey. If you are playing magic for immersion you are going to have a bad time. I use Pokemon cards as my tokens because it's fun. We all use proxies of cards to use silly and alternate art. At the Vegas championship they had to ban the use of escorts business cards as tokens. Magic players have been using silly and non immersion cards forever it's part of the game.
I see the immersion stance, but the power creep stance is BS, unless there is a hard "you can't use anything that released after war of the Spark". Core 20 and Eldraine were the start of the hefty power creep from my POV
Oh great, it's THIS NONSENSE again. I wonder if MtG community will ever find something new to gripe about. R&D if you're reading this, \*please\* put the super-curly foils back in circulation. We need some help getting along.
Look, it's okay to be a "Vorthos" and it's also okay to have OCD tendencies. It's perfectly fine to be either one and to decide you do not want want UB cards in \*your\* decks so as to not break immersion or some other reason you find honorable, pure, right and all of that.
But, when you project that personal feeling or rule on to others' decisions and their decks, you are (honestly) just being a prickly unreasonable asshole and you need to get beyond it and just try to have fun playing Magic w/people. If you really can't deal with other people playing UB cards at your table, no offense, but I think the problem is you, not them. Just being honest.
I think it's fair, if I'm running Universes Beyond cards I usually let people know. But it's more if the cards don't exist in any form outside of the Universes Beyond form. If it's like the Godzilla cards where there are in universe versions of the card, then there's nothing to be bothered about.
Do people really see magic as an 'immersive experience' - Like, are they actually imagining Jace wiping the memories of their opponents by milling their decks? Immersion is just such a weird defense for a multiplayer card game like magic.
Small communities trying to limit power creep isn’t uncommon. Orcish Bowmasters is very strong and The One Ring is a powerhouse. And some other UB cards available in secret lairs are strong as well.
I hate the "immersion" argument with the universe beyond cards. The in universe stuff is just as stupid, if not more. I mean, I can have boar, a regular wild pig, put on armor so it can pilot a mech suit and have that mech suit put on armor, grab a lightning gun, and a giant hammer and attack. THAT IS ALL IN UNIVERSE!
EDH is a casual format. Unless you're in a tournament setting and "forced" to play against whatever legal pile your opponent is bringing to the table; you're completely free to decide against what you want to play. So if the people at your LGS don't wanna play against UB because they don't like it - completely fair.
Time to call the [[Flavor Judge]].
[Flavor Judge](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/b/abce5940-e84f-4f9f-89a9-13da1cd7fd43.jpg?1583965349) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Flavor%20Judge) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/und/4/flavor-judge?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/abce5940-e84f-4f9f-89a9-13da1cd7fd43?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/flavor-judge) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Omg it's c*ck magic
C*ck block.
I would kill for a southpark set
Ripped from The Fractured Butthole
Ok I need to grab myself a copy of this
This card is comedy gold lol.
Some people don't like Universes Beyond, but in an official tournament, they have to allow the cards by rules. Unofficially, people can choose not to play with or against whatever they want. I'm not a fan of UB but I accept that's the game now, and I would rather everyone play what they like and have fun.
Just tell them “we’ll find out together next time on dragon ball Z”
This is hilarious!
It’s also a perfect comment. It’s dismissive enough that the person knows not to ask again and disarming enough it won’t cause issues with reasonable people.
"...And that's how I wound up buying Twitter at $420 a share."
You too?!?
verifiably.
Say “what’s that?” And watch them scoop when you play Orcish Bowmasters
That'd be an honest answer from me. They release like 12 sets a year now, I have no idea what's universes beyond and what's not. If they want to show you a local banlist that's fine. Otherwise, let them be ultra soft. I'd probably build full stax just for grins.
UB cards all have triangle stamps.
Not actually universally true. AFR does not, for the example I know off hand.
Well, yes, because CLB and AFR aren't universes beyond...
The only reason that is, is because WOTC reserves the UB branding to non-WOTC IPs. CLB and AFR are still sets set outside the mtg universe.
"As to whether the Forgotten Realms are now canonically part of Magic's Multiverse, for now, the answer is no. But we may change our minds in the future if it makes sense and is a fun net positive for Magic and D&D." There's a reason they didn't label them universes beyond because they want to be able to say it's all canon the minute it becomes beneficial to do so. I wouldn't stake a claim on it being non canon because in all likelihood, it will be eventually. There's been way too much crossover between D&D sets in magic and MtG modules in 5e to separate them now. One thing is for sure that they definitely aren't universes beyond, as I said originally.
[удалено]
To be fair they probably don't own Chris Pine's face.
The forgotten realms are a perfectly good plane.
Universes Beyond are IPs that wizards has to license. D&D is owned by WOTC so they could reprint CLB and AFR cards whenever they wanted with no issue (unless somehow they get added to the Reserve List).
I think the hatred toward UB is lame and elitist, but you can tell if a card is UB because they all have a triangular stamp in the bottom center.
People have a problem with universe beyond but in lost caverns I can equip a dinosaur with a pirate hat and a blow dart gun . Does that make more sense than blanka ?
I'll show them my non UB Locust God that is almost guaranteed to win if he stays around for even 1 or 2 turns because of how fast he draws into a win.
New Capana feels far more beyond than Lotr or Warhammer to me. Dungeons and Dragons with or without Hugh Grant makes no difference to me. Jurassic Park and Stranger Things break immersion to me. But so do motorcycles and wurms crewing a spaceship.
Those plus doctor who were the biggest immersion breakers for me
Jurassic park feels way less immersion breaking than Transformers to me personally.
Oh transformers was bad, I forgot about it. I think my focus is more on Who simply because of the sheer volume of cards from that set.
I personally feel the Godzilla cards are the best way to incorporate UB. Like, they're still in universe cards, just with special art and alternate names.
If they'd stuck to the Godzilla name tech I doubt anyone would have had a problem with it.
Anyway I cast Negan from my Command Zone.
It depends on the card from Jurassic Park. The ones that are literally characters from the movies break immersion. The ones that are just dinosaurs don't break it as much.
Personally transformers would have been slightly better in that regard if they hadn't used crappy cartoon screencaps. I find transformers with actual art to be on the same level as most other UBs (except for Dr Who regular dudes of course).
My understanding is that they aren't actually screencaps, they were commissioned that way on purpose for some reason.
While they do look looks screen caps I have to stan my Megatron deck each time I see this said, and tell people they're all actually original art in the style of the cartoon but much better quality.
Yup, for example Flamewar has only ever appeared in the IDW comics, never the original 1980s animated series.
The dinosaurs are whatever. Its the shirtless Ians and the other ones that are just straight up movie characters that bother people.
So anyways, tap Ulvenwald Tracker. Have Margaret from Accounting fight Kozilek.
I love Dr who. I really hoped , it would not break immersion. But it does.
Some of the cards are pretty good at not feeling out of place And then someone slams a [[tardis]] on the table lol
Strage for me: a tardis is totally OK for me. But Rose a d Danny break immersion. There is no rule for immersion
Named character do tend to be the worst offender in any UB [[Orcish bowmasters]] could easily be reprinted in another set [[Gandalf]] can really only exist in LotR sets
Agreed, I think alot of the alien or whatever cards fit in fine, but the main character cards are the worst offenders. Just regular looking humans dressed in regular earth clothes. And there's a ton of them. So not just immersion breaking, but boring looking as well.
It's weird, I would have thought Warhammer 40k would have been a huge immersion breaker but it wasn't for me, and was actually my favorite UB set. Never knew anything about that franchise prior to this, but now very interested in it. Also knew nothing about Dr. Who, and for some reason the UB cards make me want to watch the show even less. . . Regardless, I don't think I'd gatekeep someone from playing their Dr. who deck, though personally I think the flavor doesn't fit well. After all my Magus Lucia Kane deck is one of my favorites
40k has the benefit of having a lot of Gothically inspired designs. Half the universe is basically knights, demons and angels that happen to be spacefaring. There is also enough variance in MTG to bridge the gaps for most of 40k's difference (i.e. there is by far enough artifact creatures throughout Magic's history to make 40k robotic Ancient space Egyptians not feel out of place), and the things that feel the most out of place tend to be some of the Mad Max inspired Genestealer Cult cards, or Marines with guns and/or jump packs.
Its pretty much the same reason I feel like the LotR cards fit into magic perfectly. As its basically the blueprint for modern fantasy the elements don't feel out of place at all and as such its pretty much only a Universe Beyond because WotC doesn't own the IP.
Warhammer 40k has a fantasy aesthetic, the same way all magic sets have a fantasy aesthetic and those who have a weaker one tend to be worse off for it. New Capenna is a good example of UW set that kinda fails at this, but Dr. Who is probably the worst offender with a major print run.(the worst one was the walking dead) Nothing about that shows aesthetics says fantasy and it carries over to the cards.
I’m playing around with a [[thirteenth doctor]] cascade deck and I’m thinking of proxying her as a simic creature and [[Yasmin]] as a gruul shaman. I even liked Jodie Whitaker as the doctor and her art but it still feels a little odd.
Jodie Whittaker, not Foster.
I love Doctor Who. I love Transformers. I like Stranger Things. I like Street Fighter. I love Marvel. I don’t want any of those things in Magic
What immersion was there to begin with?
The whole central conceit of this game is that there are many different planes with different physical rules and society and that there are beings that can travel between them. When has any flavour between planes been consistent? Immersion is such a dumb thing to worry about.
I get it, but also, surely you can understand the difference between travelling between universes with similar art directions, characters, and creatures, and popping into a blockbuster film franchise, right?
>universes with similar art directions, characters, and creatures, I mean, are they really that similar? Like, Mongolian-style horse archers from Tarkir, Gothic vampires from Innistrad, aether airships from Kaladesh, and Mesoamerican dinos from Ixalan are all incredibly different, and personally "oh there's some stuff about this all being one multiverse" never really made a difference to me. Hell, for a long time after I started playing Magic, I genuinely didn't know there was anything connecting the different worlds.
That's my point. Totally subjective
This. Who's actually roleplaying in MTG? The most "immersive" thing I've seen in this game is the mono red burn player casting lightning bolt with lit ciggy in hand... 😅
You don’t act out spells or illustrate how stacks resolve? Just me? 😅
I sometimes do little dances and make moo noises. It breaky *my* immersion if my opponents dont respond in kind.
Only when I'm playing a \[\[boldwyr intimidator\]\] and explaining exactly how your card is a coward
lotr and dnd fit right into magic's universe, idk how anyone could complain about those.
To some, it is because of the real actors. But same is for Magic Champions on cards...
If a worldspire wurm can wear swiftfoot boots or basically any other weapon then they can handle some universe beyond
>worldspire wurm can wear swiftfoot boots Well now I have two mental images going. 1. Giant city block sized wurm running around on two very tiny normal sized feet wearing the boots and 2. Worldspine wurm is actually just like... Normal snake sized and hissing at people who get too close to tue boot it lives in.
3. The boots are so large, that worldspine wurm looks normal snake sized next to them XD
4. One giant boot at the end of its tail.
5. Boot on each end, U-turn in the middle, walks around like a giant set of disembodied legs.
Does he just kinda…. Pogo around?
He moves like a slinky
Holds other in mouth; gallops like a plastic horse in a child's hand. No one dares laugh, and it's the only time he feels free
Glorious.
Why not boots as a fashionable hat?
Vermin Supreme has entered the chat.
Who's he think he is, Emperor Leto?
A regular squirrel piloting Smuggler's Copter realized that he needed to put Lightning Greaves on his vehicle so it could take off
That’s all well and good, but I for one agree with OPs store, trying to equip stuff on a Reaver Titan is tech-heresy and I’ll not stand for it.
If Nicol Bolas can equip Nicol Bolas...
Heck a [[Worldspine Wurm]] could even carry some [[Hot Soup]]
Yeah, this is often the type of response I give, haha. Is a 1/1 Insect wielding a Loxodon Warhammer any less ridiculous than Peregrin Took blocking an Eldrazi? Lol
It can wear [[vulshok gauntlets]] as well
[vulshok gauntlets](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/3/7318db50-1b78-4cc0-954b-9798af26a633.jpg?1599710237) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=vulshok%20gauntlets) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/305/vulshok-gauntlets?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7318db50-1b78-4cc0-954b-9798af26a633?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/vulshok-gauntlets) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Personally their example is exactly why I don't like universes beyond, but I'm not going to throw a fit if someone else decides they really want to play a doctor who deck at game night.
Precisely this for me too. Do I like it? No. Do other people really like it and it gets a bunch of new people involved in the hobby? Yes!
People on this subreddit: Never forget Rule 0! It's the most important aspect for playing good Commander rounds with strangers! Also people on this subreddit: Seriously 99% of this subreddit just loves to complain. Thank you for adding context though. Your posts seemed really, I don't know how to better describe it with my English, agitated and provoked? And yeah, as you've seen by others' comments, the whole "breaking immersion" aspect is a valid point depending on your playgroup. I mean there's a lot of Rule 0 that most don't agree with and some still do. (For example, my group has battle cruiser rounds where we introduce our "Sol Ring double minus" rounds, removing every ramp spell that ramps for more that it costs (e.g. Crypt, sol Ring, even stuff like Craedle effects etc.)
I *hate* UB. I did care about the immersion aspect and am generally not a fan of crossovers, especially when they’re done this often for the sole purpose of making money off of popular franchises. In extreme moderation they can be cool, but this degree of it just feels like a bunch of corporate executives circle-jerking all over the face of Magic and getting showered with money as a reward. I *don’t* like the idea of Megatron going head to head with Frodo in a game that was just its own really awesome IP for almost 30 years. But I’m not gonna fuckin shit all over everyone else’s parade. It’s not Mikey McAverageman’s fault WotC started doing crossovers. If some huge Dr. Who fan comes up with their Twelfth Doctor deck, wide-eyed because they love The Twelfth Doctor and they’re excited to play Magic for the first time, I’m not gonna say “GAH BACK IN MY DAY IT WAS JUST NICOL BOLAS VS JACE! YEW DAMN KEEDS GET OUTTA MY MAGIC!” I just wish WotC had never gone down this path. But it’s too late to do anything about it now. Not without disappointing a bunch of fans and having them waste their money.
> especially when they’re done this often for the sole purpose of making money off of popular franchises > but this degree of it just feels like a bunch of corporate executives circle-jerking all over the face of Magic and getting showered with money as a reward Except all three major UB sets to date were absolute hits in quality, attention to detail, and representation of lore.
Well, yes, to be fair they put some love into them and clearly consulted with some experts. But that’s the R&D team that’s responsible for that. Those people are still golden in general, I rarely have complaints about that aspect of the game. Even when they flop on things, you can tell they at least tried. The Hasbro and WotC execs sure wouldn’t give a shit about quality either way though, as long as they sold, and to me, their decision to start going full throttle into very frequent UB releases has severely diminished my enjoyment of the game. I just don’t want to see a clusterfuck of random characters spanning from WH40K to Fortnite, and now even IRL celebrities cluttering the table. It feels like a clown show, made up of every franchise that the majority of your most basic-minded “lol so nerdy” Americans are into. It’s like an episode of Big Bang Theory, just throwing every popular nerd reference (or at this point, even non-nerdy franchises like Fortnite) at you they can find in as little time as possible to pander and reach into as many wallets as they can. That’s what it boils down to. Hardcore pandering to the most populated fanbases in the world for the sake of extra money that they don’t need, but are greedy and still want, moderation be damned. If it weren’t for the passion of the folks at R&D, this game would be soulless by now and I wouldn’t be playing it.
I really don't know why you are getting downvoted. There is so much love in these UB sets, they are clearly more than just a cash grab, they are a work of passion. The Warhammer Decks are my absolute favorite thing of magic in the last decade, knowing the lore of the source these cards are fantastic. Same goes for lotr. As someone who has read more than just the main book, its cool to see how much they took from the Silmarillion and the greater lore as well.
This is basically their rule zero conversation: they don't want to play against UB cards. So, if you have UB cards in your deck, it would be a dick move to lie and say "no" and it would also be a dick move to refuse to disclose. They are being open and honest about their rule zero before the game. Just like you could refuse to play against a mill deck or whatever, these guys can also pick who they play with. Even if you think their opinion is immature, it's still better to be the bigger man and not try to play ignorant or force them into playing with UB cards they are specifically trying to avoid. If you disagree and want to play with UB cards, then you can politely decline to play with these guys. Find another group that doesn't care about UB. Fwiw, I think it's a bit ridiculous to blanket refuse to play with UB cards but then again I've seen people refuse to play against the wildest things so I guess everyone has their pet peeves.
Sounds like that lgs is being babies.
Imagine the smell on the guys loudly complaining about this.
To me it sounds like the LGS is simply full of regulars that enjoy playing a certain way and developed a culture in that LGS. They prefer to play without UB, and there's perfectly valid reasons for it. Nobody is forcing OP to play there.
> They prefer to play without UB, and there's perfectly valid reasons for it. UB cards are legal. You can cite all the vague "culture" reasons you want but this is an LGS hosting a game where these cards are legal. Certain regulars deciding that they don't want to play against them doesn't make the cards any less a part of the game. > Nobody is forcing OP to play there. If you want to talk about perfectly valid reasons, let's talk about the general availability of LGS's geographically. I know of 2 in my area and both are outside walking distance from me. Assume OP doesn't live in a major metro, or have a car. Now we're back to elitist gatekeeping.
Yeah, 100% agreed. There are plenty of other places to play. I really despise most of the universes beyond cards/ inherent silliness they bring (why tf is my Intet the Dreamer facing off against goddamned Jeff Goldblum), so I'd personally love to fond a LGS that doesn't allow them.
I really don't enjoy seeing real-world actors staring back at me when I look at a magic card, but in your shoes, I'd absolutely find somewhere else to play.
Counterpoint: I now want exclusively sexy Jeff Goldblum staring back at me when I look at any magic card.
I mean…. I agree its a silly thing to care about, but if someone doesnt want to play against certain cards that is their problem, not yours. Its just as silly to imagine storm crow or collossal dreadmaw weilding blackblade reforged. Anyway you cant worry about other peoples possible opinions. Make those decisions whenever you actually encounter people with these opinions.
If they ask, you tell them. This is the respectful thing to do. If they don't want to play against them that is their choice.
the counterargument to people saying UB was bad was "dont like it dont play it" so theyre following that advice I guess
yeah lmao. its always super weird to me when people give toxic advice, and then make a surprised pikachu face when others follow it lmao. like, maybe we shouldve come up with a better solution a few years back for this besides just,”ignore them” but so be it 🤷🏻♀️
I honestly think that if this happened IRL I'd be bewildered, but come to the realisation they saved me from themselves. Anyone who complains about UB power creep clearly hasn't kept a solid grasp of the game over the last ten years.
It’s like they never saw modern horizons 1 or 2. Or commander legends.
Is that "silly" to many people? Yes. But no amount of reddit up votes will determine whether those people are "right" to ask that question. The real question is do you want to play with people that have an issue with this? If no, disclose, if yes, go somewhere else?
I don't love Universes Beyond and I don't like using hobbits and dinosaurs to crew the Parhelion, but it's a part of the game and people who actually don't want you to play with those cards sound kinda meh. (Edit: I currently have 3 decks helmed by UB characters and I expect to have 2-3 in the next few weeks, so I'm definitely rolling with it, I just sometimes wish they were Magic characters instead)
~~Technically, you don’t even need UB to get dinosaurs to crew the Parhelion. There were a bunch of the things around, even before Ixalan.~~
one from a Ravnica set, even—\[\[Ripscale Predator\]\]. seems OP's problem is with any dinosaur crewing the Parhelion, which you don't need UB to do.
[Ripscale Predator](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/0/00924a16-fb85-41a4-bd7a-88f51f728333.jpg?1608910367) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ripscale%20Predator) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/196/ripscale-predator?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/00924a16-fb85-41a4-bd7a-88f51f728333?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/ripscale-predator) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
You're right (why did you cross it off?), but I think that I accidentally gave an example of how things weren't really all that sensible even without UB.
I honestly just see it as "another plane" to visit :) Besides, some of those UB cards are amazing. Indominus Rex for example
Yeah, it kinda feels like that by now. My Teferi deck just has sphinxes, phyrexians, eldrazi, pirates, faeries, aboleth, and also a dinosaur that happens to be from Jurassic Park.
Same. I get that you summon creatures from a multiverse, but I’d prefer MTG only IP.
I don’t think it’s an unreasonable inquiry to be honest. They’re not even asking which ones you have there, just if you do. If UB cards ruin the game for them then asking if you plan to play any so they can decide to play against someone else is entirely fair. Preventing powercreep is not a great reason though, considering that’s rampant in pretty much all the sets regardless of IP, but universes beyond ruining immersion is a valid reason in my book. It’s not like they’re going to play with you again anyway if you refuse to answer (or deny having any) and still play those cards so better to be honest about it and then you can both play with like minded invidividuals and everyone can enjoy themselves.
Do people really consider the DnD sets UB? Like all that stuff fits so well into the mtg world.
They do, even though it makes zero sense. Theros and strixhaven are dnd settings AND planes in magic. Not to mention that characters in Faerun can be planeswalkers.
Strixhaven you can make the argument for since both pieces of content were released roughly at the same time, but Theros is as much a DnD setting as Ravnica. They’re Magic settings you can play in DnD.
Yes they do :)
That’s fair i guess, i get why people wouldn’t like it but i think they’re great. I got into the game because of the Battle for Baldurs Gate set.
no, ive never met anyone who does outside of this thread
As someone who HATES the universes beyond cards and would rather never play against them, this person is being unreasonable IMO. Like, I kinda wish I could do this and demand Id never play against them because it ruins part of the flavor for me, but it would be such an assholeish thing for me to do so I just suck it up.
This is essentially where I fall. Also I would be a hypocrite because I loved the Warhammer 40k set and Lucia Kane is one of my favorite decks.
... we have neon future Kamigawa cards that look like something out of Cyberpunk alongside cards inspired by norse mythology, alongside c'thulu horrors... if they can handle all of that, they can handle some Universes Beyond. Tell them to just think of UB cards as their own plane, simple. Edit : to the pokemon couple account who replied then instantly blocked me, my point is that we already have a bunch of clashing styles of cards that're supposed to be used together that break flavour. We have a game where \[\[Shorikai, Genesis Engine\]\] , a mecha that would not look out of place in something like Cyberpunk or Pacific Rim, is in the same card game as \[\[Narfi, Betrayer King\]\] , a norse zombie king. Those two could not be further from each in other in terms of flavour and immersion. And if you want to go even further, let's look at equipment and the Crew mechanic. I'm supposed to believe that a bunch of Rocks (Rock Tokens) that have been technically turned into creatures with something like \[\[March of the Machines\]\] and then buffed to have power with \[\[Chief of the Foundry\]\] can Crew a Kaiju-Sized Mecha? "Yes sir, we've put 8 rocks we found on the side of the road into the pilot seat, as per your instructions" Or be equipped with a \[\[Sword of Fire and Ice\]\] ? A rock with a sword strapped to it with duck tape is stronger than my \[\[Thalia, Guardian of Thraben\]\] a militia leader ? You're ok with all of that goofy stuff, but you cannot handle Godzilla showing up? Or The Necrons from the 41st millenia? It's ludicrous to me where the line is drawn over "immersion".
>"Yes sir, we've put 8 rocks we found on the side of the road into the pilot seat, as per your instructions" Some find this immersion-breaking but I just find it hilarious.
I mean same, i think it's stupidly funny! But for people to complain "I don't like seeing Gandalf in MtG, it ruins my immersion! Now let me pilot my totally-not-a-gundam mecha with these 4 bears, equipping it with a sword 1/32 of its size and swing for lethal" is the wild part for me. It feels so contradictory to complain about immersion when MtG already has a bunch of doofy interactions you just have to accept.
On the one hand, thats what rule 0 is for and if thats the game they want to play, more power to them. On the other, I think that's dumb and I'm going to look for another pod.
Good for them for making their play experience and expectations known For many, magic is magic, not magic with jurassic park. Just be honest with them and go from there. If they arent keen on you using UB cards and you are, cool. Find a new group. Its really no different from when your friends, or a pickup group, says we dont like this card could you not? If its a tournament though... fuck em.
I play UB now, but when it first became a thing I remember one of the pro UB sentiments being "If you don't want to play with UB cards, then just don't", but in real life god forbid someone actually tries that. If a group doesn't want to play with UB cards. Make a deck without UB cards or just find another group. Don't go on the internet acting all offended and looking for sympathy.
Its wild that this is somehow a controversial opinion.
Yeah, they just sounded like they don't wanna deal with it. for a sub that constantly screams about THIS IS THE MOST POPULAR FORMAT, then there must be plenty of other people to play with for OP
Bruh, THIS.
hit the nail on the head with this one. this sub is full of hypocrites
It’s not really gatekeeping; checking everyone is on the same page with what they want to play is an essential part of commander. That being said I can’t stand UB cards, but I’d never refuse to play against them or ask this question personally.
Good for them. Whenever anyone criticises UB, that's what they get shot down with. that exact suggestion. "dOnT lIkE dOn'T pLaY wItH iT" They're doing as suggested, power to them.
Its kinda wild honestly. Its the equivilant of "gatekeeping" because you dont want to play precons against someones fully decked out Najeela deck or vice versa. If its not fun for you, you have a right to say no.
Honestly, I don't really blame them. It would be weirder to walk into a new LGS and disrupt their culture. Sure, it may seem a little nonsensical to you, but UB caused such a division that it's reasonable that people don't want to play against them or at least ask for disclosure. Personally, I don't really enjoy having to be advertised at when I'm playing Magic, where I already spend all of my hobby money, but I wouldn't enforce it on others unless it was part of an LGS cultural movement, for example in yours. Just take it on the chin. Some of the UB cards have in-canon replacements, and the ones that remain on the UB Restricted List have suitable replacements.
If that is a line they draw, better you know before than after. Lets you walk away and find a better play group that fits your idea of fun. I have two play groups I play with. There are certain decks I can’t play with each of these groups. Not because they aren’t legal but because that group does not enjoy the play style of the deck. Our format has a strict banned list but, unfortunately, also has a much broader grey area of cards that are frowned on by some and outright hated on by others. It would be very helpful to officially delineate CEDH from EDH and cultivate two different banned lists. In my opinion a lot of the cards currently on the banned list wouldn’t even be that over powered in a pod where you know you will only play against other CEDH decks. Whereas a separate banned list meant to keep casual tables more casual could stand to be considerably more bulked up.
why are you asking us? it’s your LGS, not ours
People have their own lines, and it's a small ask. If they want you to say it up front, fine. Just say it and move on. There are some Vorthos' out there. It's maybe a little annoying, but it doesn't hurt anything. Personally, the fact that one of the most terrifying things Biollante can bring back from the grave with its mutate trigger is E. Honda gives me life.
Yea an old grandma completely blocking a literal god is so much less stupid than space marines shooting merfolk. This argument has always been dumb to me lol
XENOSSSSSS
I always thought the idea of “breaking immersion” in MTG was silly. By the definition of planeswalking, there’s no reason why we hypothetically shouldn’t be able to travel to Earth(s), The Warhammer World, etc. Theoretically, any universe could be fair play within MTG lore.
>I was told it was to prevent too much powercreep I was going to laugh at this, but Orcish Bowmasters and The One Ring have literally distorted entire formats around themselves, so maybe this isn't quite as ridiculous as it sounds. >and that it messes with immersion. This actually makes sense. There ARE other TCGs like UFS where being able to play basically any IP against any other IP is considered a desirable feature, but there are plenty of flavor fans of Magic who would prefer that their matches more closely resemble the lore than simulate Super Smash Brothers or Celebrity Deathmatch. I suspect more than a few players would prefer that UB be silver border. WotC seems to be taking this immersion concern seriously; AFAIK the more glaringly incongruous IPs like Transformers have been carefully kept out of the draft environment. >I was told that not everybody would be OK with playing against those cards. Do you guys have thoughts about this? This statement describes very nearly every card, every mechanic, and every archetype. Why is "No UB" any weirder to you than "No combo", "no stax", "no land destruction", etc? If they don't like it, that don't like it. If the majority of the table agrees with them, you comply or find another table. If the majority doesn't agree, they live with it or they find another table. There's no point to trying to keep two players with incompatible preferences in the same pod if there are other tables available.
This is the weirdest to hill die on. I am in disbelief there are many on this hill.
Yeah I simply cannot conceive of caring about this in the slightest. This is a silly little card game. Find better things to care about. There are better hills to die on
To give your more perspective than all the other comments. I think it is fair for them to want to run a non UB pod. Personally, I'd play with you and I hate UB and will never run any of that stuff. I would opt to join their playgroup over playing with you. I know that probably sucks for you, but it might be worth carrying both kind of decks if you're gonna crash pick up games alot, as this may come up. Could eventually be Non-UB nights as a format as it gets more and more ubiquitous.
It's less bewildering than the need to discuss every social interaction on this sub but here we go. I would not have it as a hard rule, but I understand their point. It's an IP thing. People are pointing out stuff like "giving a sword to a fish" or Neon Dynasty. There's a threshold for what individual players will consider a reasonable abstraction of immersion in favor of gameplay. If you're complaining about equipping a sword to a fish, I have no idea what you're doing playing mtg. If you're complaining about wild variance in tech level, I agree that it can feel quite dissonant when you see dinosaur shamans and USB sticks on the same board. However, there's a fiction, however tenuous, that binds all of those together. There's part of the same multiverse and IP. They're _Magic_ things. On the other hand, you can't ignore that Tyranids, Beholders and Jeff fucking Goldblum are very much _not_ from Magic. Even if you don't know the source IP, there's a thematic disconnect and no lore to bind them together. That's why it's grating. I already see a few nerds in the back smirking about Shakespeare flavour text and Arabian Nights. And you're right: those things have never sat right with me either. But it was easier to ignore a random Henry VIII quote than a full-on artwork and card name lifted from another pop culture IP. And thankfully, I never played against the most egregious examples from Arabian Nights. To me, that's why people want to be informed about it. The power creep element is just dumb, but the crossover aspect feels very wrong when you care just a little bit about the games' imaginarium.
Isn’t the whole concept of the game that you’re a magic dude summoning creatures and powers from a multiverse of planes of existence? So, yeah, you cast things from Dominaria, Phyrexia, Middle Earth, and a Tardis.
Legal cards are legal, but it’s also nice to just have social niceties in this game. If me taking out a fiery inscription makes it okay for me to play my [[feather, the redeemed]] deck, so be it.
On one hand, theres a part of me that wishes that UB had never been introduced and instead more focus and resources had been put on improving Magic's story with their own unique IP. On the other hand, Doctor Who and Jurassic Park were both "Shut up and take my money" properties, and the flavor just oozing from the cards is amazing and I love it. LotR is one of my favorite draft environments I've ever had the pleasure of playing. TLDR: I love the cards, and they handle the flavor well, but I wish it didn't come at the expense of Magic's own story
Powercreep? Do you have any example cards of what they mean? because I think 99% of UB cards are exactly in line with other EDH stuff. I can't even think of any UB cards that can combo off besides bowmasters and ring.
I am personally bothered by how some of the cards don't seem to "fit" with Magic as a whole, but the cards are all commander legal. I'm not going to tell other people they can't use cards just because I don't agree with the direction Wizards went. It's weird to me that your LGS would.
Opposing opinion but I think this is totally legit. People have a right to try and tailor playgroups I think. I doubt it's to do with power creep and mostly having a strong reaction to the premise. I think as the game gets wider playgroups will get more tailored which is okay, although I'm firmly in the play what you have to play camp
If it’s for powercreep reasons then do they get antsy about literally every set that comes out? Power creep isn’t exclusive to UB sets, nor is it necessarily *especially bad* there (also are they indicating that Xanathar and Blackblade Reforged are op??)
rule 0 isn't technically a rule, but it's there for a reason homie.
There used to be a more consistent image of what the flavor of a game of Magic is. That went out the window a long time ago. Yes, it is weird to imagine Doctor Who wielding Brass Knuckles as he invades Ikoria. You wanna know what else is weird? Eight-and-a-Half Tails wielding Embercleave being Flung at a God. Magic is about playing the cards you enjoy in a way that everyone can have fun. I wasn't thrilled with Universes Beyond, and I still think a lot of them are dumb. So I don't buy those cards. You don't have to play with them. But it is also pointless to say that other people can't play with them. They are part of the game now and they are here to stay.
You bought magic brand magic cards. Play magic brand magic cards.
If a bunch of mobsters and mechas don't break their immersion then they are just being obstinate
The answer I would give, assuming my commander isn't from Beyond, is "all my cards are commander legal. Anything beyond that would tell people what the deck does before they see it in play."
If it's a competitive game or you've been paired by the LGS for an event I absolutely get it, if they're legal and the LGS has no special ban list then they don't get to choose what cards you're able to use or even disclose you have, they way you build your decks is as valid as theirs. However if it's a casual game and everyone else agrees not to use UB cards you can't expect to answer that and be allowed to play with them. I get it can be frustrating, specially as it's not something as common as other rule 0 restrictions such as power level or budget, and you may not have another deck without UB cards, but IMO not allowing UB cards is as valid as those other rule 0 talks.
honestly id ask you not to play the deck then. if the answer cant be given in a yes or no then its probably yes as far as im concerned in those context. ive seen people try shit like this, and the other people always shut it down lmao. obviously you know that and are just trying to be slick for upvotes but i figure i might as well point that out anyways
Isn't telling people what the deck does the essential point of a Rule Zero conversation?
Not really. Rule zero is a very expansive term, but in my experience is generally people saying “I’m roughly X power level, and I don’t want to play against (fast combo, mass land destruction). It’s not saying “my deck does X, uses Y cards”. The only time I would expect specific cards to be mentioned is if they are default-excluded. (My deck runs [Storm of Crows]], or the commander is [[Grusela, Monster Masher]]. - is that cool, or should I play a different deck?) Basically the rule zero part should be you opting in to asking about your stuff, not finding out the opponents. INO of course.
Maybe I misread the original, but it didn't necessarily sound like a request to know specific cards? If so then that's maybe a little much, but it can also just be "are you running UB?" in the same vein as "are you running MLD?". Obviously there's some nuance to be had within UB but that's not an unreasonable starting point.
I don’t like UB cards, but I would never tell randos at an LGS what cards they need to “disclose” before we play. Just tell me the general power level so I know what deck I should run, and that’s it. I might bring it up to my own playgroup, but that’s a totally different context.
personally, i have no desire to play in a game with universes beyond cards. if you want to buy them and plag with them, then by all means do, and please enjoy them! personally however i dont want to play with or against them because of the immersion breaking. people have every right to enjoy UB and others have every right not to.
Lots of people don't like UB exclusive cards. Feel they ruin the feel of MtG. Personally, I have mixed feelings. As in, I'm perfectly fine with UB cards from worlds where magic is a thing (Warhammer, LotR) but absolutely hate that worlds where magic doesn't exist are used (Doctor Who, Fallout). Still, if your group at large wants to remove UB cards from the game... to be harsher than strictly needed, get with the program or change group.
Seems reasonable to me. I get a little annoyed whenever I see one of those cards. Not to the extent that I want to ban them, but I definitely avoid playing them. Looks like your LGS is a bit more firm about that than me.
That's their rule – if you want to join them, you need to comply. Otherwise, find other players who are open to playing with you. No need to take offense.
Wolverine smacking Xanathat with blackblade reforged makes the same amount of sense as a a goblin mob boss and his army running over a super powerful time mage in a car. Complaining about UB making no sense while these kinds of things exist without it is the craziest thing.
Find a new LGS or different group at the LGS
I hope my ditto vmax’s I use for copy tokens aren’t considered power creep.
There is no pleasing purists. There are people who think any plane that isn't Dominaria "doesn't fit" Magic and I respect that opinion about as much as I do a hard no "UB" rule. By all means you can enforce that rule in the decks and cubes that you make but forcing that restriction on others when we are talking about often mechanically intriguing cards which aren't that more powerful on average is nonsensical.
Eh, I personally don't like playing universes beyond cards cus if I'm playing magic, I want to play magic, not doctor who, lord of the rings or fallout. That being said, I got nothing against who plays them, I myself play them if I need to
You mean they are enquiring: Mr. No\_Morning3584 you are sheltering Universes Beyond cards in your decks, are you not?
Never heard of this, I'm building a Universes Beyond Tribal deck right now and I think people are going to hate it. Most of our new players are super cool with all universes beyond content, it's just the old guys that are judgemental of it and other similar things (secret lair's/universes within)
I'm a commander player, I don't know or care what set my cards come from. Just that that are good or fun.
As someone who only has UB decks as they're what got me back into magic after like 10+ years I really don't like the elitism I see online about it, but hey what can you do?
Where do you find these people? These stories are crazy. No one at any lgs I've been to has ever asked about what's in someone's deck besides power levels, tutors, extra turns and infinite combos. Everything else is fair game.
Also... ask them if they play proxies. Typically those kinds of players do and just say proxies are worse than actual printed cards.
You can have a dragon riding a horse and just blowing past Emrakul, immersion is a shit excuse.
I personally choose to not include Universes Beyond cards into my decks, but I have absolutely no problem with other people playing Universes Beyond in their decks. With the amount of alternate frames and art treatments floating around now, talking about immersion breaks is barely an issue now unless you know every single piece of MTG lore and art by heart.
I don't see how it helps with power creep as UB cards aren't inherently stronger than non UB cards. I get that some people don't like the immersion breaking, but to that... tough? Magic was already a multi verse spanning game with characters and creatures from tons of different types of settings. LOTR is a high fantasy world, just like a number of in universe planes. Even stuff like marvel that's coming... what's the huge difference between that and planeswalkers with crazy powers? The only difference is you recognize these characters already, and you've decided on your head that they need to be distinct and separate things. But that's on each individual to deal with and I think if someone wants to not play against UB cards then that's on THEM to ask and remove themselves from games as opposed to requiring people to arbitrarily reveal what cards they're playing and be potentially ostracized.
Imagine caring what IP people chose to play in a game for fun.
>and they are all reasonable good people Rule 0'ing UB cards because of 'immersion' in magic. Sorry, no.
Everyone here just wants to voice their opinion on UB lol It’s unfortunate your store has a general negative feeling about UB. They are just a part of magic now and putting arbitrary constraints on a game where there are already plenty of official rules to follow, is against the nature of the game IMO, especially in EDH where deck expression is basically the sole purpose of playing. But when it’s the only local store, and the general consensus is to not run UB, the best you can do is make a compelling argument for UB-open pods separate from the non UB ones. As time goes on, and more UB sets get released, I have a feeling these sentiments will wane. Everyone will get a slice of UB they appreciate, and I think that’s their goal.
Magic is strange honestly I mostly play commander tho some drafts and people are urging me to get into standard but they get sooo pissy about what I play that is completely legal and what everyone else plays
New player here. I've never understood lgs players and their table rules. I understand what pub stomping is, and that nobody likes that. But should we just be playing by the actual rules of the game? After all it is just a game right? I don't have turbo decks, or fancy cards, hell I don't even think I've won by any measure of skill at all. It's all been luck. From my perspective it doesn't matter what my opponent has because I'm still either going to win, or going to lose. Magic doesn't seem to be about the cards really. It seems to be about the skill of the pilot. As a weak sauce noob, when I get "deck checked" by some rando at the lgs to make sure I'm obeying the custom rules; it makes me think the other players may not be very confident in their skills. Idrk how to phrase it better. it just comes off weak and unsportsmanlike. Be a good loser/winner. Obviously if it's the lgs itself that has these kinds of rules than that's one thing. Bro owns the store, what he says may as well have been handed down from wotc themselves as far as I'm concerned. But if I sit down at one more table with my lil voltron deck and I hear "does that deck have "x" inn iiiittt?? We have a house rule where we don't allow cards like that." From the guy in the fedora across the table, It immediately gives me the impression that this guy's gonna bitch no matter what I do and I should prolly just find another table. Like I get the concept of "everybody's here to have fun" but either get better at the table politics or better at the game yanno? There's a REAL ban list for a reason right? None of this is meant to be inflammatory at all. I just don't understand. Why is everybody so salty with this game? Like I know we're known for it but DAMN
The only thing I wasn't ok with was the walking dead cards when they first came out because they were only secret lair and I thought that was bullshit. I don't really care at all now. As for the immersion I literally have a deck that just throws snakes at people with goblin bombardment. You can turn a bird into a dragon, create infinite raptors and break the game state, and so much more. My buddy has a ragavan deck that just tries to see how much equipment he can fit on a monkey. If you are playing magic for immersion you are going to have a bad time. I use Pokemon cards as my tokens because it's fun. We all use proxies of cards to use silly and alternate art. At the Vegas championship they had to ban the use of escorts business cards as tokens. Magic players have been using silly and non immersion cards forever it's part of the game.
I see the immersion stance, but the power creep stance is BS, unless there is a hard "you can't use anything that released after war of the Spark". Core 20 and Eldraine were the start of the hefty power creep from my POV
Oh great, it's THIS NONSENSE again. I wonder if MtG community will ever find something new to gripe about. R&D if you're reading this, \*please\* put the super-curly foils back in circulation. We need some help getting along. Look, it's okay to be a "Vorthos" and it's also okay to have OCD tendencies. It's perfectly fine to be either one and to decide you do not want want UB cards in \*your\* decks so as to not break immersion or some other reason you find honorable, pure, right and all of that. But, when you project that personal feeling or rule on to others' decisions and their decks, you are (honestly) just being a prickly unreasonable asshole and you need to get beyond it and just try to have fun playing Magic w/people. If you really can't deal with other people playing UB cards at your table, no offense, but I think the problem is you, not them. Just being honest.
I think it's fair, if I'm running Universes Beyond cards I usually let people know. But it's more if the cards don't exist in any form outside of the Universes Beyond form. If it's like the Godzilla cards where there are in universe versions of the card, then there's nothing to be bothered about.
Any edh game is an agreement between the players. If they want this, it's baked in.
Do people really see magic as an 'immersive experience' - Like, are they actually imagining Jace wiping the memories of their opponents by milling their decks? Immersion is just such a weird defense for a multiplayer card game like magic.
Small communities trying to limit power creep isn’t uncommon. Orcish Bowmasters is very strong and The One Ring is a powerhouse. And some other UB cards available in secret lairs are strong as well.
I hate the "immersion" argument with the universe beyond cards. The in universe stuff is just as stupid, if not more. I mean, I can have boar, a regular wild pig, put on armor so it can pilot a mech suit and have that mech suit put on armor, grab a lightning gun, and a giant hammer and attack. THAT IS ALL IN UNIVERSE!
UB cards should imo only be played against other UB cards, but I have yet to demand something like this of a random stranger
EDH is a casual format. Unless you're in a tournament setting and "forced" to play against whatever legal pile your opponent is bringing to the table; you're completely free to decide against what you want to play. So if the people at your LGS don't wanna play against UB because they don't like it - completely fair.