Last week, the fourth You Make the Card project unexpectedly appeared on magicthegathering.com, with the first round being a vote on the card type of the card the Magic community will collectively design. After 88,713 votes were cast, land had a plurality, with 26.56 percent. But the closest runner-up was enchantment... with 26.53 percent. The difference was less than thirty votes between the top two finishers, representing a lead of three thousandths of one percent. The vote was close enough for R&D to call it a tie.
So, as Ethan Fleischer explained in his feature article today, round 2 will be a runoff on the card type, to break the tie between those two top finishers, and holding off on whatever the planned second round was (suggestions of abilities, perhaps, or color, or even a name) until next week.
The outcome is unsurprising given the tenor of the discussion of the first round on Magic forums and on Twitter. Most seemed to feel that the other types were played out, having been done in previous YMTCs, and wanted to try something new. The advocates of both lands and enchantments were vocal and numerous, and both made arguments of various levels of persuasiveness. Disappointing as not really advancing the design process this week may be, it would not have been fair to call this vote in favor of lands.
It seems as though competitive players generally favor having a land in the docket for design, since lands cost no mana and they are not vulnerable to countering and hard to destroy, so lands with non-mana-producing activated abilities are reliable elements in tournament decks. The enchantment option, meanwhile, seems to be supported by Johnnies and Vorthoses, who cite the possibilities for a fun and flavorfully resonant card with a unique effect with that type.
Are you part of Team Land or Team Enchantment? Let me know in the comments.
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