History YMMV / MagicTheGathering

* FountainOfMemes: Elesh Norn has spawned more memes than the other Praetors combined. She's been compared to Music/LadyGaga, [[VideoGame/SilentHill Pyramid Head]], [[VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage Lady Dimitrescu]] and many others. Her very recognizable figure, grandiose way of speaking and creepy ideology surely help.

** [[https://scryfall.com/card/ptk/56/sun-quan-lord-of-wu Sun Quan, Lord of Wu]] has rules text that simply reads "Creatures you control have horsemanship". What's Horsemanship, you ask? Flying, but better; creatures with Horsemanship can only be blocked by other creatures with Horsemanship, a mechanic that was printed in exactly one set from 1999, with a fwe one-off cards in commander decks. Because it's such a rare keyword, Sun Quan, Lord of Wu essentially makes all of your creatures unblockable; while its high mana value makes it impractical in Vintage or Legacy, it's perfect for Commander, particularly Simic Go-Wide Decks. Sun Quan was worth over $200 because of how powerful the card was; it finally got down to a more reasonable amount when it was reprinted in ''Commander Masters''.

* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: In 2022, two planeswalkers were turned into Phyrexians, a process that is normally irreversible. However, many player suspected that they would be brought back somehow. These suspicions grew stronger once ''Phyrexia: All Will Be One'' had several major characters compleated, including the "face of the game" Jace. It doesn't help that factors like the existence of Halo (which offers some protection from phyresis), Melira's healing powers and the mechanisms of compleating planeswalkers (which specifically preserve the soul) were often read as {{foreshadowing}} that there might be a way to bring them back. [[spoiler:As of ''Outlaws of Thunder Junction'', Lukka and Tamiyo have been KilledOffForReal (though the latter left behind a sort of SpiritGuardian in her image for her son Nashi), Jace and Ajani have been de-Phyrexianized and retain their Planeswalker sparks[[note]]Ajani technically inherit's Urza's spark from Karn, but Jace manages to keep his own.[[/note]] and Vraska, Nahiri and Nissa have been de-sparked entirely.]]

** [[https://scryfall.com/card/ptk/56/sun-quan-lord-of-wu Sun Quan, Lord of Wu]] has rules text that simply reads "Creatures you control have horsemanship". What's Horsemanship, you ask? Flying, but better; creatures with Horsemanship can only be blocked by other creatures with Horsemanship, a mechanic that was printed in exactly one set from 1999, with a one-off card in the ''March of the Machine'' commander decks. Because it's such a rare keyword, Sun Quan, Lord of Wu essentially makes all of your creatures unblockable; while its high mana value makes it impractical in Vintage or Legacy, it's perfect for Commander, particularly Simic Go-Wide Decks. Sun Quan was worth over $200 because of how powerful the card was; it finally got down to a more reasonable amount when it was reprinted in ''Commander Masters''.

* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: In 2022, two planeswalkers were turned into Phyrexians, a process that is normally irreversible. However, many player suspected that they would be brought back somehow. These suspicions grew stronger once ''Phyrexia: All Will Be One'' had several major characters compleated, including the "face of the game" Jace. It doesn't help that factors like the existence of Halo (which offers some protection from phyresis), Melira's healing powers and the mechanisms of compleating planeswalkers (which specifically preserve the soul) were often read as {{foreshadowing}} that there might be a way to bring them back. [[spoiler:As of ''Outlaws of Thunder Junction'', Lukka and Tamiyo have been KilledOffForReal (though the latter left behind a sort of SpiritGuardian in her image for her son Nashi), Jace and Ajani have been de-Phyrexianized and retained their sparks, and Vraska, Nahiri and Nissa have been de-sparked entirely.]]

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Jace's compleation and turn to the Phyrexians is all but forgotten about by the time ''March of the Machines'' rolls around. He plays no major part in the assault on the multiverse and his status is still uncertain even after New Phyrexia is defeated.

* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: In 2022, two planeswalkers were turned into Phyrexians, a process that is normally irreversible. However, many player suspected that they would be brought back somehow. These suspicions grew stronger once ''Phyrexia: All Will Be One'' had several major characters compleated, including the "face of the game" Jace. It doesn't help that factors like the existence of Halo (which offers some protection from phyresis), Melira's healing powers and the mechanisms of compleating planeswalkers (which specifically preserve the soul) were often read as {{foreshadowing}} that there might be a way to bring them back. [[spoiler:As of ''Outlaws of Thunder Junction'', all five of the survivors seem to have been de-Phyrexianized, but with three of them losing their sparks in the process.]]

* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: In 2022, two planeswalkers were turned into Phyrexians, a process that is normally irreversible. However, many player suspected that they would be brought back somehow. These suspicions grew stronger once ''Phyrexia: All Will Be One'' had several major characters compleated, including the "face of the game" Jace. It doesn't help that factors like the existence of Halo (which offers some protection from phyresis), Melira's healing powers and the mechanisms of compleating planeswalkers (which specifically preserve the soul) were often read as {{foreshadowing}} that there might be a way to bring them back. [[spoiler:Two of the victims were indeed brought back at the end of ''March of the Machine'', but it's unclear if that feat can be repeated for the other three who weren't confirmed dead.]]

* NeverLiveItDown: Some feel that Magic's storytelling was dragged down by ''War of the Spark: Forsaken'' in 2019, and it has yet to fully recover. The novel was almost universally panned by the fandom to the point where Wizards cancelled the release of the story for an ''entirely different set'', and players are quick to point out the lesbian erasure in ''Forsaken'' (regarding Chandra and Nissa's relationship) whenever the subject of LGBTQ+ representation in the game comes up. The ending of the New Phyrexia arch in "March of the Machine" in April 2023 only seemed to cement this impression.

** Some feel that the plane of Thunder Junction being uninhabited before the Omenpaths opened the way to it is a waste of a setting; given the fact that it's heavily inspired by WildWestTropes, some people feel that the absence of any Natives, and the conflict that's inherent with the colonialism of western expansion, would have been ripe for storytelling potential. Not helping matters is the fact that a faction coded after the Diné, known as the Atiin, exist, but aren't natives to Thunder Junction, which some fans have just called plain confusing.

** Most card bans across the formats are well-understood and justified, but there are some who feel that [[https://scryfall.com/card/ths/199/prophet-of-kruphix Prophet of Kruphix]] should be unbanned in Commander; it has the same mana value and a similar ability to [[https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/186/seedborn-muse Seedborn Muse]], but the splash of blue restricts what decks it can be played in, it doesn't untap artifacts, and the fact that it's only three toughness means it can be killed by a Lightning Bolt.In short, several people don't think "Seedborn Muse but it gives creatures flash" is good enough to justify being banned.

** [[https://scryfall.com/card/m20/226/golos-tireless-pilgrim Golos, Tireless Pilgrim]] was such an effective card that it had to be banned in Commander. It's enter-the-battlefield effect allows it to ramp, it's all colors despite being an artifact, and its ability of letting you pay seven mana to exile the top three cards of your library and just ''play them for free'' homogenized the format; everything from tribal strategies to competetive-tier combo decks benefited from having Golos at the helm.

** ''Kamigawa'' block tried to do the same thing after the the insanity of ''Mirrodin'', and fared about as well. It was followed by ''Ravnica'' to boot, a reasonably powerful set that's been a fan-favorite since printing (even the less powerful cards are considered ''fun''). ''Kamigawa'' also had the problem of a lot of it's archtypes being too block insular that over time suffered massive PowerCreep, ''especially'' Samurai who didn't recieved much support and until ''Neon Dynasty'' came out, didn't have a multicolored Commander who could cover it's three primary colors.

** ''Neon Dynasty'' is this to the original ''Kamigawa'' block. The latter had popularity in the fandom thanks to it's setting, but the cards from the set were highly malaigned from a design standpoint and it was not nearly as successful as Wizards hoped. For the longest time many fans thought the closest they'd get to a return was the presence of Tamiyo, a planeswalker from Kamigawa. Then ''Neon Dynasty'' was announced, with the conceit being one that combined elements of {{Cyberpunk}}, [[RomanticismVersusEnlightenment tradition vs innovation]], and more modern tropes from Japanese works. While the science-fiction setting is still debated on, there's a large number of players surprised by how much they like the set on both a flavor and mechanical level, and Mark Rosewater has even said that the positive reception means a return is much more feasible now than it was before.

* EvilIsSexy:
** Yawgmoth is thoroughly evil in ''Magic'' history, but his handsome looks and talent as a [[ManipulativeBastard masterful manipulator]] means he has plenty of admirers, to the point where calling him the "Daddy" of Machines is relatively common.
** Liliana Vess is a selfish necromancer obsessed with youthful beauty, and loves to flaunt her skin. Unsurprisingly, she's widely considered quite attractive.
** Some Phyrexians such as Elesh Norn and compleated Ajani have gained their own admirers despite being vicious conquerors, since said admirers don't mind the absence of skin.

* HypeBacklash: ''War of the Spark: Forsaken'' is infamous in the Magic fandom. The novel was advertised to be a capstone for the Nicol Bolas story arc, which had spanned the better part of two decades, and ended up being so poorly received that it caused the story of the Theros: Beyond Death set to never be released. Chief among the criticisms were the fact that, within the space of a paragraph, it said that the previous LoveConfession between Nissa and Chandra in the previous installment was purely platonic.

* PopularWithFurries: Some characters became popular with the UsefulNotes/FurryFandom, such as Ajani Goldmane (a Leonin Planeswalker), Kemba, Kha Regent (a Leonin member of The Mirran Resistance), Nashi (a ridiculously adorable nezumi adopted by Tamiyo) and Ink-Eyes (a Nezumi ninja). Scaly fans also appreciate dragons, like Nicol Bolas and Ugin.

*** The original Atog did see use in some experimental and not-very-effective decks based on cheap artifacts, graveyard recursion, and/or card-drawing.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: New players may be mystified as to why certain famous/infamous cards have such a reputation. Sometimes this is because of their still immature grasp of the game, but other times it's because those cards were simply good in their particular metagame, making their dominance a matter of context. Or even that the rules of Magic have changed so that whatever made them good in the first place doesn't work anymore.

** The conclusion of the 2021-23 Phyrexia storyline, with [[spoiler: Elesh Norn being a LoadBearingBoss for Phyrexia, causing the oil and compleated victims going inert after she's destroyed]], was decried by many for being an AssPull... except the exact same thing happened in the original Phyrexia storyline [[spoiler: when Yawgmoth was destroyed, with the Phyrexians "losing the will to live" and effectively ceasing to exist as a threat until what oil Karn had left on him slowly creeped into Mirrodin over the course of centuries.]]

* FountainOfMemes: Elesh Norn has spawned more memes than the other Praetors combined. She's been compared to Music/LadyGaga, [[VideoGame/SilentHill Pyramid Head]], [[VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage Lady Dimitrescu]] and many others. Her very recognizable figure, grandiose way of speaking and creepy ideology surely help.

* NeverLiveItDown: Some feel that Magic's storytelling was dragged down by ''War of the Spark: Forsaken'' in 2019, and it has yet to fully recover. The novel was almost universally panned by the fandom to the point where Wizards cancelled the release of the story for an ''entirely different set'', and players are quick to point out the lesbian erasure in ''Forsaken'' (regarding Chandra and Nissa's relationship) whenever the subject of LGBTQ+ representation in the game comes up.

** In Commander/EDH, Red has generally been considered the weakest color, since its core strategy of gunning for quick wins with fast, cheap creatures and burn spells doesn't work as well in a format with more players and higher life totals resulting in longer games which encourage long-term strategies, politics and collusion. In addition, the few things Red could viably add, other colors usually did better. Later sets and commander decks did give Red more tools to succeed, such as more multicolored commanders with Red, giving it more of a presence in the metagame.

* UnexpectedCharacter: When adapting ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'' to a ''Magic'' set, several characters were expected to appear on the cards-- not among them was [[https://scryfall.com/card/ltr/132/gl%C3%B3in-dwarf-emissary Glóin]], who only appears during the Council of Elrond in ''Fellowship of the Ring''.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: Hell yes! ''Magic The Gathering''’s card art is consistently detailed, vivid, and gorgeous, painting epic, vast worlds that are one of the game's main draws. Even simple cards like basic land cards may get eye-catching art that you wish you could expand and put it on your wall. In fact, many artists are so well known that they do sell larger prints on their personal websites. So you can put it on your wall.

** Ante. It required all players to put a random card up for offer in order to raise the stakes, with the victor getting whatever cards were placed. Not only was it an extremely unpopular rule among players, since said card might be extremely valuable, but it had to be removed because of how ante could be considered gambling, which is illegal in some jurisdictions.

** The ''Universes Beyond'' series made a bad first impression with its ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' set, which was lambasted for featuring mechanically unique cards in a highly time-limited set, and many ''Magic'' players hated the idea of seeing cards from ''The Walking Dead'' in their game because it was widely seen to clash with the ''Magic'' aesthetic (and ''TWD'' was past its prime anyway). It didn't help that the card designs themselves were not that interesting either. However, the later crossovers with ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' and ''Series/DoctorWho'' were much more positively received thanks to better choices of source material, as well as the effort Wizards put into the cards and decks.

* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: ''Neon Dynasty'' is this to the original ''Kamigawa'' block. The latter had popularity in the fandom thanks to it's setting, but the cards from the set were highly malaigned from a design standpoint and it was not nearly as successful as Wizards hoped. For the longest time many fans thought the closest they'd get to a return was the presence of Tamiyo, a planeswalker from Kamigawa. Then ''Neon Dynasty'' was announced, with the conceit being one that combined elements of {{Cyberpunk}}, [[RomanticismVersusEnlightenment tradition vs innovation]], and more modern tropes from Japanese works. While the science-fiction setting is still debated on, there's a large number of players surprised by how much they like the set on both a flavor and mechanical level, and Mark Rosewater has even said that the positive reception means a return is much more feasible now than it was before.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Calix, a Therosian planeswalker. Created by Heliod to persue Elspeth, he ''willed himself to have a spark'' so that he could continue to chase her after the events of ''Theros: Beyond Death''. Two problems: firstly, the actual story for ''Theros: Beyond Death'' has yet to release, and likely never will at this point, beyond a summary to go along with Elspeth's return in ''Streets of New Capenna''. Secondly: he was one of the planeswalkers that got desparked by the events of ''March of the Machine'', meaning that he'll only ever appear as a legendary creature from now on.

** Nissa and Chandra have a number of close interactions, with Nissa opening up to Chandra more than to the rest of the Gatewatch and Chandra turning to Nissa for comfort and emotional stability. Furthermore, the Kaladesh storyline ends with Chandra sleeping with her head on Nissa's lap. This is fleshed more in Amonkhet story, where Nissa [[https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/writing-wall-2017-04-12 thanks ]] Chandra for being with her, and with the War of the Spark novel.

* ItsShortSoItSucks: Thanks to Magic switching from a two-set paradigm to most planes only getting one set, some feel that Magic's story has suffered and become more rushed. While ''Throne of Eldraine'' and ''Ikoria'' were helped by having novels released alongside them, ''Theros: Beyond Death'' had no fiction released ''at all'' when it was in rotation and only got a summary of events during ''Streets of New Capenna.'' For comparison, ''Zendikar Rising'' had a total of five chapters to flesh out its story, plus a handful of side stories. ''Battle for Zendikar'' got eleven... ''for the prologue alone''. Later sets, such as ''The Brothers' War,'' have been giving the story more time to breathe, which the fandom is thankful for.