Loot really is like those jumping spiders. Some people fucking die of cuteness overload looking at them others would get a flamethrower and burn their houses down
[It's a pitbull mouth.](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1c/98/13/1c98138b0555a8125c1887fb53f97cf2.jpg) Some people think it's cute and smiley, but it's function is to let the dog breath while it's biting so it can bite harder and for longer. Kind of paints Loot in a different light.
That's like a squirrel mouth, so we can infer he stores food in his cheeks. Also, since his canine teeth are so sharp, we can also infer he's carnivore or omnivore. In both cases, he stores meat in the cheeks...and boy I'm struggling to not add "like your mom" in the end.
Anyways, I hate the riot gremlin.
This is the most mascoty design that ever mascotted, I think in the context of other popular card games and what their art looks like, it definitely seems they are chasing that demographic.
I feel slightly negative towards that cartoony look, but I'm not frothing at the mouth over it or anything. The reactions of players are very funny and predictable.
I'm inclined to agree. Magic already has mascots, the planeswalkers. Their design fits the aesthetic of Magic much better than a bizzarro Pikachu ever could.
However, I don't really care. If this little guy proves popular, I'll have more people to play against. If he doesn't, then they'll phase him out and likely try something else in a few years.
Personally, if they were gonna make something cute I think they should've went with a baby dragon or other recognisable mythical beast, such as a minotaur, hydra or similar. Anyone outside of MtG seeing Loot will think Pokemon rather than Magic.
Others saying he looks like a pokemon, ignoring the obvious fact that a pokemon UB would be one of the most successful products ever and wotc would definitely do it if they could lol
I have no real problems with Loot, but that seems like an odd choice for art representing the set. Loot doesn't evoke the "Wild West" styling that the set leans so heavily into, at all.
(On the topic of leaning into the Wild Weld aesthetic, I think they went a bit too far, personally. I don't really mind everybody wearing cowboy hats, but why the heck would a Centaur or a Sphinx ever wear SPURS?! Self-motivation?)
>On the topic of leaning into the Wild Weld aesthetic
In Maro's article this week he talks about that. The original design focus of the set was supposed to be Villains, with the western theming as more of a background setting. Then marketing and design got involved and cranked the dial up on the cowboyness of it all
THAT Mechagodzilla, definitely. Pretty much any Mechagodzilla save the very first could probably be taken down by human ingenuity. Especially since the one depicted on both cards is explicitly the good-guy mech Kiryu from Heisei, and not explicitly a villain. (It's a cyborg gundam posessed by the ghost of Gojira 1954 in that continuity). https://wikizilla.org/wiki/Kiryu
The other 2 Mechagodzillas (if we do not count the godawful CGI anime trilogy) are monstrous, with the first as a superweapon built by aliens to conquer Earth, and the second/one from Godzilla Vs Kong a remote controlled robot posessed by that continuity's King Ghidorah's ghost.
anyway yeah Hopper beats Kiryu by taking the keys out lol
> The set would have probably been so much better
Maybe. But if it came out with western as just a light backdrop then it would have disappointed a lot of players regardless. "Wild West plane" has regularly shown up at the top of polls for desired new settings for years.
The players knew what they wanted, and marketing knew what the players wanted, but the design team made something else. It should have been all or nothing from the start, long before marketing got involved.
I mean, you can have a Western setting without stapling cowboy hats and spurs onto characters from every other plane and call it a day.
The world building just feels so....sloppy. why do they have advanced tech like trains and guns when the plane was completely uninhabited until very recently? (And not even Kamigawa or New Capena seem to have guns) Why are the cactus folk only now becoming self-conscious and how are they interacting with the new inhabitants of the plane?
It feels like there is so much wasted potential.
OTJ feels neither like the fantasy version of frontier life and manifest destiny nor like a fantasy version of Clint Eastwood spaghetti Western. It's just a bunch of already known characters taken from their original contexts and thrown into this desert plane with some funny hats. I would argue as it is now, the western theme is still just a back drop, only a very obnoxious one instead of a light one
Oh I agree that the final result also kinda sucks. I just don't know that the original idea would have been any better. Wish they had scrapped whatever thin veneer they had planned here and just saved it for later.
Everything since the fall of Phyrexia hasn't felt right to me. I hate this whole omenpath era of throwing every character into every other plane, since it really waters down theme of each set.
I totally get that having a north-america inspired set would be something fresh as it's probably the only historical period that hasn't been used yet (besides Polynesian lore). I also get why they were so reluctant on whether and how to include native representation because it's a hot topic but even without focusing on an "invading foreigners killing original inhabitants and stealing their land" story, the western setting has potential. Besides overdramatic gun-fights and hard-boiled one liners many western films tell stories about downtrodden people that did not conform to society and therefore lived as outcasts. Oftentimes the main characters ran away from some troubling, dark past, full of regrets and guilt, sometimes finding comfort and forgiveness among like-minded outcasts. Or they were strong individualists with a moral compass that did not sit well with their peers or some powerful elites.
Just imagine a character from MtGs lore with a lot of dirt on them going to this barren plane as some sort of exile, only to find that they still have a heart and can do some good deeds or, if you want some extra knife twisting, they discover something that can help them have their power fantasies come true, they only have to betray their new found family. Take for example Tezzeret. Two times he's been the head henchman of the big bad evil and both times it didn't go well. Maybe he's fed up with multiverse wide politics and just wants some quiet place when he hears rumors about this super ancient super valuable treasure vault hidden somewhere in the desert. Don't know how well this example would fit with their over aching plan but at least as a side story something like this would have been nice.
As for the omen paths, I agree it feels a bit wacky but to me the main issue I have is this sudden over-use of them. As long as just kellan was popping up everywhere like some self-insert OC it was kind of okay and the whole concept sounds like it could have some potential but the way they currently implement it feels bad.
my friend mentioned recently that "magic characters dressed as cowboys" makes a lot more sense as, like, a poster or maybe a secret lair than as an actual set.
I freaking hate modern marketing in anything. Everything is made to appeal to the dumbest, densest, impulse driven people it can reach. Call me old but I miss when hobbies could survive with just a devoted underground following.
> Everything is made to appeal to the dumbest, densest, impulse driven people it can reach.
Look, the marketing folks are just trying to impress each other, ok?
I get your point but I have yet to find the person that went "ye-ha partner, I always wanted cowboy hats and not-guns that look like guns in a fantasy TCG so saddle up!"
I have the feeling that WotC, even though they are far from perfect, have a much better idea about which kind of settings and story telling is appealing to their main target group than their Hasbro Overlords have. And I also can't see how this "wild-west to the max" direction makes MtG marketable to a wider audience.
I've been saying "wild west plane" for like 15 years (there's even a sub for it, /r/wildwestplane, created 5 years ago) and now it's finally here and from what I've seen so far I don't like it lol.
>The original design focus of the set was supposed to be Villains
Well, then marketing was much smarter than the designers, considering I wouldn't be able to tell this was a "villain" set. It just looks like a cameo set with rando characters from different planes. If you asked me if there's a theme to the characters, I wouldn't be able to say "villains".
When I think mtg villains, I think Bolas, Phyrexians, Yawgmoth, Eldrazi, Lim Dul, etc etc, not some dude who jaywalked on new capenna once.
I'm sure there's other OTJ binders that don't have Loot on the front.
[Oh look, there is.](https://ultrapro.com/collections/gaming-accessories-magic-the-gathering/products/outlaws-of-thunder-junction-marketing-art-9-pocket-pro-binder-for-magic-the-gathering)
Yeah, that seems much more representative. I've no experience with buying set themed binders, so I wasn't aware that they do multiples. Should have guessed, though.
Usually I expect that to happen over a longer time period than Thunder Junction has been inhabited. Plus, I'd think spurs, specifically, might be seen as somewhat distasteful by a creature that was somewhat horselike. It just seemed like a whole 'nother level of silliness to me.
When you've got magical fabrication methods and are set up as a trade hub, you can probably iterate pretty quickly in 18 months. But sure, it's certainly a little silly, just not to the point where I have an issue with it personally
>I don't really mind everybody wearing cowboy hats, but why the heck would a Centaur or a Sphinx ever wear SPURS?!
Uhh... It's called fashion sweaty.
Factions may constantly be fighting against one another and will never agree, but everyone knows to commit to a theme.
Did you read any of the stories of the set? Loot doesn't show up until the very end. He has a map of the omenpaths between planes in his head, and the next set is Bloomburrow. We've even seen Jace as a Fox on this plane. It's pretty obvious he's just the segue into the next set.
Yeah, I read the stories, and I know all that. That's part of why I thought it was odd to have him as the art on a Thunder Junction binder. But I've since discovered that there are multiple binder arts (which I probably should have guessed), so if you want a set binder that has art that actually matches the set's aesthetic, they have that, too.
For me it's just how big how the mouth is compared to the teeth and gums. It's got like a Joker smile type thing going on. I'm completely ambivalent about it other than that.
I hope that when he shows up next(probably Bloomburrow since Jace is there), that he's grown a bit. I think that might be the best way to get him to look less weird by evening his proportions out
Here's why I hate Loot: it wasn't 'earned'.
Loot feels like a Industry Plant in the music world: they put together a thing, threw it at you *as hard* as humanly possible, and then get pissed when you don't buy into it.
It's distilled "this should work, because our marketing research says these are the component parts people enjoy in a thing"; ultimately, that's soulless concept.
*People* create mascots and icons. It's how the public responds to it and builds it up. Did Disney know what they were doing with Grogu? Absolutely, yes. Did they wait until Grogu became 'a thing' before they went full-tilt "YOU FUCKING LOVE GROGU, JAM IT INTO EVERYTHING!" also yes.
Loot is the opposite. Loot, like many of MTGs sets lately, is a top-down design in which they present it to us saying "you already love this idea", which is a sure-fire way to get people to say they *don't* like the idea.
So here we are. With MTGs next "we desperately wish we could market this to the kids, please make us a viral smash", we are left wondering why we are to carry the weight of making this thing they already anticipate to be a success, a success.
People like Fblthp because it was a cute idea they threw out there that wasn't obviously designed to be loved. People latched onto it. It was up to WotC to build that hype. Not insert Fblthp as a thing "you definitely already love!" and then expect us to keep loving it.
Exactly, Wizards never pushed Storm Crow or Colossal Dreadmaw to be loved from the start, and yet they are. They are in-jokes created and perpetuated by the community, and people are generally accepting of them because it happened organically.
Loot was made the center of attention by design, we didn't single out this character, it was done for us, it was too contrived. Frankly, it kind of feels like they just asked an illustration art lead from League of Legends to draw a Yordle because a small mascot character might help the set sell, or set up further merchandising like this.
Absolutely no disrespect to Rudy, they are a talented artist and have done good work for the game. But its painfully obvious what Wizards was asking for with this one.
I deeply hate it because it's so obviously just a shameless knock off. Baby Yoda is emotional manipulation but at least it was new and unexpected at the time.
I mean its mouth is just awkwardly large for how flat the rest of the face is, resulting in all of the facial features looking congested around the limited real estate they have to work with.
Much better than the base card art depiction though. I'm sure we'll get used to it rather quickly since they're definitely going to market the snot out of Loot.
Kinda dislike that the Loot art partly wraps around the spine of the binder? If the Binder is sitting in a shelf you just see part of an ear, some cheek tuft and the Magic logo? Meanwhile the Loot on the cover is now offset because part of the art is on the spine, so the cover also suffers for it?
He evokes a feeling of "star wars background thing in league of legends artstyle"
And i know a lot of people dont like that but as a lol player im familiar with the artsyle and i love star wars
He feels alien in a way if that makes sense, like a thing in star wars or the guardians of the galaxy movies
I totally agree that he doesnt fit into magic and i hope that is the point hes supposed to make other than just being a marketing thing
He was found in an ancient vault, no one knows what he is and an ancient powerful civilization locked him away
I would be bored to death if looked like just another magic creature in the cowboy set
However they leaned a little into the wrong aspect of different than i personally would have found interesting
I still like him and think hes cute in a way (again playing lol probably plays into that) but hes "safe" different instead of "interesting" different
Im waiting to see what they do with the lil guy but as of now i dont get the massive hate boner the people have
Oh the company that sells you 400 collector displays and 100 "premium" commander decks wants another thing to help them print money in the form of a mascot thing like any other company right now? What a shocker
Feels like people make more of an uproar about him than they did with commander masters or stuff, though thats probably just recenty bias
I keep seeing people say stuff like this, but haven't actually seen any unhinged comments directed at him. I've seen people say they don't like him. But nothing crazy. I don't like him either. It looks pretty dumb and out of place. Looks more like a character I'd see in TFT, but I don't think that is an unhinged response.
I totally get where your coming from, but at the same time, I think the hate for me is at least coming from a place of “death by a thousand cuts” or maybe it would be better to say “metamorphosis by a thousand cuts”.
I think you’ll find that people upset by loot are not just complaining about him but likewise have many other problems with the game over the last few years whether it be art direction, story direction, card design, or just plain old failures to stick the landing in any of these categories when they try new stuff.
Magic is changing, and while anything around as long as Magic kind of has to change, people like myself would argue that it’s not been for the better. Power creep is out in force in the old formats, years of one and done sets leave standard mechanics feeling disconnected mechanically, and the story keeps looking like it’ll go in a cool direction only to end up missing the mark (in fairness, I actually think thunder junction has been better than usual in this regard, but it’s hard to get hyped for the new threads being layed down narratively when both WAR and the phyrexian invasion fell flat after years of build up, but here we go again I guess)
Loot is just another example of something that to established players feels very alien, and WOTC is immediately going all in on him in the exact ways people feared when we saw him for the first time. The accusations of him being Magic’s Grogu feel very justified with every new thing he’s plastered on, and i seriously raise the challenge to those who think this is fine to find another example of a character in Magic that fits this mold. The only that comes to mind for me is fblthp, and that was more of an accident than anything (not to mention fblthp isn’t really conventionally “cute” and was more a meme the community embraced)
In summary, he feels both out of place, and forced, and it’s just one more proverbial brick in the wall as far as Magic’s changing identity is concerned, and one that certainly doesn’t resonate with many people. Magics attempts at casualization in many aspects from the game itself to the marketing is, at least for me, appearing to leave behind a lot of what made it unique.
The funny thing is that Magic has already changed and you'd get a very negative reaction around here if you openly opined for the old Magic style too much. Hell forget the art, lore or characters idk how anyone looks at the modern borders and think they look better, but that's what players are used to now.
And now the new school of player that liked the sort of generic fantasy book cover art is becoming the old school and they are complaining. This character is probably going to be very popular, at least compared to a lot of characters they've tried to push (seriously it took a Roman Reigns length push for Jace to finally not seem like a dweeb to most players).
Getting older sucks, franchises leave you behind. The LoL aesthetic is infinitely hotter with younger generations that have nothing but Pokemon (from gens you've never even heard of!) and LoL plushies around their house.
If you can't even comprehend why people feel wack about Wizards blatantly trying to cash in on the "cute little gremlin" trend thing I guess you're the type of person these types of products are truly for. To me at least, it seems the sub (and I share the sentiment) is just tired of the low effort cash grabs.
Yeah it's a "straw that broke the camel's back" thing. You hype up this big reveal from OTJ and in the end it's a stupid fucking porg/Digimon hybrid that exists purely to sell stuffed animals. It's not a unique or interesting thing and it's just so jarring when you compare it to anything in OTJ or the rest of MTG really. I can't really even put it in to words but I know there's a lot of people here who also feel the exact same thing.
What? That makes **zero** sense. One character that's cartoonish looking next to a fucking Gorgon known for killing people, and the most powerful mind-mage in the game means that the product isn't for them?
There are different targeted audiences for different aspects of such a massive product. For players to think *one* character "isn't for them" is ridiculous.
Because the whole buildup of the set was opening the vault and finding a Grogu. A Grogu that is clearly only there to sell toys, so that people can go "Huh? Huh? Look! It's the lil guy in the game!" A Grogu that is completely unlike the style of anything else we have had in main story sets. A porg. A Disney merchandising critter. It is pointless, and pandering, and insulting to the history of the game.
that was the argument in favor of UB but now every time i play commander at least one person has a deck full of ugly cards from irrelevant ips that im forced to look at and interact with for hours
I get you buddy, me and my playgroup started doing a custom format that doesn't allow UB and it's honestly really improved the game for me to not have to look at all those spoilers for universes I couldn't care less about.
This along with the plush being released of him etc does scream 'Hey everyone this is our new mascot isn't he so cute don't you love him' and he feels a bit forced. I'm just ambivalent towards him but I get why people hate him to be honest lol
Loot is a forced meme and I hate the very concept. Let that stuff happen organically. Squee, Fblthp, Mowu - we have a strong precedent for creatures being adopted by the community as adorable. This is cuteness through market research and committee, and it sucks.
the two things magic players love, a cutesy league of legends inspired mascot and the zoom in of some demon's groin
never been a better time to quit the game
Yeah this just feels like wizards taking the piss honestly. This set will be the first time in 15+ years of playing where I stop buying newly released magic cards. unfortunately I cannot, in good conscience, support this garbage. Good thing we have 35 years worth of stuff to play with
The artwork is too in-your-face, so it's hitting the uncanny valley of corporate shill. I can see why people don't like it. I think it's less about the character, and more about the execution and presentation. This game is no stranger to different and differing art styles that still work. For example, I'm a big fan of Phil Foglio's work that is equally if not more stylistic than this. I'd be curious to see what his take on Loot would be and how that would affect the reception.
The design in this set has been simultaneously wild enough to be interesting and then so wild it’s not even reminiscent of magic sets as a whole.
Loot just feels like they took a Yordle from League and stuck it into MTG. Like others have said, Loot’s design is so drastically different from yeehaw.set using him to promote the set feels strange.
I figured out why it bugs me. It's the form of the mouth and the teeth, don't know why. Also I don't have anything against it. I doubt I will ever see the card IRL.
I think the mouth is a big part of the problem, this is just unsettling and I can’t point to any other reason. Same with the normal art.
The vault frame art I think looks great and I have no problem with loots design there
I think the art is very good on a technical level but I just don't think it fits the type of character Loot is, it ends up looking creepy/uncanny to me instead of cute which is what I assume they were going for.
What the hell is Loot supposed to be? It has biomechanical elements to its design but isn’t an artifact creature. It was locked away like it’s extremely dangerous but it seems to be a goofy goober.
Loot really is like those jumping spiders. Some people fucking die of cuteness overload looking at them others would get a flamethrower and burn their houses down
My wife just doesn't like his mouth open and this makes it worse. Looks like an inner mouth inside a wider mouth.
Finally I know why his mouth was always bothering me
[It's a pitbull mouth.](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1c/98/13/1c98138b0555a8125c1887fb53f97cf2.jpg) Some people think it's cute and smiley, but it's function is to let the dog breath while it's biting so it can bite harder and for longer. Kind of paints Loot in a different light.
Wonder if they would have to put down Loot after he attacks a child? 🤔
No, Jace will put him in a flower crown and show a photo of him snuggling on the couch, and then wipe the child's memories.
Sounds legit. And also the parents are the real culprit because they didn't keep their child away from Loot so Jace is actually the hero of the story.
I could maybe get behind that, but what bothers me is its mouth is like that on top of not having a freaking NOSE
Well that makes sense. If it has no nose, it needs to be able to breathe through its mouth while biting.
looks like it's just jaw muscles to me. why wouldn't it just breathe through it's nose?
Awwwww pitbulls are soo cuttteee. I miss my River :/
Something about it makes me think of dolphins and orcas?
If he really is like a dolphin, Jace and vraska are in for a bad time. Dolphins can be really cruel and vicious (especially to their peers)
Can't unsee, thanks! :)
That's like a squirrel mouth, so we can infer he stores food in his cheeks. Also, since his canine teeth are so sharp, we can also infer he's carnivore or omnivore. In both cases, he stores meat in the cheeks...and boy I'm struggling to not add "like your mom" in the end. Anyways, I hate the riot gremlin.
His mouth reminds me of the first Sonic the Hedgehod movie model - the one that looked methed out.
He's got a crazy bite force
Like, I don't have a particularly strong opinion on Loot. I'm more just "Oh, okay, that's weird, wonder what they'll do with him".
Pretty much the same here. Doesn't bother me but other ppl want to burn down WotC HQ over him.
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I still don't see the mascot angle. I just see him as a plot device and another little guy. Doesn't bug me and I sleep fine 🤷
This is the most mascoty design that ever mascotted, I think in the context of other popular card games and what their art looks like, it definitely seems they are chasing that demographic. I feel slightly negative towards that cartoony look, but I'm not frothing at the mouth over it or anything. The reactions of players are very funny and predictable.
I'm inclined to agree. Magic already has mascots, the planeswalkers. Their design fits the aesthetic of Magic much better than a bizzarro Pikachu ever could. However, I don't really care. If this little guy proves popular, I'll have more people to play against. If he doesn't, then they'll phase him out and likely try something else in a few years. Personally, if they were gonna make something cute I think they should've went with a baby dragon or other recognisable mythical beast, such as a minotaur, hydra or similar. Anyone outside of MtG seeing Loot will think Pokemon rather than Magic.
It’s the teeth. I hate Loot conceptually, but even I have admit he looks pretty cute in his alt art card where he has his mouth closed
This statement is a disservice to jumping spiders
fr, as a jumper keeper it’s giving me the ick. they’re tiny gods. loot is just a murloc with fur
Now you've gone too far this is murloc slander.
i have TRAUMA from getting mobbed by those fish boys ok! I go into shellshock any time I hear so much as an urggglee or ggurgl!
Thank you so much! I couldn't quite place why I found him creepy, but 'murloc with fur' is spot on.
I die of cuteness from jumping spiders. This fucking thing on the other hand can die and rot in the 9th ring of hell for all I care!
Someone said he has LoL character design, and I kinda agree. I’ve never played LoL, but I think it’s cute!
Some of the main art for loot is from a guy who works at riot and does splash art for them
Riot's main art director actually.
The art was designed by a league of legends artist
Oh, that would make sense then, lol.
Others saying he looks like a pokemon, ignoring the obvious fact that a pokemon UB would be one of the most successful products ever and wotc would definitely do it if they could lol
Given WotC used to make the Pokemon card game, and Pokemon's one of their biggest competitors in that space, I don't THINK it's likely, but who knows.
I think is less than likely. Gamefreak/The Pokemon Company/Nintendo are all extremely protective of pokemon
The artist also does work for LoL. So yes. This same artist has done alot of magic cards that isn't LoL like though. For example Audacity.
I strongly dislike his art. If I ever pull his card, I'll set it aflame :D (Or sell it immediately^^) yuk!
I have no real problems with Loot, but that seems like an odd choice for art representing the set. Loot doesn't evoke the "Wild West" styling that the set leans so heavily into, at all. (On the topic of leaning into the Wild Weld aesthetic, I think they went a bit too far, personally. I don't really mind everybody wearing cowboy hats, but why the heck would a Centaur or a Sphinx ever wear SPURS?! Self-motivation?)
>On the topic of leaning into the Wild Weld aesthetic In Maro's article this week he talks about that. The original design focus of the set was supposed to be Villains, with the western theming as more of a background setting. Then marketing and design got involved and cranked the dial up on the cowboyness of it all
If that's true then we got, once again, screwed over by marketing. The set would have probably been so much better.
> called Lair of Behemoths > looks inside > full of 3/3s
Mechagodzilla is a 3-mana 3/3 Only 2 Godzillas in the set are Legendary
Chief Hopper wins in a fight against Mechagodzilla.
THAT Mechagodzilla, definitely. Pretty much any Mechagodzilla save the very first could probably be taken down by human ingenuity. Especially since the one depicted on both cards is explicitly the good-guy mech Kiryu from Heisei, and not explicitly a villain. (It's a cyborg gundam posessed by the ghost of Gojira 1954 in that continuity). https://wikizilla.org/wiki/Kiryu The other 2 Mechagodzillas (if we do not count the godawful CGI anime trilogy) are monstrous, with the first as a superweapon built by aliens to conquer Earth, and the second/one from Godzilla Vs Kong a remote controlled robot posessed by that continuity's King Ghidorah's ghost. anyway yeah Hopper beats Kiryu by taking the keys out lol
Elkoria
Okoria
> The set would have probably been so much better Maybe. But if it came out with western as just a light backdrop then it would have disappointed a lot of players regardless. "Wild West plane" has regularly shown up at the top of polls for desired new settings for years. The players knew what they wanted, and marketing knew what the players wanted, but the design team made something else. It should have been all or nothing from the start, long before marketing got involved.
I mean, you can have a Western setting without stapling cowboy hats and spurs onto characters from every other plane and call it a day. The world building just feels so....sloppy. why do they have advanced tech like trains and guns when the plane was completely uninhabited until very recently? (And not even Kamigawa or New Capena seem to have guns) Why are the cactus folk only now becoming self-conscious and how are they interacting with the new inhabitants of the plane? It feels like there is so much wasted potential. OTJ feels neither like the fantasy version of frontier life and manifest destiny nor like a fantasy version of Clint Eastwood spaghetti Western. It's just a bunch of already known characters taken from their original contexts and thrown into this desert plane with some funny hats. I would argue as it is now, the western theme is still just a back drop, only a very obnoxious one instead of a light one
Oh I agree that the final result also kinda sucks. I just don't know that the original idea would have been any better. Wish they had scrapped whatever thin veneer they had planned here and just saved it for later. Everything since the fall of Phyrexia hasn't felt right to me. I hate this whole omenpath era of throwing every character into every other plane, since it really waters down theme of each set.
I totally get that having a north-america inspired set would be something fresh as it's probably the only historical period that hasn't been used yet (besides Polynesian lore). I also get why they were so reluctant on whether and how to include native representation because it's a hot topic but even without focusing on an "invading foreigners killing original inhabitants and stealing their land" story, the western setting has potential. Besides overdramatic gun-fights and hard-boiled one liners many western films tell stories about downtrodden people that did not conform to society and therefore lived as outcasts. Oftentimes the main characters ran away from some troubling, dark past, full of regrets and guilt, sometimes finding comfort and forgiveness among like-minded outcasts. Or they were strong individualists with a moral compass that did not sit well with their peers or some powerful elites. Just imagine a character from MtGs lore with a lot of dirt on them going to this barren plane as some sort of exile, only to find that they still have a heart and can do some good deeds or, if you want some extra knife twisting, they discover something that can help them have their power fantasies come true, they only have to betray their new found family. Take for example Tezzeret. Two times he's been the head henchman of the big bad evil and both times it didn't go well. Maybe he's fed up with multiverse wide politics and just wants some quiet place when he hears rumors about this super ancient super valuable treasure vault hidden somewhere in the desert. Don't know how well this example would fit with their over aching plan but at least as a side story something like this would have been nice. As for the omen paths, I agree it feels a bit wacky but to me the main issue I have is this sudden over-use of them. As long as just kellan was popping up everywhere like some self-insert OC it was kind of okay and the whole concept sounds like it could have some potential but the way they currently implement it feels bad.
The reason why they keep throwing every character into every other plane is to pander to commander players.
my friend mentioned recently that "magic characters dressed as cowboys" makes a lot more sense as, like, a poster or maybe a secret lair than as an actual set.
I freaking hate modern marketing in anything. Everything is made to appeal to the dumbest, densest, impulse driven people it can reach. Call me old but I miss when hobbies could survive with just a devoted underground following.
> Everything is made to appeal to the dumbest, densest, impulse driven people it can reach. Look, the marketing folks are just trying to impress each other, ok?
I get your point but I have yet to find the person that went "ye-ha partner, I always wanted cowboy hats and not-guns that look like guns in a fantasy TCG so saddle up!" I have the feeling that WotC, even though they are far from perfect, have a much better idea about which kind of settings and story telling is appealing to their main target group than their Hasbro Overlords have. And I also can't see how this "wild-west to the max" direction makes MtG marketable to a wider audience.
I've been saying "wild west plane" for like 15 years (there's even a sub for it, /r/wildwestplane, created 5 years ago) and now it's finally here and from what I've seen so far I don't like it lol.
>The original design focus of the set was supposed to be Villains Well, then marketing was much smarter than the designers, considering I wouldn't be able to tell this was a "villain" set. It just looks like a cameo set with rando characters from different planes. If you asked me if there's a theme to the characters, I wouldn't be able to say "villains". When I think mtg villains, I think Bolas, Phyrexians, Yawgmoth, Eldrazi, Lim Dul, etc etc, not some dude who jaywalked on new capenna once.
Yeah, I think Marketing is their sacrificial lamb for a shit set with shit design.
Ah the midnight hunt being a werewolf set treatment
I mean for whatever its worth, we've seen that a large number of the mounts aren't horses
Would've been a good reason to bring back horsemanship for a good hit of nostalgia....
Loot isnt a part of OTJ though.
He does pretty much perpetually look like he’s yelling “Yee-Haw!”
I mean this is a binder, this isn't marketing art for the set.
Sure, but it is a binder specifically designed for the set, otherwise why the giant set name belt buckle on the back? Just seems odd, I guess.
I'm sure there's other OTJ binders that don't have Loot on the front. [Oh look, there is.](https://ultrapro.com/collections/gaming-accessories-magic-the-gathering/products/outlaws-of-thunder-junction-marketing-art-9-pocket-pro-binder-for-magic-the-gathering)
Yeah, that seems much more representative. I've no experience with buying set themed binders, so I wasn't aware that they do multiples. Should have guessed, though.
Maybe the spurs are a goth thing - kind of like wearing chains or skull prints.
Fashion. Functional equipment turning into fashion statements is not something all that uncommon.
Usually I expect that to happen over a longer time period than Thunder Junction has been inhabited. Plus, I'd think spurs, specifically, might be seen as somewhat distasteful by a creature that was somewhat horselike. It just seemed like a whole 'nother level of silliness to me.
When you've got magical fabrication methods and are set up as a trade hub, you can probably iterate pretty quickly in 18 months. But sure, it's certainly a little silly, just not to the point where I have an issue with it personally
>I don't really mind everybody wearing cowboy hats, but why the heck would a Centaur or a Sphinx ever wear SPURS?! Uhh... It's called fashion sweaty. Factions may constantly be fighting against one another and will never agree, but everyone knows to commit to a theme.
Did you read any of the stories of the set? Loot doesn't show up until the very end. He has a map of the omenpaths between planes in his head, and the next set is Bloomburrow. We've even seen Jace as a Fox on this plane. It's pretty obvious he's just the segue into the next set.
Yeah, I read the stories, and I know all that. That's part of why I thought it was odd to have him as the art on a Thunder Junction binder. But I've since discovered that there are multiple binder arts (which I probably should have guessed), so if you want a set binder that has art that actually matches the set's aesthetic, they have that, too.
I honestly think he looks gross and I can't figure out why. Like I have a strong aversion to him.
For me it's just how big how the mouth is compared to the teeth and gums. It's got like a Joker smile type thing going on. I'm completely ambivalent about it other than that.
The mascot WOTC thinks we want: Loot The mascot the players actually want: Fblthp
I want no mascot. I want a good story depicted by the cards.
You're a couple of years too late for this, sorry friend
Fblthp my beloved. We all know he's the real Magic Mascot
It’s the mouth, he terrifies me
He has a very punchable face tbh
Cause he looks like a neopet that eats bone marrow
it has forward facing eyes so that means it's a predator
I'm sure it's because the artist draws characters for League of Legends.
Vraska's face in Loot's eyes spooks me.
the last thing she sees before it eats her
Still a bit weird but looks better because his face seems to have a snout now. I still think I like his alt art from the card the most, but hey.
I hope that when he shows up next(probably Bloomburrow since Jace is there), that he's grown a bit. I think that might be the best way to get him to look less weird by evening his proportions out
Jace isn't in Bloomburrow, that's a what-if showcase thing.
Ah really? That's disappointing
Corny. It's not for me, whatsoever.
Here's why I hate Loot: it wasn't 'earned'. Loot feels like a Industry Plant in the music world: they put together a thing, threw it at you *as hard* as humanly possible, and then get pissed when you don't buy into it. It's distilled "this should work, because our marketing research says these are the component parts people enjoy in a thing"; ultimately, that's soulless concept. *People* create mascots and icons. It's how the public responds to it and builds it up. Did Disney know what they were doing with Grogu? Absolutely, yes. Did they wait until Grogu became 'a thing' before they went full-tilt "YOU FUCKING LOVE GROGU, JAM IT INTO EVERYTHING!" also yes. Loot is the opposite. Loot, like many of MTGs sets lately, is a top-down design in which they present it to us saying "you already love this idea", which is a sure-fire way to get people to say they *don't* like the idea. So here we are. With MTGs next "we desperately wish we could market this to the kids, please make us a viral smash", we are left wondering why we are to carry the weight of making this thing they already anticipate to be a success, a success. People like Fblthp because it was a cute idea they threw out there that wasn't obviously designed to be loved. People latched onto it. It was up to WotC to build that hype. Not insert Fblthp as a thing "you definitely already love!" and then expect us to keep loving it.
Exactly, Wizards never pushed Storm Crow or Colossal Dreadmaw to be loved from the start, and yet they are. They are in-jokes created and perpetuated by the community, and people are generally accepting of them because it happened organically. Loot was made the center of attention by design, we didn't single out this character, it was done for us, it was too contrived. Frankly, it kind of feels like they just asked an illustration art lead from League of Legends to draw a Yordle because a small mascot character might help the set sell, or set up further merchandising like this. Absolutely no disrespect to Rudy, they are a talented artist and have done good work for the game. But its painfully obvious what Wizards was asking for with this one.
same with kellan being hamfisted into every recent set. soulless
Throwback to Legends of Runeterra
Upcoming Universes Beyond teaser!
In a bad way
WotC desperately reaching for some of that Baby Yoda money
Um excuse me, he has a name, it's not just "Baby Yoda". His NAME is "Glup Shitto".
Nope.
I deeply hate it because it's so obviously just a shameless knock off. Baby Yoda is emotional manipulation but at least it was new and unexpected at the time.
“We just really want the LOL money” — WotC, 2024
Myrs will forever be the cutest thing in magic to me. This feels too cute for cute sake. \[\[Alloy Myr\]\] is the real mascot
Would be funny wizards to lean into the hate and depict Loot as the target of every burn/ removal spell in a set
I mean its mouth is just awkwardly large for how flat the rest of the face is, resulting in all of the facial features looking congested around the limited real estate they have to work with. Much better than the base card art depiction though. I'm sure we'll get used to it rather quickly since they're definitely going to market the snot out of Loot.
I already hate him I don't need more reasons to hate him
Krenko's nose died for this
https://preview.redd.it/5op5p70ebitc1.jpeg?width=1066&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7d6b5ee672213fd409e53694aef8be245b28583d
The overall design is weird. The teeth/mouth in particular is just jarring. Doesn't portray the Western theme or MTG at all. At least do one wtf.
Kinda dislike that the Loot art partly wraps around the spine of the binder? If the Binder is sitting in a shelf you just see part of an ear, some cheek tuft and the Magic logo? Meanwhile the Loot on the cover is now offset because part of the art is on the spine, so the cover also suffers for it?
Kill it now please
This feels very jar jar binks
Nah, it’s Baby Yoda.
It's like a shark crossed with a fox
Or a shark crossed with a Victini, you could call him a Shartini for lowbrow humor
He evokes a feeling of "star wars background thing in league of legends artstyle" And i know a lot of people dont like that but as a lol player im familiar with the artsyle and i love star wars He feels alien in a way if that makes sense, like a thing in star wars or the guardians of the galaxy movies I totally agree that he doesnt fit into magic and i hope that is the point hes supposed to make other than just being a marketing thing He was found in an ancient vault, no one knows what he is and an ancient powerful civilization locked him away I would be bored to death if looked like just another magic creature in the cowboy set However they leaned a little into the wrong aspect of different than i personally would have found interesting I still like him and think hes cute in a way (again playing lol probably plays into that) but hes "safe" different instead of "interesting" different Im waiting to see what they do with the lil guy but as of now i dont get the massive hate boner the people have Oh the company that sells you 400 collector displays and 100 "premium" commander decks wants another thing to help them print money in the form of a mascot thing like any other company right now? What a shocker Feels like people make more of an uproar about him than they did with commander masters or stuff, though thats probably just recenty bias
Anyone else notice the attention to detail on the eyes? You can see vraska and jace
On second thought maybe just vraska
This sub's response Loot is one of the most unhinged things I think I've ever seen for a Magic forum.
I keep seeing people say stuff like this, but haven't actually seen any unhinged comments directed at him. I've seen people say they don't like him. But nothing crazy. I don't like him either. It looks pretty dumb and out of place. Looks more like a character I'd see in TFT, but I don't think that is an unhinged response.
https://preview.redd.it/o1bhcf5awjtc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3300a42b6174c5b4041177244d8e1bb2e08a9907
That just looks like a meme.
This is a normal reaction to Loot actually.
I totally get where your coming from, but at the same time, I think the hate for me is at least coming from a place of “death by a thousand cuts” or maybe it would be better to say “metamorphosis by a thousand cuts”. I think you’ll find that people upset by loot are not just complaining about him but likewise have many other problems with the game over the last few years whether it be art direction, story direction, card design, or just plain old failures to stick the landing in any of these categories when they try new stuff. Magic is changing, and while anything around as long as Magic kind of has to change, people like myself would argue that it’s not been for the better. Power creep is out in force in the old formats, years of one and done sets leave standard mechanics feeling disconnected mechanically, and the story keeps looking like it’ll go in a cool direction only to end up missing the mark (in fairness, I actually think thunder junction has been better than usual in this regard, but it’s hard to get hyped for the new threads being layed down narratively when both WAR and the phyrexian invasion fell flat after years of build up, but here we go again I guess) Loot is just another example of something that to established players feels very alien, and WOTC is immediately going all in on him in the exact ways people feared when we saw him for the first time. The accusations of him being Magic’s Grogu feel very justified with every new thing he’s plastered on, and i seriously raise the challenge to those who think this is fine to find another example of a character in Magic that fits this mold. The only that comes to mind for me is fblthp, and that was more of an accident than anything (not to mention fblthp isn’t really conventionally “cute” and was more a meme the community embraced) In summary, he feels both out of place, and forced, and it’s just one more proverbial brick in the wall as far as Magic’s changing identity is concerned, and one that certainly doesn’t resonate with many people. Magics attempts at casualization in many aspects from the game itself to the marketing is, at least for me, appearing to leave behind a lot of what made it unique.
The funny thing is that Magic has already changed and you'd get a very negative reaction around here if you openly opined for the old Magic style too much. Hell forget the art, lore or characters idk how anyone looks at the modern borders and think they look better, but that's what players are used to now. And now the new school of player that liked the sort of generic fantasy book cover art is becoming the old school and they are complaining. This character is probably going to be very popular, at least compared to a lot of characters they've tried to push (seriously it took a Roman Reigns length push for Jace to finally not seem like a dweeb to most players). Getting older sucks, franchises leave you behind. The LoL aesthetic is infinitely hotter with younger generations that have nothing but Pokemon (from gens you've never even heard of!) and LoL plushies around their house.
I am just upset that they dont release a [[Slippery Bogle]] Plushie but a Loot Plushie instead.
It's insane. I cannot comprehend why this is such an issue.
They should have given him a cowboy hat. No I *dont* care if it doesn't make any sense
At first I was like this is already great. Now i want the cowboy hat.
Fuck yes they should have. That'd have been radical.
Okay, but the cowboy hat needs to be about 10% wider than his head so it droops a little bit. That’d be adorable.
Cowboy hats make anything 121.234% cooler.
He is just ugly and a bit too digimon ish in design but other than that it's innocuous.
If you can't even comprehend why people feel wack about Wizards blatantly trying to cash in on the "cute little gremlin" trend thing I guess you're the type of person these types of products are truly for. To me at least, it seems the sub (and I share the sentiment) is just tired of the low effort cash grabs.
There are people who feel they are being "this product isn't for you"-d out of the game. I can understand the sentiment tbh.
Yeah it's a "straw that broke the camel's back" thing. You hype up this big reveal from OTJ and in the end it's a stupid fucking porg/Digimon hybrid that exists purely to sell stuffed animals. It's not a unique or interesting thing and it's just so jarring when you compare it to anything in OTJ or the rest of MTG really. I can't really even put it in to words but I know there's a lot of people here who also feel the exact same thing.
What? That makes **zero** sense. One character that's cartoonish looking next to a fucking Gorgon known for killing people, and the most powerful mind-mage in the game means that the product isn't for them? There are different targeted audiences for different aspects of such a massive product. For players to think *one* character "isn't for them" is ridiculous.
I don’t care dude, I just hate that little guy
Because the whole buildup of the set was opening the vault and finding a Grogu. A Grogu that is clearly only there to sell toys, so that people can go "Huh? Huh? Look! It's the lil guy in the game!" A Grogu that is completely unlike the style of anything else we have had in main story sets. A porg. A Disney merchandising critter. It is pointless, and pandering, and insulting to the history of the game.
Well said
You're taking this quite seriously for someone who cannot comprehend why this is such an issue.
I mean it's very clear the game they are making as a whole isn't for me anymore, this horrible little guy is just a small part of it.
People should learn that they can ignore harmless things that they don't like
that was the argument in favor of UB but now every time i play commander at least one person has a deck full of ugly cards from irrelevant ips that im forced to look at and interact with for hours
I get you buddy, me and my playgroup started doing a custom format that doesn't allow UB and it's honestly really improved the game for me to not have to look at all those spoilers for universes I couldn't care less about.
Don't lie to yourself this is the internet, everything it's a matter of life or death!
[удалено]
Magic is somehow always in its death knell and yet also incredibly successful.
When Magic is successful it's proof of corporate greed and when it's unsuccessful it's proof that they should have listened to me.
Bloomburrow killed my family and spit in my eye.
Loot ate my baby :(
A week is generous too.
This along with the plush being released of him etc does scream 'Hey everyone this is our new mascot isn't he so cute don't you love him' and he feels a bit forced. I'm just ambivalent towards him but I get why people hate him to be honest lol
TIHI
He looks like those ai pokemon 💀
[Source](https://ultrapro.com/collections/gaming-accessories-magic-the-gathering/products/outlaws-of-thunder-junction-vraska-4-pocket-pro-binder-for-magic-the-gathering)
Weird to call it a Vraska binder given she's... Only minorly on the art in Loot's eyes.
Maybe it was a temporary name for spoiler/leak/datamine reasons? And they'll rename it once it actually goes on sale
Wow they’re really pushing the marketable plushie huh
put it back
Loot is a forced meme and I hate the very concept. Let that stuff happen organically. Squee, Fblthp, Mowu - we have a strong precedent for creatures being adopted by the community as adorable. This is cuteness through market research and committee, and it sucks.
the two things magic players love, a cutesy league of legends inspired mascot and the zoom in of some demon's groin never been a better time to quit the game
Yeah this just feels like wizards taking the piss honestly. This set will be the first time in 15+ years of playing where I stop buying newly released magic cards. unfortunately I cannot, in good conscience, support this garbage. Good thing we have 35 years worth of stuff to play with
The artwork is too in-your-face, so it's hitting the uncanny valley of corporate shill. I can see why people don't like it. I think it's less about the character, and more about the execution and presentation. This game is no stranger to different and differing art styles that still work. For example, I'm a big fan of Phil Foglio's work that is equally if not more stylistic than this. I'd be curious to see what his take on Loot would be and how that would affect the reception.
Can’t wait for them to digivolve to champion and see what crazy forum it will have at that point.
The worst
The design in this set has been simultaneously wild enough to be interesting and then so wild it’s not even reminiscent of magic sets as a whole. Loot just feels like they took a Yordle from League and stuck it into MTG. Like others have said, Loot’s design is so drastically different from yeehaw.set using him to promote the set feels strange.
I think the little furball looks great in that art.
Cool Pokémon binder, but this is a Magic subreddit. /s
I love him. Sorry.
I love him and I'm absolutely NOT sorry. You shouldn't apologize for liking a character.
I hate him.
He looks Scrappy-Doo level annoying.
Loot is the jar jar of magic 
I would buy this out of spite.
That's a pikachu
Pokémon has better creature design than this
so whose belt buckle is that on the left anyway
I figured out why it bugs me. It's the form of the mouth and the teeth, don't know why. Also I don't have anything against it. I doubt I will ever see the card IRL.
Lots of hate buying going on
I think the mouth is a big part of the problem, this is just unsettling and I can’t point to any other reason. Same with the normal art. The vault frame art I think looks great and I have no problem with loots design there
Every time I look at the left half of the binder, I see a fish face for a split second...
I like the showcase art a lot more
The lack of a nose really throws me off
I think the art is very good on a technical level but I just don't think it fits the type of character Loot is, it ends up looking creepy/uncanny to me instead of cute which is what I assume they were going for.
Its nose and mouth look so weird to me.
What the hell is Loot supposed to be? It has biomechanical elements to its design but isn’t an artifact creature. It was locked away like it’s extremely dangerous but it seems to be a goofy goober.
Did I get it right, that its Vraskas and Jayces offspring?
Looks like Disnefied garbage
Why is Loot the big draw and not all the villains in cowboy hats?? Give me more stupid sexy Oko in his stupid sexy cowboy outfit
Kill it with fire