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• On February 23, 2024, Wizards of the Coast will release Magic: The Gathering – Ravnica: Clue Edition, with this newest standalone set of Magic: The Gathering featuring elements of the board game Clue, which is published by WotC's parent company Hasbro.
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On IGN, Tom Marks previewed the set and how the two games are woven together, noting first that each of the four players uses two of the Ravnica-based booster packs to form their deck:Quote:In addition to the themed boosters, Ravnica: Clue Edition comes with a pack of 21 predetermined suspect, weapon, and room cards – and just like in Clue, one set of those is secretly put in an envelope at the start of the match, while the others are divided randomly amongst all the players. (These are playable Magic cards you could play in other decks as well, but for the purposes of this game they are essentially just used as reminder game pieces.) From there, you can win either by killing all three of your opponents like in Magic or correctly guessing the cards in the envelope like in Clue.• Speaking of Magic: The Gathering, Lucas Kunce is a Democrat who is running for the U.S. Senate in the state of Missouri in 2024, and he's being called out as a "nerd" because he grew up playing the game and still plays it currently:
Mashing two games together like this can run the risk of feeling disjointed, but when I played Ravnica: Clue Edition myself I was impressed by how the deduction system has been used to incentivize a certain kind of behavior in the Magic game – specifically, that behavior is to play lots of creatures and make them fight. That's because, also like Clue, you are able to ask other players if they have certain suspects, weapons, or rooms in their pile, but here making those guesses is restricted by Magic mechanics: you get the opportunity to do so only when you either deal combat damage to another player, or exile six mana value worth of cards from your graveyard at the end of your turn.
That means you're basically playing a full game of Clue without the board, and in order to make any headway in your deductions you actively need to be attacking your opponents and casting spells instead of walking between rooms.From biking miles to spend my snow shoveling money on cards as a kid to passing the time during deployments overseas, Magic: The Gathering has been along for the ride.
— Lucas Kunce (@LucasKunceMO) January 2, 2024
Who would have thought it’d be the target of a whole year of attacks from @HawleyMO’s DC allies? Thread below🧵 pic.twitter.com/gLXqWCaCuW
I mean, it's hardly a secret that he's trying to hide! Here's an interview with him in 2021 with an uncut sheet of Magic cards on his wall:Afghanistan Marine veteran @LucasKunceMO: "The same people right now who are saying one more day, one more month, one more dollar are the same people who said that for 20 years ... what that means is one more Marine."@MSNBC pic.twitter.com/uuAgcOtDsM
— MSNBC Reports (@MSNBC_reports) August 30, 2021• Along the same lines, retired U.S. Admiral James Stavridis, who led the NATO Alliance in global operations from 2009 to 2013, was featured on the Twitter channel RateMySkypeRoom, which...rates the room of people doing online calls, and the channel called out his sole decorative element: the very on-theme Axis & Allies: Europe 1940./pic7284897.png)
Note, though, that the tweet highlighted the wrong A&A title, so I'm afraid that I must rate RateMySkypeRoom only 3/10.Top Fmr NATO Supreme Allied Commander Setup Update. 10/10 @stavridisj has added the Axis & Allies board game. Well done. pic.twitter.com/fnlNp8o5wi
— Room Rater (@ratemyskyperoom) February 12, 2024
• On the YouTube channel Numberphile, mathematician Marcus du Sautoy talks about the topology of Risk, with an aside on Ticket to Ride in the final minute:• To continue down the Hasbro hole, on February 13, 2024, the company reported financial results for both the fourth quarter and the full year 2023. Here are a few highlights:/pic7908776.png)
— For the full year, Hasbro, Inc. revenue declined 15% with growth in the Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming segment (+10%) more than offset by declines in the Consumer Products segment (-19%) and Entertainment segment (-31%).
— Operating loss of $1,539 million includes $1.3 billion of non-cash goodwill and intangible asset impairment charges associated with eOne film and TV, a change in outlook for the balance of our owned and operated production efforts and non-recurring inventory costs.
— Adjusted operating profit of $477 million and adjusted operating margin of 9.5%, including non-recurring inventory costs.
— Reduced owned inventory by 51% versus last year, including a 56% decline in Consumer Products inventory.
— Paid $388 million in cash dividends to shareholders for the full year 2023 and reduced debt by $506 million.
— Operating cash flow of $726 million positively impacted by working capital improvements.
— Regarding the WotC and Digital Gaming Segment, tabletop revenue increased 1% behind growth in Magic: The Gathering with a strong performance from the Universes Beyond Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth sets. Operating profit declined 2% and operating profit margin of 36.1% due to higher royalty costs associated with Universes Beyond.• To circle back to where we started, in October 2023 Hasbro announced a deal with Marvel to "develop collectible products and tentpole sets for the best-selling trading card game, Magic: The Gathering. The first tentpole Magic set based on Marvel's fan-favorite characters and epic stories will appear globally in 2025, with additional all-new exciting sets for multi-generational fans to collect and play."/pic8035374.png)
Coincidentally, in October 2023 I had linked to a retailer's post about Magic burnout due to the proliferation of new sets, so I'm curious to see how this deal will fare given the simultaneous burnout many people are expressing over the proliferation of Marvel shows and movies. Is Hasbro just trying to squeeze fewer lemons more forcefully, or is talk of one or both burnouts overblown?
To submit news, a designer diary, outrageous rumors, or other material, contact us at news@boardgamegeek.com.
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