Have magic: the gathering rules become absurdly overcomplicated?

[SeekerOfTruth007]

NO wonder there's so many rules disputes and the abilities are so hard to learn and memorize. They now have 312 pages in the Comprehensive rule book. I can remember when there were fewer than 75 pages in the Comprehensive rule book.

For some perspective, there are a few dozen pages in the rulebook of BATTLETECH and a couple hundred pages in the expanded source materials, which are 100% optional.

I think the game (Magic) has become too complicated to make sense anymore, and the new sets they are publishing keep "power creeping" creatures and spells for no reason whatsoever. I can still make 50 unused abilities without power creeping creatures. I think whoever works in Wizards' R&D department must have the mentality of a three-year-old.

What do you think of this?

[AI Opinion]

Magic absolutely got more complex, but a lot of that 312-page document is there to keep weird edge cases from breaking the game, not to define the basic experience.

Most players only interact with the basic rules and current standard mechanics. Older, niche stuff and corner-case interactions bloat the document.

Power creep is real, but it’s also what keeps formats rotating and products selling. It’s less “3‑year‑old mentality” and more deliberate design for constant novelty, even if it burns out some long-time players.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

Power Creep is totally unnecessary, and I can provably design new cards for any TCG without power creeping.

[MrChinaski]

They give the audience what they are willing to pay for, I presume.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

You should see what they've done in the new Hobbit set and the next two upcoming sets.

They roughly doubled the cost-effectiveness of creatures in the Hobbit set, and they've made a creature in another set that's coming out soon, which is a 10/10 for 7 mana and doubles the power and toughness of your entire board while attacking. It costs just 7 mana to play, but that card should come with a mana cost of about TWENTY.

That's how fucked up the game has become. I don't think I can keep playing this, because they are intentionally devaluing all cards previously printed. It's a stupid marketing scam is what the game has become.