Yosituna

What the heck, really? I just remember him always mentioning it in his author’s notes at the end of his books (and for a while there I think there was also a 1-800-HI-PIERS phone number or something?). I remember as a kid wanting to subscribe to the newsletter, but I’m glad in retrospect I didn’t, yikes.

Ugh, Piers Anthony. I remember absolutely LOVING Piers Anthony’s books as a kid; I went back a while back to reread them as an adult (and read the ones I hadn’t read before) and good god, but I could not do it. Even beyond the terrible puns (not as fun when you’re not like ten years old) and the really regressive ideas of gender roles, after the third book with a young teen girl seducing a virtuous middle-aged man because he was the only one who truly loved her, I was just staring at my old books in horror.

(A few years back someone linked me to his Hi Piers newsletter, which moved to the Internet a while back. I got as far as seeing him talking about the sexual attractiveness of girls at menarche - their first period, which can be as young as 9 - and I had to stop because of the full-body shudders.)

I think it definitely homogenizes deckbuilding, but I also think a lot of the folks who use EDHREC are also folks who would be more likely to be looking at existing primers or decklists anyway, at least to start with. EDHREC just makes it easier and more convenient. But the folks who are really interested in brewing/trying new things still are doing those things, and if the decks or combos they come up with are popular enough, they will get integrated into the EDHREC stats in their own time (and move from innovation to homogenization in their turn).

This does sum up my experience with the game; I didn’t love the gameplay, but the game is just exploding with so much endearing charm that it makes you want to push through anyway. (Also the music is pretty fantastic; a standout is Jon’s Theme and its variations.)