Dragons of Tarkir

[Johnny Blaze]

Are we close to the Update, and how many will be at Pre Release..?

[pickleishopeless]

Bort! where are you buddy?

[Bort]

I haven't been able to find it in a spreadsheet format yet.

anyone find it?

[Johnny Blaze]

didnt know you needed one. and i dont know where you would find it

[Burst]

what should the spreadsheet look like and how would you like it delivered?

[pickleishopeless]

I used to help bort make the spread sheets, but it doesnt matter because he attaches each unique card to the image, which is hosted wherever.  Even when I did that, he didnt really tell me much about that part. 

If you look at the columns within the deck editor: Name, Set, Color, Cost, Converted Mana Cost, Type, Power, Toughness, Rarity, Sound, Script, Text

Thats the order he would like it in.  No sound or script necessary.  You need to format planeswalkers like other planeswalkers.  But its probably like 90% done already... just waiting to attach to the official images.

[Bort]

dragons of tarkir was just added but the card data still needs to be filled in more. if anyone wants to edit the card data file and post a more complete version that would be helpful. been busy with classes now and i havent had the time.

at least its playable now, but you cant search in the deck editor for a dtk card with "megamorph" for example until the card data is filled in.

[AuraDragon]

Bort doesn't use gatherer extractor, huh?

[Burst]

I sent Bort a link to file with all of the fields filled in

I think I did it right, first time I've tried, so I might have missed something

[Bort]

thanks burst.

Snoogy, i dont think extractor outputs to a spreadsheet format.

[AuraDragon]

Snoogy, i dont think extractor outputs to a spreadsheet format.

It does, I used it when I helped you with Commander 14 set back in November.

Also, since in magic the actual End Phase comprises of the End of Turn step followed by the Cleanup Step, could you rename the Discard phase to Cleanup and move it to after the End phase?  This would help with the confusion about 'Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur' that arises when people think they discard before the end phase.

[Rain]

Bort, would it be possible to get alternate or updated art for Magic cards? It seems simple enough to grab the card data and scans for uploading to Lackey. The only issue I foresee is that the number of images (duplicates obviously) will increase in deck editor and for downloading by users which may possibly decrease performance. However, I think most people would find no significant difference with a larger artwork database for cards since the file sizes are so small and you have already implemented a "combine duplicates" button in editor for those who really wish to avoid seeing more than one art for cards.

I was thinking about starting a poll for Magic users to vote on the issue, but wanted to run the idea by you first.

[Bort]

i dont want to increase the number of cards in the database without good reason. and alternate art would add a TON of cards and it would then be a lot of cases of WHICH ALTERNATE ART DO WE INCLUDE? like, each set usually has multiple images for basic lands. multiple that but the number of basic lands, and then by the number of sets and we suddenly have a fuck ton of more cards to wade through.

if you want an alternate are of a specific card, its easy.

say you want instead of .
download the image you want, and rename the card to the same name as the other image and replace the other image.

[AuraDragon]

I agree with Bort, increasing the number of cards would bloat the plugin for no good reason.  While on the other hand, decreasing the number of cards (removing any duplicates) would break decks and cause headaches to anyone trying to find particular cards, and that's not even mentioning the amount of time it would take to single out cards and/or update the ginormous carddata file.

The way Bort has been going is satisfactory. 

[Rain]

Clearly, adding every possible variation of basic lands would be unnecessary and problematic. What I am suggesting, however, is going through the reprint expansions and choosing only the cards that offer unique art that has modernized older cards. I am also not suggesting that duplicates be deleted, Snoogy. The deck editor in the plugin has a feature called "ignoring doubles" that can be checked to combine reprints and reduce the number of items seen in the search (hiding any added alternate arts).

Deciding which alternate art to use seems simple enough. The majority of cards do not have enough alternate arts to choose one or two from tens of variations. Take, for example, the reprint expansion Graveborn: of 27 reprints, only 11 cards feature unique, updated versions of older cards. In the reprint expansion, Jace v Chandra, only 19 cards would be added from a total of 56 reprints. Dragons v Knights has 21 potential new versions from 72 reprints. So instead of adding 155 cards, as it seems you understood me, a total of 51 cards would be included.

The above number includes cards that have either been modernized or offer unique art. If we include only those reprints that modernize older cards, the number would be even less than 51. I estimate an additional 250 cards would be added from all 15 such reprint expansions, which is less cards than Dragons of Tarkir alone.

I can create a list of all such cards that meet my criteria among all reprints to prove the above. And to answer your question, yes, the pros of better art outweigh every con.