Will Someone Please Explain this Joke/Reference?
General forum
Posted on May 18, 2024, 8:52 a.m. by DemonDragonJ
In this post on Mark Rosewater's Tumblr page, a user made a reference to something, and Rosewater said "hats off to anyone who gets the reference," so what is that reference? Does anyone here know what that user was referencing?
I think it's obscure, but pretty shallow. Shelkin Brownie removes the "bands with other" ability, and this post makes that a parallel with a hypothetical "partner with other" ability.
Obligatory yet interesting trivia: The "bands with other" is the benchmark for incomprehensible and pointless mechanics. No tournament-legal card natively has it; it only appears on tokens from Master of the Wild Hunt and the land cycle that FormOverFunction mentions. Old Fogey is an Un-card that has it, too. Despite the limited and restrictive usage, it received two dedicated hosers in Shelkin Brownie and Tolaria. So that covers the "pointless" part. The "incomprehensible" part comes from the rules text description. Banding by itself is a combat ability that changes based on whether you're attacking or defending. The basic summary is that you can group creatures together and decide how combat damage gets assigned, but evasion abilities become less relevant. "Bands with other" modifies how the band creation process works.
May 18, 2024 5:54 p.m.
FormOverFunction says... #4
The better you understand banding the more those lands make sense (making your legends of a certain color qualify as having banding when making a band with other legendary creatures under your control). The flavor is definitely there, but it’s way over-complicated considering the result. If (when?) they bring back banding, it would show up as “legendary creatures you control have banding” and they’d leave it at that. “Goblins have banding with other goblins” and other assorted specifications, while flavorful, are too much.
FormOverFunction says... #2
I assume they’re referencing the “bands with other legends” text from lands like Adventurers' Guildhouse and Cathedral of Serra. They may also be leaning into the “everybody hates banding and wonders what you were even thinking when you green-lighted it” feeling and how that might be the same notion for partner.
May 18, 2024 10:13 a.m.