Theme Cognitive Dissonance

I think Magic is trying to pivot towards kids. But it's also, simultaneously trying to keep being regular old Magic. This upcoming set put it into perspective for me. It really wants to be a goofy, video gamey, consequence-free Wacky Racers. It got billed as a Death Race though. And the two concepts just can't really coexist with each other.

A Death Race set can work as a old-school serious Magic set. It is an intrinsically grim concept--a blood sport. Like, there can be a lot of dark humor in it and even some comedy based on good old over the top ultra-violence. And making a kid-friendly set that just wants to mash Hot Wheels together in glorious cartoon chaos isn't a bad idea. Arguably, that's what we are getting here. It isn't, however, what the marketing or lore signaled though.

It puts other recent sets into perspective too. Duskmourne also wanted to serve two masters and it showed. Lore-wise Duskmorne was actual Hell, but it also wanted to be a fun theme park haunted house. You can't be having a scary/fun time bustin' ghosts and quipping it up AND also be forever locked away in a world of eternal torment. The latter is just way to heavy and makes the former look kind of insane.

I think Magic just needs to commit to a unified tone, either way. Until it does we will keep getting these uncomfortable split sets. Be Fortnite or be Battle Royale (the Japanese movie) but stop pretending to be both at once.