This was really cool. I often think about ante and Garfield's insistence on it, but every time I come to the same conclusion "what was he thinking?". I don't understand how you could play the game for a year, or watch people play, and still think ante is something the game needs.
Many Magic players don’t like the idea of putting a valuable card at risk each time they play, especially if an opponent antes a land. While some players eliminate the ante altogether, others have developed ways to make it a little less intimidating.
— James Ernest, “Magic: The Gathering Variants“
I started playing after ante was removed, but there's no way I'm sitting down with a stranger and letting them keep the top card off my deck, ever. That just isn't fun, and the entire game I'm thinking about possibly losing that card. I understand card values were not the same back then as they are now, but I still think it's counterintuitive for a fun game to introduce something anxiety-inducing and un-fun. What were the playtest games where Richard Garfield saw the benefits with ante? "Collection building" has to be the worst argument. You're adding 1 random card from an opponent's deck 50% of the time after each game, but for $5 you could buy 60 random cards in a box of Revised. Isn't the latter how you build your collection?
Congrats Evu! That's certainly the highest ranking from an MTGZone player I've ever seen!