watch more videos on Magic's worlds here: 🏙 The Structures of Ravnica ua-cam.com/video/5Z1CAYTMm3I/v-deo.html 🦇 The Horror of Innistrad ua-cam.com/video/_UlrFTdANKc/v-deo.html
This is what makes me miss blocks in magic.. We pass planes too fast and don't have any time to really appreciate the story or aesthetic of any certain plane. Instead its on to the next story, onto the next plane with no guarantee we will ever get to see this place again, and its soon forgotten. There is so much lore and potential in magics story yet it gets thrown away so fast for potential gain in profits.
@@ravenousmask4159 EXACTLY! The Emperor either should have been a story beat for the beginning as we tragically lose her in the second set or we spend the first block with only Tamiyo (pre-Compleation), Kaito, and Tezzeret. While the second set focused on discovering who was behind all the spirit kidnappings (Jin) and maybe here is where we get the Emperor alongside another Kaito card and a Compleated Tamiyo. (SERIOUSLY! NOT GETTING A PROPER TAMIYO CARD MADE ME SO PISSED AT THE NEW SET THEY COULD HAVE AT LEAST WAITED UNTIL HER NEXT SET TO HAVE HER COMPLEATED!)
As a mexican, i have seen first hand the full effect of how organized crime destroys the puré and beautiful ideals, landscape And people of the country that they settle in, i have seen lifes destroyed AND changed for the greed of the few, families broken, children missing, institutions failing to provide to the people they server, all in the name of the aquisition of wealth throught the corruption of our youths health. And thats why i hate so much the romantization of organized crime, drug Cartels aré not glamorous, nor honorary, nor dignified, they aré a cáncer, a corruption that stretches its reach towards every aspect of life, AND they need to be portrayed as such.
I'm from Palermo, thank you for this video. Even if I like New Capenna, it's important to be aware of what actually Mafia is without the pretty colors and filters many have in front of their eyes. Perhaps I like the set so much because it lets me think of a future where Mafia can be just something we use as plot for stories, insted of an ever lurking horror that is easy to feel but hard to see.
Thank you for sharing. I wish you the best in Palermo. I come from a city at north of Argentina which also suffers from organized crime and it is such an horror when people disappears and nobody ask the obvious questions in face of violence and corruption. It is such a feeling of being powerless and overwhelmed.
I am Italian (not from the South though). It is truly gratifying to have a content creator as respected as you to shine a light on the tumor that is the Mafia in Italy
When I look at miraculous Rags-to-Riches stories, especially the ones about someone being taken in by a wealthy benefactor, I remember a favourite quote. "Every miracle is a betrayal revealed." The existence of those who escape poverty reveals the arbitrariness and horror of poverty itself
Moreovwr, the fact that real rags to riches stories are so rare highlights them as a deviation from the norm. Rich people like to see them as "anyone can escape powerty", while in reality those stories highlight just how hard and incredibly luck-dependant it is for someone to escape it.
@@Alex-cq1zr The system necessitates the ability to elevate select individuals to perpetuate the myth. In order to continue to sell the lie that anyone can make it, some inevitably have to make it.
I’d say it’s more a factor of group-think, or even just reality. We know people’s names because other people know those names, almost like a mental contagion. And besides, would you rather a system that has no upward mobility? The playing field may not be equal, but still rewards people willing to take on risk, and willing to put in the work-even if they don’t make it to the very top.
@@thomaspetrucka9173 I mean... yes, who cares about upwards mobility when there are people starving? Like, I'm sure the possibility that if someone is really lucky and works hard and owns the means of production, they can get filthy, hilariously rich is a grand comfort to the kids who are living out of their parents car.
Your video got me tenfold as invested into New Capenna's story as anything WotC did. I really miss this worldbuilding about just.. being there, compared to the rushed three act story that has to be crammed into a single set and vaguely told over spoiler season
Yup, the planeswalkers and legendaries mean nothing to me- its the random rogues, warriors, clerics and wizards in the common and uncommon slot that show the world in a way that actually grabs my attention.. sometimes I wish mtg would stop focusing on the overarching stories/plots across planes, and instead focus on stories that take place on the one plane to further Develop its worldbuilding
The distinction between parody and satire is exactly what I've been needing to hear lately. Been really caught up in the paradox of toothless satire, being more about entertainment than impactful messages. Wanting to make poignant messages that aren't misconstrued is near impossible, but hearing this definitely helps me learn how to tip the floor
Yup and on the other hand we have a lot of people just making crude jokes amd claiming they are Satire, when it's nothing but punching down on marginalized groups. Satire punches up, not down
Mafia (2003), and it’s recent remake, is interesting in this respect. It seems to start in the harmless glamorisation of the Mob, but the deeper you go into Mafia, its missions and its organisation, the more critical the eye of the protagonist, and therefore of the game, becomes. By the end of the game, the framing device that the game started with - an interview about what he knows - has led to Tommy, the protagonist, cooperating with the authorities against the mafia, turning states evidence, and going into witness protection with his wife… Which cannot save him when the Salieri family, having branded him a traitor, finds out where he lives. Getting involved with the Mafia was his first mistake, and it was a mistake compounded every step of the way as he becomes more and more compromised, following the lure of money and power into a labyrinth of greed and destruction - including, eventually, his own.
I’ve felt that satire is hard to find recently. The issues we face are so exaggerated, the corruption and hypocrisy so on the nose that satire simply falls flat.
This is also my issue with Warhammer 40K. It _wants_ to satirize fascism. To a certain extent it did, back during the punk, anti-Thatcher days of 1st edition. But 40K cannot commit to critiquing fascism. Indeed, bends over backwards to "rationalize" the Imperium of Man's fascism within the lore itself. Never making it "good", but baking in details about the setting that render that fascism "necessary". It's very obvious 40K is more of a parody of fascism. A mixture of darkly comedic and deathly serious, but ultimately toothless in portraying why a system like the Imperium not only is abhorrent, but ultimately unsustainable. It went from an empire collapsing in on itself due to weight of its own dysfunction and cruelty, to an empire eternally being chipped away at by outside enemies. A seemingly endless supply of "Them" coming to murder all of "Us". Where only pitiless authoritarianism and brutal militarism can stem the tide. In short, an affirmation of the very paranoid, hierarchical death cult that Fascism is. Written into the background radiation of 40K's universe. It cannot be a satire of fascism, when it's too willing to make that fascism seem, in context, reasonable.
Sam gets known as, "the art guy" but his critical takes on magic sets shortcomings (Cosmic horror in Innistrad, Kamigawa cultural insensitivity, Capenna) is unique among magic content creators. He is irreplaceable.
Probably my second favourite video (behind the history of card frames) is Theros: Pastiche and Pastoral. Critique (that is, not just of business models) is so vital, and often underappreciated in gaming community.
@@Olematonnimi Pretty confidently guessing that you feel triggered in some way by that phrase but haven't watched the video. If you want to discuss the contents of the video, we can talk.
It occurs to me that Magic as a whole is forced to make the villains in some way glamorous or likable. By nature of being a TCG, every character is also a game piece and every game piece is designed to be appealing or compelling. That's not inherently a problem, but it does mean Magic is both well-suited for adapting the "gangster fantasy" and unsuited for engaging critically with the problems baked into that genre.
They did a mask off villain set in New Phyrexia, which was cool but didn't resonate well with players that had to gp around ripping the flesh of likeable rebels. In the end, only the horny for Elesh Norn stayed in the mind of the players.
I don't think they necessarily need to make them glamorous they just need to make them interesting in some way. I'd say the Eldrazi and the Phyrexian Praetors are the biggest examples of characters who while not necessarily appealing are fascinating. Like any fiction the best villains don't need to be good or cool or misunderstand they just need to be interesting.
People are drawn to a well-written and, in the case of visual media, well-designed villain, antagonist, or anti-hero. You can write the greatest hero/protagonist in history but if there's not an equally great villain, your hero will end up forgetful. Imagine if Batman didn't have, among others in his rogues' gallery, the Joker. Think of villains like Darth Vader or Voldemort. They're bad--evil, in fact--but their names are as well-known as their respective heroes. Even non-fantastical villains, real-world baddies like Al Capone or film villains like Tony Montana (I'm sure these will both be brought up in the video) are well-known names, well-quoted and even idolized figures. As far as comparing Magic: the Gathering to the gangster genre, MtG isn't typically involved social commentary or series topics, i.e. the problems you mentioned. That's why, despite all the terrible acts that various criminal organizations have committed, Wizards can take the generic, stereotypical Mafia glamour without diving too deep into the true history of the genre and its real-life equivalents. It's the same concept as creating Theros, which, while based on Ancient Greece and Greek mythology, evades some of the more questionable acts that were common during the times of real-world Greece, as well as the mythology (rape by gods was very common in the mythos, while pedophilia, sacrifice, and such were common in the real world). I'd say that, by virtue of Magic: the Gathering being a game--even if a game with a deep lore and many written stories--it doesn't require the deep dive into the influence and basis for the characters, planes, and stories. This isn't meant as any sort of argument or debate, just my opinions and clarification on how I view the world- and character-building of Magic.
As an Italian, i deeply thank you for taking so much time to show what mafias really are. Thank you for remembering the heroes who died fighting and the ones who sacrifice their personal freedom today in order to keep fighting.
Still will never forget my friend getting super hyped for Xander in this set only for us to go to the prerelease event where I unpacked a murder and realized “oh he got fucking punked”
As an italian I've always found the depiction of the mafia in american media kinda of disturbing, so I appreciate the inclusion of falcone and borsellino, their names and their work I feel don't get mentioned nearly enough when talking about gangster fiction.
@@ilmagoannoiato3597 Ahah Fantastici questi incontri online! Nonostante non giochi a magic da anni trovo i suoi contenuti assolutamente stupendi e informativi. Ti consiglio anche @Spice8Rack nel caso non lo conoscessi, anche lui fa dei deep dive negli aspetti culturali/mediatici/politici che girano intorno al gioco.
What I find interesting is that I think on some level they knew what they were doing; the one thing the factions all cooperate on is, y'know, killing all of the angels, and it's the first set where we get Demons showing up in every color rather than just black and occasionally red. The implication is fairly clear. This doesn't invalidate any of the points in the video, mind you. The violence is strongly implied to be largely faction-on-faction, and in fact when I think about the place that car bombing a magistrate might have in the set my first thought is that the families ARE the magistrates in most ways that matter. Any assassination of one would be more likely to be part of their power games than an attempt to combat any serious external threat. On top of this, the citizen archetype seems to show that the lives of people who aren't part of the organized crime syndicates are...fine? Civic Gardener in particular shows one casually threatening a family's agents with no implication whatsoever of repercussions, and the implication is that your average unaffiliated citizen just isn't afraid of the crime syndicates. Which says some very odd things about how the plane must work, but in the context of a mafia parody deepens the lie that these people are anything but murderous thugs. Sadly, no amount of creature type based implications overwrites this; I suspect a big part of the issue is that they've emphasized fantasy evil (the demons are in charge, the angels are all dead) in place of any actual evil. Ironically Ravnica does a significantly better job of this; between the flavor text on Quickchange suggesting that most citizens lead lives of "desperate survival" and more recent cards like Court Street Denizen, Chronic Flooding, and especially Guildless Commons, one gets the impression that joining a guild is the best (if not only) way of avoiding being trod underfoot. Perhaps New Capenna could have taken a couple more cues from there, or perhaps it would have made the set too tonally dissonant or even offensive. I would honestly believe if I was told that there's literally no way to make a Magic set like this without either falling into one of these major pitfalls or...not really being a Magic set so much as a statement about these issues that happens to be printed on Magic cards. On the other hand, perhaps now that we have New Capenna in this fashion a return to the plane could take a more critical eye to the situation. It would be very interesting if we came back to find the previously victimized coming out of the woodwork and the events of the previous set having led to something genuinely better appearing in place of the old power structure. The first thing that comes to mind is the spirit and name of the old crime families passing to new, more scrupulous organizations, with the standard mana rock or common land cycles being memorials to the victims of their former largesse. Perhaps with an intermediate set that has a heavy "angels vs. demons" theme, similar to how Khans of Tarkir swung over to dragons over the course of the block. It would certainly make the set we have look significantly different in retrospect.
I think that understanding the story of magic as having two seperate “texts” makes the contradictions. The two texts only interact from the perspective of the written, from the perspective of the mechanical gameplay the text as writing and art doesn’t reallly matter. So to pull from the mechanical to support the written doesn’t actually comment on the story as presented through the mechanical. Sets that match these texts will feel much more cohesive and conceptualised than sets that don’t. And with our cards depicting these contradictions more explicitly and vividly than I think MTG as a game is willing to get, you’re going to struggle to communicate a story that uses metaphoric irony to depict it’s actual meaning through the medium of a card game. ThTs not even including the contradictions and obfuscations the story makes that the video discuses in this little analysis
One major thing with New Capenna's storyline is, regarding the future of the plane, that there's probably some very major, immediate shifts taking place. One of the crime bosses was killed, another was mortally wounded, a third had some sort of falling from grace, and in general Ob Nixilis was gunning to cause as much chaos as possible, pushing full open war between family leadership, and at the same time, the angels were freed by the end. I figure they'll be very quick to establish a formal law and order, and Raffine, who I think was in pretty sufficient condition by the end, would probably pivot to helping them as an intelligence agency willing to do the dirty work on the remnants of the mob bosses. Ziatora's also fine and she'd probably be the underground biggest problem for the angels, since the Riveteers have fairly bottom-up support and a lot of cash reserves. Likely a bigger plot hook for the plane going forward is on the outside world that was devastated by Phyrexia, and a rebuilding effort.
My biggest hopes for New Cappenna was that we'd get a little tiny Goblin or dwarf, Who'd upon ETB, summon a giant muscular brute token named "Little Friend"
"Every Little Italy is a product of fear. A remnant of time where Italians were segregated, not celebrated by the greater populus." Wow, I'd even sort of had that question in the back of my mind, of why places like China Town and Little Italy are found in city after city across our country. I didn't even know, I wasn't taught. That's chilling.
As a Sicilian who lives in Palermo and struggles daily to let everyone know what real mafia is about, thank you for this unexpected and extremely precise video! I have become a fan of the channel in the last months, but this video may be the one that hit me the most content-wise. Grazie ❤
An additional detail about "Lunch atop a Skyscraper" that further ties into the thesis here: the picture itself is a publicity stunt. We don't really know who those workers are, but we do know for sure that photo is not a candid depiction of their work conditions. They were asked to pose on that particular beam, pretending to eat lunch, so that that photograph could exist as part of a promotional campaign promoting the skyscraper. The photo is a constructed narrative too, a story being told using the verticality of the new built city as a backdrop to sell the dream of modernity and progress. A lie.
To me the card "An Offer You Can't Refuse" sums up everything. It's an obvious allusion to The Godfather... but the card does the exact opposite of what that line means. In The Godfather, the "offer" is not actually an offer is a threat on a man's life, the card however, takes the literal interpretation of this line and makes your opponent treasure in exchange for countering their spell. It's literally a decent offer. All that was "mafia" about that line is taken away and replaced with a censored and more palatable version of it. And by stripping the line of its double meaning it takes away the whole reason why the line is memorable.
If you see the treasure as something they gain, then yes. But you can also say that it is a representation of resources recovered while backing out. A threat is a promise of action. If you 'willingly' stop you might get to keep something you otherwise would lose if action is taken. "Counterspell" is an action, you lose all the resources spent and gain nothing, while "An Offer You Can't Refuse" is a threat, you get to keep something. That being said I think it could have been done much better, and that it is another example of WotC's overuse of the treasure mechanic.
Something I learned in photography classes is this ethic: "Photography is about telling a lie, a second in time manipulated by you, don't abuse it." Also I don't know how one watches Godfather and think it was Mafia positive. You watch Michael Corleone become the bad guy. Scarface ends with Tony being shot to death after he killed his best friend, and caused his sisters death. Like his mother said he destroys everything he touches.
New Capenna's Caldaia reminds me of Zaun. (Also, in Italian "caldaia" means boiler.) Also, I love how you broke down Italian's history with the Mafia. Grazie per aver portato luce su questo discorso. (Thanks for bringing light to this topic.)
I remember pulling my first packs in the early 2010's and being occasionally shocked at how uncensored and realistic the violence was. It didn't seem like glorification at all, cards like Public Execution seemed grizzly and planes like Innistrad felt legitimately oppressive at times. Wizards has since dialed the depictions of violence back a ton in MTG cards, but ultimately, I think this has really hampered their ability to tell good stories with their cards. A set like New Capenna makes goofy allusions to violence and crime instead of showing the real consequences of this stuff. How can a street gang be PG-13? Innistrad was one of my favorite blocks to play, and there was tons of fun stuff to do with those cards and a ton of cards that made really cool allusions to the gothic horror genre, but the makers of that set made it knowing that real world horrors informed their source material and didn't shy away from that. New Capenna is tounge-in-cheek in places where it shouldn't be. And no, violence doesn't make everything better; a set like Ikoria is thematically much better with less of it. But unlike Ikoria, New Capenna is based on real life and not monster movies.
This is a Rhystic Studies double dip! Watch his fairies get smashed by gobos in the morning and listen to him wax lyrical about Art Deco aesthetics in the afternoon
I think what you're saying about New Capenna is entirely on point. But, your treatment on Mafia feels incomplete without a nod to the intertwined history of Italian organized crime and Italian Fascism, and indeed American support for both. It's still a wonderful video, like all of yours.
I've been looking at New Capenna through the lense of its lore being a post-pandemic extravagance the way the real twenties recovered from the Spanish Flu. This focus on the Mafia references especially is a really interesting perspective and the video overal is very informative. This analysis is brilliant work of you.
Given the amount of development time it takes for a Magic set to go from concept to print, the fact that this narrative lens even exists is an astounding coincidence. When New Capenna was pitched, WotC could not have known a pandemic was about to happen.
@@alexbrangan2885 they did know we were about to be going into the 2020s, however, so I could imagine there was an intended roaring 20s parallel just due to the decade we were entering.
The commentary on the problematic depiction of the mafia really resonates with me after just having concluded a visit to Palermo, Italy. Reminders of the mafia's long stranglehold on the island, monuments and references to the suffering they caused, and memorials to those who gave their lives to fight them were everywhere. More than a handful of Sicilians stressed that their history was never like the romanticized or sanitized Hollywood depictions of gangsters, and that nearly everyone on the island is related to or knows someone who lost their life at the hands of the mafia. It was incredibly eye-opening to be educated on something that is so poorly understood and treated as mere entertainment elsewhere.
...there is NO problematic depiction of "the mafia" in magic, because its fiction. If anyone thinks that the depiction of anything in magic is supposed to be a representation of anything real is an idiot. it is - inspired by - not - a historically accurate depiction of -.
@@hyoroemongaming569 Many pop-culture depictions of Mafia focus on the aspects that could make for good stories and file away the things that audiences or critics would find objectionable. For instance, a heavy theme in Mafia stories is often loyalty to family, which makes for excellent character conflict when that loyalty is tested. The consequences and brutalities of Mafia existence may appear but they're rarely focused on, and the cost of human suffering by the average citizen is either glossed over or outright ignored. If it doesn't serve the story, there's no need to risk something that messes with the emotional pacing or could make audiences uncomfortable in ways other than the creator's vision. And that's with stories that don't outright glorify or romanticise Mafia. For example, Jojo Part 5 makes attempts to show the realities of life under that system, but it's ultimately a story of someone trying to make the romanticised ideal of Mafia their reality. It's an anomaly in that it makes an attempt to show a version of the reality that many experience, but that is lost as the story progresses and shifts its focus to the spectacle fights. Like I said earlier, whatever doesn't serve the story is dropped - that's just the reality of telling a story so long. I bring up Jojo not because it tried to be an accurate reflection of Mafia, but because it is wholly emblematic of the place Mafia has in popular culture.
As an Italian, I'm so glad to see someone who talk about the social problem of mafia to an English-speaking audience. Thanks a lot for your job Sam, it's really valuable.
I watch a lot of UA-cam at 1.5 or 2x speed. This channel is one of those that I take the time to watch at the pace intended. Your cadence and story telling are masterful. Thank you so much for all you do.
Love the "Finding Nemo" reference at 18:31 I never would have taken a serious look at the art on these cards if not for your videos. Now I get excited to peer for details like this one!
i used to delve deeply into the art as a kid. i miss my imagination from back in the 90's. the simple portrait to the likes of prodigal sorcerer, or the looming lord of the pit. i got to tell my own story in each mtg match played. now i'm hyper focused on gameplay and rules text so i miss too much and all imagination is out the door. it doesn't help that there's 6,943 set releases per year. very grateful that Sam helps me bring me back to my roots.
This got much deeper than I expected. To add to the point about classes, when you hear politicians and journalists talk about the "lower, middle, and upper" classes think about it like two classes and it makes more sense. There's the working class (those who work for their living) and the owning class (those who are lucky enough to have others work for their living).
How does one class being poor, the other able to live comfortably, and the aristocracy not make sense? Simplifying something to the working class and aristocracy removes the complex situation of the middle class and its importance across history. The middle class, sometimes merchants and craftsmen, sometimes lower nobles, are a driving force in government for democracy. Breaking it down into two groups removes how different middle class and lower class live, one thrives on industry, acess to higher education, the ability to have small business and the ability to actually effect change in politics, see the revolutions, the other can't even get a factory job or ever go beyond a high school education. They other has nothing in comparison. Yes the both work to live rather than rely on investments and fat stacks to throw around, but one's position is so much better than the other that the middle class often is what the lower class thinks the upper class looks like, it's that much of a gap.
@@Aceshot-uu7yx i get your point and I’m not saying there should be zero distinction. What I’m saying is that the class warfare is much more evident when you look at it from the two classes perspective, especially when it comes to tax reform. Most people cry about higher taxes not realizing it barely affects their bottom line like it does the ultra wealthy. Those who complain about a raise in taxes are actually complaining on behalf of the ultra wealthy without realizing it. If taxes went up 10% tomorrow I’d only lose a couple hundred bucks compared to the person who makes millions a year…
@@kogasoldier9379 The thing is that your and others' bottom line is different from the wealthy. You may only loose a couple of hundred bucks. However, that hundred is a lot more important for you than that million is for the rich. Prices remain the same, so once you factor in food, debt, and the rest, higher taxes become a clear issue, especially because it can exasperate the existing poverty if handled poorly, i.e. shrinking the middle class and hurting the poor even more while the rich feel nothing or worse, gain subsidies from the taxes. This is because the rich can easily escape taxes via ways where no amount of regulation can be done without hurting the other two, such as deductibles for charity. The law must also be equal or set a dangerous precedent, so what laws apply to one applies to all. So higher taxes are not the best option, wealth distribution also has issues, but can increase the middle class which should be the goal. Of course class warfare becomes more evident when you strip out the actual complexity and boil it down to two groups that encompass vast populations of vary states based on whether they work for someone or pay someone to do work. On another note, the owning class includes small business owners, I don't mean small, local companies or franchises of big companies, I mean businesses like gas station owners, not the gas companies. Those owners are usually middle to upper middle class and certainly are not as much of a problem as the gas companies, but by stripping class down to workers and owners, that complexity is lost and the enemy becomes the goal everyone should strive for, the living of the upper middle class with education and working with owners who have the drive to lead, not the corporate fat cats who pay others to invest for them and get richer and richer while flaunting their charitable donations.
There is one card in the set that intrigues me, though - Depopulate. The card depicts the city being engulfed by a massive column of light. And its text reads "No screams rang out. No blood stained the streets. In an instant, the bustling metropolis simply fell silent." I think the end of the storyline of New Capenna is that it's ultimately destroyed by an unknown faction.
"Then there came a sound Distant first it grew into castrophany So immense that it could be heard far away in space There were no screams, there was no time The mountain called Monkey had spoken There was only fire And then nothing"
I would chalk that up to the need of Magic sets to include cards that destroy everything, and accompanying apocalyptic imagery. In Return to Ravnica, the Supreme Verdict is both a boardwipe spell and a threat to destroy all of Ravnica if the Dragon's Maze is not solved. But it doesn't actually get deployed. It's just a vision of possible devastation.
Returning to this video after the insensitive manifest destiny parade in Thunder Junction reminds me how much of modern fiction is built on romanticizing horrors, many of which continue today, even if the aesthetic of that horror has changed.
You are a truly masterful storyteller. I've never played magic, but I was completely captured by your video on Black Lotus and I've been watching your videos ever since. The way you present the art that we make and what it says about our world is unmatched, from your attention to detail and your teasing out wry ironies, to your reverence for love and loss and the deep emotionality that underlies your commentary. Thank you so much for your work.
Sam, your videos always feel like a safe haven, they have such a calm, otherworldly atmosphere I feel I'm walking on a different plane of reality. When you upload, I get ready myself, and when I need a moment of peace I also start a video of yours
Honestly I did not expect much from Wizards for this set. For a company that hesitates to show guns, for them to depict the kind of violence that a mafia-inspired set would require, was impossible from the start. I appreciate this channel for showing other high points of the set though. Really not something I had focused my attention while playing.
This is what I want Wizards( being controlled by Hasbro) to return to. Sets that seem so familiar but have immense depth to them. It is why I fell in love with the game in Return to Ravnica, being able to immerse myself in three sets of worldbuilding and enjoyable mechanics that was only aided by the wonderful stories behind its characters. The current process of blazing through worlds has burned me out and I truly don’t care for many of the stories they try to tell, I just look at the cards for cliffnotes and buy any dragons they release. New Capenna seemed like a step back to what I initially loved of Magic and I hope they return to the blocks again. Loved the video and how much it made me think of my own journey with Magic and how I have viewed the villains and heroes throughout.
This might be my new favorite of yours: deeply enthralling to watch and listen to, and, as ever, thought-provoking. Amazing work as always, can't wait for next month!
Really loved this one, thanks for your work! Also, I really liked your analysis of "Italo-american mafia" portrait from cinema. Really on point and hope that someone interested in this kind of historical (and sadly actual) crime scene can bypass the romanticized imaginery coming from great (fake) movies. Some keyword for someone interested in diving in Italian Mafia topics: - Cosa nostra (sicilian mafia), now the "weakest" on the territory - Processo Stato-Mafia (1990's, State-Mafia trial) a huge trial in which was investigated the influence of Cosa Nostra on the state. This is linked to corruption, the murder of Mafia judges (in particular Falcone and Borsellino, referencing the "strage di Capaci"). This trial led to the arrest of the boss Toto Riina (don't search for the crime he's accused of if not ready for something gruesome) and the period of the so-called "stragist mafia period". Since then Sicily have become more emancipated by cosa nostra influence (not completely). Even if there were many important accusation against state politicians and figures, just "small fries" were arrested in the political scene. - Omertà, the behaviour of not talking. As suggested in the video "i giorni della civetta" (book by Leonardo Sciascia and movie) show this really well - 'ndrangheta, Calabrian mafia. Uprising in recent years because of drug trafficking and corruption in public services and constructions in all Italy (and europe) - Camorra, campanian mafia. Famous worldwide for the work of the journalist Roberto Saviano "gomorra" and the series based on the book. This is a large organization controlling both campanian territory and northern italy cities and many worldwide traffics. They are linked to drug dealing, betting, money laundrying, corruption... In modern days mafia is less about "war against the state" and "terrorism" and more about "subtle and silent control with large control webs and less "appariscent behaviours" - "organized crime". In italy you don't have to be in a cosca/family to be arrested with the same imputation of a mafioso. If you organize crime with other people, even blue-collars doing illegal business, this is the same - "41 bis" is the law linked to the so-called "carere duro" (tough jail regime, I guess). This is technically a temporary/special law written in the stragist phase of Cosa Nostra which describe how a mafioso is imprisoned. It claims that mafiosi cannot comunicate with other people, cannot have contacts with their families and much more. This is a very controversial topic, expecially out of italy where it is considered torture and unjust and comes from many experience in which imprisoned mafiosi were able to commit crimes from inside jails - Caporalato, a process in which modern day slaves, illegal immigrants tipically are used as workforce in agriculture in southern italy and islands for a few euros a day, menaced with force if they oppose, without the ability to free themselves. This is a tipical process used by mafia, which controls distribution and territory with fear and corruption. - Casamonica, name of a very recent "family" and mafia group of Sinti origin people controlling the Ostia/Rome region with violence. They became famous in recent years because of press investigation and an episode in which one of the casamonica people headbutted a journalist live on public television
This is making me realize how mature of a setting New Capenna is. I think wizards is breaking new ground with this. Makes me miss multi set blocks. Each set is a brief vignette that we don't get a chance to sink our teeth into. There is so much nuance missed through content fatigue where they have to do setting, characters, history and exposition, and some kind of overarching plot and subplots. Makes me wish New Capenna had an additional set or two. I think wizards forgets that they have an enormous breadth of material for serious storytelling and yet it's "onto the next one" every time
Mark has since claimed that Magic was better before the Internet (and by extension, netdeckers). They *were* mature back then, it's just that Magic has regressed in both game and story quality. Now they're killing the game by printing proxy Reserve List cards.
I listened to this video for the first time while walking the streets of Las Vegas the day after Magic 30. I had walked from the strip to convention center both days, which gave me a glimpse into all the bits of the city that you will never see in any billboard or advertisements. Seeing through veils can be so world shaking. You can not ignore the forgotten and the used in this city. How many of these people took that wrong step falling to the Caldaia?
Making it from rags to riches is like winning the lottery, and I wouldn't want to live in a world we're not winning the lottery means living in misery and hardship.
My father told me one of the men on the beam, is from Norway, near where I grew up. And was eating a brown cheese sandwich, as most Norwegians would do.
Every time I sit down to polish a decklist up I look for videos to play in the background and I usually end up at your channel. Yet every time I actually start to listen and brew, my attention is commanded back to this tab and I find myself enthralled. Every time.
Ever since I saw that New Cappena was going to have an Art Deco theme I was waiting for this. This and the “Futurist” art of Raymond Swanland make a great two-part micro series about art in the the early 20th century. Now we just need Art Nouveau, Precisionism, and Dada to complete the set.
I'm a bit late watching this video, I'm Italian and I sincerely wanted to thank you for all your research you did for this video. Seeing how these kinds of criminal organizations get depicted in fiction always felt wrong to me since they're a serious problem that's actively fought today everywhere in Italy on multiple fronts, but now I understand that these depictions are due to repetition and spins on works that reference something that is essentially old American history, unrelated to contemporary events. Thanks for showing the rest of the world a more complete picture! The rest of the video was also very interesing and informative though! I didn't know very well both the historical setting (20's America) and the artistical inspirations behind the set, and I was only aware of some of the most known and obvious references to photos and such (like Riveteer's Ascendancy).
Yes, there is a lie inherent in the cozy family myth of the mafia, but only because of the misconception of gangs as families. They're not families, they're states and governments. Look for any analogous appendage between the two, and you'll find it. If anything, a mafia's persona reveals a greater lie we tell ourselves about our own involvements, and how we justify our personal gains at another's expense, often one war at a time.
As an italian: thank you very much for this video... I hate how the international discourse takes the mafia as a joke, or a s cool people. Italo-americans bragging about being "mafiosi" , the "i cooka da meatball" shit... it's awful even trying to speak about it
First of all, this video shows, as always, your incredible knowledge and passion both for research and video making. The description of the artworks, the story telling, the constant parallelism between a fantasy world and true historical events are more than enough to demonstrate that you are a philosopher, someone who is able to find links everywhere, descending deeply inside concepts and ideas. I am a sicilian guy and I really appreciated that you underlined that all the fancy and glittering images of Capenna are lies like the mafia that became famous thanks to hollywood; mafia is something that has absolutely no beauty for us that live every day with this stigma, trying to emancipate ourselves not in a vertical way (such as Caldaia inhabitants) but in an horizontal way: both fighting for social justice/lawfullness and trying to go further from our past with culture and knowledge. I want to leave a suggestion, something to think about. We see the verticalization of architecture both in ancient mythology/history (such as the Babel Tower, the Piramids, etc) and contemporary history (modern skyscrapers in every big city, for example): in both cases, we can talk about the great human ambition that drives the will to show what we are able to do, that we can reach the sky, the archetypical counterpart of our place as mortals (the earth). Doing so, we are trying to hide our most essential feature, believing that we could be immortal one day, that we could be "sky beings" instead of "earth beings" one day; in conclusion, the American dream is just a part of a much elaborate dream that, as New Capenna shows us, is just a lie that has always a downside (someone must always suffer for the climb of others) and keeps us apart from the real possibility of building an horizontal and equal world.
Interesting take on a fun and flavorful set. Never really stopped to consider the politics of mimicking and endorsing organized crime in a stylized way.
You might just be my favourite content creator on youtube, so well spoken, well researched, yet everything is presented in a way that is so fresh and engaging.
Though you will near certainly not read this, your command over language and efficiency in what you say can not be overstated, you are perhaps the greatest writer on the platform, and your understanding producing symbolism through structure and storytelling far exceed anything that I have read or listened to. Each time you release a video, I think it must be your magnum opus, and each time you produce something that unequivocally impresses. Watching this video was comparable to seeing gazing upon an unknowable wonder with curiosity and intrigue, in awe at the intricacy, scale, and power behind what you say. Never have any doubt in what you do. Thank you for this gift, and I wish I could let you understand the full depth of my appreciation for it.
Every time I watch one of your videos I am astounded by the level of thought and detail that the set designers put into these cards, as well as how much effort you put into your analysis of the sets and the themes that inspired them. Thank you for a wonderful video.
@@armenianzombie - Ah, was gonna say - the _story_ for the set is surprisingly dark from what I've read of it. It's more or less Elspeth rescuing a victim of what is essentially child sex trafficking (the child angel who is the "source" of Halo in New Capenna).
Rhystic Studies has immediately become my favourite mtg channel far above any other Also, Im going to try to make an entire deck based only on an artist inspired by the channel
Really interesting video, I honestly didn't know about the modern mafia and was living like you said under the assumption they "went away" after the 20s. Really opened my eyes. Very proud to be a patron of this channel.
I could sense your disgust, and maybe even hatred, in your tone when you mentioned "mafia" in this video. Your segment punctuated at 23:24 gave me chills.
amazing video. im a gangster theme buff and videos like this are always appreciated as a hard reminder that even though you can love the genre and themes, you should also understand that glamorising and romanticising it does no favours to the people who lives are affected by organised crime
Sam, you've done it again. Another outstanding video that stands alone as a reference point for the future while reflecting on the past. As others have said in these comments, your critical critique of the lore design of Magic is important for the community. Thank you!
Thank you for pointing out how much organized crime is a major problem for our country. Also I am so happy to have found someone that pronounces italian words well! Then you said you have italian heritage!
I Always loved your videos, but this moved me to tears. As an italian, you really moved me for your way to cleanly and correctly point all the issues we had, and you poignantly focused on those points about mafia glamourising which really stir italians like me the wrong way. Thank you.
I don't play Magic but this video is an amazing journey through this imaginary world and our own reality. I love these old photos and the real life history you talk about, the architecture, artists and charm of this era. Very well done
I literally hadn't explored the New Capenna lore until this moment. Sam, you do a better job getting me invested in the history, lore, and connected art style than WoTC ever could. Thank you for the consistently excellent content you make.
Just now caught your match with prof. Didn't know anything about your channel until then. Your videos are so fascinating. I've missed a lot. Time to catch up.
Rhystic Studies makes me appreciate the New Capenna set even more. I just hope we'll return to New Capenna soon. One set is not enough, there is so much more to explore and to dive in.
I thought this would be a video about Art Deco and Art Nouveau and how it influenced Capenna's art and style. And yet you decided to do something else. And I praise you for it. Really good.
That was the heaviest masterpiece yet. I don’t know what Magic looks like without you Sam. Because I started in SOI. You challenge the game and community in ways that are borderline inconceivable. To be able to digest your offerings and be not just enlightened but smarter for it, is a gift. Thank you. For all of your incredible contributions. And for sharing a harder take on a subject that needed attention.
What you described in the Italian American community deeply reminds me of the Irish American community and our relationship to Ireland, and the people who live in it. Maybe there's something to be said about the way American immigrant groups make our own lies, lies that contrast how we remember our grandparents and great grandparents, and obscure the harsh reality they experienced when they passed through Ellis Island. So much of Irish American culture is a garish cartoon, one inspired by prejudiced English stereotypes. Maybe the lie is a defense mechanism of a traumatized people who were brutalized in their homes, and to secure safety had to leave their cultures behind. I wonder if that painful cultural amnesia is in the Italian American community too.
Man im just absolutely hooked on your content right now. Hope life has been treating you well, and thanks for all this wonderful content thats helped me explore this game I love.
My great grandmother was Italian and lived in NY city. She was alive during the period of time we all think of as the mafia being from. She deeply hated the mafia not only for there evil, but for what the mafias of the city did to peoples perspective on Italians. The mafias actions encouraged the wider belief that being Italian at the time, meant you were a criminal. People would occasionally ask her and her family if they had connections to the mob because they were Italian and lived in the tristate area.
The editing here is spectacular, amazing work. I love the deeper look into the influences and how using them without showing the truth behind them can be harmful. Reminds me of when they tried to a tiger parent story for an Asian character in Strixhaven--the line between telling a resonant story and using real people's trauma for mass entertainment is fine.
This really made me think. I'm so glad only mobsters exist and that kings, knights, HP Lovecraft and german people have no real historical basis, or I would have to rethink a whole lot more about my favorite cardboard rectangle brand.
watch more videos on Magic's worlds here:
🏙 The Structures of Ravnica ua-cam.com/video/5Z1CAYTMm3I/v-deo.html
🦇 The Horror of Innistrad ua-cam.com/video/_UlrFTdANKc/v-deo.html
This is what makes me miss blocks in magic.. We pass planes too fast and don't have any time to really appreciate the story or aesthetic of any certain plane. Instead its on to the next story, onto the next plane with no guarantee we will ever get to see this place again, and its soon forgotten. There is so much lore and potential in magics story yet it gets thrown away so fast for potential gain in profits.
Exactly, abandoning blocks was meant to give wotc more freedom to explore planes at the right pace, but now it seems they've forgotten that
NEO: emperor walks in, emperor walks out.
SNC: Nixilis kills, Elspeth out.
Does no one even fight in a large scale battle anymore?
@@ravenousmask4159 EXACTLY! The Emperor either should have been a story beat for the beginning as we tragically lose her in the second set or we spend the first block with only Tamiyo (pre-Compleation), Kaito, and Tezzeret. While the second set focused on discovering who was behind all the spirit kidnappings (Jin) and maybe here is where we get the Emperor alongside another Kaito card and a Compleated Tamiyo. (SERIOUSLY! NOT GETTING A PROPER TAMIYO CARD MADE ME SO PISSED AT THE NEW SET THEY COULD HAVE AT LEAST WAITED UNTIL HER NEXT SET TO HAVE HER COMPLEATED!)
Has the potential to be explored in supplemental sets but it’s never guaranteed
Thanks capitalism!
As a mexican, i have seen first hand the full effect of how organized crime destroys the puré and beautiful ideals, landscape And people of the country that they settle in, i have seen lifes destroyed AND changed for the greed of the few, families broken, children missing, institutions failing to provide to the people they server, all in the name of the aquisition of wealth throught the corruption of our youths health.
And thats why i hate so much the romantization of organized crime, drug Cartels aré not glamorous, nor honorary, nor dignified, they aré a cáncer, a corruption that stretches its reach towards every aspect of life, AND they need to be portrayed as such.
GOD I've been SO excited for this to drop ever since you told me about the concept of it!
About to watch the episode you guys did of Shuffle up and Play! Can’t wait 😁
@@NJKoopmeiners It was a blast, have fun watching it
YOU!
Spicy boi love ur new vid
Mill vs Discard when? /j
Speaking as an Italian and an MTG player, I loved this. And wow I'm thrilled my music was used in a Rhystic Studies video: what an honour!
I'm from Palermo, thank you for this video.
Even if I like New Capenna, it's important to be aware of what actually Mafia is without the pretty colors and filters many have in front of their eyes.
Perhaps I like the set so much because it lets me think of a future where Mafia can be just something we use as plot for stories, insted of an ever lurking horror that is easy to feel but hard to see.
Thank you for sharing. I wish you the best in Palermo. I come from a city at north of Argentina which also suffers from organized crime and it is such an horror when people disappears and nobody ask the obvious questions in face of violence and corruption. It is such a feeling of being powerless and overwhelmed.
I am Italian (not from the South though). It is truly gratifying to have a content creator as respected as you to shine a light on the tumor that is the Mafia in Italy
When I look at miraculous Rags-to-Riches stories, especially the ones about someone being taken in by a wealthy benefactor, I remember a favourite quote.
"Every miracle is a betrayal revealed." The existence of those who escape poverty reveals the arbitrariness and horror of poverty itself
Moreovwr, the fact that real rags to riches stories are so rare highlights them as a deviation from the norm. Rich people like to see them as "anyone can escape powerty", while in reality those stories highlight just how hard and incredibly luck-dependant it is for someone to escape it.
@@Alex-cq1zr The system necessitates the ability to elevate select individuals to perpetuate the myth. In order to continue to sell the lie that anyone can make it, some inevitably have to make it.
I’d say it’s more a factor of group-think, or even just reality. We know people’s names because other people know those names, almost like a mental contagion.
And besides, would you rather a system that has no upward mobility? The playing field may not be equal, but still rewards people willing to take on risk, and willing to put in the work-even if they don’t make it to the very top.
@@thomaspetrucka9173 I mean... yes, who cares about upwards mobility when there are people starving? Like, I'm sure the possibility that if someone is really lucky and works hard and owns the means of production, they can get filthy, hilariously rich is a grand comfort to the kids who are living out of their parents car.
@@ellentheeducatorand you would resolve the problem of poverty...how? Giving everybody money is not a reasonable solution so how.
Your video got me tenfold as invested into New Capenna's story as anything WotC did.
I really miss this worldbuilding about just.. being there, compared to the rushed three act story that has to be crammed into a single set and vaguely told over spoiler season
Yup, the planeswalkers and legendaries mean nothing to me- its the random rogues, warriors, clerics and wizards in the common and uncommon slot that show the world in a way that actually grabs my attention.. sometimes I wish mtg would stop focusing on the overarching stories/plots across planes, and instead focus on stories that take place on the one plane to further Develop its worldbuilding
@@nv_johan8711 Wizards is being strangled by Hasbro for more profits. Now they're selling you fake Black Lotuses.
The distinction between parody and satire is exactly what I've been needing to hear lately. Been really caught up in the paradox of toothless satire, being more about entertainment than impactful messages. Wanting to make poignant messages that aren't misconstrued is near impossible, but hearing this definitely helps me learn how to tip the floor
Yup and on the other hand we have a lot of people just making crude jokes amd claiming they are Satire, when it's nothing but punching down on marginalized groups.
Satire punches up, not down
Mafia (2003), and it’s recent remake, is interesting in this respect. It seems to start in the harmless glamorisation of the Mob, but the deeper you go into Mafia, its missions and its organisation, the more critical the eye of the protagonist, and therefore of the game, becomes.
By the end of the game, the framing device that the game started with - an interview about what he knows - has led to Tommy, the protagonist, cooperating with the authorities against the mafia, turning states evidence, and going into witness protection with his wife… Which cannot save him when the Salieri family, having branded him a traitor, finds out where he lives.
Getting involved with the Mafia was his first mistake, and it was a mistake compounded every step of the way as he becomes more and more compromised, following the lure of money and power into a labyrinth of greed and destruction - including, eventually, his own.
@@goth_fraggle satire punches anywhere.
I’ve felt that satire is hard to find recently. The issues we face are so exaggerated, the corruption and hypocrisy so on the nose that satire simply falls flat.
This is also my issue with Warhammer 40K. It _wants_ to satirize fascism. To a certain extent it did, back during the punk, anti-Thatcher days of 1st edition. But 40K cannot commit to critiquing fascism. Indeed, bends over backwards to "rationalize" the Imperium of Man's fascism within the lore itself. Never making it "good", but baking in details about the setting that render that fascism "necessary".
It's very obvious 40K is more of a parody of fascism. A mixture of darkly comedic and deathly serious, but ultimately toothless in portraying why a system like the Imperium not only is abhorrent, but ultimately unsustainable. It went from an empire collapsing in on itself due to weight of its own dysfunction and cruelty, to an empire eternally being chipped away at by outside enemies. A seemingly endless supply of "Them" coming to murder all of "Us". Where only pitiless authoritarianism and brutal militarism can stem the tide.
In short, an affirmation of the very paranoid, hierarchical death cult that Fascism is. Written into the background radiation of 40K's universe. It cannot be a satire of fascism, when it's too willing to make that fascism seem, in context, reasonable.
Sam gets known as, "the art guy" but his critical takes on magic sets shortcomings (Cosmic horror in Innistrad, Kamigawa cultural insensitivity, Capenna) is unique among magic content creators. He is irreplaceable.
Probably my second favourite video (behind the history of card frames) is Theros: Pastiche and Pastoral. Critique (that is, not just of business models) is so vital, and often underappreciated in gaming community.
Cultural insensitivity? Cringe.
@@Olematonnimi Pretty confidently guessing that you feel triggered in some way by that phrase but haven't watched the video. If you want to discuss the contents of the video, we can talk.
Could you link to the Cosmic Horror video? I've looked and can't find it.
@@AkitaTom it's just "horrors of innistrad"
It occurs to me that Magic as a whole is forced to make the villains in some way glamorous or likable. By nature of being a TCG, every character is also a game piece and every game piece is designed to be appealing or compelling.
That's not inherently a problem, but it does mean Magic is both well-suited for adapting the "gangster fantasy" and unsuited for engaging critically with the problems baked into that genre.
They did a mask off villain set in New Phyrexia, which was cool but didn't resonate well with players that had to gp around ripping the flesh of likeable rebels.
In the end, only the horny for Elesh Norn stayed in the mind of the players.
I don't think they necessarily need to make them glamorous they just need to make them interesting in some way.
I'd say the Eldrazi and the Phyrexian Praetors are the biggest examples of characters who while not necessarily appealing are fascinating.
Like any fiction the best villains don't need to be good or cool or misunderstand they just need to be interesting.
Though the same set has Ob Nixilis, the one actual Evil that quickly shows how soft the families are if mutual agreement is “broken by mistrust”
People are drawn to a well-written and, in the case of visual media, well-designed villain, antagonist, or anti-hero. You can write the greatest hero/protagonist in history but if there's not an equally great villain, your hero will end up forgetful. Imagine if Batman didn't have, among others in his rogues' gallery, the Joker. Think of villains like Darth Vader or Voldemort. They're bad--evil, in fact--but their names are as well-known as their respective heroes. Even non-fantastical villains, real-world baddies like Al Capone or film villains like Tony Montana (I'm sure these will both be brought up in the video) are well-known names, well-quoted and even idolized figures.
As far as comparing Magic: the Gathering to the gangster genre, MtG isn't typically involved social commentary or series topics, i.e. the problems you mentioned. That's why, despite all the terrible acts that various criminal organizations have committed, Wizards can take the generic, stereotypical Mafia glamour without diving too deep into the true history of the genre and its real-life equivalents.
It's the same concept as creating Theros, which, while based on Ancient Greece and Greek mythology, evades some of the more questionable acts that were common during the times of real-world Greece, as well as the mythology (rape by gods was very common in the mythos, while pedophilia, sacrifice, and such were common in the real world).
I'd say that, by virtue of Magic: the Gathering being a game--even if a game with a deep lore and many written stories--it doesn't require the deep dive into the influence and basis for the characters, planes, and stories.
This isn't meant as any sort of argument or debate, just my opinions and clarification on how I view the world- and character-building of Magic.
i cook-a da pizza
Hey Sam, I appreciate you introducing chapters to your videos. They’re probably the best addition to YT.
probably the only good edition tbh XD
As an Italian, i deeply thank you for taking so much time to show what mafias really are. Thank you for remembering the heroes who died fighting and the ones who sacrifice their personal freedom today in order to keep fighting.
Still will never forget my friend getting super hyped for Xander in this set only for us to go to the prerelease event where I unpacked a murder and realized “oh he got fucking punked”
it must have been very tragic for your friend when they revealed full art ob-nixilis
As an italian I've always found the depiction of the mafia in american media kinda of disturbing, so I appreciate the inclusion of falcone and borsellino, their names and their work I feel don't get mentioned nearly enough when talking about gangster fiction.
Molto vero, bello trovarti qui
@@ilmagoannoiato3597 Ahah Fantastici questi incontri online! Nonostante non giochi a magic da anni trovo i suoi contenuti assolutamente stupendi e informativi. Ti consiglio anche @Spice8Rack nel caso non lo conoscessi, anche lui fa dei deep dive negli aspetti culturali/mediatici/politici che girano intorno al gioco.
What I find interesting is that I think on some level they knew what they were doing; the one thing the factions all cooperate on is, y'know, killing all of the angels, and it's the first set where we get Demons showing up in every color rather than just black and occasionally red. The implication is fairly clear. This doesn't invalidate any of the points in the video, mind you. The violence is strongly implied to be largely faction-on-faction, and in fact when I think about the place that car bombing a magistrate might have in the set my first thought is that the families ARE the magistrates in most ways that matter. Any assassination of one would be more likely to be part of their power games than an attempt to combat any serious external threat.
On top of this, the citizen archetype seems to show that the lives of people who aren't part of the organized crime syndicates are...fine? Civic Gardener in particular shows one casually threatening a family's agents with no implication whatsoever of repercussions, and the implication is that your average unaffiliated citizen just isn't afraid of the crime syndicates. Which says some very odd things about how the plane must work, but in the context of a mafia parody deepens the lie that these people are anything but murderous thugs. Sadly, no amount of creature type based implications overwrites this; I suspect a big part of the issue is that they've emphasized fantasy evil (the demons are in charge, the angels are all dead) in place of any actual evil.
Ironically Ravnica does a significantly better job of this; between the flavor text on Quickchange suggesting that most citizens lead lives of "desperate survival" and more recent cards like Court Street Denizen, Chronic Flooding, and especially Guildless Commons, one gets the impression that joining a guild is the best (if not only) way of avoiding being trod underfoot. Perhaps New Capenna could have taken a couple more cues from there, or perhaps it would have made the set too tonally dissonant or even offensive. I would honestly believe if I was told that there's literally no way to make a Magic set like this without either falling into one of these major pitfalls or...not really being a Magic set so much as a statement about these issues that happens to be printed on Magic cards.
On the other hand, perhaps now that we have New Capenna in this fashion a return to the plane could take a more critical eye to the situation. It would be very interesting if we came back to find the previously victimized coming out of the woodwork and the events of the previous set having led to something genuinely better appearing in place of the old power structure. The first thing that comes to mind is the spirit and name of the old crime families passing to new, more scrupulous organizations, with the standard mana rock or common land cycles being memorials to the victims of their former largesse. Perhaps with an intermediate set that has a heavy "angels vs. demons" theme, similar to how Khans of Tarkir swung over to dragons over the course of the block. It would certainly make the set we have look significantly different in retrospect.
I think that understanding the story of magic as having two seperate “texts” makes the contradictions. The two texts only interact from the perspective of the written, from the perspective of the mechanical gameplay the text as writing and art doesn’t reallly matter. So to pull from the mechanical to support the written doesn’t actually comment on the story as presented through the mechanical.
Sets that match these texts will feel much more cohesive and conceptualised than sets that don’t. And with our cards depicting these contradictions more explicitly and vividly than I think MTG as a game is willing to get, you’re going to struggle to communicate a story that uses metaphoric irony to depict it’s actual meaning through the medium of a card game.
ThTs not even including the contradictions and obfuscations the story makes that the video discuses in this little analysis
One major thing with New Capenna's storyline is, regarding the future of the plane, that there's probably some very major, immediate shifts taking place. One of the crime bosses was killed, another was mortally wounded, a third had some sort of falling from grace, and in general Ob Nixilis was gunning to cause as much chaos as possible, pushing full open war between family leadership, and at the same time, the angels were freed by the end. I figure they'll be very quick to establish a formal law and order, and Raffine, who I think was in pretty sufficient condition by the end, would probably pivot to helping them as an intelligence agency willing to do the dirty work on the remnants of the mob bosses. Ziatora's also fine and she'd probably be the underground biggest problem for the angels, since the Riveteers have fairly bottom-up support and a lot of cash reserves. Likely a bigger plot hook for the plane going forward is on the outside world that was devastated by Phyrexia, and a rebuilding effort.
My biggest hopes for New Cappenna was that we'd get a little tiny Goblin or dwarf, Who'd upon ETB, summon a giant muscular brute token named "Little Friend"
"Every Little Italy is a product of fear. A remnant of time where Italians were segregated, not celebrated by the greater populus."
Wow, I'd even sort of had that question in the back of my mind, of why places like China Town and Little Italy are found in city after city across our country. I didn't even know, I wasn't taught. That's chilling.
Thank you for shining a lot on an important topic: the glorification of organized crime.
As a Sicilian who lives in Palermo and struggles daily to let everyone know what real mafia is about, thank you for this unexpected and extremely precise video! I have become a fan of the channel in the last months, but this video may be the one that hit me the most content-wise. Grazie ❤
An additional detail about "Lunch atop a Skyscraper" that further ties into the thesis here: the picture itself is a publicity stunt.
We don't really know who those workers are, but we do know for sure that photo is not a candid depiction of their work conditions. They were asked to pose on that particular beam, pretending to eat lunch, so that that photograph could exist as part of a promotional campaign promoting the skyscraper.
The photo is a constructed narrative too, a story being told using the verticality of the new built city as a backdrop to sell the dream of modernity and progress. A lie.
To me the card "An Offer You Can't Refuse" sums up everything. It's an obvious allusion to The Godfather... but the card does the exact opposite of what that line means. In The Godfather, the "offer" is not actually an offer is a threat on a man's life, the card however, takes the literal interpretation of this line and makes your opponent treasure in exchange for countering their spell. It's literally a decent offer.
All that was "mafia" about that line is taken away and replaced with a censored and more palatable version of it. And by stripping the line of its double meaning it takes away the whole reason why the line is memorable.
If you see the treasure as something they gain, then yes. But you can also say that it is a representation of resources recovered while backing out.
A threat is a promise of action. If you 'willingly' stop you might get to keep something you otherwise would lose if action is taken. "Counterspell" is an action, you lose all the resources spent and gain nothing, while "An Offer You Can't Refuse" is a threat, you get to keep something.
That being said I think it could have been done much better, and that it is another example of WotC's overuse of the treasure mechanic.
@@kael180 i kinda saw it as a forced bribe
@@dicorockhimself that works too.
"There are no exploding cars in New Capenna"
*looks nervously at Jetmir's Fixer*
Something I learned in photography classes is this ethic: "Photography is about telling a lie, a second in time manipulated by you, don't abuse it."
Also I don't know how one watches Godfather and think it was Mafia positive. You watch Michael Corleone become the bad guy. Scarface ends with Tony being shot to death after he killed his best friend, and caused his sisters death. Like his mother said he destroys everything he touches.
New Capenna's Caldaia reminds me of Zaun. (Also, in Italian "caldaia" means boiler.)
Also, I love how you broke down Italian's history with the Mafia. Grazie per aver portato luce su questo discorso. (Thanks for bringing light to this topic.)
I remember pulling my first packs in the early 2010's and being occasionally shocked at how uncensored and realistic the violence was. It didn't seem like glorification at all, cards like Public Execution seemed grizzly and planes like Innistrad felt legitimately oppressive at times. Wizards has since dialed the depictions of violence back a ton in MTG cards, but ultimately, I think this has really hampered their ability to tell good stories with their cards. A set like New Capenna makes goofy allusions to violence and crime instead of showing the real consequences of this stuff. How can a street gang be PG-13?
Innistrad was one of my favorite blocks to play, and there was tons of fun stuff to do with those cards and a ton of cards that made really cool allusions to the gothic horror genre, but the makers of that set made it knowing that real world horrors informed their source material and didn't shy away from that. New Capenna is tounge-in-cheek in places where it shouldn't be. And no, violence doesn't make everything better; a set like Ikoria is thematically much better with less of it. But unlike Ikoria, New Capenna is based on real life and not monster movies.
Wonderfully put.
As an Italian, thank you for making this video. You talked about information that needs to be known.
This is a Rhystic Studies double dip! Watch his fairies get smashed by gobos in the morning and listen to him wax lyrical about Art Deco aesthetics in the afternoon
and the day before spice8rack posted a 2 hour documentary on the un-sets, we eatin good today
I also watched both those videos back-to-back.
that is certainly a profile picture 🗿
As an Italian i appreciate the reflection on mafia and what it actually means.
I think what you're saying about New Capenna is entirely on point. But, your treatment on Mafia feels incomplete without a nod to the intertwined history of Italian organized crime and Italian Fascism, and indeed American support for both.
It's still a wonderful video, like all of yours.
I've been looking at New Capenna through the lense of its lore being a post-pandemic extravagance the way the real twenties recovered from the Spanish Flu. This focus on the Mafia references especially is a really interesting perspective and the video overal is very informative. This analysis is brilliant work of you.
Given the amount of development time it takes for a Magic set to go from concept to print, the fact that this narrative lens even exists is an astounding coincidence. When New Capenna was pitched, WotC could not have known a pandemic was about to happen.
@@alexbrangan2885 they did know we were about to be going into the 2020s, however, so I could imagine there was an intended roaring 20s parallel just due to the decade we were entering.
The commentary on the problematic depiction of the mafia really resonates with me after just having concluded a visit to Palermo, Italy. Reminders of the mafia's long stranglehold on the island, monuments and references to the suffering they caused, and memorials to those who gave their lives to fight them were everywhere. More than a handful of Sicilians stressed that their history was never like the romanticized or sanitized Hollywood depictions of gangsters, and that nearly everyone on the island is related to or knows someone who lost their life at the hands of the mafia. It was incredibly eye-opening to be educated on something that is so poorly understood and treated as mere entertainment elsewhere.
...there is NO problematic depiction of "the mafia" in magic, because its fiction. If anyone thinks that the depiction of anything in magic is supposed to be a representation of anything real is an idiot. it is - inspired by - not - a historically accurate depiction of -.
What kind of under-propaganda place you are talking about that not showing about mafia's vileness?
@@hyoroemongaming569 what?
@@hyoroemongaming569 Many pop-culture depictions of Mafia focus on the aspects that could make for good stories and file away the things that audiences or critics would find objectionable.
For instance, a heavy theme in Mafia stories is often loyalty to family, which makes for excellent character conflict when that loyalty is tested. The consequences and brutalities of Mafia existence may appear but they're rarely focused on, and the cost of human suffering by the average citizen is either glossed over or outright ignored. If it doesn't serve the story, there's no need to risk something that messes with the emotional pacing or could make audiences uncomfortable in ways other than the creator's vision.
And that's with stories that don't outright glorify or romanticise Mafia. For example, Jojo Part 5 makes attempts to show the realities of life under that system, but it's ultimately a story of someone trying to make the romanticised ideal of Mafia their reality. It's an anomaly in that it makes an attempt to show a version of the reality that many experience, but that is lost as the story progresses and shifts its focus to the spectacle fights. Like I said earlier, whatever doesn't serve the story is dropped - that's just the reality of telling a story so long.
I bring up Jojo not because it tried to be an accurate reflection of Mafia, but because it is wholly emblematic of the place Mafia has in popular culture.
@@ItMeYaGril bjib
I wish wotc could tell a story about their own planes as beautifully as you do.
WOTC is such a garbage, piece of shit company. I wouldn't count on it.
As an Italian, I'm so glad to see someone who talk about the social problem of mafia to an English-speaking audience.
Thanks a lot for your job Sam, it's really valuable.
My wife walked in as you said "Killing and Disposing is integral to operations"
I watch a lot of UA-cam at 1.5 or 2x speed. This channel is one of those that I take the time to watch at the pace intended. Your cadence and story telling are masterful. Thank you so much for all you do.
Love the "Finding Nemo" reference at 18:31
I never would have taken a serious look at the art on these cards if not for your videos. Now I get excited to peer for details like this one!
Omg
Thanks for pointing that out
i used to delve deeply into the art as a kid. i miss my imagination from back in the 90's. the simple portrait to the likes of prodigal sorcerer, or the looming lord of the pit. i got to tell my own story in each mtg match played. now i'm hyper focused on gameplay and rules text so i miss too much and all imagination is out the door. it doesn't help that there's 6,943 set releases per year. very grateful that Sam helps me bring me back to my roots.
Great video. The irony of wizards "hires the pinkertons" of the coast creating a block about the lie of the american dream is unreal
the art and story department and the corpos are no the same people
This got much deeper than I expected. To add to the point about classes, when you hear politicians and journalists talk about the "lower, middle, and upper" classes think about it like two classes and it makes more sense. There's the working class (those who work for their living) and the owning class (those who are lucky enough to have others work for their living).
You mean the parasite class?
How does one class being poor, the other able to live comfortably, and the aristocracy not make sense? Simplifying something to the working class and aristocracy removes the complex situation of the middle class and its importance across history. The middle class, sometimes merchants and craftsmen, sometimes lower nobles, are a driving force in government for democracy. Breaking it down into two groups removes how different middle class and lower class live, one thrives on industry, acess to higher education, the ability to have small business and the ability to actually effect change in politics, see the revolutions, the other can't even get a factory job or ever go beyond a high school education. They other has nothing in comparison.
Yes the both work to live rather than rely on investments and fat stacks to throw around, but one's position is so much better than the other that the middle class often is what the lower class thinks the upper class looks like, it's that much of a gap.
@@Aceshot-uu7yx i get your point and I’m not saying there should be zero distinction. What I’m saying is that the class warfare is much more evident when you look at it from the two classes perspective, especially when it comes to tax reform. Most people cry about higher taxes not realizing it barely affects their bottom line like it does the ultra wealthy. Those who complain about a raise in taxes are actually complaining on behalf of the ultra wealthy without realizing it. If taxes went up 10% tomorrow I’d only lose a couple hundred bucks compared to the person who makes millions a year…
@@kogasoldier9379 The thing is that your and others' bottom line is different from the wealthy. You may only loose a couple of hundred bucks. However, that hundred is a lot more important for you than that million is for the rich. Prices remain the same, so once you factor in food, debt, and the rest, higher taxes become a clear issue, especially because it can exasperate the existing poverty if handled poorly, i.e. shrinking the middle class and hurting the poor even more while the rich feel nothing or worse, gain subsidies from the taxes. This is because the rich can easily escape taxes via ways where no amount of regulation can be done without hurting the other two, such as deductibles for charity. The law must also be equal or set a dangerous precedent, so what laws apply to one applies to all. So higher taxes are not the best option, wealth distribution also has issues, but can increase the middle class which should be the goal.
Of course class warfare becomes more evident when you strip out the actual complexity and boil it down to two groups that encompass vast populations of vary states based on whether they work for someone or pay someone to do work. On another note, the owning class includes small business owners, I don't mean small, local companies or franchises of big companies, I mean businesses like gas station owners, not the gas companies. Those owners are usually middle to upper middle class and certainly are not as much of a problem as the gas companies, but by stripping class down to workers and owners, that complexity is lost and the enemy becomes the goal everyone should strive for, the living of the upper middle class with education and working with owners who have the drive to lead, not the corporate fat cats who pay others to invest for them and get richer and richer while flaunting their charitable donations.
There is one card in the set that intrigues me, though - Depopulate. The card depicts the city being engulfed by a massive column of light. And its text reads "No screams rang out. No blood stained the streets. In an instant, the bustling metropolis simply fell silent." I think the end of the storyline of New Capenna is that it's ultimately destroyed by an unknown faction.
"Then there came a sound
Distant first it grew into castrophany
So immense that it could be heard far away in space
There were no screams, there was no time
The mountain called Monkey had spoken
There was only fire
And then nothing"
I would chalk that up to the need of Magic sets to include cards that destroy everything, and accompanying apocalyptic imagery. In Return to Ravnica, the Supreme Verdict is both a boardwipe spell and a threat to destroy all of Ravnica if the Dragon's Maze is not solved. But it doesn't actually get deployed. It's just a vision of possible devastation.
Returning to this video after the insensitive manifest destiny parade in Thunder Junction reminds me how much of modern fiction is built on romanticizing horrors, many of which continue today, even if the aesthetic of that horror has changed.
You are a truly masterful storyteller. I've never played magic, but I was completely captured by your video on Black Lotus and I've been watching your videos ever since. The way you present the art that we make and what it says about our world is unmatched, from your attention to detail and your teasing out wry ironies, to your reverence for love and loss and the deep emotionality that underlies your commentary. Thank you so much for your work.
The whole video is great, but getting into minute 26 talking about parody vs critique/satire is really insightful
Sam, your videos always feel like a safe haven, they have such a calm, otherworldly atmosphere I feel I'm walking on a different plane of reality. When you upload, I get ready myself, and when I need a moment of peace I also start a video of yours
Honestly I did not expect much from Wizards for this set. For a company that hesitates to show guns, for them to depict the kind of violence that a mafia-inspired set would require, was impossible from the start.
I appreciate this channel for showing other high points of the set though. Really not something I had focused my attention while playing.
This is what I want Wizards( being controlled by Hasbro) to return to. Sets that seem so familiar but have immense depth to them. It is why I fell in love with the game in Return to Ravnica, being able to immerse myself in three sets of worldbuilding and enjoyable mechanics that was only aided by the wonderful stories behind its characters. The current process of blazing through worlds has burned me out and I truly don’t care for many of the stories they try to tell, I just look at the cards for cliffnotes and buy any dragons they release. New Capenna seemed like a step back to what I initially loved of Magic and I hope they return to the blocks again.
Loved the video and how much it made me think of my own journey with Magic and how I have viewed the villains and heroes throughout.
This might be my new favorite of yours: deeply enthralling to watch and listen to, and, as ever, thought-provoking. Amazing work as always, can't wait for next month!
Really loved this one, thanks for your work!
Also, I really liked your analysis of "Italo-american mafia" portrait from cinema. Really on point and hope that someone interested in this kind of historical (and sadly actual) crime scene can bypass the romanticized imaginery coming from great (fake) movies.
Some keyword for someone interested in diving in Italian Mafia topics:
- Cosa nostra (sicilian mafia), now the "weakest" on the territory
- Processo Stato-Mafia (1990's, State-Mafia trial) a huge trial in which was investigated the influence of Cosa Nostra on the state. This is linked to corruption, the murder of Mafia judges (in particular Falcone and Borsellino, referencing the "strage di Capaci"). This trial led to the arrest of the boss Toto Riina (don't search for the crime he's accused of if not ready for something gruesome) and the period of the so-called "stragist mafia period". Since then Sicily have become more emancipated by cosa nostra influence (not completely). Even if there were many important accusation against state politicians and figures, just "small fries" were arrested in the political scene.
- Omertà, the behaviour of not talking. As suggested in the video "i giorni della civetta" (book by Leonardo Sciascia and movie) show this really well
- 'ndrangheta, Calabrian mafia. Uprising in recent years because of drug trafficking and corruption in public services and constructions in all Italy (and europe)
- Camorra, campanian mafia. Famous worldwide for the work of the journalist Roberto Saviano "gomorra" and the series based on the book. This is a large organization controlling both campanian territory and northern italy cities and many worldwide traffics. They are linked to drug dealing, betting, money laundrying, corruption... In modern days mafia is less about "war against the state" and "terrorism" and more about "subtle and silent control with large control webs and less "appariscent behaviours"
- "organized crime". In italy you don't have to be in a cosca/family to be arrested with the same imputation of a mafioso. If you organize crime with other people, even blue-collars doing illegal business, this is the same
- "41 bis" is the law linked to the so-called "carere duro" (tough jail regime, I guess). This is technically a temporary/special law written in the stragist phase of Cosa Nostra which describe how a mafioso is imprisoned. It claims that mafiosi cannot comunicate with other people, cannot have contacts with their families and much more. This is a very controversial topic, expecially out of italy where it is considered torture and unjust and comes from many experience in which imprisoned mafiosi were able to commit crimes from inside jails
- Caporalato, a process in which modern day slaves, illegal immigrants tipically are used as workforce in agriculture in southern italy and islands for a few euros a day, menaced with force if they oppose, without the ability to free themselves. This is a tipical process used by mafia, which controls distribution and territory with fear and corruption.
- Casamonica, name of a very recent "family" and mafia group of Sinti origin people controlling the Ostia/Rome region with violence. They became famous in recent years because of press investigation and an episode in which one of the casamonica people headbutted a journalist live on public television
What an absolute joy to hear Davide's Capenna tunes again at the start of the video.
I'm super flattered, by both you and Sam - thank you!
This is making me realize how mature of a setting New Capenna is. I think wizards is breaking new ground with this. Makes me miss multi set blocks. Each set is a brief vignette that we don't get a chance to sink our teeth into. There is so much nuance missed through content fatigue where they have to do setting, characters, history and exposition, and some kind of overarching plot and subplots. Makes me wish New Capenna had an additional set or two. I think wizards forgets that they have an enormous breadth of material for serious storytelling and yet it's "onto the next one" every time
Mark has since claimed that Magic was better before the Internet (and by extension, netdeckers).
They *were* mature back then, it's just that Magic has regressed in both game and story quality.
Now they're killing the game by printing proxy Reserve List cards.
I listened to this video for the first time while walking the streets of Las Vegas the day after Magic 30. I had walked from the strip to convention center both days, which gave me a glimpse into all the bits of the city that you will never see in any billboard or advertisements. Seeing through veils can be so world shaking. You can not ignore the forgotten and the used in this city. How many of these people took that wrong step falling to the Caldaia?
Making it from rags to riches is like winning the lottery, and I wouldn't want to live in a world we're not winning the lottery means living in misery and hardship.
My father told me one of the men on the beam, is from Norway, near where I grew up. And was eating a brown cheese sandwich, as most Norwegians would do.
Every time I sit down to polish a decklist up I look for videos to play in the background and I usually end up at your channel. Yet every time I actually start to listen and brew, my attention is commanded back to this tab and I find myself enthralled. Every time.
As an Italian, this touched me deep. Thank you
Ever since I saw that New Cappena was going to have an Art Deco theme I was waiting for this. This and the “Futurist” art of Raymond Swanland make a great two-part micro series about art in the the early 20th century. Now we just need Art Nouveau, Precisionism, and Dada to complete the set.
I'm a bit late watching this video, I'm Italian and I sincerely wanted to thank you for all your research you did for this video. Seeing how these kinds of criminal organizations get depicted in fiction always felt wrong to me since they're a serious problem that's actively fought today everywhere in Italy on multiple fronts, but now I understand that these depictions are due to repetition and spins on works that reference something that is essentially old American history, unrelated to contemporary events. Thanks for showing the rest of the world a more complete picture!
The rest of the video was also very interesing and informative though! I didn't know very well both the historical setting (20's America) and the artistical inspirations behind the set, and I was only aware of some of the most known and obvious references to photos and such (like Riveteer's Ascendancy).
Yes, there is a lie inherent in the cozy family myth of the mafia, but only because of the misconception of gangs as families. They're not families, they're states and governments. Look for any analogous appendage between the two, and you'll find it. If anything, a mafia's persona reveals a greater lie we tell ourselves about our own involvements, and how we justify our personal gains at another's expense, often one war at a time.
As an italian: thank you very much for this video... I hate how the international discourse takes the mafia as a joke, or a s cool people. Italo-americans bragging about being "mafiosi" , the "i cooka da meatball" shit... it's awful even trying to speak about it
First of all, this video shows, as always, your incredible knowledge and passion both for research and video making. The description of the artworks, the story telling, the constant parallelism between a fantasy world and true historical events are more than enough to demonstrate that you are a philosopher, someone who is able to find links everywhere, descending deeply inside concepts and ideas. I am a sicilian guy and I really appreciated that you underlined that all the fancy and glittering images of Capenna are lies like the mafia that became famous thanks to hollywood; mafia is something that has absolutely no beauty for us that live every day with this stigma, trying to emancipate ourselves not in a vertical way (such as Caldaia inhabitants) but in an horizontal way: both fighting for social justice/lawfullness and trying to go further from our past with culture and knowledge. I want to leave a suggestion, something to think about. We see the verticalization of architecture both in ancient mythology/history (such as the Babel Tower, the Piramids, etc) and contemporary history (modern skyscrapers in every big city, for example): in both cases, we can talk about the great human ambition that drives the will to show what we are able to do, that we can reach the sky, the archetypical counterpart of our place as mortals (the earth). Doing so, we are trying to hide our most essential feature, believing that we could be immortal one day, that we could be "sky beings" instead of "earth beings" one day; in conclusion, the American dream is just a part of a much elaborate dream that, as New Capenna shows us, is just a lie that has always a downside (someone must always suffer for the climb of others) and keeps us apart from the real possibility of building an horizontal and equal world.
Interesting take on a fun and flavorful set. Never really stopped to consider the politics of mimicking and endorsing organized crime in a stylized way.
You might just be my favourite content creator on youtube, so well spoken, well researched, yet everything is presented in a way that is so fresh and engaging.
I love these out there science fiction concepts like "upward mobility" so cool to imagine
Such crazy things that can only exist in fantasy, lol.
Though you will near certainly not read this, your command over language and efficiency in what you say can not be overstated, you are perhaps the greatest writer on the platform, and your understanding producing symbolism through structure and storytelling far exceed anything that I have read or listened to. Each time you release a video, I think it must be your magnum opus, and each time you produce something that unequivocally impresses. Watching this video was comparable to seeing gazing upon an unknowable wonder with curiosity and intrigue, in awe at the intricacy, scale, and power behind what you say. Never have any doubt in what you do. Thank you for this gift, and I wish I could let you understand the full depth of my appreciation for it.
Every time I watch one of your videos I am astounded by the level of thought and detail that the set designers put into these cards, as well as how much effort you put into your analysis of the sets and the themes that inspired them. Thank you for a wonderful video.
the story as written in the set is really goofy, but the art is probably the best or my favorite out of any magic set, ever.
****the copy in the set is goofy, the art is actually good.
@@armenianzombie - Ah, was gonna say - the _story_ for the set is surprisingly dark from what I've read of it. It's more or less Elspeth rescuing a victim of what is essentially child sex trafficking (the child angel who is the "source" of Halo in New Capenna).
Rhystic Studies has immediately become my favourite mtg channel far above any other
Also, Im going to try to make an entire deck based only on an artist inspired by the channel
Thanks! For always making these Videos! They are always entertaining and informative!
Really interesting video, I honestly didn't know about the modern mafia and was living like you said under the assumption they "went away" after the 20s. Really opened my eyes. Very proud to be a patron of this channel.
watching this after doing an narrative analysis of Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather is an absolute treat. Great work!
this is right up there with 'season of the witch' as some of your best work--ooutstanding.
I could sense your disgust, and maybe even hatred, in your tone when you mentioned "mafia" in this video. Your segment punctuated at 23:24 gave me chills.
amazing video. im a gangster theme buff and videos like this are always appreciated as a hard reminder that even though you can love the genre and themes, you should also understand that glamorising and romanticising it does no favours to the people who lives are affected by organised crime
Sam, you've done it again. Another outstanding video that stands alone as a reference point for the future while reflecting on the past. As others have said in these comments, your critical critique of the lore design of Magic is important for the community. Thank you!
Thank you for pointing out how much organized crime is a major problem for our country. Also I am so happy to have found someone that pronounces italian words well! Then you said you have italian heritage!
I Always loved your videos, but this moved me to tears. As an italian, you really moved me for your way to cleanly and correctly point all the issues we had, and you poignantly focused on those points about mafia glamourising which really stir italians like me the wrong way. Thank you.
I don't play Magic but this video is an amazing journey through this imaginary world and our own reality. I love these old photos and the real life history you talk about, the architecture, artists and charm of this era. Very well done
I wish I could be half as eloquent as you to describe how good each of these videos are. Simple amazing and thank you!
I literally hadn't explored the New Capenna lore until this moment. Sam, you do a better job getting me invested in the history, lore, and connected art style than WoTC ever could. Thank you for the consistently excellent content you make.
Just now caught your match with prof. Didn't know anything about your channel until then. Your videos are so fascinating. I've missed a lot. Time to catch up.
Rhystic Studies makes me appreciate the New Capenna set even more. I just hope we'll return to New Capenna soon. One set is not enough, there is so much more to explore and to dive in.
I love coming for Magic lore and getting swept up in a fascinating history lesson. The thoughtfulness and structure of your videos is amazing.
I thought this would be a video about Art Deco and Art Nouveau and how it influenced Capenna's art and style. And yet you decided to do something else.
And I praise you for it. Really good.
Thank you for another thoughtful video. I now have a greater appreciation for why New Capena doesn't sit comfortably in my MtG worldview.
As an Italian I thank you for this education.
That was the heaviest masterpiece yet. I don’t know what Magic looks like without you Sam. Because I started in SOI. You challenge the game and community in ways that are borderline inconceivable. To be able to digest your offerings and be not just enlightened but smarter for it, is a gift. Thank you. For all of your incredible contributions. And for sharing a harder take on a subject that needed attention.
Legit made me tear up at the end. Your best work yet, and that's really saying something.
This is exceptionally well written and constructed. What impressive work, and shared freely.
What you described in the Italian American community deeply reminds me of the Irish American community and our relationship to Ireland, and the people who live in it.
Maybe there's something to be said about the way American immigrant groups make our own lies, lies that contrast how we remember our grandparents and great grandparents, and obscure the harsh reality they experienced when they passed through Ellis Island.
So much of Irish American culture is a garish cartoon, one inspired by prejudiced English stereotypes. Maybe the lie is a defense mechanism of a traumatized people who were brutalized in their homes, and to secure safety had to leave their cultures behind. I wonder if that painful cultural amnesia is in the Italian American community too.
With my rich Italian relatives over in Jersey, kinda seems like it.
Man im just absolutely hooked on your content right now. Hope life has been treating you well, and thanks for all this wonderful content thats helped me explore this game I love.
My great grandmother was Italian and lived in NY city. She was alive during the period of time we all think of as the mafia being from. She deeply hated the mafia not only for there evil, but for what the mafias of the city did to peoples perspective on Italians. The mafias actions encouraged the wider belief that being Italian at the time, meant you were a criminal. People would occasionally ask her and her family if they had connections to the mob because they were Italian and lived in the tristate area.
Insert "mind blown" gif.
Rhystic Studies never fails to impress with a unique view of a common topic.
The editing here is spectacular, amazing work. I love the deeper look into the influences and how using them without showing the truth behind them can be harmful. Reminds me of when they tried to a tiger parent story for an Asian character in Strixhaven--the line between telling a resonant story and using real people's trauma for mass entertainment is fine.
Excellent as always! Surprised at no mention of Jetmirs fixer for the car bombing segment though - any guessed as to who mightve been inside?
As always, incredibly well done. Kudos. You have created a significant window into MtG and our real world, and find the nexus of importance.
This really made me think. I'm so glad only mobsters exist and that kings, knights, HP Lovecraft and german people have no real historical basis, or I would have to rethink a whole lot more about my favorite cardboard rectangle brand.
Lol
This is easily the most underrated channel on youtube
2:55 "Posed and Painterly Photography that was Popular in the Preceding decades." - Mmm delicious alliteration!
went way darker then i expected, and it again flushed my mind.
You videos are a gift.