Chinese Skeletonize

[Didyeah]

Hi Members,
I have a question, Is this normal?

[agzz]

Hi Members,
I have a question, Is this normal?

As in "is Skeletons on chinese cards normal" or as in "is this art unaltered"?

[yawg07]

Hi Members,
I have a question, Is this normal?

As in "is Skeletons on chinese cards normal" or as in "is this art unaltered"?

I think that is relatively the same question, lol
That seems very odd to be on a Chinese card, but I guess you can't have Skeletonize without a Skeleton.

[agzz]

I think that is relatively the same question, lol

indeed it is, but with oppsoite answers. ;)
(no skeletons are not normal. yes it is unaltered)

guess they are loosening up.

[magic-belgium]

Or they are becoming more Democratic ?

[Mister Foilcard]

it's not a matter of democracy, more a matter of faith.

[mystical_tutor]

it's not a matter of democracy, more a matter of faith.

More technically, a matter of the Ministry of Culture (the official title may be Art and Culture--not sure). I am really shocked to see this on a card after all the fuss they raised when we first published Magic in China. As you know there were several cards we were not allowed to print in Chinese.

I was at our official release of Magic in China and met one of the Deputy Ministers of Culture as well as a Deputy Minister of Sports and a Deputy Minister of some other aspect of government that we had to please. The skeleton issue was not even open to discussion. It was not just NO it was more like How Dare You Ask!

Of course, this was also part of the "understanding" that resulted in Chinese artists being used for alternate art and P3K cards.

This card causes me to wonder if culture--or faith--had near as much to do with skeletons as money.

[califrag]

Wizards answered this on their website

Q: Did you ship Shards of Alara to China? If so, how did you bypass their strict rule of a skeleton-free culture in the country? (especially in this set where there are lots of skeletons)
–Dominic, Quezon City, Philippines

A: From Jeremy Jarvis, Magic Art Director:


Hi Dominic,

Yes, we shipped to China, and no, there aren't an abnormally large number of alternate illustrations for that market. In fact, there are none. In early discussions within Magic Creative, once we started to hone in on the idea that the uBr shard would be this sort of Magic version of a "Heavy Metal" Hell-scape we knew we would have to diverge from our normal approach, if for no other reason than time line. We simply could not alt-illustrate an entire shard. We opened discussions with Brand, and at the end of the day, were give free reign to make Grixis look like we felt it should look, without concession to any singular market. I'll let Elaine Chase from Brand speak to the 'how' of your question:

A: From Elaine Chase, Magic Brand:

We took a look at the current state of the Chinese games market to see what has changed since we started selling Magic there. While skeletons are still not exactly "polite," they have turned more into an unlucky symbol that the older generation reacts much more strongly to than the younger, games-playing population. Video games have really opened up what is considered acceptable, and if anything, the use of such "edgy" images can be seen as a draw to our audience. Society hasn't changed to anything-goes in regards to representing the dead, but the Wizards of the Coast office in charge of China agreed to let us proceed with Grixis.

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/A ... rcana/1720

Pretty cool.

[mystical_tutor]

This is really interesting and reflects what a "new generation" can do to culture...