In a parallel space between chaos and oblivion, two opposing faiths are warring over the fate of a dying star. Hanging in the balance is the future of The Edge – an eternity collapsed into a single point, or an endless expanse into nothingness.
2025-07-28 17:00:10 +0000 UTC View Post
This old poem came to mind today, so I gave it a recitation. Thought it might be nice to share.
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915)
Tonight, I'm chewing on all my successes, failures, and controversies with the Final Fantasy set and the video I made on the subject. What happens when we put our pride aside to celebrate the joys of others, even at the expense of our own? Maybe we find something to love in it ourselves.
Music:
Over the past three months, I learned everything I could about Final Fantasy – from its rich history to its massive cultural impact and the many in-jokes shared among its fans.
In time, I understood why it has captured the hearts of players everywhere.
2025-07-14 17:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostI've found myself in the unique position of having written two, full-length scripts simultaneously (for reasons that will become clear once both are posted). As a result, the time between the previous upload and the next will be longer, as I now have to assemble video for both, but the time between uploading those two videos will be very short.
All that's to say, we're expanding and con...
This video is about Andy Mangold's unconventional Ornithopter cube and the community that has become its champion.
2025-05-05 17:00:12 +0000 UTC View Post
Today, I'm riffing about Oblivion's infinite charm and how its remaster fully delivers on its most beloved features. And no, it's not the nostalgia speaking.
Music:
Reign of the Septims - Jeremy Soule...
Today, I'm thinking about the lasting power of physical objects and the people who keep real.
Links:
Secret Economics of Dungeons and Dragons
Casual Magic 269 - Sam from Rhystic Studies
...
Our stories are atomized and fragmented, but through shared memories and experiences they become footnotes in a history and icons of a culture.
2025-03-11 17:04:54 +0000 UTC View Post
This video is about Magic cards that need further explanation.
2025-01-27 18:25:06 +0000 UTC View Post
Today, I'm speaking with love and esteem about Balatro, a tiny passion project turned award-winning indie phenomenon. The game is genius in its simplicity and its delivery, but the story of its development is even more charming and inspired. Listening to LocalThunk speak reminds me a lot of Garfield describing the origins of Magic, funny enough.
Seventh Edition is a Magic icon. From the old-school frames to the fancy foils and the hit-or-miss illustrations, this enormous core set remains a beloved mainstay of the game’s history and culture.
2024-11-23 18:11:35 +0000 UTC View Post
Tonight, I'm speaking about the process of working with Wizards of the Coast to produce my video on Duskmourn — the misconceptions of sponsorships, the power of concept art, the common criticisms of the set, and the cosmic coincidences surrounding it.
"No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by so...
2024-09-25 13:00:12 +0000 UTC View Post
This video investigates the haunted plane of Duskmourn – an endless labyrinth of chimeric monstrosities, manifest anxieties, and outdated technologies. Below, a moth feeds on all its fear.
2024-09-16 20:46:36 +0000 UTC View Post
Fuck "content." Be specific!
Further reading and viewing:
World of Warcraft Documentary (2006)
The Need For Game Critique by Richard Garfield - Duelist #7 (pp.74-75)
Music in this episode:
2024-08-03 17:05:34 +0000 UTC
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This video traces a vignette of Hurloon Minotaur – Magic’s first mascot – and its uneven role in marketing the game through the early years.
2024-07-12 13:09:52 +0000 UTC View Post
Today, I'm unpacking my recent trip to Dallas for Dreamhack 2024. I attended the event as a guest with BASILISK and spent the weekend actively taking notes from the floor. What can MagicCons borrow from an eSports convention? How can we incorporate non-Magic games and experiences to help round out the offerings? Why doesn't anybo...
2024-06-08 14:19:55 +0000 UTC View Post
This video follows the unlikely ascent of Magic’s most peculiar deck: Lantern Control. From a fleeting idea in a forum thread to winning the Pro Tour, Lantern Control challenged our understanding of Magic and forever changed how we think about its core game systems.
2024-05-19 14:12:53 +0000 UTC View Post
Today, I'm discussing the increasing desire in audiences for media experiences made by smaller teams of inspired creatives. In the face of AAA budgets and outrageous demands for returns on investment, what happens when you downsize and make something non-commercial and jagged and weird? What happens when you upload videos just to sell ads? What happens when you're eventually forced to kill what...
2024-04-26 22:49:24 +0000 UTC View Post
This video examines Carly Mazur's striking illustration of Faithless Looting and the backlash that befell it.
2024-03-22 14:15:07 +0000 UTC View Post
Today, I'm answering ten difficult questions from Patrons in the Rhystic Studies Discord. Why are your videos on Seb and Terese still up? Has Magic's worldbuilding suffered as a result of the pace of production? How can we create a productive forum for art criticism without insulting artists or damaging reputations?
This video traces a 25-year history of the production, development, and evolution of foil Magic cards.
Full script here
What do you want this year?
Today, I'm answering that question for myself, for Rhystic Studies as a creative endeavor, and for Rhystic Studies as a business. What do I want to make this year, and why? How do I continue to commit to quality in a hyper-saturated and high-velocity media environment that rewards staying at the top of an endlessly refreshing feed? How do I ask for help in a ...
Hey everyone,
I'm writing to thank you for all of your support this year. This was a pivotal one for both the channel and my freelance work in its periphery. Your contributions are the lifeline for independent creators, the sole reason that we can work on our own, and I'll never take that for granted. I only wish I had more ways to express my gratitude!
On a personal note, I am mour...
2023-12-19 22:35:35 +0000 UTC View Post
Magic media is stale.
We need to cultivate guerrilla scholarship. We need to preserve our history and represent it meaningfully. We need to create spaces that connect people to objects. We need to get away from the commercial and reconnect with the community. We need to work with serious intention. We need to send signals that cut through the noise.
Music in this episode...
2023-11-10 01:14:52 +0000 UTC View Post
"Quod fuimus, estis; quod sumus, vos eritis."
2023-10-27 15:46:27 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey all,
1) Hogaaks are shipped. Thank you all for your patience and support as I gathered, signed, numbered, and packaged all of these cards. It became a much bigger project than I anticipated, and I've spent all my free time over the past two months working hard to get the envelopes in order. It took over 80 hours to do this!
A couple details:
Dominaria United was an outlier of contemporary Magic design. How can running the numbers on draft logs help illustrate its many charming anomalies?
2023-10-08 15:42:48 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey all,
the response to the Hogaak promo has been far greater than anticipated - thank you so much for the support. I have a few items to address:
1) If you became a Patron after the Hogaak video was posted - no action required. You are accounted for in my system.
2) If you were a Patron at the $5 tier or higher before the video - you <...
2023-08-19 14:48:44 +0000 UTC View Post
Today, I'm speaking about the recent challenges and successes of life as a freelance creator, including the touring cycle of Magic Cons and the financial pressure from taking sponsorships. I've been working on Rhystic Studies full-time for 2 years now (and part-time for 10!), and ultimately, Patreon has been the keystone to the channel's success. Once again, thank you so much for trusting and b...
2023-08-16 14:42:15 +0000 UTC View Post