Unofficial Magic: The Gathering NFT project interrupted as WotC summon lawyers

pcgamer.com:

Magic: The Gathering publisher Wizards of the Coast has dropped the cease-and-desist hammer on an NFT project called mtgDAO, which is seeking to create its own parallel MtG format using NFTs based on real-world Magic cards. Wizards of the Coast, naturally, says the project is a clear violation of its copyrights and trademarks, and also suggests that it might have an NFT-based Magic project of its own in the works.

The intent of the mtgDAO project is broken down in confusing detail in its white paper, which says that Magic: The Gathering is «a great game that invites you to invest in its economy,» but claims that many players are reluctant to investment in cards because «the value of a card could change at any time.»

«The reality is that individual cards are unpredictable investments at best, and many lose value,» the paper says.

The solution to the problem of unpredictability is—that's right—NFTs, the notoriously shaky, sketchy, vulnerable-to-criminality digital «asset» that nobody really understands. The goal isn't to make an unlicensed Magic: The Gathering game, though, but rather to create a new format using NFTs that will only be playable if the owner can prove ownership of the corresponding «real» card, either physical or in Magic: The Gathering Online or Arena. And that's the dodge: MtgDAO isn't printing cards or making an unlicensed videogame, but «adding an additional layer of scarcity in order to be able to play Wizard's cards in a new format.»

From the white paper:

Players will need the actual card in order to legally play the game, whether that be a paper card, a card on Arena, or a card on MTGO. The NFTs aren’t meant to establish ownership of the card, it will only be used to allow that card to be played in