Yesterday, barring some kind of cataclysmic natural disaster or alien invasion, the world saw Super Bowl 56.
Actually, I take that last part back. I’m fairly certain even in the midst of being pummeled in a surprise attack by otherworldly spacecraft, the Super Bowl would still have happened.
Whether you follow American football or not – whether you care one iota about which team of large burly men has control of the ball at any moment, or which cities are facing one another, or have even pondered the great mystery of why it’s continued to be known as ‘football’ despite it being moved through the air most of the time – it is still an annual watershed moment. Regardless of if you pay attention or not, the Super Bowl is one of the biggest cultural events in the United States each year. It is treated an unofficial holiday, one that is prepared for and celebrated with others in groups large and small. In terms of sporting events, its outsized grandiose status is arguably topped only by the likes of The Tour de France, the various World Cups, and the Olympics. Which is saying something given it’s a single-day event predominantly an event aimed at an American audience.
Part of how its status evolved is organic: as the appetite for the game in the US grew exponentially over the last six decades, so too has the business apparatus evolved to capitalize on that demand. The rise of football fandom is undoubtedly a mix of fast-paced gameplay, the creation of (or exacerbation of) regional sports rivalries, an appreciation for watching the talented athleticism of its players and chess-like stratagems of its coaches, and if we’re being completely honest, sating some instinctual propensity towards physical conflict in a way that only a few other sports do – hockey, rugby come to mind.
However, irrespective of which teams are playing each year, the Super Bowl is also BIG money. Billions are spent each year in some way, shape, or form. Unique merchandizing. Astronomical contract bids for broadcast rights. Hell, the price of TV commercial advertising is so vaunted (not to mention expensive) that advertisers go out of their way in their attempts to create highly memorable ads – so much so that the ads themselves for many have become a secondary focal point of watching. The NFL has orchestrated an insane amount of exclusivity around this single game, and it makes truckloads of cash for doing so.
One of the most lucrative parts of executing the Super Bowl spectacle is a simple one: where it will be hosted. And the results of that are pretty lopsided. The NFL has 32 active teams, and yet despite there having been more than 55 Super Bowls, nearly 30 of them have been played in just three cities: New Orleans, Miami, and Los Angeles. Half of the cities with an NFL team have never hosted the Super Bowl at all, and many of those in all likelihood never will. For the city selection process is not born out of league fairness, parity, or some egalitarian sense that all its participatory cities are owned an equal share of the limelight.
Whichever city will have the great honor of hosting a Super Bowl will spend tens of millions to prepare for and host an event that requires extensive infrastructure, ample kickbacks to the NFL itself, and will easily draw 100,000 people or more to their location. This includes practical considerations for transportation, lodging, and a stadium that can fit 70,000 or more people (all Super Bowls will sell out and they want to rake in as much on ticketing as possible), as well as other considerations that are borderline ridiculous. Look it up sometime if you’re curious; the NFL demands for hosting the Super Bowl are nearly IOC level in their insistences. In return, the argument goes, the cities get a significant boost to their local economies from all the extra visitors. As a result, many of the cities simply do not qualify as their stadiums are too small, their locations wouldn’t be able to handle the influx volume of people and traffic, or they simply are unable or unwilling to invest extensive capital towards meeting such requirements.
And then there is the one element that is beyond human control. Being, well, the elements. By and large, the Super Bowl selection process heavily favors southern locations. February is cold in the northern United States, and the NFL tries to ensure it will be as pleasurable (and profitable) an experience as possible. They also really don’t like the idea that weather itself could impact the game somehow, because, again, this is big money they’re playing with. Which is why only 6 out of 56 Super Bowls have been hosted in northern cities, and of those, 5 were inside domed stadiums. Only once has the Super Bowl been played outside in a northern city, and while it was successful, they’re clearly not rushing to make it a regular consideration.
Of course, this doesn’t preclude the fact that winter will be in full swing throughout February, no matter where the NFL puts their final game or what that furry punk in Pennsylvania says. A good chunk of the country will nevertheless still be contending with low temperatures, cutting winds, and more than a few inches of snow to shovel. There is no escaping geography. The Super Bowl is a spectacle, and it can be a pleasant distraction for fans of the game. But it also serves as a bright calendar reminder that for those of us in the northern climates, winter is usually only about half over. Spring is still a little ways off.
But that’s not to say we don’t collectively look forward to that day. Even among ardent fans of the winter months, there eventually comes a time when even they are ready for springtime to arrive and the cycle to begin anew.
And it is that mindset, in a rather roundabout way, which brings us to this week’s card pick.
Today we have: Hibernation’s End
Name: Hibernation’s End
Edition: Coldsnap
Rarity: Rare
Focus: Creature Tutoring
Highlights: There are two features with Hibernation’s End that are often considered to be mutually exclusive. First is the (re)appearance of the long-suffering Cumulative Upkeep mechanic. Seen originally during the Ice Age block and therefore resurrected in Coldsnap, Cumulative Upkeep has continually been one of the lower ranked Magic mechanics year over year. Part of the argument behind that has been the claim that the average Magic player doesn’t like downside mechanics, and having to pay upkeep costs on a card is a quintessentially downside mechanic. Which is why while somewhat common in the game’s early years, Wizards has mostly moved away from designing cards with them except on very rare occasion.
Part of that is also due, however, to the more practical side of things: most of the cards in Magic with a Cumulative Upkeep are…not that good. With a handful of exceptions, most of them aren’t worth the level of mana investment being asked – even for a few rounds.
The second feature to Hibernation’s End is that it’s emblematic of a small but beloved subset of Green cards which allow you to repeatedly tutor for creatures from your library directly onto the battlefield along a linear trajectory. It’s a powerful ability to say the least, and although it has only been done sparingly, slightly more contemporary examples such as Prime Speaker Vannifar, Eldritch Evolution, Yisan, the Wanderer Bard, and the famous Birthing Pod have all seen ample EDH use over the years. With much larger decks and more time to build around them, the format clearly affords the ability to explore the potential of such cards.
While it doesn’t quite get the recognition, Hibernation’s End was the early trendsetting template for this idea. Likely because of that whole Cumulative Upkeep thing of us not wanting to think any of them are worth it. But here’s the rub: not only does it absolutely work in this card’s case, but it actually still holds its own to many of the later card iterations. In short, Hibernation’s End is much, much better than it may seem – if you read past the first line.
It also serves as a fantastic subtle callback to Hibernation. But that’s more of an aside.
This five mana enchantment does indeed come with a Cumulative Upkeep, which states that on your upkeep you must add a counter to the card and then pay the Cumulative Upkeep cost equal to the number of counters. In this card’s case, that means incrementally more basic mana. When you can’t or don’t want to pay the cost anymore, the card is sacrificed. Like all Cumulative Upkeep cards, unless you have a means of generating insane amounts of mana, this means there will become a point when the mana investment isn’t worth it anymore – thereby giving it a temporary and transitory purpose. Therefore, the effect must be worth it. Hibernation’s End achieves that goal.
Most Cumulative Upkeep cards function either by making it harder for you to keep a certain effect ongoing or one where you get a one-time payout when the card is sacrificed. Hibernation’s End cleverly does neither. Instead, it rewards you each round for paying its cost. In its case, it states that each time you pay its upkeep cost, you can search your library for a creature with a mana value equal to the number of counters on the card and put it directly onto the battlefield. This means your first turn after playing it will allow you to tutor for a 1 mana creature, your second turn for a 2 mana creature, and so on. The longer you can keep the card on the battlefield (and be willing to pay the upkeep cost), in a few rounds you’re able to start searching for some sizable creatures of your choice to suit your current table needs. The beauty is that there is no surcharge here: you’re essentially just paying the mana cost of whichever creature you want to go fetch. No more, no less.
Plus, since it’s a generic mana cost, you don’t have to worry about having the specific mana costs of the creature. While it has a very Green-centric feel to it, this means Hibernation’s End can actually be quite advantageous in Commander decks running any number of colors.
There are two tradeoffs, of course. First is that it takes a full round to start working, so it is a little slow to get started. Second, and more notable, is that as with all Cumulative Upkeep cards you must opt to do this during your upkeep, before you draw for the turn. This means committing mana to getting a creature regardless of what you draw – and thereby possibly preventing you from casting something else in turn. Still, as long as you’re willing to accept that limitation for a few rounds while it’s out, it gives you ample creature tutoring flexibility – whether you’re running it as a mana fixer or to lean into pumping out Green hitters one turn after another.
While Hibernation’s End wasn’t a worthwhile head-to-head card in its day (and was treated as such), the usefulness of this unassuming card in multiplayer can quite the opposite. One could even say it’s a bit super in its own right.
Keep an eye out for us to be regularly featuring other more accessible-but-worth-it Commander cards going forward. In the meantime, we’ll keep the light on for you.
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