I have to say, i was really dismayed to see the consulate dreadnought in Aether Reborn having a pt of 7/11, if only for the very obvious jokes it would imply in an indian themed set. But i shrugged and didn't say anything because i figured it was just a neat combination of stats on a vanilla and i know magic R&D loves making those. (
Inkwell Leviathan is one of my favorite cards of all time, not gonna lie).
Whatever, nbd, nothing was meant by it, move on. And then i open up maro's article from the mothership today and see the following-
My first thought on seeing this card was how I would have stuck "Convenient" in either its name or flavor text if I'd been doing flavor text. (Perhaps a strong sign that I shouldn't be doing name and flavor text. For those unaware, 7-Eleven is an American chain of convenience stores.) My second thought though was that this must be a new power toughness combination. Nope. Turns out we've done it twice before.
Come. On.
Kids, a history lesson. Before 9/11, what was the single most hurtful and offensive stereotype for Indian people in America? Being a convenience store owner. Specifically a 7-11. Because my people had the gall to immigrate here and get whatever job they could and work their asses off to support their families and bring more kinfolk over, and set them up with their own jobs doing hard and menial labor until the family as a whole finally uplifted.
But what the true americans saw was heavily accented funny looking people saying `thank you come again' while selling slurpees and nachoes, and it became shorthand for intense mockery and insult for *decades*. That The Simpsons had an Indian dude named Apu being the convenience store guy only hammered it home, giving the stereotype a voice, accent, and waddle to just combo crush.
I repeat- before 9/11 and all the terrorist/osama jokes, 7-11 jokes were the most hurtful thing you could do to brown folk, and to an extent, the stereotype is still alive and strong today.
I'm so glad that magic creative decided not to go this way, if it even occured to them, because that really would have been the cherry on top of the kaladesh nightmare sundae.
At PAX, during my worst moment, i confided to Community Manager Alison that I loved Magic, but right now it felt like Magic didn't love me back. And if this joke had come to pass, i would absolutely have known it to be true.