This was how MTG launched and it has been the core of how it has been played.

Meanwhile to play MTG you got a deck which contained a set number of cards you had a fixed number of random lands in that deck and a mix of other cards delimited only by rarity not content. 40K is a narrative driven game has always been so. Yes in the earliest editions there was a lot of crossover in weapon types and you can have individuals fighting in different factions, but there were restrictions and there was explanation as to what was what. If you take a look at Rogue Trader and every edition since there have been faction based unit rosters since the outset and with a lot of continuance. LordofHats wrote: That just tells me you don't know much about Magic.