I don't think anybody in this topic has mentioned that there are now hugely popular digital card games that probably cut into Magic's sales, but I suspect that would be a big factor in a sales decline.
Another big factor, now I think about it, might be that there are lots of cool new board games now that are really popular and cost a fraction of what Magic does. It's in a situation where there are lots of new attractive alternatives for "fun games to play socially with your nerdy friends," and lots of less complicated card games you can play without leaving the house. Even D&D is probably competing with it at this point, and it's probably not a coincidence that it's resurged in popularity as expendable income's crashed among younger people; it costs basically nothing to play.
To be honest I'm not sure Magic is economically viable now. There are just more attractive alternatives for too many of the people who'd have formally chosen to invest in it. And honestly a lot of those games would be perceived as more welcoming as well, as they don't have fans posting angry videos about the concept a woman might be good at them.
The game has an image problem, that's for sure. I have no idea why they haven't just adopted a treasure pack strategy for booster boxes where they put a 15 card pack that contains modern staples from some yearly line up in every standard booster box. This is in addition to any cards they decided to reprint in the main standard set from modern. Force of Will does something like this, actually, though in their case I believe it is for drafting reasons.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
The sales of MTG products are better than ever according to Hasbro conference calls. They are sure to SPECIFICALLY call out strength in MTG in the calls. Now could this be partially due to masters sets? A bit, but clearly the game is still strong... and players will wax and wane.
As noted 2 of the big factors are - Casuals are cracking most of the standard legal packs(other than FNM which is a decent value for anyone) and Hearthstone and other competing card games.
The sales of MTG products are better than ever according to Hasbro conference calls. They are sure to SPECIFICALLY call out strength in MTG in the calls. Now could this be partially due to masters sets? A bit, but clearly the game is still strong... and players will wax and wane.
As noted 2 of the big factors are - Casuals are cracking most of the standard legal packs(other than FNM which is a decent value for anyone) and Hearthstone and other competing card games.
Their sales growth outlook looks horrific. What the heck are you talking about? Depending on how they are measuring sales, I'm sure sales are up considering most stores are fire-selling booster boxes of IMA for two thirds MSRP and probably writing this entire thing off as a loss.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Magic is too ******* expensive. They've been catering to the "MTG Finance" crowd and the "collectors" for too long and now no one wants to actually play the game.
Oh, and you should remove the video link. It's not necessary for this discussion and it would be nice if reactionary YouTube morons didn't get undeserved ad revenue.
They probably want chase cards in modern to be prohibitively expensive. The reason for this is the same reason that MMORPG game designers create a difficulty curve in the game to get the best gear. Even though the absolute best gear is only slightly better than the gear you can get from just doing regular dungeons or raids, they need that one thing that people can chase after to keep them tuned into the game. If every player could obtain all the cards in the game they need, then there is no longer a thing to chase and the game has larger waves of lapsed players and returning players. This effect gets amplified via pro-tour and forum coverage on the cards, so in effect MTG Salvation itself and other places that give deck lists with the cards listed in them also assist in making these cards expensive.
Having chase cards are a boon to the game, that is not a questionable fact. What I will argue, and whole heartedly agree with, is that the total cost of decks in modern are unacceptable. I've been trying for years to really break into modern and have concluded that you can't "Build into" a modern deck. The pay wall is very much a problem when it comes to the mana base and a lot of the key components to the decks. The vast majority of decks require 8-9 fetchlands, 4-6 shocklands, and then usually have a core configuration composed of at least 8 staple chase cards.
Of course, people asked for reprints and wizards abliged by making luxury sets that basically hurt everybody, so that's a thing, too. First, collectors got hit because the cards they pumped money into usually took a 10%-20% loss in value with each reprinting, players lost because this often didn't bring the prices down on the cards enough to make them purchasable, and investors lost because wizards answer to them soaking up the extra boxes was to print more boxes. WoTC and Hasbro literally created these masters sets to float their own financial boats and please stockholders.
Edit: Oh, WoTC is now advertising mystery boxes at walmart... and selling iconic masters at walmart... and no FNM promos... I don't think I need to even say anything...
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Thing is they're not doing a good enough job of making multicolored mana bases for decks more affordable in all formats and I'm not even sure If reprints are the answer. It's even worse in Legacy and Vintage where it would cost you roughly a grand or more for a consistent one. Don't even get me started with 5 Color EDH / Commander decks where you need to run all 10 ABU Duals to run the most consistent mana base barring you're on a budget stuck with running all 10 Checks and Shocks.
It's gotten so bad to the point where players are forced to proxy cards due to their scarcity or they simply can't afford them because they're too expensive to purchase due to collectors hoarding them for themselves. Reprints are meant to help decrease the scarcity of cards for playability and collecting however it's gotten to the point that they've been reprinted so many times that they no longer hold the kind of value they once had. As an end result it ends up hurting the value of sets with less money being made for local game store owners to help Magic thrive as a game.
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America Bless Christ Jesus
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Thing is they're not doing a good enough job of making multicolored mana bases for decks more affordable in all formats and I'm not even sure If reprints are the answer. It's even worse in Legacy and Vintage where it would cost you roughly a grand or more for a consistent one. Don't even get me started with 5 Color EDH / Commander decks where you need to run all 10 ABU Duals to run the most consistent mana base barring you're on a budget stuck with running all 10 Checks and Shocks.
It's gotten so bad to the point where players are forced to proxy cards due to their scarcity or they simply can't afford them because they're too expensive to purchase due to collectors hoarding them for themselves. Reprints are meant to help decrease the scarcity of cards for playability and collecting however it's gotten to the point that they've been reprinted so many times that they no longer hold the kind of value they once had. As an end result it ends up hurting the value of sets with less money being made for local game store owners to help Magic thrive as a game.
The problem isn't really from WoTC and Hasbro not reprinting the cards. The primary issue is how they are going about reprinting the cards. If they did something like a treasure pack (10 card pack of random Modern staples) or something inside every booster box of standard and made it so every 6 months they rotate what can appear in the treasure pack, that would likely be a better way to do things.
The big thing that is probably killing attendance right now is that hasbro / wizards completely destroyed standard for a lot of people over the course of two years and during that time they didn't provide the needed price relief to make modern a viable safety net. That left people going into casual magic like EDH / Commander or dropping the game entirely. The other part of this that is making recovery sluggish is that wizards is perpetually 2 years behind the curve ball thanks to how slow they are at doing the print runs. By the time they can see what is wrong, they already have the next print run scheduled and out the door, so what we are seeing now is what WoTC planned probably a year and a half ago or more.
My own opinion is that magic is on a decline as a competitive TCG and wizards is adjusting their distribution and promotions model to capture more casual players who don't go to FNM or their LGS very often. On top of which players are having wallet fatigue regardless of whether they are constructed or draft / limited players.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Thing is they're not doing a good enough job of making multicolored mana bases for decks more affordable in all formats and I'm not even sure If reprints are the answer. It's even worse in Legacy and Vintage where it would cost you roughly a grand or more for a consistent one. Don't even get me started with 5 Color EDH / Commander decks where you need to run all 10 ABU Duals to run the most consistent mana base barring you're on a budget stuck with running all 10 Checks and Shocks.
It's gotten so bad to the point where players are forced to proxy cards due to their scarcity or they simply can't afford them because they're too expensive to purchase due to collectors hoarding them for themselves. Reprints are meant to help decrease the scarcity of cards for playability and collecting however it's gotten to the point that they've been reprinted so many times that they no longer hold the kind of value they once had. As an end result it ends up hurting the value of sets with less money being made for local game store owners to help Magic thrive as a game.
The problem isn't really from WoTC and Hasbro not reprinting the cards. The primary issue is how they are going about reprinting the cards. If they did something like a treasure pack (10 card pack of random Modern staples) or something inside every booster box of standard and made it so every 6 months they rotate what can appear in the treasure pack, that would likely be a better way to do things.
And how much would that "treasure pack" cost? $25 at minimum. Assuming any actually get sold to players, and don't just go on eBay to be hoarded like every decent product Magic ever released.
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Level 1 Judge
"I hope to have such a death... lying in triumph atop the broken bodies of those who slew me..."
You don't call "dying to removal" if the removal is more expensive in resources than the creature. If you have to spend BG (Abrupt Decay), or W + basic land (PtE) to remove a 1G, that is not "dying to removal". Strictly speaking Goyf dies to removal, but actually your removal is dying to Goyf.
The sales of MTG products are better than ever according to Hasbro conference calls. They are sure to SPECIFICALLY call out strength in MTG in the calls. Now could this be partially due to masters sets? A bit, but clearly the game is still strong... and players will wax and wane.
As noted 2 of the big factors are - Casuals are cracking most of the standard legal packs(other than FNM which is a decent value for anyone) and Hearthstone and other competing card games.
Their sales growth outlook looks horrific. What the heck are you talking about? Depending on how they are measuring sales, I'm sure sales are up considering most stores are fire-selling booster boxes of IMA for two thirds MSRP and probably writing this entire thing off as a loss.
CITATION NEEDED
Seriously, this gloom and doom stuff is way overdramatic.
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Level 1 Judge
"I hope to have such a death... lying in triumph atop the broken bodies of those who slew me..."
You don't call "dying to removal" if the removal is more expensive in resources than the creature. If you have to spend BG (Abrupt Decay), or W + basic land (PtE) to remove a 1G, that is not "dying to removal". Strictly speaking Goyf dies to removal, but actually your removal is dying to Goyf.
The sales of MTG products are better than ever according to Hasbro conference calls. They are sure to SPECIFICALLY call out strength in MTG in the calls. Now could this be partially due to masters sets? A bit, but clearly the game is still strong... and players will wax and wane.
As noted 2 of the big factors are - Casuals are cracking most of the standard legal packs(other than FNM which is a decent value for anyone) and Hearthstone and other competing card games.
Their sales growth outlook looks horrific. What the heck are you talking about? Depending on how they are measuring sales, I'm sure sales are up considering most stores are fire-selling booster boxes of IMA for two thirds MSRP and probably writing this entire thing off as a loss.
CITATION NEEDED
Seriously, this gloom and doom stuff is way overdramatic.
To sum some of it up, they have growth from other games directly under their wing like nerf and transformers, but confidence is a bit down. They are having some issues that are out of their control in general causing lighter than expected profit growth stemming in European Markets. There was a third one somewhere with MTG involved, but I can't find it right now. Also, yes there is going to be a crap ton of drama going on and if it is a problem for you than I'm going to suggest you tune out for a while. There is a lot of disgruntled people in the MTG community stirring up a lot of commotion and getting people triggered (if you haven't noticed, I got a bit triggered here).
The one thing to take away from wizards at the moment given how they are promoting and releasing products is that they definitely are pulling out of doing major support for LGS. Promo treasure packs for black Friday is good, but they've abandoned good FNM promos, are actively promoting repack products at big box retailers, and are releasing Masters set products at those stores in high quantities. If you want to discount this all as some person crying wolf or whatever that's your own prerogative.
I'm just not really in the mood for this kind of crap right now from WoTC and Hasbro.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
The problem isn't really from WoTC and Hasbro not reprinting the cards. The primary issue is how they are going about reprinting the cards.
Simple. Keep reprints in Core Sets that become Standard legal like they did in the past with 4th Edition up to 10th Edition instead of the annual Masters, From the Vault, and Commander release per year while printing new cards in Stand Alone Expansions instead of the way they did it in the M10 Sets where it was a mixed bag. Problem solved.
That way competitive players will stop complaining about how EDH / Commander players are ruining the game by labeling them as "filthy casuals" while the casual players get new cards in return that isn't in an annual Commander product. Competitive players would finally get rewarded again with FNM Promos for participating in FNM Events. Everyone wins.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
The problem isn't really from WoTC and Hasbro not reprinting the cards. The primary issue is how they are going about reprinting the cards.
Simple. Keep reprints in Core Sets that become Standard legal like they did in the past with 4th Edition up to 10th Edition instead of the annual Masters, From the Vault, and Commander release per year while printing new cards in Stand Alone Expansions instead of the way they did it in the M10 Sets where it was a mixed bag. Problem solved.
That way competitive players will stop complaining about how EDH / Commander players are ruining the game by labeling them as "filthy casuals" while the casual players get new cards in return that isn't in an annual Commander product. Competitive players would finally get rewarded again with FNM Promos for participating in FNM Events. Everyone wins.
The fact we can spin up ideas that probably would solve the issue for players and help push products out of stores right now in about 10 minutes of writing something is exactly why I think WoTC and Hasbro are intentionally doing what they are doing for their own coffers. The company actively decided that it's better to just have people gnash their teeth at them and sell overpriced products than sell things in a way that fosters less controversy. Shareholders are #1 and all customers, whether a Local Game Store owner, singles seller, or player, are officially a very distant #3. #2 is the distributors, usually.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Not sure why you're linking general Hasbro links.. if you listen to their conference call you will see they are quite happy with MTG and continue to invest heavily in it. Its certainly NOT the toy group thats performing poorly. Yes iconic masters is a bit of a flop but MM 2017 was certainly a HUGE success as far as sales go.
Not sure why you're linking general Hasbro links.. if you listen to their conference call you will see they are quite happy with MTG and continue to invest heavily in it. Its certainly NOT the toy group thats performing poorly. Yes iconic masters is a bit of a flop but MM 2017 was certainly a HUGE success as far as sales go.
Because when you talk about Hasbro as a whole, you have to look at the entire lineup of what they are supporting to get the bigger picture as to why they are doing what they do. Also, you're statement above is reminding me of EA. The world literally can be burning down below, but as long as money is flowing in no one in the ivory tower is even zoned in on the events happening.
Okay, so WoTC makes booster boxes and prints cards. The distributors then get on contact with wizards reps and they ask if they want any or not. The distributors have no idea how many boxes they will receive, but they know that if they refuse to stock they can lose out on a lot of money and possibly not receive further products if the relationship sours. They say yes and then pay X amount for the wave of product. After this happens Wizards has officially made it's sale and can care less where the products go and how much they actually retail for at the stores with the exception of some very specific products covered under the WPN agreement. Hasbro sees the sales information from Wizards, sees they shipped a ton of product and made some seriously good money, and smiles.
So anyway, how was what you are commenting on relevant again to the situation with the booster boxes of iconic masters having to be fire sold by stores?
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
My own opinion is that magic is on a decline as a competitive TCG and wizards is adjusting their distribution and promotions model to capture more casual players who don't go to FNM or their LGS very often. On top of which players are having wallet fatigue regardless of whether they are constructed or draft / limited players.
Why not adjust their distribution and promotions model to capture both competitive and casual players so that there's still local game stores for people to play Magic at. Shouldn't be that hard especially If they print less product so that the Magic finance crowd can stop scaring players into thinking that the game is going to die when all they want is to bank off Reserved List cards as a hobby.
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America Bless Christ Jesus
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
My own opinion is that magic is on a decline as a competitive TCG and wizards is adjusting their distribution and promotions model to capture more casual players who don't go to FNM or their LGS very often. On top of which players are having wallet fatigue regardless of whether they are constructed or draft / limited players.
Why not adjust their distribution and promotions model to capture both competitive and casual players so that there's still local game stores for people to play Magic at. Shouldn't be that hard especially If they print less product so that the Magic finance crowd can stop scaring players into thinking that the game is going to die when all they want is to bank off Reserved List cards as a hobby.
There are a ton of questions I have that I wish there were clear cut answers for right now. I'm not even sure that Iconic Masters is wizards own idea at this point, as it feels far more like something Hasbro would come up with as an example.
What's happening right now is the typical process of always wanting more. Going back to the Hasbro viewing Wizards Magic the Gathering game favorably, lets take a look at EA. What is a success to EA? The publishing company sets an expectation that a game must meet to be considered successful and if it doesn't reach that goal, it is considered a failure even if it is well received by the public. The famous case is Viceral Games Dead Space series. For those not familiar with what happened with the studio, here is the short story from EGadget.
What happened in more detailed words is that Dead Space 1 was well received, so EA put more money behind the studio for Dead Space 2 and tried to expand it into a bunch of different media, such as comics, movie adaptations, etc. They also set a very high bar on the sales expectations for the second game in the franchise, even tacking on a multiplayer mode that no one really remembers.
Even though the game was a resounding success and well received, it didn't meet sales expectations. When Dead Space 3 was getting developed, EA pushed the studio to put in more micro transactions and multi-player action game elements into the series. When that game failed to meet expectations as well, the writing was on the wall and shortly after while working on what sounds like a really good Star Wars game, the studio was cut.
Wizards of the Coast is Visceral Games and Hasbro is EA in this case. The reason WoTC hasn't given players and stores what they want with reprinting valuable dual lands in products like Explorers of Ixalan is to make sure that they meet goals set by Hasbro. If WoTC fails even one of those goals they start falling down the same slope that Visceral games got stuck in as they don't have a lot of other product lines that make enough money to shore up the difference.
The old wizards did do things with rarity to make some cards more valuable, but they never would have let card prices go to where they are at in modern at this time for a number of heavily played cards. I'm not talking about obscure and underprinted cards, I'm talking cards that see strong retention among players such as Dark Confidant, Aether Vial, all the zendikar fetchlands and Ravnica Shocklands, etc. And before anyone starts bringing up something to just be contrarian, need I remind people that over the last two to three years highly played and desirable cards have been getting pooled more and more into masters sets and removed from products like Commander, Standard sets, duel decks and preconstructed products in general. Even the latest gift box only has bulk rares as the cards to display and the star lands are being reprinted in the buy a booster promo packs for this thanksgiving season. Also, the push to create MTG: Arena and the new Magic the Gathering MMO is very similar to the Dead Space situation with comic book and movie adaptations.
I think Wizards is in a very dangerous situation right now and they just aren't going to admit it. What is going to kill MtG has nothing to do with how much we like the game. What is going to end it is when WoTCs strategy to meet expectations falls through: Modern Masters doesn't sell anymore because everyone who is willing to pay the extremely high price wall has gotten their dues, Standard players who buy only cards under 20-30 dollars ignore the luxury sets, and stores that get saddled with mile high piles of standard booster boxes putter out, ending a lot of local FNM play.
If I was in an executive position at Wizards I would take the gamble of missing the first milestone and reprint at least the core of modern (zen fetches, shocks, and fast lands) to get the prices into the sub 20s on those cards, then make up for it the following year. That way if standard is not peoples cup of tea, they can still take cards they like from the latest sets and play around with them in modern or some other format. The Visceral Studios example demonstrates that even if the company fails the first milestone, they still have a chance to make up the situation assuming they don't over-extend on the second pass.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
WotC seems to be flailing. The number of products flooding the market is impossible for all but the wealthiest players to keep up with. Standard has become a mess in the past two years, and personally, I believe the "[Card Name] is too strong for Standard" mentality has played a role there. Additionally, the rotation schedules seem perpetually subject to change, the quality of the cards themselves is declining, the community is still toxic to women, FNM promos are gone, LGS's seem to be getting screwed in various ways...the list goes on and on.
Point is, my confidence in WotC and MtG has plummeted in the last 6 months to a year, and I don't think I'm alone. I've never experienced such a critical mass of negatives in such a small time, and I really hope a course correction is incoming.
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Can you name all of the creature types with at least 20 cards? Try my Sporcle Quiz! Last Updated: 6/29/20 (Core Set 2021).
Isn't that the dude who harnessed a cosplayer so she is now quieting magic? If so I won't give him much credit, he been nothing but toxic about the magic community and Wotc for years.
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“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Isn't that the dude who harnessed a cosplayer so she is now quieting magic? If so I won't give him much credit, he been nothing but toxic about the magic community and Wotc for years.
Jon Fingas? I don't think so. Kotaku has had some bad flack fired at it, though, so I probably should have linked to a more descriptive article written elsewhere. You referring to someone else?
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Isn't that the dude who harnessed a cosplayer so she is now quieting magic? If so I won't give him much credit, he been nothing but toxic about the magic community and Wotc for years.
Jon Fingas? I don't think so. Kotaku has had some bad flack fired at it, though, so I probably should have linked to a more descriptive article written elsewhere. You referring to someone else?
No, Jeremy from MTGHeadquarters, linked in the first post.
I didn't know who this Jeff guy was up until the point I watched his video. I'm not at all informed when it comes to the 'behing the scenes' of Magic. I do not endorse him in any way (in fact, his endorsement of Sargon of Akkad is enough to make me turn my head away). I didn't remove the link for the video because it provides the context for the question that I asked here. I decided to add Rudy's video as well, because it treats the topic more directly.
Now, regarding the question: I'm glad a lot of people chimed in, but from what I could gather the answer is that we have no "official answer". Is the data hard to find? What it appears to me is that there are two conflicting set of evidences: 1) store owners saying they're having some difficulty moving products like booster boxes (such as the recent eternal masters) and players saying that stores near them are closing their doors or the fnms are dying; and 2) the actual data regarding HASBRO and Magic, that appears to contradict what we wthink we know, saying that the game is on the up and up:
HASBRO's stock value: https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/HAS (I suggest tinkering with the time frame so you can get in perspective how it is growing a lot)
I also looked up 'doomsaying' articles, and honestly I couldn't find much reliable stuff. The one that appears to be most solid is this:
That is from last year, but I think it is a good read. It basically explains why it is possible that the new online card games will take over Magic's market. That said, at least for this moment, both markets appear to coexist. I'm not sure what is coming for the future.
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Would you like to read Commander stories? Check my latest stories, coming from Lorwyn and Innistrad: Ghoulcaller Gisa and Doran, The Siege Tower! If you like my writing, ask me to write something for your commander as well!
Isn't that the dude who harnessed a cosplayer so she is now quieting magic? If so I won't give him much credit, he been nothing but toxic about the magic community and Wotc for years.
Jon Fingas? I don't think so. Kotaku has had some bad flack fired at it, though, so I probably should have linked to a more descriptive article written elsewhere. You referring to someone else?
No, Jeff from MTGHeadquarters, linked in the first post.
Technically, Jeff from Unsleeved Media now.
I like his box opening videos and he does have a pretty even personality, but I'd say he is one of the ones that took the entire Iconic masters in big box stores the hardest. That and the fact Wizards is advertising those Planeswalker lottery repacks at walmart. I'm all out of juice on the subject of masters sets myself. We had the perfect storm of things come together on the WOTC Product splurge since it triggered people basically across the board for all sorts of different reasons. It's the first time I've ever seen something trigger Investors, Players, Store Owners, and possibly Distributors all at the same time. This also came right on the heels of the Lootbox controversy which got snowballed into the mix with this going on, and then we also had the issue with the FCC vote to repeal net neutrality. It's like a social media bloodbath on youtube right now on top of black friday commercial season for XMas.
So on the upside we can all be angry and get 50% off on 40+ inch 4k TVs.
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I didn't know who this Jeff guy was up until the point I watched his video. I'm not at all informed when it comes to the 'behing the scenes' of Magic. I do not endorse him in any way (in fact, his endorsement of Sargon of Akkad is enough to make me turn my head away). I didn't remove the link for the video because it provides the context for the question that I asked here. I decided to add Rudy's video as well, because it treats the topic more directly.
Now, regarding the question: I'm glad a lot of people chimed in, but from what I could gather the answer is that we have no "official answer". Is the data hard to find? What it appears to me is that there are two conflicting set of evidences: 1) store owners saying they're having some difficulty moving products like booster boxes (such as the recent eternal masters) and players saying that stores near them are closing their doors or the fnms are dying; and 2) the actual data regarding HASBRO and Magic, that appears to contradict what we wthink we know, saying that the game is on the up and up:
HASBRO's stock value: https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/HAS (I suggest tinkering with the time frame so you can get in perspective how it is growing a lot)
I also looked up 'doomsaying' articles, and honestly I couldn't find much reliable stuff. The one that appears to be most solid is this:
That is from last year, but I think it is a good read. It basically explains why it is possible that the new online card games will take over Magic's market. That said, at least for this moment, both markets appear to coexist. I'm not sure what is coming for the future.
It's a matter of perspective. From a long term stockholder point of view Hasbro has had good growth over the last 10 years and is pretty likely to keep growing despite having the dips it is having right now.
For comparison, here is EAs stocks using Seeking Alpha. Those guys have even worse press than Wizards of the coast and they still have stock growth over the last 10 years. Both companies are capping out right now, though and are going through a dip.
I'm seeing a lot of similarities across the board with WoTC vs EA and gaming companies. Needless to say, I'm somewhat skeptical of their future.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Just looked into that situation that happened to Christine. I'm not even going to step into that giant mess fueled by cultural taboos brought about by historical events going back to the 13 colonies. And technically if we want to go further back probably the reformation and Emperor Constantine. Needless to say, the MtG youtube community never stops surprising me in their complete lack of tact and understanding when it comes to cultural and political ramifications. Well, unless that happens to be their black and white view of SJW vs everyone else or something.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
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The game has an image problem, that's for sure. I have no idea why they haven't just adopted a treasure pack strategy for booster boxes where they put a 15 card pack that contains modern staples from some yearly line up in every standard booster box. This is in addition to any cards they decided to reprint in the main standard set from modern. Force of Will does something like this, actually, though in their case I believe it is for drafting reasons.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
As noted 2 of the big factors are - Casuals are cracking most of the standard legal packs(other than FNM which is a decent value for anyone) and Hearthstone and other competing card games.
Their sales growth outlook looks horrific. What the heck are you talking about? Depending on how they are measuring sales, I'm sure sales are up considering most stores are fire-selling booster boxes of IMA for two thirds MSRP and probably writing this entire thing off as a loss.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
They probably want chase cards in modern to be prohibitively expensive. The reason for this is the same reason that MMORPG game designers create a difficulty curve in the game to get the best gear. Even though the absolute best gear is only slightly better than the gear you can get from just doing regular dungeons or raids, they need that one thing that people can chase after to keep them tuned into the game. If every player could obtain all the cards in the game they need, then there is no longer a thing to chase and the game has larger waves of lapsed players and returning players. This effect gets amplified via pro-tour and forum coverage on the cards, so in effect MTG Salvation itself and other places that give deck lists with the cards listed in them also assist in making these cards expensive.
Having chase cards are a boon to the game, that is not a questionable fact. What I will argue, and whole heartedly agree with, is that the total cost of decks in modern are unacceptable. I've been trying for years to really break into modern and have concluded that you can't "Build into" a modern deck. The pay wall is very much a problem when it comes to the mana base and a lot of the key components to the decks. The vast majority of decks require 8-9 fetchlands, 4-6 shocklands, and then usually have a core configuration composed of at least 8 staple chase cards.
Of course, people asked for reprints and wizards abliged by making luxury sets that basically hurt everybody, so that's a thing, too. First, collectors got hit because the cards they pumped money into usually took a 10%-20% loss in value with each reprinting, players lost because this often didn't bring the prices down on the cards enough to make them purchasable, and investors lost because wizards answer to them soaking up the extra boxes was to print more boxes. WoTC and Hasbro literally created these masters sets to float their own financial boats and please stockholders.
Edit: Oh, WoTC is now advertising mystery boxes at walmart... and selling iconic masters at walmart... and no FNM promos... I don't think I need to even say anything...
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
It's gotten so bad to the point where players are forced to proxy cards due to their scarcity or they simply can't afford them because they're too expensive to purchase due to collectors hoarding them for themselves. Reprints are meant to help decrease the scarcity of cards for playability and collecting however it's gotten to the point that they've been reprinted so many times that they no longer hold the kind of value they once had. As an end result it ends up hurting the value of sets with less money being made for local game store owners to help Magic thrive as a game.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
The problem isn't really from WoTC and Hasbro not reprinting the cards. The primary issue is how they are going about reprinting the cards. If they did something like a treasure pack (10 card pack of random Modern staples) or something inside every booster box of standard and made it so every 6 months they rotate what can appear in the treasure pack, that would likely be a better way to do things.
The big thing that is probably killing attendance right now is that hasbro / wizards completely destroyed standard for a lot of people over the course of two years and during that time they didn't provide the needed price relief to make modern a viable safety net. That left people going into casual magic like EDH / Commander or dropping the game entirely. The other part of this that is making recovery sluggish is that wizards is perpetually 2 years behind the curve ball thanks to how slow they are at doing the print runs. By the time they can see what is wrong, they already have the next print run scheduled and out the door, so what we are seeing now is what WoTC planned probably a year and a half ago or more.
My own opinion is that magic is on a decline as a competitive TCG and wizards is adjusting their distribution and promotions model to capture more casual players who don't go to FNM or their LGS very often. On top of which players are having wallet fatigue regardless of whether they are constructed or draft / limited players.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
And how much would that "treasure pack" cost? $25 at minimum. Assuming any actually get sold to players, and don't just go on eBay to be hoarded like every decent product Magic ever released.
"I hope to have such a death... lying in triumph atop the broken bodies of those who slew me..."
CITATION NEEDED
Seriously, this gloom and doom stuff is way overdramatic.
"I hope to have such a death... lying in triumph atop the broken bodies of those who slew me..."
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/hasbro-beats-profit-and-revenue-expectations-but-gives-downbeat-sales-growth-outlook-2017-10-23
https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/10/23/hasbro-posts-solid-third-quarter-revenue-growth-bu.aspx
To sum some of it up, they have growth from other games directly under their wing like nerf and transformers, but confidence is a bit down. They are having some issues that are out of their control in general causing lighter than expected profit growth stemming in European Markets. There was a third one somewhere with MTG involved, but I can't find it right now. Also, yes there is going to be a crap ton of drama going on and if it is a problem for you than I'm going to suggest you tune out for a while. There is a lot of disgruntled people in the MTG community stirring up a lot of commotion and getting people triggered (if you haven't noticed, I got a bit triggered here).
The one thing to take away from wizards at the moment given how they are promoting and releasing products is that they definitely are pulling out of doing major support for LGS. Promo treasure packs for black Friday is good, but they've abandoned good FNM promos, are actively promoting repack products at big box retailers, and are releasing Masters set products at those stores in high quantities. If you want to discount this all as some person crying wolf or whatever that's your own prerogative.
I'm just not really in the mood for this kind of crap right now from WoTC and Hasbro.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
That way competitive players will stop complaining about how EDH / Commander players are ruining the game by labeling them as "filthy casuals" while the casual players get new cards in return that isn't in an annual Commander product. Competitive players would finally get rewarded again with FNM Promos for participating in FNM Events. Everyone wins.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
The fact we can spin up ideas that probably would solve the issue for players and help push products out of stores right now in about 10 minutes of writing something is exactly why I think WoTC and Hasbro are intentionally doing what they are doing for their own coffers. The company actively decided that it's better to just have people gnash their teeth at them and sell overpriced products than sell things in a way that fosters less controversy. Shareholders are #1 and all customers, whether a Local Game Store owner, singles seller, or player, are officially a very distant #3. #2 is the distributors, usually.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Because when you talk about Hasbro as a whole, you have to look at the entire lineup of what they are supporting to get the bigger picture as to why they are doing what they do. Also, you're statement above is reminding me of EA. The world literally can be burning down below, but as long as money is flowing in no one in the ivory tower is even zoned in on the events happening.
Okay, so WoTC makes booster boxes and prints cards. The distributors then get on contact with wizards reps and they ask if they want any or not. The distributors have no idea how many boxes they will receive, but they know that if they refuse to stock they can lose out on a lot of money and possibly not receive further products if the relationship sours. They say yes and then pay X amount for the wave of product. After this happens Wizards has officially made it's sale and can care less where the products go and how much they actually retail for at the stores with the exception of some very specific products covered under the WPN agreement. Hasbro sees the sales information from Wizards, sees they shipped a ton of product and made some seriously good money, and smiles.
So anyway, how was what you are commenting on relevant again to the situation with the booster boxes of iconic masters having to be fire sold by stores?
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
There are a ton of questions I have that I wish there were clear cut answers for right now. I'm not even sure that Iconic Masters is wizards own idea at this point, as it feels far more like something Hasbro would come up with as an example.
What's happening right now is the typical process of always wanting more. Going back to the Hasbro viewing Wizards Magic the Gathering game favorably, lets take a look at EA. What is a success to EA? The publishing company sets an expectation that a game must meet to be considered successful and if it doesn't reach that goal, it is considered a failure even if it is well received by the public. The famous case is Viceral Games Dead Space series. For those not familiar with what happened with the studio, here is the short story from EGadget.
What happened in more detailed words is that Dead Space 1 was well received, so EA put more money behind the studio for Dead Space 2 and tried to expand it into a bunch of different media, such as comics, movie adaptations, etc. They also set a very high bar on the sales expectations for the second game in the franchise, even tacking on a multiplayer mode that no one really remembers.
Even though the game was a resounding success and well received, it didn't meet sales expectations. When Dead Space 3 was getting developed, EA pushed the studio to put in more micro transactions and multi-player action game elements into the series. When that game failed to meet expectations as well, the writing was on the wall and shortly after while working on what sounds like a really good Star Wars game, the studio was cut.
Wizards of the Coast is Visceral Games and Hasbro is EA in this case. The reason WoTC hasn't given players and stores what they want with reprinting valuable dual lands in products like Explorers of Ixalan is to make sure that they meet goals set by Hasbro. If WoTC fails even one of those goals they start falling down the same slope that Visceral games got stuck in as they don't have a lot of other product lines that make enough money to shore up the difference.
The old wizards did do things with rarity to make some cards more valuable, but they never would have let card prices go to where they are at in modern at this time for a number of heavily played cards. I'm not talking about obscure and underprinted cards, I'm talking cards that see strong retention among players such as Dark Confidant, Aether Vial, all the zendikar fetchlands and Ravnica Shocklands, etc. And before anyone starts bringing up something to just be contrarian, need I remind people that over the last two to three years highly played and desirable cards have been getting pooled more and more into masters sets and removed from products like Commander, Standard sets, duel decks and preconstructed products in general. Even the latest gift box only has bulk rares as the cards to display and the star lands are being reprinted in the buy a booster promo packs for this thanksgiving season. Also, the push to create MTG: Arena and the new Magic the Gathering MMO is very similar to the Dead Space situation with comic book and movie adaptations.
I think Wizards is in a very dangerous situation right now and they just aren't going to admit it. What is going to kill MtG has nothing to do with how much we like the game. What is going to end it is when WoTCs strategy to meet expectations falls through: Modern Masters doesn't sell anymore because everyone who is willing to pay the extremely high price wall has gotten their dues, Standard players who buy only cards under 20-30 dollars ignore the luxury sets, and stores that get saddled with mile high piles of standard booster boxes putter out, ending a lot of local FNM play.
If I was in an executive position at Wizards I would take the gamble of missing the first milestone and reprint at least the core of modern (zen fetches, shocks, and fast lands) to get the prices into the sub 20s on those cards, then make up for it the following year. That way if standard is not peoples cup of tea, they can still take cards they like from the latest sets and play around with them in modern or some other format. The Visceral Studios example demonstrates that even if the company fails the first milestone, they still have a chance to make up the situation assuming they don't over-extend on the second pass.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Point is, my confidence in WotC and MtG has plummeted in the last 6 months to a year, and I don't think I'm alone. I've never experienced such a critical mass of negatives in such a small time, and I really hope a course correction is incoming.
My 720 Peasant Cube
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Jon Fingas? I don't think so. Kotaku has had some bad flack fired at it, though, so I probably should have linked to a more descriptive article written elsewhere. You referring to someone else?
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
No, Jeremy from MTGHeadquarters, linked in the first post.
EDIT: Jeremy, not Jeff.
I didn't know who this Jeff guy was up until the point I watched his video. I'm not at all informed when it comes to the 'behing the scenes' of Magic. I do not endorse him in any way (in fact, his endorsement of Sargon of Akkad is enough to make me turn my head away). I didn't remove the link for the video because it provides the context for the question that I asked here. I decided to add Rudy's video as well, because it treats the topic more directly.
Now, regarding the question: I'm glad a lot of people chimed in, but from what I could gather the answer is that we have no "official answer". Is the data hard to find? What it appears to me is that there are two conflicting set of evidences: 1) store owners saying they're having some difficulty moving products like booster boxes (such as the recent eternal masters) and players saying that stores near them are closing their doors or the fnms are dying; and 2) the actual data regarding HASBRO and Magic, that appears to contradict what we wthink we know, saying that the game is on the up and up:
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4051501-thanks-modern-masters-2017-hasbros-magic-gathering-will-best-sales-year-ever
HASBRO's stock value: https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/HAS (I suggest tinkering with the time frame so you can get in perspective how it is growing a lot)
I also looked up 'doomsaying' articles, and honestly I couldn't find much reliable stuff. The one that appears to be most solid is this:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/cameronkeng/2013/11/19/magic-the-gathering-losing-11-1-market-value-overnight-for-poor-customer-service/#447f256c674f
Which is news from 2013 saying that WoTC lost lots of value due to poor management of MODO (not surprising). But that is from 4 years ago.
The most recently and credible 'doomsaying' article that I could see was this one:
https://curatingthefuture.com/2016/01/15/magic_hearthstone_solforge_disruption/
That is from last year, but I think it is a good read. It basically explains why it is possible that the new online card games will take over Magic's market. That said, at least for this moment, both markets appear to coexist. I'm not sure what is coming for the future.
Read my other stories as well (some ongoing):
Reaper King (a horror story), Kaalia of the Vast (an origin story), Sequels for Innistrad (Alternative sequels for Inn), Grey Areas (Odric's fanfic), Royal Succession (goblins),The Tracker's Message (eldrazi on Innistrad) and Ugin and his Eye (the end of OGW).
Technically, Jeff from Unsleeved Media now.
I like his box opening videos and he does have a pretty even personality, but I'd say he is one of the ones that took the entire Iconic masters in big box stores the hardest. That and the fact Wizards is advertising those Planeswalker lottery repacks at walmart. I'm all out of juice on the subject of masters sets myself. We had the perfect storm of things come together on the WOTC Product splurge since it triggered people basically across the board for all sorts of different reasons. It's the first time I've ever seen something trigger Investors, Players, Store Owners, and possibly Distributors all at the same time. This also came right on the heels of the Lootbox controversy which got snowballed into the mix with this going on, and then we also had the issue with the FCC vote to repeal net neutrality. It's like a social media bloodbath on youtube right now on top of black friday commercial season for XMas.
So on the upside we can all be angry and get 50% off on 40+ inch 4k TVs.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
It's a matter of perspective. From a long term stockholder point of view Hasbro has had good growth over the last 10 years and is pretty likely to keep growing despite having the dips it is having right now.
For comparison, here is EAs stocks using Seeking Alpha. Those guys have even worse press than Wizards of the coast and they still have stock growth over the last 10 years. Both companies are capping out right now, though and are going through a dip.
I'm seeing a lot of similarities across the board with WoTC vs EA and gaming companies. Needless to say, I'm somewhat skeptical of their future.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
He also has another YouTube Channel called TheQuartering.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Oh. Yeah. I guess I didn't bother to remember an obnoxious alt-righter's exact name... My bad.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!