Maro said that if this set sells poorly, then there will not be any more un-sets. I'm hoping that they are reasonable in how many boxes they expect/hope to sell.
Also, given how far in the future they work, even if it does sell well by the time they see that and green-light un-4 it'll be at least 3 or 4 more years.
Someone still hasn't answered this question yet: what is the main appeal of the Un-sets besides the lands and the nostalgia, and why should my friends and I buy any of this product?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"The essence of every world, every spell and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
People who care about Conspiracy as a format, and not just for the reprints that it brings, share a lot of overlap in target audience with fans of Un-.
Conspiracy sets are popular not only because of the format and good reprints but also because new cards are created that support EDH and Legacy.
Unstable won't have any reprints that will support eternal formats nor will it have new cards that will support EDH, Legacy (or any format for that matter aside from drafting and perhaps fringe joke cubes).
I really think there are more people that would want a return to Kamigawa set than an unset, but Mark Rosewater is so biased because he's obsessed with unsets for some reason.
Again, you're using non-Conspiracy formats as the reason for your disappointment that this isn't a Conspiracy set, and I'm going to say again that fans of the Conspiracy format will greatly overlap with fans of Un-.
For what it's worth, Un- cards see frequent usein Cubes that are not fringe jokes, and is arguably the best type of set that WotC can print in support of the Cube format, which is played way more than Legacy, and EDH already gets a yearly supplement.
If Conspiracy was a set where the cards couldn't be used in any other official formats, the set would have been much less successfully and certainly it would have had much less appeal. Conspiracy made players that were interested in the new draft format happy, it made modern players happy because of reprints, it made legacy players and EDH players happy because of reprints and new cards that helped those formats. It also made cube players happy because it gave them new cards and cube reprints.
An unset only appeals to a small subset of players. Most EDH players don't play with silver border cards. No official formats aside from limited will use these cards. It's really disappointing. Seems like something that Mark Rosewater just wanted to make happen. A supplemental Kamigawa set would satisfy more players.
So this won't be legal in any other formats except casual play? Does the reserve list include silver border?
The RL only covers, if I recall, tournament legal cards - which gold and silver bordered cards are not... why MaRo stated that gold bordered reprints would violate the RL a while back, with that fact in mind, is beyond me.
Someone still hasn't answered this question yet: what is the main appeal of the Un-sets besides the lands and the nostalgia, and why should my friends and I buy any of this product?
Because it's fun. It's wacky, silly, and leads to a night of wacky silly fun (feel free to add your choice of beverage). After you've drafted it, throw some of the more fun cards into your kitchen table decks. Make a silver-bordered deck. Make a cube with silver-bordered cards in it.
For those who are only interested in tournament formats and whether the cards are tournament-legal, then this set probably isn't for you. And that's ok. The majority of Magic players are casual kitchen-table players, not tournament players, and that's who this set is for. Sometimes Wizards makes tournament-helping Masters sets, and sometimes they make Casual-only sets. Everyone gets their share of fun.
Someone still hasn't answered this question yet: what is the main appeal of the Un-sets besides the lands and the nostalgia, and why should my friends and I buy any of this product?
It gives you a really weird limited environment that breaks rules that Magic never breaks.
If you are a constructed player, then yeah I can understand only drafting it once or twice and going "well I checked that box, moving on". I'm a limited-only player. I don't give a damn if the set is legal in other formats, if the limited environment of that set is fun, I'll draft it.
The biggest problem with un2 is that they blew the limited environment very badly. They were more focused on jokes and it was so terrible to actually play. Maro promised that this time they made sure it'll be fun to draft.
Un-real
Looks like MaRo won this one. Looking forward to more ridiculous spoofs.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Avatar by Disappointing Signet Inc
EDH Decks UWB Oloro, Ageless Ascetic's spring of life RUG Animar, Soul of the Elements and friends... lots of them WBG Karador king of two worlds (value and attrition) WRKalemne's Angels BRUG Yidris's Wild Party UWBR Breya's Terrifying Tinker Toys UBRThe Pretender
Why wouldn't people buy Un-Sets? Commander has already proven that the one of Magic's biggest markets is kitchen table players, and Conspiracy has already proven people are very receptive to zany hijinks in the Draft phase, why not zany hijinks during the game itself?
I just hope the prices aren't MM / Conspiracy levels of outrageous. Definitely want to pick a box to play with friends.
The key thing you're missing is that cards in Commander are playable in every other format as well.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Standard
none
Modern UBG B/U/G control BBB MBC WUR Control WWW Prison RRR Goblins
Legacy BBB Pox UBG B/U/G Control UWU StoneBlade UW Miracle Control
Someone still hasn't answered this question yet: what is the main appeal of the Un-sets besides the lands and the nostalgia, and why should my friends and I buy any of this product?
A fun diversion that can be had at the kitchen table that provides jokes and creates laughs.
Someone still hasn't answered this question yet: what is the main appeal of the Un-sets besides the lands and the nostalgia, and why should my friends and I buy any of this product?
A fun diversion that can be had at the kitchen table that provides jokes and creates laughs.
Pretty much this. The short answer is that it's fun. Sometimes it's good to take a step back and have a little fun for once rather than constantly focus on building for tournament play.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Lapsed DCI Rules Advisor - Retired from playing but still hanging around
Someone still hasn't answered this question yet: what is the main appeal of the Un-sets besides the lands and the nostalgia, and why should my friends and I buy any of this product?
Someone still hasn't answered this question yet: what is the main appeal of the Un-sets besides the lands and the nostalgia, and why should my friends and I buy any of this product?
It's fun.
This has been said elsewhere too, but bares repeating.
But on top of that, it is being released during a time (December) that would normally not have a set released, so it's not taking the spot of any "serious" set or release.
Finally, not every set is for every player. Some hate commander, so they skip the commander decks. Some dislike alternate formats, so they skip planechase or archenemy. This may not be everyone's cup of tea, but one un-set 13 years after the most recent, isn't such an awful thing.
If you're hung up on tournament legality, this set was probably never for you: Un is as pure casual as it gets.
The marketers probably think this is a good gauge for how much they can sell something aimed entirely at the kitchen table. Conspiracy was successful, and I think this being greenlit is a direct result. I hope it goes well.
http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/161822321488/is-the-vanilla-mythic-black-bordered
Trap your friends in an endless game with this 23-card combo!
You mean Comfortable Chair?
Also, given how far in the future they work, even if it does sell well by the time they see that and green-light un-4 it'll be at least 3 or 4 more years.
http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/161822163953/how-many-boxes-of-unstable-do-i-need-to-buy-to#notes
I hadn't thought of this but now I need it. I want Masterpiece reprints of the Ass cards from Unhinged.
Really excited about this. I'm still trying to piece together full sets of the first 2 Un-Sets.
Modern: Mono-Red Control, Lantern Control, Eldrazi Taxes, Skred Infect
Pauper: Affinity
EDH: Gaddock Teeg Kithkin Tribal, Meren
Legacy: 8 Rack, Omnitell (Both in progress)
If Conspiracy was a set where the cards couldn't be used in any other official formats, the set would have been much less successfully and certainly it would have had much less appeal. Conspiracy made players that were interested in the new draft format happy, it made modern players happy because of reprints, it made legacy players and EDH players happy because of reprints and new cards that helped those formats. It also made cube players happy because it gave them new cards and cube reprints.
An unset only appeals to a small subset of players. Most EDH players don't play with silver border cards. No official formats aside from limited will use these cards. It's really disappointing. Seems like something that Mark Rosewater just wanted to make happen. A supplemental Kamigawa set would satisfy more players.
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate
The RL only covers, if I recall, tournament legal cards - which gold and silver bordered cards are not... why MaRo stated that gold bordered reprints would violate the RL a while back, with that fact in mind, is beyond me.
Because it's fun. It's wacky, silly, and leads to a night of wacky silly fun (feel free to add your choice of beverage). After you've drafted it, throw some of the more fun cards into your kitchen table decks. Make a silver-bordered deck. Make a cube with silver-bordered cards in it.
For those who are only interested in tournament formats and whether the cards are tournament-legal, then this set probably isn't for you. And that's ok. The majority of Magic players are casual kitchen-table players, not tournament players, and that's who this set is for. Sometimes Wizards makes tournament-helping Masters sets, and sometimes they make Casual-only sets. Everyone gets their share of fun.
It gives you a really weird limited environment that breaks rules that Magic never breaks.
If you are a constructed player, then yeah I can understand only drafting it once or twice and going "well I checked that box, moving on". I'm a limited-only player. I don't give a damn if the set is legal in other formats, if the limited environment of that set is fun, I'll draft it.
The biggest problem with un2 is that they blew the limited environment very badly. They were more focused on jokes and it was so terrible to actually play. Maro promised that this time they made sure it'll be fun to draft.
Looks like MaRo won this one. Looking forward to more ridiculous spoofs.
EDH Decks
UWB Oloro, Ageless Ascetic's spring of life
RUG Animar, Soul of the Elements and friends... lots of them
WBG Karador king of two worlds (value and attrition)
WRKalemne's Angels
BRUG Yidris's Wild Party
UWBR Breya's Terrifying Tinker Toys
UBR The Pretender
Older Magic as a Board Game: Panglacial Wurm , Mill
[180 classic cube]
Also I'm expecting to see a Spike legendary creature.
The Deep Ones
Cyborg Huey's Bosh, Iron Golem Deck
Cyborg Huey's Rosheen Meander Deck
BUGThe Dunwich Horror and Other Lovecraftian TalesBUG
Or maybe finish the cycle give us Vorthos, Lore Keeper that cares about flavour text (something black border can't do).
The key thing you're missing is that cards in Commander are playable in every other format as well.
none
Modern
UBG B/U/G control
BBB MBC
WUR Control
WWW Prison
RRR Goblins
Legacy
BBB Pox
UBG B/U/G Control
UWU StoneBlade
UW Miracle Control
Well, I guess this was a waste of time...
Still super psyched for this!
Pretty much this. The short answer is that it's fun. Sometimes it's good to take a step back and have a little fun for once rather than constantly focus on building for tournament play.
Zero chance (sorry) but we will finally be getting a "Spike, Super-Competitor" card of some sort and that makes me very happy indeed.
Bet he'll be too...probably at that.
Very happy to finally see this but I wouldn't expect any more after this, no matter what happens. They will not sell enough...they never have.
Fully-powered 600-Card "Dream Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/dreamcube
450-Card "Artificer's Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/artificer
Cubing in Indianapolis...send me a PM!!
It's fun.
But on top of that, it is being released during a time (December) that would normally not have a set released, so it's not taking the spot of any "serious" set or release.
Finally, not every set is for every player. Some hate commander, so they skip the commander decks. Some dislike alternate formats, so they skip planechase or archenemy. This may not be everyone's cup of tea, but one un-set 13 years after the most recent, isn't such an awful thing.
Plus, full art lands.
The marketers probably think this is a good gauge for how much they can sell something aimed entirely at the kitchen table. Conspiracy was successful, and I think this being greenlit is a direct result. I hope it goes well.
Low-power cube enthusiast!
My 1570 card cube (no longer updated)
My 415 Peasant+ Artifact and Enchantment Cube
Ever-Expanding "Just throw it in" cube.