I have been putting some thought into this, this morning: Amazon selling boxes for the upper $80's/lower $90's. Let that sink in...
Good news for us as consumers, right? $25-$30 away from the OG box cost of $60 from the 90's. Feels like prices are sliding down... but the sliding is not just the prices, but potentially the whole community. I am going to point out a few things that are happening at once that feel like low blows that (may) end up being a TKO (technical knock-out).
1) Amazon selling boxes really cheap... so what about the LGS that now has to compete w/ Amazon? Maybe LGS's will take out the booster box sales out of the equation all together and start focusing on other aspects of the game that they still have control of better than Amazon: singles (sales & trades for "store credit"), Magic supplies (sleeves, play mats, dice, counters [Ultra Pro counters for tokens], glass beads, WotC official minis for tokens), supplemental products that are only available for WPN locations, running tournaments/PTQ's/PPTQ's, pre-release's, oh & outright having a physical location to play at. OK, Amazon will change their business model, but not knock them out of the ballpark.
2) The recent pro-player who announced on Reddit that they are protesting the treatment of pro-players, from the ever-shrinking prize purses, to the tougher competition, to making them take care of their own flights & room (cover your own board, WotC shouldn't pay for their food, lol), the lack of coverage (ESPN stint didn't last long, BUT Twitch can jump on this quickly if they act fast and exclusivity is an option - What, no Pay-Per-View Worlds Tournament packing bars w/ drunken gamers screaming "Tap the swamp! Tap the swamp! You have an kill card in hand!!!"
3) A great attempt (hasn't been released, so it should very well work - VERY well) at the digital market w/ Arena. So far, from what the Beta has given us, gameplay that really mocks 1-vs-1 & hopefully, other metas, like Commander, Pauper, Tiny Leaders, etc...
4) Magic the Gathering movie would take this niche market and blow it up for the masses. Will a watered down environment be a good thing or a bad thing. Should the local soccer moms gossip about who will be a better Lillian Vess, Angelina Jolie or Megan Fox? How much of the Gatewatch can be pushed in sequels? Will this tie into sets in the future? Will spoilers coming as part of the previews? A lot of marketing options here can open up. Not too sure if this can help or hinder growth.
5) Rumors (kinda hoping they are true) of a Magic the Gathering MMO. I believe this really is true, as I have seen posts on Reddit and other forums that this is in development. But will it pull real-life players away from the LGS’s and in front of their computers? Will bad translations of planes and creatures cause enough of a panic that the core player base protests? Will there be in game exclusive planeswalkers, creatures and spells that will not translate into paper Magic well? And when they find away to translate it, will it be some rare promo or give away w/ DLS?
6) Hasbro store “Masterpieces” that have a HUUUGGGEE price tag? Why not keep the Masterpieces in new sets, but theme them out, such as Pauper classics? Tiny Leader cards, like Swat that are a nickel in other formats, but a possible $3+ card in a format like this? What about Two-Headed Giant cards or Commander cards that haven't seen a reprint? All of this boils down to what can translate well. NOTE: The card that should have been mentioned instead of Swat is Smother- it's THE best kill card for TL.
7) W/ crossovers that are already being hailed as amazing, Ravnica being brought to AD&D might be “jumping the shark.” What’s next? AD&D characters and creatures becoming a plane for the next WotC Magic set? Should we have a 2 or 3 Spell Jammer set? Do we really want to build a Mindflayer tribal deck? Oh, hell yeah we do!!! But what are the long-term plans for blurring these lines? Where is the line drawn? We’ve seen the crossovers in the Un-promo cards. Looks good, on paper… but do we really need an Optimus Prime planeswalker? Will we first scream yes, then see the floodgates open up and be scared of White Knights atop My Little Ponies?
8) Let’s talk about formats and the flavor-of-the-month? Commander has opened up a lot of design space. It has kept the game afloat for about a decade. Each year we see the fruit of R&D’s labor come out, w/ the Lieutenant keyword, Partner keyword, PW’s as Commanders, cards that affect all players (not just one shots – think keyword Myriad), and 2-Headed Giant cards that help out your partner – thank you Battlebond! These formats need to keep being pushed. They stop, and popularity decreases. What about Pauper Commander? Hasn’t become a thing yet, but w/ Uncommon Legends getting recent printings, it is a possible thing. Also, support for older formats stop, like Planeschase. It’s not 100% gone, as there has not been any announcements… as new sets come out, new Planes are added to the lore for future releases. BUT, since Theros, there have been plenty of locations for a third Planeschase and nothing even hinting (no patent names, announcements at major events, no hints in articles… but then of course dropping hints so far in advance would be a PR disaster. So it is understandable why no hints have merged. WotC needs to be careful.
Let’s stop w/ those 8 avenues that may point to an extinction of Magic the Gathering.
Thoughts? Critiques? Additions? Let’s really look at the ramifications of the above changes and ponder where ths game will go on the next decade? Next quarter century?
Clickbaity title aside, most of what you're talking about is ultimately upsides for the makers of magic, if not the community. Arena is poised to make an impact, their overpriced masterpiece set is guaranteed to sell, and their crossover products have the attention of two loyal fanbases that already have plenty of cross-platform intersection.
The tournament scene and LGS's at large are, indeed, taking a bit of a beating here, but let's be entirely frank: these are not Magic's target market. They never have been, and certainly aren't with Hasbro at the head. Tournament magic is uninteresting for the common viewer, making it a remarkably bad sport, but Arena has at least a shot at making it more flashy and easily consumed.
No sky falling, the game is merely shifting more towards digital platforms and casual play- where it makes more money.
I don't think the sky is falling, though I will point out that the LGS scene is pretty important, at least for some. Without it, I wouldn't play at all, since I don't have a friends group that plays. For me, it's basically FNM or nothing.
And I didn't even touch down on Puca Trade, Card Sphere or TCGPlayer in general when it comes to getting your singles. My LGS's have slow moving stock... stagnant counters. One of my LGS's (I'm sure many do this actually) have a TCGPlayer account. I know this store moves a lot of their high end Legacy & Modern singles online.
Trying to compete w/ TCG prices is a downward spiral. What it boils down to is, do you mind waiting for the mail or does your instant gratification for the deck push you to buy at the LGS?
I have been putting some thought into this, this morning: Amazon selling boxes for the upper $80's/lower $90's. Let that sink in...
Good news for us as consumers, right? $25-$30 away from the OG box cost of $60 from the 90's. Feels like prices are sliding down... but the sliding is not just the prices, but potentially the whole community. I am going to point out a few things that are happening at once that feel like low blows that (may) end up being a TKO (technical knock-out).
1) Amazon selling boxes really cheap... so what about the LGS that now has to compete w/ Amazon? Maybe LGS's will take out the booster box sales out of the equation all together and start focusing on other aspects of the game that they still have control of better than Amazon: singles (sales & trades for "store credit"), Magic supplies (sleeves, play mats, dice, counters [Ultra Pro counters for tokens], glass beads, WotC official minis for tokens), supplemental products that are only available for WPN locations, running tournaments/PTQ's/PPTQ's, pre-release's, oh & outright having a physical location to play at. OK, Amazon will change their business model, but not knock them out of the ballpark.
I think that this isn't anything but a good idea. Most places that I buy from already sell booster boxes in the $85-$90 range when they come out, so buying them from my LGS and picking them up (saving on shipping) has always made the most sense. What this does is open up that card availability to those people who don't have an LGS to buy from, especially given free shipping via Prime. Magic is already an expensive hobby, so anything that makes it less expensive is a good thing in my opinion. LGSs will still be okay; most of the good ones make the most money from drafts, tournament entry fees, and singles sales.
2) The recent pro-player who announced on Reddit that they are protesting the treatment of pro-players, from the ever-shrinking prize purses, to the tougher competition, to making them take care of their own flights & room (cover your own board, WotC shouldn't pay for their food, lol), the lack of coverage (ESPN stint didn't last long, BUT Twitch can jump on this quickly if they act fast and exclusivity is an option - What, no Pay-Per-View Worlds Tournament packing bars w/ drunken gamers screaming "Tap the swamp! Tap the swamp! You have an kill card in hand!!!"
I'm not really sure how Gerry Thompson's protest will end up affecting how the Pro Tour is handled. They have changed the Pro Tour structure so many times in the last 5-10 years that its hard to keep up with it. In the end, WotC needs to decide whether they want to compete with other e-sports that actually generate enough revenue to support full-time professionals. When the Magic Pro Tour was conceived, it was never intended for it to become a full-time endeavor, but ever since the explosion of poker and now e-sports the expectation has changed dramatically.
3) A great attempt (hasn't been released, so it should very well work - VERY well) at the digital market w/ Arena. So far, from what the Beta has given us, gameplay that really mocks 1-vs-1 & hopefully, other metas, like Commander, Pauper, Tiny Leaders, etc...
To me, this is one of the first steps that WotC has taken towards making Magic a viable e-sport. If you make the graphically more appealing, you could potentially televise it much better. By giving your telecast more of a video game feel rather than a chess match feel, you can appeal to a much wider audience. If anything, this says that WotC is trying to move in that direction, but to Gerry T's point they are doing it veeerry sloooowwllly.....
4) Magic the Gathering movie would take this niche market and blow it up for the masses. Will a watered down environment be a good thing or a bad thing. Should the local soccer moms gossip about who will be a better Lillian Vess, Angelina Jolie or Megan Fox? How much of the Gatewatch can be pushed in sequels? Will this tie into sets in the future? Will spoilers coming as part of the previews? A lot of marketing options here can open up. Not too sure if this can help or hinder growth.
Movies built on game franchises don't ever work out. I think that Magic would be a good fantasy movie franchise, but I think that the endeavor would appeal to more people if the MTG label was left completely off the movie. There is no way that Hasbro/WotC would ever do that, so I think that they are better off not even going down that path.
5) Rumors (kinda hoping they are true) of a Magic the Gathering MMO. I believe this really is true, as I have seen posts on Reddit and other forums that this is in development. But will it pull real-life players away from the LGS’s and in front of their computers? Will bad translations of planes and creatures cause enough of a panic that the core player base protests? Will there be in game exclusive planeswalkers, creatures and spells that will not translate into paper Magic well? And when they find away to translate it, will it be some rare promo or give away w/ DLS?
I think the MMO-RPG genre has pretty much run its course. I don't think that anything that WotC would produce would get people away from WoW, Final Fantasy, Skyrim, etc., nor will it get many people away from Fortnite, PUBG, Overwatch, etc. either. I think that they should stick to what they know best.
6) Hasbro store “Masterpieces” that have a HUUUGGGEE price tag? Why not keep the Masterpieces in new sets, but theme them out, such as Pauper classics? Tiny Leader cards, like Swat that are a nickel in other formats, but a possible $3+ card in a format like this? What about Two-Headed Giant cards or Commander cards that haven't seen a reprint? All of this boils down to what can translate well.
I think that WotC could serve a lot of communities better by choosing better reprints for their Masters sets and Commander releases. A card like Swat is a fine example; it could easily slide into a Commander deck and help out on multiple fronts. Masterpieces are kind of a joke in my opinion; sure every little bit helps, but its like trying to water a desert with an eye dropper.
7) W/ crossovers that are already being hailed as amazing, Ravnica being brought to AD&D might be “jumping the shark.” What’s next? AD&D characters and creatures becoming a plane for the next WotC Magic set? Should we have a 2 or 3 Spell Jammer set? Do we really want to build a Mindflayer tribal deck? Oh, hell yeah we do!!! But what are the long-term plans for blurring these lines? Where is the line drawn? We’ve seen the crossovers in the Un-promo cards. Looks good, on paper… but do we really need an Optimus Prime planeswalker? Will we first scream yes, then see the floodgates open up and be scared of White Knights atop My Little Ponies?
Given that Magic has largely borrowed from the D&D universe for most of its lifetime, it was only a matter of time that Hasbro reversed the trend. The line was blurred when Alpha was printed. As for cross-overs with other universes, I just don't ever see that happening. The creative team at WotC is too good at creating and developing worlds that we keep wanting to come back to. I don't see that stopping anytime soon.
8) Let’s talk about formats and the flavor-of-the-month? Commander has opened up a lot of design space. It has kept the game afloat for about a decade. Each year we see the fruit of R&D’s labor come out, w/ the Lieutenant keyword, Partner keyword, PW’s as Commanders, cards that affect all players (not just one shots – think keyword Myriad), and 2-Headed Giant cards that help out your partner – thank you Battlebond! These formats need to keep being pushed. They stop, and popularity decreases. What about Pauper Commander? Hasn’t become a thing yet, but w/ Uncommon Legends getting recent printings, it is a possible thing. Also, support for older formats stop, like Planeschase. It’s not 100% gone, as there has not been any announcements… as new sets come out, new Planes are added to the lore for future releases. BUT, since Theros, there have been plenty of locations for a third Planeschase and nothing even hinting (no patent names, announcements at major events, no hints in articles… but then of course dropping hints so far in advance would be a PR disaster. So it is understandable why no hints have merged. WotC needs to be careful.
I think that Planechase products have been coming out every 3-4 years, so maybe in 2019? 2018 was jam-packed with releases so it makes sense that there was nothing released this year. I think that WotC is committed to giving us one Commander set and at least one other 'supplemental' set release a year, with up to two being possible (this year had both Battlebond and Unstable). I would just be patient and continue to let WotC that there is a demand for such products.
I have mixed feelings on the Wizards/Amazon partnership. I feel that Wizards is trying to lock in the booster box prices because they seemed to believe that the cardshops are taking advantage of them and jacking up the price of the booster boxes, especially months later. But I do feel that the real villain is wizards for pushing booster draft mechanics for almost 15 years.
What's wrong with booster draft mechanics?
Originally, booster packs were expansions to magic entry decks. Therefore the rarity is based on the power level cards into building your deck. In the end you are getting some really good cards at all levels. Counterspell is a common because it's a card wizards believe should be easy for players to own. (if counterspell was made today, wizards would make it a rare because they don't want that many counterspells on the drafting table)
The problem with booster draft mechanics, wizards focus the rarity based on how many times the card maybe drafted on the table. The problem is that 90% of the cards are *****! Except if you are drafting. Cardshops are having a problem because when they open a booster box they have 10% marketable cards. Sure there are a few sets that seemed to push closer to 20% but it's not enough to make that awesome return. Sadly, for years cardshops believed that wizards was focused in standard, and this pushes cardshops into buying insane amount of booster boxes.
The proof that cardshops don't care about standard is the creation of mystics.
The biggest issues is mystics. Booster draft mechanics - each mystic is a bomb. In reality, only a handful of mystics are really worth playing and they end up offseting the lost value of the box. For example, Nicol Bolas, the Ravager looks like an awesome card, cool for commander, but not worth +20 dollars. If the card was a rare, it might be worth 5 dollars.
I have doubts wizards is going to change the booster draft mechanics because this is their real focus in making money.
I have mixed feelings on the Wizards/Amazon partnership. I feel that Wizards is trying to lock in the booster box prices because they seemed to believe that the cardshops are taking advantage of them and jacking up the price of the booster boxes, especially months later. But I do feel that the real villain is wizards for pushing booster draft mechanics for almost 15 years.
What's wrong with booster draft mechanics?
Originally, booster packs were expansions to magic entry decks. Therefore the rarity is based on the power level cards into building your deck. In the end you are getting some really good cards at all levels. Counterspell is a common because it's a card wizards believe should be easy for players to own. (if counterspell was made today, wizards would make it a rare because they don't want that many counterspells on the drafting table)
The problem with booster draft mechanics, wizards focus the rarity based on how many times the card maybe drafted on the table. The problem is that 90% of the cards are *****! Except if you are drafting. Cardshops are having a problem because when they open a booster box they have 10% marketable cards. Sure there are a few sets that seemed to push closer to 20% but it's not enough to make that awesome return. Sadly, for years cardshops believed that wizards was focused in standard, and this pushes cardshops into buying insane amount of booster boxes.
The proof that cardshops don't care about standard is the creation of mystics.
The biggest issues is mystics. Booster draft mechanics - each mystic is a bomb. In reality, only a handful of mystics are really worth playing and they end up offseting the lost value of the box. For example, Nicol Bolas, the Ravager looks like an awesome card, cool for commander, but not worth +20 dollars. If the card was a rare, it might be worth 5 dollars.
I have doubts wizards is going to change the booster draft mechanics because this is their real focus in making money.
I think a possible answer to the "only good in limited" rares is Cube drafting. I have heard of Cubes made up of some of the worst cards made.... on purpose. I am sure if some shops took their unmoving stock of draft rares, created a Cube w/ a weekly event (can also have a Pauper cube on the side), the LGSs can charge a premium with store credit as prize support that is only good for non-sealed product, a lot of that chaff will find a home.
Other options would to donate the chaff rares to non-profits & teach the next generation to play Magic. Now a new breed of players are being made, while keeping gangs, neglect & negativity as a whole away. Expand that model, donate to schools & summer programs. Now allow said shops to get a right-off & save some $$$ in their taxes.
Wizards has some opportunity to take that 90% of lameness and recycle it w/ the help of the Magic community. And a lot of those unplayable-today cards will end up in the collections of youth & teens for a long time. By the time the cards have matured w/ the kids/teens, there could very well be some value to the cards that are now collectible and old (good for set filling or trade away to the next generation).
Like I said, there are answers. There just needs to be a movement & use of stored energy to propel the chaff. Best examples: Mold Demon... one of the worst cards ever made. Now it has a $15 price tag for collectors. The only way this card will see play is in a Cube of unplayables. Other than that, set completing. Now imagine Monomania in 20+ years... Yup, probably will be a $10 card. Why? Less in circulation in NM condition. Collectors, bad card collectors, Cubes, etc... will want it. Not to mention, play styles and formats emerge, breathing new life into dead cards. Best example, the card mentioned at first posting: Smother. Amazing in Tiny Leaders.
PS - Smother is the card I should have mentioned first, lol...
Like I said, there are answers. There just needs to be a movement & use of stored energy to propel the chaff. Best examples: Mold Demon... one of the worst cards ever made. Now it has a $15 price tag for collectors. The only way this card will see play is in a Cube of unplayables. Other than that, set completing. Now imagine Monomania in 20+ years... Yup, probably will be a $10 card. Why? Less in circulation in NM condition. Collectors, bad card collectors, Cubes, etc... will want it. Not to mention, play styles and formats emerge, breathing new life into dead cards. Best example, the card mentioned at first posting: Smother. Amazing in Tiny Leaders.
The reason mold demon got to that pricetag is because it is a rare from legends and there was only 19,300 English copies of that ever got printed in existence which means that getting it to price spike is a lot easier compared to a card with a higher quantity like monomania which has a higher quantity. As various things can happen that would result in a mold demon being destroyed such as washing machines, rain, fires, ripped up by other people, drinks, pets, etc. It would require significant effort for a rare or mythic printed in one of the more recent sets to achieve such a scarcity. (Example: When someone tried to buy up and destroy all the copies of Séance but failed.)
I already raised this point to death (and then raised it again like an undead) over at another thread, but let me try to sum it up.
WotC is "changing" their target demographic, or to be more precise, adopting methods to adhere to the changes of how their target demographic choose their games, because let's face it, the target age demographic of MTG (I would say teenagers to maybe the early 20s) has not changed, but the methods people of their age group use to determine what games they play is different than it was in the 90s.
To put it bluntly, gamers nowadays are spoilt by convenience and instant gratification, because of the way they were introduced to games - mainly by the likes of mobile gaming. With a simple "purchase" button press you can acquire a top-tier build/deck and proceed to curbstomp your opponents in a matter of less than a minute. We can argue how unfortunate it is that the gaming industry has turned out like that, but it changes nothing that a sizable, if not majority of the new generations (and upcoming ones) will be like that and let's just say the LGS system would seem the slowest tortoise to them of all time. Said people are also probably used to conveniences of technology in other aspects of their life, they probably shop more online than offline. The idea of having to "slog" your way to a LGS with no guarantee of getting what you want will seem like an ancient relic when you're used to immediately getting what you need immediately with a push of a button when it comes to game (especially when there's no delivery aspect for games).
It works backwards as well - even players from the older eras adopt these convenient techniques, not because they were introduced to it this way, but simply because of other responsibilities reduce their free time for gaming and these techniques allow them to maximize the little time they have (and honestly we can't really blame them). So the actual population of people who can participate in the LGS system is bluntly put, dramatically shrinking (note I didn't say vocally support, anyone can do that, but its the actual participation that matters in numbers in the end).
The demographics and landscape are changing (or to be more precise, they already changed, WotC is actually playing catch-up now), the LGS system and its participants is essentially a minority at this point (and honestly its hilarious that people within the system still act as though they're kings and the only reason the game can survive). If (and when) Arena successfully launches, watch that shrinking accelerate in terms of percentage (never underestimate anything that can be played on-the-go).
We can list all of the advantages of the old system, no doubt, but its pointless to list all these to either me or WotC because trust us, we know that very well (how can WotC not know they've been literally the business for 20+ years). It's simply a fact that the majority of the new generations of gamers (as well as old gamers with simply less time) don't see them as advantageous (anymore). WotC can't single-handily change the mindset of generations warped by the technology of mobile gaming, so they either adopt MTG the game into said formula, or let MTG "die" together with its old systems. Okay, "die" is an exaggeration, but the shrinking is something they cannot afford since WotC has to answer to Hasbro anyway, but even if they didn't have to, not changing is essentially letting MTG go the direction of say, Chess (I mean, you don't really see a LGS dedicated to Chess right)?
Quote from Tara Sophia from MagicalTabletopGirls »
We're going to be talking about the Amazon conundrum going on in the Magic Community right now. I could have come out and did my song and dance when they had the article first posted saying, "Hey I was right I called this!" This is what I said that Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro should've done over a year ago and they did it "huzzah!" but I really wanted to just wait to hear what the feedback was from the Magic Community and see what other Magic YouTube Content Creators had to say about it because I had a feeling that I would've been on the opposite end of the spectrum and as it turns out I am, dun dun dun!
So over a year ago Rudy from Alpha Investments put out a YouTube video titled, "Remove all Distributors for Magic The Gathering!? and sell DIRECT to the players" and this was on March 6th, 2017. Of course the number one comment on that YouTube video was, "0% chance. They can't even keep standard workable, let alone handle a complex logistics operation." I said the next day in my YouTube video that Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro should not only do that but what they should do is If they don't want to handle the logistics themselves then they should do it on Amazon.
So what is my opinion on this whole Amazon kerfuffle, why did we get here, how did we get here? So it was the right thing to do. They absolutely had to sell on Amazon. So basically what started happening was that you had this explosion of Magic around Khans of Tarkir. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that both to their benefit and detriment they repeated what they reprinted the Onslaught Fetchland cycle which ginned up a lot of interest from people who played in the Onslaught block. Of course I was one of those people and I did come back to playing Magic at the time of Khans. Anyway the point is that they reprinted the original Fetchland cycle from Onslaught and it was also a three colored set.
Now there was a small time period when I was on hiatus from Magic where they didn't really have a lot of multicolored sets like that. They had the whole Return to Ravnica thing, but it was Ravnica. You had original Ravnica and Return to Ravnica being multicolored sets, so Tarkir was something new. It was a new plane with multicolored tricolors and stuff like that. So it was very interesting, it was bold, it was new. It was actually something really new for Magic to go that balls deep into tricolor. There was also a lot of really good themes and Dragons were cool, so it was a win-win. Khans was a win. You had powerful cards and a powerful land cycle to actually help sell the set.
Now where things went wrong was when they got to Dragons of Tarkir. Now by that point Magic was booming, lots of people were making money hand over fist. The buyouts started happening in the MTG Finance avoiding tax community and what started happening at that point was the price of Standard / Modern legal decks had gone up to about $1,200 in order to be competitive due to running 12 Fetchlands. Of course you had the whole Siege Rhino thing including the Dig Through Time and Treasure Cruise nonsense. But by the time Collected Company was printed in Dragons of Tarkhir, things really went downhill fast.
Now a few moves were made by Local Game Stores at the time including Online Content Creators, so forth and so on that really pissed off the employees who work at Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro in their more business focused apartment which is what I want to hit on for the first half of this discussion. So they released a deck that had Siege Rhino in it and a lot of the Online Content Creators complained because they were making a lot of money by opening booster packs of Khans of Tarkir while selling Siege Rhino's at an insanely high price. So with them printing it even though it had different art and curly, God those cards curled horribly bad because this is like the beginning of when Magic was starting to have card stock quality issues.
So that was when Magic started taking a nosedive with Dragons of Tarkir. However they came out with this product and it had Siege Rhino. People were complaining due to their speculations so then they printed this new card at the time called Hangarback Walker which got people upset. Not the players as they were joyful that they had a chance to get a hold of some of these expensive cards and one of these products had Windswept Heath in it. So the players were happy as Wizards of the Coast was making money off of it. It's one of those situations where the vocal minority was extremely negative about it and the same vocal minority was getting From the Vault products and selling them on eBay for $200.
So these Local Game Stores were given these Premium products to sell and they were either breaking them down and selling the card singles at a huge markup or they were selling like From the Vault and stuff like that at a Premium online instead of selling them to their customers at MSRP. Then the Masters sets came along and that became horrible from the very beginning with the reselling online and stuff like that as it really peaked with Modern Masters 2017. It peaked so high that they made the next two Masters sets terrible. A lot of that had to do with the fact that these Local Game Stores were buying up these cases, opening them up, and then selling them online as they were never getting into the hands of these customers.
So you guys have to understand that a lot of this is the Local Game Stores' own fault and it gets worse because that's not the only thing they're guilty of. They're guilty of selling the FNM Promos and Prize Boxes that you get for booster drafts and stuff. Then during the Khans of Tarkir period you had FNM Promos like Path to Exile and Serum Visions so people were creating "Fake Local Game Stores" by running Fake FNM Events that didn't really exist to get these Promos to sell on eBay on the Secondary Market which ended up artificially inflating the price on these cards as it ends up screwing up the print run sizes.
Now you got Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro printing more Magic products to help maintain a demand that doesn't really exist because it's been screwed over. So you had all that going on even though Magic YouTubers like Kevin from Rogue Deckbuilder and MTG Lion calling this out. Kevin owns a Local Game Store and he doesn't like Local Game Stores violating WPN laws cause he knows that it would make things bad for him and it did. There were a lot of really bad actors that effectively ruined his livelihood. There could've been activities that he might of been able to engage in, he had the ability of course but he chose not to because he did the right thing but other Local Game Store owners and staff members didn't.
It doesn't really teach you the life lesson of being able to cheat to get ahead but morally Kevin did the right thing though unfortunately it didn't really help him out in the end now did it? So these people are completely screwed now though luckily Kevin still has a job. So what Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro did as a response to that was they just stopped printing good FNM Promos by switching over to Foil Creature Tokens and stuff like that. Then to make sure that the Foil Creature Tokens at FNM weren't special at all, they also printed the Foil Creature Tokens in Unstable. So now there was no reason to go to FNM since you really weren't getting anything special. So now there's no reason for you to even go to your Local Game Store for the Promos.
Then it turns effectively as I've said before in past YouTube videos, I'm not a Local Game Store owner. I don't own a store, I'm not responsible for a store succeeding. If I'm not interested in going to your business then I'm just not interested in going to your business. I don't owe you anything, I shouldn't have to be paying more for my products because you suck at running your own store. There is a Local Game Store that I do like to go to in the state. There were two actually, one of them went out of business because they were operating at the margins shortly after the release of Dominaria. The other Local Game Store I like to go to does everything. They do Magic, Pokémon, Anime Games, stuff like that.
They also do Tabletop Board Games, since they actually host Board Game Events like we're different ya know? Local Statewide Game Designers and stuff like that come and they bring their new Board Games and Card Games and stuff like that so they can play. It's like a fair cause they have the floor space for it. They were very smart since they bought this location in a rundown dirt mall that was probably built in like the '60's and they cleaned it up, it's huge. It's like what a Big Lots used to be. Cleaned it up with new carpet, new glass, all nice and clean as the restrooms are brand new but they do everything. They could hold a Grand Prix If they wanted to. They even have a setup shop for miniature painting.
When I used to participate in Magic Draft events, not only would I get three or four tables to draft. They would fire a second Draft event during FNM at 10 p.m. after the first one had already finished. So people would usually be there until around 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning to play Magic. They were making money hand over fist and they still are they're still open, it's still fine they do alright because they did everything, they hedged their bets, and when you can literally walk out their door across the street and get something for like 50 cents or a dollar. I think they need to fix their pricing on that because they're losing business (chuckles) but regardless they do sell snacks and yes Rudy they do need to be a 7-Eleven convenience store. YOU HAVE TO and sadly I think that's the future of the Local Game Store.
It's basically becoming like a Chuck E. Cheese's for adults, that really is the future. So regardless the point is that it's not Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro's responsibility to get butts into your door since that's your responsibility as a Local Game Store owner. But they used to give you those things and unfortunately people abuse it by taking advantage of it as they put themselves into a situation where Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro decided to pull the plug on them and then they pull the plug on Direct-to-Store Sales. So even If you're in the WPN program you're unable to get Magic product directly from Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro since you have to get it through a regular distributor. Why do you think they did that?
They did it as a punishment to all those people who had been operating in the wrong. The other side of it is that Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro doesn't want to deal with the Local Game Store anymore AT ALL. Certainly not after all the scandals that took place in recent years, they don't want to deal with it. They don't want to deal with the Judge Program, I mean they're being sued at least once or twice. They don't want to deal with all the inappropriate behavior that goes on with Local Game Stores anymore as they'd be more than happy to see all of them go out of business and unfortunately that means that there's going to be good people like Kevin from Rogue Deckbuilder who did the right thing that go out of business or completely change their business model.
This isn't a move that was done like, "Oh man we gotta like destroy the glory and sanctity of the Local Magic Card Store". It's that the Industry has been corrupted for years and this is just the ultimate final nail in the coffin. Remember the Challenger decks in Magic? That was probably one of their highest selling products this past year and the Local Game Store owners just complained about it saying, "Oh you put Chandra in here and now we can't sell the Chandra singles at $40 a pop." You know so now why are we opening booster boxes anymore? It is true that when you drop the price of a card single like that from $40 to $20 by printing it as a specialty product then the point of opening a booster box becomes less.
The odds of you breaking even on a booster box are greatly diminished so there's that. So If you don't want to deal with these Single Sellers then that's how you get rid of them by printing products and supplemental product so that way players can actually get the cards and I think that's the other side of it. Now what they have not done yet is actually destroy Star City Games and Channel Fireball since there's been a lot of accusations over the years of insider trading regarding knowledge about certain Magic cards being reprinted like Tarmogoyf and other special treatment like these Guilds of Ravnica: Mythic Edition booster boxes that Channel Fireball is going to be giving out to those attending Grand Prix's.
There have been all these things, look at the "God book of Magic: the Gathering" and what that was back in the day. Now a lot of these stores like Star City Games and Channel Fireball were given preferential treatment in other ways and some of them you just can't prove. However the data would suggest that a lot of people knew things that they shouldn't have known in advance and so they were able to do certain things. It's direct market manipulation and what we haven't seen is the complete devaluing of Modern legal Magic cards to the point where it's actually a consumer friendly game. The reason why that hasn't happened yet is because Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro is in bed with Star City Games and Channel Fireball.
Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro wants them to succeed so that they can continue to keep the price of Magic cards escalated or create a form of "scarcity" as Mark Rosewater puts it to directly benefit the big boys so basically they're creating a Walmart / Target scenario. If you guys haven't figured it out yet that's what's going on here. They do their moves based on the demands of MTG Finance. That's why it's very weird that Kevin from Rogue Deckbuilder would even open a brick-and-mortar store other than for his love of the game. If you want to get into MTG Finance you don't need a brick-and-mortar store to do that but it's really because everything they've done as far as to how terrible Magic Standard booster sets have been to the benefit of MTG Finance.
That's why the Masters sets were so terrible for MTG Finance. So If you're a part of MTG Finance how can you be mad about the Masters sets? Well that's how you find yourself wearing too many hats. Unfortunately Kevin found himself in that scenario where it's like he's trying to run a store and he's trying to run a business and his entire business isn't MTG Finance. So it's like what happened? Well you had these two Masters sets (Iconic Masters and Masters 25) well they're terrible. So that means your old cards, your investments, your speculations, well those stay high in price but now you got this terrible product that you can't make any money off of that's selling on Amazon and eBay for $130 or $140 when the MSRP was $250.
Masters sets used to be sold for about $300 to $400 and that's what happens when you print good cards in them and you guys don't want them to print good cards! I mean Kevin's not that bad, I praise him when he needs praise however I disagree with a lot of his MTG Finance stuff. But even he and even Rudy from Alpha Investments has chimed in at this point saying, "Eh these prices are really getting out of control." You can get to a point where you self-sabotage which is effectively what that boils down to and that's what MTG Finance has done, they did it and that's what created Iconic Masters and Eternal Masters. Right now Magic products are terrible, they aren't selling, can't sell them at Big Retail Stores, and certainly you can't sell them at Local Game Stores because that customer is much smarter than the customer whose just buying a booster pack for $4 at Walmart.
Now sometimes I've heard that people live in an area where they don't have a Local Game Store and it's a matter of convenience. However that same customer could literally buy that same product at an online retailer for about $74 to $100 right? It's not just Sports and More, I've been buying all my booster boxes online from online retailers for years. So my pack price usually averages to about $2.35 to $2.50 a booster pack. Now I haven't bought any in a while since I did my whole boycott and then I've done my whole, "I've tried Dominaria, the card quality was a little better" but now the set design is so terrible that I'm not even buying anymore Magic product.
The point is that the recent Magic Standard booster sets are so poorly designed now that the savvy consumers aren't paying $4 a booster pack. So what choice do they have but to sell to normies? Well they use Amazon, they go to Walmart, and then they go to Target. They're not buying this product. The only valuable cards in Magic Core 2019 are what Scapeshift, Nicol Bolas, the Ravager, Liliana, Untouched by Death, and that's really about it? The only cards worth more than five bucks in the set. Now I think $5 is a good price, I wish all Magic cards were about $5 but in order to get there you got to sell on these outlets like Amazon to help turn Magic: the Gathering back into a Trading Card Game where it's just like Pokémon TCG.
You never really ask the question in Pokémon TCG, "How much is this card worth?" No you wouldn't do that. You might but If a person really asked you how much a card in Pokémon TCG was worth then you know they play Magic or had played Magic at some point in their lives. But anyway the point I'm getting at is savvy consumers aren't buying Magic product because they know they don't have any monetary value in them. If they put monetary value in them then you're back to the situation of these MTG Finance people breathing down your throat where they're like, "It's the card value I can't do anything" but If you're a Singles Seller then it's the only motivation you have of buying a booster box, so If there's no motivation to open a booster box, then you're not selling card singles.
Why the heck would anybody want to deal with this when they can just sell to normies on Amazon out of anywhere for $75 to $100 a booster box? I've said for a long time now that the manufacturing cost for these booster packs are about 5 cents a card which is 80 cents a pack. So even If I'm paying $2.50 I'm paying more than double the actual price it is to manufacturing when I say the manufacturing cost I mean everything. That includes everything from designing, printing, and packaging the card. So I think it's great that they're on Amazon while the problem is that their product still sucks.
So they're only going to be able to sell it to people who are the bitter clingers that are hanging on in the hopes that Magic product will get better but I will not be purchasing a single booster box of Magic until they get it right when the card quality is back to what it used to be. Until the set design is actually good and not broken by requiring ban after ban after ban. Until we get solid reprints that we need for multiple formats that has new cards that I want to use in EDH / Commander. Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro needs to stop making products that literally just go in on a thousand count of VCG boxes never to be seen again.
I want cards that go in my decks and If you print enough of them into a set I will buy that set to get those cards. I won't be buying it from an online retailer. I will be buying it from you by buying the booster boxes and acquiring the packs like I did for almost 20 years but you're not doing that Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro so who cares? So who cares If they sell on Amazon to normies who are literally buying landfill trash for $100 a pop. The only people who really care are the ones that will be financially affected by this but you got to account everything that has led up to this situation and understand that it was inevitable. If Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro were still printing good products and designing good sets you'd still have people in your doors playing Standard. You'd have people at your Local Game Store wanting to engage in Magic events and the reality is that they don't.
It's why they don't have a clientele to stick with them through this mess. A lot of these Local Game Stores have been chugging along just because they can, you know? Not from effort on their part to cultivate and build an active community. Now I know Kevin has, but you know the whole Magic Community isn't Kevin people. There are really a lot of bad Local Game Store owners and staff members out there. I've been to places where I've been in their restroom and I'm just never coming back here again. You gotta think that those Local Game Stores that give the business a bad name deserve to go. They deserve to go out of business. And they will but unfortunately some good ones will go as well.
If I was Hasbro now would be the time to do layoffs for Wizards of the Coast employees. I would cut cost and do massive layoffs to lead to nice little profits. If anything I would ultimately get to the point where you may only want to run one or two distributors nationwide like whatever distributor deals or handles Walmart and Target. I think Rudy already worked something out with MJ Holding, but I would sell to these distributors so that they can stock whatever retailer spots are left at this point when it comes to Wizards of the Coast. I would do mass layoffs. I'd get rid of all the bloggers who are ruining the game. I guarantee it's not worth keeping these people around. I would just fire all of them and I would sell these really poorly designed MTG Finance sets on Amazon.
There you go you can sell your landfill trash on Amazon for $75 to $200. You'll sell them to normies as the normies will buy them and they can turn a profit. Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro can keep releasing junk set after junk set after junk set. The ultimate goal is to dumb down Paper Magic for Magic Arena to make Magic more and more normie friendly. The mechanics are getting dumbed down and anything that's broken is banned because they don't put enough time and effort into designing the sets to prevent that from happening, and they'll just make it simpler so that way normies can play it on Magic Arena while selling it to a dumber consumer. It'll be a dumber product for a dumber consumer.
We want Magic to be great again but we just have to accept it. We're in the five stages of grief. For the past year I did the whole anger thing and now it's time to get to the acceptance part of the five stages of grief because we should be there and If you're not there then I'm sorry but we just have to accept it. Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro is run by people who have no interest in designing a solid product within the scope of what Magic is and that's unfortunate but yeah what are you going to do? So I hope you guys have a great day and I'll see you later.
"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
I think a possible answer to the "only good in limited" rares is Cube drafting. I have heard of Cubes made up of some of the worst cards made.... on purpose. I am sure if some shops took their unmoving stock of draft rares, created a Cube w/ a weekly event (can also have a Pauper cube on the side), the LGSs can charge a premium with store credit as prize support that is only good for non-sealed product, a lot of that chaff will find a home.
Cube is a whole different story.
What I'm talking about is how Wizards is focused on the booster drafting, a lot of players don't care about booster drafting and because because the majority of the cards are focused on booster drafting, the demand of playable cards are very narrow and the rarities are screwed.
Other options would to donate the chaff rares to non-profits & teach the next generation to play Magic. Now a new breed of players are being made, while keeping gangs, neglect & negativity as a whole away. Expand that model, donate to schools & summer programs. Now allow said shops to get a right-off & save some $$$ in their taxes.
I think the real answer is acknowledge that playing in a magic tournament is equivalent to playing poker and such gambling events. Push the playing age to 21 and offer beer at the cardshops. I know playing magic is not gambling because they got rid of Ante... [Yes I'm sarcastic] Seriously, gambling is when players put money for an entry fee and play in a game for a prized return.
Wizards has some opportunity to take that 90% of lameness and recycle it w/ the help of the Magic community. And a lot of those unplayable-today cards will end up in the collections of youth & teens for a long time. By the time the cards have matured w/ the kids/teens, there could very well be some value to the cards that are now collectible and old (good for set filling or trade away to the next generation).
They are not going to do that because they want people buying ton of booster packs...
Like I said, there are answers. There just needs to be a movement & use of stored energy to propel the chaff. Best examples: Mold Demon... one of the worst cards ever made. Now it has a $15 price tag for collectors. The only way this card will see play is in a Cube of unplayables. Other than that, set completing. Now imagine Monomania in 20+ years... Yup, probably will be a $10 card. Why? Less in circulation in NM condition. Collectors, bad card collectors, Cubes, etc... will want it. Not to mention, play styles and formats emerge, breathing new life into dead cards. Best example, the card mentioned at first posting: Smother. Amazing in Tiny Leaders.
PS - Smother is the card I should have mentioned first, lol...
Mold Demon is a funny card. When the card was made people were playing 4 sol rings in a deck. And it's not impossible for a player to put a creature 6/6 creature with 7 mana into play on the first turn. That's why the controller needs 2 swamps in play. Yes magic has gone a long way...
I really believe if wizards want to bring more players into the game they need to make another Tempest/Urzas set. Awesome cards that push the format and add excitement with bannings.
To put it bluntly, gamers nowadays are spoilt by convenience and instant gratification, because of the way they were introduced to games - mainly by the likes of mobile gaming. With a simple "purchase" button press you can acquire a top-tier build/deck and proceed to curbstomp your opponents in a matter of less than a minute. We can argue how unfortunate it is that the gaming industry has turned out like that, but it changes nothing that a sizable, if not majority of the new generations (and upcoming ones) will be like that and let's just say the LGS system would seem the slowest tortoise to them of all time. Said people are also probably used to conveniences of technology in other aspects of their life, they probably shop more online than offline. The idea of having to "slog" your way to a LGS with no guarantee of getting what you want will seem like an ancient relic when you're used to immediately getting what you need immediately with a push of a button when it comes to game (especially when there's no delivery aspect for games).
I hate to break it to you but this is not a new occurrence. I was buying singles off eBay back in 2004.
I hate to break it to you but this is not a new occurrence. I was buying singles off eBay back in 2004.
I started buying cards on Ebay too, I really believe the sudden popular of magic spiked the early day's of ebay... (at the time it was the only place to buy cards outside of a cardshop.
Don't let the younger generation fool you. The popularity of magic has not changed, I would believe it's more popular today because most of the older magic players has children that they introduce their kids into playing the game. But I do believe the people that do play the game are not going to cardshops because the setting is not comfortable for us older players and a lot of younger players are not trained with a must play in a tournament mindset. (and this is why wizards is looking into Amazon, Walmart & Target).
I don't think all the cardshops are going to die! I do think some will survive like pawn shops, sports memorabilia shops, coin shops and comic stores.
I hate to break it to you but this is not a new occurrence. I was buying singles off eBay back in 2004.
I didn't say it's a new occurrence, the technology was there for quite some time already, but for it to become the "mainstream" is a matter of years. I did say WotC is playing catch-up, which means they're already late to the point when it became "mainstream" and considering their main demographic (13+ to 20 years old), it isn't the technology of 2004 ebay, it's more of the mobile games from 2008 that's the precise technology and it still needed the 5+ years of development of ingraining the "new gaming culture" into these new generations (and them actually aging and entering the market). A person capable of buying MTG cards off ebay in 2004 is more likely to have his gaming culture shaped by the culture in the 90s rather than the 2000s/2010s. It's the "education of gaming culture" part during a gamer's younger years (where he or she is more easily molded) that determines the trends when they enter the target age demographic in X years and become the "mainstream".
Obviously the LGS isn't going to completely die out (unless you rely solely on MTG and refuse to adapt), but simply because the whole of gaming culture has changed (I'm talking about the general majority, there are always exceptions, but they are the minority) to one that values convenience and comfort (and arguably over the quality of a game, if mobile gaming is any indicator). The LGS system is going to enter a long-term slump (I wouldn't say its impossible for it to recover, but I also cannot guarantee that they will get out in a matter of X years, this slump could be decades long since its dependent of the state of technology).
I've have migrated completelly to MTGO because 8 of our LGS have either closed or stopped running MtG events due to dissatisfaction with WotC's business moves these past two years. What remained are the two oldest stores in the city which have their own distributors, and a bunch of "stores" that can't hold more than 20 players and subsist on the regional cordinator being invested in them.
We've got a GP next month and it's looking to be 600 people at most. I personally I'm not exited about it at all.
WotC is balls deep on Arena, and will not correct course until it fails. And it will fail because it doesn't have the card pool and community of MTGO, nor the fresh and easy casual feel of Heartstone and Gwent. Then there's Artifact coming soon to eat at it's competitive scene too.
It's not surprising people aren't going to official events when the card game is doing so horribly. I've been more into Force of Will than MtG simply because the quality of the product is better and the costs are reasonable.
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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!
LGS already earn MORE money by selling drinks and snacks at events rather than selling magic cards, unless they sell massive amounts of cards, the margins are just terrifically bad.
If Amazon is going to bust the price of a box even further its completely unfeasible to sell boxes at all, as you cannot ever compete on that, your margins are just too terrible to make any living with it.
So if stores are going to survive, they have to charge way more than Amazon, and the customers have to pay that premium to keep the store running.
I cannot see an LGS to exist in such a world, they have to switch business to something else than magic, or go so big with it, that selling online and in massive numbers is much more profitable than running an actual "local" store for people that run by or want to play.
Its an extreme issue and there is no way to talk it away, this will speed up the deaths of countless smaller LGS and we end up with just a bunch giant stores surviving this Onslaught and it will FORCE the change to digital, as people can only reliable play the game online from that point on, as the places to play just die out.
I personally have to say, i only really play at FNMs in my LGS, so if that ceases to exist, i wouldnt really play magic anymore, and thats a fundamental change that changes what i do for the last 20+ years.
Its so sad, and i have a hard time to see how an LGS is going to keep swimming above water in such a world.
Its really really sad ... hard times ... the love for this game almost became tragic ...
I basically just play Commander on Saturdays and occasionally Duel Commander on Mondays.
I bought a box of Dominaria for Firesong & Sunspeaker (and the set was way cool) but I had not bought a box since...Oath of the Gatewatch (it was given to me by the store for writing) and the one with Hidden Treasures prior. Basically, I only buy boxes if there's a gimmick or the set is a reprint mine (split wit ha friend for Masters).
I do buy singles. Lots of them. I paid $25 for Revised and 4th Ed basic lands and another $10 for sleeves for my 2HG partner and I Saturday (Team "Revised Basics" needs its landbase ) and I'm probably going to get a bunch of other janky singles soon (Ensnaring Bridge, Lady Zhurong, Warrior Queen, Riding the Dilu Horse #2 for Jugan, the Rising Star EDH) and a new custom playmat...I mean, I like watching Modern but it's too annoying getting all the fetchlands to play a format I participate in once or twice a year.
I don't think MTG is going down the toilet, but they do need to find a way to keep reprints rolling while keeping the game fresh for Standard players.
Guilds of Ravnica Mythic is a fine idea. It got me interested in SDCC foils and I'll be getting singles of Mythic and some others for my decks,
I mean, there are going to be a ton of these Mythic boxes in circulation, so waiting and grabbing off Ebay should be like picking a plum off your favourite tree.
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The "Crazy One", playing casual magic and occasionally dipping his toes into regular play since 1994.
Currently focusing on Pre-Modern (Mono-Black Discard Control) and Modern (Azorious Control, Temur Rhinos).
Find me at the Wizard's Tower in Ottawa every second Saturday afternoons.
There are other directions I haven't heard anyone really talk about (maybe hint at, but not right out mention):
1) There have been bars opening up here & there that cater to the gaming community. 21+ environment.
2) LGS's become "country clubs" for nerds, w/ monthly or yearly memberships, holding private and open events.
3) LGS's start charging at the door. Either a per night cost or by the hour.
There are other directions I haven't heard anyone really talk about (maybe hint at, but not right out mention):
1) There have been bars opening up here & there that cater to the gaming community. 21+ environment.
I think I support this idea because the older I get the more annoying the younger generation looks to me. I also feel that magic tournaments are like gambling. And I do get annoyed that some of the younger players, whom are too young to hold a job is playing with decks that cost almost as much as a car, and they think their ***** don't stick at the tournament table. Like I've said I'm annoyed by the younger generation. Although, I started playing magic when I was 26 years old.
2) LGS's become "country clubs" for nerds, w/ monthly or yearly memberships, holding private and open events.
Another idea that makes total sense to me... I do feel that some LGS should push membership cards so member players are allowed to trade (or sell) cards in the store. And it seemed like a good way to allow proxy players (members are allowed to play with proxies).
3) LGS's start charging at the door. Either a per night cost or by the hour.
Sure... but this might push people away from the LGS. On the other hand, if your going to a dance club (or night club) there are door charges.
With rumors of Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro entering the Singles Market for Magic: The Gathering it's only a matter of time until they're caught for publicly acknowledging the Secondary Market value of these cards though people I've talked to online seem to be blowing off any sort of legal ramification that comes with it. I understand why they'd go this route since booster boxes and sealed product are a net loss for them outside of draft and sealed events especially when they've already came to the realization that they can't be dependent on popular land cycles in order to sell sets like they did with Ravnica.
It does give the LGS a bit of leeway by not having to sort through singles as much whenever a new expansion is released while at the same time makes it harder for them to sell these individual cards in mass quantities within their showcase and inventory. The Buy-a-Box Promo distribution was already bad enough for not being a box topper, not to mention the crackdown on LGS owners and staff members selling FNM promos in order to turn a profit due to the low Expected Value of Standard legal sets.
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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
If the masterpieces are in the set it dumps the value of all the cards down as the masterpieces cover so much money.
The logic is that each set is wort its money at first, and everything that makes the set much better than the "normal" set at first just translates into all the other cards that are not super-chase bombs go down in money, and a good set like that means plenty more packs are opened.
Universally good for WotC as the producer you would say, and in general that is the case, as all the important cards for standard are simply cheaper and the premium versions of the masterpieces can bunk up the money.
So that would be flat out good for everyone, if they wouldnt have overdone it like crazy, extremely crazy.
Masterpiece version of cards, a form of extra "foil" versions is very good for the game and should be done WAY more often. A simple card can have common version and more rare special promo artworks in the actual booster packs, so you simply get more value without even introducing new cards at all.
Insert a shiny foil, insert full-art versions of each card as a foil modification, a foil full-art version too even more expensive, and maybe stuff like a black/white promo artwork like the comic con ones, even make these foil then, super crazy rare.
So the same card has many versions and artwork, people can just buy the cheapest most available one or pimp out decks, even a pile of commons can have the super expensive versions of artwork and so even a pauper deck can be really expensive, for the people that care for that.
Its a flat win for everyone.
Pro Tour and such high level events should simply give out cards that ONLY these tournaments give out. Special promo version of cards.
Win the Pro Tour ? Get a special promo card that only a Pro Tour winner gets. Its like printing money, its so easy and it has infinite possibilities and its not bad for anybody, as its really just extra.
And yes, the cards must be promo versions of existing cards, not cards like the Buy-a-Box that you cannot get anywhere else, thats just flat out stupidity and they earn a slap in the face for that brainwreck.
So instead of selecting cards for the masterpieces, make EVERY card a masterpiece, as a super-foil version (lands too, full-art, borderless lands, simply make them crazy rare in the packs, people that want them will pay for them).
If they would totally commit to that route , they could provide more expensive cards without destroying the standard format or the availability of cards to play with, everyone wins.
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For the pro players you really have to ask if it benefits anybody to actually have pro players AT ALL.
I say it does not.
Nobody cares for pro players, they dont matter at all for the game.
Hall of fame and all that stuff just costs money and has simply no benefits.
Instead of spending that money every magic player should see it as a hobby and play it as a hobby, not as a "job" full time.
If you really want to be a "pro-player" you are forced to stream and make it entertainment anyway, just like all the other heartstone ones do.
Winning tournaments should simply not be a means to make money, but as i said above, it could be a means to get special promo cards, which translate to money or you simply keep them and enjoy them as your trophy , a playable trophy.
If i see a Top8 with the same bunch of people i get sick of it. If money is involved people just are driven to cheat, so why even try ? Use all the money to make the event better for EVERYONE instead of cashing out for some obscure top end wanna-be pro-players that could just as well have a full time job like everyone else and play magic in their free time, it settles all basics, ultimately makes it even more fair for everyone.
I would even go as far to use the price money and pay the actual judges INSTEAD , which also is a win for everyone. Literally anything is better than trying to increase the pay-out for a tournament that players should be playing for "fun" anyway (as if its not fun, you might just work for the weekend and make more money without any risk).
But without a hall of fame, how will WOTC be able to toot its own horn about a hall of fame player making a pro tour top 8? Because this is the only ******* game where hall of famers continue to play. Poker saw more growth by Chris Moneymaker qualifying online and winning the main event as a total rookie than any pro making a twentieth final table. I'm actually looking forward to Arena coming out for Mac so I can end up beating the pro's stream numbers in six months.
With rumors of Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro entering the Singles Market for Magic: The Gathering
what rumors and where?
It was from UnsleevedMedia / TheQuartering on YouTube.
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"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
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Good news for us as consumers, right? $25-$30 away from the OG box cost of $60 from the 90's. Feels like prices are sliding down... but the sliding is not just the prices, but potentially the whole community. I am going to point out a few things that are happening at once that feel like low blows that (may) end up being a TKO (technical knock-out).
1) Amazon selling boxes really cheap... so what about the LGS that now has to compete w/ Amazon? Maybe LGS's will take out the booster box sales out of the equation all together and start focusing on other aspects of the game that they still have control of better than Amazon: singles (sales & trades for "store credit"), Magic supplies (sleeves, play mats, dice, counters [Ultra Pro counters for tokens], glass beads, WotC official minis for tokens), supplemental products that are only available for WPN locations, running tournaments/PTQ's/PPTQ's, pre-release's, oh & outright having a physical location to play at. OK, Amazon will change their business model, but not knock them out of the ballpark.
2) The recent pro-player who announced on Reddit that they are protesting the treatment of pro-players, from the ever-shrinking prize purses, to the tougher competition, to making them take care of their own flights & room (cover your own board, WotC shouldn't pay for their food, lol), the lack of coverage (ESPN stint didn't last long, BUT Twitch can jump on this quickly if they act fast and exclusivity is an option - What, no Pay-Per-View Worlds Tournament packing bars w/ drunken gamers screaming "Tap the swamp! Tap the swamp! You have an kill card in hand!!!"
3) A great attempt (hasn't been released, so it should very well work - VERY well) at the digital market w/ Arena. So far, from what the Beta has given us, gameplay that really mocks 1-vs-1 & hopefully, other metas, like Commander, Pauper, Tiny Leaders, etc...
4) Magic the Gathering movie would take this niche market and blow it up for the masses. Will a watered down environment be a good thing or a bad thing. Should the local soccer moms gossip about who will be a better Lillian Vess, Angelina Jolie or Megan Fox? How much of the Gatewatch can be pushed in sequels? Will this tie into sets in the future? Will spoilers coming as part of the previews? A lot of marketing options here can open up. Not too sure if this can help or hinder growth.
5) Rumors (kinda hoping they are true) of a Magic the Gathering MMO. I believe this really is true, as I have seen posts on Reddit and other forums that this is in development. But will it pull real-life players away from the LGS’s and in front of their computers? Will bad translations of planes and creatures cause enough of a panic that the core player base protests? Will there be in game exclusive planeswalkers, creatures and spells that will not translate into paper Magic well? And when they find away to translate it, will it be some rare promo or give away w/ DLS?
6) Hasbro store “Masterpieces” that have a HUUUGGGEE price tag? Why not keep the Masterpieces in new sets, but theme them out, such as Pauper classics? Tiny Leader cards, like Swat that are a nickel in other formats, but a possible $3+ card in a format like this? What about Two-Headed Giant cards or Commander cards that haven't seen a reprint? All of this boils down to what can translate well. NOTE: The card that should have been mentioned instead of Swat is Smother- it's THE best kill card for TL.
7) W/ crossovers that are already being hailed as amazing, Ravnica being brought to AD&D might be “jumping the shark.” What’s next? AD&D characters and creatures becoming a plane for the next WotC Magic set? Should we have a 2 or 3 Spell Jammer set? Do we really want to build a Mindflayer tribal deck? Oh, hell yeah we do!!! But what are the long-term plans for blurring these lines? Where is the line drawn? We’ve seen the crossovers in the Un-promo cards. Looks good, on paper… but do we really need an Optimus Prime planeswalker? Will we first scream yes, then see the floodgates open up and be scared of White Knights atop My Little Ponies?
8) Let’s talk about formats and the flavor-of-the-month? Commander has opened up a lot of design space. It has kept the game afloat for about a decade. Each year we see the fruit of R&D’s labor come out, w/ the Lieutenant keyword, Partner keyword, PW’s as Commanders, cards that affect all players (not just one shots – think keyword Myriad), and 2-Headed Giant cards that help out your partner – thank you Battlebond! These formats need to keep being pushed. They stop, and popularity decreases. What about Pauper Commander? Hasn’t become a thing yet, but w/ Uncommon Legends getting recent printings, it is a possible thing. Also, support for older formats stop, like Planeschase. It’s not 100% gone, as there has not been any announcements… as new sets come out, new Planes are added to the lore for future releases. BUT, since Theros, there have been plenty of locations for a third Planeschase and nothing even hinting (no patent names, announcements at major events, no hints in articles… but then of course dropping hints so far in advance would be a PR disaster. So it is understandable why no hints have merged. WotC needs to be careful.
Let’s stop w/ those 8 avenues that may point to an extinction of Magic the Gathering.
Thoughts? Critiques? Additions? Let’s really look at the ramifications of the above changes and ponder where ths game will go on the next decade? Next quarter century?
The tournament scene and LGS's at large are, indeed, taking a bit of a beating here, but let's be entirely frank: these are not Magic's target market. They never have been, and certainly aren't with Hasbro at the head. Tournament magic is uninteresting for the common viewer, making it a remarkably bad sport, but Arena has at least a shot at making it more flashy and easily consumed.
No sky falling, the game is merely shifting more towards digital platforms and casual play- where it makes more money.
GENERATION 12: The first time you see this, copy and paste it into your signature and add 1 to the generation number. It's a social experiment.
Trying to compete w/ TCG prices is a downward spiral. What it boils down to is, do you mind waiting for the mail or does your instant gratification for the deck push you to buy at the LGS?
I think that this isn't anything but a good idea. Most places that I buy from already sell booster boxes in the $85-$90 range when they come out, so buying them from my LGS and picking them up (saving on shipping) has always made the most sense. What this does is open up that card availability to those people who don't have an LGS to buy from, especially given free shipping via Prime. Magic is already an expensive hobby, so anything that makes it less expensive is a good thing in my opinion. LGSs will still be okay; most of the good ones make the most money from drafts, tournament entry fees, and singles sales.
I'm not really sure how Gerry Thompson's protest will end up affecting how the Pro Tour is handled. They have changed the Pro Tour structure so many times in the last 5-10 years that its hard to keep up with it. In the end, WotC needs to decide whether they want to compete with other e-sports that actually generate enough revenue to support full-time professionals. When the Magic Pro Tour was conceived, it was never intended for it to become a full-time endeavor, but ever since the explosion of poker and now e-sports the expectation has changed dramatically.
To me, this is one of the first steps that WotC has taken towards making Magic a viable e-sport. If you make the graphically more appealing, you could potentially televise it much better. By giving your telecast more of a video game feel rather than a chess match feel, you can appeal to a much wider audience. If anything, this says that WotC is trying to move in that direction, but to Gerry T's point they are doing it veeerry sloooowwllly.....
Movies built on game franchises don't ever work out. I think that Magic would be a good fantasy movie franchise, but I think that the endeavor would appeal to more people if the MTG label was left completely off the movie. There is no way that Hasbro/WotC would ever do that, so I think that they are better off not even going down that path.
I think the MMO-RPG genre has pretty much run its course. I don't think that anything that WotC would produce would get people away from WoW, Final Fantasy, Skyrim, etc., nor will it get many people away from Fortnite, PUBG, Overwatch, etc. either. I think that they should stick to what they know best.
I think that WotC could serve a lot of communities better by choosing better reprints for their Masters sets and Commander releases. A card like Swat is a fine example; it could easily slide into a Commander deck and help out on multiple fronts. Masterpieces are kind of a joke in my opinion; sure every little bit helps, but its like trying to water a desert with an eye dropper.
Given that Magic has largely borrowed from the D&D universe for most of its lifetime, it was only a matter of time that Hasbro reversed the trend. The line was blurred when Alpha was printed. As for cross-overs with other universes, I just don't ever see that happening. The creative team at WotC is too good at creating and developing worlds that we keep wanting to come back to. I don't see that stopping anytime soon.
I think that Planechase products have been coming out every 3-4 years, so maybe in 2019? 2018 was jam-packed with releases so it makes sense that there was nothing released this year. I think that WotC is committed to giving us one Commander set and at least one other 'supplemental' set release a year, with up to two being possible (this year had both Battlebond and Unstable). I would just be patient and continue to let WotC that there is a demand for such products.
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What's wrong with booster draft mechanics?
Originally, booster packs were expansions to magic entry decks. Therefore the rarity is based on the power level cards into building your deck. In the end you are getting some really good cards at all levels. Counterspell is a common because it's a card wizards believe should be easy for players to own. (if counterspell was made today, wizards would make it a rare because they don't want that many counterspells on the drafting table)
The problem with booster draft mechanics, wizards focus the rarity based on how many times the card maybe drafted on the table. The problem is that 90% of the cards are *****! Except if you are drafting. Cardshops are having a problem because when they open a booster box they have 10% marketable cards. Sure there are a few sets that seemed to push closer to 20% but it's not enough to make that awesome return. Sadly, for years cardshops believed that wizards was focused in standard, and this pushes cardshops into buying insane amount of booster boxes.
The proof that cardshops don't care about standard is the creation of mystics.
The biggest issues is mystics. Booster draft mechanics - each mystic is a bomb. In reality, only a handful of mystics are really worth playing and they end up offseting the lost value of the box. For example, Nicol Bolas, the Ravager looks like an awesome card, cool for commander, but not worth +20 dollars. If the card was a rare, it might be worth 5 dollars.
I have doubts wizards is going to change the booster draft mechanics because this is their real focus in making money.
I think a possible answer to the "only good in limited" rares is Cube drafting. I have heard of Cubes made up of some of the worst cards made.... on purpose. I am sure if some shops took their unmoving stock of draft rares, created a Cube w/ a weekly event (can also have a Pauper cube on the side), the LGSs can charge a premium with store credit as prize support that is only good for non-sealed product, a lot of that chaff will find a home.
Other options would to donate the chaff rares to non-profits & teach the next generation to play Magic. Now a new breed of players are being made, while keeping gangs, neglect & negativity as a whole away. Expand that model, donate to schools & summer programs. Now allow said shops to get a right-off & save some $$$ in their taxes.
Wizards has some opportunity to take that 90% of lameness and recycle it w/ the help of the Magic community. And a lot of those unplayable-today cards will end up in the collections of youth & teens for a long time. By the time the cards have matured w/ the kids/teens, there could very well be some value to the cards that are now collectible and old (good for set filling or trade away to the next generation).
Like I said, there are answers. There just needs to be a movement & use of stored energy to propel the chaff. Best examples: Mold Demon... one of the worst cards ever made. Now it has a $15 price tag for collectors. The only way this card will see play is in a Cube of unplayables. Other than that, set completing. Now imagine Monomania in 20+ years... Yup, probably will be a $10 card. Why? Less in circulation in NM condition. Collectors, bad card collectors, Cubes, etc... will want it. Not to mention, play styles and formats emerge, breathing new life into dead cards. Best example, the card mentioned at first posting: Smother. Amazing in Tiny Leaders.
PS - Smother is the card I should have mentioned first, lol...
WotC is "changing" their target demographic, or to be more precise, adopting methods to adhere to the changes of how their target demographic choose their games, because let's face it, the target age demographic of MTG (I would say teenagers to maybe the early 20s) has not changed, but the methods people of their age group use to determine what games they play is different than it was in the 90s.
To put it bluntly, gamers nowadays are spoilt by convenience and instant gratification, because of the way they were introduced to games - mainly by the likes of mobile gaming. With a simple "purchase" button press you can acquire a top-tier build/deck and proceed to curbstomp your opponents in a matter of less than a minute. We can argue how unfortunate it is that the gaming industry has turned out like that, but it changes nothing that a sizable, if not majority of the new generations (and upcoming ones) will be like that and let's just say the LGS system would seem the slowest tortoise to them of all time. Said people are also probably used to conveniences of technology in other aspects of their life, they probably shop more online than offline. The idea of having to "slog" your way to a LGS with no guarantee of getting what you want will seem like an ancient relic when you're used to immediately getting what you need immediately with a push of a button when it comes to game (especially when there's no delivery aspect for games).
It works backwards as well - even players from the older eras adopt these convenient techniques, not because they were introduced to it this way, but simply because of other responsibilities reduce their free time for gaming and these techniques allow them to maximize the little time they have (and honestly we can't really blame them). So the actual population of people who can participate in the LGS system is bluntly put, dramatically shrinking (note I didn't say vocally support, anyone can do that, but its the actual participation that matters in numbers in the end).
The demographics and landscape are changing (or to be more precise, they already changed, WotC is actually playing catch-up now), the LGS system and its participants is essentially a minority at this point (and honestly its hilarious that people within the system still act as though they're kings and the only reason the game can survive). If (and when) Arena successfully launches, watch that shrinking accelerate in terms of percentage (never underestimate anything that can be played on-the-go).
We can list all of the advantages of the old system, no doubt, but its pointless to list all these to either me or WotC because trust us, we know that very well (how can WotC not know they've been literally the business for 20+ years). It's simply a fact that the majority of the new generations of gamers (as well as old gamers with simply less time) don't see them as advantageous (anymore). WotC can't single-handily change the mindset of generations warped by the technology of mobile gaming, so they either adopt MTG the game into said formula, or let MTG "die" together with its old systems. Okay, "die" is an exaggeration, but the shrinking is something they cannot afford since WotC has to answer to Hasbro anyway, but even if they didn't have to, not changing is essentially letting MTG go the direction of say, Chess (I mean, you don't really see a LGS dedicated to Chess right)?
"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
Cube is a whole different story.
What I'm talking about is how Wizards is focused on the booster drafting, a lot of players don't care about booster drafting and because because the majority of the cards are focused on booster drafting, the demand of playable cards are very narrow and the rarities are screwed.
I think the real answer is acknowledge that playing in a magic tournament is equivalent to playing poker and such gambling events. Push the playing age to 21 and offer beer at the cardshops. I know playing magic is not gambling because they got rid of Ante... [Yes I'm sarcastic] Seriously, gambling is when players put money for an entry fee and play in a game for a prized return.
They are not going to do that because they want people buying ton of booster packs...
Mold Demon is a funny card. When the card was made people were playing 4 sol rings in a deck. And it's not impossible for a player to put a creature 6/6 creature with 7 mana into play on the first turn. That's why the controller needs 2 swamps in play. Yes magic has gone a long way...
I really believe if wizards want to bring more players into the game they need to make another Tempest/Urzas set. Awesome cards that push the format and add excitement with bannings.
I hate to break it to you but this is not a new occurrence. I was buying singles off eBay back in 2004.
I started buying cards on Ebay too, I really believe the sudden popular of magic spiked the early day's of ebay... (at the time it was the only place to buy cards outside of a cardshop.
Don't let the younger generation fool you. The popularity of magic has not changed, I would believe it's more popular today because most of the older magic players has children that they introduce their kids into playing the game. But I do believe the people that do play the game are not going to cardshops because the setting is not comfortable for us older players and a lot of younger players are not trained with a must play in a tournament mindset. (and this is why wizards is looking into Amazon, Walmart & Target).
I don't think all the cardshops are going to die! I do think some will survive like pawn shops, sports memorabilia shops, coin shops and comic stores.
I didn't say it's a new occurrence, the technology was there for quite some time already, but for it to become the "mainstream" is a matter of years. I did say WotC is playing catch-up, which means they're already late to the point when it became "mainstream" and considering their main demographic (13+ to 20 years old), it isn't the technology of 2004 ebay, it's more of the mobile games from 2008 that's the precise technology and it still needed the 5+ years of development of ingraining the "new gaming culture" into these new generations (and them actually aging and entering the market). A person capable of buying MTG cards off ebay in 2004 is more likely to have his gaming culture shaped by the culture in the 90s rather than the 2000s/2010s. It's the "education of gaming culture" part during a gamer's younger years (where he or she is more easily molded) that determines the trends when they enter the target age demographic in X years and become the "mainstream".
Obviously the LGS isn't going to completely die out (unless you rely solely on MTG and refuse to adapt), but simply because the whole of gaming culture has changed (I'm talking about the general majority, there are always exceptions, but they are the minority) to one that values convenience and comfort (and arguably over the quality of a game, if mobile gaming is any indicator). The LGS system is going to enter a long-term slump (I wouldn't say its impossible for it to recover, but I also cannot guarantee that they will get out in a matter of X years, this slump could be decades long since its dependent of the state of technology).
We've got a GP next month and it's looking to be 600 people at most. I personally I'm not exited about it at all.
WotC is balls deep on Arena, and will not correct course until it fails. And it will fail because it doesn't have the card pool and community of MTGO, nor the fresh and easy casual feel of Heartstone and Gwent. Then there's Artifact coming soon to eat at it's competitive scene too.
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!
If Amazon is going to bust the price of a box even further its completely unfeasible to sell boxes at all, as you cannot ever compete on that, your margins are just too terrible to make any living with it.
So if stores are going to survive, they have to charge way more than Amazon, and the customers have to pay that premium to keep the store running.
I cannot see an LGS to exist in such a world, they have to switch business to something else than magic, or go so big with it, that selling online and in massive numbers is much more profitable than running an actual "local" store for people that run by or want to play.
Its an extreme issue and there is no way to talk it away, this will speed up the deaths of countless smaller LGS and we end up with just a bunch giant stores surviving this Onslaught and it will FORCE the change to digital, as people can only reliable play the game online from that point on, as the places to play just die out.
I personally have to say, i only really play at FNMs in my LGS, so if that ceases to exist, i wouldnt really play magic anymore, and thats a fundamental change that changes what i do for the last 20+ years.
Its so sad, and i have a hard time to see how an LGS is going to keep swimming above water in such a world.
Its really really sad ... hard times ... the love for this game almost became tragic ...
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I bought a box of Dominaria for Firesong & Sunspeaker (and the set was way cool) but I had not bought a box since...Oath of the Gatewatch (it was given to me by the store for writing) and the one with Hidden Treasures prior. Basically, I only buy boxes if there's a gimmick or the set is a reprint mine (split wit ha friend for Masters).
I do buy singles. Lots of them. I paid $25 for Revised and 4th Ed basic lands and another $10 for sleeves for my 2HG partner and I Saturday (Team "Revised Basics" needs its landbase ) and I'm probably going to get a bunch of other janky singles soon (Ensnaring Bridge, Lady Zhurong, Warrior Queen, Riding the Dilu Horse #2 for Jugan, the Rising Star EDH) and a new custom playmat...I mean, I like watching Modern but it's too annoying getting all the fetchlands to play a format I participate in once or twice a year.
I don't think MTG is going down the toilet, but they do need to find a way to keep reprints rolling while keeping the game fresh for Standard players.
Guilds of Ravnica Mythic is a fine idea. It got me interested in SDCC foils and I'll be getting singles of Mythic and some others for my decks,
I mean, there are going to be a ton of these Mythic boxes in circulation, so waiting and grabbing off Ebay should be like picking a plum off your favourite tree.
Currently focusing on Pre-Modern (Mono-Black Discard Control) and Modern (Azorious Control, Temur Rhinos).
Find me at the Wizard's Tower in Ottawa every second Saturday afternoons.
1) There have been bars opening up here & there that cater to the gaming community. 21+ environment.
2) LGS's become "country clubs" for nerds, w/ monthly or yearly memberships, holding private and open events.
3) LGS's start charging at the door. Either a per night cost or by the hour.
I think I support this idea because the older I get the more annoying the younger generation looks to me. I also feel that magic tournaments are like gambling. And I do get annoyed that some of the younger players, whom are too young to hold a job is playing with decks that cost almost as much as a car, and they think their ***** don't stick at the tournament table. Like I've said I'm annoyed by the younger generation. Although, I started playing magic when I was 26 years old.
Another idea that makes total sense to me... I do feel that some LGS should push membership cards so member players are allowed to trade (or sell) cards in the store. And it seemed like a good way to allow proxy players (members are allowed to play with proxies).
Sure... but this might push people away from the LGS. On the other hand, if your going to a dance club (or night club) there are door charges.
It does give the LGS a bit of leeway by not having to sort through singles as much whenever a new expansion is released while at the same time makes it harder for them to sell these individual cards in mass quantities within their showcase and inventory. The Buy-a-Box Promo distribution was already bad enough for not being a box topper, not to mention the crackdown on LGS owners and staff members selling FNM promos in order to turn a profit due to the low Expected Value of Standard legal sets.
"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 logic is that each set is wort its money at first, and everything that makes the set much better than the "normal" set at first just translates into all the other cards that are not super-chase bombs go down in money, and a good set like that means plenty more packs are opened.
Universally good for WotC as the producer you would say, and in general that is the case, as all the important cards for standard are simply cheaper and the premium versions of the masterpieces can bunk up the money.
So that would be flat out good for everyone, if they wouldnt have overdone it like crazy, extremely crazy.
Masterpiece version of cards, a form of extra "foil" versions is very good for the game and should be done WAY more often. A simple card can have common version and more rare special promo artworks in the actual booster packs, so you simply get more value without even introducing new cards at all.
Insert a shiny foil, insert full-art versions of each card as a foil modification, a foil full-art version too even more expensive, and maybe stuff like a black/white promo artwork like the comic con ones, even make these foil then, super crazy rare.
So the same card has many versions and artwork, people can just buy the cheapest most available one or pimp out decks, even a pile of commons can have the super expensive versions of artwork and so even a pauper deck can be really expensive, for the people that care for that.
Its a flat win for everyone.
Pro Tour and such high level events should simply give out cards that ONLY these tournaments give out. Special promo version of cards.
Win the Pro Tour ? Get a special promo card that only a Pro Tour winner gets. Its like printing money, its so easy and it has infinite possibilities and its not bad for anybody, as its really just extra.
And yes, the cards must be promo versions of existing cards, not cards like the Buy-a-Box that you cannot get anywhere else, thats just flat out stupidity and they earn a slap in the face for that brainwreck.
So instead of selecting cards for the masterpieces, make EVERY card a masterpiece, as a super-foil version (lands too, full-art, borderless lands, simply make them crazy rare in the packs, people that want them will pay for them).
If they would totally commit to that route , they could provide more expensive cards without destroying the standard format or the availability of cards to play with, everyone wins.
----
For the pro players you really have to ask if it benefits anybody to actually have pro players AT ALL.
I say it does not.
Nobody cares for pro players, they dont matter at all for the game.
Hall of fame and all that stuff just costs money and has simply no benefits.
Instead of spending that money every magic player should see it as a hobby and play it as a hobby, not as a "job" full time.
If you really want to be a "pro-player" you are forced to stream and make it entertainment anyway, just like all the other heartstone ones do.
Winning tournaments should simply not be a means to make money, but as i said above, it could be a means to get special promo cards, which translate to money or you simply keep them and enjoy them as your trophy , a playable trophy.
If i see a Top8 with the same bunch of people i get sick of it. If money is involved people just are driven to cheat, so why even try ? Use all the money to make the event better for EVERYONE instead of cashing out for some obscure top end wanna-be pro-players that could just as well have a full time job like everyone else and play magic in their free time, it settles all basics, ultimately makes it even more fair for everyone.
I would even go as far to use the price money and pay the actual judges INSTEAD , which also is a win for everyone. Literally anything is better than trying to increase the pay-out for a tournament that players should be playing for "fun" anyway (as if its not fun, you might just work for the weekend and make more money without any risk).
WUBRG#BlackLotusMatterWUBRG
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what rumors and where?
"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