They should go all in anime-style and trigger more people and call mangakas and doujinshi artists and have the proper "anime style". It would be cool if they had Akira Toriyama, Rumiko Takahashi, or Eiichiro Oda draw some of them.
I'm happy with Amano's piece, but I wish they had other prominent artists like Tsutomu Nihei, Huke, or Ghibli style ones which have a more general appeal.
I would prefer giving scry 2 to mull to 5 and so on than draw seven and decide what to bottom. Still I think we really need something for mull to 5 and so on.
I Mostly agree with you, but talking about synergy is a bit of a stretch here, imo. It's mostly just a cross-selling marketing strategy.
Not to say it can't have benefits to play both in paper and arena. Personally, I don't get to play a lot of paper magic anymore since I moved away from my magic-playing friends to a pretty rural area without a real community. I still keep expanding my collection and updating decks, as it's a very enjoyable part of magic for me, but missed just playing the game. So, Arena is a great way to catch up on that.
Also, I was never really interested in standard, but with Arena's quite fair free to play model, I could quickly get some well-performing decks without investing a lot and rotation shouldn't hurt too much either.
Well I added "can" and "some". My critic about Arena is how WotC is lazy with its development in general which is reflected there. It's nothing like Pokemon which a lot people would hope for (maybe too much as Pokemon Online seems to not make that much, but at least WotC could give some bone to booster boxes and bundles). It's something there even thou it's very limited and timid to say the least. Still codes from Prerelease is nice.
About rotation in Arena, it's an interesting question they need to answer. After all you can't convert old assets into new ones, so I wanna see how a nonrotating format would affect Arena business model.
As a paper collector, Arena just gives me a time waster. I don't quite play it that much. If I wanna play Standard, I just play it locally (as I live in a good area for MTG). It baffles me that Arena still lacks some of the basics lot of other CCGs have even at beta stage like cosmetics. This would be a nonbrainer. Also, they could have incentives for collectors and completionists which would boost their bottomline.
Value depends on what kinda player you are. If you just wanna experience the gameplay, of course Arena is unbeatable. Let's say you spend the price of a triple A game ($60). You get a lot of mileage in terms of hours played. You have the possibility of playing it for free too. As much I was critical of Arena, it's improving. It can only get better over time.
For the same amount, you probably won't get much of paper MTG unless you are a savvy trader as well (so playing can be on a sustainable budget or even on a surplus).
That being said, if collection, human interaction, and/or trading are stuff that you are interested in, I think Arena would be just a time waster. Every second you spend in Arena that could be spent on managing your collection/trading/playing in RL is just detrimental for paper experience. Sure you can manage both (I could say the same about any other game you play in parallel with paper MTG), but it just stunt your collection growth at the end. There is a sense of whatever you are doing with your collection is a real gain backed by numbers while other experiences are just subjective. I'm just adding this to the POV of playing paper MTG.
Also, having access to multiple formats in paper instead of being limited on what the system tells you can play is also something to be considered.
In the end it's all about quantifying your experience. Arena, you put money/time on it and the satisfaction will be more immediate and the cost sinking more controllable (in theory) while possibly free. Paper the satisfaction is more spread out over time and a bit erratic with valleys. The cost sinking is also high in terms of raw numbers (like most hobbies). However, if managed well, it can act like an investment or something that has some value when you wanna stop while in Arena, every resource dumped on it is basically "lost".
Also, you should consider that both can be complementary (even thou I said it otherwise on collecting prospective) and it's designed to have some synergy (at least WotC is adding some stuff like Arena bleeding on competitive MTG and codes for sealed products).
Well, those aren't exactly selling like hot cakes. I guess the next one they will bring Ugin (the next in line before dipping into the real deal) because Dack Fayden isn't cutting it. Still it will sell out eventually.
The experience this time around was smooth, so this is definitively a positive. For completionists, I guess it's not that bad to have this not so sought-after selection of cards. The stress to get them is a good thing.
If you want to have fun opening boosters and making decks, maybe just buy 6 packs each (mixed sets or just one of the current sets, Ravnica and Dominaria are fine choices) and make a deck this way. If you can go to a LGS, maybe they can offer free basic lands (or just ask for the free newbie decks). You could save a bit and buy a booster box and have 3 sealed pools for 2 players. If this isn't an option, get either a bundle or a toolkit for both players and start from there (after that basic lands will accumulate real fast).
If the opening pack experience isn't that important, maybe just buy a precon product. I think Planechase is a fine product for its price. Commander is probably the best one. Although 2018 edition is pretty dismal in terms of card selection, they are fine for new players and because they weren't well received, they are probably pretty cheap to get compared to older years. Still some of the past good ones are still cheap, so get these first. Some of the newer ones like Explorers of Ixalan and Game Night are OKish, but they are very shallow.
If you wanna stay current with Standard, I think as newcomer, I would just draft and try to learn from there. Other players can help you in your journey. Keeping up with Standard is pretty expensive in the long run. It looks less daunting in the short term, but it's a big money sinker. You can do it smart and at cost at least. However, you need a lot of knowledge and drafting may be the best way to pick up it while getting a collection. From there you may jump to constructed when you feel more comfortable.
Anyway, I would not go all-in at first. Just start slow. I know some people who sank into MTG very deep at start and it didn't stick after a semester. One just spent a bunch of money and had to resell with very little recoup. Just start small and smart. Also, buying single cards as a new player fells bad, not right, or downright dirt, but it's the smart thing to do in the long run. Still it's also something that requires experience, specially Standard. It's an art by itself.
If you are really comfortable with this hobby antics. You can go deeper and see what you really want with this hobby. Like collecting or play more competitively (or both) or just stay at kitchen table MTG. Buying/Trading/Selling MTG is by itself a hobby as well which requires honing and patience.
Also, when starting some accessories like sleeves and playmats aren't really necessary per se, but if you think you gonna stay with the game, I think they are essential to the play experience and to keep your cards neat for a long time. Card storage is also very important and having a system to keep up your collection organize can be a time saver later on. Keeping your cards in a shoe box is fine at first, but you will need a clear way to organize your cards.
Some people buy random lots for funsies and make YT videos about the finds. Usually it's just a bad gamble. You may lucky out, but you will lose more often than not. You may become an experienced spotter, but again it's just luck. You also need a cost-effective way to dump bulk (lot of lots will come with 8+ of each useless cards).
If you need a price ratio, I would say if you can buy unsorted lots at buylist bulk prices (check tcg or any major buyer and compare their rates), it may be worthwhile. Sorting the cards is time consuming, even if you find amazing cards, the time consumed to just sort them (also, just looking for the offers and negotiating can be time consuming) may not be worthy depending on how much you make a hour. So at very least they should be at this low price to break even or make a small profit (usually the ebay lots are at premium prices instead of discounted price).
If you wanna buy collection, it's better to pay a bit more and know the actual content you're buying. I used to do this more in the past, but there is a lot of competition and unless it's close to buylist price (if vendors offer 30 ~ 40%, you want to buy for 35 ~ 60%), it's more cost effective to just get the singles than spend hours looking, sorting, and occasionally negotiating. If you enjoy this sorta activity, yeah it's fine. Some people just like this process.
In the end it's just a bad gamble and a huge time sinker.
I guess no matter what you wanna do with your collection, just set a budget and try to abide by it. Also, if you can trade aggressively it would help. Even with very small gains, it piles up over time.
Trying to balance collection x making decks can be daunting. I would say make two separate budgets for each activity (they may overlap a bit) as well. Have a set plan for collecting and stick with it (like priority in what to acquire).
For instance, in my case I wanna have at least one of each English card from Revised and onward (except for some weird sets like P3K) as I started playing during that time, so I focus more on buying complete sets if possible. Also, buying collections for close to buy list prices from people stopping playing is a good way to increase your collection; however, you may need to be on the lookout for such offers as they aren't common (you can resell stuff you don't need to recoup some of the "investment"). I don't care much about foils and I'm mildly into promos. Lately I changed my focus on Reserve List cards a bit. I may buy a booster box (for the promo) and a bundle (for the booklet) just to satiate my booster cracking.
I will only make Standard decks if I happen to have cards for a T1 or T2 deck. I don't devote much of my budget making decks.
About making a cube, you need to set how much you wanna pimp it. Usually cube is a very long commitment. You gonna spend a lot on supply stuff (like sleeves, storage, token and so on) even before getting the cards for it. If you aim big, you probably want good supplies as well. Even pauper/peasant cube can be pretty pricey if you wanna acquire in one go.
A friend of mine made a quick peasant cube. The cards themselves probably cost $200 and most of the sleeves were provide for free by me (I had extra unused ones). He didn't pimp it or anything, just wanted a quick way to draft without having to spend money opening packs. In the end he only committed $50 or so (friends provided some of the cards and he had a small collection from past drafts).
I think designing a list took more time. Because it's a long term commitment, I would say take it slowly, proxy if needed (to test which card you like and dislike), and tune it. You may look at lists as reference, but I would say make some experimentation yourself. You wanna make it a very personal project. Also, don't skimp on how make your cube organized (like lands, tokens, and so on) and inventoried.
Yeah, people's memory is very flimsy. Lich's Mastery was already a deck in the past and with pretty crazy mana requirements (BBB and WW with worse mana base and UU and GG from sb). It's not T1 by any means (hey it won a SCG). Absorb would not break the bank in this deck anyway (better dual options but adding UU in the main as compensation). However, I dunno if the deck would want a counterspell per se even with some synergy. If you wanna draw cards with life gain, you probably don't wanna wait to counter to get that life + cards even thou it's a strong play. You probably wanna do it right away.
What was the rare you opened the least? Well I missed some of the money ones like Ancient Tomb, Noble Hierarch, and Engineered Explosives. I also missed some of the bulks as well. I got some duplicated in the mid to mid high tier like Through the Breach, Urborg, and so on. I missed a couple of uncommons as well (bad ones) funnily enough.
What was the mythic you opened the least? Well, I only opened five: Karn, Snapcaster Mage, Bitterblossom, Sigarda, and Balefire Dragon.
What were you box toppers? Karn Liberated and Mana Vault
What, if any, were your FOIL Mythic pulls? Nope. Foil Noble Hierarch is nice thoi.
The card stop and printing is pretty good compared to past Master sets except for the first one. The foil effect is barely noticeable which is a pity. Otherwise, it's on the right track in terms of quality.
I opened a box too. I got 2 mythics and 3 foil rares. I managed to open almost all the bad rares possible, but mythics, foils, and, topper saved the box.
Topper: Mana Vault
Mythics: Snapcaster and Karn
Foil Rares: Through the Breach, Noble Hierarch, and Phyrexian Altar.
I guess it's not downright censorship per se, but the art is becoming bland as they need to include everyone in terms of demographics, so it needs to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Also, the more unified themed art makes everything looks the same. It's more controlled and planned which also inhibit varied art styles. Lately only promos seems a bit better (of course there are exceptions) in terms of consistency and creativity.
So with all these restrictions, artists have few ways to express their style, so they just aim for technique. Mostly wrong ones for such small frames. They abuse muted colors, very fuzzy edges to give more realism, CG treatment, and so on. They are fine in big frames, but just muddled in a MTG card frame plus bad printing practices.
The art department may be mostly neo-post-whatever-insert your favorite hate liberal agenda goons, but corporations in the end just want to make money the safest way possible, so going bland and safe is the best. I believe lot of old school players fell in love with MTG just for the art. It had a bite, was goofy, unique, provocative, varied, and so on. You remember Stasis, Darkness, or any of the bad art forever. Today most of the art aren't bad per se, just forgettable. I can't name most of the new batches of artists. It seems they are just going for the paycheck as they have so many restrictions.
You can see that in most commercial stuff for the general public, not only MTG.
I like lot of uncommmons and commons reprints, but they missed so many in desperate need of reprint and this would mitigate the absurd rise in MSRP a bit.
I'm happy with Amano's piece, but I wish they had other prominent artists like Tsutomu Nihei, Huke, or Ghibli style ones which have a more general appeal.
Well I added "can" and "some". My critic about Arena is how WotC is lazy with its development in general which is reflected there. It's nothing like Pokemon which a lot people would hope for (maybe too much as Pokemon Online seems to not make that much, but at least WotC could give some bone to booster boxes and bundles). It's something there even thou it's very limited and timid to say the least. Still codes from Prerelease is nice.
About rotation in Arena, it's an interesting question they need to answer. After all you can't convert old assets into new ones, so I wanna see how a nonrotating format would affect Arena business model.
As a paper collector, Arena just gives me a time waster. I don't quite play it that much. If I wanna play Standard, I just play it locally (as I live in a good area for MTG). It baffles me that Arena still lacks some of the basics lot of other CCGs have even at beta stage like cosmetics. This would be a nonbrainer. Also, they could have incentives for collectors and completionists which would boost their bottomline.
For the same amount, you probably won't get much of paper MTG unless you are a savvy trader as well (so playing can be on a sustainable budget or even on a surplus).
That being said, if collection, human interaction, and/or trading are stuff that you are interested in, I think Arena would be just a time waster. Every second you spend in Arena that could be spent on managing your collection/trading/playing in RL is just detrimental for paper experience. Sure you can manage both (I could say the same about any other game you play in parallel with paper MTG), but it just stunt your collection growth at the end. There is a sense of whatever you are doing with your collection is a real gain backed by numbers while other experiences are just subjective. I'm just adding this to the POV of playing paper MTG.
Also, having access to multiple formats in paper instead of being limited on what the system tells you can play is also something to be considered.
In the end it's all about quantifying your experience. Arena, you put money/time on it and the satisfaction will be more immediate and the cost sinking more controllable (in theory) while possibly free. Paper the satisfaction is more spread out over time and a bit erratic with valleys. The cost sinking is also high in terms of raw numbers (like most hobbies). However, if managed well, it can act like an investment or something that has some value when you wanna stop while in Arena, every resource dumped on it is basically "lost".
Also, you should consider that both can be complementary (even thou I said it otherwise on collecting prospective) and it's designed to have some synergy (at least WotC is adding some stuff like Arena bleeding on competitive MTG and codes for sealed products).
The experience this time around was smooth, so this is definitively a positive. For completionists, I guess it's not that bad to have this not so sought-after selection of cards. The stress to get them is a good thing.
If the opening pack experience isn't that important, maybe just buy a precon product. I think Planechase is a fine product for its price. Commander is probably the best one. Although 2018 edition is pretty dismal in terms of card selection, they are fine for new players and because they weren't well received, they are probably pretty cheap to get compared to older years. Still some of the past good ones are still cheap, so get these first. Some of the newer ones like Explorers of Ixalan and Game Night are OKish, but they are very shallow.
If you wanna stay current with Standard, I think as newcomer, I would just draft and try to learn from there. Other players can help you in your journey. Keeping up with Standard is pretty expensive in the long run. It looks less daunting in the short term, but it's a big money sinker. You can do it smart and at cost at least. However, you need a lot of knowledge and drafting may be the best way to pick up it while getting a collection. From there you may jump to constructed when you feel more comfortable.
Anyway, I would not go all-in at first. Just start slow. I know some people who sank into MTG very deep at start and it didn't stick after a semester. One just spent a bunch of money and had to resell with very little recoup. Just start small and smart. Also, buying single cards as a new player fells bad, not right, or downright dirt, but it's the smart thing to do in the long run. Still it's also something that requires experience, specially Standard. It's an art by itself.
If you are really comfortable with this hobby antics. You can go deeper and see what you really want with this hobby. Like collecting or play more competitively (or both) or just stay at kitchen table MTG. Buying/Trading/Selling MTG is by itself a hobby as well which requires honing and patience.
Also, when starting some accessories like sleeves and playmats aren't really necessary per se, but if you think you gonna stay with the game, I think they are essential to the play experience and to keep your cards neat for a long time. Card storage is also very important and having a system to keep up your collection organize can be a time saver later on. Keeping your cards in a shoe box is fine at first, but you will need a clear way to organize your cards.
If you need a price ratio, I would say if you can buy unsorted lots at buylist bulk prices (check tcg or any major buyer and compare their rates), it may be worthwhile. Sorting the cards is time consuming, even if you find amazing cards, the time consumed to just sort them (also, just looking for the offers and negotiating can be time consuming) may not be worthy depending on how much you make a hour. So at very least they should be at this low price to break even or make a small profit (usually the ebay lots are at premium prices instead of discounted price).
If you wanna buy collection, it's better to pay a bit more and know the actual content you're buying. I used to do this more in the past, but there is a lot of competition and unless it's close to buylist price (if vendors offer 30 ~ 40%, you want to buy for 35 ~ 60%), it's more cost effective to just get the singles than spend hours looking, sorting, and occasionally negotiating. If you enjoy this sorta activity, yeah it's fine. Some people just like this process.
In the end it's just a bad gamble and a huge time sinker.
Trying to balance collection x making decks can be daunting. I would say make two separate budgets for each activity (they may overlap a bit) as well. Have a set plan for collecting and stick with it (like priority in what to acquire).
For instance, in my case I wanna have at least one of each English card from Revised and onward (except for some weird sets like P3K) as I started playing during that time, so I focus more on buying complete sets if possible. Also, buying collections for close to buy list prices from people stopping playing is a good way to increase your collection; however, you may need to be on the lookout for such offers as they aren't common (you can resell stuff you don't need to recoup some of the "investment"). I don't care much about foils and I'm mildly into promos. Lately I changed my focus on Reserve List cards a bit. I may buy a booster box (for the promo) and a bundle (for the booklet) just to satiate my booster cracking.
I will only make Standard decks if I happen to have cards for a T1 or T2 deck. I don't devote much of my budget making decks.
About making a cube, you need to set how much you wanna pimp it. Usually cube is a very long commitment. You gonna spend a lot on supply stuff (like sleeves, storage, token and so on) even before getting the cards for it. If you aim big, you probably want good supplies as well. Even pauper/peasant cube can be pretty pricey if you wanna acquire in one go.
A friend of mine made a quick peasant cube. The cards themselves probably cost $200 and most of the sleeves were provide for free by me (I had extra unused ones). He didn't pimp it or anything, just wanted a quick way to draft without having to spend money opening packs. In the end he only committed $50 or so (friends provided some of the cards and he had a small collection from past drafts).
I think designing a list took more time. Because it's a long term commitment, I would say take it slowly, proxy if needed (to test which card you like and dislike), and tune it. You may look at lists as reference, but I would say make some experimentation yourself. You wanna make it a very personal project. Also, don't skimp on how make your cube organized (like lands, tokens, and so on) and inventoried.
Still it's an option for this crazy deck.
What was the rare you opened the least? Well I missed some of the money ones like Ancient Tomb, Noble Hierarch, and Engineered Explosives. I also missed some of the bulks as well. I got some duplicated in the mid to mid high tier like Through the Breach, Urborg, and so on. I missed a couple of uncommons as well (bad ones) funnily enough.
What was the mythic you opened the least? Well, I only opened five: Karn, Snapcaster Mage, Bitterblossom, Sigarda, and Balefire Dragon.
What were you box toppers? Karn Liberated and Mana Vault
What, if any, were your FOIL Mythic pulls? Nope. Foil Noble Hierarch is nice thoi.
The card stop and printing is pretty good compared to past Master sets except for the first one. The foil effect is barely noticeable which is a pity. Otherwise, it's on the right track in terms of quality.
I opened a box too. I got 2 mythics and 3 foil rares. I managed to open almost all the bad rares possible, but mythics, foils, and, topper saved the box.
Topper: Mana Vault
Mythics: Snapcaster and Karn
Foil Rares: Through the Breach, Noble Hierarch, and Phyrexian Altar.
So with all these restrictions, artists have few ways to express their style, so they just aim for technique. Mostly wrong ones for such small frames. They abuse muted colors, very fuzzy edges to give more realism, CG treatment, and so on. They are fine in big frames, but just muddled in a MTG card frame plus bad printing practices.
The art department may be mostly neo-post-whatever-insert your favorite hate liberal agenda goons, but corporations in the end just want to make money the safest way possible, so going bland and safe is the best. I believe lot of old school players fell in love with MTG just for the art. It had a bite, was goofy, unique, provocative, varied, and so on. You remember Stasis, Darkness, or any of the bad art forever. Today most of the art aren't bad per se, just forgettable. I can't name most of the new batches of artists. It seems they are just going for the paycheck as they have so many restrictions.
You can see that in most commercial stuff for the general public, not only MTG.