It's just not profitable to gear Magic sales towards competition. Sales are geared towards draft and standard which are easy for newer players to grasp.
"But wait, if Magic sales aren't geared towards competitive players, then why do competitive players still buy new cards and play Magic?"
Those players are already hooked. Magic doesn't need more than a few awesome cards in a set to keep old subscribers satisfied. When sets are being released, a good chunk of the set has to have nice flavor and a fun new-player feel so that it's new-player friendly. But it's not necessarily all about new players. As I said before, the flavor-wagon is also heavily applies to draft and standard: the two formats towards which Wizards tries to drive new players. Magic can't consist entirely of new players. Draft and standard are the most profitable formats, so clearly veteran players are playing those formats, as well.
In all honesty, the only way that Wizards could cause Magic to be geared towards competitive play is to make it ridiculously more profitable. I see two easy ways to do that, and both of them are terrible: 1). Wizards could reprint cards on a reserved list and crash the secondary market by causing prices to drop, while simultaneously giving veteran players more of those neat supplementary sets to buy; or 2). Wizards could get involved in the secondary market and drive prices up for their own gain, inflating the secondary market.
Both of those examples have terrible outcomes, but both of those examples are the two easiest ways to make non-draft, non-standard formats more profitable for Wizards which, in turn, would gear Magic more towards competitive play.
Sarpadian Empires Vol. VII is my favorite card to name in the event that my Cabal Therapy gets Misdirected back to me because my opponent will usually reply, "What...?"
Well, if I were selling all but one card, then I most certainly would be getting rid of my cash collection.
I would keep a Pact of Negation. I had a band named Pact of Negation, and it's a long-standing joke that I can never pay for it during my upkeep. It's my trademark.
What strikes me about original Ravnica block is. Development was at a crossroads. They basically had to put up or risk losing there jobs and boy did they put up. There was just a boatload of highly efficient non opressive cards in that block. So many of them are just a joy to play with.
I almost feel like development in 05 felt like they had something to prove. Like they owe something to there fan base.
Right. No one's arguing that the original Ravnica block wasn't good. The discussion is that revisiting Ravnica was a bad idea. I don't think it was a bad canon move at all. I just think it introduced a whole lot of ass-cards... which doesn't really seem like anything at all if you don't participate in drafts, sealed tournaments, or standard
I disagree with Wizard's decision to revisit the planes of Ravinca and Mirrodin and view it as a wasted opportunity, much rather have a Return to Zendikar or Return to Lowryn.
Two of the few sets in MTG that have amazing artwork and amazing mechanics.
The OP sounded content with the idea of revisiting those sets, but it seems like it is being expressed that Wizards' execution of those physical sets was quite sub-par.
Regardless of whether that was the intended message from the OP or not, it is still my opinion.
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Kruphix is stupid good and replaces most all UG generals based on power level except Momir.
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"But wait, if Magic sales aren't geared towards competitive players, then why do competitive players still buy new cards and play Magic?"
Those players are already hooked. Magic doesn't need more than a few awesome cards in a set to keep old subscribers satisfied. When sets are being released, a good chunk of the set has to have nice flavor and a fun new-player feel so that it's new-player friendly. But it's not necessarily all about new players. As I said before, the flavor-wagon is also heavily applies to draft and standard: the two formats towards which Wizards tries to drive new players. Magic can't consist entirely of new players. Draft and standard are the most profitable formats, so clearly veteran players are playing those formats, as well.
In all honesty, the only way that Wizards could cause Magic to be geared towards competitive play is to make it ridiculously more profitable. I see two easy ways to do that, and both of them are terrible: 1). Wizards could reprint cards on a reserved list and crash the secondary market by causing prices to drop, while simultaneously giving veteran players more of those neat supplementary sets to buy; or 2). Wizards could get involved in the secondary market and drive prices up for their own gain, inflating the secondary market.
Both of those examples have terrible outcomes, but both of those examples are the two easiest ways to make non-draft, non-standard formats more profitable for Wizards which, in turn, would gear Magic more towards competitive play.
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I would keep a Pact of Negation. I had a band named Pact of Negation, and it's a long-standing joke that I can never pay for it during my upkeep. It's my trademark.
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Right. No one's arguing that the original Ravnica block wasn't good. The discussion is that revisiting Ravnica was a bad idea. I don't think it was a bad canon move at all. I just think it introduced a whole lot of ass-cards... which doesn't really seem like anything at all if you don't participate in drafts, sealed tournaments, or standard
To quote the OP with bold emphasis on my point:
The OP sounded content with the idea of revisiting those sets, but it seems like it is being expressed that Wizards' execution of those physical sets was quite sub-par.
Regardless of whether that was the intended message from the OP or not, it is still my opinion.