EDIT: In addition, I really find MTGO unbearable since I started playing again. Its like the last 6-9 months its even worse, and my computer is way over spec.
Oh, it plays modern idSurge, it ALL PLAYS MODERN! (TBA 2025)
Seriously, this thing is going to be an epic failure unless there is some secret audience of players that aren't already deeply invested in MTGO that want to play digital magic. The trouble is that MTG is not a "joke parody" type of game or a disposable game like hearthstone or gwent is. It's a trading card game that people actively collect the cards to play. Simulating that digitally with costs involved while also being tied to a EULA that says no one owns the digital objects they buy isn't going to fly.
If the game solely focuses on Standard, then it is 100% akin to Hearthstone.
I think WotC would lavish much more love on MTGO if the game did not allow people to trade cards (thus opening up the door for the secondary market). WotC just loses so much money (from the Bean Counter's perspective) by not keeping everything in house.
I would definitely prefer the focus for Masters sets to not be on Drafting but I doubt WotC wants to do that, since Drafting is such a powerful motivator for regular people to buy multiple packs (where as they would normally just go online and buy the singles they want from the set).
All we know is that Wildcards have rarities and they can be exchanged for 1 copy of a card with the same rarity.
I imagine the vault working in one of two ways - either it does not require a lot of "dust" to open, thus allowing the rarity of the Wildcard unlocked from the vault to be randomized OR there are rarity tiers and you can work towards filling the meter to the tier you want (with Mythic being expensive and commons being cheap).
Will he ever be printed in a Standard level product again? No, as the story, at least at this point in time, is linear and there's no jumping backwards in time. It's now the 4600s AR (iirc) and Bolas's tenure as Madaran Emperor and Tetsuo's lifetime was in the 4100s.
We do not need to go back in time for Tetsuo Umezawa. Most simply, he could just be a spirit. He could have also been resurrected. He could have also been swept up in the timey wimey stuff from Time Spiral and deposited closer to the present day. He could have a magic item that gives himn extended life. He could be a Planeswalker. I mean there are lots of ways to move Umezawa to the present.
Well something they could do to help is make it so that you only need 1 copy to play 4 copies in your deck.... if you are going to remove trading/purchasing why not cut down on the number of mythics. To make it so that if I get a duplicate I get a new random of the same rarity (or one higher if I have all rarity of that type) and that I only need 1 of each card in my collection to play a play set it would balance nicely with being forced to buy packs for everything.
If you only needed 1 copy of a card to run 4 in a deck, then the game would make obtaining cards excessively difficult.
It makes sense to switch to this model, even if it will make things a bit confusing for the uninitiated (who will need to look each card up to verify legality).
I remember during the downturn, Hasbro was demanding that each of its brands/franchises make 50 million a year. There was a lot of consternation with D&D, since even at its peak, in the 3rd edition era, it was only making 30 million. I am sure those numbers have only gone up over time. Maybe Hasbro wants MOOOOAAARRRR and WotC cannot meet the demands? That is probably a big driver behind Arena. Even if it can only capture 20% of what Hearthstone is, that will still be a 280 million dollars, which would be huge for WotC and Hasbro (as it would represent 25% of the new total Hasbro Gaming division).
Disney has kept Marvel's comic division around because it generates ideas for future shows and movies. I imagine WotC would be left intact after the sale for similar purposes.
I imagine the strongest draw for Disney in the short term would be access to the best selling D&D stories, all of which are begging to be made into blockbuster movies. In the longer term, Magic's plethora of settings and stories could also make for some engaging TV shows and, maybe, some movies.
He is fairly strong/annoying in Sealed. he ate my Primal Dino late game and managed to keep him for a turn or two, which was enough to swing the game in his favor.
EDIT: In addition, I really find MTGO unbearable since I started playing again. Its like the last 6-9 months its even worse, and my computer is way over spec.
Booster Packs contain eight cards: 5 commons, 2 uncommons, and 1 rare or mythic. The Gem-price is not yet determined, but it won't be tied to paper booster packs.
Draft Packs contain 14 cards like paper, except the basic land is removed.
Individual cards can be earned through play. A system where players receive up to 30 per day is being tested.
Wildcards are special cards that can appear in boosters at any rarity. Each Wildcard has a rarity (common, uncommon, etc) and can be exchanged for any other card of the same rarity.
The Vault is the mechanic to deal with duplicates. Every time you would open a fifth version of a card, it fills the Vault meter. Once full, you can open the Vault for a reward. At this time the rewards are Wildcards.
Note that there is no trading.
I seriously doubt WotC would ever allow people to eBay digital cards ever again.
That means the players will either have access to an in-game auction house that players use to buy, and sell the cards with the in-game currency OR, far more likely, we will just have an in-game system where we craft/create the cards we want by destroying the cards we have but do not want.
The real problem is that WotC is not printing "answer" cards. Yes, they eliminated the Core Set, which made printing answer cards more difficult (since those answer cards were often very powerful in limited and ate up spots in normal sets). What I never understood was why they did not put these answer cards into the Deck Builder's Kits. The Deck Builder's kits were already filled with a random assortment of cards, some of which come from Magic's past (like Shivan Dragon and Sera Angel). The answer cards are all commons or uncommons and have all been reprinted a hundred times before. All WotC needed to do was slip one copy of each answer card into the Deck Builder's kit to "active" those cards for Standard play. They could have done the dame with the Planewalker Decks. Just slip an answer card or two in those. No one would have to draft those cards and yet the public would get access to those coveted answer cards into Standard.
The lack of answers is an issue but I also think the shifting design goals of Standard is also a major obstacle. We went from one 3-set block and a core lasting 2 years, to two 2-set blocks lasting 18 months, to two 2-set blocks lasting 2 years, to 3 individual big sets and a core set lasting two years. That is going to wreak havoc on design. The change from 18 to 24 months alone necessitated the latest bans, since all of the banned cards would have rotated out in April, rather than September.
Standard is a mess because WotC is changing too much too quickly.
Honestly, Standard probably won't be "right" until September of 2021, once the last sets that started their lives under the 2-block system finally rotate out.
If the game solely focuses on Standard, then it is 100% akin to Hearthstone.
I think WotC would lavish much more love on MTGO if the game did not allow people to trade cards (thus opening up the door for the secondary market). WotC just loses so much money (from the Bean Counter's perspective) by not keeping everything in house.
I imagine the vault working in one of two ways - either it does not require a lot of "dust" to open, thus allowing the rarity of the Wildcard unlocked from the vault to be randomized OR there are rarity tiers and you can work towards filling the meter to the tier you want (with Mythic being expensive and commons being cheap).
We do not need to go back in time for Tetsuo Umezawa. Most simply, he could just be a spirit. He could have also been resurrected. He could have also been swept up in the timey wimey stuff from Time Spiral and deposited closer to the present day. He could have a magic item that gives himn extended life. He could be a Planeswalker. I mean there are lots of ways to move Umezawa to the present.
If you only needed 1 copy of a card to run 4 in a deck, then the game would make obtaining cards excessively difficult.
I imagine the strongest draw for Disney in the short term would be access to the best selling D&D stories, all of which are begging to be made into blockbuster movies. In the longer term, Magic's plethora of settings and stories could also make for some engaging TV shows and, maybe, some movies.
No, Standard only.
Booster Packs contain eight cards: 5 commons, 2 uncommons, and 1 rare or mythic. The Gem-price is not yet determined, but it won't be tied to paper booster packs.
Draft Packs contain 14 cards like paper, except the basic land is removed.
Individual cards can be earned through play. A system where players receive up to 30 per day is being tested.
Wildcards are special cards that can appear in boosters at any rarity. Each Wildcard has a rarity (common, uncommon, etc) and can be exchanged for any other card of the same rarity.
The Vault is the mechanic to deal with duplicates. Every time you would open a fifth version of a card, it fills the Vault meter. Once full, you can open the Vault for a reward. At this time the rewards are Wildcards.
Note that there is no trading.
That means the players will either have access to an in-game auction house that players use to buy, and sell the cards with the in-game currency OR, far more likely, we will just have an in-game system where we craft/create the cards we want by destroying the cards we have but do not want.
The lack of answers is an issue but I also think the shifting design goals of Standard is also a major obstacle. We went from one 3-set block and a core lasting 2 years, to two 2-set blocks lasting 18 months, to two 2-set blocks lasting 2 years, to 3 individual big sets and a core set lasting two years. That is going to wreak havoc on design. The change from 18 to 24 months alone necessitated the latest bans, since all of the banned cards would have rotated out in April, rather than September.
Standard is a mess because WotC is changing too much too quickly.
Honestly, Standard probably won't be "right" until September of 2021, once the last sets that started their lives under the 2-block system finally rotate out.