Krark doesn't seem that over powered. Sure its card draw minus the discard effect, but its risky card draw. If you want to keep drawing cards, Krark can't lose the flip. As for tutoring? Yeah its 2 mana artifacts being cheated onto the board, but you had to lose a coin flip to tutor that up which means you still have a 50% chance of getting that to happen. If you want more reliable card draws or tutoring you would need to fetch a Krark's Thumb as your first artifact.
As for the Writings of Krark, the trick is to either get just as many or more wins as/than losses. If you lose on the second time in a row, you draw nothing.
Krark, if as a real card and first iteration, would probably be called a "breath of fresh air" for mono red commanders as it can act as a unique toolbox card that red never had or considered before. Which should be what a legendary does. It takes the design space and creates something new while staying within its color(s).
What I find great about the plane of Ixalan is it actually has similarities with Dominaria. Like if you were to describe the plane to someone else its "The meso-american plane with conquistador vampires, dinosaurs, Aztecs who tame said dinosaurs, pirates and also Maya merfolk." That it doesn't traditionally fit under the "Plane of Hats" theme that they have been pushing for awhile now. That it also reminds me of Tarkir in being a plane with fairly diverse cultures that clashed with each other.
Rumor has it that there are god boxes floating about. In which each pack of a god box has a foil basic and they are all the same basic. They are fairly rare apparently, like the god packs in Journey to Nyx.
If you want to get a foil basic, great, that is your money. As for me, I would rather pickup the nonfoil versions. Shiny is nice but I'm not exactly enthusiastic to be spending between 40-80 bucks on a shiny basic.
If they were the equivalent of "scratch off tickets", you are not even guaranteed a rare. Each rare would also guarantee you a set value and this value would not fluctuate based on the supply/demand dynamic of a free market. This also implies each other card in the "scratch off ticket" has no intrinsic monetary value.
Would you say the cards have an intrinsic financial value rather than a free market value? I wouldn't. They are all printed with the same resources regardless of rarity, except for foils which take slightly more resources and are listed as premium cards. Wizards does not dictate the value of an individual card.
A thin sheet of gold has no intrinsic value to the average person but if instead of a cash prize I offered a sheet of gold I dont think I could win the argument.
Wizards of the Coast knows and can control which cards are going to have the most demand by adjusting their powerlevel, I mean remember when Mythic rares were not going to be playset type cards and then Lotus Cobra and JTMS were printed like the next set?
Also masterpiece cards and previous type events.
I see what this is, your trying to say a rare is like a sheet of gold. Except you come up short again. First of all gold is more recognizable than a rare from a mtg set. To the average person, a rare has no value outside of MTG.
If you were to try and trade that dollar-bin rare into a card shop, you only get 20-50 cents in value of that rare. Where as with a lottery ticket you get exactly what the lottery ticket says, even if its just a dollar you get that whole dollar.
One mythic to another mythic has no more value than another as according to the manufacturers. To the free market they see a difference in value. The only thing separating a premium/foil from a non-premium/foil is a slightly increase in resources needing to be used to manufacture such a card.
In fact the only true gambling element called Ante was removed very early on in MTG's infancy. By the arrival of the set Alliances there were no more Ante cards.
If they were the equivalent of "scratch off tickets", you are not even guaranteed a rare. Each rare would also guarantee you a set value and this value would not fluctuate based on the supply/demand dynamic of a free market. This also implies each other card in the "scratch off ticket" has no intrinsic monetary value.
Would you say the cards have an intrinsic financial value rather than a free market value? I wouldn't. They are all printed with the same resources regardless of rarity, except for foils which take slightly more resources and are listed as premium cards. Wizards does not dictate the value of an individual card.
How does magic change the text to not be classified as gambling?
Foreign power requested they changed it in order to differentiate themselves from gambling. If I recall the language was either Portuguese or Spanish. When WotC did as requested, they were good to go and sell their product.
Another thing is Germany does not support WotC's big tournaments if the prizes are money as that would be associated with gambling.
@Colt47: I doubt it would be horrible like Vin3 mostly because it seems they got their act together with printing things. Yeah I do mean like a big collection of cards from MTG history this game has to offer for such formats like Legacy or Modern as reprints. As if the barrier to entry is lowered, more people would be willing to embrace Modern or Legacy.
@Colt47: The other problem that a Vingolf or even Netrunner styled set would have is the secondary market itself. Lets say WotC charges $15 for this mini-set for that gives you 15 new cards. These are not limited fodder and should be considered as rare or mythic in mechanics/power. The number of copies is 2 for each.
What do you anticipate the market would do?
Have you seen Vingolf 3?
First, no, the set would not be 15 dollars because if it was like vingolf it would be 2 of each card of usually 25 cards plus 2 dual lands priced at around 50 dollars. Depending on print run, it would be sold on pre-order only and aftermarket boxes would be sold for around probably 80-120 usd depending on the run, but honestly your question is so far open and in the wild without any kind of context as to what cards you are referring to that I can't tell you what the market would do.
So you predict that the fixed set would be overcharged by the secondary market?
@Colt47: The other problem that a Vingolf or even Netrunner styled set would have is the secondary market itself. Lets say WotC charges $15 for this mini-set for that gives you 15 new cards. These are not limited fodder and should be considered as rare or mythic in mechanics/power. The number of copies is 2 for each.
I don't agree with MTG Lion in that statement of his, mostly because it is an ivory tower statement.
As it must be so easy for him to basically say "Don't support your LGS because of this one guy" as he looks like he is jumping ship. As mass boycotting WotC and not participating in local game store events because of one guy actually hurts those local game stores more and expedites the problems some locations might be having with attendance. Also if it hurts these locations big time as they might be mostly focused on MTG, then they have to close shop because of the massive decrease of foot traffic to their store.
I'm still going to play competitively because its fun, I'm going to play limited because I enjoy it, I'm going to get Unstable as I been looking forward to it for so many years now, I'm going to buy modern cards because I enjoy the format. I'm not going to let the actions of someone* I don't even know or care about get in the way of me enjoying the hobby I have loved for well over two decades now.
* = Alex Bertoncini
The problem is that the LGS that people are talking about are really unpaid Magic the Gathering Stores that just happen to support other card games. This entire situation was years in the making and I started seeing it when the MTG Judges thing happened (the part with unpaid labor). Wizards of the Coast has a huge issue that they created themselves with the support infrastructure for the game. The entire game is supported by basically third party sources composed of fans and players. Even the LGS are basically run by people who originally played the game and know it well enough to want to support it. This is built to basically die in a blazing fire of glory as the only thing the company has to do is make enough people angry to give up on the game. As bad as EA or other game vendors are, they never built a support infrastructure based around a fandom to market and sell their products. Heck, Games Workshop does a better job at maintaining store locations, and they are viewed as the devil incarnate in some respects.
Stop with the doomsaying, its tired and trite.
Let me put it this way: If someone came to you and said their favorite store that mostly sells ladders to stay in business is having trouble because the guys making the ladders are having manufacturing problems, but says that they are doing changes and in two years the ladders will be okay, would you honestly go buy ladders from the store? Maybe if someone really liked the guy running it, but ultimately it's the store owner who has to change things around to stay in business because it makes no sense to buy a faulty ladder.
Yes I would buy a ladder. Because the ladder store is merely a place that sells the product, they are not in charge of manufacturing the product. They might also sell older models to you as good will to you the customer and hope you return again.
Also, I looked into the gambling thing and actually, they don't even need to abolish the reserved list to get people to classify MTG as gambling. However, I think it is a good idea that this gets taken to court because what really needs to happen is to have measures put in place to prevent massive secondary market pricing on cards. The main problem is that players end up branching into a few different groups when they go into a TCG depending on how they play the game:
Depends on the country, MTG ran into this problem before and by changing the text slightly it fit the country's standard of "not gambling".
1) Draft night players (Pop packs, drop the cards to buy more packs...)
2) Constructed Players (Buy singles, trade em in for next season)
3) Living Card Game Players (Screw rotation! I got my vintage!) The problem group
The third party is the one that is causing issues right now. They play the game like it was a living card game and just seek out to buy playsets of the best cards in the games history. No TCG actually supports this type of play, so the secondary market prices keep climbing up unless the company reprints the cards. Sure, a TCG can survive for a while with the LCG crowd in their midst, but eventually the haves vs the have nots sets in and the grumbling will cause discontent.
Force of Will has done this with their "Vingolf" series. The Spoils tcg has done this with "Seed III: Fall of Marmotha" and their "Decade of Decadence" cube. Such products are referred to as fixed products. It has the qualities of a LCG while still having other products like TCG/CCG would. A fixed set could be of any size but the key factor is its not randomized. If WotC released a fixed set for Modern they probably could drive prices down for entry into the format to make it less intimidating for a new player who wants to buy a deck. Also remember that a fixed set is not a guarantee that that you get 4-of for each card, some offer 2-ofs and other times its even 1-ofs.
The other thing is this sort service is already done by others in the community at varying prices and varying rarities. Right now for instance you could buy a Complete set of Ixalan, 1 of each copy, for $110.
Really, they could fix the majority of issues the game has by just converting the majority of modern / legacy into a Living Card Game while keeping standard. Modern doesn't really innovate much and from experience it feels like when new cards enter the format it causes more issues for players and wizards of the coast than positive things. Is this a rudy approved move? Hell no the guy is probably going to throw a big video up refuting this is a smart decision if wizards did it, but by doing this it would cut a huge swath of criticism away in regards to the game.
Yes, cheap fixed sets would help for older formats like that. Little Timmy can now just go buy a fixed set for one of those older formats and get everything they wanted and able to start for a reasonable price. If I recall correctly such fixed sets tend to go anywhere between $20-60 based on size. A living card game tends to sell its whole set for about 15-50$.
Also a living card game is not exempt from future sets and in fact can be affected by future living cards.
As for the Writings of Krark, the trick is to either get just as many or more wins as/than losses. If you lose on the second time in a row, you draw nothing.
Krark, if as a real card and first iteration, would probably be called a "breath of fresh air" for mono red commanders as it can act as a unique toolbox card that red never had or considered before. Which should be what a legendary does. It takes the design space and creates something new while staying within its color(s).
Yea, I'll see myself out now.
If you were to try and trade that dollar-bin rare into a card shop, you only get 20-50 cents in value of that rare. Where as with a lottery ticket you get exactly what the lottery ticket says, even if its just a dollar you get that whole dollar.
One mythic to another mythic has no more value than another as according to the manufacturers. To the free market they see a difference in value. The only thing separating a premium/foil from a non-premium/foil is a slightly increase in resources needing to be used to manufacture such a card.
In fact the only true gambling element called Ante was removed very early on in MTG's infancy. By the arrival of the set Alliances there were no more Ante cards.
Would you say the cards have an intrinsic financial value rather than a free market value? I wouldn't. They are all printed with the same resources regardless of rarity, except for foils which take slightly more resources and are listed as premium cards. Wizards does not dictate the value of an individual card.
Another thing is Germany does not support WotC's big tournaments if the prizes are money as that would be associated with gambling.
What do you anticipate the market would do?
Yes I would buy a ladder. Because the ladder store is merely a place that sells the product, they are not in charge of manufacturing the product. They might also sell older models to you as good will to you the customer and hope you return again.
Depends on the country, MTG ran into this problem before and by changing the text slightly it fit the country's standard of "not gambling".
Force of Will has done this with their "Vingolf" series. The Spoils tcg has done this with "Seed III: Fall of Marmotha" and their "Decade of Decadence" cube. Such products are referred to as fixed products. It has the qualities of a LCG while still having other products like TCG/CCG would. A fixed set could be of any size but the key factor is its not randomized. If WotC released a fixed set for Modern they probably could drive prices down for entry into the format to make it less intimidating for a new player who wants to buy a deck. Also remember that a fixed set is not a guarantee that that you get 4-of for each card, some offer 2-ofs and other times its even 1-ofs.
The other thing is this sort service is already done by others in the community at varying prices and varying rarities. Right now for instance you could buy a Complete set of Ixalan, 1 of each copy, for $110.
Yes, cheap fixed sets would help for older formats like that. Little Timmy can now just go buy a fixed set for one of those older formats and get everything they wanted and able to start for a reasonable price. If I recall correctly such fixed sets tend to go anywhere between $20-60 based on size. A living card game tends to sell its whole set for about 15-50$.
Also a living card game is not exempt from future sets and in fact can be affected by future living cards.