I played during Revised and then quit around Homelands because I was moving out of the country for school and needed the money to help with the process. That and Homelands was just sooo dreadful that it felt like the game was ready to roll over and die at any minute if that's all they could come up with.
Got back in after seeing a booster pack of Darksteel in a buddy's car and thinking "wait, this game is still around?!?"
I've since been on and off with the game, usually going more Casual/Limited/Commander when I'm not happy with Standard or the competitive scene in general. This is one of those times now, and I'm taking a bit of a break because of all of the lame crap happening with MTGFinance and now the fakes. But I have a cube and will likely just keep updating that instead of having a million decks.
Why are people surprised? Has it really been that long since a Large-Small-Small block?
Considering that we had the largest jump in players within the last two years, yep.
We get plenty of "what is a prerelease" posts each quarter... considering this is the first time a huge bulk of prerelease attendees will be seeing this sort of format, we can only expect plenty of sour faces.
Oh and we haven't been able to have drafts for YEARS. Wether or not shops actually followed that suggestion is another thing.
While Magic itself is at a great point in its life, I agree 100% that price speculation is the big black mole one face of the community. But I guess this was only inevitable with the huge growth of the player base. 10 years ago we had speculation, just not on such a massive swingy scale. After enough people get burned, it will calm down.
As for the fakes, from those who handled them... they LOOK better than they feel, so this means that the big scare from last week isn't as bad as feared. Most people would be able to id the fakes in hand. It's watching out for those that appear with online sellers, really.
It's not Hasbro people need to be arguing about here... it's the local shops. Someone fills a collection with scam cards in it, sells it to a shop, who then turns around without knowing they are selling fake cards... someone figures it out that they have fakes, and suddenly a chunk of that store's inventory is absolutely worthless and they might as well have been robbed.
Dramatic point, but honestly I don't think that people will stop buying packs in the most extreme examples. If anything, they'll buy MORE packs because they know what they are getting are real cards. They stop buying singles from online retailers, and stop buying from local shops and stick to buying sealed product from big box retailers.
One last note... I also blame this on Speculators driving up prices... they now become a small group of hoarders that act as the middle-man... basically adding a "fee" to every card we get I hope all your target cards are sitting nice in a box and thousands of fakes flood the market... I have 15k of cards but not for than 4-5x of a copy... if you want to speculate go study the stock market.
I absolutely agree. Watching the people FREAK OUT when someone buys all the copies of some random card from TGCplayer is getting 100% tiresome. We didn't have this kind of behavior on such a large scale as we do now. It's become less about the game itself, and more about making a fast buck. People squibbling over such weak margins "OMG IT JUMPED 200% = $1.50" is really, really sad and makes me want to take a very long break.
For me it's red. I've always found red decks pretty much the same no matter how you build them, and just really unfun for me to play. If I bring in red, it's to compliment a deck that needs a piece of utility that is easy to splash for in the format that I want to play. It just seems to have the most shallow design space and I often find myself thinking how forced new red cards are when not complimented with another color.
I doubt there's really a secret trade war going on or anything, but clearly Hasbro and WotC are involved in this problem in ways we have no idea.
While true, I think this was the company's ways of weeding through the potential "real" buyers and those who were just looking to get info/get free samples. Afterall, how many people bombarded these guys on Monday? Suddenly you get 1000 requests for free samples and enquiries? What do you do? Back away slowly and try to go back under the radar IMO. If they were actually raided by the police, I doubt anyone would take the time to tell people about it. They wouldn't bother replying. I say that we're going to see them back soon under a different storefront once the hype dies down.
Attend Pre-Releases and regular drafts/sealed events. Dig through "cheap bins" for cards that may jump in price in the future. This takes some awareness and the willingness to fail miserably on your assumptions, but it's nice when it works out! For example, I saw both Nightveil Specter and Alms Beast were played in RTR block tournaments last year. I picked up a playset of both for fifty cents a card just in case they became played in the post Theros rotation. Scored on one, not so much the other... but it was quite the score!
Usually buying "lots" from stores means you will be getting a couple of good cards and then 100 copies of junk no one will want to trade off of you. It's a money sink, and I'd ony recomend for someone who was looking to buy a fun present for a younger kid or new player.
Nor will they. They tend not to say anything about legal matters, which this obviously is.
Some people over in Reddit started to get email responses back from a couple of these sellers. One said that they wouldn't sell MTG cards anymore because it was "too risky." The other was more than happy to offer details. 55 cards in a sealed box for $6.50 USD, a case is 100 of these boxes. Can't rightly tell for sure, but it may be that you can only buy them by the case.
That means the only people buying these are people looking to scam, NOT kitchen table friends who want to pull together a cheap cube. We have every right to be nervous, unless what I saw in that thread is clarified to mean something different.
I don't know what's worse... scammers buying cases, or individuals buying enough for playsets for thier personal collections. These things look real enough it would be EXTREMELY hard to keep them seperate from your true collection and not be tempted in playing with them in tournaments.
Guys, what if the deck that comes in this isn't a known archetype and is instead just a Modern-legal deck they foolishly threw together?
Then no one would buy it, and they won't make another due to poor sales.
Honestly this deck pretty much has to be a Pod deck, or something similar like Gifts... only a couple cards that are needed in playset, and a bunch of 1-ofs that will make for interesting play and increase value without being too over the top. Saught after commons and uncommons, and easy to add additional value or keep as a casual deck.
I can confirm that Wal Mart will match, but only if you have proof of the price that Walgreens is selling. My wife and I went to two different Wal-Marts with a copy of the "4-day" add as well as a photo of the tag at a local Wal Mart (both posted below). They gave my wife a bit of a wait while people went to get the managers, but I had no issue at all. After all was said and done we got about 40 total boosters between the two of us.
Also note that this sale ends on the 7th, which may or may not matter.
Inevitably there always seems to be the battle between those that complain about products not having enough value, and those that complain about the products having too much value.
Absolutely. It's one of the most frustrating things about the community. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
This scenario sounds like either a shark or inexperienced trader
Absolutely. The very fact he even wanted them in a trade means that he knew darn well they were worth more than a typical uncommon.
Besides, if he needed them that bad and thought he could get them somewhere for 10 cents a pop, I would think he'd just buy them.
One thing someone can always do is use the shop's prices as a mode of comparison. If the person scoffs, and they sell for TCG-Mid, then you know they are being sharked.
Gifts Ungiven. You can build so many interesting decks with it, and we've seen several that were tournament viable. Watching pros play that deck during CHK Standard taught me more about how to play Magic than anything else.
When someone operates on a strong "moral" compass and expects me and my family to live by their belief structure... I sure as heck am going to make sure she practices what she preaches just as she would the same if the roles were reversed... that reminds me...
Got back in after seeing a booster pack of Darksteel in a buddy's car and thinking "wait, this game is still around?!?"
I've since been on and off with the game, usually going more Casual/Limited/Commander when I'm not happy with Standard or the competitive scene in general. This is one of those times now, and I'm taking a bit of a break because of all of the lame crap happening with MTGFinance and now the fakes. But I have a cube and will likely just keep updating that instead of having a million decks.
Considering that we had the largest jump in players within the last two years, yep.
We get plenty of "what is a prerelease" posts each quarter... considering this is the first time a huge bulk of prerelease attendees will be seeing this sort of format, we can only expect plenty of sour faces.
Oh and we haven't been able to have drafts for YEARS. Wether or not shops actually followed that suggestion is another thing.
As for the fakes, from those who handled them... they LOOK better than they feel, so this means that the big scare from last week isn't as bad as feared. Most people would be able to id the fakes in hand. It's watching out for those that appear with online sellers, really.
Dramatic point, but honestly I don't think that people will stop buying packs in the most extreme examples. If anything, they'll buy MORE packs because they know what they are getting are real cards. They stop buying singles from online retailers, and stop buying from local shops and stick to buying sealed product from big box retailers.
I absolutely agree. Watching the people FREAK OUT when someone buys all the copies of some random card from TGCplayer is getting 100% tiresome. We didn't have this kind of behavior on such a large scale as we do now. It's become less about the game itself, and more about making a fast buck. People squibbling over such weak margins "OMG IT JUMPED 200% = $1.50" is really, really sad and makes me want to take a very long break.
While true, I think this was the company's ways of weeding through the potential "real" buyers and those who were just looking to get info/get free samples. Afterall, how many people bombarded these guys on Monday? Suddenly you get 1000 requests for free samples and enquiries? What do you do? Back away slowly and try to go back under the radar IMO. If they were actually raided by the police, I doubt anyone would take the time to tell people about it. They wouldn't bother replying. I say that we're going to see them back soon under a different storefront once the hype dies down.
Usually buying "lots" from stores means you will be getting a couple of good cards and then 100 copies of junk no one will want to trade off of you. It's a money sink, and I'd ony recomend for someone who was looking to buy a fun present for a younger kid or new player.
Nor will they. They tend not to say anything about legal matters, which this obviously is.
Some people over in Reddit started to get email responses back from a couple of these sellers. One said that they wouldn't sell MTG cards anymore because it was "too risky." The other was more than happy to offer details. 55 cards in a sealed box for $6.50 USD, a case is 100 of these boxes. Can't rightly tell for sure, but it may be that you can only buy them by the case.
That means the only people buying these are people looking to scam, NOT kitchen table friends who want to pull together a cheap cube. We have every right to be nervous, unless what I saw in that thread is clarified to mean something different.
I don't know what's worse... scammers buying cases, or individuals buying enough for playsets for thier personal collections. These things look real enough it would be EXTREMELY hard to keep them seperate from your true collection and not be tempted in playing with them in tournaments.
Then no one would buy it, and they won't make another due to poor sales.
Honestly this deck pretty much has to be a Pod deck, or something similar like Gifts... only a couple cards that are needed in playset, and a bunch of 1-ofs that will make for interesting play and increase value without being too over the top. Saught after commons and uncommons, and easy to add additional value or keep as a casual deck.
As much as I'd love to go back to Kamigawa... basing opinions on an artist's style is a bit silly.
Yup, had we not had that picture with, I promise you we wouldn't have had the discount matched.
Also note that this sale ends on the 7th, which may or may not matter.
http://images.iheartwags.com/ad_scans/2013/1204/walgreens-120413.pdf (page 2)
http://i.imgur.com/SK0DOBK.jpg
Absolutely. It's one of the most frustrating things about the community. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
Absolutely. The very fact he even wanted them in a trade means that he knew darn well they were worth more than a typical uncommon.
Besides, if he needed them that bad and thought he could get them somewhere for 10 cents a pop, I would think he'd just buy them.
One thing someone can always do is use the shop's prices as a mode of comparison. If the person scoffs, and they sell for TCG-Mid, then you know they are being sharked.