Dear Trick:
I call bull on your article bemoaning leaks. Your goal is understandable, but your analogies are false, and your blame is way off target. I am not a leaker, and I never have been. But I read MTG Salvation more than your website (especially since the recent "improvement" which makes it almost unreadable).
A leak is a WOTC failure. Not our moral failure for being fans. No, I don't agree that you are telling a story that we would all enjoy better if there weren't these pesky leakers. You are trying to control the narrative. But the real world is in your way. You have to let stuff out before the big day, because you physically have to make and ship stuff in advance. Even to Russia. As long as you make a good product (and no, marketing doesn't do that), there will be a tremendous interest in it. You fan it (marketing DOES do that). All that fanning has a cost: the desire to learn what it coming. You create the pressure, the force that draws leaks out. So don't point this way. Look in the mirror.
Do you really think we are getting an unfair advantage? Then why were you sending out the God Book to pros for years? Didn't you have the same philosophy then? No, you had hype in mind. You didn't care about the advantage those article-writing pros got, you wanted hype. It was a WOTC failure that sent out complete set information all over the world for a little hype.
Don't cry to us that we ruined your hype. You are driving it. And no, I don't like the WOTC-controlled narrative since you clamped down on Rancored Elf et al. Having you control every leak is pretty bad, actually. It isn't nearly as exciting as the old days. Look at the number of posts on boring old colorless mana! Your announcement wouldn't have done that!
I could go on, but I will spare you; if you want to control leaks, then don't send stuff out before you discuss it. If you can't do that, then accept that your security will not be 100% and you are making a product where advance info is "worth" leaking by some segment of the population, and worth reading by a huge segment of your customers.
I wasn't intending to impugn your good work. I was trying to recommend a more conservative approach to the list. I think we all want the number crunch to be something that can support or disprove a speculation. If it is just as much speculation as anything else, then it loses that power. For example, if we had a solid reason that there were going to be 15 basics, then I think we should put them in. But if we are just going by history, then I think we should leave the lands open. This is the (last) third set in a block, but it is large. Other blocks with Large-Small-Large(ish) formats have 20,0,20 (Zendikar), 20,10,10 (Scars of Mirrodin), 15,0,15 (Innistrad). Now in Khans we have seen 20,10,?. There is thus no historical justification for 20,10,15. 10 is plausible, 20 is impossible because of Evolving Wilds. We really don't know where the artifact/land boundary is. But let's not assume 15 basic lands are confirmed/bold. We can't prove the fetch-mongers wrong yet.
It would not "hurt" standard. Think about if these were common, and in every set. Everyone would use what they wanted, and things would be just as balanced as before. Nobody would even notice. Do you notice they have Mountain in every standard? Nobody cares, as long as the other basics are too. The only reason lands are such a big deal is because Wizards makes it that way, by making them rare. They don't imbalance anything. You could argue it is more imbalanced to have only half of them. Besides, they could at the same time introduce Blood Moon style hate and "balance" them that way.
Thanks for the info. Do we know how many Ugin's Fate boosters are in the display box they've been showing off?
There aren't any. It is empty as the store gets it. They have a separate supply that they load the box with, and then affix the seals. They get several sets of seals, so they can do this over several pre-releases. It is recommended to fill it with 24 packs, but everyone gets a pack, so they have many more. I saw this all on YouTube last night. They don't show pack contents (except from the back) for the Ugin boosters in the vid.
Here it is: http://youtu.be/GywPq8JYA4Y
6
I call bull on your article bemoaning leaks. Your goal is understandable, but your analogies are false, and your blame is way off target. I am not a leaker, and I never have been. But I read MTG Salvation more than your website (especially since the recent "improvement" which makes it almost unreadable).
A leak is a WOTC failure. Not our moral failure for being fans. No, I don't agree that you are telling a story that we would all enjoy better if there weren't these pesky leakers. You are trying to control the narrative. But the real world is in your way. You have to let stuff out before the big day, because you physically have to make and ship stuff in advance. Even to Russia. As long as you make a good product (and no, marketing doesn't do that), there will be a tremendous interest in it. You fan it (marketing DOES do that). All that fanning has a cost: the desire to learn what it coming. You create the pressure, the force that draws leaks out. So don't point this way. Look in the mirror.
Do you really think we are getting an unfair advantage? Then why were you sending out the God Book to pros for years? Didn't you have the same philosophy then? No, you had hype in mind. You didn't care about the advantage those article-writing pros got, you wanted hype. It was a WOTC failure that sent out complete set information all over the world for a little hype.
Don't cry to us that we ruined your hype. You are driving it. And no, I don't like the WOTC-controlled narrative since you clamped down on Rancored Elf et al. Having you control every leak is pretty bad, actually. It isn't nearly as exciting as the old days. Look at the number of posts on boring old colorless mana! Your announcement wouldn't have done that!
I could go on, but I will spare you; if you want to control leaks, then don't send stuff out before you discuss it. If you can't do that, then accept that your security will not be 100% and you are making a product where advance info is "worth" leaking by some segment of the population, and worth reading by a huge segment of your customers.
1
1
2
And keep up the good work.
1
1
Here it is: http://youtu.be/GywPq8JYA4Y