Money grab? More like money saver. From a business standpoint, my guess is the cost on Walmart and Target's side is going to be highly appealing. In the end they are more than likely to reorder the items and keep them in regular stock, instead of picking up a few blister packs that collect dust and end up being sent back to WOTC once the next set comes out.
I really have a hard time grasping why people are so against this. Anyone reading this forum will be for the most part uneffected by this and is promised to bring in new players to the fold.
You know, the more I look at these, the more I do like them. They will not impact a large majority of the established player base as everyone already stated, and may help to stimulate WOTC's income a bit since a lot of buys within Mass Market stores are done on impulse for small purchases ( typically less than 2 dollars, see various candy, batteries, and other random junk you see as you check out).
I'm also sort of excited to send a box of these things around a draft, which might be sort of fun. As much as we love to sit in our ivory tower and judge Wizards, the fact is that they know their financial situation and are making decisions with BOTH the longevity of the game and its player base and their income in mind, which do go hand-in-hand.
I see nothing ethically "wrong" about this decision, and for most, we'll forget they even exist since we won't even see them.
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Originally Posted by pandafarmer
You all die to removal
I'm afraid not, the wording is "equal chance of being rare/mythic, uncommon, or common.", with rare/mythic as one of three options. I presume the ratio of rares:mythics will be preserved.
I was wondering about that, is it confirmed that its a 1:3 chace of getting a rare or mythic?
Money saver? from a players stand point you are paying $2 for 5 cards instead of $4 for 14.
I think they are trying appeal to excitement of cracking a pack to take advantage of new players, "why spend $4 dollars and only get one booster pack, now you can get two, that 2 chances of getting that shiny new mythic, maybe even 2 mythics."
A 40 dollar mythic rare would constitute a must have 4 of that goes in many decks.
Stats About Mythics
-Mythics are on average 40% rarer than pre-mythic rares
(old blocks about 200 rares, Mythic blocks 35+ mythics)
-They are printing more new cards a year not less
(about 665 now vs. 630 in most pre-mythic block)
-To drop the value of a rare by $1 a mythic must go up $2
-In a 3 year time span deck prices doubled. I am petitioning for the removal of mythic rarity. Sig this to join the cause.
I'm a little surprised by the "it's not meant for you" argument to supporting these packs. I mean, you could theoretically justify offering anything just because "it's not geared toward your side of the market."
Question: If these continue, who wants to bet that the Intro Pack's normal booster will end up replaced with this "mini-pack", tagged along with a slightly lower price-point, and they'll try to justify it as "well, the normal booster's too complicated for new people" (at which time we'll all go "What the...!?!?!") and to make the game "more accessible" due to the lower cost of the Intro Packs?
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Exactly.
This is like complaining that walmart, etc sell those weird blister packs with three random set's boosters in them.
They always have odd ways of selling magic cards, it is really not a big deal at all.
Yah, the mass market stores don't like traditional boxes of booster packs, clearly--they've never been keen on stocking them. This lets them put more units on a small piece of shelf (it was not clear from the picture if the box could hang, but I think it probably just sits on a shelf).
As for whether everyone will be turned off by no rare, I don't think so for some fair sized portion of the market. Let's say you started picking up cards a few years ago when someone gave you a couple of hundred cards, mostly commons with a few uncommons and chafe rares. Since then you've picked up occasional cards, averaging out to a booster a month, and those have been a mix of tenth edition and the other six sets that have been new on the shelves in that time. Odds on that you don't even have four of very many commons, don't have doubles of many uncommons, and your total stock of rares can be counted on your fingers and toes. If that was your situation, any new card is exciting. Oh, yah, even land, you probably are short of that too.
That profile is probably typical of a lot of kids. At least, it is typical of a lot of kids for their collections of Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh cards. I say that with confidence, because I have a son in grade five, and that is pretty much what he has, as do a high proportion of his friends.
And as price points go, $1.99 is pretty good. That is low enough that I might grab one as a "I know you are tired of shopping and are getting hungry but so am I and I need you to be quiet in the car for a few minutes before we both lose it" bribe.
Ok, so we have officially heard the "You are not the target audience, so don't buy them, and stop complaining." argument. While this is partially correct, we aren't the target audience, I think you are missing how this is going to affect us, and why we should complain.
My family knows that I like to game. For birthdays or Christmas, they occasionally forge into the dark depths of the local card store, and buy me packs of "what the guy behind the counter said was the best stuff they had", which usually ends up being Saviors of Kamigawa or 8th Edition. But now, they are doing their shopping at the local walmart, and they see packs of magic hanging out into the aisle. "Excellent!" said family member says, "I get to cross Cottc Cid off my list!" A double win for them, they don't have to go to a card store, they still get my 5-6 packs, and it costs them half as much as before. Yes, friends and countrymen, it is very likely that if you ever received magic as a preseant before, in the future you will be staring at a stack of these instead.
So, now, instead of receiving horrible old packs, you can get crippled versions of new packs instead. This is not a reason to complain?
Meh. In Japan boosters like this are very common from vending machines. Actually more common then that are SINGLE card vending machines. Cardass kinda has a very strong market...
While it jumps out as a lame idea, i think if WOTC's objective was to target the new players doing their shopping at Target or players with the "pack-crack" itch, they've probably hit the spot.
I guess the main complaint..er, concern we have against this 6-pack booster, besides the overall rip-off math value, is probably that it is not deliberately for us (the players), but for the more "general" crowd... Kids/husbands might have a better chance at getting Mom's permission to buy Magic, people who have 'quitted' Magic might buy a pack to "see what it's like now", and pack-cracks would love to throw in one or two together with their groceries.
Unfortunately people who buy these boosters (especially the newbies, or their moms) might not be educated of the existence of our usual 15-card boosters (or the overall better value), and continue to buy these.. maybe spend $30 on a small deck of mostly commons.
More options for more kinds of buyers is generally good, though the card value in the packs should have been closer to a half pack value, no sense in pwning people just because they want to buy in modest quantity. I wouldn't mind seeing a pauper set being printed that had cards either newly created or reprints of stuff that's fun but not worth much for cheap drafts and constructed. Should be legal in vintage and extended though not likely to make an impact and be priced at around 1.00 a pack for 15 cards. I think this would really help slowly get people addicted to the game, and keep people playing limited even when theyre stretching their dollars.
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Infractions so far = 2
Complaint box: Why was the mtg as an mmo(rpg) thread closed? I was having fun talking about it, hrmph-
As someone who first got into magic by cracking random urza's saga boosters in high school, I can see exactly where theyre aiming with this product.
However, if thats the way the gravity feeds look, I am afraid that these things are going to be notorious shoplifting targets. It's easy to steal a pack of gum, but there's no real drive to do it unless you're something of a thief or klepto anyway, because you can't randomly open a 20 dollar piece of gum with an orange symbol on it. This isn't a magic player thing, either--thieves will see how easy they are to snatch, think "oh arent there like cards that nerds will pay hundreds of dollars for" in their heads, and pocket some when the cashier isn't looking.
If your logic for not buying these is that the number of rares you get per dollar is less than the number you get in boosters, then you should find yourself feeling silly buying anything less than a case of boosters. The value is much better that way, yet people buy single boosters all the time. As always, the more you spend at once, the better the value.
For the wild card slot, they should make it only be uncommon or higher.
For the land slot, I think it they should consider having a chance of it becoming, say a common or uncommon. The land can really pile up if lots of packs do get cracked.
I find it ironic that these are making their debut in a set called [CON].:rolleyes:
I LOL'ed. Nice.
I got all upset at people saying that this is "unethical" and that "Wizards is just being a cash cow" etc.. Seriously? This doesn't affect you at ALL. Don't want it? DONT BUY IT! I would bat some lashes and raise some brows if this product didn't do EXACTLY what Wizards wanted it to. Wizards needs it, therefore, we need it.
The real issue is the economy. Wizards needs new players, as they have undoubtedly been affected by the current state of affairs. There are lots of players that have stopped playing Magic, and maybe by picking up a $2 booster of the new set while waiting in line at Wal-Mart, they will get back into the game and Wizards will make MORE down the line. If they position this to mass market retailers, they are going to make some cash with or without it being a success. Think about it this way;
Wizards sells 1000 units to Wal-Mart @ 20$/Box.
Wal-Mart pays Wizards $20 000.
Wal-Mart doesn't sell a single unit.
Wizards is still up $20 000.
Obviously, Wal-Mart is going to sell some. It is an AMAZING idea, and is going to help ensure that ALL of us can enjoy magic for years to come, post apocalyptic economy crash.
The real crime is that our local card shops wont get any in. They could have positioned this product as a mentoring device, getting experienced players to usher in the new generation of pro-tour players. Also, I would sell this product in my store, to all the younger kids coming in to purchase Yu-Gi-Oh and other craptastic knock-off anime card games. I would fill a vending machine with these packs without thinking twice about it. I would find a great way to draft with them, and they are their own prize support.
/rant
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This is ... interesting to me. I feel an impulse for some kind of, disapproval, but really can't say how. Perhaps it's just the image WotC has with its current player base.
And maybe those ways are were a bad business model.
So I'm a-okay with this. I like Magic. Wizards is protecting its future.
What remains to be seen is where the game design goes. Let's hope for a return to gritty punk mage deathpocalypseworld -scape in the upcoming Live, hey?
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As someone who first got into magic by cracking random urza's saga boosters in high school, I can see exactly where theyre aiming with this product.
However, if thats the way the gravity feeds look, I am afraid that these things are going to be notorious shoplifting targets. It's easy to steal a pack of gum, but there's no real drive to do it unless you're something of a thief or klepto anyway, because you can't randomly open a 20 dollar piece of gum with an orange symbol on it. This isn't a magic player thing, either--thieves will see how easy they are to snatch, think "oh arent there like cards that nerds will pay hundreds of dollars for" in their heads, and pocket some when the cashier isn't looking.
Maybe I'm overthinking it.
There will not be open booster boxes sitting around... my assumption is these will be individually sealed in a card board packed plastic display package and will not fit comfortably in a pocket.
I wonder if there's any way to try to draft these...
Well, with 5 of the 6 cards being draftable then three packs would give you 15 cards. 9 packs per player to draft is more expensive than just 3 regular packs.
However, some different draft format than the standard, say a modified Rochester, and you could have an interesting 6 man draft.
Money saver? from a players stand point you are paying $2 for 5 cards instead of $4 for 14.
I meant from a business prospective. Sure from a player's prospective it stinks... but chances are that the per unit cost for Target and WalMart is cheaper than buying a case of those blister packs. They may sell much faster due to the affordability and "psychological impact" of having them near the candy and gum. That's a plus for Target, and a plus for WOTC.
Most people buy packs for rares. Therefore, the other stuff didn't matter in the first place, right?
Until now, we could say a rare costed 4 bucks - like a booster.
What happens if the booster - and therefore the rare - starts costing half as much?
It's an economical disaster!
What will happen to single vendors?
Will they sell a lot because they can buy more and have more copies
or
Will they sell much less because people will afford twice as many boosters ( and even have less junk around - how many think about commons )
Also, that would cause 15 cards boosters to disappear - and with them, draft!
Kill draft, kill magic I say.
This is way the 6ers can't possibly contain always a rare.
I like this positive approach to the situation. I like you Italian people, you're always looking onto the brightside. I like that positiveness. Kudos. :)Thank you
You have to be kidding me. Did blister packs that included Saviors packs effect the cost of Twincast? What about the card shops that have dollar rare bins? By your account the world of Magic would have already collapsed in on itself. SERIOUSLY PEOPLE... THIS WILL NOT EFFECT THE WAY YOU BUY MAGIC UNLESS ALL YOU DO IS BUY BLISTER PACKS FROM TARGET.
I'm a little surprised by the "it's not meant for you" argument to supporting these packs. I mean, you could theoretically justify offering anything just because "it's not geared toward your side of the market."
Question: If these continue, who wants to bet that the Intro Pack's normal booster will end up replaced with this "mini-pack", tagged along with a slightly lower price-point, and they'll try to justify it as "well, the normal booster's too complicated for new people" (at which time we'll all go "What the...!?!?!") and to make the game "more accessible" due to the lower cost of the Intro Packs?
Will not happen. This is a narrow, niche product for a niche market. I could see a mass-market exlusive "starter", but not some hybrid with the current hobby store product.
If this were purely a money-grab, Wizards would not boldly display that it is a 6-card booster. Mass market is a different beast than the core-hobby channel. What works in one, does not always work in the other.
In this economy, you need to offer people options that fit their needs. A $2 impulse purchase item fits one such need. That does not mean that a higher-priced, better value product cannot also be viable, even in the same market. Acquisition is key to market growth, and this is a good vehicle.
There will not be open booster boxes sitting around... my assumption is these will be individually sealed in a card board packed plastic display package and will not fit comfortably in a pocket.
The Arcana page shows the box that the mini-boosters will come in. It's just like a dozen other varieties of gravity feed boxes that other trading cards come in, when they're lined up for Wal-Marts or Targets. They don't come in extra cardboard packages or anything like that because the feed box is made to be just slightly wider than the wrapped pack.
So yes, a person with 'adaptable morals' could make off with several packs if they were that hard up for some commons. Unless Wizards stuck a magnetic strip in each individual booster, which could potentially bend the cards.
I think you could do cool minimaster with this, a tourney.
3 or 4 Swiss rounds, everyone starts with a 15-card booster with 3 of each basic shuffled in.
For each round you win, you win a 6-card booster and shuffle it into your deck.
If they would like more players to play the game they should just reduce the price of normal boosters or just add more commons in. Deceiving new players with this garbage to make money...
They ain't deceiving anyone. New players don't know what rarity; old-time players are informed about the content. 3 Commons + to one you can find ( in the worse case ) in the random slot are 4 commons: at 0.50 $ each, it's already 2 bucks. The uncommon, land , token + the possibilty to have luck it's more than it's market price.
I guess Wizards is desperate or something to make money from these, not to include excluding the books from fat packs.
I like fantasy. I want a book they told me was cool. Why do I have to pay for 8 boosters of a game I don't wanna play at, a die and a card with a guy I never heard of ( with all the respect for the Pros )? I couldn't afford magic books before; now they have the price they're worth: the one of a book. I, as a custumer, should be able to choose what I want. They're just giving you more choices; why so angry?
I think you guys are missing the real intent behind doing this. I know the article mentioned retail stores like wal-mart and target, but I’m pretty sure Wizards is going to be aiming these at even more retail locations than those. Currently Wal-mart and target are the only two non-game non-toy stores I know of that carry magic and they carry the regular booster because they can afford the shelf space.
See, this is a chance to get other, smaller, stores to carry magic as well. Places like Family Dollar, 7-11, or heck even the Piggly Wiggly could carry these. They take up little shelf space and retail price on these is probably really cheap. This is a good way to get magic out their to smaller communities that don’t have access to game stores and might not even have a wal-mart. You know the real “grassroots” areas where the Piggly Wiggly is the only real store for miles or gas-station convince marts like 7-11 and such.
Like most of their decisions lately, this is not geared toward the serious player. They know you don’t want to buy these and that’s why they’re not marketing them toward game stores. This is about getting the game out to an even larger audience and hooking people with something small and cheap just to get them to try it. That’s what these are for. The next time you’re in-line at a Piggly Wiggly and you see some little kid pick a pack up next to the candy bars and cry for it, you’ll know it’s working.
Also I like to say “Piggly Wiggly”.
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You know, the more I look at these, the more I do like them. They will not impact a large majority of the established player base as everyone already stated, and may help to stimulate WOTC's income a bit since a lot of buys within Mass Market stores are done on impulse for small purchases ( typically less than 2 dollars, see various candy, batteries, and other random junk you see as you check out).
I'm also sort of excited to send a box of these things around a draft, which might be sort of fun. As much as we love to sit in our ivory tower and judge Wizards, the fact is that they know their financial situation and are making decisions with BOTH the longevity of the game and its player base and their income in mind, which do go hand-in-hand.
I see nothing ethically "wrong" about this decision, and for most, we'll forget they even exist since we won't even see them.
I was wondering about that, is it confirmed that its a 1:3 chace of getting a rare or mythic?
Money saver? from a players stand point you are paying $2 for 5 cards instead of $4 for 14.
I think they are trying appeal to excitement of cracking a pack to take advantage of new players, "why spend $4 dollars and only get one booster pack, now you can get two, that 2 chances of getting that shiny new mythic, maybe even 2 mythics."
Stats About Mythics
-Mythics are on average 40% rarer than pre-mythic rares
(old blocks about 200 rares, Mythic blocks 35+ mythics)
-They are printing more new cards a year not less
(about 665 now vs. 630 in most pre-mythic block)
-To drop the value of a rare by $1 a mythic must go up $2
-In a 3 year time span deck prices doubled.
I am petitioning for the removal of mythic rarity. Sig this to join the cause.
Question: If these continue, who wants to bet that the Intro Pack's normal booster will end up replaced with this "mini-pack", tagged along with a slightly lower price-point, and they'll try to justify it as "well, the normal booster's too complicated for new people" (at which time we'll all go "What the...!?!?!") and to make the game "more accessible" due to the lower cost of the Intro Packs?
Assuming it still the same 1 of 8 rares is a mythic then common factor is 3 x 8 = 24.
Last card will be.
its 8/24 pack it is going to be a common.
its 8/24 packs it is going to be a uncommon.
its 7/24 packs it is going to be a rare.
its 1/24 packs it is going to be a mythic rare.
So.... MSRP 24 x 2 = $48. Compared regular packs of MSRP 8 x 4 = $32.
Trying to get mythics, not a good idea. I excluded the foil because that would make it even more strange.
but if its a 50/50 in the rare slot for a rare or mythic then
2/6
2/6
1/6
1/6
6 x 2 = 12, then u be saving
Yah, the mass market stores don't like traditional boxes of booster packs, clearly--they've never been keen on stocking them. This lets them put more units on a small piece of shelf (it was not clear from the picture if the box could hang, but I think it probably just sits on a shelf).
As for whether everyone will be turned off by no rare, I don't think so for some fair sized portion of the market. Let's say you started picking up cards a few years ago when someone gave you a couple of hundred cards, mostly commons with a few uncommons and chafe rares. Since then you've picked up occasional cards, averaging out to a booster a month, and those have been a mix of tenth edition and the other six sets that have been new on the shelves in that time. Odds on that you don't even have four of very many commons, don't have doubles of many uncommons, and your total stock of rares can be counted on your fingers and toes. If that was your situation, any new card is exciting. Oh, yah, even land, you probably are short of that too.
That profile is probably typical of a lot of kids. At least, it is typical of a lot of kids for their collections of Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh cards. I say that with confidence, because I have a son in grade five, and that is pretty much what he has, as do a high proportion of his friends.
And as price points go, $1.99 is pretty good. That is low enough that I might grab one as a "I know you are tired of shopping and are getting hungry but so am I and I need you to be quiet in the car for a few minutes before we both lose it" bribe.
My family knows that I like to game. For birthdays or Christmas, they occasionally forge into the dark depths of the local card store, and buy me packs of "what the guy behind the counter said was the best stuff they had", which usually ends up being Saviors of Kamigawa or 8th Edition. But now, they are doing their shopping at the local walmart, and they see packs of magic hanging out into the aisle. "Excellent!" said family member says, "I get to cross Cottc Cid off my list!" A double win for them, they don't have to go to a card store, they still get my 5-6 packs, and it costs them half as much as before. Yes, friends and countrymen, it is very likely that if you ever received magic as a preseant before, in the future you will be staring at a stack of these instead.
So, now, instead of receiving horrible old packs, you can get crippled versions of new packs instead. This is not a reason to complain?
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My mind numbing DC-10 stack!
I guess the main complaint..er, concern we have against this 6-pack booster, besides the overall rip-off math value, is probably that it is not deliberately for us (the players), but for the more "general" crowd... Kids/husbands might have a better chance at getting Mom's permission to buy Magic, people who have 'quitted' Magic might buy a pack to "see what it's like now", and pack-cracks would love to throw in one or two together with their groceries.
Unfortunately people who buy these boosters (especially the newbies, or their moms) might not be educated of the existence of our usual 15-card boosters (or the overall better value), and continue to buy these.. maybe spend $30 on a small deck of mostly commons.
Complaint box: Why was the mtg as an mmo(rpg) thread closed? I was having fun talking about it, hrmph-
However, if thats the way the gravity feeds look, I am afraid that these things are going to be notorious shoplifting targets. It's easy to steal a pack of gum, but there's no real drive to do it unless you're something of a thief or klepto anyway, because you can't randomly open a 20 dollar piece of gum with an orange symbol on it. This isn't a magic player thing, either--thieves will see how easy they are to snatch, think "oh arent there like cards that nerds will pay hundreds of dollars for" in their heads, and pocket some when the cashier isn't looking.
Maybe I'm overthinking it.
For the land slot, I think it they should consider having a chance of it becoming, say a common or uncommon. The land can really pile up if lots of packs do get cracked.
I LOL'ed. Nice.
I got all upset at people saying that this is "unethical" and that "Wizards is just being a cash cow" etc.. Seriously? This doesn't affect you at ALL. Don't want it? DONT BUY IT! I would bat some lashes and raise some brows if this product didn't do EXACTLY what Wizards wanted it to. Wizards needs it, therefore, we need it.
The real issue is the economy. Wizards needs new players, as they have undoubtedly been affected by the current state of affairs. There are lots of players that have stopped playing Magic, and maybe by picking up a $2 booster of the new set while waiting in line at Wal-Mart, they will get back into the game and Wizards will make MORE down the line. If they position this to mass market retailers, they are going to make some cash with or without it being a success. Think about it this way;
Wizards sells 1000 units to Wal-Mart @ 20$/Box.
Wal-Mart pays Wizards $20 000.
Wal-Mart doesn't sell a single unit.
Wizards is still up $20 000.
Obviously, Wal-Mart is going to sell some. It is an AMAZING idea, and is going to help ensure that ALL of us can enjoy magic for years to come, post apocalyptic economy crash.
The real crime is that our local card shops wont get any in. They could have positioned this product as a mentoring device, getting experienced players to usher in the new generation of pro-tour players. Also, I would sell this product in my store, to all the younger kids coming in to purchase Yu-Gi-Oh and other craptastic knock-off anime card games. I would fill a vending machine with these packs without thinking twice about it. I would find a great way to draft with them, and they are their own prize support.
/rant
- Howard Shultz
CURRENTLY PLAYING
UWR: American Control
This is ... interesting to me. I feel an impulse for some kind of, disapproval, but really can't say how. Perhaps it's just the image WotC has with its current player base.
And maybe those ways
arewere a bad business model.So I'm a-okay with this. I like Magic. Wizards is protecting its future.
What remains to be seen is where the game design goes. Let's hope for a return to gritty punk mage deathpocalypse
world-scape in the upcoming Live, hey?Awesome avatar provided by Krashbot @ [Epic Graphics].
There will not be open booster boxes sitting around... my assumption is these will be individually sealed in a card board packed plastic display package and will not fit comfortably in a pocket.
*Mayreturn*
I have some EDH cards and rare Magic basic lands (APAC, EURO, ARENA, etc) so message me if you're looking.
Number of members banned after I posted a BTR: 7
Looking for honest buyers, sellers, and traders.
Well, with 5 of the 6 cards being draftable then three packs would give you 15 cards. 9 packs per player to draft is more expensive than just 3 regular packs.
However, some different draft format than the standard, say a modified Rochester, and you could have an interesting 6 man draft.
[card=Jace Beleren]Jace[/card] = Jace
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The first rule of Cursecatcher is, You do not talk about Cursecatcher.
I meant from a business prospective. Sure from a player's prospective it stinks... but chances are that the per unit cost for Target and WalMart is cheaper than buying a case of those blister packs. They may sell much faster due to the affordability and "psychological impact" of having them near the candy and gum. That's a plus for Target, and a plus for WOTC.
Most people buy packs for rares. Therefore, the other stuff didn't matter in the first place, right?
Until now, we could say a rare costed 4 bucks - like a booster.
What happens if the booster - and therefore the rare - starts costing half as much?
It's an economical disaster!
What will happen to single vendors?
Will they sell a lot because they can buy more and have more copies
or
Will they sell much less because people will afford twice as many boosters ( and even have less junk around - how many think about commons )
Also, that would cause 15 cards boosters to disappear - and with them, draft!
Kill draft, kill magic I say.
This is way the 6ers can't possibly contain always a rare.
I like this positive approach to the situation. I like you Italian people, you're always looking onto the brightside. I like that positiveness. Kudos. :)Thank you
Will not happen. This is a narrow, niche product for a niche market. I could see a mass-market exlusive "starter", but not some hybrid with the current hobby store product.
If this were purely a money-grab, Wizards would not boldly display that it is a 6-card booster. Mass market is a different beast than the core-hobby channel. What works in one, does not always work in the other.
In this economy, you need to offer people options that fit their needs. A $2 impulse purchase item fits one such need. That does not mean that a higher-priced, better value product cannot also be viable, even in the same market. Acquisition is key to market growth, and this is a good vehicle.
The Arcana page shows the box that the mini-boosters will come in. It's just like a dozen other varieties of gravity feed boxes that other trading cards come in, when they're lined up for Wal-Marts or Targets. They don't come in extra cardboard packages or anything like that because the feed box is made to be just slightly wider than the wrapped pack.
So yes, a person with 'adaptable morals' could make off with several packs if they were that hard up for some commons. Unless Wizards stuck a magnetic strip in each individual booster, which could potentially bend the cards.
3 or 4 Swiss rounds, everyone starts with a 15-card booster with 3 of each basic shuffled in.
For each round you win, you win a 6-card booster and shuffle it into your deck.
See, this is a chance to get other, smaller, stores to carry magic as well. Places like Family Dollar, 7-11, or heck even the Piggly Wiggly could carry these. They take up little shelf space and retail price on these is probably really cheap. This is a good way to get magic out their to smaller communities that don’t have access to game stores and might not even have a wal-mart. You know the real “grassroots” areas where the Piggly Wiggly is the only real store for miles or gas-station convince marts like 7-11 and such.
Like most of their decisions lately, this is not geared toward the serious player. They know you don’t want to buy these and that’s why they’re not marketing them toward game stores. This is about getting the game out to an even larger audience and hooking people with something small and cheap just to get them to try it. That’s what these are for. The next time you’re in-line at a Piggly Wiggly and you see some little kid pick a pack up next to the candy bars and cry for it, you’ll know it’s working.
Also I like to say “Piggly Wiggly”.
The Steamflogged
Human Rigger Minions committed to
forcing Contraptions in YMTC4,
and Resisting The Tyranny of the
Viva La Assembly!
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