Wizards has stated that M14 will be the last prerelease without a gimmick, this angers me. All I want to do is play magic, and learn the new cards. Not, choose a god, and go do a bunch of quests and stupid stuff like that. It's very disheartening to me.
I think they're freaking great. I appreciate pre-releasing being made more unique and social -- it gives them some fun flavor that you wouldn't get at other events. The structure helps get to know other players too.
If they had prizes worth anything, I'd be cool with it. Junky old promo cards and buttons in the Helvault, or even worse the online achievement for RTR/GTC, make them completly pointless.
OP if all you want is to play cards, just buy a box with some mates and draft it. This is a great way for players to get the feel and atmosphere of the new set, as well as a method to get them to play rather than just drop when they have their cards after they go 0-1 in the first round. It also means that each pre-release is a different experience, so that they don't become monotonous
I've ben having a lot of fun with these. It was great to choose your guild and fight alongside the other members of your guild. Theros prerelease should provide some fun and interesting games too.
Lots of flavor and attracts casual and new players who wouldn't otherwise touch a limited event with a ten foot pole.
I approve.
People who just to want to get their cards and play have the rest of the time to do that. Making pre releases more flavorful doesn't exactly deprive them of anything.
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"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
I think they're freaking great. I appreciate pre-releasing being made more unique and social -- it gives them some fun flavor that you wouldn't get at other events. The structure helps get to know other players too.
Sure...in theory.
The problem is that they don't seem to put enough effort into making them actually work properly. At the DGM prerelease I went to, for example, the maze was finished after round 1. And we didn't even get our prizes for winning, since they had already run out the day before.
I don't have any issues with gimmick prereleases in theory. It's just that so far they have shown themselves unable to make gimmicks which actually run smoothly and are fun.
Noobs and flavour adepts and casuals have their time to do gimmicks too; that point goes both ways.
No, they don't. What was the biggest tournament you've seen held by nobody but noobs? Almost by definition, noobs don't hold events on their own, because they lack the experience to do so. If they did/could, they wouldn't be noobs. Prerelease is the only time some such players go out and play limited.
On the other hand, old hands at limited can and do hold limited tournaments any time.
(Prerelease) an event which is meant to be an introduction into competitive magic?
[citation needed]
A prerelease (a name that has stuck but no longer accurate) was designed to introduce the cards to the public. And the majority of players are NOT competitive.
I'm all for these gimmicks. They make the pre-releases more memorable and interesting. Drafts are a fine way to just straight up play the cards. Pre-releases aren't really an introduction to competitive magic. Pre-releases are generally pretty casual as they're run at regular REL and usually have a less competitive atmosphere.
As someone that's been to nearly every pre-release event since Torment, I welcome the continued use of "gimmick" pre-release events. I loved getting the deck box, the guild letter, opening the special guild pack; and just generally being as excited as I was during the Return to Ravnica and Gatecrash events. I've been playing your typical ho-humm sealed pre-release events for years - change is nice.
My only issue with "gimmick" prereleases is where I make a choice that will affect what cards I am playing. It is slightly off-putting to me where I have to make a choice that will affect my outcome. I have no issue with helvault style prereleases, but since some guilds were clearly stronger than others, having the right guildpack gave those extra few percentage points.
Totally fine with gimmicks. Wish that the rewards were more interesting/rewarding.
Codes to unlock online achievements are totally a turn off.
Actual physical promo cards are what I want them to do. Would really like them to give out special promos (like FNM foils) of standard/modern Actually playable staples would be really appreciated - they don't need to be anything fancy, just commons or uncommons with alt art, full art, foil, etc.. anything to make them different and fun.
I'm meh with gimmicks. I mean, sometimes it's nice and fun (like the Maze-Running). But hyping up the Helvault to get tokens while other stores got Judge Promo Demonic Tutor rubbed me the wrong way. If they make it even and fair for everyone, make it so it doesn't financially help one while screwing the others, then fine.
But I also feel like each set should be good enough to not HAVE to have gimmicks to get players into the store to play. Make great sets, players will play. You shouldn't NEED gimmicks to get us in. Just give us some kind of fun achievement or some nice promo and deck box and that should be more than enough.
Theros to me feels like it's nothing but one big gimmick for the prerelease. I'll hold out reservations until seeing the set but I'm not liking what I see so far for it.
I like them, I just want them to consider balance issues. I hated the Simic Promo so much. Almost all of the other playable guild promos were game-enders.
My only issue with "gimmick" prereleases is where I make a choice that will affect what cards I am playing. It is slightly off-putting to me where I have to make a choice that will affect my outcome. I have no issue with helvault style prereleases, but since some guilds were clearly stronger than others, having the right guildpack gave those extra few percentage points.
This, basically. Not to mention the issue of the store running out if everyone wanted the "good" guild, or people choosing based on personal preference but opening up a pile of garbage and not getting to play what they signed up for. Even if we pretend that all of the Gimmick Packs are of the same average quality, I don't need or want Wizards helping me build my decks by letting me demand to open more playables in certain colors. I'd rather just look at each pool on its own merits, and take on the challenge of figuring out the optimal build, regardless of if it's a color/strategy I personally prefer. It's called Limited instead of Constructed for a reason.
Guild Packs made sense with RTR because the guilds were sold as a sort of identity -- you had guilds on PWPs.com, guild merchandise, etc. and people by and large embraced that (look at the Guild Clans on this site, lasting since the original Ravnica block). Thus far for Theros, we know there will be five monocolored "god" cards, five Hero cards that blatantly correspond to a color, and a "slight monocolor theme" which all point to the Gimmick Packs being flavored as some sort of "follower of the gods" thing. It seems like a retread of the same gimmick too soon after RTR, and I don't want it becoming a trend for every single damn prerelease.
Then again, what do I know, I'm a competitive player, and prereleases aren't "for" people like me.
I'm meh with gimmicks. I mean, sometimes it's nice and fun (like the Maze-Running). But hyping up the Helvault to get tokens while other stores got Judge Promo Demonic Tutor rubbed me the wrong way. If they make it even and fair for everyone, make it so it doesn't financially help one while screwing the others, then fine.
But I also feel like each set should be good enough to not HAVE to have gimmicks to get players into the store to play. Make great sets, players will play. You shouldn't NEED gimmicks to get us in. Just give us some kind of fun achievement or some nice promo and deck box and that should be more than enough.
Theros to me feels like it's nothing but one big gimmick for the prerelease. I'll hold out reservations until seeing the set but I'm not liking what I see so far for it.
I compketely agree about it all having to be equal. Almost quit because of the way they handled the helvault
So, I got a sweet over-sized Bruna for my Bruna EDH deck, some angel/demon tokens and a spindown. Compared to a mostly useless promo rare (which, hold on, we also got!), I thought the Helvault was wonderful.
I am a casual player who ONLY participates in pre-releases. These "gimmicks" bring me to the table.
Honestly, the gimmicks are fine for pre-release. It's one limited event day a quarter.
I think when they do things like the gtc ones and the heros, they should give you a sticker and a button. I likes the stickers, and I liked the scars buttons. I thought it was kind of cool. I kind of wanted to get all of them, but it's a little late I think. I got the good ones. (blue)
I'm ok with gimmicks as long as:
1) They don't radically alter how Magic is played.
2) They don't increase the cost of the event.
3) They can generally be ignored if we choose.
There shouldn't be any good prize for completing/participating in the gimmick. It is meant to be its own reward.
Concerning the gimmick prereleases it really depends on how they handle it.
I enjoyed how the Mirrodin Besieged went because while you did confine yourself to half the set with the packs it was still decently color balanced (although the packs did push you to one side) and it was pretty card balanced with plenty of opportunities to get your required removal and the such.
The Helvault was really just annoying because it was like playing the lottery. Some people got $100+ cards... and all I got was an oversized card that I'll use as a coaster or something. It doesn't help that they hyped it up to ungodly levels before hand.
RTR and Gatecrash were Ok since your guild pack always guaranteed you a bomb (which with my luck isn't always the case when it comes to these events) and you still ended up with 5 regular packs of the set to fill in your deck, though while I didn't feel this way a lot of people were annoyed when they couldn't play the guild they picked for the event. Also I felt that Gatecrash was a less balanced set than RTR and the prerelease system just accentuated the problem.
Dragon's Maze was just atrocious. My store didn't even do the maze and they ran out of pins after the first day. I know part of the point of the prerelease is that you want cards of the new set before it is officially released, but giving us 4 Dragon's Maze packs just showed the weakness of the set. With all your RTR and Gatecrash cards coming from just your guild packs it really unbalanced the event to just a miserable degree.
Really as long as the set gimmicks don't break down the balance of the set I really don't mind them too much, although to be fair, sometimes I'd rather just play sealed (something I don't get to do very often anyways). We don't have all the details yet for the Theros set, but just looking at those Hero cards they don't feel all too balanced. We'll see how they execute these events as the sets come out because I could see myself getting worn out from them pretty fast. Personally a gimmick like these will never get me into a prerelease, although it could certainly scare me off.
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I approve.
People who just to want to get their cards and play have the rest of the time to do that. Making pre releases more flavorful doesn't exactly deprive them of anything.
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
Sure...in theory.
The problem is that they don't seem to put enough effort into making them actually work properly. At the DGM prerelease I went to, for example, the maze was finished after round 1. And we didn't even get our prizes for winning, since they had already run out the day before.
I don't have any issues with gimmick prereleases in theory. It's just that so far they have shown themselves unable to make gimmicks which actually run smoothly and are fun.
Practice for Khans of Tarkir Limited:
Draft: (#1) (#2) (#3) (#4) (#5)
No, they don't. What was the biggest tournament you've seen held by nobody but noobs? Almost by definition, noobs don't hold events on their own, because they lack the experience to do so. If they did/could, they wouldn't be noobs. Prerelease is the only time some such players go out and play limited.
On the other hand, old hands at limited can and do hold limited tournaments any time.
[citation needed]
A prerelease (a name that has stuck but no longer accurate) was designed to introduce the cards to the public. And the majority of players are NOT competitive.
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
(Also known as Xenphire)
Codes to unlock online achievements are totally a turn off.
Actual physical promo cards are what I want them to do. Would really like them to give out special promos (like FNM foils) of standard/modern Actually playable staples would be really appreciated - they don't need to be anything fancy, just commons or uncommons with alt art, full art, foil, etc.. anything to make them different and fun.
But I also feel like each set should be good enough to not HAVE to have gimmicks to get players into the store to play. Make great sets, players will play. You shouldn't NEED gimmicks to get us in. Just give us some kind of fun achievement or some nice promo and deck box and that should be more than enough.
Theros to me feels like it's nothing but one big gimmick for the prerelease. I'll hold out reservations until seeing the set but I'm not liking what I see so far for it.
BUG Reanimator
BWG Nic-Fit
BGR Punishing Nic-Fit
This, basically. Not to mention the issue of the store running out if everyone wanted the "good" guild, or people choosing based on personal preference but opening up a pile of garbage and not getting to play what they signed up for. Even if we pretend that all of the Gimmick Packs are of the same average quality, I don't need or want Wizards helping me build my decks by letting me demand to open more playables in certain colors. I'd rather just look at each pool on its own merits, and take on the challenge of figuring out the optimal build, regardless of if it's a color/strategy I personally prefer. It's called Limited instead of Constructed for a reason.
Guild Packs made sense with RTR because the guilds were sold as a sort of identity -- you had guilds on PWPs.com, guild merchandise, etc. and people by and large embraced that (look at the Guild Clans on this site, lasting since the original Ravnica block). Thus far for Theros, we know there will be five monocolored "god" cards, five Hero cards that blatantly correspond to a color, and a "slight monocolor theme" which all point to the Gimmick Packs being flavored as some sort of "follower of the gods" thing. It seems like a retread of the same gimmick too soon after RTR, and I don't want it becoming a trend for every single damn prerelease.
Then again, what do I know, I'm a competitive player, and prereleases aren't "for" people like me.
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I compketely agree about it all having to be equal. Almost quit because of the way they handled the helvault
I am a casual player who ONLY participates in pre-releases. These "gimmicks" bring me to the table.
I think when they do things like the gtc ones and the heros, they should give you a sticker and a button. I likes the stickers, and I liked the scars buttons. I thought it was kind of cool. I kind of wanted to get all of them, but it's a little late I think. I got the good ones. (blue)
1) They don't radically alter how Magic is played.
2) They don't increase the cost of the event.
3) They can generally be ignored if we choose.
There shouldn't be any good prize for completing/participating in the gimmick. It is meant to be its own reward.
I enjoyed how the Mirrodin Besieged went because while you did confine yourself to half the set with the packs it was still decently color balanced (although the packs did push you to one side) and it was pretty card balanced with plenty of opportunities to get your required removal and the such.
The Helvault was really just annoying because it was like playing the lottery. Some people got $100+ cards... and all I got was an oversized card that I'll use as a coaster or something. It doesn't help that they hyped it up to ungodly levels before hand.
RTR and Gatecrash were Ok since your guild pack always guaranteed you a bomb (which with my luck isn't always the case when it comes to these events) and you still ended up with 5 regular packs of the set to fill in your deck, though while I didn't feel this way a lot of people were annoyed when they couldn't play the guild they picked for the event. Also I felt that Gatecrash was a less balanced set than RTR and the prerelease system just accentuated the problem.
Dragon's Maze was just atrocious. My store didn't even do the maze and they ran out of pins after the first day. I know part of the point of the prerelease is that you want cards of the new set before it is officially released, but giving us 4 Dragon's Maze packs just showed the weakness of the set. With all your RTR and Gatecrash cards coming from just your guild packs it really unbalanced the event to just a miserable degree.
Really as long as the set gimmicks don't break down the balance of the set I really don't mind them too much, although to be fair, sometimes I'd rather just play sealed (something I don't get to do very often anyways). We don't have all the details yet for the Theros set, but just looking at those Hero cards they don't feel all too balanced. We'll see how they execute these events as the sets come out because I could see myself getting worn out from them pretty fast. Personally a gimmick like these will never get me into a prerelease, although it could certainly scare me off.
it'll be a good set. ZING!