I have been playing Magic for most of it's existence. I have seen trends come and go, rules change on a yearly basis, card art & design/format change (modern border, hologram for anti-counterfeiting). New card types have been introduced, as well as reduction in the wordiness of cards with keywords
coming more often than going.
BUT these past 3 or 4 months, it feels, has really put a spin on the game:
1) Modern card prices are sky rocketing, as a whole.
2) Colorless get's it's own symbol and I am thinking/guessing, it will be evergreen, meaning we'll find more cards in future sets where <> is used semi-regularly.
3) Eternal Masters being revealed w/ some leaks is turning many players inside out (good way and bad way).
4) We are now on a 2-block/year system w/ no Core Set any more.
All this at once is shaking up the game. I don't know if all of this is breathing new life into our game, or cutting off its oxygen.
2) Colorless get's it's own symbol and I am thinking/guessing, it will be evergreen, meaning we'll find more cards in future sets where <> is used semi-regularly.
C on mana producers is here to stay, as seen on the Eternal Masters version of Wasteland.
C on costs can be used in set, somewhat like Hybrid mana, but effectively it will show up less often than hybrid because it requires enough support on mana sources in the set, while hybrid doesn't.
So we just got a new symbol without any real change for most sets, with the rare once-in-a-blue-moon colorless theme being possible. Not a big deal.
Colorless mana getting a symbol is "cutting off the game's oxygen"? Yeah, no.
Less boring Core sets is a good move - as a kid buying booseters, nothing bummed me out more than finding out the latest printings were a flavorless core set.
Price shifts happen all the time. Third party "investors" have been the worst part of the game for years.
I don't love the Standard shift, but the other things seem neutral, good, or the status quo. WotC claims to continue raking in more and more money, so I don't think they think anything's going wrong.
Colorless mana getting a symbol is "cutting off the game's oxygen"? Yeah, no.
Less boring Core sets is a good move - as a kid buying booseters, nothing bummed me out more than finding out the latest printings were a flavorless core set.
Price shifts happen all the time. Third party "investors" have been the worst part of the game for years.
I don't love the Standard shift, but the other things seem neutral, good, or the status quo. WotC claims to continue raking in more and more money, so I don't think they think anything's going wrong.
Making money is one important metric for the health of the game, but not the end all be all. I am concerned that they're claiming record profits but from fewer players. That's right, the playerbase is shrinking right now but profits are still up. Why? Because Joe Blow Magic Player is now buying MORE packs per person because of the Expedition lottery. And while that's great for this quarters sales, it is not good at all for the future.
Why is this bad for the health of the game? No new blood is bad. When more people are dropping the game than joining, that's bad. When people are digging deep and spending more on Magic than ever, that's bad. Why? Because you're cannibalizing future sales for sales now (if you dig deep now, you can't dig deep later or even as deep as you normally do), you're creating a supply glut that will devalue the cards that your rabid playerbase bought and make them worthless. Players look around, see the money they spent and the dismal return and start thinking about doing something else instead. It might take a year or two, but it's a bad road to start down and I am not confident that WOTC can weather the storm.
It used to be that WOTC erred on the side of caution but that seems to have been thrown to the wind. Whoever is in charge of WOTC now wants profits now, **** the game and playerbase and long term growth. We'll be seeing more and more money grabs, as it's all pure profit to WOTC. Hey, this draft experience sucks. Oh, we'll throw some full art foil bull***** in there at a rate of 1 per case and that'll get the sales going! Yeah, the first couple of times you do it. Then they'll stagnate and level off as people get tired/broke and stop playing the lottery.
1) Modern card prices are sky rocketing, as a whole.
Sad but expectable. The format is more and more difficult to handle and stabilize, but you cannot blame Wizards for prices skyrocketing.
2) Colorless get's it's own symbol and I am thinking/guessing, it will be evergreen, meaning we'll find more cards in future sets where <> is used semi-regularly.
A good move opening more design space. And it IS going to be evergreen and here to stay - confirmed directly by Wizards. All non-colored mana produced is going to be <> now.
3) Eternal Masters being revealed w/ some leaks is turning many players inside out (good way and bad way).
Eternal Masters - why not, if people are willing to pay for it? The bigger problem is the existence of insider info sharing, but again, where big money is, it is kinda expectable.
4) We are now on a 2-block/year system w/ no Core Set any more.
That is good. Origins were a great goodbye to core sets, but the concept was outdated. Faster changing worlds - more worlds to visit. Unless you have two returns in a row, of course
All this at once is shaking up the game. I don't know if all of this is breathing new life into our game, or cutting off its oxygen.
What does everyone in the community think?
Breathing new life and transforming it.
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I'll still miss the core sets. They would go out in summer, where activity was lower except for die-hard fans, so they were a welcome break to the "expert" sets that required more commitment. With time, they developed their own specificity and had their share of powerful cards.
As for Modern prices, you can only hope it will be counterbalanced by a more aggressive reprint policy due to the new block structure, but time will tell.
Oh, I do blame the people who could've made Modern Masters (OG and 15) even a genuine attempt to provide affordable Modern staples to a heckton of players. Who else could possibly be to blame for the prices we now have. Really. Tarns @ $100 apiece? Gee, thanks for the Expeditions!!!
With "Eternal" Masters unable to sufficiently support Eternal formats (courtesy of the Reserved List still being in place), or even EDH (a format they otherwise do "support"), and with the forementioned Modern prices...
I'd say we are in a spot of bother, yes. It might not be "the end" that comes up every so often online :), but it doesn't look great right now, gotta say.
Making money is one important metric for the health of the game, but not the end all be all. I am concerned that they're claiming record profits but from fewer players. That's right, the playerbase is shrinking right now but profits are still up. Why? Because Joe Blow Magic Player is now buying MORE packs per person because of the Expedition lottery. And while that's great for this quarters sales, it is not good at all for the future.
I think you're spot on. I think adding expeditions to a set was the "insert these in case of emergency" response of a declining player base. In MaRo's NWO article he spoke of the barrier to entry was getting harder for new players...and that was a few years ago. I don't see Standard being any easier to jump right in other than playing drafts regularly so a newb doesn't get owned by someone running a T1 build over sub-par deck because they can't afford/trade for better cards.
Colorless mana getting a symbol is "cutting off the game's oxygen"? Yeah, no.
Less boring Core sets is a good move - as a kid buying booseters, nothing bummed me out more than finding out the latest printings were a flavorless core set.
Price shifts happen all the time. Third party "investors" have been the worst part of the game for years.
I don't love the Standard shift, but the other things seem neutral, good, or the status quo. WotC claims to continue raking in more and more money, so I don't think they think anything's going wrong.
Making money is one important metric for the health of the game, but not the end all be all. I am concerned that they're claiming record profits but from fewer players. That's right, the playerbase is shrinking right now but profits are still up. Why? Because Joe Blow Magic Player is now buying MORE packs per person because of the Expedition lottery. And while that's great for this quarters sales, it is not good at all for the future.
Why is this bad for the health of the game? No new blood is bad. When more people are dropping the game than joining, that's bad. When people are digging deep and spending more on Magic than ever, that's bad. Why? Because you're cannibalizing future sales for sales now (if you dig deep now, you can't dig deep later or even as deep as you normally do), you're creating a supply glut that will devalue the cards that your rabid playerbase bought and make them worthless. Players look around, see the money they spent and the dismal return and start thinking about doing something else instead. It might take a year or two, but it's a bad road to start down and I am not confident that WOTC can weather the storm.
It used to be that WOTC erred on the side of caution but that seems to have been thrown to the wind. Whoever is in charge of WOTC now wants profits now, **** the game and playerbase and long term growth. We'll be seeing more and more money grabs, as it's all pure profit to WOTC. Hey, this draft experience sucks. Oh, we'll throw some full art foil bull***** in there at a rate of 1 per case and that'll get the sales going! Yeah, the first couple of times you do it. Then they'll stagnate and level off as people get tired/broke and stop playing the lottery.
Please provide a reputable source proving the shrinking of the Magic player-base.
I also happen to enjoy the current draft format. The colors are deep enough to support multiple people in a single color and the archetypes are, for the most part, competitive against each other.
Please avoid lumping others into your sweeping generalizations about the state of the game when it's just your own angry opinion.
Regarding the faster standard rotation, it is less accessible than before, by, I've read, about 18%. I don't think this is a terrible thing, even though it killed standard constructed at my own shop. There's a sweet spot in terms of making money from your core, where you want that accessibility as low as the core can take it, in order to squeeze every dollar from them, versus trying to be accessible to grow that core. After a certain point, being more accessible doesn't equate to new users. I tried this with my own coffee shop game shop. I should've been charging market prices for high end coffee you find at small, independent, third wave cafes, but I thought, since I was in a low income community, I'd be more accessible and try and steal the gas station dollar coffee customers, by only being a dollar more. I thought, if I were only a dollar more for coffee that was so much better, they'd value quality over quantity. I was wrong. I did develop a core like Wizards has - players and coffee drinkers who stand by their product loyalty to the bitter end, and they don't care about accessibility. I don't think Standard was ever really accessible. It was a format you leased rather than owned. I know I never got into it for that reason. I want to build a deck and be done with it. When I brought my prices more in line with what cafe goers expect at a cafe, I didn't lose any of them - I gave up the pretenses of winning over bargain shoppers, and focused on doing the best I could with the smaller crew of coffee connoisseurs. Maybe Wizards saw that Standard wasn't a format for new players? I know in my locale, it's only the Magic bourgeois who keep up with the rotation. The Magic proletariat stick to limited and Commander - and some Modern. Maybe being rotating at all means it's useless to work towards accessibility, and Wizards has decided to ramp up the pace for those who will keep up no matter what? I do remember one excuse for losing core sets was that it was boring for the core, but had no effect on being easy for newbies.
I'm trying to remain optimistic about Eternal Masters, hopefully they print enough of it for it to have a real impact on prices.
Part of me understands why they're doing 2 blocks a year with 2 sets rather than 1 3 set block and a core set as this allows them to make better sets overall but I dunno about getting rid of core sets yet
For me all of this is happening at once. It is like watching evolutionary jumps happen at once. Trust me, I am happy with the game now. Origins felt boring, like the game was becoming static.
How long have we been groaning, begging for a FoW or Wasteland reprint? Each time a new set was being spoiled, at least person would groan, "no Force of Will reprint..."
Well, now we finally get the reprints. But each time WotC jumps the shark, the jump gets higher and longer? At what point will it go from novel to rediculous? I just fear that each time the envelope gets pushed, it will break the camels back.
Meantime, I will enjoy the $30 Eternal Masters drafts (I will probably only draft the set twice, max).
1. MTGO still not fixed.
2. MM2015 fiasco in term of reprints, packaging, shipping and wrapping contents issues
3. Another Jace the Oppressor
4. MaRo spiking secondary market prices on zendikar fetchlands
5. Judges and leaks fiasco
6. BFZ fiasco (horrible set)
7. BFZ fat packs being underproduced on purpose
8. Eternal formats getting hit hard (no more cash prizes for legacy, modern almost not getting a GP)
9. Modern prices skyrocketing.
10. Twin surprise ban.
11. Eldrazi PT modern fiasco.
12. No more core sets (maybe... no definite answer)
13. Lack of reprints due to "story" or "flavor" "reasons"
14. Theros fiasco
I could go on... The game is starting to get a swollen bubble in terms of inflation and products being subpar. WotC keeps blaming their customers and playerbase for their shortcomings... I'd say it's the right time to ditch the flaming sinking ship.
Lcgs and games like magewars (which is lcg tbh) are much more affordable and very enjoyable without having expensive singles.
im checking cards in my commander decks which used to be very cheap and are 20$ each, i can sell my collection and buy 100 other games .
it's really hard to get into a format, even EDH which used to be very cheap and it really puts people off..
i still love magic deckbuilding and flavor, it's great, i dislike the counter based abilities that seem to overpopulate (hihi) the game, new mechancis like investigate are really needed and new twists, colorless thing isnt bad at all, new archtypes can still emerge (aikido ,lantern control) the game still has lots of stuff to give
some of the latest sets didnt offer that much to the game, but we cant have good sets without bad sets
I agree with you OP, it feels like something is up. In the past, it was not uncommon to have one or two "things" happening at once, but we have several all at the same time. Moreover (it seems to me) like engagement (by players) in MTG has dropped off in the last couple of years compared to those that preceded it. WotC seems to be trying several things at once, possibly to right the ship. EMA (and expeditions) could have happened at earlier times in magics history, but they are choosing to do it now. Why?
All of that combined with somewhat tone deaf handling of the modern format makes me concerned about what WotC has planned. I believe we may be turning a corner, I'm just not sure to what.
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For several years now, I've increasingly come to view MTG as a marketing scam and the current state of the game does nothing to sway my opinion. The game is played in countless ways and I applaud the design of products tailored to different audiences, but as both a collector and player I've just had enough. The CCG approach to distribution was grudgingly acceptable while MTG was the undisputed king of card games, but the fact is that there are numerous expandable card games and board games out there that boast terrific design and game play at a much lower price: Android Netrunner, Game of Thrones LCG, Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn, Doomtown Reloaded, Lord of the Rings LCG, Star Wars LCG, X Wing Miniatures, etc. Any one of these cannot even remotely challenge MTG in its level of organized play, but collectively LCGs et al. are pulling players away from MTG and it's beginning to show. MTG clings to its outmoded distribution model because it can on the sheer brilliance of the product, but with each passing year players are seriously questioning whether better gaming value can be found elsewhere.
As far as the OP is concerned, I have no issue with colorless cards, set rotation, or eternal masters. Far and away my biggest concern is cost. Barring a titanic and impossible shift away from the CCG model, I suspect my dollars will continue to be better spent on other games. Here are my particular gripes, in no specific order:
1. The accelerated deluge of new MTG products
2. A trend in excessive and overdone returns to prior planes
3. Absurd singles prices in all formats
4. A blatantly grinding PT system
5. Sheer mechanical bloat in design
6. Distribution of promo cards outside of organized play events
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.
For me it's not so much the Modern prices skyrocketing, it's how fast and huge the swings are. I'm 100% a player, not a collector or speculator, but recently I've noticed I'm really reluctant to trade and move good cards when they're shifting up or down $20 in a week, which is interfering with my brewing
For several years now, I've increasingly come to view MTG as a marketing scam and the current state of the game does nothing to sway my opinion. The game is played in countless ways and I applaud the design of products tailored to different audiences, but as both a collector and player I've just had enough. The CCG approach to distribution was grudgingly acceptable while MTG was the undisputed king of card games, but the fact is that there are numerous expandable card games and board games out there that boast terrific design and game play at a much lower price: Android Netrunner, Game of Thrones LCG, Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn, Doomtown Reloaded, Lord of the Rings LCG, Star Wars LCG, X Wing Miniatures, etc. Any one of these cannot even remotely challenge MTG in its level of organized play, but collectively LCGs et al. are pulling players away from MTG and it's beginning to show. MTG clings to its outmoded distribution model because it can on the sheer brilliance of the product, but with each passing year players are seriously questioning whether better gaming value can be found elsewhere.
...
You took the words right out of my mouth. If it hadn't been for the genius of the great Dr. Richard Garfield, PhD then MTG IMO would've been long gone by now, like countless other CCGs that have come and gone in the last 20+ years. Dr. Richard Garfield, PhD laid such a solid foundation and got pretty much every fundamental of the game correct from the start - it would take a real catastrophe to screw it up. Rosewater and crew are nothing compared to Dr. Richard Garfield, PhD, and are simply riding the gravy train.
Very very few products could get away with what MTG has gotten away with.
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I don't think there's any evidence to support the claim that the playerbase is getting smaller. Most claims seem to be that it's been growing over the last three or so years. Theros was the best selling set of all time and it wasn't because of Thoughtseize.
Hasbro's public financials indicate that they are not hurting for new players. Both player numbers and average spend are up over last year.
Strict colourless is just another new mana mechanic like hybrid, snow, mono-hybrid (Spectral Procession) or phyrexian mana. We get one every now and again. Nothing remarkable - hybrid was the one that truly broke new ground.
EMA leaks are a serious issue but Wizards are actually taking it seriously.
As for Modern prices - this is a consequence of Wizards being too conservative with reprints. I *think* this is starting to change now. We used to get one low quality reprint set per 2 years (old core sets). Then one low to medium quality half-new, half-reprint set per year. Now, we have a good deal more reprints coming out.
Wizards are likely quite concerned about the secondary market for their own reasons - counterfeiting. The higher prices get the more lucrative the MTG counterfeit market becomes to organised crime. We've not yet hit the point where counterfeiting ZEN fetches is a more lucrative business proposition to a criminal than importing meth - but we might, and that is something Wizards do not want to see, because once the criminals get every cent they can out of older cards, they'll start competing with Wizards on the newer ones.
Magic is at an unsteady point just now, lots of growing pains. I feel that it could all go south or continue to thrive, but either way there are going to be huge changes by this time 2017.
Wizards is still great at making Magic, but I feel that Magic is almost too big for its makers and much of it is out of their control. The leaks, the speculation buyouts, the wild shifts in card prices... it just keeps getting faster.
I feel overall quite positive about colorless and think if anything, it was overdue, especially in regard to the colorless basic land. Same with the faster Standard rotation, though I will miss core sets a little.
1) Modern card prices are sky rocketing, as a whole.
2) Colorless get's it's own symbol and I am thinking/guessing, it will be evergreen, meaning we'll find more cards in future sets where <> is used semi-regularly.
3) Eternal Masters being revealed w/ some leaks is turning many players inside out (good way and bad way).
4) We are now on a 2-block/year system w/ no Core Set any more.
All this at once is shaking up the game. I don't know if all of this is breathing new life into our game, or cutting off its oxygen.
What does everyone in the community think?
1. This happens with new sets, new trends, new bans, etc. I'm not surprised by this, and it feels perfectly normal.
2. I doubt colorless as a cost will be Evergreen unless we see a lot more Eldrazi sets, to be quite frank.
3. I'm looking forward to the chance to get my hands on some of these cards. No problems, here.
4. I like the lack of core sets. I don't like the lack of 3 sets per block. Give us a big set to set the basis for the mechanics and two complementary smaller sets. I don't see why they couldn't keep at least that much when they dropped the core sets for this. At least make the first set of the block big, y'know?
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coming more often than going.
BUT these past 3 or 4 months, it feels, has really put a spin on the game:
1) Modern card prices are sky rocketing, as a whole.
2) Colorless get's it's own symbol and I am thinking/guessing, it will be evergreen, meaning we'll find more cards in future sets where <> is used semi-regularly.
3) Eternal Masters being revealed w/ some leaks is turning many players inside out (good way and bad way).
4) We are now on a 2-block/year system w/ no Core Set any more.
All this at once is shaking up the game. I don't know if all of this is breathing new life into our game, or cutting off its oxygen.
What does everyone in the community think?
Colorless getting its own mana symbol is fine with me.
Eternal Masters I remain optimistic about.
Prices for cards skyrocketing I find to be the "usual" but still unfortunate.
Commander: Hazezon Tamar (GRW), Arjun, the Shifting Flame (UR), [Waiting on Amonkhet]
Tiny Leader: [Waiting on Amonkhet]
Peasant Dragon: [Waiting on Amonkhet]
Modern: Orzhova Spirits (WB)
Legacy: Burn (R)
Vintage: Bazaar Dredge (B)
C on mana producers is here to stay, as seen on the Eternal Masters version of Wasteland.
C on costs can be used in set, somewhat like Hybrid mana, but effectively it will show up less often than hybrid because it requires enough support on mana sources in the set, while hybrid doesn't.
So we just got a new symbol without any real change for most sets, with the rare once-in-a-blue-moon colorless theme being possible. Not a big deal.
Less boring Core sets is a good move - as a kid buying booseters, nothing bummed me out more than finding out the latest printings were a flavorless core set.
Price shifts happen all the time. Third party "investors" have been the worst part of the game for years.
I don't love the Standard shift, but the other things seem neutral, good, or the status quo. WotC claims to continue raking in more and more money, so I don't think they think anything's going wrong.
Making money is one important metric for the health of the game, but not the end all be all. I am concerned that they're claiming record profits but from fewer players. That's right, the playerbase is shrinking right now but profits are still up. Why? Because Joe Blow Magic Player is now buying MORE packs per person because of the Expedition lottery. And while that's great for this quarters sales, it is not good at all for the future.
Why is this bad for the health of the game? No new blood is bad. When more people are dropping the game than joining, that's bad. When people are digging deep and spending more on Magic than ever, that's bad. Why? Because you're cannibalizing future sales for sales now (if you dig deep now, you can't dig deep later or even as deep as you normally do), you're creating a supply glut that will devalue the cards that your rabid playerbase bought and make them worthless. Players look around, see the money they spent and the dismal return and start thinking about doing something else instead. It might take a year or two, but it's a bad road to start down and I am not confident that WOTC can weather the storm.
It used to be that WOTC erred on the side of caution but that seems to have been thrown to the wind. Whoever is in charge of WOTC now wants profits now, **** the game and playerbase and long term growth. We'll be seeing more and more money grabs, as it's all pure profit to WOTC. Hey, this draft experience sucks. Oh, we'll throw some full art foil bull***** in there at a rate of 1 per case and that'll get the sales going! Yeah, the first couple of times you do it. Then they'll stagnate and level off as people get tired/broke and stop playing the lottery.
Sad but expectable. The format is more and more difficult to handle and stabilize, but you cannot blame Wizards for prices skyrocketing.
A good move opening more design space. And it IS going to be evergreen and here to stay - confirmed directly by Wizards. All non-colored mana produced is going to be <> now.
Eternal Masters - why not, if people are willing to pay for it? The bigger problem is the existence of insider info sharing, but again, where big money is, it is kinda expectable.
That is good. Origins were a great goodbye to core sets, but the concept was outdated. Faster changing worlds - more worlds to visit. Unless you have two returns in a row, of course
Breathing new life and transforming it.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
As for Modern prices, you can only hope it will be counterbalanced by a more aggressive reprint policy due to the new block structure, but time will tell.
With "Eternal" Masters unable to sufficiently support Eternal formats (courtesy of the Reserved List still being in place), or even EDH (a format they otherwise do "support"), and with the forementioned Modern prices...
I'd say we are in a spot of bother, yes. It might not be "the end" that comes up every so often online :), but it doesn't look great right now, gotta say.
I think you're spot on. I think adding expeditions to a set was the "insert these in case of emergency" response of a declining player base. In MaRo's NWO article he spoke of the barrier to entry was getting harder for new players...and that was a few years ago. I don't see Standard being any easier to jump right in other than playing drafts regularly so a newb doesn't get owned by someone running a T1 build over sub-par deck because they can't afford/trade for better cards.
Please provide a reputable source proving the shrinking of the Magic player-base.
I also happen to enjoy the current draft format. The colors are deep enough to support multiple people in a single color and the archetypes are, for the most part, competitive against each other.
Please avoid lumping others into your sweeping generalizations about the state of the game when it's just your own angry opinion.
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EDH Altered Cards by Galspanic (Seriously, this guy's awesome.)
My Pauper Cube
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-Decks-
Commander:
GWR Rith, the Awakener RWG
U Kami of the Crescent Moon U (Flagship Deck)
BW Teysa, Orzhov Scion WB
Under Construction:
UBR Crosis, the Purger RBU
Cube:
WUBRGX Pauper XGRBUW
Part of me understands why they're doing 2 blocks a year with 2 sets rather than 1 3 set block and a core set as this allows them to make better sets overall but I dunno about getting rid of core sets yet
Prices are really getting dumb now though
How long have we been groaning, begging for a FoW or Wasteland reprint? Each time a new set was being spoiled, at least person would groan, "no Force of Will reprint..."
Well, now we finally get the reprints. But each time WotC jumps the shark, the jump gets higher and longer? At what point will it go from novel to rediculous? I just fear that each time the envelope gets pushed, it will break the camels back.
Meantime, I will enjoy the $30 Eternal Masters drafts (I will probably only draft the set twice, max).
1. MTGO still not fixed.
2. MM2015 fiasco in term of reprints, packaging, shipping and wrapping contents issues
3. Another Jace the Oppressor
4. MaRo spiking secondary market prices on zendikar fetchlands
5. Judges and leaks fiasco
6. BFZ fiasco (horrible set)
7. BFZ fat packs being underproduced on purpose
8. Eternal formats getting hit hard (no more cash prizes for legacy, modern almost not getting a GP)
9. Modern prices skyrocketing.
10. Twin surprise ban.
11. Eldrazi PT modern fiasco.
12. No more core sets (maybe... no definite answer)
13. Lack of reprints due to "story" or "flavor" "reasons"
14. Theros fiasco
I could go on... The game is starting to get a swollen bubble in terms of inflation and products being subpar. WotC keeps blaming their customers and playerbase for their shortcomings... I'd say it's the right time to ditch the flaming sinking ship.
RETIRED - GAME SUCKS
Modern:
UUUMerfolksUUU
RGoblinsR
Ad Nauseam
BR 8 Racks RB
WUB Mill BUW
Legacy:
XOps! All splels! X
What I think of MaRo
im checking cards in my commander decks which used to be very cheap and are 20$ each, i can sell my collection and buy 100 other games .
it's really hard to get into a format, even EDH which used to be very cheap and it really puts people off..
i still love magic deckbuilding and flavor, it's great, i dislike the counter based abilities that seem to overpopulate (hihi) the game, new mechancis like investigate are really needed and new twists, colorless thing isnt bad at all, new archtypes can still emerge (aikido ,lantern control) the game still has lots of stuff to give
some of the latest sets didnt offer that much to the game, but we cant have good sets without bad sets
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All of that combined with somewhat tone deaf handling of the modern format makes me concerned about what WotC has planned. I believe we may be turning a corner, I'm just not sure to what.
As far as the OP is concerned, I have no issue with colorless cards, set rotation, or eternal masters. Far and away my biggest concern is cost. Barring a titanic and impossible shift away from the CCG model, I suspect my dollars will continue to be better spent on other games. Here are my particular gripes, in no specific order:
1. The accelerated deluge of new MTG products
2. A trend in excessive and overdone returns to prior planes
3. Absurd singles prices in all formats
4. A blatantly grinding PT system
5. Sheer mechanical bloat in design
6. Distribution of promo cards outside of organized play events
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.
You took the words right out of my mouth. If it hadn't been for the genius of the great Dr. Richard Garfield, PhD then MTG IMO would've been long gone by now, like countless other CCGs that have come and gone in the last 20+ years. Dr. Richard Garfield, PhD laid such a solid foundation and got pretty much every fundamental of the game correct from the start - it would take a real catastrophe to screw it up. Rosewater and crew are nothing compared to Dr. Richard Garfield, PhD, and are simply riding the gravy train.
Very very few products could get away with what MTG has gotten away with.
Strict colourless is just another new mana mechanic like hybrid, snow, mono-hybrid (Spectral Procession) or phyrexian mana. We get one every now and again. Nothing remarkable - hybrid was the one that truly broke new ground.
EMA leaks are a serious issue but Wizards are actually taking it seriously.
As for Modern prices - this is a consequence of Wizards being too conservative with reprints. I *think* this is starting to change now. We used to get one low quality reprint set per 2 years (old core sets). Then one low to medium quality half-new, half-reprint set per year. Now, we have a good deal more reprints coming out.
Wizards are likely quite concerned about the secondary market for their own reasons - counterfeiting. The higher prices get the more lucrative the MTG counterfeit market becomes to organised crime. We've not yet hit the point where counterfeiting ZEN fetches is a more lucrative business proposition to a criminal than importing meth - but we might, and that is something Wizards do not want to see, because once the criminals get every cent they can out of older cards, they'll start competing with Wizards on the newer ones.
Magic is at an unsteady point just now, lots of growing pains. I feel that it could all go south or continue to thrive, but either way there are going to be huge changes by this time 2017.
Wizards is still great at making Magic, but I feel that Magic is almost too big for its makers and much of it is out of their control. The leaks, the speculation buyouts, the wild shifts in card prices... it just keeps getting faster.
I feel overall quite positive about colorless and think if anything, it was overdue, especially in regard to the colorless basic land. Same with the faster Standard rotation, though I will miss core sets a little.
UTeferi, Temporal ArchmageU's prison: blue is the new orange is the new black.
Mizzix Of The Izmagnus : wheels on fire... rolling down the road...
BSidisi, Undead VizierB: Bis zum Erbrechen
GTitiania, Protector Of ArgothG: Protecting Argoth, by blowing it up!
GYisan, The Wanderer BardG: Gradus Ad Elfball.
Duel EDH: Yisan & Titania.
In Progress: Grand Arbiter Augustin IV duel; Grenzo, Dungeon Warden Doomsday.
1. This happens with new sets, new trends, new bans, etc. I'm not surprised by this, and it feels perfectly normal.
2. I doubt colorless as a cost will be Evergreen unless we see a lot more Eldrazi sets, to be quite frank.
3. I'm looking forward to the chance to get my hands on some of these cards. No problems, here.
4. I like the lack of core sets. I don't like the lack of 3 sets per block. Give us a big set to set the basis for the mechanics and two complementary smaller sets. I don't see why they couldn't keep at least that much when they dropped the core sets for this. At least make the first set of the block big, y'know?
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2012: Best (False?) Role Claim - Worst Town Performance (Group) - Best Mafia Performance (Group) - Best SK Performance - Best Overall Player
2013: Best Non-SK Neutral Performance
2014: Best Town Performance (Individual) - Best Town Performance (Group) - Most Interesting Role - Best Game - Best Overall Player
2015: Worst Mafia Performance (Group) - Best Read
2016: Best Town Performance (Group) - Best Town Player - Best Overall Player