I do question the claim that FNM attendance doesn't increase with better promos, though. Sure, they mention that Aether Hub didn't noticeably increase attendance overall... but they don't say anything about when I remember seeing a serious increase in attendance, which was when they had Serum Visions and Path to Exile as the promos. Maybe there wasn't a real increase overall as a result, but it seems odd to not comment on that and instead just Aether Hub.
I do question the claim that FNM attendance doesn't increase with better promos, though. Sure, they mention that Aether Hub didn't noticeably increase attendance overall... but they don't say anything about when I remember seeing a serious increase in attendance, which was when they had Serum Visions and Path to Exile as the promos. Maybe there wasn't a real increase overall as a result, but it seems odd to not comment on that and instead just Aether Hub.
What they are doing is trying to justify their direction because they don't want to look bad backing out because of player backlash right after announcing the changes.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
The only way that is going to work is if Wizards can convince everyone that the only real competitive format that is worth playing is standard.
(Looks over at the modern forums and canadian highlander players)
Yeah, good luck with that one wizards. That is going to be like an uphill battle with two boulders strapped to ones back while trying to also simultaneously carrying an antique urn.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
These changes feel a bit like a dumb move. After having read their response, I understand the intent more. No competitive-playable promos=fewer competitive players to grief more casual FNM folk. What they fail to understand is that a lot of somewhat casual folks are friends with/influenced by/taught by the more competitive people. Magic is a game of value, whether everyone wants it to be or not. As soon as something has a whiff of being poor value for the somewhat competitive folk, that same sentiment is going to impact the decisions of less competitive people. The competitive people may not be their largest group, but they are their most vocal and likely most influential.
Regardless of intent, this feels like taking something away. That never goes over well. FEM-competitive players are going to grouse, and it could sour the whole FNM shebang--which is pretty bad considering the problems standard has had to deal with recently.
Also, nothing like trying to scare away your biggest fans from something.
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Sig by Dark Night Cavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios!
Competive players are also LGS bread and butter, they are the people who go "yup $50 a mythic give me my playsets of the stuff I need for my deck thanks" with fewer tournaments said players will start to wonder if it worth spending $600 on their standard deck.
Competive players are also LGS bread and butter, they are the people who go "yup $50 a mythic give me my playsets of the stuff I need for my deck thanks" with fewer tournaments said players will start to wonder if it worth spending $600 on their standard deck.
Card values will drop like a sledge if the demand for top tier ends up coming from only pro tour and gp grinders. There are a lot of them, but compared to the sheer volume of fnm attendees the number is paltry.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
A lot of these changes reek of people desperately trying to come up with a reason why the business is not working the way it should be and then coming up with hair brain solutions to try to fix the problems so they can keep their jobs.
I imagine the threat of Hasbro coming in and culling the herd is an ever present threat. The D&D side of the business was gutted over the last few years.
At the end of the day, management is to blame and they will (eventually) be the ones to pay the price. Most of the higher ups in Magic have been there for decades. Maybe it is time for new blood to rise up.
You would think they would hand the double sided tokens out like candy, while keeping promos for placing at the tourneys.
I know I want the tokens but I am not going to win or place at FNM often enough to justify the expenditure of making a bleeding edge standard deck. Especially not when I could just go to eBay and buy the tokens.
I suppose I could do that if the tokens were handed out like candy but... I feel like I would not mind playing and losing with my rogue decks if I was getting something I wanted.
You would think they would hand the double sided tokens out like candy, while keeping promos for placing at the tourneys.
I know I want the tokens but I am not going to win or place at FNM often enough to justify the expenditure of making a bleeding edge standard deck. Especially not when I could just go to eBay and buy the tokens.
I suppose I could do that if the tokens were handed out like candy but... I feel like I would not mind playing and losing with my rogue decks if I was getting something I wanted.
Exactly, I want them and often buy them for a few pennies each. WotC is really stingy with their token cards for some reason. I get that Planeswalker cards are Mythics, I've only managed to crack maybe 5 or since SOI (to add insult to injury, they're insulting cards) but only managed to find 1 emblem and it wasn't for a PW I found with it. Tokens are more frequent, as they should, but why are any of the insert cards double sided advertisements? I did get the check card when I cracked a DFC though (is that intentional?). I skipped Amonkhet set so the token spread might be better, I have no idea.
It's just really weird that WotC treats them like rares or mythics when they should, in an ideal world, be found in packs with their relevant cards. Or at least one side of every pack insert. I can't be the only one that thinks it's absurd for a double sided thopter token to have a high of $15 on TCGP.
The tokens are artificially rare since that slot usually contains a land, a token or an ad. So at a minimum, a 1/3 of all packs have tokens.
Amonkhet had 25 tokens and they are contained in a 1/3rd of all packs (at a minimum): (1/3) x (1/25) = 0.013 or a 1.3% chance of pulling the one you want.
Mythic Rares are 1 in 8 packs and there are 17 Mythic Rares. (1/8) x (1/17) = .007 or .7% chance of pulling a specific Mythic Rare.
Amonkhet has 65 rares and you get 7 out of every 8 packs. (7/8) x (1/65) = .013 or a 1.3% chance of pulling a specific Rare card.
So for Amonkhet (which has an above average number of tokens), you are about as likely to pull a specific token as you are to pull a specific rare.
The nice thing about the Bundles for Hour of Devastation was that they included a stack of double sided Tokens, which was a pleasant surprise (for me).
Well, now I'm genuinely ticked off at wizards and the level of print quality they have on the cards. I'm going to highly recommend anyone trying to buy cards to stay away from Modern Masters 2017. I have never seen cards exposed to air simply start to bend within a single day, and these cards are the zendikar fetchland reprints that aren't even in foil. May the gods help anyone who got a foil version because it's probably going to be worse than FTV foils. The card stock is just incredibly bad. I have cards from other games that have been exposed to air for months and are strait as an arrow even when the humidity got up in the house. Also, the edge of one of the cards just out of the blue started separating. Thankfully I double sleeve my cards, but this just reeks of poor quality control.
Edit: And I just jump on youtube and unsleeved media's Jeremy just went on a rant about the same issues. Joy.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I haven't had any issues with any mm2017 cards myself but I place all my good stuff in perfect fits.
Shake up bans: is a problem. it causes instability and scares people from investing in Tier 1 decks which is Ludacris.
I haven't had any issues with any mm2017 cards myself but I place all my good stuff in perfect fits.
Shake up bans: is a problem. it causes instability and scares people from investing in Tier 1 decks which is Ludacris.
I don't know if they did some boxes at one manufacturer and some at another, but this card stock is horrible and on the level of laminated cheap gift cards. HOU is much more consistently bad as I have had at least some cards from MM2017 come in strait and stay that way. The only advice I can give people is to make sure they double sleeve or at least single sleeve these newer cards and pray wizards culls whatever bad printing deal they roped themselves into for the next few sets. The fact it got worse with HOU is not helping things.
I've been forced to go online and purchase original zendikar at the higher prices because the current cards are not going to hold up to abuse. I might be able to trade these in, but I'd rather not subject my LGS to this problem anymore then they already are probably dealing with it.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I live on the West Coast, Canada, its HUMID here, and I've not had any of my MM17's warp or bend, even the foils? Get those in some sleeves stat!
Yeah, this is really suspicious. I don't have the money to get another box to compare, but this one seems almost like it was printed in the same facilities as HOU.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
My favorite LGS is closing because they're done with WotC and becoming an eSports bar instead.
They went from 40 people Standard, 40 people Modern, 30 people Commander and 20 people Legacy nights, to not being able to fire anything but Legacy because Standard and Commander players are fairweather losers and the local Modern scene is dead. The only other people who were coming in constantly were a closed group of drafters that draft a box a week and always draft together but never with other people.
I don't know what WotC wants from their costumers or their business associates but if it means less people playing I hope they don't get it.
My favorite LGS is closing because they're done with WotC and becoming an eSports bar instead.
They went from 40 people Standard, 40 people Modern, 30 people Commander and 20 people Legacy nights, to not being able to fire anything but Legacy because Standard and Commander players are fairweather losers and the local Modern scene is dead. The only other people who were coming in constantly were a closed group of drafters that draft a box a week and always draft together but never with other people.
I don't know what WotC wants from their costumers or their business associates but if it means less people playing I hope they don't get it.
It's because they started nickel and diming people too much and producing too many throw away cards. However, in the case of a lot of LGS the community also tends to change. My own LGS moved into pokemon because the local high schoolers love the game and plenty of frustrated MTG players like jumping into it as a second game. My friends LGS is into Force of Will as the second card game along with pokemon.
The trouble Wizards is having is that newer players are hard to come by. It's hard for new players to break into the game when the mana-base for the non-rotating format of choice is super expensive and standard turns into a game of throw away cards. They have a very fragmented user base and are having a hard time trying to create a more cohesive game because of it.
Pokemon is just pokemon, for example. Force of Will and Buddy Fight are both focused on pretty much one or two formats as well. Magic the Gathering has two main formats where one is barely getting supported right and the other is hogging all the attention. Other formats like commander/EDH, pauper, and frontier spawned to try and solve problems wizards is not addressing in their own game and WoTC feels like it wants to throw punches at their player base rather than be helpful or supportive.
My own feeling is that the company is hoping that returning to dominaria and bringing back core sets in the next year will be enough to bring things back into shape because they really can't afford another year like the last one. They have been drastically overpricing products and over printing at the same time. Distributors did push back with HOU and while things are bouncing back now, that is showing how they feel on the situation.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Recently I met a player coming from hearthstone into magic. He wanted to have social interactions with people, in person. Which is one of the best parts of magic. The other people. MTGO not included, as it seems like no one else is on it with the lack of chatting I experienced.
He picked up the Nicol Bolas PW deck, and we played a few casual games of 60 card stuff, and then some others joined us to play EDH He borrowed a deck. He was going to play standard all the while him and I were chatting, but when I met him again a week later he was doing the EDH thing. No longer interested in the cost of standard, he said. 100-200 on singles for a deck he can keep for years is much better than 200+ for a deck only good for a few months.
This is what happens, and why new players are there, but not playing standard. It costs too mucht o play, and win. Every one is competitive. They just want to be competitive with what they have, whether it is budget or a gimmick deck or even their holdover Spirits tribal deck from Eldritch Moon. When it costs a lot to play, and then lose over and over, you either decide its not worth the investment and find other cheaper formats to play, or you quit overall.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Wanted -Zombie Foils and older expensive Zombie stuff. High Priority- Beta Z Master/ Int. Collector's Edition.
Recently I met a player coming from hearthstone into magic. He wanted to have social interactions with people, in person. Which is one of the best parts of magic. The other people. MTGO not included, as it seems like no one else is on it with the lack of chatting I experienced.
He picked up the Nicol Bolas PW deck, and we played a few casual games of 60 card stuff, and then some others joined us to play EDH He borrowed a deck. He was going to play standard all the while him and I were chatting, but when I met him again a week later he was doing the EDH thing. No longer interested in the cost of standard, he said. 100-200 on singles for a deck he can keep for years is much better than 200+ for a deck only good for a few months.
This is what happens, and why new players are there, but not playing standard. It costs too mucht o play, and win. Every one is competitive. They just want to be competitive with what they have, whether it is budget or a gimmick deck or even their holdover Spirits tribal deck from Eldritch Moon. When it costs a lot to play, and then lose over and over, you either decide its not worth the investment and find other cheaper formats to play, or you quit overall.
That's why I went commander. The cost to make a good mana base is a little high, but it's way lower than modern and the format allows for alternate art cards and proxies, so it makes the costs way lower to play. Plus the format lets you play a lot more cards than other formats. Even with the modern pro-tour coming back it's not going to matter to the majority of players now unless they drop the price on modern masters or do something crazy. Both of which I doubt wizards will try to do.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Modern. Everybody loves modern but me it seems. Granted I only play because I love playing mono garbage (arbor elf/utopia sprawl) and modern is the only place for it, but seriously, does anyone see a problem with modern? It's a format where you could sit across the table against a 1 mana 5/5 or brain in a freaking jar and everything in between. You have a deck that you hope will do it's thing by turn three and if you don't you will probably lose to your opponent's deck doing it's thing by turn three. You have almost every broken combo in magic and WotC doesn't care because they focus on standard and don't care if they print a card that makes infinite mana when paired with an obscure but modern legal card. So, I love/hate modern and hope to never see discard, turn 3 karn or storm.
My favorite LGS is closing because they're done with WotC and becoming an eSports bar instead.
They went from 40 people Standard, 40 people Modern, 30 people Commander and 20 people Legacy nights, to not being able to fire anything but Legacy because Standard and Commander players are fairweather losers and the local Modern scene is dead. The only other people who were coming in constantly were a closed group of drafters that draft a box a week and always draft together but never with other people.
I don't know what WotC wants from their costumers or their business associates but if it means less people playing I hope they don't get it.
It's because they started nickel and diming people too much and producing too many throw away cards. However, in the case of a lot of LGS the community also tends to change. My own LGS moved into pokemon because the local high schoolers love the game and plenty of frustrated MTG players like jumping into it as a second game. My friends LGS is into Force of Will as the second card game along with pokemon.
The trouble Wizards is having is that newer players are hard to come by. It's hard for new players to break into the game when the mana-base for the non-rotating format of choice is super expensive and standard turns into a game of throw away cards. They have a very fragmented user base and are having a hard time trying to create a more cohesive game because of it.
Pokemon is just pokemon, for example. Force of Will and Buddy Fight are both focused on pretty much one or two formats as well. Magic the Gathering has two main formats where one is barely getting supported right and the other is hogging all the attention. Other formats like commander/EDH, pauper, and frontier spawned to try and solve problems wizards is not addressing in their own game and WoTC feels like it wants to throw punches at their player base rather than be helpful or supportive.
My own feeling is that the company is hoping that returning to dominaria and bringing back core sets in the next year will be enough to bring things back into shape because they really can't afford another year like the last one. They have been drastically overpricing products and over printing at the same time. Distributors did push back with HOU and while things are bouncing back now, that is showing how they feel on the situation.
Isn't Force of Will chronologically somewhere equivalent to Chronicles in MtG? Around Chronicles, I recall MtG only having one or two formats then. Give FoW about twenty years of expansions and we'll see how it's business model holds up.
http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/daily-magic-update/update-2017-07-17
I do question the claim that FNM attendance doesn't increase with better promos, though. Sure, they mention that Aether Hub didn't noticeably increase attendance overall... but they don't say anything about when I remember seeing a serious increase in attendance, which was when they had Serum Visions and Path to Exile as the promos. Maybe there wasn't a real increase overall as a result, but it seems odd to not comment on that and instead just Aether Hub.
What they are doing is trying to justify their direction because they don't want to look bad backing out because of player backlash right after announcing the changes.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
The issue with that is, some of us wouldnt touch Standard with a 10 foot pole, so if we want any promo's that are not tokens...well tough.
The guy who posted the article was nice enough to respond to me though, so thats nice.
Spirits
(Looks over at the modern forums and canadian highlander players)
Yeah, good luck with that one wizards. That is going to be like an uphill battle with two boulders strapped to ones back while trying to also simultaneously carrying an antique urn.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Regardless of intent, this feels like taking something away. That never goes over well. FEM-competitive players are going to grouse, and it could sour the whole FNM shebang--which is pretty bad considering the problems standard has had to deal with recently.
Also, nothing like trying to scare away your biggest fans from something.
Card values will drop like a sledge if the demand for top tier ends up coming from only pro tour and gp grinders. There are a lot of them, but compared to the sheer volume of fnm attendees the number is paltry.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I imagine the threat of Hasbro coming in and culling the herd is an ever present threat. The D&D side of the business was gutted over the last few years.
At the end of the day, management is to blame and they will (eventually) be the ones to pay the price. Most of the higher ups in Magic have been there for decades. Maybe it is time for new blood to rise up.
Shouldn't they be handing them out like "participation" ribbons at peewee leagues? Or at least be a bit more generous.
I know I want the tokens but I am not going to win or place at FNM often enough to justify the expenditure of making a bleeding edge standard deck. Especially not when I could just go to eBay and buy the tokens.
I suppose I could do that if the tokens were handed out like candy but... I feel like I would not mind playing and losing with my rogue decks if I was getting something I wanted.
Exactly, I want them and often buy them for a few pennies each. WotC is really stingy with their token cards for some reason. I get that Planeswalker cards are Mythics, I've only managed to crack maybe 5 or since SOI (to add insult to injury, they're insulting cards) but only managed to find 1 emblem and it wasn't for a PW I found with it. Tokens are more frequent, as they should, but why are any of the insert cards double sided advertisements? I did get the check card when I cracked a DFC though (is that intentional?). I skipped Amonkhet set so the token spread might be better, I have no idea.
It's just really weird that WotC treats them like rares or mythics when they should, in an ideal world, be found in packs with their relevant cards. Or at least one side of every pack insert. I can't be the only one that thinks it's absurd for a double sided thopter token to have a high of $15 on TCGP.
Amonkhet had 25 tokens and they are contained in a 1/3rd of all packs (at a minimum): (1/3) x (1/25) = 0.013 or a 1.3% chance of pulling the one you want.
Mythic Rares are 1 in 8 packs and there are 17 Mythic Rares. (1/8) x (1/17) = .007 or .7% chance of pulling a specific Mythic Rare.
Amonkhet has 65 rares and you get 7 out of every 8 packs. (7/8) x (1/65) = .013 or a 1.3% chance of pulling a specific Rare card.
So for Amonkhet (which has an above average number of tokens), you are about as likely to pull a specific token as you are to pull a specific rare.
The nice thing about the Bundles for Hour of Devastation was that they included a stack of double sided Tokens, which was a pleasant surprise (for me).
Edit: And I just jump on youtube and unsleeved media's Jeremy just went on a rant about the same issues. Joy.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Shake up bans: is a problem. it causes instability and scares people from investing in Tier 1 decks which is Ludacris.
I don't know if they did some boxes at one manufacturer and some at another, but this card stock is horrible and on the level of laminated cheap gift cards. HOU is much more consistently bad as I have had at least some cards from MM2017 come in strait and stay that way. The only advice I can give people is to make sure they double sleeve or at least single sleeve these newer cards and pray wizards culls whatever bad printing deal they roped themselves into for the next few sets. The fact it got worse with HOU is not helping things.
I've been forced to go online and purchase original zendikar at the higher prices because the current cards are not going to hold up to abuse. I might be able to trade these in, but I'd rather not subject my LGS to this problem anymore then they already are probably dealing with it.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Spirits
Yeah, this is really suspicious. I don't have the money to get another box to compare, but this one seems almost like it was printed in the same facilities as HOU.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
They went from 40 people Standard, 40 people Modern, 30 people Commander and 20 people Legacy nights, to not being able to fire anything but Legacy because Standard and Commander players are fairweather losers and the local Modern scene is dead. The only other people who were coming in constantly were a closed group of drafters that draft a box a week and always draft together but never with other people.
I don't know what WotC wants from their costumers or their business associates but if it means less people playing I hope they don't get it.
It's because they started nickel and diming people too much and producing too many throw away cards. However, in the case of a lot of LGS the community also tends to change. My own LGS moved into pokemon because the local high schoolers love the game and plenty of frustrated MTG players like jumping into it as a second game. My friends LGS is into Force of Will as the second card game along with pokemon.
The trouble Wizards is having is that newer players are hard to come by. It's hard for new players to break into the game when the mana-base for the non-rotating format of choice is super expensive and standard turns into a game of throw away cards. They have a very fragmented user base and are having a hard time trying to create a more cohesive game because of it.
Pokemon is just pokemon, for example. Force of Will and Buddy Fight are both focused on pretty much one or two formats as well. Magic the Gathering has two main formats where one is barely getting supported right and the other is hogging all the attention. Other formats like commander/EDH, pauper, and frontier spawned to try and solve problems wizards is not addressing in their own game and WoTC feels like it wants to throw punches at their player base rather than be helpful or supportive.
My own feeling is that the company is hoping that returning to dominaria and bringing back core sets in the next year will be enough to bring things back into shape because they really can't afford another year like the last one. They have been drastically overpricing products and over printing at the same time. Distributors did push back with HOU and while things are bouncing back now, that is showing how they feel on the situation.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
He picked up the Nicol Bolas PW deck, and we played a few casual games of 60 card stuff, and then some others joined us to play EDH He borrowed a deck. He was going to play standard all the while him and I were chatting, but when I met him again a week later he was doing the EDH thing. No longer interested in the cost of standard, he said. 100-200 on singles for a deck he can keep for years is much better than 200+ for a deck only good for a few months.
This is what happens, and why new players are there, but not playing standard. It costs too mucht o play, and win. Every one is competitive. They just want to be competitive with what they have, whether it is budget or a gimmick deck or even their holdover Spirits tribal deck from Eldritch Moon. When it costs a lot to play, and then lose over and over, you either decide its not worth the investment and find other cheaper formats to play, or you quit overall.
Selling some cards I don't want.
Generally less than tcg mid.
That's why I went commander. The cost to make a good mana base is a little high, but it's way lower than modern and the format allows for alternate art cards and proxies, so it makes the costs way lower to play. Plus the format lets you play a lot more cards than other formats. Even with the modern pro-tour coming back it's not going to matter to the majority of players now unless they drop the price on modern masters or do something crazy. Both of which I doubt wizards will try to do.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Isn't Force of Will chronologically somewhere equivalent to Chronicles in MtG? Around Chronicles, I recall MtG only having one or two formats then. Give FoW about twenty years of expansions and we'll see how it's business model holds up.
You say that like it's a bad thing.