The buy-a-box promos being entirely new cards exclusive to buying a box was bad enough, it was a short-sighted and greedy move that's already ended up with one tournament staple they aren't willing to do anything about. Now my boi Tezz is getting the same treatment, that ish ain't right.
I'm not a fan, but people are flocking to my LGS and given how nexus has shaken out I bet a lot of people will just bite the bullet and buy the next few sets via box. Sucks, because no one wants to get burned but this is pretty much a free $15-20 USD in like 1-2 years even if it has zero standard applications for EDH alone.
I think Tezzeret has a few advantages. Is not as offensive as Nexus. Yes, he is very splashy, but you probably only need one copy of him for EDH or Brawl (if that is your cup of tea).
I can't see him really in Standard or Modern.
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European foils are better than the US ones / the card quality in general is better on Japanese and European cards to a degree that US cards feel like fake proxy cards, they feel so terrible if you are used to the better quality and not just if you are a specialist, everyone will instantly notice the difference.
Cards like this would REQUIRE to have a foil AND a non-foil version if they want to give it away, to please people.
Doing one or the other does not cut it and its a real issue for tournaments when there is only a warped foil version of a card (so even in the Pro-Tour they used a writen piece of paper as a proxy as the foil was simply marked and unplayable otherwise).
Making the Buy-a-Box promo a "good" card is clearly a selling point, but they should not make it Buy-a-Box "only" , could simply be Ultra-Rare in the normal boosters (like a Masterpiece) , simply to avoid having a card be truly only available in one product without making it cheap.
With the promo booster packs they want to give out for FNM and the like they could just remove the Buy-a-box promo entirely and provide these packs as an extra reward for buying a box ; would be totally fine and remove all the issues with these Buy-a-Box cards entirely.
While I'm still not really a fan of making new cards as the BAB promo, this card is neat. The only card that has been absurd was nexus of fate, so I'm starting to be fine with it. Although I would be interested to see if there are any other ways of rewarding people for buying boxes
i'm not a fan of them and i haven't been from the start. there's no nonfoil option making them easy to cut to in a deck, and good ones will end up needless expensive as they're harder to obtain. unfortunately there's no way its going to ever change unless players are vocal in their dislike of them. if box sales go up as a result of them existing and being worth getting all that does is support them. as long as they're unique and worth getting, box sales will go up to get them. its the reverse of writing bad novels and then saying that no one reads them so they're discontinuing production.
there's no nonfoil option making them easy to cut to in a deck
You'd think they would have learned their lesson after Kess, Dissident Mage was soft-banned from tournament play in Legacy because of how warped the foils were for an all-foil printing. It was basically "find a judge willing to create a proxy for you or don't play her" because the card was considered marked by default.
I am honestly so glad that the card quality in Europe is better.
Honestly when people joke about that they like the Chinese counterfeit cards because they are of higher quality and cheaper you know the state of card quality is bad.
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And the problem is that does have a significant gameplay effect. It's been a known problem for years because the event deck Verdant Catacombs had a noticeably different printing than the pack version and there are stories of inexperienced judges declaring those perfectly legit cards counterfeit. Between that and the all-foil-printing I mentioned the problems with above, I have to wonder just how frustrated at least a few R&D members are with their managers making these incredibly terrible decisions. These aren't the mistakes made by someone who actually knows and cares about Magic. These are the mistakes of corporate types who just see Magic as another brand to exploit as much in the short term as possible and discard when it's no longer viable.
Frankly I'm surprised that counterfeits aren't a bigger issue than they currently are with how hard Wizards is cutting corners.
And the problem is that does have a significant gameplay effect. It's been a known problem for years because the event deck Verdant Catacombs had a noticeably different printing than the pack version and there are stories of inexperienced judges declaring those perfectly legit cards counterfeit. Between that and the all-foil-printing I mentioned the problems with above, I have to wonder just how frustrated at least a few R&D members are with their managers making these incredibly terrible decisions. These aren't the mistakes made by someone who actually knows and cares about Magic. These are the mistakes of corporate types who just see Magic as another brand to exploit as much in the short term as possible and discard when it's no longer viable.
Frankly I'm surprised that counterfeits aren't a bigger issue than they currently are with how hard Wizards is cutting corners.
I think WOTC is basically riding on the idea that counterfeits look terrible and are easy to detect, which was true 5 years ago but isn't really true today. Once people realize that most judges aren't experts in determining whether a card is legitimate, no one will even check unless an opponent reports you, and it's incredibly easy to say you didn't know and impossible for WOTC to prove you did, I think there's gonna be a massive problem with counterfeiting. Hell, there may already be for modern and legacy tournaments, we just don't know.
UBBreya's Toybox (Competitive, Combo)WR
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UBLazav, Dimir Mastermind (Competitive, UB Voltron/Control)UB
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Art is life itself.
I can't see him really in Standard or Modern.
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Their print decisions convince me that they’ve never seen a “premium” card that’s been unwrapped for longer than a couple hours.
Cards like this would REQUIRE to have a foil AND a non-foil version if they want to give it away, to please people.
Doing one or the other does not cut it and its a real issue for tournaments when there is only a warped foil version of a card (so even in the Pro-Tour they used a writen piece of paper as a proxy as the foil was simply marked and unplayable otherwise).
Making the Buy-a-Box promo a "good" card is clearly a selling point, but they should not make it Buy-a-Box "only" , could simply be Ultra-Rare in the normal boosters (like a Masterpiece) , simply to avoid having a card be truly only available in one product without making it cheap.
With the promo booster packs they want to give out for FNM and the like they could just remove the Buy-a-box promo entirely and provide these packs as an extra reward for buying a box ; would be totally fine and remove all the issues with these Buy-a-Box cards entirely.
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You'd think they would have learned their lesson after Kess, Dissident Mage was soft-banned from tournament play in Legacy because of how warped the foils were for an all-foil printing. It was basically "find a judge willing to create a proxy for you or don't play her" because the card was considered marked by default.
Honestly when people joke about that they like the Chinese counterfeit cards because they are of higher quality and cheaper you know the state of card quality is bad.
Hands to the sky
Give a round of applause
For the great Miss Y!
Frankly I'm surprised that counterfeits aren't a bigger issue than they currently are with how hard Wizards is cutting corners.
I think WOTC is basically riding on the idea that counterfeits look terrible and are easy to detect, which was true 5 years ago but isn't really true today. Once people realize that most judges aren't experts in determining whether a card is legitimate, no one will even check unless an opponent reports you, and it's incredibly easy to say you didn't know and impossible for WOTC to prove you did, I think there's gonna be a massive problem with counterfeiting. Hell, there may already be for modern and legacy tournaments, we just don't know.
375 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588
I can picture it now...
*sees BAB Tezz in a penny sleeve with zero bending*
“...JUDGE!”
“if”