I hate how Wizards has handled bringing these older cards to MTGO. The letter at the end. While we all knew it was coming one day or another to the program, how they are going to get these in players hands? They don't want them to be "common place"? I want to play a vintage style format that doesn't cost a zillion dollars to be competitive. Sounds to me that these are going to be given away as prizes or going to be in an ultra limited FTV style set.
(I'm talking specifically about the end letter bit of the article)
I won't be playing cube. Just doesn't really seem that fun to me.
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I just want people who redraft to admit this:
"I can't draft objectively unless I am able to guarantee that I receive at least 3 rares. I am also better than most average/new players so I want to make sure that I get the best rares and they end up with worse ones. I care more about the monetary value of cards than actually playing the game for decent prizes."
I hate how Wizards has handled bringing these older cards to MTGO. The letter at the end. While we all knew it was coming one day or another to the program, how they are going to get these in players hands? They don't want them to be "common place"? I want to play a vintage style format that doesn't cost a zillion dollars to be competitive. Sounds to me that these are going to be given away as prizes or going to be in an ultra limited FTV style set.
Pretty much every single thing Wizards does related to card availability makes complete sense if you assume they don't want Eternal formats to be too accessible, because then it takes away from Standard/Limited....the main cash cows.
Let's face it, if Modern/Legacy/Vintage were all relatively accessible, what happens when a Standard season is bad (Caw-Blade) or a Limited format blows (Return to Ravnica)? Demand for current sets would tank as people migrate en masse to Eternal formats. Tons of product sits on the shelves, store owners get hurt, and in turn, so does WotC. They want to make sure the primary competitive formats are Standard/Limited. It keeps pack sales up.
I understand they have to keep getting players to buy cards which means buy packs instead of just parking a deck online and just playing one deck forever with minimum updates.
I think Modern is pretty accessible right now. You can hate out the top decks and most decks outside of Jund, are comparable in price to Standard decks. Affinity is still comparatively cheap to make.
But if Eternal formats were more accessible, then people would play the limited formats that had the cards for eternal formats (and MED sets need to be much better, the really awful rares need to be removed). I hope a lot of players on MTGO are able to get P9. I hope it is more on the majority of players are able to get them rather than anything less than 20 percent of the players.
If more classic events fire, than it means more cards are needed for older formats, which means the classic draft queues fill up rather than going stagnant. Right now 1 or 2 Legacy/Classic events fire in a week. It's like for every 100 Standard events, maybe 2 or 3 Classic events fire.
There is room for both and I think they could afford to grow that segment of the market. IMO. Most Standard/Limited players are playing to gear up for Pro Tours, FNM, GPs, other high level paper events. Classic is a very die hard group of people, I would love to see that segment grow a little bit more. There won't be a paper equal.
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I just want people who redraft to admit this:
"I can't draft objectively unless I am able to guarantee that I receive at least 3 rares. I am also better than most average/new players so I want to make sure that I get the best rares and they end up with worse ones. I care more about the monetary value of cards than actually playing the game for decent prizes."
Taking lotus or recall? I loled. These guys know nothing. Obviously slamming library or ring.
As neat as this is I really have no faith in WOTC's ability to design a cube I would approve of.
A little arrogant, no? I think in any given pack you're lucky to see even one piece of power or should-be power. You're likely to take it over anything else. Lotus and recall is on par with your "obvious" picks, I think it's debatable.
I would kill for promotional gold-border packs of these cube reprints. I think these will eventually come out in some way/shape/form in paper. Probably will take several more years.
That Lotus art is just incredible. I love it. Really nice to see that 'ultimate' pack with all the iconic P9 + friends having the same modern card face.
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That which nourishes me, destroys me
10th at SCG: Syracuse (2014), GP:NJ Last-Chance Grinder Winner (2014):: Former Legacy Mod
I mean, hell, we're all on a forum for something that most people would describe as a "children's card game"...do what makes you happy. You are never too old to enjoy yourself.
I would kill for promotional gold-border packs of these cube reprints. I think these will eventually come out in some way/shape/form in paper. Probably will take several more years.
That Lotus art is just incredible. I love it. Really nice to see that 'ultimate' pack with all the iconic P9 + friends having the same modern card face.
I really doubt they would put them out in paper, mostly because it doesn't seem like there's a good, balanced way they can do it.
Do it in too limited a fashion and you've upset two sets of players- one group of people because you did print it, and another because you printed it in such a ridiculously low volume that it effectively changes nothing- there's no real supply of them for people wanting them for cube drafting, or "official" proxies for vintage.
Do it in too broad a fashion and the cards lose a bit of their mystique.
Just like the letter in that article leads to, these aren't just cards that have been driven up in scarcity and value just because of the increase of popularity and play of their format... these are Magic's crown jewels.
Treading lightly is the key, as bells can't be unrung... and if mishandled, this could be one MAJOR disaster.
You apparently did not read the full article. Specifically the letter at the end of the article.
You might want to go back and read it again....
The exact quote is:
Quote from Chris Kiritz »
That said, with Magic's 20th anniversary on the horizon, I can't think of a better way to celebrate than letting our fans collect—and build decks with—these amazing cards before the end of 2013.
He's leading everyone on - and they'll be able to come back and say "Nothing was promised"
Gold bordered = unplayable = waste of time. If you want proxies, thats why printers exist. As far as this goes, phantom limited is better than nothing, but just barely.
Most vintage tournaments allow for the use of proxies, so printing gold bordered "proxies" would be a huge gift to us. Perfect proxies with awesome art? Sign me up!
I'm thinking the same thing, though it would be pretty strange for them to be using that new art in promotional images and the guild fan kits if they aren't actually going to appear anywhere in the block.
Not to mention, if they just re-use the same old flavor text like they did in IvG,
the new Boros Signet will be a little hilarious.
This doesn't seem like a product where they'd write new flavor text,
but neither of these points is proof.
EDIT: Also, that new Mana Drain art is sexy schmexy!
PRINT IT IN FOIL PLEASE.
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
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Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
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Can't argue with paranoia. It's always so rational.
Jt, you make it sound like Wizard has an investment in trying to make something to make people happy. Clearly, you didn't realize (as the person you quoted did) that Wizards is just dedicated to crushing dreams. Raising expectations, just so they can knock 'em down.
The art for the Moxen, Mana Crypt, Time Walk, Timetwister, and Sol Ring are old news.
I do like the new Ancestral Recall art, though; a nice and cheeky reference to the old art.
That art was given out at Vintage Champs 2005 to Roland Chang. It's definitely old news.
That said, my wallet is going to be hurting assuming the environment is good. I've wanted to draft a powered cube on modo ever since they announced cube.
I'd slam library of alexandria P1P1 every time, not even close. Lotus doesn't compare in cube to library and lotus doesn't compare to ancestral recall either. Sol ring is my number 2 pick though; turn 1 sol ring? GG's.
The only piece of power you don't HAVE to take is timetwister really since timetwister doesn't fit in a lot of decks. Although it's still incredibly good, timetwister has always been symmetrical and that's the problem. See how timespiral is in the cube right now? See how it doesn't get played that much? The card is pretty close to timespiral in terms of powerlevel, the only downside is that you can't play it until turn 6 to get it for free.
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"Yawgmoth," Freyalise whispered as she set the bomb, "now you will pay for your treachery."
Did I read that right? Tolarian Academy? Eww. Welcome to the sideboard!
Depends on the deck. With lots of artifact mana now Academy could easily produce 2 or 3 mana when tapped. Storm will be a very real deck to build in the new cube, and Gaea's Cradle was always a high pick before just in ramp decks. I see Academy as a card that could end up being a very high pick by the end of the two weeks. It is one of the most broken cards of all time.
You apparently did not read the full article. Specifically the letter at the end of the article.
I was complaining about what they say in that letter. AFAIK, no one collects cards on MTGO. Just because the cards are rare IRL doesn't mean they need to be some Holy Grail online. There's no need for MTGO to cater to collectors or give new players the sense of wonder regarding P9 as the physical counterpart already does that. Many people who play MTGO do it as a competitive outlet, especially when they can't play IRL for many reasons. No reason to bring a barrier to entry from the physical to digital counterpart.
I was complaining about what they say in that letter. AFAIK, no one collects cards on MTGO. Just because the cards are rare IRL doesn't mean they need to be some Holy Grail online. There's no need for MTGO to cater to collectors or give new players the sense of wonder regarding P9 as the physical counterpart already does that. Many people who play MTGO do it as a competitive outlet, especially when they can't play IRL for many reasons. No reason to bring a barrier to entry from the physical to digital counterpart.
Why not? There is a mystique around the Power 9. Having them should feel special. If I want access to Power 9, I should have to earn that access, not have it handed to me. If you want handouts there are other ways to go about getting them, but working for something will make you feel a lot better about having it in the end.
Why not? There is a mystique around the Power 9. Having them should feel special. If I want access to Power 9, I should have to earn that access, not have it handed to me. If you want handouts there are other ways to go about getting them, but working for something will make you feel a lot better about having it in the end.
Waiting =/= working. Setting arbitrary standards for an online game makes no sense. There are physical limitations IRL so it isn't just arbitrary. I don't think people would be annoyed if FoW wasn't 100$ online and the such. Also 10 years is pretty unjustifiable by any standard. I hope you aren't arguing that MTGO is a work of art or anything close to it. Wizards really doesn't care about it that much.
Waiting =/= working. Setting arbitrary standards for an online game makes no sense. There are physical limitations IRL so it isn't just arbitrary. I don't think people would be annoyed if FoW wasn't 100$ online and the such. Also 10 years is pretty unjustifiable by any standard. I hope you aren't arguing that MTGO is a work of art or anything close to it. Wizards really doesn't care about it that much.
FoW is a little different story since it is essentially a 4 of in most Legacy Decks. It definitely should not be 100+. I also don't think Power 9 should cost $900 to acquire, but they shouldn't be a $50 pack with each either. I would like the secondary market to have them for around $40-50 a piece.
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(I'm talking specifically about the end letter bit of the article)
I won't be playing cube. Just doesn't really seem that fun to me.
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Pretty much every single thing Wizards does related to card availability makes complete sense if you assume they don't want Eternal formats to be too accessible, because then it takes away from Standard/Limited....the main cash cows.
Let's face it, if Modern/Legacy/Vintage were all relatively accessible, what happens when a Standard season is bad (Caw-Blade) or a Limited format blows (Return to Ravnica)? Demand for current sets would tank as people migrate en masse to Eternal formats. Tons of product sits on the shelves, store owners get hurt, and in turn, so does WotC. They want to make sure the primary competitive formats are Standard/Limited. It keeps pack sales up.
I think Modern is pretty accessible right now. You can hate out the top decks and most decks outside of Jund, are comparable in price to Standard decks. Affinity is still comparatively cheap to make.
But if Eternal formats were more accessible, then people would play the limited formats that had the cards for eternal formats (and MED sets need to be much better, the really awful rares need to be removed). I hope a lot of players on MTGO are able to get P9. I hope it is more on the majority of players are able to get them rather than anything less than 20 percent of the players.
If more classic events fire, than it means more cards are needed for older formats, which means the classic draft queues fill up rather than going stagnant. Right now 1 or 2 Legacy/Classic events fire in a week. It's like for every 100 Standard events, maybe 2 or 3 Classic events fire.
There is room for both and I think they could afford to grow that segment of the market. IMO. Most Standard/Limited players are playing to gear up for Pro Tours, FNM, GPs, other high level paper events. Classic is a very die hard group of people, I would love to see that segment grow a little bit more. There won't be a paper equal.
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A little arrogant, no? I think in any given pack you're lucky to see even one piece of power or should-be power. You're likely to take it over anything else. Lotus and recall is on par with your "obvious" picks, I think it's debatable.
360 Uncommons only Cube!
Yes, it will. Classic has always been a placeholder format.
The people who put together the cubes online play more than enough Powered cubes. I've watched them. Perhaps not the fellow who wrote the article.
That Lotus art is just incredible. I love it. Really nice to see that 'ultimate' pack with all the iconic P9 + friends having the same modern card face.
10th at SCG: Syracuse (2014), GP:NJ Last-Chance Grinder Winner (2014):: Former Legacy Mod
I really doubt they would put them out in paper, mostly because it doesn't seem like there's a good, balanced way they can do it.
Do it in too limited a fashion and you've upset two sets of players- one group of people because you did print it, and another because you printed it in such a ridiculously low volume that it effectively changes nothing- there's no real supply of them for people wanting them for cube drafting, or "official" proxies for vintage.
Do it in too broad a fashion and the cards lose a bit of their mystique.
Just like the letter in that article leads to, these aren't just cards that have been driven up in scarcity and value just because of the increase of popularity and play of their format... these are Magic's crown jewels.
Treading lightly is the key, as bells can't be unrung... and if mishandled, this could be one MAJOR disaster.
You might want to go back and read it again....
The exact quote is:
He's leading everyone on - and they'll be able to come back and say "Nothing was promised"
YES. I wish at least.
Actually it doesn't, it says that they need "more brainstorming, meetings, and planning" to find a way to bring the Power Nine to Magic Online.
Can't argue with paranoia. It's always so rational.
Check out http://www.mtgbrodeals.com/author/john-murphy/ for my EDH articles!
100% agreed! not letting this BEAUTIFUL Black Lotus artwork see print is just a crime...:o
Most vintage tournaments allow for the use of proxies, so printing gold bordered "proxies" would be a huge gift to us. Perfect proxies with awesome art? Sign me up!
Not to mention, if they just re-use the same old flavor text like they did in IvG,
the new Boros Signet will be a little hilarious.
This doesn't seem like a product where they'd write new flavor text,
but neither of these points is proof.
EDIT: Also, that new Mana Drain art is sexy schmexy!
PRINT IT IN FOIL PLEASE.
Reprint Stasis!
Control needs more love.
EDH:
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm
WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW
WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
Jt, you make it sound like Wizard has an investment in trying to make something to make people happy. Clearly, you didn't realize (as the person you quoted did) that Wizards is just dedicated to crushing dreams. Raising expectations, just so they can knock 'em down.
That art was given out at Vintage Champs 2005 to Roland Chang. It's definitely old news.
That said, my wallet is going to be hurting assuming the environment is good. I've wanted to draft a powered cube on modo ever since they announced cube.
I'd slam library of alexandria P1P1 every time, not even close. Lotus doesn't compare in cube to library and lotus doesn't compare to ancestral recall either. Sol ring is my number 2 pick though; turn 1 sol ring? GG's.
The only piece of power you don't HAVE to take is timetwister really since timetwister doesn't fit in a lot of decks. Although it's still incredibly good, timetwister has always been symmetrical and that's the problem. See how timespiral is in the cube right now? See how it doesn't get played that much? The card is pretty close to timespiral in terms of powerlevel, the only downside is that you can't play it until turn 6 to get it for free.
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Depends on the deck. With lots of artifact mana now Academy could easily produce 2 or 3 mana when tapped. Storm will be a very real deck to build in the new cube, and Gaea's Cradle was always a high pick before just in ramp decks. I see Academy as a card that could end up being a very high pick by the end of the two weeks. It is one of the most broken cards of all time.
Check out http://www.mtgbrodeals.com/author/john-murphy/ for my EDH articles!
I was complaining about what they say in that letter. AFAIK, no one collects cards on MTGO. Just because the cards are rare IRL doesn't mean they need to be some Holy Grail online. There's no need for MTGO to cater to collectors or give new players the sense of wonder regarding P9 as the physical counterpart already does that. Many people who play MTGO do it as a competitive outlet, especially when they can't play IRL for many reasons. No reason to bring a barrier to entry from the physical to digital counterpart.
Why not? There is a mystique around the Power 9. Having them should feel special. If I want access to Power 9, I should have to earn that access, not have it handed to me. If you want handouts there are other ways to go about getting them, but working for something will make you feel a lot better about having it in the end.
Check out http://www.mtgbrodeals.com/author/john-murphy/ for my EDH articles!
Waiting =/= working. Setting arbitrary standards for an online game makes no sense. There are physical limitations IRL so it isn't just arbitrary. I don't think people would be annoyed if FoW wasn't 100$ online and the such. Also 10 years is pretty unjustifiable by any standard. I hope you aren't arguing that MTGO is a work of art or anything close to it. Wizards really doesn't care about it that much.
FoW is a little different story since it is essentially a 4 of in most Legacy Decks. It definitely should not be 100+. I also don't think Power 9 should cost $900 to acquire, but they shouldn't be a $50 pack with each either. I would like the secondary market to have them for around $40-50 a piece.
Check out http://www.mtgbrodeals.com/author/john-murphy/ for my EDH articles!