We're aware of the rumors that an individual is in possession of the card list for Eternal Masters. If true, this is obviously a situation we take extremely seriously. We want to ensure that the entire Magic community knows that we DO NOT provide preferential treatment to any card vendor, distributor, or retailer; nor do we disclose detailed card set information prior to preview season.
Once we finish our investigation, we will assess what, if any, steps are needed to ensure fairness for the community.
They explicitly say they don't know if it's true or not and are investigating. Obviously what ever he gave them was serious enough they needed to respond.
On my phone and can't link to his post, but he just posted a link to the mothership. Wotc confirms that someone has gotten ahold of the entire Eternal Masters list. Deep throat is legit.
Not exactly; "We're aware of the rumors that an individual is in possession of the card list for Eternal Masters." They are taking deepthroat seriously though.
On my phone and can't link to his post, but he just posted a link to the mothership. Wotc confirms that someone has gotten ahold of the entire Eternal Masters list. Deep throat is legit.
"We're aware of the rumors that an individual is in possession of the card list for Eternal Masters. If true, this is obviously a situation we take extremely seriously. We want to ensure that the entire Magic community knows that we DO NOT provide preferential treatment to any card vendor, distributor, or retailer; nor do we disclose detailed card set information prior to preview season.
Once we finish our investigation, we will assess what, if any, steps are needed to ensure fairness for the community."
They didn't confirm that someone got hold of that list, they just acknowledged the rumor.
Edit: Wow! Three simultaneous posts correcting Spaz350. This thread is closely monitored indeed.
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Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Let your passion give you strength for the task at hand... And let the bashing begin!
Also I'd like to point out that a vendor/retailer/distributor (I really wish people would use the proper terms, a vendor could mean a lot of different links in the chain) getting access to the list of cards in Eternal Masters doesn't mean WotC gave them the list. They very well, and most likely, got their hands on the list via an underhanded method (paying an employee to give them the list, hack a website etc....) IF this is true.
Let us also not forget that these stories sometime vanish into thin air.
Still, as compelling as the drama is this is definitely not something the game needs.
This company seems to be run by chimps on typewriters.
What makes you say that exactly?
Their reaction seems wholly underwhelming. Imagine a similar incident in another industry, this seems like WotC don't have proper protocols or procedures in place to make sure information that could be able to lead to "insider trading" is out there. It's particularly egregious if there's any indication that there has been negligence on their part in terms of how/how easily information like this can get accessed, especially by their own employees.
They can't be the owners of a product with such an active secondary market and not do enough to protect their consumers from being fleeced by unscrupulous distributors or vendors. They should know that the concept of speculating with MTG cards is a common practice, it's got it's own internal market now, and in some sense it has moved beyond being a simple TCG.
This company seems to be run by chimps on typewriters.
What makes you say that exactly?
Their reaction seems wholly underwhelming. Imagine a similar incident in another industry, this seems like WotC don't have proper protocols or procedures in place to make sure information that could be able to lead to "insider trading" is out there. It's particularly egregious if there's any indication that there has been negligence on their part in terms of how/how easily information like this can get accessed, especially by their own employees.
They can't be the owners of a product with such an active secondary market and not do enough to protect their consumers from being fleeced by unscrupulous distributors or vendors. They should know that the concept of speculating with MTG cards is a common practice, it's got it's own internal market now, and in some sense it has moved beyond being a simple TCG.
I imagine it's underwhelming because they don't care. The liability for them is little to none. From what I can see they spent the entire day making sure it wasn't their fault, then put out that statement.
This is pretty exciting. Don't even need a TV to have access to drama!
Who knew our own little old card game had such a seedy underbelly. The funny thing is if this was a wall street thing FBI would be all over it but it's MTG so who cares.
@ Sonnerad Ben Bleiwiess isn't just a writer for SCG, he is the manager! He is the #2 guy in the company. He doesn't just work for SCG he IS SCG.
Modern: RW R/W Burn WB B/W TokensXU MonuU Tron // UWX UW Tron R GoblinsW Soul SistersRWG Small ZooWUR WUR Geist/Control/Kiki-Resto Combo/NahiriUR Splinter Twin (90% Japanese)/ Grixis TwinRUB UR Delver / Grixis Delver UR Blue MoonBWU Ad NauseamWDeath and TaxesRUB Grixis ControlUMerfolksX Affinity RGB Living End UR Storm/PiF Combo RGX R/G TRON GWU Bant Eldrazi BW Eldrazi and Taxes RUBGoryos Vengeance UB Faeries Legacy:BRx Renimator Playing right now:Standard: Jeskai Control Modern; GoryosVengeance/UBFaeries/Affinity Legacy: BRx Reanimator Pauper: UR Drake (banned) Commander: Merieke Ri Berit Esper
I imagine it's underwhelming because they don't care. The liability for them is little to none. From what I can see they spent the entire day making sure it wasn't their fault, then put out that statement.
It is underwhelming because it is Public Relations 101. Just like a politician in a scandal, the first statement is always "We are aware that everyone is freaking out, and we are looking into it." For a few reasons:
A: It lets us know that they see it.
B: It buys them time to craft a longer, more detailed statement later.
C: It let's them triple check that the rumors are legitimate or not.
D: It is the official start of any investigation should the rumors be substantiated.
If they came out guns blazing on Day 1, there's a good chance they have to retract things later. Patience.
This by itself would be a scandal. Combined with the announcement of a controversial set, and a complete fiasco of a pro tour in the wake of an unpopular banning... is their public relations at the lowest it's been for a number of years now?
But we are talking about their products! And more importantly, still buying them.
Wow... this is really amazing. It's been less than a day and wotc had to make a statement about this. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.
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():
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Modern:
URB Grixis Delver URB
WUB Ad Nauseam WUB
(On Lantern Control)"A guy who literally just sits there and mills cards he doesn't like from your library while he slowly, slowly kills you this way."
"If a person's profile includes anime or My Little Pony, feel free to ignore everything they say."
I find WOTC statement harder to relieve after a second read.
"We want to ensure that the entire Magic community knows that we DO NOT provide preferential treatment to any card vendor, distributor, or retailer; nor do we disclose detailed card set information prior to preview season."
Are godbooks sent only after preview season is kicked off? Are godbooks no longer sent? Does preview season start whenever Wizards says it started? (Preview season is never late, Frodo, nor is it early. It arrives exactly when We mean to.)
All we truly know about Godbooks is that they are sent to reviewers, WotC has never said anything about making those books available to people who have direct monetary stake in the game. That they are sent to reviewers is certainly strange, and something I'm sure the New Phyrexia leak has had an effect on the logistics of making them available.
So no, they are not lying to us, you just need to read more carefully.
This by itself would be a scandal. Combined with the announcement of a controversial set, and a complete fiasco of a pro tour in the wake of an unpopular banning... is their public relations at the lowest it's been for a number of years now?
Controversial set? A fiasco of a ProTour? An unpopular banning?
You might want to spend some time off this website.
I find WOTC statement harder to relieve after a second read.
"We want to ensure that the entire Magic community knows that we DO NOT provide preferential treatment to any card vendor, distributor, or retailer; nor do we disclose detailed card set information prior to preview season."
Are godbooks sent only after preview season is kicked off? Are godbooks no longer sent? Does preview season start whenever Wizards says it started? (Preview season is never late, Frodo, nor is it early. It arrives exactly when We mean to.)
Could Wizards be lying to us? *gasp*
This is exactly what I thought when I first read the response. Isn't it common knowledge that they send the set list to some vendors/writers so they have advanced knowledge of the cards to write reviews about the set? Also, at minimum they are given cards to spoil.
During the Vintage Masters stream Randy Buelher talked about the process of choosing a spoiler by saying he looked through the list and most of the good stuff was already taken so he spoiled the Mana Confluence expedition. It sure sounds like they are given a list of the cards early. Even if it is just at the very beginning of the spoiler season this is still a lot of information. Just think about buying Jace, Vryn's Prodigy at a low price when others weren't aware of the support or possibly selling thoughtseizes before they were reprinted or buying Goblin Guides when they weren't reprinted in modern masters. Or heck, purchasing Eye of Ugin when you saw the crazy eldrazi coming.
I don't have a great alternative to the current system, but as long as players are also writers the will continue to have a large advantage over other players in terms of finance. In terms of actual advantages in tournament play it only affects the first and maybe second tournaments after a set is released but that is still a heafty advantage when the difference between silver, gold, and platinum is minute and the difference in a top 8 and top 16 is breakers.
I find WOTC statement harder to relieve after a second read.
"We want to ensure that the entire Magic community knows that we DO NOT provide preferential treatment to any card vendor, distributor, or retailer; nor do we disclose detailed card set information prior to preview season."
Are godbooks sent only after preview season is kicked off? Are godbooks no longer sent? Does preview season start whenever Wizards says it started? (Preview season is never late, Frodo, nor is it early. It arrives exactly when We mean to.)
Could Wizards be lying to us? *gasp*
This is exactly what I thought when I first read the response. Isn't it common knowledge that they send the set list to some vendors/writers so they have advanced knowledge of the cards to write reviews about the set? Also, at minimum they are given cards to spoil.
During the Vintage Masters stream Randy Buelher talked about the process of choosing a spoiler by saying he looked through the list and most of the good stuff was already taken so he spoiled the Mana Confluence expedition. It sure sounds like they are given a list of the cards early. Even if it is just at the very beginning of the spoiler season this is still a lot of information. Just think about buying Jace, Vryn's Prodigy at a low price when others weren't aware of the support or possibly selling thoughtseizes before they were reprinted or buying Goblin Guides when they weren't reprinted in modern masters. Or heck, purchasing Eye of Ugin when you saw the crazy eldrazi coming.
I don't have a great alternative to the current system, but as long as players are also writers the will continue to have a large advantage over other players in terms of finance. In terms of actual advantages in tournament play it only affects the first and maybe second tournaments after a set is released but that is still a heafty advantage when the difference between silver, gold, and platinum is minute and the difference in a top 8 and top 16 is breakers.
No it is not common knowledge: reviewers are not vendors.
Do you people even research before making outlandish claims?
This just confirms what I've been saying for years. Wizards doesn't care about us, wizards cares about big vendors, they're the ones that give them the real money. That and the boosters we buy with our "lunch money". Wizards doesn't reprint or print stuff so we can enjoy, they do so they can make more and more money.
And the vendors get the information first hand, so they know what to buy and sell in order to make profit.
This by itself would be a scandal. Combined with the announcement of a controversial set, and a complete fiasco of a pro tour in the wake of an unpopular banning... is their public relations at the lowest it's been for a number of years now?
The banning of Twin is popular with some and unpopular with others. It's pretty null all-told.
As far as we know, WOTC could view Eldrazi's dominance at the PT as a positive because it promotes (the actual "pro" in "pro tour") the new set more than any other Modern deck ever has.
I find WOTC statement harder to relieve after a second read.
"We want to ensure that the entire Magic community knows that we DO NOT provide preferential treatment to any card vendor, distributor, or retailer; nor do we disclose detailed card set information prior to preview season."
Are godbooks sent only after preview season is kicked off? Are godbooks no longer sent? Does preview season start whenever Wizards says it started? (Preview season is never late, Frodo, nor is it early. It arrives exactly when We mean to.)
Could Wizards be lying to us? *gasp*
This is exactly what I thought when I first read the response. Isn't it common knowledge that they send the set list to some vendors/writers so they have advanced knowledge of the cards to write reviews about the set? Also, at minimum they are given cards to spoil.
During the Vintage Masters stream Randy Buelher talked about the process of choosing a spoiler by saying he looked through the list and most of the good stuff was already taken so he spoiled the Mana Confluence expedition. It sure sounds like they are given a list of the cards early. Even if it is just at the very beginning of the spoiler season this is still a lot of information. Just think about buying Jace, Vryn's Prodigy at a low price when others weren't aware of the support or possibly selling thoughtseizes before they were reprinted or buying Goblin Guides when they weren't reprinted in modern masters. Or heck, purchasing Eye of Ugin when you saw the crazy eldrazi coming.
I don't have a great alternative to the current system, but as long as players are also writers the will continue to have a large advantage over other players in terms of finance. In terms of actual advantages in tournament play it only affects the first and maybe second tournaments after a set is released but that is still a heafty advantage when the difference between silver, gold, and platinum is minute and the difference in a top 8 and top 16 is breakers.
No it is not common knowledge.: reviewers are not vendors.
Do you people even research before making outlandish claims?
I'm sorry if I offended you or misspoke. I was stating from my own personal view, not a researched scholar of the magic the gathering spoiler procedures. I thought after the numerous leaks, spoilers, god book debacle in NPH, and the different sites that are giving spoilers each season, that it was common knowledge that they receive information early. Many of these sites that spoil cards have current players who do the spoiling of the cards. I'm sure the Vintage Masters recording is somewhere online where he talks about the list, but that is just what I remember from watching it first hand.
I should have said the set lists and/or certain cards, not just the set list, but I do believe it is fairly common knowledge that sites like SGC (only using them as an example) and many others do receive cards in advance of the public. If they do receive just information regarding a single card on the night before they spoil them via an article. then I apologize for my ignorance.
It's funny, because if WotC weren't such asshats about their reprint policies, a lot of leak drama probably would be less likely to happen. But they let the secondary market turn into Magic Wall Street, mostly because of idle hands.
They explicitly say they don't know if it's true or not and are investigating. Obviously what ever he gave them was serious enough they needed to respond.
Not exactly; "We're aware of the rumors that an individual is in possession of the card list for Eternal Masters." They are taking deepthroat seriously though.
"We're aware of the rumors that an individual is in possession of the card list for Eternal Masters. If true, this is obviously a situation we take extremely seriously. We want to ensure that the entire Magic community knows that we DO NOT provide preferential treatment to any card vendor, distributor, or retailer; nor do we disclose detailed card set information prior to preview season.
Once we finish our investigation, we will assess what, if any, steps are needed to ensure fairness for the community."
They didn't confirm that someone got hold of that list, they just acknowledged the rumor.
Edit: Wow! Three simultaneous posts correcting Spaz350. This thread is closely monitored indeed.
Breathe out.
Let your passion give you strength for the task at hand... And let the bashing begin!
Also I'd like to point out that a vendor/retailer/distributor (I really wish people would use the proper terms, a vendor could mean a lot of different links in the chain) getting access to the list of cards in Eternal Masters doesn't mean WotC gave them the list. They very well, and most likely, got their hands on the list via an underhanded method (paying an employee to give them the list, hack a website etc....) IF this is true.
Let us also not forget that these stories sometime vanish into thin air.
Still, as compelling as the drama is this is definitely not something the game needs.
What makes you say that exactly?
Their reaction seems wholly underwhelming. Imagine a similar incident in another industry, this seems like WotC don't have proper protocols or procedures in place to make sure information that could be able to lead to "insider trading" is out there. It's particularly egregious if there's any indication that there has been negligence on their part in terms of how/how easily information like this can get accessed, especially by their own employees.
They can't be the owners of a product with such an active secondary market and not do enough to protect their consumers from being fleeced by unscrupulous distributors or vendors. They should know that the concept of speculating with MTG cards is a common practice, it's got it's own internal market now, and in some sense it has moved beyond being a simple TCG.
I imagine it's underwhelming because they don't care. The liability for them is little to none. From what I can see they spent the entire day making sure it wasn't their fault, then put out that statement.
yep, look this info https://www.magiccardmarket.eu/Users/StarCityGames
RW R/W Burn WB B/W TokensXU MonuU Tron // UWX UW Tron
R GoblinsW Soul SistersRWG Small ZooWUR WUR Geist/Control/Kiki-Resto Combo/NahiriUR Splinter Twin (90% Japanese)/ Grixis TwinRUB UR Delver / Grixis Delver UR Blue MoonBWU Ad NauseamWDeath and TaxesRUB Grixis ControlUMerfolksX Affinity RGB Living End UR Storm/PiF Combo RGX R/G TRON GWU Bant Eldrazi BW Eldrazi and Taxes RUBGoryos Vengeance UB Faeries
Legacy:BRx Renimator
Playing right now: Standard: Jeskai Control Modern; GoryosVengeance/UBFaeries/Affinity Legacy: BRx Reanimator Pauper: UR Drake (banned) Commander: Merieke Ri Berit Esper
none
Modern
UBG B/U/G control
BBB MBC
WUR Control
WWW Prison
RRR Goblins
Legacy
BBB Pox
UBG B/U/G Control
UWU StoneBlade
UW Miracle Control
It is underwhelming because it is Public Relations 101. Just like a politician in a scandal, the first statement is always "We are aware that everyone is freaking out, and we are looking into it." For a few reasons:
A: It lets us know that they see it.
B: It buys them time to craft a longer, more detailed statement later.
C: It let's them triple check that the rumors are legitimate or not.
D: It is the official start of any investigation should the rumors be substantiated.
If they came out guns blazing on Day 1, there's a good chance they have to retract things later. Patience.
But we are talking about their products! And more importantly, still buying them.
Their statement was we're looking to see if it's true. Not this positively happened. All it means is the rumor is massive.
"We want to ensure that the entire Magic community knows that we DO NOT provide preferential treatment to any card vendor, distributor, or retailer; nor do we disclose detailed card set information prior to preview season."
Are godbooks sent only after preview season is kicked off? Are godbooks no longer sent? Does preview season start whenever Wizards says it started? (Preview season is never late, Frodo, nor is it early. It arrives exactly when We mean to.)
Could Wizards be lying to us? *gasp*
Breathe out.
Let your passion give you strength for the task at hand... And let the bashing begin!
So no, they are not lying to us, you just need to read more carefully.
Controversial set? A fiasco of a ProTour? An unpopular banning?
You might want to spend some time off this website.
This is exactly what I thought when I first read the response. Isn't it common knowledge that they send the set list to some vendors/writers so they have advanced knowledge of the cards to write reviews about the set? Also, at minimum they are given cards to spoil.
During the Vintage Masters stream Randy Buelher talked about the process of choosing a spoiler by saying he looked through the list and most of the good stuff was already taken so he spoiled the Mana Confluence expedition. It sure sounds like they are given a list of the cards early. Even if it is just at the very beginning of the spoiler season this is still a lot of information. Just think about buying Jace, Vryn's Prodigy at a low price when others weren't aware of the support or possibly selling thoughtseizes before they were reprinted or buying Goblin Guides when they weren't reprinted in modern masters. Or heck, purchasing Eye of Ugin when you saw the crazy eldrazi coming.
I don't have a great alternative to the current system, but as long as players are also writers the will continue to have a large advantage over other players in terms of finance. In terms of actual advantages in tournament play it only affects the first and maybe second tournaments after a set is released but that is still a heafty advantage when the difference between silver, gold, and platinum is minute and the difference in a top 8 and top 16 is breakers.
I play Standard, EDH, and a very tiny bit of Modern.
My youtube channel, I upload gaming related videos and other videos.
No it is not common knowledge: reviewers are not vendors.
Do you people even research before making outlandish claims?
And the vendors get the information first hand, so they know what to buy and sell in order to make profit.
As far as we know, WOTC could view Eldrazi's dominance at the PT as a positive because it promotes (the actual "pro" in "pro tour") the new set more than any other Modern deck ever has.
What controversial set?
Standard: lol no
Modern: BG/x, UR/x, Burn, Merfolk, Zoo, Storm
Legacy: Shardless BUG, Delver (BUG, RUG, Grixis), Landstill, Depths Combo, Merfolk
Vintage: Dark Times, BUG Fish, Merfolk
EDH: Teysa, Orzhov Scion / Krenko, Mob Boss / Stonebrow, Krosan Hero
I'm sorry if I offended you or misspoke. I was stating from my own personal view, not a researched scholar of the magic the gathering spoiler procedures. I thought after the numerous leaks, spoilers, god book debacle in NPH, and the different sites that are giving spoilers each season, that it was common knowledge that they receive information early. Many of these sites that spoil cards have current players who do the spoiling of the cards. I'm sure the Vintage Masters recording is somewhere online where he talks about the list, but that is just what I remember from watching it first hand.
I should have said the set lists and/or certain cards, not just the set list, but I do believe it is fairly common knowledge that sites like SGC (only using them as an example) and many others do receive cards in advance of the public. If they do receive just information regarding a single card on the night before they spoil them via an article. then I apologize for my ignorance.
(Also known as Xenphire)