"We now believe that the twice-yearly rotation has resulted in a barrier to new or casual players, and, as such, we will be returning to a once-yearly rotation, effective immediately. This was the rotation schedule before we moved to the Two-Block Paradigm, and we believe players will appreciate the return to a familiar, yearly rotation."
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All your base are belong to us!
RIP Batman guy. I hope somebody picks up the slack now that you are gone. Sick children need their Batman.
This is great news. Not too long ago, I realized how weird it is that Oath of the Gatewatch only released earlier this year, and it was already part of the oldest block in standard. I had kind of taken a break from standard, but I'm much more likely to invest in standard decks now. (You happy now, Wizards!?)
Pretty happy with this, actually. Don't get me wrong, I'm DEFINITELY glad they waited until AFTER CoCo rotated to announce it, though.
It wouldn't have affected CoCo anyway
Standard paticipation in my area has greatly dwindled since BFZ release, and the change to rotation was seen as a major factor in it. A welcome change.
I like this. Twice year rotation is great if you intend to collect cards, just wait until the set rotates out and prices drop. But from a gameplay perspective, it feels too much like a rat race. Hurry up and get your cards and decks together before rotation, then dump it all before they rotate out. Not much time to experiment or fiddle with decks.
More importantly, MtG can't take over ones life. I have other interests I would like to tend to every now and then. If I'm away for say.. four months studying or whatever, that's nearly 1/4 of the play time lost on a deck before it rotates. Once a year rotation makes it easier to get back.
As a "Modern" player, rotations didn't bother me too much, but now that my 13 year old has expressed playing "Standard" like his friends, I made some investment in the beginning pieces of a decent standard deck. I rationalized the cost by saying, "well, at least it's 6 months to play with the deck." This new rotation means I get longer with freshly bought cards for Standard, so I find this to be good news.
Doesn't this also mean a much larger standard card pool? I like the idea of that, however it could make them more careful about printing powerful cards. We may start seeing bans in standard again
Uh... ok. I didn't really have a problem with the initial change, but I know a lot of people who did. This will be good news for them, I suppose. Doesn't really impact me too terribly much.
Bottom line is: Rotation is back to once per year, in late September/early October when the 1st set of a new block arrives.
In practice this means that:
BFZ and OGW got +6 months each. They would be rotating with Amonkhet, but now will rotate only in fall 2017.
Shadows and EMN stay the same. They would be rotating by the end of 2017 and will still do.
Fall 2017: We lose BFZ, OGW, SOI, EMN.
Fall 2018: We lose Kaladesh, Aether Revolt, Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation.
It also means we get larger card pools for the last 6 months before rotation compared to what we would have if rotation stayed the same. Larger card pools means more to brew. More to brew means I can play more jank.
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All your base are belong to us!
RIP Batman guy. I hope somebody picks up the slack now that you are gone. Sick children need their Batman.
Now I'm willing to return to Standard. It's a little to late for my local game store since it went out of business thanks to the change to a quicker rotation. Most if not all of are standard players quit the game, me included.
It seems strange to me that they're reverting this so quickly; there's only ever been 1 Spring rotation to date; basically 3 rotations in the New format. I guess the numbers must be looking really bad to go back to Classic Rotation so quickly.
It also means we'll have a Long block and a Short block now.
The Fall/Winter blocks will have a 24 and 21 month period in standard, while the Spring/Summer blocks will only get 18 and 15 months. Old rotation this didn't matter as much since the Summer block was usually the "Reprint" block (M10, Origins). Now it is the second half of a story block; but I'm not sure if there is anything that could be done with it. I wonder if they considered staying with 2 rotations, but nudging it so every block has 24/21 months? So no rotation in the Spring 2017, but Fall only rotates Zendikar, then Spring 2018 rotates Innistrad and so on?
I am happy they did this, but I would be happier if they doubled down on double rotation and made Standard 5 blocks instead of 3.
This new approach makes spring blocks much less attractive to buy in to.
Rotating by block makes a lot of sense.
Making standard 3 blocks was too greedy. Make it 5 blocks and you have a standard which is only marginally larger than the previous standard format, the equivalent of 2.5 old blocks.
Seems good. Right after Kaladesh I played Standard for the first time since pre-DTK, and I discovered that the format has dwindled in my home town lately, the event barely fired, and players told me that it's been a problem lately. I'm not sure if this is because people have been more hesitant to get into a quickly rotating format, or because Modern has stolen all the players, or if players were just too sick of the CoCo format, but I'm sure the prospect of getting a new deck every six months didn't help.
It might be sad news for the most die-hard Standard players, since the format might become stale for longer periods of time, but I think the average player should like this change.
Edit: Have we seen the Aether Revolt set symbol before? I don't think I have.
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When I hit my 3000 post mark, I'm gone for good.
Stay reasonable, be mindful of your expectations and don't feed the trolls.
I liked the idea of the 2x yearly rotation thingy, to keep Standard fresh, but when tier-1 decks require playsets of multiple money-rares/mythics, I can see how a lot of players (most players?) just can't afford it. So more players gravitate to Modern, for a higher up-front cost, but lower upkeep. If this makes Standard more affordable and increases the player base, I'm for it.
On the plus side, I get to play Oath of Nissa in Standard for 6 months longer than I was expecting. \o/
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Level 2 Judge
Currently playing:
Standard: Superfriends!
Legacy: Nic Fit / Pod
Pauper: Delvar; Tron; Flicker Stuff
Commander: Riku ("Some weird doubple spell thing happened"); Keranos ("I did a Gatherer search for 'random' and 'flip a coin.'"); Superfriends!
I always felt that the new two-block paradigm was actually justification for a money grab by Wizards; my guess is that it backfired and people began to check out of Standard--I personally checked out two years ago around the announcement of the original change realizing what a rat race Standard was about to become and have stuck to limited and eternal formats.
So I guess this means the Autumn blocks will have a 24 month shelf life, while the Spring ones will be 18 months (as they both rotate out at the same time). Apart from that odd kink, seems to make sense though.
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"We now believe that the twice-yearly rotation has resulted in a barrier to new or casual players, and, as such, we will be returning to a once-yearly rotation, effective immediately. This was the rotation schedule before we moved to the Two-Block Paradigm, and we believe players will appreciate the return to a familiar, yearly rotation."
RIP Batman guy. I hope somebody picks up the slack now that you are gone. Sick children need their Batman.
Nobody can keep up with Standard?
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=11439737#post11439737
Reality is only what man allows it to be. Few shape it so that many may accept it.
Fall 2017. They added another six months of life to the block in Standard.
Standard paticipation in my area has greatly dwindled since BFZ release, and the change to rotation was seen as a major factor in it. A welcome change.
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=11439737#post11439737
Reality is only what man allows it to be. Few shape it so that many may accept it.
And SOI and Eldricht moon will rotate in 2018 spring? Sorry this is really confusing lol
More importantly, MtG can't take over ones life. I have other interests I would like to tend to every now and then. If I'm away for say.. four months studying or whatever, that's nearly 1/4 of the play time lost on a deck before it rotates. Once a year rotation makes it easier to get back.
In practice this means that:
BFZ and OGW got +6 months each. They would be rotating with Amonkhet, but now will rotate only in fall 2017.
Shadows and EMN stay the same. They would be rotating by the end of 2017 and will still do.
Fall 2017: We lose BFZ, OGW, SOI, EMN.
Fall 2018: We lose Kaladesh, Aether Revolt, Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation.
It also means we get larger card pools for the last 6 months before rotation compared to what we would have if rotation stayed the same. Larger card pools means more to brew. More to brew means I can play more jank.
RIP Batman guy. I hope somebody picks up the slack now that you are gone. Sick children need their Batman.
It also means we'll have a Long block and a Short block now.
The Fall/Winter blocks will have a 24 and 21 month period in standard, while the Spring/Summer blocks will only get 18 and 15 months. Old rotation this didn't matter as much since the Summer block was usually the "Reprint" block (M10, Origins). Now it is the second half of a story block; but I'm not sure if there is anything that could be done with it. I wonder if they considered staying with 2 rotations, but nudging it so every block has 24/21 months? So no rotation in the Spring 2017, but Fall only rotates Zendikar, then Spring 2018 rotates Innistrad and so on?
This new approach makes spring blocks much less attractive to buy in to.
Rotating by block makes a lot of sense.
Making standard 3 blocks was too greedy. Make it 5 blocks and you have a standard which is only marginally larger than the previous standard format, the equivalent of 2.5 old blocks.
Ux Whirza
Rb Goblins
Legacy
U Urza Stompy
Duel Commander
Sai, Master Thopterist
It might be sad news for the most die-hard Standard players, since the format might become stale for longer periods of time, but I think the average player should like this change.
Edit: Have we seen the Aether Revolt set symbol before? I don't think I have.
Stay reasonable, be mindful of your expectations and don't feed the trolls.
Doomsdayin'
On the plus side, I get to play Oath of Nissa in Standard for 6 months longer than I was expecting. \o/
Currently playing:
Standard: Superfriends!
Legacy: Nic Fit / Pod
Pauper: Delvar; Tron; Flicker Stuff
Commander: Riku ("Some weird doubple spell thing happened"); Keranos ("I did a Gatherer search for 'random' and 'flip a coin.'"); Superfriends!
Magical Mr. Market Forces at work.