While the rares and Mythics have been a huge dissapointment, I am completely pleasently surprised at how great the commons and uncommons are. Very happy with the choices
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Been a member here for over a dozen years. Playing since '95 just got lost in the twitch shuffle.
Also for people comparing this to the challenger decks: the masters 25 set was designed before the challenger decks were conceived, so don't think this is what we will see moving forward. Expect something greater in the summer with battle bond and the summer core set. I'm not sure what is going to happen with return to dominaria.
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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!
Cancelled my box when Plague Wind dropped. Day 1 spoilers almost revived my hope for this product series (EMA,IMA,A25)....every moment since was a grim reminder of WoTC's ineptitude.
As a 25th anniversary set this product should have had at least full art lands, all of them, even the rares. This would also probably require new art. New art would have been a sign of some effort, eh? I guess that effort stopped at a watermark...
A half-assed set symbol watermark doesn't make this A25 special. Making the cards in this set special would have been giving the newest or brand new art for every single card, making every single land be full art, making sure there are no $1 mythics, making sure there are no $1 rares...screw it this list has no end.
In hindsight what I see here in the A25 card list is a set that was originally on par with IMA that eventually had some rares/mythics substituted in after seeing IMA tank
I cancelled the more expensive of my two pre-order boxes(Keeping one I got at $172). This list would have been ok if they just had the sense to cut the pack price down to $6 or so.:(
Overall, there's some awesome new art and some great new foils to spice up decks with, but there's no logical reason to buy any amount of packs of this set. The game stores that bought in the biggest are gonna get creamed almost just as hard as they did with Iconic Masters. This is all bad for the distributors as well. It's not really an issue for the players so long as they're smart enough not to go anywhere near this product until it tanks to sub $160.
Very much agreed. What killed it for me was that this was supposed to be thé collection of 25 years of awesome cards. For once high expectations were justified.
I agree, based off of the description of the product it was correct for everyone to have high expectations for this set.
We should just enjoy for what we did get and just have fun
Here's some truths about these reprint sets
many many cards from the past that were powerhouses back in their days that have never ben In Foil till now most particularly for this case animar, soul of elements and Prossh, Skyraider of Kher and more
lots of the cards are going to Ben so much cheaper to get now for people who only buy singles (which is the right way to get cards not by gambling on boosters)heres some examples
And of coarse the enemy filter lands
(Iconic masters did the rakdos one for a fun fact.)
there are complaints no matter what we get for these reprint sets, for example we got vindicate with old art but most preferred the version with sorin also there was some complaints on it not being Pernicious Deed we got it anyway but instead of being happy it was anger when it popped out all because it wasn't Maelstrom Pulse the deed is a perfect choice for this since it's lore involved and you people wanted it (not everybody ofcoarseh
we always expect sets like these to have nothing but playable cards in all/some formats well it's the same concept as dream about a perfect girl/guy or dream car or house it's actually bad to do that almost immediately just fantasizing what you want lowers your chances of being happy in the future because all that very unlikely to happen. No one can predict the future I mean demonic tutor was a perfect choice for this and iconic but it was in neither I'm sure they wanted to put it in I really due but they probably had some problems doing it and I'm sure they will explain someday why they had a hard time reprinting it just like with damnation so just stop fantasizing the dream set and just enjoy what we get in each set there's no such thing as a perfect set with 0% bulk rares
And if you user reply to this and try to convince me I'm wrong I don't care I just enjoy what we do get in sets and have fun.
Actually looks like it might be hilariously fun to draft. I'm kind of glad that the R/M slot stinks so that in a few weeks I can pick up a box for $140.
I wonder if a cube made out of one of every card in this set would be any fun...
One of each? No, that’d be awful. There are six cards in the set that are only useful to draft in multiples because they either fetch copies of themselves or have greater effect based on the number of instances of themselves in the graveyard or on the battlefield. There are draft strategies (like the Ux combo deck) that really only work if you can draft common parts redundantly. If you wanted to make this fly as a cube, I think you’d have to make sure the common pool was replicated several times.
So this feels worse than IMA. IMA was fun to draft but if they want to try and justify the £10 a pack price they need to do far more.
If I can pick up a box for around £120 then I would think about it and I may draft it once but beyond that no way am I going near this.
This actually is a worse set than IMA. IMA had more modern playable cards if I recall and the lands were also better. The main problem is that this is basically a Jace lotto. People can try to say that Rishadan Port is going to be worth it, but it honestly wont. Even imperial recruiter is going to tank really hard since it was only expensive because of scarcity. I think portal three kingdoms was one of the lowest print run sets in the US market.
I can't believe people are buying this still online for 185-190 a box. Did these people see what is on the spoilers? I guess there's a lot of people that want to draft 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!
The more I look at the spoilers, the more I think it's going to be a poorly balanced limited set. Red is by far the best color IMHO and Red/Black burn should dominate. Green has big dumb creatures and some ramp, white has a lot of small creatures, but little to no synergy, blue has... let's just say that if you first pick Jace, and your second pick is also Jace, I still wouldn't play Blue.
Oh well, it seems I won't be wasting my money on this set too much (apart from my prepaid pre-order). At least it has Morph, which is a fantastic ability for limited.
You guys remember the giant MM3 drafts firing at every LGS? Those were the days... and they were less than a year ago. The hell WotC? How can you get so disconnected, so fast?
So this feels worse than IMA. IMA was fun to draft but if they want to try and justify the £10 a pack price they need to do far more.
If I can pick up a box for around £120 then I would think about it and I may draft it once but beyond that no way am I going near this.
This actually is a worse set than IMA. IMA had more modern playable cards if I recall and the lands were also better. The main problem is that this is basically a Jace lotto. People can try to say that Rishadan Port is going to be worth it, but it honestly wont. Even imperial recruiter is going to tank really hard since it was only expensive because of scarcity. I think portal three kingdoms was one of the lowest print run sets in the US market.
I can't believe people are buying this still online for 185-190 a box. Did these people see what is on the spoilers? I guess there's a lot of people that want to draft it?
A fool and their money are soon parted. (Not sure where that saying comes from.)
I think we will see these boxes going for less than IMA boxes in 6 months time. A lot of the prices for these will tank as you say. The filter lands will settle to 6 to 8 bucks each after a couple of months. Recruiter will nosedive. Port will take a big hit too. IMA boxes are going for as low as $133 and change shipped on ebay. Frankly I wouldn't pay any more than 120 shipped and thats probably right at cost for vendors who ordered mass quantities. I can see A25 being 135 bucks in 6 months time with IMA rising back up to the 150 level. A25 may have better uncommons but those prices will fall as well. Time will tell but I'm with you it will be proven a worse set than IMA in half a year.
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Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
The real big killer is the money cards they picked. Rishadan Port desperately needed a reprint, but it sees basically no play outside of minor legacy play and isn't the most desirable land in EDH, either. It's going to settle probably at 15-20 dollars when the dust settles from this entire thing. What is really sad is that the uncommon and common slot has some really strong cards in it that do see plenty of play. But they needed to put better choices into these slots to make up for the weaker top end and the company just didn't do that.
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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!
Lol didn't know that SCG was taking preorders on singles until one of the guys at my LGS looked up foil prices. Whew, I spent less than a box and got almost everything that I wanted from this round of spoilers. I'll still give my guys business when they rip packs for binders but I got the immediate things so we're all good.
Lol didn't know that SCG was taking preorders on singles until one of the guys at my LGS looked up foil prices. Whew, I spent less than a box and got almost everything that I wanted from this round of spoilers. I'll still give my guys business when they rip packs for binders but I got the immediate things so we're all good.
Yeah, I want a foil Akroma myself, but that isn't something I'd want to rip a pack open to find of all things. Not to mention the card quality question is still up there so it's totally possible the FTV version is still a superior foil. For some reason saying that caused a shiver to go up my spine. Again, I hate WoTC for pricing this set at 240 msrp. This set would have been fine at the 140-160 price point (which means probably 180 msrp), but at the price they are asking for do they really think people want to open an Isan's Shade? Not to mention I wouldn't want to be the person who got saddled with a box where the mythics of note are Doomsday and Akroma, Angel of Wrath. This is like Jace, Chalice, and Bridge or bust. Nothing else is going to keep a price tag on it and these boxes are going to tank so fast it's going to be unbelievable after the first wave. There's almost no reason to even pre-order unless someone is afraid WoTC isn't going to print enough boxes.
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 would like to have more in the 25th aniverdary set, but I liked in general. Looks like what people want is chase mythics and rares, but commons and uncommons make the EV stable. The set has more than 20 commons, uncommons above $1. Had better rares and mythics, but only 2 or 3 good uncommons and none common. If you buy a box of shadowmoor for a good price, is almost garantee to get more in card value than you paid, you don't need to get a Runed Halo for that, while EMA or Cospiracy 2 or HOD is double or nothing.
The set probably will have foils above advarage with the watermarks, and this is really good when you get 1 foil each pack and with so many playables commons/uncommons.
I wouldn't compare with IMA, while is obvious that do many cards will take a big hit in the price (this is good), looks like the supply of M25 is waaay lower than IMA.
In the end, for who will draft, the set looks promissing, what make a good draft is good commons and uncommons, I don't know if will be balanced or fun yet, but the good cards are there.
So with everything known all I can see that in the future there needs to be some changes for this product in the future.
1. These have got to stop coming out so often. There cannot be THREE Masters sets in a year. It's too much. If they are so worried about reprint equity, or whatever, then what's the point of pumping these out? All they are doing is making them worse by doing so many. At this point they need to be only once a year, at most, and maybe go back to once every two years or something. With Core Sets coming back there won't be as much need of these.
2. Stop making these $10 a pack! Seriously, this has got to stop, especially if we're going to be getting these as often as we have been lately. These sets being $10 turn almost anyone used to the game off immediately. If they were $7 suddenly a lot of the Masters sets, which were previously deemed terrible in various ways, would suddenly seem decent. We don't have to worry about stores selling above that $7 price tag with how they've been increasing the print runs and with how many Masters sets there have been in the last year. There's just no reason for $10 packs anymore. Everything they've been doing is making these sets worth less and less every time.
That's also why pack prices are 10$ starting...
MMA was never sold for 6.99. Prices spiked to 15$ in the first month
That's also why M25 is better due to better uncommons/commons.
Packs were being sold well above $10 as no one knew if this was going to happen again, not to mention the incredibly limited printing of it. If MM1 was printed now with the numbers of IMA or MA25 there is no way it would have gone above $7. There is literally no reason for these sets to be $10 anymore, especially when they didn't add any value to the packs and kept everything about the same.
At $10 these sets are pretty much always terrible, but at $7 you actually have a slightly decent product at least.
I don't post on YouTube but more people need to call Rudy from AlphaInvestments out on his BS 8 out of 10 score for this set. He is obviously heavily invested in the set and hoping to pre-sell these far above what they are really worth. Weak Rudy, weak sauce!!!
Sorry had to get that off my chest. He usually is a straight shooter but his last video is pure BS. These choices of cards seem to be getting universally panned on the interwebz.
My advice, DON'T preorder. Let them sit and stew on these. Don't give in folks. Hang strong. Don't validate some of these piss poor card choices with your preorder. Abstain. Okay, off my soapbox.
I've never liked Alpha Investments. It just seems like the wrong end to take away from a game by constantly buying it all up and treating it like a stock market.
As for the set I agree, you shouldn't preorder this. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if the boxes for this will be cheaper than MSRP, like Iconic.
I don't think this was Rudy's fault. This is entirely wizards of the coast right now, and they just made stores lose money. You know what the worst part of this entire thing is? They made a set to the point that it is actually worth it to cancel a pre-order during the hype season for a set, and many people for very good reasons will not cancel a pre-order on moral grounds. So not only did WoTC not deliver a good product, they put people into a position where they have to make a moral decision with weight since many LGS are struggling to stay afloat and bought cases of this set on good faith.
Not many people know this, but this was the first year I was going to buy a masters set sealed to open with some friends. Masters 2017 was good, Gavin basically implied this one was going to be an exciting set, so why not? What WoTC delivered is basically Dragons Maze / Borne of the Gods in a masters set. Even when MM2015 came out and people were upset with that set, it still wasn't as bad as this one and I'd have kept my orders if it was at least MM2015 level. That really says something.
Right now the only thing keeping the boxes from plummeting to the floor is the snake oil salesman saying "Oh, we got this amazing tonic for 15 dollars! Only 10 of them left so come pick one up when they are here!" Then the next day someone comes back and there are 8 left, then the following day 4 left. Eventually that slow attrition leads to the whole "well it may be bad, but if I don't buy one now I'll never get to have it." This is literally a product worth not having. Even if there is a promise for a chalice or a Jace in the box, the chances of opening either is abysmal in a single box and even those that do are going to eventually lose playing the booster box game just like everyone else does. Not to mention when your worst case scenario is a box with Tree of Redemption and Plague Wind level cards, that is just unforgivable in a product being sold at 200 dollars usually during the pre-order season.
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!
Iconic Masters was Stangg and Masters 25 is Stanggs twin token. There is no reason why these sets cost 10 dorra per booster. Unstable was priced at normal and each booster came with a foil card and a full art card. Even if masters 25 boosters were 5$ I doubt it could compete with unstable.
Because almost all the rares were hits if you pulled one (barely any bulk)
Both this set and iconic are great not in draft but for commander/modern/legacy easier to get cards to build decks that's what reprint sets are made for (in my opinion)
I like Rudy, but at the end of the day he is a salesman plain and simple. You know the old adage about a salesman correct? It goes. "When do you know when a salesman is lying? When he opens his mouth." He is obviously heavily invested in M25. He has said he thought it would be a home run. The set looks more like a base hit up the middle. So instead of calling a spade a spade, he gives it an 8 out of 10 and then proceeds to peddle these at 180 bucks a box to "his loyal patrons" and claims he will probably be sold out at that price when the video airs. What a lying sack of crap. He is probably still sitting on pallets of this garbage and he is trying to maximize profit. Which is understandable except he is trying to use the tact that he is a "seller for the people" the good guy doing us all a favor. Its disingenuous, slimy and reinforces every stereotype of salesmen you've ever heard. People need to let him rot on those pallets at that price. Teach him and others a lesson to quit speculating on product en masse which then in turn will teach Wizards to quit producing this garbage and foisting it onto the distributors. Fiscal discipline in the community will pay off in the long run. Stay strong people.
BTW, there is nothing immoral about canceling a preorder. Its called fiscal responsibility. If someone has preordered and prepaid the vendor has already been making interest on your money anyway. No morality involved so no one needs to feel bad in the least. The product wasn't as advertised. End of story.
Not many people know this, but this was the first year I was going to buy a masters set sealed to open with some friends. Masters 2017 was good, Gavin basically implied this one was going to be an exciting set, so why not? What WoTC delivered is basically Dragons Maze / Borne of the Gods in a masters set. Even when MM2015 came out and people were upset with that set, it still wasn't as bad as this one and I'd have kept my orders if it was at least MM2015 level. That really says something.
I've been monitoring Iconic box prices recently. At 4-6 months out I am seeing boxes as low as 125 USD shipped. My advice wait 4 to 6 months for your draft of M25 when it drops near that level OR just buy a box of IMA now and have fun at your draft. Making the purchase at levels barely over cost hammers home the point that this is what they are worth. Just a thought, do what you need to do.
Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
I don't think any of us even want to draft this thing. It's got nothing memorable in it except a few cards and the ones they picked in a lot of cases are the things we have sitting around in random places collecting dust. Plague Wind was a horrible choice because I don't think anyone even played that card when it was released. Seriously, no Merchant Scroll or Torture for homelands (I would have at least laughed at the second), they picked Isahn's Shade for homelands? Pernicious deed instead of Maelstrom Pulse? Diabolic Edict instead of Chainer's Edict? For Gatecrash they even picked Totally Lost instead of Rapid Hybridization downshifted to common. Yes, not a lot of money, but way more playable in a format that looks like it has a lot of cheating big bad creatures into play. The prophecy choice was the worst one yet as even Spore frog or Rhystic Study would have been better. Heck, Overburden would have been another good option.
This set represents everything wrong with the company. They don't know what people want, they have face people that don't seem to even know what is going on like Gavin representing them, and now this entire thing is even impacting stores and distributors. They made an environment where even stores have reason to be dishonest because they are getting forced into early deals by distributors, who likewise have no idea how good a set is going to do from a clueless WoTC. This is like a dominoes game no one wants to play.
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!
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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!
As a 25th anniversary set this product should have had at least full art lands, all of them, even the rares. This would also probably require new art. New art would have been a sign of some effort, eh? I guess that effort stopped at a watermark...
A half-assed set symbol watermark doesn't make this A25 special. Making the cards in this set special would have been giving the newest or brand new art for every single card, making every single land be full art, making sure there are no $1 mythics, making sure there are no $1 rares...screw it this list has no end.
In hindsight what I see here in the A25 card list is a set that was originally on par with IMA that eventually had some rares/mythics substituted in after seeing IMA tank
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-general/334931-what-is-the-most-pimp-card-deck-youve-seen-or?comment=5361
Commander
RGOmnath, Locus of Rage Grenades! EDHGR
UWSygg's Defense, EDH - Voltron & ControlWU
BUGMimeoplasm EDH ft. Ifnir Cycling-discard comboBUG
WBTeysa, Connoisseur of CullingBW
BWSelenia & Recruiter of the Guard suicice combo EDHWB
UBRWGO-Kagachi - 5 Color Enchantments - EDHUBRWG
If I can pick up a box for around £120 then I would think about it and I may draft it once but beyond that no way am I going near this.
BRGKresh the BloodbraidedBRG, A box of lands and ideas.
Modern:
RG Titanshift. A deck made of cards too stupid for EDH.
Retired: Lots. More than I feel you should suffer through or I should type out.
I agree, based off of the description of the product it was correct for everyone to have high expectations for this set.
Yes they did not do so well in this
We shouldn't be focusing on the bad stuff
We should just enjoy for what we did get and just have fun
Here's some truths about these reprint sets
And of coarse the enemy filter lands
(Iconic masters did the rakdos one for a fun fact.)
And if you user reply to this and try to convince me I'm wrong I don't care I just enjoy what we do get in sets and have fun.
So just have fun.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-general/334931-what-is-the-most-pimp-card-deck-youve-seen-or?comment=5361
Commander
RGOmnath, Locus of Rage Grenades! EDHGR
UWSygg's Defense, EDH - Voltron & ControlWU
BUGMimeoplasm EDH ft. Ifnir Cycling-discard comboBUG
WBTeysa, Connoisseur of CullingBW
BWSelenia & Recruiter of the Guard suicice combo EDHWB
UBRWGO-Kagachi - 5 Color Enchantments - EDHUBRWG
One of each? No, that’d be awful. There are six cards in the set that are only useful to draft in multiples because they either fetch copies of themselves or have greater effect based on the number of instances of themselves in the graveyard or on the battlefield. There are draft strategies (like the Ux combo deck) that really only work if you can draft common parts redundantly. If you wanted to make this fly as a cube, I think you’d have to make sure the common pool was replicated several times.
This actually is a worse set than IMA. IMA had more modern playable cards if I recall and the lands were also better. The main problem is that this is basically a Jace lotto. People can try to say that Rishadan Port is going to be worth it, but it honestly wont. Even imperial recruiter is going to tank really hard since it was only expensive because of scarcity. I think portal three kingdoms was one of the lowest print run sets in the US market.
I can't believe people are buying this still online for 185-190 a box. Did these people see what is on the spoilers? I guess there's a lot of people that want to draft 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!
Oh well, it seems I won't be wasting my money on this set too much (apart from my prepaid pre-order). At least it has Morph, which is a fantastic ability for limited.
You guys remember the giant MM3 drafts firing at every LGS? Those were the days... and they were less than a year ago. The hell WotC? How can you get so disconnected, so fast?
WBC Eldrazi & Taxes CBW
UR Keep on Cantripin' (UR Phoenix) RU
WU Surprise! It's not UW Control! (UW Midrange) UW
BG The Rock, Straight BG
U Mono-Blue Fish U
RBW Mardu Pyromancer BWR
RG Rabble! Rabble! (GR Blood Moon Aggro) GR
Legacy
W Death & Taxes W
A fool and their money are soon parted. (Not sure where that saying comes from.)
I think we will see these boxes going for less than IMA boxes in 6 months time. A lot of the prices for these will tank as you say. The filter lands will settle to 6 to 8 bucks each after a couple of months. Recruiter will nosedive. Port will take a big hit too. IMA boxes are going for as low as $133 and change shipped on ebay. Frankly I wouldn't pay any more than 120 shipped and thats probably right at cost for vendors who ordered mass quantities. I can see A25 being 135 bucks in 6 months time with IMA rising back up to the 150 level. A25 may have better uncommons but those prices will fall as well. Time will tell but I'm with you it will be proven a worse set than IMA in half a year.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
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!
(W/U)(B/R)GForm of Progenitus, Shape of a Scrubland
BRGJund Tokens with Prossh, the Magic Dragon Foil
URGAnimar, the RUG CleanerFoil
RRRFeldon of the Third Path 2.0 Foil
BG(B/G)Not Another Meren DeckFoil
UR(U/R)Mizzix, Y Control and X Burn Spells
(W/U)(B/R)GHarold Ramos - The 35 Foot Long Twinkie (In +1/+1 counters)
UB(U/B)Dragonlord Silumgar
Yeah, I want a foil Akroma myself, but that isn't something I'd want to rip a pack open to find of all things. Not to mention the card quality question is still up there so it's totally possible the FTV version is still a superior foil. For some reason saying that caused a shiver to go up my spine. Again, I hate WoTC for pricing this set at 240 msrp. This set would have been fine at the 140-160 price point (which means probably 180 msrp), but at the price they are asking for do they really think people want to open an Isan's Shade? Not to mention I wouldn't want to be the person who got saddled with a box where the mythics of note are Doomsday and Akroma, Angel of Wrath. This is like Jace, Chalice, and Bridge or bust. Nothing else is going to keep a price tag on it and these boxes are going to tank so fast it's going to be unbelievable after the first wave. There's almost no reason to even pre-order unless someone is afraid WoTC isn't going to print enough boxes.
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 set probably will have foils above advarage with the watermarks, and this is really good when you get 1 foil each pack and with so many playables commons/uncommons.
I wouldn't compare with IMA, while is obvious that do many cards will take a big hit in the price (this is good), looks like the supply of M25 is waaay lower than IMA.
In the end, for who will draft, the set looks promissing, what make a good draft is good commons and uncommons, I don't know if will be balanced or fun yet, but the good cards are there.
1. These have got to stop coming out so often. There cannot be THREE Masters sets in a year. It's too much. If they are so worried about reprint equity, or whatever, then what's the point of pumping these out? All they are doing is making them worse by doing so many. At this point they need to be only once a year, at most, and maybe go back to once every two years or something. With Core Sets coming back there won't be as much need of these.
2. Stop making these $10 a pack! Seriously, this has got to stop, especially if we're going to be getting these as often as we have been lately. These sets being $10 turn almost anyone used to the game off immediately. If they were $7 suddenly a lot of the Masters sets, which were previously deemed terrible in various ways, would suddenly seem decent. We don't have to worry about stores selling above that $7 price tag with how they've been increasing the print runs and with how many Masters sets there have been in the last year. There's just no reason for $10 packs anymore. Everything they've been doing is making these sets worth less and less every time.
Packs were being sold well above $10 as no one knew if this was going to happen again, not to mention the incredibly limited printing of it. If MM1 was printed now with the numbers of IMA or MA25 there is no way it would have gone above $7. There is literally no reason for these sets to be $10 anymore, especially when they didn't add any value to the packs and kept everything about the same.
At $10 these sets are pretty much always terrible, but at $7 you actually have a slightly decent product at least.
I've never liked Alpha Investments. It just seems like the wrong end to take away from a game by constantly buying it all up and treating it like a stock market.
As for the set I agree, you shouldn't preorder this. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if the boxes for this will be cheaper than MSRP, like Iconic.
Not many people know this, but this was the first year I was going to buy a masters set sealed to open with some friends. Masters 2017 was good, Gavin basically implied this one was going to be an exciting set, so why not? What WoTC delivered is basically Dragons Maze / Borne of the Gods in a masters set. Even when MM2015 came out and people were upset with that set, it still wasn't as bad as this one and I'd have kept my orders if it was at least MM2015 level. That really says something.
Right now the only thing keeping the boxes from plummeting to the floor is the snake oil salesman saying "Oh, we got this amazing tonic for 15 dollars! Only 10 of them left so come pick one up when they are here!" Then the next day someone comes back and there are 8 left, then the following day 4 left. Eventually that slow attrition leads to the whole "well it may be bad, but if I don't buy one now I'll never get to have it." This is literally a product worth not having. Even if there is a promise for a chalice or a Jace in the box, the chances of opening either is abysmal in a single box and even those that do are going to eventually lose playing the booster box game just like everyone else does. Not to mention when your worst case scenario is a box with Tree of Redemption and Plague Wind level cards, that is just unforgivable in a product being sold at 200 dollars usually during the pre-order season.
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!
Because almost all the rares were hits if you pulled one (barely any bulk)
Both this set and iconic are great not in draft but for commander/modern/legacy easier to get cards to build decks that's what reprint sets are made for (in my opinion)
BTW, there is nothing immoral about canceling a preorder. Its called fiscal responsibility. If someone has preordered and prepaid the vendor has already been making interest on your money anyway. No morality involved so no one needs to feel bad in the least. The product wasn't as advertised. End of story.
I've been monitoring Iconic box prices recently. At 4-6 months out I am seeing boxes as low as 125 USD shipped. My advice wait 4 to 6 months for your draft of M25 when it drops near that level OR just buy a box of IMA now and have fun at your draft. Making the purchase at levels barely over cost hammers home the point that this is what they are worth. Just a thought, do what you need to do.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
This set represents everything wrong with the company. They don't know what people want, they have face people that don't seem to even know what is going on like Gavin representing them, and now this entire thing is even impacting stores and distributors. They made an environment where even stores have reason to be dishonest because they are getting forced into early deals by distributors, who likewise have no idea how good a set is going to do from a clueless WoTC. This is like a dominoes game no one wants to play.
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!