Jeez, the outrage over this set so far is unbelievable. Out of the 120 or so cards currently spoiled, 18 of them are currently pre-selling for $10 or more: Mythics
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Imperial Recruiter
Chalice of the Void
Ensnaring Bridge
Vendilion Clique
Phyrexian Obliterator
Animar, Soul of Elements
Rare
Rishadan Port
Fetid Heath
Twilight Mire
Azusa, Lost but Seeking
Blood Moon
Pact of Negation
Rugged Prarie
Summoner's Pact
Cascade Bluffs
Flooded Growth
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Based on the presale price (which, I understand, will eventually drop), the mythics and rares will return pack value all by themselves - $6.8 weighted average for the rares and $3.8 weighted average for the mythics (assuming 1/8 mythic slots). Even if you exclude Jace from that calculation, you'd still be looking at $9.40 and that's without the current $4.52 per-pack value from uncommons and $8.50 per-pack value from commons (a number which is probably more egregious since the set is likely to tank many of those values and the lesser value commons haven't been spoiled yet). Yes, you read all that right - for as "awful" as this set is, the average booster pack will currently return $24 in pre-sale value (and to note: those offer prices are mostly below the current card average for the previous versions).
Look, I get it - it sucks to open cards you don't want. But that's Magic. You've been playing this game for how many years and yet you continue to ***** about this card value? No, they didn't pack this set with a hundred of history's most expensive cards. But they're not idiots - they aren't going to put $70 worth of product into a $10 booster pack. They threw in a couple-dozen high value reprints along with some solid uncommons and commons that needed another printing. But all any of you can do is focus on how you aren't getting the exact cards you want, without taking a look at the bigger picture. It's ridiculous and a little pathetic.
This does make sense, and to some extent I agree. It just sucks to justify the price point they're asking with 3-4 chase rares, as well as convenient and timely unbannings synchronized with the release. Inevitably, you are right; they work within a budget for the value in the set, and can't print every zinger we want to see. I personally didn't see what I wanted to see, but that's fine, I'll just pick up singles.
What frustrates me is the baffling idea of stating that this is a 'draft set' and then setting the entry fee as high as $16NZD per pack, $55NZD for draft. That's just too much to justify for a night's enjoyment if I'm not getting lasting value from the set. I'd pay $30-40, and draft is super fun. But it's just too much to pay, end of story. End of the day, it just seems like WotC is trying to set the bar for value a little too high. I get it being high to some degree, but it's an inch or so too far for my liking.
Now, I look to Dominaria to basically save Magic and stave off my desire to quit.
I think you set yourself up for disappointment if you hoped A25 would be the set to "save Magic".
I didn't say that. My only hope for Masters 25 is that it wouldn't be a massive disappointment, but alas, it was another misfire in a series of misfires. My patience is almost gone, which is why Dominaria is my last hope. Normally I'm not they kind of person to deal in doomsaying, but the last two years have been atrocious, and a course correction is overdue.
I disagree with this. There's been some great sets in the last couple of years - generally the consensus is the return to Zendikar was a flop. But I loved the return to Innistrad, Eldritch Moon was a lot of fun and had some solid cards. Kaladesh was great in a similar way, despite blowing standard apart (Energy just wasn't conceived properly). AmonSet was great flavour wise and had some solid cards, and I've really enjoyed Ixalan. I guess opinions vary depending on your format of choice, but for mine, EDH, I've really enjoyed the last couple of years.
Why aren't Craw Wurm and Storm Crow in Masters 25?
Because many players dislike when we put bad cards for limited at common.
No Mark that's total bull***** on many levels, if i get some bad and iconic commons in my limited deck I have absolutely no problem with it, I even expect them to be there and people love Storm Crow! But many players dislike when you put bad cards for whatever reason at rare in your 10 dollar packs.
Why aren't Craw Wurm and Storm Crow in Masters 25?
Because many players dislike when we put bad cards for limited at common.
No Mark that's total bull***** on many levels, if i get some bad and iconic commons in my limited deck I have absolutely no problem with it, I even expect them to be there and people love Storm Crow! But many players dislike when you put bad cards for whatever reason at rare in your 10 dollar packs.
Maro just doesn't get teh memes. Apparently, totally lost is hilarious, but lulzing around with storm crow in limited isn't - makes sense.
I'm SO SICK of the "too strong for Standard" argument. It's the new "Dies to removal". We can have a two mana 4/4 with a zillion abilities, but we can't just have Accumulated Knowledge. Makes sense.
I think a lot of places are still playing it cool right now with the set and trying to see the light at the end of the tunnel, though. Also, I can't help but think this may also be a strategy to try and stop too many cards from getting to the secondary market. The thing is if a singles seller opens a box, they are usually only aiming to get profit off of the cards that are worth enough to send out mail order. That usually means they got a bunch of commons and uncommons at bulk status sitting around they have to sell off somehow or just call it a loss. The only problem is that singles sellers are selling the cards because people want the cards. If a card doesn't sell on the secondary market that means the card is not desired by constructed players, which means it has basically minimal worth.
Wizards may want draft, but the game wouldn't even exist as it does today without the constructed players and the singles market. Mass box openers like Star City Games and Channel Fireball do fill an important role in this market and making items that work in terms of arbitrage is usually a good thing if done right.
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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!
I am probably the only person in the world excited about the Krosan Colossus reprint -- maybe "excited" is a strong word, but I was pleased to see it in the final spoiler. But yeah, that card has not aged well -- they probably could have downshifted it to common and no one would have bat an eyelid.
I am probably the only person in the world excited about the Krosan Colossus reprint -- maybe "excited" is a strong word, but I was pleased to see it in the final spoiler. But yeah, that card has not aged well -- they probably could have downshifted it to common and no one would have bat an eyelid.
I'm not excited, per se, but I'm happy to see it. It's a nifty little Timmy card from a bygone age that's got nostalgia value. Similarly, I'd have rather seen Craw Wurm than Colossal Dreadmaw despite being comparatively terrible, because it has more nostalgia going for it - which is what we were promised coming in.
Now, I look to Dominaria to basically save Magic and stave off my desire to quit.
I think you set yourself up for disappointment if you hoped A25 would be the set to "save Magic".
I didn't say that. My only hope for Masters 25 is that it wouldn't be a massive disappointment, but alas, it was another misfire in a series of misfires. My patience is almost gone, which is why Dominaria is my last hope. Normally I'm not they kind of person to deal in doomsaying, but the last two years have been atrocious, and a course correction is overdue.
I disagree with this. There's been some great sets in the last couple of years - generally the consensus is the return to Zendikar was a flop. But I loved the return to Innistrad, Eldritch Moon was a lot of fun and had some solid cards. Kaladesh was great in a similar way, despite blowing standard apart (Energy just wasn't conceived properly). AmonSet was great flavour wise and had some solid cards, and I've really enjoyed Ixalan. I guess opinions vary depending on your format of choice, but for mine, EDH, I've really enjoyed the last couple of years.
That's fine; we can disagree, but glossing over the disintegration of MtG's flagship format is a little onerous. I could go into exhaustive detail as to why I've been dissatisfied, but I can boil it down to a few bullet points:
1. Mechanics that run the gamut between boring (BFZ's allies and landfall, fabricate) and absurd (just energy really).
2. A poorly written story.
3. A glut of product to the point where they're cannibalizing each other.
4. The near complete destruction of standard.
5. The phrase "too strong for standard."
6. Overpriced Masters sets.
7. The glacial pace at which needed reprints are actually reprinted, which is mainly hampered by #5.
I have other, more minor issues, but these are the big ones.
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Can you name all of the creature types with at least 20 cards? Try my Sporcle Quiz! Last Updated: 6/29/20 (Core Set 2021).
The theory is the next masters set will be created under the paradigm started with the new Challenger decks, and M25 was printed and packed before they Iconic Masters was on shelves. So, I hope that future masters sets are already more balanced and fun AND have less sticker shock.
That being said, I thing M25 would have been a GREAT set without some of the high dollar chase cards, if it meant lowering the per booster price. As a little 25th anniversary set, how awesome would it have been to go a little less blingy, but maybe have 'chase' versions some of the watermarked cards with old frames or alt art. similar to how Unstable had lots of alternate versions of things. But get the pack price down to maybe $6 a booster.
Now, I look to Dominaria to basically save Magic and stave off my desire to quit.
I think you set yourself up for disappointment if you hoped A25 would be the set to "save Magic".
I didn't say that. My only hope for Masters 25 is that it wouldn't be a massive disappointment, but alas, it was another misfire in a series of misfires. My patience is almost gone, which is why Dominaria is my last hope. Normally I'm not they kind of person to deal in doomsaying, but the last two years have been atrocious, and a course correction is overdue.
I disagree with this. There's been some great sets in the last couple of years - generally the consensus is the return to Zendikar was a flop. But I loved the return to Innistrad, Eldritch Moon was a lot of fun and had some solid cards. Kaladesh was great in a similar way, despite blowing standard apart (Energy just wasn't conceived properly). AmonSet was great flavour wise and had some solid cards, and I've really enjoyed Ixalan. I guess opinions vary depending on your format of choice, but for mine, EDH, I've really enjoyed the last couple of years.
That's fine; we can disagree, but glossing over the disintegration of MtG's flagship format is a little onerous. I could go into exhaustive detail as to why I've been dissatisfied, but I can boil it down to a few bullet points:
1. Mechanics that run the gamut between boring (BFZ's allies and landfall, fabricate) and absurd (just energy really).
2. A poorly written story.
3. A glut of product to the point where they're cannibalizing each other.
4. The near complete destruction of standard.
5. The phrase "too strong for standard."
6. Overpriced Masters sets.
7. The glacial pace at which needed reprints are actually reprinted, which is mainly hampered by #5.
I have other, more minor issues, but these are the big ones.
I agree with some of these. "Too strong for standard' is a joke, energy was a great idea implemented badly, and the rolling bans in standard have made me laugh my ass off and made be very grateful to only play EDH. I can also agree they need to cool it on rolling product out. It's kind of grotesque how much product they push out these days. And I agree with the masters sets of course.
The story...well, it's been worse. Do you remember how messy the end of the Yawgmoth/Urza story got? It was the worst thing ever. That being said, I honestly think a lot of the issues come from the fact that it's a standard story meted out in portions over months, where if you were reading it as a single novel it would seem more competent. The format of the storytelling is difficult, and it'll probably never flow really, really well. Just understand that it will never be Faulkner or Hemingway and enjoy it for what it is. I think after Ixalan it's picked up quite well.
The only reason I gloss over standard is that I don't play it. There are concerns, and the rolling bans are a farce, but standard will be fine so long as WotC keep releasing product; they just need R&D to sort their ***** out so that they're not banning new cards every standard release.
I would so love for them to realize that ‘too strong for standard’ as a reason for stopping printing old staples is a problem that leads to anything new becoming a problem (energy, vehicles). If they’d use Dominaria to ‘reset’ and go back to giving every color the things it’s stopped giving them - Green with 1-drop Mana dorks, red gets Bolt, blue gets 2-cost counter (leak?), white gets boardwipe at 4, Black gets good discard... standard has survived these things before, it can survive them again. And if every color is given back a tool from its old toolbox it isn’t especially unbalancing either.
I think you set yourself up for disappointment if you hoped A25 would be the set to "save Magic".
I didn't say that. My only hope for Masters 25 is that it wouldn't be a massive disappointment, but alas, it was another misfire in a series of misfires. My patience is almost gone, which is why Dominaria is my last hope. Normally I'm not they kind of person to deal in doomsaying, but the last two years have been atrocious, and a course correction is overdue.
I disagree with this. There's been some great sets in the last couple of years - generally the consensus is the return to Zendikar was a flop. But I loved the return to Innistrad, Eldritch Moon was a lot of fun and had some solid cards. Kaladesh was great in a similar way, despite blowing standard apart (Energy just wasn't conceived properly). AmonSet was great flavour wise and had some solid cards, and I've really enjoyed Ixalan. I guess opinions vary depending on your format of choice, but for mine, EDH, I've really enjoyed the last couple of years.
That's fine; we can disagree, but glossing over the disintegration of MtG's flagship format is a little onerous. I could go into exhaustive detail as to why I've been dissatisfied, but I can boil it down to a few bullet points:
1. Mechanics that run the gamut between boring (BFZ's allies and landfall, fabricate) and absurd (just energy really).
2. A poorly written story.
3. A glut of product to the point where they're cannibalizing each other.
4. The near complete destruction of standard.
5. The phrase "too strong for standard."
6. Overpriced Masters sets.
7. The glacial pace at which needed reprints are actually reprinted, which is mainly hampered by #5.
I have other, more minor issues, but these are the big ones.
I agree with some of these. "Too strong for standard' is a joke, energy was a great idea implemented badly, and the rolling bans in standard have made me laugh my ass off and made be very grateful to only play EDH. I can also agree they need to cool it on rolling product out. It's kind of grotesque how much product they push out these days. And I agree with the masters sets of course.
The story...well, it's been worse. Do you remember how messy the end of the Yawgmoth/Urza story got? It was the worst thing ever. That being said, I honestly think a lot of the issues come from the fact that it's a standard story meted out in portions over months, where if you were reading it as a single novel it would seem more competent. The format of the storytelling is difficult, and it'll probably never flow really, really well. Just understand that it will never be Faulkner or Hemingway and enjoy it for what it is. I think after Ixalan it's picked up quite well.
The only reason I gloss over standard is that I don't play it. There are concerns, and the rolling bans are a farce, but standard will be fine so long as WotC keep releasing product; they just need R&D to sort their ***** out so that they're not banning new cards every standard release.
Urza's story was one of MTG's BEST storylines. Perticuarly for people who started at the beginning. Say what you want about jace/Bolas to many old players Urza/Yawgmoth are the major characters of MTG. and Squee... I want to see him again so baddly.... I miss my goblin buddy..... It was Advneture novles at their finest and some of the best mtg books written.
I would so love for them to realize that ‘too strong for standard’ as a reason for stopping printing old staples is a problem that leads to anything new becoming a problem (energy, vehicles). If they’d use Dominaria to ‘reset’ and go back to giving every color the things it’s stopped giving them - Green with 1-drop Mana dorks, red gets land destruction, blue gets 2-cost counter (spell), white gets boardwipe at 4, Black gets good rituals/tutors/bargins... standard has survived these things before, it can survive them again. And if every color is given back a tool from its old toolbox it isn’t especially unbalancing either.
Counterspell, Ritual, and good tutors would do more than power up standard though. They’d affect Modern, which I don’t think wizards is intending to do. I tried to limit my standard soup-ups to things already in the modern cardpool. Whether there’s also an appetite for giving Modern a boost (through standard) is a separate discussion.
Urza's story was one of MTG's BEST storylines. Perticuarly for people who started at the beginning. Say what you want about jace/Bolas to many old players Urza/Yawgmoth are the major characters of MTG. and Squee... I want to see him again so baddly.... I miss my goblin buddy..... It was Advneture novles at their finest and some of the best mtg books written.
At points, yes. Understand, though, that because Urza was around for so long, he kind of predominates most of the lore. With that in mind, he and Yawgmoth are the best and worst of MtG Lore. The end of the saga was messy as all get up, and I have to say I much prefer the Brothers' War and Yawgmoth's beginnings in the Thran to that later period. Don't get me wrong, some of it is awesome - and Tempest was my first block, so Volrath was my Darth Vader. But the amount of author changes and sloppy writing near the end of Urza's story was not great, to be awfully kind. Commander Guff was breaking the fourth wall with all the blunder and reckless abandon of a 4 year old on a sugar buzz.
By comparison, these days, yes the story does drag on. Not everyone likes Jace, and he is a bit of a Gary Stu. Gideon is one-dimensional. But there's movement, character development, multiple plot lines, and character evolution there, even if it's slow enough that you can't see it right away. And that, as I said, really comes from having the stories tied in to a plot that can only move as fast as card blocks are printed. It's far from the ideal way to tell a fantasy story, and in many ways parallels the way Game of Thrones stalled out. At least in our case we're getting the story, albeit incrementally. In Martin's case, he seems to have more or less given HBO free reign to tell the story for him.
EDIT - I'm really hoping to see Squee in the new Dominaria set. Unlikely, but you never know.
Magic's storyline has never been brilliant, but I definitely prefer the period between Invasion and the Gatewatch when every block was a mostly self-contained story centred on the plane and the main Planeswalker characters were in the background. You could dive deeper if you wanted, or you could just enjoy the world building, which has always been the strongest part of Magic's story. Now the Gatewatch are front and centre and it's hard to avoid the cringey story nonsense.
I'll be honest, my favourite recent plot points have been the Gatewatch being torn apart by Bolas, and being driven slowly mad by Emrakul. Still, it's nice to see some development of Jace's character. And I think Gideon needs to mature or die.
While it isn't terribly relevant to M25, I will say that the story has been one of the weakest aspects of MtG throughout most of its history. While I wish I could say the Weatherlight Saga was an amazingly epic storyline, it suffered acutely from introducing too many characters and then murdering them as they outlived their usefulness to the writers. Then in modern years we have the ongoing adventures of the Burger King Kid's Club against the vague machinations of the Evil Pre-revisionist Dragon.
Personally, I agree that I'd rather have more blocks like Kamigawa or Ravnica plot-wise, where they use the cards to set up an interesting, self-contained locale and relegate the "plot" to something I can ignore. Trying to have a single unified storyline last for 25 years just drags on after a while.
Actually, especially with the move away from blocks towards insular sets (until they change their minds again), I'd love if each set was its own self-contained canon, comic book style. Don't worry about retconning Nissa's backstory, xenophobe Nissa and granola girl Nissa are just different interpretations of the same character and you can pick whichever one is best for the story at hand. Want to fully flesh out the story of the Planar Chaos Weatherlight? Just devote a set to it and it's just as canon as the "real" Weatherlight saga.
While it isn't terribly relevant to M25, I will say that the story has been one of the weakest aspects of MtG throughout most of its history. While I wish I could say the Weatherlight Saga was an amazingly epic storyline, it suffered acutely from introducing too many characters and then murdering them as they outlived their usefulness to the writers. Then in modern years we have the ongoing adventures of the Burger King Kid's Club against the vague machinations of the Evil Pre-revisionist Dragon.
Personally, I agree that I'd rather have more blocks like Kamigawa or Ravnica plot-wise, where they use the cards to set up an interesting, self-contained locale and relegate the "plot" to something I can ignore. Trying to have a single unified storyline last for 25 years just drags on after a while.
Actually, especially with the move away from blocks towards insular sets (until they change their minds again), I'd love if each set was its own self-contained canon, comic book style. Don't worry about retconning Nissa's backstory, xenophobe Nissa and granola girl Nissa are just different interpretations of the same character and you can pick whichever one is best for the story at hand. Want to fully flesh out the story of the Planar Chaos Weatherlight? Just devote a set to it and it's just as canon as the "real" Weatherlight saga.
All of this is more or less correct. It always has been the weakest part of MtG - not surprising, it's a card game first and foremost, and writing around it can't be easy. Especially as it drags on.
Urza's story was one of MTG's BEST storylines. Perticuarly for people who started at the beginning. Say what you want about jace/Bolas to many old players Urza/Yawgmoth are the major characters of MTG. and Squee... I want to see him again so baddly.... I miss my goblin buddy..... It was Advneture novles at their finest and some of the best mtg books written.
At points, yes. Understand, though, that because Urza was around for so long, he kind of predominates most of the lore. With that in mind, he and Yawgmoth are the best and worst of MtG Lore. The end of the saga was messy as all get up, and I have to say I much prefer the Brothers' War and Yawgmoth's beginnings in the Thran to that later period. Don't get me wrong, some of it is awesome - and Tempest was my first block, so Volrath was my Darth Vader. But the amount of author changes and sloppy writing near the end of Urza's story was not great, to be awfully kind. Commander Guff was breaking the fourth wall with all the blunder and reckless abandon of a 4 year old on a sugar buzz.
By comparison, these days, yes the story does drag on. Not everyone likes Jace, and he is a bit of a Gary Stu. Gideon is one-dimensional. But there's movement, character development, multiple plot lines, and character evolution there, even if it's slow enough that you can't see it right away. And that, as I said, really comes from having the stories tied in to a plot that can only move as fast as card blocks are printed. It's far from the ideal way to tell a fantasy story, and in many ways parallels the way Game of Thrones stalled out. At least in our case we're getting the story, albeit incrementally. In Martin's case, he seems to have more or less given HBO free reign to tell the story for him.
EDIT - I'm really hoping to see Squee in the new Dominaria set. Unlikely, but you never know.
Well I can't disagree with you... As much as I loved invasion block the story did get alittle wonky... The brother war was IMO the best MTG trilligy. (I still reread them from time to time) My fan their for Yawgomoth (that he is the literal essense of black mana made physical) will always remain as my true cannon Not so much a person as living mana.
He does have a more charismatic approach than many espousing on YouTube. It all comes down to personal preference and what someone considers funny. I find it interesting that people that have no interest in Magic actually post replies in his videos about his entertainment value. You don't see that on other YouTubers. Remember we are not talking Late Night TV shows production value here. For what he does he does it well. And he charms a lot of people out of their money. I'm not one of them. I see through his schtick. Doesn't mean I can't get a chuckle or glean info from him though. Whatever floats your boat.
Maybe all of Rudy's videos I watched were ones where he was seriously off his game, but the whole time I was watching, I couldn't help but think, "If I wanted to listen to a guy fail to be funny and stumble over his words explaining his conspiracy theories, I'd talk to that guy at my LGS that nobody likes. Or a drug-addled hobo."
Like I said, his humor isn't for everyone. And what you feel is fine. Its the same everywhere, I'm sure there are people on the board that think me an utter drab and others that get a chuckle out of my posts every once in a while. Whatever, life is too short to worry about those things. Whatever tickles your fancy.
It's not his humor that turns me off the most. It's the fact that he pretty clearly doesn't use any kind of script, fills about 50% of the airtime with "ums", repeating what he just said, and pregnant pauses as he tries to find the words to make his next point. And then he doesn't edit any of that out. I know that plenty of podcasters use neither a script nor editing, but those people avoid massive amounts of dead air by either having co-hosts or just being good at thinking quick and coming up with things to say. Rudy lacks both. It's not a good sign when I can tune out roughly half the time during a video and miss nothing.
I hope the next themed set would be tribe based. About 200 card set
Blue- Merfolk, Elementals, Illusions
White- Cat, Soldiers, Angels
Green- Elves, Hydras, Beasts
Red- Goblin, Elementals, Pyromancers
Black- Zombie, Vampires, Demons
Artifacts- Thoptors,
Lands- Shocklands, unknown territory, cavern of souls
Each color would have needed reprints of each tribe, including never reprinted cards like lord of Atlantis, and 1 mythic would a mono colored planeswalker with new art matching one of the themes, like Liliana for zombies, Chandra for pyromancers, Gidion for warriors, or Ajani for cat, Nissa forElves, Jace for illusions.
Then a few non tribal staples, and Karn or Ugin for colorless planeswalker spot. So this way it’s draftable, there are good and bad cards in each color.
There would be no rarity upgrades and hopefully the cheapest mythic would be worth more than $6.
I just hope "for draft" can stop being the catch-all excuse for intentionally poor sets. This product wants to be a reprint set and a draft set and simultaneously failed at both. Too expensive to draft, too cheap on value to bother with. Next time, make a solid set filled with value and people can draft a mess of powerful reprints if they want. People will draft anything. And guess what, they won't feel remorse afterward, either. Because guess what really screws up a draft? People having to take their rare because it's $50 and pass the rest. Or suffocate pulling 10 cent rares for ten dollars. So this set being "for draft" as the priority was never going to work. Stop trying to be so many different things and just deliver on reprints.
If you were WOTC/Hasbro and you were trying to squeeze the secondary market (mostly: hobby stores with online presence) so that you could take it over, how would you go about doing it? Without declaring your intention and sparking insane outrage?
This does make sense, and to some extent I agree. It just sucks to justify the price point they're asking with 3-4 chase rares, as well as convenient and timely unbannings synchronized with the release. Inevitably, you are right; they work within a budget for the value in the set, and can't print every zinger we want to see. I personally didn't see what I wanted to see, but that's fine, I'll just pick up singles.
What frustrates me is the baffling idea of stating that this is a 'draft set' and then setting the entry fee as high as $16NZD per pack, $55NZD for draft. That's just too much to justify for a night's enjoyment if I'm not getting lasting value from the set. I'd pay $30-40, and draft is super fun. But it's just too much to pay, end of story. End of the day, it just seems like WotC is trying to set the bar for value a little too high. I get it being high to some degree, but it's an inch or so too far for my liking.
I disagree with this. There's been some great sets in the last couple of years - generally the consensus is the return to Zendikar was a flop. But I loved the return to Innistrad, Eldritch Moon was a lot of fun and had some solid cards. Kaladesh was great in a similar way, despite blowing standard apart (Energy just wasn't conceived properly). AmonSet was great flavour wise and had some solid cards, and I've really enjoyed Ixalan. I guess opinions vary depending on your format of choice, but for mine, EDH, I've really enjoyed the last couple of years.
Maro just doesn't get teh memes. Apparently, totally lost is hilarious, but lulzing around with storm crow in limited isn't - makes sense.
Wizards may want draft, but the game wouldn't even exist as it does today without the constructed players and the singles market. Mass box openers like Star City Games and Channel Fireball do fill an important role in this market and making items that work in terms of arbitrage is usually a good thing if done right.
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 am probably the only person in the world excited about the Krosan Colossus reprint -- maybe "excited" is a strong word, but I was pleased to see it in the final spoiler. But yeah, that card has not aged well -- they probably could have downshifted it to common and no one would have bat an eyelid.
That's fine; we can disagree, but glossing over the disintegration of MtG's flagship format is a little onerous. I could go into exhaustive detail as to why I've been dissatisfied, but I can boil it down to a few bullet points:
1. Mechanics that run the gamut between boring (BFZ's allies and landfall, fabricate) and absurd (just energy really).
2. A poorly written story.
3. A glut of product to the point where they're cannibalizing each other.
4. The near complete destruction of standard.
5. The phrase "too strong for standard."
6. Overpriced Masters sets.
7. The glacial pace at which needed reprints are actually reprinted, which is mainly hampered by #5.
I have other, more minor issues, but these are the big ones.
My 720 Peasant Cube
That being said, I thing M25 would have been a GREAT set without some of the high dollar chase cards, if it meant lowering the per booster price. As a little 25th anniversary set, how awesome would it have been to go a little less blingy, but maybe have 'chase' versions some of the watermarked cards with old frames or alt art. similar to how Unstable had lots of alternate versions of things. But get the pack price down to maybe $6 a booster.
I agree with some of these. "Too strong for standard' is a joke, energy was a great idea implemented badly, and the rolling bans in standard have made me laugh my ass off and made be very grateful to only play EDH. I can also agree they need to cool it on rolling product out. It's kind of grotesque how much product they push out these days. And I agree with the masters sets of course.
The story...well, it's been worse. Do you remember how messy the end of the Yawgmoth/Urza story got? It was the worst thing ever. That being said, I honestly think a lot of the issues come from the fact that it's a standard story meted out in portions over months, where if you were reading it as a single novel it would seem more competent. The format of the storytelling is difficult, and it'll probably never flow really, really well. Just understand that it will never be Faulkner or Hemingway and enjoy it for what it is. I think after Ixalan it's picked up quite well.
The only reason I gloss over standard is that I don't play it. There are concerns, and the rolling bans are a farce, but standard will be fine so long as WotC keep releasing product; they just need R&D to sort their ***** out so that they're not banning new cards every standard release.
Urza's story was one of MTG's BEST storylines. Perticuarly for people who started at the beginning. Say what you want about jace/Bolas to many old players Urza/Yawgmoth are the major characters of MTG. and Squee... I want to see him again so baddly.... I miss my goblin buddy..... It was Advneture novles at their finest and some of the best mtg books written.
Fixed that for ya!
At points, yes. Understand, though, that because Urza was around for so long, he kind of predominates most of the lore. With that in mind, he and Yawgmoth are the best and worst of MtG Lore. The end of the saga was messy as all get up, and I have to say I much prefer the Brothers' War and Yawgmoth's beginnings in the Thran to that later period. Don't get me wrong, some of it is awesome - and Tempest was my first block, so Volrath was my Darth Vader. But the amount of author changes and sloppy writing near the end of Urza's story was not great, to be awfully kind. Commander Guff was breaking the fourth wall with all the blunder and reckless abandon of a 4 year old on a sugar buzz.
By comparison, these days, yes the story does drag on. Not everyone likes Jace, and he is a bit of a Gary Stu. Gideon is one-dimensional. But there's movement, character development, multiple plot lines, and character evolution there, even if it's slow enough that you can't see it right away. And that, as I said, really comes from having the stories tied in to a plot that can only move as fast as card blocks are printed. It's far from the ideal way to tell a fantasy story, and in many ways parallels the way Game of Thrones stalled out. At least in our case we're getting the story, albeit incrementally. In Martin's case, he seems to have more or less given HBO free reign to tell the story for him.
EDIT - I'm really hoping to see Squee in the new Dominaria set. Unlikely, but you never know.
Personally, I agree that I'd rather have more blocks like Kamigawa or Ravnica plot-wise, where they use the cards to set up an interesting, self-contained locale and relegate the "plot" to something I can ignore. Trying to have a single unified storyline last for 25 years just drags on after a while.
Actually, especially with the move away from blocks towards insular sets (until they change their minds again), I'd love if each set was its own self-contained canon, comic book style. Don't worry about retconning Nissa's backstory, xenophobe Nissa and granola girl Nissa are just different interpretations of the same character and you can pick whichever one is best for the story at hand. Want to fully flesh out the story of the Planar Chaos Weatherlight? Just devote a set to it and it's just as canon as the "real" Weatherlight saga.
All of this is more or less correct. It always has been the weakest part of MtG - not surprising, it's a card game first and foremost, and writing around it can't be easy. Especially as it drags on.
Well I can't disagree with you... As much as I loved invasion block the story did get alittle wonky... The brother war was IMO the best MTG trilligy. (I still reread them from time to time) My fan their for Yawgomoth (that he is the literal essense of black mana made physical) will always remain as my true cannon Not so much a person as living mana.
Blue- Merfolk, Elementals, Illusions
White- Cat, Soldiers, Angels
Green- Elves, Hydras, Beasts
Red- Goblin, Elementals, Pyromancers
Black- Zombie, Vampires, Demons
Artifacts- Thoptors,
Lands- Shocklands, unknown territory, cavern of souls
Each color would have needed reprints of each tribe, including never reprinted cards like lord of Atlantis, and 1 mythic would a mono colored planeswalker with new art matching one of the themes, like Liliana for zombies, Chandra for pyromancers, Gidion for warriors, or Ajani for cat, Nissa forElves, Jace for illusions.
Then a few non tribal staples, and Karn or Ugin for colorless planeswalker spot. So this way it’s draftable, there are good and bad cards in each color.
There would be no rarity upgrades and hopefully the cheapest mythic would be worth more than $6.
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
If you were WOTC/Hasbro and you were trying to squeeze the secondary market (mostly: hobby stores with online presence) so that you could take it over, how would you go about doing it? Without declaring your intention and sparking insane outrage?