I think I'm probably out of patience for this thing. The only Liliana that makes sense with the Chain Veil present is Liliana of the Veil. They are probably planning on having one of these "masters boxes" for each Ravnica set. I'm going to be blunt here: this is Wizards trying to prop up their revenue since they are releasing less product to distributors. If they didn't do these boxes it probably would raise questions from the Shareholders and Hasbro why they are making less money this year than last year. The reason they didn't release the boxes to distributors is because they are scared to death of having the boxes go to the same state as Iconic and Masters 25, which I don't think would have happened. If they had released this to distributors and had it sold in stores, reception would have been a lot better.
FYI if anyone here has never used Hasbros store, you are not buying this even if you want it. The last time they they were selling the Hascon packs the website was unusable and hardly anyone was able to get their box before they were sold out. Also, I hope people don't take this as an attempt to dissuade those who really want this thing from trying to buy it, just that I can nearly guarantee the hasbro site will just break like usual at launch.
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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!
Actually considering Liliana is in this release, I think that Liliana might not be a "Masterpiece" (honestly we need a new name for this product, it's structurally so different from Masterpieces) and just a regular walker in the next set (or the one after that). As pointed out, her art is clearly on Ravnica and there's a good chance she's involved on Bolas's side for this war considering the story so far.
all i know is that staircase must be a popular spot on ravnica.
masterpiece is likely just going to become moniker for any alternative-border promo cards moving forward. i mean wizards is calling them 'mythic edition', which makes absolutely no sense because mythic cards already exist. whatever.
i also think its unlikely that there will be 2 versions of liliana. its not like these are reprints to boost supply significantly, and the slots are finite; so why not just cover more walkers.
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Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
Actually considering Liliana is in this release, I think that Liliana might not be a "Masterpiece" (honestly we need a new name for this product, it's structurally so different from Masterpieces) and just a regular walker in the next set (or the one after that). As pointed out, her art is clearly on Ravnica and there's a good chance she's involved on Bolas's side for this war considering the story so far.
Maybe we could give them a name that indicates that they have been released from somewhere for special distribution.
Like, how you would open up a storage container - or vault - and remove a special item.
From the Storage Container, perhaps? Rolls off the tongue nicely.
Maybe we could give them a name that indicates that they have been released from somewhere for special distribution.
Like, how you would open up a storage container - or vault - and remove a special item.
From the Storage Container, perhaps? Rolls off the tongue nicely.
you spent money on something with little to no practical value regardless if these new walkers existed. alters arent universally sought after compared to their regular art counterparts, and are actively frowned upon in some collector circles. its a very niche market, and printed full art walkers wont make that demand for something that basically no one else has go away.
its cosmetic and for your own enjoyment. unless you somehow magically got alters that match these new cards, the art is still unique and thus their value shouldnt be diminished.
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Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
At the end of the day it is good that they are making full art cards of walkers a thing in the game, but these are only as nice as the means by which someone can obtain them. This just feels like it is going to rub too many people the wrong way, and given the backlash from just about all corners of the internet I've seen I think this box is as welcomed as Masters 25 and Tree of Redemption.
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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!
well like you pointed out, its a means to artificially boost revenue. i cant really fault wizards for that, especially when its for something that can and will be ignored by the majority of the playerbase.
i think the underlying worry surrounding this product stems from the possibility of expansion down the line. in the short term its whatever, but pushing direct distribution too much might have some messy ramifications.
one thing is for sure. the sale of these boxes, and subsequent reselling of the walkers on the secondary market, is going to be ugly.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
Except to hardcore collectors and insecure narcissists who need to show off, I don't really see the appeal of this product.
Good thing you found the people WotC is appealing to
Well, them and MtG Finance.
Ding ding.
You can really wrap up the thread at that. This is just a way to put something rare into the hands of collectors, without impacting the value of the rest of the set.
you spent money on something with little to no practical value regardless if these new walkers existed. alters arent universally sought after compared to their regular art counterparts, and are actively frowned upon in some collector circles. its a very niche market, and printed full art walkers wont make that demand for something that basically no one else has go away.
its cosmetic and for your own enjoyment. unless you somehow magically got alters that match these new cards, the art is still unique and thus their value shouldnt be diminished.
You completely missed my main point. The resell value is minimal, if at all, there. My main argument is that I spent money on alters that WotC later made. Meaning I could have saved money if I’d known planeswalkers would look this way instead of getting it done from an outside source.
Except to hardcore collectors and insecure narcissists who need to show off, I don't really see the appeal of this product.
Good thing you found the people WotC is appealing to
Well, them and MtG Finance.
Ding ding.
You can really wrap up the thread at that. This is just a way to put something rare into the hands of collectors, without impacting the value of the rest of the set.
This. So Much. Collectors of the past had nothing exclusive to collect, so they went after the regular cards. By diversifying products to them (and making life difficult for them), it's actually WotC's attempt to get them off (okay, more of reduce their presence) the Secondary Market of "playing cards".
When regular cards don't get their prices raised because of collectors, it naturally becomes harder for finance to act on it. Never completely because playability and rarity systems always ensure the basic market system works that way, but collectors were a pretty good driving force and let's just say collectors also tend to favor in-demand cards of players as well (planeswalker are a fine example).
The original Masterpiece plan had the same idea, but the execution performed less ideally because it suppressed value of the normal cards a bit too much because it used the same system of booster packs by being in boxes and it featured older cards instead of more recent cards, which means it does zilch to divert finance's abilities because the original prints of those cards are already a sealed market they can control, whereas this new series mostly features card still pretty active in markets and harder to control.
I wouldn't say this a perfect plan by any means (in fact this is probably only the first experiment of its kind, sort of like BFZ Expeditions), but I can see their intention and I find it pretty ironic that non-collector/finance people are essentially complaining about a plan that diverts demand away from their market that in turns help regulate the prices in their market for their benefit.
Disclaimer that collectors aren't necessarily restricted to people who just keep them in binders for show, if you think the new pieces are shiny and "worthy" of your decks you want to pimp-play, you are a hybrid participant and therefore essentially considered a collector as well even if you play with the cards you "collect". As much as this move makes life difficult for pure collectors, it's also a statement that you need to choose your side because the combined spectrum of player/collector for the longest time in this game is about to slowly face its separation. You can't be a collector and expect it to be cheap, the only reason we get away with it on occasions was because the spectrum was combined for so long, in reality your player-side has been paying the price for your collector-side.
[quote from="drmarkb »" url="/forums/magic-fundamentals/the-rumor-mill/797897-planeswalker-masterpieces?comment=69"]I am delighted the new walker MPs are not in boosters
I want spread of values in boosters when I draft, and all MPs do is drop the price of the other cards, leaving everyone with nothing unless they get the lottery ticket prize. I don't want to gamble and buy lottery tickets, I want to draft and walk away with a bit of cardboard back most weeks that I can trade instantly, store for five years and then sell/trade, and one way or the other turn into something I want. That does not happen when every card in the set is worth sod all.
Is't dropping the price of cards a very good thing for standard, Lower entery point=easyer to get in too. Most people do not buy their deck from packs but from the single market, if it only costs me $100 for a T1 standard deck instead of $250 I am more likely to buy a T1 standard deck and play in more standed events no?
Except to hardcore collectors and insecure narcissists who need to show off, I don't really see the appeal of this product.
Good thing you found the people WotC is appealing to
Well, them and MtG Finance.
Ding ding.
You can really wrap up the thread at that. This is just a way to put something rare into the hands of collectors, without impacting the value of the rest of the set.
I'm pretty sure the reason they are doing this is that they are not really sure what caused standard to collapse, need the money for the log books to look okay, and are trying to make sure no ones head rolls after last year. The price completely collapsed on Iconic Masters, Hour of Devastation's print run was cut short due to poor sales, stores were getting stuck with duel decks that just languished on the store shelves, and the only successful set they had was Unstable. If it wasn't for the challenger decks I think there would have been even more people jumping ship after Masters 25 Tree of Redemption edition came to shelves.
These special boxes are their way of reducing the number of points of failure to try and figure out what works. If these all sell and end up on Ebay instead of reaching end customers they will probably revise the strategy and go back to putting them in the booster boxes of the main set. Also, I think the Signature Spellbook series is officially dead. From what I've heard that thing sold horribly and I've seen a lot of arbitrage on the singles.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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!
So I've been thinking about this product and I think that would have worked better than both this and the gift set product would be if they copied Pokemon TCG in a better way than just make the gift box look like a pokemon product. Instead of getting all the masterpieces they could have charged $35 you get one of the planeswalker masterpieces, a nice deck box (not cardboard), and 4 packs of Guilds of Ravnica. And for those of you who think they'd get scalped, they could simply have the masterpiece be random. I would buy two or three of these if they were like this. I really like the look of these walkers, but I will have to see how the rest of the set stands before I make that kind of investment.
Private Mod Note
():
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Embrace the dark you call a home,
Gaze upon an empty, white throne
A legacy of lies,
A familiar disguise
Sing with me a song of conquest and fate
The black pillar cracks beneath its weight
Night breaks through the day, hard as a stone
Lost in thoughts all alone
So I've been thinking about this product and I think that would have worked better than both this and the gift set product would be if they copied Pokemon TCG in a better way than just make the gift box look like a pokemon product. Instead of getting all the masterpieces they could have charged $35 you get one of the planeswalker masterpieces, a nice deck box (not cardboard), and 4 packs of Guilds of Ravnica. And for those of you who think they'd get scalped, they could simply have the masterpiece be random. I would buy two or three of these if they were like this. I really like the look of these walkers, but I will have to see how the rest of the set stands before I make that kind of investment.
I have to point out that they would have to keep a eye on secundary market and make just one or two of the random walkers would be playable or expensive. As i said i would be really down for gift boxes for one walker/year like, this year it is a gift box themed after Ral, next year for Vraska, next year for teferi, and so on.
So I've been thinking about this product and I think that would have worked better than both this and the gift set product would be if they copied Pokemon TCG in a better way than just make the gift box look like a pokemon product. Instead of getting all the masterpieces they could have charged $35 you get one of the planeswalker masterpieces, a nice deck box (not cardboard), and 4 packs of Guilds of Ravnica. And for those of you who think they'd get scalped, they could simply have the masterpiece be random. I would buy two or three of these if they were like this. I really like the look of these walkers, but I will have to see how the rest of the set stands before I make that kind of investment.
I have to point out that they would have to keep a eye on secundary market and make just one or two of the random walkers would be playable or expensive. As i said i would be really down for gift boxes for one walker/year like, this year it is a gift box themed after Ral, next year for Vraska, next year for teferi, and so on.
I think that they could also do what you say about the theming, but I think they'd have to be bold and do like two or three a year. It could be like how the duel decks were and print ones close to rotating out the next year. But if they were brave they could have done Ral and Vraska this year.
Private Mod Note
():
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Embrace the dark you call a home,
Gaze upon an empty, white throne
A legacy of lies,
A familiar disguise
Sing with me a song of conquest and fate
The black pillar cracks beneath its weight
Night breaks through the day, hard as a stone
Lost in thoughts all alone
The reason they don't do the pokemon boxes with high cost walkers is the issue of the "we can't be seen selling singles". They can get away with selling complete products like precons that contain valuable singles, or print gift boxes that guarantee singles of minimal worth, but if they tried to do a Liliana of the Veil EX box or something that will turn some heads.
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 reason they don't do the pokemon boxes with high cost walkers is the issue of the "we can't be seen selling singles". They can get away with selling complete products like precons that contain valuable singles, or print gift boxes that guarantee singles of minimal worth, but if they tried to do a Liliana of the Veil EX box or something that will turn some heads.
You mean like they'd make some money? That's mostly just a joke, because I do understand your point. But isn't selling them exclusively through there website more detrimental to the secondary market than my made up product would be? And once they are on the secondary market won't it be more detrimental to the consumer where they will be hiked up tremendously?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Embrace the dark you call a home,
Gaze upon an empty, white throne
A legacy of lies,
A familiar disguise
Sing with me a song of conquest and fate
The black pillar cracks beneath its weight
Night breaks through the day, hard as a stone
Lost in thoughts all alone
The reason they don't do the pokemon boxes with high cost walkers is the issue of the "we can't be seen selling singles". They can get away with selling complete products like precons that contain valuable singles, or print gift boxes that guarantee singles of minimal worth, but if they tried to do a Liliana of the Veil EX box or something that will turn some heads.
Actually, I'm pretty sure that's just because they had no need to. MTG has enough of a stable core population of players that the part where selling singles undermining booster sales from current players would have a larger impact over the benefits of getting more players to play the game would. Pokemon runs on the opposite spectrum - they want the EX boxes to assist in maintaining their player numbers because unlike MTG, the percentage of actual collectors (who don't play at all) is likely pretty astronomically comparatively (considering Pokemon is the largest video game franchise if I'm not wrong).
I don't think they've actually actively reinforced the image of "we will never touch the Secondary Market", it's more of "we see no need to interfere as of now" and it's pretty much a standard automated response they put on rerun. I mean, just in the last decade we had FTV, Signature Spellbooks and maybe Commander's Arsenal if you want to stretch it. A little pressure on Standard in recent years and now we ended up with this "Mythic Edition" (I really want an unofficial more-accurate name for it still though...). While not precisely singles, they're technically baby steps of progress compared to the first 15 years of the game. If Standard falls hard enough they recognize that they can't actively maintain core player numbers, I wouldn't call EX Boxes out of possibility either. They just haven't decided to resort to it yet and well as much as we complain about Standard dying all the time in recent years, I also believe they aren't that naive when they have the actual financial and tournament report numbers in from of them.
At the end of the day, I see this as nothing more than WotC making another move to make lives difficult for collectors and that in itself is a step in trying to reduce their presence in the Secondary Market over the actual player base, and not trying to make lives easier directly for players instead (and that's mainly because any direct action would hurt them directly financially as well, in case anyone is wondering. The priority is always Company > The Rest, it's just they finally swapped around players and collectors/finance in the chain, or at least they are trying to and the Player > Company logic doesn't apply here because cardboard crack ensures there's enough people around that lacking players isn't actually a long-term threat most of the time).
"Mythic Edition" (I really want an unofficial more-accurate name for it still though...).
Well, you could call it the Masterpiece Edition. Now that it has been pointed out to me that these planeswalkers are actually are considered Masterpieces, it's more straightforward. The new product is the Standard Edition + Masterpieces. *shrug*
What is th issue with the current name? That you don't get additional mythics, but only specific mythics.
I guess a cool (also uncool and unrealistic) version of the product deserving of the name "Mythic Edition" would be a booster box whhere every card from the rare slot is guaranteed to be a mythic rare. Would that even be something you'd want if you give up chances on shocklands?
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Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
FYI if anyone here has never used Hasbros store, you are not buying this even if you want it. The last time they they were selling the Hascon packs the website was unusable and hardly anyone was able to get their box before they were sold out. Also, I hope people don't take this as an attempt to dissuade those who really want this thing from trying to buy it, just that I can nearly guarantee the hasbro site will just break like usual at launch.
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!
masterpiece is likely just going to become moniker for any alternative-border promo cards moving forward. i mean wizards is calling them 'mythic edition', which makes absolutely no sense because mythic cards already exist. whatever.
i also think its unlikely that there will be 2 versions of liliana. its not like these are reprints to boost supply significantly, and the slots are finite; so why not just cover more walkers.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)Maybe we could give them a name that indicates that they have been released from somewhere for special distribution.
Like, how you would open up a storage container - or vault - and remove a special item.
From the Storage Container, perhaps? Rolls off the tongue nicely.
Good thing you found the people WotC is appealing to
Well, them and MtG Finance.
No. I’m complaining that this is how they should have been doing this in the first place and that now I spent money for nothing.
And yes, this does hurt whatever resell value they might have had
its cosmetic and for your own enjoyment. unless you somehow magically got alters that match these new cards, the art is still unique and thus their value shouldnt be diminished.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)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 think the underlying worry surrounding this product stems from the possibility of expansion down the line. in the short term its whatever, but pushing direct distribution too much might have some messy ramifications.
one thing is for sure. the sale of these boxes, and subsequent reselling of the walkers on the secondary market, is going to be ugly.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Ding ding.
You can really wrap up the thread at that. This is just a way to put something rare into the hands of collectors, without impacting the value of the rest of the set.
Spirits
You completely missed my main point. The resell value is minimal, if at all, there. My main argument is that I spent money on alters that WotC later made. Meaning I could have saved money if I’d known planeswalkers would look this way instead of getting it done from an outside source.
This. So Much. Collectors of the past had nothing exclusive to collect, so they went after the regular cards. By diversifying products to them (and making life difficult for them), it's actually WotC's attempt to get them off (okay, more of reduce their presence) the Secondary Market of "playing cards".
When regular cards don't get their prices raised because of collectors, it naturally becomes harder for finance to act on it. Never completely because playability and rarity systems always ensure the basic market system works that way, but collectors were a pretty good driving force and let's just say collectors also tend to favor in-demand cards of players as well (planeswalker are a fine example).
The original Masterpiece plan had the same idea, but the execution performed less ideally because it suppressed value of the normal cards a bit too much because it used the same system of booster packs by being in boxes and it featured older cards instead of more recent cards, which means it does zilch to divert finance's abilities because the original prints of those cards are already a sealed market they can control, whereas this new series mostly features card still pretty active in markets and harder to control.
I wouldn't say this a perfect plan by any means (in fact this is probably only the first experiment of its kind, sort of like BFZ Expeditions), but I can see their intention and I find it pretty ironic that non-collector/finance people are essentially complaining about a plan that diverts demand away from their market that in turns help regulate the prices in their market for their benefit.
Disclaimer that collectors aren't necessarily restricted to people who just keep them in binders for show, if you think the new pieces are shiny and "worthy" of your decks you want to pimp-play, you are a hybrid participant and therefore essentially considered a collector as well even if you play with the cards you "collect". As much as this move makes life difficult for pure collectors, it's also a statement that you need to choose your side because the combined spectrum of player/collector for the longest time in this game is about to slowly face its separation. You can't be a collector and expect it to be cheap, the only reason we get away with it on occasions was because the spectrum was combined for so long, in reality your player-side has been paying the price for your collector-side.
Is't dropping the price of cards a very good thing for standard, Lower entery point=easyer to get in too. Most people do not buy their deck from packs but from the single market, if it only costs me $100 for a T1 standard deck instead of $250 I am more likely to buy a T1 standard deck and play in more standed events no?
I'm pretty sure the reason they are doing this is that they are not really sure what caused standard to collapse, need the money for the log books to look okay, and are trying to make sure no ones head rolls after last year. The price completely collapsed on Iconic Masters, Hour of Devastation's print run was cut short due to poor sales, stores were getting stuck with duel decks that just languished on the store shelves, and the only successful set they had was Unstable. If it wasn't for the challenger decks I think there would have been even more people jumping ship after Masters 25 Tree of Redemption edition came to shelves.
These special boxes are their way of reducing the number of points of failure to try and figure out what works. If these all sell and end up on Ebay instead of reaching end customers they will probably revise the strategy and go back to putting them in the booster boxes of the main set. Also, I think the Signature Spellbook series is officially dead. From what I've heard that thing sold horribly and I've seen a lot of arbitrage on the singles.
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!
Gaze upon an empty, white throne
A legacy of lies,
A familiar disguise
Sing with me a song of conquest and fate
The black pillar cracks beneath its weight
Night breaks through the day, hard as a stone
Lost in thoughts all alone
I have to point out that they would have to keep a eye on secundary market and make just one or two of the random walkers would be playable or expensive. As i said i would be really down for gift boxes for one walker/year like, this year it is a gift box themed after Ral, next year for Vraska, next year for teferi, and so on.
I think that they could also do what you say about the theming, but I think they'd have to be bold and do like two or three a year. It could be like how the duel decks were and print ones close to rotating out the next year. But if they were brave they could have done Ral and Vraska this year.
Gaze upon an empty, white throne
A legacy of lies,
A familiar disguise
Sing with me a song of conquest and fate
The black pillar cracks beneath its weight
Night breaks through the day, hard as a stone
Lost in thoughts all alone
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!
You mean like they'd make some money? That's mostly just a joke, because I do understand your point. But isn't selling them exclusively through there website more detrimental to the secondary market than my made up product would be? And once they are on the secondary market won't it be more detrimental to the consumer where they will be hiked up tremendously?
Gaze upon an empty, white throne
A legacy of lies,
A familiar disguise
Sing with me a song of conquest and fate
The black pillar cracks beneath its weight
Night breaks through the day, hard as a stone
Lost in thoughts all alone
Actually, I'm pretty sure that's just because they had no need to. MTG has enough of a stable core population of players that the part where selling singles undermining booster sales from current players would have a larger impact over the benefits of getting more players to play the game would. Pokemon runs on the opposite spectrum - they want the EX boxes to assist in maintaining their player numbers because unlike MTG, the percentage of actual collectors (who don't play at all) is likely pretty astronomically comparatively (considering Pokemon is the largest video game franchise if I'm not wrong).
I don't think they've actually actively reinforced the image of "we will never touch the Secondary Market", it's more of "we see no need to interfere as of now" and it's pretty much a standard automated response they put on rerun. I mean, just in the last decade we had FTV, Signature Spellbooks and maybe Commander's Arsenal if you want to stretch it. A little pressure on Standard in recent years and now we ended up with this "Mythic Edition" (I really want an unofficial more-accurate name for it still though...). While not precisely singles, they're technically baby steps of progress compared to the first 15 years of the game. If Standard falls hard enough they recognize that they can't actively maintain core player numbers, I wouldn't call EX Boxes out of possibility either. They just haven't decided to resort to it yet and well as much as we complain about Standard dying all the time in recent years, I also believe they aren't that naive when they have the actual financial and tournament report numbers in from of them.
At the end of the day, I see this as nothing more than WotC making another move to make lives difficult for collectors and that in itself is a step in trying to reduce their presence in the Secondary Market over the actual player base, and not trying to make lives easier directly for players instead (and that's mainly because any direct action would hurt them directly financially as well, in case anyone is wondering. The priority is always Company > The Rest, it's just they finally swapped around players and collectors/finance in the chain, or at least they are trying to and the Player > Company logic doesn't apply here because cardboard crack ensures there's enough people around that lacking players isn't actually a long-term threat most of the time).
Well, you could call it the Masterpiece Edition. Now that it has been pointed out to me that these planeswalkers are actually are considered Masterpieces, it's more straightforward. The new product is the Standard Edition + Masterpieces. *shrug*
What is th issue with the current name? That you don't get additional mythics, but only specific mythics.
I guess a cool (also uncool and unrealistic) version of the product deserving of the name "Mythic Edition" would be a booster box whhere every card from the rare slot is guaranteed to be a mythic rare. Would that even be something you'd want if you give up chances on shocklands?
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
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