I agree with the OP on this one. People complaining about reprints and rarity shifts have apparently never played Yugioh...
Ding ding. Cards have to be worth something to have a game to play. Yugioh isnt a game anymore becuase they did not value their consumers investments in their game.
It's Konami. Do you really think they would hesitate to cancel a project that wasn't making them money? Check out how the new Silent Hills game... got cancelled for some slots abomination. Yugioh isnt' doing well in the States, but is continuing to grow worldwide.
Wizards is doing a great job of maintaining the status quo? What's the % increase in deck prices over the last few years? Pick any format, and the price of a competitive, Tier 1/1.5/2 deck has increased, most of them significantly. Deck prices continue to increase, people continue to be priced out of formats, Legacy and Vintage continue to stagnate under the RL, and this is "doing a good job?"
I'm still confused as to why printing Thoughtseize, Fetchlands, Mutavault, and Shocklands as Rares in expansions with the print run of a Standard expansion was just fine, but somehow printing EMA with that same print run size would be disaster. The response to reprinting old cards has, so far, been overwhelmingly positive. I'm certain that Wizards, with all the data they have on sales, could adjust the print run sizes to mostly meet demand, but they're far too conservative. I don't even mind the $10/pack MSRP, but the upshifts in rarity just to preserve secondary market value, combined with the limited print run, just imply that they are more concerned with making money for SCG/CFB than in getting these cards in the hands of players.
By every metric Wizards' cares about, yes things are working. Hasbro specifically called out Magic as being their growth area in the company while other areas were contracting for 2015. Modern competitive events continue to set attendance records over and over again. There are an estimated 15 million magic players worldwide. Those are the metrics Wizards' cares about. Price increases means that the demand for those cards has increased. in this case it's a pretty easy correlation - more players means more demand. I'm struggling to see which formats people are being priced out of. If people are being priced out of Modern, why were attendance records for competitive tournaments being set left and right over the last 18 months? Legacy and Vintage is an issue for the RL. This set does inject some life into Legacy as several staples can be found in this set. As for price increases in constructed, Standard - the flagship format - is significantly cheaper now that the fetches (which everyone wanted and doubled the price of standard decks) have rotated out. Limited is the same as ever.
We've debated about the RL in that thread. no need to rehash here.
The difference between reprinting individual cards and entire reprint sets is huge - primarily because of the precedent it sets. The last unlimited reprint only set that Wizards had was Chronicles. Hell, they could probably get away with print-to-demand if they kept the price at $10/pack. Or if you're looking for a compromise - $8 / pack. Typically box EV settles about 80% of the price you can buy them at. It would cause a marked decrease in pricing - as seen in MM2015. However - in doing so Wizards lowered the value of the mythics by some portion and essentially destroyed the value of everything else. I know you are ok with this, but yours is not the only voice in the game.
Finally - as has been discussed many times the upshift in rarity is not just to preserve secondary market value, but also done for drafting and limited purposes. I don't understand the logic of how Wizards' cares more for making money forindependent secondary retailers as opposed to players. They do care about getting cards in the hands of their players. That is the reason they're doing a reprint only set to begin with!
You have taken the stance of a hard-liner essentially calling Wizards out that they don't care for their player base and will do anything to make a buck. Call me a Wizards apologist if you like, but I'm trying to inject an opposing point of view into the forum. This game had collectors in mind at its creation and continues to be one of the tenets of the game. I'm sorry that your vision of the game doesn't match up with those that created it, but none of this is news and we continue to disagree on this topic.
I'm finished here - feel free to put your final comments on the conversation.
By every metric Wizards' cares about, yes things are working. Hasbro specifically called out Magic as being their growth area in the company while other areas were contracting for 2015. Modern competitive events continue to set attendance records over and over again. There are an estimated 15 million magic players worldwide. Those are the metrics Wizards' cares about. Price increases means that the demand for those cards has increased. in this case it's a pretty easy correlation - more players means more demand. I'm struggling to see which formats people are being priced out of. If people are being priced out of Modern, why were attendance records for competitive tournaments being set left and right over the last 18 months? Legacy and Vintage is an issue for the RL. This set does inject some life into Legacy as several staples can be found in this set. As for price increases in constructed, Standard - the flagship format - is significantly cheaper now that the fetches (which everyone wanted and doubled the price of standard decks) have rotated out. Limited is the same as ever.
We've debated about the RL in that thread. no need to rehash here.
The difference between reprinting individual cards and entire reprint sets is huge - primarily because of the precedent it sets. The last unlimited reprint only set that Wizards had was Chronicles. Hell, they could probably get away with print-to-demand if they kept the price at $10/pack. Or if you're looking for a compromise - $8 / pack. Typically box EV settles about 80% of the price you can buy them at. It would cause a marked decrease in pricing - as seen in MM2015. However - in doing so Wizards lowered the value of the mythics by some portion and essentially destroyed the value of everything else. I know you are ok with this, but yours is not the only voice in the game.
Finally - as has been discussed many times the upshift in rarity is not just to preserve secondary market value, but also done for drafting and limited purposes. I don't understand the logic of how Wizards' cares more for making money forindependent secondary retailers as opposed to players. They do care about getting cards in the hands of their players. That is the reason they're doing a reprint only set to begin with!
You have taken the stance of a hard-liner essentially calling Wizards out that they don't care for their player base and will do anything to make a buck. Call me a Wizards apologist if you like, but I'm trying to inject an opposing point of view into the forum. This game had collectors in mind at its creation and continues to be one of the tenets of the game. I'm sorry that your vision of the game doesn't match up with those that created it, but none of this is news and we continue to disagree on this topic.
I'm finished here - feel free to put your final comments on the conversation.
Partial Devil's Advocate here again (I couldn't stay in as I had things to do, plus I needed a break after all that calculation, especially with those mistakes I made earlier).
This is more of an observation from MM1's aging process, but I personally feel that the values (at rare and above) can even survive a single Masters Series Run at the Standard Level (something I'm not even asking them to do), let alone a substantial increase from MM2 levels that doesn't reach Standard Levels. Yes, lowering a portion of the value of Mythics was what the Masters Series did, but the market has proved to be aggressive enough in the opposite direction that taking into account print run plus print rate... it doesn't actually preserve it well enough in the moderate run (MM1 was barely 3 years ago, I will not consider that a long run since I'm taking into account print rates of specific cards).
The crux of the issue lies with the destroyed values of rares - they don't recover as well as the Mythics do. For cases like MM1 I could see an increased print run potentially scarring that destruction for a longer period of time and is inadvisable, but when it comes to sets like MM2 (where the retention rate is 11.5% because rares only hold a 9% overall retention rate and a Mythic direct comparison of 20% since we have to ignore the 1/8 factor)... it's actually the other way round because the amount of rares get their value destroyed is minimal (at some price point getting your value destroyed is like going down a dollar or less for a card people weren't buying at that higher price anyway). Like I said, unfortunately based on calculations EMA is actually a lot closer than MM2 than MM1 at this point of time (both on MSRP and retention rate, although it is slightly less lottery-centric), so I feel it is safe for EMA to go for a print run increase relative to MM2, which is what I hope they did and partially the reason for the rarity upshifts for some cards (because honestly some of them don't look like they were done for Limited purposes, although the others I could see).
Chronicles, released in July 1995. Fallen Empires released in November 1994, and Homelands in October 1995. What did all 3 sets have in common? Massive overprinting that made them completely worthless. It was a mistake of the TIME, not a mistake of the SET. Using Chronicles to justify excessive restrictions on reprint sets is exactly the same argument as "Fallen Empires proved that they can't make an expansion set right- the cards in it were worthless."
They have, over time, learned to use market research to get a MUCH better picture of what they can actually sell. Nowadays, they're far more experienced about what they need to print to satisfy demand, but still have enough value in packs to sell them. They can make new expansions that draft well and still sell well. The assertion that Chronicles is at all relevent anymore is absurd, it assumes Wizards hasn't learned a single thing over the last 21 years about supply and demand. Recent high-value reprints in Standard sets seems to show they ARE capable of hitting that sweet spot. They're gun-shy about it because some voices in the community are all doom and gloom about reprints: "My VALUE! How could you do this, Wizards? I'll QUIT!"
And it seems that Wizards does listen to those voices. Coincidentally, the large resellers are the ones that would lose the most. Not distributors (Wizards primary customers), and definitely not people who just want to play Modern/legacy/Vintage/EDH: cheaper cards are better for them. It's the middlemen (unfortunatelty, this includes LGS, which is a very legitimate concern) and the "investors" who care about the EV of packs.
Here's how much I care about the set: I'm getting a box to throw into a drawer. I figure I can buy singles of the cards I want since most of them are at rare: Wasteland, Sinkhole, and a Top or two. The rest? I have them already. One of the benefits of playing since the Dark and never getting rid of anything. Wizards seems to agree with you: expensive cards and high profits for investors and resellers are important. Getting cards into the hands of people who want them isn't really. I'm not at all against Wizards making money, but I just can't understand why they don't print to demand, make the money themselves, rather than limiting the print run. That particular model makes tons of money, but not for WotC. It makes money for businesses who can crack cases an sell the inflated singles, because as Canada Bill Jones said, "I know it's crooked, but it's the only game in town."
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Cards are game pieces, and should be treated as such, easily replaceable.
Cards are not money, investments, or a retirement fund, and should never have been treated as such.
Wizards made a mistake caving to speculators once, and we still pay for that mistake 2 decades later.
"Entitled:" the entire ad hominem fallacy condensed into a single word. It doesn't strengthen your argument to attack motivations, it just makes you look like you don't understand the argument.
And it seems that Wizards does listen to those voices. Coincidentally, the large resellers are the ones that would lose the most. Not distributors (Wizards primary customers), and definitely not people who just want to play Modern/legacy/Vintage/EDH: cheaper cards are better for them. It's the middlemen (unfortunatelty, this includes LGS, which is a very legitimate concern) and the "investors" who care about the EV of packs.
Here's how much I care about the set: I'm getting a box to throw into a drawer. I figure I can buy singles of the cards I want since most of them are at rare: Wasteland, Sinkhole, and a Top or two. The rest? I have them already. One of the benefits of playing since the Dark and never getting rid of anything. Wizards seems to agree with you: expensive cards and high profits for investors and resellers are important. Getting cards into the hands of people who want them isn't really. I'm not at all against Wizards making money, but I just can't understand why they don't print to demand, make the money themselves, rather than limiting the print run. That particular model makes tons of money, but not for WotC. It makes money for businesses who can crack cases an sell the inflated singles, because as Canada Bill Jones said, "I know it's crooked, but it's the only game in town."
There are some "hidden benefits" for WotC as to why they don't just do "Print to demand" for everything in existence - players do actually choose to play not only because the cards are cheap(er), but because said cards will also appreciate in value with time. Likewise with stores, they run Constructed Events because of the value that exists - if that value doesn't exist, then stores will resort to only running Limited Events (to sell packs) and/or drastically raise the prices/cut prize support for Constructed Events to maintain the costs of running the store. The assurance of players continuing to purchase and play, the assurance of stores to run events as a form of advertisement is the reason why WotC chooses to forfeit the profit of just constantly printing to demand. Otherwise in concept, why ever stop printing sets ever? The demand for Snapcaster Mage and Liliana of the Veil never really stopped, so why didn't they just continue printing Innistrad to demand even after it has rotated out of Standard?
Now we move on to reprints and the mistakes I think Wizards really made with the Masters Series - overloading. Like you said, Standard set reprints have been proven successful, but why? It's because they appeal to both the Standard-Limited crowd (their main market), while the "minimal" approach of the reprints in the sets appeal to the "Older formats Crowd", creating a cycle that enhances the above "hidden benefit system" I mentioned.
By overloading the value of the Masters Series (especially at the top levels), they essentially created a "From the Vault" rather than a "Conspiracy". While in concept it sounds fun to just "Print to Demand From the Vault", in reality it harms the "Hidden Benefit System" of the game. The sole mistake was simply "creating From the Vault" - we learnt from the actual From the Vault Product a self-corner-driving scenario, where you literally end up offending someone no matter what direction you take from there on.
The actual correct way of doing a Reprint Set that doesn't undermine the "Hidden Benefit System" while still helping ease prices is to simply follow the "Standard Formula" and this includes not only prices and print runs, but also "the chaff". In Standard sets, "the chaff" is taken care off by the Standard-Limited players, but for the Reprint Series, it has to be reliant on the willingness to "draft the set for nostalgic reasons" as a replacement for the non-existing Standard-Limited players.
This was the mistake MM2 truly made - MM1 was literally the "From the Vault" set. What MM2 should have done was not increase the price and focused the system into a lottery one (my previous posts demonstrate why the Lottery System in Reprint Sets actually backfires on preservation on prices), but rather decrease the price at the cost of "diluting" the entire set across all rarities instead - effectively creating a "Standard System". It would invite complains still (like I said a "From the Vault" scenario is a doomed one no matter the direction), but at the end of the day, more people will still draft the set simply because it is cheaper and because people drafted the set, the prices of the few(er) undiluted cards will actually be preserved and/or drop without crashing entirely, which is part of the "Hidden Benefit System" - you will draft at a lower price and EV because you know it will most likely still hold that EV and perhaps increase in the future.
The "Hidden Benefit System" is a beneficial cycle when done correctly, it's not exactly the "Greed of investors" some people might just transcribe it to be all the time - it is currently in that state because WotC still doesn't seem to figure out that "From the Vault" systems don't actually contribute to that cycle all that well.
By the way your argument falls flat since if Shardless Agent, Mother of Runes, Heritage Druid or any of the upgraded cards had been printed at uncommon it's value would have fallen flat and would be worth under 10$, thus not being anymore the proverbial "winning lottery ticket". It's not about the value of the packs, it's about not wanting to buy boosters to open uncommons in the rare slots, or to have something to not feel like you've completely wasted your money if you open Rorix Bladewing or Control Magic.
If you buy a booster pack and get a rare worth less than the booster, you've wasted your money. That's how it has always been. If there's no variance in card prices, you will simply find boosters with a $20 rare each costing $20 each. To include cards worth well over $50 (and several of them), there have to be rares worth less or the price of EMA boosters would immediately jump up. If you expected every EMA booster to contain a chase rare, you're a fool because boosters pretty much cannot be a better deal than what they cost - that's how the free market works.
You can argue about rarity shifts and the inclusion of stuff like Rorix Bladewing - those might not be the best choices, sure - but in the end, those slots always needed to be filled by cards that are worth very little. If you're disappointed with EMA from a financial perspective, you're just delusional. Or you want a set that really has no variance in card value, comprised entirely of cards worth about a booster pack's price, which completely rules out the spectacular stuff that could only be reprinted in EMA (FoW, Jace, Karakas...).
Your logic is flawed by the fact that WotC reprinting cards would simply auto-adjust the prices.
Here a booster is 10$ , so if you would (at the start) get a value of like 30$ per booster, the prices would adjust, either the boosters get more expensive, or the cards in question get cheaper (or both).
So in the end, you could totally make a set that has an incredible value, it would simply de-value a lot of cards that do not have a big demand, and are just expensive because they are rare (as a lot of the portal cards are).
Stuff like Mana Crypt is cool, but the demand isnt really big in the end.
This may be slightly off topic but does Wizards release print numbers or approximate print numbers? I doubt they do but if someone knows where this information could be found and shared it would be pretty nice.
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STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
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This may be slightly off topic but does Wizards release print numbers or approximate print numbers? I doubt they do but if someone knows where this information could be found and shared it would be pretty nice.
As a rule they do not.
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Thanks for responding. I have my guesses as to why not, but has there ever been an official or unofficial statement as to why not? When I was into coin collecting decades ago I was always aware of print runs and it was helpful information. Of course the US Mint isn't a for profit group.
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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."
They consider print run sizes to be proprietary information: they don't release the numbers because there's little benefit to giving those numbers out, and potentially giving competitors an advantage. Most businesses operate that way, actually: they release only the information they absolutely have to, but internal numbers stay internal.
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Cards are game pieces, and should be treated as such, easily replaceable.
Cards are not money, investments, or a retirement fund, and should never have been treated as such.
Wizards made a mistake caving to speculators once, and we still pay for that mistake 2 decades later.
"Entitled:" the entire ad hominem fallacy condensed into a single word. It doesn't strengthen your argument to attack motivations, it just makes you look like you don't understand the argument.
Thanks. I figured as such. Just wondered if there was some public information out there that might be detailed in a Board of Directors yearly statement or something to that means, that might be available to the general public. I actually think releasing information every once in a while could be good. Announce you are going to under print an upcoming Standard set. Get everyone anxious about it, sell it out and make sure product isn't sitting on shelves collecting dust. I suppose that of course would make people angry as well. Can't please everyone. Sorry to derail. Back to rarity shifts.
I'll say I liked some, disliked others and thought that there were some really odd choices. Maybe Wizards should try to do a poll or something similar before a Masters set is released. Let the players vote or select certain cards to be bumped up or down and to where, then use that info for the upcoming set. I would think that they could be doing that now if they are planning an Eternal Masters 2 due out in 2018. Probably too late for Modern Masters 3 in 2017. Just a thought.
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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."
There are a lot of things, especially about sets like these, that I feel Wizards misses the mark on. Of course, this applies to many of the rarity shifts in this set, especially those for which there is no demand and don't meaningfully contribute to any draft archetype. It also applies to other decisions. Like, why is there another printing of Llanowar Elves instead of Fyndhorn Elves? Why the overused Grakk art on Pacifism instead of maybe the excellent 7th Edition version? Why Elite Vanguard over Savannah Lions? Where are the cool reprints of old commons and uncommons in the new border, like I don't know, Lashknife Barrier or Dauthi Embrace or something?
I can't say this set is bad, because it's not, but it could've been something amazing.
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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).
Chronicles, released in July 1995. Fallen Empires released in November 1994, and Homelands in October 1995. What did all 3 sets have in common? Massive overprinting that made them completely worthless. It was a mistake of the TIME, not a mistake of the SET. Using Chronicles to justify excessive restrictions on reprint sets is exactly the same argument as "Fallen Empires proved that they can't make an expansion set right- the cards in it were worthless."
They have, over time, learned to use market research to get a MUCH better picture of what they can actually sell. Nowadays, they're far more experienced about what they need to print to satisfy demand, but still have enough value in packs to sell them. They can make new expansions that draft well and still sell well. The assertion that Chronicles is at all relevent anymore is absurd, it assumes Wizards hasn't learned a single thing over the last 21 years about supply and demand. Recent high-value reprints in Standard sets seems to show they ARE capable of hitting that sweet spot. They're gun-shy about it because some voices in the community are all doom and gloom about reprints: "My VALUE! How could you do this, Wizards? I'll QUIT!"
And it seems that Wizards does listen to those voices. Coincidentally, the large resellers are the ones that would lose the most. Not distributors (Wizards primary customers), and definitely not people who just want to play Modern/legacy/Vintage/EDH: cheaper cards are better for them. It's the middlemen (unfortunatelty, this includes LGS, which is a very legitimate concern) and the "investors" who care about the EV of packs.
Here's how much I care about the set: I'm getting a box to throw into a drawer. I figure I can buy singles of the cards I want since most of them are at rare: Wasteland, Sinkhole, and a Top or two. The rest? I have them already. One of the benefits of playing since the Dark and never getting rid of anything. Wizards seems to agree with you: expensive cards and high profits for investors and resellers are important. Getting cards into the hands of people who want them isn't really. I'm not at all against Wizards making money, but I just can't understand why they don't print to demand, make the money themselves, rather than limiting the print run. That particular model makes tons of money, but not for WotC. It makes money for businesses who can crack cases an sell the inflated singles, because as Canada Bill Jones said, "I know it's crooked, but it's the only game in town."
Bolded for emphasis. This is EXACTLY correct, and the point I made in my second post. Chronicles as an argument isn't like talking about markets or warfare from the mid-20th century, it's like talking about them from antiquity! The scale involved, as well as the surrounding situation is SO different that the impact will be minimal. History is a guide, but it is not prophecy. And when people such as sealteamfive insist on yelling "But Chronicles!" over and over without actually bothering to analyze all the context, that proclamation is useless and destructive to the game. The problem is that Wizards listens to these people instead of doing analysis for itself.
As for the rest, again Lakanna has it right. Wizards has a policy that is doing alright for itself and current players, but is awful for anyone interested in eternal play (by raising the barrier to entry, and continually forcing Legacy & Vintage into decline). The only one who truly thrives on this policy that willfully abandons an obvious market is the speculators and singles retailers. And, honestly, the speculators are not contributing to the health of the game, while the retailers can suck up a bit less middle-man profiteering and still thrive on this game.
Bolded for emphasis. This is EXACTLY correct, and the point I made in my second post. Chronicles as an argument isn't like talking about markets or warfare from the mid-20th century, it's like talking about them from antiquity! The scale involved, as well as the surrounding situation is SO different that the impact will be minimal. History is a guide, but it is not prophecy. And when people such as sealteamfive insist on yelling "But Chronicles!" over and over without actually bothering to analyze all the context, that proclamation is useless and destructive to the game. The problem is that Wizards listens to these people instead of doing analysis for itself.
As for the rest, again Lakanna has it right. Wizards has a policy that is doing alright for itself and current players, but is awful for anyone interested in eternal play (by raising the barrier to entry, and continually forcing Legacy & Vintage into decline). The only one who truly thrives on this policy that willfully abandons an obvious market is the speculators and singles retailers. And, honestly, the speculators are not contributing to the health of the game, while the retailers can suck up a bit less middle-man profiteering and still thrive on this game.
I could not agree more.
The whole purpose of the abolition of the reserved list was to allow Wizards to reprint expensive staples and to make cards more affordable for casual players, but Wizards' actions have shown that even without the reserved list, they are reluctant to make regular reprints that prevent ridiculous secondary market prices that have kept the costs of Modern/Legacy decks from increasing year after year. The example of Onslaught fetches/Shockland reprints is a perfect example of how I feel Wizards should be handling these issues. Keep the prices of staples affordable (especially mana bases), while the original printings maintain a higher pricetag.
Recent trends seem to be going the other way. Instead, these Masters sets have selectively reprinted a few core format cards at a time, often rarity upshifted, in limited print runs with higher MSRP, resulting in little to no change in affordability for the key reprints while causing those cards not reprinted to increase in price, resulting in a net increase in price for format entry.
Obviously it isn't in Wizard's best interest to make Eternal formats as accessible as Standard, and neither am I advocating unlimited reprinting of chase Mythics Chronicles (or Yugioh) style. There is a balance to be found here, and I feel like Wizards' approach to reprints has been far too conservative, cynical, and ultimately not in their best interest by remaining beholden to secondary market speculators who reap the profits.
Of course, Wizards first goal is to make profits, but the recent decisions they have made (including increasing the rotation speed of Standard) suggest they are pushing to see how much they can squeeze from their players before there is some pushback. Hopefully Conspiracy 2 and a fall reprint of the Zendikar fetches will be a step in the right direction.
Chronicles, released in July 1995. Fallen Empires released in November 1994, and Homelands in October 1995. What did all 3 sets have in common? Massive overprinting that made them completely worthless. It was a mistake of the TIME, not a mistake of the SET. Using Chronicles to justify excessive restrictions on reprint sets is exactly the same argument as "Fallen Empires proved that they can't make an expansion set right- the cards in it were worthless."
They have, over time, learned to use market research to get a MUCH better picture of what they can actually sell. Nowadays, they're far more experienced about what they need to print to satisfy demand, but still have enough value in packs to sell them. They can make new expansions that draft well and still sell well. The assertion that Chronicles is at all relevent anymore is absurd, it assumes Wizards hasn't learned a single thing over the last 21 years about supply and demand. Recent high-value reprints in Standard sets seems to show they ARE capable of hitting that sweet spot. They're gun-shy about it because some voices in the community are all doom and gloom about reprints: "My VALUE! How could you do this, Wizards? I'll QUIT!"
And it seems that Wizards does listen to those voices. Coincidentally, the large resellers are the ones that would lose the most. Not distributors (Wizards primary customers), and definitely not people who just want to play Modern/legacy/Vintage/EDH: cheaper cards are better for them. It's the middlemen (unfortunatelty, this includes LGS, which is a very legitimate concern) and the "investors" who care about the EV of packs.
Here's how much I care about the set: I'm getting a box to throw into a drawer. I figure I can buy singles of the cards I want since most of them are at rare: Wasteland, Sinkhole, and a Top or two. The rest? I have them already. One of the benefits of playing since the Dark and never getting rid of anything. Wizards seems to agree with you: expensive cards and high profits for investors and resellers are important. Getting cards into the hands of people who want them isn't really. I'm not at all against Wizards making money, but I just can't understand why they don't print to demand, make the money themselves, rather than limiting the print run. That particular model makes tons of money, but not for WotC. It makes money for businesses who can crack cases an sell the inflated singles, because as Canada Bill Jones said, "I know it's crooked, but it's the only game in town."
Bolded for emphasis. This is EXACTLY correct, and the point I made in my second post. Chronicles as an argument isn't like talking about markets or warfare from the mid-20th century, it's like talking about them from antiquity! The scale involved, as well as the surrounding situation is SO different that the impact will be minimal. History is a guide, but it is not prophecy. And when people such as sealteamfive insist on yelling "But Chronicles!" over and over without actually bothering to analyze all the context, that proclamation is useless and destructive to the game. The problem is that Wizards listens to these people instead of doing analysis for itself.
As for the rest, again Lakanna has it right. Wizards has a policy that is doing alright for itself and current players, but is awful for anyone interested in eternal play (by raising the barrier to entry, and continually forcing Legacy & Vintage into decline). The only one who truly thrives on this policy that willfully abandons an obvious market is the speculators and singles retailers. And, honestly, the speculators are not contributing to the health of the game, while the retailers can suck up a bit less middle-man profiteering and still thrive on this game.
You state that you THINK the impact of another Chronicles would be minimal. Have you thought through all of the risks associated with it? Given all the conjecture on your part - the game is different, the players are different, the market is different, has very little tangible evidence that things will be different. You have given no effective arguments other than saying things aren't the same as they were 20 years ago. My arguments are based on actual facts of what happened. If you so strongly believe what you are saying, show some actual evidence as opposed to conjecture.
And I'll state again, what's in it for Wizards to make eternal an easy game to play versus standard? If there is no barrier to entry, how many people would bail on standard and just play eternal? How is this good for the people making the game?
Another question - the entire game's economy is set up in such a way that many peoples livelihoods are predicated on how the economy of the game is set up. A major change to that (say by crashing card values by reprinting to the ground as you have proposed) has what side effects? Yes, singles would be cheap. How many other side effects are there? What happens to all of the LGS's? How many simply fail because a major revenue stream (selling singles) is no longer available? How many people quit the game simply because the places they played at are closed? What happens to the price of boosters? As it currently stands there isn't enough money in selling sealed product - the margins just aren't enough to keep the lights on. What percentage of people quit the game over it? does it overtake the number of people joining OR spending more money in sealed product to offset the losses? If people are playing eternal formats, what happens to standard and the number of people actually buying new product?
You speak to me as if I haven't thought any of that through. I've spent a good deal of time on it and quite frankly the risks do not justify it.
Your final statement that retailers can suck up a bit less is just wrong. Having seen the numbers at my LGS, I'd wager that the great majority of LGS's (not CFB or SCG, but all of the little guys) are just barely making ends meet. Destroying a major revenue stream for them could easily put many out of business. If you're in business you know that it takes 400% more effort to attract 1 new client than it does to retain one. Wizards seems to be doing just fine in retaining players and still attracting new ones. Why piss off a (potentially) significant portion of your existing player base? When you start making major changes to the economy of the game it can have a potentially devastating impact.
Let me quantify this by saying that I do not know if any or all of this will come to pass if Wizards did tank secondary market values. But I imagine some of it would. If you take that large of a risk (speaking from Wizards' POV) what is the reward? If I'm the one making that decision, the reward better be massive - and I just don't see that being the case.
/edit The only major data point we have is Chronicles - hence the reason it continues to be referenced. It had a massively negative impact on the game that is still felt today. I don't want Wizards' to make a decision that *COULD* have a similar impact.
I don't understand what is so hard to understand here. The hell with Chronicles, we can preach it until we're blue in the face. You guys are just flat out missing it. Cards that have value and have a place already in the format are a limited resource. Over the course of their existence they have been tried and tested by laymen and pro alike and put through an evolution of sorts. Only the best cards survive this and thrive in this paradigm. That is what you pay for when you spend money on expensive cards. And like good whiskey, it cannot be replenished easily. It often takes years for cards to attain and maintain their value and all that work put in by the community is wiped away easily by over reprinting.
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Modern GB Rock U Flooding Merfolk RUG Delver Midrange WU Monks UW Tempo Geist GW Bogle GW Liege UR Tron B Vampires
Affinity Legacy
Fish
Goblins
Burn
Reanimator
Dredge
Affinity EDH W Akroma GBW Ghave BRU Thrax GR Ruric I advocate for the elimination of the combo archetype in Modern. I believe it is degenerate and unfun by its very nature and will always limit design space and cause unnecessary bans.
You insist that Chronicles is the only major data point we have, and you're correct: it's the only time in 20 years that Wizards has massively overprinted a pure-reprint set. of course, you ignore that the same thing happened with Fallen Empires and Homelands, but they actually learned from their mistakes there, learned how to read market research, and have not repeated that mistake. Why do you believe that they can get it right, after a few mistakes, in a new expansion, but cling to the belief that they just cannot possibly have learned what not to do 20 years after Chronicles? That any large-scale reprint would be DISASTER!
But, you want facts. How about hte Thoughtseize reprint? How devastating was that to MTGFinance? Mutavault? Remand in a Duel Deck? None of those even came close to making enough people quit to make a difference in their sales. in fact, those products sold pretty well, if I remember right...
"But there's a difference between reprinting 2-3 cards and reprinting 200+ at once!" Hello, Commander decks. Those decks, full of reprints, HAD to be dangerous, right? Overprinting those could have crashed the... what's that? They seem to have the print run correct, and those decks DIDN'T destroy secondary markets? Must have been luck, there's no way they should do that a second... Commander 2015? And still no market crash even with a few hundred old reprints? They got the print run right AGAIN?
You want data points, look to Duel Decks and Commander Decks, both of which were print-to-demand, and neither of which actually managed to destroy a secondary market. How's Path to Exile and Serum Visions looking these days? Those were both FNM promos, must be completely worthless now, right? After those, look at Event Decks which were far more limited, still contained desired cards, still failed to destroy the secondary market.
Chronicles is only relevant because Wizards made a stupid, short-sighted promise that they still won't abandon, and because it's the ONE outlier in reprints that people use to "prove" that reprinting cards is DOOM!
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Cards are game pieces, and should be treated as such, easily replaceable.
Cards are not money, investments, or a retirement fund, and should never have been treated as such.
Wizards made a mistake caving to speculators once, and we still pay for that mistake 2 decades later.
"Entitled:" the entire ad hominem fallacy condensed into a single word. It doesn't strengthen your argument to attack motivations, it just makes you look like you don't understand the argument.
I'm hearing Chronicles thrown around a lot. I bought and opened a lot a packs of them back in the day. It was fun, I liked getting a shot at cards that were out of print at the time. And my friends that had bought in at the beginning still had their pricey power 9, duals and a bunch of other playable high cost stuff that I still didn't have. Where are 99% of my Chronicles now? Sitting in a box gathering dust. I think about the only thing I'm using are the Urza Lands.
I'm going to ask this question seriously. What current playable cards (from Chronicles) in constructed (Vintage/Legacy/Modern) are seeing any use? I'd like to see a list if someone could share. I'm just not seeing much myself. It seems Wizards just continues a trend they started over 20 years ago reprinting some cool top end cards and a lot of bulk/jank. With just the print run lessened.
Don't take my post the wrong way. Just trying to add my thoughts. Nothing more. I would like to see that list I asked for though.
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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 "actual" problem with chronicles was that they reprinted a lot of stuff, but let out all the good stuff.
So you had a giant set of reprints, but all of them junk.
Thats still fun, if you dont know what you are missing ; but the moment you know theres simply nothing of value in the set, its terrible.
From todays perspective, a lot of the Chronicles reprints help a lot, stuff like Blood Moon , they could easily have thrown that in Eternal masters and it would be a great fit, but they didnt.
Chronicles is by all means pretty much the very same as Eternal Masters is. At the time they tried to make the cards white bordered, i hate these cards and most of the time make them black bordered (take some black point and you are done) , so the cheaper cards are great.
Anything of real value isnt in Chronicles, and thats not because of Chronicles, its simply because nothing in the set is really important at all (Blood Moon is really the only card that matters even today, it wasnt that big of deal back in the days).
WotC did Eternal masters simply because they can and charging 10$ each booster is just a easy way to make more money with the set (and thats the ONLY reason they did it, no card in the set demands that price, not even a single one, if they really had a problem with the super expensive cards, you could go as far as to make an even more Rare "mythic" rare, like the specials they did online, problem solved, boosters still normal priced).
The "experiment" of 10$ boosters is simpel. If people buy that product, they will continue to do so, even go higher to test how far they can go, without people noticing how they are screwd over.
The "actual" problem with chronicles was that they reprinted a lot of stuff, but let out all the good stuff.
So you had a giant set of reprints, but all of them junk.
Thats still fun, if you dont know what you are missing ; but the moment you know theres simply nothing of value in the set, its terrible.
From todays perspective, a lot of the Chronicles reprints help a lot, stuff like Blood Moon , they could easily have thrown that in Eternal masters and it would be a great fit, but they didnt.
Chronicles is by all means pretty much the very same as Eternal Masters is. At the time they tried to make the cards white bordered, i hate these cards and most of the time make them black bordered (take some black point and you are done) , so the cheaper cards are great.
Anything of real value isnt in Chronicles, and thats not because of Chronicles, its simply because nothing in the set is really important at all (Blood Moon is really the only card that matters even today, it wasnt that big of deal back in the days).
WotC did Eternal masters simply because they can and charging 10$ each booster is just a easy way to make more money with the set (and thats the ONLY reason they did it, no card in the set demands that price, not even a single one, if they really had a problem with the super expensive cards, you could go as far as to make an even more Rare "mythic" rare, like the specials they did online, problem solved, boosters still normal priced).
The "experiment" of 10$ boosters is simpel. If people buy that product, they will continue to do so, even go higher to test how far they can go, without people noticing how they are screwd over.
Thanks. Yes I do have one copy of Chronicles Blood Moon I pulled from a pack back then. Funny at the time I didn't think much of it. And yes you hit the nail on the head. I bought a lot and got a lot of cards I didn't have. But it was all the chaff/jank. My buddies that got in Alpha/Beta/Unlimited still had their power 9, duals and the good stuff at the time and my Chronicles still got its butt handed to it game after game. I guess I don't see how Chronicles "ruined" Magic with its high print run of janktastic filler cards. And at least to me it seems Wizards just about does the same thing today with these Masters set but on a much lower print run and much HIGHER price point. Things are MUCH different now than then as well. WAY different. Some things better some things worse. So is life I guess.
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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."
You insist that Chronicles is the only major data point we have, and you're correct: it's the only time in 20 years that Wizards has massively overprinted a pure-reprint set. of course, you ignore that the same thing happened with Fallen Empires and Homelands, but they actually learned from their mistakes there, learned how to read market research, and have not repeated that mistake. Why do you believe that they can get it right, after a few mistakes, in a new expansion, but cling to the belief that they just cannot possibly have learned what not to do 20 years after Chronicles? That any large-scale reprint would be DISASTER!
But, you want facts. How about hte Thoughtseize reprint? How devastating was that to MTGFinance? Mutavault? Remand in a Duel Deck? None of those even came close to making enough people quit to make a difference in their sales. in fact, those products sold pretty well, if I remember right...
"But there's a difference between reprinting 2-3 cards and reprinting 200+ at once!" Hello, Commander decks. Those decks, full of reprints, HAD to be dangerous, right? Overprinting those could have crashed the... what's that? They seem to have the print run correct, and those decks DIDN'T destroy secondary markets? Must have been luck, there's no way they should do that a second... Commander 2015? And still no market crash even with a few hundred old reprints? They got the print run right AGAIN?
You want data points, look to Duel Decks and Commander Decks, both of which were print-to-demand, and neither of which actually managed to destroy a secondary market. How's Path to Exile and Serum Visions looking these days? Those were both FNM promos, must be completely worthless now, right? After those, look at Event Decks which were far more limited, still contained desired cards, still failed to destroy the secondary market.
Chronicles is only relevant because Wizards made a stupid, short-sighted promise that they still won't abandon, and because it's the ONE outlier in reprints that people use to "prove" that reprinting cards is DOOM!
We continue to disagree on our philosophy, but I think we also agree on other areas.
Yes, Wizards could certainly do more to reprint. they could continue to up the quantity of reprint sets. I do not believe that will be the death of the game scenario. I've already agreed with you in the past about individual cards - no need to bring that point up again. Instead I'll say that I do not want to see Wizards dramatically change the economy of the game by doing a wholescale crash of all singles value. I will also say that an unlimited reprint set as listed would signal that change to the market by setting that as a precedent.
As for Chronicles, at the time many of the cards printed were highly sought after. Believe it or not the Elder Dragon Legends were $50 cards prior to their reprint. Times have changed dramatically since then in terms of what people look for in the game. It was the equivalent of taking Modern Masters 1, 2, and EMA all combined into 1 set and then literally crashing the value of all the chase cards. the Commander decks and individual cards didn't tank hundreds of cards overnight. Wizards was able to print low value cards into the ground. It's a different story when they are taking $50 and $100 cards and destroying their value. Again, we disagree on this topic Lakanna. We simply will not see eye to eye on it. Consider me far more risk averse than you are.
Finally Lakanna, I would like to hear your opinion on risk versus reward. My last post brought up a laundry list of risks that could happen by wholescale reprints. What do you believe to be the rewards to offset that risk? I'm assuming that you're in the business world and have to deal with this analysis on at least some of the time. What does your business sense tell you about risk/reward for Wizards? Because ultimately, if you want to really try and effect the change you preach, you should be prepared to come up with at least some analysis for why it's a good idea.
I just wanted to point out that it is pretty much a hidden requirement to sleeve cards for tournament play. You might get away with a couple rounds at FNM, but you will get tagged for marked cards in an event that has more then 5 rounds with a decent prize.
As for Chronicles, at the time many of the cards printed were highly sought after. Believe it or not the Elder Dragon Legends were $50 cards prior to their reprint. Times have changed dramatically since then in terms of what people look for in the game. It was the equivalent of taking Modern Masters 1, 2, and EMA all combined into 1 set and then literally crashing the value of all the chase cards. the Commander decks and individual cards didn't tank hundreds of cards overnight. Wizards was able to print low value cards into the ground. It's a different story when they are taking $50 and $100 cards and destroying their value.
Onslaught fetches were between $50 and $115 before Khans of Tarkir launched. They were printed at rare, not mythic, in a Standard legal set that sold tons. Polluted Delta, the most valuable Onslaught fetch, is still $40 for the original printing and double the reprint version. The cards were reprinted at rare in a recent unlimited print run set that was very popular. This is pretty much the nightmare scenario for card value. And yet, Onslaught fetches are not "worthless" and no one is quitting the game over their reprinting. It's a shame that people ignore this recent and relevant point and continue to harp on about something that happened 20 years ago.
As for Chronicles, at the time many of the cards printed were highly sought after. Believe it or not the Elder Dragon Legends were $50 cards prior to their reprint. Times have changed dramatically since then in terms of what people look for in the game. It was the equivalent of taking Modern Masters 1, 2, and EMA all combined into 1 set and then literally crashing the value of all the chase cards. the Commander decks and individual cards didn't tank hundreds of cards overnight. Wizards was able to print low value cards into the ground. It's a different story when they are taking $50 and $100 cards and destroying their value.
Onslaught fetches were between $50 and $115 before Khans of Tarkir launched. They were printed at rare, not mythic, in a Standard legal set that sold tons. Polluted Delta, the most valuable Onslaught fetch, is still $40 for the original printing and double the reprint version. The cards were reprinted at rare in a recent unlimited print run set that was very popular. This is pretty much the nightmare scenario for card value. And yet, Onslaught fetches are not "worthless" and no one is quitting the game over their reprinting. It's a shame that people ignore this recent and relevant point and continue to harp on about something that happened 20 years ago.
The point I am trying to make are wholescale changes to the economy of the game. I have said time and again that individual reprints of high value cards is fine, acceptable and I AGREE WITH IT!
I do not know how else to get my point across that there is a difference between individual card reprints and setting the precedent of a full on wholescale reprint set with an unlimited print run.
/edit - @FiveOD - are you trying to troll me? this exact point was brought up at least twice already in this thread.
Wizards has yet to find the sweet spot, so to speak, between the unlimited print run of Chronicles and the overly cautious blip on the radar that was Modern Masters 2013. Further, the focus on Limited is frustrating, especially when it'll be in such short supply that most players may get three cracks at it max.
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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).
Chronicles, released in July 1995. Fallen Empires released in November 1994, and Homelands in October 1995. What did all 3 sets have in common? Massive overprinting that made them completely worthless. It was a mistake of the TIME, not a mistake of the SET. Using Chronicles to justify excessive restrictions on reprint sets is exactly the same argument as "Fallen Empires proved that they can't make an expansion set right- the cards in it were worthless."
They have, over time, learned to use market research to get a MUCH better picture of what they can actually sell. Nowadays, they're far more experienced about what they need to print to satisfy demand, but still have enough value in packs to sell them. They can make new expansions that draft well and still sell well. The assertion that Chronicles is at all relevent anymore is absurd, it assumes Wizards hasn't learned a single thing over the last 21 years about supply and demand. Recent high-value reprints in Standard sets seems to show they ARE capable of hitting that sweet spot. They're gun-shy about it because some voices in the community are all doom and gloom about reprints: "My VALUE! How could you do this, Wizards? I'll QUIT!"
And it seems that Wizards does listen to those voices. Coincidentally, the large resellers are the ones that would lose the most. Not distributors (Wizards primary customers), and definitely not people who just want to play Modern/legacy/Vintage/EDH: cheaper cards are better for them. It's the middlemen (unfortunatelty, this includes LGS, which is a very legitimate concern) and the "investors" who care about the EV of packs.
Here's how much I care about the set: I'm getting a box to throw into a drawer. I figure I can buy singles of the cards I want since most of them are at rare: Wasteland, Sinkhole, and a Top or two. The rest? I have them already. One of the benefits of playing since the Dark and never getting rid of anything. Wizards seems to agree with you: expensive cards and high profits for investors and resellers are important. Getting cards into the hands of people who want them isn't really. I'm not at all against Wizards making money, but I just can't understand why they don't print to demand, make the money themselves, rather than limiting the print run. That particular model makes tons of money, but not for WotC. It makes money for businesses who can crack cases an sell the inflated singles, because as Canada Bill Jones said, "I know it's crooked, but it's the only game in town."
Bolded for emphasis. This is EXACTLY correct, and the point I made in my second post. Chronicles as an argument isn't like talking about markets or warfare from the mid-20th century, it's like talking about them from antiquity! The scale involved, as well as the surrounding situation is SO different that the impact will be minimal. History is a guide, but it is not prophecy. And when people such as sealteamfive insist on yelling "But Chronicles!" over and over without actually bothering to analyze all the context, that proclamation is useless and destructive to the game. The problem is that Wizards listens to these people instead of doing analysis for itself.
As for the rest, again Lakanna has it right. Wizards has a policy that is doing alright for itself and current players, but is awful for anyone interested in eternal play (by raising the barrier to entry, and continually forcing Legacy & Vintage into decline). The only one who truly thrives on this policy that willfully abandons an obvious market is the speculators and singles retailers. And, honestly, the speculators are not contributing to the health of the game, while the retailers can suck up a bit less middle-man profiteering and still thrive on this game.
You state that you THINK the impact of another Chronicles would be minimal. Have you thought through all of the risks associated with it? Given all the conjecture on your part - the game is different, the players are different, the market is different, has very little tangible evidence that things will be different. You have given no effective arguments other than saying things aren't the same as they were 20 years ago. My arguments are based on actual facts of what happened. If you so strongly believe what you are saying, show some actual evidence as opposed to conjecture.
And I'll state again, what's in it for Wizards to make eternal an easy game to play versus standard? If there is no barrier to entry, how many people would bail on standard and just play eternal? How is this good for the people making the game?
Another question - the entire game's economy is set up in such a way that many peoples livelihoods are predicated on how the economy of the game is set up. A major change to that (say by crashing card values by reprinting to the ground as you have proposed) has what side effects? Yes, singles would be cheap. How many other side effects are there? What happens to all of the LGS's? How many simply fail because a major revenue stream (selling singles) is no longer available? How many people quit the game simply because the places they played at are closed? What happens to the price of boosters? As it currently stands there isn't enough money in selling sealed product - the margins just aren't enough to keep the lights on. What percentage of people quit the game over it? does it overtake the number of people joining OR spending more money in sealed product to offset the losses? If people are playing eternal formats, what happens to standard and the number of people actually buying new product?
You speak to me as if I haven't thought any of that through. I've spent a good deal of time on it and quite frankly the risks do not justify it.
Your final statement that retailers can suck up a bit less is just wrong. Having seen the numbers at my LGS, I'd wager that the great majority of LGS's (not CFB or SCG, but all of the little guys) are just barely making ends meet. Destroying a major revenue stream for them could easily put many out of business. If you're in business you know that it takes 400% more effort to attract 1 new client than it does to retain one. Wizards seems to be doing just fine in retaining players and still attracting new ones. Why piss off a (potentially) significant portion of your existing player base? When you start making major changes to the economy of the game it can have a potentially devastating impact.
Let me quantify this by saying that I do not know if any or all of this will come to pass if Wizards did tank secondary market values. But I imagine some of it would. If you take that large of a risk (speaking from Wizards' POV) what is the reward? If I'm the one making that decision, the reward better be massive - and I just don't see that being the case.
/edit The only major data point we have is Chronicles - hence the reason it continues to be referenced. It had a massively negative impact on the game that is still felt today. I don't want Wizards' to make a decision that *COULD* have a similar impact.
Lakanna has fielded most of this already. However, I want to address your statements regarding the impact on LGSes, especially as this is their only revenue stream in some cases.
When Wizards started and established their model, those LGSes were necessary for marketing, distribution, and even product support services. But that was 20 years ago. Nowadays, direct sales is a very big thing in all sorts of industries, and there is no reason why that model couldn't be adopted. Other retailers, like Target, also seem to work out pretty well for Wizards. They have options they didn't have 20 years ago.
The non-rotating formats are clearly facing a supply problem. There is a good argument that speculators (of which many LGSes and not-so-L GSes) are contributing to this, but are not the sole source of the problem. Wizards can either support these formats better, or watch as they wither with time (as has long been occurring with Vintage and, though slower, with Legacy). Choosing to support them has risks and costs, but also is potentially quite useful for increasing sales. This is purely a business question.
However, for the customer, this choice matters quite a bit. Wizards is effectively choosing to support the speculator over the end-user. And given that Wizards makes no money off the speculators (who rarely buy sealed product), it is probably more sound to support the end-users.
But what about the LGSes that only make money off this one product? I'm going to use a point made earlier by someone else: Wizards is not a charity. Wizards exists to make money. And Wizards only obligations ought to be to do that, which involves satisfied customers. It is their choice whether those customers are the end-users (players) or retailers.
But it's actually a false choice anyway, as most LGSes make lots of money off sealed product in any case (drafts and the like), and this won't hurt them too badly. The only ones it hurts are the singles-specialized stores. And if this was their only source of revenue and they go out of business? Tough luck. It's not Wizard's responsibility to ensure a particular retailer has a balanced business. Their only job is to look after their profit and their product.
And I think there is a good argument that the health of the product is better served by letting the speculators and singles-sellers take a bath. The additional product this would move would probably more than compensate the average balanced LGS in the short run anyway.
By every metric Wizards' cares about, yes things are working. Hasbro specifically called out Magic as being their growth area in the company while other areas were contracting for 2015. Modern competitive events continue to set attendance records over and over again. There are an estimated 15 million magic players worldwide. Those are the metrics Wizards' cares about. Price increases means that the demand for those cards has increased. in this case it's a pretty easy correlation - more players means more demand. I'm struggling to see which formats people are being priced out of. If people are being priced out of Modern, why were attendance records for competitive tournaments being set left and right over the last 18 months? Legacy and Vintage is an issue for the RL. This set does inject some life into Legacy as several staples can be found in this set. As for price increases in constructed, Standard - the flagship format - is significantly cheaper now that the fetches (which everyone wanted and doubled the price of standard decks) have rotated out. Limited is the same as ever.
We've debated about the RL in that thread. no need to rehash here.
The difference between reprinting individual cards and entire reprint sets is huge - primarily because of the precedent it sets. The last unlimited reprint only set that Wizards had was Chronicles. Hell, they could probably get away with print-to-demand if they kept the price at $10/pack. Or if you're looking for a compromise - $8 / pack. Typically box EV settles about 80% of the price you can buy them at. It would cause a marked decrease in pricing - as seen in MM2015. However - in doing so Wizards lowered the value of the mythics by some portion and essentially destroyed the value of everything else. I know you are ok with this, but yours is not the only voice in the game.
Finally - as has been discussed many times the upshift in rarity is not just to preserve secondary market value, but also done for drafting and limited purposes. I don't understand the logic of how Wizards' cares more for making money forindependent secondary retailers as opposed to players. They do care about getting cards in the hands of their players. That is the reason they're doing a reprint only set to begin with!
You have taken the stance of a hard-liner essentially calling Wizards out that they don't care for their player base and will do anything to make a buck. Call me a Wizards apologist if you like, but I'm trying to inject an opposing point of view into the forum. This game had collectors in mind at its creation and continues to be one of the tenets of the game. I'm sorry that your vision of the game doesn't match up with those that created it, but none of this is news and we continue to disagree on this topic.
I'm finished here - feel free to put your final comments on the conversation.
Partial Devil's Advocate here again (I couldn't stay in as I had things to do, plus I needed a break after all that calculation, especially with those mistakes I made earlier).
This is more of an observation from MM1's aging process, but I personally feel that the values (at rare and above) can even survive a single Masters Series Run at the Standard Level (something I'm not even asking them to do), let alone a substantial increase from MM2 levels that doesn't reach Standard Levels. Yes, lowering a portion of the value of Mythics was what the Masters Series did, but the market has proved to be aggressive enough in the opposite direction that taking into account print run plus print rate... it doesn't actually preserve it well enough in the moderate run (MM1 was barely 3 years ago, I will not consider that a long run since I'm taking into account print rates of specific cards).
The crux of the issue lies with the destroyed values of rares - they don't recover as well as the Mythics do. For cases like MM1 I could see an increased print run potentially scarring that destruction for a longer period of time and is inadvisable, but when it comes to sets like MM2 (where the retention rate is 11.5% because rares only hold a 9% overall retention rate and a Mythic direct comparison of 20% since we have to ignore the 1/8 factor)... it's actually the other way round because the amount of rares get their value destroyed is minimal (at some price point getting your value destroyed is like going down a dollar or less for a card people weren't buying at that higher price anyway). Like I said, unfortunately based on calculations EMA is actually a lot closer than MM2 than MM1 at this point of time (both on MSRP and retention rate, although it is slightly less lottery-centric), so I feel it is safe for EMA to go for a print run increase relative to MM2, which is what I hope they did and partially the reason for the rarity upshifts for some cards (because honestly some of them don't look like they were done for Limited purposes, although the others I could see).
Chronicles, released in July 1995. Fallen Empires released in November 1994, and Homelands in October 1995. What did all 3 sets have in common? Massive overprinting that made them completely worthless. It was a mistake of the TIME, not a mistake of the SET. Using Chronicles to justify excessive restrictions on reprint sets is exactly the same argument as "Fallen Empires proved that they can't make an expansion set right- the cards in it were worthless."
They have, over time, learned to use market research to get a MUCH better picture of what they can actually sell. Nowadays, they're far more experienced about what they need to print to satisfy demand, but still have enough value in packs to sell them. They can make new expansions that draft well and still sell well. The assertion that Chronicles is at all relevent anymore is absurd, it assumes Wizards hasn't learned a single thing over the last 21 years about supply and demand. Recent high-value reprints in Standard sets seems to show they ARE capable of hitting that sweet spot. They're gun-shy about it because some voices in the community are all doom and gloom about reprints: "My VALUE! How could you do this, Wizards? I'll QUIT!"
And it seems that Wizards does listen to those voices. Coincidentally, the large resellers are the ones that would lose the most. Not distributors (Wizards primary customers), and definitely not people who just want to play Modern/legacy/Vintage/EDH: cheaper cards are better for them. It's the middlemen (unfortunatelty, this includes LGS, which is a very legitimate concern) and the "investors" who care about the EV of packs.
Here's how much I care about the set: I'm getting a box to throw into a drawer. I figure I can buy singles of the cards I want since most of them are at rare: Wasteland, Sinkhole, and a Top or two. The rest? I have them already. One of the benefits of playing since the Dark and never getting rid of anything. Wizards seems to agree with you: expensive cards and high profits for investors and resellers are important. Getting cards into the hands of people who want them isn't really. I'm not at all against Wizards making money, but I just can't understand why they don't print to demand, make the money themselves, rather than limiting the print run. That particular model makes tons of money, but not for WotC. It makes money for businesses who can crack cases an sell the inflated singles, because as Canada Bill Jones said, "I know it's crooked, but it's the only game in town."
Cards are not money, investments, or a retirement fund, and should never have been treated as such.
Wizards made a mistake caving to speculators once, and we still pay for that mistake 2 decades later.
"Entitled:" the entire ad hominem fallacy condensed into a single word. It doesn't strengthen your argument to attack motivations, it just makes you look like you don't understand the argument.
There are some "hidden benefits" for WotC as to why they don't just do "Print to demand" for everything in existence - players do actually choose to play not only because the cards are cheap(er), but because said cards will also appreciate in value with time. Likewise with stores, they run Constructed Events because of the value that exists - if that value doesn't exist, then stores will resort to only running Limited Events (to sell packs) and/or drastically raise the prices/cut prize support for Constructed Events to maintain the costs of running the store. The assurance of players continuing to purchase and play, the assurance of stores to run events as a form of advertisement is the reason why WotC chooses to forfeit the profit of just constantly printing to demand. Otherwise in concept, why ever stop printing sets ever? The demand for Snapcaster Mage and Liliana of the Veil never really stopped, so why didn't they just continue printing Innistrad to demand even after it has rotated out of Standard?
Now we move on to reprints and the mistakes I think Wizards really made with the Masters Series - overloading. Like you said, Standard set reprints have been proven successful, but why? It's because they appeal to both the Standard-Limited crowd (their main market), while the "minimal" approach of the reprints in the sets appeal to the "Older formats Crowd", creating a cycle that enhances the above "hidden benefit system" I mentioned.
By overloading the value of the Masters Series (especially at the top levels), they essentially created a "From the Vault" rather than a "Conspiracy". While in concept it sounds fun to just "Print to Demand From the Vault", in reality it harms the "Hidden Benefit System" of the game. The sole mistake was simply "creating From the Vault" - we learnt from the actual From the Vault Product a self-corner-driving scenario, where you literally end up offending someone no matter what direction you take from there on.
The actual correct way of doing a Reprint Set that doesn't undermine the "Hidden Benefit System" while still helping ease prices is to simply follow the "Standard Formula" and this includes not only prices and print runs, but also "the chaff". In Standard sets, "the chaff" is taken care off by the Standard-Limited players, but for the Reprint Series, it has to be reliant on the willingness to "draft the set for nostalgic reasons" as a replacement for the non-existing Standard-Limited players.
This was the mistake MM2 truly made - MM1 was literally the "From the Vault" set. What MM2 should have done was not increase the price and focused the system into a lottery one (my previous posts demonstrate why the Lottery System in Reprint Sets actually backfires on preservation on prices), but rather decrease the price at the cost of "diluting" the entire set across all rarities instead - effectively creating a "Standard System". It would invite complains still (like I said a "From the Vault" scenario is a doomed one no matter the direction), but at the end of the day, more people will still draft the set simply because it is cheaper and because people drafted the set, the prices of the few(er) undiluted cards will actually be preserved and/or drop without crashing entirely, which is part of the "Hidden Benefit System" - you will draft at a lower price and EV because you know it will most likely still hold that EV and perhaps increase in the future.
The "Hidden Benefit System" is a beneficial cycle when done correctly, it's not exactly the "Greed of investors" some people might just transcribe it to be all the time - it is currently in that state because WotC still doesn't seem to figure out that "From the Vault" systems don't actually contribute to that cycle all that well.
Your logic is flawed by the fact that WotC reprinting cards would simply auto-adjust the prices.
Here a booster is 10$ , so if you would (at the start) get a value of like 30$ per booster, the prices would adjust, either the boosters get more expensive, or the cards in question get cheaper (or both).
So in the end, you could totally make a set that has an incredible value, it would simply de-value a lot of cards that do not have a big demand, and are just expensive because they are rare (as a lot of the portal cards are).
Stuff like Mana Crypt is cool, but the demand isnt really big in the end.
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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."
As a rule they do not.
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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."
Cards are not money, investments, or a retirement fund, and should never have been treated as such.
Wizards made a mistake caving to speculators once, and we still pay for that mistake 2 decades later.
"Entitled:" the entire ad hominem fallacy condensed into a single word. It doesn't strengthen your argument to attack motivations, it just makes you look like you don't understand the argument.
I'll say I liked some, disliked others and thought that there were some really odd choices. Maybe Wizards should try to do a poll or something similar before a Masters set is released. Let the players vote or select certain cards to be bumped up or down and to where, then use that info for the upcoming set. I would think that they could be doing that now if they are planning an Eternal Masters 2 due out in 2018. Probably too late for Modern Masters 3 in 2017. Just a thought.
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 can't say this set is bad, because it's not, but it could've been something amazing.
My 720 Peasant Cube
Bolded for emphasis. This is EXACTLY correct, and the point I made in my second post. Chronicles as an argument isn't like talking about markets or warfare from the mid-20th century, it's like talking about them from antiquity! The scale involved, as well as the surrounding situation is SO different that the impact will be minimal. History is a guide, but it is not prophecy. And when people such as sealteamfive insist on yelling "But Chronicles!" over and over without actually bothering to analyze all the context, that proclamation is useless and destructive to the game. The problem is that Wizards listens to these people instead of doing analysis for itself.
As for the rest, again Lakanna has it right. Wizards has a policy that is doing alright for itself and current players, but is awful for anyone interested in eternal play (by raising the barrier to entry, and continually forcing Legacy & Vintage into decline). The only one who truly thrives on this policy that willfully abandons an obvious market is the speculators and singles retailers. And, honestly, the speculators are not contributing to the health of the game, while the retailers can suck up a bit less middle-man profiteering and still thrive on this game.
Modern: Merfolk UU // Green Devotion GG // SkRed Red RR
Legacy: Death & Taxes WW // Burn RR // Death's Shadow Delver UB
Commander: Brago UW // Karlov WB
I could not agree more.
The whole purpose of the abolition of the reserved list was to allow Wizards to reprint expensive staples and to make cards more affordable for casual players, but Wizards' actions have shown that even without the reserved list, they are reluctant to make regular reprints that prevent ridiculous secondary market prices that have kept the costs of Modern/Legacy decks from increasing year after year. The example of Onslaught fetches/Shockland reprints is a perfect example of how I feel Wizards should be handling these issues. Keep the prices of staples affordable (especially mana bases), while the original printings maintain a higher pricetag.
Recent trends seem to be going the other way. Instead, these Masters sets have selectively reprinted a few core format cards at a time, often rarity upshifted, in limited print runs with higher MSRP, resulting in little to no change in affordability for the key reprints while causing those cards not reprinted to increase in price, resulting in a net increase in price for format entry.
Obviously it isn't in Wizard's best interest to make Eternal formats as accessible as Standard, and neither am I advocating unlimited reprinting of chase Mythics Chronicles (or Yugioh) style. There is a balance to be found here, and I feel like Wizards' approach to reprints has been far too conservative, cynical, and ultimately not in their best interest by remaining beholden to secondary market speculators who reap the profits.
Of course, Wizards first goal is to make profits, but the recent decisions they have made (including increasing the rotation speed of Standard) suggest they are pushing to see how much they can squeeze from their players before there is some pushback. Hopefully Conspiracy 2 and a fall reprint of the Zendikar fetches will be a step in the right direction.
You state that you THINK the impact of another Chronicles would be minimal. Have you thought through all of the risks associated with it? Given all the conjecture on your part - the game is different, the players are different, the market is different, has very little tangible evidence that things will be different. You have given no effective arguments other than saying things aren't the same as they were 20 years ago. My arguments are based on actual facts of what happened. If you so strongly believe what you are saying, show some actual evidence as opposed to conjecture.
And I'll state again, what's in it for Wizards to make eternal an easy game to play versus standard? If there is no barrier to entry, how many people would bail on standard and just play eternal? How is this good for the people making the game?
Another question - the entire game's economy is set up in such a way that many peoples livelihoods are predicated on how the economy of the game is set up. A major change to that (say by crashing card values by reprinting to the ground as you have proposed) has what side effects? Yes, singles would be cheap. How many other side effects are there? What happens to all of the LGS's? How many simply fail because a major revenue stream (selling singles) is no longer available? How many people quit the game simply because the places they played at are closed? What happens to the price of boosters? As it currently stands there isn't enough money in selling sealed product - the margins just aren't enough to keep the lights on. What percentage of people quit the game over it? does it overtake the number of people joining OR spending more money in sealed product to offset the losses? If people are playing eternal formats, what happens to standard and the number of people actually buying new product?
You speak to me as if I haven't thought any of that through. I've spent a good deal of time on it and quite frankly the risks do not justify it.
Your final statement that retailers can suck up a bit less is just wrong. Having seen the numbers at my LGS, I'd wager that the great majority of LGS's (not CFB or SCG, but all of the little guys) are just barely making ends meet. Destroying a major revenue stream for them could easily put many out of business. If you're in business you know that it takes 400% more effort to attract 1 new client than it does to retain one. Wizards seems to be doing just fine in retaining players and still attracting new ones. Why piss off a (potentially) significant portion of your existing player base? When you start making major changes to the economy of the game it can have a potentially devastating impact.
Let me quantify this by saying that I do not know if any or all of this will come to pass if Wizards did tank secondary market values. But I imagine some of it would. If you take that large of a risk (speaking from Wizards' POV) what is the reward? If I'm the one making that decision, the reward better be massive - and I just don't see that being the case.
/edit The only major data point we have is Chronicles - hence the reason it continues to be referenced. It had a massively negative impact on the game that is still felt today. I don't want Wizards' to make a decision that *COULD* have a similar impact.
GB Rock
U Flooding Merfolk
RUG Delver Midrange
WU Monks
UW Tempo Geist
GW Bogle
GW Liege
UR Tron
B Vampires
Affinity
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Burn
Reanimator
Dredge
Affinity
EDH
W Akroma
GBW Ghave
BRU Thrax
GR Ruric
I advocate for the elimination of the combo archetype in Modern. I believe it is degenerate and unfun by its very nature and will always limit design space and cause unnecessary bans.
But, you want facts. How about hte Thoughtseize reprint? How devastating was that to MTGFinance? Mutavault? Remand in a Duel Deck? None of those even came close to making enough people quit to make a difference in their sales. in fact, those products sold pretty well, if I remember right...
"But there's a difference between reprinting 2-3 cards and reprinting 200+ at once!" Hello, Commander decks. Those decks, full of reprints, HAD to be dangerous, right? Overprinting those could have crashed the... what's that? They seem to have the print run correct, and those decks DIDN'T destroy secondary markets? Must have been luck, there's no way they should do that a second... Commander 2015? And still no market crash even with a few hundred old reprints? They got the print run right AGAIN?
You want data points, look to Duel Decks and Commander Decks, both of which were print-to-demand, and neither of which actually managed to destroy a secondary market. How's Path to Exile and Serum Visions looking these days? Those were both FNM promos, must be completely worthless now, right? After those, look at Event Decks which were far more limited, still contained desired cards, still failed to destroy the secondary market.
Chronicles is only relevant because Wizards made a stupid, short-sighted promise that they still won't abandon, and because it's the ONE outlier in reprints that people use to "prove" that reprinting cards is DOOM!
Cards are not money, investments, or a retirement fund, and should never have been treated as such.
Wizards made a mistake caving to speculators once, and we still pay for that mistake 2 decades later.
"Entitled:" the entire ad hominem fallacy condensed into a single word. It doesn't strengthen your argument to attack motivations, it just makes you look like you don't understand the argument.
I'm going to ask this question seriously. What current playable cards (from Chronicles) in constructed (Vintage/Legacy/Modern) are seeing any use? I'd like to see a list if someone could share. I'm just not seeing much myself. It seems Wizards just continues a trend they started over 20 years ago reprinting some cool top end cards and a lot of bulk/jank. With just the print run lessened.
Don't take my post the wrong way. Just trying to add my thoughts. Nothing more. I would like to see that list I asked for though.
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."
So you had a giant set of reprints, but all of them junk.
Thats still fun, if you dont know what you are missing ; but the moment you know theres simply nothing of value in the set, its terrible.
From todays perspective, a lot of the Chronicles reprints help a lot, stuff like Blood Moon , they could easily have thrown that in Eternal masters and it would be a great fit, but they didnt.
Chronicles is by all means pretty much the very same as Eternal Masters is. At the time they tried to make the cards white bordered, i hate these cards and most of the time make them black bordered (take some black point and you are done) , so the cheaper cards are great.
Anything of real value isnt in Chronicles, and thats not because of Chronicles, its simply because nothing in the set is really important at all (Blood Moon is really the only card that matters even today, it wasnt that big of deal back in the days).
WotC did Eternal masters simply because they can and charging 10$ each booster is just a easy way to make more money with the set (and thats the ONLY reason they did it, no card in the set demands that price, not even a single one, if they really had a problem with the super expensive cards, you could go as far as to make an even more Rare "mythic" rare, like the specials they did online, problem solved, boosters still normal priced).
The "experiment" of 10$ boosters is simpel. If people buy that product, they will continue to do so, even go higher to test how far they can go, without people noticing how they are screwd over.
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Thanks. Yes I do have one copy of Chronicles Blood Moon I pulled from a pack back then. Funny at the time I didn't think much of it. And yes you hit the nail on the head. I bought a lot and got a lot of cards I didn't have. But it was all the chaff/jank. My buddies that got in Alpha/Beta/Unlimited still had their power 9, duals and the good stuff at the time and my Chronicles still got its butt handed to it game after game. I guess I don't see how Chronicles "ruined" Magic with its high print run of janktastic filler cards. And at least to me it seems Wizards just about does the same thing today with these Masters set but on a much lower print run and much HIGHER price point. Things are MUCH different now than then as well. WAY different. Some things better some things worse. So is life I guess.
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."
We continue to disagree on our philosophy, but I think we also agree on other areas.
Yes, Wizards could certainly do more to reprint. they could continue to up the quantity of reprint sets. I do not believe that will be the death of the game scenario. I've already agreed with you in the past about individual cards - no need to bring that point up again. Instead I'll say that I do not want to see Wizards dramatically change the economy of the game by doing a wholescale crash of all singles value. I will also say that an unlimited reprint set as listed would signal that change to the market by setting that as a precedent.
As for Chronicles, at the time many of the cards printed were highly sought after. Believe it or not the Elder Dragon Legends were $50 cards prior to their reprint. Times have changed dramatically since then in terms of what people look for in the game. It was the equivalent of taking Modern Masters 1, 2, and EMA all combined into 1 set and then literally crashing the value of all the chase cards. the Commander decks and individual cards didn't tank hundreds of cards overnight. Wizards was able to print low value cards into the ground. It's a different story when they are taking $50 and $100 cards and destroying their value. Again, we disagree on this topic Lakanna. We simply will not see eye to eye on it. Consider me far more risk averse than you are.
Finally Lakanna, I would like to hear your opinion on risk versus reward. My last post brought up a laundry list of risks that could happen by wholescale reprints. What do you believe to be the rewards to offset that risk? I'm assuming that you're in the business world and have to deal with this analysis on at least some of the time. What does your business sense tell you about risk/reward for Wizards? Because ultimately, if you want to really try and effect the change you preach, you should be prepared to come up with at least some analysis for why it's a good idea.
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Onslaught fetches were between $50 and $115 before Khans of Tarkir launched. They were printed at rare, not mythic, in a Standard legal set that sold tons. Polluted Delta, the most valuable Onslaught fetch, is still $40 for the original printing and double the reprint version. The cards were reprinted at rare in a recent unlimited print run set that was very popular. This is pretty much the nightmare scenario for card value. And yet, Onslaught fetches are not "worthless" and no one is quitting the game over their reprinting. It's a shame that people ignore this recent and relevant point and continue to harp on about something that happened 20 years ago.
The point I am trying to make are wholescale changes to the economy of the game. I have said time and again that individual reprints of high value cards is fine, acceptable and I AGREE WITH IT!
I do not know how else to get my point across that there is a difference between individual card reprints and setting the precedent of a full on wholescale reprint set with an unlimited print run.
/edit - @FiveOD - are you trying to troll me? this exact point was brought up at least twice already in this thread.
My 720 Peasant Cube
Lakanna has fielded most of this already. However, I want to address your statements regarding the impact on LGSes, especially as this is their only revenue stream in some cases.
When Wizards started and established their model, those LGSes were necessary for marketing, distribution, and even product support services. But that was 20 years ago. Nowadays, direct sales is a very big thing in all sorts of industries, and there is no reason why that model couldn't be adopted. Other retailers, like Target, also seem to work out pretty well for Wizards. They have options they didn't have 20 years ago.
The non-rotating formats are clearly facing a supply problem. There is a good argument that speculators (of which many LGSes and not-so-L GSes) are contributing to this, but are not the sole source of the problem. Wizards can either support these formats better, or watch as they wither with time (as has long been occurring with Vintage and, though slower, with Legacy). Choosing to support them has risks and costs, but also is potentially quite useful for increasing sales. This is purely a business question.
However, for the customer, this choice matters quite a bit. Wizards is effectively choosing to support the speculator over the end-user. And given that Wizards makes no money off the speculators (who rarely buy sealed product), it is probably more sound to support the end-users.
But what about the LGSes that only make money off this one product? I'm going to use a point made earlier by someone else: Wizards is not a charity. Wizards exists to make money. And Wizards only obligations ought to be to do that, which involves satisfied customers. It is their choice whether those customers are the end-users (players) or retailers.
But it's actually a false choice anyway, as most LGSes make lots of money off sealed product in any case (drafts and the like), and this won't hurt them too badly. The only ones it hurts are the singles-specialized stores. And if this was their only source of revenue and they go out of business? Tough luck. It's not Wizard's responsibility to ensure a particular retailer has a balanced business. Their only job is to look after their profit and their product.
And I think there is a good argument that the health of the product is better served by letting the speculators and singles-sellers take a bath. The additional product this would move would probably more than compensate the average balanced LGS in the short run anyway.
Modern: Merfolk UU // Green Devotion GG // SkRed Red RR
Legacy: Death & Taxes WW // Burn RR // Death's Shadow Delver UB
Commander: Brago UW // Karlov WB