In recent sets, the prerelease events for those sets have each featured five prerelease promo cards, one for each color/faction. In the Return to Ravnica block, this made sense, as that plane features different guilds, but it seemed very odd for the Theros block and now for Magic 2015, as well. On one side, I like the greater versatility in the prerelease promos, but, on the other side, choosing a specific color often makes me feel constrained and limited to that color (I cannot speak for every player, but that is how I feel about it).
What does everyone else say about this? Is this to be the normal method of operation at prerelease events from now on, or shall WotC return to having only a single promo card at prerelease events?
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unless the promo is a colorless mana producing land or a artifact or colorless creature a single promo would give that specific color or color combination a advantage assuming the card is good in limited. distributing it among all the colors in theory evens the playing field. I don't care about promos but the seeded packs are of poor design imo. I am not in charge of wizards so I will role with the punches.
unless the promo is a colorless mana producing land or a artifact or colorless creature a single promo would give that specific color or color combination a advantage assuming the card is good in limited. distributing it among all the colors in theory evens the playing field. I don't care about promos but the seeded packs are of poor design imo. I am not in charge of wizards so I will role with the punches.
When they had single promos, you couldn't use them in the event. They would likely do this again if they went back.
unless the promo is a colorless mana producing land or a artifact or colorless creature a single promo would give that specific color or color combination a advantage assuming the card is good in limited. distributing it among all the colors in theory evens the playing field. I don't care about promos but the seeded packs are of poor design imo. I am not in charge of wizards so I will role with the punches.
When they had single promos, you couldn't use them in the event. They would likely do this again if they went back.
The problem is, they CAN'T go back: I suspect the change was to deal with people running the promo card despite it not being allowed, and the problem would be WORSE now that people are used to running the promo cards in their decks.
So yes. I suspect we'll have five promo cards for the foreseeable future, barring a set with promo artifacts (and that still seems lame; every deck you face having the same rare artifact would be pretty damn monotonous)
completely agree but I have been to lgs that "forget" to give them out or mysteriously run out during the midnight releases. I am just happy I have found a great lgs finally
When they had single promos, you couldn't use them in the event. They would likely do this again if they went back.
I have never understood why prerelease promo cards could not be used in the event. Could you please explain why that rule existed?
I'm not entirely sure why, but I'm willing to take a crack at it. If you take a look at previous "single" promos, most of them were splashy/bomby mythics like Wurmcoil Engine or Rampaging Baloths before Innistrad block. If WOTC made it so these single promos would be used, I guarantee everyone would try to run their promo. It just creates a blandness to the environment because everyone's deck will be pretty much the same since you can expect it.
From what I've heard from our LGS owners, I would expect this trend to continue. It makes WOTC money, since the shop owners end up needing to pre order a bunch of these prerelease boxes to run their events, instead of just booster boxes. Also, this style caters to the more casual / newer player to build a bigger player base, when the hardcore players will pretty much end up playing the prerelease to get a taste of the new set, no matter how annoying the seeded packs and promos get. Those that don't play, probably wouldn't have played either way.
Seeded packs are good for pushing new limited players toward some color, just like the increase in off color activations in recent sets and theme pointing gold cards. The idea is that making cuts is one of the hardest parts of limited when you're just learning. The choose your color/faction thing is just the flavor gloss over for catering the prerelease a bit more to new players.
I hate to say but yeah the 5 promos are here to stay
I would like if they did something like :
1st set of the block : 5 prerelease promos
2nd set of the block : 1 prerelease promo ( not usable in the pool) (MR)
3rd set of the block : 5 prerelease promos
Core set of the year : 1 prerelease promo ( not usable in the pool) (MR)
I would have loved to get a Soul of New Phyrexia or Garruk, Apex Hunter instead of the **** we got ( saying that thinking of playability)(the promos for M15 have good art at least)
and for BNG we could have got Kiora or Brimaz or Xenagod ...
They could stay with the Prerelease booxes just stop putting the promos there make a color pack with something like the paragon cycle as the face of the pack...
Seeded packs are good for pushing new limited players toward some color, just like the increase in off color activations in recent sets and theme pointing gold cards. The idea is that making cuts is one of the hardest parts of limited when you're just learning. The choose your color/faction thing is just the flavor gloss over for catering the prerelease a bit more to new players.
All the seeded packs are good for is creating supply issues and making people disappointed when the color they were hoping to pick runs out.
The non seeded booster pack format is not going away for prereleases. Why? It's actually related to Magic Online. With Magic Online requiring prerelease objects in order to "pick" a color, it forces people to pay real money to wizards when they would otherwise not have to. Want to prerelease? Grinders have to drop real world cash to do so. It doesn't sound like much, but it actually ads up really quickly.
I know I would gladly trade a choice between five intro pack rares that are playable in my sealed pool for one mythic a la Emraukul or Wurmcoil Engine that I can't actually play during the prerelease.
They're intro pack rares because WOTC thinks it isn't fair that some people who attend the prerelease has easier access to the promo, while those who didn't attend have to pull them from packs or buy singles, so they thought to themselves, "why don't we make the prerelease promos the same as intro pack rares?" That way, no matter how much you miss the prerelease boat, you are guaranteed to get that card, although it would be the regular art, not the alternate promo art.
The second thing is about value, at least in the short term. Considering how it is so much easier to get promos than to pull them from packs, WOTC probably had this idea that if the prerelease promos are intro pack promos, it wouldn't really affect the value of the card that represents the prerelease promo. For example Wurmcoil engines probably had less value because of the prerelease promo was easy to get as long as you attend the prerelease, which led to the prerelease promo becoming rare instead of mythic, which led to the prerelease promos being even less rare by becoming intro pack rares, considering how intro pack foil rares are less rare than any other foil rare.
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What does everyone else say about this? Is this to be the normal method of operation at prerelease events from now on, or shall WotC return to having only a single promo card at prerelease events?
“When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”-Thomas Jefferson
“A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of its user.”-Theodore Roosevelt
“Patriotism means to stand by one's country; it does not mean to stand by one's president.”-Theodore Roosevelt
When they had single promos, you couldn't use them in the event. They would likely do this again if they went back.
Currently offering 2 non-foil Kolighan's Command for a Date Stamped foil!
convert bulk into good cards? PucaTrade - https://pucatrade.com/invite/gift/21195
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Trade thread (constantly updated)
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/trading-post/details/337-pokerbob1s-casual-trading-emporium
The problem is, they CAN'T go back: I suspect the change was to deal with people running the promo card despite it not being allowed, and the problem would be WORSE now that people are used to running the promo cards in their decks.
So yes. I suspect we'll have five promo cards for the foreseeable future, barring a set with promo artifacts (and that still seems lame; every deck you face having the same rare artifact would be pretty damn monotonous)
I have never understood why prerelease promo cards could not be used in the event. Could you please explain why that rule existed?
“When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”-Thomas Jefferson
“A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of its user.”-Theodore Roosevelt
“Patriotism means to stand by one's country; it does not mean to stand by one's president.”-Theodore Roosevelt
I'm not entirely sure why, but I'm willing to take a crack at it. If you take a look at previous "single" promos, most of them were splashy/bomby mythics like Wurmcoil Engine or Rampaging Baloths before Innistrad block. If WOTC made it so these single promos would be used, I guarantee everyone would try to run their promo. It just creates a blandness to the environment because everyone's deck will be pretty much the same since you can expect it.
Credit to Heroes of the Plane Studios for the Avatar & Miraculous Recovery for the Banner.
My 540 Card Cube (WIP)
I would like if they did something like :
1st set of the block : 5 prerelease promos
2nd set of the block : 1 prerelease promo ( not usable in the pool) (MR)
3rd set of the block : 5 prerelease promos
Core set of the year : 1 prerelease promo ( not usable in the pool) (MR)
I would have loved to get a Soul of New Phyrexia or Garruk, Apex Hunter instead of the **** we got ( saying that thinking of playability)(the promos for M15 have good art at least)
and for BNG we could have got Kiora or Brimaz or Xenagod ...
They could stay with the Prerelease booxes just stop putting the promos there make a color pack with something like the paragon cycle as the face of the pack...
All the seeded packs are good for is creating supply issues and making people disappointed when the color they were hoping to pick runs out.
The second thing is about value, at least in the short term. Considering how it is so much easier to get promos than to pull them from packs, WOTC probably had this idea that if the prerelease promos are intro pack promos, it wouldn't really affect the value of the card that represents the prerelease promo. For example Wurmcoil engines probably had less value because of the prerelease promo was easy to get as long as you attend the prerelease, which led to the prerelease promo becoming rare instead of mythic, which led to the prerelease promos being even less rare by becoming intro pack rares, considering how intro pack foil rares are less rare than any other foil rare.