MTG Salvation

Question: If you had to guess, approximately what percentage of Magic cards sold in the United States are sold at big box retailers (i.e. Target, Amazon, Wal Mart, Barnes and Noble, Gamestop)?

I'm curious about how many cards are sold in local gaming stores and card shops compared to large retailers. I am aware that many members of the enfranchised community shop and visit LGS's regularly but considering there are millions and millions of Magic players, a good chunk of them must be buying cards from other sources.

Quote from Stoogeslap »

Would this mean the previews will also get pushed back? I apologize ahead of time if this has been addressed in this post or another, but upon surface scratching of the posts, do not remember reading it and it happens to be late, so I am too tired/lazy to read all replies. Thanks in advance...

No the previews are still scheduled for Thursday, April 2nd, 2020. The digital release will still happen on time too, only the physical release is delayed.

Quote from mikeyG »

To me, it's less of a question of will WotC change their product release strategies, and more a question of how. And businesses are still grappling with timelines, so I doubt even WotC knows right now.

Wizards might not know the details of the timeline but they almost certainly know that several products will be delayed for release throughout North America and Europe to the point where the entire 2020 release schedule will be thrown off track. I believe at this time they know that Ikoria isn't going to be released in the United States on May 15th.

Suppose we hit the apex of the pandemic in North America in late May/early June. Even if that happened, as you mentioned, that doesn't mean once the number of new cases start to go down we can go back to the original status quo of business. Suppose you only have to wait an additional couple of months, a very generous and optimistic timeline, but even then, we're talking about a release of September for Ikoria and Commander 2020 which subsequently pushes virtually every other new product back by 5 months or so.

Once again, this is an optimistic timeline and it doesn't factor how the economic recession will negatively impact the secondary Magic market including businesses like Gamestop and Barnes and Noble along with the LGSs.

Quote from mikeyG »

Quote from xaltair »

They'll have to stay closed until June probably, that's more realistic.

Even June seems far too optimistic. Until we have a vaccine or a comprehensive global testing system in place to detect and quarantine/treat infected people, relaxation of aggressive suppression strategies (like social distancing and closing non-essential services) is asking for additional waves of infection rate spikes. A vaccine is still 12+ months out at best, and despite advances in rapid testing I'm not confident we're returning to any sort of normalcy (as most envision it, at least) in under three months. Honestly, I'm just going to be grateful if we as a globe have this pandemic under any sort of control by the end of the calendar year.

I really don't want to be right, obviously, but if I am, WotC is going to have to seriously reassess its release strategies for products going forward.

I agree that we won't be anywhere near life being normal by June, but things don't have to go back to normal entirely for there not to be new releases and products. We can't be at mass peak of pandemic, but things don't have to be perfect. I mean, do you really think Apple isn't going to release any new iPhones or Macbooks over the next 12 months? Somethings might be forced to be fundamentally changed for several months, for example, reopening Disneyland or packed movie theater releases but I think a physical release of a Magic set might be okay months ahead.

I still think June is probably a little too early, but I could see a late summer physical release for Ikoria and Commander 2020 (Early August perhaps)

Last Thursday, Wizards announced that the paper release date for Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths and Commander 2020 decks would be pushed back to May 15th, 2020 for North America, Europe, Latin America, and Australia/New Zealand (the original release date was April 24, 2020). I believe it is likely the physical release date Ikoria set and Commander 2020 decks will be delayed even further than May 15th, 2020.

There are three primary reasons related to the Coronavirus pandemic that Wizards cited for the delay:

1. The ability for Wizards to distribute and ship the product has been fundamentally disrupted.
2. The safety of those working in the distribution and shipping centers are in jeopardy.
3. Most merchants that sell Magic products are closed for business (i.e. Hundreds of LGS's, Gamestop, Barnes and Nobles)

It is incredibly optimistic to the point where its unrealistic and borderline irresponsible to expect that these problems will be resolved in only three weeks after the original start date.

In the United States the Coronavirus pandemic is still getting worse. The scientists, doctors and experts agree that the apex of the virus hasn't occurred yet. The economy and businesses will be fundamentally disrupted for months throughout the world, especially in the United States. Leaders in major states and cities are already acknowledging that store front businesses will need to be closed for several more additional weeks if not months including the governors of New York, California and Illinois.

Until the pandemic is under control, we shouldn't expect to see a complete return to normalcy for business of new releases for Magic the Gathering sets. The same can be said about a return to normalcy for movie releases, the NBA season beginning, Apple and Nike stores opening or Disneyworld opening up to the public again. These things are very unlikely to happen in less than 2 months.

I believe Wizards already knows this which is one of the primary reasons they even acknowledged the release date could be pushed back further in the announcement:

We will continue to monitor these dates and make updates as necessary.

At this rate, in addition to expecting these sets to be delayed further. I wouldn't be surprised if Core 2021 and other future products including the Secret Lair Fetchland edition, Zendikar Rising and Signature Spellbook: Chandra to be delayed.

Questions to consider for discussion:

1. The physical release date for Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths and Commander 2020 decks is currently scheduled for May 15, 2020, do you believe this date will be delayed further due to the Coronavirus pandemic?
2. If the set were to be delayed, when would the sets be released? Would they just push back everything a few months, or release Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths and Commander 2020 at the same time as another set down the line?
3. If the release isn't delayed further, how much will the virus impact how much time and money people will be willing to spend on the new set during the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic?
4. If your LGS was open and holding a traditional in store prerelease for the Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths set and Commander 2020 decks on May 15th, 2020, would you attend? If not, why not?

How would I phrase an effect for a custom card that would make it so you pay 1 for an activated ability, the next time a permanent an opponent controls causes a triggered ability to trigger this turn, instead you control that triggered ability.

Not sure if I'm making sense, but the idea would be if I control this card, I can pay 1 generic mana to activate the ability in response to you casting a Frost Titan, but now instead of you getting to tap and freeze a permanent, I can do it instead.

This is what I was thinking for the oracle text, is this right?

1: Gain control of target triggered ability from a creature source. You may choose new targets for it.

I like the saying "I play a fair deck". I think it's a good way to describe it. I definitely play powerful cards and a lot of interaction, but I'm not trying to combo out, I'm not doing the exact same thing ever game, I'm not trying to prevent you from casting spells. Is the term "fair deck" something people say often? What does that usually mean?

38 lands is a lot, but I really don't want to miss land drops because even though I have about 8 or 9 nonland mana sources, I have a pretty high curve in the Atraxa deck.

And yeah, I'm not playing fast mana, I think cards like Sol Ring and Mana Crypt are degenerate/broken (although I used to play them years ago).

I feel like I'm in an odd space for a Commander player. I am by no means a novice, I've been playing by years and I'm an ultra Magic fan, I play with expensive cards and love the commander format. At the same time, I certainly am not a competitive player. I don't like playing Commander games that last only 4 or 5 turns, I don't like a bunch of tutors in a singleton format and I don't like playing with infinite combos. I'm trying to get a better understand of describing my playstyle and power level when introducing myself to players and tables. I find sometimes I'm pubstomping or getting dominated by cEDH decks.

These are my two favorite decks to play (and they are probably my best ones). How would you describe the power level for these decks (the more detail the better)?

4 Color Midrange Control

Yennett Deck

Please help me clean up this rules text for a potential creature card idea I have.

At the beginning of your end step, you may choose another nonland permanent you control. If you do, put a veil counter on it and it gains hexproof. You lose life equal to the chosen permanant's converted mana cost.

Here are some alternate phrasings I have thought of but I am even less confident about these:

At the beginning of your end step, you may choose a nonland permanent you control, if you do, you lose life equal to its converted mana cost. If you lost life this way, put a veil counter on the chosen permanent and it gains hexproof.

At the beginning of your end step, you may choose another nonland permanent you control and pay life equal to its converted mana cost. If you do, put a veil counter on it and it gains hexproof.

Note: I want the hexproof to last indefinitely rather than just until end of turn. Also, I want the veil counter to just be a memory aid rather than what is actually causing the hexproof (sort of like Isareth the Awakener).

Bonus points for anyone that can come up with a flavor/lore explanation for this ability (I'm thinking golgari, dimir or sultai colors for this card).

A one-mana card that recycles your spells in addition to providing a body is already beyond good without the ability to continuously buy back spells for you each turn. It doesn't even matter that the card is random, you still get a better card draw and all this needs to get going is your early Opt, though Shock also gets a lot better if it comes back over-and-over. Essence Scatter can get annoying really fast - so can any early answer. And then Glimmer of Genius. And never will this just draw you a land. Bonkers.

It doesn't just keep recurring a free card without any effort. It has to survive at least one turn before you can use its activated ability that costs 5 mana so the Essence Scatter scenario doesn't really apply. If you're playing a deck built around Mavel the Ingenious, you're not going to only cast one instant spell over the course of 6+ turns.

I will mention that I did consider including a drawback that caused it to enter the battlefield tapped. Also, perhaps more importantly, I probably should have mentioned for both of these designs I had the Commander format in mind rather than non singleton constructed formats. I agree that in constructed formats Mavel the Ingenious could potentially be more problematic than in Commander but I disagree that it would be super degenerate.

Unrelated Question, where do you get that frame for the legendary cards? In which program do you make them?

I designed the cards with mtg.design.

Next: A commander with a hybrid mana cost that includes blue and a converted mana cost of 1.

Yeva fundamentally violates the spirit of the Commander format and is a very slippery slope. Perhaps you could make a creature with a 5 color identity that rewards you for playing green creatures or punishes you for playing nongreen creatures.

They are all extremely powerful for the format and Loyal Apprentice in particular seems busted.