You all realize this set isn't specifically designed to appease modern players? Reprint equity is a real thing and given the influx of masters sets over the past couple years they can't realistically all be loaded with staples.
No doubt. This set is a reprint set that is out to claim 'nostalgia' and by that metric, its doing pretty good. There are some cards that needed another printing, and have them, and this is just the second day of spoilers.
Will there be more power? I dont know, I hope for some Modern staples to see reprint, but outside of some pretty niche cards (Chalice, Bridge) are there REALLY highly needed reprints approaching $70 outside of Snaps and Goyf?
I mean yeah, things are expensive again, but when BGx and URx rise...so do the prices of the best cards in the format.
maybe not hugely needed, but Crucible would be really nice, as well as anything from Lorwyn block seeing any play without a reprint
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Project Booster Fun makes it less fun to open a booster.
FoodChain: Not going to lie, every time I see you clamour for PreOrdain to be unbanned now I'm going to be giving you the internet side-eye
I'm going to be getting a lot of side eye then.
I truly do believe that the card is okay for Modern. I would not have purchased so many copies if I did think it wasn't okay for Modern and therefore had no chance of being unbanned.
yeah and dont think i missed that comment about you hoarding stoneforges. *shakesfist*
its cool though. i genuinely think stoneforge isn't too good. id just like for some real time for the format to settle. let us soak in dominaria and the core set.
we dont need stoneforge bustin' through the format like the proverbial koolaid man
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
Let's take a moment to recall that nobody really wanted a Jace unban. I think more people are unhappy with it than happy. So before we go around clamouring for unbans, let's stop and think if it's actually good. I would have been super happy if they had just left the format alone, or just only unbanned BBE. Don't fix what isn't broken, so the saying goes.
Let's take a moment to recall that nobody really wanted a Jace unban. I think more people are unhappy with it than happy. So before we go around clamouring for unbans, let's stop and think if it's actually good. I would have been super happy if they had just left the format alone, or just only unbanned BBE. Don't fix what isn't broken, so the saying goes.
And Jace ain't broken (so far)
Leaving the unhappy doomsayers eating a JtMS.
I hope people realise he's not that broken and the reprint drop the price though.
Would like to get 2 more for decks.
@FoodChainGoblins - holy god man. you are taking the spec game to the next level and then some.
I try to make Magic a "self sustaining" hobby, as it was for me for many years. I was able to pay for tournament fees, travel, cards and supplies all with winnings. Nowadays, it's much tougher. I've been doing it since my brother and I agreed to buy and trade aggressively for dual lands, only to see them spike from $2.50 to $5 each (on average). It felt good.
Magic is such an expensive hobby that unless you are filthy rich (IMO) or only like to play 1 deck, you really have to have innovative ways to pay for it. I wish it didn't push out people without the budget for it, but it does. Pay to play.
The one making it hard for the game to grow and expand is the company itself. Everything else is basically a side effect of what Wizards of the Coast does as far as reprinting cards and how they print them. Masters sets need to have cards with a wide breadth of play and are legal across multiple formats. There really isn't room for dead cards like Sundering Titan.
I played in Legacy for a few years. Sundering Titan is used in legacy MuD decks to get rid of opponent lands.
The problem is you're hedging that Jace is safe. Jace and BBE are the last two cards on the list people seem to agree are probably okay. There aren't really any other cards people can agree are safe. Twin, Preordain, Stoneforge, GSZ - I think they're all not good to come off. You never want to just unban and hedge the card is safe, that's a nightmare waiting to happen.
You all realize this set isn't specifically designed to appease modern players?
Sure, Chalice of the Void and Ensnaring Bridge at mythic rares just for the pure casual and Vintage nostalgia appeal. They were also perfectly content with Jace in there despite being modern banned...
It may not have "Modern" in its name but they expect Modern players to be the main ones buying it. Given how Legacy and Vintage are dead beyond salvation, it's the Modern players the ones with the competitive motivation to buy product like this. They know it, it's obvious but they're doing a token attempt at pretending it ain't so.
[quote from="ET1 »" url="/forums/the-game/modern/554992-modern-prices-discussion?comment=12503"]Given how Legacy and Vintage are dead beyond salvation, it's the Modern players the ones with the competitive motivation to buy product like this. They know it, it's obvious but they're doing a token attempt at pretending it ain't so.
Hey.
First off, we're not dead. We just have a hard time finding sanctioned play.
Second, casual people buy these things, too. EDH, Cube, and casual 60 like a lot of the same things that Legacy and Vintage do. I don't think it's fair to say that a majority of the buyers of this set are buying for Modern use.
Let's take a moment to recall that nobody really wanted a Jace unban. I think more people are unhappy with it than happy. So before we go around clamouring for unbans, let's stop and think if it's actually good. I would have been super happy if they had just left the format alone, or just only unbanned BBE. Don't fix what isn't broken, so the saying goes.
And Jace ain't broken (so far)
Leaving the unhappy doomsayers eating a JtMS.
I hope people realise he's not that broken and the reprint drop the price though.
Would like to get 2 more for decks.
Jace does, however, make the format more expensive. Before, if you wanted to play blue the worst thing was snapcaster mage. Depending on what you were building, maybe adding in scalding tarns too.
That's why reprints like goblin guide last year are great - huge boons to solid affordable decks (for comparison, i'm talking under 1K). I'd take Karn and Ravager reprints over a Jace unban. Cursecatcher is nice though...
Let's take a moment to recall that nobody really wanted a Jace unban. I think more people are unhappy with it than happy. So before we go around clamouring for unbans, let's stop and think if it's actually good. I would have been super happy if they had just left the format alone, or just only unbanned BBE. Don't fix what isn't broken, so the saying goes.
And Jace ain't broken (so far)
Leaving the unhappy doomsayers eating a JtMS.
I hope people realise he's not that broken and the reprint drop the price though.
Would like to get 2 more for decks.
Jace does, however, make the format more expensive. Before, if you wanted to play blue the worst thing was snapcaster mage. Depending on what you were building, maybe adding in scalding tarns too.
That's why reprints like goblin guide last year are great - huge boons to solid affordable decks (for comparison, i'm talking under 1K). I'd take Karn and Ravager reprints over a Jace unban. Cursecatcher is nice though...
Cursecatcher was one of the few cards from merfolk missing this year so pleased to see it.
I agree Jace makes for more expensive cards in modern, but so far he doesn't seem to be 100% necessary (I hope that remains true)
But the point being made above was 'nobody wanted a Jace unban' not Jace is expensive reprints will fix price eventually (Goyf being a good model to follow)
Your last points aren't related reprints v unbans aren't things unless you like tinfoil accessories. But I too would have liked some affinity stuff reprinted.
Let's take a moment to recall that nobody really wanted a Jace unban. I think more people are unhappy with it than happy. So before we go around clamouring for unbans, let's stop and think if it's actually good. I would have been super happy if they had just left the format alone, or just only unbanned BBE. Don't fix what isn't broken, so the saying goes.
Umm...I wanted a Jace unban. I bought him at $50! lol
Unbanning just BBE would have been a mistake. Unless you simply dont like Blue Control, then its a win as Blue would get trashed even harder.
Jace is fine in the format, and he's expensive sure, but thats not really relevant to format health, as much as a few folks want to make it seem otherwise.
Let's take a moment to recall that nobody really wanted a Jace unban. I think more people are unhappy with it than happy. So before we go around clamouring for unbans, let's stop and think if it's actually good. I would have been super happy if they had just left the format alone, or just only unbanned BBE. Don't fix what isn't broken, so the saying goes.
Umm...I wanted a Jace unban. I bought him at $50! lol
Unbanning just BBE would have been a mistake. Unless you simply dont like Blue Control, then its a win as Blue would get trashed even harder.
Jace is fine in the format, and he's expensive sure, but thats not really relevant to format health, as much as a few folks want to make it seem otherwise.
He's actually not that bad considering the kind of environment he is in when it comes to modern. The only thing that I don't like about his unbanning is that it feels like they did it less to make the format better and more to make a chase card in Masters 25. Given what has been spoiled that is looking more and more to be the case. I'm just surprised there is no Karn Liberated or Liliana of the Veil in the set that is supposed to be about the 25 years of magic. A lot of early sets are not really as strong as the more contemporary counterparts, so I was thinking they'd pick some of the stronger contenders from the modern era and pick needed reprints from the past legacy era and commander.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
We will see. I dont particularly care about the 'they did it for the chase card!' conspiracy. They are damned if they did (reprint + unban) damned if they didnt (no reprint + unban) and you know what?
Its a fine card for Blue, that should have come off the list.
So take your pick, curse out wizards as you will anyway regardless of what they do and just be assured that you are right, whatever you pick.
I'll just keep playing with my cards, and enjoying the fact that I can do so in the best format.
We will see. I dont particularly care about the 'they did it for the chase card!' conspiracy. They are damned if they did (reprint + unban) damned if they didnt (no reprint + unban) and you know what?
Its a fine card for Blue, that should have come off the list.
So take your pick, curse out wizards as you will anyway regardless of what they do and just be assured that you are right, whatever you pick.
I'll just keep playing with my cards, and enjoying the fact that I can do so in the best format.
It's not a conspiracy, really. Wizards does a lot of planning ahead of time and they probably had figured that the time was ripe to try and unban it. The thing they didn't count on was everything else going wrong in their little nick of the woods. They really didn't expect iconic masters to just roll over and die, standard to turn into an inbred nightmare living off of the older sets, etc. What people want is a bit more honesty from them and just better communication. When it comes to these masters sets it is always better to print the cards people are after than to try and force ones own image of a masters set onto the market and hope that it sticks. These last two sets feel very much like the latter and less of the former, where as masters 2017 and masters 2013 were far more on the mark. Those sets might have been called modern masters, but EDH players, legacy players, and casual players all had something to gain from those sets, which is why they both sold so well. Making a set that doesn't have that kind of cross over in card selection is the real mistake.
That and what effect usually happens when wizards reprints only a few modern cards? Usually it spikes interest in related cards and those go up in price. Reprinting jace without reprinting the lands that pair with him is a good example.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Of course it ISNT a conspiracy, but look around, you yourself have said essentially it was unbanned to sell packs, and you are not alone.
Jace has nothing to do with Standard, nothing to do with Iconic Masters. He's one of, if not the, most 'modern' example of a Power 9 type card, and he should have been available in Modern for some time.
Now he is. He was available for near $50...I'm not going to shed tears for those who missed out.
As to the 'print the lands to go with him'...what lands? They already have reprinted them, all except the man lands, and ONE of the lands was even in this last standard, and since RtRtR is coming up, well you can get your shocks too.
Didnt get your Khan's fetches? Or Tarn's on time? Tough one.
Value is tanking fast in m25 it seems to me.
Jace, chalice, bridge, and port are the only cards I’d even want to see when I open a pack so far. Seems worse than iconic masters to me. Imagine if Jace weren’t even legal in modern lol. All the other rare/mythics except like recruiter will be worth equal to or less than the price of the pack imo. Cool that some of the cards that were only high because of limited print are seeing a reprint but those cards value will just tank.
also are people upset because there isnt enough raw value in the set? or is it something to do with how many cards see play in various formats?
i dunno this masters set looks pretty typical so far, so maybe im missing something
The problem is that whoever did the masters 25 and iconic masters set design didn't understand the reasons behind the high prices on the cards they put into the sets. WoTC put cards that had big price tags because of scarcity and collector value into a reprint set, so instead of having something like modern masters where the card demand is the primary factor, they just tanked the price on tons of cards and potentially put stores that ordered the boxes in a bad position. Iconic masters is never recovering and this set is only going to have a box value because of two or three cards in it. That's pretty god awful. MM2017 had plenty more staying power because of the land cycle and Lily + snap at mythic.
As much as IdSurge seems to want to pretend that they didn't also unban jace to sell packs, they kind of did. They knew probably around Christmas this was coming and had to make a decision on a financial basis, even if it was sort of an iffy card by their own standards.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
They unbanned Jace because it is safe enough to be unbanned. (and lots of outcry online about U & W) They then took a sensible business decision to put him in a product.
No conspiracy just solid business sense.
While likely mostly accurate, either the timing was reversed or they held off on the ban announcement, because these sets’ print sheets get locked in months ahead of release. The decision to include Jace came long before the announcement to unban him.
While likely mostly accurate, either the timing was reversed or they held off on the ban announcement, because these sets’ print sheets get locked in months ahead of release. The decision to include Jace came long before the announcement to unban him.
They probably had decided to unban Jace a long time ago as well, and decided to hold off until he was reprinted, in order not to have a $200-250 card in Modern.
Value is tanking fast in m25 it seems to me.
Jace, chalice, bridge, and port are the only cards I’d even want to see when I open a pack so far. Seems worse than iconic masters to me. Imagine if Jace weren’t even legal in modern lol. All the other rare/mythics except like recruiter will be worth equal to or less than the price of the pack imo. Cool that some of the cards that were only high because of limited print are seeing a reprint but those cards value will just tank.
I'm on the camp the Jace ban came down the pipe a while ago, but they planned a reprint announcement with it so it wouldn't make Modern prohibitive. Richard Garfield once said no Magic card should cost more than about $20 (because he wanted the game to be accessible). While that's obviously not the case, $200 is the most any single Modern card has ever costed to my knowledge, and about $120 is the most expensive a card is now. They wanted to keep Modern relatively accessible (compared to Legacy), and this is the way. I'm guessing they knew sometime late Q4 / early Q1, which would have been like September/October. Don't forget that they're planning a lot of things to make the product, and it needs a lot of time for things like artwork, printing, playtesting, shipping, etc.
The issue with Masters sets is that you can only print so much per set and you have to be able to sell future sets. If every set has fetches, Goyf, Liliana, Snap, Karn, Chalice, Cryptic, Jace, Bob, etc., then those cards tank. It makes spoiler season no fun, we already know what's in there. One of the things Wizards has to manage is how much stores lose out of this. If tomorrow Wizards abolished the Reserved List, it's not just people with Black Lotuses that lose out, but companies like SCG who have hundreds of thousands in product that are on that list. Every part of the distribution chain is important. They have to make players want to buy sets, so there's always a cap on what they can put in the set.
I'm on the camp the Jace ban came down the pipe a while ago, but they planned a reprint announcement with it so it wouldn't make Modern prohibitive. Richard Garfield once said no Magic card should cost more than about $20 (because he wanted the game to be accessible). While that's obviously not the case, $200 is the most any single Modern card has ever costed to my knowledge, and about $120 is the most expensive a card is now. They wanted to keep Modern relatively accessible (compared to Legacy), and this is the way. I'm guessing they knew sometime late Q4 / early Q1, which would have been like September/October. Don't forget that they're planning a lot of things to make the product, and it needs a lot of time for things like artwork, printing, playtesting, shipping, etc.
The issue with Masters sets is that you can only print so much per set and you have to be able to sell future sets. If every set has fetches, Goyf, Liliana, Snap, Karn, Chalice, Cryptic, Jace, Bob, etc., then those cards tank. It makes spoiler season no fun, we already know what's in there. One of the things Wizards has to manage is how much stores lose out of this. If tomorrow Wizards abolished the Reserved List, it's not just people with Black Lotuses that lose out, but companies like SCG who have hundreds of thousands in product that are on that list. Every part of the distribution chain is important. They have to make players want to buy sets, so there's always a cap on what they can put in the set.
Just because overprinting can tank prices does not mean that we are in any sort of equilibrium now. That's the problem with the reprint equity argument - it assumes that this point in which we find ourselves today is the best possible scenario. A little experimentation would do wonders. The same goes for reprinting these staples in standard. Take allied fetches for instance - the onslaught versions are still pretty valuable while the khans versions.
Personally, I would ramp up reprints, and also expand the reserved list in a very slow and deliberate manner. Say WOTC announces today "we are going to add 100 cards to the reserved list. We are not going to announce those cards for one year, they will not officially become reserved for two years, and they will all be reprinted at least once in that time span." I dunno, ultimately modern will suffer from the same problem as legacy regardless of small reprints unless new standard cards create the pillars of future decks. It's no secret WOTC hates fetchlands and would rather have an eternal format without them.
Well, to clarify my stance, I'm not saying unbanning jace was solely financial. I'm saying that the support to unban the card came from multiple directions.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
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maybe not hugely needed, but Crucible would be really nice, as well as anything from Lorwyn block seeing any play without a reprint
yeah and dont think i missed that comment about you hoarding stoneforges. *shakesfist*
its cool though. i genuinely think stoneforge isn't too good. id just like for some real time for the format to settle. let us soak in dominaria and the core set.
we dont need stoneforge bustin' through the format like the proverbial koolaid man
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
And Jace ain't broken (so far)
Leaving the unhappy doomsayers eating a JtMS.
I hope people realise he's not that broken and the reprint drop the price though.
Would like to get 2 more for decks.
Legacy - LED Dredge, ANT & WDnT
I played in Legacy for a few years. Sundering Titan is used in legacy MuD decks to get rid of opponent lands.
Some recent decklists.
http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=18081&d=312210&f=LE
http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=17871&d=310758&f=LE
http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=17414&d=307841&f=LE
________________________
On prices question. Is this a good time to pre-order a Masters 25 Azusa? Already have one in my SCG cart. Or wait for release?
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Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
Sure, Chalice of the Void and Ensnaring Bridge at mythic rares just for the pure casual and Vintage nostalgia appeal. They were also perfectly content with Jace in there despite being modern banned...
It may not have "Modern" in its name but they expect Modern players to be the main ones buying it. Given how Legacy and Vintage are dead beyond salvation, it's the Modern players the ones with the competitive motivation to buy product like this. They know it, it's obvious but they're doing a token attempt at pretending it ain't so.
Hey.
First off, we're not dead. We just have a hard time finding sanctioned play.
Second, casual people buy these things, too. EDH, Cube, and casual 60 like a lot of the same things that Legacy and Vintage do. I don't think it's fair to say that a majority of the buyers of this set are buying for Modern use.
Jace does, however, make the format more expensive. Before, if you wanted to play blue the worst thing was snapcaster mage. Depending on what you were building, maybe adding in scalding tarns too.
That's why reprints like goblin guide last year are great - huge boons to solid affordable decks (for comparison, i'm talking under 1K). I'd take Karn and Ravager reprints over a Jace unban. Cursecatcher is nice though...
Cursecatcher was one of the few cards from merfolk missing this year so pleased to see it.
I agree Jace makes for more expensive cards in modern, but so far he doesn't seem to be 100% necessary (I hope that remains true)
But the point being made above was 'nobody wanted a Jace unban' not Jace is expensive reprints will fix price eventually (Goyf being a good model to follow)
Your last points aren't related reprints v unbans aren't things unless you like tinfoil accessories. But I too would have liked some affinity stuff reprinted.
Legacy - LED Dredge, ANT & WDnT
Umm...I wanted a Jace unban. I bought him at $50! lol
Unbanning just BBE would have been a mistake. Unless you simply dont like Blue Control, then its a win as Blue would get trashed even harder.
Jace is fine in the format, and he's expensive sure, but thats not really relevant to format health, as much as a few folks want to make it seem otherwise.
Spirits
He's actually not that bad considering the kind of environment he is in when it comes to modern. The only thing that I don't like about his unbanning is that it feels like they did it less to make the format better and more to make a chase card in Masters 25. Given what has been spoiled that is looking more and more to be the case. I'm just surprised there is no Karn Liberated or Liliana of the Veil in the set that is supposed to be about the 25 years of magic. A lot of early sets are not really as strong as the more contemporary counterparts, so I was thinking they'd pick some of the stronger contenders from the modern era and pick needed reprints from the past legacy era and commander.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Its a fine card for Blue, that should have come off the list.
So take your pick, curse out wizards as you will anyway regardless of what they do and just be assured that you are right, whatever you pick.
I'll just keep playing with my cards, and enjoying the fact that I can do so in the best format.
Spirits
It's not a conspiracy, really. Wizards does a lot of planning ahead of time and they probably had figured that the time was ripe to try and unban it. The thing they didn't count on was everything else going wrong in their little nick of the woods. They really didn't expect iconic masters to just roll over and die, standard to turn into an inbred nightmare living off of the older sets, etc. What people want is a bit more honesty from them and just better communication. When it comes to these masters sets it is always better to print the cards people are after than to try and force ones own image of a masters set onto the market and hope that it sticks. These last two sets feel very much like the latter and less of the former, where as masters 2017 and masters 2013 were far more on the mark. Those sets might have been called modern masters, but EDH players, legacy players, and casual players all had something to gain from those sets, which is why they both sold so well. Making a set that doesn't have that kind of cross over in card selection is the real mistake.
That and what effect usually happens when wizards reprints only a few modern cards? Usually it spikes interest in related cards and those go up in price. Reprinting jace without reprinting the lands that pair with him is a good example.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Jace has nothing to do with Standard, nothing to do with Iconic Masters. He's one of, if not the, most 'modern' example of a Power 9 type card, and he should have been available in Modern for some time.
Now he is. He was available for near $50...I'm not going to shed tears for those who missed out.
As to the 'print the lands to go with him'...what lands? They already have reprinted them, all except the man lands, and ONE of the lands was even in this last standard, and since RtRtR is coming up, well you can get your shocks too.
Didnt get your Khan's fetches? Or Tarn's on time? Tough one.
Spirits
also are people upset because there isnt enough raw value in the set? or is it something to do with how many cards see play in various formats?
i dunno this masters set looks pretty typical so far, so maybe im missing something
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)Jace, chalice, bridge, and port are the only cards I’d even want to see when I open a pack so far. Seems worse than iconic masters to me. Imagine if Jace weren’t even legal in modern lol. All the other rare/mythics except like recruiter will be worth equal to or less than the price of the pack imo. Cool that some of the cards that were only high because of limited print are seeing a reprint but those cards value will just tank.
The problem is that whoever did the masters 25 and iconic masters set design didn't understand the reasons behind the high prices on the cards they put into the sets. WoTC put cards that had big price tags because of scarcity and collector value into a reprint set, so instead of having something like modern masters where the card demand is the primary factor, they just tanked the price on tons of cards and potentially put stores that ordered the boxes in a bad position. Iconic masters is never recovering and this set is only going to have a box value because of two or three cards in it. That's pretty god awful. MM2017 had plenty more staying power because of the land cycle and Lily + snap at mythic.
As much as IdSurge seems to want to pretend that they didn't also unban jace to sell packs, they kind of did. They knew probably around Christmas this was coming and had to make a decision on a financial basis, even if it was sort of an iffy card by their own standards.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
No conspiracy just solid business sense.
Legacy - LED Dredge, ANT & WDnT
They probably had decided to unban Jace a long time ago as well, and decided to hold off until he was reprinted, in order not to have a $200-250 card in Modern.
WBC Eldrazi & Taxes CBW
UR Keep on Cantripin' (UR Phoenix) RU
WU Surprise! It's not UW Control! (UW Midrange) UW
BG The Rock, Straight BG
U Mono-Blue Fish U
RBW Mardu Pyromancer BWR
RG Rabble! Rabble! (GR Blood Moon Aggro) GR
Legacy
W Death & Taxes W
What about the: filter lands, Blood Moon, Clique, Azusa, Thalia or the Pacts ?
Also cards like: Animar, Obliterator, Relic, Master, Eidolon, Magus and Eladamri's Call.
The issue with Masters sets is that you can only print so much per set and you have to be able to sell future sets. If every set has fetches, Goyf, Liliana, Snap, Karn, Chalice, Cryptic, Jace, Bob, etc., then those cards tank. It makes spoiler season no fun, we already know what's in there. One of the things Wizards has to manage is how much stores lose out of this. If tomorrow Wizards abolished the Reserved List, it's not just people with Black Lotuses that lose out, but companies like SCG who have hundreds of thousands in product that are on that list. Every part of the distribution chain is important. They have to make players want to buy sets, so there's always a cap on what they can put in the set.
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
Just because overprinting can tank prices does not mean that we are in any sort of equilibrium now. That's the problem with the reprint equity argument - it assumes that this point in which we find ourselves today is the best possible scenario. A little experimentation would do wonders. The same goes for reprinting these staples in standard. Take allied fetches for instance - the onslaught versions are still pretty valuable while the khans versions.
Personally, I would ramp up reprints, and also expand the reserved list in a very slow and deliberate manner. Say WOTC announces today "we are going to add 100 cards to the reserved list. We are not going to announce those cards for one year, they will not officially become reserved for two years, and they will all be reprinted at least once in that time span." I dunno, ultimately modern will suffer from the same problem as legacy regardless of small reprints unless new standard cards create the pillars of future decks. It's no secret WOTC hates fetchlands and would rather have an eternal format without them.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!