well i remember seeing in the rumor mill section of mtgsalv that a norse inspired set is in the works. there was also that article series maro did (the 'rabiah scale') where he outlined the potential in various planes. theros and mirrodin/new phyrexia were two of the better rated ones. after the throwdown with bolas id expect ajani to go back to theros to seek out elspeth; similarly karn has is own score to settle so i can see it going either way. i do think the next 'return' set has a very good chance to be one of those two though.
of course zendikar, innistrad, dominaria, and ravnica rated highly; but yeah...
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In front of the Stronghold's broken doors, Gideon was giving Teferi the Gatewatch oath while Chandra stood by. Karn and Jaya had agreed to join the fight against Bolas, but hadn't agreed to take the oath. Karn because he meant to leave soon to continue his effort to destroy New Phyrexia, and Jaya because, as she had said, "I'm not a joiner."
I thought given all the enchantments we're getting that the fall set would be a return to Theros.
(As always, the fall set will turn out be something and someone will come out and say "I totally predicted it would be something.")
With the Ixalan flipping enchantments, I thought we would have been in Theros right now. The only hint I've seen of a possible return to Theros is the inclusion of Elspeth in the GRN Masterpiece edition.
Then, there is also the rumored Viking set. If there is a place where they could make the names of the Scars Fastlands work, apart from New Phyrexia, is a Viking world (Coast, Cliffs, Shores, Gorge and Thicket all sound like Scandinavia to me).
In front of the Stronghold's broken doors, Gideon was giving Teferi the Gatewatch oath while Chandra stood by. Karn and Jaya had agreed to join the fight against Bolas, but hadn't agreed to take the oath. Karn because he meant to leave soon to continue his effort to destroy New Phyrexia, and Jaya because, as she had said, "I'm not a joiner."
Wow, what pinnacles of human creativity the writers at WOTC are. Durrr big bomb? Yerp you betcher boss big bomb yerp.
All about appealing to the lowest common denominator. Shame. I remember reading the books that used to come in fat packs and while they were never literary works of art, they were at the very least interesting and didn't read like a teenager's attempt at Marvel fan-fiction. Maybe that's just nostalgia talking and the story has always sucked ass, but it still made for solid lore. The whole gatewatch wannabe superhero club thing is awful and I'd hate to see the potential of a return to new phyrexia ruined by their campy oath ***** and happy-go-lucky attitudes. Jace suffering a brutal death due to explosive phyrexian diarrhea would be a move in the right direction...
Re: Challenger Decks, I can definitely see Teferi & Search for Azcanta getting reprints along with a handful of other cards along the lines of History of Benalia. Arclight Phoenix seems like another solid target, but one that ultimately won't be included simply b/c it's not from one of the sets rotating out in the Fall. IIRC, most of the notable inclusions from the first set of challenger decks were mostly all from sets due to rotate out (Chandra, Walking Ballista, Hazoret, Push, etc). I wouldn't be surprised if they chose to reprint most/all of the flip cards from Ixalan and spread them out among the various decks to make it so there isn't one deck that's more sought out than the rest, ala whatever challenger deck had Chandra/Hazoret.
No, should not influence those cards at all, since it is not that good of an card to begin with. It would only make As Foretold better, since you get another pay off card.
Well don't look now, but Wheel of Fate just doubled in price with Restore Balance up 50%. Regardless of whether anyone thinks Electrodominance will have an impact during gameplay, it looks like it's starting to impact the market, so pickup your copies of Living End/AV/Lotus Bloom/etc now if you plan on brewing with Electrodominance or need them for any other uses, because it took ~4-7 months for them to settle back down the last time they spiked following the reveal of As Foretold. IMO, this time it may be legit b/c Electrodominance has far more applications than As Foretold; allowing the card to be cast at instant speed has the potential for all kinds of shenanigans.
agree on the challenger deck stuff. azcanta seem very likely to me, and teferi just likely.
on another note the foil version of those basic lands from the guild kits with the cool framework/background are going to be in the RNA standard showdown packs. so if you were looking for the foil versions, which have been quite pricey from what ive seen, probably should hold off.
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Yeah, I can't imagine Teferi NOT being included in one of these Challenge Decks and will be selling mine asap. I already have no real desire to play UW anymore anyway. Also, based on the overall lackluster UW stuff in RNA, it seems like a safe bet Teferi won't be going up in price.
In front of the Stronghold's broken doors, Gideon was giving Teferi the Gatewatch oath while Chandra stood by. Karn and Jaya had agreed to join the fight against Bolas, but hadn't agreed to take the oath. Karn because he meant to leave soon to continue his effort to destroy New Phyrexia, and Jaya because, as she had said, "I'm not a joiner."
Wow, what pinnacles of human creativity the writers at WOTC are. Durrr big bomb? Yerp you betcher boss big bomb yerp.
All about appealing to the lowest common denominator. Shame. I remember reading the books that used to come in fat packs and while they were never literary works of art, they were at the very least interesting and didn't read like a teenager's attempt at Marvel fan-fiction. Maybe that's just nostalgia talking and the story has always sucked ass, but it still made for solid lore. The whole gatewatch wannabe superhero club thing is awful and I'd hate to see the potential of a return to new phyrexia ruined by their campy oath ***** and happy-go-lucky attitudes. Jace suffering a brutal death due to explosive phyrexian diarrhea would be a move in the right direction...
In this case, the lowest common denominator seems to be an increasingly younger target audience. Kids predominantly play Standard, or at least it looks that way to me at every LGS i visit around the world, and so that's who they need to appeal to.
The true question is how interested even these kids are in this Captain Planet ironic teenybopper super club horse***** but I'm sure Hasbro has its metrics to gauge that.
Shame really - like you said, those old storylines weren't going to be nominated for a Pulitzer either but they were pretty dark at times, lead characters got killed off and some of their backstories were pretty horrific to begin with (Crovax?). Now you get 5 millennials going UGH FINE I'LL JOIN THE PACT LOL ANYONE NEED A LIGHT CAUSE IM FIRE GIRL GET IT and if they 'die' they just **** off to a different plane instead and wake up with a headache. Total bummer dude oh well just start a new quest. Even the recent sets that were supposed to be truly dark felt like a pile of wishy-washy nonsense (BFZ, SOI) because of the shadow of teenage indifference this superhero club nonsense cast over it. OK FINE LET'S PUT HIM IN THE MOON WOA DONE, yeah real Cthulhu ***** right there guys.
Hahaha, I needed a good laugh. Spot on, man. Based on my LGS experiences over the last couple years, I agree that Standard players tend to be the youngest players who frequent the store. I'm also interested in whether or not those players actually give a ***** about the story. It reminds me of how Nintendo approaches their first party games/online experiences; they're supposedly aimed at appealing to kids, but their definition of kids hasn't changed in 30 years. For every one kid who ends up with a Nintendo product because their parents like the E ratings and locked down online experience, there's nine other kids playing GTA. Similarly, I don't think WotC's target audience actually exists as they believe. Copping out on quality storylines is one thing, because I'm not required to actually read it. However, it's another thing when that crap story makes it way into flavor text. I want to put a bullet in my head any time I read the flavor text on Drownyard Temple
Was looking for cards for testing in my homebrew deck, then found Zacama, Primal Calamity.
I was wondering why is it a 10 dollar card. Are the people in Standard actually able to hard cast it? Or being used someplace else, in another format?
Was looking for cards for testing in my homebrew deck, then found Zacama, Primal Calamity.
I was wondering why is it a 10 dollar card. Are the people in Standard actually able to hard cast it? Or being used someplace else, in another format?
In Standard certainly no Tier deck is casting that card. In cases like this it is safe to always assume Commander is the reason.
A 9 mana Mythic Rare Legendary Dinosaur. That's as hard a Timmy creature as it can get. Perfect for the format.
id imagine a mixture of EDH demand, its appearance as tech in amulet titan, and possibly some brewing going on in standard. i think its too early to tell for standard, and i havent seen it on arena or anywhere else, but i think its plausible.
its a mythic huge dinosaur with a weird combo-y interaction. whats not to like
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Ok, thanks for the reply. Had the weird idea that Standard players had some way of casting it. Was looking for a 9 cmc creature to tutor with my Grozoth homebrew, when a search on gatherer turned up Zacama. Thought it just went for cents, then greatly surprised when it was 10 bucks on SCG.
Anyway, just passing time while waiting for the unban / ban announcement.
It's certainly EDH demand in my opinion. It's been high ever since the set came out. I found out about the price about 2 months after the set dropped and wondered in amazement myself.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
To give an idea of how big a draw Zacama is for Commander, it was the first card to ever cause me to build a deck with green in it. Growing up, my favorite movie was Jurassic Park, and this big dumb dino, with untapping and instant speed abilities is literally the perfect card for me. I love it and built an entire deck because of it.
It's certainly EDH demand in my opinion. It's been high ever since the set came out. I found out about the price about 2 months after the set dropped and wondered in amazement myself.
To give an idea of how big a draw Zacama is for Commander, it was the first card to ever cause me to build a deck with green in it. Growing up, my favorite movie was Jurassic Park, and this big dumb dino, with untapping and instant speed abilities is literally the perfect card for me. I love it and built an entire deck because of it.
Thanks. Ok, I guess that solves the mystery. Sort of wanted it because my homebrew modern reanimator could use the red and white abilities, plus vigilance and could block flying. But at ten dollars each, it's better to spend the money on something else.
Zoinks! Interesting interview w/ Gavin Verhey on the Tolarian CC YouTube channel that somewhat dips into our earlier discussion regarding who's actually reading the story. Supposedly, the reason for including potentially "complex" cards like Planeswalkers as the face cards of beginner decks is b/c they represent the main "characters from the story that new players get excited about and want". Overall it's actually a pretty solid interview, but this explanation didn't make much sense to me; rather the reason is most likely due to the fact that Planeswalkers have perceived value and new players who don't know any better are conned into buying these pre-cons (ba dum tiss) thinking they're getting value in return. I don't have time to play as much as I'd like, so it's not often I talk to new players, but I find it hard to believe that anybody new to the game 1) Knows a story actually exists/where to find it and 2) Knows who the main characters of aforementioned story are and make purchases due to the excitement they have for those characters. The only exception would be if one of those walkers also appear on booster pack art.
Aside from that, there were actually two or three different segments of the interview that shed some light on the finance/reprint aspect of the game (without directly referencing any secondary market of course). A few notable things I got from the interview:
- It definitely doesn't seem like we'll ever see fetches reprinted in another Standard environment, confirming what many of us already believed.
- The "[Insert Planeswalker] Spellbook" product is something WotC intends to continue with and have at least the next two iterations already planned out. It was also teased that the namesake character doesn't necessarily have to be a walker and Gavin has a list of OG Magic characters that he wants to either reprint or flesh out with new cards.
- Challenger Decks are definitely returning and will continue so long as they achieve comparable sales to the first iteration. Decklists officially coming in March.
- In the absence of Masters sets, the plan for getting reprints out into the wild is via supplemental products, non-standard sets, Commander, etc. I don't recall the exact quote, but it was something along the lines of "Masters sets were too hungry for reprints and that made them unsustainable. Each of those sets only had a chunk of reprints that players actually wanted/needed, so now we can focus on that chunk of cards players want in order to make sure reprints are quality and relevant".
- Lastly, there was another interesting quote that more/less bluntly stated WotC actively monitors and are aware of which cards need reprinted and it's mostly about finding the right product in which to include them.
All in all, I definitely recommend giving it a watch. Although a lot of the information given was stuff we already assumed to be true, but I don't remember the last time any WotC employee has gone on record to confirm so many assumptions, answer questions, give insight into their thinking/reasoning, and provide information about what to expect in the near future. Really hoping it's not just a coincidence, but between this and yesterday's B&R announcement it appears that WotC might be making an actual effort toward community interaction.
the masters set comment is interesting. not exactly ground breaking, but its sort of an indirect nod to 'reprint equity' as some have labeled it. the unsustainable part was sort of a given imo, but i think many people were just all too willing to believe the gravy train would just keep on rolling by buying up a bunch of 'premium' product and just sitting on it.
the cynic in me also believes it might push wizards towards the 'direct-to-modern' product, because if value reprints are unsustainable for a higher priced top shelf product; then why not just make entirely new cards pushed for play to ensure a high price point. bam you just got a new piece of reprint fodder down the line. only have to look at cards like true name nemesis and leovold to see what im talking about.
i also believe that wizards getting their piece and players getting what they want arent mutually exclusive. so its not like id begrudge them doing it, as long as they try to strike a good balance.
i am interested to see what their lineup of supplementary products will be this year. we know they have been experimenting lately. that was plain to see with the masters sets, challenger decks, and even the new 'premium boosters' they are trying out with RNA. im expecting another battlebond type set, but beyond that...who knows (aside from the upcoming challenger decks).
anyone know if eternal masters had poor quality, or at least poorer than usual? i remember it being before they made those alleged revisions to the printing/coating process.
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anyone know if eternal masters had poor quality, or at least poorer than usual? i remember it being before they made those alleged revisions to the printing/coating process.
There were claims that the Ultimate masters is better, but I've seen some comments to the opposite, while with Guilds there is still an issue with the stock, that they are essentially (from what I understand) trying to get around with the coating. The problem is, this is dulling the printing/ink. Its noticeable as I have 3 European Arclights, and 1 NA.
I'm a bit of a fool for this stuff. I would rather have Japanese/Euro cards because if I'm going to have something to collect and keep, I want them even at Commons, to be the best they can be.
Its hilarious as I received an order recently with a Windswept Heath, Eidolon of Rhetoric, and Tempest printing Chokes and a few 7th Edition Foil Forests.
The Chokes were 100% flat, literally perfect with a release date of 1997 while the Heath and Eidolon? A bit of a curl to them.
Gavin Verhey gives some insight into reprints going forward. Looks like they will be more aggressive with sets like Battlebond and Conspiracy, as well as products like the Guild Kits and other supplemental and pre-construction means for reprints. If anyone is holding onto cards for future value and not actually playing them, sell, sell, sell. Reprints are coming.
There were claims that the Ultimate masters is better, but I've seen some comments to the opposite, while with Guilds there is still an issue with the stock, that they are essentially (from what I understand) trying to get around with the coating. The problem is, this is dulling the printing/ink. Its noticeable as I have 3 European Arclights, and 1 NA.
I'm a bit of a fool for this stuff. I would rather have Japanese/Euro cards because if I'm going to have something to collect and keep, I want them even at Commons, to be the best they can be.
Its hilarious as I received an order recently with a Windswept Heath, Eidolon of Rhetoric, and Tempest printing Chokes and a few 7th Edition Foil Forests.
The Chokes were 100% flat, literally perfect with a release date of 1997 while the Heath and Eidolon? A bit of a curl to them.
Very frustrating.
ive been handling unsleeved cards a bit more than usual lately, and to me UMA does feel higher quality. cant say for sure if they will hold up better to time, but they certainly feel sturdier.
oddly enough i started to detect a difference between the feel of rares/mythics and uncommons/commons in GRN and DOM cards. maybe it just has something to do with how the foil marker is embedded into the card and i just never noticed it before. /shrug
but yeah old bordered cards feel way different. inking wasnt very standardized, and there were a lot more errors/slight differences, but the stock is just solid as hell.
ive read that iconic masters was particularly bad, but nothing like that for eternal masters. i picked up a master 25 clique and blood moon, and they feel alright; but id rate the quality lower than UMA.
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(As always, the fall set will turn out be something and someone will come out and say "I totally predicted it would be something.")
of course zendikar, innistrad, dominaria, and ravnica rated highly; but yeah...
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)Wow, what pinnacles of human creativity the writers at WOTC are. Durrr big bomb? Yerp you betcher boss big bomb yerp.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
With the Ixalan flipping enchantments, I thought we would have been in Theros right now. The only hint I've seen of a possible return to Theros is the inclusion of Elspeth in the GRN Masterpiece edition.
Then, there is also the rumored Viking set. If there is a place where they could make the names of the Scars Fastlands work, apart from New Phyrexia, is a Viking world (Coast, Cliffs, Shores, Gorge and Thicket all sound like Scandinavia to me).
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
All about appealing to the lowest common denominator. Shame. I remember reading the books that used to come in fat packs and while they were never literary works of art, they were at the very least interesting and didn't read like a teenager's attempt at Marvel fan-fiction. Maybe that's just nostalgia talking and the story has always sucked ass, but it still made for solid lore. The whole gatewatch wannabe superhero club thing is awful and I'd hate to see the potential of a return to new phyrexia ruined by their campy oath ***** and happy-go-lucky attitudes. Jace suffering a brutal death due to explosive phyrexian diarrhea would be a move in the right direction...
Re: Challenger Decks, I can definitely see Teferi & Search for Azcanta getting reprints along with a handful of other cards along the lines of History of Benalia. Arclight Phoenix seems like another solid target, but one that ultimately won't be included simply b/c it's not from one of the sets rotating out in the Fall. IIRC, most of the notable inclusions from the first set of challenger decks were mostly all from sets due to rotate out (Chandra, Walking Ballista, Hazoret, Push, etc). I wouldn't be surprised if they chose to reprint most/all of the flip cards from Ixalan and spread them out among the various decks to make it so there isn't one deck that's more sought out than the rest, ala whatever challenger deck had Chandra/Hazoret.
Link to Discord server where anybody from MTGS can keep up with thread topics while everything is being sorted out with the new site.
Well don't look now, but Wheel of Fate just doubled in price with Restore Balance up 50%. Regardless of whether anyone thinks Electrodominance will have an impact during gameplay, it looks like it's starting to impact the market, so pickup your copies of Living End/AV/Lotus Bloom/etc now if you plan on brewing with Electrodominance or need them for any other uses, because it took ~4-7 months for them to settle back down the last time they spiked following the reveal of As Foretold. IMO, this time it may be legit b/c Electrodominance has far more applications than As Foretold; allowing the card to be cast at instant speed has the potential for all kinds of shenanigans.
Link to Discord server where anybody from MTGS can keep up with thread topics while everything is being sorted out with the new site.
on another note the foil version of those basic lands from the guild kits with the cool framework/background are going to be in the RNA standard showdown packs. so if you were looking for the foil versions, which have been quite pricey from what ive seen, probably should hold off.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
In this case, the lowest common denominator seems to be an increasingly younger target audience. Kids predominantly play Standard, or at least it looks that way to me at every LGS i visit around the world, and so that's who they need to appeal to.
The true question is how interested even these kids are in this Captain Planet ironic teenybopper super club horse***** but I'm sure Hasbro has its metrics to gauge that.
Shame really - like you said, those old storylines weren't going to be nominated for a Pulitzer either but they were pretty dark at times, lead characters got killed off and some of their backstories were pretty horrific to begin with (Crovax?). Now you get 5 millennials going UGH FINE I'LL JOIN THE PACT LOL ANYONE NEED A LIGHT CAUSE IM FIRE GIRL GET IT and if they 'die' they just **** off to a different plane instead and wake up with a headache. Total bummer dude oh well just start a new quest. Even the recent sets that were supposed to be truly dark felt like a pile of wishy-washy nonsense (BFZ, SOI) because of the shadow of teenage indifference this superhero club nonsense cast over it. OK FINE LET'S PUT HIM IN THE MOON WOA DONE, yeah real Cthulhu ***** right there guys.
What's it gonna take?
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
Link to Discord server where anybody from MTGS can keep up with thread topics while everything is being sorted out with the new site.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
I was wondering why is it a 10 dollar card. Are the people in Standard actually able to hard cast it? Or being used someplace else, in another format?
Nexus MTG News // Nexus - Magic Art Gallery // MTG Dual Land Color Ratios Analyzer // MTG Card Drawing Odds Calculator
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
In Standard certainly no Tier deck is casting that card. In cases like this it is safe to always assume Commander is the reason.
A 9 mana Mythic Rare Legendary Dinosaur. That's as hard a Timmy creature as it can get. Perfect for the format.
its a mythic huge dinosaur with a weird combo-y interaction. whats not to like
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)Ok, thanks for the reply. Had the weird idea that Standard players had some way of casting it. Was looking for a 9 cmc creature to tutor with my Grozoth homebrew, when a search on gatherer turned up Zacama. Thought it just went for cents, then greatly surprised when it was 10 bucks on SCG.
Anyway, just passing time while waiting for the unban / ban announcement.
Nexus MTG News // Nexus - Magic Art Gallery // MTG Dual Land Color Ratios Analyzer // MTG Card Drawing Odds Calculator
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
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Thanks. Ok, I guess that solves the mystery. Sort of wanted it because my homebrew modern reanimator could use the red and white abilities, plus vigilance and could block flying. But at ten dollars each, it's better to spend the money on something else.
Nexus MTG News // Nexus - Magic Art Gallery // MTG Dual Land Color Ratios Analyzer // MTG Card Drawing Odds Calculator
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
Zoinks! Interesting interview w/ Gavin Verhey on the Tolarian CC YouTube channel that somewhat dips into our earlier discussion regarding who's actually reading the story. Supposedly, the reason for including potentially "complex" cards like Planeswalkers as the face cards of beginner decks is b/c they represent the main "characters from the story that new players get excited about and want". Overall it's actually a pretty solid interview, but this explanation didn't make much sense to me; rather the reason is most likely due to the fact that Planeswalkers have perceived value and new players who don't know any better are conned into buying these pre-cons (ba dum tiss) thinking they're getting value in return. I don't have time to play as much as I'd like, so it's not often I talk to new players, but I find it hard to believe that anybody new to the game 1) Knows a story actually exists/where to find it and 2) Knows who the main characters of aforementioned story are and make purchases due to the excitement they have for those characters. The only exception would be if one of those walkers also appear on booster pack art.
Aside from that, there were actually two or three different segments of the interview that shed some light on the finance/reprint aspect of the game (without directly referencing any secondary market of course). A few notable things I got from the interview:
- It definitely doesn't seem like we'll ever see fetches reprinted in another Standard environment, confirming what many of us already believed.
- The "[Insert Planeswalker] Spellbook" product is something WotC intends to continue with and have at least the next two iterations already planned out. It was also teased that the namesake character doesn't necessarily have to be a walker and Gavin has a list of OG Magic characters that he wants to either reprint or flesh out with new cards.
- Challenger Decks are definitely returning and will continue so long as they achieve comparable sales to the first iteration. Decklists officially coming in March.
- In the absence of Masters sets, the plan for getting reprints out into the wild is via supplemental products, non-standard sets, Commander, etc. I don't recall the exact quote, but it was something along the lines of "Masters sets were too hungry for reprints and that made them unsustainable. Each of those sets only had a chunk of reprints that players actually wanted/needed, so now we can focus on that chunk of cards players want in order to make sure reprints are quality and relevant".
- Lastly, there was another interesting quote that more/less bluntly stated WotC actively monitors and are aware of which cards need reprinted and it's mostly about finding the right product in which to include them.
All in all, I definitely recommend giving it a watch. Although a lot of the information given was stuff we already assumed to be true, but I don't remember the last time any WotC employee has gone on record to confirm so many assumptions, answer questions, give insight into their thinking/reasoning, and provide information about what to expect in the near future. Really hoping it's not just a coincidence, but between this and yesterday's B&R announcement it appears that WotC might be making an actual effort toward community interaction.
Link to Discord server where anybody from MTGS can keep up with thread topics while everything is being sorted out with the new site.
the cynic in me also believes it might push wizards towards the 'direct-to-modern' product, because if value reprints are unsustainable for a higher priced top shelf product; then why not just make entirely new cards pushed for play to ensure a high price point. bam you just got a new piece of reprint fodder down the line. only have to look at cards like true name nemesis and leovold to see what im talking about.
i also believe that wizards getting their piece and players getting what they want arent mutually exclusive. so its not like id begrudge them doing it, as long as they try to strike a good balance.
i am interested to see what their lineup of supplementary products will be this year. we know they have been experimenting lately. that was plain to see with the masters sets, challenger decks, and even the new 'premium boosters' they are trying out with RNA. im expecting another battlebond type set, but beyond that...who knows (aside from the upcoming challenger decks).
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)There were claims that the Ultimate masters is better, but I've seen some comments to the opposite, while with Guilds there is still an issue with the stock, that they are essentially (from what I understand) trying to get around with the coating. The problem is, this is dulling the printing/ink. Its noticeable as I have 3 European Arclights, and 1 NA.
I'm a bit of a fool for this stuff. I would rather have Japanese/Euro cards because if I'm going to have something to collect and keep, I want them even at Commons, to be the best they can be.
Its hilarious as I received an order recently with a Windswept Heath, Eidolon of Rhetoric, and Tempest printing Chokes and a few 7th Edition Foil Forests.
The Chokes were 100% flat, literally perfect with a release date of 1997 while the Heath and Eidolon? A bit of a curl to them.
Very frustrating.
Spirits
https://youtu.be/0DUGg9PDnIY
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
ive been handling unsleeved cards a bit more than usual lately, and to me UMA does feel higher quality. cant say for sure if they will hold up better to time, but they certainly feel sturdier.
oddly enough i started to detect a difference between the feel of rares/mythics and uncommons/commons in GRN and DOM cards. maybe it just has something to do with how the foil marker is embedded into the card and i just never noticed it before. /shrug
but yeah old bordered cards feel way different. inking wasnt very standardized, and there were a lot more errors/slight differences, but the stock is just solid as hell.
ive read that iconic masters was particularly bad, but nothing like that for eternal masters. i picked up a master 25 clique and blood moon, and they feel alright; but id rate the quality lower than UMA.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)