I'm curious what this means for the price of the original fetches. As it was, they were about to lose some value due to Extended rotation, after which they'll likely never go down again. This adds another variable. Does having an in-print alternative for potential Legacy players mean they'll drop even more? Or will the in-print fetches help lure new players into Legacy, thus increasing demand on the original ones and propping up the price?
I'm particularly fascinated to see where the relative values are going to end up. With the Enemy fetches being in Extended and STANDARD -- the main driver of card value -- and the original fetches being only in the eternal formats, what will be the comparison? Will an Arid Mesa be worth the same as a Wooded Foothills? More? Less? People are talking about these new lands being 'more affordable' than the original fetches -- I doubt this will be the case, at least not substantially. The Filter lands got to, what, $15+? The enemy fetches will likely level off around there for most of their duration in standard (depending on what archetypes are played and what fetches they need; like if Bant is quite popular, U/G would be high, and as that's the one Legacy wants too, I could see it becoming quite hard to get). And all of THAT is assuming Zendikar doesn't have the supply issues M10 has had, which it most likely won't but it's still another variable that could fudge things around.
A final note: these lands will be the biggest boon for getting into Legacy since the Ravnica duals, because they are going to be valuable and staple. The core of my Legacy collection came from trading every Ravnica dual I opened for Forces and toward Revised Duals, the sorts of things that are nearly impossible to get in trade for anything in standard. While there's only 5 of these as opposed to 10 Rav duals (over the course of the block), they're still going to be marvelous trade fodder for players trying to pick up their staples for 1.5.
Aluren/Imperial recruiter? What sorta punk runs that?
If ya wanna playtest anything else in Legacy, I can just about toss together most any other deck, just lemme know. The Merfolk will live on for a while there, even after the bulk of the deck leaves standard.
Let's see... Doran, Sharuum combo (brutal), Isamaru equipment, Lin Sivvi, Gaddock Teeg (mostly for a friend), Phelddagrif helper (my favorite), and Sol'Kanar jackass (just made it yesterday) makes seven. I don't play Doran much anymore, I've just been too lazy to take it apart and desleeve it.
No, there was a mono-green deck named Stupid Green. It got that name because players were incredulous that they were losing to a green deck--up to that point the color was basically a non-entity, support at best. Thus, "I can't believe that stupid green deck won!" G/U versions later appeared, sure, but Wildebeests bouncing Wall of Blossoms/Uktabi Orangutan/Spike Weaver was the original sauce.
I have an old carrying case that I absolutely love, but after 13 years it's gotten a bit beat up. Unfortunately, it's also been discontinued by the manufacturer. I tried starting a thread here to get information on it, but it wasn't exactly successful (other than more people seeing them and deciding they wanted one).
Interesting article, though some of the origin information seems more speculative than true. A lot of Ultra-Pro's products were simple adaptations from sports card lines. Sleeves were originally merely meant to protect your cards, it was a while before opaque-backed sleeves came out. And then, as Henry Ford said, you could get any color, so long as it was black. I would be interested to see how much Ultra-Pro makes off TCG related products, compared to simple trading cards. Good deal for them--the TCG industry came out of nowhere, and suddenly their market expanded a bunch.
George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series is the best fantasy series today. No foolin'. Also have a look at newcomer Patrick Rothfuss's Name of the Wind, very well-written and entertaining; I expect great things of this guy.
The Reserve List, in my opinion, lost all credibility when they let us vote to remove the uncommons from it--Clone and Juggernaut were on it originally, and have since been reprinted many times. Furthermore, however, for any set since The Dark, the reserve list actually serves to permanently DEFLATE the value of old cards. Look at Reflecting Pool or Meddling Mage, both of which saw tremendous spikes in value when they were reprinted.
Scarcity is no longer the driving factor in the value of 99% of cards. It was back before Fallen Empires, when sets were so massively underprinted that even the crappy cards had value. Collectors were a much more significant part of the game's monetary base in the first year or two, until that bubble burst and Magic went from being a COLLECTIBLE card game to a TRADING card game (see the difference?). These days, anything on the reserve list is almost guaranteed to never be worth more than it currently is, barring weird Legacy and Vintage deck tech.
I'd say they should have a poll about whether people's perceptions of this issue would effect the company's overall credibility. What's more important--that a company can change policies with the times, or that they keep themselves constrained by outdated promises? If people are concerned about Juzam etc being reprinted, then abandon the Reserve list for every set after The Dark, or perhaps 'any card not reliably selling for more than $10 can be reprinted,' though that could also be problematic.
The other options are: find tricksy ways to get around the reserve list. Thunder Spirit is the card that always gets brought up--but you know, seems to me that, thanks to Kamigawa block, 'Spirit' is a creature type with enough play-value that reprinting it as, say, a Bird Soldier or Kithkin (particularly if it's some sort of tribal effect) would not be a fully functional reprint. 99% of the time, sure, but tribal effects are significant enough that they'd be different enough.
The other option: Ignore it. Principle of the thing, yeah it's annoying, but honestly, there's like ten or twenty cards on that list that we'd be happy (and they'd be willing) to reprint. We got a bunch of them in Sliver form in Time Spiral block, which actually made quite a few of them better, and still nobody much cared.
Or maybe they'll do a "From the Vault: Reserve List." That'd be a weird one.
Let's lay off the Bonds of Agony question until we get a confirmation; at this point, "You're wrong!" "No I'm not." "Yes you are and you're a poopieface!" is the only probable outcome of this discussion until we get that.
Hah, oh trust me I tried those as well. It too me ages to get this much--try to differentiate this from standard plastic deck boxes or cardboard ones, seriously.
Looks like it's just the color to me. But black body with red trim looks a LOT better than crayola blue with light gray. The company that makes them normally makes those plastic yard boxes, including some for an outdoor deck. Making "Deck Box" an unhelpful search term :/
Alright, so I have this tackle-box looking card case that I've had for AGES, I love the bloody thing. It's got room for a ton of decks or trades, dividers, a sekrit compartment for trades or dice or whatnot, and a nice latch for security, but well... it's been dropped and kicked and had dogs thrown at it too many times, and the handle and latch are loose. In other words, I should replace it, but I'm having a devil of a time finding the darned thing. I found the PATENT INFORMATION before finding anyone who sells them. Eventually I found a sports card place that has them listed, but they're sold out; another one that their shopping card doesn't work, a wholesaler that seems to be selling a newer (uglier) version, but I'm not willing or legally able to buy from them.
So, does ANYONE know where I might go to find one of these? Or, are there 49 other people who'd want to buy some if I could get 50 wholesale? I'd really appreciate any tips anyone has on it, the box is ace and I've never found another quite so handy.
If the KCI decks are still running Muddle to fetch the two main combo pieces, would running a single MD Time Sieve really hurt? Not hoping to draw it most games, but an option if you want it. It doesn't strictly have to be one or the other, I'd think.
Phelddagrif all the way, baby! It's a pretty beefy critter by itself, resilient (bounce it to your hand, can replay for base cost each time), and helps you influence the entire field. Someone's falling behind? Have some life and some tokens, maybe even draw a few cards.
I'm particularly fascinated to see where the relative values are going to end up. With the Enemy fetches being in Extended and STANDARD -- the main driver of card value -- and the original fetches being only in the eternal formats, what will be the comparison? Will an Arid Mesa be worth the same as a Wooded Foothills? More? Less? People are talking about these new lands being 'more affordable' than the original fetches -- I doubt this will be the case, at least not substantially. The Filter lands got to, what, $15+? The enemy fetches will likely level off around there for most of their duration in standard (depending on what archetypes are played and what fetches they need; like if Bant is quite popular, U/G would be high, and as that's the one Legacy wants too, I could see it becoming quite hard to get). And all of THAT is assuming Zendikar doesn't have the supply issues M10 has had, which it most likely won't but it's still another variable that could fudge things around.
A final note: these lands will be the biggest boon for getting into Legacy since the Ravnica duals, because they are going to be valuable and staple. The core of my Legacy collection came from trading every Ravnica dual I opened for Forces and toward Revised Duals, the sorts of things that are nearly impossible to get in trade for anything in standard. While there's only 5 of these as opposed to 10 Rav duals (over the course of the block), they're still going to be marvelous trade fodder for players trying to pick up their staples for 1.5.
If ya wanna playtest anything else in Legacy, I can just about toss together most any other deck, just lemme know. The Merfolk will live on for a while there, even after the bulk of the deck leaves standard.
Interesting article, though some of the origin information seems more speculative than true. A lot of Ultra-Pro's products were simple adaptations from sports card lines. Sleeves were originally merely meant to protect your cards, it was a while before opaque-backed sleeves came out. And then, as Henry Ford said, you could get any color, so long as it was black. I would be interested to see how much Ultra-Pro makes off TCG related products, compared to simple trading cards. Good deal for them--the TCG industry came out of nowhere, and suddenly their market expanded a bunch.
Avoid Eragon like the plague that it is.
Scarcity is no longer the driving factor in the value of 99% of cards. It was back before Fallen Empires, when sets were so massively underprinted that even the crappy cards had value. Collectors were a much more significant part of the game's monetary base in the first year or two, until that bubble burst and Magic went from being a COLLECTIBLE card game to a TRADING card game (see the difference?). These days, anything on the reserve list is almost guaranteed to never be worth more than it currently is, barring weird Legacy and Vintage deck tech.
I'd say they should have a poll about whether people's perceptions of this issue would effect the company's overall credibility. What's more important--that a company can change policies with the times, or that they keep themselves constrained by outdated promises? If people are concerned about Juzam etc being reprinted, then abandon the Reserve list for every set after The Dark, or perhaps 'any card not reliably selling for more than $10 can be reprinted,' though that could also be problematic.
The other options are: find tricksy ways to get around the reserve list. Thunder Spirit is the card that always gets brought up--but you know, seems to me that, thanks to Kamigawa block, 'Spirit' is a creature type with enough play-value that reprinting it as, say, a Bird Soldier or Kithkin (particularly if it's some sort of tribal effect) would not be a fully functional reprint. 99% of the time, sure, but tribal effects are significant enough that they'd be different enough.
The other option: Ignore it. Principle of the thing, yeah it's annoying, but honestly, there's like ten or twenty cards on that list that we'd be happy (and they'd be willing) to reprint. We got a bunch of them in Sliver form in Time Spiral block, which actually made quite a few of them better, and still nobody much cared.
Or maybe they'll do a "From the Vault: Reserve List." That'd be a weird one.
So, does ANYONE know where I might go to find one of these? Or, are there 49 other people who'd want to buy some if I could get 50 wholesale?