I'm hoping they are ending premium sets entirely with the return of core sets later on, as they've proven they can't support much of anything with overpriced premium sets. Conspiracy 2 was priced fine and had plenty of good reprints in the set even if it did contain a lot of draft only cards.
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!
I think the design issues are important, but the bigger problem is the public image that standard and modern are not card set rules for everyone, but rather for strictly competitive play. They have made bone headed mistakes like this in the past with baby Jace and caw Blade, it's just that the pendulum has swung so far towards pushing competitive that anyone adhering to standard or modern gets dragged into this.
They have always pushed competitive over casual because competitive knows what they want. I have been a casual for 20 years, and can say from experience with other newbies and casuals that they don't know/understand what they want out of the game. What's worse is that non-casuals understand even less about what casuals want.
What casual players want is elegant simplicity, which is why I absolutely hate the fact they created planeswalkers and over complicated the game with too many mechanics on creatures. The reason we have to wait for net decks to show up to figure out what is actually good is due to wizards of the coast designing the best cards with deck builders and puzzle solvers in mind, which is not what the average casual player wants. For example, casual players love zombies, spirits (once they get the hang of the entire flash mechanic), and werewolves because they are easy to break down and digest. Zombies are a war of attrition, spirits are great at disruption and tempo plays, werewolves are a combination of early aggression and mid-range all sandwiched into a single package.
On the flip side, deck builders and puzzle solvers abhore a lot of simplification. Desolator Magic is a pretty good example of this as he hates tribal decks and go ballistic over things like mardu vehicles crushing out the majority of other deck ideas, thus leaving only a few solutions that work. They tend to like things such as combo decks (when they aren't two card combos), non-tribal control, mid-range, and aggro using cards with seemingly no obvious relationship between each other, and watching the entire thing come together.
There are plenty of people stuck between the two extremes as well, and this isn't even talking about the other axis of casual players in relation to competitive prize fighter players. On that axis I'm not really sure what the two extremes would be as there isn't a person on earth who doesn't want to play with strong cards.
Im going to disagree slightly, and say that what the casual player wants isn't so much elegant simplicity so much as transparency. Complexity is fine as long as it can be understood.
Y'all are missing something, which I find kinda funny to me so I'll chime in: casual players often want their deck to make some kind of thematic sense. Pick up a goodstuff pile (say, Jund) and look at what the cards do. Is there a theme? What's the story of this deck? Your answer is wrong because it doesn't have a story, it's just a pile of random death and creatures that would make no sense if they sat in a room together. What you are measuring is wrong: sometimes, deck building in casual magic has exceptionally little to do with how the deck plays or how easy it is to Grok. Sometimes a player just wants to be the lord of all vampires because they look cool and vampires are awesome, and why would you include a reference to eldritch horror in a deck of vampires? Makes no sense if you ask me.
What is totally on with the transparency thing though is that it behooves wizards to make it easy for casual players to jam together stuff that makes thematic sense and come out with a deck that works at some level. It makes even more sense when you remember that you're a powerful wizard summoning magical creatures from distant planes, casting powerful spells and calling upon mighty allies for your cause! Competitive players forget this sometimes.
Random unrelated observation: I think wizards has become so enamored with the draft format that they've forgotten how to play non-draft formats. Their attitude towards standard, and how it should play, seems to be moving slowly and painfully towards "expensive limited". Has a lot to do with why the answers suck, because limited. Also why they severely overvalue slow value generators, because limited. And why they completely blank on synergy/combo, because limited. They furthermore try to jam all their constructed staples into rare, as a dinky way to cordon off the "scary constructed stuff" from their beautiful, meticulously crafted limited format.
If you don't know Liliana is not BG DSJ does tell a story about a witch kicking your ass with her scavenging monsters that become stronger the more things die. It's a very D&D encounter kind of deck.
It's true it's easier to find storylines in other archetypes. Affinity is the AI takeover, Merfolk can be played as a militant underwater empire and the only thing that doesn't make sense in Infect is why Noble Hierarch is helping Phyrexia. But "theme" decks can also be random goodstuff like Burn, Zoo and pretty much all combos where "theme" is pasted on and more mechanical than flavor.
Yes. The old art could vary from great to terrible with a great deal of diversity. The new art definitely raised the standard of quality so that individual pieces are rarely bad... but lost previous diversity in the process. It was a calculated move to increase the visual homogenity of sets and while it achieved that goal, for me it killed a lot of the wonder and surprise from encountering an offbeat piece or a unique style to appreciate. To make matters worse, the economy of the business (which is not very favorable for the artist) has pushed them to accommodate as much as possible to WotC's style guide to make the whole process easier on themselves. Unfortunately, this meant that even some of the older artists have become unrecognizable and lost much of the style they once had.
So a great deal of art you couldn't find in any game other than MTG is lost to us now. Brom, rk Post, Richard Kane Ferguson, Guay, Dermot Power, D Alexander Gregory etc. have either not been commissioned in years or make new pieces only rarely.
To make matters even worse, those who now decide the art direction of the game have a much narrower vision than the whimsy of the old artists so the art now takes cues from whatever is the flavor of the month in fantasy, whether it be steampunk, gothic horror, ancient egypt/greece. Sometimes its a success but damn, when its bad I hate the entire set for it (eg. Amonkhet).
Newer generation of artists sans exceptions like Nils Hamm are basically conditioned to just deliver what WotC wants so a ton of the pieces are completely uninteresting and interchangeable.
As for frames, I think the old blue frame in foil is hands down the best visual identity the cards in the game ever had - although the other old frames don't lag far behind.
The frame change made sense from a designers' perspective (and MaRo told me on BLogatog the change was actually motivated by production demands as well) and is better for MTG as a game... But it definitely clashes with the fantasy aspect of the art sometimes (aka looks too modern, particularly the M15 change) and can be far too boring/uninspiring with some pieces.
On the whole, if they had to change they should have gone the Planar Chaos route (the cards with light letters on dark frames).
People might find the association a little funny, but I akin the change in artwork in Magic to what happened with Anime and Manga in Japan. What was once a diversity of style and form changed and morphed over the years into a single mainstream style, to the point that many anime look almost identical to each other. There are minor differences here and there, but outside of Manga like One Piece and Berserk, the styles of most anime are drawing closer and closer to each other.
I don't really have a dislike of the new art for MtG. The old art is great to look at and gives the older cards their sense of identity and nostalgia, but bringing that old art style into today would probably only be valued by old hat players. The greatest trouble Wizards of the Coast faces right now is how to support the ever growing library of cards they have printed for players who play non-rotating formats casual or otherwise.
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!
If there is a problem with today's art is that it doesn't have a signature feel to it. They homogenized into mediocrity and the great pieces stand out because they come from great artists that can make the dullest crumb glitter.
You know when something's from Warhammer, or WoW, or Pathfinder. But Magic art might as well be from D&D or concept art for the next Elder Scrolls game.
About the new border/art: I don't think the new image matches the card back as well as the old one does, and I like the aesthetic feel of the card back. It feels more like a cheesy old fantasy game. I understand the need for the new border, but the old one feels more earthy when you have them in play, and I like earthy feels.
The main thing I can say about the new art isn't necessarily a critique of the style, but of the focus. New cards give you a snapshot/portrait of the world you're in. Many of the old cards gave you an idea of what you where doing or summoning. If everything focuses on the newest world we're visiting, you hinge all of the attachment to the quality of the world we're visiting, and they aren't that high quality.
Couple this with the vastly different art styles from each artist and you have the sense that you're looking at pages of a tome intended for the target spell caster.
The card art is not the subject here. The claim is that the frame evokes a fantasy setting or not. That's why I specifically chose printings with old and modern borders that had the same art for my examples, to remove the art from the comparison.
I'll definitely acknowledge that the art direction has shifted significantly over the years. It's not a sudden break as with the frames, and I'm not sure I'm willing to say that the older art necessarily does a better job of evoking a fantasy setting. What the shift has done, however, is homogenize the art styles more. Old cards had distinctive styles unique to each artist. It's much more difficult to tell new cards apart by their artist without reading the artist credit or being the kind of art fan that pays abnormal amounts of attention to the card art.
The original card frames are more colorful and evoke an elemental feel into the framework. By comparison, the current frames look washed-out and sterile.
I wish WotC would design a new frame with the best elements of both frames.
i miss the old artists like phil and kaja foglio.
their art ranged from wacky humility to beautiful sunstone
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pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
The original card frames are more colorful and evoke an elemental feel into the framework. By comparison, the current frames look washed-out and sterile.
Really? You think this is more colorful and this is more washed out?
The original card frames are more colorful and evoke an elemental feel into the framework. By comparison, the current frames look washed-out and sterile.
Really? You think this is more colorful and this is more washed out?
Absolutely, especially when you see the two cards next to each other IRL. The EM Balance looks like it was bleached.
And why would a blue card need to have a border made out of water? Not everything has to stick to "theme".
The green frame is a plant. The black frame is a bubbling swamp. The red frame is stone (old) or electricity (new). The white frame appears to be marble (old) or pearl (new). I'm not sure what the old artifact frame is supposed to be, but the new artifact frame is engraved stone/metal.
Your position "not everything has to stick to theme" doesn't really hold up when you look at what's actually the case.
I love how this thread is a burning dumpster fire of grief towards WoTC...and it still has fuel, so many subjects, good job everyone
I'm with Yonekura, the card art could use improvement, if only the text box and frame were slightly transparent on all the nonland cards. If we keep doing the full art lands we'll be heading in the right direction.
Not all art got more real estate in the new frames. Sorry, I don't quite know how to properly link images, but the Coldsnap precon Ice Age reprints were cropped losing detail. Take a look at cards like Portent and compare the image of the original Ice Age printing and the Coldsnap reprint.
It's interesting to see which card art was cropped losing detail along the bottom and which cards were "uncropped" gaining detail on the sides.
Something I've been thinking about as of late is if wizards should pull back from competitive play a bit and push more casual events for fnm. A lot of players don't have the luxury of a readily available circle of friends to play, and feeling like you have to have the "best" cards to even stand a fair chance going into an fnm can discourage a lot of people from playing the game. This really isn't helped by the pro tour.
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!
Something I've been thinking about as of late is if wizards should pull back from competitive play a bit and push more casual events for fnm. A lot of players don't have the luxury of a readily available circle of friends to play, and feeling like you have to have the "best" cards to even stand a fair chance going into an fnm can discourage a lot of people from playing the game. This really isn't helped by the pro tour.
I believe prerelease + EDH leagues does a lot of this already. A store can also supply a cube that people can play for payout; a lot of it is a matter of getting people to show up.
The real misfortune is that one of the best and cheapest formats ever (pauper) is never, EVER going to be pushed by WOTC for weekly paper events. It's literally the greatest blight of a format ever created from a money making perspective.
Something I've been thinking about as of late is if wizards should pull back from competitive play a bit and push more casual events for fnm. A lot of players don't have the luxury of a readily available circle of friends to play, and feeling like you have to have the "best" cards to even stand a fair chance going into an fnm can discourage a lot of people from playing the game. This really isn't helped by the pro tour.
I believe prerelease + EDH leagues does a lot of this already. A store can also supply a cube that people can play for payout; a lot of it is a matter of getting people to show up.
The real misfortune is that one of the best and cheapest formats ever (pauper) is never, EVER going to be pushed by WOTC for weekly paper events. It's literally the greatest blight of a format ever created from a money making perspective.
Not everybody likes EDH. I personally can't stand it.
Something I've been thinking about as of late is if wizards should pull back from competitive play a bit and push more casual events for fnm. A lot of players don't have the luxury of a readily available circle of friends to play, and feeling like you have to have the "best" cards to even stand a fair chance going into an fnm can discourage a lot of people from playing the game. This really isn't helped by the pro tour.
I believe prerelease + EDH leagues does a lot of this already. A store can also supply a cube that people can play for payout; a lot of it is a matter of getting people to show up.
The real misfortune is that one of the best and cheapest formats ever (pauper) is never, EVER going to be pushed by WOTC for weekly paper events. It's literally the greatest blight of a format ever created from a money making perspective.
Pauper would make them a lot of money. If a prospective player tries magic and gets beaten down by a 1000 USD modern deck he isn't going to stick around. If he gets beaten down by a 20 USD pauper deck he will likely shore it up, buy a better deck or make one himself, and keep playing the game. A retained player is worth hundreds of dollars across a lifetime. A lost player is worth exactly nothing.
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!
Pauper would make them a lot of money. If a prospective player tries magic and gets beaten down by a 1000 USD modern deck he isn't going to stick around. If he gets beaten down by a 20 USD pauper deck he will likely shore it up, buy a better deck or make one himself, and keep playing the game. A retained player is worth hundreds of dollars across a lifetime. A lost player is worth exactly nothing.
I don't disagree with your logic, but wizards has a habit of measuring formats by product sold, and pauper really doesn't move WotC product (though it does actually help stores move product, much the same way frontier does).
The basic problem is that there really aren't too many ways for WotC to monetize pauper with a new product. So long as this is true, WotC is going to pretend it doesn't exist in the real world.
That said, a friend of mine is putting together a gauntlet of pauper decks, enough to fire tourneys, looking forward to that. Need to put together something myself soon enough.
EDH was much better before it became commander.
Also, lol at "Partner"
And DOUBLE LOL at the Brothers Yamazaki not gaining "Partners with other Brothers Yamazki." Errata!
EDH was much better before it became commander.
Also, lol at "Partner"
And DOUBLE LOL at the Brothers Yamazaki not gaining "Partners with other Brothers Yamazki." Errata!
Yeah, but part of the reason it was better before commander is that before commander the cardpool was smaller and people weren't as reprint starved as today on the older cards. The company literally refusing to put out any serious high volume reprints on older sets is killing them slowly at this point just as much as the design issues of standard. Pokemon has basically completely overtaken magic in sales right now and the nearby targets and big box stores have relegated MTG products to a super small section at the front. Heck, Yu-Gi-Oh has more shelf space right now...
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!
Yeah, but part of the reason it was better before commander is that before commander the cardpool was smaller and people weren't as reprint starved as today on the older cards. The company literally refusing to put out any serious high volume reprints on older sets is killing them slowly at this point just as much as the design issues of standard. Pokemon has basically completely overtaken magic in sales right now and the nearby targets and big box stores have relegated MTG products to a super small section at the front. Heck, Yu-Gi-Oh has more shelf space right now...
Source?
According to ICv2's most recent Internal Correspondence report, Pokemon does outsell Magic in mass market stores... but that's not anything new, as that's been true for years. But Magic's total sales still appear to be higher due to its strong sales in the hobby store area. The only big change I see in the most recent report compared to the previous is that Pokemon has gone from #3 in hobby stores to #2, overtaking Yu-Gi-Oh, but that's not a change in regards to Magic.
So what's your source to claim that Pokemon is outselling Magic? Maybe you only did mean in mass market retail, but as noted, that's not anything new. Pokemon's definitely gaining popularity, but I haven't seen any data that indicates it's actually outselling Magic.
Yeah, but part of the reason it was better before commander is that before commander the cardpool was smaller and people weren't as reprint starved as today on the older cards. The company literally refusing to put out any serious high volume reprints on older sets is killing them slowly at this point just as much as the design issues of standard. Pokemon has basically completely overtaken magic in sales right now and the nearby targets and big box stores have relegated MTG products to a super small section at the front. Heck, Yu-Gi-Oh has more shelf space right now...
Source?
According to ICv2's most recent Internal Correspondence report, Pokemon does outsell Magic in mass market stores... but that's not anything new, as that's been true for years. But Magic's total sales still appear to be higher due to its strong sales in the hobby store area. The only big change I see in the most recent report compared to the previous is that Pokemon has gone from #3 in hobby stores to #2, overtaking Yu-Gi-Oh, but that's not a change in regards to Magic.
So what's your source to claim that Pokemon is outselling Magic? Maybe you only did mean in mass market retail, but as noted, that's not anything new. Pokemon's definitely gaining popularity, but I haven't seen any data that indicates it's actually outselling Magic.
I said the stores nearby where I live seemed to have shifted way more pokemon products and relegated MtG to the dark corners of the front aisle with the weird "Direct from TV" stuff. So my source is anecdotal evidence of walking into a store and making an observation. If a store is putting more emphasis on a product than a competitor product, that's a pretty good sign that product is doing better in that store. I'm starting to notice peoples minds like to fill in gaps on these forums and jump to some implied conclusions about others statements.
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!
EDH was much better before it became commander.
Also, lol at "Partner"
And DOUBLE LOL at the Brothers Yamazaki not gaining "Partners with other Brothers Yamazki." Errata!
Yeah, but part of the reason it was better before commander is that before commander the cardpool was smaller and people weren't as reprint starved as today on the older cards. The company literally refusing to put out any serious high volume reprints on older sets is killing them slowly at this point just as much as the design issues of standard. Pokemon has basically completely overtaken magic in sales right now and the nearby targets and big box stores have relegated MTG products to a super small section at the front. Heck, Yu-Gi-Oh has more shelf space right now...
I'm not sure I buy this premise because EDH was built on the back of dime rares, including nearly the entirety of the Kamigawa block.
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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!
If you don't know Liliana is not BG DSJ does tell a story about a witch kicking your ass with her scavenging monsters that become stronger the more things die. It's a very D&D encounter kind of deck.
It's true it's easier to find storylines in other archetypes. Affinity is the AI takeover, Merfolk can be played as a militant underwater empire and the only thing that doesn't make sense in Infect is why Noble Hierarch is helping Phyrexia. But "theme" decks can also be random goodstuff like Burn, Zoo and pretty much all combos where "theme" is pasted on and more mechanical than flavor.
People might find the association a little funny, but I akin the change in artwork in Magic to what happened with Anime and Manga in Japan. What was once a diversity of style and form changed and morphed over the years into a single mainstream style, to the point that many anime look almost identical to each other. There are minor differences here and there, but outside of Manga like One Piece and Berserk, the styles of most anime are drawing closer and closer to each other.
I don't really have a dislike of the new art for MtG. The old art is great to look at and gives the older cards their sense of identity and nostalgia, but bringing that old art style into today would probably only be valued by old hat players. The greatest trouble Wizards of the Coast faces right now is how to support the ever growing library of cards they have printed for players who play non-rotating formats casual or otherwise.
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!
You know when something's from Warhammer, or WoW, or Pathfinder. But Magic art might as well be from D&D or concept art for the next Elder Scrolls game.
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
The main thing I can say about the new art isn't necessarily a critique of the style, but of the focus. New cards give you a snapshot/portrait of the world you're in. Many of the old cards gave you an idea of what you where doing or summoning. If everything focuses on the newest world we're visiting, you hinge all of the attachment to the quality of the world we're visiting, and they aren't that high quality.
The original card frames are more colorful and evoke an elemental feel into the framework. By comparison, the current frames look washed-out and sterile.
I wish WotC would design a new frame with the best elements of both frames.
their art ranged from wacky humility to beautiful sunstone
pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
Absolutely, especially when you see the two cards next to each other IRL. The EM Balance looks like it was bleached.
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
The green frame is a plant. The black frame is a bubbling swamp. The red frame is stone (old) or electricity (new). The white frame appears to be marble (old) or pearl (new). I'm not sure what the old artifact frame is supposed to be, but the new artifact frame is engraved stone/metal.
Your position "not everything has to stick to theme" doesn't really hold up when you look at what's actually the case.
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
I loathe creatures! Praise Prison and Land Destruction!
My Peasant Cube (looking for feedback)
I'm with Yonekura, the card art could use improvement, if only the text box and frame were slightly transparent on all the nonland cards. If we keep doing the full art lands we'll be heading in the right direction.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-general/334931-what-is-the-most-pimp-card-deck-youve-seen-or?comment=5361
Commander
RGOmnath, Locus of Rage Grenades! EDHGR
UWSygg's Defense, EDH - Voltron & ControlWU
BUGMimeoplasm EDH ft. Ifnir Cycling-discard comboBUG
WBTeysa, Connoisseur of CullingBW
BWSelenia & Recruiter of the Guard suicice combo EDHWB
UBRWGO-Kagachi - 5 Color Enchantments - EDHUBRWG
It's interesting to see which card art was cropped losing detail along the bottom and which cards were "uncropped" gaining detail on the sides.
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!
I believe prerelease + EDH leagues does a lot of this already. A store can also supply a cube that people can play for payout; a lot of it is a matter of getting people to show up.
The real misfortune is that one of the best and cheapest formats ever (pauper) is never, EVER going to be pushed by WOTC for weekly paper events. It's literally the greatest blight of a format ever created from a money making perspective.
Not everybody likes EDH. I personally can't stand it.
Pauper would make them a lot of money. If a prospective player tries magic and gets beaten down by a 1000 USD modern deck he isn't going to stick around. If he gets beaten down by a 20 USD pauper deck he will likely shore it up, buy a better deck or make one himself, and keep playing the game. A retained player is worth hundreds of dollars across a lifetime. A lost player is worth exactly nothing.
Also, pauper adds value to pack openings.
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!
I don't disagree with your logic, but wizards has a habit of measuring formats by product sold, and pauper really doesn't move WotC product (though it does actually help stores move product, much the same way frontier does).
The basic problem is that there really aren't too many ways for WotC to monetize pauper with a new product. So long as this is true, WotC is going to pretend it doesn't exist in the real world.
That said, a friend of mine is putting together a gauntlet of pauper decks, enough to fire tourneys, looking forward to that. Need to put together something myself soon enough.
I can't stand it either, but it makes them money apparently. It's their "properly marketable casual format".
Also, lol at "Partner"
And DOUBLE LOL at the Brothers Yamazaki not gaining "Partners with other Brothers Yamazki." Errata!
Yeah, but part of the reason it was better before commander is that before commander the cardpool was smaller and people weren't as reprint starved as today on the older cards. The company literally refusing to put out any serious high volume reprints on older sets is killing them slowly at this point just as much as the design issues of standard. Pokemon has basically completely overtaken magic in sales right now and the nearby targets and big box stores have relegated MTG products to a super small section at the front. Heck, Yu-Gi-Oh has more shelf space right now...
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!
According to ICv2's most recent Internal Correspondence report, Pokemon does outsell Magic in mass market stores... but that's not anything new, as that's been true for years. But Magic's total sales still appear to be higher due to its strong sales in the hobby store area. The only big change I see in the most recent report compared to the previous is that Pokemon has gone from #3 in hobby stores to #2, overtaking Yu-Gi-Oh, but that's not a change in regards to Magic.
So what's your source to claim that Pokemon is outselling Magic? Maybe you only did mean in mass market retail, but as noted, that's not anything new. Pokemon's definitely gaining popularity, but I haven't seen any data that indicates it's actually outselling Magic.
I said the stores nearby where I live seemed to have shifted way more pokemon products and relegated MtG to the dark corners of the front aisle with the weird "Direct from TV" stuff. So my source is anecdotal evidence of walking into a store and making an observation. If a store is putting more emphasis on a product than a competitor product, that's a pretty good sign that product is doing better in that store. I'm starting to notice peoples minds like to fill in gaps on these forums and jump to some implied conclusions about others statements.
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!