I think this has been a long time coming given some of the threads here, but there's basically zero doubt the game has to go through some changes to actually get fixed and back on track. Everyone has some thought on it, we probably all got slightly different ideas, and it wouldn't hurt to throw them all in one place so that if some person uses google search engine over at WoTC they can stumble on it. Every bit of coverage helps.
My own feelings on what needs to get better is pretty strait forward:
1) Constructed play is the premier way to play magic the gathering, not draft and limited, so they very well may need to change how they deal with printing ratios in order to increase supply on the higher rarity cards. Having 30+ dollar The Scarab God in standard is not helping anyone in a format where rotation will make such cards lose the majority of their value post rotation, sometimes dropping from 30+ to a bottom of 4-5 dollars. There are mythics that are under 3 dollars in the modern pool that once held 10+ usd in value.
2) Actual response to demand from tournaments and finding ways to reduce the cost of the top end cards in general. It doesn't matter if their are alternative cards available, the idea of this game is that even the highest demand staple should be within reach of your average consumer, not just whales and the people with sponsorships. No average consumer is going to be able to afford Mox Opal, or Liliana of the Veil for their deck idea if the card is already being used by some tournament T1 deck and costs 100 usd.
3) Better foils, more full art non-land cards, and just better alternatives to the lackluster foiling used in sets to date. Maybe even a refresh to the design of basic lands because there is a lot of wasted space on the original basic land design that prevents the artwork from shining through. Full borderless basics allow land art for the set to really shine through, and it will help with gauging what styles and artists are the ones preferred by the player base. People really like the lands in Rivals of Ixalan: I think they would like them more if their was a borderless full art option, even if it was a limited number of packs that they showed up in.
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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!
1. Entice players of Eternal Formats, to play Standard due to game play.
The reality is that Modern, Legacy, and Vintage, even Pauper, are not playing the same Magic as Standard.
Why?
Better Cantrips.
Better Removal.
Better Draw.
Better Land Destruction.
Better Counters.
Better Mana base.
Play on the Stack.
The list goes on.
Combo in Standard? Gets banned.
Prison in Standard? No chance.
It's no surprise to me that the last best Standard was during Khan's, the last block to introduce multiple powerful cards that fit into a broad spectrum of decks (not Push, or Eldrazi)
Fancy looking cards are whatever that's not going to improve the game.
Getting cards for cheap, is not going to improve the game.
Doing strong things, within the defined colour pie, and supported by strong mana fixing, is how you improve Magic.
BTW: Foil Islands from the last Unset are now over $100 Canadian...
1. Use better quality card stock.
2. Use better quality foiling process.
3. Reduce the MSRP of boosters to around $3.33 a pack.
4. Reduce the MSRP of Masters boosters to $6.99 a pack.
5. Print stronger cards in Standard.
6. Do away with common foils in Masters packs. Only Uncommons and above.
7. Find a better random packaging process of boosters that doesn't include tracking. (Rarities within a rarity)
8. Make playable, reasonable value Event Decks.
9. Give away occasional rares and Modern or Legacy promo cards at FNM.
10. Listen to the consumer better. Engage us on sites like these.
That's my top 10. I've got more.
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Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
I'd personally like to see Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro implement for Magic: The Gathering most of the stuff that Square Enix has been doing for the Final Fantasy TCG but that's probably expecting too much from a company whose struggling to adapt with their competition outside of Digital Card Games like Hearthstone and Shadowverse. The problem is that they have no problem with continuing business as usual when they're incompetent and overconfident that consumers will keep paying into their products in the hopes that losses will magically disappear over time when that hasn't always been the case. Better design philosophy, better card quality, and better communication between the company and consumer would go a long way.
They also need to find new ways to get more players into EDH/Commander instead of just offering them pre-cons like hosting sanctioned events that reward them for playing similar to FNM events. Pauper has been gaining a lot of traction lately due to the rising cost of Standard, Modern, and Legacy which would give Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro an opportunity to officially sanction more events, Pro Tours, and Grand Prix's for Pauper and perhaps EDH/Commander. Going back to the old Standard rotation cycle while banning specific problem cards in Modern but not to the extent of how bad it was with Birthing Pod would help make these formats less stagnant.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Would any of that actually get you playing/buying more Standard product though Warmarchineprime? Outside of number 5 that is?
The question by the OP isn't limited to just Standard. Its "How to improve MTG?". And yes, if even some of those 10 items I list were addressed I would more than likely buy more packs/product. There is money outside Standard and WotC/Hasbro needs to get this through their thick skulls. So yes they pretty much all apply to me. In years past I usually buy 36-48 boosters of product for a Standard set. I bought virtually zero Hour of Devastation and about 6 packs of Rivals of Ixalan and I won't be buying more. This could change in Dominaria to come. WotC/Hasbro need to get better, too much is slipping recently in the name of boosting shareholder wealth.
I said, I have more, I do.
11. Update the look of MTGO and keep it running.
12. Fix the hokey goofy-ass look of Magic Arena before it hits the market. Magic needs to look sophisticated and adult, not like some cartoonish 8 year old Nickolodeon padlum.
13. Start a pilot Pauper tournament program and try to expand it.
14. Work with LGS more and in better ways than they do currently.
15. Bring back Starter Decks, decent Duel Decks and the Premium Deck Series (ala Graveborn/Fire and Lightning)
Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
I'd say the biggest thing is more quality cards. Especially at lower rarities. Efficient answers at common and uncommon are badly needed. They've tried so hard to avoid anything that people might not enjoy, that they've created a game that most people don't enjoy.
Would any of that actually get you playing/buying more Standard product though Warmarchineprime? Outside of number 5 that is?
The question by the OP isn't limited to just Standard. Its "How to improve MTG?". And yes, if even some of those 10 items I list were addressed I would more than likely buy more packs/product. There is money outside Standard and WotC/Hasbro needs to get this through their thick skulls. So yes they pretty much all apply to me. In years past I usually buy 36-48 boosters of product for a Standard set. I bought virtually zero Hour of Devastation and about 6 packs of Rivals of Ixalan and I won't be buying more. This could change in Dominaria to come. WotC/Hasbro need to get better, too much is slipping recently in the name of boosting shareholder wealth.
Fair enough, the last major things I bought 'recently'.
1. A box of MM3. For the Fetchlands and drafting with friends.
2. ....Some of the Full Art Islands online.
3. A play set of Search for Azcanta.
Thats pretty much it.
If they want ME to buy packs, and play standard, it needs to be like Khan's block. I dont buy commander boxes, I dont buy standard packs (since Khans) and thats it.
Would any of that actually get you playing/buying more Standard product though Warmarchineprime? Outside of number 5 that is?
The question by the OP isn't limited to just Standard. Its "How to improve MTG?". And yes, if even some of those 10 items I list were addressed I would more than likely buy more packs/product. There is money outside Standard and WotC/Hasbro needs to get this through their thick skulls. So yes they pretty much all apply to me. In years past I usually buy 36-48 boosters of product for a Standard set. I bought virtually zero Hour of Devastation and about 6 packs of Rivals of Ixalan and I won't be buying more. This could change in Dominaria to come. WotC/Hasbro need to get better, too much is slipping recently in the name of boosting shareholder wealth.
Fair enough, the last major things I bought 'recently'.
1. A box of MM3. For the Fetchlands and drafting with friends.
2. ....Some of the Full Art Islands online.
3. A play set of Search for Azcanta.
Thats pretty much it.
If they want ME to buy packs, and play standard, it needs to be like Khan's block. I dont buy commander boxes, I dont buy standard packs (since Khans) and thats it.
I've been buying unstable lands all week and one simple question is on my mind: Why are the islands the most expensive? They are tied for the worst art of the set with the mountain, and surprisingly the plains is probably the 2nd best one next to the swamp. The forest is 3rd, but it is like the best dang 3rd place one can have compared to the others. There has to be some kind of island tax or something at play...
Private Mod Note
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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!
Blue is always the most expensive, because it has the potential to feed into Legacy and Vintage, and those are the most expensive formats. I dont know about Vintage, but Legacy is to Blue, what Modern is to Black.
Island does not have the worst art...thats like some kind of Heresy, I'm actually going with that land for my Turns deck.
Mountain, then Plains, are easily the worst. Forest is Middle to me, but Island/Swamp are 1/2 and its tied, for me.
Either way, go look up the Blue Duals, I'm pretty sure just like Tarn's, they are the most expensive lands.
They need to make sure they stop feeding into the creature power creep that's been going on, and returning some power to spells.
And their peaks and troughs need to be worked out a bit. Higher peaks, higher troughs.
Move the focus away from limited. Limited is great and all, but constructed is where players are retained.
Finally, something I think the players need to do to improve the game: stop thinking of boosters in terms of value. Stop buying just for money. That's the reason we can't get high priced reprints in precons. That's the reason Master's sets have become about the top three chase cards.
True Name Nemesis ruined high priced reprints in precons. Speculators and established players bought the Mind Seize deck out, so newer players couldn't get them.
Modern Masters 1 had a fantastic spread of value, so WOTC moved the value to the top, and speculators bought the product trying to make money on it.
People here constantly complain about not getting any money out of packs. It's not good for the game.
It’s too expensive to play Standard, and it’s a barrier to get new players into the game, and it’s too expensive to play Modern, Legacy and Vintage, and it’s a barrier to get players into those formats.
So, instead of pushing other formats like Pauper or Commander into the competitive scene, they need to care more about the other sanctioned formats.
Other than lowering the prices of boosters, the two things that could help the most to make those formats more affordable are:
1 - Getting rid of the Mythic rarity
2 - Getting rid of the Reserved List.
I'd personally like to see Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro implement for Magic: The Gathering most of the stuff that Square Enix has been doing for the Final Fantasy TCG but that's probably expecting too much from a company whose struggling to adapt with their competition outside of Digital Card Games like Hearthstone and Shadowverse. The problem is that they have no problem with continuing business as usual when they're incompetent and overconfident that consumers will keep paying into their products in the hopes that losses will magically disappear over time when that hasn't always been the case. Better design philosophy, better card quality, and better communication between the company and consumer would go a long way.
They also need to find new ways to get more players into EDH/Commander instead of just offering them pre-cons like hosting sanctioned events that reward them for playing similar to FNM events. Pauper has been gaining a lot of traction lately due to the rising cost of Standard, Modern, and Legacy which would give Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro an opportunity to officially sanction more events, Pro Tours, and Grand Prix's for Pauper and perhaps EDH/Commander. Going back to the old Standard rotation cycle while banning specific problem cards in Modern but not to the extent of how bad it was with Birthing Pod would help make these formats less stagnant.
First, a question: what does Square Enix do that magic needs to do? i don´t know what they do, but if you bring it up, maybe you should explain it.
Also, i disagree with the Commander sanctioned events. Commander is a casual format, and was build as such.
But ever since it got popular, people try to drag it to the competetive side, which is cause and effect when it comes to sanctioned events.
I absolutly don´t want that for commander, it should be a casual format.
Well, SE has a lot of things over Wizards of the Coast that the latter actually gave up on if we look at their main cash cow product Final Fantasy XIV. For one, they have first party moderated forum community that they actively listen and engage with via community managers. This has helped them shape Final Fantasy XIV into a game that is worth playing and not just throw darts at a dart board. They also deliver better on what fans want in regards to content and the game.
Wizards of the coast axed their community forums and depends on twitter / Reddit / and random shots in the dark to talk to people. They throw communication articles up on their website that they have to have people go out and link across several communication avenues that they do not directly moderate. The company doesn't even know what most people really want to play and they keep trying to make a product for an audience that is only a small part of their over all gaming community. WoTC is basically a walking train wreck.
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!
It’s too expensive to play Standard, and it’s a barrier to get new players into the game, and it’s too expensive to play Modern, Legacy and Vintage, and it’s a barrier to get players into those formats.
So, instead of pushing other formats like Pauper or Commander into the competitive scene, they need to care more about the other sanctioned formats.
Other than lowering the prices of boosters, the two things that could help the most to make those formats more affordable are:
1 - Getting rid of the Mythic rarity
2 - Getting rid of the Reserved List.
Absolutely not.
You couldnt get me to play Standard for free. You can 'play Standard' for $20.
Actually, another thing that would be nice is using a collectible fat pack style box for masters sets. Everyone needs boxes and it adds some more value to the set. I doubt LGS would care much if the boxes were not optimized display boxes given the promo material they receive usually.
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!
You couldnt get me to play Standard for free. You can 'play Standard' for $20.
I’m sure you can play competitive Standard with low cost cards, as long as you enjoy being the punching bag of the playing group.
At this point, it doesn't matter if competitive Standard is fun/well designed or not.
Even if Standard was perfect many would never find out because of the prices. You have to realize there are many other entertainment alternatives out there. Many people find it stupid to waste that much money on a card game, and in a format in which cards have an expiration date, and they will just move on to other things and forget Magic even exists.
I'm well aware that there are many alternatives, my time is very stretched, and thats kind of the point.
Standard sucks, and its not because of cost. If I'm going to play Magic, it may as well be the best Magic can provide, and for me thats Modern because it DOESNT have an expiration date.
Are Standard costs too high? Maybe. But when Khan's was the format, people played around here, a lot. Packs were getting cracked like crazy.
Now? Nope.
There is again this tension between 'I want to play' and 'Oh actually I want to play the best decks'. You dont get to play the best decks, for cheap. Thats not a flaw, thats what drives the capitalist side of this game.
1. Use better quality card stock.
2. Use better quality foiling process.
3. Reduce the MSRP of boosters to around $3.33 a pack.
4. Reduce the MSRP of Masters boosters to $6.99 a pack.
5. Print stronger cards in Standard.
6. Do away with common foils in Masters packs. Only Uncommons and above.
7. Find a better random packaging process of boosters that doesn't include tracking. (Rarities within a rarity)
8. Make playable, reasonable value Event Decks.
9. Give away occasional rares and Modern or Legacy promo cards at FNM.
10. Listen to the consumer better. Engage us on sites like these.
That's my top 10. I've got more.
1. We can all agree to that. WOtC has said the reason quality is down is because paper is more expensive. WotC is unwilling to eat the cost, that means they either reduce quality or increase prices.
2. Agreed. Magic's foiling is bad. Other games do it much better.
3. If you want to reduce the cost of boosters, then they need to reduce the number of cards each pack contains.
4. Reducing the cost of Masters sets is 100% the right call.
Would any of that actually get you playing/buying more Standard product though Warmarchineprime? Outside of number 5 that is?
The question by the OP isn't limited to just Standard. Its "How to improve MTG?". And yes, if even some of those 10 items I list were addressed I would more than likely buy more packs/product. There is money outside Standard and WotC/Hasbro needs to get this through their thick skulls. So yes they pretty much all apply to me. In years past I usually buy 36-48 boosters of product for a Standard set. I bought virtually zero Hour of Devastation and about 6 packs of Rivals of Ixalan and I won't be buying more. This could change in Dominaria to come. WotC/Hasbro need to get better, too much is slipping recently in the name of boosting shareholder wealth.
I said, I have more, I do.
11. Update the look of MTGO and keep it running.
12. Fix the hokey goofy-ass look of Magic Arena before it hits the market. Magic needs to look sophisticated and adult, not like some cartoonish 8 year old Nickolodeon padlum.
13. Start a pilot Pauper tournament program and try to expand it.
14. Work with LGS more and in better ways than they do currently.
15. Bring back Starter Decks, decent Duel Decks and the Premium Deck Series (ala Graveborn/Fire and Lightning)
11. Might not be economically viable for WotC to do that, especially if they are going to focus on Arena.
12. Arena looks like Hearthstone. That's the point.
13. That would be cool.
14. They definitely need to do that
15. Maybe. I do not know if they are needed. I would rather WotC have decks designed to help get people playing particular formats. More pre-constructed decks for Standard, Modern and Pauper that are not awful /useless. They could do Dual Decks but maybe make them relevant for a particular format in addition to being X vs. Y.
Price is a factor but a small one, Standard does not offer the types of decks I want to play, where is the draw go, Where is the control, the combo and prison? I haven't seen a good combo deck in standard in a long time, and the last sort of prison deck was spreading seas (which isn't really prison but as close as we have ever got in recent times) I have played MTG a long time, Lighting bolt is NOT too powerful, STP/PTE is NOT too powerful, and beleave it or not a mana dork is not to complicated or powerful at 1 mana. I have never had difficulty understanding that the word "all" means "all". I don't need my tribal lords only effecting my guys by effecting both sides it added strategy and made mirror matches more interesting. By trying to make the game more simple you have just make it worse. MTG players can understand and get complexity typically we are or were the nerds/geeks. Int is our strong stat not our dumb stat.
I haven't seen a good combo deck in standard in a long time
I'm guessing Crazy Cat Lady didn't count?
Ironically, that combo would've got me into Standard. Not to play Cat Lady but to see if I could bust the decks playing them. A little bit like Black Summer. You ran Necropotence or you ran TurboStasis. I really wanted to see what players would create against Cat Lady decks. But alas, they ban Felidar Guardian and Standard is all Barney again.
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)
1. Use better quality card stock.
2. Use better quality foiling process.
3. Reduce the MSRP of boosters to around $3.33 a pack.
4. Reduce the MSRP of Masters boosters to $6.99 a pack.
5. Print stronger cards in Standard.
6. Do away with common foils in Masters packs. Only Uncommons and above.
7. Find a better random packaging process of boosters that doesn't include tracking. (Rarities within a rarity)
8. Make playable, reasonable value Event Decks.
9. Give away occasional rares and Modern or Legacy promo cards at FNM.
10. Listen to the consumer better. Engage us on sites like these.
That's my top 10. I've got more.
1. We can all agree to that. WOtC has said the reason quality is down is because paper is more expensive. WotC is unwilling to eat the cost, that means they either reduce quality or increase prices.
2. Agreed. Magic's foiling is bad. Other games do it much better.
3. If you want to reduce the cost of boosters, then they need to reduce the number of cards each pack contains.
4. Reducing the cost of Masters sets is 100% the right call.
Would any of that actually get you playing/buying more Standard product though Warmarchineprime? Outside of number 5 that is?
The question by the OP isn't limited to just Standard. Its "How to improve MTG?". And yes, if even some of those 10 items I list were addressed I would more than likely buy more packs/product. There is money outside Standard and WotC/Hasbro needs to get this through their thick skulls. So yes they pretty much all apply to me. In years past I usually buy 36-48 boosters of product for a Standard set. I bought virtually zero Hour of Devastation and about 6 packs of Rivals of Ixalan and I won't be buying more. This could change in Dominaria to come. WotC/Hasbro need to get better, too much is slipping recently in the name of boosting shareholder wealth.
I said, I have more, I do.
11. Update the look of MTGO and keep it running.
12. Fix the hokey goofy-ass look of Magic Arena before it hits the market. Magic needs to look sophisticated and adult, not like some cartoonish 8 year old Nickolodeon padlum.
13. Start a pilot Pauper tournament program and try to expand it.
14. Work with LGS more and in better ways than they do currently.
15. Bring back Starter Decks, decent Duel Decks and the Premium Deck Series (ala Graveborn/Fire and Lightning)
11. Might not be economically viable for WotC to do that, especially if they are going to focus on Arena.
12. Arena looks like Hearthstone. That's the point.
13. That would be cool.
14. They definitely need to do that
15. Maybe. I do not know if they are needed. I would rather WotC have decks designed to help get people playing particular formats. More pre-constructed decks for Standard, Modern and Pauper that are not awful /useless. They could do Dual Decks but maybe make them relevant for a particular format in addition to being X vs. Y.
Glad to see you are on board for most of my suggestions.
As for #12, the less it looks like Fartstone the better. Magic needs to cater to the "sophisticated" crowd not the 8 year old Pokemon players with no money.
As for #3 I'd be all for cutting the number of cards to 12 per pack (with a price reduction) AS LONG AS the 3 cuts were 3 commons, not cuts to Uncommons and Rares.
WotC/Hasbro could do a lot of these. Sure it would cut into their bottom line but it would keep the game around longer for them to make more money down the road. Short term vs. Long term profits.
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
I've noticed that this year especially, WoTC has been pitching the 56 original cards released in the 4 new Commander 2017 decks as being legal in Vintage and Legacy. It's gotten people especially excited this time 'round I feel, due to the recently announced return of legacy to the Pro Tour. There are some factors going on here that make me think that WoTC is trying to do too much - with so little.
56 Cards may not be enough dedication of design space for even the Commander product, let alone Vintage and Legacy. Too much canvas is trying to be covered with the amount of paint you've got to work with here, WoTC.
After having seen the rather lackluster list of reprints this year for C17, it became aware to me (I think) that this product's hit-and-miss quality over the years is a direct result of the top-down design that this product suffers as a result of this seemingly arbitrary 'rule of 56' as I'll call it. The 56 new cards.
After having seen the 56 originals first and the reprints second, I got the impression that the teams of people who were working on this product would have had their effort better served by not being "put into a box" - a 56 card box - and could have put together a better end result for us if they had more room for freedom of design.
Select the theme for the year's commander product. Next, select the reprints you need to target. Now that you have a framework of reprints, fill in the gaps with new cards that we as players will need to complete the theme. Then give us the commander staples, new and old. This is also your space for finishing land cycles as well - something that is rarely touched on. A few 56 cards is not enough design space to accomplish this task. It is also not enough design space to try to balance said card's power levels for the sake of Vintage and Legacy.
The design teams for Commander products should also be able to use one of the slots for a "new card" to be a functional reprint of an old card if the equivalent reprint isn't practical. This allows for more flexibility. This is ok in the world of EDH players because we work with singletons, we appreciate having functional reprints if it's done the right way. A good example for C17 would have been to select the tribe, pick the reprints of all of the necessary tribal related effects, wherever those tribal aspects end that need to be filled in to flush out the tribe's synergy/power is where you drop a new card - to fill that unoccupied space. Currently this didn't happen because that "new" card slot is trying to serve too many purposes and the end result is this batch of tribe decks with holes in their synergy, like a lack of lord-effects
Currently a customer looks at the Commander product and they can expect to see it as a place for: commander staples, commander-specific-reprints, reprints for the specific theme(s) of the year and (among other things) also a place of design space where we see absolutely crucial lands come from.
Now we're approaching the perilous path of expecting much more from this Commander product it would seem, we're coming to expect the reprints and originals to be the kinds of cards that are otherwise too powerful to be printed into Standard or even into modern and by virtue of the product these cards are in, Commander, we'd expect some of the reprints and new cards to be on that level of power.
I think WoTC can deliver us a much better Commander product if they allow for a broader design space by dropping the 56-card-albatross from around their neck. We can get better products for Vintage and Legacy players too if they didn't have any new cards being printed put through the filter of EDH. Use the Eternal, Iconic and M25 Masters series to introduce new cards dedicated for Vintage and Legacy, shape that into something independent for those formats because they certainly need it.
Please share your thoughts on any of the subjects I touched on or how you think WoTC could improve the Commander product. Even if you disagree with me please let's have this conversation because if it's a big enough conversation it can become noticed! Thanks.
EDIT:
TLDR; WoTC shouldn't sell Commander as the place for new Vintage and Legacy cards if they're only going to have 56 slots for new cards per year, doing so is a disservice to 3 formats; increase the ceiling on this number so you can print more supplemental products that are additional sources for new cards that do not have to pass through the conceptual filters created by the draft environment or the Standard format. Additionally, all Masters sets should have new card printings, similar to the 56 card concept seen in Commander sets, whose format legality bypasses other formats.
It's high time to improve the current model and give the Modern, Eternal, Iconic and frankly ALL Masters series some "gravitas" like what Commander has and give all of these formats places for increased card design IN THE FORM OF NEW CARD PRINTINGS THAT CAN SKIP FORMATS.
My own feelings on what needs to get better is pretty strait forward:
1) Constructed play is the premier way to play magic the gathering, not draft and limited, so they very well may need to change how they deal with printing ratios in order to increase supply on the higher rarity cards. Having 30+ dollar The Scarab God in standard is not helping anyone in a format where rotation will make such cards lose the majority of their value post rotation, sometimes dropping from 30+ to a bottom of 4-5 dollars. There are mythics that are under 3 dollars in the modern pool that once held 10+ usd in value.
2) Actual response to demand from tournaments and finding ways to reduce the cost of the top end cards in general. It doesn't matter if their are alternative cards available, the idea of this game is that even the highest demand staple should be within reach of your average consumer, not just whales and the people with sponsorships. No average consumer is going to be able to afford Mox Opal, or Liliana of the Veil for their deck idea if the card is already being used by some tournament T1 deck and costs 100 usd.
3) Better foils, more full art non-land cards, and just better alternatives to the lackluster foiling used in sets to date. Maybe even a refresh to the design of basic lands because there is a lot of wasted space on the original basic land design that prevents the artwork from shining through. Full borderless basics allow land art for the set to really shine through, and it will help with gauging what styles and artists are the ones preferred by the player base. People really like the lands in Rivals of Ixalan: I think they would like them more if their was a borderless full art option, even if it was a limited number of packs that they showed up in.
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!
The reality is that Modern, Legacy, and Vintage, even Pauper, are not playing the same Magic as Standard.
Why?
Better Cantrips.
Better Removal.
Better Draw.
Better Land Destruction.
Better Counters.
Better Mana base.
Play on the Stack.
The list goes on.
Combo in Standard? Gets banned.
Prison in Standard? No chance.
It's no surprise to me that the last best Standard was during Khan's, the last block to introduce multiple powerful cards that fit into a broad spectrum of decks (not Push, or Eldrazi)
Fancy looking cards are whatever that's not going to improve the game.
Getting cards for cheap, is not going to improve the game.
Doing strong things, within the defined colour pie, and supported by strong mana fixing, is how you improve Magic.
BTW: Foil Islands from the last Unset are now over $100 Canadian...
Spirits
2. Use better quality foiling process.
3. Reduce the MSRP of boosters to around $3.33 a pack.
4. Reduce the MSRP of Masters boosters to $6.99 a pack.
5. Print stronger cards in Standard.
6. Do away with common foils in Masters packs. Only Uncommons and above.
7. Find a better random packaging process of boosters that doesn't include tracking. (Rarities within a rarity)
8. Make playable, reasonable value Event Decks.
9. Give away occasional rares and Modern or Legacy promo cards at FNM.
10. Listen to the consumer better. Engage us on sites like these.
That's my top 10. I've got more.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
Spirits
They also need to find new ways to get more players into EDH/Commander instead of just offering them pre-cons like hosting sanctioned events that reward them for playing similar to FNM events. Pauper has been gaining a lot of traction lately due to the rising cost of Standard, Modern, and Legacy which would give Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro an opportunity to officially sanction more events, Pro Tours, and Grand Prix's for Pauper and perhaps EDH/Commander. Going back to the old Standard rotation cycle while banning specific problem cards in Modern but not to the extent of how bad it was with Birthing Pod would help make these formats less stagnant.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
The question by the OP isn't limited to just Standard. Its "How to improve MTG?". And yes, if even some of those 10 items I list were addressed I would more than likely buy more packs/product. There is money outside Standard and WotC/Hasbro needs to get this through their thick skulls. So yes they pretty much all apply to me. In years past I usually buy 36-48 boosters of product for a Standard set. I bought virtually zero Hour of Devastation and about 6 packs of Rivals of Ixalan and I won't be buying more. This could change in Dominaria to come. WotC/Hasbro need to get better, too much is slipping recently in the name of boosting shareholder wealth.
I said, I have more, I do.
11. Update the look of MTGO and keep it running.
12. Fix the hokey goofy-ass look of Magic Arena before it hits the market. Magic needs to look sophisticated and adult, not like some cartoonish 8 year old Nickolodeon padlum.
13. Start a pilot Pauper tournament program and try to expand it.
14. Work with LGS more and in better ways than they do currently.
15. Bring back Starter Decks, decent Duel Decks and the Premium Deck Series (ala Graveborn/Fire and Lightning)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
Fair enough, the last major things I bought 'recently'.
1. A box of MM3. For the Fetchlands and drafting with friends.
2. ....Some of the Full Art Islands online.
3. A play set of Search for Azcanta.
Thats pretty much it.
If they want ME to buy packs, and play standard, it needs to be like Khan's block. I dont buy commander boxes, I dont buy standard packs (since Khans) and thats it.
Spirits
I've been buying unstable lands all week and one simple question is on my mind: Why are the islands the most expensive? They are tied for the worst art of the set with the mountain, and surprisingly the plains is probably the 2nd best one next to the swamp. The forest is 3rd, but it is like the best dang 3rd place one can have compared to the others. There has to be some kind of island tax or something at play...
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!
Island does not have the worst art...thats like some kind of Heresy, I'm actually going with that land for my Turns deck.
Mountain, then Plains, are easily the worst. Forest is Middle to me, but Island/Swamp are 1/2 and its tied, for me.
Either way, go look up the Blue Duals, I'm pretty sure just like Tarn's, they are the most expensive lands.
Spirits
And their peaks and troughs need to be worked out a bit. Higher peaks, higher troughs.
Move the focus away from limited. Limited is great and all, but constructed is where players are retained.
Finally, something I think the players need to do to improve the game: stop thinking of boosters in terms of value. Stop buying just for money. That's the reason we can't get high priced reprints in precons. That's the reason Master's sets have become about the top three chase cards.
True Name Nemesis ruined high priced reprints in precons. Speculators and established players bought the Mind Seize deck out, so newer players couldn't get them.
Modern Masters 1 had a fantastic spread of value, so WOTC moved the value to the top, and speculators bought the product trying to make money on it.
People here constantly complain about not getting any money out of packs. It's not good for the game.
It’s too expensive to play Standard, and it’s a barrier to get new players into the game, and it’s too expensive to play Modern, Legacy and Vintage, and it’s a barrier to get players into those formats.
So, instead of pushing other formats like Pauper or Commander into the competitive scene, they need to care more about the other sanctioned formats.
Other than lowering the prices of boosters, the two things that could help the most to make those formats more affordable are:
1 - Getting rid of the Mythic rarity
2 - Getting rid of the Reserved List.
Well, SE has a lot of things over Wizards of the Coast that the latter actually gave up on if we look at their main cash cow product Final Fantasy XIV. For one, they have first party moderated forum community that they actively listen and engage with via community managers. This has helped them shape Final Fantasy XIV into a game that is worth playing and not just throw darts at a dart board. They also deliver better on what fans want in regards to content and the game.
Wizards of the coast axed their community forums and depends on twitter / Reddit / and random shots in the dark to talk to people. They throw communication articles up on their website that they have to have people go out and link across several communication avenues that they do not directly moderate. The company doesn't even know what most people really want to play and they keep trying to make a product for an audience that is only a small part of their over all gaming community. WoTC is basically a walking train wreck.
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!
Absolutely not.
You couldnt get me to play Standard for free. You can 'play Standard' for $20.
Spirits
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’m sure you can play competitive Standard with low cost cards, as long as you enjoy being the punching bag of the playing group.
At this point, it doesn't matter if competitive Standard is fun/well designed or not.
Even if Standard was perfect many would never find out because of the prices. You have to realize there are many other entertainment alternatives out there. Many people find it stupid to waste that much money on a card game, and in a format in which cards have an expiration date, and they will just move on to other things and forget Magic even exists.
Standard sucks, and its not because of cost. If I'm going to play Magic, it may as well be the best Magic can provide, and for me thats Modern because it DOESNT have an expiration date.
Are Standard costs too high? Maybe. But when Khan's was the format, people played around here, a lot. Packs were getting cracked like crazy.
Now? Nope.
There is again this tension between 'I want to play' and 'Oh actually I want to play the best decks'. You dont get to play the best decks, for cheap. Thats not a flaw, thats what drives the capitalist side of this game.
Spirits
1. We can all agree to that. WOtC has said the reason quality is down is because paper is more expensive. WotC is unwilling to eat the cost, that means they either reduce quality or increase prices.
2. Agreed. Magic's foiling is bad. Other games do it much better.
3. If you want to reduce the cost of boosters, then they need to reduce the number of cards each pack contains.
4. Reducing the cost of Masters sets is 100% the right call.
5. Agreed, Standard needs Answer cards.
6. Ehhh, not necessary.
7. I guess?
8. I'd buy a lot of them
11. Might not be economically viable for WotC to do that, especially if they are going to focus on Arena.
12. Arena looks like Hearthstone. That's the point.
13. That would be cool.
14. They definitely need to do that
15. Maybe. I do not know if they are needed. I would rather WotC have decks designed to help get people playing particular formats. More pre-constructed decks for Standard, Modern and Pauper that are not awful /useless. They could do Dual Decks but maybe make them relevant for a particular format in addition to being X vs. Y.
I'm guessing Crazy Cat Lady didn't count?
Ironically, that combo would've got me into Standard. Not to play Cat Lady but to see if I could bust the decks playing them. A little bit like Black Summer. You ran Necropotence or you ran Turbo Stasis. I really wanted to see what players would create against Cat Lady decks. But alas, they ban Felidar Guardian and Standard is all Barney again.
If they had done that on purpose, and had ways to combat it, and actually provide an evolving and interactive environment...sure?
Instead it was a mistake, and the default best deck, because Wizards hasnt done good Magic since Khans.
Spirits
Unban Jace, the Mind Sculptor and make it the poster boy for their new set, M25.
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)Glad to see you are on board for most of my suggestions.
As for #12, the less it looks like Fartstone the better. Magic needs to cater to the "sophisticated" crowd not the 8 year old Pokemon players with no money.
As for #3 I'd be all for cutting the number of cards to 12 per pack (with a price reduction) AS LONG AS the 3 cuts were 3 commons, not cuts to Uncommons and Rares.
WotC/Hasbro could do a lot of these. Sure it would cut into their bottom line but it would keep the game around longer for them to make more money down the road. Short term vs. Long term profits.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
This is a paste from a thread I started in the Commander subforum but is absolutely applicable to the subject of the direction that Masters sets need to go from here on. Thread, which I will be reviving in a few moments for the good of this game's future: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/781415-the-rule-of-56-originals-in-commander-is-a
___________________________________________________________________________________________
EDIT: please also see my most recent post (below) as a supplement to the ideas brought up in this original post. Ty!
Hello all,
I've noticed that this year especially, WoTC has been pitching the 56 original cards released in the 4 new Commander 2017 decks as being legal in Vintage and Legacy. It's gotten people especially excited this time 'round I feel, due to the recently announced return of legacy to the Pro Tour. There are some factors going on here that make me think that WoTC is trying to do too much - with so little.
56 Cards may not be enough dedication of design space for even the Commander product, let alone Vintage and Legacy. Too much canvas is trying to be covered with the amount of paint you've got to work with here, WoTC.
After having seen the rather lackluster list of reprints this year for C17, it became aware to me (I think) that this product's hit-and-miss quality over the years is a direct result of the top-down design that this product suffers as a result of this seemingly arbitrary 'rule of 56' as I'll call it. The 56 new cards.
After having seen the 56 originals first and the reprints second, I got the impression that the teams of people who were working on this product would have had their effort better served by not being "put into a box" - a 56 card box - and could have put together a better end result for us if they had more room for freedom of design.
Select the theme for the year's commander product. Next, select the reprints you need to target. Now that you have a framework of reprints, fill in the gaps with new cards that we as players will need to complete the theme. Then give us the commander staples, new and old. This is also your space for finishing land cycles as well - something that is rarely touched on. A few 56 cards is not enough design space to accomplish this task. It is also not enough design space to try to balance said card's power levels for the sake of Vintage and Legacy.
The design teams for Commander products should also be able to use one of the slots for a "new card" to be a functional reprint of an old card if the equivalent reprint isn't practical. This allows for more flexibility. This is ok in the world of EDH players because we work with singletons, we appreciate having functional reprints if it's done the right way. A good example for C17 would have been to select the tribe, pick the reprints of all of the necessary tribal related effects, wherever those tribal aspects end that need to be filled in to flush out the tribe's synergy/power is where you drop a new card - to fill that unoccupied space. Currently this didn't happen because that "new" card slot is trying to serve too many purposes and the end result is this batch of tribe decks with holes in their synergy, like a lack of lord-effects
Currently a customer looks at the Commander product and they can expect to see it as a place for: commander staples, commander-specific-reprints, reprints for the specific theme(s) of the year and (among other things) also a place of design space where we see absolutely crucial lands come from.
Now we're approaching the perilous path of expecting much more from this Commander product it would seem, we're coming to expect the reprints and originals to be the kinds of cards that are otherwise too powerful to be printed into Standard or even into modern and by virtue of the product these cards are in, Commander, we'd expect some of the reprints and new cards to be on that level of power.
I think WoTC can deliver us a much better Commander product if they allow for a broader design space by dropping the 56-card-albatross from around their neck. We can get better products for Vintage and Legacy players too if they didn't have any new cards being printed put through the filter of EDH. Use the Eternal, Iconic and M25 Masters series to introduce new cards dedicated for Vintage and Legacy, shape that into something independent for those formats because they certainly need it.
Please share your thoughts on any of the subjects I touched on or how you think WoTC could improve the Commander product. Even if you disagree with me please let's have this conversation because if it's a big enough conversation it can become noticed! Thanks.
EDIT:
TLDR; WoTC shouldn't sell Commander as the place for new Vintage and Legacy cards if they're only going to have 56 slots for new cards per year, doing so is a disservice to 3 formats; increase the ceiling on this number so you can print more supplemental products that are additional sources for new cards that do not have to pass through the conceptual filters created by the draft environment or the Standard format. Additionally, all Masters sets should have new card printings, similar to the 56 card concept seen in Commander sets, whose format legality bypasses other formats.
It's high time to improve the current model and give the Modern, Eternal, Iconic and frankly ALL Masters series some "gravitas" like what Commander has and give all of these formats places for increased card design IN THE FORM OF NEW CARD PRINTINGS THAT CAN SKIP FORMATS.
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