Would have liked to get about 50 votes for a larger sample size. Keep them coming if you haven't voted yet.
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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."
Thanks to all that have responded and voted. Sample in the poll is small, but appreciated nonetheless.
Maybe WotC will notice, maybe not. Cheers.
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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'm actually starting to feel that they should bring back tournament decks. Albeit, they sort of have them still in spirit with pre-release kits. The problem with the intro decks and planeswalker decks is that they are a horrible value to the player, to the point they had to put booster packs in the box just to make it a little worth it. I know when I started magic the gathering the tournament decks were what I always looked forward to opening, since you could use one as a starting point and then buy booster packs to build up the deck.
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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!
What if they brought back tournament decks, but secretly seeded them? For example, having a higher tendency to build into a two-color deck if it were for Guilds of Ravnica. Those color pairing tendencies would be . That it wouldn't purely be a deck and would still have some off color cards that may or may not work for. That the deck might have 2 more islands and swamps but 4 less of other lands.
What if they brought back tournament decks, but secretly seeded them? For example, having a higher tendency to build into a two-color deck if it were for Guilds of Ravnica. Those color pairing tendencies would be . That it wouldn't purely be a deck and would still have some off color cards that may or may not work for. That the deck might have 2 more islands and swamps but 4 less of other lands.
I think they are already trying to do something along those lines with the Guild Decks due out in November and the Pre-Release packs with a seeded guild pack as one of the 6 total packs.
I guess my personal answer would be no, I'd like to see a more random distribution.
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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 have always enjoyed the Tournament packs. Essentially 3 booster packs that comes with a deck box. Since Wizards started giving us fat packs without boxes in them (cheap bastards) and charging us more the boxes were always nice. Now we have to try and find them online. I do not buy the Planeswalker decks because of how utterly garbage they are compared to the intro decks.
I guess it doesn't take away from the game that tournament packs were stopped but it was nice to have them.
two people opening a tournament pack each and dueling without knowing the contents of their new deck used to be really really fun :)) I'd be happy if they brought them back... the Deck-builder's Toolkits have a similar feel to them but they cost more, there's far too much land and it just takes so long to open everything.
Deckbuilders toolkits are all the same except for the booster packs. Tournament packs were different. Playing a tournament style when 6 people get the same cards isnt really any fun.
Personally, I think that tournament packs would let places like Walmart hold sealed events without maintaining a land station. Just an idle observation...
I just wanted to follow up with a thanks to all that have voted and if any have not yet, please feel free to do so. Numbers seem to be turning out to what I expected. If WotC ever lurks here, I'm hoping it comes to their attention. (I won't hold my breath.)
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."
And here we get the "Ravnica Allegiance Collector Boosters", which is to some degree a way worse attempt to make a Tournament Pack.
Its essentially 3 booster packs without commons and an extra uncommon , with 2 guaranteed foils.
Its a weird product, as it is in essence so similar to a Tournament Pack, just a much more terrible value for the money , and they even call that INNOVATION , with is the pinnacle of irony , but i dont really expect anything from WotC product design team anyway , they do such a terrible job anyway (but occasionally, they get massive hits, like the first bunch of commander decks, the best value precon decks they ever produced).
----
So with these "Ravnica Allegiance Collector Boosters" packs chances to see Tournament Packs are even smaller i would say, as they just cant get around the fact that they dont want to produce high quality and GOOD product to begin with, they just so massively fail to hit the mark.
And here we get the "Ravnica Allegiance Collector Boosters", which is to some degree a way worse attempt to make a Tournament Pack.
Its essentially 3 booster packs without commons and an extra uncommon , with 2 guaranteed foils.
Its a weird product, as it is in essence so similar to a Tournament Pack, just a much more terrible value for the money , and they even call that INNOVATION , with is the pinnacle of irony , but i dont really expect anything from WotC product design team anyway , they do such a terrible job anyway (but occasionally, they get massive hits, like the first bunch of commander decks, the best value precon decks they ever produced).
----
So with these "Ravnica Allegiance Collector Boosters" packs chances to see Tournament Packs are even smaller i would say, as they just cant get around the fact that they dont want to produce high quality and GOOD product to begin with, they just so massively fail to hit the mark.
Could you provide a link to this information? I'd like to see this product. Was it just announced? Thanks.
EDIT: I see it was announced on a Twitch stream. $12.99 for a pack of 10 uncommons, 3 rares(and/or mythics) and 2 foils of any rarity. As you say a tournament pack without the commons or land. Its a start I guess, I'd still like to have the commons and land for a total of 75 cards for that same price. Nothing like getting less for your money than more I suppose. I shouldn't complain, its something different at least.
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 don't think tournament packs address any existing need. They are basically just 3 booster packs, with some basic lands tossed in. The only time someone needs a bunch of random basic lands is when they're just starting out, and the Deckbuilder's Toolkit fills that niche but more effectively. Nobody needs tournament packs as a product, and that's why they were phased out.
I don't think tournament packs address any existing need. They are basically just 3 booster packs, with some basic lands tossed in. The only time someone needs a bunch of random basic lands is when they're just starting out, and the Deckbuilder's Toolkit fills that niche but more effectively. Nobody needs tournament packs as a product, and that's why they were phased out.
I dont really buy that.
Deckbuilder's Toolkit simply dont sell at all in any LGS i can see.
Only really a newbie might buy them and only 1 , at max.
These things simply dont have a reason to exist, if a tournament pack could do the same just better AND be reasonable to buy in general, as they had simply better value than buying 3 random booster packs.
So the point is, if you have Tournament Packs, i would only buy them and no booster packs at all.
I'd buy one once in a blue moon. It's not that much more than the price of a Masters pack, and you get a lot more cards.
It wouldn't be hard to make it a somewhat better deal than three booster packs, which would appeal to more seasoned players, and containing several lands makes it appealing to newbies.
If you aren't going to end up opening much of a set, just buy one tournament pack, and you'll at least get a lot of the base commons and uncommons from that set, as well as a fair shot at a money card. Make them for an un-set, and they'll sell like crazy for the lands.
The thing is that the product line up is okay as it is. The real reason most people want to see tournament packs, collectors tins, and other types of retired products is the potential return to the better days of the game. If people haven't noticed yet, the designers of the game are recycling tons and tons of bulk filler cards in the commons now compared to back in the older days. Really, set design in MTG has broken down into designing a few simply mechanics, then running into a catalog room and pulling out all the old generic cards they have and throwing fresh paint on them. The ones I can list off the top of my head are the 1/1 flying man, the 3/1 piker, the 2/1 springboard (pay 1 and a colored to give someone flying), the three mana tempo card (frost lynx, the merfolk in the new set), among others.
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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!
The real reason most people want to see tournament packs, collectors tins, and other types of retired products is the potential return to the better days of the game.
Yeah, who wants better days? (please don't take offense)
I think these new Collector's Boosters may be their answer to these of days of yore. Very close to what I'd like and easier on Hasbro's bottom line for sure.
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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."
Fat packs satisfy every reason I bought Starter packs and Tournament packs as a kid, aren't restricted to one set per year, and have the nifty die thing.
I liked the booklet, but wizards.com hosts the same sort of content and more, and I'm pretty sure kids use computers these days.
The real reason most people want to see tournament packs, collectors tins, and other types of retired products is the potential return to the better days of the game.
Yeah, who wants better days? (please don't take offense)
I think these new Collector's Boosters may be their answer to these of days of yore. Very close to what I'd like and easier on Hasbro's bottom line for sure.
Not exactly. On the surface it sounds great: you get 10 uncommons and 3 rares along with 2 guaranteed foils, which I'm going to assume are selected from rares and mythics in the set like the showdown packs. However, the reason they are making this a limited release product is due to the target for this product: They aren't pricing this aggressively enough because they can't afford to cannibalize / compete with their own product line up. Additionally, players do actually need the commons for deck building at the locals, so it fights with regular booster packs. The other MTG hobbyists buy their cards through the singles market and these packs really aren't changing that. The segment these cards target are people who don't really play that much, but still want to connect to the game somehow on a budget. My own opinion is that segment of the game has been bleeding out and going to greener pastures.
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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!
That point doesn't make sense here or in the other thread.
WotC isn't going to be put out if they get the same amount of money while printing/packaging/shipping fewer pieces of cardboard.
They're not losing anything "competing with their own product line"; they're trying something that would apply a hatchet to their operating cost.
Yes exactly.
These are sales they are making on top of sales of regular boosters. WotC is making their money from distributors. Its at the consumer level where the decision of what type of booster to buy is made and the distributor/box store/LGS is the one that will take the hit. Wizards is going to make its money on these. They have never charged more than $9.99 MSRP for a pack of 15 cards. This busts that model at $12.99 a pack. Same operating cost as a $3.99 booster, with nothing but upside for them. I can't believe they haven't tried it earlier.
I'd love to have a true Tournament Deck, but this comes close and it better than nothing. Options are good.
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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."
That point doesn't make sense here or in the other thread.
WotC isn't going to be put out if they get the same amount of money while printing/packaging/shipping fewer pieces of cardboard.
They're not losing anything "competing with their own product line"; they're trying something that would apply a hatchet to their operating cost.
I admit that people including myself make mistakes in statements due to lack of understanding, but this just isn't the case in my prior statement. I'm not really sure how you are coming to the conclusion they are not potentially competing with themselves with a product like this, but it might be due to not grasping the change in their marketing of the product to begin with.
For one, they are selling directly on amazon now and bypassing traditional distribution lanes to the consumer. Second, how much money do you have in that wallet of yours? If you had 14 dollars, and three boosters is around 12 dollars and one collectors booster is 14 dollars, you can not physically afford to purchase both items. Since both products are from the same company, by definition they are competing with themselves if they put a person into that kind of a scenario. Also, no if the person pays for the first and runs off with the second it does not change the idea of competing with oneself. Culturally we regard that as stealing and it is generally frowned upon.
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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!
What I don't understand is why you think that's a bad thing. Manufacturers bend over backwards and spend tons of money to "compete with themselves." Hasbro wants more products taking up shelf space, and if the long-term consequence is printing and shipping fewer tons of commons, I'm sure they're not going to complain.
From my perspective, the new Collector's Boosters differentiated themselves enough to be a distinct product.
The real "problem" with Tournament Packs were that essentially they shared the same target demographic with booster packs. By removing the commons/lands and guaranteeing 2 foils (Tournament Packs even followed the same foil ratio as boosters, meaning it's possible for a Tournament Pack to not have a foil, if memory serves me correctly), they radically changed the target demographic.
Essentially, as long as a company makes more than a single type of product, they are always "competing with themselves" since the consumer's spending limit is often not a lot. It's often not possible to make sure two products never overlap, especially when it comes to our case (since everything links back to the game after all), so it becomes an issue to make sure products don't share too much of the same target demographic, because when they do (like Tournament Packs did with Booster Packs), it makes one of them heavily redundant. As consumers, we would of course favor Tournament Packs over Boosters, but let's face it, from a business perspective they are never getting rid of Boosters, so the redundancy was rid of at the cost of Tournament Packs.
I might regret this, but to use an analogy - Booster Packs are like Shocks and Tournament Packs are like Bolts, while Collector's Packs are more of Incinerates (main essence of 3 damage/10uncommons&3rares maintained, but costs 1 mana more/has no commons/lands, but can prevent regeneration/has 2 guaranteed foils). For the love of my sanity, just take this analogy at face value and don't try to apply this analogy all the way through with other factors (like the cards' prices or that technically a bolt isn't 3 shocks to begin with...)
What I don't understand is why you think that's a bad thing. Manufacturers bend over backwards and spend tons of money to "compete with themselves." Hasbro wants more products taking up shelf space, and if the long-term consequence is printing and shipping fewer tons of commons, I'm sure they're not going to complain.
Again, well said. This in an ancillary product, not a competing one in my book. And yes, there always is some cannabalistic purchasing going on with EVERY product Wizards puts out. I'm hard on WotC, but this product makes sense.
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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."
What I don't understand is why you think that's a bad thing. Manufacturers bend over backwards and spend tons of money to "compete with themselves." Hasbro wants more products taking up shelf space, and if the long-term consequence is printing and shipping fewer tons of commons, I'm sure they're not going to complain.
It is bad if you've printed a ton of one product, release a test product, and the audience goes for the test product so hard that they forget about the other one. It isn't bad if the product that is less popular is in the process of being phased out, such as with standard rotation and old sets.
Whenever they print a test product like this and limit it to a specific region, they are limiting the possibility of it harming the other product sales while also seeing if they should make adjustments to print more of the test product and do a major release later. They know the people playing this game don't have unlimited funds regardless of the audience, so they don't want to print so much product that people literally can't absorb it all. Heck, this problem happens already with summer sets like Core 2019 and Eldrich Moon.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
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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."
Maybe WotC will notice, maybe not. Cheers.
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."
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 they are already trying to do something along those lines with the Guild Decks due out in November and the Pre-Release packs with a seeded guild pack as one of the 6 total packs.
I guess my personal answer would be no, I'd like to see a more random distribution.
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 guess it doesn't take away from the game that tournament packs were stopped but it was nice to have them.
Deckbuilders toolkits are all the same except for the booster packs. Tournament packs were different. Playing a tournament style when 6 people get the same cards isnt really any fun.
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."
Its essentially 3 booster packs without commons and an extra uncommon , with 2 guaranteed foils.
Its a weird product, as it is in essence so similar to a Tournament Pack, just a much more terrible value for the money , and they even call that INNOVATION , with is the pinnacle of irony , but i dont really expect anything from WotC product design team anyway , they do such a terrible job anyway (but occasionally, they get massive hits, like the first bunch of commander decks, the best value precon decks they ever produced).
----
So with these "Ravnica Allegiance Collector Boosters" packs chances to see Tournament Packs are even smaller i would say, as they just cant get around the fact that they dont want to produce high quality and GOOD product to begin with, they just so massively fail to hit the mark.
WUBRG#BlackLotusMatterWUBRG
👮👮👮 #BlueLivesMatter 👮👮👮
Could you provide a link to this information? I'd like to see this product. Was it just announced? Thanks.
EDIT: I see it was announced on a Twitch stream. $12.99 for a pack of 10 uncommons, 3 rares(and/or mythics) and 2 foils of any rarity. As you say a tournament pack without the commons or land. Its a start I guess, I'd still like to have the commons and land for a total of 75 cards for that same price. Nothing like getting less for your money than more I suppose. I shouldn't complain, its something different at least.
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."
Corrupt Control B | Burn R | UG Turbofog UG | White Weenie W | GW Tethmos WG | BG Cycling Combo BG
Enchantress GBW | Colorless Tron C | Red Deck Wins R | UG Madness UG | Mono-G Tron G | UR Puzzlehorns UR
Rhystic Tron WU| WU Prowess WU | BR Reanimator BR | Mono-R Control R | Stompy G | Temur Tron URG
Mardu Infinite Priest WBR | 85-Card Dredge BRG | Elves GU | Boros Bully RW | Jeskai Familiars RWU
I dont really buy that.
Deckbuilder's Toolkit simply dont sell at all in any LGS i can see.
Only really a newbie might buy them and only 1 , at max.
These things simply dont have a reason to exist, if a tournament pack could do the same just better AND be reasonable to buy in general, as they had simply better value than buying 3 random booster packs.
So the point is, if you have Tournament Packs, i would only buy them and no booster packs at all.
WUBRG#BlackLotusMatterWUBRG
👮👮👮 #BlueLivesMatter 👮👮👮
It wouldn't be hard to make it a somewhat better deal than three booster packs, which would appeal to more seasoned players, and containing several lands makes it appealing to newbies.
If you aren't going to end up opening much of a set, just buy one tournament pack, and you'll at least get a lot of the base commons and uncommons from that set, as well as a fair shot at a money card. Make them for an un-set, and they'll sell like crazy for the lands.
Low-power cube enthusiast!
My 1570 card cube (no longer updated)
My 415 Peasant+ Artifact and Enchantment Cube
Ever-Expanding "Just throw it in" cube.
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, who wants better days? (please don't take offense)
I think these new Collector's Boosters may be their answer to these of days of yore. Very close to what I'd like and easier on Hasbro's bottom line for sure.
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 liked the booklet, but wizards.com hosts the same sort of content and more, and I'm pretty sure kids use computers these days.
The only appeal I see these days is nostalgia.
Not exactly. On the surface it sounds great: you get 10 uncommons and 3 rares along with 2 guaranteed foils, which I'm going to assume are selected from rares and mythics in the set like the showdown packs. However, the reason they are making this a limited release product is due to the target for this product: They aren't pricing this aggressively enough because they can't afford to cannibalize / compete with their own product line up. Additionally, players do actually need the commons for deck building at the locals, so it fights with regular booster packs. The other MTG hobbyists buy their cards through the singles market and these packs really aren't changing that. The segment these cards target are people who don't really play that much, but still want to connect to the game somehow on a budget. My own opinion is that segment of the game has been bleeding out and going to greener pastures.
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!
WotC isn't going to be put out if they get the same amount of money while printing/packaging/shipping fewer pieces of cardboard.
They're not losing anything "competing with their own product line"; they're trying something that would apply a hatchet to their operating cost.
Yes exactly.
These are sales they are making on top of sales of regular boosters. WotC is making their money from distributors. Its at the consumer level where the decision of what type of booster to buy is made and the distributor/box store/LGS is the one that will take the hit. Wizards is going to make its money on these. They have never charged more than $9.99 MSRP for a pack of 15 cards. This busts that model at $12.99 a pack. Same operating cost as a $3.99 booster, with nothing but upside for them. I can't believe they haven't tried it earlier.
I'd love to have a true Tournament Deck, but this comes close and it better than nothing. Options are good.
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 admit that people including myself make mistakes in statements due to lack of understanding, but this just isn't the case in my prior statement. I'm not really sure how you are coming to the conclusion they are not potentially competing with themselves with a product like this, but it might be due to not grasping the change in their marketing of the product to begin with.
For one, they are selling directly on amazon now and bypassing traditional distribution lanes to the consumer. Second, how much money do you have in that wallet of yours? If you had 14 dollars, and three boosters is around 12 dollars and one collectors booster is 14 dollars, you can not physically afford to purchase both items. Since both products are from the same company, by definition they are competing with themselves if they put a person into that kind of a scenario. Also, no if the person pays for the first and runs off with the second it does not change the idea of competing with oneself. Culturally we regard that as stealing and it is generally frowned upon.
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 real "problem" with Tournament Packs were that essentially they shared the same target demographic with booster packs. By removing the commons/lands and guaranteeing 2 foils (Tournament Packs even followed the same foil ratio as boosters, meaning it's possible for a Tournament Pack to not have a foil, if memory serves me correctly), they radically changed the target demographic.
Essentially, as long as a company makes more than a single type of product, they are always "competing with themselves" since the consumer's spending limit is often not a lot. It's often not possible to make sure two products never overlap, especially when it comes to our case (since everything links back to the game after all), so it becomes an issue to make sure products don't share too much of the same target demographic, because when they do (like Tournament Packs did with Booster Packs), it makes one of them heavily redundant. As consumers, we would of course favor Tournament Packs over Boosters, but let's face it, from a business perspective they are never getting rid of Boosters, so the redundancy was rid of at the cost of Tournament Packs.
I might regret this, but to use an analogy - Booster Packs are like Shocks and Tournament Packs are like Bolts, while Collector's Packs are more of Incinerates (main essence of 3 damage/10uncommons&3rares maintained, but costs 1 mana more/has no commons/lands, but can prevent regeneration/has 2 guaranteed foils). For the love of my sanity, just take this analogy at face value and don't try to apply this analogy all the way through with other factors (like the cards' prices or that technically a bolt isn't 3 shocks to begin with...)
Again, well said. This in an ancillary product, not a competing one in my book. And yes, there always is some cannabalistic purchasing going on with EVERY product Wizards puts out. I'm hard on WotC, but this product makes sense.
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."
It is bad if you've printed a ton of one product, release a test product, and the audience goes for the test product so hard that they forget about the other one. It isn't bad if the product that is less popular is in the process of being phased out, such as with standard rotation and old sets.
Whenever they print a test product like this and limit it to a specific region, they are limiting the possibility of it harming the other product sales while also seeing if they should make adjustments to print more of the test product and do a major release later. They know the people playing this game don't have unlimited funds regardless of the audience, so they don't want to print so much product that people literally can't absorb it all. Heck, this problem happens already with summer sets like Core 2019 and Eldrich Moon.
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!