Thought I'd share this from Rudy of Alpha Investments:
Quote from Alpha Investments »
I want to have a conversation about the state of everything right now, what my perspective is, what my opinion is, on the overall state of what I see going on in the Collectible world and kind of the whole world as a whole. I really just kinda wanted to take a moment to discuss this stuff with you all. First let's talk about MTG, Time Spiral Remastered just came out and there's definitely a big shift in behavior on what Wizards of the Coast is doing with the supply. We started to notice that with Commander Legends but I didn't think too much of it similar to Kaldheim I started seeing a similar shift in behavior when it comes to different types of products, the product lines, and how they're trying to sell these products. I've kinda cracked the code in my opinion on what my perspective is on Hasbro and what's coming here. There's been a lot of conversation about Hasbro wanting to have double digit massive double the sales and revenue of Wizards of the Coast in the next five years type of thing really insane stuff you know? Everybody's saying, "Oh my goodness they want to have more money and more revenue?"
Well there's only a couple ways to increase the amount of revenue that Papa Hasbro can get from Wizards of the Coast and obviously that's by making more products and selling more units of product or of course raising the price per product to try to capture a larger you know chunk of revenue per item sold and then actually there's a third way which is actually what I realized the other day is what I think is actually what they're doing. There's been a lot of conversation about that, everybody's been saying "Rudy I don't get it how can Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro continue to smash revenue and keep going to the moon type thing?" And you know we've all been saying, "How can you make more product we've already got new releases every month, a million Secret Lairs and supplemental products?" Back in the day you had War of the Spark with an EV of $160 a box, now when you have Kaldheim and Strixhaven where you got Set Boxes, Booster Boxes, Collector Boxes, Commander Deck Sets, you have four products release at the same time versus "Hey War of the Spark is out we got one new box!"
The sheer volume of product was originally what I expected to show that increase of revenue factored in higher quantities of Secret Lairs and of course instead of Secret Lairs being $29.99 and $39.99 being $50 and above moving forward with more ultimate editions being like you know $80 $100 $2-3 or $400 a Secret Lair so that's kind of my perspective of what I thought. The amount of Secret Lairs and variants they can come up with is simply endless. I'm waiting for the Pikachu Secret Lair and of course the Rick and Morty Secret Lair and of course The Simpsons Secret Lair and you know I'm gonna swing with my Bart Simpson you're going to defend with your Pikachu and that's kind of you know The Cabbage Patch Dolls and Pogs and Beanie Babies. I'm gonna defend Princess Diana here and I'm gonna counter-strike with my Nintendo as we hit Rule of Rose down with the taco envelope ya see what I'm saying? There's not really any limitation of what they can do with that stuff but I wanted to give you guys actually what I feel the real thing coming is. I don't think they're actually going to increase Secret Lairs any further than they already have.
I think they've already found their rhythm, I don't think they're going to make more products than they already are now because they can't physically keep up with it through the printers then I realized this whole thing with Hasbro is about Amazon because the biggest tip and hint that Papa Hasbro gave all of us that we didn't focus enough on was the Direct-to-Consumer thing. Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro are in a transitionary period right now where I genuinely believe that they want to shift up to almost half the business away from Local Game Stores (LGSs) and they kind of want the LGS model to become extinct. I still stand by that, I don't agree with it, but I believe that's what they believe does that make sense anyone? I believe similar to how other card games I believe the LGS network of thousands of stores across the country whether you're a WPN tournament store or you're just a hobby store that stores things, sells things, or me with collections like what I do. I don't host tournaments, I don't report results to WPN, I don't engage in that. I believe the importance of comic book stores and hobby stores around the world does carry value I do believe that.
Do I think it's a profitable big successful good life for an average person who wants to start that in 2021? Absolutely not I would highly recommend against it unless you're going to do a Social Media presence or you're going to have some sort of special angle with maybe people want to do restaurants or bar week. You can have people in the restaurant, okay? You know post-2020 it's a very complicated thing. So what I've realized fully which we started to get rumors with the Commander Legends Collector Boxes was Hasbro was going to be shifting all future restocks in multiple waves, Jumpstart, Commander Legends Collector Boxes, and Kaldheim Collector Boxes, and I think it's all going to be going to Amazon. Let me paint you all a picture here, Wizards of the Coast sells a Collector Box to a distributor by the pallet and the distributor pays Wizards of the Coast $140 for a Collectors Box. The Collectors Box is then sold to stores at $170 so at $170 for Commander Legends Collectors Boxes the store then sells it for $250 and they net $220. So the store ends up making from $220 to $170 so let's say they make $50 on a product so essentially $50 profit on a $200 thing is you're going to be around $25-35 profit margin?
That's where it should be for any retail business model due to the massive amount of overhead, loss, theft, fraud, disputes, shipping costs, return, you got to deal with all the intagibles so you don't really make $50 you gross $50. It doesn't flow to the bottom line but so let's just step back again. I firmly believe at this point in time Wizards of the Coast has officially made the decision that moving forward all Paper Magic restocks and second waves including Time Spiral Remastered and Commander Legends Collector Boxes will be funneled directly by the pallet, by the truckload, to Amazon's fulfillment so that the bulk of a higher percentage of revenue goes direct to Wizards of the Coast and flows through Papa Hasbro. Essentially what this is going to do is that they've calculated a way for their accountants to essentially come up with a way to increase profit margins substantially without changing anything else in the marketplace. They're essentially pulling it from the distribution model in the 3,000 Local Game Stores (LGSs) across the United States.
They figured out a way to shift and kind of just move things around without changing the actual cards and printing of Magic: The Gathering. The first sign of evidence this has been showing kind of rearing its head was Jumpstart in the last couple months. Stores have no Jumpstart. I have two cases of Jumpstart reserve for future box openings, that's it 12 boxes. Where's all the Jumpstart? Then Amazon randomly every month is getting waves of Jumpstart. Then we saw the biggest piece of evidence recently in the last two to three weeks with Commander Legends Collector Boxes. Not a single store around the country got a single box of it including myself. I got one case for future box openings just put aside. So lets redo the numbers, Wizards of the Coast makes a product being a Collectors Box, Wizards of the Coast sells that box to the distributor and getting $140 per unit they are now sending the pallet to Amazon and Amazon is selling directly for what $200-250 I've heard all kinds of numbers let's just say $200.
Now let's say Amazon nets $180 or $199 I'm sure they have a special agreement with different fee structures with Amazon fulfillment. So let's pretend Wizards of the Coast is netting $180. Well netting $180 per Commander Legends Collector Box versus $140 from a distributor is a massive massive difference ladies and gentlemen. It is a substantial swing in data and when you scale that to millions of items and dollars it is massive everybody. It is flipping insane. If they're able to net $180 $190 for Commander Legends Collector Boxes versus the $140 from a distributor they're netting an additional $40 per box. If they dump 10,000 boxes to Amazon. $40-$50 a box times 10,000 do the math folks it's massive. You're approaching almost half a million dollars additional revenue and that revenue there's no cost of goods sold it is a straight profit increase by adjusting your profit margins and changing your distribution logistics. This is a big deal. Some people in the financial world always call that "continuous improvement", "kaizen", all these fancy different terms and in the business school, corporate world but let me just explain something to you all.
It's a major game changer. Okay. Because If they're able to capture a quarter million to a half a million additional revenue per Wizards of the Coast MTG product times 10 to 12 times in a year, you're talking an additional five to seven million dollars in revenue assuming this happens once per month in a 12 month calendar year. So number one, I'm not a financial advisor, I'm a guy who lives in my parents basement, I've failed in my career, and I'm a Timmy Taco guy but for the record that's a very bullish indicator for Papa Hasbro, their corporate stock, and the direction of everything. Again If you want advice on the company or the stock or trading on Wall Street definitely seek a licensed guy, not a failure of a dude in a basement who can't even afford a haircut. But for the record that is how I believe the data and the revenue is actually going to have the biggest change we've ever seen from Wizards of the Coast. When they report those earnings in the next few quarters and they report record shattering revenue increases in a year over a year because remember let me explain and step back for a second.
Wall Street and stock prices are all about being afraid of fear and uncertainty they can't stand it. That's like kryptonite. Wall Street, stock prices, and earnings are all about the future 4 12 4 24 4 60 months forward one to five years. The past is useless. The share price is always baking in between 6 and 18 months in advance is the historical kind of concept of how share prices work and If you're a CFA and you're assigned to do research or dig into the paperwork or you're an analyst looking into quarterly earnings and conference calls then that's what you're going to focus on. You don't care about what kind of set Wizards of the Coast released two years ago as this is further enforcing my theory that products like Jumpstart and different things are never going to be corrected. I don't care what Mark Rosewater said a year ago about supply this and that it's never going to be corrected. Any supply that's created will be funneled to Amazon and bypassing all the Local Game Stores (LGSs) in the future. So this leads to a lot of complicated side effects and collateral damage that Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro do not seem to have a long-term focus on.
This brings me to another conversation. Remember everybody Board of Directors and publicly traded companies in capitalism, one of the biggest weaknesses of the entire concept of equities, Wall Street, and everything involved, one of their BIGGEST weaknesses is that the people assigned to run these high up Ivory Tower positions are usually paid out as a base salary in bonuses tied to goals that are hit on a monthly or quarterly or annual basis and their biggest bonuses when they hit those goals are not paid out in cash they're paid out in company stock, paid out in equity. They paid out just like Elon Musk where Elon will get hit with you know 100 million dollar Tesla stock bonus If he hits his goals. They don't cut him a check for $100 million, he's a sign, he gets voting rights, option rights, or some sort of right to exercise to acquire 100 million shares, one of those situations. So the problem is with capitalism in situations like this is the people working there they know the back of their mind they're not going to be working there. Most of those people will not be there 5, 10, 20 years so they're incentivized to make bad decisions based on short-term gain at long-term sacrifice.
This leads to the downfall of many corporations long-term: Blockbuster, Enron, Sears, K-Mart, you can go on and on. The point is that it's one of the double-edged things about capitalism that is the downside that's very difficult to correct because as humans we all have life expectancies and we all know that we're only going to be doing something for so long. Therefore If you're getting a job for a corporation then it is in your best interest to make the most amount of revenue at any means necessary to bring home the most amount of income for yourself and your family and your future. That's my speech. So to swing back around based on all of this generally accepted kind of common sense approach, you know kind of the keep it simple stupid method. They call it the kiss method just keep it simple as the most simplest means of handling and trying to figure out puzzles and unknown variables and things you're not informed with companies is: follow the money. So I believe the way Wizards of the Coast is actually going to achieve this is by a couple of prongs.
The number one prong is actually going toward the biggest piece of the fork is actually going to be Wizards of the Coast fulfilling all future restocks and reprint waves directly with Amazon so that they can capture the Secondary Market or they're only going to fulfill their obligations with Amazon on products they know are going to inflate in value because of what they did or the supply they chose to do. They have that information because they made those decisions. So I believe that when it comes down to Modern Horizons 2 Collector Boxes coming out soon that they're going to be stupidly expensive including Booster Boxes, Set Boxes, that's ridiculous I'm sorry. I think that there should be a Modern Horizons 2 Box and a Modern Horizons 2 Collector Box but I really think it should've just been a regular box. I think a lot of you lose sight of how far we've come, remember 4 years ago Conspiracy came out in a rectangle box and the price was the same which was $75 a box at the time? Stores were selling them for $90 same 36 packs, same rectangle box. Then we had Unstable come out with a rectangle box same shape as Modern Horizons same $80 price point for stores.
You know it's only recently that the major behavior has shifted and it needs to be taken very non-lightly it needs to be taken seriously. We are in a permanent behavior like shift cycle. This is a major corporate behavior change with Magic: The Gathering, Wizards of the Coast, and Hasbro. The way that they're approaching Magic: The Gathering in the way that the products and the crossovers and the Pikachus and the Dungeons & Dragons and all these things coming some will be amazing, some will suck, some will cause anger, some will make a lot of money whatever. We all need to understand that it's NEVER EVER going back to the way it was. For that right there is very difficult for myself and a lot of people out there to accept. I want people to understand that they're going to continue to raise prices to bring in more revenue, they're going to take all restocks in multiple waves after initial release starting with Commander Legends Collector Boxes, next will be Time Spiral Remastered Boxes, and they're going to do Direct-to-Market in what I believe to be between $200 to $250 and they're going to sell directly, they're going to take 10, 20 pallets, throw them on Amazon, and milk all of it for a higher margin Direct-to-Consumer thing and completely bankrupt the 3,000 Local Game Stores (LGSs) across the United States.
I've been saying for a long time that this was coming, this was inevitable, and it's going to really just nuclear devastate a lot of the weak handed stores especially coming out of the 2020 scenario. This has parted the sea and bred opportunity for competition to rise up and challenge them. We're seeing tremendous growth and insane money in Pokémon TCG, it is insane! We're seeing growth and demand across the board in Weiss Schwarz, I've seen the biggest uptick I've ever seen in 4 years for the Force of Will TCG. It's the largest uptick in demand I've seen for new sealed booster boxes, it's insane! Force of Will TCG actually has new products coming out. That's how much the world is changing and don't even get me started on the Flesh and Blood TCG. I blame a lot of this on Wizards of the Coast's decision as they're allowing the competition to rise up because they've angered A LOT of people. They're disenfranchising the stores, the distributors, the collectors, the "evil investors". When you disenfranchise and you do that what do you expect to happen? Look how you're treating these people, look at how you're treating the people who buy your product, look at the things you're saying without saying them.
Wizards of the Coast is so focused on this corporate bizarre or whatever their behavior or beliefs by preaching it but behind the scenes they are money machine gone brrr. They have corporate guys, economists, financial dudes, people probably from Wall Street Financial Bank I wouldn't be surprised If someones working from Goldman Sachs and literally employees from J.P. Morgan and all kinds of people from brokerage firms that have been hired and poached to run and manage this portfolio of products because the money involved. I'm serious! I genuinely think that If it wasn't for these things happening Pokémon TCG would've grown but it would've been slightly different. Flesh and Blood TCG would not have had the clear sailing to run as fast as they did. I'm telling you all the amount of people moving and buying into that are upset at new Magic: The Gathering and they just want old Magic: The Gathering that represents them and then they want Pokémon TCG, Flesh and Blood TCG, Force of Will TCG, and now they're looking at the new Digimon CCG. The amount of people looking elsewhere for opportunity is the most I've ever seen.
We're going to continue to see the side effects of these decisions cause when you don't restock stores then these 3,000 Local Game Stores (LGSs) get no Commander Legends Collector Boxes, and then everybody sees that you're dumping 10,000 boxes on the open market. I bought some. I went on Amazon and I started placing orders for them. I mean everyone I know did. Once they show up a message goes viral and everybody's like, "Hey they're there!" And everybody just starts buying until they're gone. Why? Because that's all you can do. At least now I have some so I can do future box openings and things and I can actually have some for future collecting and investing. When you treat the backbone of the stores of the network and you completely bankrupt them and something else comes along, alright look I'm gonna be honest with you all. It's like a toxic relationship okay for those of you young ladies and young men out there who are maybe you're in your 20's or you're in college and you're 21 years old or 25 or even If you're in your 30's. Let's say you're in your 30's and you're in a bad relationship or a stale relationship and you're comfortable and you're going along with it.
Let me explain to you something about human nature in life and investments. Let me give you a little life preach everybody. People are very complacent, they get comfortable but let me tell you what happens when something better comes along. There's couples in relationships who're together for years and there's no intimacy, no communication, it's just that they exist. It's a sad thing and the reason why I'm bringing this up is because this is exactly how stores and people feel toward Magic: The Gathering. I know it's cheesy sounding but when something better comes along you get the typical thing you know what happens? You know what happens folks? They wonder what happened well let me tell you what happened. You had people who were putting up or accepting a certain thing a certain way and something better came along and then all of a sudden it lined up, the planets aligned, the spark went through, something happened. It looks like, "Well I can't believe this happened!" But it did happen. That's what I'm seeing with what's happening with Magic: The Gathering. That's what I've been seeing with Pokémon TCG, Flesh and Blood TCG, Force of Will TCG, Weiss Schwarz, this new Digimon CCG. You see what I'm talking about?
When you irritate people but they still love your product they put up with you. They put up with you. We love Magic: The Gathering. We love the game. We love the history. Okay. But when the other partner in the transaction is treating you poorly then you're putting up with it. It becomes a toxic relationship. That's how I view Magic: The Gathering and what they're doing and these decisions and anyone ever who genuinely thinks people like Mark Rosewater and Gavin Verhey have your best interest at stake or whatever it is in these corporations or making things and products then I'm sorry you deserve to be taken advantage of. You deserve to be taken advantage of because you don't see the world correctly through the correct lens. You see it the way YOU want to see it NOT for the nasty reality that it is. That's how I see Magic: The Gathering with Wizards of the Coast right now. They put on this "front" this "image" and all these things, the community, and all this stuff and it's a pile of garbage. It's a heaping pile of manipulation in bait and switch. There was a movie in the early 2000's called Swordfish, I recommend most of you who never heard of it go check it out.
It's a very confusing bizarre movie but it has very interesting principles and philosophical questions that makes you think and learn about. I feel that this is a perfect example of misdirection where I feel Wizards of the Coast focuses on this MTG Community in this certain public image but the reality is that they're treating the card game itself like complete and utter trash. I feel like you can sense that you know between the card quality, the printing, the massive massive price increases, and there's a difference between Pokémon TCG and Magic: The Gathering ladies and gentlemen. There's no Pokémon TCG Collector Boxes, no Set Boxes. New Pokémon Battle Styles come out soon in another day or so and booster boxes are $160 in the open market. Stores are still paying between $80 to $90 you know depending what distributor and what volume. Nothing's changed. But how come all the sudden that same new release Pokémon TCG set is selling for $160 instead of maybe $120? Because the product's good. Because people enjoy the product. Context matters and perspective matters.
I really genuinely believe that this whole Magic: The Gathering and Wizards of the Coast thing is going to have substantial long-term impacts that we have all yet to fully understand what it's going to mean. Seriously. I believe that we are on the verge of a major market dynamic shift. I think old MTG cards and Reserve List cards continues to go to the moon. I think sealed MTG product across the board will still do well. Maybe it's hyperinflation. Maybe it's money machine goes blurr with Stimulus Checks whatever you want to call it ladies and gentlemen. The behavior of Wizards of the Coast is permanently different and everybody needs to understand that and just like me we need to accept that. At the end of the day I love the game. I love Magic: The Gathering and literally my Achilles heel is old Magic cards the history of Magic cards. Magic: The Gathering in the 90's. It's really something that will never be duplicated ever again. It's an era of Trading Cards and History that represent things that I cannot explain to you all If you weren't there and where you were able to fully understand what it was like and what it felt like.
Friendly reminder Original Magic: The Gathering was actually built around nerds and losers like me who were into the cards, women thought it was stupid and pathetic and you're a loser, the Media thought it was evil Satanic rituals and there were some crazy underground devil worshi- I don't want to know the crazy crap they said. Parents, Teachers, and Schools banned them and thought they were evil and toxic. Magic: The Gathering had to be that underground secret thing that you're embarrassed to be a part of. That is the history of this folks and today this whole image about everything in this political environment and the company's mindset. Like what are you talking about? Magic: The Gathering was built on a bunch of people in the 90's that were ridiculed to be a part of it and now the fixation of this community and then massively increase prices and massively change everything to be the most anti-consumer as possible in the most increasing in prices I've ever seen in a couple year time period. I mean seriously, in the last 36 months MTG has had more price increases than almost the 30 years the game itself has been around. The data speaks for itself.
As Elon Musk once said, "The most ridiculous outcome and the most unlikely outcome is the most humorous. The most humorous outcome is probably the most likely outcome to happen." Remember folks, Wizards of the Coast isn't invincible. You make enough bad decisions it will swing around and get you.
"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
TL:DR Rudy thinks Hasbro is going to put all second print waves straight to Amazon rather than through distributers-to-LGSs so they can sell at market rate (minus Amazon distribution costs) rather than only selling for wholesale. Thinks move to cut out LGSs is motivated by Hasbro execs paid on stock prices looking to pump up profits without caring about long-term effect on company/game.
TL:DR Rudy thinks Hasbro is going to put all second print waves straight to Amazon rather than through distributers-to-LGSs so they can sell at market rate (minus Amazon distribution costs) rather than only selling for wholesale. Thinks move to cut out LGSs is motivated by Hasbro execs paid on stock prices looking to pump up profits without caring about long-term effect on company/game.
That is much more useful than the full script of a 20 minute video, thank you
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Project Booster Fun makes it less fun to open a booster.
I gotta read this when I have more time, but jeez, did you transcribe this whole thing yourself??
I did but it took me roughly 3-4 hours while trying to edit out all the profanity to avoid any further warnings or infractions by the Mods.
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America Bless Christ Jesus
"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
TL:DR Rudy thinks Hasbro is going to put all second print waves straight to Amazon rather than through distributers-to-LGSs so they can sell at market rate (minus Amazon distribution costs) rather than only selling for wholesale. Thinks move to cut out LGSs is motivated by Hasbro execs paid on stock prices looking to pump up profits without caring about long-term effect on company/game.
Agreed this will happen more and more. I don't like it but its the short term mentality that pervades Corporate America at this time.
I also personally think they are trying to kill Draft Boosters and replace them with Set Boosters then introduce another higher end booster between Set Boosters and Collector Boosters. I see this happening in the next few years.
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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 got out of Rudy's theory is that Amazon is replacing local distributors such as Southern Hobby as the sole distributor for anything Paper Magic related outside of online vendors selling singles where the money doesn't funnel directly toward Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro. In the past Local Game Stores (LGSs) could get away with placing orders for products to sell from distributors outside of Amazon but not anymore since they partnered up with Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro.
Since Amazon is partnered with both Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro they'll still be rewarded for their bad behavior because they know there's always going to be a demand for sealed products in Paper Magic. This is how this strategy will put a lot of Local Game Stores (LGSs) out of business that solely rely on Paper Magic. I can see this spreading to other competing companies such as Konami, Bushiroad, Pokémon Company International, etc. where they do away with local distributors completely.
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America Bless Christ Jesus
"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
...... which will force LGS to buy sealed product from Amazon at a higher price, then force the LGS to pass along that higher price to the end consumer/player if the LGS wants to stay afloat. Its lose-lose for the consumer, win-win for WotC/Hasbro. They have a virtual Monopoly on the game and are going to leverage that for every dime they can squeeze out of whomever. Its how Capitalism works but at what point does the short term turn and burn leave them with no long term market?
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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."
Don't forget it's not just Amazon but online vendors via e-commerce that cuts out the middle man which in this case are the local distributors who deliver products for Local Game Stores (LGSs) to sell at their stores. What's ironic is that with Local Game Stores (LGSs) on the verge of extinction there will be less desire to open up sealed product to sell as singles for customers. I mean why would you need real cardboard when there's nowhere to play Paper EDH and no tournaments to go to? What's the rush to overpay and get the hot new cards when you can't even play competitively? The Local Game Store (LGS) business model was what made Magic: The Gathering what it is today! Shame on Hasbro for using a global pandemic to directly kill small business during these times.
I read a testimony of someone whose been an LGS owner for over 20 years. This move that Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro are making have literally crippled this owners' ability to get the stock they need from their distributors over the past 2 years. This owner has grown from loving their work to hating turning the key on the front door every morning simply because they're no longer able to satisfy their customers wants as they don't get enough product to break even and barely get enough to sell as sealed. This is probably going to be this LGS owners' final year of dealing with this Wizards of the Coast garbage and close down their business for good after ticking off customers everyday for something that Wizards of the Coast is causing.
They don't understand what the Local Game Store (LGS) has to go through to make ends meet. Customers will just leave and go online anyway. It's pointless to stay open. This LGS owner went from getting 50 to 60 boxes in a shipment for his/her customers down to 10 to 12 If they're lucky. Getting slashed at the distributor / Wizards of the Coast level really sucks.
"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 easy solution would be for Hasbro/WotC to arrange stores with Premium/Premier/etc standing to have amazon accounts to purchase product at X discount of the consumer rate and turn Amazon into both their direct to consumer portal and distributer for stores, and stores that promote/support the game can get the product they need to continue to do so.
That would be the smart thing to do, anyway, so the execs probably won't.
The easy solution would be for Hasbro/WotC to arrange stores with Premium/Premier/etc standing to have amazon accounts to purchase product at X discount of the consumer rate and turn Amazon into both their direct to consumer portal and distributer for stores, and stores that promote/support the game can get the product they need to continue to do so.
That would be the smart thing to do, anyway, so the execs probably won't.
But what If Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro restrict it to where only WPN stores are allowed this privilege like they've done in the past by cutting off certain benefits to Local Game Stores (LGSs) that aren't WPN approved? Back when the Coronavirus Lockdowns were happening last year only WPN stores were allowed to receive sealed products for Mystery Booster which they eventually ruined by increasing their pull rates in Collectors Boxes of Standard legal sets starting with Zendikar Rising.
"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
i also think this is way to shortsited from wizards. when there is no place for people to play, you are less incentivised to purchase product. and no, spelltable cant close this gap. in my country we already have areas with few or less LGS and in those areas you also have only a handful of magic players, while in citys with LGS you have thriving communitys.
LGS`s are what gets people into paper magic. no one will go on amazon and thinks... oh i might purchase this product. and since people are allways leaving the game, if no new player join it, it will slowly die.
bad strategic decision if you want to have a sustainable business model.
but hey, there is for sure that one guy, that looks at the money they made recently and thinks he is super smart
i also think this is way to shortsited from wizards. when there is no place for people to play, you are less incentivised to purchase product. and no, spelltable cant close this gap. in my country we already have areas with few or less LGS and in those areas you also have only a handful of magic players, while in citys with LGS you have thriving communitys.
LGS`s are what gets people into paper magic. no one will go on amazon and thinks... oh i might purchase this product. and since people are allways leaving the game, if no new player join it, it will slowly die.
bad strategic decision if you want to have a sustainable business model.
but hey, there is for sure that one guy, that looks at the money they made recently and thinks he is super smart
Not sure why Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro think that the current majority of players who still play Paper Magic only use Spelltable or some other Webcam app in order to actually play when there's some Local Game Stores (LGSs) that actually allow people to play Paper Magic in their stores as long as it's Casual. Sure they aren't allowed to run Organized Play events but what's stopping them from players wanting to play EDH / Commander at their store unless the overhead is too small to accompany a certain number of people? There's no plexiglass on tables when the only requirement to play in the store is by wearing a face mask unless everyone in the store is vaccinated to where they might not have to wear one.
Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro thinks that the global pandemic has given them the green light to gut Local Game Stores (LGSs) for good with their partnership with Amazon thinking that all their customers will stop buylisting and purchasing singles at stores by selling or purchasing directly online exclusively. Do they really expect players to gather playgroups on Social Media instead of meeting up at a Local Game Store (LGS) where the communication is much easier and less toxic? Maybe I'm getting old and behind the times but it's not a company's job to push a business narrative that no one agrees with when they're only out for themselves otherwise give me proof that most players prefer to play Paper Magic outside the LGS.
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America Bless Christ Jesus
"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
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"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
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
That is much more useful than the full script of a 20 minute video, thank you
"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
Agreed this will happen more and more. I don't like it but its the short term mentality that pervades Corporate America at this time.
I also personally think they are trying to kill Draft Boosters and replace them with Set Boosters then introduce another higher end booster between Set Boosters and Collector Boosters. I see this happening in the next few years.
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."
Since Amazon is partnered with both Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro they'll still be rewarded for their bad behavior because they know there's always going to be a demand for sealed products in Paper Magic. This is how this strategy will put a lot of Local Game Stores (LGSs) out of business that solely rely on Paper Magic. I can see this spreading to other competing companies such as Konami, Bushiroad, Pokémon Company International, etc. where they do away with local distributors completely.
"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
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 read a testimony of someone whose been an LGS owner for over 20 years. This move that Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro are making have literally crippled this owners' ability to get the stock they need from their distributors over the past 2 years. This owner has grown from loving their work to hating turning the key on the front door every morning simply because they're no longer able to satisfy their customers wants as they don't get enough product to break even and barely get enough to sell as sealed. This is probably going to be this LGS owners' final year of dealing with this Wizards of the Coast garbage and close down their business for good after ticking off customers everyday for something that Wizards of the Coast is causing.
They don't understand what the Local Game Store (LGS) has to go through to make ends meet. Customers will just leave and go online anyway. It's pointless to stay open. This LGS owner went from getting 50 to 60 boxes in a shipment for his/her customers down to 10 to 12 If they're lucky. Getting slashed at the distributor / Wizards of the Coast level really sucks.
"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
That would be the smart thing to do, anyway, so the execs probably won't.
"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
LGS`s are what gets people into paper magic. no one will go on amazon and thinks... oh i might purchase this product. and since people are allways leaving the game, if no new player join it, it will slowly die.
bad strategic decision if you want to have a sustainable business model.
but hey, there is for sure that one guy, that looks at the money they made recently and thinks he is super smart
Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro thinks that the global pandemic has given them the green light to gut Local Game Stores (LGSs) for good with their partnership with Amazon thinking that all their customers will stop buylisting and purchasing singles at stores by selling or purchasing directly online exclusively. Do they really expect players to gather playgroups on Social Media instead of meeting up at a Local Game Store (LGS) where the communication is much easier and less toxic? Maybe I'm getting old and behind the times but it's not a company's job to push a business narrative that no one agrees with when they're only out for themselves otherwise give me proof that most players prefer to play Paper Magic outside the LGS.
"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