Reprinting Force of Will is a pretty big deal, whether it's Mythic or not. Pointing out that it was an Uncommon 20 years ago seems odd to me; as it's basically the only reason you'd open sealed Alliances product, it's got Mythic value. It's not like they're left on the table with the rest of the draft shaft like Void Shatter. I also would be irritated in draft if they were rare, depending on how fast the format ends up being; being able to tap out on any turn and then counter your opponent's next play is some serious tempo, despite the fact that it's bad for card advantage.
I hope that my store will be doing $40 drafts like they did last time, and that we get enough people to get pods to fire (last time I was a little frustrated: "I can't afford that!" *stands at counter opening random packs of MM15 hoping for a Constructed playable*) MM15, for all people complain about it not reprinting enough good cards, was a very very good draft format, probably my all-time favorite at best, at least a refreshing alternative to the "open-a-bomb-or-lose" mess that was Dragons/Dragons/Fate. My biggest hopes for this set is that it's fun to draft, and the way Limited has been going in recent years, I'm sure I won't be disappointed.
As for fueling Constructed play, I'm not sure. At one point I thought about building Goblins in Legacy (I think it was when Goblin Piledriver was spoiled for Origins), and the main thing stopping me from doing that was the price of Wasteland and Rishidan Port. Those aren't on the Reserved List. There are decks in the format that don't require ABUR duals. I don't know as an outsider how competitive they can be, but they're there. Also, it's possible that people could trade things like foil FoWs to older players for other expensive staples, so I could maybe see some people getting into Legacy as a result of this? But personally, if I were drafting and money-picked a FoW, I'd probably end up trading it for expensive Modern cards that I need to finish decks.
I think it's a pipe dream to hope the Reserved List will ever go away. Besides the points of tradition and keeping their word, there's the factor that the most in-demand Reserved List cards are not good ideas from a game design standpoint. If they decided to blow up everything and start with Magic 2.0 from scratch, using what they've learned over the years to make the game well-balanced, we would never see anything like Mox Sapphire, Underground Sea, Channel, Gaea's Cradle, Ancestral Recall, or even Mana Drain and Sol Ring. Don't get me wrong, I love playing the Vintage Cube over the holidays, but if you're talking about a serious Constructed format, these things are just broken and they throw a lot of wrenches into the game. It's fun and flashy but not balanced, and (imo) balance is better for a competitive game than fun and flash. When I first started playing MtG way back when, I ordered a "Revised" starter rather than an "Unlimited" because the "Revised" title made me think "okay, this is probably a better version of the game than the older version." I kicked myself for years because I missed out on the opportunity of opening a Black Lotus for $10, but upon reflection, I think I was right... MtG with all that broken crap taken out of it is a better game. Even without the Reserved List policing card availability, it doesn't make sense for them to reprint something like Underground Sea when Watery Grave is "better" from a game design standpoint.
Of course all that is complicated by the existence of Legacy as a format that people want WotC to support. It's a sticky situation. I feel like the format is best treated as a nod to those old players who have a lot of nostalgia for those old broken environments, but those playgroups are inevitably going to get smaller and smaller unless they get new blood. And they can't get new blood with the same number of duals etc... these issues make it really hard for the format to survive (in paper) without serious revisions.
But they can still support things like Cube and EDH, and I bet drafting will be a lot of fun... I just wouldn't get my hopes up for starting a Legacy League anytime soon.
Trying to design alternative duals to get around the Reserved List would be awkward and probably enrage collectors about as much as just abolishing the Reserved List. I support both options, but the latter wins in terms of elegance.
The non-Functional reprint policy of the reversed list is the thing that pisses me off the most about it.Its a diferent card from the reversed list ones so their cards would still mantain collectible value because they are still diferent and vintage
As many have already said it seems likely that rarities will be based on secondary market prices not playability or draftability. FoW is an ok card and I played it back in Alliances and in my current cube. If you aren't breaking things with crazy combo(constructed legacy) you are just down a card. Wasteland and port at uncommon would make sense as neither would be oppressive in draft.
I wish they had the balls to make land destruction a theme with sinkhole at common, ice storm goblin settlers and port at uncommon, and vindicate/wasteland at rare. But it is never going to happen, it is the one real deck archetype they have forbidden. Even storm gets pulled out for these reprint sets.
If they wanted rarity based on impact on draft it should be Mindtwist+Recurring Nightmate, Jitte+Sol Ring+ Mana Vault, Mana Drain + Jace, Balance+Land Tax, Natural Order, Sulfuric Vortex.
What I think they will put at mythic
Land Tax
Karakas
Force of Will
Show and Tell
Necropotence
Demonic Tutor
Devatation
Imperial Recruitor
Dack Fayden
Natural Order
Oath of Druids
Umezawa's Jitte
Ensnaring Bridge
Animar
True.Maybe the best is to ban reversed list cards from legacy
It'd be better to just create a new format. Banning reserved list cards is just a silly idea.
But that, too, wouldn't really solve the card value problem. New format would mean even less love for legacy and, in turn, lower demand for RL cards, leading to decrease in value. For collectors, that would still feel unfair.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
standard: BUG The Baron (it doesn't work, but I try anyway)
True.Maybe the best is to ban reversed list cards from legacy
It'd be better to just create a new format. Banning reserved list cards is just a silly idea.
But that, too, wouldn't really solve the card value problem. New format would mean even less love for legacy and, in turn, lower demand for RL cards, leading to decrease in value. For collectors, that would still feel unfair.
Wizards is screwed in that they can't really please everyone. They're taking the safe route of leaving the RL in tact which is probably their best option. Given how formats turn out when Wizards gives 'love' to the formats I think it's a good thing they for the most part leave Legacy alone.
I feel that the gold blocks invasion and Ravinca would be the best source of the "gold archtype uncommons" that every set has now for drafting purposes.
Things like reanimate, the Mirage tutors, counterspell, dark ritual, cabal ritual, and three visits are all viable common/uncommon reprints.
Trying to pin down what mechanics or two color combination themes will help identity what could be reprinted. Like flashback, buyback, kicker, bushido. Horsemanship is unlikely because they would have to do a fair amount and its redundent with flying
I see the mirage diamonds or signets being in as mana fixers.
mana crypt and mana vault are possible but such fast mana along with black and red rituals seems like too much fast mana for a draft set.
I think it would be interesting if they printed NO modern legal cards so basically nothing pre Mirrirdin/8th but I doubt that. Though that would lead to atrocious rares
Actually I think Horsemanship would be awesome... it would give them excuse to reprint a bunch of Portal Three Kingdoms stuff, which, as I understand it, is very expensive because of the low print-run/limited popularity at the time vs. the Legacy/EDH playability of certain cards.
People seem to forget you can play Khans fetches and Shocklands. Yes, it's not as good as ABUR duals, but it's a relatively cheaper way to get into Legacy without making the huge financial plunge. A number of students who play at the Legacy FNMs do just that and seem to still do fine (2-2 and 3-1).
Duals are overrated for the most part. I've done just fine without them. Shocks are okay and the new lands from BFZ are good too.
Let me just weigh in and tell you that this does not apply for every deck out there. I`m stupid enough to have chosen a deck that can just straight up die to a shock land, because those two life points can either cost me a Griselbrand activation or get me down to Bolt range after activating him. Many decks can be played just fine with shocks, but not all of them.
All this talk about a new "no RL Legacy" is nonsense. One article on Goldfish, and everyone suddenly sees it as inevitable. Let me tell you, my one and only Legacy deck would be unplayable, not just because of lacking duals, but also because Shallow Grave, a $5 RL card - not exactly prohibitively expensive, would be collateral damage. I also think that it would split the Legacy player base instead of straight up taking over Legacy completely. Two Legacy events a month in your hometown. Not as much as you`d like? Try one regular Legacy event and one no RL Legacy event per month, and let`s say that you, like me, would have to build a new deck for no RL Legacy. Sounds tempting? Didn`t think so. I`d rather see more unsanctioned 5/10-proxy events than WotC trying to tear Legacy apart and only half-way succeeding.
There would, of course, be deck casualties if the Reserved List were banned, but it's hardly consequential. Also, every single card on the Reserved List would be "collateral damage" if it were banned, not just Shallow Grave. There's no functional, game play reason to ban any of them, and the issue is not price. The issue is physical card availability. It is literally not possible for Legacy to grow much more. If the same number of people that play Modern wanted to also play Legacy, the cards physically do not exist to support that. Card prices are just an irrelevant symptom of the actual problem. I'll admit we are not quite there yet, but eventually Legacy will be like an overcapacity nightclub. New players will be standing outside with a fistful of cash, waiting for someone to leave so they can get in. Do we really want a one-in-one-out, exclusive format, that Wizards doesn't care about or support? SCG can only buy and re-sell this finite card pool so many times before the bubble bursts. Notice the lack of Legacy SCG Opens? So yeah, Tin Fins would loose its sideboard plan, and probably have to adapt and replace one card, but so what? We really can't pretend Griselbrand would suddenly become irrelevant either... or any other card in that deck actually. I do sympathize directly with having your deck neutered, but honestly the Banned/Restricted List announcement has a bigger impact.
Anyway, I think people in general get a little too caught up in the establishment, and dream up reason why it can't change. We cannot point out specific impacts that a suggestion might have, and then frame that as evidence that a change can't, or won't happen. We certainly can't pretend that a change in the current format structure is a question of if. It's not a question of if, or a discussion of opinions. It's a question of when and how, and it's not new.
I've been playing this game since before formats were a thing, even in competitive play. Type II (which has since evolved into Standard) was created simply to limit the scope for deckbuilding, and to provide an environment, free from the oppression of inaccessible and overpowered cards (e.g. Power 9). Apparently the Restricted List was not enough. Eventually, as the game continued to grow, people became frustrated with rotation obsolescence, and Wizards introduced Type 1.5(which has since evolved into Legacy). They did this just to remove the Restricted List, and called it Classic-Restricted. Eventually they (we?) re-named it, and it got its own Banned List, just to limit power level. There was no other real reason. Meanwhile, in the same year as Classic-Restricted, they gave us Type 1.X (which has since evolved into Extended). Notice a pattern? Probably a bad choice, but who's keeping track? The size of that rotation jumped around twice, from 3 years of blocks in 2008, to 7 years in 2010, and then back down to 4 years in 2013. All of this because they couldn't figure out a rotation scope that seemed both digestible and differentiated from Type II. Then they scrapped it entirely. Does anyone care? No. Modern is basically brand new (2011?), and it only exists because Legacy got so popular, and it was so obvious to anyone paying attention, that it was unsustainable due to the Reserved List. It's basically "Classic-Reserved", and it's necessary, but it still doesn't scratch every itch. People still want a non-rotating format where they can play cards like Force of Will, and Wasteland, or some of the higher power level cards that were banned for that reason in Modern. Cards like Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Deathrite Shaman, and Stoneforge Mystic. A high power-level, non-rotating format like Legacy is clearly the place for that, so why not make it supportable, and therefore sustainable. Legacy has received no real attention from Wizards since it received its own Banned List is 2004. It doesn't make sense to just watch it spread thinner and thinner until it dies. It should be fixed while people still care. Nobody ever wants to change anything because we're all selfish and don't want to be negatively impacted, but it would be a win/win.
Side note: I hadn't read the Goldfish article you mentioned, but I found it thanks to your reference. Bleeding brilliant.
Trying to design alternative duals to get around the Reserved List would be awkward and probably enrage collectors about as much as just abolishing the Reserved List. I support both options, but the latter wins in terms of elegance.
Awkward?
How hard is it to add the text "Snow Land" to the type line,
or 'T: Add C to your mana pool'?
That said, I doubt we'll see such lands.
I think the poster (posters?) who predicted we will see a new format named Eternal are probably correct.
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
True.Maybe the best is to ban reversed list cards from legacy
It'd be better to just create a new format. Banning reserved list cards is just a silly idea.
But that, too, wouldn't really solve the card value problem. New format would mean even less love for legacy and, in turn, lower demand for RL cards, leading to decrease in value. For collectors, that would still feel unfair.
You absolutely cannot have it both ways. If these collectors want Wizards to stick to this silly policy, they cannot complain if the format dies and their investment plummets.
In all honesty though, if they *do* create a new format named Eternal,
you'd think they would want the manabases to be better than Modern's-
maybe even "perfect" like they are in Legacy,
as that creates a more level field for new decks to grow.
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
Honestly, replacing modern with Reservless eteranal wouldn't be bad. If you have modern staples, adding the remaining staples isn't too tall an order budget wise. Legacy with modern's mana restraints is still a fun format, and would probably self regulate like a champ.
A bit like how we can't just print a trillion dollars at the central bank and have prosperity for all? That would just cause hyperinflation and currency collapse?
You're missing an important difference: MTG is a game, not currency. For those of us who don't want to cash out, the $ value of our cards makes no difference. We're just trying to play.
What a nightmare for the secondary market. A massive win for Card Corp. Printing old power, we all knew it would happen eventually. Right before (or as) the secondary market collapses.
I welcome the crash and hope you're right, but remember that the Reversed List remains in place.
So you "just want to play the game" but are hoping for one of the most dangerous events come to pass?!
This is easily the worst idea ever. Yugioh's reprint policy was basically to reprint anything of value in preconstructed product or to give it away as a cheap promo. Cards never retained their value and thus stores didn't want to deal in Yugioh cards. Local game stores wouldn't support it and that's why the game isn't played nearly as much any more.
Say what you will about Wizard's "limited print run" on things like Modern Masters but it does an excellent job of increasing supply without decreasing value. People ***** about stuff like the reserve list, card prices being too high, and investors but these all represent the business end of Magic. It's this business end that makes magic profitable and it's the games profitability that keeps the LGS supporting the game.
tl;dr The reserve list, limited print runs, and investors are all good for the game so stop whining.
Edit: The post I quoted was apparently deleted and I just hadn't refreshed my page yet or something. The poster basically said that Wizards should just take a page from Yugioh's playbook when it comes to reprints.
I'm guessing it was my post you were intending to quote (which was not deleted by the way) so I'll go ahead and reply. I think the thing you're missing is that this card game wasn't always Money: The Gathering. There was a time not long ago, just a few years back actually, when Revised edition Underground Sea were $30 each and Wasteland was $20.
During that time was when Legacy grew to the height of it's popularity and nearly every LGS in my area ran Legacy once a week, because just about anyone could afford to play it and people liked playing the eternal format with the most diversity. Now fast forward a few years later to today, when Legacy cards are absurdly expensive and few people can afford to play the format competitively. What has happened? Well, in my area all but two of the stores that used to run Legacy have stopped running it. Why? Because most players can't afford to play it anymore and tournament attendance was too low to support it.
On the flip side of things, the past couple years—since the relative demise of Legacy—there has been big increase in interest in the paper Pauper format and several stores in my area that used to run Legacy now run Pauper instead. In Pauper there are only a few (literally, 3 or 4) cards worth more than $5 each and the stores that run Pauper still make a good profit supporting the format and running events for it. Why? Not because of the value of the cards in the format, but because people are happy to pay tournament entry fees to play it.
The best thing for Magic players is to keep eternal formats as cheap and easy to get into as possible, because that draws more players to the format. Make the format too expensive by not reprinting cards enough to keep prices down and the format will die, but reprint them enough to get dual lands and all those other ridiculously overpriced peices of cardboard in Legacy back down to the $20 to $40 each that they were at the height of the format's popularity and Legacy will flourish again. And if the paper Pauper format is any indication, stores will still make tidy profits running events just from tournament entry fees and game accessory sales (sleeves, dice, playmats, snacks, etc).
MtG isn't the stock market, it's a game. And games that are too expensive to attract players just don't last. With that in mind, I think Wizards pulling a page from YuGiOh's reprinting playbook is the best thing that could happen to eternal formats. We need a little less Money: The Gathering and a little more Magic: The Gathering.
You're missing the fact that many people make their livelihood off of mtg. If local stores start regularly losing thousands of dollars because the value of their stock is being depreciated by Yugioh style reprints than those stores are going to stop dealing in magic cards. In Yugioh we have instances of cards that were once worth over a hundred dollars each dropping down to $5 almost over night. As someone who has played both games I can safely say that one of the main reasons that Yugioh has basically died out is because Konami did not care at all about the secondary market. Their reprint policies were shortsighted, everything was done to make a quick buck at the expense of the secondary market. The secondary market keeps the game afloat though. The game will fail without people willing to put money into it, without places to play, and without a reason to buy packs. When I played I never bought packs because any card I ever wanted was either dirt cheap or would be dirt cheap in a month due to their reprint policies with tons and such.
Unfortunately every try hard from Sacramento to Shanghai preaches from the top of their 27 lands + Mana Reflection that Tooth and Nail and Time Stretch are fine to play in the same turn but Armageddon is unfair.
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No. Functional reprints are not allowed.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
I hope that my store will be doing $40 drafts like they did last time, and that we get enough people to get pods to fire (last time I was a little frustrated: "I can't afford that!" *stands at counter opening random packs of MM15 hoping for a Constructed playable*) MM15, for all people complain about it not reprinting enough good cards, was a very very good draft format, probably my all-time favorite at best, at least a refreshing alternative to the "open-a-bomb-or-lose" mess that was Dragons/Dragons/Fate. My biggest hopes for this set is that it's fun to draft, and the way Limited has been going in recent years, I'm sure I won't be disappointed.
As for fueling Constructed play, I'm not sure. At one point I thought about building Goblins in Legacy (I think it was when Goblin Piledriver was spoiled for Origins), and the main thing stopping me from doing that was the price of Wasteland and Rishidan Port. Those aren't on the Reserved List. There are decks in the format that don't require ABUR duals. I don't know as an outsider how competitive they can be, but they're there. Also, it's possible that people could trade things like foil FoWs to older players for other expensive staples, so I could maybe see some people getting into Legacy as a result of this? But personally, if I were drafting and money-picked a FoW, I'd probably end up trading it for expensive Modern cards that I need to finish decks.
I think it's a pipe dream to hope the Reserved List will ever go away. Besides the points of tradition and keeping their word, there's the factor that the most in-demand Reserved List cards are not good ideas from a game design standpoint. If they decided to blow up everything and start with Magic 2.0 from scratch, using what they've learned over the years to make the game well-balanced, we would never see anything like Mox Sapphire, Underground Sea, Channel, Gaea's Cradle, Ancestral Recall, or even Mana Drain and Sol Ring. Don't get me wrong, I love playing the Vintage Cube over the holidays, but if you're talking about a serious Constructed format, these things are just broken and they throw a lot of wrenches into the game. It's fun and flashy but not balanced, and (imo) balance is better for a competitive game than fun and flash. When I first started playing MtG way back when, I ordered a "Revised" starter rather than an "Unlimited" because the "Revised" title made me think "okay, this is probably a better version of the game than the older version." I kicked myself for years because I missed out on the opportunity of opening a Black Lotus for $10, but upon reflection, I think I was right... MtG with all that broken crap taken out of it is a better game. Even without the Reserved List policing card availability, it doesn't make sense for them to reprint something like Underground Sea when Watery Grave is "better" from a game design standpoint.
Of course all that is complicated by the existence of Legacy as a format that people want WotC to support. It's a sticky situation. I feel like the format is best treated as a nod to those old players who have a lot of nostalgia for those old broken environments, but those playgroups are inevitably going to get smaller and smaller unless they get new blood. And they can't get new blood with the same number of duals etc... these issues make it really hard for the format to survive (in paper) without serious revisions.
But they can still support things like Cube and EDH, and I bet drafting will be a lot of fun... I just wouldn't get my hopes up for starting a Legacy League anytime soon.
I think we have complementary visions of "elegant."
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
True.Maybe the best is to ban reversed list cards from legacy
It'd be better to just create a new format. Banning reserved list cards is just a silly idea.
I wish they had the balls to make land destruction a theme with sinkhole at common, ice storm goblin settlers and port at uncommon, and vindicate/wasteland at rare. But it is never going to happen, it is the one real deck archetype they have forbidden. Even storm gets pulled out for these reprint sets.
If they wanted rarity based on impact on draft it should be Mindtwist+Recurring Nightmate, Jitte+Sol Ring+ Mana Vault, Mana Drain + Jace, Balance+Land Tax, Natural Order, Sulfuric Vortex.
What I think they will put at mythic
Land Tax
Karakas
Force of Will
Show and Tell
Necropotence
Demonic Tutor
Devatation
Imperial Recruitor
Dack Fayden
Natural Order
Oath of Druids
Umezawa's Jitte
Ensnaring Bridge
Animar
You're honestly complaining about Terese Nielsen artwork?
I have nothing more to say to you sir. Good day.
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Donate would be hilarious in this situation.
BTW: Donate and illusions of grandeur should definitely be in the same Limited environment!
Shhhh...I want to cast PoP against them so they learn this the hard way!
But that, too, wouldn't really solve the card value problem. New format would mean even less love for legacy and, in turn, lower demand for RL cards, leading to decrease in value. For collectors, that would still feel unfair.
BUG The Baron (it doesn't work, but I try anyway)
modern:
RGShaman Aggro
legacy:
UHigh Tide
German highlander:
BUG aggro control
EDH:
a positively unhealthy amount of decks
Wizards is screwed in that they can't really please everyone. They're taking the safe route of leaving the RL in tact which is probably their best option. Given how formats turn out when Wizards gives 'love' to the formats I think it's a good thing they for the most part leave Legacy alone.
Things like reanimate, the Mirage tutors, counterspell, dark ritual, cabal ritual, and three visits are all viable common/uncommon reprints.
Trying to pin down what mechanics or two color combination themes will help identity what could be reprinted. Like flashback, buyback, kicker, bushido. Horsemanship is unlikely because they would have to do a fair amount and its redundent with flying
I see the mirage diamonds or signets being in as mana fixers.
mana crypt and mana vault are possible but such fast mana along with black and red rituals seems like too much fast mana for a draft set.
I think it would be interesting if they printed NO modern legal cards so basically nothing pre Mirrirdin/8th but I doubt that. Though that would lead to atrocious rares
Nicol Bolas, a balance of Vorthos and PowerUBR
Nath of the Gilt LeafBG
Others
Squee, Goblin of AwesomenessR
Nekusar, the Mindblazer!UBR
Vela the NightcladUB
I used to be a world champion, but then I took a wolf to the knee. And three Galvanic Blasts to the face.
Concerning when returning to Kamigawa would be acceptable
There would, of course, be deck casualties if the Reserved List were banned, but it's hardly consequential. Also, every single card on the Reserved List would be "collateral damage" if it were banned, not just Shallow Grave. There's no functional, game play reason to ban any of them, and the issue is not price. The issue is physical card availability. It is literally not possible for Legacy to grow much more. If the same number of people that play Modern wanted to also play Legacy, the cards physically do not exist to support that. Card prices are just an irrelevant symptom of the actual problem. I'll admit we are not quite there yet, but eventually Legacy will be like an overcapacity nightclub. New players will be standing outside with a fistful of cash, waiting for someone to leave so they can get in. Do we really want a one-in-one-out, exclusive format, that Wizards doesn't care about or support? SCG can only buy and re-sell this finite card pool so many times before the bubble bursts. Notice the lack of Legacy SCG Opens? So yeah, Tin Fins would loose its sideboard plan, and probably have to adapt and replace one card, but so what? We really can't pretend Griselbrand would suddenly become irrelevant either... or any other card in that deck actually. I do sympathize directly with having your deck neutered, but honestly the Banned/Restricted List announcement has a bigger impact.
Anyway, I think people in general get a little too caught up in the establishment, and dream up reason why it can't change. We cannot point out specific impacts that a suggestion might have, and then frame that as evidence that a change can't, or won't happen. We certainly can't pretend that a change in the current format structure is a question of if. It's not a question of if, or a discussion of opinions. It's a question of when and how, and it's not new.
I've been playing this game since before formats were a thing, even in competitive play. Type II (which has since evolved into Standard) was created simply to limit the scope for deckbuilding, and to provide an environment, free from the oppression of inaccessible and overpowered cards (e.g. Power 9). Apparently the Restricted List was not enough. Eventually, as the game continued to grow, people became frustrated with rotation obsolescence, and Wizards introduced Type 1.5(which has since evolved into Legacy). They did this just to remove the Restricted List, and called it Classic-Restricted. Eventually they (we?) re-named it, and it got its own Banned List, just to limit power level. There was no other real reason. Meanwhile, in the same year as Classic-Restricted, they gave us Type 1.X (which has since evolved into Extended). Notice a pattern? Probably a bad choice, but who's keeping track? The size of that rotation jumped around twice, from 3 years of blocks in 2008, to 7 years in 2010, and then back down to 4 years in 2013. All of this because they couldn't figure out a rotation scope that seemed both digestible and differentiated from Type II. Then they scrapped it entirely. Does anyone care? No. Modern is basically brand new (2011?), and it only exists because Legacy got so popular, and it was so obvious to anyone paying attention, that it was unsustainable due to the Reserved List. It's basically "Classic-Reserved", and it's necessary, but it still doesn't scratch every itch. People still want a non-rotating format where they can play cards like Force of Will, and Wasteland, or some of the higher power level cards that were banned for that reason in Modern. Cards like Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Deathrite Shaman, and Stoneforge Mystic. A high power-level, non-rotating format like Legacy is clearly the place for that, so why not make it supportable, and therefore sustainable. Legacy has received no real attention from Wizards since it received its own Banned List is 2004. It doesn't make sense to just watch it spread thinner and thinner until it dies. It should be fixed while people still care. Nobody ever wants to change anything because we're all selfish and don't want to be negatively impacted, but it would be a win/win.
Side note: I hadn't read the Goldfish article you mentioned, but I found it thanks to your reference. Bleeding brilliant.
Awkward?
How hard is it to add the text "Snow Land" to the type line,
or 'T: Add C to your mana pool'?
That said, I doubt we'll see such lands.
I think the poster (posters?) who predicted we will see a new format named Eternal are probably correct.
Reprint Stasis!
Control needs more love.
EDH:
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm
WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW
WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
You absolutely cannot have it both ways. If these collectors want Wizards to stick to this silly policy, they cannot complain if the format dies and their investment plummets.
UR Blue-Red Control
Modern:
UBR Grixis Control
UWR Jeskai Control
you'd think they would want the manabases to be better than Modern's-
maybe even "perfect" like they are in Legacy,
as that creates a more level field for new decks to grow.
Reprint Stasis!
Control needs more love.
EDH:
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm
WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW
WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
So you "just want to play the game" but are hoping for one of the most dangerous events come to pass?!
This is gold Jerry, GOLD!
You're missing the fact that many people make their livelihood off of mtg. If local stores start regularly losing thousands of dollars because the value of their stock is being depreciated by Yugioh style reprints than those stores are going to stop dealing in magic cards. In Yugioh we have instances of cards that were once worth over a hundred dollars each dropping down to $5 almost over night. As someone who has played both games I can safely say that one of the main reasons that Yugioh has basically died out is because Konami did not care at all about the secondary market. Their reprint policies were shortsighted, everything was done to make a quick buck at the expense of the secondary market. The secondary market keeps the game afloat though. The game will fail without people willing to put money into it, without places to play, and without a reason to buy packs. When I played I never bought packs because any card I ever wanted was either dirt cheap or would be dirt cheap in a month due to their reprint policies with tons and such.