To give you a preview of what Tom will be talking about, some players with highly tuned fingers may notice a different feel to your Dominaria cards at Prereleases this weekend. As part of our adoption of best practices from our primary printer in Japan, we're rolling out a new coating method for cards in English Dominaria booster packs that we believe is best in class. Tom's first article will explore the finer points of card coating and what that means for feel, playability, and, yes, even that new-card smell.
04-26-2018 - First article regarding coating via the Mothership.
I didn't know they have their primary printer in Japan now. I was still under the impression they still partner with Cartamundi (https://cartamundi.com/en/cases/magic/) and produce cards in factories in the Netherlands and the US. This must be a fairly recent switch of printing partners.
Riku of Two Reflections - Copy, then copy again | Shattergang Brothers - Token Sac&Recur | Gahiji, Honored One - Multiple attack steps | Karametra, God of Harvests - Landfall, Creaturefall, Shroud | Ruhan of the Fomori - Stop hitting yourself | Zurgo Helmsmasher - Equipment&Wraths | Crosis, the Purger - Dragon Tribal Reanimator | Derevi, Empyrial Tactician - No stax, just tap and untap fun | Anafenza, the Foremost - Enduring Ideal Enchantress | Sharuum, the Hegemon - Sphinx Tribal Control | Noyan Dar - Spellslinger | The Mimeoplasm - Counterpalooza
Lists can be found here.
Still convinced the guy on Beseech the Queen is wearing a Mitra-type hat. Wake up sheeple!
I didn't know they have their primary printer in Japan now. I was still under the impression they still partner with Cartamundi (https://cartamundi.com/en/cases/magic/) and produce cards in factories in the Netherlands and the US. This must be a fairly recent switch of printing partners.
"our primary printer in Japan" doesn't necessarily mean that their actual primary printer is located in Japan though
I believe it means "our primary printer among printers in Japan."
Card coating =/= card stock. Heading is misleading.
Six to one, half dozen to the other. Cards curl because they absorb moisture; if the coating process is improved to the point the curling stops, the card-stock is irrelevant.
Japanese card quality is superior. I have a Japanese Thassa that has this glossy, sturdy coating which makes the artwork look vibrant. The coloring on the card is beautiful. My English Thassa is dull, flimsy, and cheap. I've always been disappointed with how English cards have this thin, dry, cheap feel and lack that sturdy gloss that Japanese cards and some supplemental products have. I have noticed though that this quality for English cards has been improved.
I’ll say this, neither steel leaf champion or llanowar elves shows any sign of curling so far
I'm really hoping this means an improvement on the warping foils and such. Hell, my last couple stacks of opened non-foil product started curling just sitting in the boxes.
I didn't know they have their primary printer in Japan now. I was still under the impression they still partner with Cartamundi (https://cartamundi.com/en/cases/magic/) and produce cards in factories in the Netherlands and the US. This must be a fairly recent switch of printing partners.
"our primary printer in Japan" doesn't necessarily mean that their actual primary printer is located in Japan though
I believe it means "our primary printer among printers in Japan."
Good points. Curious to see what the new coating will be like.
As a friend of mine said: If the new-card smell changes, I am quitting Magic. No compromise. ;-)
Riku of Two Reflections - Copy, then copy again | Shattergang Brothers - Token Sac&Recur | Gahiji, Honored One - Multiple attack steps | Karametra, God of Harvests - Landfall, Creaturefall, Shroud | Ruhan of the Fomori - Stop hitting yourself | Zurgo Helmsmasher - Equipment&Wraths | Crosis, the Purger - Dragon Tribal Reanimator | Derevi, Empyrial Tactician - No stax, just tap and untap fun | Anafenza, the Foremost - Enduring Ideal Enchantress | Sharuum, the Hegemon - Sphinx Tribal Control | Noyan Dar - Spellslinger | The Mimeoplasm - Counterpalooza
Lists can be found here.
Still convinced the guy on Beseech the Queen is wearing a Mitra-type hat. Wake up sheeple!
Funny that most don't actually feel foreign language cards. There're many reasons why Japanese and Russian cards are so expensive. One of them is the card quality.
I only find this "coating" in Japanese and Russian cards
Where I'm from we call this coating wax. Because it looks like it's slightly oily, feels slightly that way too, but it actually isn't. This layer of wax/coating IMO gives the card that extra protection.
Think of it as lacquer on your wood furniture.
Anyways I don't think smelling cards should be treated as weird. I treat it as authenticity, as well as appreciating the effort put into making quality cards. You know it's good quality when you smell it. IMO feeling, seeing, and smelling makes owning a Magic card more desirable. They don't call it cardboard crack for nothing. haha
That said I hope future cards, especially English ones will get close to these Japanese ones in terms of quality. Kudos to Wizards for making us use the third sense.
I don't know if this changes things for Europe though. We get our cards presumably through Cartamundi, and I never seen real quality problems. When we draft, it's very noticable when American boosters are in the mix though. Both are English language cards, but there is a very noticable difference in quality between these printings.
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Soon, the stars will be right! Great Cthulhu shall rise!
I wonder if this change applies to both EU and US printed English cards, as those were already different, where EU ones has almost always had an acceptable quality (I´ve never had a non-foil curl) and the US ones (as far as I can tell from the complaining on the internet) has been complete garbage and desperately needed an upgrade.
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Stay reasonable, be mindful of your expectations and don't feed the trolls.
Funny that most don't actually feel foreign language cards. There're many reasons why Japanese and Russian cards are so expensive. One of them is the card quality.
I only find this "coating" in Japanese and Russian cards
Where I'm from we call this coating wax. Because it looks like it's slightly oily, feels slightly that way too, but it actually isn't. This layer of wax/coating IMO gives the card that extra protection.
Think of it as lacquer on your wood furniture.
Anyways I don't think smelling cards should be treated as weird. I treat it as authenticity, as well as appreciating the effort put into making quality cards. You know it's good quality when you smell it. IMO feeling, seeing, and smelling makes owning a Magic card more desirable. They don't call it cardboard crack for nothing. haha
That said I hope future cards, especially English ones will get close to these Japanese ones in terms of quality. Kudos to Wizards for making us use the third sense.
I'm pretty sure Russian and English cards distributed in EU are printed by the same printer in Belgium using the same card stock, so there shouldn't be any difference in quality between Russian cards and EU English cards. Regarding US vs EU, well this is a whole different story. I have no idea why WOTC has done this, but card quality coming from US printers is much MUCH worse both in card stock quality and the colouring (In KLD and AER, the US white cards looked awfully yellow and the card stock was the worst I've ever seen on MTG cards). I wish they start printing supplemental products like Master sets in EU instead of the US, as this alone will bring better quality (MM17 for instance had a problem of washed-out rares and mythics due to lack of ink). I've never encountered any problems with EU cards so I wonder if the change in card stock is also applied to EU.
People have been opening DOM sealed kits online (youtube channels) and no one had mentioned the cards feeling different. Not to say they don't feel different, but I would expect at least one person to comment on them if the difference was significant.
Japanese card quality is superior. I have a Japanese Thassa that has this glossy, sturdy coating which makes the artwork look vibrant. The coloring on the card is beautiful. My English Thassa is dull, flimsy, and cheap. I've always been disappointed with how English cards have this thin, dry, cheap feel and lack that sturdy gloss that Japanese cards and some supplemental products have. I have noticed though that this quality for English cards has been improved.
I've bought plenty of foreign booster packs over the years, and the Japanese ones are definitely my favorite as far as the quality of the look and feel. The EU printed ones are a close second, but both very much put the US-printed ones to shame.
I'm very hopeful that this brings the US cards up to snuff!
EU cards are totally fine, the only thing they NEEDED to do was to use the same machines in the US.
The only terrifically bad card quality is from the US printers.
I think the Japanese printers are a step above the EU ones, but I concur the US printers are the absolute worst. I had to buy all the old MTG cards that didn't come in supplemental products (which use the Japanese printer style) in Japanese just to have them not have awful card quality.
This broke my heart most with Theros and Magic Origins. I'll never get a good quality Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Ampryn Tactician (one of my favorite artworks), Plea For Guidance, Thassa or God-Favored General unless I go Japanese with them, which we can't read.
EU cards are totally fine, the only thing they NEEDED to do was to use the same machines in the US.
The only terrifically bad card quality is from the US printers.
There could be plenty of reasons - coating may be cheaper to upgrade towards for US printers (adding a coating step rather than replacing the whole system). EU printing may contain proprietary tech. You name it.
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yeah it's super interesting that there's been this big issue in terms of card quality, and players in the EU have been completely insulated from the problem.
tell you what though, each set does have a slightly different printing process, noticeable by the new card smell, type of foiling, even the colours. but the curling thing hasn't been a problem here at all.
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Will this finally solve the issue of Foil Curl? I remain skeptical, but hope for a solution as I get tired of my investments curling up into little rolls of trash.
Yes, they were talking about this at Modern last night. I look forward to cards being a little sturdier and not insta-creasing or warping and so on.
Will know by tomorrow, I guess!
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The "Crazy One", playing casual magic and occasionally dipping his toes into regular play since 1994.
Currently focusing on Pre-Modern (Mono-Black Discard Control) and Modern (Azorious Control, Temur Rhinos).
Find me at the Wizard's Tower in Ottawa every second Saturday afternoons.
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04-26-2018 - First article regarding coating via the Mothership.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
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Lists can be found here.
I believe it means "our primary printer among printers in Japan."
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Six to one, half dozen to the other. Cards curl because they absorb moisture; if the coating process is improved to the point the curling stops, the card-stock is irrelevant.
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
I'm really hoping this means an improvement on the warping foils and such. Hell, my last couple stacks of opened non-foil product started curling just sitting in the boxes.
As a friend of mine said: If the new-card smell changes, I am quitting Magic. No compromise. ;-)
Tamanoa - Welcome to the Jungle
Lists can be found here.
I only find this "coating" in Japanese and Russian cards
Where I'm from we call this coating wax. Because it looks like it's slightly oily, feels slightly that way too, but it actually isn't. This layer of wax/coating IMO gives the card that extra protection.
Think of it as lacquer on your wood furniture.
Anyways I don't think smelling cards should be treated as weird. I treat it as authenticity, as well as appreciating the effort put into making quality cards. You know it's good quality when you smell it. IMO feeling, seeing, and smelling makes owning a Magic card more desirable. They don't call it cardboard crack for nothing. haha
That said I hope future cards, especially English ones will get close to these Japanese ones in terms of quality. Kudos to Wizards for making us use the third sense.
UR Melek, Izzet ParagonUR, B Shirei, Shizo's CaretakerB, R Jaya Ballard, Task MageR,RW Tajic, Blade of the LegionRW, UB Lazav, Dimir MastermindUB, UB Circu, Dimir LobotomistUB, RWU Zedruu the GreatheartedRWU, GUBThe MimeoplasmGUB, UGExperiment Kraj UG, WDarien, King of KjeldorW, BMarrow-GnawerB, WBGKarador, Ghost ChieftainWBG, UTeferi, Temporal ArchmageU, GWUDerevi, Empyrial TacticianGWU, RDaretti, Scrap SavantR, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GEzuri, Renegade LeaderG, WUBRGReaper KingWUBRG, RGXenagos, God of RevelsRG, CKozilek, Butcher of TruthC, WUBRGGeneral TazriWUBRG, GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
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Arkham, the 1920's. Investigators battle horrors from beyond time and space, risking life and sanity while conspiracies of cultists and malign servitors seek gateways for their outer gods to return...
Soon, the stars will be right! Great Cthulhu shall rise!
Stay reasonable, be mindful of your expectations and don't feed the trolls.
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I've bought plenty of foreign booster packs over the years, and the Japanese ones are definitely my favorite as far as the quality of the look and feel. The EU printed ones are a close second, but both very much put the US-printed ones to shame.
I'm very hopeful that this brings the US cards up to snuff!
EU cards are totally fine, the only thing they NEEDED to do was to use the same machines in the US.
The only terrifically bad card quality is from the US printers.
WUBRG#BlackLotusMatterWUBRG
👮👮👮 #BlueLivesMatter 👮👮👮
This broke my heart most with Theros and Magic Origins. I'll never get a good quality Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Ampryn Tactician (one of my favorite artworks), Plea For Guidance, Thassa or God-Favored General unless I go Japanese with them, which we can't read.
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
There could be plenty of reasons - coating may be cheaper to upgrade towards for US printers (adding a coating step rather than replacing the whole system). EU printing may contain proprietary tech. You name it.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
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tell you what though, each set does have a slightly different printing process, noticeable by the new card smell, type of foiling, even the colours. but the curling thing hasn't been a problem here at all.
Will know by tomorrow, I guess!
Currently focusing on Pre-Modern (Mono-Black Discard Control) and Modern (Azorious Control, Temur Rhinos).
Find me at the Wizard's Tower in Ottawa every second Saturday afternoons.