What I want to ask, however, isn’t whether the reserved list should be abolished or not. Rather, my question is how wizards would go about breaking the reserved list. While this may sound easy as pie (reprint reserved cards, duh!), it goes a bit deeper than you may think.
Even if Wizards gets the announcement correct, however, that just leads to the bigger question: How on earth do you actually reprint these cards? Which cards? How quickly? In what sort of product?
Think about that for a moment: If you print low-powered cards, you minimize hype. If you print high-powered cards, you limit the types of products that you can put the cards in without impacting standard/frontier/modern. If you put them in a limited-run product like eternal masters, vendors and investors may try to snap them up to keep prices high (if you reprint black lotus, for example, it would be hard to get them to the public). If you put them in as masterpieces to discourage this tactic, the difficulty in acquiring these cards may still reduce hype (even if those reprints push down the price of high tier cards by hundreds of dollars, that sort of stuff may not click with newer players). If you decide to force them into the hands of average players by printing them to hell and back… Well, that’s kind of what happened with Chronicles.
So… yeah. If you had the power to destroy the reserved list, what would be the smartest way to start printing cards from that list?
Couple of snips there, but this thread isn't for "should the RL be broken." That's another thread, an official one with hundreds of pages of circular arguments. This one assumes that the RL is going to be broken, what is the best way to do it? Do you prioritize getting cards to players for older formats? Do you string the reprints out over years to get the most reprint equity from them? Do you go the Masterpiece route? Do you give plenty of warning for the secondary market, or let the resellers take the hit? Is there a way to mitigate the loss of confidence, maybe by saying that your first responsibility, before any promises, is to maintain the health and future playability of the game, and that the RL makes some formats unsustainable?
The only reason to abolish the RL is to drive down prices. The ideas like "10 years notice" and "reprint them as Masterpieces" miss the entire point. If you do that, you might as well not abolish the RL at all. If you don't want the RL gone, just say so and don't give "solutions" that don't solve anything. If WotC wants to abolish the RL, then the best thing for them to do would be to do it ASAP, and reprint enough to keep the market value on them at a place where they are still in high demand. I think that Modern Masters has shown them that a high-demand reprint, at Mythic, can both sell packs and still not tank the value of them (ensuring they continue to sell packs in the future.)
Two year's notice: the RL will be abolished, and there will be a supplemental printing on Vintage masters in paper, with the special rarity downshifted to normal Mythics. This will be an ongoing product, alternating years with Modern Masters.
Well, the problem with eternal formats is, that wizards can´t make them cheap without banning or reprinting reserved list cards. The first will hurt the format, the second might hurt the whole game.
The second might be the only way to save the formats, and we have a lot of evidence lately that reprints don't actually hurt the perceived value of original printings.
As for what it "should" cost, I tend to agree with you for prices: a new console for a Standard deck (assuming you start from 0, which is seldom the case), maybe $200- $300. For a Modern deck, again assuming a buy-in from nothing, somewhere between $400 and $600 for a top-tier deck. Legacy, I'd start at $600 and go up from there, but should it really cost several thousand dollars? Hell, should it cost $500 for a single land since SCG has the ability to manipulate prices?
I really want to agree with Evaders99 here, and that's the consensus, but there seemed to be some very strange collation errors in Modern Masters 2017. I got 2 boxes, and there were 21 rares and 2 Mythics in common out of 24 packs per box. Maybe just a very strange coincidence, but I'm not the only one who saw boxes with very similar pulls. This is the only recent set that anyone has mentioned errors on that scale, though, normal expansions seem to be randomized well enough that mapping shouldn't be possible.
If you like cracking packs, or if you're planning on drafting them, get the box. If you just want playables, you can right now get playsets of commons/uncommons from HOU on EBay for about $40, then spend the remainder on the rares and mythics you want as singles. If you're looking to play Standard, you're probably best served by buying the playsets and whatever singles you need.
Why would they ban Ulamog when Marvel is clearly the engine that allows broken things to happen? After Ulamog, do you just continue banning the biggest, best marvel target, or do you at some point just admit that Marvel is the card that enables everything?
Collectability is a big part of what keeps this game going. Collectors spend a lot of money on singles, that money is what keeps LGS doors open. If you over print cards collectors will stop buying cards. Without the money collectors spend on singles the LGS has to shuts the doors, now players have nowhere to play there worthless cardboard .
Collectors spend a lot of money, sure. I bet you that at most LGSs, though, the vast majority of cards by volume is for casual players: Commander in particular tends to sell tons of cardboard. Ask your LGS owner for a rough guess as to what makes him more money: Vintage/Legacy staples, Modern staples, or Commander jank. For most of my LGS owners, it's probably jank (although we have at least 3 decent groups of Commander players in the area who love doing stupid, silly stuff.)
Quite honestly, if M:tG singles sales are what's keeping your LGS doors open, then you might want to say your goodbyes to that particular LGS. It's a very volatile business model to rely that heavily on singles, and although it can be lucrative, it's not stable. Any LGS that has skewed their business so far towards singles sales that they would fail from market volatility is simply going to fail eventually.
Yet, why is Bob fine with paying the price for fatal push but not with the price of path to exile?
Someone else already answered this, but to elaborate: it comes down to people like to complain and the VIP club problem. The price on path and fatal push are probably a little high as reds own staple removal/burn spell lightning bolt is cheaper. That's about it. Plus with spells like that you sometimes need more than a single playset.
Path isn't the problem. Fatal Push and Path to Exile might be similar prices, but what about the rest of the deck around them? One single card isn't the issue, it's the aggregate prices of deck that's really putting up that pay wall.
As for not needing the best cards, well, there are streamers and YouTubers who like to brew and then post their results. Budget builds tend to get wrecked, plain and simple. Every once in a while, you see someone with a lucky run, but overall, attempting to brew or run budget options instead of a proven deck with the demonstrably best cards in the format, is just not competitive. The worst part is, at least some of these "budget" decks would work much, much better with the additions of these cards that aren't "needed."
3 expeditions, 1 masterpiece. The only masterpiece I pulled was the one I really, really liked, though, Sword of Light and Shadow. Haven't gotten any from AER or Amonkhet yet.
No its not. i am no collector, but player only, but i like my cards to have (and keep) some value. Otherwise, why should i spend so much money on cards?
1: You wouldn't have to spend so much money on cards if they were reprinted with an eye towards actually making them affordable.
2: Because you can buy the cards once and get infinite replay value out of them
3: Because you want a specific card for a deck, so you buy it as a (cheap) single.
4: If you insist on spending a lot of money, you can always buy the Masterpiece/Foil/Judge promo/SDCC version, whatever, and have an expensive card. Meanwhile, others can still have a cheap version to play.
Anointed Procession was amazing, I got it in 2 separate pools, and it was an all-star both times. With embalm creatures, especially Angel of Sanctions, it was great. Liliana's Mastery was good on its own, but paired with the procession, it got silly quick. Even Cradle of the Accursed got a lot better with procession on the board. Definitely a lot better than I expected.
While they aren't true dual lands, the Khans of Tarkir fetchlands (Polluted Delta, Bloodstained Mire, Wooded Foothills, Windswept Heath, and Flooded Strand) are nice additions to any multicolor manabase and are likely never going to be cheaper than they are right now. The enemy-color fetchlands are quite a bit more expensive, and another reprint could bring their prices way down. I'm personally buying the enemy fetches a few at a time, but if you really need to get the most for your money, that's a risk. The Return to Ravnica Shocklands are still on the cheap side, as well. From what you've typed, I'd try to get your allied fetches and shocklands first, they're definitely the colorfixing lands for the money.
My favorite card is Library of Lat-Nam. It's always fun to watch newer players have to read the card 3-4 times, then try to decide what to do about it.
Couple of snips there, but this thread isn't for "should the RL be broken." That's another thread, an official one with hundreds of pages of circular arguments. This one assumes that the RL is going to be broken, what is the best way to do it? Do you prioritize getting cards to players for older formats? Do you string the reprints out over years to get the most reprint equity from them? Do you go the Masterpiece route? Do you give plenty of warning for the secondary market, or let the resellers take the hit? Is there a way to mitigate the loss of confidence, maybe by saying that your first responsibility, before any promises, is to maintain the health and future playability of the game, and that the RL makes some formats unsustainable?
If you want to argue about whether the RL should be abolished, try this: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-general/334928-reserved-list-discussion Just know that it's 122 pages and has been dormant nearly 3 months now.
The second might be the only way to save the formats, and we have a lot of evidence lately that reprints don't actually hurt the perceived value of original printings.
As for what it "should" cost, I tend to agree with you for prices: a new console for a Standard deck (assuming you start from 0, which is seldom the case), maybe $200- $300. For a Modern deck, again assuming a buy-in from nothing, somewhere between $400 and $600 for a top-tier deck. Legacy, I'd start at $600 and go up from there, but should it really cost several thousand dollars? Hell, should it cost $500 for a single land since SCG has the ability to manipulate prices?
Collectors spend a lot of money, sure. I bet you that at most LGSs, though, the vast majority of cards by volume is for casual players: Commander in particular tends to sell tons of cardboard. Ask your LGS owner for a rough guess as to what makes him more money: Vintage/Legacy staples, Modern staples, or Commander jank. For most of my LGS owners, it's probably jank (although we have at least 3 decent groups of Commander players in the area who love doing stupid, silly stuff.)
Quite honestly, if M:tG singles sales are what's keeping your LGS doors open, then you might want to say your goodbyes to that particular LGS. It's a very volatile business model to rely that heavily on singles, and although it can be lucrative, it's not stable. Any LGS that has skewed their business so far towards singles sales that they would fail from market volatility is simply going to fail eventually.
Path isn't the problem. Fatal Push and Path to Exile might be similar prices, but what about the rest of the deck around them? One single card isn't the issue, it's the aggregate prices of deck that's really putting up that pay wall.
As for not needing the best cards, well, there are streamers and YouTubers who like to brew and then post their results. Budget builds tend to get wrecked, plain and simple. Every once in a while, you see someone with a lucky run, but overall, attempting to brew or run budget options instead of a proven deck with the demonstrably best cards in the format, is just not competitive. The worst part is, at least some of these "budget" decks would work much, much better with the additions of these cards that aren't "needed."
1: You wouldn't have to spend so much money on cards if they were reprinted with an eye towards actually making them affordable.
2: Because you can buy the cards once and get infinite replay value out of them
3: Because you want a specific card for a deck, so you buy it as a (cheap) single.
4: If you insist on spending a lot of money, you can always buy the Masterpiece/Foil/Judge promo/SDCC version, whatever, and have an expensive card. Meanwhile, others can still have a cheap version to play.