This product might be a test product to see if it sells better in China. If so, Wizards will likely design a Chinese-themed expansion in the future.
I am sure a Chinese setting has been on the short list for years.
I don't think Wizards will release an entire Chinese themed set globally. The low sales numbers of the Kamigawa block are too deep of a wound for this to happen. But of course they want a piece of the huge potential Chinese market and apparently have decided they need products that are more accesible to chinese customers. I think this deck is an attempt to create a gateway drug to Magic for Chinese players that might not have the same evocative connection to Magic's fantasy themes as an average Western customer.
The success of Khans and Amonkhet counters your point completely. Kamigawa did not sell well because it was poorly designed (mechanically) and was sandwiched between two incredibly popular blocks (Mirrodin and Ravnica). The failures of Kamigawa taught WotC a lot of hard lessons, which they have taken to heart, for the most part.
Fair enough, I withdraw that point. I still think the Chinese planeswalker deck is primarily an attempt to expand their market in China, and only secondarily aimed towards customers in other countries.
Totally agree. The middle class in CHina is as large as the whole US population. Tapping into that market is important for the long term success of Magic.
The first thing they need to do is improve the quality of the physical cards. it's stupid that it has to be said, when that is what your company does, you have to do it well. In 10 years, it is entirely possible that you will be unable to find sleeve-legal copies of Amonkhet cards. I'm in Florida, the newest cards are warping in days. There are a lot of other things, but it doesn't matter how good the card text is or how playable the sets are if you need to double sleeve every single card within minutes of cracking the pack. Tarmogoyf at rare in Standard won't actually help if general use destroys all of those copies.
The head of WotC already said the cost of paper has gone up. They could either lower quality or raise prices. They chose lower quality.
Also, I live in Nevada and the Amonkhet cards are warped. Its pretty bad.
First, can you give a source fot MTGO making more money than paper magic? I actually can´t belive that until i see the mumbers for that. And you woulnd´t just make something like that up, would you?
It is easy to see why that is the case as well. Even if MtGO has a smaller audience than the paper format, WotC has to spend less money making the cards, shipping the cards and sharing the cost of the packs with the distributors and retailers. MtGO's audience could in fact be really tiny and it would still earn WotC as much or more money than the paper format due to the vertical and digital nature of the distribution.
I think WOTC needs to expand the reserved list. I think it would benefit consumer confidence and increase sales if people knew that cards were more likely to become collectors editions. I think the process should be very transparent (as in the intention should be announced over a year in advance, with at least 6-12 months of knowing what will be added before it takes effect).
That will never, ever happen. The Reserved List was a mistake that has hurt (the paper version of) the game, as a whole, since its inception.
The collectors are not the ones WotC needs to focus on in the paper format. They actually need to focus on the people who play the game. If the game is fun, people will crack packs. If the game play is bad, people stop cracking packs. Simple as that.
Interestingly, the Chinese planeswalker decks are called "Global Series: Jiang Yanggu and Mu Yanling". I'm assuming based on the name "Global Series" if this sells well we'll later see this for other countries or regions?
This product might be a test product to see if it sells better in China. If so, Wizards will likely design a Chinese-themed expansion in the future.
I am sure a Chinese setting has been on the short list for years.
I don't think Wizards will release an entire Chinese themed set globally. The low sales numbers of the Kamigawa block are too deep of a wound for this to happen. But of course they want a piece of the huge potential Chinese market and apparently have decided they need products that are more accesible to chinese customers. I think this deck is an attempt to create a gateway drug to Magic for Chinese players that might not have the same evocative connection to Magic's fantasy themes as an average Western customer.
The success of Khans and Amonkhet counters your point completely. Kamigawa did not sell well because it was poorly designed (mechanically) and was sandwiched between two incredibly popular blocks (Mirrodin and Ravnica). The failures of Kamigawa taught WotC a lot of hard lessons, which they have taken to heart, for the most part.
The issue with doing PW cards for Urza, Serra, Leshrac, and the other absurdly powerful beings of Magic lore is that unless the card is a ten-mana "you win the game" card, it wouldn't be doing justice to the pure absurd power level of the oldwalkers. Oldwalkers were gods. Not Theros "kinda sorta" gods. They were completely unbeatable unless you were one or something similar (Yawgmoth).
Neither Karn nor Nicol Bolas are oldwalkers anymore. They don't have the same power. Hence why Nicol Bolas is spending all his time trying to get that power back.
Teferi and Freyalise were oldwalkers, but Urza was an entire league above either of them.
The issue with doing PW cards for Urza, Serra, Leshrac, and the other absurdly powerful beings of Magic lore is that unless the card is a ten-mana "you win the game" card, it wouldn't be doing justice to the pure absurd power level of the oldwalkers. Oldwalkers were gods. Not Theros "kinda sorta" gods. They were completely unbeatable unless you were one or something similar (Yawgmoth).
Yawgmoth was (at the end) techincily living mana! Also for the record Eldrazi could beat them and they could sacrfise their spark to seal off a realm from others. However ya other then that these old walkers were scary guys, Jace is the type of person Urza would go "Kid stop bothering me I am in the process of waging a multi dementioanal Galactic scope war"
Imagine that Jace Signature Spellbook containing Jace, the Mind Sculptor and turning him from the Wallet Sculpter to the Peoples Sculpture. Crash the market. Eliminate the bourgeoisie.
Their are no old walkers anymore, They are gone finiteo retconed in to extinction. Also as a point of Lore after the Apocolips Urza/Karn happen to be the same person.
I think the more likely scenario is that since he's basically 8x the MSRP of the spellbook every single one gets bought out by scalpers or horded and no one sees them actually make it to the shelves. I'm probably pre-ordering one the second it shows up since at worse I'm getting a jace themed counterspell reprint from the jace vs chandra duel deck in foil, Fact or Fiction Jace duel deck reprint in foil, and possibly a Jace Beleren. I highly doubt they are going to put the most powerful version of jace in the FTV unless they literally hold the spoilers to a week before release.
^THIS^.
Anyone expecting JtMS in a $20 MSRP product is deluding themselves.
Yup, no way they are taking a 100+ dollar staple and selling it for $20, If this has a MSRP of $50 or $80 we might be able to say oh JTMS but not at 20.
My thought is that it is either going to be Jace Beleren or Jace, Vryn's Prodigy. Both are iconic Jace cards that could easily be slotted into this product.
I've never been able to wrap my head around 2HG. You share life totals, but you can't work together on strategies? People who like it: what is the appeal?
Interestingly, the Chinese planeswalker decks are called "Global Series: Jiang Yanggu and Mu Yanling". I'm assuming based on the name "Global Series" if this sells well we'll later see this for other countries or regions?
This product might be a test product to see if it sells better in China. If so, Wizards will likely design a Chinese-themed expansion in the future.
I am sure a Chinese setting has been on the short list for years.
The conspiracy theorist angle is my favourite one, thanks for the laughs folks. :]
People have been talking, and there was real potential, over a year ago. Like when I bought mine, when he was closer to $50, than $150.
Reprints, Masters sets value, whatever people want to complain about, thats fine, but the tin foil hats just make you look funny. Its a card that will power up some decks, maybe create some new ones, and thats it. You still die on Turn 3 to Burn.
Well, no the cards were unbanned for sales reasons. Wizards knows that they can't have another iconic masters and unbanning cards increases the market value of the set. If the set fails like iconic masters people will literally lose their jobs. It is not funny in the slightest. Its always all or nothing with these people. First no more core sets, then core sets are back. Then it's drop the power level in standard, then up it again with nitroglycerin.
Yep. They've done the same with Multiplayer, first with ridiculously powerful Primordials that along with clones made multiplayer games a joke, then the took it back a notch and had curses that actually had to target, and now it's back to "Each Opponent" all over the place. Only it really sucks because Commander isn't a rotating format, so they can't fix the nitro they've added in the last few years. We've had to make huge house rules just to allow games to last more than 4 turns.
Sounds like your group is not running enough cards that counter and/or remove specific cards.
The powering up and down of sets is done with intent, the issue is...I dont think people like lower power sets anymore, if they ever did.
Modern is a thing, and its a big thing, and people can very easily look at it as 'why would I play X, when I can play Y'.
I know I'm not alone in that. The last good Standard, was Khans, because that block had power.
People have no clue how to measure power though, they cry "This set sucks! This is the worst Standard ever" every standard format.
based on how we had to ban a Lay of the Land, I'd say that's been pretty accurate for the last 4 years.
If you think Lay of the Land and Attune With Aether are remotely comparable cards you are insane or selling something, the amazing thing is that people shouldn't have cried about the bans, they should have cried that WOTC banned the wrong crap, Energy Didn't break because Kaladesh/Amonkhet/Ixalan cardpools, Energy broke because WOTC (once again) make a mechanic with punishes to counter it directly, and make all of the payoffs to the mechanic instant speed so so that dealing with them was impossible.
The problem with Energy was that most of the effects triggered as soon as the card hit the field and the fact that energy was not costed appropriately. Most cards simply had energy tacked on for free.
WotC is not going to end Paper Magic. Don't be silly people. It is a big money maker. A renewed focus on a digital version of the game is important because, right now, WotC is leaving a lot of money on the table. Even if Arena only does a tenth of what Hearthstone does, that is still over a hundred million dollars a year. That's 1/8th of Hasbro's total Gaming Portfolio. Not trying to replicate the success of Hearthstone is foolish.
The conspiracy theorist angle is my favourite one, thanks for the laughs folks. :]
People have been talking, and there was real potential, over a year ago. Like when I bought mine, when he was closer to $50, than $150.
Reprints, Masters sets value, whatever people want to complain about, thats fine, but the tin foil hats just make you look funny. Its a card that will power up some decks, maybe create some new ones, and thats it. You still die on Turn 3 to Burn.
Well, no the cards were unbanned for sales reasons. Wizards knows that they can't have another iconic masters and unbanning cards increases the market value of the set. If the set fails like iconic masters people will literally lose their jobs. It is not funny in the slightest. Its always all or nothing with these people. First no more core sets, then core sets are back. Then it's drop the power level in standard, then up it again with nitroglycerin.
Honestly, a Jace unban doesn't do much to increase the market value of the set. He's a mythic rare, so any increase in his price, even a big one, is going to actually have a fairly negligible effect on the overall value of the set.
The value is not to the consumer, it is to WotC. Online retailers and shops will be buying more Masters 25 boxes to get their hands on more Jaces, since he will be the card everyone needs and wants.
I wish Masters sets were 4 bucks a pack, like everything else. It really bugs me that Masters packs cost 10 bucks a pack and you are guaranteed nothing of value.
Totally agree. The middle class in CHina is as large as the whole US population. Tapping into that market is important for the long term success of Magic.
The head of WotC already said the cost of paper has gone up. They could either lower quality or raise prices. They chose lower quality.
Also, I live in Nevada and the Amonkhet cards are warped. Its pretty bad.
From a Forbes article c. 2013: "Magic: the Gathering celebrated its 20th birthday and to make it memorable, they’re setting their business on fire. “Magic: the Gathering Online,” or the online version of the game, comprises 30% to 40% of the company’s revenues, quoted Worth Wollpert, Executive Producer of Magic Online."
It is easy to see why that is the case as well. Even if MtGO has a smaller audience than the paper format, WotC has to spend less money making the cards, shipping the cards and sharing the cost of the packs with the distributors and retailers. MtGO's audience could in fact be really tiny and it would still earn WotC as much or more money than the paper format due to the vertical and digital nature of the distribution.
That will never, ever happen. The Reserved List was a mistake that has hurt (the paper version of) the game, as a whole, since its inception.
The collectors are not the ones WotC needs to focus on in the paper format. They actually need to focus on the people who play the game. If the game is fun, people will crack packs. If the game play is bad, people stop cracking packs. Simple as that.
The success of Khans and Amonkhet counters your point completely. Kamigawa did not sell well because it was poorly designed (mechanically) and was sandwiched between two incredibly popular blocks (Mirrodin and Ravnica). The failures of Kamigawa taught WotC a lot of hard lessons, which they have taken to heart, for the most part.
My thought is that it is either going to be Jace Beleren or Jace, Vryn's Prodigy. Both are iconic Jace cards that could easily be slotted into this product.
No, you can share information and strategize.
I am sure a Chinese setting has been on the short list for years.
Sounds like your group is not running enough cards that counter and/or remove specific cards.
The problem with Energy was that most of the effects triggered as soon as the card hit the field and the fact that energy was not costed appropriately. Most cards simply had energy tacked on for free.
The value is not to the consumer, it is to WotC. Online retailers and shops will be buying more Masters 25 boxes to get their hands on more Jaces, since he will be the card everyone needs and wants.