But two Masters Sets in just 4 months. I understand Master 25. That celebrates 25 years of MTG, but why Iconic Masters??
Iconic Masters description reads "Iconic Masters offers players a tour through some of the most powerful cards in over 23 years of Magic history"
Master 25 reads "A Masters set that celebrates the 25 years of Magic's history"
One Masters set celebrating 23 years and the other celebrating 25 years, both just 4 months apart. BTW, both release dates are at the 24 year point, but that is most likely irreverent (maybe this post is too).
If you go by all the Master set release dates the next one should have been Masters 25. Iconic Masters is the oddball here. If they followed their normal schema we should have just had Master 25.
The question is why celebrate 23 years (odd celebration year too) of MTG and then celebrate 25 years of MTG history just 4 months later?????
Balance, Demonic Tutor, Lighting Bolt, Fetchlands, Mishra's Factory and Giant Growth have been reprinted a lot. Fetchlands are in the last premium set as a rare, so there are TONS of them out there now. Don't get me wrong, Iconic Masters will be a blast to draft, but Wizards really only makes money by people busting packs. How many boxes and cases are going to be opened if that next two premium sets (Iconic and 25) are just some new non-RL cards, reprints and lots of normally unplayable cards? Almost smells like two really bad core-like sets. BTW: Demonic Tutor was a card removed form the reserved list (2002 I think).
Modern and Eternal Masters was developed to make Eternal and Modern more accessible to players who can't afford to pay 2k or more for a deck. At least this is what we were told by Wizards. Legacy is still not truly accessible with some RL cards, mainly the duals. I know there a TONS of Legacy decks without them, but duals are a big part of Legacy. So, the printing of Eternal Masters and reprint RL cards just make their own statement make more sense: "Making Modem and Legacy more accessible".
As far as the legal trouble. This promise was never a binding contact. How can they get into legal trouble?? They will anger ~0.1% of the MTG population, but the rest will be very very happy. Sure there will be unwinnable lawsuits, but in the end Wizards will make ~1 BAZILLION dollars and younger MTG players will finally be able to play and be competitive in Legacy.
Two Masters sets in less than 4 months that are supposed to celebrate the history of MTG.
Other than a money grab this seems a little strange.
Think about this:
Thought 1: How many iconic cards are out there that are NOT on the RL and have NOT been printed in a recent premium set?? Sure MTG Lion and other have stated some possibilities, but not really enough to fill a set that is even CLOSE to justifying a $9.99 price tag per pack.
Thought 2: Master 25 is coming next year. This description reads very similar to Iconic Masters. Celebrating the last 20 or so years of MTG, blah, blah, blah..... Even if, they manage to fill Iconic Masters how in "Zeus's Butt hole" are they going to fill that set??? This set is due to release in just 4 months after Iconic Masters.
Solution 1: Make two really bad Masters sets that very few people will buy.
Solution 2: Adjust the RL. Yes, adjust, not abolish. Now, a wizard of course has attempted to squash this, but follow this: This is what they said "We will not be reprinting reserved list cards. There are plenty of iconic cards outside of them."
Again, take this with a grain of salt, but just look at what they said. Both of their statements do not mean that the reserved will not be adjusted.
Think about it:
"We will not be reprinting reserved list cards": Even if the reserved list is adjusted, this statement is still TRUE Even if the reserved list shrinks to the P9 plus some extras this statement is still TRUE
"There are plenty of iconic cards outside of them": Again, even if the reserved list is adjusted, this statement is still TRUE. This statement is TRUE no matter the size of the reserved list and the term iconic is very subjective...
Again, take it and leave it, but changes to the reserved list need to happen and I think they will... this is the ONLY way they can fill two Masters set within 4 months of each other the celebrate this history of MTG.
Come on, this just does not pass the logic/smell test. How can Wizards really fill two premium sets that are only 4 months apart without RL cards???
The reserved list was created a LONG time ago by a few people when MTG was much smaller. I was part of that environment. I opened numerous 0.99 Legend,
Arabian and Antiquities packs. Remember when packs where only 99 cents???
Well, HASCON will give us a peek. It just makes sense (to me anyway) that RL cards will be in Iconic Masters and Masters 25.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/the-rumor-mill/speculation/782450-the-reserved-elephant-in-the-room
Iconic Masters description reads "Iconic Masters offers players a tour through some of the most powerful cards in over 23 years of Magic history"
Master 25 reads "A Masters set that celebrates the 25 years of Magic's history"
One Masters set celebrating 23 years and the other celebrating 25 years, both just 4 months apart. BTW, both release dates are at the 24 year point, but that is most likely irreverent (maybe this post is too).
If you go by all the Master set release dates the next one should have been Masters 25. Iconic Masters is the oddball here. If they followed their normal schema we should have just had Master 25.
The question is why celebrate 23 years (odd celebration year too) of MTG and then celebrate 25 years of MTG history just 4 months later?????
This is very strange.....
Modern and Eternal Masters was developed to make Eternal and Modern more accessible to players who can't afford to pay 2k or more for a deck. At least this is what we were told by Wizards. Legacy is still not truly accessible with some RL cards, mainly the duals. I know there a TONS of Legacy decks without them, but duals are a big part of Legacy. So, the printing of Eternal Masters and reprint RL cards just make their own statement make more sense: "Making Modem and Legacy more accessible".
As far as the legal trouble. This promise was never a binding contact. How can they get into legal trouble?? They will anger ~0.1% of the MTG population, but the rest will be very very happy. Sure there will be unwinnable lawsuits, but in the end Wizards will make ~1 BAZILLION dollars and younger MTG players will finally be able to play and be competitive in Legacy.
Other than a money grab this seems a little strange.
Think about this:
Thought 1: How many iconic cards are out there that are NOT on the RL and have NOT been printed in a recent premium set?? Sure MTG Lion and other have stated some possibilities, but not really enough to fill a set that is even CLOSE to justifying a $9.99 price tag per pack.
Thought 2: Master 25 is coming next year. This description reads very similar to Iconic Masters. Celebrating the last 20 or so years of MTG, blah, blah, blah..... Even if, they manage to fill Iconic Masters how in "Zeus's Butt hole" are they going to fill that set??? This set is due to release in just 4 months after Iconic Masters.
Solution 1: Make two really bad Masters sets that very few people will buy.
Solution 2: Adjust the RL. Yes, adjust, not abolish. Now, a wizard of course has attempted to squash this, but follow this: This is what they said "We will not be reprinting reserved list cards. There are plenty of iconic cards outside of them."
Again, take this with a grain of salt, but just look at what they said. Both of their statements do not mean that the reserved will not be adjusted.
Think about it:
"We will not be reprinting reserved list cards": Even if the reserved list is adjusted, this statement is still TRUE Even if the reserved list shrinks to the P9 plus some extras this statement is still TRUE
"There are plenty of iconic cards outside of them": Again, even if the reserved list is adjusted, this statement is still TRUE. This statement is TRUE no matter the size of the reserved list and the term iconic is very subjective...
Again, take it and leave it, but changes to the reserved list need to happen and I think they will... this is the ONLY way they can fill two Masters set within 4 months of each other the celebrate this history of MTG.
Come on, this just does not pass the logic/smell test. How can Wizards really fill two premium sets that are only 4 months apart without RL cards???
The reserved list was created a LONG time ago by a few people when MTG was much smaller. I was part of that environment. I opened numerous 0.99 Legend,
Arabian and Antiquities packs. Remember when packs where only 99 cents???
Well, HASCON will give us a peek. It just makes sense (to me anyway) that RL cards will be in Iconic Masters and Masters 25.