Yes.
A $4 pack of playing cards is non-randomized, just like a $120 core set is non-randomized.
One is a cheap product, the other is an expensive product.
But there is no chance.
Just like how you can buy a $5 miniature or a $80 miniature.
Wwat you see is what you get.
Remember the main defense that EA had?
Most loot-boxes couldn't be traded for monetary value, so its not gambling.
Didn't stop that from getting banned in countries because those countries updated what constitutes as gambling.
How do I obtain an expensive magic the gathering card?
I either pay an exorbent price set by the secondary market, or I place a bet with a booster pack and hope to get it instead.
And if I have to open a randomized pack for a chance at possibly getting that expensive card, its no different than gambling.
Especially when you can treat that expensive card that you might get out of a booster pack as gambling chips to cash out for real world money.
Most tabletop games don't rely on randomization as the intended method to obtain game pieces.
Yet card games with randomized game pieces, where you aren't guarnteed to get all the pieces for that purchase, that is somehow fine.
Even the creator himself wanted to reprint the cards to being affordable, at most only being twenty dollars for a single card, any higher was absurd.
That is what happened with the set chronicles.
It had a massive-sized print run.
And when most game pieces tanked in price, people complained to them about how their monetary investments were being ruined.
Which is how the reserved list was made.
An order to never reprint game pieces because people treated the game like investments.
What do secret lairs do?
It caters to short term buys that can be invested in and resold later for profit.
Flash sales for game pieces.
How about I show you my homework?
You have a hypothetical quota of 1,000,000 units from these limited-time offer sales.
This quota only needs to be filled to the exact, making excess is only for employees.
The secret lair product, Bitterblossom Dreams, on offer is $30 with 5 non-foil cards.
This can provide a return of $30,000,000 if the quota is met.
The secret lair has five new pieces of art work, one for the actual, four for tokens.
Assuming the artist charges around a $1,000 for their comission, that is $5,000 for art.
We are now at -$5,000.
Each non-premium card on a sheet is worth the equivalent of 0.04 cents.
Each uncut sheet is 11x11 or 121 cards.
A regular sheet is $4.84.
We can fulfill 24 orders with a single sheet, and for every five sheets we fulfill one more order.
To fulfill, we would need 41.666(repeating) or just 41,667 sheets if rounded up.
The cost of 41,667 sheets is $201,668.28.
We are now at -$206,668.28.
A rule of thumb of shipping is that packaging for every $11 in product, it takes $1 in material.
Packaging would cost us $18333.48.
We are now at -$225,001.76.
We pay $0 to the employee who is paid by the word for their is no flavortext needed.
Price cost unchanged.
The average cost of an employee's time at Wizards of the Coast is $45/hour.
Each employee working a 9-5 work schedule on this quota would cost $360 for a day.
Lets say that 100 employees in total are working on the printing press that day, for $36,000.
We are now at -$261,000.76
We don't factor in the price of shipping as the customer pays for that.
We pay one worker $360 for their day of work to actually do the work of making the card.
We are now at -$261,360.76.
The last cost is really the rental of a printing facility for this.
Lets just say it costs a cool million.
That puts us at -$1,261,360.76.
Now we factor in the return which is: $28,738,639.24
We have plenty to factor in the remaining 500+ employees working that day.
As Wizards HQ lists 600+ employees.
Which still nets a large return.
Even if we factored in ink, what is the price going to be? a $100,000 or $500,000 chump change for a company like Wizards?
Also that the price to produce a single unit of Bitterblossom Dreams,just for resources, is around $3.
And using only 1 million units is not unreasonable when the player base is literally in the double digits.
And even if its not equal to 1 million units = 1 million players, the most a person could have bought was 10 units.
Some even having separate accounts to buy even more.
Such as LGS's or scalpers.
Then you have players who might buy four just so they can have a playset.
Then you have collectors who might only buy one just to say they did, or put in a binder, or to frame it.
Then you have commander players who buy one because thats all they need for the format.
Some commander players buying more for each of their decks because some literally do that.
Then you have family members who buy it because they don't know any better as a gift for the holidays.
Then you have kids buying it because they are easily gullible for this stuff due to lack of discipline.
This comeuppance is from politicians such as those in congress.
Switching to LCG is the only way Wizards will have be able to save face from them.
The most traceable form of loot boxes in the physical is magic the gathering and gacha.
Magic the Gathering's model is cited on the basis for which the digital was used.
They both tick all the boxes for the same things like loot boxes.
Not even trading or selling is a viable excuse anymore when its still gambling with chance and randomization.
A LCG is exempt from this as its no different than buying a board game or a 54 pack of playing cards. Mox Opal before it was banned, a playset of four cards costing around $400.
A LCG that provides the whole core set for just $120 is a bargain in comparison.
Yet that is not likely.
More likely to see Secret Lairs until it stops being profitable.
Same verse, same as the first.
Members of the community tried to provide data.
Showing how the metagame actually is.
Wizards again trying to quell it.
First MTGGoldFish, now Frank.
Whats not old is Frank Karsten being muzzled from posting GP data.
That is not old but it also seemingly has nothing to do with the other part. Are they connected or did you just jump in here to yell fire?
Also, yes that is tragic. More data should be a good thing.
Well in Historian's Video.
He actually puts that first before the MPL rules change.
His reason being in citing its recency.
And why its a bad thing.
Yes SavannahLion, that is why.
Very astute.
Playing cards are the inspiration for living card games.
The base set is all that its needed.
Expansions are fun, but unneeded.
Affordable as one time purchases.
That is where magic needs to shape up.
They will get a knocking on their door when the time comes.
Their practices seen as predatory.
Short term profits may please the shareholders.
But such things only lead to instability and mass lay-offs later.
Example of the two above.
The horror that comes from other consumers who want you to be silent.
To move on and talk about anything else.
Yet that is how predatory practices thrive.
When consumers tell other consumers to be silent.
Why does a card game have stock market graphs and financial trends?
Consumers who profiteer off of it, off that silence.
You can buy a pack of playing cards.
Perhaps its Disney or Cthulhu or Steampunk themed.
The rules remain the same, the faces and backs might not.
All the cards in mint condition.
Its not going to cost you more than $10 for a full deck, more likely $3 or $5.
Only expensive ones are the very vintage ones.
Never needing to spend another dime unless you like the aesthetic.
No flash sales.
Meanwhile spending $10 on a commander deck.
Cards that are mostly damaged or heavily played for their condition.
Very budgetary and in need of upgrades.
Like it were some broken car you bought at the scrapyard.
When smaller, when weaker, dealing that death blow would be enough.
A new seed, a new game, taking root in their place.
Yet today even if one colossus fell, others remain.
Taking one down is a herculean task in itself.
Most of the old guard who wanted what is best for the players, gone.
Those who remain, given little room to help.
Even in the mid-nineties, the original testers and designers saw those warning sides.
The creator spun gold and earned a hefty windfall, then left all together.
Planting new seeds, creating new games.
The finance people wonder why stop at hundred-million for a windfall.
Everything you said is true.
It is actually terrifying when you step back and look at it all.
We may voice our concern, our objection, yet we are few.
So many are caught under the spell.
The playerbase easily in the double digits of millions.
Even if a secret lair box sells a hundred-thousand units at $40 a piece, its still a profitable venture compared to the cost to make it.
And this is because its print to demand unlike past attempts where there was waste and excess in their storehouses.
True horror from any game publishing company starts when the audience just rolls with the changes.
Its how loot boxes, pay-or-wait, duplicate leveling, and other insidious tactics got started.
The secret lairs is just an evolution of the exclusive buy-a-box promos.
People rationalizing in their heads why its a good purchase, why its not as bad as it appears.
If it proves such a profitable venture, why not extend that to putting never before seen cards in secret lairs?
All the while people ask themselves how we got to this point.
A $4 pack of playing cards is non-randomized, just like a $120 core set is non-randomized.
One is a cheap product, the other is an expensive product.
But there is no chance.
Just like how you can buy a $5 miniature or a $80 miniature.
Wwat you see is what you get.
Remember the main defense that EA had?
Most loot-boxes couldn't be traded for monetary value, so its not gambling.
Didn't stop that from getting banned in countries because those countries updated what constitutes as gambling.
How do I obtain an expensive magic the gathering card?
I either pay an exorbent price set by the secondary market, or I place a bet with a booster pack and hope to get it instead.
And if I have to open a randomized pack for a chance at possibly getting that expensive card, its no different than gambling.
Especially when you can treat that expensive card that you might get out of a booster pack as gambling chips to cash out for real world money.
Most tabletop games don't rely on randomization as the intended method to obtain game pieces.
Yet card games with randomized game pieces, where you aren't guarnteed to get all the pieces for that purchase, that is somehow fine.
Even the creator himself wanted to reprint the cards to being affordable, at most only being twenty dollars for a single card, any higher was absurd.
That is what happened with the set chronicles.
It had a massive-sized print run.
And when most game pieces tanked in price, people complained to them about how their monetary investments were being ruined.
Which is how the reserved list was made.
An order to never reprint game pieces because people treated the game like investments.
What do secret lairs do?
It caters to short term buys that can be invested in and resold later for profit.
Flash sales for game pieces.
How about I show you my homework?
You have a hypothetical quota of 1,000,000 units from these limited-time offer sales.
This quota only needs to be filled to the exact, making excess is only for employees.
The secret lair product, Bitterblossom Dreams, on offer is $30 with 5 non-foil cards.
This can provide a return of $30,000,000 if the quota is met.
The secret lair has five new pieces of art work, one for the actual, four for tokens.
Assuming the artist charges around a $1,000 for their comission, that is $5,000 for art.
We are now at -$5,000.
Each non-premium card on a sheet is worth the equivalent of 0.04 cents.
Each uncut sheet is 11x11 or 121 cards.
A regular sheet is $4.84.
We can fulfill 24 orders with a single sheet, and for every five sheets we fulfill one more order.
To fulfill, we would need 41.666(repeating) or just 41,667 sheets if rounded up.
The cost of 41,667 sheets is $201,668.28.
We are now at -$206,668.28.
A rule of thumb of shipping is that packaging for every $11 in product, it takes $1 in material.
Packaging would cost us $18333.48.
We are now at -$225,001.76.
We pay $0 to the employee who is paid by the word for their is no flavortext needed.
Price cost unchanged.
The average cost of an employee's time at Wizards of the Coast is $45/hour.
Each employee working a 9-5 work schedule on this quota would cost $360 for a day.
Lets say that 100 employees in total are working on the printing press that day, for $36,000.
We are now at -$261,000.76
We don't factor in the price of shipping as the customer pays for that.
We pay one worker $360 for their day of work to actually do the work of making the card.
We are now at -$261,360.76.
The last cost is really the rental of a printing facility for this.
Lets just say it costs a cool million.
That puts us at -$1,261,360.76.
Now we factor in the return which is: $28,738,639.24
We have plenty to factor in the remaining 500+ employees working that day.
As Wizards HQ lists 600+ employees.
Which still nets a large return.
Even if we factored in ink, what is the price going to be? a $100,000 or $500,000 chump change for a company like Wizards?
Also that the price to produce a single unit of Bitterblossom Dreams,just for resources, is around $3.
And using only 1 million units is not unreasonable when the player base is literally in the double digits.
And even if its not equal to 1 million units = 1 million players, the most a person could have bought was 10 units.
Some even having separate accounts to buy even more.
Such as LGS's or scalpers.
Then you have players who might buy four just so they can have a playset.
Then you have collectors who might only buy one just to say they did, or put in a binder, or to frame it.
Then you have commander players who buy one because thats all they need for the format.
Some commander players buying more for each of their decks because some literally do that.
Then you have family members who buy it because they don't know any better as a gift for the holidays.
Then you have kids buying it because they are easily gullible for this stuff due to lack of discipline.
Do you see the horror I been talking about yet?
Switching to LCG is the only way Wizards will have be able to save face from them.
The most traceable form of loot boxes in the physical is magic the gathering and gacha.
Magic the Gathering's model is cited on the basis for which the digital was used.
They both tick all the boxes for the same things like loot boxes.
Not even trading or selling is a viable excuse anymore when its still gambling with chance and randomization.
A LCG is exempt from this as its no different than buying a board game or a 54 pack of playing cards.
Mox Opal before it was banned, a playset of four cards costing around $400.
A LCG that provides the whole core set for just $120 is a bargain in comparison.
Yet that is not likely.
More likely to see Secret Lairs until it stops being profitable.
Members of the community tried to provide data.
Showing how the metagame actually is.
Wizards again trying to quell it.
First MTGGoldFish, now Frank.
He actually puts that first before the MPL rules change.
His reason being in citing its recency.
And why its a bad thing.
Yes SavannahLion, that is why.
Playing cards are the inspiration for living card games.
The base set is all that its needed.
Expansions are fun, but unneeded.
Affordable as one time purchases.
That is where magic needs to shape up.
They will get a knocking on their door when the time comes.
Their practices seen as predatory.
Short term profits may please the shareholders.
But such things only lead to instability and mass lay-offs later.
The horror that comes from other consumers who want you to be silent.
To move on and talk about anything else.
Yet that is how predatory practices thrive.
When consumers tell other consumers to be silent.
Why does a card game have stock market graphs and financial trends?
Consumers who profiteer off of it, off that silence.
You can buy a pack of playing cards.
Perhaps its Disney or Cthulhu or Steampunk themed.
The rules remain the same, the faces and backs might not.
All the cards in mint condition.
Its not going to cost you more than $10 for a full deck, more likely $3 or $5.
Only expensive ones are the very vintage ones.
Never needing to spend another dime unless you like the aesthetic.
No flash sales.
Meanwhile spending $10 on a commander deck.
Cards that are mostly damaged or heavily played for their condition.
Very budgetary and in need of upgrades.
Like it were some broken car you bought at the scrapyard.
A new seed, a new game, taking root in their place.
Yet today even if one colossus fell, others remain.
Taking one down is a herculean task in itself.
Most of the old guard who wanted what is best for the players, gone.
Those who remain, given little room to help.
Even in the mid-nineties, the original testers and designers saw those warning sides.
The creator spun gold and earned a hefty windfall, then left all together.
Planting new seeds, creating new games.
The finance people wonder why stop at hundred-million for a windfall.
It is actually terrifying when you step back and look at it all.
We may voice our concern, our objection, yet we are few.
So many are caught under the spell.
The playerbase easily in the double digits of millions.
Even if a secret lair box sells a hundred-thousand units at $40 a piece, its still a profitable venture compared to the cost to make it.
And this is because its print to demand unlike past attempts where there was waste and excess in their storehouses.
Its how loot boxes, pay-or-wait, duplicate leveling, and other insidious tactics got started.
The secret lairs is just an evolution of the exclusive buy-a-box promos.
People rationalizing in their heads why its a good purchase, why its not as bad as it appears.
If it proves such a profitable venture, why not extend that to putting never before seen cards in secret lairs?
All the while people ask themselves how we got to this point.