First I would just like to mention that the title to the thread is kind of moot now that all the mythics are under $30 fairly consistently (ebay, etc) now. That being said however, I think the thread is interesting enough, as far as people's reactions for or against mythics go. The way I view mythics is the following:
Mythics serve a particular purpose in magic right now, as wizards did listen to the players and are now printing less cards per set. Now from a financial standpoint, with the set being smaller, if there weren't any mythic rares printed, then the set would only be about 2/3's the size of a normal set (at least from the perspective of the rares). So at least for me, to get the stock I would need for the shop I sell at, I would have only needed to buy 2/3's of the normal amount of boxes (was 27 before) to get what I needed to stock with (would now only be 18) if that were the case. And I dont know about you, but wizards all of a sudden seeing a drop-off in sales on average of about 1/3rd could be devastating for them, so this obviously wasnt a terribly good option for them to go off of. Because of my insistance on wanting to have the same supply of mythics that I usualy had of regular rares from other sets, I ended up raising my order to 40 boxes to accomodate that, and make sure I had plenty of the mythics that people might be after.
One thing to consider though, is that the set is still rather new, Its only been out for about 2 weeks now, and prices, while they have started to gradually settle, still havent had much time to do so as of yet as people continue to grab up the cards they want for their collections or to play with. Once this mad scramble is over, the prices will settle just as they did for shadowmoor and lorwyn before it. Yes it is true that the 3 main planeswalkers are going for rather high amounts right now at $20, $20, and $28 respectively as of last weekend's price checking, however the rest are $9 or less now and most are continuing to settle from their original higher prices. Because they are 50% rarer than a rare from say Lorwyn or Shadowmoor, its inevitable that they are going to command higher prices in general than they might otherwise hold, but it also allows wizards to keep doing what they are doing, while not sacrificing sales in their attempts to lower set sizes and try to keep with their customer's wishes.
Basically I am simply suggesting to give it some time, and allow for prices to continue to settle, and Im sure it wont be as bad as some have made it out to be when all is said and done.
Personally, as a casual player myself, I love the idea of planeswalkers, but looking at the mythics in general I tend to look at two of them that I like the most, The first is Godsire, nothing like being able to have an 8/8 with vigilance that can pump out another 8/8 each turn. And of course our good friend Hellkite Overlord, as good a replacement for Akroma as we are likely to see for a long while, and its a dragon!
Think they will put the other 5 lands combinations in eventide to finish the cycle started in shadowmoor? Im somewhat doubtful given recent past history, but I suppose if they can do it in apoc, they can do it here, so here is hoping :).
Everytime Wotc makes what people consider to be a big change, or a change that shakes things up from what they have done for so many years in the past, people always claim it will be the end of magic. The reality is, through all the changes, magic is still here and is still the #1 ccg as it has been for ages. The reality is, games that remain stagnant, eventually will lose popularity over time, and thus magic has to change, even if its #1 to make sure it continues to grow and prosper. And as someone mentioned, they do have to protect their bottom line, if they print smaller sets, they needed something to balance out, to make sure they still continued to sell as many boxes and what not and continue to allow them to grow the business. Because in the end, this is all a business, and if they aren't making money, then we wouldnt have a fun game to play.
Give it some time, If we get to January of 2009 and things are as bad as people think, maybe then, but I doubt itll happen.
Mythics serve a particular purpose in magic right now, as wizards did listen to the players and are now printing less cards per set. Now from a financial standpoint, with the set being smaller, if there weren't any mythic rares printed, then the set would only be about 2/3's the size of a normal set (at least from the perspective of the rares). So at least for me, to get the stock I would need for the shop I sell at, I would have only needed to buy 2/3's of the normal amount of boxes (was 27 before) to get what I needed to stock with (would now only be 18) if that were the case. And I dont know about you, but wizards all of a sudden seeing a drop-off in sales on average of about 1/3rd could be devastating for them, so this obviously wasnt a terribly good option for them to go off of. Because of my insistance on wanting to have the same supply of mythics that I usualy had of regular rares from other sets, I ended up raising my order to 40 boxes to accomodate that, and make sure I had plenty of the mythics that people might be after.
One thing to consider though, is that the set is still rather new, Its only been out for about 2 weeks now, and prices, while they have started to gradually settle, still havent had much time to do so as of yet as people continue to grab up the cards they want for their collections or to play with. Once this mad scramble is over, the prices will settle just as they did for shadowmoor and lorwyn before it. Yes it is true that the 3 main planeswalkers are going for rather high amounts right now at $20, $20, and $28 respectively as of last weekend's price checking, however the rest are $9 or less now and most are continuing to settle from their original higher prices. Because they are 50% rarer than a rare from say Lorwyn or Shadowmoor, its inevitable that they are going to command higher prices in general than they might otherwise hold, but it also allows wizards to keep doing what they are doing, while not sacrificing sales in their attempts to lower set sizes and try to keep with their customer's wishes.
Basically I am simply suggesting to give it some time, and allow for prices to continue to settle, and Im sure it wont be as bad as some have made it out to be when all is said and done.
Give it some time, If we get to January of 2009 and things are as bad as people think, maybe then, but I doubt itll happen.