The article presents a lot of the author's opinions as facts. OK. That is how you and WotC FEEL about it, but that does not necessarily reflect the feelings of the community at large. I concede that the theft of intellectual property portion has a factual basis, and WotC can punish offenders as they see fit. However, early spoilers have never negative influenced my planned purchases of sealed product upon release. Neither has it done that to anybody I know in the local community. Sorry Wizards, I'll pass on the Kool-Aid.
One issue with this logic is that you assume Wizards doesn't have information on the impact. There is probably a huge pile of information from the NPH leak and how it affected that set. And before people jump in with how that information was just about NPH, any reasonable information would be compared in a meaningful way--so they would look to a set's metrics that are most similar to NPH and compare. I know lots of people like to talk about Wizards as though they are incompetent (unless, of course, you need to discuss some maniacal scheme) but the facts are simple--Magic is bigger than it's ever been and it has survived for 22+ years when dozens of other games haven't. An incompetent company would not be able to pull that off for that long.
So, just because you are not privy to all of the facts Wizards has, does not conclusively mean they do not exist.
It's an enormously complex project getting the content laid out such that we can present the set to the Magic community.
In other words, they do work very hard to hype the **** out of every new set in order to persuade the players into making impulsive decisions which generally involve the investment of good sums of money. Honestly? Every successful company puts a lot of effort into marketing their products and services, and that's perfectly fine. Yeah, it is fine. As a consumer, you are the one to blame if you buy a product before careful consideration of its real value. However, do not try to sugar-coat your marketing strategies and put on an entertainer mask pretending you are so preoccupied with our amusement. There is no fooling us: you are just salty about us getting the raw deal, an actual preview without a whole article rationalizing the cards value and artificially inflating its price.
This is insanely cynical. Meet Rosewater in person and honestly tell me he doesn't care about player's amusement. Same goes for a lot of Wizards employees. But, if you cannot see that, or believe it, then perhaps you need to find a better use for your time.
Magic's entire premise is that of constant change, and this tantalizing premise creates a constant tension between our storytelling and players wanting to know what comes next.
Let's not kid ourselves here. Magic is like porn: a very pleasureful hobby that (almost) no one plays for the story.
Mmm empirical data. Look at this forum--there are more threads in the story section than in the digital forums and the Vintage forums. The Alesha story got media attention outside of Magic circles. Read MaRo's blog and consider how often he discusses story. So, thanks for projecting here.
As a person who used to run a fan site that would occasionally leak something, I know the lure for content creators.
Well, there goes your moral high ground. Nothing like getting a taste of your own medicine, am i right?
Mmm karma.
Would you go on your friend's Facebook page and announce a pregnancy if you found a positive pregnancy test in their bathroom? No, that would make you a terrible human being! Because it's not your news to give, and when the world gets to know it is up to that person and their significant other.
Not only this example is completely out of place, it doesn't even help the point he is trying to make. Getting angry at having your pregnancy "spoiled" would be such an infantile reaction from an actually selfish human being, since the conception of a new human life is something that everyone close to the couple should know as soon as possible. Life should be celebrated, not hidden from people who care about it.
This was a really cheap attempt to guilt trip us for enjoying the spoilers, and makes me think about who is really behaving like a "terrible human being". Keep it classy, Mr. Jarrett.
Here is where you really lose me. From this reply, I'm guessing you have not had the actual experience of telling about a pregnancy. First, most tests happen a few weeks into development, and usually before going to a doctor. So, if someone finds a test in the trash can and spoils it, it may not actually be confirmed. Next, up until about 12 weeks is the riskiest period for an embryo/fetus. A lot can go wrong. Next, what if that test was put in the trash can so the woman could go get an abortion? So, the presumption that it will be okay for that to be spoiled is not correct, because the 'celebration' you mention may very well be premature and unfounded.
Onto Trick's usage, I agree it is inappropriate, not because it is an inaccurate conceptual tool, but because it is a tool out of the scope of the leak. His example is too extreme. Here is a more appropriate one if you like: Imagine you have something you are going to give away at party in a few weeks. You put effort into this through thought, money, and time. You are genuinely excited to share it with people. Someone breaks in and steals it. Technically, you were going to give it away, so did you lose anything? Would you still be upset that someone broke the law--broke into your house, invaded your rights, and stole your property? What if that ends up at the party anyway, but now there is no wow factor or buzzing discussion at its reveal because the thief let everyone know? What if the reveal was the part of the point of spending thought, time, and money? What if the thief gave no information or context and just let everyone to their own whims in understanding it fully?
Secondly, the leak was actually much more exciting and controversial than your planned reveal could ever hope to be. Immediately explaining the new mana symbol would prevent a lot of interesting discussions that happened all over the internet.
"Interesting discussions?" You know those could happen regardless of the leak, right? Further, the 'intersting discussions' were mostly speculating what the mechanic was. Instead, the discussions could have been the merits and implications of the change. Now, a lot of people are burnt out on the topic, smug at being right, or upset at being wrong. Any of those lessens the value of the conversation.
We have and will continue to not just ban leakers from the DCI and cancel their Planeswalker Points accounts, but pursue whatever criminal and civil actions necessary to protect our intellectual property and the Magic community.
This is where you show off your true colors. After writing so many paragraphs about improving our experiences, caring about the fans and whatnot, you enforce your position to sue the leakers and prevent them from playing the game, a clearly unproportional reaction given the fact that most people who have been spoiled are not complaining at all. Make no mistake: it's not about our interest as players.
So, you are upset that Wizards is enforcing their rights? Upset that Wizards is showing community content creators who probably will loss traffic (and potential business) that they will work to protect the process? This just screams that Wizards could do nothing right in your mind (which is cynical when it comes to Wizards). Would it be better for Wizards to never punish and risk losing contractual rights (if they stop enforcing, before a court, a violator could argue under equity that the clause is null because it is inconsistently applied)?
Leaks create an unfair advantage as—because they do not go out over official channels—they are not as widely distributed to less-enfranchised players, thus creating an unfair advantage for some players.
Wait, what?! If leaks were harmful as it was claimed during the whole article up until this paragraph, why are they suddenly an "unfair advantage" in favor of those who were spoiled? Wouldn't it be the opposite: an advantage to those who don't see it and get the full experience as it was intended?
I really, really hope he is not referring to gameplay advantage, as it would award it the title of single worst article of the year. In the past, The Rumor Mill was spoiler heaven. Entire sets getting leaked before Wizards could finish the last article of their first preview week. And guess what? No unfair advantages! No one started winning every subsequent tournament because of this sub-forum.
And even if there was some advantage to gain, competitive players would be the first ones to spoil themselves.
While overstated, I agree with your concept here. It just seems trying to evoke some of the NPH leak.
Anyway, thank you Mr. Leaker for the damn good job. I would gladly give you an OGW box before anyone else could get it, if i could.
To the power level argument, people seem inclined to think that only big expensive cards will have the new cost. If a new card costs just <>, then those older lands do get a small nudge in 'power' because they allow play that other lands don't.
I still don't get why there is this general sense (from what I read) that people think it will always be x<><> or similar. Absolutely no reason it cannot be just <><>.
The real question is how often will they be reprinted. While it may seem, at the moment, that these would only be related to Eldrazi, there is no proof either. So they could appear elsewhere.
And elsewhere is likely the spot these will most gravitate to--Commander precons. MaRo already mentioned that one of the options of the decks is colorless. It could be that one year's cycle is 3 colorless and 2 5-color (on tumblr MaRo said 5 5-color was a non-bo). At that point, Wastes would probably plummet in value, if they had any. Of course this theory means foil wastes (as was said above) will probably be worth quite a bit.
Or, these could just be added to mix of lands regularly, at which point there is no speculation value really.
I'm not sure what the issue is, but here are a few possibilities given what you've provided:
You need to select the deck from the list.
The deck is not legal for some reasons. To check/correct go to the collection screen and look at the deck name. If there is a yellow triangle with a '!' in it next to the deck name, there is some error. Hover over it and it should say why the deck isn't legal.
You might be in the wrong room. You should be in Constructed Open Play; Just for Fun.
It seems possible your window is not properly showing. Both the Join Game and Host a New Match buttons are at the bottom of the screen. Check to make sure your window is sized properly
To start a new match, select a deck, format, and the other options on the left, then click Host a New Match at the bottom.
With the closure of Wizards forums, where (if anywhere really) are player run events organized? I know of gatherling.com, but it doesn't seem to be hosting near the number of available ones I remember.
Lol. I knew I'd have to buy them all, I just meant did I have to buy singles to make a specific deck, or could I put a decklist in an area and buy the collection I wanted (which was answered, thanks.). Thank you both for your input.
I know this may be late, but I wrote some tutorials on the program if you wanted to look at them, links in my sig. As for buying a deck, you can go to a lot of vendor sites and import a deck and buy it at once (such as mtgotraders). You can import the decklist into your wishlist on MTGO, which should then allow you to auto add all the cards at once.
Long term the MTGO prices have remained mostly stable. Even with large speedbumps, all of Wizards making, the economy in MTGO recovers, eventually.
So apart from those who have PM'd me, am I to assume that no one else from this forum will be attending?
It's a bummer so many of you have to miss out on the biggest Commander event in history! I'll try to have enough fun for all of us.
Keep in mind it's a few weeks before the holidays and plenty have other things to be spending on. Traveling to Atlanta and hoteling are going to be hard in mid-November. If this was summer, I would think there would be more of a turn out.
I can tell you now that I am waiting for the decklists so that I can say to my family "Dear beloveds, buy me this box for Christmas".
Are they wandering into a big box store and not knowing the contents? Sure. Are they informed nonetheless by someone watching these spoilers like a hawk? Yup. There's usually someone who knows their stuff somewhere at the end of that chain.
I'm not contending there is a portion out there like you, but I would be shocked if it was even close to a majority. I know of several casual magic player who bought CMD decks with no knowledge of what was inside. I have also received plenty of gifts, magic included, from someone who simply knows I have an interest and doesn't ask for specifics. Further, MaRo has repeatedly noted that the vast majority of purchasers don't interact on the level people do here. In fact, that vast majority is why so many supplemental products started.
I find the spoiler argument interesting, because it assumes that some substantial portion of the sales of this happen to people who actually pay attention to them. Most of the sales probably come from big box stores where the people buy them as gifts, buy them without knowing the contents, or buy them for the general. The amount preordered very likely pales in comparison to the amount sold in big box.
The reason for back to back returns seems fairly obvious: They want the return blocks in Spring/Summer. Since BtZ was already decided at the switch, it results in one year of back to back to adjust.
Or this:
deetsposts asked: Two sequels in a row is bad form Mark.
Why? If half our sets are returns, the only way to not occasionally have two returns in a row is to always alternate which seems much worse form as surprise is important.
It depends on playability. If the card will see long term play, it'll slowly rise over time. If not, it'll probably stay stable while the set is drafted and then slowly climb until the set can no longer be redeemed. Afterward it'll probably decrease in value. This is general since you didn't list the 3 cards. Foils aren't really popular on MTGO, so most of the price of foil mythics is tied to redeeming foil sets.
You can always plug away at mtggoldfish to get an idea of the life cycle of similar cards.
Mesmeric Orb hands down. It really messes with people and brings a vastly different perspective to games. It also works wonders to have a deck built around it.
So, just because you are not privy to all of the facts Wizards has, does not conclusively mean they do not exist.
This is insanely cynical. Meet Rosewater in person and honestly tell me he doesn't care about player's amusement. Same goes for a lot of Wizards employees. But, if you cannot see that, or believe it, then perhaps you need to find a better use for your time.
Mmm empirical data. Look at this forum--there are more threads in the story section than in the digital forums and the Vintage forums. The Alesha story got media attention outside of Magic circles. Read MaRo's blog and consider how often he discusses story. So, thanks for projecting here.
Mmm karma.
Here is where you really lose me. From this reply, I'm guessing you have not had the actual experience of telling about a pregnancy. First, most tests happen a few weeks into development, and usually before going to a doctor. So, if someone finds a test in the trash can and spoils it, it may not actually be confirmed. Next, up until about 12 weeks is the riskiest period for an embryo/fetus. A lot can go wrong. Next, what if that test was put in the trash can so the woman could go get an abortion? So, the presumption that it will be okay for that to be spoiled is not correct, because the 'celebration' you mention may very well be premature and unfounded.
Onto Trick's usage, I agree it is inappropriate, not because it is an inaccurate conceptual tool, but because it is a tool out of the scope of the leak. His example is too extreme. Here is a more appropriate one if you like: Imagine you have something you are going to give away at party in a few weeks. You put effort into this through thought, money, and time. You are genuinely excited to share it with people. Someone breaks in and steals it. Technically, you were going to give it away, so did you lose anything? Would you still be upset that someone broke the law--broke into your house, invaded your rights, and stole your property? What if that ends up at the party anyway, but now there is no wow factor or buzzing discussion at its reveal because the thief let everyone know? What if the reveal was the part of the point of spending thought, time, and money? What if the thief gave no information or context and just let everyone to their own whims in understanding it fully?
"Interesting discussions?" You know those could happen regardless of the leak, right? Further, the 'intersting discussions' were mostly speculating what the mechanic was. Instead, the discussions could have been the merits and implications of the change. Now, a lot of people are burnt out on the topic, smug at being right, or upset at being wrong. Any of those lessens the value of the conversation.
So, you are upset that Wizards is enforcing their rights? Upset that Wizards is showing community content creators who probably will loss traffic (and potential business) that they will work to protect the process? This just screams that Wizards could do nothing right in your mind (which is cynical when it comes to Wizards). Would it be better for Wizards to never punish and risk losing contractual rights (if they stop enforcing, before a court, a violator could argue under equity that the clause is null because it is inconsistently applied)?
While overstated, I agree with your concept here. It just seems trying to evoke some of the NPH leak.
Nothing like supporting illegal activity.
I still don't get why there is this general sense (from what I read) that people think it will always be x<><> or similar. Absolutely no reason it cannot be just <><>.
Could I get Karlov (if available) and Tajic?
And elsewhere is likely the spot these will most gravitate to--Commander precons. MaRo already mentioned that one of the options of the decks is colorless. It could be that one year's cycle is 3 colorless and 2 5-color (on tumblr MaRo said 5 5-color was a non-bo). At that point, Wastes would probably plummet in value, if they had any. Of course this theory means foil wastes (as was said above) will probably be worth quite a bit.
Or, these could just be added to mix of lands regularly, at which point there is no speculation value really.
- You need to select the deck from the list.
- The deck is not legal for some reasons. To check/correct go to the collection screen and look at the deck name. If there is a yellow triangle with a '!' in it next to the deck name, there is some error. Hover over it and it should say why the deck isn't legal.
- You might be in the wrong room. You should be in Constructed Open Play; Just for Fun.
- It seems possible your window is not properly showing. Both the Join Game and Host a New Match buttons are at the bottom of the screen. Check to make sure your window is sized properly
To start a new match, select a deck, format, and the other options on the left, then click Host a New Match at the bottom.Long term the MTGO prices have remained mostly stable. Even with large speedbumps, all of Wizards making, the economy in MTGO recovers, eventually.
The reason for back to back returns seems fairly obvious: They want the return blocks in Spring/Summer. Since BtZ was already decided at the switch, it results in one year of back to back to adjust.Or this:
It depends on playability. If the card will see long term play, it'll slowly rise over time. If not, it'll probably stay stable while the set is drafted and then slowly climb until the set can no longer be redeemed. Afterward it'll probably decrease in value. This is general since you didn't list the 3 cards. Foils aren't really popular on MTGO, so most of the price of foil mythics is tied to redeeming foil sets.
You can always plug away at mtggoldfish to get an idea of the life cycle of similar cards.