ghettowookie-blog

[ghettowookie-blog]

All that glitters is not gold- but Silver

So, is it just me or does WotC like to renege on decisions too frequently, or are Hasbro executives taking over?

There was a time when I felt confident that the decisions that our favorite TCG company made were in our favor.

Apparently history really has not taught WotC the lesson of what not to do to abandon its player base. I’ve played Magic since the beginning, and I have been a big contributor to the game’s early success, having hosted hundreds if not thousands of evenings teaching new players how to play.

Always excited to teach my friends the game, I’ve stuck it out for decades- through many years of poor products, rules changes, bans, and just plain old fashioned lulls in the games history. We’ve had some good times and bad times and through it all I’ve watched the decisions being made by Wizards of the Coast (and more than likely Hasbro), as repeatedly not been in favor of its longest held fanbase.

Sadly, it seems as though Wizards has no idea how to retain players at the casual level. Casual players to Wizards of the Coast are apparently akin to the tertiary, unaccounted-fors that perchance upon a game of commander. Wizards has never had a problem with acquisition of new players, but lets just face it- they suck at player retention. So then, what about those of us that have been here for so long, sticking it out with them? Has Wizards assumed that their player base from the past would just simply forget about the past and move on to more important things?

A friend of mine recently tagged me in a post regarding something he was curious about and was curious what I knew about it. Imagine my excitement as I read further to learn of the sweet new “promos” about to hit the streets for the return of the long-awaited and highly anticipated un-series of Magic cards! That was of course before I kept reading and my excitement had then turned to fury.

In the past, creating “mechanically unique” cards outside of booster packs was evidently a no-no for Wizards of the Coast, where a valuable and important lesson was learned, or was it?

In August 2013, Mark Rosewater wrote the following article to reflect on some of the less than stellar decisions Wizards of the Coast had made from the past, leading up to the point of his article “things that were going to kill Magic”.

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/twenty-things-were-going-kill-magic-2013-08-05

“The players made such a stink that Wizards decided to stop producing mechanically unique cards outside of booster packs. The Nalathni Dragon was also included in an early issue of The Duelist to allow players to get their hands on one.”

Enter Hascon, an upcoming game convention held by Hasbro, the parent company of Wizards of the Coast. This year in Rhode Island, Hasbro will be hosting its popular gaming convention and offering special attendee packages, among them, an exclusive (read here “mechanically unique”) 3 card pack for attendees of the convention only.

I guess when Wizards of the Coast (or is it Hasbro) assumes that the vast majority of players experience things through the lens of market research findings, (such as the decisions leading to no promos at FNM) (likening Hascon exclusive content to Holiday Promos) that the research data could not ever be wrong? Notwithstanding that when zero data can be provided the player base for these decisions, then I guess you can really do whatever you want as a company, including things like making decisions that as in their own words were killing Magic

Either way, WotC will without a doubt give some irrelevant statement concerning how what they have done here is not the same as what they did with Nalathni Dragon. There will be a statement given regarding market research, and how a view through some proverbial lens will liken this to something else they have done, whereby justifying this bad idea. This will be dismissed as “silver-bordered and non-tournament legal”, and therefore an acceptable thing to have done- all-the-while dismissive that Hascon cards are casual (as if that means it’s not still Magic). I mean it is after all their company right? they can do whatever they choose to do. But here is a bit of market research for you WotC, you have reneged on a decision not to produce mechanically unique cards with exclusivity.

They can say that Hascon cards fall into the same vein of cards as holiday promos and will be experienced by the masses through such a lens. Yet in the end they have have still managed upset a segment of players of their good game, and it will not easily be forgotten.

So there you have it folks, if you really want to get your hands on the new exclusive Hascon cards, be sure to forgo your dialysis treatments, rustle up your wheelchairs, risk losing your jobs for those less fortunate to get the time off, be sure to have money to pay the $600 for an attendee package at Hascon, and whatever the god-forsaken price for a round trip ticket to Rhode Island might cost. This has all the marks of a winning strategy to keep players happy by honoring your words

Thanks WotC! Keep it up and with decisions like this Magic will be dead just as you once thought before. P.S., while we’re at it please let HasBIGbro know we would have bought more NERF blasters and dinobots had these cards been accessible to all

Heck, maybe with enough fuss, Ha$bro can nullify the reserved list for us, perhaps there is a “silver” lining in all of this. Pshh..

😒

[ghettowookie-blog]

I thought lessons were learned from Nalathni ? Bummer.