gloriousmane-blog

[gloriousmane-blog]

Your "econ 101" philosophy ignores the reality that wealthy folks don't stop at a playset. Secret Lairs are great for the wealthy, they get shiny new cards they want, and then those cards rot on a shelf for 5-10 years so they can make a quick buck. You're not adding to the card pool for regular people, only the wealthy. What you're saying might be true, if Wizards regulated their market, but since you don't, there are no consumer protections in Magic.

Since when do the Secret Lairs improve access to reprints? They're even more limited than Masters sets were.

I understand there are issues of global reach we’re working through, but barring that, it’s a product that ups the number of particular reprints in the game. That by definition is going to improve access. Raise supply and you lower demand. That’s economics 101.

[gloriousmane-blog]

Okay, but WotC has been "aware" of this issue for 20 years and made zero real attempt to do anything about it. If it's a power level issue, just ban it like you have been doing in every set recently. You could print fetches at common in ever single standard set if you actually wanted to help the game. That fact that hasn't happened shows that no effort is actually being put forth on this front.

Devotion decks have become popular in pioneer and they require access to Nykthos - yet in the only standard set that makes sense for it WotC did not reprint Nykthos citing "play design concerns." Regardless of the reasoning, this immediately sticks Pioneer with the same problem as Modern and Legacy - High demand for cards without access to them. Masters sets failed because up-shifted rarity at a premium price did nothing to improve access. What is being done to solve the reprint problem?

There are many other avenues to reprinting than being put in a Standard-legal set. We’re aware of the desire for a higher amount of reprints and are liking for existing outlets as well as trying to find new ones (such as Secret Lair).

[gloriousmane-blog]

I think these kind of answers are super cool to be able to get, thanks for answering this question.

Other than the Demigods, there's an Uncommon that relies on Devotion for an ability in each color except Red. Did the Red card get cut, or was this an unintentional cycle?

It was not intended as a cycle.

[gloriousmane-blog]

The popularity of EDH, also does the perception of the power level of White no favors. The rules of Commander do support some colors more than others, a natural byproduct od the format's structure we can't really do much about in an immediate sense. What we've seen out of the next year gives us plenty of hope for this specific situation to be addressed.

Hi MaRo, I feel there's too much negativity about white, and I'd like to point out some facts. In Standard, it's true that W has been (by far) the worst color in the last several months, but it is a relatively recent fad. MC3 top8 last June had 6/8 decks with W, and PT Atlanta just a little over a year ago had 6 W weenie decks in top8, and only one non-W deck. In limited, it's true that in WAR, MH1 and M20 W was considered the worst color, but this isn't true for ELD, nor it was for GRN or RNA.

White does need some attention (and it is getting it behind the scenes), but yes the narrative that white is hopeless and can’t possibly be useful is a bit overblown.

[gloriousmane-blog]

I want to add a caveat to this post. I don't want to sound to angry, and I know most of this isn't really under your control. But I also know you care about our frustrations and are willing to pass on real feedback. I also know that you as a person are fantastic at pulling meaningful, constructive advise out of comments made in hostility. If I knew a way to express these ideas in a way that was less harsh on you personally, I would have done so. I want to express just how much I really do love this game, and any anger I might vent here only ever comes from a place of passion. I've played this game since I was 5 years old, 20 years, and I genuinely care about its direction. Recently, I think the level of focus put on limited formats has done signifigant damage to Modern specifically. 1) Meaningful reprints at impactful rarities for the modern format. Fetchlands especially will need the "goyf at uncommon in a standard set" approach. I say that as an owner of 4 Scalding Tarns. Just ban them out of the gate since standard bans are a tool in the belt now. 2) Modern desperately needs a ban on the pushed green cards from the last year. W6, Oko, and OuaT are problems in their own rught, but there is no single card worse for the Modern format than Summer Veil. 3) Weaker creatures and stronger, cheaper answers. This pendulum has swung way too far, creatures with powerful spells on etb are taking thier toll on my passion for the game as a whole. 4) Generally, as a modern player, 2019 was one of the worst years in the history of he format. I'd very much like for our humble little format to get more consideration in general. Out of MH1, only Force of Negation has had a mostly positive impact on the format. It feels like the team spent more time testing the limited format for MH1 than they did play testing testing impact it might have on Modern. This would have been fine in any other set, but in MODERN Horizons, it felt horrible. I care about Modern because it should last forever. I don't care about limited because it stops existing after 3 months.

Help on Future Head-to-Head

Can you tell me things you want more of in Magic?

[gloriousmane-blog]

OuaT and Summer Veil right up there with him. Ban in all formats please.

Hey Mark! What in your opinion was biggest "mistake" card of 2019?

How many formats was Oko banned in?

[gloriousmane-blog]

You'd think that your own personal LGS closing down because your bosses made shitty decisions would be enough to get through to you, but I guess the Wizards bubble is thicker than we thought. You folks need to take a step outside and look around. Stores are closing. You guys did this. The absolute bare minimum you could have done here is own up to your failure, but you couldn't even mange that.

I think Wizards/Hasbro should be ashamed at choking the life out of local game stores. I'd just as soon quit the game entirely if the intention is to cut them out.

In 2019, we made more Magic products to be sold in local game stores than ever before and ran more events in local game stores than ever before.

[gloriousmane-blog]

Getting major flashbacks from the last time I had to walk away from MtG. It's just like BFZ without fetchlands making the entire set a waste of our time and energy. "Hey guys, were going back to that place you like but not reprinting the powerful cards you liked from that plane" isn't a good way to do "return" sets. I get the comparison isn't exactly 1:1 here, but I'll die on this hill. Zendikar without fetchlands, traps, allies, and treasure isn't Zendikar. BFZ wasn't Zendikar. SOI didn't have LotV or Griselbrand reprints, and so it wasn't Innistrad. Never will be. I don't want a watered down version of the same character, or a card with an effect that is kind of like the thing I actually asked for. Reprints are the only measure by which I judge return sets, and more folks should join me in being vocal about this. Return sets without high value competitive reprints at impactful rarities feel like a slap in the face, at best.

Since zendikar is the adventure plane, can we get a maybe on adventure cards in zendikar rising?

We don’t tend to bring back mechanics that quickly without making them evergreen or deciduous.

[gloriousmane-blog]

Not a huge color pie guy, but from a flavor perspective, recursive action in red fits very nicely. It seems to me like a great way to show the impact of art and passion and how it lasts beyond the original creator.

Hi Mark. Loving the THB previews. I was very surprised to see Underworld Rage-Hound with the escape mechanic. Besides pheonixes and squee (which is mostly for flavor/story reasons), red usually doesn't get to interact with or recur creatures from graveyards. Will red get more of these effects on non-pheonix creatures in the future? Or is this just for the new theros set?

It’s just us bending things a bit for a new mechanic.

[gloriousmane-blog]

Personally, I've always preferred seeing MtG as our time on a given plane being a "slice of life" of how life is on that plane. People die in real life, and it's almost never a universally positive thing. Having characters die is a normal part of natural storytelling. If the story goes on long enough, characters have to die. Gideon was a great choice so far as character deaths go.

FOLLOW UP - ok but just because you got complaints that a person died doesn't mean it was the wrong decision to do kill them! Just because a character is popular doesn't mean sometimes it's time to move on (game of thrones)! I really really miss having that sense of closure and ending the stories and having fresh start, like a new 4 year story arc with maybe ONE member of the gatewatch for the whole run. You're great though! ty Maro

Game of Thrones and Walking Dead are the outliers. Most ongoing shows don’t kill all their main characters.

[gloriousmane-blog]

Secret Lair: Playble Modern Format, featuring 4 copies of all the enemy fetchlands, $40

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

In honor of Secret Lair starting tomorrow, what Secret Lair theme would you like to see for a future box set?

[gloriousmane-blog]

You are 100% correct, reprints are exactly what we want, and if given the choice between foul reprints and fun side content, I'd take the reprints every time. I wouldn't be surprised if the playtest cards were ecieved much better than expected, so it'd be cool to see them sold as a bundle or something eventually.

May I ask what the reason was to only have the play test cards be available at cons and not in the store release? Please and thanks!

I think players are treating the playtest cards far more seriously than we were. They were designed to be fun to read and maybe play once in a Mystery Booster deck. They were light, fluffy pieces of entertainment.

I’m constantly getting messages from players, here and on other social media, how they want more reprints of cards for their decks, so we thought a foil slot filled with stuff we know people play in decks would be more desirable.