Wow I didn't know this was even something considered.
I think this is just all a bad take from Mark. I understand his position and that this blog is mostly a defense for WoTC's decisions, but this just misses every one of the complaints for me. He's basically saying "this is hard, I've been doing this for 30 years, trust us" while not addressing the actual complaints.
To me these are arguments why Maro, Michael Majors, and the entire FIRE team should be let go and new people brought in. Doing this for 30 years and still making these mistakes means that someone else is making the decisions and those decisions are not and won't be in the best interest of the game.
All good bans here, I think they're still 3-6 months behind on Legacy tho.
The Vintage bans really surprised me, both of those are much needed imo and I'm glad they did something about them. Vexing Bauble kind of nerfs the entirety of why anyone plays Vintage, and Urza's Saga is just ridiculous with that many cheap powerful artifacts.
Magic Untapped takes a look back at Oath of the Gatewatch, the second half of the two-set BFZ block.
Magic Untapped takes a look back at Oath of the Gatewatch, the second half of the two-set BFZ block.
Yes, absolutely. I think they're being a little tongue-in-cheek with that but it was Ice Age Block Constructed and Rade came with a brew that was targeted against the current meta.
What's the worst deck to ever win a Pro Tour?
While I'm pretty sure it's still this one I think Magic Pro Tour Legend Olle Rade doesn't get nearly enough credit for how innovative his deck really was.
While sure, it's an absolute pile that no one would be caught with in 2024 back in 1996 for how much Olle was doing wrong there's a lot right about this deck.
At the heart of the first win of one of the greatest Magic players to ever play and a first class Hall of Famer this deck spoke at length about how good Olle was at playing his style, metagaming and honestly outplaying everyone back in the early days.
Looks like Block Constructed got broken again and you won't believe the creatures that get it done.
Move over Bloomburrow, there are some old school monsters ready to take you back to the third ever MTG Pro Tour.
Yea I think you're right, I remember reading somewhere that Wizards may change the card abilities up to the last minute too. Perhaps it was more balanced at one point.
This was so unbelievably needed, but I think these cards are also proving to be too strong in the other eternal formats too.
I think what we're seeing here is how little playtesting is actually being done anymore. Now, and especially with Arena and the # of games being played, they just do whatever they want and wait and see how it breaks the game. Then let everyone hate their lives for a month or two before fixing the cards back to what they should have been from the outset.
I don't think anyone in the world can convince me Ocelot Pride should ever have been printed at 1 mana. That's a 1/1 or 1/2 for 2W all day every day for me. I just saw Ocelot Pride win in a LEGACY mtgo challenge last night. The deck at least got to the finals, the player streaming lost to it in the top 4.
If they don't ban Grief in the August announcement then I think the organizers may just take matters into their own hands.
Yea you're right about Sunfall, I don't know how I forgot about that lol I hate that one too.
This is awesome! @andrew@mtgzone.com is in Pittsburgh, and may be going. You could win this, Andrew!
Top 32 players get one 😛
Personally I found Farewell and The Wandering Emperor to be some of the most un-fun cards to play against. Farewell, in my opinion, should never have been printed. Losing Farewell is a huge gift to Standard and I think that kind of card is just miserable for so many decks.
Anyone excited for the new rotation? Any older decks that are now competitive again? Any new brew ideas? I'd love to hear them!
This is really cool actually, I love products like this and Bloomburrow is the perfect set for it
IMO I think we ultimately see 3 UB sets per year, 3 "in universe" i.e. Magic sets per year, and 2 Horizons/Remastered type sets per year. You can't really pump a set shorter than 6 weeks, and it seems like 8 or 9 sets is the upper bound on what they can release each year.
I have a sales question. LOTR, I believe, is the best selling set of all time, right? And if I recall, the best selling commander set of all time is Fallout, behind that being Warhammer. Goes to imply...
> I have a sales question. LOTR, I believe, is the best selling set of all time, right? And if I recall, the best selling commander set of all time is Fallout, behind that being Warhammer. Goes to imply the Marvel sets will likely be the next highest selling sets of all time, if not just behind LOTR. My question is, doesn't this show WOTC should mostly just pivot to UB as the new 'standard' with old planes as the less visited product? > > While will continue to do Universes Beyond as there is an obvious audience, but the Magic in-universe sets (which we call “MIP sets”) also serve an important function. There are a lot of fans who love Magic’s IP, and having sets that we have don’t have to interface with outside partners has a lot of advantages.
I forgot how much I love Susan Van Camp's artwork. This really brings you back to the older game.
I honestly think they're going to try selling these for $3, which is absolutely bonkers nuts but I think their plan was to raise the "normal" booster price and then sell this garbage for around the original booster price.
I think Guide of Souls is the real issue here. Ocelot Pride and Phlage are certainly pushing it over the top, but Guide of Souls is just an insane card for 1 mana and I don't see how it doesn't get nerfed in Historic at some point.
What I see is them asking $270 (!!!) for 120 cards. 12 boosters of 10 cards each, for $270 is just insanity to me. Right out of the gate you're spending $2.25 per CARD. The first and last collector booster box I ever opened was for Neon Dynasty and even those 12 packs felt bad given the cost. I remember trying to stretch it out over two days. This feels even worse for the same exact price and I just cannot understand who is paying it.
Saw this on the reddit thread and did a real lol:
It's a value booster for their shareholders
Yeah that's a very good point. If WoTC starts getting their lunch eaten by a rival game (cough Sorcery Contested Realm cough) or if anything else happens that starts tanking demand then I could definitely see them selling it off for the short term gain while they "regroup on traditional games in their product lineup".
It'll never happen, but the only way to make Magic better for the players is if Hasbro sold off WoTC. I can't even come up with a scenario that would cause them to sell, it seems to be the only thing keeping them alive.
That could actually be fun. Especially with the lower powered packs. The person who opens a rare would be like the one-eyed among the blind 😆
What's kinda funny is that the 7 card packs don't even make it around the table once in a draft lol
Big adventures can start with the smallest steps. Bloomburrow Value Boosters are a new way to enjoy the latest Magic cards.
> At select retailers, you may see a new kind of booster available. While Collector Boosters are perfect for fans who want all the coolest cards, and Play Boosters are built to bolster collections by being opened to play Magic, Value Boosters are a smaller, lighter booster that contain a handful of new cards any fan can enjoy—a budget-friendly way to experience Bloomburrow. Each Value Booster contains 3 commons, 2 uncommons, 1 wildcard of any rarity, and 1 card that may be a land, a traditional foil, or a Special Guests card.
Is there any possibility that wotc could make universes beyond-free format variants to formats that currently allow them, such as commander and such? My friends and I do not wish to take part in games...
> Is there any possibility that wotc could make universes beyond-free format variants to formats that currently allow them, such as commander and such? My friends and I do not wish to take part in games that ruin our immersion in such a way, when it was the mild role play and "you are a planeswalker" theming that got us into the game, and it's becoming increasingly harder to avoid universes beyond cards. As it stands there isn't a way we can really avoid them at our local gaming stores, and we're getting frustrated only being able to play amongst ourselves in a game that we used to be able to play with others. Can you please give us some hope? > > > We did some market research to see if there was an audience for Universe Beyond-less formats. Only 7% of respondents were interested. That’s too small a group for a format we’d officially create, but many formats (Commander being the most famous) have begun as things created by the players. Something having a groundswell of support will eventually get noticed.___
Good discussion from Seth and Richard about the state of Modern in general. Talk about Nadu and The One Ring, affordability, and the future of the format.
> Today's show is brought to you by Card Conduit - the easiest way to sell your Magic cards. Are you tired of all the hassles involved with buylisting you cards? Well, Card Conduit lets you skip all the typing, time and work! With their Curated Service you can send in as many cards as you want (with buylist value of $1 or more) and you'll pay just a 5% service fee, and if you want to put in a bit of effort you can use their Sorted Service where you list and sort your cards in advance and pay a fee of only 2%! No matter which option you choose you'll get a detailed report with the result and fast payment once your order is processed. Oh yeah, and you can get another 10% off by heading over to https://www.CardConduit.com/MTGGoldfish!
FULL DISCLAIMER: I majored in political science and suck at math, but I'm trying my damn best here people. Additionally, this article was authored between the end of Day 2 of PT Amsterdam and directly following the top 8. Nadu, Winged Wisdom just posted one of the best showings at
Kazi Baker's really great write-up on why they think Nadu should be banned in Modern after the PT MH3 showing last weekend.
> Nadu, Winged Wisdom just posted one of the best showings at a Pro Tour of any new card(s) ever. The deck is comparable to decks (and seasoned) headlined by both Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis and Eye of Ugin Eldrazi in terms of conversion rate to Day 2, and slightly behind Eldrazi and significantly ahead of Hogaak (although for context, Hogaak had not received its power up from a ban yet) in terms of top 8 finishes at its first Pro Tour. > > But how did this happen, and how did it happen so quickly?
Thought this was a really wonderful project put together by Julien Rodriguez.
> Prepared by Julien Rodriguez. Byes were ignored. Draws were interpreted as non-wins, which is the reason some decks are shown as having <100% win rate in the mirror-match.
Only one player will rise to the top of the $500,000 prize pool at Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3!
Direct link here: https://www.twitch.tv/magic
Day 1: Draft and Modern
This is probably the most excited I've been for a set since I can remember. I really love the whole theme and concept.
Zac and Phil discuss their disappointment with the lack of changes in the recent ban announcement for the Legacy format. They express frustration with the card Grief, its impact on the format, and the lack of communication and transparency from Wizards of the Coast. They suggest the need for a community committee to provide input and feedback on the format, and emphasize the importance of transparency and timely action from WotC.
More info at https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/mtg-arena/psychic-frogs-horizon-hideaway-on-mtg-arena
> How well do you know your Magic: The Gathering cards? Magic Untapped presents yet another 10 bits of cool facts and trivia about some of the Magic: The Gathering cards you just might have in your collection right now.
via Magic Untapped on YouTube
When they were still in arts school in Seattle in the early 1990s, Jesper Myrfors and Sandra Everingham would sometimes look for inspiration by exploring Fort Worden, an abandoned 19th-century military base at the entrance of the Puget Sound. To them, it felt like a dwarven ruin. One day they found ...
Catch up with the latest info and events on MTG Arena.
cross-posted from: https://mtgzone.com/post/613307
> In this edition: > > - Pro Tour Thunder Junction Winner and Top Performing Decks > - The Big Score Alchemy Preconstructed Festival April 30–May 7 > - WPN Outlaws of Thunder Junction Promo > - May Best-of-One Qualifier Play-In This Weekend > - Arena Open: Outlaws of Thunder Junction May 4–5 > - Alchemy: Thunder Junction Gallops into Town May 7 > - Event Schedule