Well, I was using Flooded Strand as an example with the thing in mind that it is out of print. Rainforest is another story, but the truth is that a lot of Eternal stables are out of print.
And you are wrong about tournament players not buing packs. Right now they don't buy any, but there are two instances when they crack a massive amount of packs open:
1. Right after new expansions go on sale. Release and Prerelease hardly supply enough torunament stables, so quite a lot of all preordered boxes go into the hands of tournament players. Some of them will be drafted and I'm quite sure they also crack packs for their pleasure but the main goal is to get their hands on a number of tounament stables for the earlie use. Buying singles at this time in often not an option dealers might not have enough if a lot of players seek the same cards.
2. When a certain Card is not available. Every now and then some new tech is discovered, so the demand of a certain junk card may skyrocket within days. As soon as dealers are out of this card people will start to bust packs to acuire these cards (mostly if they are common or uncommon). I think Peter Jahn or Bennie Smith wrote something about that (could be wrong about the name though).
In the end it is like you say, it does not make that much of a difference weather the dealer opens the pack to sell the cards or the players open them themselves, but my main point still stands:
Demanding cards that are out of print (most of the Eternal Stables) does not give Wizards as much money as demanding recent cards(or the packs that contain them)
Originally Posted by pi4meterftw
I really believe this is the best article you have ever written. It brings up several very well thought out points and backs them up with sound logic and facts when available. The most important part is it does not sound preachy. This is the type of writing that people will pay attention to.
Also, I happen to agree with you 100% as I fall directly into the category you are talking about. I’ve played 2 PTQs in my life and will never again if I can help it.
One point I think you missed was that pretty much everyone drafts. The more people you have in the game, the more packs are getting opened. At this point only one magic playing friend of mine still refuses to draft. I have played in 1 standard tourney in my life, and open 3-6 packs a week. More players equals more packs being opened, no matter what constructed format they play.
DraftMagic.com - The best draft caps by the worst drafters on the net.
Till shade is gone, till water is gone, into the Shadow with teeth bared, screaming defiance with the last breath, to spit in Sightblinder's eye on the last Day
Fixed. ;)
I'm pretty sure you guys underestimate the number of people out there opening packs independent of playing limited. Beyond personal experience, simply note that opening packs is exactly the same as gambling. For a mere ~$3, you have the opportunity to open a $50 mythic, which by itself offers you more than $50 in utility if you need that card for a deck or collection. Now if you consider how large the lottery industry is - in 2007 the US took in $53 billion in lottery revenue, giving out only $17.6 billion as winnings (that's more than $35 billion in profit) http://www.scigames.com/sections/ind...-industry.aspx, you can probably guess that there are huge numbers of magic players out there who crack packs on a weekly basis.
Of course, these are mostly casual players who probably would never go online to check out the best decks around (little point since they probably don't have the cards, and while they can afford to spend $10-20 a week on cracking packs, they're unlikely to shell out $200-300 required to buy the singles required to build a tier-1 standard deck). It's my bet (without knowing any specific numbers) that it's these casual players who provide the largest chunk of steady income among demographics for wizards.
Plus, you're forgetting the players who will buy a box or two and hope to pick up the staples they need, and then trade with their friends who have done the same thing. This is more common amongst older players centered around a particular store.
Yeah, totally, without question. As after painters servant got printed. I know tons of tournament players that went out and started cracking tempest packs.
Oh, yes, this is quite true. A business model for Wizards can't focus on eternal formats.
But eternal formats have a place, which is why I think Wizards should create a new eternal format, such as one starting from Mercadian Masques onwards, that won't be hobbled by the rarity of the original dual lands.
What is that place? What good are eternal formats to Wizards?
Well, what good is the Extended format? The answer is: if there was only the Standard format, then when people bought cards, those cards would only be good for two years. This would discourage them from buying the cards to play Standard. With Extended, they can still use those cards longer.
But even six years isn't really all that long. And Mirrodin, a very popular set, is going to rotate out of Extended this fall. So the price of the original duals has risen quite a bit recently.
The eternal formats are there so that people can play Standard in confidence that their cards aren't just ephemeral in their value. So they support Standard rather than competing with it.
Fetches and Ravinca duals become your new dual lands. OverExtended doesn't fix anything, it just delays the inevitable.
We are playing a collectible card game.Some cards are rare indeed, otherwise it wouldnt be fun collecting them in the first place. This, is also making people crack boosters, there isnt always a deeper reason for people to start cracking boosters. Some guys just want all the cards .
About dual lands and fetches and shit, this; its a collectible card game, it would be no fun if they where everywhere, its what makes magic what it is. Collecting the cards is part of the fun, so ok some staples are expensive but people collecting other things also have to save there money until the day they can afford that rare stamp or something.
I really think some people here are underestimating the collectors of cards regardless of what format they play, wizards is not.
Achtung: Panzer!
This is mostly untrue. A lot of cards loose their value once they drop out of standart. Not overnight but slow and steady. Even cards that see use in Legacy loose a lot of value. Only the ones that make it to the "stable list" and find their place in a number of archetypes retain their value.
Theoretically Legacy provides a format in which these cards can be used, but the truth is that 98% of the cards that rotate out of Standart simply don't have the power level to compete in Legacy.
Yeah and to most of the PLAYERS this is more of a necessary evil than a feature. Collectors track down cards, and once they have it they seal it away and look at them. They are interested in the cards.
Players are more interested in what the cards do, unlike collectors they use the cards and once they don't need em anymore they try to get rid of them, either for profit or better cards.
Having sacare cards that a lot of players need is a good way to make money, but at some point it will become unhealthy for the game.
But I guess this stuff is better adressed in the other thread and has not a lot to do with what this one is about.
This is true, but an eternal format starting at Masques block would somewhat help with that problem too, since it would be excluding the really early sets... with powerful cards that aren't excluded from Legacy, like the original duals.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Reply With Quote