[Article] Eternal: But does that really mean forever?

[Greenpoe]

Fantastic article. It teaches you about the mindsets behind Magic through an allegory of eternal and a slick ending.

I have an idea to solve the eternal issue without touching the reserved list. Ever seen Battlestar Galactica? In that show, there's these robots that become so developed that you can't tell the difference between the robot and the human, raising the question "What makes us human? What separates us from these robots when there's no way at all to tell the difference between the robot and a person?" Well, what if this could apply to Magic? What if - either some company or artist - could make proxies so similar to the real cards that you couldn't realistically tell the difference by looking at it? If you've never seen altered art Magic cards, they look absolutely amazing, a perfect extension of Wizards' art. If they can pull that off, who's to say some dedicated artist couldn't turn a Future Sight into a Force of Will? Probably illegal, but you could sell them and by the time anyone found out, you could be virtually gone, or if traced as the seller, claim you had no idea and thought it was real, having "bought" it from someone else. Probably too farfetched to actually work, but if you could paint your way into a $2000 "investment," wouldn't you?

[stalkerzero]

I'm going to agree with the majority and say that was a fantastic article. Very well written, researched, and thought out.

As a Legacy player at heart I see the format suffering pretty deeply already. I almost got laughed out of the local store for suggesting trying out a Legacy tournament. There are two people there with an interest in Legacy. One runs Belcher (one of the lower priced decks) and the other runs some version of Goblins that includes very few Legacy Goblins cards. Everyone else at the store would much rather play a less expensive, more supported Standard. Sure, in the long run Standard is a much, much more expensive format with less return on your investment but any American should be able to agree that as a majority we think in the short term. A game that costs us $400-700 every year or two is much preferred to a game that costs $1000-1500 up front.

Taking the attitude that we missed the opportunity to buy the cards when they were cheaper or to buy cards that would one day sky rocket in value and allow you to turn them over for a profit to invest in Legacy is just silly.

Really, for a healthy format, the word investment shouldn't even be able to be used as loosely as it is for the eternal formats. It's a game. We want to play it. To play it we need an influx of new players to offset the players who move on or it's eventually going to die.

[menace13]

But in general, I'd say that the reason Vintage died is because it got too expensive. Nobody, despite what Bruizar may claim, likes playing with proxies. I'll be happy to play with proxies IF, and only if, I know that some day, I'll have my deck put together. But if I know that hell will freeze over before I can scrape together $4,000 to put together a set of P9, I'm not playing. It's just depressing. "If I work hard and save, and scrimp. I still won't be able to buy a lotus. Or a set of shops. So fuck it, I'll find something else to do with my time." That's why people left the format. Because you couldn't play sanctioned and you were never going to be able to play sanctioned. Not because they "weren't invested".

This is the truth of the matter. Proxies, when Zherbus first started promoting Vintage enabled the format to be accessible to new players and events were booming(hint; it's the new that keeps things growing). When those new players found out they will most likely not own 15k for a deck they stopped caring for it. Not because they weren't invested, but because they never were going to be. Proxies or not. At the very least those proxies allowed for a chance, however small, that a new player would fall into the format and bring in friends.

[Dark Ritual]

Very well written article. Maybe the best article I've ever read but anyways.

If legacy keeps going on like it is right now it will die in a few years. Why? More duals disappear every year. Same with wasteland and FoW. Eventually, cards will be too scarce and as a result we'll have revised sea's that have gone over 250 a pop and a NM english FoW if not reprinted will be worth 200 a pop. Same with all the staples.

As for investing in the staples when they were cheap. People missed their chance to do that; we all wish we had a time machine that could take us back to when alpha first came out to obtain as many pieces of power and dual lands as we could handle and come back to the future but this isn't the case. And in 2008, most places didn't have a legacy scene at least in the states. If you lived in seattle and had 120 dual lands it didn't matter because virtually everyone there plays standard how do I know because I have a friend who went there and traded standard crap cards for dual lands straight up. When sarkhan vol was released he traded one for a volcanic island. So on and so forth. Legacy has only started to boom last year it started speeding up and this year it's breaking out into a run and eventually it's going to run straight into a brick wall and the format will be gone for the most part save for a few players who have the staples and the rest of the people who own none or very few of the staples/not enough staples to play an optimized deck list.

Also the word investment when it comes to magic makes me want to vomit. Since when were pieces of cardboard an investment? I bought the staples to PLAY with them, not see them appreciate in value to sell them off at a later date. I see money spent on magic as money gone for the most part. Sure maybe when I get over the game and quit I'll sell off all my cards but then again I might not seeing as how my collection might appreciate more and if I get back into the game I will have all the staples to play with save a few cards printed in the intermission. Who knows though.

[Dragon_Whelp]

News flash, a set of candelabras is worth the same as a set of shops. Even if you are 21, you couldve bought a couple of extra jaces, tarmogoyf, tabernacles, moats, candelabras, imperial recruiter, xiao dun, etc. There have been plenty of opportunities to make money even if you didnt have much to begin with.

Today it is so much easier than it used to be to make eternal staples out of standard cards. I traded my NPH prerelease loot for a foil sword if light and shadow, and i havr my candelabras, which i bought in 2011, for 25 each.

I am actually even younger than the person you responded to. I got into Legacy about two or three years ago. My first deck was Goyf Sligh (Not a great deck, but somewhat viable at the time), which meant that I had to get me some duals. Since I have always been a lucky SOB when it comes to ripping packs, my binder contained stuff like Mutavault, Wrath of God, a foil Flagstones of Trokair, etc. I found a guy who had some spare duals. He was kind enough to not only trade me a Taiga and a lot of the uncommons and commons that I needed, but also to do so at a very fair price (That is, he actually gave me a bit of card value during the trade). Since then, I spent about a year slowly investing in the deck which also eventually turned into Zoo. I got the five duals I needed for it, I got 9 fetches, etc. After that, I invested in Dragon Stompy for a year, where the only major investment was a set of City of Traitors.

Now, many of the cards I own today have come from trading in T2 cards. I pulled a Jace TMS and traded it to the same guy with the Taiga for a Karakas and half of the bulk cards in my DS deck. I pulled two Bitterblossoms back when they were the shit and traded those and a lot of money for a set of Goyfs before they really took off. Recently, I traded a Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas for a Windswept Heath and some other stuff.

However, I recently started taking a liking to a GW variant of Zoo. I realised that I needed 3 more Savannahs for that, so I looked up the prices. I nearly choked. They've sky-rocketed in price since the last time I bought a dual. Same with FoW, which is now completely out of my range. I'm not even going for P3K cards or Candelabras or any of that. Just regular ol' duals, and not even blue ones. I am now accumulating the cards I want, but at an incredibly slow pace. I do realise that this seems like whining to someone who already has the staples. And perhaps it is. But it still sucks for me.

Pop culture is expensive because the nerds of the past have the high pay jobs of the future.

Actually, that is incorrect. And even if it was, it clashes with your previous argument that one could just get a job. The high-paying jobs mostly require an education, which, incidentally, is a very expensive thing, meaning that no, someone who is getting an education can not just go out and get another job to pay for the cards they want. They already have expenses and they also have their studies to worry about. It's not that easy.

[Clark Kant]

You left out one key point. While dual lands can never be reprinted, cards fundamentally similar to dual lands can be printed without warping standard.

What's to stop wizards from printing...

Underground Tower - Swamp Island

When Underground Tower comes into play, target opponent gains 1 life.


Legandary Bayou - Legendary Forest Swamp


Those are just two of a number of possibilities that Wizards could print, that would be perfectly viable substitutes for dual lands, and all thanks to fetchlands (which aren't on the reserved list)

[dahcmai]

I used to be a Literature teacher and that would have been a crowning joy to read if turned in as an assignment. Very well done sir.

[I am the brainwasher]

I think the major issue of TCG's in general is that 2 normally very different aspects collide:


1. Playing the GAME. Includes beeing successful in tourneys, having a good time with your friends etc.

2. Paying money on COLLECTING cards. Includes spending cash for cards because you need them for your deck or you like to own them because of flavour/art/beeing a collector etc. Both things obviously do entangle.



So, whats up with that?
The community includes both players who play the game for just, you know, playing the game, winning tourneys and stuff and those who like to play the game to show the opponent his 252345,99 $ and like to turn some cards, watching them, having fun because of the games social aspects and things like that. As above, both of these characteristics can be part of a Magic-player (best example would be a high-rating player who decides to foil out his pet-deck with which he earned most of his success).

You might have noticed that a problem has occured. What if people decide against playing the game because they arent even able to play the deck they want to bring to a tourney?
Playing less powerful decks? Have fun with Jace Beleren instead of Jace TMS?
I dont think that this is fair in any kind of sense. If you want to be competetive in Magic (and I dont mean 7-mana-in-my-pool-cast-Goblin Charbelcher-cross-fingers-that-he-doesnt-have-the-FoW-competetive) you will sooner or later see that you need to invest (now a whole lot of) money to do so.
Dont get me wrong, this is all fine but there are LIMITS for prices(well, at least there should be). I mean would anybody play freakin Tennis if a tennis bat would cost 10000$ (because they stopped producing tennis bats for some reason and after a few years after tennis had become more popular bats had become rare)?
It would consequentially die out after some time, period. Tennis would become Vintage (I mean the format here) for as long as some smart-ass decides to produce tennis bats again.
I am really getting the feeling that Wizards are a sports manufacturer who quitted to produce tennis bats because they realized that Tennis is so damn awesome that nobody wants to buy their hilarious Ping-Pong crap (No offense to both Ping-Pong and Tennis, its just an example).
Any single player who would quit if the Reserved list is gone, is invited to point out why he does so and I am honestly interested.
Skill has nothing to do with money, every player should have the opportunity to play the Deck/Format he wants to. Collecting is fine but it shouldnt prepare the game from beeing played.
Sure, a lot of people also want a Bentley but will never own one, but if those people cant even afford to take the bus to go to work, theres something seriously wrong (which is definetly more accurate than most people would admit, I mean, look at the current T2 format...).
Greetings!

[GoboLord]

I think the major issue of TCG's in general is that 2 normally very different aspects collide:


1. Playing the GAME. Includes beeing successful in tourneys, having a good time with your friends etc.

2. Paying money on COLLECTING cards. Includes spending cash for cards because you need them for your deck or you like to own them because of flavour/art/beeing a collector etc. Both things obviously do entangle.



So, whats up with that?
The community includes both players who play the game for just, you know, playing the game, winning tourneys and stuff and those who like to play the game to show the opponent his 252345,99 $ and like to turn some cards, watching them, having fun because of the games social aspects and things like that. As above, both of these characteristics can be part of a Magic-player (best example would be a high-rating player who decides to foil out his pet-deck with which he earned most of his success).

You might have noticed that a problem has occured. What if people decide against playing the game because they arent even able to play the deck they want to bring to a tourney?
Playing less powerful decks? Have fun with Jace Beleren instead of Jace TMS?
I dont think that this is fair in any kind of sense. If you want to be competetive in Magic (and I dont mean 7-mana-in-my-pool-cast-Goblin Charbelcher-cross-fingers-that-he-doesnt-have-the-FoW-competetive) you will sooner or later see that you need to invest (now a whole lot of) money to do so.
Dont get me wrong, this is all fine but there are LIMITS for prices(well, at least there should be). I mean would anybody play freakin Tennis if a tennis bat would cost 10000$ (because they stopped producing tennis bats for some reason and after a few years after tennis had become more popular bats had become rare)?
It would consequentially die out after some time, period. Tennis would become Vintage (I mean the format here) for as long as some smart-ass decides to produce tennis bats again.
I am really getting the feeling that Wizards are a sports manufacturer who quitted to produce tennis bats because they realized that Tennis is so damn awesome that nobody wants to buy their hilarious Ping-Pong crap (No offense to both Ping-Pong and Tennis, its just an example).
Any single player who would quit if the Reserved list is gone, is invited to point out why he does so and I am honestly interested.
Skill has nothing to do with money, every player should have the opportunity to play the Deck/Format he wants to. Collecting is fine but it shouldnt prepare the game from beeing played.
Sure, a lot of people also want a Bentley but will never own one, but if those people cant even afford to take the bus to go to work, theres something seriously wrong (which is definetly more accurate than most people would admit, I mean, look at the current T2 format...).
Greetings!

+1

[titus]

Just a quick reply as I have to get on with some work - but thanks for all the debate and support. I don't really want to get dragged into a discussion about the Reserved List - I hate it, it depresses me, and I think the policy revision announcement was my worst day as an MTG player.

But what I tried to do in the article is look at where the formats are headed given the actual information we have - which means, at least from what we can glean from Aaron Forsythe's twitter feed, that near-functional duals are out and that the Reserved List is, painfully, here to stay in the short term. For reference read Russell Tassicker's article on some of those options - he includes Forsythe's tweets:
http://www.gatheringmagic.com/on-the-future-of-legacy/

And yes, I did not talk about reprint other format staples like FOW and so on, as other authors have done plenty of that already! What I would say, is that what I think is interesting, and is something I tried to prod at a little in the article is: Is it in Wizards interests to reprint those non-Reserved staples? How do they actually feel about the format? And does it really fit in which there long-term vision of Magic?

I really hope it does. I really wish Vintage could as well, as it is dear to my heart - it is for me simply 'Magic', rather than a format of Magic. I desperately hope that drastic action is taken by Wizards at some point - including scrapping the Reserved List - but for the meantime, we are left discussing within certain parameters. Which I am sure frustrate the finest Magic minds in the business at Wizards HQ too.

I think we should be pretty grateful that they can at least keep surprising us with new printings that interact with the format (Mental Mistep and co) - at the very least that proves they are one step ahead of the community, and are doing their best to wrap their heads round some very thorny issues.

Anyway, just my 2 cents. Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting and debating the issues here.

have a great weekend one and all! :)

[RaNDoMxGeSTuReS]

From a fellow journalist - this was a pleasure to read. Please keep on writing.

[evanmartyr]

Maybe I'm alone in my thinking here, but this occurred to me while I was reading your article. Please tell me if this train of thought is fallacious.

EDIT: BTW, that was an engaging, researched, and very well-composed article. Very, very well done.

A: For both formats, Legacy and Vintage, there are buy-in costs specifically associated with that format, usually competitive staples that are no longer in print. Obviously, most of us knew that.

B: Previous attempts to make specific, older cards available to the player base in physical form resulted in a complete trashing of the originals' value, and the institution of the reserve list. This has had the unfortunate effect of, while stabilizing the "minimum" value of a lot of the staples mentioned in (A), also capping the available supply and causing extreme price spikes whenever demand increases due to newly popular formats (see; Legacy).

C: Given that staples are staples not because of some ineffable quality they possess (there is nothing particularly "Underground Sea-ey" about Underground Sea that makes it valuable, its value is derived from specific functionality that is not mimicked effectively elsewhere), and it cannot be reprinted (reserve list), WotC's only options are to just let the market decide how popular Legacy will become before it dies from rising prices, or print a replacement (or at least, something equivalent).

D: There is precedent for WotC printing cards for specific formats, bypassing Standard legality on their way to use in Eternal formats (Commander, some promos that I believe were never legal in Standard like Mana Crypt).

Given (A), (B), (C), and (D) would it not make sense to print a set very much like Chronicles, with powerful, functional reprints of out of print and reserved list cards, that existed not as a stand-alone set or was part of the Standard rotation. You could easily fill it with difficult to find or more expensive commons/uncommons/rares, with functional reprints of power, workshops, bazaar etc as mythic rares. It would be relatively simple to either list on the card itself or in the rules for the format that those cards could only take the place of their older versions in a decklist. So you can, for example, play the new version of Black Lotus in Vintage, or the old version, but not both.

I do not believe this would harm the prices of current Vintage "chase" cards very much, since foil versions of legacy staples are absurdly expensive right now not because they're rare, but because they're pimp. Beta/Revised versions could easily occupy this slot.

Additionally, WotC could just continue doing medium-sized print runs of this set, changing it up as necessary to meet demand for older cards. Kind of like an "eternal" base set.

Or, they could do this and just ban the old cards, because at some point, something's got to give. There's no reason to hold entire player-bases hostage to a ridiculously small pool of available product aside from concern about tanking a portion of the secondary market the majority of the player base is priced out of trading in anyway.

I'm all for some cards being worth money, and some cards less so, but when staples are orders of magnitude more valuable, through a combination of rarity and irreplaceable functionality, than their closest competitors, then we will reach a breaking point and the formats will collapse, and all the work that WotC put into preserving the secondary market will be relying entirely on momentum to maintain effectiveness. Some people will always be willing to pay a lot of money for certain cards they can't use, just to own them, but most of us will spend money on a card...to a point...because we will play it in a deck, in a tournament, for prizes and glory and fun. Once we can't do that...

EDIT: Brainwasher, I like your Bentley/Bus analogy, but I'd revise it somewhat. Person A is lining up a job interview, and has a car. He can schedule the interview pretty much whenever. Person B is applying for the same job but can only show up for a certain amount of time, at certain times, because he relies on mediocre public transportation. Given a cruel and hard job market and equal resumes, who do you think has the better chance of landing the job? The guy that can show up when you want him to, or the guy who forces you (the boss) to schedule around his annoying availability?

[SpikeyMikey]

Edit
@spikey: if you wouldve spent the time posting 977 posts on this forum to work, you'd be well on your. Way to amassing a legacy collection. Dont complain but do something about it

Actually, I have two jobs. I'm working my part time job both days this weekend. I don't put in as many hours as I used to, but I'm still running around 65 hours a week. I used to have a pretty massive collection. I gave it all away when I left San Diego. It went to good homes. I suppose if I had held on to it, it'd be worth thousands and thousands of dollars now, but duals were like $10-15 each and Forces had spiked up to a whopping $8-10 at that point.

I don't want a Legacy collection anymore. I'm selling off my last deck beginning of June and the few odds and ends I have beyond that. The way this game is being administered by Wizards and the way I feel that it's being ruined by collectors have ensured that I'm disgusted enough to never pick it up again. I'm complaining not because I can't have the cards I want but because I can't have the game I want.

[Pippin]

Very nice article, though it didn't touch on few very important subjects:

1) Legacy is right now much bigger than T1 ever was
2) Legacy is atleast 10 times easier to enter when compared to T1 if one simply looks at card availability. This is simply looking at number of printed Power and duals, and when one accounts that there are alot more viable decks (and not all use duals) in Legacy than in T1 - this number goes even more up

Anyway, nothing in life is eternal - thus something simple as a card board game (that is copyrighted) isn't either. Legacy is still growing and there is no sign that it is "dying already" or that it will die in near future. There is also an alternative that is present right now - Magic Online. No reserve list there, cards on average much cheaper, one doesn't need to rely on local magic community to get tournaments going.

As a Legacy player at heart I see the format suffering pretty deeply already. I almost got laughed out of the local store for suggesting trying out a Legacy tournament. There are two people there with an interest in Legacy.

I don't see the logic in your post. How is the format suffering? Evidence is in community that didn't play Legacy in the past and doesn't want to organize Legacy tournaments in near future? Uhm?

[evanmartyr]

I don't see the logic in your post. How is the format suffering? Evidence is in community that didn't play Legacy in the past and doesn't want to organize Legacy tournaments in near future? Uhm?

I think he was implying that he suggested Legacy to some local players, and given the costs associated with the format, they scoffed in derision. We see Legacy thriving, because that's what we play most of the time and we remember the "dark times" when this was a niche format. But what we tend to overlook is all the standard, draft, EDH, and casual people for whom the suggestion they drop 1200$ on a deck is laughable.

[evanmartyr]

News flash, a set of candelabras is worth the same as a set of shops. Even if you are 21, you couldve bought a couple of extra jaces, tarmogoyf, tabernacles, moats, candelabras, imperial recruiter, xiao dun, etc. There have been plenty of opportunities to make money even if you didnt have much to begin with.

Today it is so much easier than it used to be to make eternal staples out of standard cards. I traded my NPH prerelease loot for a foil sword if light and shadow, and i havr my candelabras, which i bought in 2011, for 25 each.

Fyi i was 12 when i ripped open my first fastbond. I never got any allowance and back then i didnt even have the money to buy duals which were worth 2.50 guilders, or 1 euro. i now have close to 70 duals all of which were never traded or bought for less than 25 euro each. You are 21. If you have to choose between food and cards, dont play eternal. Eternal is a game of 60 small paintings and if you cant appreciate the fact that retro pop culture items become expensive, find another game. Dominion is a good alternative.

The increase of prices is not just happening to magic. Its happening to old comics and videogame cartridges as well. Highest sold snes cartridge is 40000,- USD and the highest sold comic is well over 1000000 USD.

Pop culture is expensive because the nerds of the past have the high pay jobs of the future.


Edit
@spikey: if you wouldve spent the time posting 977 posts on this forum to work, you'd be well on your. Way to amassing a legacy collection. Dont complain but do something about it

Edit 2:
Foil duplicant, foil solemn simulacrum, foil kiki jiki, foil high market, foil yavimaya hollow, foil kor haven, foil asuza lost but seeking. With EDH you can make A fortune right now so i really dont understand what your problem is.

I'm sorry for the double post, but this post is unbelievably condescending and offensive. Congratulations on being the equivalent of upper middle-class, on being lucky enough to have either gotten into Legacy early enough or having the time/money to acquire the cards.

If you truly see M:tG as a collection of small pieces of art above all else, as you apparently do given your comparisons to collectible comics (nearly all of which you can get online for free, and no-one's going to sneer at you for having read Spiderman #1 online rather than blowing however many thousands to purchase your own copy), then you're missing out on much of the game and I have a hard time not telling you to fuck off.

Finally, implying that because someone is active on the forum they're shiftless and unemployed of their own fault is despicable. I work full time and can still only marginally afford this card game, mostly because I can parlay older cards into what I need as new cards come out, occasionally trading up to a dual or something, not by spending money or trading foils to casuals or whatever.

People who complain may not necessarily just be trying to drag your be-knighted self down to their level, but trying to effect change so that they can enjoy this game themselves.

[Jenni]

Very Nice article.
I've noticed a decline in legacy players locally. at local FNMs for example, the legacy events tend to have less than half the turn out of standard, and whenever I've tried to get more people into legacy they cite the costs of legacy staples as the reason for not wanting to get involved.
one way I've been able to help, though, is by sharing cards - if I need a playset of Tropical Islands for the deck I want to play, and my friend needs underground seas, it's cheaper to lend each other the cards than it is for us both to go out and buy a playset of each,if you're worried about them stealing the cards, get some collateral. If you loan out 600$ of cards, make sure your friend gives you something worth around 600$ (or more) as security, most people will understand if you're a bit protective of such expensive cards so it's not going to damage many relationships, and if you really know you can trust the person then you might be willing to just loan them the card anyway.without collateral.
This might not be the best solution to getting people interested in the format, but with the cost of legacy staples going up, and the availability of cards becoming more problematic, those of us who can't afford to buy all the legacy staples we need may find it better to simply borrow them.
Of course, loaning out your underground seas when you need them won't happen, but if your friend is planning on going to a legacy game you've decided to skip, or you feel like playing goblins that day, etc. then why not lend them the cards they need that you have?
A lot of people who would otherwise play legacy avoid it because they can't afford it - expecting people to get a second job or set aside thousands of dollars on a card game seems unreasonable to me - some of us may have the luxury of spending a lot of money on old cards, but a lot of people who play magic do so on a very tight budget and sharing cards helps more people who don't have a large budget for cards join in the fun, and if they really do want to continue playing in the format they might try to invest in cards of their own so they don't have to depend on borrowed extras.

[Scordata]

What do you guys think about making gold borded cards tournament legal? Like all the old fow's and stuff?

Btw, that was the best mtg article I've ever read. In any category. Please grace us with some more!

[Mr_Miyagi]

Just to state something obvious. This thread is supposed to be about the life of eternal formats. I'm pretty certain most people don't give a -insert something- about what cards other people have in their collections and how they were aquired. When looking at the bigger picture it's more about indirect egoism than anything else. If everyone were happy playing their current decks, this thread wouldn't exist. What everyone doesn't seem to understand is that Mtg isn't a game of goldfishing. Obviously there is an issue when it comes to the lifespan of eternal formats that can't be solved, until supply starts to meet demand. This may or may not happen. Unfortunately some of us will act as above others due to ignorance or indifference, only to possibly find that the reasons for it were as lacking as the future eternal scene.

Btw, Nice work on the article!

[bruizar]

You guys are missing the point. Magic is not a game, it´s a COLLECTIBLE TRADING CARD GAME. Just because some people don´t want to collect or trade, doesn´t mean that that isn´t an integral part of Magic.

If you feel like it´s too expensive or too much of a hassle to collect some of the games rarities, don´t play them. There are a lot of other cards aren´t as expensive. If you don´t believe some magic cards are like pieces of art (in particular old eternal staples), compare the price of Porphyry Nodes and Drop of Honey. I don't mean to come off as an asshole, but the sense of entitlement here is amazing. I'd love to have Emperor Shomu's Go Board. Too bad I can't afford a 1300 year game. I don't complain about it because I don't feel like it's my human right to own this game.

There was a barrier when you first started playing Magic. You guys obviously made a conscious decision to play Legacy (Instead of the other formats). You made the step from fledgling noob to becoming an eternal player. The Eternal players invented the 'cardpimp' and you guys should know better. If you think that the barrier is getting exceedingly higher there are a couple of things you can do:

1) Acquire as much of the money cards in the shortest amount of time, before they go up even more
2) Be willing to accept that acquiring cards for your new deck may now take longer than before
3) Play another format, such as extended or standard
4) Learn to play a certain type of deck and specialize on that so that you don't need every card there is
5) Avoid pimping, play with cards that are in a bad condition
6) Play Tier 2 decks
7) Stop playing magic all together
8) Cry on the internet

The choice is yours..