From the Vault: Lore

[Lemnear]

They cant just reprint imperial Seal, a 400€ card. I mean they could but... but yah whatever -.-

Yeah, why bring down the ridiculous costs of non-RL cards with special products like FtV, Judge Promos and so on...

[joven]

I think WotC should really try to find a foiling process that strongly reduces curling while keeping the look of current normal set foils.
The curling of foils is just damn awful!

[jrsthethird]

You can't reprint a $200+ card in a precon product with MSRP of $35. The two most expensive cards in this product total to $90, with 14 more cards (including the token, which will carry value) adding at least another $20. That's $110 worth of cards for $35. Surely, it will go down slightly, but not much due to availability. So maybe it'll dip around $85-90 total for everything until people stop opening them.

Unfortunately, Judge promos or booster sets (Masters/Conspiracy) are the only viable places to reprint anything with a price tag over $100. The supply of Judge promos, combined with the nature of exclusivity and "free rewards", allows there to be no upper limit on cards that are financially reasonable to release. Booster sets have a total combined EV that must be kept in check relative to the MSRP, so reprinting Imperial Seal would make the set extremely top-heavy. Topping it with a card like Tarmogoyf or Mana Crypt and then including other valuable cards like LOTV, Karakas, Wasteland, etc. spreads the value out a bit more.

I doubt Seal would be included in any reprint other than Judge promo or Commander's Arsenal 2 (where the higher MSRP allows for greater price ranges, although the rest of the product would be admittedly shitty, price-wise).

[Julian23]

If there's one thing we know, it's that MSRP doesn't mean anything when it comes to MtG. Special products like FtV will always be sold according to how much the cards in them are worth.

[Lemnear]

You can't reprint a $200+ card in a precon product with MSRP of $35. The two most expensive cards in this product total to $90, with 14 more cards (including the token, which will carry value) adding at least another $20. That's $110 worth of cards for $35. Surely, it will go down slightly, but not much due to availability. So maybe it'll dip around $85-90 total for everything until people stop opening them.

Unfortunately, Judge promos or booster sets (Masters/Conspiracy) are the only viable places to reprint anything with a price tag over $100. The supply of Judge promos, combined with the nature of exclusivity and "free rewards", allows there to be no upper limit on cards that are financially reasonable to release. Booster sets have a total combined EV that must be kept in check relative to the MSRP, so reprinting Imperial Seal would make the set extremely top-heavy. Topping it with a card like Tarmogoyf or Mana Crypt and then including other valuable cards like LOTV, Karakas, Wasteland, etc. spreads the value out a bit more.

I doubt Seal would be included in any reprint other than Judge promo or Commander's Arsenal 2 (where the higher MSRP allows for greater price ranges, although the rest of the product would be admittedly shitty, price-wise).

You are aware that the prices of stuff like Seal, Grim, etc are are artificial driven by speculation and have absolutely zero meaning. Its color on paper just like the next best Eldrich Moon common except that printrun and speculation/hoarding rised its price. Devaluing cards profits the players and only hurts professional traders and speculators. If its me, they could reprint duals as commons, because I am a player and want others to enjoy the game even if they don't have 3 grand to drop for a single deck.

[Sidneyious]

I have yet to see sealed product sold at msrp.

[phonics]

I think WotC should really try to find a foiling process that strongly reduces curling while keeping the look of current normal set foils.
The curling of foils is just damn awful!

The first foils that were printed were on a holographic surface wasnt prone to bending like the newer ones (that are like a sticker on the card) iirc.

[jrsthethird]

If there's one thing we know, it's that MSRP doesn't mean anything when it comes to MtG. Special products like FtV will always be sold according to how much the cards in them are worth.

I have yet to see sealed product sold at msrp.

By "sealed product" I mean everything, from FTV and Anthology sets to annual Duel Decks and Commander sets. While FTV and other higher-end products are usually WPN store exclusive and sold higher than MSRP, DD and Commander sets will always have a relative hard cap on value at release.

And even for FTV sets, MSRP does impose a cap on value. WOTC knows that people are annoyed at "greedy game stores" charging 2-3x MSRP for a product, but this is acceptable in the long run. But 5-10x MSRP I think even Wizards realizes is a bit too much and would not do it. FTV set tops off at maybe $120 around release; Commander's Arsenal can go a lot higher with a $75 MSRP.

So it doesn't really mean anything to stores or customers, but it's still something Wizards needs to keep in mind when considering reprint equity.

[ESG]

Unfortunately, Judge promos or booster sets (Masters/Conspiracy) are the only viable places to reprint anything with a price tag over $100.

Nope. Polluted Delta was over $100 before its reprint in Khans of Tarkir, and Flooded Strand was very close. Strategic Planning was a money card and then was reprinted in Commander. It crashed because its price was held up entirely by rarity. Similarly, Loyal Retainers used to be north of $80 and then it appeared in Commander Arsenal. You can pick up that version for less than $20 now. The P3K cards could easily be reprinted. There's no reason a worse Vampiric Tutor should be $900. That's deplorable for a card not bound by the Reserved List. WOTC ought to reprint these items more aggressively.

[Sidneyious]

I say do what ygo did and reprint everything.

If your not playing your collecting and rising the prices up for the players and making formats die.

[Lormador]

Perhaps an unusual political structure has evolved at Wizards where the FTV: Pringles products exist to get rid of staff members no one likes.

"Hey, looks like you'll be on the FTV project."
...three months of unanswered emails regarding changes to the universally hated foiling process...
...mysterious emails from management forbidding the reprints of Damnation and Rishadan Port...


Then the product is announced, and social media responses range from "wow this sucks" "nothing good here" to "bought FTV once, never again."

Upon release, it flounders.

"Your performance on this project hasn't really been what we expected, and we'll have to let you go." MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA, no one steals my stapler and gets away with it!

Maybe the next set of From The Vault can be From The Vault: Warning, and it will include iconic cards with the faces of real judges on them. Judges who have issued marked card warnings due to the foiling on previous FTV products causing a noticeable difference between the FTV cards and the rest of the deck.

[jrsthethird]

Nope. Polluted Delta was over $100 before its reprint in Khans of Tarkir, and Flooded Strand was very close. Strategic Planning was a money card and then was reprinted in Commander. It crashed because its price was held up entirely by rarity. Similarly, Loyal Retainers used to be north of $80 and then it appeared in Commander Arsenal. You can pick up that version for less than $20 now. The P3K cards could easily be reprinted. There's no reason a worse Vampiric Tutor should be $900. That's deplorable for a card not bound by the Reserved List. WOTC ought to reprint these items more aggressively.

Standard sets ARE booster sets.

Loyal Retainers was more than $100 when it was reprinted, but I previously said that higher MSRP products give Wizards more leeway to reprint higher cards. They need to do more of these products, but for some reason they don't. Annual FTV is nice but it's not doing enough.