fregle
03-31-2010, 03:56 PM
A possible solution to the price issue in the legacy format, that doesn't involve reprinting or proxies of any kind.
Resellers and individual magic players always have cards that sit at home or in stock while a tournament is being played.
What if resellers would organise themselves as some kind of magic card banks for the duration of one tournament, where a player can deposit his unneeded tournament viable cards at the start of the tournament, for a small interest (in money or cards, whatever the reseller and the player agree upon) at the end of the tournament. The reseller in turn insures that he will return the card in the same condition or - if it got damaged - replace the card with the value of it in cash at the end of the tournament (all of that on paper and signed by both parties of course).
The reseller then lends its own stock of cards and the cards deposited by individual players to other players that need the cards for the deck they will be playing at the tournament. Those players sign an agreement with the reseller that they will reimburse the value of the cards if they get damaged, and they agree upon a slightly higher interest that the second player will have to pay to the reseller at the start of the tournament.
That way the reseller makes a little money and the first player makes a little money, while taking little to no risk, and the second player can build the optimal build of the deck he wishes to play, even if he doesn't have the required funds to build it on time.
Of course, web applications will have to be built where people can reserve cards up front (and if there aren't enough cards in the stockpile for everybody on the waiting list the last ones drop off). At the same time players will be able to virtually add their unneeded cards to the stockpile so everybody will have an idea of where he's at at the start of the tournament, and what he will need to bring and pay. Of course, this will have to be largely anonimous so people can't guess at the decklists of other people.
The first problem that might arise of course is a hoarding problem, probably at the reseller level, where resellers will keep stocks of rare cards that won't be on the market anymore, except for lending purposes. I'm not sure this would happen, that's one reason why I'm starting this topic.
Another possible problem would be players promising to reimburse cards that they can't reimburse (even in the long term), and then dropping their entire deck into a cup of coffee (for example :) ). Don't know if that would really become an issue either...
The third problem could come in the form of meta game spoiling (through the stockpiles and waiting lists)... This can be solved with an intelligent web application design, but that will need a lot of brainstorming.
The last possible problem I can see is the owners or employees of the resellers having inside information about a tournament they will be attending. It will probably be necessary for all resellers and their employees to sign a general waiver to play at the tournaments where they will be involved in the lending of cards.
I'm also pitching this because I'm not in the business of magic, so I'm not interested in organising anything like this myself. I am however in the business of building custom web applications (for example), so if anyone needs the web application, I'm more than willing to build it. :)
What do you guys think? Also, if I'm pitching an old idea, sorry but I'm not that into playing tournaments. :)
Resellers and individual magic players always have cards that sit at home or in stock while a tournament is being played.
What if resellers would organise themselves as some kind of magic card banks for the duration of one tournament, where a player can deposit his unneeded tournament viable cards at the start of the tournament, for a small interest (in money or cards, whatever the reseller and the player agree upon) at the end of the tournament. The reseller in turn insures that he will return the card in the same condition or - if it got damaged - replace the card with the value of it in cash at the end of the tournament (all of that on paper and signed by both parties of course).
The reseller then lends its own stock of cards and the cards deposited by individual players to other players that need the cards for the deck they will be playing at the tournament. Those players sign an agreement with the reseller that they will reimburse the value of the cards if they get damaged, and they agree upon a slightly higher interest that the second player will have to pay to the reseller at the start of the tournament.
That way the reseller makes a little money and the first player makes a little money, while taking little to no risk, and the second player can build the optimal build of the deck he wishes to play, even if he doesn't have the required funds to build it on time.
Of course, web applications will have to be built where people can reserve cards up front (and if there aren't enough cards in the stockpile for everybody on the waiting list the last ones drop off). At the same time players will be able to virtually add their unneeded cards to the stockpile so everybody will have an idea of where he's at at the start of the tournament, and what he will need to bring and pay. Of course, this will have to be largely anonimous so people can't guess at the decklists of other people.
The first problem that might arise of course is a hoarding problem, probably at the reseller level, where resellers will keep stocks of rare cards that won't be on the market anymore, except for lending purposes. I'm not sure this would happen, that's one reason why I'm starting this topic.
Another possible problem would be players promising to reimburse cards that they can't reimburse (even in the long term), and then dropping their entire deck into a cup of coffee (for example :) ). Don't know if that would really become an issue either...
The third problem could come in the form of meta game spoiling (through the stockpiles and waiting lists)... This can be solved with an intelligent web application design, but that will need a lot of brainstorming.
The last possible problem I can see is the owners or employees of the resellers having inside information about a tournament they will be attending. It will probably be necessary for all resellers and their employees to sign a general waiver to play at the tournaments where they will be involved in the lending of cards.
I'm also pitching this because I'm not in the business of magic, so I'm not interested in organising anything like this myself. I am however in the business of building custom web applications (for example), so if anyone needs the web application, I'm more than willing to build it. :)
What do you guys think? Also, if I'm pitching an old idea, sorry but I'm not that into playing tournaments. :)