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Thread: 30th Anniversary Edition - What Reserve List?

  1. #41

    Re: 30th Anniversary Edition - What Reserve List?

    Contrarian take: the interests of stock investors might not actually be aligned with the interests of players and may even be diametrically opposed.

  2. #42
    Hamburglar Hlelpler
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    Re: 30th Anniversary Edition - What Reserve List?

    Quote Originally Posted by Purple Blood View Post
    Contrarian take: the interests of stock investors might not actually be aligned with the interests of players and may even be diametrically opposed.
    Right?

    Nothing about the last few years of product decisions makes sense. There's too much to keep up with, it's always spoiler season, and cards are being printed that literally nobody asked for. They've managed to reproduce the "always online" feeling in real life, that dull yet blistering deluge of raw, unsophisticated c o n t e n t f o r e v e r.

    If they'd just done *one* of the things it might have been okay. Ramp up Standard but don't do Secret Lairs. Do your weird crossovers but don't dick with the Standard release cycle. Print your 30th Edition but don't do *any of the other stupid fucking shit you did over the last 5 years*. Doing all of this is just overexposure.

    And for fuck's sake have a reasonable price point. How do you flood a market with cards *and* sell $250 booster packs that aren't even legal? I know people joke that Magic is cardboard crack and all, but it turns out they've been cutting it with flour and we're not actually addicted to any of this shit.

    My concern is they're gonna take the wrong lessons from all of this. 30th Ed will be a giant scapegoat here, they broke their One Rule in the midst of a series of poor decisions and it'll strengthen their resolve in the RP, as if that was the only thing leading to investor and player divestment. Secret Lairs and other crossovers will just go wider, I look forward to Secret Lair: TOWIE. Standard release cycles will continue to suck and 0head printings resulting in bans will not be reigned in because chase rares == $$ and shifting the goalpost by strategic application of the Banhammer is just good business.

    I don't like being a doomer because it means I have to admit that I give a shit about a game I scarcely have time or money for anymore but that's sorta the point, right - this game rarely respected my money and it requires too much maintenance to respect my time, so why should I care apart from nostalgia of the Before Times? Remember when the game's biggest problem was Tarmogoyf?
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    EDIT: Tsumi, you are silly.

  3. #43
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    Re: 30th Anniversary Edition - What Reserve List?

    Quote Originally Posted by Purple Blood View Post
    Contrarian take: the interests of stock investors might not actually be aligned with the interests of players and may even be diametrically opposed.
    Usually this is the case because of short term incentives though. Stock market malfeasance is far more likely to take the form of short term enrichment of stockholders, eg stock buybacks, than concern for the long term health of a brand, which is the thing more likely to be sacrificed.
    For my confessions, they burned me with fire/
    And found I was for endurance made

  4. #44
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    Re: 30th Anniversary Edition - What Reserve List?

    Relevant twitter thread

    So why does this happen? As I explain to these people and places, it's because they breached the Trust Thermocline.

    I ask them if they'd been increasing prices. Changed service offerings. Modified the product.

    The answer is normally: "yes, but not much. And everyone still paid"

    Then I ask if they did that the year before. Did they increase prices last year? Change the offering? Modify the product?

    Again: "yes, but not much."

    The answer is normally: "yes, but not much. And everyone still paid."

    "And the year before?"

    "Yes but not much. And everyone still paid."

    Well, you get the idea.

    And here is where the Trust Thermocline kicks in. Because too many people see service use as always following an arc. They think that as long as usage is ticking up, they can do what they like to cost and product.

    And (critically) that they can just react when the curve flattens

    But with a lot of CONTENT products (inc social media) that's not actually how it works. Because it doesn't account for sunk-cost lock-in.

    Users and readers will stick to what they know, and use, well beyond the point where they START to lose trust in it. And you won't see that.

    But they'll only MOVE when they hit the Trust Thermocline. The point where their lack of trust in the product to meet their needs, and the emotional investment they'd made in it, have finally been outweighed by the physical and emotional effort required to abandon it.

    At this point, I normally get asked something like:

    "So if we undo the last few changes and drop the price, we get them back?"

    And then I have to break the news that nope: that's not how it works.

    Because you're past the Thermocline now. You can't make them trust you again.
    For my confessions, they burned me with fire/
    And found I was for endurance made

  5. #45

    Re: 30th Anniversary Edition - What Reserve List?

    It's almost like people only have so much money to spend on their hobby, especially in these times of economic uncertainty.

    Instead of giving people what they want, they just produce loads of shit thinking enough people will still like it.

    The current sales are also partially due to pushing cards so hard that they are viable in every format which something they can't continue forever.

  6. #46
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    Re: 30th Anniversary Edition - What Reserve List?

    Quote Originally Posted by Zoid View Post
    It's almost like people only have so much money to spend on their hobby, especially in these times of economic uncertainty.

    Instead of giving people what they want, they just produce loads of shit thinking enough people will still like it.

    The current sales are also partially due to pushing cards so hard that they are viable in every format which something they can't continue forever.
    Note by the way that this is exactly the point I've long said about why they wouldn't actually make bank breaking the reserve list for real. The total amount of money people are willing/able to spend on Magic cards is finite.
    For my confessions, they burned me with fire/
    And found I was for endurance made

  7. #47

    Re: 30th Anniversary Edition - What Reserve List?

    I used to keep up with various formats. With the rate of new releases, I find that any format that uses new cards doesn’t do it for me because I can’t keep track of the cards. I consider myself pretty darn obsessed with Magic, and I used to be up to speed on new releases, but I can’t hope to stay up to speed anymore.

    I still like the game a lot. I’m working on a custom card Cube, or rather a Polycube, made up of mini sets. Each mini set is 120–180 cards, and I’m hoping to get to 6+ of them, although it’s a long process. The idea is that by shuffling different mini-sets together, you get different Cubes each time you play. Once I have six mini sets the combinatorics will get pretty big (many unique combinations of two or three mini sets). The first mini set, already complete, is about spaceship combat and fuel management. The second, in progress, is about the mythical land of Hyperborea — griffins, cyclopes, Auras, Treasures, it’s not fully figured out yet.

    This is my way of engaging with the game without needing to keep up with new releases.

    I’m in Pasadena atm if anyone wants to play spaceship magic.

  8. #48

    Re: 30th Anniversary Edition - What Reserve List?

    Quote Originally Posted by BirdsOfParadise View Post
    I’m in Pasadena atm if anyone wants to play spaceship magic.
    The BSG TCG we deserve

  9. #49

    Re: 30th Anniversary Edition - What Reserve List?

    It’s more of a retro futuristic theme, with a large chunk of the art coming from 80s sci-fi book covers by Chris Foss.

  10. #50

    Re: 30th Anniversary Edition - What Reserve List?

    Quote Originally Posted by Purple Blood View Post
    Contrarian take: the interests of stock investors might not actually be aligned with the interests of players and may even be diametrically opposed.
    At some point you can see that one of the gists of the report is that they (investors) would like high card prices, which goes straight to the difference between investor and player. As a player, I think the article is right, but perhaps with the wrong motivation...

    In any case, it's pretty undeniable they have screwed the game. To start with, right of the gates you now have two different games, that have been growing further and further apart, the digital vs cardboard. That's already one hell of a divide. Then, inside online, you now have two competing offers, by two different companies. Add to the this the absolute pulverizing of the game's formats abd you have something that , whilst still at core the magic of old, is now devloping inside a totally different set of environments.

    I'm not actually sure that the wants of all components of those different groups can be accommodated by a single game. Heck, I'm digital only for a long time now, what I want from my digital game (arena) is remarkably different from what invested MTGO players want. For ex, I don't give a rats arse about card $ values. They do. I would like everything reprinted, at common if possible. They would go up in arms with that.

  11. #51

    Re: 30th Anniversary Edition - What Reserve List?

    Quote Originally Posted by BirdsOfParadise View Post
    I’m working on a custom card Cube, or rather a Polycube, made up of mini sets. Each mini set is 120–180 cards, and I’m hoping to get to 6+ of them, although it’s a long process. The idea is that by shuffling different mini-sets together, you get different Cubes each time you play. Once I have six mini sets the combinatorics will get pretty big (many unique combinations of two or three mini sets). The first mini set, already complete, is about spaceship combat and fuel management. The second, in progress, is about the mythical land of Hyperborea — griffins, cyclopes, Auras, Treasures, it’s not fully figured out yet.

    This is my way of engaging with the game without needing to keep up with new releases.

    I’m in Pasadena atm if anyone wants to play spaceship magic.
    That's freaking awesome. Are there any overlaps/cross-synergies between the mini cubes? Do you play at a store in Pasadena? I'm in the SFV.

  12. #52

    Re: 30th Anniversary Edition - What Reserve List?

    Yeah, you've been warned once already, so we aren't going to do this again.
    Last edited by H; 11-17-2022 at 08:56 AM.

  13. #53

    Re: 30th Anniversary Edition - What Reserve List?

    Sir, this is an Arby's.

  14. #54

    Re: 30th Anniversary Edition - What Reserve List?

    I saw the wall of text and my eyes glazed over. But now that I have actually read it: Holy shit get fucked, asshole.
    Last edited by H; 11-17-2022 at 08:56 AM.

  15. #55
    Hamburglar Hlelpler
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    Re: 30th Anniversary Edition - What Reserve List?

    Aww, you read my posts <3
    Quote Originally Posted by Dissection View Post
    Creature type - 'Fuck you mooooooom'
    Quote Originally Posted by Secretly.A.Bee View Post
    EDIT: Tsumi, you are silly.

  16. #56

    Re: 30th Anniversary Edition - What Reserve List?

    I think that this satire is thematic to the thread topic.

  17. #57

    Re: 30th Anniversary Edition - What Reserve List?

    Quote Originally Posted by Wrath of Pie View Post
    I think that this satire is thematic to the thread topic.
    Hook him up to a pair of magnets and that's clean energy right there.

  18. #58

    Re: 30th Anniversary Edition - What Reserve List?

    “After I began seeing that the so-called ‘spoiler season’ was nothing more than an endless stream of cardboard, I contemplated dying just so I could get a head start on all the rolling over I’m going to be needing to do.
    Then I saw the $1000 fake cards people were buying.
    I even tried reminding everyone how bad it was to treat Magic as a collectable before a game.
    The fact that Wizards of the Coast ignored me means I’m already way behind on how many times I need to roll over and I’m not even dead yet.
    Speaking of death, its no mere coincidence that a mere three days before the double-downgrade WotC was visited by the ghosts of Beanie Babies past, present, and future.”
    LOL

    I always wonder what would have been if Artifact wasn't dropped like shat underwear.

  19. #59

    Re: 30th Anniversary Edition - What Reserve List?

    Quote Originally Posted by Purple Blood View Post
    That's freaking awesome. Are there any overlaps/cross-synergies between the mini cubes? Do you play at a store in Pasadena? I'm in the SFV.
    PM’d!
    As for cross-synergies... well, the second set is still pretty incomplete, and it takes two sets to have a cross-synergy... but I’m certainly aiming for a bit of that!

    Hearthstone Battlegrounds was actually an inspiration. For those not familiar with it, there are nine tribes (Pirates, Beasts, etc.), but only five tribes appear in any one game. That means there’s a huge number of combinations of game configurations. Different strategies are possible depending on what’s in.

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