Quote Originally Posted by ktkenshinx View Post
When one reads a quote like that, there are far more negative conclusions we can draw than positive ones. Modern (let alone Legacy/Vintage/EDH/etc.) discussion is conspicuously absent from all the Wizards-generated Arena content. That really worries me. It is especially worrisome in light of quotes like the one in the FAQ. Arena is clearly Wizards' big play, and we should not be happy that existing non-rotating formats are conspicuously absent from that discussion. Standard certainly isn't. We see that word "Standard" in all kinds of Arena press. The other formats, however, are missing. It also seems very unlikely that Wizards will want to maintain and fund two products that do effectively the same thing. Their track record with that has been terrible, as we've seen many digital MTG games fall by the wayside.

The potential salvation of MTGO is that it remains profitable for Wizards despite Arena being the client of choice. Maybe it just doesn't require that much upkeep and its margins are pretty good. If that happened, we would still see MTGO as the non-rotating format client, even if Arena was all about Standard and Limited. MTGO would still soldier on and the non-rotating formats we enjoyed would stay viable for longer. This is definitely possible. But I think it's not very likely that Legacy, Modern, and other non-rotating formats currently feature prominently in Wizards' vision of Arena.
I don't think your interpretation of the situation is incorrect, but I just disagree that it's something to worry about right now. Everything around Arena is still very questionable. Like if you had to bet what would still be going in 2020:

-Legacy
-Arena
-Neither

I would bet on neither first, then Legacy. Arena is still a huge gamble and Wizards, as you've said, is not historically adept with digital -- or finding alternative avenues to monetize MTG, for that matter. (That boardgame they put out a while ago was on sale for $10 at Target in less than six months.)

Quote Originally Posted by morgan_coke View Post
No, there are actual big money investors in M:TG cards weirdly enough. Those guys have $$ and LOVE teh RL. They would absolutely sue because they have such an absurd $$ amount of cardstock that's only valuable because of RL.
Hasbro is a global, publicly traded corporation that deals with international licensing and supply chain management, as well as the massive liability exposure that comes with selling toys. Their legal department surely can tangle with the big boys if needed. And I doubt there are any true big money players that are long MTG cards and care all that much about the reserved list protecting their investment. The kind of person that would actually be a threat to Hasbro legally could, or should, know of much better investment vehicles than a stack of Beta duals.

To the extent that they "fear" that breaking the reserved list would lead to a lawsuit, I would guess that Hasbro simply does not believe dealing with the small-potatoes lawsuits is worth their time. I doubt they worry that a finding against them would exceed the revenue benefits from reprinting and selling RL cards.