Magic The Gathering

[UncleTusky]

One thing that has irked me, looking through their financials, is that WOTC's success is somewhat false. It plugs up Hasbro's spiralling revenue; they're also using the MTG money to cover the other failings of WOTC, notably DnD. On top of that, too is their firing policy they use to "support" profit to cover up for growth. If they had not fired people, there would have been no growth at all.

The problem is that they cannot perform these tricks next year because of licensing costs being higher, but also, they have run out of staff to fire. They cannot even introduce a new product, either because there is too much and it gets too close to their print limit.

WoTC is going to strangle their whales and fatigue casual audiences. The reason why the Marvel sets are stretched out is to cover the enormous licensing costs; the superheroes set is going to be ridiculously expensive for them.

And even if it clears those hurdles, there are only so many big name IPs for UB sets. When - not if - those run out that will be an extremely difficult conversation with Hasbro senior execs.

 

[Honka Honka Burning Love]

big name IPs for UB sets.

Really? name them

When - not if - those run out that will be an extremely difficult conversation with Hasbro senior execs.

Nigga they are going to Star Trek and it's been less than a year, I was 12 when Star Trek was last actually Relevant culturally.


Also I love that the Hybrid Mana Rules change for Commander is apparently causing the entire Magic the Gathering (((Community))) to completely Crash Out.

 

[Maratus volans]

Also I love that the Hybrid Mana Rules change for Commander is apparently causing the entire Magic the Gathering (((Community))) to completely Crash Out.

I was half expecting them to announce the introduction of sideboards to the format just so they could make Lessons/Learn work as intended, but it's hilarious that people are having melties over hybrid. Not sure what people were expecting when WotC took over the format, but I certainly thought they'd start making carve-outs to the rules to make [latest set mechanic] work.

 

[Honka Honka Burning Love]

I was half expecting them to announce the introduction of sideboards to the format just so they could make Lessons/Learn work as intended, but it's hilarious that people are having melties over hybrid. Not sure what people were expecting when WotC took over the format, but I certainly thought they'd start making carve-outs to the rules to make [latest set mechanic] work.

Well we haven't hit Strixhaven 2 yet, if they make changes for Lessons/Learn it will be then.

I just think it is really funny that the community is at war over like 2 playable cards?

 

[SIMON THE PIEMAN]

And even if it clears those hurdles, there are only so many big name IPs for UB sets. When - not if - those run out that will be an extremely difficult conversation with Hasbro senior execs.

There are plenty of big names to choose from but they seem to kinda suck at getting the right deals at the right time. You can't convince me that someone at Hasbro pushed for stuff like TMNT and Star Trek because these were the best "big name IPs" to invest in, they picked these IPs because that was the best they could do. And it's not like this is the first time this is happening to them, one would think that getting a license for something like Skyrim, The Witcher or Dark Souls would be a no brainer but since they couldn't do it here's AssCreed, enjoy your Ubislop.

Edited to avoid doubleposting.
This whole hybrid mana thing is such a non-issue, I don't get it at all. If hybrid mana was bad or gamebreaking there would be calls to remove these cards from other formats. It's just an another instance of game related Stockholm syndrome where some game developer does something unnecessary and/or stupid and years later people treat it as some sort of a necessity, even though this kind of thing doesn't exist elsewhere.

Spoiler: Comparing this situation to TF2 random crits dilemma

It reminds me of the random crits mechanic in Team Fortress 2. By default you have a chance to deal double damage on any shot with (nearly) any weapon and this chance increases the more you're shooting. Needless to say this game mechanic is pretty controversial.
Not only no other multiplayer shooter has a similar feature, the feature itself isn't even good enough to be requested by the fans of other games. You won't find any serious discussion about adding random crits to games like Overwatch or Marvel Rivals, even though these games serve a similar niche.
Even within TF2 most server admins would disable random crits, but then Valve started hosting their own servers with this feature enabled by default. Now you have e-celebs posting hours-long essays on youtube on how random crits are an integral part of the game and how it would be worse without them, even though that isn't true.

 

[Polock]

this game mechanic is pretty controversial.

Way off topic but the only people who cry about random crits are people with 40,000 hours in the game who play 24/7 2fort 80 hours a week and get mad when Timmy with 10 hours total kills them with a random crit roller and they lose one of their dominations because of it.

Hell, these are also the same people who LOVE dominations but HATE that they get a little particle effect over their head letting the other person know where they are.

Theyre the kind of player who loved the original game so much that they poured their life into it and now they seek to shape the thing they loved into their twisted idea of what they THINK the game should be.

Random crits were always a part of TF2. They designed the game with it in mind. There's a reason they exist.

 

[Oddjob OTP]

Nigga they are going to Star Trek and it's been less than a year, I was 12 when Star Trek was last actually Relevant culturally.

UB was already cooked when they speed ran to Doctor Who, they were clearly marketing to 45+ year old nerd nostalgia with that one. Also they fucked up not making 40k a whole ass set since there is way, way more content to work with than shit like Spidermans and their shit rogues gallery, TMNT and Avatar's first series.

The hybrid mana thing is whatever, their argument is sound (it's almost always used on cards that could be mono either of the colors) so it's mostly just a buff to the card pool of 1 and 2 color decks and little else

 

[Flexo]

The hybrid mana thing is whatever, their argument is sound (it's almost always used on cards that could be mono either of the colors) so it's mostly just a buff to the card pool of 1 and 2 color decks and little else

Or basically any deck getting access to a tutor with beseech the queen.

 

[Logistical Nightmare]

Or basically any deck getting access to a tutor with beseech the queen.

Is that actually how it’s going to work? I didn’t look at the rules update, but I would assume that wouldn’t change BTQ at all? Though players having to pay 6 for a demonic tutor isn’t all that good anyway, and you’re likely in black already if you want the effect.

 

[Oddjob OTP]

Or basically any deck getting access to a tutor with beseech the queen.

Yeah but that's legitimately a terrible card unless you can cast it for black mana and anyone who thinks mono color decks are just a single 6 mana tutor from being competitive with 4/5 color commanders are delusional.

 

[Honka Honka Burning Love]

UB was already cooked when they speed ran to Doctor Who

UB was cooked when the first one was a franchise that was 5 years past its relevancy

 

[Tony Martin's Force Ghost]

That and the problem is, you only get one and then after it's nothing but diminishing returns. They think in the board room, The Hobbit is going to go toe to toe with LOTR because it has a one ring reprint. They fail to realize that The Hobbit is nowhere near as popular, but their target audience had to buy 4 sets of cards earlier in the year at higher prices. Not only that, but these sets are bloated to no end.

Warhammer SHOULD have been a set, but GW would have charged them through the ass for the IP. On top of that, the ship has sailed because it's years later, and people have moved on. Same with Doctor Who, but the show is cancelled and relevance is gone. WoTC has not learnt to stop being impulsive, but the boardroom is full of hive-minded people who all think the same. This is why I can tell UB is a hrab and not a realized concept, MarkRo knew the company was facing a gun, so impulsively thought of Fortniteification.

 

[Honka Honka Burning Love]

That and the problem is, you only get one and then after it's nothing but diminishing returns. They think in the board room, The Hobbit is going to go toe to toe with LOTR because it has a one ring reprint. They fail to realize that The Hobbit is nowhere near as popular, but their target audience had to buy 4 sets of cards earlier in the year at higher prices. Not only that, but these sets are bloated to no end.

Warhammer SHOULD have been a set, but GW would have charged them through the ass for the IP. On top of that, the ship has sailed because it's years later, and people have moved on. Same with Doctor Who, but the show is cancelled and relevance is gone. WoTC has not learnt to stop being impulsive, but the boardroom is full of hive-minded people who all think the same. This is why I can tell UB is a hrab and not a realized concept, MarkRo knew the company was facing a gun, so impulsively thought of Fortniteification.

The problem is, like with EVERYTHING Magic the Gathering does..it is just half baked flailing.

They decided to throw Universes Beyond into standard despite having a Spiderman Set in Development as a Small set for Modern like Assassin's Creed (LMAAAAOOO) and pivoted mid set development to be a standard set.

 

[Flexo]

Is that actually how it’s going to work? I didn’t look at the rules update, but I would assume that wouldn’t change BTQ at all? Though players having to pay 6 for a demonic tutor isn’t all that good anyway, and you’re likely in black already if you want the effect.

It could with the proposal.

And some have also pointed out you can then just splash in Urborg with you mono white deck for the black needed. (Or use other tricks like treasures.)

Nobody's actually going to pay 6.

 

[Oddjob OTP]

It could with the proposal.

And some have also pointed out you can then just splash in Urborg with you mono white deck for the black needed. (Or use other tricks like treasures.)

Nobody's actually going to pay 6.

Urborg in monowhite to save 3 mana on a tutor seems like bad cards (for you) to justify bad cards. I can see that idea being less of a meme in green since you can crop rotation into urborg or something. But it still seems like a distraction since green decks playing crop rotation generally don't really need to tutor sorcery/instants/artifacts/enchantments in the first place.

That's kind of the issue, you don't want to warp your entire deck around this bad tutor so you either have to innately have to be on a treasures/artifact ramp/cast instants/sorceries unfairly plan and need to grab something that you normally can't tutor for in your color(s). And you also have to be able to justify why you aren't just playing a similar commander that has black in it. And that's a really narrow road. Looking at most popular last 2 years of commanders excluding black on EDH rec the only one where I could see and argument for it is maybe looking for specific slug enchants/damage doublers in Ojer (although I doubt most are playing enough treasures to pay less than 6 for it, so maybe not even there). Maybe some use in any mono blue deck that intends to win from Thoracle on the stack but those still need to draw themselves nearly out so it kind of sounds like a bad card there too.

 

[Flexo]

Urborg in monowhite to save 3 mana on a tutor seems like bad cards (for you) to justify bad cards. I can see that idea being less of a meme in green since you can crop rotation into urborg or something. But it still seems like a distraction since green decks playing crop rotation generally don't really need to tutor sorcery/instants/artifacts/enchantments in the first place.

That's kind of the issue, you don't want to warp your entire deck around this bad tutor so you either have to innately have to be on a treasures/artifact ramp/cast instants/sorceries unfairly plan and need to grab something that you normally can't tutor for in your color(s). And you also have to be able to justify why you aren't just playing a similar commander that has black in it. And that's a really narrow road. Looking at most popular last 2 years of commanders excluding black on EDH rec the only one where I could see and argument for it is maybe looking for specific slug enchants/damage doublers in Ojer (although I doubt most are playing enough treasures to pay less than 6 for it, so maybe not even there). Maybe some use in any mono blue deck that intends to win from Thoracle on the stack but those still need to draw themselves nearly out so it kind of sounds like a bad card there too.

All companions are hybrid too.

So imagine those getting let off the chain.

 

[Oddjob OTP]

All companions are hybrid too.

So imagine those getting let off the chain.

I think they are all pretty bad as companions still, there might be some edge cases where they become playable in the 99 of decks they would normally be color ruled out of. Umori in the green-but-not black or black-but-not-green "deck can have any number of cards named" decks or Lurrus now fitting in black but not white aristocrats decks. But nothing jumps out at me

 

[Maratus volans]

Lurrus would be interesting in a BR Juri deck as the companion, but I've played Lurrus companion in Commander before and it's not nearly as strong as 60-card Constructed. If your companion isn't a combo piece like Gyruda, it's probably not worth running.

RE: UB Franchise Choices - it definitely feels like they're choosing properties based on what's cheapest to license, and not what would play well with Magic's target audience. When was the last time anyone gave a shit about Turtles? And why Star Trek? All the Trek fans I know hate modern Trek.

 

[Honka Honka Burning Love]

All companions are hybrid too.

So imagine those getting let off the chain.

Most of them are pretty bad as companions. Gyruda is about the only one that is actually worth it in the companion zone.

 

[Rich Evans Ayypologist]

People complaining about the proposed hybrid-identity change are 5c wallet-warriors terrified that mono and two-color commanders will get access to more tools without having to spend $500 on a mana-base, simple as.