Magic the Gathering Appreciation Station

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Some Numbers: Sep 28, 2006; "LET'S GET DOWN TO WORK!!"

Yeah, I basically only play Magic when my group (occasionally) gets together to Cube, which has happened once in the last MONTH.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 02:36

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# ? May 15, 2024 03:32

Mikujin: May 25, 2010; (also a lightning rod)

bigperm posted:

As a 34 year old for a few more months I really appreciated your age brackets.

I got your back!

mandatory lesbian posted:

i just turned 25, thinks for making me feel middle-aged

... But apparently not yours.

AceClown posted:

The "How often do you play Magic" question needs a "less than once per week" option, it's rare I get to play these days and pretty much just do pre-release events, none of those options fit.

Thanks for the input. I originally thought of including it (since I'm one of those same players) but opted not to. I'll amend a "Less than once a week option" for those of you who don't get to play so much Wizard Poker.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 02:40

moush: Aug 19, 2009; Rage Your Dream

Wouldn't be surprised if "MDN" is only the last few standard rotations and they keep Modern/Legacy/etc. in MTGO as their way of keeping it around.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 03:15

PJOmega: May 5, 2009

Do MTGO packs have similar print runs in the commons/uncommons per pack as compared to physical packs?

# ? Feb 18, 2017 03:23

Count Bleck: Apr 5, 2010; DISPEL MAGIC!

PJOmega posted:

Do MTGO packs have similar print runs in the commons/uncommons per pack as compared to physical packs?

Nope, from what I've seen, they're all random commons/uncommons.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 03:59

Fuzzy Mammal: Aug 15, 2001; Lipstick Apathy

They definitely recreate the print runs from paper packs.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 04:29

clamiam45: Sep 10, 2005; HIGH FIVE! I'M GAY TOO!!!!!!

PJOmega posted:

Do MTGO packs have similar print runs in the commons/uncommons per pack as compared to physical packs?

They literally open a physical pack and copy it every time you crack one online. It's hosed up but that's why the digital versions have to cost $4.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 04:40

Fuzzy Mammal: Aug 15, 2001; Lipstick Apathy

Way back when if you opened 110 packs in one operation you would get a redeemable set since it followed the rare collation too.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 04:41

Attorney at Funk: Jun 3, 2008; ...the person who says honestly that he despairs is closer to being cured than all those who are not regarded as despairing by themselves or others.

PJOmega posted:

Do MTGO packs have similar print runs in the commons/uncommons per pack as compared to physical packs?

They definitely have collation algorithms that are meant to simulate something like paper pack balance but like everything else on MTGO it doesn't always work right.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 04:42

Jabor: Jul 16, 2010; #1 Loser at SpaceChem

Remember when they did Vintage Masters sealed for that one event, and the collation meant that one player basically had a full set of power while everyone else was playing with VMA commons?

# ? Feb 18, 2017 04:46

StrugglingHoneybun: Jan 2, 2005; Aint no thing like me, 'cept me.

clamiam45 posted:

They literally open a physical pack and copy it every time you crack one online. It's hosed up but that's why the digital versions have to cost $4.

fucken lol

# ? Feb 18, 2017 04:55

Count Bleck: Apr 5, 2010; DISPEL MAGIC!

clamiam45 posted:

They literally open a physical pack and copy it every time you crack one online. It's hosed up but that's why the digital versions have to cost $4.

Funny if true.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 04:59

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

So, I'm getting back into Magic after a 10 year hiatus. What were they thinking when they stopped printing core sets? Standard without them seems kind of bizarre.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 05:02

Attorney at Funk: Jun 3, 2008; ...the person who says honestly that he despairs is closer to being cured than all those who are not regarded as despairing by themselves or others.

Ersatz posted:

So, I'm getting back into Magic after a 10 year hiatus. What were they thinking when they stopped printing core sets? Standard without them seems kind of bizarre.

They were thinking "nobody buys these and we can't figure out who they're for".

Here's the article explaining it (note that the change to rotations has been rolled, back, so we're at 2 two-set blocks a year with no core sets and annual fall rotation) http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mm/metamorphosis

# ? Feb 18, 2017 05:04

The Human Crouton: Sep 20, 2002

Ersatz posted:

So, I'm getting back into Magic after a 10 year hiatus. What were they thinking when they stopped printing core sets? Standard without them seems kind of bizarre.

Don't get used to anything they do or don't do. They change everything every other year. There is no consistency anymore.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 05:17

C-Euro: Mar 20, 2010; Soiled Meat

Mikujin posted:

Hey everyone!

As promised earlier in the thread, here is the demographic inclusiveness survey that I am conducting as part of a research project.

As noted, all data collected is for internal use in this project only and will be kept completely confidential. Thanks in advance to everyone who participates.

I'll be distributing this to several other community networks so I'm hoping to see a lot of responses to it over the next while!

Did it

# ? Feb 18, 2017 05:21

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

Attorney at Funk posted:

They were thinking "nobody buys these and we can't figure out who they're for".

Here's the article explaining it (note that the change to rotations has been rolled, back, so we're at 2 two-set blocks a year with no core sets and annual fall rotation) http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mm/metamorphosis

Thanks for the link. I'm not convinced that the problem they describe with the core sets was ever a real one for the players - they were very accessible for me when I first started playing, and I later appreciated having some known entities to draw from when building type 2 decks as new blocks came out.

My impression from the article is that the whole "we don't know who they're for" thing was just an excuse to make room for faster block rotations, but maybe I'm being uncharitable.

How did the community react?

The Human Crouton posted:

Don't get used to anything they do or don't do. They change everything every other year. There is no consistency anymore.

That's... a bummer.

But gently caress it, it's still a fun game and I have friends who play it again.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 05:27

Rinkles: Oct 24, 2010; What I'm getting at is...
Do you feel the same way?

The Human Crouton posted:

Don't get used to anything they do or don't do. They change everything every other year. There is no consistency anymore.

Speaking of, really curious what happens come the banned list update.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 05:29

Hellsau: Jan 14, 2010; NEVER FUCKING TAKE A NIGHT OFF CLAN WARS.

Rinkles posted:

Speaking of, really curious what happens come the banned list update.

Unban Emrakul or ban Cat. Maybe unban Reflector Mage and ban Cat.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 05:35

Babylon Astronaut: Apr 19, 2012

Ersatz posted:

My impression from the article is that the whole "we don't know who they're for" thing was just an excuse to make room for faster block rotations, but maybe I'm being uncharitable.

It's this. It's the same kind of bullshit they put out like "we put complicated cards at mythic to keep them away from new players" or "magic is primarily a storytelling medium." It also means they don't have to reprint as many cards, which is important to them for some reason.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 05:36

Cactrot: Jan 11, 2001; Go Go Cactus Galactus

Ersatz posted:

But gently caress it, it's still a fun game and I have friends who play it again.

If you want to have fun playing magic, don't pay attention to it and just play at the kitchen table.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 05:39

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

Babylon Astronaut posted:

It's this. It's the same kind of bullshit they put out like "we put complicated cards at mythic to keep them away from new players" or "magic is primarily a storytelling medium."

Lol at both of these.

quote:

It also means they don't have to reprint as many cards, which is important to them for some reason.

Having reprints of old favorites, alongside variations that kept the core mechanics of the colors intact, was what I appreciated most about the core sets. I mean, I like playing with new mechanics, and it was always exciting when new blocks came out, but I tend to think that reprints were a feature and not a bug.

Edit: and reprints also made it feel like my older cards had potential play value, despite the fact that I only played type 2.

Ersatz fucked around with this message at 05:53 on Feb 18, 2017

# ? Feb 18, 2017 05:42

bigperm: Jul 10, 2001; some obscure reference

Is having a story in MTG important to that many people compared to how much effort they put into shoving it in there? It's like they are forcing up to play on an RP server.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 05:43

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

bigperm posted:

Is having a story in MTG important to that many people compared to how much effort they put into shoving it in there? It's like they are forcing up to play on an RP server.

I'm probably in danger of sounding like an old codger at this point, buy show-not-tell is a standard to aspire to. Sure, Urza and his merry crew were trying to save the planes from the Phyrexian death machines, but I liked that the designers made broad strokes and then left it to the players to fill them in.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 05:47

Attorney at Funk: Jun 3, 2008; ...the person who says honestly that he despairs is closer to being cured than all those who are not regarded as despairing by themselves or others.

Ersatz posted:

Thanks for the link. I'm not convinced that the problem they describe with the core sets was ever a real one for the players - they were very accessible for me when I first started playing, and I later appreciated having some known entities to draw from when building type 2 decks as new blocks came out.

My impression from the article is that the whole "we don't know who they're for" thing was just an excuse to make room for faster block rotations, but maybe I'm being uncharitable.

How did the community react?

It might be. I don't have their sales figures but my suspicion is they wanted a faster rotation AND third sets/core sets were their worst-performing products and they spun a story from that.

Ditching the third sets and core sets seemed to be really popular, almost astonishingly so (as in nobody really complained). People were fairly positive about the double rotation too (though some people pointed out it'd make Standard more expensive and harder to get into) but once Standard attendance started tanking last year they started throwing poo poo at the wall to see what would fix it, a process that'll probably continue at least through this year.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 05:48

Ersatz: Sep 17, 2005

Attorney at Funk posted:

It might be. I don't have their sales figures but my suspicion is they wanted a faster rotation AND third sets/core sets were their worst-performing products and they spun a story from that.

Ditching the third sets and core sets seemed to be really popular, almost astonishingly so (as in nobody really complained). People were fairly positive about the double rotation too (though some people pointed out it'd make Standard more expensive and harder to get into) but once Standard attendance started tanking last year they started throwing poo poo at the wall to see what would fix it, a process that'll probably continue at least through this year.

Interesting - thanks.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 05:49

Attorney at Funk: Jun 3, 2008; ...the person who says honestly that he despairs is closer to being cured than all those who are not regarded as despairing by themselves or others.

Ersatz posted:

Interesting - thanks.

Yeah I think that if there's a kernel of truth in "we can't figure out what they're for" it's just Rosewater's typical obscurantism when it comes to decisions that are obviously made for business reasons but might have some superficial design justification. The core sets was selling poorly and they couldn't find a marketing trick to fix it = 'we don't know what audience we should be aiming these at'.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 06:01

Sickening: Jul 16, 2007; Black summer was the best summer.

m15 was not a well opened set compared to previous core sets. M13 was a pretty great core set.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 06:23

Babylon Astronaut: Apr 19, 2012

The master's sets have replaced core sets as the place to reprint cards that don't fit into the current storyline, and yet they're :10bux:

a pack.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 06:47

Sickening: Jul 16, 2007; Black summer was the best summer.

Babylon Astronaut posted:

The master's sets have replaced core sets as the place to reprint cards that don't fit into the current storyline, and yet they're a pack.

"People really like reprints, good reprints seems to really sell packs."

"Why not save all the reprints for (masters sets) and jack up the MSRP?"

"Good thinking."

# ? Feb 18, 2017 06:52

Babylon Astronaut: Apr 19, 2012

That's my impression as well, but for some reason I've been giving them the benefit of the doubt. Then I open a ten dollar Rorix Bladewing.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 06:56

ZeroCount: Aug 12, 2013

The reprints thing is entirely a business decision. They're well aware that reprints can print money and so they use them to pump up the sales figures of sets that might otherwise be lacklustre. They're trying to create a scarcity so that when they do do it it has a huge effect.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 07:14

Lottery of Babylon: Apr 25, 2012; STRAIGHT TROPIN'

ZeroCount posted:

The reprints thing is entirely a business decision. They're well aware that reprints can print money and so they use them to pump up the sales figures of sets that might otherwise be lacklustre. They're trying to create a scarcity so that when they do do it it has a huge effect.

Maybe sales wouldn't be so low if they didn't make business decisions like "let's not sell products people want, and instead sell products people don't want"

# ? Feb 18, 2017 07:51

The Human Crouton: Sep 20, 2002

I still hate that they got rid of the pre-constructed decks after Eventide. I used to be able to get people into the game by giving someone a 60 card deck to play with right out of the box. A nice, compact, ready to play set of 60 cards that were all form the same set and came in a deck box.

Then they made the precons into 40 card decks that had boosters come with them. They didn't even have a box. They just give you some loose cards. How is that supposed to be a good early purchase for a new hobby?

They wanted to give you less than a real deck to teach you to buy boosters, but the product was so lovely that it would make a new player not care enough to continue. And why is including a booster a good thing anyway? They think exposing a new player to the experience of opening a 25 cent rare before they even know if they like the game is a good idea?

I don't even know what the current iteration of the precon is now, but I'm sure it's nonsensical.

Such a great game. Such a bad company behind it.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 08:13

ZeroCount: Aug 12, 2013

Lottery of Babylon posted:

Maybe sales wouldn't be so low if they didn't make business decisions like "let's not sell products people want, and instead sell products people don't want"

Oh, I'm not defending it. It's poo poo.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 08:17

GoutPatrol: Oct 17, 2009; *Stupid Babby*

The Event deck they tried twice was a good idea with two good 60 card decks that shared a color so you could buy it and mix and match different parts you liked. But then everyone bought them just for their Rhino promo and they stopped it.

Every single intro-deck style thing they have done since I've been playing the game has been switched around to something else because nothing ever sells enough to meet their metric. The only pick-up-and-play decks that do sell well are the duel decks and Commander precons. This is probably why the new intro Planeswalker decks have a Planeswalker in them: they think it will make it sell.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 08:19

Jenx: Oct 17, 2012; Behold the Bull of Heaven!

Mikujin posted:

Hey everyone!

As promised earlier in the thread, here is the demographic inclusiveness survey that I am conducting as part of a research project.

As noted, all data collected is for internal use in this project only and will be kept completely confidential. Thanks in advance to everyone who participates.

I'll be distributing this to several other community networks so I'm hoping to see a lot of responses to it over the next while!

And submitted, although, I have to say - the survey on diversity is....how do I put this - rather alienating in it's own way, since "There are many players of different background in my community/playgroup." what does that even mean? I imagine what it might mean if you live in the US, sure, but I don't. Basically the survey simply accepts as given the American idea of what a "diverse" group is and expects everyone else to deal with that...which ends being not very diversity-accepting.

Not saying that this is a flaw or anything, of course! Don't take it the wrong way, I fully understand that most people who would fill this out live in the US, I just figure that if you want perspectives from people from other countries, this might skew your survey results in some weird directions.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 08:43

Mikujin: May 25, 2010; (also a lightning rod)

Jenx posted:

And submitted, although, I have to say - the survey on diversity is....how do I put this - rather alienating in it's own way, since "There are many players of different background in my community/playgroup." what does that even mean? I imagine what it might mean if you live in the US, sure, but I don't. Basically the survey simply accepts as given the American idea of what a "diverse" group is and expects everyone else to deal with that...which ends being not very diversity-accepting.

Not saying that this is a flaw or anything, of course! Don't take it the wrong way, I fully understand that most people who would fill this out live in the US, I just figure that if you want perspectives from people from other countries, this might skew your survey results in some weird directions.

I am certainly appreciative of any and all input! Getting some perspective from a non-US resident (I'm only recently a resident, myself), is always great and will definitely help to direct future follow-up.

In a shock to no one, Booster Draft is the fan favorite format, and modern is the most popular constructed format by far.

Also going to report The Survey Link shamelessly in an effort to draw a bit more attention to it. Please feel free to share the link with any friends or playgroups , too - I'm always down for more data!

# ? Feb 18, 2017 09:15

clamiam45: Sep 10, 2005; HIGH FIVE! I'M GAY TOO!!!!!!

Mikujin posted:

I am certainly appreciative of any and all input! Getting some perspective from a non-US resident (I'm only recently a resident, myself), is always great and will definitely help to direct future follow-up.

In a shock to no one, Booster Draft is the fan favorite format, and modern is the most popular constructed format by far.

Also going to report The Survey Link shamelessly in an effort to draw a bit more attention to it. Please feel free to share the link with any friends or playgroups , too - I'm always down for more data!

I'm really curious what sort of research question you're going after with this, especially because selection bias / differential nonresponse seems like a huge deal.

# ? Feb 18, 2017 09:30

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# ? May 15, 2024 03:32

Siivola: Dec 23, 2012

The Human Crouton posted:

I don't even know what the current iteration of the precon is now, but I'm sure it's nonsensical.

Such a great game. Such a bad company behind it.

It's a 60 card pregen with two boosters bundled in so you can hopefully make it a bit less poo poo. No box, far as I can tell. http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/aether-revolt-planeswalker-deck-lists-2017-01-11

# ? Feb 18, 2017 09:48

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