WotC Hasbro CEO is going to have a Fireside Chat With Investors Over WotC

[Scribe]

Locally, the real growth in the market has not been traditional FLGS but nerd/gaming themed bars and cafes. Selling a place to hang out seems increasingly more important than selling the products.

If my local survives at all, its based on it being half a cafe, not just a 'LGS'.

 

[Celebrim]

No, the defense does not rest. lol

Just looking right now, a Standard competitive deck is sub $500.

Standard rotates every 3 months or so, and it's rare that you can buy in for just $500. Heck, often the meta will shift so fast that your new deck is obsolete by the time you can put it together. Actually being part of the community though will mean also getting a Commander deck, as well as maintaining that commander deck, and playing some draft. But really, how many times are you going to play one deck anyway and enjoy it?

The experience is designed to leave you frustrated. That's how they make their money.

 

[Pedantic]

No, the defense does not rest. lol

Just looking right now, a Standard competitive deck is sub $500. There are Modern options for well....ok Modern looks like its extremely expensive right now, but there are budget options if you want to 'play'.

Or, you just go to a draft night, and play Limited.

Its all still 'Magic' after all, and you do not need (I did not for example) start with the most tricked out competitive deck in an expensive format.

You dont need that $1200 Modern deck, and you REALLY dont need that Legacy deck (UR Delver at over $4000...)

I dont eveen know how Vintage is played.

Not to keep harping on Netrunner, but this reminded me of an amusing thing that kept happening a few years back when the Living Card Game model was in full swing. You'd get new players stopping by to play a game or two, they'd get interested and ask what it cost to get all the cards. You could immediately tell whether they had an MtG or a board game background. The boardgamers would frown a little when you said around $300, and the Magic players would nod and say "but what if I wanted to play more than 1 deck?"

 

[Scribe]

But really, how many times are you going to play one deck anyway and enjoy it?

I mean I cant answer for you or anyone else but myself, but until they took it away from me, I played Twin, and then UWR Control, and that is pretty much it in any serious way, and that accounts for years of play.

 

[Scribe]

You'd get new players stopping by to play a game or two, they'd get interested and ask what it cost to get all the cards. You could immediately tell whether they had an MtG or a board game background. The boardgamers would frown a little when you said around $300, and the Magic players would nod and say "but what if I wanted to play more than 1 deck?"

Did the 40K players ask "yeah but when you buy the rest of the game, whats the final cost"?

 

[Staffan]

Not to keep harping on Netrunner, but this reminded me of an amusing thing that kept happening a few years back when the Living Card Game model was in full swing. You'd get new players stopping by to play a game or two, they'd get interested and ask what it cost to get all the cards. You could immediately tell whether they had an MtG or a board game background. The boardgamers would frown a little when you said around $300, and the Magic players would nod and say "but what if I wanted to play more than 1 deck?"

I mean, looking at Arkham Horror: the Card Game, I've sunk quite a bit of money into that game but nothing close to what a serious Magic player spends.

 

[Art Waring]

The game was no harder to teach when I left it a few years ago, than when I learned it myself as a kid back with Fallen Empires.

The floor never changed up to FE, but after came sets like Alliances, the ceiling was raised with Force of Will, which changed the counterspell game.

It used to be you would see one or two counters in a game, now you were stacking counterspells over counterspells, and DCI had to make new rulings like "last in first out" to resolve counterspelling when each player was stacking multiple cards in response.

Come Urza Block, I was the guy playing the Yawgmoth's bargain deck, which could consistently win on first or second turn in tournaments. New players didn't stand a chance, but the competition in standard was so high at this point that new players were being pushed to more casual formats.

My backup deck was mono red wildfire and crater hellions & avalanche riders, constant board wipe and land destruction. Players typically folded rather than die on turn five. Standard was pretty brutal.

 

[Zardnaar]

The floor never changed up to FE, but after came sets like Alliances, the ceiling was raised with Force of Will, which changed the counterspell game.

It used to be you would see one or two counters in a game, now you were stacking counterspells over counterspells, and DCI had to make new rulings like "last in first out" to resolve counterspelling when each player was stacking multiple cards in response.

Come Urza Block, I was the guy playing the Yawgmoth's bargain deck, which could consistently win on first or second turn in tournaments. New players didn't stand a chance, but the competition in standard was so high at this point that new players were being pushed to more casual formats.

My backup deck was mono red wildfire and crater hellions & avalanche riders, constant board wipe and land destruction. Players typically folded rather than die on turn five. Standard was pretty brutal.

Draw go such fun die to morphling.

 

[Art Waring]

Draw go such fun die to morphling.

Yeah I really like the morphling, but at first I was a heavy user of masticore builds, until you realize that masticore can't touch the morphling except at specific times.

It was tricky, you would have to sit there and do nothing, let them have their turn, hope they overextend on spending mana, and then declare you are pinging the morphling at the end of their turn while they are tapped out. But one blue mana and its all over for the poor masticore. Then you have to extend into your turn to ping the morphling again, it was a real pain.

Morphling on the other hand has won me many tournament games, mono blue was always way too good.

 

[Zardnaar]

Yeah I really like the morphling, but at first I was a heavy user of masticore builds, until you realize that masticore can't touch the morphling except at specific times.

It was tricky, you would have to sit there and do nothing, let them have their turn, hope they overextend on spending mana, and then declare you are pinging the morphling at the end of their turn while they are tapped out. But one blue mana and its all over for the poor masticore. Then you have to extend into your turn to ping the morphling again, it was a real pain.

Morphling on the other hand has won me many tournament games, mono blue was always way too good.

I remember a deck like that circa 2001 extended.