Why Wizards will keep reprinting bad cards that you hate opening
Economics forum
Posted on June 4, 2015, 12:32 p.m. by ChiefBell
Apologies for slightly clickbait-y title.
There is a seriously good article here that talks about how wizards can take advantage of reprints.
It's all a bit corporate and depressing but it makes good sense and explains a lot of what we see.
vampirelazarus says... #4
Your title is fine!
Don't let bigots bring your title down!
June 4, 2015 12:42 p.m. Edited.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #5
This makes sense, but it makes me wonder why Wizards even bothered make a set called Modern Masters...
June 4, 2015 12:43 p.m.
vampirelazarus says... #6
Money.
And some cards don't need to be reprinted in standard, but require more in the market.
June 4, 2015 12:51 p.m.
insertcleverid says... #7
That is an accurate, but negative reading of the facts. I might say cynical. A more positive version of this strategy has been discussed in many daily mtg articles and even made it to NPR. If you don't want to listen I'll sum up. WOTC watched the beenie baby impolsion and knew that it was something that could happen to any collectable. They decided that for the good of the game AND the collector/investor they must not allow their greed to overtake sustainability. They decided you must create product that never quite meets demand. You must continue to attract new players. You must not discourage those who already hold valuable collectibles by wiping out the value of their prized possessions.
Is this good for the common players (like me)? Yes and no. I will have a hard time collecting the biggest and shiniest baubles, but they wouldn't be worth anything if it wasn't hard. In the meantime, I know I'm putting my hard-earned $$$, valuable time and competitive spirit into something that won't disappear overnight.
As for why WOTC prints bad cards, the card pool must have variety of power level. Jace wouldn't be good if every rare was as good as Jace. It wouldn't be anywhere near as satisfying to 2-0 somebody who pulled an Ojutai if I had one every draft. It wouldn't be worth the paper it was printed on, either. Nor would there be as many people who gave a crap. All of the content generated online would cease to exist as contributors found other, more engaging topics of interest. The lottery aspect, the collection hobby, drafting, constructed, speculation. They all add depth and enjoyment to the game.
I worry if you take the negative, cynical view, you might convince people they should be too pissed of to enjoy the game. But you can't expect WOTC to destroy a game that took so much time and effort to make sustainable. If you resent them for making money while you got bad pulls, how can you have any fun?
On the other hand, even though I think their business model is great, I also think its totally legit to discuss the value of any given set. I do think with my budget MM2 is too-high variance to risk buying product. I'll vote with my wallet and buy singles after the hype is over.
I also totally agree some cards probably shouldn't have a home is a specific set. I feel bad for anyone who opens Comet Storm. Except LSV. He says its the best card in the set, which goes to show how many different valid opinions can be had about the game. I like that part about the game, too.
June 4, 2015 1:12 p.m.
insertcleverid that's how I look at it. I mean, of course wizards is a business first and foremost. It would be dumb to pretend otherwise, but in order for the game to sustain itself you can't just instantly print everything everyone wants. If you did, nobody would want anything anymore, and then nobody would buy anything anymore. The cards would become worthless and the game would collapse.
June 4, 2015 1:44 p.m.
That theory is tangential to the fact that there are enough 'good cards' to reprint in all sets and still not crash the market.
June 4, 2015 1:49 p.m.
julianjmoss says... #10
This article is pretty good but also ignores the fact that modern masters is also specifically made as an expert DRAFT set. Ant queen and comet storm are very good limited and while they aren't worth a whole lot of money, fit very well into the set from a limited perspective
June 4, 2015 1:57 p.m.
TheAnnihilator says... #11
Well, if that's the case julianjmoss, WotC can hide behind a "Draft Set" excuse to reprint only some of the necessary staples in a Modern Masters sets.
Now, to be fair, I have 0 qualms with MM15. I love the set. I was surprised, some may say shocked, by the omission of Serum Visions and Damnation, yet I don't particularly mind it. And I need BOTH of those cards (well, I needed both until I bit the bullet and bought a set of Serums at $7 apiece after the no-reprint announcement -- I knew immediately that they would rise, and they have been)
But yeah, one could easily argue that Conspiracy is an appropriate place to put a lot of focus on Draft, but Modern Masters is NOT. Do I believe this? No, I think drafting and reprinting staples aren't mutually exclusive. But it's still a valid argument.
June 4, 2015 2:48 p.m.
insertcleverid says... #12
@ChiefBell sorry if I get your meaning wrong as I'm not sure what theory you're referring to, but you can't make an entire set of 'good cards,' even if you ignore the fact that that is a completely subjective term. Let me assume you mean expensive instead of good? WOTC can't do that sustainably, it hurts the game in the long run. Listen to the NPR story for the details but I'll sum up again: It lowers the appeal of future products and diminishes new player growth. It means you have less people to play against, less places to do it, and your good cards are worth less and less until they're tomorrow's beenie-babies.
June 4, 2015 2:51 p.m.
UrbanAnathema says... #13
I agree that there are certain staples that really should see regular reprinting. Path to Exile Serum Visions Lightning Bolt Birds of Paradise and whichever black discard 1cmc card of choice not named Thoughtseize
Quite frankly the fact that only one of them saw a reprint in MM15 (and at Uncommon no less) is discouraging.
June 4, 2015 3:01 p.m.
Serendipitous_Hummingbird says... #14
From the article:
"We like to think of Magic as a game our favorite game, or even the best game ever created. Wizards does little to refute this perception by marketing its employees as players. As a result, I think most of us think of set design like we do deck building. I picture Gavin or Adam or Maro sitting down to create Modern Masters 2015 or a Duel Deck and thinking "how can I make this the best, most fun, highest value set possible." And in some ways, building a set is like building a deck. Instead of building the most optimal deck possible, you are building on a budget. You are replacing Tarmogoyfs with Hooting Mandrils and Liliana of the Veil with Liliana Vess. Instead of thinking "how can I make the best, most fun, highest value set possible," a designer has to ask, "how can I make the best set possible within specific budgetary restraints.
It's not by accident that Thoughtseize was in Theros (a set without an expensive land cycle), it's not by mistake we got Goblin Fireslinger in MM2 instead of Goblin Guide. This is all part of the master plan, all part of the managing of Wizards' bank accounts.
The moral of this story is that while Wizards makes money by selling us fun, their ultimate goal is to make their shareholders money (which isn't a bad thing because if Hasbro stops making money off Magic, they will, sooner of later, stop making Magic altogether). So we have to learn to live with this balance: Wizards gives us enough of what we want to keep us buying their product and having fun (as well as making Wizards money), but not everything we want (at least all at once) because it hurts their bottom line."
I'd say that is a pretty healthy attitude
June 4, 2015 3:06 p.m.
Serendipitous_Hummingbird says... #15
UrbanAnathema they do. Not counting promo prints, there are 14 printings of Birds of Paradise, ALL of them in either a core set or an expansion. Path has been in Alara, two duel decks, modern masters, AND a commander set.
Serum Visions is weird because it is ONLY played in modern and as recently as Theros was $2.40 each.
June 4, 2015 3:11 p.m.
VampireArmy says... #16
To be fair, we would have more Serum Visions reprints if they didn't print Ponder and Preordain
I'm not saying that's good or bad but it is what it is
June 4, 2015 3:25 p.m.
Wizard_of_the_Broke says... #17
I largely agree with ChiefBell. But ultimately my gripe is not that Wizards extracts maximum value from reprintings generally, it's that they do it with LAND. I really don't care if they want to maximize the value of reprinting Tarmogoyf, but I do care if they hold out on reprinting cards that (pretty much) every single deck needs to be competitive. It means that anybody trying to get into a new format (particularly Modern) is going to have a very difficult time building nearly any kind of decent deck on a budget. It stifles the game's growth and prevents new/budget players from creating innovative decks. Lands aren't fun or interesting to collect, and prices fluctuate greatly based on which decks are popular, so I really don't think WoTC gains that much by treating them like collectibles and/or investments. I could be wrong on that account, but I still think it's bad strategy and just plain ol' shitty of them to do. As an example, take this storm deck, not terribly different from what I play: Jon Finkel's UR Storm. It's not Tier 1, but it wins games and is fun and challenging to play - which should be great for a newcomer, and it's kinda sorta cheap relative to many of the popular decks in the format - but it's land base is about 60% of the total cost. Why make the least interesting cards and the ones that involve the least deckbuilding creativity so expensive that they're a barrier to entry? There are clearly opportunities further down the line to capitalize on players once you get them hooked, no?
June 4, 2015 3:30 p.m.
Eh. I kinda like land. Its exciting. But I'm an old fogey.
June 4, 2015 3:36 p.m.
UrbanAnathema says... #19
I agree. However I think anything calling itself Modern Masters, (Especially if they DO plan to do this every two years) should always reprint the 1CMC staples in each of the five colors. It would not be doing anything to Wizard's bottom line as none of those cards is worth a ton of money, and it would be great if casual players could easily collect some of the more value staples of the format in every color at least once every two years. Serum Visions is absurdly priced as a common. Path to Exile is getting up there as well.
This would give the tools to really allow new players to enter the format, and collect competitively viable staples with minimal cost to Wizards or the secondary market. If I knew I was pulling one of those staples in every 4-5 packs or so, I wouldn't have an issue with the $10.00 per pack price.
June 4, 2015 3:58 p.m. Edited.
greenkingwashere says... #20
Because draft. Skyreach Manta sucks in contructed but great in draft.
June 4, 2015 4 p.m.
freakman13 says... #21
Except if they are getting reprinted that much, then those 1cmc staples would become 50 cent cards and wouldn't affect your justification of the pricing, at least not after 2 printings like that.
June 4, 2015 4:01 p.m.
UrbanAnathema says... #22
Also I think the fetches/shocks will be reprinted every few years or so in order to keep the format approachable. I think Wizards already has that in mind.
June 4, 2015 4:03 p.m.
UrbanAnathema says... #23
freakman13 Most of those cards aren't high value cards anyway and have seen many reprints. Lightning Bolt, Birds of Paradise, Duress, etc. have been heavily reprinted. Path to Exile has been printed six times. The only exception is Serum Visions which was originally printed as a COMMON and should be a cheap card anyway.
June 4, 2015 4:08 p.m. Edited.
insertcleverid says... #24
I'm hoping they don't turn standard into a modern printing-press. I'd rather they come up with new cards for the expert sets.
June 4, 2015 4:10 p.m.
UrbanAnathema says... #25
I agree and they shouldn't. This should only be done under the premise of a once every two years Modern Masters set.
June 4, 2015 4:20 p.m.
insertcleverid says... #26
I would be ecstatic if they reprinted the fetches in RTZ and then saved them for future MMs but...
June 4, 2015 4:26 p.m.
UrbanAnathema says... #27
I think its pretty much a foregone conclusion that enemy fetches will be in RTZ.
June 4, 2015 4:30 p.m.
Serendipitous_Hummingbird says... #28
I wouldn't be so sure. I think that Goblin Guide is in. But that's the only thing I'm sure about. I'm also 90% positive that Inquisition of Kozilek will NOT be in it, as the only eldrazi left on zendikar is Ulamog.
June 4, 2015 4:40 p.m.
UrbanAnathema says... #29
If they're on Zendikar, and that's where the enemy fetches were originally from, I don't see how they don't reprint them, seeing as how they have already reprinted the allied fetches.
June 4, 2015 4:55 p.m.
Wizard_of_the_Broke says... #30
I agree, UrbanAnathema - I don't think it matters to anyone, including WoTC, if Serum Visions is $11.00 or $1.00, and the expense of those kinds of cards also unnecessarily inflates the prices of a lot of decks that would otherwise be cheap and very playable. It seems to me that the constructed formats keep people playing for years, so why not do everything you can to encourage people to jump in?
Ha, ChiefBell - I know what you mean, but Scalding Tarn is no Wasteland - and I meant my comments about land from a WoTC marketing perspective.
And I certainly hope you're all right about upcoming reprints of fetchlands, but it would have been nice to see some in this set.
ChiefBell says... #2
Here's a quick section to sum it up:
This is the reason I don't expect Ugin, the Spirit Dragon to be in next Winter's Duel Deck; it's an inefficient use of reprint equity. Why give it away to every Standard player now when you can use it to get players to buy $10 packs full of damaged cards three years down the road?
This is the same reason that we don't get fetches in Modern Masters. Sure they would sell the set, but Ant Queen and Long-Forgotten Gohei will sell a Modern Masters too. The difference is fetches, as we have seen with KTK, will sell an expert expansion even as reprints, which is something Ant Queen could never hope to do. Fetches are quite literally too valuable to be "wasted" on a MMA release.
This is why I don't even wonder anymore about filter lands showing up in the MMA series. Wizards can let them simmer for another year or two, reach legitimate pre-reprinting shockland prices (where they pretty much are already despite seeing a fraction of the play), stick them in the 2017 fall set and automatically have the next "best selling set ever."
This is why Wizards claiming that they don't watch or care about the secondary market is a joke. They don't make any money when someone buys a Scalding Tarn from a vendor, but they make a ton of money by leveraging their reprint equity effectively and reprinting Scalding Tarn at the right time in the right set.
This is the real reason that sets contain bad cards. It's not because of limited or to test player deck building/card evaluation skills; it's because including more expensive/good/powerful cards in one set than necessary to sell a set is a waste of capital. Look at it this way: you could print a set with fetches and guarantee yourself the "best selling set ever." You could print a set with shocks and have "best selling set ever." Or you could print a set with fetches and shocks and have the "best selling set ever."
Essentially - people will buy modern masters no matter what is in it so they can afford to print Comet Storm. People won't open the next core set or expansion unless it has good cards like fetches or shocks. They put the good reprints in those sets to increase sales and can afford to put bad reprints in sets they know will sell themselves.
June 4, 2015 12:38 p.m.