Should WotC Make an Effort to Ensure that this Game is Affordable?
General forum
Posted on Aug. 16, 2017, 8:34 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
I have been playing Magic: the Gathering since 2003, and I have noticed that the cards for this game can be very expensive, most notably with dual lands, mana-generating artifacts, and other components of a deck's mana base.
I personally believe that WotC should make an effort to ensure that the cards for this game are affordable, because more people will buy the cards if they are less expensive, which is better for the game.
There are too many cards for me to list whose prices I believe are unfairly high, so I shall simply say that I feel WotC needs to be better with their reprints, most notably by reprinting actually useful dual lands, rather than reprinting cheap and barely usable dual lands.
Sometimes, I wonder if WotC deliberately does not reprint cards simply to keep them expensive, but they do not make any money from the secondary market, so there is no reason for them to not do so.
What does everyone else say about this? Do you believe that WotC should have a responsibility to ensure that this game is affordable for the players? Why or why not?
Homura_Akemi says... #3
I suppose they don't have any sort of legal responsibility to do so, but it would be nice for all of us players if they tried to make the prices of cards affordable.
August 16, 2017 8:55 p.m.
DarkMagician says... #4
WotC doesn't profit from the secondary market but they do pay attention to it. They reprint higher end cards in order to move more product in certain sets but that's all of the involvement they have in it. The secondary market prices are dictated by the players as no card costs more than what some players are willing to pay. On top of that they can't just do reprints whenever they want in standard as many of the pricier cards would warp the format.
August 16, 2017 9:19 p.m.
What you are saying is why they have sets like modern master, eternal masters, and iconic masters, as well as the masterpiece series. Those sets are made to drop the prices of certain cards by reprinting them without breaking standard. It doesn't always work obviously, especially with the masterpiece series. They thought it would lower the price but it hardly did that at all, rather just made a more expensive printing. Of the cards. That isn't their fault though. It just has to do with how the players price cards, like previously stated. I also think they do a good job. Especially considering if they started reprinting the og dual lands they would still probably end up being unaffordable based on the history of wotc reprinting cards
August 16, 2017 9:35 p.m.
Winterblast says... #7
While I would like to get some cards cheaper than they are now (who doesn't want to buy things cheap?) I would definitely not likee that cards I have already paid for suddenly lose a lot of value. I would also not like that cards I have bought like 10 years ago and which got me all excited with a huge price rise over the past years (like Mishra's Workshop or The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale) suddenly go back to the price I have bought them for.
Magic, especially the reserved list, is a sort of investment and as long as people enjoy playing eternal formats, it's a reliable investment. I would like to see more reprints that do not hurt the prices of the original cards though. Different artwork and frame obviously do the job well, people still want the old version of Force of Will or Mana Crypt for example. A masters set with normal booster prices instead of the 10 Euro per pack would be great imo. Masterpieces showing up on average in every two displays instead of every 4...stuff like that.
In general I think cards should definitely hold some value but reprints of powerful non-standard cards shouldn't be so ultra rare that you might buy 3 or 4 displays and still get none of them. Wizards did a good job with the modern masters fetchlands for example but the masterpieces are definitely too rare to be useful reprints.
August 17, 2017 3:15 a.m.
Should they? I would say yes. Even cards like Mana Confluence are priced out of control... specifically for commander/EDH, you want most of your 99 to be at least reasonably competitive & low-hassle... But I'll be damned if they are not pricing the mana base like schyte. Reserved list is good & all but they should keep their hands off the mana base when it comes to making things exclusive. But this is why I rarely opt for their 3 color & up options when it comes to deckbuilding. They are pushing all these multichromatic cards lately without keeping up on the mana base at all (look at THE most frequent complaint of the new Commander 2017)...Just look at what direction the flow of complaints is going & it will indicate that WOTC will need to address the lack of affordable/convenient manabase options at some point
August 17, 2017 4:59 a.m.
Winterblast says... #9
Gleeock the manabase in a preconstructed 5 colour deck will ALWAYS be crap, because the mana base you really want in EDH for such a deck is not complete with a few lands like Mana Confluence and what is missing can not be stuffed into a deck that should sell for less than 30$. The value of these preconstructed decks is good nevertheless, even though the lands will always suck.
August 17, 2017 6:14 a.m.
Well.. All I know is I'm not the only one continuously complaining about the price tag on a reasonable mana base - & like I said I don't even regularly construct decks past 2 colors (personal preference). Usually if there is a recurring complaint theme it means there is a problem at some level that should be addressed.
August 17, 2017 9:29 a.m.
Again, the price of a good mana base really isn't wotc fault. They print plenty of good lands. Just because they aren't reprinting fetch lands and shock lands every year it doesn't mean they aren't doing a good job. If they reprinted the "decent" lands often enough to make the prices drop significantly, they wouldn't have much space to dabble with new lands anyway. A card is worth what people are willing to pay to get it, and if the demand is high enough for it, increasing supply with 1 reprint won't have a lasting impact on the price
August 17, 2017 9:38 a.m.
DarkMagician says... #12
You can build a great two color mana base at a decent price, mana bases become expensive when you want a PERFECT mana base.
August 17, 2017 11:36 a.m.
Wizrds does their best to keep the market stable, that's all. Some cards rise and fall but as long as there are generally a high number of worthless cards and then a good curve of total cards worth $1, $2, $3, each value with a slightly decreasing total of cards worth that much, the market remains fairly stable. It's just all about what is in demand based on the meta of all formats. Obviously they can use reprints to deflate some cards slightly and profit from this at the same time (such as Snapcaster Mage, Khans fetches, etc.) but they will also purposefully not reprint some cards that could easily be just for the sake of keeping their value increasing to the point that they like (such as the Shadowmoor filters, Horizon Canopy, etc.)
August 17, 2017 11:52 a.m.
Didn't say WOTC isn't "doing a good job" but I do think that there is a dull murmer complaint that will turn into a roar if not addressed eventually. I do love that they somewhat addressed it specifically to EDH with cards like "command tower" - which is still about $1.59 average. Placing a heavy emphasis on printing new multichrome cards but then going lackluster on diverse manabase really seems like a strange supply/demand choice -- and usually the people not seeing problems there tend to be long-time posters, veterans, etc.
August 17, 2017 2:14 p.m.
Winterblast says... #15
Gleeock maybe the problem is the American market and not the reprint policy? Checking on prices of said command tower, the prices on magiccardmarket are around 30 cent, cheapest one for 20 cent. For your price I could order a playset with shipping costs included. Doesn't look as if that is the fault of the producing company
August 17, 2017 2:57 p.m.
You could be right Winterblast. Regardless of what I think of a niche market being a little goofy my personal preference sortof takes me out of contention anyway because I prefer monocolor & dual color anyway. I prefer to specialize many of my decks, my personal belief being that all those colors dilute focus and identity (on a philosophical level as well as functional). So entertainingly enough I actually argue to the detriment of one of my favorite strategies: bloodmoon/non-basic hate/MLD, I personally do not need a huge diversity of manabase because of my playstyle but I can see how the cost of diversity seems to be negatively impacting players - specifically ones new to the game
August 17, 2017 5:28 p.m.
For the first 3 months I played the game I struggled to make a simic deck work because there were quite simply no good dual lands in standard for that color. They had the pain lands and the gatewatch lands, both of which were distasteful to my newbie self, so I can see where you are coming from. While that wasnt an issue of cost, just format legality, it still felt a bit constricting for a new player trying to make his first deck work. I eventually gave up and made a mono blue deck, but it was very successful, especially for how long I'd been playing. I think that if you want to play a competitive game you can definitely do it in 1 or 2 colors, it's just a little more restrictive, adding more colors to a deck adds so much potential extra power, that it is important to do it well if you want to do it at all. For me it just ends up being a matter of if you want a color combo like 4 or 5 colors, then you need to be willing to either take the L for a slow mana base, dish out the cash for a good one, or suck it up and play fewer colors. I'd love for it not to be the way that it is, but it is. And I don't think it is really an inherent problem that way.
August 17, 2017 5:44 p.m.
they do money with the secondary market. cmon, they are in touch with investors, star city games and other lobbyists who give members of wizards money for informations or promisses like the reserved list or only do crappy reprints to keep expensive cards expensive.
are you such a naive, lol? everywhere in the world its the same manipulation of the market by people giving money for benefitial informations or agreements.
and you, the playerbase eat that shit everytime when a crappy product is released with some ok or good cards but without any needed reprint. think about it..
KingMathoro says... #2
Here is the problem with what you want. The Reserved List. This is where most expensive cards land. Because they will never be reprinted. Wizards did this because they are a collectible card game. In the beginning Wizards reprinted cards constantly like the Duals, but people were not happy with this because lack there of collectibles. So in order to please everyone in a sense they created the RL so that there could be collectibles while all the newer stuff can still be reprinted. I also personally see issues with them getting rid of the RL, because while making the game more affordable it hurts any LGS that sells singles. Which is a big industry. And their is no proof that it would make the game better. In fact it only makes the game more competitive for all parties. And I mean they don't dictate the prices either, we do. Now that being said I totally wish there were more reprints of certain cards like Force of Will and Lord knows how long it took to get that or a Cavern of Souls. But for the most part I think Wizards does ok. And the game can certainly be affordable for newbies. Look at the Commander product line. Great value for a decent price. So no I don't believe they have a responsibility at all.
August 16, 2017 8:55 p.m.