Why is WotC Abandoning Small Sets?
General forum
Posted on Oct. 20, 2017, 5:06 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
WotC stated that, as part of their restructuring of the game, they would be abandoning small sets and printing only large sets, but I wonder about the wisdom of that idea, since large sets are more difficult to design than are small sets, due to having more cards. Will it not be more difficult to continuously design large sets?
What does everyone else say about this subject? Why is WotC abandoning small sets?
DemonDragonJ,
MaRo talks about the decision in Metamorphosis 2.0.
TL;DR: Small sets have their own challenges: "Giving a small set its own identity that also plays well with the large set is problematic ... They're not big enough to draft alone, but lining them up to draft smoothly with the large set is tricky ... There's a fatigue that sets in on any block."
October 20, 2017 5:35 p.m. Edited.
DemonDragonJ says... #4
Atroxreaper, clayperce, are you saying that this change is being made for drafting purposes? Why does WotC care so much about drafting?
October 21, 2017 12:41 a.m.
DemonDragonJ,
That's part of it for sure. And I suspect it's because that's where they make the most money.
October 21, 2017 5:13 a.m. Edited.
DemonDragonJ says... #6
clayperce, does WotC care at all for people who like to construct their own decks? What support are they giving to those players?
October 22, 2017 10:17 p.m.
DemonDragonJ Wizards is a company and therefore what they care about most is making money.
Every time a new set comes out with new themes, such as Ixalan with so many tribes, they make a lot of money as people get excited about playing with the new cards. Doing that four times a year, as opposed to twice, sells more packs.
However, people who have spent a lot of money on decks don't get entirely screwed over.
People who have bought into Mardu Vehicles or Ramunap Red have been able to keep playing those decks this season, with some minor tweaks.
October 31, 2017 2:12 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #8
Argy, if they do not please their customers by giving thee customer what they want, they will not make money.
November 6, 2017 9:45 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #9
Argy, if they do not please their customers by giving thee customer what they want, they will not make money.
November 6, 2017 10:05 p.m.
Draft players are EXTREMELY happy with having no small sets, and that is where Wizards make the bulk of their money.
Players who brew their own decks (guessing at what you meant to say above) are Wizards' lowest priority.
They often don't buy as many expensive cards on the second hand market, and once they have a deck list they like, they only do minor tweaks to it.
They are also likely to keep playing a successful deck over two or more expansions.
November 7, 2017 2:39 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #11
Argy, I never draft, and always make my own decks, so it is not pleasing to hear that players such as myself are a low priority for WotC.
Also, with block being abandoned, what if a story is too large to contain in a single set? Will WotC have two or more consecutive sets that share a storyline? For example, if there is ever a third Ravnica block, it would need to have at least two sets, to give sufficient focus to each individual guild.
November 8, 2017 11 p.m.
I don't think you have read the link that clayperce left for you.
Read it.
It addresses a LOT of your questions.
Also, could you please stop tagging me in these Comments? I just don't give enough of a shit about this topic to keep getting called back to it.
Atroxreaper says... #2
Part of the reasoning was the quality of small set drafts was poor compared to drafting the main set of that series. Had to supplement it with packs from the series to compensate for smaller sets lack of a large card pool.
October 20, 2017 5:21 p.m.